Scholastic Book Sale Bargains

14 Dec 2018 Leave a comment

by Amy in Book Sale Bargains Tags: ,

It’s Scholastic Warehouse book sale time! This is the fun book event that keeps me going in between sporadic library sales and the biennial Newcastle University book sale (2019 bring it on!).

One thing I love is the fill a box for $40. If you put your Tetris skills to good use you can pack a fair few into their tiny boxes [Current record was previous visit, 21 paperback books in a box!].

Sometimes I don’t find enough I want to fill a box with and it’s been known to happen where I leave without getting anything at all. But lately there has been a wide range of titles and it’s these little bursts of joy when you find a great book on their bays that get your box filled fairly quickly. It also lets you take a chance on things you might not otherwise read because for that price it reduces the overall cost of the books inside.

This year I went a tad wild with the picture books. In my box and in the other discounted area. There are so many beautiful and clever books these days that it’s hard not to collect them all. I found myself picking up favourites that I’d read before and needed to own, I found a few new ones that caught my eye. My favourite books I got were The Great Paper Caper by Oliver Jeffers, What the Fluffy Bunny Said to the Growly Bear by P. Crumble, and The Wild One by Sonya Hartnett. A mixture of funny, deeply profound, and all beautifully illustrated.

In total I walked out with 30 books: 6 paperbacks and 24 picture books. I am certainly calling this a win and thankfully picture books take up a lot less space than paperbacks. Going to the book fair isn’t just about getting books cheap or to collect more than I will probably be able to read. Being among all the books is such fun. Finding titles I might never have heard about or appreciated I now own and will read, and getting to see behind the scenes in a small way the infamous Scholastic where I bought countless books during primary school is also a little bit amazing.

If you ever get to go to one I recommend it, as I say, it can be hit and miss, but there are some wonderful gems as well.

Donovan’s Big Day by Lesléa Newman

14 Dec 2018 Leave a comment

by Amy in 3 Stars, The Picture Book Corner Tags: , , ,

Published: 26th April 2011Goodreads badge
Publisher: Tricycle Press
Illustrator: Mike Dutton
Pages: 32
Format: Paperback Picture Book
★   ★  ★  – 3 Stars

Donovan’s two moms are getting married, and he can’t wait for the celebration to begin. After all, as ringbearer, he has a very important job to do. Any boy or girl with same-sex parents—or who knows a same-sex couple—will appreciate this picture book about love, family, and marriage.  The story captures the joy and excitement of a wedding day while the illustrations show the happy occasion from a child’s point of view. 

The story is told through Donovan’s point of view and seeing his experience of the world and the Big Day was fun as Newman has mimicked the excited mind of a child and the urge to be a kid despite the importance and the fancy clothes he has to wear.

I liked the book and I enjoyed the story, I just found I couldn’t get into a rhythm reading it. It reads off like a list of things, which from a child’s mind works, but reading it I couldn’t get the flow right. The sentences are long and without punctuation which admittedly helps to convey the mind of an excited child. It is clear Donovan is going through a list in his mind of things he has been told to do and what not to do. It does make it hard to read and you have to find your own rhythm when reading but it is nice.

There’s no big agenda or message, it is all about Donavan doing his best on the Big Day. The focus is on him doing his job well and that makes it a different kind of read. One where the focus is on the child experience and his role, not the type of event. Having said that, it’s a great book that normalises a same-sex marriage and the family dynamic.

Dutton’s illustrations are good and help support the story Newman is telling. Donovan explains each step of his day and Dutton illustrates beside it in both full page and smaller illustrations. Overall, it’s a good book that promotes a child doing an important job and taking pride in doing it right. What he’s doing essentially doesn’t matter and it demonstrates that there are a lot of things you have to remember when doing an important job, especially for people you love.

You can purchase Donovan’s Big Day via the following

Booktopia | Book Depository

Angus and Robinson | Dymocks | Wordery

Fishpond | Amazon Aust | Amazon

Long Lost Review: Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

13 Dec 2018 Leave a comment

by Amy in 2 Stars, Classic, Long Lost Reviews, Mystery Tags: , , , ,

Long Lost Reviews is a monthly meme created by Ally over at Ally’s Appraisals which is posted on the second Thursday of every month. The aim is to start tackling your review backlog. Whether it’s an in-depth analysis of how it affected your life, one sentence stating that you only remember the ending, or that you have no recollection of reading the book at all. 

