Book Review: Barracuda

From Goodreads: "He asked the water to lift him, to carry him, to avenge him. He made his muscles shape his fury, made every stroke declare his hate. And the water obeyed; the water would give him his revenge. No one could beat him, no one came close."
His whole life Danny Kelly's only wanted one thing: to win Olympic gold. Everything he's ever done - every thought, every dream, every action - takes him closer to that moment of glory, of vindication, when the world will see him for what he is: the fastest, the strongest and the best. His life has been a preparation for that moment.
His parents struggle to send him to the most prestigious private school with the finest swimming program; Danny loathes it there and is bullied and shunned as an outsider, but his coach is the best and knows Danny is, too, better than all those rich boys, those pretenders. Danny's win-at-all-cost ferocity gradually wins favour with the coolest boys - he's Barracuda, he's the psycho, he's everything they want to be but don't have the guts to get there. He's going to show them all.
"He would be first, everything would be alright when he came first, all would be put back in place. When he thought of being the best, only then did he feel calm."
A searing and provocative novel by the acclaimed author of the international bestseller The Slap, Barracuda is an unflinching look at modern Australia, at our hopes and dreams, our friendships, and our families.

Thoughts: My kids bought me this book for Christmas and like any good reader I started it immediately! It's my last review for 2013 and I am glad to be finishing on a high note.
Tsiolkas is an excellent writer. To say I enjoyed his book, The Slap  would be incorrect, because they are not books you enjoy really. You do however get engrossed and challenged by them.
Barracuda was the same - not enjoyable per say, but challenging and engrossing. At certain points in the book the Australian character is discussed, and not always in nice terms. This was unsettling, to see Australian's as others may see as and agree with some of the assessments they make about us.
Tsiolkas never sets out to make you like his characters. Flawed doesn't even start to describe some of them. Danny in particular had me running the full range of emotions about him - pride, pity, annoyance, understanding...
By the end of Barracuda you are questioning a lot of things - what does it take to make a champion, why do some keep going and others give up, what role does the family around you make and is what you perceive others think about you the truth and does it really matter.
Barracuda is an excellent read and a great way to finish the year.

Challenges: Aussie Author Challenges

Book Review - The Shifting Fog

From Goodreads: Summer 1924: On the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.
Winter 1999: Grace Bradley, 98, one-time housemaid of Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet's suicide. Ghosts awaken and memories, long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace's mind, begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge; something history has forgotten but Grace never could.
Thoughts:  This has also been published as The House at Riverton.
As the end of her life draws near, Grace Bradley looks back at her life as a housemaid at the grand house, Riverton, and the tragic events that happened there.
This is the second Kate Morton I've read and I wonder why I left it so long! I actually listened to this as an audio book. While it took a little while to get into, it ended up being very engaging.
Morton shifted back and forth between 1999 and 1924 with ease. Using Grace as the connection, her recollection of earlier events opened the door onto the past. There was a twist at the end, which had been hinted it through the book, but you were never really sure what had happened and it still managed to surprise me. I can only hope I don't leave it this long before enjoying Kate Morton again!

Book Review: The Stalking of Julia Gillard

From Goodreads: This is the story of one of the most extraordinary episodes in recent Australian political history, of how a powerful media pack, a vicious commentariat and some of those within her own party contrived to bring down Australia's first woman prime minister.
'Don't write crap. Can't be that hard. And when you have written complete crap, then I think you should correct it.' Julia Gillard
When Julia Gillard took the reins of the Australian Labor Party on 24 June 2010 she did so with the goodwill of the majority of her party and a fawning Canberra press gallery. The man she had supplanted, Kevin Rudd, led an isolated band of angry Labor voices at this surprising turn of events. The collective political and media verdict was that his time, short though it had been, was up. But when Gillard announced in February 2011 that her government would introduce a carbon pricing scheme, Rudd and his small team of malcontents were already in lock-step with key Canberra and interstate journalists in a drive to push her out of the prime ministerial chair.
Never has a prime minister been so assiduously stalked. Cast as a political liar and policy charlatan, Julia Gillard was also mercilessly and relentlessly lampooned for her hair, clothes, accent, her arse, even the way she walks and talks. Rudd, on the other hand, could barely do any wrong. His antics were afforded benign, unquestioning prime-time media coverage.
This is the story about one of the most extraordinary episodes in recent Australian political history. It focuses on Team Rudd and the media's treatment of its slow-death campaign of destabilisation, with its disastrous effect on Gillard and the government's functioning. It is about a politician who was never given a fair go; not in the media, not by Rudd, not by some in caucus.

Thoughts: The reality is, if you didn't like Julia Gillard, if you truly believe she was lying, back stabbing bitch who nearly ran the country into the ground (something that a lot of the facts do not bear out), you most probably won't like this book. If you do not agree with the view that Kevin Rudd is an egotistical, power hungry, narcissistic man, who struggled to make decisions, insisted on micromanaging the government into paralysis and refused to believe he was no longer the saviour Australia needed, you will dismiss it as the one eyed view of a pro Gillard loyalist - and nothing will change your mind.
The book reads very much like a diary or a blog. In fact Walsh makes sure in her introduction that you know this is the case. She doesn't pretend it's an indepth analysis of the Rudd/ Gillard stoush. Instead she recounts what she observed and saw over the period of time from Gillard taking the leadership, through to the unsuccessful second challenge. Unfortunately the book came out just after the final successful challenge which handed Rudd back the leadership. That's a pity because I would be interested to know what she thought about that whole incident!
What this book does is outline how Kevin Rudd and his small, but powerful band of followers (who, despite what the mainstream media and the Liberal party would have you believe,  were not faceless, but very, very up front and obvious!)white anted and undermined the Gillard government and made it near impossible to get any good publicity. The mainstream media (also known as the fourth estate)bought into the whole thing, focusing on a leadership challenge that had no legs. (Rudd never had the numbers needed) Coupled with the fact that the media rarely, if ever reported on the success and skillful management of a minority government,* Gillard had little to no hope of retaining leadership, let alone government.
I believe this book gives a good account of the egotistical, self centred personality that Kevin Rudd appears to be. A man whose desire to lead over rode everything - including the best interests of the party he professed to love.
Walsh recounts and notes the major news stories during the time. She also notes the lack of coverage of other events. She shows the media's bias and how they failed in their duty to the Australian public. Little wonder people are losing faith in the fourth estate.

