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Living black by Kevin Gilbert: a series of interviews by Aboriginal people, published in the 70s. The first time I've properly come across such a thing, which given I'm 23/24, is way overdue. There were some eyeopening moments: I had no idea about the extent of the powers under the Aboriginal Protection Act. They sure as hell didn't teach us about that at school. It really rammed home the idea that you can't crush people under your thumb for generations and then expect them to be functioning, happy people in a culture that you've demanded they take up, that has nothing to do with them. It also made me look at the 'intervention/invasion' with a fresh horror -- Howard spent a decade ignoring or actively fighting Aboriginal attempts to make head way, and then walked back in with the same 'we will protect you from yourselves! For your own good!' a mentality that seems to be straight out of the days of the Protection Act.
Breath by Tim Winton: I've bodyboarded maybe once or twice, but my mind can vividly create 'memories' of surfing, purely because I've read it in several of Tim Winton's books. He's that good. Breath is the story of a teenag boy in a coastal town, and all the little back and forths between friends, and not-really friends, and growing up. It was lyrical, and utterly real: those moments where he looks at his 'best friend' and realises they don't have much in common aside from the fact that they've been hanging out for years, and they dont really *like* each other, but they'll keep hanging out because there's not much else to do, got me at a gut level.
There's such a strong dynamic in the opening scene of the book that it threw me when he all but ignored it wrapping up the story, but the closing line is still gorgeous.
Tales from outer suburbia by Shaun Tan: A magical collection of drawings and stories and snippets of everything. You get the impresion that every word and every single pen/brush stroke has been carefully placed and thought about. from the directions on how to make your own pet from bulk rubbish collections pasted over sections from a science textbook, to the story of walking to the edge of the street directory, I just *little fluttering gestures of love* Worth every cent, and many re-reads.
Castle in the air by Dianna Wynne Jones: A charming fairy-tale style story about a rug seller, a magic carpet, a genie, a soldier and a black cat all going to find a castle of kidnapped princesses. The writing is irreverent, and had me grinning madly on the train a lot. It billed itself as a 'companion piece' to Howl's moving castle on the cover, but not the blurb, and it takes half the story before that makes sense, but when it does it just *fits* beautifully and hilariously, even if the ending is just a little too pat.
The ghost's child by Sonya Hartnett: I picked this up from a discount table because I had this vague sense of "Sonya Hartnett = good" even if I hadn't read any of her work before.
I feel like this should have left more of an impression on me than it did. An elderly woman comes home to find a strange boy on her sofa, and is coaxed into telling her life story. Really, I think I wanted to know what it was like for her growing old, rather than growing up, but on the basis of this, I'd pick up other books of hers.
Burned by Ellen Hopkins: bought on an impulsive memory of how much I enjoyed reading verse novels in high school. This was a mostly sweet look at a girl growing up in a Mormon family, getting kicked out for a while to go get healed by the country air at her aunt's ranch. Aside from a bit of "you've known each other a *month*, he's not the love of your life" eyerolling, and a bit of educational preaching about nuclear testing in Nevada in the 50s, I liked it up until the "o.O, you...really didn't know how to end that, did you?" conclusion. Had I known in advance, I would have got it from the library rather than get mum to pay for it as an early birthday present.
The city of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau: a cute YA novel, hunted down because of the movie coming out soon-ish. I'd be really interested in hearing from people who had read the book before seeing the trailer, and if the apparent twist was *actually* a twist for those unspoiled. I liked it well enough, and the puzzles were fun, although the random allocation of careers bugged me, and seriously: you live in a city powered by electric lights -- why are you not running drills on what to do when you have power failures? This is possibly the me whose year four teacher made the class do earthquake drills which involved crawling under the rows of desks to the door. Kinda fun on a Friday afternoon.
Breath by Tim Winton: I've bodyboarded maybe once or twice, but my mind can vividly create 'memories' of surfing, purely because I've read it in several of Tim Winton's books. He's that good. Breath is the story of a teenag boy in a coastal town, and all the little back and forths between friends, and not-really friends, and growing up. It was lyrical, and utterly real: those moments where he looks at his 'best friend' and realises they don't have much in common aside from the fact that they've been hanging out for years, and they dont really *like* each other, but they'll keep hanging out because there's not much else to do, got me at a gut level.
There's such a strong dynamic in the opening scene of the book that it threw me when he all but ignored it wrapping up the story, but the closing line is still gorgeous.
Tales from outer suburbia by Shaun Tan: A magical collection of drawings and stories and snippets of everything. You get the impresion that every word and every single pen/brush stroke has been carefully placed and thought about. from the directions on how to make your own pet from bulk rubbish collections pasted over sections from a science textbook, to the story of walking to the edge of the street directory, I just *little fluttering gestures of love* Worth every cent, and many re-reads.
Castle in the air by Dianna Wynne Jones: A charming fairy-tale style story about a rug seller, a magic carpet, a genie, a soldier and a black cat all going to find a castle of kidnapped princesses. The writing is irreverent, and had me grinning madly on the train a lot. It billed itself as a 'companion piece' to Howl's moving castle on the cover, but not the blurb, and it takes half the story before that makes sense, but when it does it just *fits* beautifully and hilariously, even if the ending is just a little too pat.
The ghost's child by Sonya Hartnett: I picked this up from a discount table because I had this vague sense of "Sonya Hartnett = good" even if I hadn't read any of her work before.
I feel like this should have left more of an impression on me than it did. An elderly woman comes home to find a strange boy on her sofa, and is coaxed into telling her life story. Really, I think I wanted to know what it was like for her growing old, rather than growing up, but on the basis of this, I'd pick up other books of hers.
Burned by Ellen Hopkins: bought on an impulsive memory of how much I enjoyed reading verse novels in high school. This was a mostly sweet look at a girl growing up in a Mormon family, getting kicked out for a while to go get healed by the country air at her aunt's ranch. Aside from a bit of "you've known each other a *month*, he's not the love of your life" eyerolling, and a bit of educational preaching about nuclear testing in Nevada in the 50s, I liked it up until the "o.O, you...really didn't know how to end that, did you?" conclusion. Had I known in advance, I would have got it from the library rather than get mum to pay for it as an early birthday present.
The city of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau: a cute YA novel, hunted down because of the movie coming out soon-ish. I'd be really interested in hearing from people who had read the book before seeing the trailer, and if the apparent twist was *actually* a twist for those unspoiled. I liked it well enough, and the puzzles were fun, although the random allocation of careers bugged me, and seriously: you live in a city powered by electric lights -- why are you not running drills on what to do when you have power failures? This is possibly the me whose year four teacher made the class do earthquake drills which involved crawling under the rows of desks to the door. Kinda fun on a Friday afternoon.
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