First things first, Grandpa's gone. Somehow I seem to have started 2022 with a run of books that have turned out to be only so-so. The Cat Who Saved Books was okay, but really it was little more than a simplistic YA story about why reading and books are so good. Yes, it's heart warming … Continue reading The Cat Who Saved Books | Sōsuke Natsukawa #JPNfiction
Thank goodness for Robbie. After a spate of so-so books and DNF's, I finally landed on this beautifully imagined, eco-dystopian tour de force from my new favourite contemporary Australian writer. My love affair with Arnott started last year, when I read his debut novel, Flames. This is a little of what I had to say … Continue reading The Rain Heron | Robbie Arnott #AUSfiction
The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse has been one of this year's runaway hits at work in the lead up to Christmas. We cannot keep it on the shelves and the UK publishers (Ebury) cannot seem to print enough for demand. School librarians are buying this book by the bucket load. And … Continue reading The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy
It's a long weekend in Australia, and for the first time in over a year, we've enjoyed a lazy, nothing-to-do-but-flop-around-the-house kind of weekend. It has been blissful. Even with the ghastly high temps and even higher humidity, or maybe because of, it has been the perfect time for reading, snoozing and listening to music as … Continue reading Flames by Robbie Arnott
One of my dear friends, Girl Booker, has been gushing about Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child ever since it was first published in 2012.It sounded wonderful and I have no idea why I haven't made the time to read it, but there it is, I haven't.And now, here we are, with Ivey's second book to … Continue reading To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
The one and only adult novel by Gillian Mears that I tried to read many, many years ago was The Grass Sisters.I simply couldn't get into.Maybe it was the wrong book at the wrong time, maybe I was too young to appreciate it properly (although 28 isn't that young!)Whatever the reason, I haven't picked up … Continue reading The Cat with the Coloured Tail by Gillian Mears
Have you read Edward Tulane?Yes? Then how can I possibly review it without spoiling it for someone who hasn't read it?No? Go and read it now. Yes, now! I'll wait for you to come back........ Now aren't you glad I made you go and read it?Like you, I had been meaning to read it for … Continue reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
Most of you are already aware that I am now an evangelical Sonya Hartnett fanatic.The Ghost's Child does nothing to change that!I do wonder, though, if I would have enjoyed her books as a teen. "She'd weathered the bafflement of her childhood, and her bleak school years."I tended to prefer girlish series and romances back then. … Continue reading The Ghost’s Child by Sonya Hartnett
The Wild One is another picture book that Sonya Harnett has illustrated in partnership with Lucia Masciullo.Their other books include Come Down, Cat! and The Boy and the Toy. The Wild One is a beautiful fable about growing up, memory, friendship, belonging, aging and the circle of life all wrapped up in a gentle environmental message.Hartnett … Continue reading The Wild One by Sonya Hartnett
Sonya Hartnett is a Melbourne based author who writes for young children, teens, YA and now adults with her recent release of Golden Boys.She has won more awards than you can poke a stick at including the CBCA for Older Readers for The Midnight Zoo in 2011, the CBCA for younger readers in 2005 for The … Continue reading The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett
Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking Trilogy was on my list of "bad books". To show it wasn't anything personal (just an inexplicable dislike of talking animal stories) I decided to tackle his latest book.A Monster Calls came to Ness upon the death of writer Siobhan Dowd. According to Ness' author note at the front of the book, Dowd … Continue reading A Monster Calls | Patrick Ness
bronasbooks.com 