Library Book Sale

Behold my latest haul! Not bad for under ten bucks...

Market Blues, Kirsty Murray
To add to my Kirsty collection. (Do read her latest, India Dark, which is an utterly fascinating tale of a child theatrical troupe touring India at the turn of last century, and based on a true story.) Kirsty does love a good historical drama, and this is a Melbourne one, so goody.

Caspar in the Spotlight, Narinder Dhami
Evie told me to look for "puppy books, but with no sad bits." Hopefully this story of a dog starring in a TV soap opera will fit the bill.

Arthur: The Seeing Stone, Kevin Crossley-Holland
Kevin Crossley-Holland's Arthur trilogy are the most gorgeously written, poetic, moving novels, perhaps the best books I read last year. They parallel the story of a young medieval page with the legendary tales of King Arthur. I'm thrilled to have this in my library and hope I can find the lot. If you haven't read them, I beg you to do so!

The Witch in the Lake, Anna Fienberg
We're doing Witches for one session of our book group next year, and this is on the list. I was amazed at how many witch titles seemed to pop up once I started noticing them.

The Silver Branch, Rosemary Sutcliff
Part 2 of The Eagle of the Ninth which The Great Raven was discussing recently (I managed to find The Eagle itself in a second hand shop recently, too. Not the actual lost standard of the Roman Ninth Legion, obviously. The book.)

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Ann Brashares
Also coming up in book group. I already have a copy, but I thought I'd pick up a spare for my friend Heather.

The Peacock Spring, Rumer Godden
I need to read more Rumer Godden. Forbidden love, India, beautiful cover -- couldn't resist.

Committed, Elizabeth Gilbert
I really enjoyed Eat, Pray, Love (so sue me!), and this has only been out, what, less than a year? On the library cull pile already? I'm quite interested in ideas about marriage at the moment (apart from, you know, living it, marriage is turning out to be quite a central theme in Independence. Hmmm.) Worth a look.

Voices From a Lost World: Australian Women and Children in Papua New Guinea Before The Japanese Invasion, Jan Roberts
Speaking of Independence, I can call this research, even though it's dealing with a time period well before the 1970s, when Independence is set. Fascinating stories of Australia's colonial past. I can't wait to read this.

The Lucky Lamb, Lucy Daniels
The Queen's Cubby, Raewyn Caisley & Elise Hurst
Two more books for Evie (though when I read from the back of Lucky Lamb, "Woolly gets into all sorts of trouble...," she wailed, "I told you, no sad bits!" so we shall see.)


Poems For 7 Year Olds And Under, Helen Nicoll (ed)
Alice has been practising reading really well with poetry lately, so I might try her with some of these. I might need to type them out so she doesn't think they're beneath her dignity. I hate books labelled "For 8 Year Olds", "For 3 Year Olds" etc, it's so artificial and so limiting. Everyone should read what they want to read, regardless of "age suitability." I'm old enough not to be ashamed of reading books for kids, but when you're nine, it kind of matters.

Your Personality Tree, Florence Littauer
I always need to pick up at least one pop-psych volume! I came across this woman via Diane Levy's parenting book, Of Course I Love You, Now Go To Your Room, and I found her theories of personality extremely helpful and enlightening. She's adapted the ancient theory of the four humours to analysing personality types (sunny Sanguine, impatient Choleric, quiet Melancholic and peaceable Phlegmatic), each with their own needs and problems. Evie is a classic bubbly Sanguine, who can't bear to be criticised or to be alone for a second; Alice is a typical Melancholic, who falls apart when things aren't perfect, and needs lots of solitary time. Realising this has made parenting these two very different children much easier (especially since I'm a lazy, conflict-loathing Phlegmatic myself!) Warning: it's very Christian, which some readers might find off-putting.

Library of Curious and Unusual Facts: Inventive Genius
For Alice: weird little snippets about all kinds of inventions, from the safety pin to the ballpoint pen, to a "combined table, wardrobe and bedstead" from 1880 that never really had the success it deserved...

And finally, for my darling husband:
1000 Military Aircraft In Colour, Gerry Manning
Enuff said!

And In Other News...

... Rex now lives on Easter Island.

Dragon in the House

 

We live with a dragon - a bearded dragon, to be precise. He lives in Alice's bedroom and his name is Rex. Most of the time he sits quietly on his rock, basking under his sunlamp and thinking deep thoughts - well, we assume they're deep thoughts, because he can't speak, and despite Alice and her friends' best efforts, they have not yet succeeded in teaching him to read or write.

He is, however, communicative in other ways. He rushes up to greet us; he waves his little arm, and scrabbles against the glass of his tank. He gets very excited when he sees his dinner coming. Twice a day he receives a meal of crickets (laboriously plucked or shaken from their bucket by Rex's human servants) and a plate of chopped vegetables. He adores bok choi, spinach and carrots; he's less impressed by tomato, apple or asparagus.

At the moment he's shedding, because he's growing so fast that his skin no longer fits. It drops off in large crisp flakes, not unlike cornflakes. When we take him out of his tank, he skitters and leaps to the highest accessible point - the back of the couch, for example - and surveys his kingdom. We know he can see colours, because he tries to eat the green portions of the blanket. 

When you take him to the window, he stares in amazement at the immensity of the world. Rex was born in a reptile shop; he's never seen the desert, never climbed real boulders or caught wild insects. If you release a fly into his tank, he freezes, then launches himself into space with his mouth open to snatch it in mid-air. We find this reassuring. If for some reason Rex had to survive in the wild, we know he could catch himself some dinner.

Though he might begin to wonder where the servants with those platters of mixed salad have got to.

A (Slightly) Free Range Birthday
Alice decided that this year her birthday was to be a Day in the Forest. So we borrowed a big car and took a handful of friends to the Ferntree Gully National Park.

First we had a scavenger hunt and some exploring...


... and then a picnic...


... followed by cake and pinata at Alice's grandparents' house (conveniently located just up the hill).


Afterwards, we had intended to visit William Ricketts' Sanctuary, but it began to rain, so we took them for milkshakes in the village instead, and then gave them 50 cents each to spend on a knickknack stall at the weekend market...


... then we drove five slightly damp but very happy little people home again.

And the next day, we got Rex!Best. Birthday. Ever.