Review: A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra [Jan]

In 2004 Chechnya was in the middle of a war with Russia for independence – and control of the oil supply.

After the Russians Feds come for Dokka in the middle of the night, his 8 yr old daughter Havaa hides to escape them.  Burning his home to the ground, they take him to the Landfill – a pace people don’t come back from.  His neighbour and friend Akhmid takes her to the only person he knows who might hide her, a doctor running the nearby hospital, Sonja.

Sonja left a fiancé and brilliant job in London to return to Chechnya. She’s searching for his sister Natasha, who disappeared from Chechnya after escaping a brothel in Italy.  Akhmid, a poorly trained doctor, bargains to help Sonja in the hospital if she helps to hide Havaa.  The Russian Feds are searching for her......

The story slowly unfolds, jumping from the present day to flashbacks explaining events leading up to now.  Each chapter is marked by the year and the story is told by different characters.  Glimpses of the future for random characters were also given.  The descriptions of living in a war zone are vivid and horrific; you can see the dust from the rubble and taste the desolation in the air.  The story fits together well and you eventually see how events intertwine.

I found this book slow at first and now know more about performing amputations than I want to.  The story was well written and compelling though; I had to read more to find out why.  I’m glad I did as most of the questions I had were answered.

Title: A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
Author: Anthony Marra
Published: Hogarth, c2013
Reviewer: Jan

Organisation Porn

Does anyone else spend their evenings on Pinterest scrolling through the amazing home decor and home organising posts while a sense of calm falls upon them? No? Oh me either. I was asking on behalf of a friend. I don't ever do that, it would be weird...

Okay I lied. For me organising things is like crack to an addict. I crave it and if things are out of place it irritates me until I fix it. Everyone makes jokes about how I have OCD but I'm pretty sure I don't. I just like things a certain way and no I will not clean your house for you.

If you're like me then this post will be like porn for you, if not then stop judging me at get these books out. They're wonderful.

Organize your home

Home organization tips from the experts at Better Homes and Gardens. Most homeowners struggle to stay organized. "Stuff" accumulates quickly, and finding practical and efficient ways to store it — and the know-how to pare down possessions to those that are truly needed — can be tricky. Organize Your Home: Clutter Cures For Every Room is your comprehensive guide to getting—and staying—organized at home.

Packed with solutions for every room that any homeowner can put to use right away, Organize Your Home covers both sides of the organizing equation: the psychology of paring down possessions, reducing clutter, and staying organized as well as the nuts and bolts of finding the right bins, baskets, drawers, and more to store the items you do keep in attractive and efficient ways.

Organize for a fresh start : embrace your next chapter in life by Susan Fay West

Transform your home and your schedule so they perfectly meet your current needs and reflect who you are and what you value now. Changes and life transitions often leave people with unbalanced schedules and homes full of obsolete items. Certified Professional Organizer Susan Fay West shows you how to make room for your new interests and responsibilities while honoring your past.

Inside you'll find: Step-by-step advice for de-cluttering and reorganizing every room in the home, specific tips for where to start and how to stay motivated, reflective questions and exercises to help you make no-regrets decisions and time-management strategies to create and maintain a regular schedule. 

Organize your digital life : how to store your photographs, music, videos, and personal documents in a digital world by Aimee Baldridge 

Now that digital cameras and music players have become so incredibly widespread, a forest of sound and

imagery is blossoming in our homes. Weve got digital pictures in the camera, scans on the computer, JPEGS attached to e-mails, and tunes on tiny players. But theres also the old-fashioned stuff: photos in shoeboxes, videos in the attic, documents in desk drawers, songs on tape and vinyl. How do you transform all of these different elements into a convenient archive you can store in your computer, easily reach, and actually enjoy? This book delivers basic step-by-step instruction on streamlining and organizing your "digital life" so you can find what you need instantly and create presentations your friends and family will love. In addition, youll be amazed at the decrease in household clutter and paper waste. For everyone from teenagers who thrive on the technical to families with overflowing photo albums and seniors whod love to collate decades worth of letters and pictures this reader-friendly source has all the answers. These easy-to-follow solutions can truly enhance and simplify the hectic, over-saturated lives so many of us find ourselves leading today

Stalking the catalogue: Beauty in decay II

"Decline is also a form of voluptuousness, just like growth. Autumn is just as sensual as springtime. There is as much greatness in dying as in procreation.”
- Iwan Goll

My iPhone is always a pocket away from a photo. I'm not even kidding. I mean, sure, I take photos of meals (because this is what Instagram is for, yes? What do you mean NO!), Mr3 and Mr9 doing cutesy things, books I'm reading, people doing THINGS and STUFF and, as ever, decay. That sounds odd but I find beauty and comfort in buildings/parks/grounds/objects that are old, unused, forgotten, and falling apart. If I had to pinpoint why, I think it'd be because they have character. They have a story. They have LIVED and been a part of lives. And half the attraction for me is making up a backstory for what that may have looked like.

Imagine my delight to find that New Orleans was a city full of exactly this on every street, at every corner, in every building (and person). I remember telling someone recently (sitting on a patio in Parkes, NSW as the sun set, surrounded by well-travelled and highly articulate people and feeling a little like Alice down the rabbit hole) that it was a city of "faded beauty." Beauty in Decay II captures all of those feels (even if it's not about New Orleans in particular) and, I think, expands on it a little. Chillery takes the time to dig a little into some of the places photographed and, every now and then, makes up little stories about what could have happened there. Maybe that makes me somewhat of a romantic. I can deal with that.