*Regardless of your view of Gillard and her government, they manged to pass close to 600 pieces of legislation during the minority government. Given the negotiation that would have had to happen to get any legislation passed, this can only be seen as successful and a testament to their ability to negotiate with independents and other members of parliament.  In fact,  an analysis by Nick Evershed in the Guardian online, showed that Julia Gillard and her minority government passed more acts per day of their term than any other Australian government - ever!

Challenges: Ebook Challenge, Aussie Author Challenge

Book Review: The Rosie Project

From Goodreads: Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. Then a chance encounter gives him an idea. He will design a questionnaire-a sixteen-page, scientifically researched document-to find the perfect partner. She will most definitely not be a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker or a late-arriver. Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is strangely beguiling, fiery and intelligent. And she is also on a quest of her own. She's looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might just be able to help her with-even if he does wear quick-dry clothes and eat lobster every single Tuesday night.

Thoughts: A totally enjoyable, humourous, quirky book. Professor Don Tillman is obviously at the far end of the Asperger's Spectrum - but completely unaware of it. His way of dealing with being a "misfit" is to play up to it. In younger years he was the class clown, now he accepts the laughs and jokes at his expense, even if he doesn't understand them. His life is ordered and controlled and perfectly ok thank you very much. Then he meets Rosie. She turns his world upside down and while at times it makes him uncomfortable, it shows him the possibility of there being more, of the positives of being less structured. 
What I loved about this book was watching the growth of Don - of him going from being totally rigid and timetable driven to relaxing that slightly (not too much!), of learning to trust other's may have something to contribute to his world and he having a contribution to make to theirs.
This book made me laugh, wince, question and really just plain entertained me. Love it!

Challenges: Ebook Challenge, Aussie Author Challenge

Book Review: Dirt Music

From Goodreads: Luther Fox, a loner, haunted by his past, makes his living as an illegal fisherman — a shamateur. Before everyone in his family was killed in a freak rollover, he grew melons and played guitar in the family band. Robbed of all that, he has turned his back on music. There's too much emotion in it, too much memory and pain.
One morning Fox is observed poaching by Georgie Jutland. Chance, or a kind of willed recklessness, has brought Georgie into the life and home of Jim Buckridge, the most prosperous fisherman in the area and a man who loathes poachers, Fox above all. But she's never fully settled into Jim's grand house on the water or into the inbred community with its history of violent secrets. After Georgie encounters Fox, her tentative hold on conventional life is severed. Neither of them would call it love, but they can't stay away from each other no matter how dangerous it is — and out on White Point it is very dangerous.
Set in the dramatic landscape of Western Australia, Dirt Music is a love story about people stifled by grief and regret; a novel about the odds of breaking with the past and about the lure of music. Dirt music, Fox tells Georgie, is "anything you can play on a verandah or porch, without electricity." Even in the wild, Luther cannot escape it. There is, he discovers, no silence in nature.
Ambitious, perfectly calibrated, Dirt Music resonates with suspense and supercharged emotion — and it confirms Tim Winton's status as the preeminent Australian novelist of his generation.

Thoughts: Ah Tim Winton, you've done it again! Winton's characters are so flawed and damaged you wonder how they manage to get out of bed in the morning! But he drags them out and makes them expose themselves to the reader, using the harshness of the Australian landscape as a perfect, brutal back drop. Winton's description of the landscape are awe inspiring. A few words and you are standing there on the baking blacktop, clear blue sky with an overly bright sun above, rugged cliffs plunging to a perfect sea on one side, scrubby, stunted bush on the other as you shade your eyes and feel your skin burn.
Georgie and Fox are both hiding from their past - or ignoring it. Fox's pain especially leaks off every page. Georgie's need to save him so blatantly a way to avoid her own issues. 
Don't read Winton expecting a fairytale ending...in fact don't expect an ending at all! He will leave you hanging, the last line an open statement that resolves nothing. My love for Winton is so large he is the only author where this doesn't annoy the shit out of me! In fact, if he ended any other way I would be disappointed. Needless to say, my love affair with Winton and his writing continues.

Challenges: Aussie Author Challenge 

Book Review: Thursday's Child

From Goodreads: Through the long years of the Great Depression, Harper Flute watches with a child's clear eyes her family's struggle to survive in a hot and impoverished landscape. As life on the surface grows harsher, her brother Tin escapes ever deeper into a subterranean world of darkness and troubling secrets, until his memory becomes a myth barely whispered around the countryside.

