Book Club Reading List 2006

A bunch of the Chambers girls and friends started a book club in November 2005. We try to catch up every 6 weeks or so to critically discuss (ie either rave about or bitch about) our selected book. It's great because it makes a nice change to all the legal materials I have to read at the office... and I dont do enough leisure reading anyway. Apparantly one of our Chambers boys tried to get a guy's book club up and running in competition to ours (after he was informed it was a girls only event). As far as I know it didnt get off the ground :)

Here's our reading list for so far:

1. [Nov 05] March by Geraldine Brooks (shortlisted for the British Book Awards: Best Read of the Year 2006; winner of Pulitzer Prize (Fiction) 2006 - can't understand why- this has got to be one of least enjoyable books I have read)
2. [Feb 06] The Sparrow Garden by Peter Skrzynecki (shortlisted for National Biography Award 2005) - absolutely loved it
3. [Apr 06] The Life of Pi by Yann Martel (winner of Man Booker Prize 2002) - think I read it one too many times
4. [Jun 06] On Beauty by Zadie Smith - not entirely sold on her style of writing
5. [Aug 06] Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford - a Mrs Leslie pick, so high probabiliy of it being a great read
6. [Sept 06] The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
7. [Nov 06] The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (loved it so much the first time that I thought we should all read it)
   

And this is what I've been reading in between:

1. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote (I decided to read this after seeing the movie, In Cold Blood; this edition of Breakfast at Tiffany's also included 3 of his short stories: House of Flowers, A Diamond Guitar and A Christmas Memory)
2. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (of Tuesday's With Morrie fame)
3. The Ambulance Chaser by Richard Beasley (of Hell Has Harbour Views fame)
4. White Lies by Damian Marrett (author of Undercover)
5. Ending the Gauntlet: Removing Barriers to Women's Success in the Law by Lauren Stiller Rikleen (totally depressing view of the legal profession, particularly wrt women)
6. Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (this was a recommendation from Sophie, and is a FAB read!)
7. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (I'm had been planning on seeing the movie so thought I'd better read the book - the first two thirds is an absolute page turner...the rest - not so great - I am no longer planning on seeing the movie.)
8. Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes
9. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Piccoult
10. Perfurme by Patrick Suskind (not really a page turner, and a bit dark, but not too bad)
11. The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (the prequel to Love in a Cold Climate, which we did for book club last month. Ms Mitford seems to love really abrupt endings to her novels...which is always a bit of a shock)
12. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (absolutely fabulous book recommended to me by Danielle!!! Up there with Haroun for being an engrossing read. This is going to be my next book club pick!)
13. Memories of My Melancholy Whores by GabrielGarcia Marquez (really not as risque as it sounds and quite a quick read)
14. Anonymous Lawyer by Jeremy Blachman (I actually prefer the novel to the posts on his site, Anonymous Lawyer)
15. When in Rome by Penelope Green (a nearly-thirty's story about ditching life in Sydney to live la dolce vita in Italy - didnt like the writing style, but it made me want to ditch my dictaphone and head off to Italy!)

Call me Nigella ...

As I had the house to myself this weekend, I had Mel, Lou, Jess, and Bel over for my first dinner party ... where I did all the cooking ... without mum's help!

Having not done this before (and not having had a trial run), I was a bit apprehensive about the whole thing (esp the risotto), but I think it worked out well. We had a yummwarm rocket and squash salad and asparagus and mushroon risotto for the main (which Mel helped me prepare!), followed by chocolate pudding with vanilla icecream and strawberries.

Mum wanted photographic evidence of my culinary skills, so Mel very generously obliged.

Happy easter all!

My place in cyberspace

Well, after regularly checking out Mel's blog, and the fabulously entertaining (although sometimes too close to reality) Anonymous Lawyer blog, I have decided to take the plunge and get my own place in cyberspace!

As Mel (aka Martha or MDiddy to the closest of her friends) has often said to me, if it wasn't for her blog, she'd never remember what she got up to in her younger years! And for all the relatives and friends overseas, it'll help you keep track of whats going on in Sydney.

When I get a digital camera and become more technologically competent, Ill try setting up an online album. One step at a time though.

So welcome to my blog :)

We'll see how long I manage to keep the blog alive ...