Belinda Diepenheim (Author of Waybread and Flax)

Belinda rated a book did not like it Heaven Official's Blessing (Manhua) Vol. 1 by Bilibili	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Why are so many manga and Korean dramas focused on making men look like women. Also why are do so many of these uber femme men look the same? I could honestly not tell who the main character was except by his white/grey robes. Also they have that pla ...more
Apr 18, 2026 01:24PM · like · see review
Belinda rated a book it was amazing My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises by Fredrik Backman (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Elsa is almost 8 and extremely intelligent, a bit different, and has one friend, her granny. Granny is 77, smokes, drinks, swears, is highly intelligent, a Dr, a traveller, a not very good mother, and she has more attitude than a room full of toddler ...more
Apr 17, 2026 11:27PM · like · see review
Belinda made a comment on Emily May’s review of My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry " Loved it. I think it had more heart than about 98% of books out there. "
Apr 17, 2026 11:26PM · see review
Belinda rated a book it was amazing Clara Reads Proust by Stphane Carlier	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I loved this so much. I usually have a look at the one star comments, but they're all in French except one that mentions that the start is slow. I'm guessing she means Clara doesn't actually start reading Proust for a few chapters, but considering th ...more
Apr 14, 2026 04:37PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Clara Reads Proust by Stphane Carlier. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Clara Reads Proust by Stphane Carlier <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Belinda rated a book it was amazing The Complete Story of Sadako Sasaki by Sue DiCicco	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
This little book filled with photos of Sadako Sasaki and her family broke my heart. What an evil thing war is, and how incredibly evil was the decision to drop two bombs on two Japanese towns full of civilians. It isn't even like a situation in WW2 G ...more
Apr 09, 2026 08:16PM · like · see review
Belinda rated a book it was ok Fooling by Marilyn Duckworth	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Marilyn can write, let's get that straight from the outset, but she goes the way so many NZ authors go, down the misery trail. We have a character called Ros, a 28 year old woman who has inherited her mother's run down home. She lives next door to Jo ...more
Apr 09, 2026 01:01AM · like · see review
Belinda rated a book it was ok Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A wealthy woman is murdered. Her son Jacko is accused of the murder, but 18 months after he has died in prison along comes a man who upholds the fact that Jacko had an alibi, he cadged a ride with the man one evening. The man, a Dr Calgary, tells Jac ...more
Apr 07, 2026 03:20PM · like · see review
Belinda rated a book really liked it That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz by Malachy Tallack (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I'm drawn to anything set in the Shetlands or Hebrides, etc, so this seemed a good choice. I also loved the cover and the title. I found it a quiet read, an account of real lives, ordinary, struggling, often difficult, and yet buoyed up by the island ...more
Mar 31, 2026 08:42PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz by Malachy Tallack. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz by Malachy Tallack <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Belinda made a comment on The Bookish Bulletin’s review of That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz " He's 62. He's 62. ...more "
Mar 31, 2026 08:42PM · see review
Belinda rated a book it was amazing The Full Moon Coffee Shop (The Full Moon Coffee Shop, #1) by Mai Mochizuki	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I'm giving this light hearted, slightly quirky book a 5 after reading "Enter Ghost" and giving it a 4 (for the ending), a book so clever and deep that I think that it takes time to process, but The Full Moon Coffee Shop (TFMCS) is judged within the s ...more
Mar 26, 2026 03:13PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">

Belinda rated a book did not like it

Heaven Official's Blessing (Manhua) Vol. 1
by Bilibili

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Why are so many manga and Korean dramas focused on making men look like women. Also why are do so many of these uber femme men look the same? I could honestly not tell who the main character was except by his white/grey robes. Also they have that pla ...more

Belinda rated a book it was amazing

My Grandmother Sends Her Regards and Apologises
by Fredrik Backman (Goodreads Author)

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Elsa is almost 8 and extremely intelligent, a bit different, and has one friend, her granny. Granny is 77, smokes, drinks, swears, is highly intelligent, a Dr, a traveller, a not very good mother, and she has more attitude than a room full of toddler ...more

Belinda made a comment on Emily May’s review of My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman

" Loved it. I think it had more heart than about 98% of books out there. "

Belinda rated a book it was amazing

Clara Reads Proust
by Stphane Carlier

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

I loved this so much. I usually have a look at the one star comments, but they're all in French except one that mentions that the start is slow. I'm guessing she means Clara doesn't actually start reading Proust for a few chapters, but considering th ...more

Belinda rated a book it was amazing

The Complete Story of Sadako Sasaki
by Sue DiCicco

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

This little book filled with photos of Sadako Sasaki and her family broke my heart. What an evil thing war is, and how incredibly evil was the decision to drop two bombs on two Japanese towns full of civilians. It isn't even like a situation in WW2 G ...more

Belinda rated a book it was ok

Fooling
by Marilyn Duckworth

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Marilyn can write, let's get that straight from the outset, but she goes the way so many NZ authors go, down the misery trail. We have a character called Ros, a 28 year old woman who has inherited her mother's run down home. She lives next door to Jo Marilyn can write, let's get that straight from the outset, but she goes the way so many NZ authors go, down the misery trail. We have a character called Ros, a 28 year old woman who has inherited her mother's run down home. She lives next door to Josephine, her husband The Womble, and their blended family. She is relatively happy, but like so many young women she feels she should settle down.

