Swimming in the Nile - The Nile Blog

Guestpost from Angela Meyer: Mother’s day in Columbia
May 11th, 2012 by Lisa

Happy Mother’s Day!

The lovely Angela Meyer, New Zealand author of the energetic new memoir Sea Fever, tells us a lovely story which proves that mums really are loved all over the world.

Feliz Día de la Madre.

‘ “Whoa these South American men are game!” I thought as a handsome stranger waltzed up to me and gave me flowers. It wasn’t ‘impulse’, I hadn’t used deodorant in weeks, it was hardly my glamorous composure, I was busy hauling my trantruming one year old son up of the cobbles, and this guy was ‘game’ as I was standing next to the only other gringo in town – my husband.

What was going on?

With Dashkin (my son) squarely on my hip and placated with an apple I took stock of the situation. We were on the steps of Catedral de Santa Marta,  in Colombia the first stop on our nine month voyage from Aruba to Brisbane. Mass had just finished and the good people of Santa Marta were streaming out into the adjacent square. The men, were dressed in light weight suits, the children, swamped in satin ruffles and the women, glorious in their Sunday best. 

Hawkers began pimping single cigarettes, sticks of chewing gum and thimbles of  ‘tinto’(a sweet black coffee) but the guy getting all the action, was the very same man who had given me flowers.

The insistent throng were clambering over each other to purchase single red roses wrapped in polka dot plastic.  

“Maybe its some special cultural tradition to give cheap flowers to ladies after church?  Why did I get one? Maybe he felt sorry for me and was just trying to be kind?” I thought to myself as I sniffed at the odourless rose.

A second look and I realised that the line was entirely made up of men and children.

Hanging back expectantly, were the women.

Dash started squirming and demanded to be put down. I obliged and holding his hand he lead us over to the ladies.

“Hola” I said conscious of my sea-stained shorts and tatty t shirt.

“Hola Feliz Día de la Madre” a wonderfully wrinkled old woman rasped at me as she gestured towards Dash and gave me a knowing smile.

Feliz Día de la Madre. I rolled these words around in my mind, quietly cursing that my Spanish was so bad and trying to pick out the bits I recognised. Was she sympathising with me about having a scratchy toddler to deal with?  Dia  that means day doesn’t it? Or does it mean God? Is she asking me about God or God’s Day or The Day?

Dash meanwhile, had decided she is defiantly someone he needed to introduce himself too. Ross (my husband) was engaged in stilted conversation with one of the hawkers and wass guarding the pushchair while I was still trying to make sense of the greeting. It has got to that time in the conversation where I really need to say something back. I opt for my standard “Si”.  

“Feliz Día de la Madre” she repeated.

This time I sound the words out and say it back to her.

Her eyes twinkle and she looks over the head of my hot, white little son who is  now sitting  snuggled up on her knee and said ‘Gracis”. We smile. I suddenly feel homesick for my grandmother and mother. Dash leaped off and tore across the square. Ross and I hastily said our goodbyes and take off after him.

Later that day and back on the boat I get out my Spanish phrase book and  I flick through the pages unitl finally, after getting sidetracked by Spanish pick up lines, I find it…

Feliz Día de la Madre-  Happy Mother’s Day.’

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Mother’s Day 2012: What are your favourite authors doing?
May 11th, 2012 by Lisa

Mother’s all over the world are to be celebrated this Sunday. What will you be doing? Spending a day out with loved ones? Marvelling at the detailing on your new dried macaroni ornament? Or perhaps you’ll be spending some quality time on your own, doing as you please?

Either way we hope mums everywhere receive the thanks they deserve. Which got us wondering: what are some of our favourite local authors doing for Mother’s Day? We asked Vanda Symon, Nadia Lim, Paul Moon and Barbara Keen how they would be spending Mother’s Day 2012, and what the whole day means to them, and here are there answers:

From Nadia Lim, author of Nadia’s Kitchen:

“I’m very close to my Mum, she’s the best! Our relationship was strengthened at the kitchen bench while I watched her cook dinner, talked about school and my dreams of one day writing a cookbook. Mum always said I would write a cookbook one day and it’s thanks to her believing in me that I did – hence my cookbook Nadia’s Kitchen is dedicated to her, and also my Nan (Mum’s Mum). I’ll be taking Mum out for Mother’s Day, maybe to a movie or the beach, and of course I’ll be whipping up something special for her! – maybe we’ll have a picnic if the weathers nice – perhaps my mushroom and feta tarts, lemon blueberry sour cream cake and spiced date biscotti with chocolate pate which would all be good for a picnic and are in my book! Thanks mum!”

