My Girl Friday

Aussie YA Week at BTL

2012-01-23T18:39:00.001+11:00

Are you guys all reading between the lines? If not, you should be! This week they are celebrating all things Aussie YA (as for those of you who are not Australian, January 26 is Australia Day).

source: we ♥ it

Today they take us on a little trip down memory lane, with a reading flashback to Melina Marchetta's Looking for Alibrandi. I first read this book in 2000 and it was then a set text for my year 9 English class and it couldn't have been more perfect for that time in my life. Every time I re-read Alibrandi (which is probably once a year), I think about that year (2002) - my school, my friends at the time, that English class and how that English teacher really made me love reading during a time when a lot of other things in my life were not going so well. Oops - sorry for the little waddle down memory lane.

Now seriously, go bask in the Aussie goodness!

Moonrise Kingdom

2012-01-18T21:18:00.001+11:00

Is anyone else as excited as I am about the Moonrise Kingdom trailer?

!!!

I can't wait to see this. Also, I would love Suzy's entire wardrobe - actually I would just like to live in a Wes Anderson film.

What 2012 releases are you most looking forward to?

I'm also really excited for The Hunger Games, Dark Shadows, Frankenweenie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Magic Mike (seriously) and Warm Bodies.

Happy Dance!!! TFioS

2012-01-13T16:26:00.000+11:00

Even though I pre-ordered a copy of The Fault in Our Stars online about four months ago, I still raced out to get a copy locally (the book is published in paperback by Penguin in Australia) to keep me going until my hardback arrives!

It's really hard, but I'm saving it to read tonight, uninterupted. Feel free to share your thoughts about the book or all thing John Green in the comments (and I'll read them when I've finished, as I've managed to keep spoiler-free so far!).

Seriously though, I am so excited to read this!!!

Waiting on Wednesday: Dead, Actually

2012-01-11T10:00:00.000+11:00

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine to "spotlight upcoming releases".

One of the books I've been looking forward to for some time now is this fabulous new Australian title:

Dead, Actually - Kaz Delaney
Publisher - Allen & Unwin
Date of Publication - March 2012

From A&U: Willow's having a bad week. A dead body, a funeral and now she's being haunted by the star of it all, the dead queen of Ruth Throsby High herself, JoJo Grayson. Being dead hasn't made JoJo any nicer. She's still venomous and vacuous and, unfortunately, determined to stick around unless Willow finds out what happened. But the mysteries keep multiplying. There's a missing phone. An anonymous blackmailer. Dirty secrets that won't stay buried. And the blame is being cleverly pointed right at Willow.

I have to admit that I've had a teensy sneaky peek at this one and it is well worth the wait!
Dead, Actually manages to combine elements of paranormal YA with a contemporary setting, a fast-paced mystery and fresh characters. If you're a fan of the Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl or Private series, make sure you add Dead, Actually to your calendars!

What upcoming releases are you eagerly anticipating?

Mixed Bag #43

2012-01-06T09:00:00.000+11:00

Good morning friends! Here is my first Mixed Bag post for 2012, featuring some of my favourite things online. I hope you enjoy them.

source: we ♥ it

♥ I am pretty much in love with this 2011 post from the lovely Steph Bowe: Luck versus Hard Work and Recognising Your Awesome.
♥ The Ryan Gosling Young Adult tumblr
♥ The lovely Danielle at Alpha Reader is hosting an amazing giveaway to kick off 2012, featuring Australian Women Writers. If you're an Australian resident, go enter!
♥ Look guys, Shirley Marr has announced the title of her upcoming novel and given us a little teaser (cannot wait til April - add this to your calendars!!)
♥ I found this video on Stephanie Perkins' blog about trying something new for 30 days. I'm sure you've all heard of this before, but I think it's a great idea and I'd love to try it (and hopefully share the results on here!). If you're also a fan of this concept, check out Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days series.

Happy Friday!

My Girl Friday gets a Makeover

2012-01-01T14:00:00.000+11:00

image source: we ♥ it

I decided that My Girl Friday was way, way overdue for a new look (I have had the previous blue design since September 2010). I wanted a clean design, that felt fresh and feminine and so I purchased this lovely template from Yellow & Savvy on etsy, and would highly recommend Steph-Anne's service for Blogger and self-hosted Wordpress templates.

Hopefully this new design is showing correctly on your internet browser, but please let me know if you're having issues and I'll do my best to resolve these (I have noticed a few teeny things in Internet Explorer, which I hope to get ironed out asap).

I've also made a few admin changes around here, which I hope you'll find useful!
Review Archive - instead of having to try and find my reviews from my old Books Read lists, I know have all of my reviews in one handy-dandy location. I also have a seperate review list for Australian YA titles.
Review Policy - I have updated my review policy to reflect the future direction of the blog.
Blogroll - I've updated and tidied my blogroll on the right, under What She's Reading with a list of Australian YA bloggers.

I hope you like my new look, and I'm really looking forward to sharing lots of Aussie YA goodness with you this year!

2012 Blogging & Reading Resolutions

2011-12-31T12:00:00.000+11:00

source: we ♥ it

Yes, I am one of those people who get stupidly excited as it gets closer to New Year's and makes lots of grand plans and resolutions. Whether or not I actually achieve them is another story completely ...

Anyway, I thought I'd start with a quick look back at my 2011 Blogging and Reading Resolutions:

Read 100 books – Done! Whilst I didn’t beat my 133 total from 2010, I pulled a decent 115 this year. This was made up predominantly of YA fiction, but also included a number of biographies and personal fiction (Tori Spelling, Rob Lowe, Anthony Bourdain, Mindy Kaling and Tina Fey) and some adult fiction.

Post more consistently – eeeep, definitely not done! Despite good intentions, my posting schedule this year (especially over the last couple of months) was sporadic at best. The big difference in 2011 was that I was working full-time, which obviously gives me less blogging time.

Write higher-quality reviews – ehhh, whilst I think I improved slightly in quality from 2010, I still think my 2011 reviews could have been more polished.

Comment more – another area I did not do so well in. I think I was even worse in 2011 than in 2010 at commenting! I do feel like my Google Reader is a bit out of control and I don’t manage it as well as I should. I’d like to do a bit of a clean-up and really make the effort with leaving comments on posts I enjoy or that get me thinking – and also ensure that I leave well-thought comments instead of just ‘great review’.

Attend more literary events – yay, something I improved in! In 2011, I was fortunate enough to attend Reading Matters, the Emerging Writers Festival, Melbourne Writers Festival (school’s program) and a Booktalkers event at the State Library.

And now for 2012 (actually given my mixed success with the 2011 resolutions, they are somewhat similar)

Read 120 books - I want to step it up a bit and try and read more than I did in 2011. I'd also like to keep trying to move out of my reading comfort zone (contemporary YA) a little bit more - so feel free to recommend me books you think I'd like.

Making better use of my blogging time - I'm going to have less 'free' time in 2012, as not only am I working full-time, but I've also decided to take on further study (yay!). I'd still like to keep going with My Girl Friday and do to this, I want to work on making better use of my blogging time (as right now, about 80% of it involves faffing about on the internet and 20% involves actually writing ....). I think a blogging calendar and the scheduling assistant will become my new best friends.

Expand my blogging horizons - for those of you who are long-time readers (all five of you), you might remember I used to have baking and food posts. Well, I'm determined to bring this back in 2012 (hey, my tagline has always been fiction, film and food), as well as starting to write more about film (my other love), Melbourne and other things that interest me (and that I think you guys will like to).

Write better quality posts and invest time and effort into creating pieces I'm truly proud of - no explanation needed.

Lovely readers, I'd like to know what your 2012 resolutions are (blogging, reading, personal).

Feel free to share in the comments!

Festive Wishes

2011-12-24T19:50:00.000+11:00

source: we ♥ it

Hi friends,

Just wanted to take a minute to wish you all the very best for the festive season. I hope you all have a lovely break, however you choose to spend or celebrate it. I'm about to sit down and watch my absolute favourite Christmas film, It's A Wonderful Life (which still makes me cry, even though I've watched it every Christmas Ever for the past ten years - seriously, once George Bailey runs through Bedford Falls, I am a mess).

I hope you've all had a great 2011 and wish everyone the best for 2012! I'll be taking a little blogging break, but will be back in the New Year, with new reviews, new features and hopefully a fresh look.

Merry Christmas!

Steph

New Directions in 2012

2011-12-20T20:57:00.001+11:00

image source: we ♥ it

Hello! I won't bore you all with apologies, but I'm sure you've noticed how quiet it's been on here lately. Basically I feel since I went to the US in September, I've never managed to get back on top of things, both here and at work. I think I've lost a little bit of my blogging mojo - partly because of time constraints, partly just being a bit burnt out. Anyway, I've decided to make some changes for this blog come 2012 and I'd like to share some of these with you.

Firstly (and most importantly) in 2012, I will only be reviewing Australian young adult titles in detail. I've been struggling with writing reviews this year, and so I've decided to concentrate on quality over quantity - I will committ to reviewing three Australian YA novels a month (and a mix of new releases and backlist titles). That's not to say I won't occasionally write about other titles - because obviously I'm really excited about The Fault in Our Stars and Isla and the Happily Ever After, and I'll probably use my Snack Size feature to share my thoughts on these titles.

I've also started to create a 2012 Australian YA Calendar, to mark when new titles are publishing this year. At the moment, I'm only listing Aussie Contemporary YA, and will continue to add and update this thoughtout the year. If I've missed anything you think I should know about, please let me know.

I'm really looking forward to this new direction and some of my other plans, which I hope to reveal very soon.

Waiting on Wednesday: Queen of the Night

2011-12-14T10:00:00.000+11:00

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine to "spotlight upcoming releases".

I have been so excited for this book, since hearing whispers about it on Twitter earlier in the year. I adored This is Shyness (which I reviewed here).

Queen of the Night - Leanne Hall

Publisher: Text Publishing

Publication Date: February 27th, 2012

From Text: The dark is dangerous. So is the past. So are your dreams. For six months Nia—Wildgirl—has tried to forget Wolfboy, the mysterious boy she spent one night with in Shyness—the boy who said he’d call but didn’t.

Then Wolfboy calls. The things he tells her pull her back to the suburb of Shyness, where the sun doesn’t rise and dreams and reality are difficult to separate. There, Doctor Gregory has seemingly disappeared, the Darkness is changing and Wolfboy’s friend is in trouble. And Nia decides to become Wildgirl once more.

I can't wait to revist Shyness and the characters I fell in love with in This is Shyness. Also, isn't this cover just divine? For more information about Queen of the Night, be sure to check out Text's website.

What upcoming releases are you most looking forward to?

My Favourite Christmas Specials

2011-12-11T14:00:00.000+11:00

It's no secret that I'm kind of a Christmas freak, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I love a good Christmas special. I thought it would be fun to share some of my favourites with you:

Community: Regional Holiday Music
My most recently viewed Christmas special, and I loved pretty much every minute of this Glee-spoof. By now, you all probably know that my love of Christmas is only surpassed by my love of musicals so it was win/win all round for me. Even Annie’s song Teach Me How to Understand Christmas, spoofing Santa Baby (one of my all-time most-intensely-disliked Christmas songs) made me laugh. Whilst season two’s Christmas special was great, I definitely enjoyed this one more.

Sorry - I can't get the video to embed, but please watch this example of awesomeness that is Troy and Abed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X6hG2u89xk

Misfits: Christmas Special
What a way to cap off an amazing second season! I love this episode (with the exception of the final five minutes - which I'm pretty sure everyone else who has seen this would agree with me). There's so many brilliant (and awkward moments) - and I adored the introduction of preggers teen Marnie (I totally ship her and Nathan). There's also creepy Jesus, some lovely Simon/Alisha bits,

Scrubs: My Own Personal Jesus
I used to be a really big Scrubs fan (though I stopped watching around season six I think), and this episode is back from the early days of season one. I love that is does touch upon the spiritual aspect of Christmas, without being preachy or schmaltzy - just the right amount of warm and fuzzies. The whole 're-finding your Christmas spirit' as a plot is an oldie, but a goodie (when done well).

I also really like:
That 70s Show: An Eric Foreman Christmas
Veronica Mars: An Echolls Family Christmas
Big Bang Theory: The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis

What are your favourite Christmas specials?

Hello December!

2011-12-02T23:10:00.001+11:00

image source: we ♥ it

Can you believe it's December already? Am I the hundreth person to bring this up to you in the last two days? (if so, I'm sorry). This year has flown by (which is scary) but I have to admit, I'm pretty excited now we've hit December as it's my hands-down my favourite time of year. I think I shared this tidbit last December, but for those of you who don't know, I am a heart-thumping, carol-whistling, gift-wrapping fanatical Christmas lover. So for me, the next month will be full of baking, present wrapping, and watching Christmas movies. I'll be sharing some of these with you on the blog this month (a warning to anyone with grinch-ish tendencies), and then some of my planned blog changes will be in effect in the new year.

I hope everyone else is enjoying the start of the holiday season! Here's one of my favourite videos, A Charlie Brown Christmas - performed by the cast of Scrubs.

Publishers' Showcase at State Library of Victoria: Part 2

2011-11-30T18:22:00.001+11:00

Sorry, I know I promised to posting Part 2 of the Publishers' Showcase on Wednesday, but I decided to bake whoopie pies for the first time and it turned into a far lengthier (and messier) project than I'd expected. Anyway, onto the recap of events:

Random House Australia: presented by Michael Pryor and Rhiannon Hart

Michael is the author of the Laws of Magic series (if you're interested in historical/fantasy/comedy/adenture books for young adults, definitely check them out as they are fantastic!) and the first book Extinction Gambit in his new series, The Extraordinaires is about to be released. This is Michael's 29th book (!!!) and it's about Kingsley Ward, an aspiring escapologist.

Michael's 30th book is also being published by Random House in April 2-12. It's called 10 Futures and it's a sci-fi novel for young adults comprising of ten linked stories (and I have to admit, as someone who does not read sci-fi, I was really intrigued by the sound of this book!).

Finally Michael shared another upcoming Random House title, Wonder by R.J Palacio. Michael suggested it as being well-suited to early teens and likened it to Holes and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Rhiannon Hart then got up and spoke a little about her debut novel, Blood Song, which was published in September this year. It's the first title in her trilogy (to be followed by Blood Storm in August next year and Blood Queen in 2013).

Penguin: presented by Erin Wamala

Legend - Marie Lu (publishing in December)

Crossed - Ally Condie (published November 2011)

Disharmony - Leah Giarratano
Part thriller, part dystopian and part fantasy, Leah is a published adult author and a clinical psychologist.
The Reluctant Hallelujah - Gabrielle Williams (February 2012) - I am already super excited for this.

The Fault in Our Stars - John Green (publishing January 11, 2012) - no words, just !!!!!!!!!!

Text Publishing: presented by Alison Arnold

All I Ever Wanted - Vikki Wakefield (July 2011) - one of my favourites from this year and Vikki has a second novel coming out in mid 2012 so stay tuned.

The Bridge - Jane Higgons (August 2011) - the 2010 winner of the Text Prize.

Queen of the Night - Leanne Hall (February 2012) - another one I am very eagerly anticipating.
Shadows - Paula Weston (June 2012) - angels in a coastal town

Harper Collins: presented by Lisa Berryman

Act of Faith - Kelly Gardner (July 2011) - historical fiction with a sequel to come in 2012.

Silvermay - James Maloney (January 2011 and winner of the Golden Inky)

The Industry - Rose Foster (2012) a psychological thriller set in Melbourne (two big ticks from me), and Rose is a screenwriting student at RMIT.

Mountain Wolf - Roseanne Hawk (2012) looks at children trafficking in Pakistan.

Allen & Unwin: presented by Eva Mills

Ship Kings 1 - The Coming of the Whirlpool: Andrew McGahan (November 2011)
Only, Ever, Always: Penni Russon (August 2011)
Erebos: Ursula Poznarski (March 2012) - a thriller about "power, manipulation and revenge" translated from the original German publication. It sounded amazing and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a copy in 2012.
The Ink Bridge: Neil Grant (March 2012) - the story of a refugee boy on a journey from Afghanistan.

Whew! That's a lot of books to look forward to! I loved that there are so many brilliant Australian titles coming out next year, and it was great to see so many genres covered in the Showcase. Thanks again to Adele - not only for inviting me, but for organising such a fantastic event.

Publishers' Showcase at State Library of Victoria: Part 1

2011-11-29T22:03:00.001+11:00

Tonight I was lucky enough to attend Publishers' Showcase at the State Library of Victoria, organised by the Centre for Youth Literature. It was the last of their Booktalker events for the year and a number of publishers (or authors on behalf of publishers) were invited to present on new and upcoming young adult releases. We were welcomed by the lovely Adele, program co-ordinator at the Centre for Youth Literature.

Here is a brief run-down and some photos from the event (I did take rather rough notes, so I am extremely for the lack of detail and if there are any minor errors!).

Bloomsbury: presented by Sonia Palmisano
A Beautiful Lie - Irfan Master (published January 2011)
Historical fiction set in 1940s India and the premise reminded me of the film Goodbye Lenin.
Irfan has a multiple book contract with Bloomsbury so we'll be seeing even more from him in the future.

Sektion 20 - Paul Dowswell (published September 2011)
A Cold-War thriller.

Coming in 2012:
The Hidden trilogy - Marianne Carley
Agripping Australian fantasy.

In Darkness - Nick Lake
Set in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake. This will be released seperately for the YA and Adult market.

Pan Macmillan: presented by Fiona Wood and Cath Crowley

Fiona spoke about Six Impossible Things (published in August 2010). You can read my review here.
She described her debut novel as "optimistic, funny and comforting". Not only has Six Impossible Things alreayd been reprinted 6 times (!!), it's been set as an English text in two Australian schools.
Fiona then gave us some insight into her new novel (which is nearly finished!) and was known as Pulchritude and is now going by another working title. It's set in Melbourne (yay!) and is about a girl called Sybilla Quince.

Cath then got up and talked about Graffiti Moon (swoon!), and what interested me was the way she spoke about the significance of the art featured in Graffiti Moon, and the way it reflects the emotions of some of the characters. Cath also gave us some details about her new book, The Howling Boy (which I believe it due late next year). It's the story of two seventeen year olds, Crow and Audrey and oh my goodness, it sounds completely amazing!

Ford Street Publishing: presented by Paul Collins

Mole Hunt - Paul Collins

Changing Yesterday - Sean McMullen

Historical sci-fi, an exciting set during the Australian federation.

Coming in 2012:

In the Beech Forrest - Illustrated by a sixteen year old girl

Trust Me Too! An anthology featuring an Isobel Carmody piece.

Walker/Blackdogbooks: presented by Maryann Ballantyne

Coming in 2012

Other Brother - Simon French

Suited to the late middle years.

The Wrong Boy - Suzy Zail

Zail is a debut author from Melbourne and the daughter of an Auschwitz survivor. Wrong Boy is about a young Jewish teen who plays piano in a contentration camp for the commander and falls in love with his teenage son.

Broken - Elizabeth Pulford

After a motorcycle accident, a young woman falls into a coma and during this time, delves into a comic-book world to find her brother (the book turns into a graphic novel).

Blood Brothers - Carole Wilkinson

The fourth book in the Dragonkeeper series.

That covers the first part of the evening. I'll cover the second half, with new and upcoming releases from Random House, Text, Allen & Unwin and Penguin tomorrow (sorry to leave you hanging!)

