Every time Bean and I go to Exclusive books, I look at the new books and Bean says, I’m just going to the children’s books mom, and off she tootles to look at books. I love that she has an interest in them. I love that she enjoys ‘reading’ and I love that she is turning into a little bookworm.

Luckily, they have chairs for the littles to sit on, and hundreds and hundreds of books to look at and enjoy. Inevitably she will want me to buy her something but alas, this can’t be done every time we go, but every now and then, I say Yes, we can buy that book. Or yes, choose a book and we will take it with us.

I think that she thinks that it is a bit like a library, we go regularly and she chooses her books so she wants to do the same in a bookshop! Luckily, it is her birthday soon and Exclusives have their sale on so guess what she will be getting from the birthday fairies, yip, some books!

I can’t wait until she can read herself!

There are no hard and fast favourites at the moment, but some of her most read books are:

Charlie and Lola

Guess how much I love you

The Gruffalo

And one which is called Too Purply about a little girl finding the perfect outfit. She loves it and reads it over and over!

I can’t wait until she can read all the books that were my favourite as a child. I have already started a collection which include:

Gobbilino the witches cat- Ursula Moray Williams

The Magic Faraway Tree- Enid Blyton

The Family from One End Street – Eve Garret My absolute all time favourite

Mr God this is Anna – Finn  My absolute all time favourite(yes, I can have two all time faves!)

And then when she is older, some classics like Douglas Adams and Paul Gallico.

Oh, the joy that can be found in books is irreplaceable!

For another sentimental book post head on over here.

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So, I thought, what better way to get involved than to get us all involved. I have done something similar which was a great success for the school involved but this is bigger and better! So, take a read and if you can help please do!

Hello Friends

My name is Bianca. Today (Jan 4 2012) is my 36th Birthday! To celebrate I have decided to stop talking and start doing! Children, education and South Africa are 3 things I am passionate about. After much thought I have decided to launch PACT – Book Drive 2012!

Find a need and fill it. – Ruth Stafford Peale

Sometime in 2010/2011 I read a article that has ultimately lead me to this point.

The article stated there are over 28000 schools in South Africa and only 4000 School Libraries. I have done extensive research of my own into the subject and have worked on Social Research Projects covering various subjects including Local Government, HIV/ Aids, Early Childhood Development and other community based projects. I find it very sad that most children in rural South Africa and some more remote towns, even city schools are not equipped with a library. These children only see their surroundings at home (often poor, neglected, gang ridden areas) and very seldom get out of the area. They dont have libraries or internet facilities at school to learn more about the world and broaden their minds. The majority see little more than their reading books or perhaps a story book the teacher reads to them.

Education is key to the success of South Africa in the future, improving literacy levels NOW is vitally important.

We all know the effect reading has on people of all ages. I hope to make a difference in this area by providing children in the greater Cape Town area with colourful books/ stories to stimulate their minds and develop their imaginations…

I am therefore launching a Book Drive to supply 10 Cape Town Schools (creches, pre-primary schools and primary schools) who do not have libraries with age appropriate books. It does not have to be new books at all. 2nd hand books / ones your own children have outgrown will be much appreciated:)

I am appealing to friends and family to support this initiative in any way you can. My goal is to collect 1000 books this year. (100 Books per school) Anything over that will be a bonus and more schools can be added!

What I will need in order to reach this goal:

1. Join this page so I can communicate with those of you that would like to assist in either donation of books (preferably English only for now) or by spreading the word and creating awareness.
2. Donation of Age Appropriate Books (3-13 years)
3. Discuss with Friends and Family (or their friends and family) who have their own business premises in all areas of Cape Town about the possibility of them becoming a DROP OFF point. (This would also serve as great exposure for their business with additional foot traffic)
4. A printing company to Sponsor the printing for the boxes.
5. Sponsorship of DROP OFF boxes.
6. Nominations from yourselves for schools that would really benefit from this initiative. You know the schools in your area and which schools would really use it wisely. A website link, contact person name and email address would be 1st prize:)
7. Please share with friends and family or companies you think would be willing to become Sponsors of this project.
8. I have never launched this particular kind of project before so would also appreciate anyone with experience to offer volunteer assistance with the administration for now.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. – Dr. Seuss

Thanks in advance!

Collection boxes in the following areas would be ideal: Sea Point, Table view, Bellville, Brackenfell, Goodwood, Claremont, Somerset West, Plattekloof and Parow, Bergvliet, Muizenberg. If anyone knows of anyone in these areas that can assist by allowing a collection box on their premises, please put them in touch with this page or me with them. Email address is pact@live.co.za Bianca.