From Vanda Symon, author of The Faceless:

Mother’s Day is a day for recognising all the hard and varied work we Mums do for those we love. In our family it involves being woken up early by an invasion of giggling children piling into the bed, homemade cards, and gifts often made at Cubs or Scouts or school the week before. And then I get the glorious luxury of breakfast in bed and the Sunday Magazine from the newspaper. My kids are now ten and twelve, so the bed invasion gets pretty crowded with four of us in there, and the cat is never one to be left out, so he’ll most likely join us too. And this year my mother will be with us for Mother’s Day, so that will probably make five in the bed, and the cat! And then all the males will leave us to it (including the cat), and Mum and I will be left in peace, enjoying our cups of tea and toast, and fighting over the newspaper.’


From Barbara Keen, author of Grace and Flavour:

‘If it’s sunny on Mother’s Day, we’ll have lunch outside.  Mum’s aunts were very keen picnickers, and Mum and her friends still remember their excursions with them – especially the goodies in the hamper.  With that in mind, I’m planning to make some of the food that they used to take to the beach or the river – it’ll be just as good in the garden. We’ll have stuffed eggs – I’ve got an old recipe called Shanklin Eggs, which has finely chopped olives and chilli in the mashed up yolk – a zingier than usual version of this Kiwi standard. We’ll also have a very simple fish and potato salad, with a little onion, a lot of parsley and a creamy dressing from a WW1 fundraising cookbook compiled by my great grandmother and her friend Mrs Baird in 1916. Some little mutton and ham pies, a fruit cake and Green Square, my Mum’s favourite from her Mum’s massive repertoire of cakes – the name comes from the colour of the icing, which covers a confection of coconut, cherries, angelica, jam and chopped nuts on a puff pastry base.

That’s the food – now, if could we just order some sunshine….’

From Paul Moon, author of A Savage Country:

‘In the former Yugoslavia, which my mother left for a better life in New Zealand in the 1960s, Mothers’ Day was a much more austere affair than it is here.  Its roots lay somewhere in pre-Christian fertility cults, in which women were exalted as mysterious life-givers, but was later grafted by the Church to be associated with the Motherhood of Christ.  After the Second World War, the communist regime frowned on this religious connection, and so stamped the strong imprint of the socialist state on the event.  Mothers were lauded for their economic, political, and social contributions to the nation.  Warm maternalism was replaced with furrow-browed purse-lipped matriarchy, as women were portrayed as the equals of men in bringing the new socialist utopia into being.

Of course, Mothers’ Day in this country survives not because of the dictates of the state, or even the burdens of tradition.  Indeed, we value mothers precisely because they are so valuable to us.  As the old Montenegrin saying goes, “a drop of a mother is worth more than an ocean of friends.”

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Books you need to know about this May
May 9th, 2012 by Lisa

So what does May have to offer booklovers?It does see the release of several new books from literary heavy hitters, so if you like your prose mind-bending and your characters conflicted, it’s a good month for you. There’s new work from American legend Toni Morrison, plus John Irving, Irvine Welsh and Hilary Mantel, who has released a sequel to her Booker Prize winner Wolf Hall. But the following five books are the ones I think you really need to know about:

One of the most exciting new releases is White Horse by Alex Adams. Don’t roll your eyes when I tell you that this is yet another ‘post-apocalyptic’ thriller, a trend that’s currently the province of Young Adult writers serving up cloying love triangles amidst a little bloodshed. White Horse is a very adult novel. The urban wasteland we experience is bleak, gritty and overrun by monsters. Heroine Zoe is seeking safety within this landscape but it seems that only horror lurks around every corner, and this new world is sorely testing her own notions of morality. The writing is fine, the plot stays on course for the majority of the novel and the tension is unrelenting. An excellent thriller… just don’t read it at night.

Next is a book which would win awards for best book cover as well as most inventive title- who could resist a book called The Whore’s Asylum? Katy Darby’s novel follows young doctor Stephen who is persuaded to volunteer caring for the sick and fallen prostitutes of Victorian London, though his best friend Edward does not approve. Add long buried secrets, a love story that mutates into an awkward triangle and a frenzied final act, and you get a lavish, highly enjoyable costume drama.

