Tag: brisbane

Top 10: Fiction

  1. The High Places, Fiona McFarlane
  2. At the Edge of the Orchard, Tracy Chevalier
  3. Brooklyn, Colm Toibin
  4. The Whites, Richard Price
  5. Did You Ever Have a Family, Bill Clegg
  6. A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara
  7. Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner
  8. My Name is Lucy Barton, Elizabeth Strout
  9. The Japanese Lover, Isabel Allende
  10. The Natural Way of Things, Charlotte Wood

Samantha Wheeler’s Shelf-Talkers

sam wheeler

An avid Tim Winton fan, I began my holiday reading with his passionate memoir, Island Home. His evocative prose, describing the beauty and power of Australian place, was a luxurious holiday treat. What stayed with me the most was Winton’s sadness over the exploitation of our land, his despair over its degradation. As a fellow lover of Australian landscape and wildlife, I admired his call to arms, encouraging us all to care for our country, as our country defines us. An unexpected gem was discovering Winton’s journey to publication, and the pitfalls his unique writing style created. Island Home is a must, and I will certainly be reading it again.

island home

The next book on my list also, in a strange way, involved nature. Charlotte Wood’s The Natural Way of Things was both thrilling and terrifying. Whereas I had difficulty picturing the women in The Handmaid’s Tale, I had no such trouble with Wood’s unflinching prose. Every breath, every drop of sweat is horribly plausible. Set in outback Australia, somewhere, a bunch of women with a thread of similarity are held captive for no clear reason. The interaction between them is fascinating, the plot compelling and the ending perfect. I would definitely recommend it.

natural

Kate Morton is up high on my list of favourites, and I’m always thrilled when a new book of hers comes out. Each time, I tell myself I will savour it, but then I can’t stop reading, and I’m sad when I’m done.

The Lake House is no exception. Morton knows just how to set the mood, location, and characters surrounding grand English homes, and she takes you right to the heart of Cornwall with this one. There are lots of plot threads and several time jumps, but that didn’t spoil what was a thoroughly enjoyable read.

lake house

Sam Wheeler is the author of several children’s books, including Smooch and Rose, Spud and Charlie and Mister Cassowary. She lives in Brisbane with her husband, daughters and pets.

Top 10: Fiction

  1. The Secret Chord, Geraldine Brooks
  2. The Promise Seed, Cass Moriarty
  3. A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara
  4. Purity, Jonathan Franzen
  5. The Dressmaker, Rosalie Ham
  6. The Lake House, Kate Morton
  7. The Japanese Lover, Isabel Allende
  8. All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
  9. Brother of the More Famous Jack, Barbara Trapido
  10. The Mark and the Void, Paul Murray

Top 10: Fiction

  1. The Natural Way of Things, Charlotte Wood
  2. The Secret Chord, Geraldine Brooks
  3. The Lake House, Kate Morton
  4. The Dressmaker, Rosalie Ham
  5. A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara
  6. A Game for All the Family, Sophie Hannah
  7. A Strangeness In My Mind, Orhan Pamuk
  8. A Brief History of Seven Killings, Marlon James
  9. The Promise Seed, Cass Moriarty
  10. Did You Ever Have a Family, Billy Clegg

Alex’s Shelf-Talker: The Promise Seed

promise seed

A poignant and touching story from a local author, The Promise Seed is set in Ipswich and Brisbane and opens on a young boy being accused by his mother of the murder of his infant sister. He is taken to a home for wayward boys where he spends the rest of his youth paying for a crime he didn’t commit. Now seventy years later, the demons of his past continue to haunt him.

Next door, a ten year old boy continues to battle demons in the present, struggling to afford breakfast and running from a mother that has continually betrayed him. The two strike up an unlikely friendship, seeing that their stories are not dissimilar, and bond sharing a love of gardening. However the boy’s loyalties are tested and he must choose between his disloyal mother and a kind stranger tormented by his past.

The elegance of its prose makes it both easy and enjoyable to read. At some times similar to Helen Garner and at others Jonathan Franzen, this is a deeply enthralling read.

