The Star by Felicity Marshall

Wow. I picked up this brilliant picture book on a whim, and was blow away by its sophistication. It’s the story of Marion (ostensibly a marionette) who has two loyal friends, Harley (the Harlequin) and Polka the dog. She listens to the poisonous whisperings of a little bird who says she should be famous. On her road to fame, she changes everything about herself, and loses track of Harley and Polka – who end up homeless. When things go bad, Marion runs to Harley and Polka for help – but it’s too late – a new star has replaced her. She’s old news. Despite her many, many mistakes, Harley and Polka take her with them back to their home and love her regardless. The images are stunning and evocative of a magical world living a breath away from this one. The themes are subtle and complex – unusual for a picture book, and very Hans Anderson-esque in their execution. Had I read it as a child it would have been one of those unforgettable ones that haunts your dreams. What a find! I hope it wins the Cybil Award it is nominated for!

Sex and Humour both!

When I picked up a copy of ‘Sex At Dawn’ just before Christmas I was expecting it to be verbose – God knows why, most non-fiction is pretty light on these days, sometimes too light! This is the perfect balance of well-written, curiosity satisfying, just scientific enough to convince you that if you’ve read it you’re automatically smarter, and not so scientific as to scare you away. In short, it’s the perfect book of the sociology, history, and physiology of sex and sexuality! I’m only 33 pages in so far, but I’m already captivated – so much so that I’m even bothering to read those notes they have indexed at the back of the book. There are some very quote out loudable quotes from literature and science, such as:
“Gentry had to be pitied. They had so few advantages in respect of love. They could say they longed for a kiss from a bouncy wife in a vicarage garden. They couldn’t say she roared under me and clutched my back and I shot my speciment to blazes.” – Roger McDonald, Mr. Darwin’s Shooter (Ryan & Jetha pp27).
And then there are wonderfully well turned out sentances like this: “Suddenly, women lived in a world where they had to barter their reproductive capacity for access to teh resources and protection they needed to survive.” (Ryand & Jetha pp 8).

It’s a gloriously naked romp through every aspect of human life to do with sex – and the way the authors see it, that includes an awful lot of aspects. Read it, it’ll make you cleverer and you’ll be able to voice terribly shocking opinions at garden parties and so forth!

Sex at Dawn is by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha, published by Scribe, 2010 and retails for $35

The perfect gift for…

The nature buff/photographer: The Steve Parish ’50 Years of Photographing Australia’ book. Steve Parish is the be all and end all of contemporary nature photography in Australia. His shots are incredible and this book does them justice by printing them in a large scale!

The perfect gift for…

THAT RELATIVE THAT LAUGHS OUT LOUD ON BUSES

If you gave this relative ‘The Truth About Chuck Norris’ last year, then you’re in for a damn funny treat this year! Introducing The People of Walmart. From the old guy with the hotdog on his head to the man in an ‘Obey Jesus’ homemade trenchcoat to the guy just hanging out at Walmart in his Zelda costume…this book is a compendium of all the freaky-ass people who float needlessly around the Walmarts of the US.

The perfect gift for…

THE CRAFTY FASHIONISTA

Pia Jane Bijkerk’s blog is full of gorgeous photography of her life in Amsterdam, wonderful food, gardening, houseboat life and general loveliness. She also has two books which are perfect Christmas gifts for those whimsical people you know who are lovers of beautiful handcrafted things, or who are crafty themselves: ‘Paris Made by Hand’ and ‘Amsterdam Made By Hand’.

The perfect gift for…

THE TRAVELLER

Have you got an armchair traveller in your family? or an intrepid explorer? This is the Christmas pressie for them…It’s full of beautiful photography and anecdotes about over 200 countries, bringing them to vivid life! It’s a stunning leatherbound hardback with a magnetic strip to open it, and it can be found in the Summer Reading Guide at Readings Books, Avid Reader, Riverbend Books and Coaldrakes.

The Perfect Gift

For the next few weeks up until Christmas I’ll be throwing some gift suggestions at you…starting the perfect gift for:

Wine lovers – The Moleskine Wine Journal has sections for notes on tastings, price, serving temperature, vintage etcetera. Its leather cover is engraved with bottles and glasses – an elegant pressie for that vitner or sommelier in your life!

The Comic: Shaun Micallef’s Preincarnate is a novel full of nuttery. In it he, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G.Wells and the ubiquitous Tom Cruise venture off to unravel a Masonic plot to restore James II to the throne. Inspired hilarity as one would expect from Australia’s most Monty-Pythonesque comic Micallef. Even the blurb made me snort with laughter.