Non-fiction wise, Former silver fern and popular TV personality April Ieremia has released a book creatively titled April Loses It, which centres on exactly that. April’s weight battles have been no secret and in the book she is characteristically frank about why she gained weight and just how she shed it. She makes it clear that it wasn’t about finding a trendy diet or mystery pill to make the kilos go away; rather ‘just eating intelligently and exercising regularly’. The failures are recorded as thoroughly as the successes including an ongoing struggle with motivation and discipline. It’s an unconditional kind of honesty and it makes April easy to identify with.

A quiet achiever this month has been The Boy Who Could See Demons by Carolyn Jess Cooke. Reminiscent of The Curious Incident of The Dog in The Night-Time (both in style and its meandering title), we follow 10 year old Alex who ‘likes onions on toast’ and also happens to see demons. In fact, a demon called Ruen is his best friend but he also wants Alex to kill someone. Alex’s psychiatrist attempts to separate him from his fantasy, but even she begins to wonder if perhaps he is telling the truth. This is an absorbing, strangely believable read.

 

Now to a book that won’t actually be available until late May but is certainly worth a mention: Good Times by Amanda Laird and Babiche Martens compiles favourite recipes from the ever popular Viva magazine. The photography is airy and rustic and the recipes themselves are mouth-watering, particularly the first section covering breakfasts which will be perfect for a lazy Sunday morning.

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There’s something about rural romance… with Fiona Palmer
April 18th, 2012 by Lisa

The book world can be pervaded by a number of trends at any one time. These hot young ideas will rise to the top of the bestseller charts but often come hurtling back to earth in a matter of months.

This is not the case for the genre now known as the ‘rural romance’ (or ‘red dust drama’ if you’re poetic). The rural romance is recognisable via its strong female protagonists who tackle the domestic and social difficulties of life on the land. This includes our heroines’ romantic escapades.

Though this style of romance isn’t necessarily new to those familiar with traditional romance, in recent years the combination of talented authors and an eager audience of readers have nudged it toward the commercial fiction landscape.

One author leading this popular genre is Fiona Palmer, who has just released her 3rd novel, The Road Home. A native of country Western Australia, Fiona is carving out a name for herself as a writer of sensitive and emotional country drama. We recently spoke to Fiona about the emergence of the rural romance and her own work:

- Could you tell us why you think rural romance is resonating so strongly with readers at the moment?

Well I’m not sure for others but  the reason I read rural romance is for the scenery, the rural way of life, the small communities and the way the characters speak. I get it, I understand it, it’s what I live and experience on a daily basis. I personally love that way of life and maybe lots of others feel that way? It could be an escape for them. A way to leave the busy city and travel down a gravel road into the space of the outback.

- The country environment is obviously a very important element of the books. Perhaps with so many of us living in cities, readers are attracted to the very different rural landscape?

I believe so. It’s the sunsets, sunrises, the way the dust hangs in the air on a still afternoon or the heat haze shimmering over the top of a ripe yellow crop. These are just some of the things that inspired me to write in the first place, as I couldn’t wait to share it with everyone. And through writing, it’s a great way to be able to bring the bush to those that live in the city and yearn some wide open spaces and county men.

- Is there also a sense of female heroines proving themselves on a land traditionally controlled by men ?

Not just on the land. I like my females to prove themselves in anything they do, but yes mainly things that are done by men. It’s more about finding where they belong on their journey, striving to be great at what they can do whether its typically a man’s job or not. It’s having the guts to give it a go.

- Is there ever difficulty in making farm life believable while also creating an entertaining piece of fiction?

Sometimes I’ll want to set my book during a certain time, and I do have to be aware of what season it is. As you can’t harvest in the middle of winter, so I have to think of what aspect of farming can be done during the time I’ve set my book. Some things are flexible as lambing and shearing is dependant on the farmers, so I have leeway with a few things. But I wouldn’t say its ever difficult, as there is always something to be done on a farm.

- I also noticed there seems to be a real sense of fraternity and friendliness between writers within the rural romance niche?

Definitely. Joining the Romance Writers of Australia is the best thing I ever did. I have met so many wonderful, kind and generous ladies and we all stay in contact. I chat quite frequently with Fleur McDonald and Margareta Osborn, and through the wonder of Facebook and Twitter I’m always chatting to many more. We are very supportive of each other, posting new books up and directing our fans to their new books, congratulating each other on our successes and milestones. It has been amazing to meet these women and watch them as their work gets published and riding the excitement with them. It’s like Karma, the more love you put out, the more you get back.

-It’s such a popular type of book at the moment, what do you do to make your own books stand out?

For me, I like to describe the country the best that I can. I want the reader to feel as if they are standing in a paddock watching the most amazing sunset, or smelling the wool in the shearing shed. I also want them to experience life in the country so all my details on farming are as realistic as I can make them. And I try to make my books as unputdownable as possible.

