Back again at the office and another year is well underway.
Over the holidays I read heaps of books which I am going to share with you over coming days and weeks. This morning though I am off to Radio New Zealand's Auckland studios to present my pick of the bunch of last year's reading.Choosing three titles from the many wonderful books read during 2006 is an impossible task really so when the time came to selecting them it was just those that seemed to leap off the bookshelf at me.
And the winners are.............
The Lighthouse by P.D.James - Penguin
Brief Lives - Chris Price - Auckland University Press
The Complete Polysyllabic Spree - Nick Hornby - Viking
My French Life - Vicki Archer - Lantern
I'll write briefly about each of these later today once I have done the radio review.
I had an amazing experience over the holidays - walking the Milford Track. The Track is "the world's finest walk" according to National Geographic magazine some years ago and it certainly lived up to that experience for us.48 walkers from around the world - Japan, UK, Holland, Australia, Canada, Ireland, USA and of course NZ.I'll enclose a a few pics, the first shows us setting out on the first of the four days it takes to walk the Track,another shows us atop the McKinnon Pass (3000 feet),the highest point on the Track,, while the others are shots taken along the way.
The other hugely significant event for me over the holiday season was the death of my computer hard drive. I lost everything - files, photographs and my address book - an accumulation and record of my professional and personal life over the past 12 years.A devastating experience - the lesson is - make sure you back up your computer at least once a month ,better still weekly or daily. I will do so from now on but of course in the meantime I now have to attempt to rebuild my address book as a first task. So if any of you reading this have previoulsy communicated with me by e-mail could you please now e-mail me so I can restore your address to my address book. many thanks.
More from me later, I hope you have had an enjoyable holiday, those in the southen hemisphere anyway, and those in the north I hope the year has started well for you and that you are managing to keep warm and read some good books. Ciao.
Thank goodness you are back, I have missed your book reviews and enthusiasm for books. The Milford Track sounds amazing.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back, too cold here in Canada for holidays at this time.Back in the early 90's I walked the Milford Track and totally share your enthusiasm for the experience. Ranks as one of the great holidays of my life. And of course you begin and end in Queenstown which is such a glorious location.
ReplyDeleteCommiserations on your computer dying.Bloody inconvenient.
Heard your reviews while driving in the car.It was excellent radio. We really enjoyed your relaxed, amused, but highly informed descriptions - and the way in which you relate so well to the interviewer
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