Book review: The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter & Other Essential Ghosts by Soraya Palmer

(courtesy Allen & Unwin) Making sense of life can often take everything we’ve got. While many events are ostensibly straight forward such as births, deaths and marriages, they never occur in a vacuum and are tangled, rather ferociously and labyrinthinely, in a whole host of grievances, hurts, family dynamics and Continue Reading

Book review: Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum (translated by Shanna Tam)

(courtesy Bloomsbury Publishing) Bookshops are, for book buyers at least, innately warm and comforting places. Quite apart from the fact that they offer a wealth of possible storytelling possibilities, they also feel like a step away from the hustle and bustle of day-to-day life which to greater or lesser extents Continue Reading

Big changes. New emotions. Teaser trailer releases for Inside Out 2

(courtesy IMP Awards) SNAPSHOTThe little voices inside Riley’s head know her inside and out—but next summer, everything changes. Pixar’s Inside Out 2 returns to the mind of newly minted teenager Riley as headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions! Joy, Sadness, Anger, Continue Reading

Oh my heart: Embrace the adorably meaningful with Teddy’s Christmas and The Velveteen Rabbit

(courtesy First Showing) SNAPSHOTWhile visiting a Christmas market in her Norwegian town, 8-year-old Mariann (starring Marte Klerck-Nilssen) suddenly sees an unbelievable sight: on the top shelf of a carnival game booth, the most adorable stuffed teddy bear has just moved his head and sneezed. Feeling an instant connection with the Continue Reading