Book Loving Kiwis discussion
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Anna, there are an awful lot of book sites which send out email newsletters offering free books. You have to sign up and it's free. Is this what you are looking for?Let me know and I'll give you a website which has a list of some thirty or so such sites.
P.D.R. wrote: "Anna, there are an awful lot of book sites which send out email newsletters offering free books. You have to sign up and it's free. Is this what you are looking for?Let me know and I'll give you ..."
I'm looking for websites such as Open Library, Smashwords etc. Maybe you use some others which are unknown to me.
By the way newsletters with free books is really good idea.
Okay, go and look here where there is huge list of sites and they are all hyperlinked. http://www.jasonbladd.com/indielister...
Go to the bottom of the page for the hyperlinked list. Choose any of them and check them out. Sign up for their newsletters and they will email you with details of each day's current free or 99 cent books.
Happy hunting.
Finally got my booking for the Singapore intransit hotel. They kept trying to give me the whole day because my ticket has me flying out in the evening and I get there at 5.40 am. Am so looking forward to the trip up the Ganges.I have not been anywhere for nine years and after a life of travelling from Asia to my family in Canada, and home to NZ and taking the professors to Europe and the UK for their conferences every year I have felt very shut in.
Forgive my skite. To actually hold the tickets and get the insurance (such a wrangle over my cancer of 18 years ago!!!) gives me such a boost and keeps the depression at bay!
Sounds exciting P.D.R. We had a stopover in Singapore on our way to and from the UK in March. Such a brilliant airport.
This is too funny http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british.... This would be an excellent plot twist for a crime novel, lol.
Oh lovely, PDR - Singapore is one of my favourite places and I was there 3 weeks ago. Your day there couldn't be better spent than at Gardens by the Bay - brilliant!
Angie wrote: "Sounds exciting P.D.R.
We had a stopover in Singapore on our way to and from the UK in March. Such a brilliant airport."
I have never been. However, my brother has and he said that Changi airport is one of the best ones that he has ever been in; followed by Vancouver International.
We had a stopover in Singapore on our way to and from the UK in March. Such a brilliant airport."
I have never been. However, my brother has and he said that Changi airport is one of the best ones that he has ever been in; followed by Vancouver International.
Not going 'til December, Kathleen. And yes Changi is great. I love the butterfly garden even if it is outrageously hot and sticky but the roof gardens are fantastic as are the shops, the museum style ones and the chocolatiers. Singapore is my stop over both ways for the great India trip. Thank you for that lovely Canadian snippet, Melissa. Those crows are so big and so cheeky. We had to deal with them quite a bit in Saskatchewan. I will tease my grandson about this as he thinks the birds are 'dumb.'
P.D.R. wrote: "Not going 'til December, Kathleen. And yes Changi is great. I love the butterfly garden even if it is outrageously hot and sticky but the roof gardens are fantastic as are the shops, the museum sty..."
Crows are incredibly cheeky. This particular bird has become notorious in Vancouver. They are definitely not dumb; they know exactly what they are doing.
Crows are incredibly cheeky. This particular bird has become notorious in Vancouver. They are definitely not dumb; they know exactly what they are doing.
Someone here kindly introduced us to future learn.com. (Darkpool?) Good and interesting courses in all kinds of things which are online, free and from good UK universities mainly.One a lot of you might enjoy is this:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/c...
Country-house-literature
Starts at the end of June. 6 weeks with all the stuff you read and look at online.
Reading list is:
On this course, we’ll be reading and discussing the literature of a wide range of writers. We’ll look at extracts from novels, poetry and drama, but also less common forms, like letters,
newspapers and periodicals.
All passages that you will need to complete the course are included in the course materials, but if you would like to do some preparatory reading, here’s a taster of what’s coming up.
WEEK 1
Utopia,
Thomas More
To Penshurst,
Ben Jonson
WEEK 2
Hamlet,
William Shakespeare
WEEK 3
The Sylph,
Georgiana Cavendish
WEEK 4
Sir Charles Grandison
Samuel Richards
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
WEEK 5
Mysteries of Udolpho
Ann Radcliffe
Great Expectations
Charles Dickens
WEEK 6
The Canterville Ghost
Oscar Wilde
The Importance of Being Earnest,
Oscar Wilde
Houses 'visited' are:
We’ll be taking you on a tour of the notable country houses of Yorkshire and Derbyshire including Haddon Hall, Hardwick Hall, Chatsworth House, Brodsworth Hall and Nostell Priory.
