And is it because cancer is such a horrific beast? Because of Esther Earl? Because John is amazing and that his book contains this phrase: "As he read, I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once." ? The Fault in our Stars is thoughtful, funny, poignant...all of those rawther empty blurbish words. And then some.
Hazel was the most wonderful narrator - dragging my weeping form through the pages with her sucky lungs and introducing me to Augustus and Isaac and all their spectacular and particular parents. And they were all so eloquent, and so wise. So eloquent and wise and honest.
I finished the book within the last hour and therefore am evangelical and red-eyed about it, with no distance or perspective - but isn't it fantastic when a book actually, literally moves you so much?* I shall celebrate it! I raise my stars to you!
*And I don't mean literally displaced me (har! in joke!), just literally moved my eyeballs to water. Melina Marchetta's On the Jellicoe Road is another, and JD Salinger's story For Esmé - With Love and Squalor.
in the tradition of fabulous, large and delightful families in fiction - here i'm thinking of natalie standiford's sullivan family, or the casson family by hilary mckay or even the radlett family from the fabulous nancy mitford - here is the most very best christmas video by the gorgeous and hilarious gladstone family. may all your christmases be as madcap as this!
In Saving June (which really ought to be called Saving Harper or Saving Jake, because poor old June is beyond saving) Harper isn't necessarily looking to expand her world view or escape her town - but rather she is trying to escape or assuage her grief after her seemingly perfect older sister kills herself for a reason that nobody can decipher.
Her divorced parents cope with their grief in their own ways – her dad and his new girlfriend don’t call and her mother drinks a lot. Harper's christian aunt is making it really difficult for her to grieve her own way.
Harper is a self-confessed bad/rebellious girl - though if she really were a bad girl the reader potentially wouldn't like her very much, so really we know from the start that she's just a bit sad and angry.
Scruffy rock music lover Jake, who turns up is the potential love interest, though we aren't sure what the relationship between Jake and June had been. An interest in music is a nice touch to any book, like Sarah Dessen's ace Just Listen, and it's just gorgeous (warning, condescension ahead) when young people "discover" old music and think it's revolutionary.*
To prevent her parents from dividing her sister’s ashes into his and hers urns, and to grant June’s wish to move to California, Harper and her friend Laney (of the vintage clothes , straight-talking and slightly odd plot arc**) and the aforementioned Jake (who, of course, has a secret) steal the ashes and roadtrip in Jake’s van to the West Coast, which is where the story really starts. Crazy antics, kooky sights to see, encounters in mosh pits, fights and some sexytimes.
A lot happens. And I think because so much is going on, so many different places and conversations there's a funny pacing and I lost momentum a little towards the end. The scene in which they farewell June somehow felt too short, or anti-climactic, though it was raw, physical, and original.
There were lot of issues crammed in, but Saving June was a very enjoyable read overall. This review on goodreads says all I wanted to say but better. And read the comments too.
Click here to read more reviews of books with dead people in them about grief.
*yes, i am a bitter old lady and i totally listened to that band before you. any band. all bands!
**which (spoiler) goes something along the lines of date rape, unwanted pregnancy, no talk of pressing charges or STDs and with one wholly unsatisfying conclusion.
Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet is a brave and intelligent coming-of-age story in the Cold War Era. Clem is a council flat boy. Frankie is the wild(ish) daughter of a wealthy local landowner. They shouldn't be together but can't keep apart. But meanwhile the shadow of nuclear warfare and the Cold War looms and threatens. Indeed, we spend chapters with JFK as he botches the Bay of Pigs and tries to decide what the heck to do about Russian nukes in Cuba. It might take you time to get into it, you may at times think come on come on, get back to Clem and Frankie, but by the explosive end you'll be left reeling and want to start again immediately. The aftershocks will continue for days.
The Montmaray books by Michelle Cooper, A Brief History of Montmaray and The FitzOsbornes In Exile. Oh joy! What a wonderful discovery, even if I wasn't the first to land upon these rocky, historical fictiony shores. Sophie lives on the island of Montmaray, a tiny sovereign nation not too far from the coast of Spain with her eccentric family - frighteningly intelligent cousin Veronica, uncle King John who has become increasingly loopy, cheeky tomboy sister Henry and a smattering of villagers. Her brother Tom is in England, being educated, and their Aunt Charlotte has summoned Sophie and Veronica to be debuted. But it is 1936 and the world is a-rumbling with changes: Spain is having a civil war and in Germany a man called Hitler is threatening to invade Poland and Czechoslovakia and both of these things will impact on Montmaray. This book is told through Sophie's journal entries, in her engaging, amusing, intelligent voice and with wonderful observation, humour and humanity. It's full of literary, historical and political references, and just a little bit of talk about frocks and froufrou. You must, must read both.
And Jasper Fforde's Song of the Quarkbeast - The magical, adventure-filled and hilarious sequel to The Last Dragonslayer. Kazam is being challenged by iMagic, their magic company competition and whoever wins will be favoured by the King and have the monopoly on magic. They might even be able to get the mobile phone network back up. Our non-magic, foundling heroine Jennifer Strange just knows there is something more devious going on with the Amazing Blix, the king of the unUnited Kingdom...and just where and when will Kazam's missing manager the Great Zambini appear next to give them all some much-needed advice? Plus, should she go on a date with Youthful Perkins? Surges of magic that can send oak trees flying. Trolls out to rid their homes of human vermin ("here person person person"). A sneaky Quarkbeast looking for its other half. Big Magic, small magic, flying carpets, old grudges, new possibilities. It's explosive. Literally. Just read it - your sides will split with laughter and magic.
