Feathers

Happy Australia Day! Happy Birthday Mim! Congratulations to Janice and Dave on the birth of Hannah! We have been rather flat out with house, church, work and school stuff. Jossie and Toby needed new uniforms, Jossie needed everything as she is starting high school at a different school. Toby has worn the same size three shorts he started Kindy in and they still aren't tight around the waist! Thankfully, Bethany is happy to live in a world of hand-me-downs.

We have still been having some holiday fun, even if we have had to squeeze it in around a huge list of jobs. We've been swimming in the Shephards' pool (yes, I have been in too), picnicking in the Botanic Gardens, watching ABC 3 (favourite shows - Good Game SP and Splatalot), having friends over and going to friends' houses. Jossie and Bethany have feathers in their hair and Toby fell off his skateboard and broke his arm. All part of a good summer holiday, surely!

I think I'm looking forward to school going back. Getting the routine going, not having to find someone to look after Bethany (a hazard of living away from family) and, um, I'm sure there are other good things. I'm trying not to think about making lunches and the bane of my existence, homework. I'll also miss having more time to read.

I have read some fabulous books over the holidays, some of which I can't remember at the moment because I have been very slack with my book journal. Here's what I can remember:
Bitter Leaf by Chioma Okereke - whimsical, evocative, African fiction.
Half of the Human Race by Anthony Quinn (not the actor) - suffragettes, cricket, romance, WWI. Oh, how I loved this book!
The Gashleycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey - I read this on my phone in the car on the way to Bermagui and learnt it off by heart. I had to love a book that starts with "A is for Amy who fell down the stairs."
The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins - futuristic, dystopian, romantic, fast-paced youth fiction. I read all three very quickly.
The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch - My first Iris Murdoch and I will seek out more.
Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks - I was always going to love this book set in England and France during WWII. I read his earlier novel, Birdsong, a few years ago and loved it too. I wonder if the movie is any good....

Now I am reading Anthony Quinn's earlier book, The Rescue Man, and Rumer Godden's Kingfishers Catch Fire, I do love her books. Jossie is reading Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, Toby, Inkheart and Bethany, Holly the Christmas Fairy. What are you reading?