Format: Paperback

Weekend Book Friends #36

Greetings you guys! How many Fridays do we have left? Two? Three? Gosh, I can’t believe we’ve only joined our Weekend Book Friends so few times during the past year. We used to take part every week! Was 2022 a very unorganized and messy year for you as well? Mommy and Daddy are on holiday. For three weeks! This is the longest they’ve been on holiday for 6 years. So far she hasn’t done much, not even a whole lot of reading. I believe she might finally be turning into a cat and has been sleeping mostly since yesterday when their holiday started. This morning we woke up to rainy weather and she quickly rushed to the Bookstore to go and buy just one book. Not that there are no other books to read in this house! Of course she came home with 4 books. She started with this one immediately: Let’s join up with our regular reading buddies to see if this book is actually going to work for us or not. Our first stop is with @ Reading is my Super Power for First Line Friday and to Gilion @ Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings. Every Friday you can link up and […]

Posted December 16, 2022
24 Comments

Wednesday Wisdom – The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak

The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak Published by Viking Adult on August 5th, 2021 Genres: Fiction Pages: 368 Format: Paperback Source: Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads A rich, magical new book on belonging and identity, love and trauma, nature and renewal, from the Booker shortlisted author of 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World. Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna, hidden beneath garlands of garlic, chili peppers and creeping honeysuckle, Kostas and Defne grow in their forbidden love for each other. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. The tree is there when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, and when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns. He is a botanist looking for native species, but really, he’s searching for lost love. Years later, a Ficus carica grows in the back garden of a house in London where Ada Kazantzakis lives. This tree is her only connection to an island she has […]

Posted November 23, 2022
4 Comments

The Nine Lives of Montezuma by Michael Morpurgo

The Nine Lives of Montezuma by Michael Morpurgo on January 1st, 2013 Genres: Childrens Pages: 170 Format: Paperback Source: VCS Buy on Amazon Goodreads His ears were pointed sharply and were long enough to be those of a wild cat. The farmyard was his kingdom – he had made it so. This is the story of the nine loves of a very special cat, from impetuous young kitten to the king of the farmyard. Wherever Montezuma goes, adventure and excitement are sure to follow! An enchanting take of feline charm from War Horse author Michael Morpurgo. Greetings you guys! We’ve been a bit quiet on the review side for school. Not that the kids don’t still write the most lovely reviews, it’s just a matter of getting the time to post them! We will try to update as many as we can within the last couple of weeks of school. Michael Morpurgo is by far one of the most popular authors amongst the VCS students. My Mommy is very happy about that and I am ecstatic to see that all his cat books are at the top of the list. His books are not only for children, but can be […]

Posted November 4, 2022
4 Comments

The Classics Club Spin #31 – Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Greetings you guys! I am ever so proud of my Mommy. She just managed to finish her Classics Club Spin #31 book. Luckily it was a quick read, but by no means a light or an easy read. I’m sure we are in the minority of Classics Lovers who haven’t read this one yet: To review this book, will be no easy task either. If you look on Goodreads, there are over 43 000 reviews on this book, some of our favorite readers and bloggers amongst them. It does appear as if we are going to be in the minority with our 3.5 Star review as well. Yes, this book was beautifully written – wow. You can get lost in the prose and forget about the content as a whole. But then again, reading is a holistic experience. So why only 3.5 stars? The world has changed. Hasn’t it? Somehow, it became lighter. Somehow, it became heavier to carry a friend. Somehow, having a piece of the land isn’t the dream anymore. And somehow, we live in that world and adapts to it. As humans do. We become isolated to the story of George and Lennie. Animal cruelty will not […]

Posted October 30, 2022
6 Comments

Weekend Book Friends #34

Greetings you guys! Not only is it Friday, but it’s also holidays for my Mommy. Hooray! Here’s to hoping this short break there will be lots of time for reading and blogging. The last 3 holidays have been filled with renovations and anyone who has ever tried renovating, will know – reading is the least and the last of your concerns. To get us in the mood for reading, we are busy with a readalong with a few of our fellow South African bloggers and Instagrammers. Seeing that tomorrow is heritage day here in SA, it’s just fitting that we read a South African Book. Our book of choice is a strong read with tales from South African women who refuse to be erased by the circumstances that render them invisible. We are all reading it together and read a couple of chapters a day. We then share our thoughts on Instagram, Twitter and whatever other social media sites we see fit. We aren’t very fit overall, but at least we are taking part. Let’s quickly go and say hi to @ Reading is my Super Power for First Line Friday and to Gilion @ Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings. Every Friday […]