The Spancophile: The Wrong Blood by Manuel De Lope – so if those who love the French are Francophiles, surely those who love the Spanish are Spancophiles? No? For anyone who loved ‘The Seamstress’, or who loves a bit of historical fiction. Set in and around the Spanish Civil War, it’s the story of two women both violently altered by circumstance who find strength in their mutual suffering and form a powerful bond. This is the first of Manuel De Lope’s books to be translated into English.  Ole!

To the End of the Land by David Grossman

This is one of the most moving books I’ve read in a while, and it’s taken me almost 2 months to read it because I wanted to spend time with it only when I had the energy to take in every word.

The story revolves around Ora, a Jewish woman who has lived her life in Israel. The course of her life has been marred by the many violences that Israel has experienced. When her son Ofer volunteers to fight after he has just finished his compulsory army service, Ora decides she can’t bear to hear the news that her son is dead, and leaves for the most remote walking trail – the Trail of Israel. She drags an old lover, Avram, with her on her journey, and speaks to him about her son – remembering all the moments that make him who he is. Of course, the reader feels they know Ofer almost as well as Ora does by the end. Ora and Avram themselves have a very intriguing story with secrets and pain – Avram was tortured by the Egyptians and came back from that war a broken man – and a fascinating love triangle between them and Ora’s husband, Avram’s best friend Illan. Avram is a shiningly creative and wonderful character, truthful and wise beyond his experience, and a joy to read.
‘To the End of the Land’ is not only about war, but about love, in forms not usually reified in popular culture, about selflessness and its costs, and about Ora’s attempt to rediscover the strength of her personality which has been worn down by the petty battles of the men in her family and by the history of violence and fear which they live within.

 

It’s hard to do this book justice in a review, because it’s a masterpiece. It brings to roaring life a country and a conflict which can often be very difficult to understand, through the eyes of men, women and children. It pays the perfect amount of attention to small detail and its structure is often breathtaking. Grossman jumps easefully between Ora and Avram’s teenhood to the trail they walk, to their romance in their late twenties, to Ofer’s childhood and back again. He never misses a stride whether lightening a torture scene with a comic and oh-so-human touch, tackling the nuances of his incredibly realistic characters, or elucidating a mother’s frenetic grief. ‘To the End of the Land’ is stunning and will appeal to readers of Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns), and Hirsi Ayaan Ali (Infidel, Nomad & The Caged Virgin). Its prose absolutely sings, and a metaphor here and there will cry out to you to be read aloud. To me this is near perfect

Lament by Maggie Stiefvater

This is the author of Shiver and Linger, which are hugely popular stories about a couple whose love is threatened by his lycanthropy. Lament is not part of that series, but is a stand alone teen novel about a young harpist called Dee, who meets a gorgeous flute player at a recital. He keeps popping up everywhere, and soon they’re flirting with each other. Problem is, that when Luke showed up, so did a creepy freckled guy who keeps leaving four leafed clovers everywhere. And so did her powers of telepathy and telekinesis. Soon Dee is beginning to see fairies, and things start going horribly wrong for her and Luke and for her best friend, and her family too. Luke isn’t what he seems either.

Whilst this is a well-written fantasy, it didn’t have the same appeal to me as Shiver and Linger as there wasn’t the same depth of character and the peripheral characters were not as involving. Having said this, it is aimed at a younger reader, 13+ whereas Shiver and Linger are probably for older readers 15+. This book still packs a punch and once you’re into it, it’s very hard to put down. Especially good for readers who are into celtic mythology, faeries and romance.

Ship Breaker by Paulo Bacigalupi

Ship Breaker by Paulo Bacigalupi
This is an incredible novel set in the future in America’s Gulf Coast region. Nailer is a young boy whose ability to get in and out of the airducts on old broken ships earns him enough to keep him fed and sheltered. He and his crewmates spend all day every day in the claustrophobic ships, ripping out wiring and other bits of ‘salvage’ which they sell to shipping corporations. Nailer is a bit of a dreamer, but also tough enough to survive. It’s when he nearly drowns in an oil pool inside one of the ships that he earns the nickname ‘Lucky Boy’, but he’ll need more than that to stay alive, especially after getting mixed up with a lost ‘swank’, a dogman, and tangling with his amphetamine-addicted father. This is a dark but ultimately redemptive teen novel which explores themes of comradeship, loyalty, class, environmental degredation and environmental justice. Though the concepts of the book are brilliant and create a seamless future world, it is really the characters which make the book what it is. Nailer is a very realistic character who is constantly wrestling with inner conflicts, deciding what kind of a person he wants to be – and he doesn’t have a lot of good influences to help him. Unfortunately the build-up takes too long in this book and there are things in the second half of the book which should have been given a lot more detail – especially some of the fascinating secondary characters. Hopefully there’ll be a sequel to Ship Breaker where some of these things are explored, because I was definitely left wanting more!