-Do you have any writing influences?

I would say no, as I began to write my story before I had even read a rural story. Hence why I began writing my own. It was after I finished my first book that I found Rachael Treasure and I was hooked. I could say the romance books I read when I was younger have influenced me in that I’m now addicted to that genre. I’ll read any genre, suspense, crime, paranormal etc as long as it has a romance thread through it. I just love a happy ending.

The Road Home is available now.

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Author Interview: Leigh Marsden
March 13th, 2012 by Lisa

How do you like your fiction? Extra racy? Then Leigh Marsden is the author for you.

While certainly adults only, Leigh’s books (Scarlet and new novel Crush) are also highly addictive and enjoyable reads. Leigh recently chatted with us about her new novel Crush, the joys of writing sex and scandal and the pain of wanting what you can’t have.

Tell us a little bit about your newest book, Crush.

Crush tells the story of three friends whose lives are all at a crossroads. First we meet Philippa, whose old crush has come back into town and thrown her relationship and priorities in life into question. Then there’s Gill, who’s trying to revive her failing marriage with one crazy sex escapade after another, when all she really wants is a baby. Finally there’s Sean, who is struggling with being gay in a small town.

It’s about wanting – something that is surely the biggest cause of unhappiness. Wanting something different or more than you have right now.

While there is still plenty of sex and intrigue, Crush also addresses domestic struggles such as rocky marriages and divided families. How did you reach a balance between the erotic and the everyday?

That balance is exactly what I try to achieve in my novels – a combination of the situations and issues people face every day and the wild and unexplored that goes on behind the scenes in people’s lives and in their minds. I think people primarily want a really good, dramatic story, so that is what I aim to write. Then with the sex I try to make sure there is enough to keep readers entertained, but not so much that they think “Oh no, not again” when a sex scene begins. It’s also very important that the sex contributes to the story – either in plot development or in helping us understand a character better. It’s not just people going around shagging randomly. There’s enough of that on the internet!

One of your characters, Sean, is a gay man dealing with a lot of small-town prejudice. It’s such a hot button issue at the moment, did you feel that it was especially important to get his story ‘right’?

My primary goal is to write a novel that engages and entertains. It’s great to include characters like Sean that are faced with current, topical issues because then the story feels more relevant, but it was not my specific intention to tap into a hot issue. I’m very much an organic writer – I just sit down, discover the characters as I go and let them do what they want to do!

Philippa has the best of intentions but she also makes plenty of mistakes. Do you ever find it hard to plunge your own protagonist into compromising situations, and do you feel that there is only so far you can go before readers become disenchanted?

It’s good to have characters that are flawed because people can relate to their struggles and I think as long as the character means well then readers are forgiving. Of course, there’s a limit. Readers have to be able to imagine that they too could potentially act that way in the same situation.

Reading the book, I got the feeling that though romantic relationships are important, what Gill, Sean, and Philippa really can’t live without is the friendship they share. Is this something you intended?

Definitely. When you’ve got good friends all other problems are surmountable. What’s interesting though is that although they have each other, what Gill, Sean and Philippa are all missing is that bond of friendship with their romantic partners.

There are plenty of sex scenes in your work- what response do you get from readers?

People generally know to expect something very spicy when they pick up Scarlet or Crush so they are open minded about it. Some people I know have read them specifically for the sex! I know that others have avoided them for the same reason, which is also fine. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea. The main feedback I get is mainly about the characters and the stories, and that the sex adds a nice bit of unexpected spice.

Crush is all about the danger or reward of character Philippa acting on a long held crush. Did you usually pursue those you had a crush on?

I say if you’re both single, why not?! I’m all for going after what you want. If you’re not single then things are more complicated - as Philippa finds out in the novel.

Crush is available now.

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The books you need to know about: March
March 5th, 2012 by Lisa

Summer, we hardly knew ye…

Welcome to March and the first days of Autumn. If you’re already yearning for the Summer months again, I can’t bring it back for you (who do you think I am anyway? Thor?) though I’ll comfort you as best I can with a round up of the biggest books for March. And the first is a real biggie.

Jodi Piccoult’s new novel Lone Wolf is available the 7th of March, very close to the American release date which is great news for fans in the southern hemisphere. Lone Wolf focuses on a fractured family who become further divided by the prospect of turning off life support for one of its members. With an emotional plot, ethical issues aplenty and a big twist, Lone Wolf delivers exactly what Piccoult fans are after.