Published: 2nd July 1998Goodreads badge
Publisher: Vintage
Pages: 189
Format: Paperback
Genre: Classic/Mystery
★   ★  – 2 Stars

It was a cloudless summer day in the year nineteen hundred.

Everyone at Appleyard College for Young Ladies agreed it was just right for a picnic at Hanging Rock. After lunch, a group of three of the girls climbed into the blaze of the afternoon sun, pressing on through the scrub into the shadows of Hanging Rock. Further, higher, till at last they disappeared.

They never returned.

Whether Picnic at Hanging Rock is fact or fiction the reader must decide for themselves.

I read this last year and while most of the actual plot has been forgotten, I still recall my disdain and unenjoyment. This terrible “classic” has managed to be one that has the rare privilege of having a much better and more enjoyable movie. With the knowledge that movies only take a small percentage of the true depth and meaning of books, I figured the film version of Picnic at Hanging Rock had done the same. What I discovered instead, was that the first 13 pages of the book is the entirety of the movie.

I was confused and intrigued when I started to read, how can this book fill all these pages when the picnic is right at the start? But it is such a small part that propels the rest of this story into the strange and dull thing it becomes. I loved the mystery, I loved the eerie feeling and I loved how unexplained it was. But after it happens, it was hard to find the same enjoyment from the remaining book. The confusion remained, but the intrigue was replaced by boredom.

After the famous picnic the narrative becomes a longwinded story about guilt and nightmares, boring descriptions of boarding school, and page after page of nothing. There is probably meant to be a mystery in there, detective questions, curiosity and fear about the missing girls was mentioned after all. And yet eventually I found myself dreading each page, dragging myself through this book for the desire to finish it, to hope it got better. I hated this book so much in the end I couldn’t even finish it, I think the final ten pages remain unread because I was interrupted reading it and genuinely had no desire to pick it back up again. They could have found them in those ten pages but I find that highly unlikely.

I think I’d like to have my memory remain where I thought that the book itself was just the trip to the rock, that it ended with the unanswered questions and mystery about what happened without the stuff afterwards. That is much better than the other 176 pages where I wanted to claw my eyes out.

 

Just Be You by M. E. Parker

11 Dec 2018 Leave a comment

by Amy in 4 Stars Tags: , , ,

Published: 15th June 2018Goodreads badge
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers/Recorded Books
Pages: 293
Format: ebook
Genre: Fiction
★   ★   ★   ★  – 4 Stars

When Scott Cohen got word that he’d been nominated for a Grammy, he wondered if the universe was playing some cruel trick on him. Of all the songs he’d written, why did it have to be that song? 

Over ten years had passed since he’d written the song and even more since Scott had become obsessed with Marshall Donavan, his brother’s best friend. It didn’t matter that Scott hadn’t seen Marshall in years. Nor did it matter that Marshall never belonged to him or even that Marshall was straight. Scott never managed to stop thinking about him. 

When Scott got a call from his manager asking him to submit a song for a movie and a call from his brother Abe informing him of Marshall’s engagement to Julia Sterling on the same day, Scott took it as a sign. It was time to say goodbye and forget Marshall Donavan forever. 

Submitting ‘Just Be You’ to the movie executives was supposed to be Scott’s way of letting go—of forgetting, of saying goodbye. But his plan backfired when the movie became a box office success overnight and his song was nominated for a Grammy. There was no way he’d ever be able to forget. The song would follow him for the rest of his life and so would his unhealthy obsession with Marshall Donavan. 

It didn’t help things when he found himself face to face again with the man who had consumed his thoughts for years. No, it didn’t help at all when he saw the still very sexy and very straight Marshall Donavan for the first time in eight years. It didn’t matter what would happen between them. As soon as he saw Marshall again, he knew that giving up his obsession wasn’t an option… 

Taking a chance on sweet sounding LGBT romances has turned into a good bet for me because I have found some highly adorable books. This book may not be perfect in terms of writing or characters, nor may it be perfect plot wise, but it is fun and has a happy ending while still making you invested in the characters and their journeys.

I loved Scottie, he was adorable without being naïve, and he knows who he is and what he wants. I felt Marshall lost some of himself midway, his character becomes more singularly focused and less complex than he presents at the start but it didn’t affect my enjoyment. The focus is mainly on these two though supporting characters get a look in too, albeit briefly.

