This 'n That...

...or , how to add to your TBR without even trying.

So far the winter has been a long succession of dreary grey,wet and windy days but yesterday brought a reprieve with a sharp frost followed by a day of glorious sunshine. Too nice to waste so I took the book section of the newspaper to read and went outside to soak up the sun......and one thing led to another.

In Leah Hagen Cohen's latest novel Ava and Fred are the children of an educational psychologist, the founder of a 'freedom school'. The school, Batter Hollow, and its founder were inspired by the real-life Scottish educator A.S.Neill and Summerhill School in England.
Now there's a coincidence! Before being lured outside by the sun I'd been writing a biography post about Henry Handel Richardson - who had a younger sister whose second husband was none other than A.S.Neill. (adds to TBR)

Martine Bailey, author of An Appetite for Violets lived in New Zealand while she was editing her book because its 'sun,sea and solitude' gave her the peace and quiet she needed........and the libraries were also good! I can agree with that!
I already have this one on the TBR - love the cover and who doesn't love a story that combines murder,history and food. 
Fay Weldon remarked that she had pioneered a new literary sub-genre, the 'culinary gothic'.

Fay Weldon who has 'strong connections to New Zealand'. Does she? I didn't know that! ( goes inside to Google).
So she does. Not an author I've read at all really although I did try one her more recent Edwardian novels and wasn't very impressed.

There's certainly plenty to choose from but Kehua! sounds as if it's a Maori word so might have a NZ flavour.
It's a ghost story.
'A tale of murder, adultery, incest, ghosts, redemption and remorse.'
(adds to TBR)

Prolific writer of crime thrillers, Karin Slaughter will be in NZ during August for several speaking engagements.
Her latest novel, Cop Town, is the first in a new series set in Atlanta, Georgia and featuring two women patrol officers in the 1970's. Yes, I like her books.(adds to TBR)

One more....from a fellow library looter and a very nice new to me blog The Emerald City Book Review - go on over and read her review

My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead

A 'New Yorker' writer revisits the seminal book of her youth, Middlemarch by George Eliot, and fashions an involving story of how a passionate attachment to a great work of literature can shape our lives and help us to read our own histories.
I do look forward to this one but I think I may have to wait a while.

Are you tempted to add any of these to your TBR?