Review - The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura

I am slightly in love with the Little Black Classics format - both the opportunity to try out new-to-me authors and the physical size of the books. I'm not even sure why, but the smaller profile is incredibly appealing!

The Book of Tea is one of two books included in the 'Tea for Two' NovelTea Book Club Classic parcel from February 2020. Written by Kakuzo Okakura, it is a long essay, addressed to a Western audience, exploring 'teaism' and its links to philosophical, aesthetic and cultural aspects of Japanese life. It was originally written in English, and published in 1906. While the book has chapters, the prose wanders through history, culture and East/West comparisons. The writing is beautiful and the ideas are interesting.

While I have enjoyed some self-created rituals around tea-drinking, I am relatively ignorant of the intricacies of 'teaism' and the culture and ritual that surrounds tea in Japan and wider Asian cultures. It was fascinating to read The Book of Tea and to learn a little about it all. Given that this essay was written over a century ago, it was also fascinating to consider what has changed in East/West relations and Japanese culture since 1906.

This essay is perfect to read while lingering over a pot of perfectly brewed tea. I suspect it might be the kind of book that I come back to whenever I'm in the mood for beautiful words and wandering ideas.

If you’re quick, there are probably still a couple of leftover ‘Tea for Two’ parcels in the shop, so you can check out The Book of Tea for yourself!

Review - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Do I really need to provide a synopsis of this book? Between the classic children's novel and the rather well-known 1939 movie starring Judy Garland, it feels a little bit redundant to explain the plot.

Briefly, though, in case you've lived your life outside of western cultural cannon: Dorothy (a little girl), her dog Toto, and their Kansas house get sucked up into a tornado and transported to the land of Oz. The house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, killing her and freeing the munchkins (small people) who lived in fear of her. Dorothy is given the Wicked Witch's shoes and sets off with Toto to visit the Wizard in the Emerald City, with the promise that he will be able to get her home to Kansas. Dorothy gains several travel companions and has many adventures along the way.

The story is written for children and is introduced as a 'modern fairytale'. The language and the story reflect this, and the book is an easy and enjoyable read for an adult.

I'm pretty sure I read this book as a child. I definitely remember the cover of the copy at my parents' house and I since I was the kind of kid who would read anything I could get my eyeballs on, I'd say it's almost a certainty. I'm not sure if I've seen the 1939 movie, but the images are definitely firmly embedded in my brain. I also read and loved 'Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of The West' by Gregory Maguire, an exploration of the backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West, and was equally enamoured by the musical adaptation.

All that to say, I was carrying a lot of Wizard of Oz baggage into this re-reading.

The first thing that struck me is that I'd totally forgotten that the amazing shoes that Dorothy receives are in fact silver! In my mind, they were definitely ruby, as made famous by the 1939 movie.  I think this helped as I re-read the rest of the book - don't assume you remember the original text correctly! As much as most of the rest of the story matched my memories, it definitely made me read a little more carefully.

In the end though, most of the rest of the story was as I had remembered it. Perhaps the characters were a little more annoying, but they are written simply, for children, so really we can’t expect too much depth and subtlety. The story is fun and fast-moving. Adventures and narrow-escapes abound, and, as required, everything ends happily ever after. This is, after all, a ‘modern fairytale’, or at least L. Frank Baum’s idea of what a modern fairytale should be.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is worth a read if you’ve never gotten to it, or a re-read if it’s been a while. Quick and easy and quite delightful!

Why not check out the past parcels in the NovelTea shop to see if we have any ‘Over the Rainbow’ parcels left?

Top 7 Classic Novels Featuring Badass Ladies

The recent gorgeous and compelling adaptation of Little Women on the big screen has reminded us that feminists have featured in our favourite classic novels for a very long time now.

Far from being exhausted by the long fight for equality, we have as much energy as ever for making the world a just place. The women in some of our most adored books can still remind us now how to stand up and be strong, and believe in ourselves and love and a happier place.

Especially when we get so easily caught up in the 24-7 of social media and the internet, it can provide a moment of quiet and self-care to switch off and escape into a book. Meet new friends or be introduced to some acquaintances from long ago, cry, laugh, sigh, swear and basically get all human again.