Quiet in the Blogosphere

2011-11-24T18:40:00.001+11:00

Hello! I thought I'd begin with a picture of myself as it feels so long since I've properly blogged, you may have all forgotten about me!

Now I know it's definitely affected me, but has anyone else noticed what seems like a wave of silence has fallen over the YA blogosphere? I'm not sure if it's just a busy time of year, if people have other committments or if there's just a general sense of 'blah' at the moment, but things seem to be very chill.

You will have noticed my lack of regular posting since I got back from holiday last month. Guys, I have to admit I'm in a bit of a reading slump and am also having a minor blogging identity crisis. There are some pretty big changes I'd like to make around here, so hopefully you will be seeing/reading some shiny, new content soon.

Anyway, I hope you're all well - feel free to share any reading recommendations in the comments (because I could really use some good ones right about now).

Guest Post at The Crooked Shelf

2011-11-14T13:56:00.001+11:00

Hi there guys and gals,

If you haven't already been following Carla of The Crooked Shelf's Aussie YA Month, make sure you check it out!Today there is a guest post from me, in which I share ten of my favourite Australian YA debut novels.

Not only has Carla been reviewing some of my favourite books, she's had guest-posts from awesome people like Adele (Persnickety Snark and the Centre for Youth Literature) and Chachic, she's got interviews with Bill Condon and Melina Marchetta AND a huge giveaway of Aussie goodness.

Quick, get over there and share the Aussie-love!

Awesome and exciting news in Australian YA

2011-11-12T16:16:00.001+11:00

image source: we♥ it

There has been some seriously exciting news in the realms of Australian YA fiction this week and I just wanted to share these with you:

♥ The sequel to one of my 2010 favourites, This is Shyness, is being published in February 2012. Queen of the Night picks up six months after the events of the first book, and I am so excited to revisit Wildgirl and Wolfboy. Also, isn't the cover stunning?

♥ Gabrielle Williams, author of another favourite Beatle Meets Destiny, has her second novel entitled The Reluctant Hallelujah publishing in early 2012.

♥ Super, super awesome news: Hardie Grant Egmont is developing a new YA fiction collection. Ampersand is going to be a collection of contemporary teen fiction by first-time novellists, and they are currently looking for manuscripts. Publishing in early 2013, I am already psyched for this project!

♥ I'm also really looking forward to attending the Publishers' Showcase at the Centre for Youth Literature in a few weeks.

Mixed Bag #42

2011-11-06T06:00:00.001+11:00

Good morning friends! Right now I'm writing this post at 4.30am(!!!) because I woke up with insane hayfever and can't get back to sleep due to constant sneezing. So I thought I'd take my mind of my nose by sharing links to some online things that have interested or excited me recently. Enjoy!

image source: we ♥ it

♥ I've just discovered Penguin Teen's tumblr and I love it! One of my favourite things is that they give you glimpses of the Penguin offices (like their amazing Halloween decorating and party).

♥ Check out Cubes: Scholastic for a video-tour of Scholastic's head office in NYC. It is an amazing space (it includes a bookshop and party space, auditiorium, meeting spaces and well, actual offices). You even get to stop by David Levithan's office (yay!).

♥ You can read the first chapter of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars over at USA today.

♥ An article from October that I forgot to post, Australian Children's Books Achieve Strong Sales and International Recognition.

♥ I'm really liking Kristi's series on Building a Better Blog. These posts are really useful, covering things from Book Blogger Dictionary to Blogger Etiquette. A really useful resource, especially for new bloggers.

♥ As always Forever Young Adult are out there teaching us important life lessons with How to Be A LadyNerd: How to Host a TV Party

♥ I know Halloween has been and gone, but I love this Sexy Essay on HelloGiggles.

♥ Is anyone else a Mindy Kaling fan? Her piece Flick Chicks is interesting and rather funny - I'm really looking forward to reading her book.

♥ Have you been to The Crooked Shelf recently? If not, go there right now! Carla is having an Aussie YA month, full of reviews, interviews and guest posts so make sure you stop by.

Snack Size #19 Simone Elkeles 'Ruined'

2011-11-03T10:00:00.000+11:00

Just before I went on holidays last month, I finished reading Simone Elkeles Perfect Chemistry trilogy. I really enjoyed them and thought that Simone's Ruined series would be a fun holiday read. Here are my mini reviews of these titles (at a teeny 100 words each).

How to Ruin a Summer Vacation
Published by FLUX, November 2006
240 pages

When Amy Nelson is forced to give up tennis camp for a summer in Israel with her distant father, she is not impressed. Even less so when she realises she’ll be living on a moshav, in the middle of ‘the desert” with her catty cousin and bunch of sheep. Farmboy Avi is a suitably charming love interest and overall it’s a fun read. Elkeles has written an interesting look at Israeli culture and Judaism from Western perspective, though I would, however, have liked Amy to get an attitude-check sooner (and to not mention the size of her buxom chest every ten minutes – seriously).

How to Ruin My Teenage Life
Published by FLUX, November 2007
240 pages

Amy is back in Chicago and unsurprisingly, the drama she attracted from Israel has followed her home. When she’s not signing her dad up for online dating (without his consent), pashing her weird/geeky neighbour in the elevator or accidently letting her new dog impregnate a pedigree prize winner, she’s contemplating her long-distance relationship with non-boyfriend, Avi. And then, of course, he shows up unannounced. Of the three books, I felt this was the weakest, as I feel like the strength of the series is the Israel setting and Amy’s connection to her newly discovered religion and this is a bit more light-hearted.

How to Ruin Your Boyfriend's Reputation
Published by FLUX, November 2009
257 pages

Amy Nelson-Barak is back again in the third (and final) instalment in the Ruined series. This time she’s spending her summer in an Israeli bootcamp, picturing a romantic reunion with boyfriend Avi and a week of fun with her friends. Of course, Amy is wrong! Once again Amy manages to get herself into some sticky situations as she navigates rope-courses and rifle training. I loved getting a glimpse of the realities of daily life for Israeli soldiers (where military training and service is mandatory).Upon finishing this, I felt like there was still a sense of things being unresolved and would have liked more closure.

Overall this series is a lot more light-hearted (and in my opinion, less-polished) than Elkele's better known Perfect Chemistry trilogy.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Fault in Our Stars

2011-11-02T09:00:00.000+11:00

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine to "spotlight upcoming releases".

The Fault in Our Stars - John Green
Publisher - Dutton Junveile (imprint of Penguin)
Publication Date - January 10th, 2012

From Goodreads: Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now. Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Ok, so this has pretty much been my most eagerly anticipated new book for the last couple of months (since the title was announced) and I wanted to wait until the cover was released before featuring it on here. Oh my goodness: a) does it not sound amazingly good and b) are you as excited as I am?!?! If you have read more blog for more than a month, you will probably have figured out I'm quite a John Green fangirl, so this new book will be heavily featured on here come January.

A few other nifty things:
♥ John Green is signing every single copy of the first print run, so go pre-order your copy already!
♥ Go watch John read the first chapter
♥ Read John's tumblr for a daily dose of all things awesome

What upcoming releases are you eagerly anticipating?

John Waters in Melbourne

2011-10-29T13:45:00.001+11:00

Tonight I will be sitting in the third row at the Melbourne Recital Hall and metres away from one of my heroes/favourite people, American filmmaker John Waters. I was lucky enough to see him speak last time he was in Melbourne (February 2010 - and that was the same night I decided to start my own blog, after a discussion with the lovely Jess of startnarrativehere).

Anyway, I just wanted to share my excitement - I hope you all have an enjoyable Saturday night!

EDITED TO ADD:

JOHN WATERS SIGNED MY COPY OF ROLE MODELS!!!!

Lola and the Boy Next Door - Stephanie Perkins

2011-10-23T19:26:00.000+11:00

The Facts
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Australian Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
Date of Publication: October 3, 2011
Length: 348 pages

The Fiction
From Penguin Australia: Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn't believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit-more sparkly, more fun, more wild-the better. But even though Lola's style is outrageous, she's a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighbourhood. When Cricket-a gifted inventor-steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

I have been looking forward to reading this for quite a while – pretty much since the start of the year when the cover and blurb were released. A San Francisco setting, a girl obsessed with the costume aspect of fashion, and twins?! Count me in! Combined with Stephanie Perkins incredibly charming writing style, I knew October could not come fast enough for me.

I’ll start with our heroine, Lola Nolan. As an aspiring costume designer, Lola’s life revolves around fashion and for her each day is the chance to create a new ensemble and channel new inspiration into her apparel. When she’s not dreaming up Marie Antoinette inspired gowns for her school dance, she’s working at a cinema (with a few familiar faces) or hanging with her older rock muso boyfriend. She also gets along well with her parents and has a wannabe-detective best friend, and everything is going along relatively swimmingly until the Bell twins move back into the house next door. What I loved about Lola and about this story was the fact it has both a romantic aspect (love triangle), as well being introspective and encompassing a strong sense of self-discovery and family.

Now Cricket Bell!!! Firstly, is that not an amazing name? (I am rather fond of teenage characters in contemporary fiction with quirky-but-not-too-quirky names). I am now going to share something that may shock the pants off/anger/upset/confuse people and even though I hate to do the comparisons, I’m going to make one right now – I think liked Cricket more than Etienne. I felt Cricket was slightly more realistic and once again, Stephanie has done a great job at writing male characters who are engaging and likeable outside of their function as potential love interests. Cricket comes across as so awkward and genuine, that you can’t help but like him – especially combined with the little details she sprinkles throughout (the bracelets, the inventions and the tight pants!) certainly helps us understand why the return of Cricket Bell causes such a stir.

Besides the loveliness that is Cricket Bell, the other aspect that really appealed to me was how (surprisingly) family-centric the novel is. The relationship between Lola and her two fathers was well-written and realistic, and I felt like Stephanie Perkins handled the topic of same-sex parenting with sensitivity and warmth. I hope to read more YA stories which encompass this in the near future. I also thought it was interesting the way in which Lola’s relationship with her birth mother was explored and strengthened the romantic plotlines.

My other favourite thing was the San Francisco setting – having just come back from visiting there (yes, I’m going to through it into random conversation for the next four weeks at least!), I was pretty excited to recognise places in the city that Lola and her friends and family visit. The Japanese Tea Garden, Amoeba Records and Lombard Street (to name a few) are all featured, and Stephanie does an excellent job at capturing the sights, sounds and spirit of San Francisco.

Once again, Stephanie Perkins has authored a swoon-worthy young adult novel. Lola and the Boy Next Door may appear to be light and fluffy on the outside and is certainly written with a funny and sweet touch, but still manages to touch upon a wide range of real teen issues with heart and honesty.

Polyvore Profile - Lola Nolan

2011-10-21T09:30:00.000+11:00

I couldn't wait to create a Polyvore set inspired by the lovely Lola Nolan from Stephanie Perkins' Lola and the Boy Next Door! As an aspiring costume designer, Lola's life is all about fashion and I loved the playful descriptions of her ensembles throughout the novel (did it remind anyone else of the Babysitters Club books when Ann M. Martin would describe Claudia's outfits?), so I hope you enjoy this set inspired by Lola.

Lola Nolan by girlfriday featuring a gold dress

If you liked this, be sure to check out my Polyvore Profile of Anna from Anna and the French Kiss. I'll be posting my review of Lola and the Boy Next Door tomorrow and am looking forward to hearing what everyone else thought of it!

Happy Snaps

2011-10-11T20:52:00.002+11:00

I won't bore you all with a million photos from my travels but here are a few highlights:

The Strand Bookshop!!! I was ridiculously excited to visit The Strand (to the extent that I made my best friend & travel buddy mark it on our NYC map four months ago). Not only was it one of the most amazing bookshops ever, a book by two of my favourite authors, Dash and Lily's Book of Dares is set there, which added an extra layer of excitement for me. I limited myself to an hour there (maybe the hardest moment of the whole trip), but oh my goodness - the books!!! I was seriously roaming around the store, practically hugging the walls.

Dreams really do come true at Disneyland, where I got to meet Ariel (and my five-year-old self was dancing with happiness).

And then my fifteen-year-old self's dream came true by finally getting to see Rent (with an incredible and extremely talented cast).

Me and some dude, I think he was in that vampire movie?

(In all seriousness, I had to be coaxed by my friend to pose in any photos at Madame Tussauds - hence the cheesy smile. I found the wax sculptures to be uber-creepy and the whole concept of the museum a bit odd).

And with the Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park.

I promise regular posting will return here soon!

Return to Oz

2011-10-08T10:59:00.000+11:00

image source: we ♥ it

Hello friends! I’m back from a lovely break and am feeling refreshed and excited to get back on here and writing again. I had three amazing weeks in the United States (which I hadn’t been to before) and then I gave myself an extra few days off from blogging while I caught up on other things. Even though the trip was a fun-filled holiday, it also allowed me to stop and think about this blog, and the direction I’d like it to go in the future.
I’m hoping to share some of my photos from the trip in the next few days and I’ve got lots of reviews coming up (not to mention over 1200 posts in my blog reader to get through). Here’s a glimpse at what I’ve been reading and what I’m looking forward to read soon:

What I've been reading:
♥ Gingerbread, Shrimp and Cupcake by Rachel Cohn
♥ The Last Little Blue Envelope by Maureen Johnson
♥ How to Ruin A Summer Vacation, How to Ruin My Teenage Life and How to Ruin Your Boyfriend's Reputation by Simone Elkeles

What I'm looking forward to reading:
♥ Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins (I am so ridiculously excited about this!)

What you should be reading:
♥ Megan’s posts on the A Thousand Words festival, The Illusion of Intimacy and Being Lucky
♥ Nomes covering a number of awards in Aussie YA
♥ Erin at Forever YA’s review of Shut Out by Kody Keplinger and Meghan’s Secrets of Discovering the Best Worst Books

City in Pages - LA (Hollywood Ending edition)

2011-09-12T09:00:00.001+10:00

Welcome to my first international post in my City in Pages series! I have loved taking you around Melbourne and Sydney through some of my favourite books and am now thrilled to bring you to LA with me and one of my all-time favourite reads, Kathy Charles' Hollywood Ending.

One of the things I love most about this is the fact that alongside Hilda, Benji, Jake and Hank, the city of Los Angeles is really another character in the book. The novel is full of Hollywood landmarks and ventures into the dark history of the city, as Benji and Hilda seek out locations which fuel their obsession with celebrity deaths. What makes this post more special is the fact that by the time you're reading this, I will actually be in LA (for the first time!), so I hope you enjoy it:

image source: we ♥ it

Hollywood Ending

Published by Text Publishing, 2009

264 pages

Ambassador Hotel
Before being demolished in 2005, the Ambassador Hotel was a Los Angeles landmark. It was the site of the 2nd and 12th Academy Awards, and also (most notably) where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968. It also housed the renowned Cocoanut Grove nightclub, where stars such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole performed. The hotel closed it’s doors to guests in 1989 and was demolished in 2005 after extensive legal battles. The site now houses the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools.

Barney’s Beanery
A West Hollywood restaurant and bar, known as watering hole for icons such as Errol Flynn, Judy Garland, Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin (who even had her final drinks at Barney’s, before becoming a member of the Forever 27 Club).

Mann’s Chinese Theatre
Opened in 1927, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre has hosted numerous movie premieres, Hollywood parties and three Academy Award ceremonies. It was declared a cultural and historical landmark in 1968, and since then, extensive restoration and maintenance has taken placed (despite the ownership of the theatre changing hands many times), in order to keep the theatre as it was in the golden age of Hollywood. It’s most distinctive feature is the 200 celebrity hand and footprints in the concrete forecourt, including Marilyn Monroe, Groucho Marx, Betty Grable and Steve McQueen.

Chateau Marmont
A famed hotel on Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood and noted for its celebrity clientele. It has been a temporary home for the likes of Greta Garbo, Vivien Leigh, Hunter S. Thompson, Jim Morrison and Lindsay Lohan (to name just a few). John Belushi died of a drug overdose in one of the hotel’s garden bungalows (which Benji and Hilda revisit during a wild party in the novel). To learn more about the Chateau Marmont, read Raymond R. Sarlot’s Life at the Marmont.

Leimert Park
An LA neighbourhood, now often considered home to the African-American arts scene. However, it was originally known for being where the body of Elizabeth Smart (the Black Dahlia) was found, after she had been brutally murdered. Her mutilated corpse was dumped in a vacant lot (the location has now been cemented over and is part of a well-populated, middle class neighbourhood). The murder has never been solved.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Previously known as Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, this location was saved from financial ruin in 1998 and was christened the Hollywood Forever cemetery. You can take a guided tour through the cemetery and if you do visit, make sure you look out for the Lady in Black (the mysterious woman clad in black who leaves roses on Valentino’s grave). Douglas Fairbanks, Jayne Mansfield, Vampira, Victor Fleming. You can also go see bands play and watch outdoors there during the summer. If you want to know who else is buried here, check out the interactive map on the website (creepy but fascinating!)

9860 Easton Drive
The address of a house with a sad history in Benedict Canyon. In 1932 MGM producer Paul Bern was found dead in the house, from a gunshot wound to the head. At the time, he was a newlywed (having been married to starlet Jean Harlow for only two months). His death was ruled a suicide, though this has been somewhat disputed in the press numerous times. Thirty years later, Hollywood hairstylist Jay Sebring purchased the house, and his life was also cut short - a victim of the Manson murders at Cielo Drive.

Cielo Drive
The name of this street is most often remembered in relation to the horrific Manson murders – when actress Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger and Wojciech Frykowski were brutally murdered by members of the Manson family on August 9, 1969. Prior to this, the house at 10050 Cielo Drive was home to Lillian Gish, Cary Grant, Henry Fonda and finally Trent Reznor. In 1994, the house was demolished by its new owner and no part of the original property remains except for a telephone pole.

LA County Coroner
Responsible for investigating and determining the cause of death in violent and unusual cases in the LA County. It also has a gift shop, Skeletons in the Closet (Benji and Hilda go shopping in Hollywood Ending), where you can buy everything from toe-tag keyrings, to welcome mats, to crime scene party tape.

Mel’s Drive In
A homage to the 50s style American drive-in. The original Mel’s was located in San Francisco and is now a franchise, with restaurants in Sherman Oaks and West Hollywood (where Hilda goes with her aunt Lynette). From a quick look at the menu, the burgers sound delicious and they boast the “thickest shakes in town” mmmmm.

Westwood Cemetery
The final resting place of Marilyn Monroe and a wealth of other stars (Fanny Brice, Truman Capote, Gene Kelly, Janet Leigh, Bettie Page. It’s less ‘showy’ than Hollywood Forever, it's considered more private and doesn’t actively promote itself as a celebrity cemetery (apparently cemetery employees are reluctant to point out famous burial sites).

A note for my American friends, Hollywood Ending was published in the US as John Belushi is Dead by MTV Books in 2010.

Like the sound of this book? I've also written:

♥ The Film Companion to John Belushi is Dead

♥ Hilda's Polyvore Profile

On Holiday

2011-09-09T17:00:00.000+10:00

image source: we ♥ it

Hi friends,

By the time you're reading this, I'll be almost off on a holiday I've been dreaming about for about three years! I'll ]be in the US (for the first time!) until the start of October. I ha I may check in a little bit on twitter, but otherwise I look forward originally planned to schedule a series of posts, but then ran out of time (sorry!) I look forward to filling you in on my adventures and catching up on my reading when I get back. I'm also planning some changes around here, which I'll share next month.

