Backpacker Kitty – Guillaume, Laetitia and Kitty have been backpacking from North America to Tierra del Fuego – travelling on foot. Apparently Laetitia has returned to France, but Guillaume and Kitty continue the journey. The last news seems to be from December last year, but there’s a new website going up by the looks of things – but it doesn’t appear finished.

Kitty was a stray who joined them in North America – travelling with a kitty who just wants to be with you wherever you are? I could travel like that. Note – the link is to a google English translation of their site – in French it is at http://enfanceart.free.fr/miami_ushuaia/.

Of course I like this idea because the kitty is simply Kitty – like our kitty who is New Kitty. Capisce?

Speaking of New Kitty she is settling in well and seems to rather like me now. She is still a little skittish of Mr Monster and the kiddies but then she’s also quite young so is generally a bit of a bouncer. She’s also a scratcher (of objects, not people) and a player with the mousie toys. Play-ah! I will try to get more piccies for interested people soon.

If you fancy some well-written and gripping historical fiction then I highly recommend New Zealand writer Barbara Ewing’s Rosetta – we have a new copy for $20.95.

If you have young kids you know that the pre-school years are a great time for encouraging their natural curiosity and desire to learn (not to mention answering a million questions a day). How to Be Your Child’s First Teacher is a great title chock-full of suggestions and guidance on how to encourage your child and covers the full spectrum of learning. Just $22.95 from BookieMonster!

If you follow me on Twitter (@bookiemonsternz) you’ll know I’m rather upset because my beloved Nana-car is broken (apparently a transmission is a wonderful, but expensive, thing). So I’m thinking I need to read Dare to Repair Your Car and start paying a leeetle bit more attention to my car maintenance. A great guide for anyone who’s is a bit flummoxed by the basic mechanics of cars and just $24.95!

If, like me, you’re a fan of the BBC Friday Night Comedy podcasts, and more particularly The News Quiz, you’ll have heard the dulcet tones of Francis Wheen. Wheen is also a great writer, and we have a copy of his history of Das Kapital by Karl Marx from the Books That Changed the World series, called (unsurprisingly) Marx’s Das Kapital. A biography of a book, $26.95 from BookieMonster.

The Graveyard Book

Neil Gaiman is here soon for the NZ Post Writers and Readers Week in Wellington (wuhwuhwuh) – start preparing now with your own copy of The Graveyard Book for just $19.95! I loved this book when I read it – you can read my review here.

That’s a lot of ifs!

Sarah Waters!

Simon Schama!

Richard Dawkins!

NEIL GAIMAN!!

Okay, so it only reads that way because that’s the way I’m reciting it. Time to be on the lookout for cheap tickets to Wellington?

The full festival runs from 26 Feb – 21 Mar 2010, with NZ Post Writers and Readers Week starting on Mon 5 Mar,  and you can find more details here – NZ Festival – Writers and Readers

As part of New Zealand Book Month (being October – I’d like to think they choose it because it’s my birthday month, but I have a feeling this is not, in fact, the case), and just add books’ NZ Book Month Challenge, I decided to read a few New Zealand authors (not that I need an excuse to read NZ authors, but it helps me make a decision about what I’m going to read next if I have some reasoning). First up was In My Father’s Den by Maurice Gee.

Ostensibly In My Father’s Den is a who-dunnit – a murder mystery that begins with the discovery of the body of Celia Inverarity, which quickly leads police to Paul Prior (the narrator of the book) who is the last person to see Celia alive, and who is also her English teacher as well as the jilted teenage boyfriend of her mother, Joyce (jilted in favour of Celia’s father, Charlie). This basic plotline frames the central, bigger part of the book, the story of men – three men in particular, Paul, his father and his brother Andrew – and the ways they hide from and cope with what their lives have been and become, and particularly the effects of the women in their lives.

The story is set in Wadesville – a not very thinly disguised version of Henderson, Auckland. One criticism I have of the book is this conceit – why the made up setting when it’s so clearly based on a real setting? Just use reality! Maybe in 1972 NZ (when the book was published) the publishers were afraid of using real New Zealand places for stories such as this – which is a shame because the setting is such an integral part of the story that the made-up version is a distraction when it could (and should) have been seamless.

My only other criticism really isn’t a criticism of this book – but I desperately wanted more of Celia. That, however, is really a whole ‘nother book, and potentially an extremely interesting one! But without more the few hints and brief glimpses into her life we have don’t quite ring true or authentic – she isn’t fleshy enough to stand as a whole character, but only as an idea. This tempts me to employ my Arts student cod-post-structuralism and wonder about the attitude towards the women in the book – the way their stories are essentially shut down and retreated from by the men and the tone of fear and mild distaste surrounding the female characters. This isn’t a criticism though – this adds to the depth of thought and feeling that this title evokes in the reader.

In My Father's Den

In My Father’s Den is, in many ways, the archetypal dark, mysterious New Zealand story. Somewhere in our psyche is this fear of ourselves, our land, our remoteness and the stories of all the people missing or lost that we carry. I always get a sense of black enjoyment to see this explored in books.

Three furry black paws from BookieMonster Kitteh.

The theme is Our Voice, Our Choice, and there are events running all over the country for the whole month.

Book blogger just add books is running a NZ Book Month challenge - I’m going to read some Maurice Gee and a Stephanie Johnson book I’ve had on my bookshelf for a while so keep an eye out for those reviews here.

Happy Book Month kiwis

Running at the Aotea Centre now, see the link to the website below for programme details.

Auckland Writers and Readers Festival website