So, we think it’s time to dust off some classics and rediscover these vintage heroines. Or if you haven’t yet read any of these incredible books below, now is a great time to find out how wonderful they are.

Here is our list of 7 of our most beloved classic novels with strong women crafting the tale.

Jane Eyre

One of the very first inspiring novels for women, Jane Eyre is a lovely story to curl up in a cosy corner with and enjoy all over again. This one is far from modern cheesy romance novels or chic-lit; Jane is smart, poor and generally considered quite plain, but she stands by her beliefs, is openly kind and giving and would rather be alone than with the wrong man.

This 1847 novel by Charlotte Bronte was radical and revolutionary when it was first published. It still reminds us to stick by our values regardless of what society tells us to be and always believe that we are worthy of love.

Little Women

Louisa May Alcott published this book in 1868 about the four strong-minded and kind-hearted March sisters and their struggles to become young women in the civil war era. Every one of the female characters is a boss babe in her own right, including their very forward-thinking Marmee and tough rich Aunt March.

The characters in this gorgeous book show us that no matter what you aspire to be, you should be true to your own path, and always remember that sisters rock. 

My Brilliant Career

Written by Miles Franklin and published in 1901, this is a must-read, not just for Aussie girls but for smart women everywhere. It is the story of 16-year-old Sybylla who refuses to accept that she shouldn’t aspire to do anything other than marrying well.

It was written by Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin when she was herself a teenager, and published under the gender-neutral name Miles to disguise that she was a girl.

The Colour Purple

Written by Alice Walker in 1982, this is the story of Sofia. A young woman born into slavery and in a world where women were second-class to men, and women of colour has an even greater fight, she stands up for herself and follows her heart and her dreams. 

Like all of the books on our list, Sofia’s story is tragic and harrowing in parts, and may bring you to tears, but incredible stories like this one need to be shared.

The Handmaid’s Tale

Whether you have seen the television series or not, the original novel of The Handmaid’s Tale (as well as last year’s very long-awaited follow up, The Testaments) is well worth a read. 

Created by Margaret Atwood in 1985, this is a story of a woman fighting against a male-dominated dystopian society that seems scarily realistic in today’s political climate.

Offred is strong and smart, a woman refusing to let go of who she is and who she loves despite what the world throws at her. This is a modern classic and very hard to put down.

Anne of Green Gables

You may have read this one as a child, but again it’s time to see the gorgeousness that hides between the covers of this book. It holds just as many lessons (and laughs) for adult readers as well.

Written by L.M. Montgomery and published in 1908, this is a story about Anne, an orphan child who is fostered by an older sister and brother who gradually become her family. She is full of fire and wit, imagination and adventure, and romance and joy. She is fiercely caring and determined and hopeful – she would have been right up there standing beside Greta Thunberg today!

Kindred

Written in 1979 by multi-award winning author Octavia E Butler, Kindred tells the story of Dana, an African-American woman who is sucked back in time from 1976 to pre-Civil War Maryland.

Dana becomes part of life on a plantation, meets her ancestors and has to make some very hard choices as a black woman in the era of slavery. She is strong and smart, compassionate and courageous and you cannot help but be drawn into her story and the decisions she makes to survive and find her way home.

Looking for more strong women in Classic literature? Check out our latest Classic Box!

A Story about Stuff: 5 Easy Ways to an Eco-Friendly Christmas

Some people love the idea of Christmas, and are bursting with excitement as the season approaches, ready to start tossing tinsel everywhere and blasting Mariah Carey from the rooftops.

Other people feel exhausted by just the thought of all the buying and baking and decorating and…. stuff.

Christmas spirit is awesome and all, but somewhere along the line, it feels like it has become mostly about lots and lots of stuff.

How much Christmas waste do we create?

I don’t want to put a huge downer on your Christmas, but we do create an awful lot of waste this time of year. We produce 30% more waste and rubbish during the Christmas period than we do for the rest of the year.

Aussies spend around $11 billion altogether on Christmas gifts, and apparently, we report as a nation receiving over 20 million unwanted gifts.