Thoughts: Sonya Hartnett does not write cheery, happy books. No, instead she complex, dark, thoughtful stories that leaves her reader shocked and bleeding - I love it! Her real strength is in her characters, so simply drawn but with such depth you feel you would know them the moment you saw them.
She frequently uses the Australian landscape to punctuate the desolation felt in her stories - the stark, dry landscape, the tough, suspicious people it breeds. If I close my eyes, I can see the Flute family standing in front of me, sunburnt and dusty, squinting into the sun, sunbaked earth all around them.
Like most of her books, Thursday's Child is character driven. The story happens around the people in it, with seemingly every day events taking on greater meaning as the story builds to it's climax. In less talented hands the story would drag and falter, but Hartnett's characters keep you there with them, watching as their lives fall apart, sharing with them the belief that finally, eventually it must get better. Hartnett is, without a doubt, one of Australia's most talented writers.

Challenges: Aussie Author Challenge.

Children's Book Council Younger Readers Short List 2013

So once again it's time to review the Short List from The Children's Book Council of Australia's shortlist. I reviewed the books from the Older readers short list, so now it's the turn of the Younger Readers. So here we go again, my reviews of all 6 shortlisted younger readers books.I tried to limit the reviews to about 6 sentences each.  Click on the link below each book to go to the Goodreads entry for it.

After by Morris Gleitzman

 The fourth book on Morris Gleitzman's story about Felix, a Jewish boy in hiding during World War II. Chronologically it comes between Then and Now although any of the books (Once, Then, Now, After)  could be read as stand alones. This takes Felix's sotry through to the end ofOlder Readers books the war. Gleitzman has an amazing ability to portray things from a child's point of view. The reader always feels they are reading something written by a child, not an adult trying to be a child. It's a book and a series which opens the door onto much more complicated and involved discussions.

The Children of the King by Sonya Hartnett

This story blends the near past and far past together. Cecily and Jeremy are sent, with their mother, out of London during the Blitz. In a country house owned by their uncle, they are joined by May, a child evacuee. While it's Cecily who is older, May is more mature, having lead a less sheltered life. In an abandoned castle they find two boys who may not be all that they appear. While I quite enjoyed this book, I was looking for something more in the end. The way things were tied together at the end just didn't sit well with me. The story of the tow boys in the castle did not seem to play a big part and the book would have stood just as well without it.

The Tender Moments of Saffron Silk by Glenda Millard

Saffron Silk keeps getting really bad headaches and no one knows why. Everyone, including Saffron is a little bit afraid, but the Silk family and their friends know how to get through tough times - live and remembering and sharing the tender moments.
This is a stunning, beautiful little book. In just over 100 pages, it folds you into the world of the Silks and lets you share the wonder of living simply with good family and friends. This book reminds you of what is important and why it's important to stop and share the tender moments. It is guaranteed to make you want to go hug your closest ones for no other reason than letting them know they are loved.

Pookie Aleera is Not My Boyfriend by Steven Herrick

I love a book in verse - quick to read with surprising depth. Pookie Aleera Is Not My Boyfriend gives the reader insight into the lives of class 6A. It explores their secrets, fears, thoughts and shows how one small act of kindness can have far reaching consequences. Steven Herrick is a master at the book in verse genre, instilling as much description and feeling into a few lines as other authors do into a whole paragraph. Perfect for you reluctant reader who finds pages and pages of text confronting - Love it!

Pennies for Hitler by Jackie French

In the horrors of the concentration camps and the mass killings of WWII, I sometimes think we forget about others affected during the war. Those who weren't persecuted, those who weren't Nazi's, but those who were just trying to survive.
Georg is one of those people. Sent away to his aunt in England after his father is killed, he becomes George. In a climate of fear and hatred he needs to hide his German heritage. When London becomes too dangerous he is sent onto Australia where he discovers that while hatred is contagious, so too is kindness.
Jackie French is such a professional writer that I doubt she could turn out something bad. Pennies for Hitler is well researched, well written and would be a great discussion starter.

The Other Brother by Simon French

Bon, a cousin Kieran hardly knows, suddenly intrudes on his life. Bon is different and Kiernan doesn't like him upsetting his life. But eventually you have to do what you know is right and choose where your loyalties lie.
The Other Brother is quite a powerful book. At times I found it hard, simply because of Kieran's attitude. Here was this child who has so much and was so begrudging of sharing any of it. If he'd been my child I don't think I would have been as patient as his mother was! But the true power of the book was the lack of quick fixes and easy explanations. Too often I find with books aimed at children the resolution comes easy and everyone is happy - friends. This book seemed to take  a more realistic approach while still showing you can make a difference to someone just by following your heart.

Unlike the Older Readers books, several of the Younger Readers books jumped out at me. Saffron Silk, The Other Brother and Pookie Aleera were absolute stand outs in my mind. In fact, it was hard to decide between Saffron Silk and The Other Brother as winner, but in the end, I must choose The Other Brother for its completely believable characters and reactions, leaving Saffron Silk and Pookie Aleera as my notables. What is really interesting is the book the CBC chose as the Winner - The Children of the King - was most probably the book I was least impressed by. Only one of my choices - Saffron Silk made their notable list and their other was Pennies for Hitler.

Children's Book Council Older Readers Short List 2013

So once again it's time to review the Short List from The Children's Book Council of Australia's shortlist. OK, this year I'm running a bit behind. The winners were announced back at the end of August but I have only just got around to reading and reviewing all the books! So here we go, my reviews of all 6 shortlisted older readers books.I tried to limit the reviews to about 6 sentences each.  Click on the link below each book to go to the Goodreads entry for it.

Creepy & Maud by Dianne Touchell

I loved the beginning of the book which made me once again want to Facebook the first line of books I'm reading (The first line was My dad has trained our dog, Dobie Squires, to bite my mum.) Creppy and Maud (not their real names!) live across the road from each other. Both have parents who fight, both are only children and both are social outcasts at school. They form a friendship without actually meeting, writing (sometimes cryptic) notes and taping them to their bedroom windows. After awhile I just felt the story was going nowhere, leaving me feeling frustrated. While it ended with some hope, I just felt the overall story was missing something.