'Kate!' I hear you saying. 'What are you doing? Why no blog?' And here's me, just a-shruggin' and mumbling, 'I dunno, stuff, work, reading, summer, I dunno whatevs. Anyway, you're not my real mum!'
Here are some of the things I've been reading and watching and listening to and being generally inspired by lately:
Forever YA posted a list of the top ten british shows you could be watching, which made me laugh and reminisce. And I pop Misfits on there as the eleventh show for being hilarious and badass...and in a large part due to this scene (warning: bad swears! and spoilers!) and also the brilliantly anachronistic Ashes to Ashes for DCI Gene Hunt and all the blue eyeshadow and amazing music.
Also, one of my favourite anonymous and inspiring bloggers - The Intern - has outed herself and, extra-excitingly, has a YA book on the way.
I've been secondhand book shopping at Lost and Found in Brunswick:
Read as much as you can, and write. Keep notebooks. Be open to everything in the world. Don't give up. Tenacity is the most valuable asset for a writer.
This is a quote from an interview with Joanne Horniman here. I keep it on the wall next to Kerouac's Rules for Spontaneous Prose. I may be failing NaNoWriMo but am practicing tenacity.
The George Harrison documentary Living in the Material World by Martin Scorsese was a four hour cinema experience (including interval) that I hope you didn't miss (though I think you have, but just get the DVD). It is a fabulous look into his life, the contradictions in his personality and his relationship to death and dying. The music, the drugs, the religion. His beautiful son...
Then watch this scene from A Hard Day's Night. It is a hilarious and curious little jibe...maybe even relevant to today's hipsters, hmm? I challenge you not to laugh at lines like "the new thing is to care passionately and be right-wing".
I am also trying to read Haruki Murakami's new book 1Q84. But I'm worried I will drop it on my face while I'm reading in bed and it will kill me with its weighty tome-ness.
Last, but not least, our favorite Witty Waiter down at A Minor Place recorded this song, Against the Grain, and a guy called Dropbear has made this incredible stopmotion video to go along with it. Pencils! What a mad dog. Enjoy.
New from the kooky and brilliant brains behind the Pigeons Project (the very talented and good looking Jenna and Lachlann) comes early harvest. It's a literary magazine written and edited by kids. Kids! With the help of harvest's Davina Bell and community development worker Emma Hewitt, as well as Jenna and Lachlann, these kids spent the last few months learning all about calling for submissions, editing, publishing, marketing...and just look at what they've done!
I went in to have a chat with the editorial board fairly early on and we discussed things from a broad bookselling point of view: what makes a book look good (ie. how to judge a book by its cover), the process of getting a book from publisher to store, starting to think about the blurb and a good sales pitch - and pricing. I think the pricing might have been the most exciting part of our session...
The final product is in stores now and it looks a.m.a.z.i.n.g. And it reads e.x.c.e.l.l.e.n.t.l.y. I am so impressed and pleased and excited!
Come along to the launch tomorrow at the Sun Bookshop in Yarraville. It's all on at 11am in the foyer of the Sun Theatre. Come and meet the gang and hear some reading from the mag. It's going to be a gas - launched by Sally Rippin!
cath crowley's graffiti moon is now available in italy, all translated into the italian for italian YAs to read as they eat pizzas and gelato, riding on vespas and drinking caffe latte.
<-- here be the cover! (i love it)
and the blurb:
Cinque minuti¿ anche stasera l'ha mancato per soli cinque minuti. Da mesi Lucy insegue Shadow, il più originale, inventivo e misterioso writer di Melbourne. Nessuno lo ha mai visto, ma tutti parlano di lui. Nessuno sa chi sia, tranne Poet, l'amico che dà i titoli ai suoi murales. Lucy sa che Shadow è il ragazzo giusto: geniale, creativo e appassionato di arte come lei, ed è decisa a incontrarlo. Solo Ed sa dove si trova e, anche se è l'ultimo ragazzo con cui vorrebbe passare il suo tempo, Lucy accetta di seguirlo in una folle notte di scorribande, confidenze e rivelazioni sotto i cieli azzurri che ricoprono i muri della città.
i don't speak so much of the italian, and i'm procrastinating, so i put it through an online translator:
Five minutes ¿even tonight he missed just five minutes. For months, Lucy chases Shadow, the most original, inventive and mysterious writer in Melbourne. No one has ever seen, but everyone talks about him. No one knows who he is, except for Poet, the friend who gives the titles to his murals. Lucy knows that Shadow is the right guy: brilliant, creative and passionate about art as you, and is determined to meet him. And only he knows where he is and, even if it's the last guy you would want to spend his time, Lucy agrees to follow him into a crazy night of raids, secrets and revelations in the blue skies that cover the walls of the city.
if you want to buy an italian version you can do so here. if you don't own the australian version then head on down to your local independent bookshop. preferably this one.