The work is fun and quite easy - at least the history courses I've been taking have been gentle stimulation rather than desperate scrabbles. Loved the Richard III course.
Great post, P.D.R. Wish I had the time...
Yes, saw that ! Fun isn't it? He's a real character but not as pretty as our wicked bird. Have you seen what our birds get up to? http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/82556...
P.D.R. wrote: "Yes, saw that ! Fun isn't it? He's a real character but not as pretty as our wicked bird. Have you seen what our birds get up to?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/82556..."
Haha, birds are cheeky animals. NZ cats are also up to their own shenanigans http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/78069...
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/82556..."
Haha, birds are cheeky animals. NZ cats are also up to their own shenanigans http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/78069...
If one wrote about it in a story readers would bellow that it was too improbable!And our Keas have formed a gang and are harassing a small central Otago community. They've even stripped the local policeman's car. I just hope people keep their cool. We don't have many Keas left.
Oh I love the Keas but they are terribly naughty. I saw one attacking the rubber strips on a car and then it ganged up with a friend on another bird. It wasn't fazed by my telling it off!
Mod
I love them too - but I'm a North Islander. They must love that rubber trim! years ago in the South Island I saw a small group of them attacking a car. As a good citizen I went to shoo them off - & they looked at each other & then marched towards me! I decided discretion was the better part of valour & walked (really quickly!) back to my own car!
They are a real bunch of hoods! They used to follow the bread van into the valley and if the supermarket didn't have the doors open for the driver to get straight in the Keas descended and the bread got gouged. Too clever for their own good.
Looks like house moving looming up. Argh! On my own!!
Oh, bad enough with a family team but on your own could be difficult . All the best for a smooth transition to wherever you are going.
Sorry I've been so quiet on here. It's been nose to the grindstone finishing the sequel to Fifteen Postcards. I finished it, called it "The Last Letter", and I submitted it to my publisher, Accent Press in the UK. And waited. and waited. While I was waiting, I started my third book, and then last week I was offered a new publishing contract with them! Which I signed. Yay. Champagne was consumed. ;)
This week, I finally started reading for pleasure again. And I restarted work on my third book - something completely different from the first two. Set in the modern day to start with, and in Florence!
But now I'm back (until I have to work on the edits my editor will be sending through of course...)
Mod
That all sounds really good Kirsten - congratulations!
Carol ♔ Type, Oh Queen! ♔ wrote: "Kirsten wrote: "Sorry I've been so quiet on here. It's been nose to the grindstone finishing the sequel to Fifteen Postcards. I finished it, called it "The Last Letter", and I submi..."Thanks!
May the champagne flow! Congratulations.And yes, moving is going to be hard especially as Oamaru is undergoing an Auckland style house shortage and the prices are going up and the houses sale in days!!!
P.D.R. wrote: "May the champagne flow! Congratulations.And yes, moving is going to be hard especially as Oamaru is undergoing an Auckland style house shortage and the prices are going up and the houses sale in ..."
So auction of my stuff from the great big house and land and store what I can and sleep with pals.
Wish I had. It's all waiting on finance before we can settle. Sigh!After years in Japan and Asia in a 5m by 7m flat I loved my villa's space and light. It's really hard to find that sense of space and light in the usual box the unimaginative builders call a house.
The free Future Learn people have this lovely course in Shakespseare coming up in September.https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/s...
It's with the professors from King's College London. Very reputable.
I am now learning all about Portus the Roman port of Rome.Doing an introduction to Archaeology course based on Stonehenge digs! And the country houses and literature starts soon.
Thank you, Darkpool, for introducing me to Future learn it's keeping my brain active and stimulating my curiosity spirit which was getting dull.
P.D.R. wrote: "I am now learning all about Portus the Roman port of Rome.Doing an introduction to Archaeology course based on Stonehenge digs! And the country houses and literature starts soon.
