Young Adult Fiction Review: Gamers’ Quest

Although I love young adult and teen fiction, I must admit, it was a stretch for me to open the cover of Gamers’ Quest, a novel featuring computer-generated artwork on its cover. I ain’t a gamer and I certainly ain’t a teen, nor a be-pierced, sword-wielding maniac. What is this going to do for me? How will I possibly relate?

I guess, like any well-written and highly imaginative story, it doesn’t matter how old you are or if your game interests extend to how many grocery items you can fit in one plastic-free bag and… Sudoku. Gamers’ Quest entertained me. Not only that, I had the unique opportunity to enter a world I am increasingly edging out of, while my children increasingly edge in. Put it this way – I felt cool reading this book. And I also felt rather savvy – checking out the content of the very books my kids will soon read.

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Book Review: Wonders of a Godless World

Finally, a book that isn’t afraid to take ugly and make it beautiful.

From the opening pages of Andrew McGahan’s latest fictional offering, we are bombarded with the dichotomy - and parallels – between ugly and beauty, whether it be aesthetic, figurative, primal, tangible, archetypal, human or metaphysical - it’s there, peeping from every placid or tumultous corner.

From the four corners of the earth to the very corners of its characters minds, Wonders of a Godless World takes its reader on a journey along the very edge of a precipitous chasm – one that plummets and rises and skirts into the morass of madness, only to soar free, high and clear into the calming plains of sanity. Readers certainly take a trip that challenges the very concept of conscious awareness – not only via the clutches of madness but via the confines of the mortal body – of physical trappings and spiritual fluidity.

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Book Review: Wildflower by Mark Seal

The front cover of Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa, shows a supermodel in a 1950s frock, holding a milk bottle and being nuzzled by a baby elephant.

At first, I thought this photograph was a prop to sell the book. Not so. This gorgeous creature and her playmate are very real. They are world renowned naturalist and film maker Joan Root and her friend Bundu – an elephant she would soon lose amongst a long succession of animals that would leave her life. A life that also witnessed the loss of the true wilds of Africa.

Writer Mark Seal has penned a biography on an extraordinary life indeed, but what’s even more extraordinary is how he came to write it. As a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, Seal happened upon a news report about a conservationist who was gunned down in her farmhouse, shot to death by two assailants. This quiet, dedicated 69 year-old-woman was killed in cold blood and Seal was both horrified and intrigued. He knew he had to learn more. Read more

Teen Fiction: Third Transmission by Jack Heath

Wow. I started writing this review after my first chapter of Third Transmission, and I was so gobsmacked, all I ended up writing was ‘wow’.

Several chapters later and now at the end of this breathtaking ride by young Canberra author, Jack Heath, I can pretty much utter the same word, but thrice – wow, wow and wow.

I’m not the most likely person to be reading Third Transmission. Sitting in a café recently, eyes wide behind the front cover, gnawing through my bagel like a rat on steroids, it didn’t dawn on me that this middle aged blonde housewife might look a right sight – eyes burrowed deeply into the pages of this high-impact, young and blokey tome.

True, I may not be a teen, and I’m certainly not male. And ok – I’m also not a super-adventure action hero wannabe. But this didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying this lightning-paced and brilliantly written novel. Read more

Teen Fiction: Surf Sisters by Laurine Croasdale

Reading Surf Sisters sent me back to my teenage life, a time when wet hair, zinc cream and the warm smell of wax was de rigueur in our coastal town. It also sent me back to the sisterhood of teen friendship – the strong connection forged between friends, the occasional hiccups and of course, the ever present focus on boys.

Marlee, Tilly, Pink and Fran are consummate coastal girls with a keen love of the surf. Pink (real name Jasmine) comes from a wealthy surf-label family and has dreams of creating her own surfwear line. Marlee and Tilly are surfers with supreme potential, and Fran’s talent is in filming all the heart-pumping action.

When Pink’s father, Mitch, announces the inaugural Island Breeze Freeze-Out comp for female surfers, Marlee is stunned to receive a wildcard invitation to participate. The only trouble is, the comp will be held at Shipwreck, a legendary break in Western Australia. Being an east coast girl, and coming from little money, Marlee has no idea how to raise enough money to get to the coast.

Pink, along with Fran and Tilly (who will also compete), decide to come to their friend’s aid by hosting a massive beach party, which raises enough funds to get Marlee to the west coast.

With her transportation troubles over, Marlee has fresh troubles to worry about. Not only has she pushed away boyfriend Kyle in an attempt to focus on her training, but when she arrives in WA, she also pushes away her friends – believing that she needs to be alone to really concentrate on the challenge before her. Read more

The Gleefully Exaggerated Gretel Killeen

She’s been heavily criticised in the media and vilified by just about every armchair TV critic with access to a mobile phone and a computer. But you won’t hear her complaining. In fact you won’t hear Gretel Killeen say a bad word about anyone.

When I told my friends that I would be interviewing Gretel Killeen this week, no mention was made of her most recent TV appearance as host of the Logies, or the years she spent as the host of Big Brother. Instead, the conversation that ensued focused on her comedic talent and her abilities as a strong role model for women, particularly working mothers. Although not a representative survey by any means, I’m not surprised by this response – I have long suspected that this hard working single mother of two, has at least as many fans as she does critics. Read more

Book Review: Because You Are With Me by Anna McPartlin

“What if your boyfriend died right in front of you…”

When I first picked up this debut novel by Irish writer and comedian, Anna McPartlin, I scanned the beautiful photograph on the very sentimental cover, flipped to the back cover for more heartfelt prose and instantly knew I was in for a weepy, touching account of loss, despair and the enduring pain of love snatched away in its prime.

McPartlin, who tragically lost her own parents at an early age, and is therefore more than qualified to impart such pain, tells the tale of Emma, a high school teacher living in Dublin, and her childhood sweetheart John. Both in their late twenties, Emma and John are true soulmates, and live a lovely, contented life, typical of your average twenty-something couple. Emma enjoys a typical tight-knit bunch of friends, drinks at the pub, weekend getaways and a love of good girlie gossip with friends Clo, married couple Anne and Richard, and John’s dashing (and sleazy) best friend Séan. Adding colour to this social bunch is Emma’s brother Noel, a Catholic priest and a character who adds an element of depth and interest not explored enough in this novel.

Because You Are With Me opens promisingly with a witty and deftly written first chapter, where Emma patiently awaits the terrifying thin blue line on a pregnancy stick in the bathroom. I delighted in this chapter – in the concise, staccato-like sentences that cleverly portrayed angst, and the humorous and descriptive way Emma is placed as the lead character in this book. Written in the first person, McPartlin’s writing style draws you in quickly, as though dipping into a secret and very personal diary you’re gagging to read. Read more

Book of the Month: Hopetoun Wives by Fran Cusworth

For her second novel, Melbourne based author Fran Cusworth revisited the year she followed her husband to a mining town on the south west coast of Australia. Although a work of fiction, the story of three very different women who follow their husbands to Hopetoun, was inspired by Cusworth’s personal experience of a small community in the grip of a mining boom.

Hopetoun Wives follows the story of the unlikely friendship that develops between Jasmine, Miranda and Brigid – three very different women from three very different worlds. Melbourne girl Jasmine is desperately unhappy in her marriage and is hoping a change of scenery will help repair the damage done to her relationship with Tom. Read more

Demand for Romance Fiction on the Increase During Recession

With massive job cuts, house foreclosures and shrinking household budgets dominating the nightly news, readers are turning to romance fiction to escape the doom and gloom of a worldwide recession.

According to a recent article published in the New York Times, sales of romance fiction in both the print and ebook format are on the rise. Whilst overall, sales of general adult fiction in the US have fallen in the first quarter, booksellers are saying that sales of romance fiction are actually up on last year.

“According to Nielsen Bookscan, which tracks about 70 percent of retail sales, the romance category was up 7 percent after holding fairly steady for the previous four years.” Read more

Book of the Month: The Marriage Club by Kate Legge

Multi-award winning Australian journalist Kate Legge was in her mid-40’s when she took a year off to pen her first work of fiction. In 2007 Legge’s dedication to the task was rewarded when The Unexpected Elements of Love was long-listed for the Miles Franklin Literary Award.

For her second novel, Legge again took a year off from the demands of professional journalism to write The Marriage Club, a thought-provoking tale that begs the question: How well do we really know the person who shares our bed and the people who share our lives? Read more

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