Steph xo

How to Cure (Book) Blogger's Block

2011-09-05T10:00:00.000+10:00

image source: we♥ it

I often notice tweets in my friends stream from fellow bloggers who are struggling from 'blogger's block' - a syndrome I also am inflicted with at least once a month. So I've decided to share some of my ideas for posts designed to help combat this. Some of these are prompts which will hopefully get your blogging juices flowing, some are more creative ideas which could be useful if you want to try something out of your blogging comfort zone. In compiling this list, I thought carefully about a) what kind of content my favourite bloggers post and b) what I (as a reader) would like to see more of in the blogosphere. Whilst most of these ideas were created with book-bloggers in mind, many will translate to other kind of personal blogging and writing.

Create
♥ Play casting director and pick out your fantasy cast for one of your favourite novels or series. Be sure to include pictures and tell us why you’ve chosen them. For film buffs, go one step further and pick which director you’d like to see guide the screen adaptation and why.

♥ Create a playlist inspired by a recent read or one of your favourite books.

♥ Bake or cook something that’s eaten by the characters in a recent read or favourite book and share the results with your readers! (if I was a better cook, I’d love to create a Mexican feast based on the dishes mentioned in Simone Elkeles Perfect Chemistry series).

♥ Use Polyvore to put together an outfit for a character, or create a mood-board for a book.

♥ Read a book set in your city (or that mentions a nearby landmark or tourist attraction), go take photos and share them with us!

Write
♥ Write a list! I absolutely love list posts and they can be great to put your thoughts and opinions into a quick, readable format. Write lists of your favourite books (by genre, by author, by date, by nostalgia, by series), lists of your favourite characters (heroes, villains, awesome best friends who don’t get the love and appreciate they deserve, teachers, parents, pets, characters you wish were real so you could be BBFs with them), and lists of things you love (why you love that genre, that author, that character, that book, that series). There is pretty much an endless possibility of lists you could write – and encourage your readers to share their own lists!

♥ Write an opinion piece on an issue you feel passionate about. Do you have an issue with how books are priced? Talk about it! How do you feel about supporting local authors? Tell us! Do you wish there was more or less of something in a particular genre? Share your thoughts and encourage your readers to share their opinions in the comments (and please remember to be respectful of others opinions).

♥ Write an essay. It was sound a bit school-ish, but I love reading personal essays from bloggers – like when they developed their love of reading, or how a particular book changed their life, or a book that just made things click for them.

♥ Blog to a theme – review a whole series, or collection of books with a common thread (for example, an author’s backlist, books all set in one city, books all about a particular sport, issue or topic).

♥ Tell us about another aspect of your life. If you’re a book blogger, why not tell us about your favourite TV shows (is there a correlation between what you read and what you watch?) or try reviewing movies for a week.

♥ Hold an interview with someone and ask interesting questions. Try interviewing a lesser-known author, or request an interview with someone in the publishing industry (I always love reading these). It’s always interesting to hear about how other people are involved in the production of a book on its road to publication (agents, editors, publicists and marketing team).

♥ Have a call-out for guest-posts on your blog or swap guest-blogging duties with another blogger. You could give your guest-blogger a theme, or let them pick their own and see what the reader response is. Sometimes it’s just fun just to hear a fresh voice and perspective.

Share
♥ Share some of your favourite YouTube videos – they can be directly related to your blog, to a theme (like your favourite book trailers or author interviews) or just things you find amusing or interesting.

♥ Do you have an ereader? Tell me about it! Show me how it works! What’s good/not-so-good about it? What kind of books do you read on it? Especially in book-blogging, fellow readers are often debating if reading devices are worth their time and hard earned money – contribute your experiences to help someone else make a decision.

♥ Go local! I love hearing about bookish events in other cities. Tell me about your bookshops, libraries, reading centres and local authors.

♥ Share photos that tell us something about your life (you could do a 'A Day in My Life' feature or even just show us pictures of your bookshelves, what’s in your handbag, what’s on your bedside table, your pet, your favourite outfit, your favourite place to read, your favourite place to drink coffee) - I personally love reading snippets about bloggers real lives and helps me feel more of a connection to their writing.

♥ Ask your readers what kind of posts they would like to read and take their opinion into account!

Happy Writing!

Mixed Bag #41

2011-09-02T13:19:00.000+10:00

Good morning friends! Can you believe it's September already? Seriously, it freaks me out and you know that when it gets to the months ending in 'er', the year will just fly! Anyway, here are some things that have interested or amused me recently:

image source: we ♥ it

♥ The Inkys Shortlist has been announced - and what an amazing list! Unfortunately I'm too old to vote, so I encourage anyone under 20 to go here and vote for the winner. The Gold Inky list is particularly awesome (two of my favourites books are on there).

♥ Who's going to the Castlemaine Children's Festival in October? The program sounds fantastic!

♥ I am loving Melina Marchetta's blog, especially this post where she shares 15 facts that her readers may not know about her books.

♥ Have you seen the greatest Hunger Games parody ever? No - go watch it!!!

♥ Not at all book-related, but oh my goodness, Arrested Development in Lego.

Also, I am pleased to announce that the winner of my Clara in Washington giveaway is Alice! Thanks to everyone for entering and check back soon for more giveaways.

Happy Friday!

MWF 2011: Clara in Washington

2011-09-01T21:57:00.000+10:00

From the MWF Program: In Penny Tangey's new book, Year 12 student Clara goes to America and finds the world of politics opening up for her in a way she never thought possible. Suddenly she might have a lot more impact on the future than she thought.

Penny Tangey and the back of Adele Walsh

Ok, so I probably don't need to tell you again how much I love Penny Tangey's writing, so I was very excited to attend this session. I was in the front row and got to have a quick chat to Adele before the session - and I must say a huge thank you to Adele for introducing me to Penny (seriously guys, I was trying so hard to keep my cool when on the inside I was massively fan-girling!). And now onto the session:

Did you know that Penny is also a stand-up comedian, and won the Triple J Raw Comedy Competition in 2006? She warned the audience that she wasn't going to be funny (but of course, she was hilarious!)
Clara in Washington is partially based on Penny's own time living in Washington DC - while her partner was there to work, Penny volunteered and had the time to visit most of the city's tourist attractions. Penny showed us some slides from some of her favourite attractions including Ford's Theatre (where Lincoln was shot), the National Museum of National History, Scottish Rite Masonic Temple (where she got a private tour, just like Clara), the National Archives and the National Postal Museum.
Penny talked about her time in Washington - where she wrote her first novel, Loving Richard Feynman and read us an excerpt from her DC journal. She also spoke about meeting politically minded people in DC, and her experiences with meeting anarchists as she volunteered with DC Books to Prisons: "the anarchists I met were a bit standoffish and they didn't want to be friends with me".
Penny then discussed perceptions of anarchism, what it actually is and some of the varieties of anarchists (aided by a handy slideshow presentation). Penny also shared an exchange from a DC Anarchists email list (which I also saw in the session yesterday). What was then really fun, was Penny started a game of 'Spot the Modern Anarchist' - this was the first session I went to that encouraged audience engagement (other than question time), which was fun. Adele also mentioned one of my favourite tumblrs, Amish or Hipster (seriously, check it out).
Did you know that Noam Chomsky, Germaine Greer & Alicia Keys identify themselves as anarchists (and the Queen and the Pope are not due to their authorative head gear).
Adele and Penny discussed the lack of politics in Australian young adult fiction, and Penny mentioned that when studying in the US, she found that American history is presented in a 'fun' and engaging way. She also spoke about the way that in DC, she was interacting with people who were very "politically aware".
What I thought was interesting is that Penny didn't keep a log/record of all the places she went in Washington!
It took Penny nine months to write Loving Richard Feynman (as she had a lot of free time), whilst Clara in Washington took about a year. Penny spoke about her experiences of trying to get published (she sent her manuscript to four publishers and was rejected by all four within a year. She then found an agent, who sent it out to publishers and she received an offer within six weeks).
The session finished with some fantastic advice from Penny for aspiring writers: being bored is a good thing - some great things can come from it!

And that was my last session at MWF 2011 - and what an awesome one to finish with. As I was leaving (surrounded by hordes of teenagers), it was great to hear them talking so positively about the festival and how much fun they were having (and they were saying it in a genuine, not-sarcastic way).

Fellow attendees, what sessions have you enjoyed this year at MWF?

MWF 2011: Politics in YA

2011-08-31T22:28:00.000+10:00

From the MWF Program: Characters in Lili and Penny's books have their eyes truly opened to the power of politics for the first time, be it in Washington DC on the eve of Obama's inauguration, or via some difficult choices much closer to home. Come and hear these two leading authors discuss the explosive combination of fiction and politics.

Tony Thompson, Penny Tangey & Lili Wilkinson

So after a quick break, I was off to another session - this time to hear Penny Tangey and Lili Wilkinson talk about politics in young adult fiction. I was really looking forward to this session (possibly more so than any other during the festival). Once again, the even was chaired by Tony Thompson. To begin, Tony likened Clara in Washington to Alice in Wonderland, which I thought was a really interesting and insightful comparison.

Penny began by speaking about her interest in politics and political movements (starting with an assignment in primary school about the sufragettes). Though Penny said she doesn't necessarily like speaking about politics, she does enjoy writing about it and like most of us, is interested in standing up for what you believe in.
Penny also spoke about her research for Clara in Washington, including joining the DC Anarchists mailing group and shared a rather amusing exchange that occured online.
I loved something Penny said in discussing anarchism - that anarchists "see the world as flawed and don't accept that" and that they want to do better, which I think (in theory) is really admirable.
Lili then spoke about writing Pink and about the perceptions of political books/books with political issues as being something very serious. She made the excellent point that there are books out there that are pink, sparkly and funny and very political, like Meg Cabot's The Princess Diaries.
"I am passionate about writing books that are pink ... and have something to say"
Lili wrote Pink following some discussion David Levithan about writing about adolescent sexuality, and Lili spoke about having not read books where the teen protagonists weren't sure of their sexual preference and who didn't necessarily 'tick a box'.
What I thought was the most interesting strand of discussion was about the lack of political books written for a teen audience, and there are few contemporary YA titles with teen characters who are political (please note the emphasis on contemporary, as dystopian YA like the Hunger Games trilogy is incredibly political) - even less so in Australian YA, with Clara in Washington being the first/only Australian YA title to reference the 2008 presidental election. What's also noteworthy is that both Clara and a story that Lili is currently working on, both centre around Australian characters and politics, but are set in the US.
Lili also spoke about her PhD, which examines fandom and political activism in teens (which I found to be hugely interesting - partly because, and I think I mentioned it here before that my own major undergraduate essay was about television fandom, activism and social media). She talked about groups like the Harry Potter Alliance (who are extremely awesome and I urge you to check this out if you don't know about it) and YA for Obama.
Both Penny and Lili spoke about the possible dangers in writing about politics (such as sounding preachy to a teen reader) but through using humour, a variety of voices to highlight differing opinions and writing in an interesting way, were able to avoid this.

Another really great session - actually, I tweeted afterwards that it was my favourite so far. Again, Tony Thompson did a fantastic job chairing, and it was great to have the opportunity to hear two authors I adore speak about such a relevant and engaging issue.

You can read my review of Clara in Washington here (and enter my giveaway, which I'm extending until September 2nd), and I've also reviewed Lili Wilkinson's Pink.

MWF 2011: Emerging Writers

2011-08-31T20:30:00.000+10:00

From the MWF Program: Hear from key people in Melbourne's best loved organisations supporting new voices in writing, and from freelancers making their way in publishing. In this session we discuss ideas on finding a community as a writer, routes to getting published and building your profile on your way to success.

Tony Thompson, Steph Bowe, Johannes Jakob and Lisa Dempster

Day 3 already - guys, this week is flying by! My first session today was Emerging Writers, chaired by Tony Thompson. It was a really strong panel and judging from the questions at the end of the session, split between students and aspiring writers. Here's a glimpse at what was talked about:

Lisa Dempster spoke about her role as director of the Emerging Writers Festival, and about the aims of the festival (writers talking to writers about writing!). Lisa is a vocal supporter of DIY, indie presses and self-publishing.
Johannes Jakob is the current editor of Voiceworks (which I subscribe to and urge you all to go and buy copies!), and is designed to bring attention to new writers. Johannes also has a podcast with Madeline
Steph Bowe is a seventeen-year-old blogger and published author (and I had the pleasure of seeing Steph speak at last year's MWF).
I'd like to take a moment to say what an awesome chair Tony Thompson was - I know the focus is on the panel during these things, but lately it's really struck me how important it is to have a good chair manning the session. Tony did a fantastic job introducing the guests and leading the discussion. Most of my notes below are responses to specific questions or topics bought up.

What should you do with a finished piece of writing?

Johannes: Leave it for a month (as hard as it might be) before doing anything with it, then you'll see it with fresh eyes and be more open to making changes and edits. Johannes also recommended sending your work to places you like reading.
Steph: Had other people look over her work (having built up some online writing contacts through her blog) to get an impartial opinion and generate useful feedback.
Lisa: Advocated getting your work online and spoke passionately about blogging - about the way a blog gives you regular writing practice, gives you feedback, encourages interaction and helps develop your writing skills.

How important is it to be a part of a writing community?

Lisa: Encouraged the audience to attend festivals and stressed the importance of "getting out of your bedroom and meeting other writers".
Johnannes: Spoke about the way that the internet and social media has helped eradicate some of the barriers that have previously existed - as writers can now approach and connect with other writers and publishing personnel online.
Steph: Talked about perceptions of writers, about her own shyness and and encouraged aspiring writers to put themselves out there. Interestingly, she also reminded the audience to not think of other writers as their rivals.

How can you stand out from the dreaded slush pile?

Steph: Research! Send your work to the right people (before submitting your work to an agent, published or journal - find out what they like and what they are looking for).
Johannes: Good writing! Write what you are interested in, are passionate about and send it
Lisa: Contacts! Whilst a good contact doesn't guarantee a publishing contact, interacting with the community can have huge benefits.

What are you reading?

Lisa: Wake in Fright (Kenneth Cook)
Johannes: 2666 (Roberto Bolano)
Steph: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Jonathan Safran Foer)

Once again I sat next to the amazing Megan Burke, so be sure to check out her live-blog from the session. Also, if you are an aspiring writer interested in sending your work to an agent, you can check out some of my tips in the series I wrote for Ricochet.

MWF 2011: All in the Family

2011-08-30T21:14:00.000+10:00

From the MWF Program: Dynamic duo Carole and Lili Wilkinson describe their books for children and young adults, and what it's like to be part of a whole family of writers.

Chris (chair), Lili and Carole - taken on my phone

I only went to one session today, because unlike last year, I'm now working full-time and am fitting in events where I can. I was really excited for this session because I'm a bit of a Lili fangirl and was bummed to miss out on tickets to her session on A Pocketful of Eyes. Talky

Before the session started, they ran a slideshow with photos of Lili and Carole (nawww).
The session was chaired by Chris (sorry, I didn't write down his surname) and he began by introducing both of the Wilkinson women.
Carole spoke about her first career as a lab technican and coming into writing a bit later in life - Carole wasn't published until she was 40.
Lili, on the other hand, was first published in Voiceworks at age 12, worked for the Centre for Youth Literature and had her first novel published at 24 by blackdog books (where she also did work experience in high school).
Lili spoke about the similarities between Carole's first book (Stage Fright) and Lili's own high school experiences in the stage crew (which she herself would go on to write about in Pink) and the way in which Carole "borrowed" bits and pieces.
Both women spoke about their writing processes, and the way they read each others work and give feedback, as well as using each other for procrastination and sharing writerly successes.
I thought it was funny that Lili and Carole skype with each other almost daily, despite living only minutea away from each other (mostly enjoyed this because there are times when I will speak to my siblings via Facebook chat when we are in the same house....)
Carole talked about the idea of the "zero draft" which was really interesting to hear about. This is the draft where you just get everything out and it allows you to sort out your structure and plotting, before going back and fine-tuning details or spending time perfecting your language.
Both Carole and Lili have studied screenwriting (which Lili said contributed to their writing style and practice, as screenwriting is very plot driven and emphasises the structural).
Lili talked briefly about Carole's meticulous research habits (filling lever-arch folders with notes about everything), and her own research in A Pocketful of Eyes which included a behind-the-scenes tour at the Melbourne Museum.
Lili spoke about writing a "rom-crime" and gave us some insight into her upcoming novel, Love Shy (which I had already heard a bit about because I'm nerdy like that and it sounds really great and of course, will spend the next six months bouncing with anticipation for it's release). Lili spoke about not writing sequel books or part of a series, but that all her novels are somewhat similar - "nerdy chick lit" with an element of mystery.
Carole and Lili were asked about their writing to publication timelines - Lili takes an average of 18 months (and often works on things in between), and Carole works from a year to 18 months (it takes her around a year for each of the Dragonkeeper books).

It was a fun session - I was it had gone for longer and a bit more in-depth (the format of the session was slightly odd and kind of based around a Skype convo) but of course, it was a pleasure to hear Lili speak at the MWF again and I'm now looking forward to also start reading some of Carole's writing.

I caught up with Megan before the session and we sat together for this panel, so be sure to check out her post as she live-blogged from the festival.

Fellow attendees, what events have you enjoyed the most so far?

MWF 2011: Meet Maggie Stiefvater

2011-08-29T22:24:00.000+10:00

From the MWF Program: Best-selling US author Maggie Stiefvater makes a very special appearance to talk about her incredible Wolves of Mercy Falls series: Linger, Shiver and now the long-awaited Forever.

Firstly I want to disclose the fact that I have (sadly) only read about a quarter of Shiver and so there may be a few minor mistakes in recording comments about the plot and characters of Maggie's Wolves of Mercy Falls series. I had intended to read Shiver before the festival, but unfortunately time got away from me - though after attending this session, I'm looking forward to reading the book shortly. Maggie was in conversation with the very awesome Adele Walsh (Program Director at the Centre for Youth Literature and blogger at Persnickety Snark).

Maggie and Adele (taken on my camera phone - sorry for the poor quality)

Maggie is an incredibly lively and engaging speaker! If you ever get the chance, I certainly encourage you to hear her speak.
Maggie spoke about some of the research involved in the writing of the Wolves of Mercy Falls series. She watched documentaries, read books and told us about her experiences actually getting to meet/touch real wolves in Hungary whilst she was on tour.
Did you know: Maggie's parents are dog-breeders?
I loved that Maggie referred to some paintings in Shiver (Grace's mother is an artist) as "breadcrumbs" for herself as a writer - something she feels could be interesting but isn't exactly sure where she wants to go with it, so the breadcrumb is a little reminder of something to come back to and explore later.
Did you know: Maggie Stiefvater is not a poetry fan! However, she does enjoy the work of Rainer Maria Rilke (and quotes I Am Too Alone in This World in Shiver) and Yeats, as they "make dark things beautiful".
Maggie and Adele discussed the relationship of Grace and Sam - and the way that unlike a lot of relationships depicted in young adult fiction, that it's quite stable and consistent (and opposite to that of Cole and Isabel in Linger). Maggie said that in writing the Grace & Sam romance, she wanted to write "an interesting relationship that you actually wanted to be in".
Adele bought up the point that Maggie's werewolves are based in science, rather than having a magical/fantasy story behing them. Maggie spoke about this being a conscious decision she made early on in her writing and stuck with it. She also wanted people to miss Sam when he changed, and therefore made the shift tied into temperature and the seasons rather than moon phases.
The role of parents in YA was touched upon - particularly the way that the Maggie has written absent (or dead) parents. I thought Maggie's rationale behind this was very interesting (and very true!): that she didn't want the adults in her books to be making all the big decisions for the younger characters (and as a reader, obviously it's far more interesting to watch as teenagers make their own decisions and read about the consequences of these.)
Maggie spoke about her desire, in writing Shiver, to write a story about losing your identity and being able to use the wolf motif to do this.
Did you know: David Levithan is Maggie's editor at Scholastic!
Maggie was super-funny and honest throughout the session. I love that she likened writing to "being pregnant with a really ugly baby" and that revisions and editing was akin to sending your ugly baby to private school to make it presentable.
Did you know: that Maggie wrote Sam's songs in the books, and the songs have been covered by artists like Jonas & Plunkett (featured in the Forever book trailer)
Like in the Why I Read session, Maggie spoke about her cynicism desire to toy with readers emotions. She also referred to herself as "that person you never want to be in the theater with".
Maggie spoke about the potential for a Shiver film - for those who aren't aware, the film rights have been optioned by Warner Brothers and Unique Features. The screenplay is finished and there is a director on board (and whilst Maggie won't name names, she is happy with the choice) but there are no recent developments.
She also shared some of her thoughts on idealised casting which included Rachel Hurd Wood as Grace and Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys as Sam.
Did you know: that as well as being a successful author, Maggie makes the most incredible stop-motion animations! Look at this!