The biggest surprise was finding myself getting giddy with adorableness over these two. I did not see that coming but Parker has written a charming book that uses emotions remarkably well and it draws you in. Admittedly it took a while to fully get into the story, some parts felt comfortable other parts I felt disconnected when the writing took me out of the story, but there is a delightful sweetness about this book. There is charm and compassion, and the tensions and obstacles are solid, not manufactured miscommunication and I believed it was possible. Some things did move a bit quickly, but others managed to feel drawn out.

I grinned and squirmed and gasped in all the right places and I was surprised at the events that played out. Parker’s narrative has twists and surprises alongside the expected and I was impressed that there were multiple facets to this story. I honestly didn’t think I was going to get so caught up in these boys and their lives and yet I did. It had promised a happy ending and at times plays out like all the dreams coming true perfect world, but there is heart and conflict which brings depth and emotion.

Something to mention is there are a lot of sex scenes and descriptions of m/m sexual acts. In context they make sense, but there are a lot. While some parts are brushed over, other parts have more detailed descriptions.

Overall I really enjoyed this story. The range of emotions I felt reading this increased my enjoyment because it wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops; I had minor second hand anxiety, I had shock, and there were times I had to stop reading because I was in a public place and couldn’t cope having gushing emotions in view of other people. If that doesn’t say enjoyment I don’t know what does.

You can purchase Just Be You via the following

Amazon | Amazon Aust

Sarah Barrie and Tea Cooper in Conversation

10 Dec 2018 Leave a comment

by Amy in Book Events Tags: , ,

On Wednesday night I was fortunate enough to attend an author event at one of my local libraries featuring Tea Cooper and Sarah Barrie. Umina library hosted the pair for a wonderful evening of conversation. The event was remarkably well coordinated and run and it’s hard to imagine this was the library’s first time hosting this type of event.

Tea Cooper

Tea Cooper is the author of contemporary and historical fiction writing stories predominately set in regency and Victorian eras. Originally from England, she has found a new home in Australia and writes stories set in the Hunter Valley including Maitland and Wollombi. Her latest book is The Woman in the Green Dress which is due for publication 17 Dec this year. Sarah Barrie on the hand writes rural suspense and her latest book, Bloodtree River, follows on from the successful Hunters Ridge series and is available now. Listening to them discuss their writing styles and their experiences was such an enlightening time, and like most writing events makes me walk away inspired to return to my own works in progress.

The event began with nibblies and drinks before we all gathered inside for the talk. From the start it was presented as a casual conversation and Tea was quick to welcome people to interrupt and make it more of a joint conversation between them and the audience. This worked incredibly well because the audience questions prompted a variety of stories and insights from the writers.

Sarah Barrie

Questions ranged from how long does it take to create a book? And where do ideas come from? To discussing the historical research process for Tea’s stories and Sarah’s inspiration for ideas. One thing I found interesting was Tea’s answer about her research. She mentioned she never takes the historical stories from people who are living in the area, as many families still remain. All of her characters are fictional, but come from snippets of stories, Tea not liking the idea of putting words into the mouth of people who actually existed.

Through audience inquiry we learnt more about Tea and Sarah’s friendship and their relationship as writing partners. Another great audience question was about structuring writing time. Sarah gave a wise answer saying that stricture is great, but life doesn’t go to plan. She has to make the time but instead of daily goals or set times to write, she aims for writing a set amount of words per month. I quite liked this approach because it releases the constraint of daily writing, 4am writing (though it works for some quite successfully), and panicking when none of those this happen for weeks at a time.

Having a conversational style event also allowed for a lot of unexpected questions to be asked and it steered the conversation into educational and humorous avenues. There were personal stories exploring friendship and work histories together, and their own stories about getting started in publishing as well as a few tricks of the trade.

In the end the night seemed to fly by and even in the short time the women spoke a lot of ground was covered as the conversation flowed seamlessly from one question and topic to another. Local bookseller Book Bazaar was there as well so people could purchase both Tea and Sarah’s books and have them signed. It was wonderful to see people lining up to buy books both before and after the talk, the line for signings a great proportion of those who attended.

The informal and communal nature of the night was highly enjoyable and it was fantastic to hear from two local Aussie authors. Combine that with sitting in a library surrounded by books made it a very cosy night indeed.

 

You can find out more about each of these authors via the following

Tea Cooper
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads

Sarah Barrie
Website
Facebook
Goodreads

 

 

Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries