Australian stories

My Australian Story series

I love this series. An Australian series of factual based historical fiction novels by different authors written especially for children. It’s like reading someone’s diary and going on the journey with them. They are a great read for 9-12 year olds and really give young readers an insight into what living in Australia was like for our forebears. A fantastic read for students in years 4-6 who are learning about the Early Australian Settlement, Convicts, Gold Mining, First Fleet or World Wars at school. Although the books are fictional, many of the characters they are based on people who existed in real life. The historical information in this series is sourced from letters, journals and events found in the archives. The books also have historical notes and timelines of historical events listed at the back of the book so the young readers can identify other important events in history. Perhaps your contemporary child will develop an interest in history and love for reading after reading a title in this series. Other books in this series include:

Who am I?  The diary of Mary Talence by Anita Heiss.

Sydney Harbour Bridge by Vashti Farrer

Gallipoli by Alan Tucker

The hunt for Ned Kelly by Sophie Masson

Riding With Thunderbolt byAllan Baillie

or search the library catalogue for other titles in this series.

This review was written by Broadbeach Librarian, Kris.

 

Thank goodness for the variety of DVDs at the library

The recent switching  off of Analog TV on the Gold Coast has meant that the elderly friend I deliver library books to, has had to buy himself a new digital TV. Last week when I dropped his books off to him, he proudly showed me his huge flat screen TV and a DVD player that he’d had set up. My friend is in his late eighties, suffers from emphysema and rarely  leaves his unit.  His main form of enjoyment includes reading science fiction and fantasy, playing solitaire on his computer, having a glass or two of red wine and several cigarettes every afternoon, chatting to the neighbours and watching TV. On my latest visit he mentioned that there wasn’t much on TV to watch in the evenings, except for reality shows, which he loathes.  I told him that the library has a brilliant selection of movies, TV series and documentaries and now that he has a player I can add some to the books that I bring him.  So we sat and fished through our collective memories for TV series and movies that he liked and which I knew the library held.  I also thought of some that I thought he might like and we came up with the following list.

His list

Agatha Christie’s Poirot

The Onedin Line

Porridge and Open all Hours  - both comedy series feature the late Ronnie Barker

Rawhide  – featuring a very young Clint Eastwood

The two Ronnies –featuring Ronnie Barker and Ronn  Corbett

My list

Game of Thrones –the brilliant HBO series based on George R.R. Martin’s ‘ A song of ice and fire  fantasy novels

Hornblower  – based on the C.S. Forester novels

Justified – Set in Lexington, Kentucky it Follows Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens and is based on based on a series of novels and short stories by Elmore Leonard.

Master and Commander  the far side of the world movie based on Patrick O’Brian’s historical naval novels

Sharpe – featuring Tom Clegg and Sean Bean and based on Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe novels

I’m looking forward to adding many more titles to his list and hope to see him enjoying many more years of reading books and watching great DVDS

 

 

 

Around the world in 80 literary ways

I have embarked on a journey and it is not your standard journey or quick refreshing holiday. You see you may have read one of my previous posts where I admitted that I suffer from chronic and insatiable wander lust. I have perpetually itchy feel (and I do not mean the “go see your doctor” type of itch). In an attempt to quite the travel beast that dwells within me and constantly screams for fulfillment, I have set sail on an escapist, literary journey. I have packed my bag, my passport, my mozzie spray and I’ve set off to see if I can travel ‘Around the world in 80 literary ways”! I plan to read both fiction and non-fiction in an attempt to traverse this wide and wonderful world of ours. My first stop is a historic one. I am landing in colonial Malaya.

The White Pearl by Kate Furnivall is probably not a book that would normally make it onto my reading pile but it was a recommendation so it somehow snuck in. It is set in Colonial Malaya in 1941, Constance Hadley is a woman of prestige and position. She is the white “Mem” on a colonial rubber plantation. She lives a sheltered, comfortable life with her husband Nigel and young son Teddy however she harbours a terrible secret. Her life as a plantation-owner’s wife basically consists of socialising, overseeing the hired native help, and being a mother. Her husband Nigel is rarely home as his business tapping rubber trees is flourishing. The coveted commodity is much in demand as the rumours of war abound. Nigel’s absence is somewhat of a welcome relief as tension between Nigel and Connie is escalating. Their marriage is slowly rotting and festering in the tropical heat. Connie’s once enthusiastic dreams of a married life in Malaya are disintegrating and turning sour. Each day finds her more and more unhappy. Then one day there is an accident that threatens to unravel the entire fabric of her existence. At this point we meet local “native” twins Maya and Razak. The accident also brings Connie’s past in to the present which threatens the entire shape of her future.