Thank you, Darkp..."
That Country Houses and Literature course Future Learn run is really good. I did that last year which was when I found the Richard III course they were about to do and let Darkpool know.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did, p.d.r.
In which case a big hug in your direction too, Lesley. I didn't realise how much I was cabbaging mentally until I got going again with these courses.My colleagues at Writing Mag produced a long list of online places like Future Learn as a reference spot for writers so if I run out at FutureLearn I will still find places which offer free stimulating general interest courses.
The literature course has just started. Not sure I am going to like this. I disagree with how they do the analysis.
I am just over the moon to see our newspaper headlines today saying that New Zealand is offering to lend the UK some negotiators. So very, very thoughtful. The UK hasn't got many of those left since the EU took us over, and over, and over.And you're keen to do a trade deal. I haven't read the small print yet (I'll have to save that for lunch time) but it broke my heart when the UK, my country of birth, turned to Europe more than our Commonwealth countries and it's so good to link hands across the 12,000 miles again.
A huge thank you for your thoughtful offer. It hadn't occurred to me (and probably millions of others) that we'd even need trade negotiators. I hope you have brilliant and warm sunshine today and all weekend!
I did my weekly shop yesterday and bought as many NZ items as I could - to say thank you. When I was loading up with Aunty's puddings, someone saw and thought they must be a good buy, so I told her why I was doing it.It's a funny way to say 'thank you', I know!
As for politics, hmm... least said, soonest mended, I hope.
Does anyone know how to say "Land of the Long Black Cloud" in Maori?
My food money comes from the writing I do for Writing Magazine. I have always enjoyed the sterling payment as it doubles to dollars! Not any more. I am on starvation rations it seems!I wonder happens to pensions?
The fall out will be enormous and so unpredictable. Of course the EU bureaucrats in Brussels need a good kick and shake up but this is going to hurt the people who need the most.
Smashing Shakespeare stuff at the British library.http//writ.rs/discoveringshakespeare
Did I mention Futurelearn have a Much Ado About Nothing course coming up in September?
Lesley, the literature course is sorted and yes, it's proving worth while. I'd forgotten how good Ben Jonson's poetry is.
Mod
http//writ.rs/discoveringshakespeare
Did I mention Futurelearn have a Much Ado About Nothing course coming up in September?"
Wow - what a resource!
Mod
I've used clementines, but kumquats are best. Oh perhaps lime is bestest!!!
wonder if they would be any good for curd?
Lemons are good for marmalade, I've found.
Mod
With the mandarin one (which used the juice of one lemon) it was so fiddly & for such a small yield. & time consuming! The colour & taste are good though.
PDR< limes are my favourite fruit. I have just been given some small orange ones. I only have 2. I tried googling for recipes but could only find curd or marmalade. We are just going to have slices in our water.
Love cooking fish with lime slices, lime juice and coconut milk. Yummy!
Mod
I am ignorant! Is the lime yellowy orange because it is over ripe or is it a special variety?
Mod
When ripe skin & flesh are orange. But to me it tastes like a bitter orange. It's very nice in my morning glass of water.
Carol ♔ Type, Oh Queen! ♔ wrote: "P.D.R. wrote: "I am ignorant! Is the lime yellowy orange because it is over ripe or is it a special variety?"When ripe skin & flesh are orange. But to me it tastes like a bitter orange. It's very..."
Are you sure it isn't a Seville orange? Now, they are good for marmalade.
Mod
Maybe South African lime is a very obscure name or the donor was mistaken.
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Book Loving Kiwis
Books mentioned in this topic
Six Minutes In May (other topics)Night and Day (other topics)
The Penguin History of New Zealand (other topics)
The Jacqueline Wilson Collection: "The Story of Tracy Beaker", and "The Bed and Breakfast Star" (other topics)
Fifteen Postcards (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Rumer Godden (other topics)Georgette Heyer (other topics)
Tamora Pierce (other topics)
Alix Bosco (other topics)
Olive Schreiner (other topics)
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Can you suggest me websites to download free books? Instead Amazon. Which is your favourite one?