9th Nov 2023

Woah... I'm back!

I haven't updated my reading for a while - I even sometimes don't put on my bookshelf what I am reading - as I borrow alot of books from the library.......

Updated 6th March 2009 . . .


I lost a brother to suicide on the 4th of January. It was the most emotional awful time of my life. He was a reader also and we had shared many titles. The most recent was Tokyo by Mo Hader. I miss him. I miss what was, what could have been and what should have been. He was only 36 and is survied by two children.

In January and Feb I have read books on suicide and grief. I would say that by reading about others who have gone through grief made my journey not as lonely.
I have another brother and now it is just us two.

I haven't really read anthing more than those since then but am back in the real world now and can concentrate on a realm other than sorrow.

I am seeking great stories to read now. I listend to The White Earth in Feb and loved it. I am cruising the forums and copying and pasting titles into my library search and request engine.

The bizzare reads forum has me at present & also the australian authors one.



If you would like to post anything to me of course you can ;)
Michelle Sparkles



I am happy to be contacted via email if there is a title that you would like to suggest for me. [email protected]

Your Birthdate: February 18

www.blogthingsimages.com/---/birthday.gif" height="100" width="100"> You are a cohesive force - able to bring many people together for a common cause. You tend to excel in work situations, but you also facilitate a lot of social gatherings too. Beyond being a good leader, you are good at inspiring others. You also keep your powerful emotions in check - you know when to emote and when to repress. Your strength: Emotional maturity beyond your years Your weakness: Wearing yourself down with too many responsibilities Your power color: Crimson red Your power symbol: Snowflake Your power month: September

I have discovered a great site to get books at an affordable cost check it out www.betterworld.com

Enjoy enlightemnent and affirmations. I love reading the forums on this site to get new ideas of books that I may like to read eg. The forum titled 'The best love story you have ever read' + 'Books that you buy to share'.....Pen to paper for both of those threads.....or another idea is that I have a page open with the library catalogue and copy and past books names right onto their search engine to see if they have the books......

I recently discovered *Jeff Lindsay* - The Dexter Series - by going through my birthday buddys wish list - I have read one of the books and now onto the second - He is my kinda writer! And I sought them out through the bookcrossing site - CheyenneAutumn posted them to me - then I will post to my birthday buddy and now I have posted a book to CheyenneAutumn called the Toy Collector by James Gunn.

Simply wonderful if I may say so ;)
I enjoy sewing, letter writing and outdoors adventures. Also a subscriber to the postcrossing site.

>>>>>:Each of us has that right, that possibility, to invent ourselves daily. If a person does not invent herself, she will be invented. Those who tower over us omnisciently and laugh will invent us......So to be bodacious enough to invent ourselves is wise:

A good book that had me thinking about life differently was 'Expecting Adam' by Marth Beck.
Also 'Fearless Loving' by Rhonda Britten.

If there is book that is available on my bookshelf that you would like to read contact me and I will pass it on :) I borrow a fair few of my reads from the local library. They are good to me - I can contact them with a book title that I would like to read and they will get the book into the library collection for me. A great service.

I have this year perused some of the fellow bookcrossers bookshelves and homepages for ideas on reading. Dolph1n has similar tastes in books so I have been sourcing reading idea's from her bookcrossing cover page.

MooMoo1977 has also given me some good reading titles too.


Books that I have read in 2008 :
==============================

The kite runner
Born on a Blue Day
Tithe
Dearly Devoted Dexter - excellent
A Spot of Bother - funny as
The Secret Life of Bees - great read
The Tao of Piglet - Benjamin Hoff
The Tao of Pooh - Benjamin Hoff
Area 7 - fantastic
Brokeback Mountain - great
3 Men in A Boat - ***LOVED*** this audio book Very Funny.
All the Fishes come to roost
Promise Me - Harlen Coben - great book
A Crack in Forever - suggested as a great love story by forums - was a nice read.
Silences of the Heart - great read.
Just one Look - Harlan Coben.
Going Postal - Terry Pratchett - great
A Hat Full of Sky - Terry Pratchett - great
Mrs Mike - as suggested by bookcrossing forum - now posted to ladyindigo
Life After God - great read
The Poisen that Fascinates
The Time Travellers Wife - listened to on audio - fantastic!
Tokyo - Mo Hayder - great
The Treatment - Mo Hayder
Deal Breaker - Harlen Coben - great
Shopaholic and Baby - Sophie Kinsella - Great
Confessions of a Shopaholic - Sohpie Kinsella - great
Masquerade - Terry Pratchett - great - on audio
Dinner at the Homesick Restuarant
It's always something - Gilda Radner
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett - on Audio
The God Delusion - on audio
Going Postal - Terry Pratchett - great
Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk





RABK that have come my way 2008
*******************************
Nikkiloves books sent a bag of childrens books :) from Outback Australia
CheyenAutum send Jeff Linsay from the USA
Bekoh send Hell Has Harbour Views - from NSW Australia
corinne-lux sent Born on a blue Day - trade for Running with Scissors from Luxenbourg
Scruffles sent Tithe which has now been sent to Rockdg9 - from UK

