pickAll of This is True details what unfolds when a group of teens meet their idol, twentysomething author Fatima Ro, and find her everything they'd dreamed her to be and more. The author writes herself into their lives with the intensity of a cult leader. But when Ro's new novel comes out, the teens discover they weren't just the author's friends; they were characters she'd been using to fuel the arc of her narrative.
Some books use words as bricks, stacked one after the other until the whole beautiful story is built. In other books, the words themselves are marvels, things of loveliness on their own that, even if the story was not there, would be worth reading all the same. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is proving to be just such a book, as glorious within as its cover promises. The story is quiet and vivid (and heartbreaking).
Here are the books I‘m looking forward to tackling in February. I‘m excited about every single one of these, but the two new Australian offerings — A Free Flame and Tin Heart — are especially appealing. 💕
“A book‘s no good to me until I‘ve read it two or three times.” — CS Lewis
“Being an old maid does not hurt when you get used to it.”
pickI don‘t think I‘ll ever stop singing the praises of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. It‘s an incredibly winning and warm wartime memoir-turned-into-fiction by Judith Kerr. There‘s something authentic, innocent, and rare about the voice of its young narrator, Anna; her childlike view of war and life as a political refugee is accessible for young readers yet never loses its pathos and power.
“That‘s what happens when you enter a story. You become it. They are not safe things, stories. They are not for bedtime with a hot cup of milk, like you‘ve been told. They‘re dangerous.”
A few of these got tucked away in little public transport hiding spots locally today. Let me know if you found one!! #booksontherail
My #currentlyreading pile is big, beautiful, and eclectic. What‘s on yours?
pickUntidy Towns: genuine, loveable bookish main character ✔️ the uncertainty of year 12 ✔️ blossoming adulthood ✔️ endearing mother-daughter relationship ✔️ incredibly cute little sister ✔️ small town Australia ✔️ a gentle, authentic story arc ✔️ lost friendships reclaimed ✔️ perfect literary references ✔️ a nice boy ✔️ young romance that has realistic expectations ✔️ excellent girl pals ✔️ the complexity of growing up ✔️ humour and quiet bravery ✔️.
I'm currently reading, thinking, mulling over this one. Beautiful and unsettling, deeply Australian, brutal and tender, with that brooding atmosphere of eerie calm before a storm.
"Please love us!!"
"No way, we're too busy to be lovey."
This is a gem through and through. Thank you times a million, @ohthathayley. ❤️
"On a Sunday morning the town seemed lost to the countryside and highways surrounding, and the people there pitiable in their inconsequence. During a lengthy drive from the country to the city, passing through the town could make the world seem larger and more unfathomable, because how did these people get here, and why did they stay."
Oof.
pickWhat can I say about this book? I am in raptures. I love it so much that I'm giving it five stars even though I fundamentally disagree with de Botton's stance on sex and fidelity. He'd say that was romanticism; I'd say it was my Judeo-Christian worldview. We'd chuckle and clink our champagne flutes together and agree to disagree in the lightest of ways.
Yes, I love this book and its earthy, funny, warm wisdom.
"The love of flowers is a consequence of modesty and an accomodation with disappointment. Some things need to go permanently wrong before we can start to admire the stem of a rose or the petals of a bluebell. But once we realise that the larger dreams are always compromised in some way, with what gratitude we may turn to these minuscule islands of serene perfection and delight."
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? A children's mystery inspired by the friendship of Truman Capote and Nelle Harper Lee.
pickIt feels odd to say that a book about such an atrocity can be good, but this is a masterpiece. Shocking, compelling, with -brilliant- characterisation.
A memoir. About food and cooking. I'm there.
Left this little collection of Australia's sweethearts at the bus stop for someone to find today. #booksontherail
This is chilling, compelling reading with a lot of literary merit. There's also something very cool about reading true crime from an era which layered a filter of relative wholesomeness over things. It's all of the intensity without the gut-churning detail.
pickDeliciously creepy. And empowering that it was written in tiny pieces, a line at a time, because there was no time for more.
Forever fave.
Was thinking today how remarkable it is that a story about four teenage sisters and their relationships with one another, published in an era when the world of literature was dominated in many ways by male professionals, should be so enduring.
pickI've begun watching the new Anne series in fits and starts, ten minutes here and there. I was hesitant to dive in; the Anne books are so important to me (I'm probably 27% LM Montgomery by this point) and the 80s films became inextricably entwined with my experience of the books. Nothing else could replicate that. But I'm cautiously, wonderingly delighted.
Sarah Dessen is light reading's happy place.
so-soNoir and filmic and genre-typifying -- but I just couldn't get past the latent skeeviness. That, and my fingers kept itching to go at the descriptive passages with a judicious red pen. Two stars for this one.
So far, so wonderful.
pickA clean and spare near-future dystopia, set in the desolation following a plague which wiped out much of the population. It details sixteen year old Finn's attempts to stay alive and stay ahead of the Wilders, mobs who rule the land by force. Finn's isolation is shattered by the arrival of Rose, a young woman running for her life. Rose's arrival draws from Finn an even deeper measure of responsibility and courage -- as well as danger.
pick"Hope is our one true weapon. I didn‘t want to shy away from the darkness – we all experience darkness in our lives – but I also didn‘t want the story to be bleak."
My interview with author ER Murray is up on my blog now! http://bookityboo.blogspot.com
@Bloomsbury_Publishing
pickQueensland summers, year's end, scapegoats, racism, maturity, the gap between childhood and adulthood, boxing, Persian tea houses, the elderly, coming of age, family, grief, first love.
pickThe end left me in tears. Jane, you're my favourite, a heroine for the ages.
"Be too self-respecting to lavish the love of the whole heart, soul, and strength, where such a gift is not wanted and would be despised."
pickOne Would Think the Deep is a gloriously-written, uncompromising addition to Australia‘s beautiful YA fiction tradition. At its heart, it‘s about grief. But it‘s also a story of young adults growing up into who they are meant to be, and its ending offers a satisfying hint at a new beginning. (Full review at http://bookityboo.blogspot.com)
Jane Eyre is herself a tiny, beautiful succulent. She doesn't just survive; she thrives in spite of inhospitable and harsh surrounds.
#janeeyre #charlottebronte #currentlyreading
"Baby, it's never an insult to be called what somebody thinks is a bad name. It just shows you how poor that person is."
