Books

(courtesy Hachette Australia) One of the many ways we cope with grief is to fall in on ourselves. Collapsing into some sort of dark, emotional blackhole feels less demanding, less stressful than continuing to engage with a world which has taken so much from us and which will never, can Continue Reading

(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers) One of the loveliest side effects or consequences of reading and loving books is that more often than you might expect that a solitary pursuit – mostly though not always; reading out loud to someone incapable of doing it themselves, anyone? – becomes a group activity, Continue Reading

(courtesy Harper Collins Australia) The greatest accomplishment for any writer, and this is from a humble blogger (my own time) and content writer (day job), is to get someone who would not ordinarily read a particular genre to pick a book clearly belonging to it and to spend valuable reading Continue Reading

(courtesy io9 / image (c) DAW Books – illustration by Greg Ruth, design by Jim Tierney) SNAPSHOTWhen there is a call, there is often a response. Najeeba knows. She has had The Call. But how can a 13-year-old girl have the Call? Only men and boys experience the annual call Continue Reading

(courtesy Annick Press) When you read about some conservative group or another working to ban gay this or bay that in the dubiously-expressed, and wafer-thin justified – let’s be honest, not even that; bigotry seems to thrive on vehement, evidence-free denunciation and little else – it’s often presented as little Continue Reading

(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) One of the things that makes reading such an escapist pleasure is when an author takes a well-worn concept, one that should by rights have no fresh mileage or capacity to surprise left in its tired, narrative-driving bones, and totally and utterly turns it gloriously on Continue Reading

(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) Growing isn’t easy at the best of times, but it becomes even darkly and challengingly problematic when the person doing the growing up is doing in the very late 1970s in northeast England at a time when the Yorkshire Ripper is terrorising a fearful populace with Continue Reading

(courtesy Ultimo Press) Diving into any book comes with certain expectations – there will be a beginning and an end, a middle that connects them both in ways that are emotionally fulfilling and intellectually satisfying, and there will be characters you come to care deeply about, people (and not; this Continue Reading