Friday Brown by Vikki Wakefield

Friday Brown is a book about running away, discovering your strengths and finding value where others find none. The book covers some rather dark material  - homelessness, manipulation, abuse, drugs - often with no apologies. It's a book that draws you in, making you care about the main characters and their fate. I did find however, the lesser characters a bit two dimensional and would have liked them to be fleshed out a bit more. The end was a bit too neat for me. After the turmoil, Friday seemed to settle back into normal life awfully easily...

The Wrong Boy by Suzy Zail

I will admit when I picked up this my first thought was, really, another holocaust book. But on reflection, we need more, we cannot forget what happened and new generations need to be told the stories of those who were persecuted. As the survivors age and die, we need to not let this atrocity fade into the background.
Whenever I read a book about the concentration camps, it's a jolt to be reminded that Russian soldiers liberated many of the camps - not the stereotypical picture of Stalin's army - I wonder if younger readers realise that in the end, Stalin was no better than Hitler.
The last 50 pages of this book were the most heart wrenching - after liberation, when the main character Hanna had time to consider what had happened to others. Hanna's character survived by being the personal pianist of the commandant - a position that made her hated by other POW's. As always the question is - what would you do to survive?

The Ink Bridge by Neil Grant

The Ink Bridge explores the lives of two boys - one Afghan refugee and one Australian boy. For different reasons, both are silent, a trait that draws them together.
The story is told in three parts, Omed, Hector and Across the Bridge. I found Omed's part the most interesting and heart wrenching. While the book is aimed at older readers, I strongly suggest the adult in their lives also read it as it's fairly graphic in parts. This, like books about the Holocaust are so important. Apart from explaining the desperation of some of our refugees, it provides a great jumping off point for talking about refugees, the war on terror and the issues surrounding these topics.

The Shiny Guys - Doug MacLeod

After a horrible tragedy in his life, Colin finds himself on Ward 44, the psychiatric wing where the psychiatrist in charge is running things a little differently from a conventional psychiatric ward. Colin sees thing - the shiny guys - and along with Mango and Anthea he needs to work out what they want and how to stop them. The lines between what is real and what isn't becomes blurred, leaving not only the patients confused, but the reader as well. MacLeod has portrayed the confusion of mental illness incredibly well, although at times I felt like I was losing the thread of the story - was it about The Shiny Guys, mental illness or something else entirely?

Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan

On the remote island of Rollrock, the men ask sea-witch Misskaella to draw forth girls from seals to make sea wive. Achingly beautiful, they are devoted wives, but when they are the only women left and their desire to return to their seal skins and the sea grows strong, what lengths will their sons go to make their mams happy?
It took me awhile to get into the book, but once I did I really enjoyed it. A fable about the dangers of pandering to your own needs and the strength it takes to do what is right. I think this book is borderline YA, it could quite comfortably sit on the adult shelves.


So those are the six shortlisted books. To tell you the truth, I didn't love any of them - not one jumped out as  clear winner for me. In the end, it I was ruler of the world, I would have chosen Friday Brown as the winner with Sea Hearts and The Wrong Boy as notables. The CBC gave the top award to Sea Hearts and notables to The Ink Bridge and Friday Brown.

Book Review: BlueBack

From Goodreads: Abel Jackson loves to dive. He's a natural in the water. He can't remember a time when he couldn't use a mask and snorkel to glide down into the clear deep. Life is tough out at Longboat Bay. Every day the boy helps his mother earn their living from the sea and the land. It's hard work but Abel has the bush and the sky and the bay to himself. Until the day he meets Blueback, the fish that changes his life. Blueback is about people learning from nature.

Thoughts: Yep, another Tim Winton audio. Blueback is one of those beautiful cross over books written fro children, but with so much to offer adults as well. On the surface it's the story about a boy and a fish, while deeper down it's about respect for our environment, the importance of keeping what matters in sight and the love of family.
I listened to this in car with my kids (aged 11 and 7) and love the fact they protested every time we had to stop. Winton's writing loses none of it's eloquence when he writes for children. His descriptions are as rich, his characters as accessible. Seriously, with Winton, you cannot lose.

Challenges:  Aussie Author Challenge

Book Review: Anonymous Premonition

From Goodreads: From an authentic, powerful indigenous voice comes this body of poetry that examines issues of identity and culture from a woman's point of view. Lyrical yet radical, uplifting yet uncompromising, this collection evokes pride, painful memories, the realities of Aboriginal life and death, and the power of sisterhood to act as a tribute to the resiliency of Aboriginal women everywhere.

Thoughts: So the last category in my 13 in '13 challenge is poetry. I like poetyr, I wish I read more of it. I considered reading The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, a present from a friend which I love. But I love dipping into it. It's a casual, relaxed read and not one I wanted to be forced to read. So off I went cruising the shelves at work for something appropriate.
For the record I'm not a classics girls for poetry - no Keats or Cummings here - too much hard work. I like my poetry modern. Modern themes, modern phrasing. Poetry to me is most probably one of the most personal forms of writing and reading. If the words on the page don't sing to you, there is no point. You should never have to wade through poetry - it should jump off the page and embed itself in your soul.
There are a few things that attracted me to Yvette Holt's slim anthology. It's a collection of poetry written from such a personal stand point. It won the David Unaipon Award and the Victorian Premier's Literary Award, and the bits I read as I flicked through were beautiful. Holt is a member of the Bidjara Nation, a group of indigenous Australians from Queensland. In her own words, she is:

Mother

Daughter

Sister

Aunt

Niece 

Cousin

& Best Friend

Poet

Writer

Performer

Lover

Semi-butch

Semi-femme

Caffeine free

Pepperment

& Chamomile

Sipping feminist

Human Rights

Child Protection

Domestic Violence

Immigration Laws

Socially active

Community worker

Desperately seeking

Social Justice

Tall

Proud

Loving

Mountainous

Moody

Unpredicatable

Aquarian

Generous

Giving

Thrifty

Frugal 

Bargain  hunting

Lay-by wearing

Credit card declining

Broke-arse Undergraduate

(Under sixty seconds)

Her poetry reflects her life growing up and her experiences as a woman, a mother and an Indigenous Australian. Her poetry gave me a small glimpse into her world, while reminding me that I can watch her struggles, sympathise with them, but I cannot share them. I can however, be incredulous (and incredibly amazed by some peoples audacity and small mindedness) about some of the experiences she has had.

In year one I was the quiet native

Two years later the friendly coloured girl

By year five, it was I, the inquisitive aborigine

Entering high school everyone wanted to be indigenous

When I disagreed with conformity, they would whisper, "Is it because she is black?"

On my very first day at work I was asked "what nationality are you", when I told them I was Aboriginal they replied, "But you look so clean."

Last year, hailing a taxi in George Street, Sydney, the driver asks, "Where are you from?" I ask the driver to take a wild guess, after surveying the paying customer in the back seat, he triggers the meter then casually replies, "You sure don't sound koori because you speak English very well".

There are some days when "others" may need to persevere with my silence...because there are some days when I may no longer have the inclination nor the fucking head space to educate your reply.

(Primary Education)

This to me is poetry at it's best. It speaks to the reader personally, bares the soul of the writer and allows a connection between the two.

Challenges: 13 in '13, Aussie Author challenge

Book Review: The Good Life

From Goodreads: "No one can promise you that a life lived for others will bring you a deep sense of satisfaction, but it's certain that nothing else will."
Hugh Mackay has spent his entire working life asking Australians about their values, motivations, ambitions, hopes and fears. Now, in The Good Life, he addresses the ultimate question: What makes a life worth living?
His conclusion is provocative. The good life is not the sum of our security, wealth, status, postcode, career success and levels of happiness. The good life is one defined by our capacity for selflessness, the quality of our relationships and our willingness to connect with others in a useful way.
Mackay examines what is known as the Golden Rule through the prisms of religion, philosophy, politics, business and family life. And he explores the numerous and often painful ways we distract ourselves from this central principle: our pursuit of pleasure, our attempts to perfect ourselves and our children, and our conviction that we can have our lives under control.
Argued with all the passion and intelligence we have come to expect from one of Australia's most prolific and insightful authors, The Good Life is a book that will start conversations, ignite arguments and possibly even change the way we live our lives.

Thoughts: If you google "good life" it is defined as:
                   1. a life abounding material comforts and luxuries
                   2. a life lived according to the moral and religious laws of ones    
                       culture (Dictionary.com)

Hugh Mackay defines the good life as one lived for others - "defined by our capacity for selflessness, the quality of our relationships and out willingness to connect with  others in a useful way."

Mackay suggests that our focus on ourselves, the misplaced importance on accumulating money and possessions is leading us into a misguided idea of a good life. He has no problem with money and possessions - just the use of them to measure our worth.
Instead he suggests that a truly good life is lead if you follow the golden rule - do to others as you would have them do to you. (Interesting point - this rule or a version of it has been around a lot longer than it's religious connotations. All ancient civilizations has a variation on the theme...) Something that is not as easy as it sounds. I really enjoyed the part of the book where Mackay delved inot how to apply the golden rule in situations such as criminal behaviour, break ups, having to fail someone or deal with someone who is a bully - situations where the golden rule may appear to not apply. In the end, while no one wants to reward bad or inappropriate behaviour by excusing it, revenge also never works. Instead Mackay suggests you ask the universal question - what would happen if everyone acted like that? Bad behaviour needs to be addressed - but with courtesy and respect (the way we would all like to be treated regardless of our behaviour) - even if that courtesy and respect is not returned - a hard ask indeed.
Finally, Mackay suggests three things we need to do to live the good life:
                  1. Listen attentively. 
                  2. Say sorry (and mean it!).
                  3. Forgive generously. (even when not asked to)

Having read this book, I will be making mindful attempts to follow the golden rule. What I will really concentrate on though is listen attentively. Too often I believe we are distracted when listening - I know I am. It's hard to attend completely to someone when there is so much else going on internally and externally. Listen attentively is my personal goal.
The Good Life feels laboured at times, but in the end I really enjoyed it. I found it useful and meaningful without being preachy. Unlike many self help/ motivational books, it didn't feel like it was telling me my life was wrong and if I don't change I would be miserable. In fact I think Hugh Mackay has struck the right balance and he'd be a most interesting man to sit and chat with.

Challenges: eBook challenge, Aussie Author challenge, 13 in '13 challenge
 

Book Review: The Riders

From Goodreads: Fred Scully has decided to leave Australia to carve a new life for himself and his young family in Ireland. He labours alone to make their dilapidated cottage habitable, but when he arrives at the airport to pick up his wife and child, only his small daughter steps off the plane. So begins Scully's desperate odyssey across Europe, searching for the one person he thought he'd never lose.