Tensions climb higher as the threat of war comes to Malaya. Overall there is an attitude of confidence, arrogance and defiance amongst the expat Brits who firmly believe that they can hold strong in the tropics. However the tropical humidity breads rumours of Japanese attack and fear and doubt simmer just underneath the surface. Connie decides that despite everything she is a survivor and so she sets about making an escape plan.

When Pearl Harbor is attacked, Connie and her entourage take refuge on The White Pearl, the sailing boat given to Connie as a wedding present. The plan is to flee to Singapore. And so the adventure begins. Adventure, the high seas, pirates, food rations, bombing raids and constant danger. Onboard there are also threats and tension amongst the passengers. The “natives” learn to make cups of tea to sooth frazzled tempers and the Colonial English slowly have their airs and graces stripped away until pure survival is all that remains.

This book in a nut-shell is a high seas adventure with some romance thrown in. It really is escapist fiction.

If you are going to set sail on The White Pearl, Bon voyage, happy reading and don’t forget your mozzie spray.

Waiting to be heard: a memoir

If you were even the slightest bit captivated by the murder and trial while it was going on in the Unites States, whether you believe in her innocence or guilt, Waiting to be heard: a memoir is truely an interesting read.

Amanda Knox left Seattle to study abroad in Italy. Her life was shattered when her roommate, student Meredith Kercher, was murdered in their apartment. Five days after the murder Amanda was taken into custody and charged by the Italian police. This book is Amanda’s perspective, her thoughts about her life in Italy, her involvement in the investigation, the legal proceedings and her time in prison. To me it comes off as an honest account – she openly admits to being young and naïve and divulges her once outlandish lifestyle. She describes her emotions vividly and her reaction to losing her friend seems sincere. Her writing is articulate and engaging and I felt I was experiencing the unfolding of events right along with her. The book is chronologically organised and flows easily. She doesn’t hold back and I felt like I was getting to know her in a personal way.

I was particularly interested reading about Amanda and Meredith’s brief yet close relationship from Amanda’s viewpoint. It’s quite a gut-wrenching story considering what happened. I also appreciated learning more about the legal procedings and what went wrong. I believe this book would be of interest to anyone who enjoys court room drama or crime stories, as well as anyone who appreciates a detailed and thoughtful memoir of hard questioning, tragic circumstances and sincerity.

The Gladstone Colony : An Unwritten Chapter of Australian History by J. P Hogan

I read this book, and recorded it for Librivox, because my family is from the area, and when I was looking through a physical copy, I was amazed by the contents.

The title’s not inspiring, but the book itself is filled with portraits of incredibly fallible people straining to do epic things. They often fail, which leads to a rather more interesting history than the triumphant ones you can read about more successful colonising efforts. Honestly, who do you know more about: Burke, Wills or King?  Getting it really, really wrong is a lot more interesting, for some styles of history, than a quiet and effective competence. It’s also the 150th anniversary of Gladstone becoming an offical town, so it was a sort of birthday gift.

This history, written in the Nineteenth Century, is about the failed colony of Northern Australia, and the city left behind. It also details the political conflict about the site of the capital,  in the lead-up to Queensland’s separation, between Sydney interests advocating Gladstone, and local interests suggesting Brisbane. It describes the vast shared hallucination of the Central Queensland gold rushes.

The Gladstone Colony is available as a free download, in multiple audio and e-text formats. Recommended to locals, or to people interested in Queensland history.

Julie’s mixed bag of books

The Golden Egg by Donna Leon

 Commissario Guido Brunetti returns in the latest detective fiction by Donna Leon. Brunetti investigates the suspicious death of a disabled man and in doing so unfolds a decades old family secret. As always, Leon captures the beauty and essence of modern day Venice.

Happy home: everyday magic for a colourful life

by Charlotte Hedeman Gueniau

I loved this style book, so many interiors and ideas all wrapped in an abundance of colour. Take it home and dip into it for a visual feast of other people’s interiors and then maybe add some more colour to your own living spaces.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

 An easy to read debut novel by Australian author Graeme Simsion. Don is a professor of genetics with a fine brain but limited social skills. He sets about trying to find a partner in the same way he would approach a research project. A humorous love story.

A life in frocks : a memoir by Kelly Doust

 Kelly Doust is the author of The crafty minx and The crafty kid, both popular crafting books. In this autobiographical piece, Doust explores her relationship with fashion and the frocks she has worn at different periods in her life. A fun read and an inspiration to review your wardrobe and what you wear.

This ”mixed bag” of book reviews written by Broadbeach Librarian, Julie.

The search for Greek treasure lost for three thousand years

If you like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code you should enjoy  Lost Temple by Tom Harper.