Another big release from an author with a legion of fans is The Sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer. This is the hotly anticipated sequel to Only Time Will Tell, which continues the ambitious, multi-character Clifton saga.

With New Zealand Book Month underway, there are a bunch of local new releases to get excited about too. For those who like their fiction a little saucy, Leigh Marsden returns with the intriguing Crush. If you liked Marsden’s previous novel Scarlet, then Crush will not disappoint with sex and relationship dramas aplenty.

Another notable local fiction release is of course The Day She Cradled Me by Sacha De Bazin. Based on of the life of Minnie Dean, the baby farmer who was the only woman in New Zealand history to be hanged, this is an ambitious and memorable debut novel certainly deserving of a spot on your bookshelf.

One of the most popular books for March already is Big Fat Lies. It’s from David Gillespie, who made a name for himself with the super successful Sweet Poison series. In Big Fat Lies, Gillespie takes the lucrative fitness and health industries to task over their desire for profit over truth. There are a heap of ‘don’t eat this, don’t eat that’ books out there but Gillespie is a genuine advocate for good health and some of the information in this book is quite terrifying.

Having said that, beloved author Marian Keyes believes that dessert saved her life. Take that Gillespie! In all seriousness Saved by Cake is a touching food memoir where Keyes opens up about her struggles with depression and the realisation that ‘baking was what she needed to do in order to get her through each day’. The recipes are mouthwatering so maybe save the anti-sugar book for a few days later…

Still on the subject of memoirs, kiwi human rights lawyer Marianne Elliott has released Zen Under Fire, an account of her time in Afghanistan as part of the U.N. peace mission. I’m partway through and it’s a surprisingly forthright and thoroughly written book, highly recommended for anybody with an interest in foreign affairs. Be warned though, Elliott is such a natural overachiever that you may come down with a severe case of jealousy.

And finally comes a book which has been a real quiet achiever over the last month or so. It’s Wonder by R.J Pallacio and it continues this recent trend of young adult books being so damn good they’ll elicit a tear from the most jaded adult reader. In Wonder we follow a boy with severe facial disfigurement who is about to experience mainstream school for the first time. It’s clever, subtle and just a gem you really should take a chance on.

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Five Books for February
January 27th, 2012 by Lisa

The latter part of 2011 was crammed with so many big book releases that just to think of them was tiring. In early September my ‘to read’ books were stacked in a thick but reasonable pile; by December the ‘pile’ resembled a shoddily built skyscraper, enormous and keening this way and that at the slightest disturbance. There were simply too many books and not enough time. I sort of hoped that the first months of 2012 would afford me the chance to recover and make a significant dent in The Great Tower Of The Unread before Murakami and Eugenides in hardcover toppled onto my head one night while I was sleeping.

Fat chance. February will do nothing but set back my progress with a host of new releases I MUST have, major concussion be damned!

Anyway, here are five books for the coming month that I think you need to know about.

The Sea on our Skin by Madeleine Tobert

Set on a tiny island in the middle of the South Pacific, The Sea on our Skin is a haunting debut. Young Amalia embraces the boundaries of her isolated home, while Ioane has always strained against them. Despite such differences, they attempt to carve out a life together. The results will be tumultuous and sometimes painful, and will have far-reaching consequences. Some of the domestic challenges Tobert chronicles have been touched upon many times before but the unique location, and the rhythmic, deceivingly simple writing make this novel a must read.

A Crown Imperilled by Raymond E. Feist

Sometimes it seems like Feist has written more novels than I’ve had hot dinners. Despite this, his novels are generally of a very high quality. A Crown Imperilled is the second instalment in the three book Riftwar Saga and Feist uses the book to move all the key players into position for the final volume (due next year). It’s typically detailed stuff but like the best high fantasy, once you start reading it’s positively absorbing.

The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey

A big Australian release from the celebrated novelist. London museum curator Catherine’s secret lover dies and she has only her work to support her. Grieving in secret, she finds peculiar solace in what would be considered by others to be a box of antique spare parts. For Catherine however, the box signals a complex journey into the history of its creation, its maker and ultimately herself.  For those intimidated by the reputation of Mr Carey, this would be an excellent introductory work. It’s one of his most accessible works to date and modest in length, yet Carey still exercises his mighty literary power throughout, particularly his ability to give elegant voice to elusive emotions.