Thoughts: Tim Winton writes to be read aloud. I listened to this as an audio book and I frequently found myself sitting in the car in the carpark, not willing to get out, mesmerized by the prose.
 I know I read The Riders many years ago. I remember being confused by it, struggling to follow the story. However, with a bit of time (and I dare say maturity!) it's completely different.
Winton evokes so many emotions - humour, joy, fear, anger, sadness - often within sentences of each other. I started off feeling sorry for Scully, angry at his wife, concerned for their daughter Billie. As the novel progresses and Scully's search for Jennifer becomes more frantic, more out of control I became angry with him. His concern for Billie becomes patchy, unfocused and she is forced, at the age of 7, to take control. Although I see the reason behind this (the book is about obsession after all) as a parent it just made me want to shout at him. Who the hell drags their 7 year old across Europe looking for a woman who doesn't want to be found? But then again, who abandons her husband and 7 year old without a word of explanation?
In true Winton fashion the "problem" is not resolved. However, the journey is complete. The decent into sanity testing obsession and the scramble out of it again is richly described. It's truly a book where the destination doesn't matter, but the journey does - and maybe that's what I missed when I was younger.
If I do have a complaint about this particular version (the audio book), it was that the narrator was terrible at female voices! Luckily there weren't too many and in the end the story carried the day!

 Challenges: Aussie Authors

Book Review: Drink, Smoke, Pass Out: An unlikely Spiritual Journey

From Goodreads: At last, a book about life that discusses liquor and lovemaking as much as it does the point of it all.
Judith Lucy has looked everywhere for happiness. Growing up a Catholic, she thought about becoming a nun, and later threw herself into work, finding a partner and getting off her face. Somehow, none of that worked.
So lately, she's been asking herself the big questions. Why are we here? Is there a God? What happens when we die? And why can't she tell you what her close friends believe in, but she can tell you which ones have herpes? No-one could have been more surprised than Judith when she started to find solace and meaning in yoga and meditation, and a newfound appreciation for what others get from their religion.
In her first volume of memoir, the bestselling The Lucy Family Alphabet, Judith dealt with her parents. In Drink, Smoke, Pass Out, she tries to find out if there's more to life than wanting to suck tequila out of Ryan Gosling's navel. With disarming frankness and classic dry wit, she reviews the major paths of her life and, alarmingly, finds herself on a journey.

Thoughts: I read this to fulfill the spiritual genre of my 13 in '13 challenge , a category I was struggling to find something for. The reality is most spiritual books (and excuse the French here) shit me. I know what I believe. It is something I have given much thought to and am quite content with. As such, I don't feel the need to read many spiritual books. Maybe if I was less sure of my own thoughts I would find them helpful, but in general I find them preachy and condescending. Possibly I've been reading the wrong ones, who knows. 
This however was in a different vein. It was someone else's spiritual journey - their search for something to make sense of it all. What's more, it took great pains to remind you that this was her journey, not yours and as such she felt no compunction to try and change your mind or convert you - refreshing. In fact it's the lack of preachiness that has made me consider exploring some of the avenues Lucy has found solace in - specifically meditation.
This book is not for those who offend easily, especially if they offend at someone taking the piss out of their religion. Her view of the traditional catholic church is scathing. Lucy makes no apologies for her views and opinions. Much of the book is dedicated to her explaining how she got to where she was - early life, career choices, lifestyle choices and a growing feeling of being dissatisfied with aspects of her life and looking for something that made sense. Her exploration of different faiths and beliefs is actually quite a small chapter that summerises the TV series she did for the ABC. I watched the series too and found the book and the series complemented each other wonderfully. While the book explained the why of looking, the series looked at the actual exploration of different faiths and beliefs. I strongly suggest if you read the book you also watch the series and vice versa.

The TV series about Juidith Lucy's Spiritual Journey.

Challenges: 13 in '13 Challenge, Aussie Author Challenge

Book Review: The Wild Girl

From Goodreads: Dortchen Wild fell in love with Wilhelm Grimm the first time she saw him.
Growing up in the small German kingdom of Hessen-Cassel in early Nineteenth century, Dortchen Wild is irresistibly drawn to the boy next door, the young and handsome fairy tale scholar Wilhelm Grimm.
It is a time of War, tyranny and terror. Napoleon Bonaparte wants to conquer all of Europe, and Hessen-Cassel is one of the first kingdoms to fall. Forced to live under oppressive French rule, the Grimm brothers decide to save old tales that had once been told by the firesides of houses grand and small all over the land.
Dortchen knows many beautiful old stories, such as 'Hansel and Gretel', 'The Frog King' and 'Six Swans'. As she tells them to Wilhelm, their love blossoms. Yet the Grimm family is desperately poor, and Dortchen's father has other plans for his daughter. Marriage is an impossible dream.
Dortchen can only hope that happy endings are not just the stuff of fairy tales.

 Thoughts: Dark, disturbing, harsh, haunting, emotional. All of these words are repeated often in reviews of The Wild Girl, and they are all correct. Kate Forsyth's historical book about Dortchen Wild and Wilhelm Grimm is spectacular. You will experience the full range of emotions as you read about their love, the barriers put up by Dortchen's father, all against the tumultuous backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars.
Forsyth does not protect her reader at all from the harsh realities of life, or the darker side of human nature. She pulls no punches, softens no blows, but leads the reader down dark paths, dangerous alleys into terrifying situations. At one stage she leaves you with little hope for her characters. At times the despair is almost suffocating, but you are pulled back as you want to know, need to know, if this can be resolved. For me, I was so connected to Dortchen, so concerned for her that I felt I had to read on, if only to see her out of the darkness. I felt that if I closed the book, I left her there, hanging, waiting for me to continue to lead her (hopefully) somewhere safer, quieter, lighter. 
I also now want to go and read all of Grimm's fairytales again.
I was so taken with this book I'm going to go out on a limb here and put it on par with Markus Zusak's The Book Thief. Yep, it's that good. Not often will I say a book is a must read - but this is a must read. In years to come when they put out those "50 books you must read" or "50 books to change your life" this will be on it. It will stand the test of time and like The Book Thief will become a classic. Don't miss it - read it now.
I must also say thanks to Eclectic Reader, whose review of The Wild Girl is what prompted me to read it.

Challenges: Aussie Author Challenge

Book Review: Monica Bloom

From Goodreads: Matt Sherman is in his final year of school. And he's ready to move onto bigger and better things. But from the moment he hears her voice over the fence, Matt knows he has to meet his neighbours' cousin, Monica Bloom. She's just flown in from Dublin ready for the start of school, but not at all ready, it turns out, for what the year holds.

Things slip out of control when Matt's dad is embroiled in a scandal at work that makes news headlines. Meanwhile, Monica Bloom finds trouble of her own, and Matt finds that he can't stop thinking about her.

Thoughts: Another quality read from Nick Earls.I don't know exactly what it is about Earls that makes him able to take me back to when I was a teenager and dealing with all the (as far you are concerned)life and death matters of that age. I read his young adult fiction and think "Oh God, yes, I remember those first torturous conversations with the boy I liked!"
 Where Earls shone in this book though was his handling of the way Matt reacted to what was happening with his dad. He was aware of it, knew very well that it had long term consequences, but his focus was still on Monica Bloom. I know as a teen whenever there was upheaval in our family, I was aware of it, but it was out of my control - very little I did or could do would change it. In the end, you rode it out, maybe tried to be a little more helpful, a little more considerate, but in the end it was still you and your issues that dominated your time and thoughts. I thought Earls portrayed this beautifully. As always his teen characters are realistic, believable and you just want to help them! Me personally, I wanted to take Monica Bloom home and look after her.
This book also gave me a reminder of how different life is now. While never stated, the music mentioned in the book suggests late 70's early 80's. A time when the worst thing smuggled into a high school disco was alcohol. No iphones, no internet, no Facebook. Harder in many ways, but a lot simpler in others. 

Challenges:  Aussie Author

Book Review - Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf

From Goodreads: Ever since Dad went off the deep end and decided he didn't need to work anymore -- insisting the Lord would provide -- Satchel O'Rye has felt stuck for life in his dying country town. A high school dropout drifting from one small carpentry job to the next, Satchel can see nothing beyond his own dreary duty to help keep the family afloat. But things start to change when he spies a strange doglike animal at a nearby mountain -- and mentions the fact to Chelsea Piper, an awkward young woman considered the local pariah. Could the animal he saw be a Tasmanian tiger, a marsupial thought to be extinct? And if they found it again, could it give them both a new chance at life?

Thoughts: One of the things I've found on my journey through Sonya Hartnett's work is her obvious growth as an author. From the beginning there was something special about her writing, a potential that was clear. The more I read of her work, the more that potential is fulfilled.
In this book, Hartnett creates believable characters, a setting you could walk into and recognise immediately and a scenario you want to believe is real. Part of her appeal for me is her economic use of words. It perfectly suits the sparse landscape she writes about. As always, after reading one of her books, I wonder why I take so long between them - looking forward to the next.

Challenges: Aussie Author Challenge   

Ten Hail Marys

Ten Hail Marys - Kate Howarth

From Goodreads: Frank and funny, this memoir vividly recounts the first 17 years of the author’s life in Sydney’s slums and in New South Wales’ countryside. Abandoned by her mother as a baby and by her volatile grandmother as a young girl, Kate Howarth was shunted between Aboriginal relatives and expected to grow up fast. It was a childhood beset by hardship, abuse, profound grief, and poverty, but buoyed with the hope that one day she would make a better life for herself and her child. Incredibly moving, this is the compelling true story of a childhood lost and a young woman’s hard-won self-possession.

What I Thought: This is a book I picked up off the shelving trolley at work. It tells the story of Kate Howarth and her fight to keep her baby as an unwed mother in the 1960's. It details her life as a child passed from family member to family member at the drop of a hat, for no apparent reason. Like several other books I have read recently it provides a glimpse at a life so different from my own and situations I know I will never find myself in.
Howarth portrays her family as one that holds many secrets and troubles. Aunts that are abused, mothers that are really grandmothers and prodigal children that appear and disappear on a whim. Given her background, Howarth's strength in the face of everyone (including her mother, her boyfriend and the nuns at the home for unwed mothers) trying to make her give up her baby, is inspirational.
As is often the case with true life books, the end isn't quite what you expect, but it left me with a great admiration for Kate Howarth and a want to know more. There is mention of a sequel called Pray For Us Sinners, but I am unable to find a publication date. All I know is that I will be keeping an eye out for it.

Challenges: 13 in 13 Challenge, Aussie author Challenge

Blood

Blood - Tony Birch

From Goodreads: From the moment he saw her wrapped in a blanket at the hospital, Jesse knew that he’d be the one to look after his little sister. When their mother's appetite for destruction leads the little family into the arms of Ray Crow, Jesse sees the brooding violence and knows that, this time, the trouble is real. But Jesse is just a kid and even as he tries to save his sister, he makes a fatal error that exposes them to the kind of danger from which he has sworn to protect Rachel. As their little world is torn to pieces, the children learn that when you are lost and alone, the only thing you can trust is what's in your blood.