MWF 2011: Meet Nick Earls

2011-08-29T22:17:00.000+10:00

From the MWF Program: Author of best-selling YA books, including After January and 48 Shades of Brown, Nick Earls talks about his writing career and what has made his books perennial favourites with young adult audiences.

I feel like I should start this post with a (slightly embarrassing) disclaimer: I have only read one Nick Earls novel! I know, I'm completely ashamed. I have started 48 Shades of Brown at least three times, and each time (for some reason or another), I haven't finished it. After hearing Nick speak today, I have now resolved to rectify this as soon as possible!

Nick Earls & Mike Shuttleworth before the event

This event was chaired by Mike Shuttleworth and held in one of the ACMI cinemas. Megan and I were mistaken for teachers, and managed to score second-row seats when a large group of school kids realised they were in the wrong session haha.
Mike introduced Nick, and spoke briefly about Brisbane being used as the setting for all of Nick's novels (which I found to be interesting) and the way Nick has "helped give Brisbane a new image".
Nick spoke about studying medicine at the University of Queensland before deciding to properly pursue writing (originally, he had intended to do a gap year but was discouraged by his father).
I want to say now that Nick Earls is a really engaging speaker and that if you get the chance, go see him in person! He is extremely personable and just has these great anecdotes.
Nick spoke about writing real characters, about having embarrassing things happen to said characters and the way these things do happen to real people. He talked about the choices you make in writing and the way they "shape the story and the people in it".
Nick discussed the development of his writing, including the way Alex from After January developed from a character in a short story. He spoke about how much of his own experiences (and conversations with his mother!) ended up in After January, and mentioned that the story "almost became a film".
I loved that Nick spoke extensively about the film adaptation of 48 Shades of Brown (as if you read this blog, this is definitely an area I'm interested in - the relationship between texts in different media and adaptations of stories from page to screen). Nick not only shared some great insights from the set (like the film's producer arranging free beer and Chupa-Chups), but also talked openly about how, as a writer, he felt about his work being adapted.
Nick also talked about his writing process, including the way he plans extensive outlines before beginning a first draft. His most recent novel, The Fix, was started eight years ago and he didn't begin writing it until he had a 20,000 word outline! He likened his outlines to detailed road-maps, and said that he liked learning all the details to fit in his stories.
I found that I kind of stopped taking so many notes about two-thirds of the way into the session, as Nick is so easy to listen to and you definitely get caught up in his anecdotes! Another great event (good start to the School's Program!) and I now absolutely promise (I'm writing it here so you can all hold me to it), to read and review at least one Nick Earls novel before the end of the year!

MWF 2011: Why I Read

2011-08-29T21:56:00.000+10:00

From the MWF Program: Why spend your time reading when there are so many million other things you could be doing? Maggie Stiefvater, Kate Grenville and Nick Earls share how reading has inspired them, and reveal their favourite classic and new books.

My first session at the Festival! I met up with Megan in the Atrium before the session and
As usual, I have taken paper notes (in my almost unreadable shorthand) and have attempted to decipher them below. Where quotes are used, I have done my best to use the most accurate wording possible.

left to right: Kate Grenville, Nick Earls, Maggie Stiefvater and Paula Kelly.

The session was chaired by Paula Kelly, the Reader Development and Programs Manager at the State Library of Victoria, who began the session with a fantastic quote: "behind a great writer, a great reader is present". Each author spoke for about five minutes (except for Nick Earls!) about their love of reading, before a panel discussion lead by Paula about their reading history and habits.

Maggie Stiefvater spoke first - she informed us that she is not someone who cries at movies or while reading, except upon a second reading of The Time Traveller's Wife (which turned her into a snivelling, snot-bubbling mess). Maggie decided she wanted to be the author who ruins someone's day and loves toying with the reader's emotions.
Nick Earls spoke extensively about his early reading loves (Enid Blyton's The Famous Five, Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons books and Richmal Crompton's Just William stories) and the impact these had on his writing throughout the 80s (when he moved onto Kafka and Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Peter Carey). It was Spaulding Gray's Monster in a Box, however, which had one of the biggest impacts upon his writing and was responsible for his perception of voice. Nick shared a very funny story about running into Spaulding Gray whilst in New York City, but being unable to tell him about the impact he'd had on Nick's life. About reading, Nick said that it "makes me a better writer, but still me".
Kate Grenville described herself as a "greedy reader", and spoke of her reading habits growing up (particularly growing up in a time without access to television, computers and the internet). Kate also discussed both the similarities and differences in consumption of books, film and TV. Whilst all are character driver, emotive and are about story-telling, Kate spoke of the way that television is designed to reach the widest possible audience, include paid advertising (TV) and is required to keep people in an "accepting mood". Fiction, however, has less cost involved (there isn't the same financial pressures as in film - where huge costs are laid out and expected to be recouped to be deemed a success), allowing fiction writers to take greater risks.

All of the authors were asked about reading as children and the impact their families had on their reading. Kate shared a lovely story about her brother teaching her how to read at the age of four. Maggie's mother used to read to her, but as a teen she turned to her father's reading preferences for inspiration. Nick's mother used to make up stories for him and his sister.
The authors then spoke about their preferences as readers/writers and what they value or place the most importance on. Both Maggie and Nick stressed the importance of character, with setting and plot coming second to this. Kate shared a great quote from Stephen King and spoke about starting with a character and a situation as the basis for her writing.
The group discussed the benefits of reading: Nick said "my mind is larger from reading", whilst Maggie spoke of learning how to be a hero and developing a sense of morality from reading. Kate bought up the idea of making time to read (like me, Kate prefers to read before bed) and mentioned that she plans on getting an e-reader!

The session was very interesting and seemed to go by very fast - the next thing I knew, Paula was calling for audience questions and it was all over! Megan, who was sitting next to me, was an absolute whiz on her adorable netbook and live-blogged during the session, so be sure to read her post.

Melbourne Bookish Events - September

2011-08-28T16:02:00.000+10:00

image source: we ♥ it

Hi friends - I just wanted to take a few minutes to share some of the exciting literary events coming up in my lovely home city, Melbourne. Late August and September are especially excellent for all things bookish, and as you can see below, there is quite a range of events to cater to all reading interests (though I've chose to highlight those especially relevant to readers of YA).

2011 Melbourne Writers Festival
The biggest annual literary event in Melbourne! Running from August 25th to September 1st, the festival has events for all interests - including an amazing schools program (which is actually open to all). Check out the huge range of talks, workshops and screenings at the festival homepage.

2011 Ballarat Writers Festival
Running on the 2nd and 3rd of September is the Ballarat Writers Festival - which is exclusively dedicated to childrens and young adult literature! Featuring authors such as Maureen McCarthy, Penni Russon, Gabrielle Williams, Steph Bowe and Leanne Hall (to name just a few), this two-day festival is jam-packed with literary awesomeness! You can read the program here and purchase tickets here.

A Thousand Words Festival
Held at Northcote Town Hall on September 23 and 24, this is the second year of the Thousand Words Festival. I am extremely bummed out that I will be missing this (as I will be overseas), so I urge all my Melbournian readers to attend on my behalf and take lots of notes and photos to share! The festival has a fantastic line-up of local authors, booksellers and bloggers including Michael Pryor, Leanne Hall, Holly Harper, Andrew McDonald, Megan Burke, Fiona Wood, Tim Pegler, Aimee Said & Cath Crowley. Tickets are only $20 per day (!!!) so seriously get cracking and do not miss this! Visit the website for more information.

The Wheeler Centre
There's always something on at the Wheeler Centre! Go check out their calendar for weekly events.

Maggie Stiefvater
Young adult author, Maggie Stiefvater will be in Melbourne in late August/early September. She will be appearing at:
♥ Melbourne Writers Festival (sessions: Why I Read & Meet Maggie Stiefvater (August 29) and Meet Maggie Stiefvater (August 30)
♥ Dymocks Melbourne - September 2nd at 5pm. Free but please RSVP. Go here for more information.
♥ Readings Hawthorn - September 3rd at 10.30am. Free entry but please RSVP. For more information, go here.

Penni Russon
Penni will be launching her newest young adult novel Only, Ever, Always at Eltham Library on September 18th. Go to the YPRL website for more information.

This post is part of Aussie August - a month of sharing all-Australian reviews and content.

All I Ever Wanted - Vikki Wakefield

2011-08-24T22:02:00.000+10:00

The Facts
Author: Vikki Wakefield
Publisher: Text Publishing
Date of Publication: May 2011
Length: 202 pages

The Fiction
From Text: Mim knows what she wants, and where she wants to go—anywhere but home, stuck in the suburbs with her mother who won’t get off the couch, and two brothers in prison. She’s set herself rules to live by, but she’s starting to break them. Now Mim has to retrieve a lost package for her mother. Does this make her a drug runner? Why is a monster dog called Gargoyle hidden in the back shed? And Jordan, the boy she sent Valentines to for years, why is he now suddenly a creep? How come there’s a huge gap between her and her best friend, Tahnee? And who is the mysterious girl next door who moans at night?

Over the nine days before her seventeenth birthday, Mim’s life turns upside down. She has problems, and she’s determined to solve them herself. But in the end, she works out who her people are, and the same things look entirely different.

A book recommended by Fiona Wood and Cath Crowley? (oh you know, just two of my favourite Australian authors) - I’m definitely in! Of course I was not let down, as All I Ever Wanted is heartfelt, original novel which I completely adored.

One of the things I loved that most about this book was the fact that Vikki Wakefield has successfully written a ‘tough’ female character who is smart and loyal and independent. Mim is a brilliant and incredibly real character, who could have easily been turned into a “wrong side of the tracks stereotype”. Mim tries to live by her own self-prescribed rules, with the thought that these will be her key to family home and neighbourhood behind, and I love that she is so determined to make something of herself. The cast of supporting characters are also integral to the success of the novel and are well-utilised by Wakefield. What stood out to me was the range of strong, developed female characters in All I Ever Wanted, including Mim’s tough mother, her friend Tahnee, mysterious phone-girl Lola, and quietly-confident Kate.
The setting of the novel was also something that intrigued me. I don’t remember the place being named (though I could be wrong), but is described (beautifully) by Wakefield as “a lost street in a forgotten suburb, an hour from the city” which of course allows the reader the flexibility of being able to picture this small, somewhat seedy suburb in their own way. It feels almost a cliché to use this now, but I truly feel like All I Ever Wanted has so much heart – in its characters, plot and gritty writing. Mim’s voice is honest and her realisations through the course of the novel are so relatable, that you can’t help but find yourself completely submerged in this story.

This is a beautiful debut from Vikki Wakefield. In a very slim 200 pages, the book packs a powerful punch, with every word feeling so purposefully selected. For fans of contemporary young adult literature, please add this to your reading lists (and be prepared to add Vikki Wakefield as the next Australian YA author to watch!).

I want to end this review with a huge thank-you to the lovely sales assistant at Readings book shop in Port Melbourne, who recommended this to me – this has been one of my favourite reads this year.

This post is part of Aussie August - a month of sharing all-Australian reviews and content.

Snack Size #18

2011-08-21T08:45:00.000+10:00

Here's another batch of mini-reviews -at a teeny one hundred words each (to keep me from rambling) and hopefully they provide a tasty teaser as to why you should read them! The below titles are not only all-Australian, but are all written from a male point of view:

90 Packets of Instant Noodles – Deb Fitzpatrick

Published by Fremantle Press, 2010
288 pages

As punishment for his recent involvement in some local crimes, Joel is forced to spend three months in isolation - a shack in the middle of nowhere, with very minimal facilities (think tank water and a drop toilet). There's no contact with the outside world other than the weekly mail, Joel id left to his own thoughts - and has time to refelct upon his ealier actions and what lead to his punishment. He seems to be close to the road to recovery, and then his old mate Craggs shows up. It's an incredibly honest story with a very authentic male voice.

Jarvis 24 - David Metzenthen

Published by Penguin Books Australia, 2009

264 pages

Marc Jarvis is a bit of an ineffectual-but-likeable protagonist (and a complete scatterbrain! Actually, he reminds me a bit of Joe in King of Whatever). When he’s not spending time with his best mate, Travis (who is arrogant, a bit dumb and very funny), he’s working in a struggling used-car yard and becomes fascinated with a talented local athlete, Electra. Set in Melbourne, Jarvis 24 is an enjoyable read with an undeniably Australian-ness to it. The story is just the right mix of humour, romance and footy and was the winner of the 2010 CBCA Book of the Year Award.

Five Parts Dead - Tim Pegler
Published by Text Publishing, 2010
224 pages

Wheelchair bound after a traumatic accident, Dan is (understandably) pretty down when his parents force him onto a family holiday at a remote island. The island features a lighthouse with a mysterious past (how very Round the Twist!), and having found a logbook, Dan begins to lose himself in the history of the island. Pegler has done a brilliant job with two well-developed stories (Dan’s in the present – with flashbacks of the night of his accident and that of the lighthouse’s inhabitants). Also, this story features a graphic car crash scene that (hopefully) brands into the minds of all readers and reminds everyone of the horrific effects of drink-driving.

Want to read about some of my favourite male-voiced YA novels? Check out this list I put together at The Blue Teacup.

Polyvore Profile - Clara in Washington

2011-08-18T10:00:00.002+10:00

Almost immediately after finishing Clara in Washington, I knew I wanted to make a Polyvore Profile for Clara! I also can't believe I haven't done one since May, which is kind of crazy. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the appropriately patriotic-coloured Clara profile.

Clara by girlfriday featuring a white shirt

For my Melbournian friends, Penny Tangey will be at this year's Melbourne Writer's Festival at the following two sessions: Politics and YA (August 31st, 12.30pm) and Clara in Washington (September 1st, 10am). Further information and tickets can be purchased from the MWF website.

Clara in Washington Giveaway

2011-08-17T10:00:00.001+10:00

As I loved Clara in Washington so, so much, I'm thrilled to have a copy to giveaway to one of my readers as part of Aussie August. I've made up a little red, white and blue prize pack which includes:

♥ A copy of Penny Tangey's Clara in Washington
♥ Pretty pen and bookmark
♥ A mini notewriting kit (complete with notecards, envelopes and stickers)
♥ A birdie 'hold me' - perfect for photos or sweet notes

As always, I like my giveaways be as easy as possible to enter. All you have to do is leave a comment with your email address before August 31st. You do not have be a follower (but I do always like making new friends), and this giveaway is open internationally. I look forward to announcing the winner at the end of the month!

This post is part of Aussie August - a month of sharing all-Australian reviews and content.

Clara in Washington - Penny Tangey

2011-08-16T22:39:00.001+10:00

The Facts

Author: Penny Tangey

Publisher: University of Queensland Press

Publication Date: 27th June 2011

Length: 253 pages

The FictionFrom UQP: Living in Washington D.C. is meant to be all politics, glamour and great conversations but what do you do when you don’t have the words to join in, or the knowledge to ride the subway, or you’re scared someone will mug you and a million other disasters could be just around the corner?

For Clara, joining her mother on a three-month stint in Washington is her end-of-school adventure and a chance to be someone else other than the studious geek she’s always been. Although, starting an adventure is hard to do when you won’t leave the house. But Clara didn’t count on meeting Campbell and his anarchist group and she didn’t count on her new discoveries threatening to unravel all her plans. Will she still be the same after Washington?

So somewhere in the last week of June, between staying in the Macedon Ranges for work and flying to Brisbane, I was able to sneak out to a bookshop on my work break and buy Clara in Washington the day it was published! I was very excited, after having been looking forward to the book for a few months and was keen to read it on my trip (thinking I’d save it to read after work). Instead, the temptation of the book in my hand-luggage proved too much and at the end of my two hour flight, I was ¾ the way through and couldn’t wait to finish. I adore Penny’s writing and am really excited to share a few of my thoughts on this book with you.

Part travelogue, part teen-girl-independence story Clara in Washington is a fantastic, funny young adult novel by an Australian author. Just like with Catherine in Penny’s debut novel, Loving Richard Feynman, I adored Clara and could strongly relate to her. Penny writes this brilliant, not-deliberately funny (but I find it hilarious) chain-of-thought monologues for Clara, which are just spot on. Clara has quite a nervous personality, which at times ranges from cautious to paranoid. Whilst some might find this slightly off-putting, it was something that stood out for me (partly because I have a nervous, slightly-high-strung personality myself) and also because I feel like this personality type hasn’t really featured in other YA novels I’ve read of late. I also think that Clara’s tendency to over-think and her fear in the new environment is something that is actually quite common to Generation Y and the teen reader, and it’s refreshing to have this unease reflected in literature. Like Catherine, Clara also has such a funny, dry sense of humour, which I think balances her cautious personality and helps make it easy to relate to her.

During her time in Washington, Clara connects with a number of people and it’s interesting how these relationships impact upon her character development. A sizeable portion of the story is dedicated to Clara’s relationship with Campbell – a young man working at a local coffee shop and who tries to involve her with his group of Anarchists. Like Clara, I really didn’t know anything about what anarchists did or believed in, and again, I don’t think this is the kind of thing that has been tackled by many other YA novels. Penny explores the idea of anarchy, politics and social justice really well, particularly against the background of the 2008 Presidential election.

Other little things I loved about this book: the references to Melbourne (Clara is a Melbourne girl), that each chapter begins with a quote from a United States president and being able to follow Clara throughout some of DC’s historic landmarks (as well as some lesser-known places, like the Spy Museum). Penny has also liberally used social media throughout the novel in a way which fits with the spirit of the story and themes of the story.

Clara’s journey to a greater sense of self-awareness and her experiences in Washington make for a very enjoyable read. Penny has given Clara a unique and likeable voice, and her story (like good YA should) manages to strike the right balance between these very innocent and unintentionally funny moments, and some more introspective revelations leading to a more-formed, complex identity.

I really loved this book, and if you’ve read it, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it in the comments.

Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude Get A Life - Maureen McCarthy

2011-08-10T21:12:00.003+10:00

The Facts

Author: Maureen McCarthy

Publisher: Penguin Books Australia

Date of Publication: 1995

Length: 435 pages

The Fiction

From Penguin: Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude Get a Life - friendship, families, betrayal and love, and a tumultuous year in the lives of three unforgettable young women

I first read Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude Get A Life over 10 years ago (oh my goodness, that makes me feel old). I was about thirteen and the ABC mini-series based on the book was about to air. I didn’t end up watching the series, but read the book and really liked it. A few years later I’d go onto read more of Maureen McCarthy’s books and the emotional impact of her writing would hit me later down the line. Recently I decided to re-read Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude – a decade later with ‘fresh’ eyes.