RABK that I have posted out 2008
********************************
Brokeback Mountain sent to Lizzyblack - Italy
The Little Prisioner sent to receptionist my work at NSW
Simple Plan sent to to receptionist my work at NSW
Five People you meet in Heaven - Bonnie Scotland
Chocolates to - USA + South Africa
Something more wonderful - to NSW + USA
A Spot of Bother - USA
The Toy Collector - USA
Cashelmara - USA
The washintonienne - Jessica Cutler - given out at the bookcrossing brisbane meet up in March 08
Silences of the Heart - great read. - given out at the bookcrossing brisbane meet up in March 08
David Eddings, Susan Howatch, Diana Gabaldon, Martha Beck, Mark Haddon - to my friend in the USA as she posted some shoes to me!

Bookrings/rays that I am part of for 2008:
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The sparklists journal - Now with Lady Indigo
The Poisen that Fascinates - read and forwarded on Feb 08
The Piano Tuner
Why She Left Us
Touch Me I'm Sick
A Thousand Splendid Suns
To Die For
United States of Walmart
The Rice Mother
Exclusive - not read but passed on Feb 2008
Life after God
Can't Wait to Get To Heaven
The God Delusion
The Smith Family Murders
Memoirs of an Unfit Mother
The Book of Lost Things




Books (some) that I have read in 2007 :
*****************************

1) Survival : The Stuart Diver Story - Stuart Diver
2) Sickened - Julie Gregory
3) The Little Prisioner - Jane Elliot
4) Behind Closed Doors - Jenny Tomlin
5) The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night - Mark Haddon
6) The Way You Look Tonight - Carlene Thompson
7) Unlikely Angel - Ashley Smith, Stacy Mattingly
8) Ghost Girl - Torey Hayden
9) The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls
10) Leaving The Saints - Martha Beck
11) The Pilots Wife - Anita Shreve
12) Still Me - Christopher Reeve
13) Beautiful Child - Torey Haden
14) Kathy's Story - Kathy O'beirne
15) The Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger
16) Nip N Tuck - Kathy Lette
17) My Secret: A Post Secret Book - Frank Warren
18) Mad Cows - Kathy Lette
19) Forget You Had a Daughter - Sandra Gregory
20) Don't Tell Mum I work on the Rigs - Paul Carter
21) Don't Tell Mummy - Toni Maguire
22) Sylvia - Bryce Courtenay
23) Keeping Faith - Jodi Picoult
24) Twighlight Children - Torey Haden
25) A Special Relationship - Douglas Kennedy
26) Tigers Child - Torey Haden
27) Confessions of an ugly Stepsister
28) A Piece of Cake - Cupcake Brown
39) Second Glance - Jodi Picoult
40) The Mermaid Chair - Sue Monkton Kid
41) The Power of Nice - Linda Kpalan Thaler and Robin Koval
42) Keeping Faith


Books that I am in process of processing for reading in 2008:
(In no particular order)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Pooh's Little Etiquette Book - A.A. Milne

Eden Close - Anita Shreve
The Wild Girls club - Anka Radakovich
Inapproprite Men - Stacey Ballis
Size 12 is not Fat
Phsychoanalyze Yourself - E. Pickworth Farrow
The House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski - tried to read this book - took it back to the library will try again later.




Some RABKS that I have given.....2007
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Watermelon - BethanieKay - USA
Cry Wolf - englishrose7 - USA
Fetish - AceofHearts - Candada
Sickened - Bellamack - Tasmania
Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married - Boirina - Portugal
Running with Scissors (trade for born on a blue day)



Bookrings/Rays that I am waiting for in 2008 that I joined in 2007
=================================================================
F ck this Book - Angelbird72
Unfit Mother - Tregossip
Cat Journal - Libertine101


Bookrings/rays I have participated in in 2007:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Forget You Had a Daughter: Doing Time in the Bangkok Hilton - Sandra Gregory's Story - Sandra Gregory.
Confessions of an ugly Stepsister - Squirrel818
A Piece of Cake - pat-the-rat
MooMoo1977 bookbag.
No Shitting on the Toilet - Beetlechickie
You gotta read this bookbag - Bellamack
Knockabout Girl - Catsalive

I like the idea of sending books to someone who wants to read and journal rather than releasing in the wild. Maybe if I was rich I would release in the wild.

Some of my favourite authors are:

Torey Haden David Eddings
Sara Douglass Jennifer Crusie
Rhonda Britten
Martha Beck
James Gunn
Jenny Eclair
Susan Howatch
Terry Pratchett
Arthur Golden
Marian Keyes
Armistead Maupin


It is kindess to have a fellow bookcrosser take the time to reply to a request.
If you have a book that you think I will enjoy reading please feel free to contact me and suggest the title....

Love Joy and Laughter p.s. and a book
Michelle