large following among the tech demographic

#49 Read Montana fiction winners of the last 10 years
1999 The vintner's luck / Elizabeth Knox.
1998 Live bodies / Maurice Gee.

And thus concludes my romp through the Montana Fiction winners of the last 10 years.

Checking these two against my previously list of Montana characteristics...

• authors surnames usually start with J or G (close:check)
• they like multiple narratives and multiple narrators (close:close)
• recurring themes are drugs (nope:nope); sex (check:check - but not the good kind); murder (check:nope); homosexuality (check check - with an angel no less!:nope); illness (check:check - bonus points for mental illness); detachment from regular society (close-ish (for a bit of the story): mmm, not so much)

doo doo doodoo

#49 Read Montana fiction winners of the last 10 years
rather than wait for the next couple of years to read my "Last 10 years" titles, I'm going to go 10 years from now.

1999 The vintner's luck / Elizabeth Knox.
1998 Live bodies / Maurice Gee.

Oh, hang on...I've just noticed there's also a Book of the Year ...nah, I wanted to read the fiction ones.

It could have been a goblin

#35 Cook through the Edmonds cookbook
'pon my word I haven't posted for a while. That's because nothing has been happening! However today I made a couple of things that I hadn't made before - Chocolate brownie and Chocolate cake. The brownie is tres chocolaty. The cake is for my sister to take on tour with her. Hopefully it's cooked. :)

#49 Read Montana fiction winners of the last 10 years
2001 The book of fame / Lloyd Jones
I have read this before but figured I should read it again. I do like Mr Jones' stuff.

#59 Join a writing club

I have joined Kiwi Writers an online writing group. I know that it's not the same as meeting up with people who can ask you what you're up to but I do better when I don't have to talk to people. *nervous grin* I've also signed up for NanoWrimo. If I hit the word target (50,000)then I will consider #6 Write a novel complete. Here's hoping!

Perhaps nothing is happening because I've got all the easy stuff out of the way? It's the tough stuff like #73 that I'm going to find particularly challenging.

Oh, and it's six months since I've started. Let's look at some stats...
28/101 COMPLETE
17/101 in progress
56/101 not started

Gotta get thru this *

#49 Read Montana fiction winners of the last 10 years
2007 Mister Pip / Lloyd Jones

* song title

I went to Bath from Bristol

#44 Go without Alcohol for a month and check results
I'm back drinking and it's brilliant.
Quite an eye-opening experience this. I thought it would be all positive - no hangovers or seediness; save money; better skin (no toxins to get rid of); ability to converse without slurring or rambling; no "OMG- I can't believe I said that" moments. However, there's a real social price to pay if you're a non-drinker. Perhaps if I was a regular abstainer I wouldn't have noticed it as no-one else really commented upon my non-drinking. For e.g. I was the only woman at a casual work meeting and the only one without a drink. Usually I'd have had a beer so it felt like my otherness was accentuated because I wasn't drinking. There were a couple of other dinner/social occasions were I would normally have had a drink that felt very weird without one or even offering one to others who were there. What will this mean for the future? Well, I'll be taking a page out of a colleagues book and drinking lower alcohol beverages (beer instead of spirits, watered wine) and recognising that a drink or two of a night isn't a huge health hazard. I'm glad I did it and to be honest, this was probably the best month as I had a lot of responsibilities at work so had to find other ways of relaxing.

#49 Read Montana fiction winners of the last 10 years
LoM has noticed that there aren't any reviews on these. That's because a) they aren't the types of books I'd usually read and b) I don't want to bag them out of ignorance. What I've noticed so far - authors surnames usually start with J or G; they like multiple narratives and multiple narrators; recurring themes are drugs, sex, murder, homosexuality, illness, detachment from regular society (not quite the 'man alone' but almost).

Did I mention I'm back drinking?

Plan your day

#49 Read Montana fiction winners of the last 10 years

2002 Stonedogs / Craig Marriner.

Strangely appealing

#49 Read Montana fiction winners of the last 10 years
oof. can you feel the reluctance to tackle more of these?

#80 Have a p.j. party
It's tomorrow! Now, I must confess that I'm not entirely sure how far to go. It's just me, my sister, my nieces and my friend. (and maybe my boyfriend although he is threatening to bail). do I go the whole bash and have party food, streamers and themed stuff or not?

#44 Go without Alcohol for a month and check results
This month cannot be over soon enough.

They play for the full 80 minutes

#86 A-Z reading challenge - authors
Zusak, Markus "The book thief"
Narrated by Death this book tells the story of a little girl during a specific period of her life.
What did I think?
Fucking brilliant. I was daunted by the size of the book until I read the first paragraph. This is one of those books that I don't think I will ever be comfortable reading again as the first time was so perfect.

A great way to finish #86.


#49 Read Montana fiction winners of the last 10 years
2004 Slow water / Annamarie Jagose.

Great Wall of Sound

#87 A-Z reading challenge - titles
"Yu-Gi-Oh: volume one (Aka: The Millennium puzzle.)" by Kazuki Takahashi
About a boy who solves a puzzle and becomes the guardian of right and is given the power to pass judgement on evil. He doesn't know he has this power.
What did I think?
A typical manga with some violence, justice and a bit of sexiness thrown in for good measure. Plus of course the TV/Film tie-in which results in massive popularity. I caught one of these on TV one day - now I understand it. Surprisingly fun with a pretty good storyline...not sure if I'll follow it up but I certainly won't have the same attitude toward it as before. (i.e. damn kids and their messsed up cartoons.)

#49 Read Montana fiction winners of the last 10 years
2003 The Shag incident / Stephanie Johnson.

Lunch special

#49 Read Montana fiction winners of the last 10 years
2000 Harlequin rex / Owen Marshall
2006 Blindsight : a novel / Maurice Gee

#86 A-Z reading challenge - authors & #87 A-Z reading challenge - titles
Robin Waterfield "Xenophon's retreat : Greece, Persia and the end of the Golden Age"
About the retreat of an army led by Xenophon (among others) over rugged land way back in, um, I forget the exact date, but it's before Alexander the Great.
What did I think?
I thought that it was going to be heavy going as the first chapter dives right into the story and descriptions of the weapons. However, with a bit of concentration, it turned out to be a fascinating bit of history. The Greek soldiers made an already arduous journey more complicated by their own treachery and greed. Of course, that all seems so obvious from our vantage point in history but I guess if you're desperate you're not exactly thinking clearly.

#86 A-Z reading challenge - authors
Xinran "What the Chinese don't eat"
A collection of columns from the Guardian.
What did I think?
An interesting reminder of the differences between Eastern and Western culture and of the fact that China is such a large country that even if a Chinese person was willing to talk to you about their country it wouldn't follow that every Chinese person thinks that way or has expereinced that situation. Which is pretty bloody obvious when you think about it.

Yancey, Rick "The extraordinary adventures of Alfred Kropp"
About a boy who gets involved in stealing a sword and then has to deal with the mythical aftermath.
What did I think?
I very much enjoyed this take on the Arthurian legend. Especially the very well done bit just before the wrapping up scenes. Some very exciting blood and violence for the boys in this story, perhaps not so much for the girls - sometimes Alfred comes across as a bit of a whiner. Apparently the rights have been sold to Warner Bros Pictures...I hope they get the casting right. One tiny niggle about the resolution about parentage but if it hadn't have panned out the way it did what would be the point of the story? Recommended. (oh, it's another teen book.)

sweating like a pig

oh dear. last week was so busy that I didn't even have time to get on the computer let alone do some blogging. missed it.

#30 Have a weekend with the whanau
Spent this weekend with the family. Saturday we raced off to the Lily Pad cafe in Cambridge for Dad's birthday luncheon. Delicious - although I wished I'd picked the pancakes instead of the vege stack because all I could smell was the maple syrup from my sisters pancakes! Spent the rest of the afternoon hanging around the emergency dentist while the other sister got her tooth checked out. Poor thing. She ended up full of anesthetic and foul tasting mouthwash. Watched the game (damn Canterbury for nicking the shield in the first 10 mins) then went to bed early. Had a rolling breakfast in the morning. It's nice to hang out at Mum and Dad's place. All we seem to do is read the paper, drink cups of tea and watch telly but it's a very companionable individualistic time.
And yay! Dad has a stack of bottling jars to lend me. Superb.

#44 Go without Alcohol for a month and check results
This is the month! It nearly fell over last night but luckily we forgot to buy a bottle along with dinner. And no. It isn't anything special that I have chosen a month with only 30 days in it. :) From the previous month food diary I have concluded that alcohol makes me (variously and at the time/the next day) tired, nauseous, lethargic, sneezy, give me itchy/bloodshot eyes, makes me go red in the face and saps my get up and go. Will I be a bit more energetic this month? Let's find out!

#49 Read Montana fiction winners of the last 10 years
It's NZ Book Month. Montana winners, here I come. Here's the list...
2000 Harlequin rex / Owen Marshall.
2001 The book of fame / Lloyd Jones.
2002 Stonedogs / Craig Marriner.
2003 The Shag incident / Stephanie Johnson.
2004 Slow water / Annamarie Jagose.
2005 Tu / Patricia Grace.
2006 Blindsight : a novel / Maurice Gee.
2007 Mister Pip / Lloyd Jones
2008 ?
2009 ?