The story is in five parts – the novel opens and closes in Manella, a small Victorian country town and home to the titular three young women. These sections beautifully frame the story, leading into (and subsequently bringing together) each of the girls’ parts. Written in first person, each portion has such a distinctive voice and really allows us to get in the heads and hearts of Carmel, Jude and Katrina. Whilst each of the three parts is written from a specific characters point of view, I love being able to watch their perceptions of each other change and develop throughout the novel.

Onto the girls themselves: there’s Carmel, a large girl with a big heart and an even bigger voice (which she keeps hidden for the first half of her book). Out of all the characters, it’s arguable that Carmel undergoes the biggest transformation during the course of the novel and (for me) had the biggest impact on the reader. Carmel’s lack of confidence, thwarted self-perceptions and her close-knit family makes her easy to relate to. Then there’s Jude, the daughter of a Chilean doctor killed amidst political unrest in Latin America – she’s hugely passionate about social justice and is determined to follow in her father’s footsteps by studying medicine. I think I really loved the idea of Jude, but overall ended up finding her a tad self-righteous and had trouble connecting with her (from my first reading, Jude’s section was the part that I remembered least). I felt from Jude’s section that I learned more about her father and her heritage than Jude herself. Katerina, like Jude, is a bit harder to like. Wealthy and beautiful (yet also cold and condescending), Katerina could easily fall into “poor little rich girl” territory, however McCarthy is able to elicit sympathy from the reader for her (and if you’re like me, will also have you banging you head on the wall in frustration at her naivety and thoughtless actions) and by the end of the novel, Katerina is redeemed.

Something that really struck me about this second reading was the relationships between the girls and their mothers. McCarthy has written three very different mothers, and as much as the story is about three young women dealing with entering adult life and independence, it’s very interesting to note how greatly you can pick out the way the influence of their mothers has shaped them as individuals.

Oh course, one of my favourite things about this novel is the Melbourne setting! Queen Kat, Carmel and St Jude is full of familiar Melbourne locations – Lygon St, Canning St in Carlton, Melbourne Uni, Brunswick St cafes, Port Melbourne and the Edinburgh Gardens. Even without specific references to landmarks and streets, something about the book just feels unmistakably Melbournian, comfortable and home-y to me.

I was relieved after re-reading that my feelings towards the book hadn’t deviated greatly. I feel like I ‘got it’ more and definitely was able to identify with the girls experiences at uni and in trying to forge their own identities away from their families and home town. Queen Kat, Camel and St Jude Get A Life has aged well (I was worried it would seem very dated) and whilst I certainly got a whiff of 90s nostalgia, like Looking for Alibrandi (which was first published two years before this), it has managed to stand the test of time due to the strong voices of its characters and it’s thematic relevance – I would certainly consider it an Australian young adult classic.

I'll leave you with a little blast from the past - when I was in Year 10 at school, we had Maureen McCarthy come out to speak about Chain of Hearts (which we were studying as a set text) and about writing in general. I was really excited to hear Maureen speak and afterwards, she signed my copy of Chain of Hearts and my English teacher took a photo afterwards:

This post is part of Aussie August - a month of sharing all-Australian reviews and content.

City in Pages - Sydney Part 1

2011-08-07T11:19:00.001+10:00

Now that I've taken you through my lovely home-city of Melbourne via some of my favourite YA books, I thought I'd move up the coast a little and give you a taste of Sydney! And who better to start off a little virtual trip than with the works of Australian YA Queen, Melina Marchetta- as her works Looking for Alibrandi, Saving Francesca and The Piper's Son are all set in Sydney, with a particular focus on the inner-west (Leichhardt, Glebe, Stanmore and Annadale).

image source: we ♥ it

Looking for Alibrandi
Published by Penguin Books Australia, 1992

Martin Place

In the Sydney CBD, Martin Place is made up of a collection of beautiful old buildings, including the Sydney General Post Office, Challis House and the Henry York Davis Building. It also houses the Cenotaph (a monument recongising the ANZAC forces who fought in WWI), a fountain and amphitheatre (which was where the Have a Say Day event in Looking for Alibrandi was held).

Darling Harbour and Circular Quay
If you have ever seen a postcard of Sydney, chances are you will have seen the Darling Harbour. It is the city centre of Sydney and the precinct is home to the Sydney Entertainment Centre, the Convention and Exhibition Centre and Sydney Aquarium (to name just a few). Circular Quay is a major transport hub (it has a bus, train and ferry interchange) as well as prime tourist and cultural attraction, with its stunning views and picturesque walks, and access to parks and restaurants. On New Year’s Eve, it’s also one of the best (and most crowded!) spots to watch the Sydney fireworks from.

University of Sydney

The oldest university in Australia, the University of Sydney was founded in 1850 and each year educates around 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Ranked as one of the Top 3 Universities in Australia, this sandstone university is spread across Camperdown and Darlington and has some of the largest (and most prestigious) Medicine and Law faculties. It is a beautiful campus, and not surprisingly Josie’s university of choice to study law in Looking for Alibrandi.

Sebel Townhouse

Once a hugely popular hotel in Kings Cross (and often frequented by celebrities and considered the hotel of choice for the Australian music industry). Apparently it was also the first hotel in Australia to accept credit cards! Unfortunately it closed in the early noughties and has since been converted into luxury apartments, like a number of other hotels in the area.

Saving Francesca
Published by Penguin Books Australia, 2006

Hyde Park

On the eastern side of Sydney’s CBD is Hyde Park, 16 acres of parklands which is home to the Archibald Fountain and the ANZAC War Memorial. Named after London’s Hyde Park, the Sydney park was originally used for various sporting events (including horse-riding and bare-knuckled fighting), but is now mostly used for leisurely walks and a lunchtime stop for tourists and CBD office workers.

UTS

The University of Technology of Sydney is the fifth largest Australian university. It came out of Sydney Technical College and the New South Wales Institute of Technology, and is the only Sydney university with a main campus in the CBD. The most distinctive feature on the Broadway campus is the Tower building (which is 32 levels high! and is often considered one of the ugliest buildings in Sydney). It also has one of the largest Business faculties in Australia and in Saving Francesca, Mia lecturers in Communications at UTS.

The Piper's Son
Published by Penguin Books Australia, 2010

Leichhardt Oval
Home to the West Tigers (rugby league, for those of you – like me – who don’t really follow sports ...) It’s a smaller ground (with a maximum capacity of 20,000), and despite its older facilities, still manages to draw a large crowd at the few home matches it hosts.

Maroubra Beach
One of Sydney’s best surfing beaches (and also known as the beach of choice for the infamous ‘Bra boys').
The Italian Forum
Located in Leichhardt in Sydney’s inner-west, the Forum is a residential complex, which also houses a number of shops and eateries on the bottom level. I also have it on good authority that it’s home to excellent gelato (Tom, Georgia and the Finch-McKees and their friends walk to Norton St for gelato after a particularly heated dinner).

Central Station
The main transport hub for Sydney’s City Rail (I’m assuming it’s the equivalent to Flinders St in Melbourne!) and also the biggest train station in Australia. It has 27 platforms (!!) and the trains run from 4am to midnight. One of the things I thought was most interesting about the history of Central Station (which I discovered when researching this) was that the site of the station was previously used as the Devonshire St cemetery.

If you enjoyed this post and haven't read my City in Pages series before, check out the earlier posts:
♥ Melbourne - Part 1
♥ Melbourne - Part 2
♥ Melbourne - Part 3

This post is part of Aussie August - a month of sharing all-Australian reviews and content.

Mixed Bag #40

2011-08-05T09:00:00.001+10:00

Oh my goodness, it feels like ages since I've done one of these! Here are some links to things that I've enjoyed recently - I hope you like them too:

image source: we ♥ it

♥ Kate Gordon shares her Hottest 50 Australian Children's & YA Books of All Time. This is an incredible list and so many of my own favourites on here!

♥ I recently discovered Dear Teen Me (thanks Aimee!), where some of my favourite authors have written letters to their younger selves. Check out Aimee and Simmone's entries.

♥ Check out this interview with Leanne Hall at Listening to the Ants Scream, where Leanne talks about her novel, the paranormal romance genre and a possible sequel to This is Shyness (oh my goodness, everybody cross your fingers and think good thoughts!)

♥ Have you been to Literary Life lately? Megan's blog has had a facelift and is all shiny and new (but of course, still filled with all the usual awesomeness of her infectious writing).

♥ If you haven't already seen the Inky Awards Long List - go look and then run (don't walk) and read these books!

Guide to Aussie August giveaways:
♥ Win a copy of Beautiful Malice by Rebecca James at Book Probe
♥ Check out the Aussie Author Giveaway at The Australian Bookshelf
♥ Skye at In The Good Books is also giving away a fantastic pack of Aussie titles, go look!

A Pocketful of Eyes - Lili Wilkinson

2011-08-02T20:32:00.000+10:00

The Facts
Author: Lili Wilkinson
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Date of Publication: May 1st, 2011
Length: 324 pages

The Fiction
From the Publisher: Bee is in her element working in the taxidermy department at the Museum of Natural History, but her summer job turns out to be full of surprises:
A dead body in the Red Rotunda. A mysterious Museum benefactor. A large stuffed tiger in the Catacombs. A handsome boy with a fascination for unusual animal mating habits.
And a pocketful of glass eyes.
Can Bee sift through the clues to discover whether her mentor really committed suicide ... or is there a murderer in their midst?

I had been excited about this for a rather long time and I pretty much raced out on May 1^st to get myself a copy. I’m a huge fan of Lili and her writing and was certainly not disappointed when I devoured it in an afternoon. Now I must apologise for writing the review so long after originally reading the book, which is mostly because every time I went to start writing this review I’d go ‘oh I’ll just read this one bit’ and end up re-reading half the book. Anyway, you can tell from its multiple mentions on my blog, that I enjoyed it quite a lot!

Our heroine, Bee, is definitely a girl after my own heart. Incredibly observant and a lifelong fan of detective novels, Bee is not only very smart, but has a brilliant, wry wit to her that makes her very endearing. Like Ava in Pink, I loved that Bee is slightly flawed and allowed to make mistakes through the course of the novel - in the way she navigates through the museum murder mystery and the changing relationships with both Toby and her mother, making her very real and relatable to a teen reader.

Now to the potential love interest, Toby – I don’t think I have swooned this hard in a while (and I’m not usually a very ‘swoony’ kinda gal). Call me weird, but there is something I find incredibly charming about Toby’s seduction technique of reeling off the courtship rituals of animals (seriously, did you know that male porcupines sing to the female before urinating all over them?). My love for delightfully nerdy guys (think Dr Spencer Reid in Criminal Minds or Sweets in Bones) is fairly well documented on the blog, so I don’t think it would come as a major surprise that I thought Toby received top marks in the ‘Teen Boy Love Interest’ category for me. Extra points must also be awarded for the snappy, fun banter between Bee and Toby, which remains consistent throughout. A Pocketful of Eyes also features a number of well-developed supporting characters, which certainly add to the likeability of the novel (of particular note for me were Bee’s D&D playing, fandom loving mother and her boyfriend, the Celestial Badger).

One of my favourite things about A Pocketful of Eyes is the way that Lili has successfully blended the elements of a traditional whodunit mystery with a contemporary Australian setting (another book set in Melbourne!) and the light-hearted, enjoyable style of a YA rom-com. Whilst aspects of the mystery genre are often incorporated in paranormal and dystopian YA, it was great to work nicely in a contemporary story (and I loved the way Lili references preceding literary sleuths from Poirot to Encyclopaedia to Trixie Belden).

Like any good mystery, this one had me guessing until the very end, and like any good YA, A Pocketful of Eyes has clever, fun characters, an engaging plot and a healthy smattering of pop culture references. As you can probably tell by my overuse of adjectives in this review, it's one of my favourite reads so far in 2011.

Lili Wilkinson will be appearing at the 2011 Melbourne Writers Festival in ‘In the Family’, ‘A Pocketful of Eyes’ and ‘Politics in YA’. For more information or tickets, go here.

This post is part of Aussie August - a month of sharing all-Australian reviews and content.

Aussie August

2011-08-01T09:00:00.003+10:00

When I first heard about the suggestion for Aussie August on Goodreads– a month dedicated solely to writing about and reviewing Australian young adult titles, I’ll admit that initially I was a bit ‘ehhhh’ about the whole thing. Not because I don’t love Aussie YA, because if you’ve read this blog for more than a few weeks, you’d know that I am hugely passionate about supporting and sharing thoughts on local authors and Australian stories. My feelings toward Aussie August were originally the same as how I feel about Mother’s and Father’s Day – whilst it is nice to have a day to celebrate them, surely it would be better if we treated them (and shared our gratitude and love) all-year round.

Anyway, as you can probably tell that my momentary hesitation was surpassed by my excitement to share (as part of a group) my excitement for and love of Australian young adult fiction with the rest of the world! So I’m hoping you will all stick around for August as it will be packed with double the dose of all-Australian content. Not only will I be reviewing Australian YA titles, I’ll also be continuing some of my favourite blogging series posts (including Fiction to Film, the Film Companion and City in Pages).

Over the next 31 days, make sure you head to the central hub for Aussie August (put together by the lovely Lux of The Paperback Heart) for even more local content from Aussie bloggers including interviews, reviews and guest-posts. For my overseas friends, there will be heaps of giveaways (over 15 at a quick count), all of which will be open internationally! I hope you all enjoy the next 31 days!

Melbourne Writers Festival 2011 Plans

2011-07-31T11:39:00.000+10:00

I can't believe it's almost been a year since the last Melbourne Writers Festival! So much in my life has changed sinced last August and I'm now one of those sad people who wonders where the year has gone. Like last year, I will be attending sessions in the School's Program at the 2011 festival. Here is what I'll be seeing:

Monday August 29:
Reasons Why I Read - Maggie Stiefvater, Nick Earls & Kate Grenville
Why spend your time reading when there are so many million other things you could be doing? Maggie Stiefvater, Kate Grenville and Nick Earls share how reading has inspired them, and reveal their favourite classic and new books.

Meet Nick Earls
Author of best-selling YA books, including After January and 48 Shades of Brown, Nick Earls talks about his writing career and what has made his books perennial favourites with young adult audiences.
Meet Maggie Stiefvater
Best-selling US author Maggie Stiefvater makes a very special appearance to talk about her incredible Wolves of Mercy Falls series: Linger, Shiver and now the long-awaited Forever.

Tuesday August 30:
In the Family - Lili and Carole Wilkinson
Dynamic duo Carole and Lili Wilkinson describe their books for children and young adults, and what it's like to be part of a whole family of writers.

I had planned to also attend sessions on Lili Wilkinson's A Pocketful of Eyes and Jane Caro's Just A Girl, but was too slow getting tickets and the events are sold out!

Wednesday August 31:
Emerging Writers - Lisa Dempster and Johannes Jakob
Hear from key people in Melbourne's best loved organisations supporting new voices in writing, and from freelancers making their way in publishing. In this session we discuss ideas on finding a community as a writer, routes to getting published and building your profile on your way to success.

Politics in YA Fiction - Lili Wilkinson and Penny Tangey
Characters in Lili and Penny's books have their eyes truly opened to the power of politics for the first time, be it in Washington DC on the eve of Obama's inauguration, or via some difficult choices much closer to home. Come and hear these two leading authors discuss the explosive combination of fiction and politics.

Thursday September 1:
Clara in Washington - Penny Tangey
In Penny Tangey's new book, Year 12 student Clara goes to America and finds the world of politics opening up for her in a way she never thought possible. Suddenly she might have a lot more impact on the future than she thought.

Tickets to all events can be purchased here and be sure to check out the full program for more exciting events through the festival!

Fellow Melbournians, if you'll be attending the festival, what sessions are you going to?

Zombie Week Wrap-Up

2011-07-24T21:14:00.000+10:00

So the second Zombie Week on My Girl Friday has come to a close. Unfortunately it was not as eventful as I had originally planned, as my organisation skills slipped and I didn't manage my time as well as I'd have liked to. I still managed to review six zombie-riffic titles, which isn't too shabby. In case you missed any, I reviewed:

♥ Zombies vs Unicorns - Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier
♥ How to Speak Zombie - Steve Mockus
♥ Alice in Zombieland - Nickolas Cook & Lewis Carroll
♥ Raising the Dead - H.J Harper
♥ The Enemy - Charlie Higson
♥ The Dead - Charlie Higson

For friends of the 'differently biotic', I hope you've enjoyed my mini-feature and for everyone else, thanks for putting up with my zombie-obsession and normality will resume here next week!

The Dead - Charlie Higson

2011-07-23T17:14:00.001+10:00

The Facts

Author: Charlie Higson
Australian Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
Date of Publication: September 2010
Length: 464 pages

The Fiction

From Penguin: A TERRIBLE DISEASE IS STRIKING EVERYONE OVER THE AGE OF FOURTEEN. DEATH WALKS THE STREETS. NOWHERE IS SAFE.
Maxie, Blue and the rest of the Holloway crew aren't the only kids trying to escape the ferocious adults who prey on them. Jack and Ed are best friends, but their battle to stay alive tests their friendship to the limit as they go on the run with a mismatched group of other kids – nerds, fighters, misfits. And one adult. Greg, a butcher, who claims he's immune to the disease. They must work together if they want to make it in this terrifying new world. But as a fresh disaster threatens to overwhelm London, they realize they won't all survive.

In terms of its relationship to The Enemy, The Dead is a prequel, set approximately one year before. It begins just after disaster has struck, with a terrible virus infecting those over the age of fourteen and turning them into infected, hobbling re-animated corpses. We begin at an English all-boys boarding school, where the surviving students are about to head off in search of other kids – amongst them are best friends Jack and Ed, who’s friendship is put to the test by the new, hostile environment they find themselves in.

Similarly to The Enemy, The Dead features a large cast of characters, however it does focus strongly on Jack and Ed. There is also the very creepy (very, very creepy) Greg – one of the few adults featured in the series (and those who have read The Enemy will surely recognise him). The Dead certainly felt more male-centric in terms of voice than The Enemy, but there is a trio of school girls, who join the boys on their travels and make for some great comedic moments (amidst quite a chilling story – it’s something Higson does very well – in between the violence and chaos, we are reminded that these are still kids).

The Dead is jam-packed with action, nail-biting suspense and some epic zombie-kills. I was planning to do a body-count comparison between the two books, but thought that might be a bit much! Like The Enemy, The Dead has a few different narrative strands running at once, though the story felt more contained and slightly easier to follow. Thematically, The Dead continues to look at leadership, power and survival, it also has a surprising (and interesting) examination on religion and the role of faith. Higson manages to weave these themes rather seamlessly throughout the story, and makes them relatable to a range of readers.

Whilst I read The Dead after The Enemy (in publication order), you could definitely read them in narrative chronological order (meaning read The Dead first). I loved the small overlaps between the books (most prominent in the ending of The Dead) and there is some excellent foreshadowing of events to come (or if you’ve read The Enemy already, an explanation of what’s happened) and I think the next book, The Fear, will continue to weave this series together nicely.

