Top Ten New York City | Eyewitness Travel Guide

I loved reading this book, cover to cover! The Eyewitness Travel guides are by far my favourite in layout and information. I have read the longer guides before but this is the first 'Top Ten' city series that I've had. It is a really good guide to New York City for when you have a short time and want to see the best of. If you have a longer time, the longer guides would be better but this one will fit in my pocket, has a pull out map and I can get a good first-trip impression of the city. 

It has top ten lists on: buildings, restaurants, city oasis, cheap eats, hotels, sports events, meeting places....Very well organised.

Check out their other guides for excellent information, maps and guides to buildings. DK is the publisher and their are renown for the quality of their publications.

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The Glass Castle | Jeannette Walls

This book should be compulsory reading for all teens who think they have a tough life and their parents just don't get it. I think it's reassuring to say in the light of this non-fiction autobiography that 99% of us have had a pretty normal life....

The Wallis parents were hippy in attitude to life and parenting. They lived in the Arizona desert, in trailer parks, derelict stations and finally as homeless in New York. The opening scene is of Jeannette at three years of age cooking sausages on a stove and tipping the whole thing on herself and ending up in hospital. She remembers this not as a bad thing but as an opportunity to be in a safe, comfortable environment not moving around and being cared for by doting nurses. 

He mother is an airhead artist and her father an eccentric genius who is always on the verge of the next big breakthrough...if only he could stop drinking. The family moves around a lot because they have to keep one step ahead of debt collectors. Income is spasmodic and mostly rely on rent on property the mother has in Texas. 

In the end they go back to Virginia to where the father comes from. I thought the previous locations were depressing but honestly, that town takes the cake. It's a very dull, damp and depressed town which depends on the coal mines around it. They live in a ramshackle house with no electricity or toilet...The parents deteriorate and the kids take over the budgeting and managing of the family. it's incredible to read of the role reversal and the dreams and aspirations they have. Jeannette and her older sister begin to save to send her to new York. Eventually they both make it and begin stable lives there. They bring their brother up and eventually all become reasonably well adjusted. 
After a few years the chaotic parents arrive unannounced and ask to be put up for a while. eventually they chose to live on the streets and then squat in a building which the father rigs up with power from the main grid.

It's a remarkable book to read because it champions the resilience of the human spirit. I don't know how Jeannette and her two siblings came through all this and have relatively normal lives now. Their youngest sister did not and seems to have inherited her parents' chaotic nature. There are many stories out there about difficult childhoods and how scared and traumatised the kids are forever and how things repeat themselves. But this story is one of triumph over adversity and overcoming obstacles by dreaming and persevering. 

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In Praise of Slow | Carl Honoré

This is a brilliant little book which went a long way in changing my philosophy of how to live life…SLOWLY. The Slow movement was born in Italy so it’s got to be good! It’s not about doing everything slowly but about getting the most out of everything we do rather than rushing and glossing over the top of all we do. The movement espouses slow cities where more space is given to footpaths and parks and is challenging modern urban designs.

Honoré explores the Slow Food side of things, where it’s the journey not the destination which is important. Growing produce, finding quality ingredients, cooking food ourselves with friends and sharing it as an experience or occasion rather than a fuel stop.

This book really starts to make sense and I can see how well the Slow movement ethos can be applied to any aspect of life.

I really enjoyed thinking and rehashing the daily in life to accommodate more quality rather than quantity into my lifestyle.

Thoroughly enjoyable read and very thought provoking. Something for everyone in chapters titled ‘Food: Turning the tables on Speed’, ’Sex: a lover with a slow hand’, ‘Leisure: the importance of being at rest’, ‘Children: raising an Unhurried Child’, and more.

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What would Google Do? |Jeff Jarvis

This is not so much a good book to read but a lifestyle change! My husband raved about his book and insisted I read it, so I did. And I’ve learned to be Googlier and googlier!

In this book Jarvis shows us how Google has redefined how we do things, how we need to redo things and how much Google has influenced the world we live in. So what? You might ask… In reading this book I’ve learned that blogs aren’t for nerds with no friends to talk to. They are actually a platform from where anyone can launch their expertise into the world of people who want to learn, who search and find all they need on the internet. I learned that the way we do business has to change to become more efficient, Googlier.

How has Google influenced God, medicine, mobile phones, the health system, Universities and education….It was insightful and helpful. I‘ve looked up the websites Jarvis recommends as examples, I’ve started a blog doing what I’m passionate about: talking about books. I’ve started reading blogs and looking more strategically at what I do and what I know and how I can become Googlier, to fit into a world and a future defined by Google

Here’s a link to his blog, Buzzmachine. Read the book. It’s not for IT geeks, it’s for everyone!

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Tips from your Nana | Robyn Paterson

It’s ok to be like your Nana! In this book Paterson revives a few good old fashioned skills our Nana’s took for granted and we’ve somehow lost in our very modern lifestyles! What I loved about this book is the characters you meet along the way, beautifully photographed by Tammy Williams

The first chapter is on Sister Loyola, an 86 year old nun who won the coveted New Zealand “Gardener of the Year Award”. We meet Dave, who has been selling worms for worm farms for 25 years or so and shows us how to make one!

There are chapters on gardening, keeping chickens, home brewing, making jams and preserves, home-made cleaning products and more.

Why this book is different from others is that it’s very kiwi, it’s beautiful to read and that in itself is an inspiration to get out of the armchair, brush aside the cup of tea and get on with MAKING stuff, not just BUYING stuff.