Saturday, January 2, 2010
The last books of 2009
Amid the business and pleasure of life I managed to read a book or two - Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, The Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris, The Master by Colm Toibin, The Girl with ... Series by Stieg Larssen, Hard Times by Charles Dickens, Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler, Marked by PC Cast, Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffnegger, Wild Things by Dave Eggers, Growing Up Asian in Australian edited by Alice Pung. Not to mention my big challenge War and Peace by Tolstoy.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Festivalling...
I have been festivalling, drinking up the observations of writers at The Melbourne Writers Festival. I have been to a young adult day and a few more adult things. I came away with some great suggestions for books to read... and I have read a few of them!
I read a series by a YA writer Justine Labastier, the Magic or Madness trilogy. These books seemed aimed at the tweenie end of the YA market and are based on the idea that using magic comes at a cost. Justine's biography is inspiring - she decided to be a novellist and got a contract based on her idea! Magic in these becomes becomes a metaphor for temptation and causes a conflict or two within Sarafina's magic family. The settings are the best things about these books. Courtesty of magical portal Newtown, New York and the outback are bought to life rather vividly. I also read the first of the Midnighters series by Scott Westerfield. I liked the authentic sense of teenage life he created.
I also discovered Lisa Unger an American crime writer. I read her novel Sliver of Truth and was rather swept away by it. I love the world she created and that characters were never as they seemed.
I also went to a great session on writing the Holocaust. I went for work, really, because I'll be teaching a book Once by Morris Gleitzman. But one other the other panellists, Thomas Buergenthal spoke about his life and his memoir A Lucky Child. I came home and read this book in one sitting. I was struck by the understatement of his story, when so many Holocaust narrative highlight the drama.
I read a series by a YA writer Justine Labastier, the Magic or Madness trilogy. These books seemed aimed at the tweenie end of the YA market and are based on the idea that using magic comes at a cost. Justine's biography is inspiring - she decided to be a novellist and got a contract based on her idea! Magic in these becomes becomes a metaphor for temptation and causes a conflict or two within Sarafina's magic family. The settings are the best things about these books. Courtesty of magical portal Newtown, New York and the outback are bought to life rather vividly. I also read the first of the Midnighters series by Scott Westerfield. I liked the authentic sense of teenage life he created.
I also discovered Lisa Unger an American crime writer. I read her novel Sliver of Truth and was rather swept away by it. I love the world she created and that characters were never as they seemed.
I also went to a great session on writing the Holocaust. I went for work, really, because I'll be teaching a book Once by Morris Gleitzman. But one other the other panellists, Thomas Buergenthal spoke about his life and his memoir A Lucky Child. I came home and read this book in one sitting. I was struck by the understatement of his story, when so many Holocaust narrative highlight the drama.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Being Charlotte B

Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Romance of Birds

This elegant book has renewed my faith in reading after a string of so-so reads. I think it's a big question - how to write about love without making it the same old story - and it seems the secret is to write about the whole story, first love to death. Towards the end of the novel Tom (the leading man) says "you know, the only times we aren't mysterious to one another are probably when we're first falling in love and when one of us is dying. New love blinds us for a while to all the things we don't know".Tom and Addie fall in love around a common obsession with birds, Addie as a painter and Tom as a scientist. Through their lives as Addie develops a intense ecological awareness, this shifts and she almost becomes angry at the simple beauty of birds as involved as she is in various activist struggles. Artistically this is expressed through assembages of taxidermied birds, arranged to comment on environmental issues. These dark expressions of her rage find a popular audience. Through all this the bond with Tom morphs and shifts, as does her relationship with her daughter Scarlett. The writing is lovely and the novel, structured around Addie's first notebook with flashbacks and flashforwards, has a unity that is just so.
Friday, July 17, 2009
A Boy and his Maps

The book has a number of literary touchstones. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime comes to mind as well as the boy wizard who shall remain unnamed! Reif Larsen plays with these connections cleverly, yet his protagonist is still a compelling fully realised character. I loved this book. It swept me along!
Once Again, Families

There is no denying Azar has lived through interesting times. Her father was Mayor of Tehran in the Shah's time and there's lots of black and white photos of him in nightclubs pre-Cultural revolution with elegantly coiffed women. From these worldly groovy times, Azar lives through the rise of fundamentalism and the stripping of women's rights. Like many of her class she studies overseas, in her case England and America and eventually leaves Iran.
It's a beautifully written book and the stories contained within it are compelling.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
The Red and the Black


Vampire Academy is first in a series by Richelle Mead. In this world there are two types of vampires - Moroi, living vampires, and Stigoi ,the undead type we are more familiar with. There are also Dhampirs, guardians to the Moroi. The main character of this book is Rose, the "shadow-kissed" guardian of Lissa, a Moroi princess. The high school politics are catty and there are a lot of young women being mean to each other about their sexuality, which I didn't like! But there's a noble hunk and the supernatural side of things is creative and involving.
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