The Enemy - Charlie Higson

2011-07-22T22:07:00.000+10:00

The Facts

Author: Charlie Higson
Australian Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
Date of Publication: September 2009
Length: 410 pages

The Fiction
From Penguin: When the sickness came, every parent, police officer, politician - every adult - felt ill. The lucky ones died. The others are crazed, confused and hungry. Only children under fourteen remain, and they're fighting to survive.
Now there are rumours of a safe place to hide. And so a gang of children begin their quest across London, where all through the city - down alleyways, in deserted houses, underground - the grown ups lie in wait.

I’m going to try and keep this review fairly straight-forward and ramble-free (with minimal fan-girling – which may be a bit of a struggle), but straight-up, I loved this book and will say it’s probably my favourite zombie story from my 2011 reading list so far. Higson has crafted a dynamic story, peppered with real voices and engaging characters.

The Enemy introduces us to a number of characters, and is really an ensemble piece. It begins with the two separate groups – the Waitrose gang and the Morrison kids (distinguished by which supermarket they are hiding out in, as well as more of a social distinction as to where they shopped prior to the sickness taking hold of their parents). What I loved about The Enemy is that even though there are multiple characters, Higson’s writing gives us enough detail and description that we can easily bond with many of them (I tend to find in most stories with ensembles there are characters I love and I tend to skip sections that don’t focus on them as heavily in order to get back to the ‘good parts’). There is a fantastic mix of characters – lovely Arran, hot-headed Achilleus, Maxie, Blue, the chav with a heart of gold, Whitney, plus the deliciously villainous David King. Despite most of the characters falling in the younger end of YA fiction, Higson throws them some very tough blows (certainly not holding anything back!) and it’s really interesting to watch how this group of personalities play out as the situation worsens.

The Enemy has two main narrative threads running throughout – the first is that of the Waitrose kids (before they join with the Morrison gang) and their journey to Buckingham Palace in the hopes of surviving the spreading sickness and constant threat of attacks from infected adults. The second is the heartbreaking story of small Sam, a younger boy who is separated from the group and his attempts to make it back to them (with a group of infected parents, cannibals and some pretty scary stuff for a nine-year-old to deal with). Higson’s writing covers quite classical themes – survival in a harsh world, the effects of a class structure, and abuse of power in a way that’s still accessible to a younger reader.

I feel like I should warn you, it’s not a ‘nice’ zombie story. I think it’s a pretty realistic telling of what could happen in the aftermath of a virus outbreak in a cosmopolitan city. Higson reveals in some pretty gory details (seriously, his descriptions of infected parents are full of puss-gobules and rotten skin). The Enemy is also fairly violent (with plenty of Tallahassee worthy zombie kills) and is pretty much action-packed for the bulk of the 400+ pages. I also really loved the setting of this novel, and found it fun (and creepy in a 28 Days Later kind of way) to read about London attractions either abandoned post-outbreak or re-purposed by kids).

If you aren't squeamish, enjoy fast-paced stories (and one that also make you think) with a decent side-helping of creepy, infected grown-ups, then The Enemy is certainly a book for you!

Waiting on Wednesday: The Fear - Charlie Higson

2011-07-20T09:00:00.002+10:00

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine to "spotlight upcoming releases". Right now, one of the book's I'm most looking forward to is:

The Fear - Charlie Higson
Publisher: Penguin Books (Australia)

Australian Publication Date: September 15th, 2011

HE DOESN'T KNOW IT BUT DOGNUT IS ABOUT TO SET OFF A CHAIN OF EVENTS THAT WILL AFFECT EVERY KID IN THE CITY.

The sickness struck everyone over the age of fourteen.

Mothers and fathers, older brothers, sisters and best friends. No one escaped its touch. And now children across London are being hunted by ferocious grown-ups... They're hungry. They're bloodthirsty. And they aren't giving up.

DogNut and the rest of his crew want to find their lost friends, on a deadly mission from the Tower of London to Buckingham Palace and beyond, as the sickos lie in wait. But who are their friends and who are the enemy in this changed world?

I'm a huge fan of Charlie Higson's work and loved both The Enemy and The Dead (which will be reviewed later this week). These stories are action-packed, exciting, clever and quite funny (which I can assure you, for a story set in apocalyptic London as a virus infects everyone over the age of fourteen, is tough to do!), so I highly recommend you check them out before devouring The Fear.

What upcoming releases are you eagerly anticipating?

Snack Size - Zombie Fun

2011-07-19T09:45:00.002+10:00

Zombie stories don't always have to be about a quest for braaaains (or a metaphor for some aspect of society or to highlight a social issue). Sometimes they can just be plain ol' fun! Below are three 100-word mini reviews of some fun, non-threatening, non-scary zombie books:
How to Speak Zombie – Steve Mockus (illustrations by Travis Millard)
Published by Chronicle Books

This would make a great present for any fans of the differently biotic! How to Speak Zombie is a fun guide for breathers, on how to communicate with our living-impaired friends. Mockus covers a variety of situations (from the gym and sporting events to the beach and dance parties). I think my favourite is the zombie coffee shop etiquette:
“ZhhhhaananahhhhBBBLLhhabllllrrzhaaazhhh
zzaaazzzOOOOhhRRaahhtaaYY”
= skinny double half-caf soy latte”. The best part about this book is definitely the handy dandy sound module, so you can hear the phrases being said in the appropriate combo of moans and grunts. Seriously, it will keep you entertained for a while.

Alice in Zombieland - Nickolas Cook & Lewis Carroll
Published by Sourcebooks
(read as an e-book)

Yet another zombified twist on a classic text! Whilst I think the concept worked successfully in Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, it just isn't as well suited to Lewis Carroll's story. Here Alice follows a black rat into an open grave and finds herself in Zombieland, where she encounters a myriad of strange, undead creatures. It is certainly not a challenging read (I finished in within a couple of hours) and in my opinion, Cook could have been a bit more creative with his zombie inclusions. Still, if you enjoy your childhood favourites with a side of braaaains, check this out.

Raising the Dead - H.J Harper
Published by Random House Australia

This is the third book in new Australian middle-reader series, Star League by H.J Harper (about a troupe of kids who make action movies by day and are an elite crime-fighting squad by night). Roger Romero is the group’s zombie, who when he isn’t taking down baddies, is playing pranks or mixing up potions. I am loving this series – it’s a lot of fun, is suited to either gender (though I think they would go down especially well with reluctant boy readers). Also, the graphic-novel style illustrations from Nahum Ziersch are brilliant and nicely compliment Harper’s energetic writing style.

Zombies vs Unicorns - Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier

2011-07-18T10:00:00.002+10:00

The Facts:

Authors: Edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier

Publisher: Allen & Unwin (Australia)

Australian Date of Publication: November 2010

Length: 415 pages

The Fiction:

From the Publisher: It's a question as old as time itself: which reigns supreme, the zombie or the unicorn? 'For too long, the zombie has dominated the public consciousness, but the reign of the unicorn is at hand!' Holly Black - Team Unicorn

'I think that posterity will look upon this as the moment when zombies took their rightful place at the top of the food chain.' Justine Larbalestier - Team Zombie

Contributors to this unique collection include bestselling teen and YA authors, Garth Nix, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson and Margo Lanagan. Zombie vs Unicorns challenges you to pick a team, and stick to it. But be warned, these are stellar story-tellers, and they can be very convincing...

One freaking awesome concept and a kick-arse author team = one must-read anthology. I had been looking forward to this release since last year’s zombie week.

Firstly, here’s a breakdown of who’s writing and which team they represent:

Zombies (Team Captain - Justine Larbalestier):
Libba Bray
Cassandra Clare
Alaya Dawn Johnson
Maureen Johnson
Carrie Ryan
Scott Westfeld

Unicorns (Team Captain – Holly Black):
Meg Cabot
Kathleen Duey
Margo Lanagan
Garth Nix
Naomi Novik
Diana Peterfreud

First, I have to preface this review with the fact that I’m very much 100% Team Zombie (as you will all know by now), so the review may be slightly biased, despite by best efforts to stay fairly neutral.
The basic structure of the anthology is that each chapter alternates between a unicorn and a zombie story (and each chapter is marked with a handy-dandy logo in the corner, so you can skip through and read all the stories of one team if you wish). All of the stories are introduced by the captain of the appropriate team, with some banter between the two editors (which was fun, but to be honest, I skipped through it on my first reading – I just wanted to get straight to the stories!).

Now here are some of my thoughts on the two teams and the stories of the anthology:

Unicorns: I was actually kind of surprised by how much I enjoyed the unicorn stories. Prior to reading, I was curious as to how these stories would stand apart as I had thought that unicorns don’t lend themselves to as many potential readings/covering as many issues as zombies. However, each unicorn story is engaging and an enjoyable read, and whilst themes such as purity are common in the unicorn stories, there is also a great mix of coverage (from the poetic, to the bloodthirsty, to the just damn funny). My favourite was probably Meg Cabot’s Princess Prettypants (c’mon, the name is enough to be a winner!). It’s just pure silly, enjoyable fun (I don’t want to give anything away because it is a great read, but I will say that Meg Cabot’s unicorn can fart rainbows – now surely that is teaser enough to make you want to read it!).

But of course, it was the zombie stories that really captured my attention. They too range from the laugh-out-loud funny to the quietly haunting. Though I thought each story was strong, my personal favourites were Carrie Ryan’s Bougainvillea, Maureen Johnson’s Children of the Revolution and Libba Bray’s Prom Night (which by the way, is a kind of perfect story to end on). My only complaint is that some of the stories were so good, that I would have loved to read a full-length novel about them (especially Carrie Ryan’s Bougainvillea), and similarly, I felt like Scott Westerfeld’s Inoculata was almost a tease, and could have definitely been part of a larger work.

Overall, the anthology is a very entertaining read. I think it will go down well for fans of either team (or (or for fans of any of the contributing authors), I also think this book would be a fun way for those who don’t normally read zombie stories (or who haven’t pledged allegiance to either team yet), as it’s definitely a nice ‘taster’ with a variety of different perspectives. For unicorn skeptics like me, the book showed me that unicorns can be funny (and also rather gruesome – thanks Diana Peterfreud!) and for people who find our living-impaired friends a bit creepy, hopefully these stories will show that there is more to zombies than a hankering for braaaaaains.

Question time: Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?

(as if you needed to be reminded!)

Second Annual MGF Zombie Week!

2011-07-17T13:49:00.000+10:00

Around this time last year, I had my first Zombie Week at My Girl Friday. It was predominantly spawned from my love of the living-challenged and the fact that I could pretty much talk about them non-stop, but I know not everyone is a fan and decided to keep my zombie love to a more contained time frame (though of course, there are mentions snuck in throughout my blog, all year round).

In my first zombie week I reviewed seven books, four films and was looking forward to two new zombie-themed releases. I was excited by the emerging interest in zombie stories in YA literature, especially in a market saturated with vampires. This year, I’ve been happy to see that zombies are still generating some buzz in the community (even if, in my opinion, they are still overshadowed by other supernatural tropes).

Over the next week, I will be reviewing a mix of both books and films related to all-things zombie! For those of you who are not interested in our living-impaired friends, no worries, regular posting will resume here on July 25th. Otherwise you can kick back and enjoy a week of zombie-filled-brainy-goodness!

image source: we ♥ it

Somewhat Quiet on the Blogging Front

2011-07-09T15:32:00.001+10:00

image source: we ♥ it

Hi friends,

Just wanted to check in quickly and apologise for the recent lack of posting. My life outside of blogland has been a bit hectic lately (organising a sales conference, going to Brisbane for work), and have also managed to kill my lovely laptop Dell Parker. I'm hoping Dell will have a speedy recovery and I'll get back to posting soon, but rest-assured, in the meantime I'll be working on some new content the old-fashioned way - with a pen and paper (!). I'm hoping you're all well, and even if I'm a bit slow in the commenting department, I'm trying to keep up with all your reading adventures.

Also, can you believe the year is half-over!? Where has time gone? Here are some things I'm looking forward to over the next couple of months:
♥ The second annual Zombie Week at My Girl Friday is not very far away!
♥The Melbourne Writer's Festival kicks off next month (and I'll be attending a number of the schools sessions. If you're planning on going, let me know!
♥ In less than two months, I will be going on a holiday to the US of A!!!
♥ In October, I'll be seeing my all-time favourite filmmaker, John Waters, on his Australian tour.

What are you looking forward to in the second half of 2011?

Waiting on Wednesday - Lola and the Boy Next Door

2011-07-06T10:00:00.001+10:00

I feel like I haven't done one of these in forever (or more accurately, since September last year!). Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine to "spotlight upcoming releases".

The book I am especially excited for at the moment is:

Lola and the Boy Next Door - Stephanie Perkins
Australian Publisher: Penguin Books
Australian release date: 3rd October 2011

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn't believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit—more sparkly, more fun, more wild—the better. But even though Lola's style is outrageous, she's a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket—a gifted inventor—steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

I love Stephanie Perkins' debut novel Anna and the French Kiss. I loved it so much, that not only did I review it, I also made a Polyvore Profile for Anna and wrote a guide to the film references from the novel! So it's really no surprise that I am very, very excited to read about Lola and Cricket. I have a feeling it will be a really sweet, enjoyable (and no doubt, very funny!) read.

What books are you eagerly anticipating?

By My Bedside (in Brisbane!)

2011-07-04T10:00:00.003+10:00

Hello friends! By the time you are reading this, I will be up in (hopefully) sunny Brisbane! I'll be there for work, but will have a lot of downtime, so have picked plenty of books to take with me to keep me occupied.
By My Bedside is part of In My Mailbox, created by Kristi of The Story Siren.

Here's what I'm taking in my handbag:

♥ Latest issue of Frankie magazine
♥ Clara in Washington - Penny Tangey (so excited to read this!!!)
♥ All I Ever Wanted - Vikki Wakefield (thanks to the recommendation of a Readings shop assistant)

I'll also be taking my trusty e-reader. My local library service now has a really good range of e-books available for patrons to borrow, and I took full advantage of the service! I borrowed:

♥ Infinity - Sarah Dessen
♥ Curse of the Werewolf (Star League #2) - H.J Harper
♥ Raising the Dead (Star League #3) - H.J Harper
♥ Dare You - Sue Lawson
♥ A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness

What are you reading this week?

Fave Reads of 2011 (so far) - the characters and covers

2011-06-27T20:17:00.000+10:00

Part Two in Nomes' Faves of 2011 (so far) series is all about characters (and the added bonus of pretty book covers).

Below I'm sharing some of my favourite characters from this books I've read this year. Feel free to share your own faves in the comments, and be sure to check out Nomes' blog, Inkcrush, for more blogger picks in this series.

Enjoy!

1. Best female POV

Bee in A Pocketful of Eyes (Lili Wilkinson) and
Charlie & Rose in Chasing Charlie Duskin (Cath Crowley)

2. Best Male POV

Sam in Hold Me Closer Necromancer (Lish McBride) and Adam in Where She Went (Gayle Foreman)

3. Best Couple ♥

Mia and Adam (Where She Went), Anna and Etienne (Anna and the French Kiss) and Bee and Toby (A Pocketful of Eyes)

4. Who I so want to be best friends with

The entire Martin family from Maureen Johnson's Scarlett Fever.

Or Anna's friends (especially Josh and Meredith) from Stephanie Perkins' Anna and the French Kiss
Or Al's friends (especially Maz and Nico!) from Aimee Said's Little Sister.

5. Who I fell completely in love with (new literary crush)

Toby from A Pocketful of Eyes (yay for delightfully nerdy boys!) and Sam from Hold Me Closer Necromancer (yay for snarkym skateboarding slackers!).

6. Worst (best) Villian

Mayor Prentiss from Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking trilogy

7. Best Character Twist (who you loved then hated or vice versa)

Miss Texas in Libba Bray's Beauty Queens (hate then love) and Ingrid in The Kid Table (love then hate).

8. Best Kick-Arse Female

I seriously couldn't think of a more awesome-crazy-kick-butt chick than Miss Texas - Taylor Rene Krysal Hawkins (Beauty Queens - Libba Bray)

9. Best Kick-Arse Male

Ollie, Arran and Small Sam from The Enemy, Ed and Jack from The Dead (both by Charlie Higson).

10. Broke Your Heart the Most

Cameron Quick in Sweethearts (Sara Zarr) or Jonah in How to Say Goodbye in Robot (Natalie Staniford).

My review of both books is here.

BONUS: 5 fave covers (from books I have read)

♥ A Pocketful of Eyes - Lili Wilkinson

♥ Dress Rehearsal - Zoe Thurner

♥ Are We There Yet - David Levithan

♥ Good Oil - Laura Buzo

♥ Zombies vs Unicorns - Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier

Fave Reads of 2011 (so far) - The Books

2011-06-25T22:40:00.000+10:00

The very lovely Nomes of inkcrush had the great idea of book-bloggers creating lists to share their favourite reads so far in 2011.

Nomes has created three different categories, to guarantee three days of awesome-book-sharing-love! My picks for some of my favourite books read in 2011 are below, and be sure to check out Nomes' blog for more about her Faves of 2011 (so far) series, as well as the links to other book-bloggers picks for each category at inkcrush. Be warned though - these posts will make your TBR piles grow an awful lot!

1. Favourite Book Read So Far in 2011

A Pocketful of Eyes (Lili Wilkinson - review to come soon!) and Good Oil (Laura Buzo - my review here)

2. Most Powerful Book

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Patrick Ness) or The Help (Kathryn Stockett)

3. Brilliantly Funny

Hold Me Closer Necromancer (Lish McBride - my review here),

Beauty Queens (Libba Bray - review to come very soon) and Loathing Lola (William Kostakis)

4. Best ache-y, heart-breaking, tear-jerker read

Where She Went (Gayle Forman)

5. Most Beautiful Story

Elsewhere - Gabrielle Zevin

6. Delicious rainy day comfort read

Chasing Charlie Duskin (Cath Crowley - mini review here)

7. Adrenalin-fuelled, unputdownable award

The Enemy and The Dead (Charlie Higson) – both of which I will be reviewing for the second annual My Girl Friday zombie week so stay tuned!

8. The Beautiful Prose Award

Dress Rehearsal (Zoe Thurner - my review here)

9. Most Atmospheric and Vivid Setting
I truly loved the apocalyptic London setting of The Enemy and The Dead (Charlie Higson - repeated from above).

10. I-so-want-to-go-there Award

Anna and the French Kiss (Stephanie Perkins).

Not only did I review Anna, I also made a Polyvore Profile and Film Lover's Companion for the book!

11. Most Original and Imaginative

When You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead)

12. Best under-appreciated, hidden gem book

Halfway to Good (Kirsten Murphy - my review is here)

13. I-had-no-idea-I-would-love this-so Award

Anna and the French Kiss (Stephanie Perkins) and Hold Me Closer Necromancer (Lish McBride)

14. Most Haunting Story

Five Parts Dead (Tim Pegler) and Sweethearts (Sara Zarr - mini review here)

15. Outside my comfort zone but gosh how I loved it

Not YA, but Room (Emma Donoghue)

16. Series that I’m loving

Chaos Walking trilogy (Patrick Ness)

17. Most Memorable Voice Award

Girl Meets Cake (Suzie Day - my review is here)

18. Completely Awesome Premise Award

Dream Factory (Heather Hepler & Brad Barkley)

Teenagers working at Disneyworld?! I think that is a pretty damn-awesome concept!

19. Would make the Best Movie

Beauty Queens (Libba Bray)

I would definitely watch this as a film (Drop Dead Gorgeous Meets Lost = hell to the yes!)

20. Want to re-read already

Zombies vs Unicorns (edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier - again, will be reviewing this for Zombie Week so check back soon!)

What are your favourite reads from 2011 so far?

