Reading Adventures Part 2

It's halfway through the year and how am I going with my reading challenge?

I speak of the popsugar reading challenge 2018!

I seem to have read 30 books, most of them fit a prompt from the reading list.

They are a mix of books I already had, books that caught my eye at the library and books that I have bought for Kindle.

Some prompts are and will be a struggle as they are outside my genre comfort zone.
But that is one of the advantages of a challenge, or a book club to get you reading things you wouldn't normally read.

Of the books I have read so far this year these are the ones that I have enjoyed the most or that have made an impression of some sort.

-The Spare Room by Helen Garner.
  I have only recently discovered Helen Garner and wow! I just love her writing. Seems so effortless, but draws you in.

- The Eye of the Sheep by Sophie Laguna.
   Another female aussie writer - is there a pattern here?
   She has the great knack of finding the characters voices and they are convincing. The subjects aren't always easy but they get to you!

- Walking on Glass by Ian Banks.
   The reviews of this book were mixed but on the poor side! But I found another author I'd like to   read more of.

 - The Shepherds Hut by Tim Winton.
    It's Tim Winton.

- Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders.
  What a weird, wonderful ride. Won the Man Booker prize but that often means I have a different     opinion!
 
I really don't know why I read The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware after reading The Woman in the Window by A J Finn as they are obviously tarred with the same brush. My excuse is that it fitted on of the prompts.
It also reinforced my notion that I don't much enjoy pop fiction.

I hated Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. (A book with characters who are twins).
Just cod awful!

Struggled through The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante.
Couldn't finish Monsoon by Di Morrisey (A book by a local author). Terrible.

More good reads -
A long Way Home by Saroo Brierley.
The Dressmaker by Rosalie Hamm.
Everything I never Told You by Celeste Ng.
Montebello by Robert Drewe.

What have you been reading?
Do you share any of my reads?
Thoughts?

10 reasons to love Iceland

Iceland is small, sure....but it's big in adventures.

1. Hot pools/ geothermal springs.
The most well-known is the Blue Lagoon which is near Rekyavik airport.
It is beautiful, being seemingly in a natural setting. There are bars on the edge so you can drink and soak.
BUT, it is very very expensive and you need to book ahead. Well ahead if you want to go during the day.
However there are many many more hot pools around the island, most towns have one. And Reykjavik has several.
These are relatively cheap to visit. Indeed the locals go there all the time to socialise.
It is a ritual for them.
And speaking of ritual...there is a strict protocol for entering the pools. You need to have a shower,
with soap which is supplied, in the nude. Yes! And there are attendants who make sure you do. There are cute little signs in the showers telling you which bits to wash if you are confused.
In the pool we went to in Reykjavik the showers were communal, but at the Blue Lagoon there are cubicles for us shy foreigners.
Some pools are outdoors and some indoors.
I wish we'd had time to visit more!

2. Volcanoes.
Some of them active, some about to blow, some recently blown....
And the result of all that volcanic activity is an amazingly beautiful landscape.

 3. Glaciers.

The wonderful thing about the glaciers in Iceland is that you don't have to go up high to see them.
If you travel around Iceland, you don't even have to get out of your car to see them!
And there is one very special place where the glaciers calves into a lake which empties into the sea and the icebergs get washed up on the beach!
Where else can you see that, eh?

4.  Puffins.
We were too late to see puffins. Sad.
These cute little guys land to nest in April and leave again in mid August. They spend the rest of their time out at sea.

5. Food.
Ok, so food is fairly expensive in Iceland as they have to import a lot of things.
So we stuck mainly to fish, lobster, and vegetarian food as we don't eat meat.
They grow a lot of crops in enormous greenhouses which are heated by geothermal heat.
Tomatoes, cucumbers, capsicum, greens and even bananas are grown.
There is great bread...we loved the bread and fresh warm buns at Braud & co.

6. Knitted items.
It will come as no surprise that there is much knittery when you see the number of sheep here!
If you are after a warm sweater then this is the place.
Also very tempting wool shops so you can make your own.

7. Scenery.
At first G was disappointed by the countryside as he was expecting snow-covered hills and crags.
But get up into the highlands and that's when you will gasp!
Drive around and you will see fjords and cliffs and bays and multi-coloured hills and and and....

8. Northern lights.
It's on everyone's wish list, right?
But, you have to go in the winter, and you have to have a clear sky and you have to be away from artificial lights.
We were lucky - we saw some on the second night of our trek just after sunset. It was mostly greenish shimmers but we got one brief rainbow curtain, which even our guide said was lovely.

9. Whale watching.
A much better thing to do that whale-eating.
Quite a few different whale species visit the waters around Iceland.
Go on a cruise to see them.
In summer.

10. Outdoor activities
From mountain biking, hiking, horseback riding, glacier tours, kayak, river rafting, caving, whale watching, birding and elf hunting (yes, elf hunting).

11. Waterfalls.
Why are there so many amazing waterfalls in Iceland?
Sure they may not be the highest or the widest but they sure are beautiful. It may be because of the water flow.
And the location.
And the rock formations.

OK, so that is 11 reasons!

How long do you need there?
At least 2 weeks.
Spend a few days in Reykjavik and 10 days or more the drive around the island.

Buffet revamp

We have had this IKEA buffet for over 30 years and I've been meaning to do something with it since we moved into our new house, but couldn't really decide what!

One day we were in Gladstone (NSW) and called in to Organised Chaos Emporium.

That's when I knew!

.

When I saw their range of chalk paints and the pieces that they had themselves revamped.

Plus they run workshops!

Win!

It took me many weeks of sanding, painting and sealing.

Then we had to find knobs.

And Organised Chaos found them for me and ordered them in.

   

You can see how well it fits in with our colour scheme.

We also have little splashes of orange in the kitchen tiles and on the front door.

Streets of Oamaru

Oamaru. Steampunk capital of New Zealand.

They have had the foresight to preserve a lot of the old buildings and have made a feature of them in a steampunky kind of way.

It was a drizzly post-industrial day when we were there.
Added to the atmosphere.

Oamaru is well worth a stroll around on the East coast of the South Island of New Zealand.
There are great cafes and the usual and not so usual gift shops.