Hiya again,

As I write this, it's actually 9am on Day 5 of our trip. I'm sat in our 6 berth camper van, overlooking the sea in the Bay of Plenty. The sun is shining, and there's about 20 sparrows chirping away on the grass outside.

Wednesday was Patrick and my 2nd anniversary, and probably the worst day for me in regards to jet-lag. I think I'd tried to put on a brave face, but after 3 days of interrupted sleep, I finally snapped. Patrick has come down with a cold, caught no doubt, on the flight.

We spent the day north of Auckland city, in the Long Bay to Gulf Bay region. I had plans to meet up with Jessica in Long Bay, and despite seeing her busy at work, we didn't manage to be co-ordinated enough for a reunion. We did, however, take a gorgeous walk along the Long Bay Coast and get sunburnt in the process.

Our romantic evening planned of Sushi and Karaoke instead ended up in cold chicken and chips and a bit of an argument. Still, the less said about that the better!!

Moving on, Yesterday was just manic. We got up and packed, and then drove to the Apollo Rental Center to pick up our motorhome. It's very big, with 2 sitting areas, a miniscule bathroom and lots of overhead cupboards, which aren't particularly great for storing clothes.

From there (which took ages!!) we drove south along stateroad 1, 2 and 27 to Matamata - otherwise known as Hobbiton. I should add that the in-laws had decided to look after Alexander for the day so that we could get ourselves organised.

We took the 2 hours scenic tour of Hobbiton, which was absolutely fantastic. We had a friendly and informative guide called Eric, who happily took dodgy photos of us in Bag End and beneath the Party Tree.
Perhaps most excitingly is the work which is currently underway to turn the site back into Hobbiton for the filming of The Hobbit next year. Plants have been plants, hedges replanted, lakes drained, cleaned and refilled, and crumbling walls replaced. Interestingly, the wall which was originally built 0.5metres into the ground last time (to last 6 months of filming) has been sunk 2 metres and reinforced for concrete, suggesting a more permanent structure.

After the tour, we drove east north-east to the coast at Tauranga, where we ate a delicious chinese takeaway, and got a comfortable (albeit a little cold) night's sleep.

No idea what we're doing today, but I'm sure I need to find breakfast now, so until tomorrow....


xxx

Well, it's progressing. The last few nights (after Alexander and Patrick are in bed seems to be the only chance I really get to write at the moment, which is killing me in the mornings, but I feel like it's worth it!) have mostly been planning, researching, name generating etc. There's a definite plot happening though, which I'm really enjoying getting my head around.

Well, the year draws ever more to a close, and as I've spent most of this evening reading up on my favourite authors, I feel inspired to give a summary and description of this past years books. 

Tamora Pierce

Throughout the year, whenever I've had a lull in new books to pick up, I always reach for my beloved Tamora Pierce Collection. Of course, this year I even had a couple of new Pierce books to read, with The Will of The Empress and Terrier.  I thought that Beka Cooper's tale of Terrier was a different sort of story, and story-telling than the preseding Tortallan books, but I quickly got caught up in the plots and characters as usual. 

During the summer months, I shared the tale of Alanna: The first Adventure, as a class reading book with my grade 5 class, and it had both girls and boys captivated and spell-bound until they were begging me to stay in at lunch time to continue the reading. My answer to that was it wouldn't be fair to keep going without those that had duties and wanted to play football... I didn't mention that by lunch time, I was usually ravenous and just wanted to sit quietly in the staffroom with a cup of coffee... Those children were only quiet when I was reading to them!!

In the run up to Christmas, I've been re-reading the Protector of the Small books, which I think are probably my favourite stories, despite the fact that I've yet to completely read the final book in the series due to a printing error. My aim for the coming year is to find a copy of Lady Knight that is NOT missing 100 pages in the middle, and to re-read it...

Karen Miller - 'Innocent Mage' and 'The Awakened Mage'

Although I've only read two of her books so far (the only two currently released over here!), this author has the ability to create a character-driven story that kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. With an excellent use of dramatic irony, the story tells the tale of Asher and Prince Gar, and how one lowly fisherman can be caught up in prophecy and magic, politics and blood-feuds and still retain a strong sense of justice. 

I eagerly await her next books, which I have been personally informed are much darker than the previous two. The Awakened Mage is one of four books that I saved for my honeymoon, and read on the balcony of the cruise ship, whilst docked at Grand Cayman. To Karen, my husband didn't mind a bit, as it gave him the chance to take a siesta in the afternoons!!

Mercedes Lackey

Where to start with Mercedes Lackey?? Except to say that she has been my Most-Read author of 2007! I discovered her books at the end of 2004, when I rented a trilogy called Magic's Pawn, Magic's Promise and Magic's Price "The Last Herald-Mage" series. Since then, it's been something of a hit and miss in finding her books for sale. The library had some in hard-back, and a store called 'Forbidden Planet' in London carried most of the books, making it an absolute must-stop for every trip into London (as my best-friend can testify...) and I bought so many in America in the summer of 2005 that I had to buy a new suitcase to get everything home with me... 