The setting is Crete just after the end of the Second World War. Ex soldier and adventurer Sam Grant, who worked for the covert British military organisation SOE on Crete during the war is forced to work for British intelligence after he is caught selling arms to Jewish freedom fighters in Palestine.   Sam’s task is to locate a three thousand year old lost treasure that The United States and Russia are both desperate to use. The only clues are a piece of stone written in the world’s oldest surviving written language Linear B. and clues from Homer’s Odyssey. Linear B hasn’t yet been deciphered and Sam finds himself teaming up with a world renowned Oxford professor and a beautiful Greek archaeologist who Sam romanced during the war in a race to decipher the text and find the treasure. Add a cold and belligerent British intelligence officer, a handsome and seemingly charming CIA agent and a ruthless KGB general to the mix and you end up with a fact paced exciting adventure.

This is the third Tom Harper book that I have read the first two were The Lazarus Vault and Secrets of the Dead both are very good reads.

Had a quick peak at Harper’s website  and found he was born in West Germany, spent time in Belgium and now lives in New York. Harper studied history at Oxford and his knowledge and research skills are very evident in his novels.  I find reading well written historical novels is always a pleasure.  It’s an added bonus if I can learn while doing so. This has happened with all three Tom Harper books that I have read

“What if you could live again and again until you got it right?”

Fans of Kate Atkinson will be delighted that her new book Life after life has arrived in the library.

This one is a departure from her Jackson Brodie detective series.  The author has used an interesting literary concept which follows the main character Ursula (or little bear, as her father calls her) through various different life scenarios. One version of her life may have unfortunate happenings, outcomes and a premature ending so another version is offered.  Sometimes confusing, always fascinating and with an excellently portrayed cast of supporting characters this is another treasure from Kate Atkinson. Her descriptions of the events and places which feature in Ursula’s life during the war years and beyond are vivid and immediate.

If you like a challenging author who often ‘sends you to the dictionary’ or in my case to the one dictionary on my smart phone, then Kate Atkinson is for you.

This review was written by Broadbeach Librarian, Kaye.

Warm Bodies – the funniest zombie book I have ever read!

Warm Bodies is hilarious! It is a paranormal romance set in a post apocalyptic world where zombies and humans are battling to co-exist.

“None of us are particularly attractive, but death has been kinder to me than some. I’m still in the early stages of decay…” The main zombie in the story is “R” who is living in an abandoned airport with a group of other zombies and their daily existence includes the occasional head nod, grunt & slow-paced meander. They do get together at times and head outside the airport on hunts for human flesh. They do this to satisfy their constant cravings and in an attempt to reach the slightest human feeling.

“We sit against the tiles of the bathroom floor with our legs sprawled out in front of us, passing the brain back and forth, taking small, leisurely bites and enjoying brief flashes of human experience.” On one particular hunting trip the zombies attack a group of humans where R kills a boy named Perry. As R munches down on Perry’s brain he starts to receive vivid images of the boy’s life and experience his feelings for a girl named Julie. It is then that R sees Julie at the attack and feels obligated to protect her, to save her from the bloody scene and take her back to the airport. It is this action, this special and confusing connection between zombie and human that ignites a change. Things start to get weird, confusing, beautiful and new for R as Julie’s presence seems to be bringing some humanity back to R. Julie also starts to see R as not entirely zombie. She starts to ask herself could R have a mind, a heart, a soul? 

Warm Bodies sucked me in right away and kept my interest throughout with its character driven plot and humourous descriptive prose. Isaac Marion made me feel like I wasn’t simply reading a book but was there in the airport surrounded by a zombie population. 

“My friend ‘M’ says the irony of being a zombie is that everything is funny, but you can’t smile, because your lips have rotted off.” Quotes like this made me laugh out loud! I really enjoyed this book, it finished way too early, I could have read chapter after chapter. The movie adaptation is also highly entertaining and really well down. My friends and I had the best time in the cinema!

The ‘Big Library Read’ is here

Join fellow library lovers worldwide this month in the ‘Big Library Read’. The ‘Big Library Read’ is an initiative of our ebook vendor Overdrive. Libraries across the globe will offer the same book for all customers to read until 1 June. Overdrive will offer unlimited copies of the selected ebook for the rest of the month meaning there are no holds or waiting periods – you can just go to the Overdrive site, sign in, borrow and download the book.

Our ‘Big Library Read’ is ‘The Four Corners of the Sky’ by Michael Malone. It tells the story of Annie Peregrine, a woman abandoned by her father at age 7. Twenty years later, Annie’s father steps back into her life with one final, dying wish. So begins a novel of love, secrets and forgiveness. Head to our Overdrive site to borrow this ebook. I’ve already started reading it and I’d love to hear what you think.