Arrowtown book buyer Miranda Spary continues her regular column about life as she sees it and her recommendations for a good read.
Fishing for compliments really works - I have had loads of emails this week, so thanks very much, and I am really glad that so many of you are loving Loving Frank.
I checked and there are still copies available at Dorothy Browns, so don't tell me no bookshops have it in stock.
And big thanks to Christine Bradley who not only LOVES my column but had to fish the QT out of the bin to read it when she got back.
She reminded me of some other great books to recommend - Bel Canto by Ann Patchett and The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
And yes, I am making a list of book suggestions for Christmas, and yes, I will include suggestions for difficult people.
If you have any suggestions yourself for reluctant readers like teenage boys, men who hate fiction, women (especially mothers-in-law) who think themselves frightfully intellectual, but aren't, or even for people who are huge readers who seem to have read everything, please let me know.
I will try to have the list ready for next Friday, so be quick with any ideas.
That un-summery southerly forced me on to the sofa for a blissful afternoon or two with The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (Fourth Estate, $30) by David Wroblewski (authors should know their books will be more recommended if they have an easier name to pronounce!), which is a brilliant first novel about a mute boy whose family business is breeding and training dogs.
I'm absolutely loving it, and am a little annoyed to see the sun out as I only need another hour or so to finish it.
I hate doing inside jobs when the sun is shining, but I do want to have a go at cooking the recipes from Jenny Stewart's Christmas cooking course last week before I forget everything she told us.
Poor Jenny had a very noisy bunch of students and kept having to "dong" us into silence.
I noticed that some of the district's best cooks, like Gilly Jardine and Deanie Johnstone and Ros Greig, were at it so maybe learning to cook is part of being a good cook? Mmmm food for thought.
Cath Hanna says she knows why I am having difficulty losing weight - I went on the cooking course, ate the full Christmas dinner there, and then had to go out to a dinner party.
I think lovely Cath may have pinpointed the problem - I should stay home and eat my own horrible food, but it's quite difficult when there is always something better on offer.
This week Doug Jacques (of Joe's Garage, Queenstown fame) celebrated his 50th.
Even though he's Canadian, he does have some great ideas, and until 2010 he is helping raise money for our local skiwhizz Tim Cafe to get to the 2010 Winter Olympics by donating a dollar from every "Local" - the big breakfast they sell.
Just the sort of thing I love - gluttony in the name of charity. Perfect! And another thing I love is gluttony in the name of research.
I am lucky enough to be in a very fabulous book club, even though we quite often don't read the book (sometimes we don't even remember to buy it!), but the one thing we never forget is our Christmas party.
This year, Nicky Martin is hosting it and I generously offered to help her decide what cocktails to have for it.
We decided to go and consult the cocktail oracle, Angelo at Botswana Butchery, at the nice quiet time of 5.30 on a Monday night.
Now, Nicky and I were there for pure research reasons, and we were both shocked to see how many people were there just for pleasure. Appalling.
Anyway, Angelo created plenty of fabulous concoctions for us to try, but the results were inconclusive. We couldn't decide which was the perfect one.
So, it looks as if we will just have to go back and try a little harder to make up our minds next time.
You have to get these things right.
• Don't forget to email me on miranda@queenstown.co.nz if you have read something stunning or you just want to argue with me over anything.