Top 10: Fiction

  1. The Fishermen, Chigozie Obioma
  2. A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara
  3. Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee
  4. The Book of Speculation, Erika Swyler
  5. All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
  6. Purity, Jonathan Franzen
  7. Rush Oh! Shirley Barrett
  8. A Year of Marvellous Ways, Sarah Winman
  9. Brother of the More Famous Jack, Barbara Trapido
  10. The Story of the Lost Child, Elena Ferrante

Pauline’s Shelf-Talker: “Green Valentine,” Lili Wilkinson

green valentine

When Astrid and Hiro meet they give each other superhero names. She’s Lobster Girl and he’s Shopping Trolley Boy. Not an auspicious beginning. But it gets better. Then it gets worse. Much worse. Classic romantic comedy: girl-meets-boy, love blossoms, and is derailed. Incredibly engaging, upbeat, funny and smart.  Astrid Katy Smythe is beautiful, smart and popular. She’s a straight-A student and a committed environmental activist. She’s basically perfect. Hiro is the opposite of perfect. He’s slouchy, rude and resentful. Despite his brains, he doesn’t see the point of school. But when Astrid meets Hiro at the shopping centre where he’s wrangling shopping trolleys, he doesn’t recognise her because she’s in disguise – as a lobster. And she doesn’t set him straight.

Astrid wants to change the world, Hiro wants to survive it. But ultimately both believe that the world needs to be saved from itself. Can they find enough in common to right all the wrongs between them? A comedy about life and love and trying to make the planet a better place, with a little heartbreak, and a whole lot of hilarity.

Readers of contemporary Australian YA will be very familiar with Lili Wilkinson who has had success with her previous novels such as Pink and The Zigzag Effect.  Although the blurb makes this out to be a romantic comedy, and it is romantic and funny, this novel is so much more than that.  It tackles some environmental issues that are of great concern to many in our community but it also shows that you can have a sense of humour about yourself and the beliefs that you hold passionately dear.  Both Astrid and Hiro hold strong beliefs but both are also flawed: Astrid is passionate about consumerism and packaging and gardening and making a difference, but she is also sometimes judgemental and preachy.  Hiro, on the other hand, is rebellious and recalcitrant but somehow they become friends as they undertake midnight Guerrilla Gardening.  Filled with humorous footnotes about serious environmental issues both of them learn that sometimes you just have to give a little to get a lot.

Suitable for 14+

Top 10: Fiction

  1. “The Eye of the Sheep,” Sofie Laguna
  2. “A Little Life,” Hanya Yanagihara
  3. “Salt Creek,” Lucy Treloar
  4. “Go Set a Watchman,” Harper Lee
  5. “All the Light We Cannot See,” Anthony Doerr
  6. “The Little Paris Bookshop,” Nina George
  7. “The Rosie Effect,” Graeme Simsion
  8. “Circling the Sun,” Paula McLain
  9. “The Other Side of the World,” Stephanie Bishop
  10. “A Year of Marvellous Ways,” Sarah Winman

Happy Birthday, Clueless!

clueless-quotes

This weekend marks the twentieth anniversary of indisputable superlative Jane Austen adaptation, Amy Heckering’s 1995 classic “Clueless.” Arguably one of the smartest dumb movies ever, “Clueless” reimagines the confounding protagonist of “Emma” as a zeitgeisty MTV generation brat, the ludicrously named Cher. To celebrate this ingenious update on a much-loved novel, we’ve come up with a list of other classics that could do with a cinematic makeover.

Breakfast at Biffany’s: Society girl Holly Golightly becomes bored with the inertia of New York’s hipster scene and channels her existential malaise into an all-female underground fight club.

Anna Kalenina: Frustrated housewife Anna defies her oppressive husband by opening a paleo food café, running away with Pete Evans and promptly throwing herself under a train.

The Picture of Dorian Whey: Protein junkie and general bruss discovers that as he continues to dirty bulk, his Instagram selfies become increasingly scrawny.

The Great Catsby: Seemingly normal, twenty-something male buys enormous house in West End, proceeds to populate it entirely with designer felines.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Flan: A youth rejects his Christian Brothers education in favour of becoming an artisanal baker.

Wuthering Oath: Emily Bronte’s Gothic classic set in Arana Hills. Heath, a member of a bikie gang outlawed under the Newman Government, bangs his head against a Jacaranda Tree whilst mourning the death of his high-school sweetheart, nail technician Kath.

Great Expectations: Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow star in…oh wait. No, this already exists.