By My Bedside #26

2011-06-20T09:30:00.000+10:00

Hello friends! Here's a glimpse of the books currently sitting on my to-read pile. By My Bedside is part of In My Mailbox, created by Kristi of The Story Siren.

♥ Ladies A Plate - Alexa Johnston
♥ Bitesize: Macaroons, Cake Pops & Cute Things
♥ Star League: Lights, Camera, Action Hero - H.J Harper
♥ Star League: Curse of the Werewolf - H.J Harper
♥ Dream Factory - Brad Barkley & Heather Hepler (from my local library)
♥ Flawless - Lara Chapman (thank you Bloomsbury Australia!)
After childrens and YA, my biggest book-buying genre is cookbooks! I love pretty cookbooks and have a rather large collection of dessert and baking books (because I love sweets, and am not great when it comes to 'real' cooking). I can't wait to start baking this weekend (maybe I'll even share the results on here, like I used to in ye-old-blog days).

What are you reading this week?

What I've Been Watching Lately

2011-06-16T22:00:00.000+10:00

Whilst I've been reading up a storm on my daily commute and can't wait to tell to tell you all about the great stuff I've been reading but I thought in the mean time, I'd share/vent about some of the things I've been watching lately (unlike my Popcorn reviews, there is no theme - just some random thoughts about my TV and film viewing).

Class (1983)
Isn't this the most awkward film poster ever? I think so. After reading You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried by Susannah Gora, I am dying to watch more 80s teen flicks. I hadn't seen Class before but as it stars Andrew McCarthy (better known as Blaine from Pretty in Pink) and Rob Lowe (The Outsiders, St Elmos Fire), I thought that the likelihood of it being awesome were pretty high. I was not disapointed. Though some parts were mega-awkward, Class is full of really great physical comedy and was a lot of fun to watch. Like Weird Science, I feel like Class has helped influence it's successors in the teenage-boy-sex-comedy genre and films like American Pie and Sex Drive have clearly taken a lot from it.
Check out the trailer here.

Zombies of Mass Destruction (2009)
I also watched Zombies of Mass Destruction on a whim. I do love zombie films and the description of ZMD sounded especially terrible (which means it's going to be great as the best zombie films are the ones that have the worst plotlines). These zombies are a terrorist weapon and are out to take over a small town. ZMD is very gory, strangely political and parodies almost every zombie film cliche. If you don't mind the gore and are a fan of zombie films, add this to your to-watch list. You can view the trailer here.

Ahh Community! It's one of those shows that in the past I've seen 5 minutes here and there but never had the chance to sit down and watch a whole episode. Then I picked up the boxed set for $20 and watched the whole first season in about 36 hours (yes, I have a slightly addictive personality when it comes to these kind of things ...). I love it! I think it has one of the best ensemble casts and Troy and Abed have incredible on-screen chemistry (seriously, the way they end each episode with the two of them kills me every time!). It's such a fun show, and if you're a pop culture nerd, you will love the multitude of references pumped into each episode.
I'll leave you with some krumping from Troy and Abed.

So what have you been watching lately? Feel free to share in the comments!

Dress Rehearsal - Zoe Thurner

2011-06-15T21:01:00.000+10:00

The Facts
Author: Zoe Thurner
Publisher: Fremantle Press
Date of Publication: May 2011
Length: 269 pages

The Fiction
From the Publisher: Lara Pearlman has an appetite for life. She loves acting, vintage clothes and her best friend Oggy. She flirts with Nathan but really likes Blake. She devours muffins with cream and chocolates by the box. Lara’s mum says big girls shouldn’t eat cream, but if rules are made to be broken then Lara’s the girl to do it.

I originally picked up Dress Rehearsal for two reasons. Firstly, Megan had told me about the cover and how beautiful it was (and I have to agree – the cover is gorgeous and I think the photo doesn’t quite do it justice, it’s so pretty). The second is that the novel is centred on a drama production at a small high school in Western Australia. I don’t quite know why, but I went into reading this was going to be a light-hearted romp about backstage blunders and showtunes. It wasn’t (at all), which was actually great and I really, really enjoyed it.

Dress Rehearsal’s protagonist, Lara, is a bit of a girl after my own heart. She’s got a sweet tooth, a perchant for vintage clothes and an unrequited crush on the (slightly brooding and artistic) star of drama class, Blake. Lara is also having parental issues, facing constant criticism from her mum about her behaviour and appearance potentially having an adverse affect on the family’s reputation (her father is the manager of the town’s only bank) and is feeling the pressure of life in a small town. I felt like Lara is a character you can really get behind – she has a really distinctive and likeable voice (though I found a few of her actions baffled or annoyed me, they were the responses of a typical teenage girl) and I enjoyed reading about such an authentic young woman.
Plot wise, Dress Rehearsal is certainly not short on drama. Megan made an interesting point about Thurner managing to put such a lot into quite an average-sized novel – and I’d definitely agree! Dress Rehearsal is chock-full of action (from very typical small-town-teen stuff, to some really golden comedic moments to a few very intense scenes) and though there were parts where I felt somewhat overwhelmed, I was usually soothed quickly with a spot-on observation or great dialogue. Sorry if I'm being a bit vague with the plotline, but it has some very surprising/out there moments that I don't want to give away!

Most of the characters are very endearing and felt very real, I did also find myself wanting to know more about some of the minor characters like Tom and Danny (but that’s just me being greedy!). I feel a bit funny saying this (especially as I try to be a big believer in the no low/high art / YA fiction is no less important-and-awesome-and-worthy than adult fiction) but I felt like Dress Rehearsal was more ‘literary’ than other contemporary young adult fiction I’ve read lately. Thurner does a does a great job at capturing the mixed bag of emotions and experiences of growing up, and her prose is quite lovely and beautiful and really enjoyable to read.

A strong first novel and I look forward to (hopefully) reading more of Zoe Thurner’s work in the future.

Tony Awards - the Winners

2011-06-13T13:49:00.000+10:00

image source: we ♥ it

I am have just finished watching the broadcast of the 65th Annual Tony Awards (and whilst I really should be having a shower - it's 1pm and I'm still in my pajamas ....), I just want to share the winners. Surprisingly, I did pretty well on my picks here - with 10/15 - damn, the acting categories let me down ...

My picks are in italics, the winners are bolded:
Best Musical - The Book of Mormon – WINNER!!!

Best Book of a Musical - The Book of Mormon – WINNER!!!
Best Original Score - The Book of Mormon – WINNER!!!
Best Revival - How to Succeed in Business With Really Trying (WINNER - ANYTHING GOES)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical - Andrew Rannells - The Book of Mormon (WINNER – NORBERT LEO BUTZ - CMIYC)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical - Beth Leavel - Baby It's You (WINNER - SUTTON FOSTER - ANYTHING GOES)Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical - Rory O'Malley - The Book of Mormon – (WINNER - JOHN LARROQUETTE - H2$)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical - Nikki M. James - The Book of Mormon WINNER!!!

Best Direction of a Musical - The Book of Mormon – WINNER!!!
Best Choreography - Anything Goes – WINNER!!!
Best Orchestrations - The Book of Mormon - WINNER!!!
Best Scenic Design - The Book of Mormon – WINNER!!!
Best Costume Design - Priscilla Queen of the Desert – WINNER!!!
Best Lighting - The Book of Mormon – WINNER!!!
Best Sound Design - Catch Me If You Can – (WINNER - BOOK OF MORMON)

Now for some videos:

As always, Neil Patrick Harris did a brilliant job hosting - his opening number was fantastic! (Broadway is not just for gays!) Sorry for the shoddy quality, it was the best video I could find within 2 hours of the ceremony airing:

My favourite performance from the night, Andrew Rannells singing 'I Believe' from The Book of Mormon

And that is the end of my 24 hour Tony Blog-a-Thon - normal posting will recommence from tomorrow!

Tony Awards Blog-a-Thon - geeking out with Braiden

2011-06-12T18:47:00.000+10:00

If you read my twitter, you've probably noticed I spend a lot of time geeking out with fellow theatre-lover & book blogger, Braiden from My Reading Voice (formerly Livin' Thru Arts). I thought it would be fun to share a mini-interview with Braiden about all-things theatre. I also decided to share my answers to the same questions below. Feel free to tell me your answers in the comments!

Braiden:

What are your Top 3 all-time favourite musicals?:
I don't like answering these questions because I take forever deciding. There are so many amazing musicals out there. But for my favourite top 3, I guess I have to say Next To Normal, The Book of Mormon (I know, right?) and mm...Jersey Boys. I would've had In The Heights but there ain't enough room for it. Wicked could've made it there but once it became well-known and everyone started named it the best show ever, it went on a decline for me. But I still love it! Just not as much as I did when it opened on Broadway and also the beginning of its Australian run here in Melbourne. Also I would've included a Lloyd Webber musical.

What show do you think is overrated?:
Into the Woods I guess. It's just strange. I could say Wicked but I just don't want to admit that it is. Anything Sondheim. Don't really like much of his work.

If the theatre Gods bestowed you with a Broadway-ready voice, which role would you most want to play on Broadway and why?
Lately I've found I would most want to play either Mormons, Elder Price or Elder Cunningham. And if neither of those, then Elder McKinley because of his tapdancing role. And if I don't get the opportunity to play a Mormon ever because of my Catholic heritage, then mostly anything Aaron Tveit originated (Frank Abignale Jr., Gabe) so that I could have a band of girls swooning over me and have a voice that's close to awesomeness. I could go on and on but I'll need that Broadway-ready voice now in order to make me stop, until I get a role. Damn you Daniel Radcliffe! You didn't do much. I'd love to be Spiderman though and serve a plate of my amazingness to the evil critics.

You can sing a duet with any Broadway star (past or present) - who would you sing with and what song would you sing?
Yet another one of those questions. I guess I'd sing For Good with the lovely Idina Menzel. I think she was the one that made me fall in love with Wicked and musical theatre wholeheartedly after her stint has Elphaba. She was phenomenal. So that would be meaning I'd be singing to someone with asthma who belted every night just to please her thrilling audiences. And she's the best Maureen :).

Who should take out Best Musical at this year's Tonys?
Who else but Book of Mormon? Big supporter here. They'll take all of their nominations. I was going to say they're the Twilight of the Tony's but I just slapped myself for saying that. I would've converted myself to Mormonism immediately, but being a Mormon is just something I will never do, however I would only for the stage.

Thanks so much to Braiden for taking the time (and in the middle of exam period too!) to answer my questions. Be sure to check out Braiden's blog, My Reading Voice.

My answers:
What are your Top 3 all-time favourite musicals?:
A very tough first question, but I've narrowed it down to Rent, Hair and Cats. Rent is still up there, despite having not seen it performed live as yet, but I'm hoping to see it when I'm in NYC in September (I will pretty much die and go to fan-girl heaven afterwards). Hair was the first show I saw multiple times (I was lucky enough to see the closing performance in Melbourne 2003). Other shows I adore are Spring Awakening, Avenue Q, Hairspray and Xanadu.

What show do you think is overrated?:
I may be forever smited by fellow theatre-lovers and bring down the wrath of Lord ALW, but I'm really not that into Phantom of the Opera. I love most other ALW musicals, but Phantom doesn't do it for me.

If the theatre Gods bestowed you with a Broadway-ready voice, which role would you most want to play on Broadway and why?
It would definitely be a quirky supporting role - someone like Jeannie from Hair or Penny from Hairspray. In real life, I have an awful, awful voice and am completely tone-deaf, so really, I'd be thrilled to be able to sing decently enough to make the chorus!

You can sing a duet with any Broadway star (past or present) - who would you sing with and what song would you sing?
Cheyenne Jackson, no contest. I mean, just look at the guy! I know he plays for the other team but a girl can dream right? And of course, to make this extra awesome, we'd sing something from Xanadu - maybe Suddenly (and he would have to wear the shorts). I feel like this would be a win/win scenario, as not only would I be singing with Cheyenne, we would both be wearing rollerskates.

Who should take out Best Musical at this year's Tonys?
100% agree with Braiden, The Book of Mormon - no contest! Do you need some evidence? Listen to Hello, Hasa Diga Eebowai and I Believe and tell me this show is not Tony-worthy!

Tony Awards Blog-a-Thon - My Picks

2011-06-12T18:03:00.002+10:00

Lin-Manuel Miranda after winning Best Musical for In The Heights

image source: New York Times

The Tonys are kind of my sport. Whilst I don't officially bet or anything (and because no one else in my household really cares about this kind of thing), I wanted to put up my picks for who will walk away with the awards at the ceremony (and I'm interested to see if my judgement was completely blinded by my love for The Book of Mormon). Here are my hopeful picks for tomorrow's winners (I've only looked at the musical categories) - feel free to share your own thoughts/picks in the comments:

Best Musical - The Book of Mormon
Best Book of a Musical - The Book of Mormon
Best Original Score - The Book of MormonBest Revival - How to Succeed in Business With Really Trying (as there are only 2 shows in this category, it's really a 50/50 chance...)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical - Andrew Rannells - The Book of Mormon (tough choice - if Aaron Tveit had been nominated - which I'm still shocked that he wasn't - I would have had my money on him. I was torn between Andrew and his co-star, Josh Gad, but ultimately I think Andrew really holds the show together, so go Elder Price!).

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical - hmm, this was the only category where I wasn't familar with all the shows and actresses nominated. I'm going to say Beth Leavel for Baby It's You, as it's the only category the show has a nomination for. I'm also interested to know why only 4 women are nominated in this category?

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical - Rory O'Malley - The Book of Mormon (Rory plays a tap-dancing, closeted Mormon missionary and has major comic chops and a lot of heart).
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical - Nikki M. James - The Book of Mormon (Nikki plays the main female role in BoM, but I also love Laura Benanti - though she has won before...)

Best Direction of a Musical - The Book of Mormon
Best Choreography - Anything Goes
Best Orchestrations - The Book of Mormon
Best Scenic Design - The Book of Mormon (check out this video for a behind-the-scenes look at BoM's sets)
Best Costume Design - Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Best Lighting - The Book of Mormon
Best Sound Design - Catch Me If You Can

Also, just for fun - here's my favourite Tony acceptance speech ever - Lin Manuel Miranda winning Best Score for In The Heights in 2008 (one of the most talented lyricist/composers of the noughties). I still tear up a little every time I watch this ...

24 hours til the Tonys!

2011-06-12T16:54:00.000+10:00

image source: we ♥ it

As some of you already know, I'm a little bit obsessed with musical theatre. My passion for musicals is nearly on-par with my love of reading, and whilst this is mostly a bookish blog, I decided to allow myself 24 hours of musical-theatre madness in the lead-up to the Tony Awards (which are the biggest awards in theatre, for those of you who are unware). Originally I had planned to do a week of theatre-themed posts, but alas work and time management were against me, so instead, I'm going to attempt to have a mini blog-a-thon leading up to the ceremony.

For those of you who also enjoy theatre, hopefully you will find some of what's to come fun/interesting/mildly entertaining. For those of you who don't like theatre (which is cool), there will be some theatre/book crossover, but otherwise regular blog posting will recommence in 24 hours time.

Mixed Bag #39

2011-06-10T09:30:00.002+10:00

Good morning friends! Here are some links to my favourite things online from the past couple of weeks - hope you enjoy them:

image source: we ♥ it

♥ An interesting post on The Book Smugglers about the relationship between bloggers and publishers.

♥ As always, Adele has written a fantastic, insightful piece responding to the Wall Street Journal article and the YA Saves movement (which has been amazing to follow via twitter and blogs).

♥ John Green shares one of his abandoned book ideas. I'm a total JG fangirl and of course, would have loved to read this. If you didn't know that John has a tumblr, go check it out! Especially because he's about to announce the title of his new book, publishing next year, very soon!!

♥ More John Green related news (because there is never enough), Paramount Pictures have acquired the film rights to Let It Snow!
♥ For non-bookish lolz, 70 Bootleg Movie Posters from Ghana.

♥ I'm also loving the Awesome People Hanging Out Together tumblr

♥ Susan Blackwell talks to Josh Gad of my current musical obsession, The Book of Mormon. The countdown to the Tonys is on (3 days), so be warned, I may be more fangirly than normal ...

Video time: One of my favourite people, Kristin Chenoweth talking about singing in Pushing Daisies (and makes a really beautiful point which really sums up why I love musicals).

An Ode to Duckie

2011-06-07T22:06:00.000+10:00

Yesterday I shared that I was reading Susannah Gora's You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried, which I am loving! If you are a fan of eighties teen movies, especially of the John Hughes variety, I urge you to run (not walk) and find a copy, because it is fantastic!

I decided, just for fun, to dedicate an entire post to one of my all-time favourite John Hughes characters, Phil 'Duckie' Dale (played by Jon Cryer in Pretty in Pink). It's kind of funny, whilst Pretty in Pink isn't my favourite Hughes film, it's one I rewatch the most, largely because of Duckie.
Despite 30+ viewings, I still get bummed out by the ending (even though I understand why the studio wanted to change it and I kind of understand the whole Blane thing, but I still feel like Duckie gets shafted), so I think Duckie is certainly deserving of a picspam here.

Team Duckie!

And a video:

Feel free to share your favourite Duckie-isms in the comments!

By My Bedside #25

2011-06-06T09:30:00.002+10:00

Hello friends! Here's a glimpse of the books currently sitting on my to-read pile. By My Bedside is part of In My Mailbox, created by Kristi of The Story Siren.

I feel like I haven't done one of these posts for a while (mostly because I get books in dribs and drabs, depending on whether or not I make it to my local library during the week). All books are purchased by me, unless stated otherwise.

♥ Dress Rehearsal - Zoe Thurner
♥ Fallen Grace - Mary Hooper (thanks Bloomsbury for surprising me with this!)
♥ The Shattering - Karen Healey (a gift from Allen and Unwin at Reading Matters)
♥ You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried - Susannah Gora
♥ Role Models - John Waters

What are you reading this week?

Emerging Writers Festival - Part 2

2011-06-04T22:45:00.001+10:00

By Sunday, I have to admit I was feeling a bit festival-ed out. Even so, I got up bright and early to meet Megan in the city, to hit up Day 2 of the Emerging Writers Festival weekend conference (you can read about Day 1 here). Whilst Megan started off the morning with Working Through It (a panel on the writing process), I decided to listen to Andrew McDonald (author of The Greatest Blogger in the World) and Karen Andrews (author of Surprise and blogger at Miscellaneous Mum) talk about Children's Books.

It was a rather cosy session, with only a dozen people in attendance (I'm guessing 10am on a Sunday was a tad early for most folks), but it was very enjoyable.

Both Karen and Andrew shared some of their favourite childrens' books. Karen chose the Very Hungry Caterpillar (Eric Carle), The Monster at the End of This Book (Jon Stone) and We Like Kindergarten (Eloise Wilkin). Andrew bought in The Biggest Sandwich Ever (Rita Golden Gelman), Fantastic Mr Fox (Roald Dahl) and one of the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators books.
Andrew and Karen spoke about why they write for children (Andrew said that he never enjoyed life more than at the age of 11/12 and Karen was engaged by the world of picture books as a parent) and about their individual writing processes and their road to publication.
Andrew studied the Professional Writing and Editing course at RMIT and had a writing group which included Kim Kane (author of Pip: the story of Olive), who recommended Andrew's work to a publishing contact, which lead to a contract with Hardie Grant Egmont for The Greatest Blogger in the World. Andrew also talked about the benefits in working with a close-knit publishing team, which allowed him to have more involvement in the publishing and editing process of his novel.
Karen spoke about sending her Surprise manuscript to some publishers before deciding to investigate the world of self-publishing. It was really interesting to hear about Karen's process, and the way it allowed her to become involved in all aspects of the publishing process (from choosing illustrators, to printing and securing a distributor).

