Shambolic Living

Reading This Week – The Fault In Our Stars – John Green

Janine — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 11:16:15 +0000

Despite our current circumstances, Princess Child and I have both just read The Fault in Our Stars, ’cause it’s important to ALWAYS keep up with popular culture. This Young Adult Fiction novel tells a humourous, heartbreaking story of first love. The emotions intensified by the omnipresent fear of death as the two protagonists live with...

2012 Favourites

Janine — Sun, 30 Dec 2012 00:33:50 +0000

Taking a moment to consider my “favourites” for 2012. My favourite song of 2012 is from Delta Goodrem. It’s dedicated to a childhood friend she lost in an accident in 2009. It’s absolutely beautiful and deeply sad. The speech of the year goes to Prime Minister, Julia Gillard. When she stood up in Parliament and...

If you want to publish a book … you’ve got to WRITE

Janine — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 01:56:17 +0000

It is 10.54 am on my day off from my real-world job. When I decided to work part-time the aim was to spend my day off writing. Get a book published. Uncover that latent dream from underneath the grown-up world responsibilities of kids, mortgage, bills and … well you know the drill. This morning I...

What’s Your Favourite Cookbook?

Janine — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 07:56:21 +0000

There is a certain irony to writing a blog post about cookbooks on a night one child in your family is having a hotdog, the husband is having leftover pumpkin soup and yourself and the other child are heating up some frozen spinach and ricotta pasties – Sunday night is gourmet at Shambles Manor. However,...

Reading This Week – Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? – Jeanette Winterson

Janine — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 02:07:54 +0000

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is the tenth novel of British Author, Jeanette Winterson. In it she returns to the childhood depicted in her first award-winning book, Oranges Aren’t The Only Fruit. Although this time around Winterson ditches the “semi autobiographical” label of Oranges and embraces the memoir. Winterson regards the first book as...

Reading This Week – Things They Didn’t Tell You About Parenting

Janine — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 06:59:27 +0000

A first for the blog this week – a review of an e-book. I’m still trying to come to terms with the concept of reading “books” online. I’m a traditional girl who loves the paper, the print, the page turning but I’m trying to “get with the times” and come around to the convenience...

Reading This Week – Love & Hunger – Thoughts on the Gift Of Food – Charlotte Wood

Janine — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 10:03:21 +0000

Every month I take part in the Book Club on ABC Mid North Coast, which means I have books selected for me to read. It’s like a literary lottery, you never know what you are going to get. You often find yourself reading books you wouldn’t normally choose for yourself. This month we discussed Love...

Reading This Week – Silent Fear by Katherine Howell

Janine — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 02:45:08 +0000

I love a good crime novel, mystery or thriller. The obsession began with Enid Blyton’s Secret Seven, moved through Agatha Christie and into Patricia Cornwell, PD James, Ruth Rendell. If I’m left to my own devices to choose a book to curl up with on a rainy day I wade straight into the murky world...

Reading This Week – Watercolours – Adrienne Ferreira

Janine — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:40:22 +0000

A gifted child, a quirky family, an inexperienced teacher, a mysterious death all jumbled together in a small, country town that’s the essence of Watercolours. This is the debut novel for Adrienne Ferreira and in it she creates an engaging story with a group of likeable characters. Watercolours is a gentle book which meanders through the...

Reading this Week – The Testimony – Halina Wagowska

Janine — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:57:23 +0000

As time passes The Holocaust of World War II moves further into the pages of history. The tragedies and atrocities are at risk of becoming facts, figures and statistics on a page taught to disinterested students who would rather be at the beach than in a stuffy classroom. Eighty-one-year-old human rights activist Halina Wagowska counters...