Birthdays for the Dead by Stuart Macbride

If being scared out of your pants is more to your liking, divisive Scottish crime writer Stuart MacBride is back with a standalone novel. The idea is intriguing- children are being kidnapped and the culprit sends a picture of them to their parents each year on the childs’ birthday. It’s classic MacBride- blackly funny, with well rounded characters and a gore factor turned to extreme. Seriously. Don’t read this a) before the lights go out or b) when you are eating. If you’re not too squeamish, however you should enjoy this novel, particularly the payoff at the end.

I’ve got your number by Sophie Kinsella

For a book low on murder and high on life you can’t go past the new Sophie Kinsella, author of the wildly successful Confessions of a Shopaholic series. In I’ve Got Your Number, Poppy Wyatt is engaged to the exotically named Magnus Tavish (a name which conjures images of blazers and hedge funds), but then the wildly different Sam Roxton accidentally comes into her life and hilarity ensues. This has the pert writing and agreeable plot to be expected from a top chick-lit author and really is perfect if you’re sitting by the pool sipping a mojito or two.

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My Favourite Books for 2011: Part 2
December 20th, 2011 by Lisa

Part 1 featuring the first five books in my list can be found here.

Open City by Teju Cole

Damn it, I thought recently, after finishing Open City. I said I wouldn’t declare any book to be the best of 2011! Yet Teju Cole’s momentous debut novel has sorely tempted me to break my own rule.

Open City follows half African doctor Julius through the streets of New York City. His random walks are a refreshing release from the rigours of his medical schedule. Like a series of diary entries he chronicles his daily experiences and the memories they trigger, whether it be his turbulent childhood in Nigeria, fractured relationships, or life as a medical student. Chance encounters affect him in small but important ways, as they do all of us. An inward looking soul, Julius meditates on the history of a city still gripped by recent tragedy and on the many tiny tragedies of modern life. Inexplicably, Julius’s experiences illuminate some of the most pressing social questions of the 21st century without feeling like commentary or lecturing. As such, Open City is not a book you can simply read; it must be considered. As the reader you must be willing to relinquish the traditional notion of a narrative that builds towards a climax and appreciate one that simply undulates. The writing is graceful and rythmic, singular in its ability to contain a world full of ideas within the seemingly mundane experiences of one curious man.

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J Watson

Every year dozens of books are advertised as ‘thrilling’ but in actuality will arouse ‘derision’ and nothing more. Before I Go to Sleep is one of the few to deliver. And it really delivers. This is even more impressive considering the difficulty of the central idea: Christine wakes each morning with no knowledge of who she is, spends a harrowing day piecing a sense of self together then goes to sleep, totally erasing the day before. It’s a miserable cycle, and Watson powerfully evokes the desperation, shame and loneliness threatening Christine’s brittle grip on sanity. It’s impossible to relax into Before I Go to Sleep; there is a constant sense of something unsettled. As Christine slowly claws back  memories, this feeling swells like a cancer into something truly sinister. With skilful pacing Watson urges us toward the panic filled finale, and treats us to a rare thing in literature: a fitting end.

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson

Jon Ronson is like that cool if not slightly neurotic teacher you had in high school, who caused you to think deeply but not realise it until afterward. In his typical meandering style, Ronson’s book starts with his hunt for a mysterious person sending riddles to academics all over the globe. This leads to a pressing fascination with the notion of the psychopath and he sets off on a journey into the world of mental health. From the famous quiz used to diagnose a psychopath, to the raging debate over treatments we are exposed to the limitations of the psychiatric industry. This is not to say The Psycho Path Test is a critique; far from it. Though this all sounds very dry Ronson is an affable narrator whose eye for quirk and for spinning a great sentence makes his work a treat to read. He regularly digresses into the stranger elements, including Scientology and its war on psychiatry, the man who thinks he is the Messiah, and one inmate who pretended to be a psychopath so convincingly that now he’s stuck in an institution. While The Psychopath Test makes some astute remarks about this industry, it never feels like hard work.

The Secret in their Eyes by Eduardo Sacheri

The Secret in Their Eyes follows Benjamin Chaparro, on the cusp of retirement after working in the courts of Buenos Aries for decades. Restless, he resolves to write a book about the only case that continues to haunt him: the murder of a beautiful young woman almost thirty years before. Through his recollections we journey back to a city on the brink of violent implosion. A sense of menace spreads steadily as Benjamin’s hunt for the killer also makes him a victim of the volatile political situation. However there are no gun fights or car chases to be seen here. This is a slow burn thriller that is as concerned with its quietly intelligent protagonist as it is the central murder mystery. Benjamin regularly reflects on dreams unfulfilled, a love never declared and a string of past mistakes. This beautiful reflection on the varying degrees of beauty, sorrow, regret and hope that make up one man’s life builds slowly but is well worth the effort.

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

An elegant novel revolving around the notion of redemption- how it is found, whether one can work to deserve it, or simply be beyond its reach. 18 year old Victoria is a distrustful and occasionally violent teenager scarred by a life in foster care. A void seems to hang where her future should be and only flowers hold appeal for her, particularly the old Victorian notion that different flowers hold vastly different meanings. This language of flowers is the only way Victoria can communicate meaningfully with those around her, and it becomes clear that they are key to releasing her from a life of loneliness and pain. In a year of novels with vast ideas there was a refreshing simplicity about this story of a damaged girl coaxed out into the world. Diffenbaugh has not compromised in her creation of the wonderful Victoria who feels startlingly authentic. Her experience is not a steady ascent to happiness as in a fairytale; Victoria is prickly, overly tough and constantly undermines her own progress, yet displays such vulnerability that we never stop cheering her on as she treads the uneasy road to salvation.

 

 

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My Favourite Books for 2011
December 15th, 2011 by Lisa

Ah, December. It’s the time of year when we look back as well as forward. It’s also the time of year when humanity’s strange proclivity towards list making finds an outlet and ‘best of’ lists start popping up everywhere: best movies, best albums, best political revolutions, etc. It really starts getting freaky when people on the Internet make a list of the best ‘best of’ lists.

The Guardian, Goodreads, The New York Times and more have released their ‘Best Books of 2011’ lists recently. After scanning their lists, I couldn’t help but reflect on the books I read this year and how I felt about them; as Salon’s Laura Miller noted in her roundup of 2011′s best fiction, ‘It was a particularly great year for fiction’. And I suddenly thought ‘Yes, Laura Miller, yes it has! I shall write a list of my own!’

However a love of reading combined with access to a book blog does not make me a critic. As such, I’m not calling this post ‘the best books of 2011’. Instead, this is a list of my favourite books for 2011. Not all of them were critical darlings but I adored them all for a variety of different reasons and derived such pleasure (or exquisite pain) from reading them.

The stringent process I used to decide my favourite books of 2011 consisted of staring out the window for a few days with a slightly glazed expression, trying to remember all the books I read and what I thought of them. I feel that this is similar to the Booker Prize judging and also perhaps what goes on in the United Nations.

Anyway. In no particular order, here are the first five entries in my list of Favourite Books for 2011. The remaining five will be posted tomorrow.

There Should be More Dancing by Rosalie Ham

The tale of elderly Margery Blandon, fending off her garish family and social services as they try and manoeuvre her into a nursing home, is one of the most underrated Australian novels of the year. Told in an unusual combination of first and third person, the humour feels so Australian in that way one can never put their finger on: understated with a faint trace of irony is the best way I can describe it. The characterisation is absolutely glorious, too. Margery knits obsessively, has a gigantic tote bag for all the knick knacks she seems to accumulate, and regularly polishes the framed picture of her beloved John Howard. There is also gentle sadness as Margery’s story as it illuminates the way the young and active steadily nudge the elderly to the margins of society. This is touched upon so expertly that it never makes the novel morose, just more thoughtful. This was such an unexpected and uniquely Australian story.

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

This is Alice Hoffman’s best novel yet, and an astonishing work of historical fiction. The Dovekeepers is set in the fortress of Masada, where 900 Jews heldout for months against an enormous Roman onslaught in 70 AD. We experience the siege through four women who have sought refuge in the fortress. They are bound together by their nurturing of doves, by the extreme tragedies that have stained each of their lives, and the further tragedies they know await them in Masada. The Dovekeepers is a rich, complex novel which achieves all it sets out to: the characters are finely etched, the prose is devastating, the voice of the each protagonist is distinct, and Hoffman’s attention to detail is staggering. Ancient jewish culture and the stark desert environment is vividly brought to life in this emotional and profoundly beautiful novel.

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Apart from the highly enjoyable cover art, I love Bossypants for two simple reasons: it’s very funny and very smart. It does cover some of the traditional memoir territory with childhood anecdotes and tales about life as a successful comedian and celebrity. This includes the reason executives were willing to take a chance on 30 Rock, which boils down to ‘Alec Baldwin’. Ultimately however, Fey whips through the bare facts of her life, instead choosing to linger on the experiences that she can wring the most humour from. Hence a decently sized passage about working at a YMCA, and the story of her near fatal honeymoon. Though this results in a memoir that is jagged in parts Fey’s self-deprecating, near manic style of humour rarely misses the mark. Most impressive is the searing intelligence on display when Bossypants tackles wider issues, like the difficulties of being a female in a male dominated industry. When an Internet commenter insists Tina Fey is ‘celebrated because she is a woman’ her response is utterly hilarious:

‘Huzzah for the Truth Teller! Women in this country have been over-celebrated for too long. Just last night there was a story on my local news about a ‘missing girl’ … and I thought, “What is this, the News for Chicks?”… We are a society that constantly celebrates no one but women and it must stop!’

