BookCrossing meetup is becoming very routine. On the second Tuesday of every month, I turn up to the chosen venue, catch up with the regulars, try to be nice (and normal) to the newbies, squeeze in a cocktail (or two), desperately try and find something healthy to eat on the menu and invariably pick up too many books to take home. This month's meetup was held at James Squire Brewhouse and Restaurant @ King St Wharf. Another one of those "beer" restaurants! Considering most of the BookCrossers don't drink beer (or even alcohol) it seemed like a strange choice of venue for our monthly meeting. Convenience winning over taste yet again. No review from me as we weren't in the restaurant area. Only bar food was available where we were situated and a menu of burgers and chips meant I had sghetti on toast for dinner when I got home.

I am officially declaring January the month of chicklit! Not sure what chicklit is?

this is not chicklit

Novels in which strong, independent women prove to the male-dominated world that they can excel in whatever path life takes them. Main protagnist usually aided by witty best friends. She is frequently rewarded for efforts and charm with a Fulfilling Relationship (tm), although it should be made clear that the man, in this situation, is not a rescuer or a necessity, but rather a pleasant distraction that is on par with acquiring a fabulous new handbag. Chicklit is fluffy reading, likely to cause laughter, may induce tears. Read in public at your own risk.

Summer is the perfect season for reading chicklit. Especially if you happen to be lying on a beach, basking in the sunlight, listening to waves crash on the sand. Here are some of my favourite girly reads:

Rachel's Holiday (Marion Keyes) Mad about the Boy (Maggie Alderson) The Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella) I Don't Know How She Does It (Allison Pearson)

allmenarebastards.com (Allison Rushby) The Nanny Diaries (Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus) Good in Bed (Jennifer Weiner) The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing (Melissa Bank)

Love is a Four Letter Word (Claire Calman) Babyville (Jane Green) Man and Wife (Tony Parsons)

My work trip coincided with the Melbourne BookCrossing meetup. On Tuesday evening, I caught a tram into the city and trundled off to three degrees @ QV Square to meet with the Melbourne BookCrossers. I had a fantastic evening. I caught up with some old friends (Hi Tash, Michelle, Megan, Andrew, Amanda and Kevin!) and I met a bunch of new people.

I'd just like to fully express my appreciation for BookCrossing. Not only has it been a wonderful source for books and recommendations on books and authors, but I've also met so many wonderful people and I've made a lot of new friends Australia wide. After years of Melbourne work trips, I finally have a group of people I can hang out with when in Melbourne. I used to sit in my hotel room and watch TV or venture out to Melbourne tourist spots alone (*sob*). I am a nigel no longer! That's right Melbournians, here is your warning. Expect an email from me every time I head south. (Tash thinks she can move overseas to escape me. Well, you can't run forever girl!)

Michelle, Jess and Tash	Michelle's stash from the evening	Yvette, Robyn, Tash and Michelle

January's book recommendation:

• My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult
  Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukaemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never challenged...until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister -- and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves.
  
  My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart, or let others lead you? Once again, in My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity. -- Amazon

This month's Bookcrossing meeting was held at Zanzibar in Newtown. We had quite a good turn out with more than 20 people attending. And we had a mix of boys and girls this month... yes boys! plural! more than one!

People always ask what we talk about at a Bookcrossing meetup. Do we just talk about books? Well, I think the most memorable discussion from Tuesday evening was "what is your favourite vegetable?" After a few cocktails anything and everything is interesting. Oh and my favourite vegie is peas, just in case you were wondering *g*. (photos)

May's book recommendations:

• The Bride Stripped Bare - Anonymous - A very enjoyable and quick read. It was a bit naughty in places. When I was reading it on the bus, I was sure that other people could sense my embarrassment. Now I can giggle at other people when I see them reading it in a public place *g*.
  "A series of diary entries charts the sinuous paths of marriage and sexual desire in this artful book, a bestseller in the U.K. The author of the entries, a nameless 30-something housewife, has disappeared, leaving behind what amounts to 138 "lessons," written in the second-person, for her fellow archetypal "good wives". This unusual but strangely compelling novel offers an intimate chronicle of change and self-discovery, of a woman who makes a final and unexpected choice." -- Amazon
  