Title: Beauty in decay II
Author: Photography by RomanyWG and essays by Polly Chillery
Published: Carpet Bombing Culture, 2012

Stalking the catalogue: 500 ice creams

"I am thirty-two flavors and then some..."
- Ani DiFranco in the song 32 Flavors

When Ani DiFranco sang the lyric "I am thirty-two flavors and then some..." she was, I think, talking about beauty - how we ourselves define it, and how society defines it (not always in a way that's best or healthy or meaningful). It's my favourite DiFranco song AND YET I forever associate it with ice cream. Whenever I see ice cream, think about it, or hear people talking about it (which is often because those are the kinds of people I hang with), I immediately hear DiFranco in my head. (I've just realised I've spent forever and a day talking about DiFranco, and have yet to get to the point of this post: a book about ice cream).

Barker's book is about ice cream. Well, ice cream and ices, to be technical. So. Many. Flavours. New York cheesecake ice cream. Fudge brownie ice cream. Crunchy peanut butter ice cream. Blueberry muffin ice cream. Bitter chocolate gelato. Jasmine tea sorbet. Champagne cocktail sorbet. Lavender granita. Baked apple water ice. Banana custard ice cream. And I am going to TRY ALL OF THE THINGS. (Maybe not all, chocolate-dipped gelato pops look like hard work, and ricotta ice with roasted figs makes me want to throw up a little in my mouth).

I could go on. I won't. Barker's book doesn't give you one good reason to read it. It gives you 500 - and all of them as mouth-wateringly delicious as you'd expect them to be.

Be right back. Off to buy an ice cream maker.

Guess what we're doing this weekend?

Title: 500 ice creams: The only ice cream compendium you'll ever need
Author: Alex Barker
Published: New Holland, 2009

Man Candy

Okay I admit it this is a post about raunchy books featuring hot guys on the covers - in other words man candy.  It may seem kinda shallow and even a little sexist, something of which I am neither, but enjoying a look at a hot guy (or girl) is something that we all do at times.

Personally what makes me go weak at the knees is a sexy voice, a bad boy attitude and good dose of seductive charm  - and yes I'm looking at you Mark Sheppard, Richard Armitage and and a few others I won't bother naming but who are all very much swoon worthy IMO.

My first hot guy crush was Andy Gibb.  I kid you not. What can I say. It was the 70's and I was only 8 at the time so my taste in guys was probably not the best.  Since then crushes have come and gone.  There was Leif Garrett (whatever happened to him... *goes off to check out online*... comes back horrified), John Taylor (still pretty hot), Jeremy Northam as Mr Knightly and so on

Crushes are fun and harmless and book publishers are certainly aware that a good looking guy on the cover can be a pretty good incitement so if you're looking for some eye candy why not check out some (if not all) of the following.

 Changing the game / Jaci Burton.

"Sports agent Liz Darnell will do anything to win back her number-one client, baseball pro Gavin Riley. And Gavin's more than ready- especially when Liz is offering herself as part of the bargain."

What can I say except the guy has a hot chest.

Sometimes it's nice to be shallow.

Mystery man / Kristen Ashley

"Gwendolyn Kidd has met the man of her dreams. He's hot and sexy... it's just a little strange that he only appears in her bed at night..."

A touch of mystery is always a good thing.  Pretty much all of my fictional crushes from Mr Darcy in Pride and Prejudice to Lucas North in Spooks had that air of mystery about them and just made them all the more enticing...

 All out of love : a cupid, texas novel / Lori Wilde

"Football star Pierce Hollister finds himself back home, running a ranch in Texas, wondering how it all went wrong. But one thing is right: Lace Bettingfield -trouble is, she won't even give him the time of day."

Cowboys are a thing. Especially when they wear a gun.  I love a man with a gun or a sword or any kind of weapon really.  Which is probably why I love shows like Justified (sign... Raylan Givens)

Tiger magic / Jennifer Ashley

"Carly thinks her life is complete--until her car breaks down on the side of the road and the only one around to help her is a wild-looking Shifter. When Tiger sees Carly he knows instantly he has found his mate. But, as Carly is drawn into his Shifter world, will she risk everything for love."

Shape shifters sounds so cool.  Especially if they can turn into tigers.

 Forever / Jacquelyn Frank

"Police officer Jackson Waverly cannot stop thinking about Dr. Marissa Anderson, the gorgeous precinct shrink who keeps pushing him to confront his grief over the loss of his K-9 partner. But what Marissa really arouses in Jackson is intense desire, a desire that could cost her her life."

Another bare chest, another shallow moment.  Cops can be pretty hot also.

Bound by night / Larissa Ione

"Nicole Martin was only eight years old when the vampire slaves rose up in rebellion and killed her family. Now she devotes her life to finding a vaccine against vampirism, hoping to wipe out her memories along with every bloodsucker on the planet. But there's one thing she cannot destroy: her searing, undeniable attraction for the one man she should hate the most: a vampire"

As you may know from a previous post (see Vampires and Bad Boys) I have a thing for vampires, especially bad boy vampires.

 Men out of uniform / Maya Banks

 "They may enforce the rules, but when men in uniform are off duty and under the covers, they're experts at breaking them. And in this anthology these men know all about breaking the rules and then some..."

Cops, Sheriff's, US Marshall's; there is just something about a man in a uniform and even more so when he is out of it...

Uncommon pleasure / Anne Calhoun

"Two tales of two women, each daring to challenge the boundaries of the toughest of men...But in these edgy, heated encounters, the greatest thing each woman will risk is her heart."

More men who spend more time out of uniform than in it and who know how to make a woman go weak at the knees...