This year I've been branching out from the Heralds of Valdemar books. I am particularly fascinated by the Elemental Masters series, as these tell famous fairy tales, set in the real world (albeit the real world where magic is a secret) and usually contains a twist to the original tales. I love the idea that magic manifests itself in humans through one of the four elements - fire, air, earth and water, and this is actually a theme I used for a series of short stories I wrote waaay back in school.  Of the Elemental Masters books, the most recent I've read is 'Reserved for the cat', and is another book I took with me for my honeymoon... Those four books sat at home like a burning itch for the weeks before the honeymoon, and it took all my self-control not to start reading them.

A second Mercedes Lackey book was included in the Honeymoon Books; and that was the most recent book from the Dragon Jousters Series, entitled 'Aerie'. The four Dragon Jousters books are possibly my favourite Mercedes Lackey books, though I felt that Aerie was the fourth book in a trilogy...

I also read some of the 500-Kingdom fairytale books, which again looked at the fairytale genre, then added an extra twist to them. These I felt were more nicey-nice than Lackey's normal books, but I still enjoyed them.

Naomi Novik

My other favourite New-Author, and writer or the fourth Honeymoon book is Naomi Novik, with her Temeraire Books. Over the summer, Patrick and I spent a week on the Isle of Wight, and as a day-excursion, went to Portsmouth, where we walked around HMS Victory. Some people believe there's a link to everything, and I'm one of them... Before we went on holiday, I picked up a book in my local bookshop with an interesting name, and a picture of a dragon on the front. That's everything I looked at before buying and reading the first book... Naturally, reading about the Napoleonic Wars are depicted in Novik's books, with dragons as well as ships playing a large part in the history of my country, I was intrigued to be walking around HMS Victory... (here's the biggest link!) On the deck, there is a brass plaque showing where Lord Nelson was wounded, with the date of the Battle of Trafalgar - 21st October! That date just so happened to be the date set for our wedding, and thus we used the names of the ships present at the Battle of Trafalgar as the names for the tables at our wedding. We added an extra element by making it a quiz to see who would be the first person to spot the connection, and that went down well as well. 
For the record, Victory was the top table, and Temeraire nearest to us.

Philip Pullman

In preparation for the release of the first movie, I re-read 'His Dark Materials' Trilogy - Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass. I went to see the movie about 2 weeks ago, and was shocked at the ending, so much so that my loud complaints of "They can't end it there" were responded to by people sitting around me, who agreed. For those that have only seen the movie, my advice is to definitely read the books, and to understand that Lyra's involvement in the witches' prophecy doesn't culminate in her going on a big adventure, but to unwittingly commit the greatest disloyality. I won't say anymore unless I ruin it for others, but ending it was 'That was a jolly fight, isn't it good we all survived' just wasn't being true to the darkness of the books... And don't even get me started on the change in the name - WHY?! What for?? How is 'The Golden Compass' a good title when it isn't even a compass, but an ALTHEIOMETER?!?! Arghh

JK Rowling

I can hardly put 2007 and books in the same post, without mentioning the long-awaited for day of realisation. I finished my McGonagall costume, and held a Harry Potter themed party for the children at school... I even arranged a weekend trip to Inverness, so I could read for the 8 hour journey there and back without upsetting Patrick, who had the unfortunate nerve to be born on the 21st July - Release date for The Deathly Hallows.  I even dragged Patrick to the midnight launch party at Borders. 

I can't talk about the book. I don't want to admit that the story is over, even though a lot of it was predictable. The ending was rubbish. I think JK Rowling must have been on a deadline, and just sat up on the last night going "Argh... I've got to end it some how... wait, I'll go and read some fan fiction whilst I'm trying to think", as it really did stink of poor fan fiction... Why bother introducing a 'future' for the characters, without any intention to explain herself, or continue future books?? Argh...

Arthur Golden

I re-read Memoirs of a Geisha. A beautiful book, and far far better than the movie (which I did enjoy despite the use of Chinese Actresses). 
There's not much to say about this book - It's one I read when I was much younger, and continue to love. The language and story are beautiful, and it reminded me of why I'm quite as addicted to the Japanese Culture as I am... Maybe that's why I love Pierce's Protector of the Small series most as well, with the Yamani culture being based on the Japanese culture.

Robert Jordan

Last, but not least, I have to mention Robert Jordan... I didn't read any of his books this year (though I did briefly start re-reading the Eye of the World.  Sadly, Robert Jordan passed away on September 16th, after battling a rare blood disease called Amyloidosis. He left a small epic series (Only 11 books and a prequel long); with the 12th book supposed to be the final installment. Fortunately, he had dictated the plot line and details of the final book during his illness, and the task of finishing the series has been given to Brandon Sanderson. Sanderson is not an author I'm familiar with, though I have every intention of starting some of his books soon, and wish him all the best with the final Wheel of Time book!!



And that brings me to the end of this post - not a moment too soon, as I'm fading fast, and it's now 3:30am... If anyone is reading this, and wants to add some other recommendations, please do - I'm always looking for more authors to buy... and I'm moving house in 2008, which is a great reason to buy more book shelves!! Wohooo