Posted September 23, 2022
31 Comments

How to Train your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

How to Train your Dragon by Cressida Cowell Series: How to Train your Dragon #1 on February 4th, 2010 Genres: Childrens Pages: 240 Format: Paperback Source: VCS Buy on Amazon Goodreads Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the quiet and thoughtful son of the Chief of the Hairy Hooligans, tries to pass the important initiation test of his Viking clan by catching and training a dragon. Can Hiccup do it without being torn limb from limb? Join his adventures and misadventures as he finds a new way to train dragons–and becomes a hero. This action-packed, hilarious, and perfectly illustrated novel is a modern classic beloved by millions across the globe. One of our favorite series’ in the library, is The How to Train your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell. Of course all the kids have seen the highly successful movie adaptations of these books, but they will also be the first ones to say that it’s not quite the same as the books. I’m not sure if this is a case of the book-is-better-than-the movie or the movie-is-better-than-the-book, as the kids split 50/50 here. But let me quite meowing about the series and let’s see what Enrique (Ricky) Jordaan in Gr4 has […]

Posted August 26, 2022
6 Comments

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus on April 5th, 2022 Genres: Fiction Pages: 390 Format: Paperback Source: Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results. But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo. Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its […]

Posted August 13, 2022
17 Comments

Agent Snoet en die Botterdiamant deur Francois Bloemhof

Agent Snoet en die Botterdiamant by Francois Bloemhof Series: Agent Snoet Published by Lapa Uitgewers on Oktober 2002 Pages: 48 Format: Paperback Source: VCS Goodreads Agent Snoet, geheime agent van formaat, en sy Siamese kat, Felino, ondersoek die verdwyning van Madame Lente Langenhoven se botterdiamant. Soos met al Agent Snoet se sake, is dit uiteindelik Felino wat die skurk vastrek. Die dief is niemand anders nie as… Maar wag, so maklik gaan ons nie die antwoord verklap nie. Lees self hierdie spanningsvolle en humoristiese speurverhaal in strokiesprent-formaat om uit te vind wie nou eintlik die botterdiamant gegaps het. Die boek is geskryf deur bobaas storieverteller Francois Bloemhof en die illustrasies is deur talentvolle nuweling, Alistair Ackermann. Boek lees is nie vir almal nie. Maar vir almal is daar ‘n boek in een of ander formaat. Grafiese boeke, of strokiesverhale soos Juffrou Mareli dit nog ken, is verseker baie gewild in ons biblioteek. Net jammer ons het nie vreeslik baie van hulle nie en die paar wat ons het, word voos gelees. Agent Snoet en die Botterdiamant is die enigste boek wat ons het in die Agent Snoet reeks. Dis nogals ‘n jammerte, want hierdie prettige strokiesverhaal kan verseker deur jonk en oud geniet […]

Posted August 4, 2022
5 Comments

Wednesday Wisdom from The Frequency of Us by Keith Stuart

The Frequency of Us by Keith Stuart Published by Little Brown Book Group on March 21st, 2021 Genres: Fiction Pages: 400 Format: Paperback Source: Book Club Buy on Amazon Goodreads In Second World War Bath, young, naïve wireless engineer Will meets German refugee Elsa Klein: she is sophisticated, witty and wordly, and at last his life seems to make sense . . . until, soon after, the newly married couple’s home is bombed, and Will awakes from the wreckage to find himself alone. No one has heard of Elsa Klein. They say he was never married. Seventy years later, Laura is a social worker battling her way out of depression and off medication. Her new case is a strange, isolated old man whose house hasn’t changed since the war. A man who insists his wife vanished many, many years before. Everyone thinks he’s suffering dementia. But Laura begins to suspect otherwise . . . Greetings you guys! We haven’t done a Wednesday Wisdom post in over a year. I actually kind of forgot about this fun feature where I share quotes or passages that stood out for me from a specific book. That is until I’ve read The Frequency of Us by Keith […]

Posted July 27, 2022
7 Comments

Weekend Book Friends #33

Greetings you guys! The second week of our winter holidays are just about done, but it’s not as if we’ve actually been doing nothing like we’ve intended to do. In fact, we are running around like crazy monkeys after all the renovations and to sort the house out again. But this afternoon, we do plan on doing nothing but loafing around reading our book. Taking a break from packing shelves yesterday, my Mommy took some time sorting through her older reviews in order to update them to this site. She came across her review for 11/22/63 by Stephen King. It reminded her that we still have the following book on our bookshelf and we’ve been meaning to read it for ages. We’ve started with it yesterday afternoon, but actually just fell asleep. Not that the book is boring at all. We’re just tired. We are quickly going to say hi to @ Reading is my Super Power for First Line Friday and to Gilion @ Rose City Reader for Book Beginnings. Every Friday you can link up and share the first sentence of your current read (or the one you plan to devour over the weekend), as well as your initial thoughts and impressions. […]

Posted July 8, 2022
28 Comments

Format: Paperback

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