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MY TBR LIST INCLUDES:

1. Anais Nin – Fire( I am a huge fan of her and Henry Millers work, in fact I have a book of letters between the two of them and it is one of my favourites)
2. Lionel Shriver – We need to talk about Kevin( this was one of my original challenge books to read, and it is still sitting on my book shelf. I did start it, but just couldn’t get past the first few pages.  Mel then raved about it and so it is back on my list again!)
3. John F Demartini – The heart of Love ( I read  The Breakthrough Experience a few years ago and it had such a positive impact that when I found this one in a second hand book store for next to nothing, I bought it, but alas, still have not read it)
4. Peter Rushworth – Pinkertons sister (Bought this because I was in a book buying mood and it looked and sounded interesting- I will let you know the verdict once I have read it)
5. Julian Barnes – Arthur and George( Love the cover and the synopsis, have picked it up many times but haven’t got very far…)
6. Catherine Clement – Theo’s Odyssey(Have read three quarters of this book, when I went away by myself for a weekend – three years ago- and have just never finished it. It is likened to Sophie’s world but focused on the different religions of the world)
7. Nick Hornby – Juliet, Naked(have heard rave reviews)
8. Vikram Seth – A suitable boy ( I read An Equal Music by him, I adored the book and decided to read this too. I have started it countless times but it is completely different to the first one I have read by him. I have restarted it and aim to finish it by the end of Feb!)
9. George RR Martin – A Game of Thrones ( I watched the series and loved it, so thought I should read the book, read the first page and haven’t tried since…)

BOOKS WHICH I HAVE PILED NEXT TO MY BED WHICH NEED TO BE READ BY THE END OF JANUARY:

1. Jefferey Euginides – The Marriage Plot(currently reading this, thoroughly enjoying it)
2. Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre(currently reading this, am enjoying but a bit long winded)
3. Marlon James – the Book of Night Women (currently reading this, it was my gift from the Book Blogger Holiday Swop, thoroughly enjoying it so far – it has been likened to The Help so if you enjoyed that, you should enjoy this, though the writing style is completely different)
4. Stephen Kelman – Pigeon English (have read good reviews of this book so picked it up at my library)
5. Peter Ackroyd – The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein (this sounds like an interesting book so am going to give it a go)
6. Patricia Wood – Lottery(Again, I liked the sound of it)
7. Aravind Adiga – The White Tiger (This is a tale of two India’s and sounds very interesting)

WHAT I HAVE READ RECENTLY:

1. Erin Morgenstern – The Night Circus( I received this for Christmas and I thoroughly enjoyed it, everyone should read it! Beautiful book!)
2. Paige Nick – This Way Up( I enjoyed this, it is an easy reading book about a group of sisters)
3. Emma van der Vliet – Past Imperfect ( Fabulous book by a South African author, loved it)
4. Deon Meyer – Thirteen Hours ( South African crime writer who I recently discovered, I could not put this book down, it took me a day to read, small type and everything!)
5. Nora Roberts – Black Hills( I was lent this book and having never read her before, I was pleasantly surprised)
6. April Lindner – Jane ( An updated take on Jane Eyre for teenagers, quite good actually)

So, what do you think? Have you read any books on my TBR list or on my January reading list? Or have you read something which you would recommend to be added to my lists, please do let me know.

I aimed to get 100 books read last year, this didn’t happen, I managed a measly 56, so am hoping that this year will be better numbers wise!

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Then I found this one in one my favourite book shops where they were having a massive sale, couldn’t remember if I had read it or not so decided to purchase it nonetheless. My thinking being that if I had already read it, I could give it as a Christmas present to someone. And, I hadn’t read it!

Murakami has a talent of writing about the world beyond our own world. Where strange things happen, that could make no sense whatsoever but wrapped together in a story in the real world somehow just does.

In The Wind-up Bird Chronicle, our main character begins to experience things which are slightly off character beginning with the cat that dissapeared, and then his wife dissapears. The story is about how he tries to find his wife and the rather strange characters he comes into contact with during his search.

I love how he connects even the most random story-well, one might feel it is random as one reads, in with the main story. How ones fate is written in stone, and no matter what decision is taken, it still leads back to where they are supposed to be.

I really enjoyed this book and if you are a Murakami fan, you should definitely enjoy it too.

Have you read any Murakami? Do you enjoy his writing?

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I have never read him before, so when I found this book in my parcel, I did feel a little daunted but also pleased, because if there was any one reason why I would read this book, it would be because I received it as a gift. And I did read it, it took me longer to read than normal, but I put that down to an extremely hectic last month and severe lack of reading time (about 20minutes at bed time each night) and I enjoyed it.

It definitely is not my usual genre and as I said, felt a bit daunted by it, but it had an interesting story, I did find it a bit bizarre – for those of you who have read it- about how one man can ‘not’ live his life  because of one day getting the love of his life. But I think that is probably just my pessimistic side coming out. The ending was lovely and sad at the same time and just makes you realise how short life really is.  And compare it to my favourite love story ever Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins it is a world apart but yet quite similar. The theme being trying to find eternal life in order to love for longer. You would have to read the books and come to your own conclusions.

I can honestly say that I enjoyed Love in the time of Cholera but it doesn’t beat Jitterbug Perfume in the love story department!

Have you read both, what did you think?

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Yes, I though that might appeal to all the ladies out there;-)

Well, you can at Indigo Fields check out their website here

And I bet you are wondering why I have this on the book club blog? Well, see there is just a little bit more to it, this is a chance for you and your entire book club to win. Head over here: www.facebook.com/indigofields to fill in all the details and find out what you need to know and well, you never know but you do need to be in it to win it, as they say!