What I thought: After reading his two anthologies of short stories in one day, I couldn't wait to start on Birch's first novel - Blood.
Blood is the story of two kids - Jesse and his younger sister Rachel. They lie a nomadic and unsettled life with their mother Gwen. Gwen does not keep the best company  and her association with Ray leads to the three of them running across the country in the hunt for safety.
Once again Birch's writing pulls the reader right into the story. You are truly there as Jesse tries to protect his little sister. You feel Rachel's continuing devotion to Gwen and at the same time witness Jesse's growing distance from his mother and the choices she makes. I loved Jesse and Rachel - so much so I wanted to pull them out of the story and give them the loving stable home they deserved. The ending is as messy as real life, with no real resolution offered  to the reader. However, I choose to believe Jesse wins through eventually, saving him and his sister from what could be a tragic life.

Challenges: 13 in 13 Challenge, Aussie author Challenge

Book Review: Shadow Boxing & Father's Day

Shadowboxing - Tony Birch

Father's Day - Tony Birch

Shadowboxing blurb: Shadowboxing is a collection of ten linked stories in the life of a boy growing up in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy in the 1960s. A beautifully rendered time capsule, it captures a period of decay, turmoil and change through innocent, unblinking eyes. Michael's family, led by his long-suffering mother, live as though under siege, surviving his father's drinking and rage as well as the forces of 'urban renewal'. Their neighbourhood is a world of simple pleasures as well as random brutality; of family life and love as well as violence and tragedy. As Michael experiences all this with a combination of wonder and fear, he matures into a sensitive adult who can forgive but never forget.

Hunter Publishers (Father's Day): Tony Birch has an eye for life lived at the margins and in Father’s Day he brings the streets of the inner-city to life with compassion and dry humour. But he also focus on the relationships that connect us all, particularly the emotional lives of fathers and sons. In subtle, understated prose touched with poetry, this new collection of stories cuts deep into the minor joys and tragedies of ordinary Australians.

What I Thought: Both of these books are collections of short stories. In the first, Shadowboxing, all the stories are interlinked. The narrator, Michael, describes his life growing up in inner Melbourne in the 1960's. Each story shows a snapshot of growing up on tough streets during tough times.
The stories in Father's Day are not linked, but once again shine a spotlight on people's lives as they move through their highs and lows.
Birch draws from his own experience of growing up in Fitzroy, an area and time where most men talked with their fists. This interview   conducted by Richard Fidler explains many of the links between Birch's stories and his life. It also explores how Birche moved from an incredibly tough childhood into being an academic and a writer. Using his own experiences lends Birch's stories an air of authenticity. The reader is transported to the time and place of the story, sharing the joys and fears of the characters and allowing the reader for a short time to live in a completely different time.

Challenges: Aussie Author Challenge

Book Review: Holy Hell

Holy Hell - Patricia Feenan

From Goodreads: When Senior NSW Police Detective Chief Inspector Peter Fox told the ABC's Lateline programme on November 8, 2012, that the Catholic Church had covered up crimes by paedophile priests, silenced investigations and destroyed crucial evidence to avoid prosecution, the public outrage across Australia that ensued triggered a Royal Commission into institutional child abuse. A case of Church interference Fox outlined was that of Patricia Feenan's son, Daniel who was a fourteen-year-old altar boy when he was first raped by a priest in the Newcastle-Maitland diocese. One of the many shocking aspects of the case was how the priest, a close family friend, set about secretly grooming his altar boy victim. The priest was later found guilty of nine charges of sexual abuse of a minor in a public criminal trial in 2004.  Patricia writes with raw honesty about her son's terrible ordeal, and it's effects on her family. She bravely reveals the scars that linger from the callous and often cruel ostracism they endured, as well as the denial they encountered from the Catholic community for seeking to bring a paedophile priest to justice. Detective Chief Inspector Fox describes Patricia Feenan as "an extraordinary woman who never gave up the struggle to rescue her family from the terrible abyss of despair created by a paedophile priest."

What I Thought: Christine Feenan had to face one of the worse nightmares any parent would have to face - the abuse of her son by a man she trusted and respected.
Christine Feenan is an extraordinary woman. She stood by her eldest son Daniel for many years, not knowing where his self destructive behaviour came from, but drawing on her faith and church to believe he would come good eventually. And the Daniel dropped a bomb shell - he'd been sexually abused by a priest from their church. A man who Christine had worked with on several parish councils, a man they had invited into their home and a man whose counsel they had sought when concerned about Daniel's behaviour.
For me, apart from the obvious, the worse part of this story is the way the Catholic church abandoned the Feenan family. This is a family who were heavily involved in their church, lived their faith and believed those leading the church did too. They were not part time players. From the time Daniel accused Father John Fletcher until the day he was convicted, the church all but washed their hands of the Feenan's. Little to no help was offered, no prayers were said, no support was given. On the other hand,  Fr Fletcher had funds raised for his defense, prayer circles were held for him and the support of his fellow clergy was freely given. And while I assume there are exceptions to this closing of the ranks, I fear they were few and far between.
Christine Feenan tells this story from the heart. It's gut wrenching, but it is not sensationalised. She leads the reader through events carefully, showing them how her family was betrayed by the one person they thought they could have full faith in. She is not searching for sympathy, she is standing up to say this was wrong, Daniel, like so many other's was the victim and the church needs to take responsibility for the actions of their priests - both those who perpetrated abuse and those who covered it up or pretended it wasn't happening.
The release of this book is timely, with an inquiry having just been launched in Australia to investigate the response (or lack thereof) of institutions into reports of child sex abuse. We can only hope those institutions, religious and otherwise, learn from previous mistakes and work to support those who were the victims of abuse while in their care.
You can listen to an interview with Patricia Feenan here. It's not an easy listen, but it gives you true insight into the strength of this amazing woman.


Challenges: Aussie Author Challenge