For this week’s coffee share I thought I would share what I have been reading in April. It was a good month for reading, with holidays and a bit more time carved into the week to pick up a book or magazine. The books I read can be seen below, a varied mix as you can see, that also covers different parts of the globe.
I read four works of fiction, including Spark by Japanese author Naoki Matayoshi which I had started at the end of March, to a book set in India Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi. The former is about two manzai comedians (and yes I had to look that up) and their career struggles and relationship. Burnt Sugar is the tale of a mother-daughter relationship which at times was quite difficult, but still an excellent read.
My two favourites though were Linn Ullmann’s Unquiet, that I mentioned in another post a few weeks ago, which may well end up as book of the year. It is the semi-autobiographical fictional work about a woman and her father (in real life, Ingmar Bergman) and set mostly in Sweden. The theme for this month’s work book club was ‘a book that had won a prize’, and I selected from my pile The Dry by Jane Harper. I saw the film in January, and loved it, and am pleased to say the film is very faithful to the book. The importance of the place and Australian landscape that made the film special comes through in the words as well.
In the non-fiction corner this month, we had Spoon-Fed by Tim Spector, a book well worth reading if you are interested in food and the food industry. To finish the month, I picked up this delightful little book Tiny Moons A Year of Eating in Shanghai by New Zealand author Nina Mingya Powles. You can really taste the food she describes!
Finally, I browsed two favourite magazines, Cuisine and Frankie and my new cook book I mentioned in Monday’s post. I am planning a cake and Sunday’s dinner from it already.
Have you read anything good recently? Looking forward to later today (it is Saturday morning) and finding some time to sit and read, with a good cup of tea and maybe even a piece of cake.
Thanks to Natalie for hosting this week’s coffee share where you can meet other bloggers for a weekly catch up.
You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram@thistleandkiwis. As for Twitter….am totally inactive these days. If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com
Thistles and Kiwis 
Tiny Moons and the Ullman book sound especially good. I’m really enjoying a novel right now called Twelve Rooms of the Nile, which imagines a young Florence Nightingale meeting a young Gustave Flaubert during a trip to Egypt around 1850.
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Oh that does sound interesting!
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I read The Lost Man by Jane Harper and enjoyed it. I borrowed more of her books from my library and The Dry is one of them. Thank you for your #WeekendCoffeeShare.
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Think I will have to read some of her other books now.
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This month, I have been in a real funk with reading. I started about 5 books and couldn’t make it through any of them. Hope next month is better.
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I have periods like that too.I seem to have ‘got my reading mojo’ back!
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Yay! I think mine is coming back.
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Reading (which I love – both fiction and non-fiction) has had to take a back seat after two eye operations. I am hoping to be able to get lost in other worlds during the course of this month. “The Dry” seems to be a good novel to look out for.
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Interesting book choices. Been dying to read Burnt sugar. Think that will be next on my list 👌🏻
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I confess that I’ve been so busy lately I’ve not made the time to sit down and relax with a good book. When I do read, I am consumed by the story and am totally absorbed, which means nothing else gets done.
I am reading a book at the moment, and I’ve had so many stop-starts I’ve lost the thread of the story, the author and the title. I should just call it a day as it’s not holding my atteniont.
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I find I read very little during the working week, and like you, if I get absorbed by a book nothing much else get done!
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You inspired me to join the weekend coffee share. 🙂
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🙂
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HI Pip – you won’t regret joining the group. These are good folk.
Blessigs
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Great job on the reading. WOW. I’m lucky if I get one book done in a month…lol. The book in good company sounds good.
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I read and loved The Dry the year it came out – I thought it was more powerful than the movie. Glad you enjoyed it! The Lost Man by her is also brilliant!
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I have heard good things about The Lost Man so must add it to my list.
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Hi T&K,
I too have been almost too busy to read and that which I do make time for are the inexpensive SciFi kindle books that easily entertain and if they’re good HARD SciFi, I even learn some things about science. Several authors are really good at it. I am working my way through a collection of essays by Thomas Sowell. He used to have a political column it seems and is an amazing intellect and communicator. He’s over 90 now and retired I think, but his works are wonderful even if his points make me crazy as he uncovers all kinds of terrible things our government is doing to us.
I have to do this book in doses.
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