(courtesy Hachette Australia) There is a point, when you have read many novels, where you begin if there is truth to the fact that there is nothing new under the sun. It’s not that what you’re reading isn’t clever, heartfelt or imaginative; they often are and they make reading the Continue Reading
Books
Book review: Key Lime Sky by Al Hess
(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) Key Lime Sky was provide as a preview through NetGalley and is due for release in print and digital formats on 13 August 2024. It is always impressive to read a book by an author where an audaciously out-there premise is not only brilliantly and fulsomely Continue Reading
Book review: Sit, Stay, Love by Amy Hutton
(courtesy Simon & Schuster Australia) It goes without saying, and yet of course we are going to stay it still, that romantic comedies come up with a bulging Cupid’s quiver full of tropes, clichés and expectations. That’s not a bad thing necessarily since the reason we love a particular type Continue Reading
#Eurovision cultural festival 2024 book review: Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius
(courtesy Bloomsbury Publishing) Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius (translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles)is that most universal and yet achingly specific kind of novel. At once a coming-of-age tale of one young Sámi woman battling to find in place in a world that holds obstacles and antagonism within and without, sometimes violently so, she Continue Reading
Book review: Nick and Charlie (A Heartstoper novella) by Alice Oseman
(courtesy Harper Collins Australia) Life all too often feels like a series of endless goodbyes. Or possible goodbyes anyway; just when things seem to have settled into a pleasing and happy pattern, and we feel like this life things is forming itself into some existentially rich and satisfying shapes, along Continue Reading
#StarWarsDay book review: Brotherhood by Mike Chen #MayThe4thBeWithYou
(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) Star Wars is defined in many ways by the relationships which fill it with a space operatic sense of connectiveness that powers the narrative and lends it a great deal more resonance that you might expect what it essentially a galactic Western. Han and Leia and Continue Reading
Book review: Funny Story by Emily Henry
(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) You know what’s so appealing about romantic comedies? No matter how over the top their premise might be or fantastically narrative convenient the narrative powering them might be, they provide a delightfully overpowering sense of comfort that life can be good and wonderful, and if it’s Continue Reading
Book review: The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
(courtesy Penguin Books Australia) Is it possible to write a novel that is riotously clever and funny and yet absolutely able to cut right through to the heart of what it means to be human, to love, connect and belong, and to feel lost and alone when that doesn’t going Continue Reading
Book review: Interesting Facts About Space by Emily Austin
(courtesy Allen & Unwin) No one wants to think they’re a terrible person. If we’re honest, we all want to be the hero, the saviour, the flawlessly giving and selfless person that people laud and talk about with breathless wonder, someone people want to be friends with and love and Continue Reading
Book review: Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis
(courtesy Hachette Australia) Working out when you should walk away from something you love is always tough. The reason you’ve stuck out a particular gig for so long is the very thing that keeps you anchored there, and while longevity of occupation in a particular place or occupation doesn’t always Continue Reading