  
• The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - If you don't think too hard while you're reading it and only expect to be entertained, then this is definitely a book you can enjoy.
  "With The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown masterfully concocts an intelligent and lucid thriller that marries the gusto of an international murder mystery with a collection of fascinating esoteria culled from 2,000 years of Western history. The Da Vinci Code is an enthralling read that provides rich food for thought." -- Amazon
  
  
• The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde - I absolutely loved this book. Fforde has a very quirky sense of humour. Reminds me a little bit of Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett. This book was hillarious.
  "In Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice), and literature is taken very, very seriously. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection. But when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Brontë's novel, Thursday is faced with the challenge of her career. Fforde's ingenious fantasy-enhanced by a Web site that re-creates the world of the novel--unites intrigue with English literature in a delightfully witty mix." -- Amazon

Last night at our monthly Bookcrossing meeting I dropped off 5 books and only picked up 1 to take home. I must have a fever!

Our past two meetings have been at the Clock Hotel in Surry Hills. I used to think of it as one of those "trendy" pubs I never quite felt comfortable spending time in. However, I've changed my mind, it now receives a FuShMuSh thumbs up (or maybe a fins up *g*). They do a mean steak sandwich and refreshing caipiroska. Sue thought the Thai Beef Salad had a few too many carrots.

Unfortunately, our favourite pommie bartender who made us peach caipiroskas for only $6 left to travel around Australia in a combie van. Typical backpacker! Only thinking of himself...

April's book recommendation:

• Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel - "Each chapter of screenwriter Esquivel's utterly charming interpretation of life in turn-of-the-century Mexico begins with a recipe--not surprisingly, since so much of the action of this exquisite first novel (a bestseller in Mexico) centers around the kitchen, the heart and soul of a traditional Mexican family. The youngest daughter of a well-born rancher, Tita has always known her destiny: to remain single and care for her aging mother. When she falls in love, her mother quickly scotches the liaison and tyrannically dictates that Tita's sister Rosaura must marry the luckless suitor, Pedro, in her place. But Tita has one weapon left--her cooking. Esquivel mischievously appropriates the techniques of magical realism to make Tita's contact with food sensual, instinctual and often explosive. Esquivel does a splendid job of describing the frustration, love and hope expressed through the most domestic and feminine of arts, family cooking, suggesting by implication the limited options available to Mexican women of this period. Tita's unrequited love for Pedro survives the Mexican Revolution the births of Rosaura and Pedro's children, even a proposal of marriage from an eligible doctor. In a poignant conclusion, Tita manages to break the bonds of tradition, if not for herself, then for future generations." -- Amazon

Another Bookcrossing meeting this week. Since joining Bookcrossing I've read some wonderful novels. I now have a pile of books by my bedside table that is almost as tall as I am. I picked up another 4 books to read at the latest bookcrossing meeting. Maybe I should try and read a few more from my pile before getting anymore *g*.

Here are two reads I highly recommend:

• Life of Pi - Yann Martel - "Yann Martel's imaginative and unforgettable Life of Pi is a magical reading experience, an endless blue expanse of storytelling about adventure, survival, and ultimately, faith. The precocious son of a zookeeper, 16-year-old Pi Patel is raised in Pondicherry, India, where he tries on various faiths for size, attracting "religions the way a dog attracts fleas." Planning a move to Canada, his father packs up the family and their menagerie and they hitch a ride on an enormous freighter. After a harrowing shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean, trapped on a 26-foot lifeboat with a wounded zebra, a spotted hyena, a seasick orangutan, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker ("His head was the size and color of the lifebuoy, with teeth"). After much gore and infighting, Pi and Richard Parker remain the boat's sole passengers, drifting for 227 days through shark-infested waters while fighting hunger, the elements, and an overactive imagination." -- Amazon
  
  
• White Oleander - Janet Fitch - "This novel will surely be hailed as one of the best novels of the year and is likely the best debut this reviewer has ever read. When beautiful, egotistical poet Ingrid murders the lover who dumped her, 12-year-old daughter Astrid descends into the hells of foster care, where she is sustained only by a fierce intelligence and great artistic talent. Shot and left for dead by her first mother, half-starved in a mansion by another, turned into a drudge by a racist and she nearly finds happiness and mutual love with Ron and Claire. Heartbreaking, but without a trace of sentimentality, this novel provokes amazement that children like Astrid can emerge whole and capable after what we know are even worse childhoods than hers." -- Amazon