What’s on your bookshelf #23

Another month, another look at what has been on my, and other’s bookshelves. I missed June as we were on holiday, and to be honest, I hardly read at all when away. The earlier part of the month was so disrupted as regular readers know, that all I could deal with was audio books and easy reading detective fiction. Anyway, on to this month’s post.

First up, Peninsula by New Zealand writer Sharron Came. This is a lovely book, centred on three generations of one family who live in rural Northland. The ten interwoven stories tell the tales of the community and how things move and change over the years. This is well worth a read if you want something that will immerse you in a small world. I suggest you wait for a rainy day and have a good supply of biscuits and a pot of tea at hand for this book.

A very different book, but also about a community and family, is Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius. The book is set in the north of Sweden, and focusses on the lives of a Sami family, their reindeer, and the racism leading to the brutal killing of the animals. There are some quite visceral passages, but this is such a good book that you really can’t put it down. There is an excellent summary and review of the book in The Guardian here. And if you want to see a film that you could kind of see as a companion piece, I highly recommend Sami Blood.

A very different work of fiction is Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang and another book I couldn’t put down. Simply put, it is the tale of a struggling author who steals the unpublished work of a friend who suddenly dies and what happens afterwards. There is a lot in this book – the issue of cultural appropriation, the impact of social media (and how it can make or ruin someone) and even a ghost story – and that is only some of it. There are some bits where you think ‘really?’ but it is a great read. Here is another review if you are interested from The Guardian.

This month’s food related reading included this fascinating read by Chris van Tulleken Ultra-processed People on the state of modern food and how bad ultra-processed food is for us and the planet. It makes for sobering reading and also makes you think about what you are eating. We mostly eat fresh food, but of course like everyone else, we are not perfect. Anyway, you can read a good summary of the book and its ideas here. And if you want to see a worrying trend of the result of a poor diet, read this article here.

I had a voucher for a discount off a cookbook, so on my birthday at the start of the month I treated myself to Julia Busuttil Nishimura’s latest book Around the Table. I can see me making lots of things from this, or at least using it to inspire me in the kitchen. I have already made the herbed roast chicken with buttery croutons which was excellent, and you can see I have already marked up a few things to try.

That is me for this month – what have you been reading? #whatsonyourbookshelf.

The what’s on your bookshelf challenge is hosted by fellow bloggers  Deb, Sue, Donna and Jo. The idea is to share what you’re reading, what you’ve enjoyed lately share – why they resonated with you, how they made you feel, who are your favourite authors and what you recommend.

Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden.

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis. If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com or lofgren@thistlesandkiwis.com