The Night Circus has been a real breath of fresh air for the young adult genre in 2011 with no vampires, ghosts, werewolves or futuristic dystopias (yes that’s a thing) in sight. The mysterious Night Circus, and the two young lovers locked in its lethal magical game where only one can survive is a wonderfully original story. Morganstern exercises strict control over the complex structure of the novel, at the same time crafting a fascinating world of magic and a host of truly likeable characters. With a mid to late 19th century setting, the ‘old world’ dialogue is clunky at times but The Night Circus is imbued with such a sparkling, fairy tale like quality that I couldn’t help but be entranced by the charm and magic of its pages

On release Last Summer was compared to The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas, as it also uses multiple perspectives to track the fallout from a single, pivotal event. In this instance it’s the death of popular father and friend Rory. After reading Last Summer I found it a difficult comparison to justify, simply because Ladd has so much more compassion for her characters. Last Summer is a true exploration of  suburban life, casting no judgement and making no statements. Rory’s death steadily loosens the tenuous hold the various characters have over their unspoken desires, secrets and guilt. Though challenging in moments, it never feels deliberately provocative and the varying perspectives are woven together into one fine thread. Ladd’s writing is so balanced that we can never judge these characters too harshly, and the ending, while abrupt, fits perfectly.

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Guest Blogpost: John Flanagan
November 10th, 2011 by Lisa

Fresh from the phenomenal success of  The Ranger’s Apprentice, John Flanagan has just introduced a new series of books that are still set in the Ranger’s Apprentice world of Skandia. Brotherband: The Outcasts is the first instalment in the Brotherband series, following brave 16 year old Hal and his misfit companions as they take on new adventures. What I love about John’s writing is that it seems to be the  solution to the dilemma of just how you get boys reading. He recently told us more about what to expect from his new series:

‘Brotherband is a new series, set in the same world and time as The Ranger’s Apprentice series.

The central character is Hal, a 16 year old boy who is half Araluen, half Skandian. His mother was a former Araluen slave, set free by his father, a Skandian warrior who was killed on a raid when Hal was a baby. The series is set in Skandia, and Hal is continually troubled by the fact that his mixed parentage makes him an outcast. The Skandians don’t accept him as one of their own.

Left largely to his own devices, Hal develops his skills as an inventor, and designs a revolutionary new kind of sail, which will give wolfships far superior performance. The Skandians, however, are conservative and unwilling to change from the old ways. Hal completes the construction of his new ship just before he begins Brotherband training. Brotherbands are a Skandian concept in which teams of 8 to 10 boys are grouped together to train in seamanship, navigation, battle techniques and weapon craft. The Bands compete with each other throughout a three month period for the title of Brotherband of the Year. Naturally, Hal is grouped with the boys nobody wants. But his mismatched team use their strange abilities and skills to compete with the more traditional groups. And, of course, during the seamanship and navigation contests, they use his superior new ship to best advantage.

Hal’s constant companion is Thorn, a raffish old sea wolf who lost his right hand in an accident on board a ship. When he lost his hand, Thorn also lost the will to live. He turned to drink and would be found semi-conscious, sleeping in the snow, hoping to die. His affection for Hal and his admiration for his ingenuity, lead to Thorn’s rehabilitation. Thorn is a scruffy character, clad in patched and torn clothes. But he says now he’s much better than he used to be – these days he bathes once a month, whether he needs it or not.

Brotherband is full of the fast paced action, adventure and humour that have marked the RA series over the past seven years. If you like Rangers, you’ll like Brotherband.‘

John Flanagan’s bestselling Ranger’s Apprentice adventure series originally comprised twenty short stories, which John wrote to encourage his twelve-year-old son, Michael, to enjoy reading. The series has come a long way since then. Now sold to more than twenty countries, the series regularly appears on the New York Times Bestseller List and has been shortlisted for children’s book awards in Australia and overseas. John, a former television and advertising writer, lives with his wife, Leonie, in the Sydney beachside suburb of Manly. He is currently writing further titles in the exciting new Brotherband series.

Brotherband is available now.

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