adult fiction
Whenever I take a trip to Sydney I try to visit a few historical sites—and the romance and horrors of it all mean that I then find myself hunting for solid early Australian historical fiction. Which is how I came to be reading The Monsarrat Series.
Monsarrat is a white-collar convict—he’s bright, literate and has had an earlier arrogance beaten out of him during his convict years. When book 1, The Soldier’s Curse, begins, he’s part way through his second term.
ages 14 and up
The thing about kaleidoscopes is that they need to have two or more points of reflection. Without those points we see only a messy collection of colours and shapes. But, with those points, we see an extraordinary array of beautiful images that meld into each other to produce something inspiring. This book is a kaleidoscope of sorts.
Living on Hope Street is populated with multiple characters whose lives are difficult, heart wrenching and desperate in many different ways. But, as the novel unfolds, it presents that second point of reflection—and the messy collection of characters and circumstances come together to show lives of great beauty and complexity
Over the years we've bought our Sunshine Coast holiday reading at Annie's Books on Peregian, but we only recently met Annie Grossman in person. It was a real treat!
We were so impressed (charmed actually) by Annie's wit and passion, we asked if she'd share some of her favourite books with us and our readers. And what a great selection! But first, we asked if she would tell us a little about herself:
adult fiction
I’ve become fascinated with the history of race relations in the USA. (Actually everywhere, but you’ve got to start somewhere.) So I went hunting for fiction that would make good airplane/road trip reading but still taught me something. And this is what I found.
The story revolves around Henry Townsend who is a free black farmer and slave owner. (There were actually quite a few free black slave owners but Henry is not an historical figure.) Henry, his former master, his family and slaves have lives that are mingled and intertwined. That mingling is the essence of the story.
This looks like a great way to spend a birthday—reading and sunbathing on a car bonnet in Martha’s Vineyard. The pic is from New York Jackie: Pictures from Her Life in the City and was taken on her 60th birthday.
She’s reading The Most Beautiful House in the World, which I gather is a bit like a cerebral version of Grand Designs! The author is architect and prolific author, Witold Ryczynski—a man of forthright and strongly held opinion, including:
Just in case any of the six children I birthed are starting to panic, here’s my Mother’s Day Book Wish List—I make one very year.
Quite often no one buys anything from it because they know full-well that if they don't I’ll just end up buying them anyway. Still, here’s this year’s list, more or less in order of preference:
Gleebooks, Hill of Content and Kinokuniya—we visited all three earlier this week. And, in a monumental display of self control, bought only three (fabulous!) books....
Bill Gates has a book reviews section on his blog—it runs heavily toward the highbrow end of town. (No surprise there, I guess!) There’s a smattering of ‘beach’ books for light relief too, and this is one of them. I read The Rosie Effect myself a year or so ago and loved it.
I love short stories for travelling—I can read one or two on a domestic flight and then put it away without thinking about it all day while I’m doing other things. The Stories of John Cheever is a collection of 61 short stories
For over a hundred years now, we’ve been telling ourselves that the pen is mightier than the sword. And although it sometimes it seems that the sword is winning, ideologies and causes and words usually come before the sword. Which is why it’s so important that our words be words of truth and hope and love. The solemn thoughts in the above quote are from In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner. They're spoken by a father to his young, beloved daughter
Do you do this too? Snatch out a moment anywhere you can to keep up with a great action book? That's Stephen King reading Lee Child's Tripwire between innings at the baseball—looks like he’s deep into one of Jack Reacher’s exploits. (Apparently King’s a big Boston Red Sox fan, so it’s not like he’s wishing he was somewhere else.)
A story about letting go of fear to find freedom. It's a nice reminder of the courage of refugees and asylum seekers and an. enticing story to capture the attention of early teens—great for helping them to recognise the good things in life (like freedom and family).
An unsettling meditation on freedom entangled in a gripping story about a woman living as a slave in the ante-bellum South.
adult fiction
A troubling and yet uplifting story of the effects of war and politics on the lives of two women and the way they come to love and respect each other.
Do you have Easter plans this year? We’ll be camping in the New England area of New South Wales, one of our favourite places. And taking a novel each - looking forward to reading these!
I’ve just finished this new book in the Matilda Saga. Actually, you could say I just started it too since I started it last night and finished it this morning! All of us at WTBA love this series, so imagine my delight when I spotted Facing the Flame on the shelves at Avid Reader yesterday, even though the official release date is December 1.
When Louisa saw me reading it she sighed: “It’s short.”—and added with mock exasperation: “Jackie French!” We always hope that the next Matilda Saga book will be in the 600 page realm so that we can enjoy the characters for longer.