Books

  The loss of Maurice Sendak in 2012 was a cruel blow for anyone who delights in brilliantly-imaginative stories for children. He was a fearless writer and illustrator, happy to buck trends and go for broke, unwilling to simple churn out the same old same old because that’s what had Continue Reading

  It is generally agreed that being in the middle of a zombie apocalypse is something you should avoid at all costs, what with the end of civilisation, degradation of humanity and threat of imminent death. But what if the apocalypse came and went, and left society mostly functioning, compromised, Continue Reading

  When you pick up a book and the back cover blurb happily proclaims that J. Ryan Stradal’s novel is “joyous, quirky and heartwarming”, you fully expect it to be all those things. After all, a blurb writer at a publishing company wouldn’t just make that sort of stuff up Continue Reading

  SNAPSHOT Though the title might suggest a focus on the hard-shelled animals, publisher Dutton Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers, says the novel “begins with a fugitive billionaire and a cash reward. It is about lifelong friendship, the intimacy of an unexpected reunion, Star Wars fan fiction, and Continue Reading

  It is oft said that you should never discuss politics, religion or social issues. As truisms go, this is one that still carries a great deal of cautionary weight, especially in today’s world where people have retreated to hermetically-sealed belief towers into which no other line of thought should Continue Reading

  However you choose to play it, life has a way of constantly mixing it up, turning the tables when you least expect it, reversing roles, and exposing the richness or paucity of your character when you least expect it. We all know this on some level, and yet whenever Continue Reading

  There is something deliciously subversive about Noami Novik’s Uprooted, an epic fantasy novel that seems to promise something sweetly benign in the first few chapters, before giddily defying expectations every step of its uniformly excellent way. The book starts out innocently enough with the protagonist and narrator Agnieszka, a 17 Continue Reading

  Facing up to grief and the many ways it ripples into your life is never an easy thing. The challenge to move on from a tragic event though grows exponentially more difficult when you’re a new dad left alone to raise your unexpected six week old daughter who, like all Continue Reading