I went to An Evening with David Sedaris to see and hear David Sedaris. I’m never sure what to expect at author evenings… do they read… what do they read… how do they incorporate questions… In this case, David read a few short stories, and included some new material, threw in a few choice diary [...]
Books
If you see me commuting by train this week – oh yes, I’m a train commuter now – you’ll spot me reading an ancient book my mother owned. Billabong’s Daughter by Mary Grant Bruce. I love the Billabong books but these days they are a bit politically incorrect. Make that very non PC and I [...]
Last weekend I spent a quite a bit of time at the Perth Writers Festival. I got to host a couple of children’s/young adult sessions which are my faves because a) the books are short and I can read them quickly – especially the picture books and b) I love teenage fiction. This year I [...]
My girl reads a lot of fiction but not books. She reads fan fiction. Fiction written by fans of an author using the author’s world, and the author’s characters. In Dippity’s case it’s Harry Potter and Avatar and there is a lot of it. Fan fiction is not a new thing and I suspect some [...]
I first heard about Peter Temple on Matilda and then while I was frantically searching for something to read on the plane to Broome, my colleague mentioned him too. So I picked up The Broken Shore and started reading it on the plane. The story is of a broken cop, “retired” in the town he [...]
In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is ugly. Scott Westerfeld‘s trilogy is made up of “Uglies”, “Pretties” and “Specials”. In this future world everyone has an operation at the age of 16 and is turned into a “pretty”. You get a perfect body, a super-immune system, perfect vision etc and you get to [...]
The Declaration by Gemma Malley. I was attracted to this novel for teenagers when browsing the shelves for a new author for my kids. I love young adult/teenage fiction and at my son’s age would have devoured this book just as I did yesterday while getting my hair done. It’s set in the future – [...]
I found this list on Sheep’s Clothing and thought I’d have a go – you might like to as well. These are the top 106 books most often marked as “unread†by LibraryThing‘s users. Bold what you have read, italicise that you started but couldn’t finish, and strike through what you couldn’t stand. Add an [...]
Look this is a light mystery romance set in gritty downtown Melbourne. The heroine is an overweight – some might prefer – curvy – baker, who is drawn into two mysteries… one within the apartment block in which she resides and another on the streets of Melbourne. The romance comes in with the tall, dark [...]