One day Josie and Ros go to the races at Trentham and there they meet two men, Murray/Chris and Can't remember his name, let's call him Dick because he is one. She isn't particularly interested in him but she still sleeps with him. Dick continues to hang about and hang about, he criticises her relationship with Josie (she takes up too much of Ros's time and he needs "all of her time" - massive red flag), and Ros continues to let him. He criticises her house but makes no attempt to help her do it up. He just comes round, bonks her, eats meals, and within two months Ros has sold the house and bought a fancier one with a man she barely knows. Is that depressing enough already? I think so.

Obviously he's a gambler and he owns a horse - bought just before he purchased the house. He has trouble paying his bills. Ros pays. He has a daughter and she is dumped on their doorstep and who raises her? Ros. Basically this is a story about a narc who abuses women by sucking them dry and a woman who is stupid, young and gullible enough to let it keep happening.

Eventually Dick meets someone else and Ros is free of him, but if this book was a movie it would definitely fail the Bechdel test. How depressing is that? To read a book written by a woman that makes a woman all about the man she is with? And all the conversations involved a husband, a lover or kids. We don't even know what Ros did for a job and there was almost no resolution on any level for Ros.

What would I have liked to see? Her kicking out Murray, moving a cool woman in to help pay the mortgage, bonding with Sylvia, buying Dick out completely and realising that boundaries for a young woman means she gets to avoid a Dick. Maybe those things, maybe one of those things, but to make it a great book it needs to make Ros a worthwhile person who evolves. Unfortunately Marilyn just wanted to make her into a doormat. ...more

Belinda rated a book it was ok

Ordeal by Innocence
by Agatha Christie

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A wealthy woman is murdered. Her son Jacko is accused of the murder, but 18 months after he has died in prison along comes a man who upholds the fact that Jacko had an alibi, he cadged a ride with the man one evening. The man, a Dr Calgary, tells Jac A wealthy woman is murdered. Her son Jacko is accused of the murder, but 18 months after he has died in prison along comes a man who upholds the fact that Jacko had an alibi, he cadged a ride with the man one evening. The man, a Dr Calgary, tells Jacko's family all of this one evening. He says he was knocked down by a car, got concussion, went to the Antarctic, and this is why he couldn't be there for the trial and had no memory of Jacko at all until very recently. And there we go, a totally improbable beginning and a whole family embroiled in trying to evade the truth - someone else had to have killed "mother" and they were all in the house and locked in for the night.

Mother and Father are not biologically the parents either. Mother - Rachel, and father, Leo, were unable to make babies so she adopted them. When kids were evacuated from London she took loads of them in and kept about 5 of them so she could have a family. Everyone appears to have had everything but they still hated her and no one seems to have been happy except Tina, who is "dark", and Mary, who remembers her horrible family and loves living in the lap of luxury.

Anyone could have done it and everyone is keeping silent.
Cut to the chase and it all takes ages to get to the big reveal. I got fed up with it all and read as fast as I could to finish this book. Christie is a woman of her time I guess, but all of her books have lots of references to the emotional state of women and the obvious class issues - anyone without an education is a bit thick. In this book comments about Jacko's "monkey face" (is this a reference to his possible race?), Tina's dark skin and Mary's lack of emotion, etc, abound. It's like the current status of blaming solo mother's for raising psychologically messed up kids when war has taken father's from their families for centuries and most kids were raised by single mother's or stepfathers in the mix. In this book Christie is blaming the genetic inferiority of kids for Rachel's death and the subsequent disassociation and avoidance of the children she raised.

I really don't get it. Christie was intelligent, educated, capable, and yet she seems to have it in for women and anyone she considers beneath her status, which was quite elevated due to money and her being born into a wealthy upper class family. It doesn't make her open minded though. Apparently she hated the character Hercule Poirot - is this because he was from Belgium? - and she often makes snide remarks about him in her books.
What a shame she comes across now as a snob and a bigot since some of her books are entertaining. However, Ordeal by Innocence reveals her as a rather unpleasant woman who thinks she's extremely clever. I found the book overwritten, unpleasant and messy. ...more

Belinda rated a book really liked it

That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz
by Malachy Tallack (Goodreads Author)

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1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

I'm drawn to anything set in the Shetlands or Hebrides, etc, so this seemed a good choice. I also loved the cover and the title. I found it a quiet read, an account of real lives, ordinary, struggling, often difficult, and yet buoyed up by the island ...more

Belinda made a comment on The Bookish Bulletin’s review of That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz

" He's 62. ...more "

Belinda rated a book it was amazing

The Full Moon Coffee Shop by Mai Mochizuki

The Full Moon Coffee Shop (The Full Moon Coffee Shop, #1)
by Mai Mochizuki

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I'm giving this light hearted, slightly quirky book a 5 after reading "Enter Ghost" and giving it a 4 (for the ending), a book so clever and deep that I think that it takes time to process, but The Full Moon Coffee Shop (TFMCS) is judged within the s ...more