I then met up with Megan for the A Different Voice panel featuring Alan Bissett, Maxine Clarke, Tony Moore and Simmone Howell (who I'll admit, was the main reason why I wanted to go to this session!).
I was so lucky that Megan introduced me to Simmone before the session started (and yes, I fan-girled quite a bit on the inside).

The session started with Maxine, a slam poet, performing one of her pieces and told the audience about a strong reaction she had recently received from the poem. Maxine spoke about the dilemmas of writing voice, which she felt was a big issue in poetry and if there was an ethical obligation involved.
Tony Moore talked about his experience in writing narrative histories and essays and the importance of research in the author's voice.
Simmone spoke about her experiences is writing YA - I found it very interesting to hear that she was writing about young women before knowing there was a marketing angle (it was just that she liked writing about teenagers and feels that her inner-age is 15!).
Simmone talked about how Notes from the Teenage Underground was initally pitched as a adult novel, but was told that "adults don't want to read about young people" (not true!). Simmone also said that for her, young voices occur naturally in her writing and that she writes novels in enclosed worlds (like Christian holiday camps) that are "quite retro". Both her novels have minimal technological references (which stops her work from dating quickly) and Simmone made the interesting point that she tries to think about how teenagers "forever" will read her work.
I loved Simmone's discussion of teenage slang in her writing (like barcode boys and tumbling) and that she teen-stalks (especially on the train haha), and picks up on the bravado and hesitation in teen voices.
Alan Bissett performed the opening from his one-man play 'The Moira Monologues', inspired by some of the strong Scottish women in his life. It was very funny and once again, I pretty much stopped taking notes at this point and just enjoyed listening to the end of the session.
There were some great questions about the topic of voice, and whether or not the panelists felt there were voices they felt they didn't have the right to write. One panelist (and I forgot to note who, so my apologies) made the beautiful comment about writing: that it's "starting with a kernel of truth and making it into something more than it is".
Angela Meyer of Literary Minded also attended this session and wrote a brilliant (and far more detailed and insightful piece on it, so be sure to check it out).

Phew! And that comes to the end of my rather busy week. To recap:
Wednesday - Cassandra Clare at the Westgarth
Friday - Reading Matters (Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4)
Saturday - Emerging Writers Festival 1
Sunday - Emerging Writers Festival Part 2
Monday - EWF - Getting into Genre YA

I'm also now home with regular internet access (after house-sitting at an internet-less home and living out of a suitcase for three weeks), so I'm looking forward to catching up on blogging, sharing some reviews and other bits and pieces I've been working on over the next couple of weeks.

Emerging Writers Festival Part 1

2011-06-04T18:32:00.000+10:00

So last week was a bit crazy, because not only did I attend a day of Reading Matters, I also bought a ticket to the Emerging Writers Festival weekend programme at Melbourne Town Hall. I went to the festival last year and really enjoyed it (I took heaps of notes but never not around to sharing them on here .... idiot). This year, I decided I wasn't going to try and squish everything in and instead was a bit more selective in which panels I'd go to, based on speakers and the session themes. I have to say I got a lot more out of it this year (I think after two mammoth days last year, I got to the end of it and was completely wiped out).
Here's a quick run-down on my day one (Saturday) sessions.

Going Global

Panelists: Kristin Cashore, Chris Morphew, Luke Devenish and Julian Leyre
I initially picked this session because Kathy Charles (who y'all know I adore) was going to be on the panel, though alas, she was not there! Ah well. The panel was about selling your work overseas and success with a global audience. Now for some dot points:

Luke Devenish talked about his transition in writing for theatre, to writing for Neighbours (an Australian institution haha) which changed his mindset about writing for a more commercial audience. He started thinking about stories as "consumerable products" and characters as "marketable types".
Whilst writing about Ancient Rome at night, Luke discovered the 'magic formula' of writing: sex + death = winner! Luke's Empress of Rome novels have been published internationally and were a runaway hit in Russia!
Kristin Cashore is the author of Graceling and Fire, both of which have been published in more than 30 languages. Kristin spoke predominantly about her experience in dealing with foreign publishers (in that mostly, she doesn't have much to do with them and that the sub-rights to her works are managed by her agent).
German, UK/ANZ (Australia and New Zealand), French, Italian, Spanish and Dutch are the biggest publishers of her foreign editions. She mentioned that in the German edition, they made her change the name 'Po' as it translates to 'butt' in German haha.
What I thought was interesting, was that Kristin spoke about the way her books are marketed different around the world. In the US, Graceling and Fire are very much YA books, but she felt that in the UK and Australia, they are marketed as more of a crossover with adult fantasy. Kristin also spoke about some of the different covers of her books, and the way they reflect the different way the book is marketed.
Chris Morphew wrote 12 books in the Zac Power series and is also the author of The Phoenix Files. He admitted he's not really involved in the overseas selling of his work, that's is predominantly handled by his publisher (who has a specific person who manages sub-rights).
I didn't really know much of the history behind Zac Power, so I was surprised to learn that it was a concept created by Hardie Grant Edgmont, and a number of different authors have written for the series under the pseudonym H.I Larry.
Chris spoke about the way Book Depository has changed the global marketplace and because of online sales, his books can reach other markets. He also commented that social networking and online presence has helped make his books more accessible to new overseas markets.
Julian Leyre spoke about Australian stories competiting in a global market and whether or not writing 'Australian' stories limits our international appeal. Julian also said a lot of other things, but I stopped taking notes as I was enjoying listening to his lovely French accent :)

Writing about TV
with Ben Pobjie (Saturday Age) and Jess McGuire (Defamer). This was more like a fun conversation than the panel style, so I only jotted down a couple of points:

Jess spoke a lot about Pants Off, Dance Off - which I'd never heard about and sounds freaking hilarious.
There was some talk about free-view (in Australia) and the way the new channels could give an opportunity for new shows to be made (and by being on one of the sub-channels, there's less pressure to be an instant success) and would allow them to develop an audience. It would also allow us to make smaller, more interesting, niche shows.
Jess and Ben also spoke about the way the concepts of high and low culture have shifted and TV no longer being considered such a lowly medium (with a lot of actors now moving to work in TV, when previously it was seen as a downwards step in their career) thanks to US cable networks like HBO, Showtime and AMC.

Blogging
with Philip Thiel and Jessica Au

I was surprised that this session was scheduled in the smallest room at Melbourne Town Hall as I had thought it would be a hugely popular session, and surprise, surprise, it was (the room was packed to standing room only!). I went because I was interested in hearing more about other peoples' blogging stories, and also because I saw Philip Thiel speak at the Festival last year and he's fantastic. Here's a summary of some of the discussion from the afternoon:

Philip spoke about writing on Livejournal (where he still blogs) and about some of his different challenges (for those of you who haven't read Philip's blog, which is awesome by the way, he has a theme each year. Last year, he kissed a person every day, this year he reads the I-Ching). He commented that when he first started writing on Livejournal, he felt uninteresting and that his blogging was a way to bring attention to himself.
Jessica Au has blogged for Meajin and talked about blogging as a marketing tool and what it was like to blog for an organisation (as opposed to a more personal style of blogging like Philip's).
Blog readers are becoming more selective with what they read, and that to write a blog that people keep coming back to, you need be to passionate about what you write.
There was a lot of discussion about finding your audience (as a blogger) and that good content keeps people coming back (and will attract new readers by word of mouth), as well as the use of twitter (in my stats, twitter is one of my biggest sources of blog traffic) and the benefits of guest posts and cross-posting can help grow your readership. Also commenting on blogs similar blogs to yours (and meaningful comments, not spam!) will also help make connections and attract new readers.
The value of blogging (the monetary side) was also briefly discussed and the question of whether or not bloggers should be paid came up (to a mixed response). What I think is most interesting are the non-financial benefits of blogging (friendships, new opportunities) and the way for some, blogging has acted as a gateway to other things.
Sam of Little Girl with A Big Pen also posted a wrap-up of the Blogging session here.

I'll post my write-up of Day 2 shortly. You can learn more about the Emerging Writers Festival (which ended today) at their website.

EWF 2011 - Getting into Genre: YA

2011-05-30T22:18:00.002+10:00

So after the literary-awesome of Reading Matters, I then spent my weekend at the Emerging Writers Festival conference weekend at the Melbourne Town Hall (which I hope to write up over the next few days), but the event I was most looking forward to was the Getting into Genre panel on YA, which was run in conjunction with the Wheeler Centre. Chaired by Andrew McDonald, the panel featured Tim Pegler (Five Parts Dead), Adele Walsh (Program Director at the Centre for Youth Literature and Persnickety Snark) and Fiona Wood (Six Impossible Things).

(Andrew McDonald, Tim Pegler, Adele Walsh and Fiona Wood)

Young adult fiction currently makes up approximately 13 - 15% of the Australian book market.
Andrew began the discussion by asking Tim and Fiona why they write YA, and why Adele reads it:

Tim claimed to have ""stumbled into it" and felt he was writing about but not necessarily for teenagers. He also made the excellent point that adolescence is a really exciting time - full of big (life-changing) decisions and stupid risks.
Fiona said she was "too much in-tune with my inner teenager" and also started writing YA somewhat by accident, and told us about how Dan from Six Impossible Things kept coming up whilst she was working on a screenplay.
Adele remarked that her own teen years were "so uneventful" and from reading YA, she's able to experience things she missed out on and make sense of her own experiences.

Tim talked about his experiences as a journalist with The Age and the effect it had on his writing and "shining the light in dark places". He also spoke about some of the student responses he'd had about Five Parts Dead (especially in regard to drink driving), which was great.
Then came the topic of voice - both Tim and Fiona's novels are in first person and set in present time. Fiona said her reason for doing this was that it gave a better sense of immediacy. Tim talked about the fact that he borrowed a lot from his own life for Dan in Five Parts Dead and also completed a writing residency at a school amongst Year 10 and 11s (and used this experience to add in slang, though it possibly added to much authenticity as his editor made him take some of it out!).
Andrew bought up Adele's Top 100 YA Novels list which started a discussion about the definition of yound adult literature and some of the difficulties in classifying this area (Adele said that the inclusion of Pride and Prejudice on the list caused a bit of a stir).
Some of the most interesting discussion came from the idea of whether or not YA is (in itself) a genre. Fiona felt it was more of a notion or readership whilst Tim felt that YA has created a genre. Adele spoke about her love of YA, especially the fact that it isn't self-involved or pompous haha.
The importance of "writing what's real for you" and not what you think will fit with the current market - wise words Adele!
The trend (or more of a flood I would say) of paranormal romance in YA was also bought up. Adele made the excellent point that the sales in this area was being pushed by girls who weren't reading before (reluctant readers) and that she found it hard to criticise something that's encouraging people to read.
Marketing, publicity, media coverage and blogging all came up and Adele spoke to the trend in twenty-something-females blogging about YA (guilty). She also mentioned that a lot of Australian YA bloggers were passionate about getting the books and authors they loved out there. Adele also gave a little shout-out to librarians, booksellers and teachers who are responsible for a lot of hand-selling and helping great books find their way into the hands of teenagers. Something I also thought was interesting (and a bit sad) is that there is far less interest and respect paid to YA by the mainstream media.
In terms of practical tips (as it was part of the Emerging Writers Festival) there were some good ones - like being honest in your writing (and Fiona quoted Markus Zusak from his Reading Matters speech about writing the book that only he could write). Tim described YA as "sassy, emotionally honest and never dull".
Fiona also emphasised the importance of finishing what you write (which I definitely agree with) and to avoid the temptation of sending out a partial manuscript to a publisher or agent (again, having worked for an agent - I strongly agree). Tim suggested to not be too precious about your writing. Adele also reminded the audience that the Australian publishing industry is small and people do talk/know each other.

Other tidbits: I met up with Megan before the event (and she wrote about the panel here) and got to speak briefly to Braiden (mostly about Love Never Dies haha).

Thank you to the Emerging Writers Festival, the Wheeler Centre and the panelists for such a fantastic session! If you haven't read Six Impossible Things, Five Parts Dead or Andrew McDonald's The Greatest Blogger in the World, I urge you to race to your nearest bookseller and get your hands on a copy!

Reading Matters 2011 - Part 4

2011-05-29T22:52:00.000+10:00

If you are still reading this (Part 4 in my Reading Matters recaps) - thank you for sticking with me this far!
After some afternoon tea, we had a panel I was pretty excited about:

Cover Versions was something a bit different. It began with Zoe Sadokierski (a designer and academic) speaking about covers, her design process and some insight into her PhD work on the relationship between words and images.

Zoe has designed around 200 book covers including Good Oil, Beautiful Malice, Saltwater Moons and The Golden Day (check out her online folio for more - they are all stunning!). Zoe commented that she likes doing YA covers as the genre is "dark and hopeful" and reads the books before working on the covers.
Zoe then spoke about her academic research and showed some examples of the use of the graphic device in novels like Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Unfortunately I didn't get a clear photo of any of Zoe's slides, but they were so interesting.
Zoe discussed some of her processes for working on covers and the way design is also incorporated into the layout and typesetting. She used The Golden Day as an example of a text which uses illustrations to connect the cover to internal design.
She commented on how many of these visual details "enhance the story".

Then for something a bit different: we got to see a Gruen-Transfer style panel. Three designers (Zoe, Tony Palmer and Bruno Hersft) had been given a brief for a YA cover (The Apothecary by Maile Meloy), they had two minutes to share and talk about their design before the covers would be judged by a panel made up of a teen reader, a bookseller and a librarian.

Tony went first and showed us some of his development sketches and discussed his process and then presented us with multiple covers, as he always does a number of options. His designs ranged from very commercial to some beautiful black and white pieces.
Up next was Bruno was presented one, incredibly striking image which played on the nuclear disaster hook of The Apothecary's synopsis. I also thought spine design (yes, he did that too) was amazing!
Then came Zoe, who created a cover which she wanted to have an "old feeling" without looking too retro. She also commented that she wanted to create a sense of duality on the cover.
The panel then gave feedback on each cover and thankfully, they did not have to pick a winner. We then got to see the real cover.

Time for the final panel of the day - Ron Brooks in conversation:

By this time, my note-taking hand and my neck were kind of sore, so I didn't write down much - plus it was nice to just listen to Ron talk about his career as an illustrator.
I have to say that I wasn't very familiar with much of Ron's work before this session, but it was still interesting to hear him speak about some of the issues he faced working on books like Fox, the way he payed homage to his grandparents house in Midnight Cat and how he found inspiration for Honey and Bear in his own backyard.
Ron ended the session by showing us a few sketch from a new story he is working on entitled The Coat.

Random comments and people-spotting:

The food was really, really good.
I was so thrilled when the lovely Aimee Said came up to me in Storey Hall and sat next to me for the whole day, and I was stoked to finally meet her (and was kind of massively fan-girling on the inside).
Also spotted (and got to say a brief hello to) Kate and Dugong Lady.
Had a quick chat with Adele, who had taken over MC duties for the afternoon and did an awesome job.
Spotted Amra Pajalic and Cath Crowley (who in my head, I still often refer to as Miss Crowley from my high school days), as well as soon-to-be-mega-author-star H.J Harper.

Whew! And now I come to the end of a long but very enjoyable day! To read about Day 2 at Reading Matters, head over to Megan's blog, Literary Life. Megan and I shared a pass to the conference (as both of us really, really wanted to go but neither of us could really afford to go on our own - so thanks CYL and SLV for letting us split a pass so we could both attend and blog about the events).

Overall I had a great time and I feel so lucky to have been able to attend and hear some of my favourite authors speak, as well as get to spend the day in the company of hundreds of other people who are passionate about childrens and YA books.

Links you should check out:
Centre for Youth Literature
Inside a Dog
Read Alert blog
Reading Matters tweets
Amra Pajalic's wrap-up of Reading Matters Day 1

Reading Matters 2011 - Part 3

2011-05-29T20:58:00.003+10:00

The next portion of the day started with the annoucement of the IBBY Ena Noel Award, which went to Lili Wilkinson's Scatterheart (yay Lili!).

Great Expectations
This session was chaired by Adele Walsh (Persnickety Snark and the CYL) and featured a discussion with Melina Marchetta, Cassandra Clare and Markus Zusak. This was definitely one of my favourite panels and seemed to fly by (seriously, I easily could have listened to them speak for another hour!)

Adele began with a quote from Spiderman (hellz yeah!) "with great success comes great expectation" and started off the question "do your protagonists have expectations of you as an author?". Cassandra said her characters are frightened of her (as she can kill them off at any moment haha), Markus said that his characters "owe [him] everything" and that they should be thanking him and Melina said she pretends she has control over them (though it's not always the case...)
Adele then asked which was more challenging: expectations of the readers or your own expectations? Whilst Melina said she doesn't think of her audience at all, Markus works the opposite way with us being the first thing he thinks of and added this gem: "I try and look after you - until I get sick of you".
Each author spoke a little about international reactions to their books and at author appearances. Cassandra had a really funny story about being at an event in Spain that was "like a football match" with loud fans and Melina spoke about the way the ownership of the book is different in each country (and had quite an amusing story about reading Saving Francesca to a group in the US and they all thought it was strange hearing Francesca "with an Aussie accent".
All three writers talked about doing school visits and listed the worst question they've been asked at an event:

Melina: "How much money do you make?". She also said a lot of boys used to be disapointed when she came on school visits as she wasn't the girl from the Alibrandi cover or Pia Miranda.
Cassandra: "Can I have some of your blood?" (!!!)
Markus: (by some smart-arse kid with toliet-brush hair) "Are you a bisexual?" (to which Markus responded with "why, you interested?

Melina (in response to the question, does there need to be hope in YA?) said that she would never write a book without hope - awww.
The topic of film rights and adaptations was then discussed. City of Bones is in pre-production, with a Jace casting announcement to be made (hopefully) within the next few weeks, as they are down to the final couple of guys. The film rights to The Book Thief have been optioned but Markus is not involved in any screenwriting or pre-production (and made an excellent point about the win/win decision of selling the rights - if the film is bad, people will say the book was better and if the film is good, they'll go on to read the book). Melina has written a screenplay for On The Jellicoe Road (with assistance of Aurora Workshop and Screen NSW) and will hopefully have some news next year (yay!!!).
The session ended with their reading recommendations:

Cassandra: Knife of Never Letting Go (Patrick Ness) and Tamar (Mal Peet)
Melina: Yiddish Policeman's Union (Michael Chabon)
Markus: What's Eating Gilbert Grape (Peter Hedges), Wake in Fright (Kenneth Cook)

Taboo Words: Kate Burridge is a linguistics professor at Monash University and presenter on Can We Help? I didn't take a lot of notes during this session, I mostly just listened and was really interesting in Kate talk about swearing and taboo words (a topic she is very passionate about!). For those interested, I did jot down:

That in Australia, swearing is part of our culture (from our past as descendents of convicts and sailors) and that our history is a melting pot of vernaculars.
There are four functions of swearing:

Expletive (in frustration and anger)
Abusive (to curse or insult)
Social (as a form of solidarity)
Friendly (as a "verbal cuddling")

Kate spoke at length on the topic of taboo words, swearing trends and the way our attitude to swearing has changed over time. It's honestly something I hadn't thought a lot about before, but was very interesting (and funny).

Part 4 to come shortly featuring Ron Brooks, discussion of cover designs and other observations.