Arrowtown book buyer Miranda Spary continues her regular column about her recommendations for a good read and life as she sees it . . .
What is happening to the world?
We were all a bit speechless over what happened in Christchurch and now there are no words at all for what has happened to poor Japan.
I went to Christchurch last week for an earthquake fundraiser and was horrified at how hugely it has affected people, even those whose houses are theoretically undamaged.
I say theoretically, because I think there is something very wrong with not being able to use tapwater to drink or wash your dishes. Or even wipe your bench.
Having to store your jars of jam and chutney on the floor must get tedious as well.
And the dust ... and the smell ... even the army helicopters thwop thwopping over the houses are unsettling, however much good they are doing.
I had to throw a wobbly when an English architect friend who has visited here before said that one of his employees from Christchurch told him the last thing Queenstown needed was tourists with all the destruction everywhere.
He felt my wrath immediately and you will all be pleased to know he is very definitely on the right track regarding visitors here now!
There is still some good in earthquakes.
Many of you will remember lovely Pip from Arrowtown Montessori and her very premature son Freddie (he was baby Jesus with his oxygen tank in the Nativity Play one year - a world first, I'm sure).
Freddie is now nearly 10 and he had a massive operation to straighten his spine and hips last year.
When a painting fell on him in the September earthquake, he jumped up and ran.
It was the first time he had ever run in his life and he just can't stop doing it now. Unusual therapy ...
The earthquake is also a catalyst for all sorts of marvellous events - next Friday at Millbrook is the Art with Heart auction.
Some of the most famous names in our art world have donated works to help the people in Christchurch.
Call Millbrook on 441-7000 for details.
And on the subject of marvellous events, if you did not get into Arrowtown on Saturday to see the super athletes running, and the not-so-super ones creeping over the finish line at the Mototapu race, you missed something special. Congratulations to the organisers - the huge crowd had a good time on a beautiful day.
All the Christchurch people I spoke to said it was the perfect cure for earthquake sufferers.
Another perfect cure was the rather decadent late-afternoon treat for all the people who managed to get tickets to hear Sarah-Kate Lynch speaking.
Sitting in Dorothy Browns with a glass of Champagne, eating chocolates and nougat, laughing yourself silly is a splendid way to squander a couple of hours on Sunday.
I had already heard her in Northburn the night before and had an equally good time followed by a naughty dinner with Paul Fish (the former owner of Fishbone in Beach St) in his Cromwell restaurant Feast.
I had a caesar salad with the salad bowl made of lacy, baked parmesan cheese - I need to go back and eat it all over again.
Yum.
Relief is always only a book away - this week you may be able to tell that I have spent quite a bit of time seeking relief and finding it in three different books.
The Small Hand - a tiny, perfect ghost story by my new fave author Susan Hill.
A dealer in rare books mistakenly visits an empty house and finds a small, cool hand holding his.
Chilly and creepy and very beautifully written.
Next up was Poser, by Claire Dederer.
She's a professional book reviewer and she's written her life story in chapters based on 23 different yoga poses.
She's funny and clever and hits the nail on the head so neatly. Her views on Seattle mothers could so easily be switched to Queenstown - all the "musts" and "shouldn'ts" - fantastic.
Last of all, and not in the least bit least - Antonia Fraser's farewell song to her husband Harold Pinter, Must You Go?
The title is what Harold said to her when she tried to leave after their first dinner together.
They were both quite married to other people at the time.
The story is made up of extracts from her diaries, and what a story!
They lived a full-on life with everyone who ever mattered in the world of literature, politics, drama, music, art and society and there are wonderful tales all the way through.
He was a difficult man, but she loved him madly and it's impossible not to sob at the end.
And I must tell you that my new hero with the uncatchy name Izzeldin Abuelaish (I told you about him last week) is coming to the Auckland Readers' and Writers' Festival.
And so is the naughtiest writer in the world A.A. Gill - a very dyslexic, reformed alcoholic, often offensive and very, very funny (read his Vanity Fair story on the Creation Museum for any moments of sadness).
