Dear Reader

Daylight Savings
Some thoughts

We put our clocks back at 2am on April 6th, and thus Autumn is here, soon to be followed by winter.

I don't know about you. I just do not understand the logic (is there any?) of this Daylight Savings practice. I was born in Queensland in Australia. Queenslanders voted not to have Daylight Savings, so in the summer we in New Zealand become three hours ahead of Queensland but only 2 hours ahead of the rest of the Eastern States.

In Queensland, there is generally no twilight. The sun sets and it gets dark pretty quickly. One benefit of living in New Zealand is the longer daylight hours, especially in the summer. During daylight savings, the night sky is light well after 10pm, sometimes till 11pm. So, my question has always been - why do we 'need' daylight savings here?

Conversely, we put our clocks forward just as it's getting lighter in the morning and we end up with at least another month of getting out of bed in the dark.

I know I don't have any influence over whether we have Daylight Savings or not. My father lived on the border of Queensland and New South Wales and had to manage two time zones. He had two clocks to remind him what the time was in each. I don't have to do that. Thank goodness.

I actually love the early morning light and find myself resenting it being taken away from me! Grrr!

I end up sleeping in when I want to get up. It takes me longer to adjust (because of my attitude, I suspect!) and that resentment festers. But I've got a little mental trick now that helps me get up when I need to. I pretend I'm a spaceship about to be launched and I do the countdown: 5-4-3-2-1 - and I pull back the covers and jump out of bed! Easy peasy.

How do you manage the change in time in the Spring and Autumn? Maybe you can give me some ideas - Please!

The Booker International Prize 2025

Every year I look at the book prize results and struggle to find a book that grabs my attention. I think this year I might be spoiled for choice. The International Booker Prize 2025 Click the link and see what I mean.

A coming up theme for our bookclub is a translated book and this Booker list has shortlisted five novels and one collection of short stories - all translated from the original into English.

Max Porter, one of the judges, gives some compelling reasons why their choices merit our attention. He says:

"This shortlist is the result of a life-enhancing conversation between myself and my fellow judges. Reading 154 books in six months made us feel like high-speed Question Machines hurtling through space. Our selected six awakened an appetite in us to question the world around us: How am I seeing or being seen? How are we translating each other, all the time? How are we trapped in our bodies, in our circumstances, in time, and what are our options for freedom? Who has a voice? In discussing these books we have been considering again and again what it means to be a human being now.

... We haven’t chosen these six books because we are book experts that think people need to be told what to read. We have chosen them because we need them, we found them, and we love them. We need literature that shocks, delights and baffles and reveals how weird many of us feel about the way we are living now. Ultimately, these books widen the view. They enhance the quality of conversation we are all having. They don’t shut down debate, they generate it. They don’t have all the answers, but they ask extraordinary questions."

What an attitude to have as you are considering what to read. I'm certainly looking for quality conversations about the times we are living in now. And I'm looking forward to reading the ones Neil and I've chosen out of the six - and perhaps I'll read them all. What about you? Do any of these appeal to you?

The ones we've chosen, and bought the kindle versions for, are:

• ​On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle, translated from Danish by Barbara J. Haveland​
• ​Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, translated from Japanese by Asa Yoneda​

I have a pile of TBR books right now! All are at the top of my list! I'm stressing a bit, I have to admit. I keep thinking - winter's on its way, that's why I've got this big pile! I can't show you them all, because some are on Kindle, but here's a few hard cover ones.

I love books - reading and writing and talking about them! I have often found my own life's situations described between the pages. I've been comforted to see how others have resolved seemingly insurmountable problems and find courage and comfort in the writings of others.

Ages of Pages Book Fair, Hamilton April 26th 2025

Talking about books - If you are in reach of the Waikato region on April 26th (that's the day after ANZAC Day for us in New Zealand), come along to our Ages of Pages Book Fair Click on that link for time and location details. It's an opportunity to chat with the authors, and get them to sign their books you can buy from them. You might even get to see me there.

You've seen my own authored books (may even have a copy of one or more!) but have you seen my granddaughter Payton's debut poetry book Where the Stars Swim? Honestly, she is a fantastic poet! Sure, I'm biased, but I'm also very savvy. She is inspirational! It's a book of poetry any woman would be delighted to have for Mother's Day! She will be at the Book Fair too!

Long may books be written. May they always be available to us - to ease the pain and reflect the joys of all our lives.

With love
Stephanie

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My thoughts for Living Life in 2025 and beyond:

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"Life is a Daring Adventure or Nothing"

Helen Keller

“Write it on my heart that every day is
the best day of the year”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Remember that sometimes not getting
what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck"
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Dalai Lama

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave [person] is not [the one] who does not feel afraid, but [the one] who conquers that fear.”

Nelson Mandela

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