I have added all the info here, but you need to enter on the facebook page…

Well, here is your chance, all you need to do is enter this competition to stand a chance of winning your bookclub a day at Indigo Fields Spa with overnight stay and all meals included up to the value of R12 400!! The competition is open to anyone, you just  need to pay your own travel expenses.

Let’s go Book Clubs! and please send us some of the photos of your book clubs too and let us know once you are up and in the competition so we can come and like you to help you win!!

Good luck!

What a wonderful way to celebrate your book club and especially before Christmas!

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I really want to read this book!

The latest Murakami

For my guilty pleasure reading

The only in this series I haven’t read yet. (and the I can pass it on to my brother as he is reading the series too!)

Updated to add:

Can’t believe I forgot to put this on my list!!!

Oh and this:

I really enjoyed a short history of nearly everything and this one is just up my alley!

What’s on your wish list for this year?

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The Housekeeper and the professor – Yoko Ogawa

This is a lovely book, it is an easy read though full of mathematical equations which I have to admit to having gone slightly over my head.  A maths professor with a short term memory of only 80 minutes. A young housekeeper and her ten year old son. And the blossoming friendship between the three. The peculiarities of having to reintroduce themselves each morning, the maths riddles based on her shoe size or her birthday, and the numbers, which forges a bond which is more mysterious than imaginary numbers but runs deeper than memory.

A beautiful story!

Farenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury

Wow, this is a phenomenal book! It has been on  my list of books to read for about 2 years, and by chance I found it in a bookshop which was having a clear out sale and bought it for R10! A very well worth R10 spend! A dystopian novel about how in a distant future, books are burnt and life is lived via 4 walls of television. It is a scary look at a technical age where books have no place, and life has no place in life. I recommend any one to read this, who has any sort of love for books. Truly, I could not put it down.

A life in pieces – Richard K Baer

Oh my goodness, this was a harrowing read. It was incredible, amazing, fascinating and horrific. A true story about a woman with 17 multiple personalities due to severe trauma and abuse as a child. And I swear, every mother should read this book, just to make sure that they are aware of what is out there, so we don’t get complacent. So we make sure that we keep an eye out for changes in personalities. I really was horrified by what happened to this woman as a child, that people could actually be as monstrous as they were. Awful, but in the end , amazing how even though she has different personalities, she is still wanting to heal herself and this book takes us through what happened, over ten years! Truly incredible. ( I stayed up until 12.30am one night because I was absolutely fascinated…)

Have you read any of these? Did you enjoy them?

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Love this.

Luckily, I found it in time, I have been so busy that I have barely had time to check my emails… But I remembered to check in time if the forms were up:-)

So, how it works is, you get assigned a secret santa, a fellow book blogger and wallah, you send each other gifts through the post. The joy is finding something for someone you don’t know and wonder if you will like them…

Here’s to the beginning of the season to be merry! Watch out for my book wish list, coming soon…

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I originally had this idea after participating in Laura‘s gift swop which I am sure that whoever joined in, loved the anticipation of receiving a parcel in the post and the suspense of what Might be in the parcel was just as lovely as the receiving of the gift. I also thoroughly enjoyed deciding on What to put in the parcel for someone that I had never met, though trying to pick the perfect gift was  a lot harder than if it was for someone you knew.

Anyway, as you can clearly see, I loved it and so I have decided to do something similar here. But this time we will know what the gift will be, it will be a book. But not just any book (buying a book for someone you know can be difficult in itself, but for a stranger, a whole lot more challenging!)

So, here’s the deal. The book that you send as a gift MUST be your favourite all time novel. And we wont be pairing people up either, basically how it will work is:

1)You leave a comment stating wether you are willing to post internationally or  not, just put in brackets – (INT) OR (NOT INT) together with your name and email so we can contact you. Your commenting automatically places you as a participant.

2) The person who comments next will receive your favourite book in the post – PLEASE don’t tell us what it is, that at least will be a surprise!

3)So, it doesn’t matter if there is an odd amount of people taking part because each commenter will receive a book from the previous commenter. The last commenter will send a book gift to the first commenter.

4) Anyone can participate, you do not need to have a blog, just a postal address and email in order to contact you and let you know the details  of the person you are sending it to.

5) You must be committed to participating if you leave a comment

6) The closing date for all comments will be on the 25th October and you will have two weeks to send your book out. All books must  be posted by the very latest on the 8th November. If you are posting internationally, all books MUST be posted by the 1st November.

7) This way, everyone gets a book that is at least one persons favourite favourite. You may not have read it before or even know the author,but this in itself is a gift as you may discover something you have never heard of before.

Books DO NOT need to be new, gently read and second hand is great, but please ensure that it is still in a good reading condition. There is something pleasant about reading a book that has already been read, but not if it is in terrible condition!

9) Spread the word and get commenting. Everyone will receive the details of who they need to post to by 12am 26th October.

10) Last of all, have fun!!

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