Are we just creating more clutter – and perhaps more stress?

There are very few people who couldn’t say that they don’t have too much stuff. A decluttering craze took over the world this year with everyone adopting the Konmari method of getting rid of anything in their home that didn’t ‘spark joy’.

Every gift you receive needs to go somewhere in your home. It needs to be used and cleaned, or hidden away taking up space, but either way, do we really need every gift we get at Christmas?

Hang on… don’t you…

Ok, ok, let me stop here for a quick second to acknowledge that I LOVE giving gifts, and that the NovelTea Book Club is built around giving hand-wrapped gifts (to yourself or your favourite book lover). I also love Christmas. So this seems like a weird blog post to write, right?

But here’s the thing: I also love simplicity, mindful consumption, and the environment. I LOVE giving gifts, yes, but more than that, I love giving the right gift. Finding the perfect present for each of my loved ones, rather than just handing over something because I feel like I have to. That perfect gift might not be expensive or new or shiny, or even something that I can physically ‘hand over’. I hope that’s true for Book Club subscribers too. I hope that NovelTea parcels are the perfect gift, and something they are truly excited to receive each month.

Now that we’ve addressed my apparent conflict of interest, let’s continue…

There are a couple of questions that we could be asking ourselves at Christmas (or at any time of year, really…)

What changes can we make to look after the environment?

What changes can we make to look after each other?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently, and chatting with friends and family. How can we simplify Christmas? How can we clean it up, retain what is wonderful and what is important (whatever that means for each of us), just with a bit less… stuff?

Eco-Friendly Christmas - It doesn’t need to be about having more

As I’ve been thinking this all through, I’ve come up with a few ideas. Read on for 5 Easy Ways to an Eco-Friendly Christmas. I hope you can find some inspiration for how you can make this Christmas a little bit greener. 

1. Give Fewer Gifts

Studies say that children can’t process being given more than four toys to play with at one time. By the time they open the fifth, they have forgotten about the first completely.

I wonder if adults are any different?

It may be more beneficial to stagger your gift-giving, or just give less altogether.

2. Give Experiences

Instead of giving things, give experiences. Better still, give experiences with you, so you get to spend time together with this special person again sometime after Christmas. 

Gift a voucher for a massage or facial, for dinner out or perhaps a trip to the theatre or the movies. You can even gift things as varied as sky-diving, luxury-car driving, abseiling and trampolining.

Subscriptions (like the NovelTea Book Club, for example – shameless plug here!!) are also a wonderful idea, because they don’t pile on all at once, and stretch the joy of receiving out all year. I love the idea of a National Geographic Kids subscription, or one to an art and craft or science box. I’ve even had customers purchase a subscription for themselves and a gift subscription for a distant bookish bestie – what a brilliant way to share an experience across the country or the world.

3. Use Less Paper and Plastic

Look for gifts that are wrapped in less plastic packaging, or gifts that are wrapped in entirely recycled or recyclable materials. You could also look for gifts already made from recycled materials.

Make gift choices that the environment will thank you for. Give a keep cup to a coffee lover, a set of silver straws to a cocktail lover, or a beautiful BPA free drink bottle to your gym-nut friend.

4. Recycle Everything

Either wrap in recycled wrapping paper or wrap in another gift – a scarf, a quirky tea-towel or a pretty throw.

Make absolutely sure that you recycle everything you can after the big day itself – including paper and plastic, glass and tins. 

Recycle food as well – look for recipes for leftovers and that use up any scraps like cheese, meat, and veggies. You can freeze any leftover fruit for smoothies at a later stage. Leftover lollies can be used in baking slices or cookies, while most savoury items can be popped into soup another day.

5. Shop Local and Australian

Buy as much as you can from local and Australian shops, especially small businesses. The carbon footprint of these items is lower, and the money made goes back into your local community and the local environment.

An eco-friendly Christmas should focus on joy and love and fun, and also on sustainability. That way we are giving generations and generations of children to come a world in which they can enjoy their own Christmas.

We are gifting Christmas to the future. Now that’s the spirit!