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You choose the winner! The Inky Awards are for the best new young adult books, as voted for by teen readers.
The Inky Awards shortlist has just been announced, and itās full of cracker YA books from Australia (Gold) and beyond (Silver). If I was still a teen (sob) Iād be voting for Iāll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson and The Flywheel by Erin Gough. But then again, so many of the others are brilliant too!Ā
If you ARE a teen, get voting! Someone is going to win all 20 longlisted books which is a killer prize to say the least.
What Iām Reading: Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo
This is by far the best childrenās book I have read this year, and certainly one of the (if not THE) sweetest books of all time. I am so in love. It tells the heartwarming tale of little Raymie Clarke in 1970s summertime Florida, and although it isĀ āmiddle grade fictionā it definitely doesnāt shy away from some darker topics, and would appeal to all audiences big and small. It is whimsical, but not in a fluffy nonsensical way, and so full of feeling. I cannot recommend it enough.Ā Also, the beautiful cover art by Lucy DaveyĀ makes me smile every time I pull it from my bag.
Iām going to give this five bright, glowing stars before Iāve even finished it.
I recently read two very good, verrry strange graphic novels:
Sandcastle by Frederik Peeters & Pierre Oscar LevyĀ
and Safari Honeymoon by Jesse Jacobs.
Both have someĀ āmatureā themes so I recommend them with caution, but seriously, these were so wacky that I canāt stop thinking about them. In a good way! Both of them are sci-fi, but Sandcastle is a lot darker (and more real? in a way) while Safari HoneymoonĀ is more cartoon-y and just full blown kooky. Lots of unanswered questions in both books (which a lot of people would get pissy about) but for me this just added to their appeal. And incredible illustrations, I was in awe. 5 stars to both!
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I have to admit, I have read (and abandoned) a lot of rubbish so far this year! I donāt know what it is... but I just keep picking up the wrong books. Maybe I am trying too hard. Regardless, and in the spirit of focussing on the positive stuff, here are the best books I have read in 2016 (all 68 days of it):
Adult Fiction
Crazy Rich Asians and China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan (the first books I read this year... and still the best!)
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
If She Did It by Jessica Treadway
What Was Mine by Helen Klein Ross
Bright Stars by Sophie Duffy
Young Adult Fiction
Summer Skin by Kirsty Eagar
My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier
Wildlife by Fiona Wood
UnbecomingĀ by Jenny Downham
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Short Stories
A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin
Barbara The Slut and Other People by Lauren Holmes
Graphic Novels
NimonaĀ by Noelle Stevenson
And nicely coincidental given today is International Womenās Day... 12/14 of these books were written by women! Girl power! Woo!
Since posting my Best Books of 2015 a few weeks ago, Iāve been hitting my summer reading pile, and have discovered some extra goodies I really want to share! In particular, Iād like to add these two brilliant (and very different!) novels to my favourite reads for the year.Ā
The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan (the fug girls): a must-read for all monarchists, or just those looking for a wickedly funny, light and intriguing beach read. The Royal We is different to everything Iāve read this year, and completely enjoyable.
The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North: something a bit deeper, but equally as engrossing and so totally on point, full of incredibly powerful lines that made me want to read them over and over again. I canāt stop thinking about this beautiful novel, and the enigmatic Sophie Stark.
Hello all! It has been a very long time since I have posted on here... but I thought I might just share my BEST BOOKS OF 2015! I know itās a little early... but perhaps this list might help with your Christmas shopping and/or summer reading. Please please message me if youād like to chat more about any of these books, or would like any recommendations for yourself or a friend.
So! My top books overall in 2015 are...
Young Adult
I Crawl Through It by A.S. King
One by Sarah Crossan
Inbetween Days by Vikki Wakefield
Monsters by Emerald Fennell
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
The Thing about Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin
Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead
Frankie and Joely by Nova Weetman
The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle
We Are All Made of Molecules by Susan Neilson
Birdy by Jess Vallance
Firecracker by David Iserson
Lobsters by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison
A Small Madness by Dianne Touchell
Iāll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
Nona & Me by Clare Atkins
Becoming Kirrali Lewis by Jane Harrison
Only Ever Yours by Louise OāNeill
Short Stories
Hot Little Hands by Abigail Ulman
When thereās No Where Else to Run by Murray Middleton
Single, Carefree, Mellow by Katherine Heiny
Six Bedroom by Teagan Bennett Daylight
Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke
Heat and Light by Ellen van Neerven
Non Fiction
Why Not Me? By Mindy Kaling
Bad Behaviour by Rebecca Starford
Good Muslim Boy by Osama Sami
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
Fallen by Rochelle Siemienowicz
The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff
Graphic Novels
This One Summer by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki
Everything is Teeth by Evie Wyld
Fiction
Days of Awe by Lauren Fox
Funny Girl by Nick Hornby
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. by Adelle Waldman
The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
Dietland by Sarai Walker
Relativity by Antonia Hayes
The Other Side of the World by Stephanie Bishop
The First Bad Man by Miranda July
Mothers and Daughters by Kylie Ladd
In The Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
Leap by Myfanwy Jones
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
Whereād You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Aquarium by David Vann
The Book of Strange New Things by Michael Faber
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Strays by Emily Bitto
And then to narrow it down a little further, my top 20 books of 2015 are (in no particular order)...
One by Sarah Crossan
Monsters by Emerald Fennell
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead
Firecracker by David Iserson
A Small Madness by Dianne Touchell
Only Ever Yours by Louise OāNeill
Hot Little Hands by Abigail Ulman
Single, Carefree, Mellow by Katherine Heiny
Bad Behaviour by Rebecca Starford
Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
This One Summer by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki
Days of Awe by Lauren Fox
Dietland by Sarai Walker
The First Bad Man by Miranda July
In The Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
Whereād You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Aquarium by David Vann
The Strays by Emily Bitto
Oh and hey, I might as well make the heartbreaking decision to give a handful of favourites, and so, my absolute must-reads in each of those above categories would be...
Young Adult: One by Sarah Crossan
Short stories: Hot Little Hands by Abigail Ulman
Non Fiction: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty
Graphic Novels: This One Summer by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki
Fiction: Dietland by Sarai Walker
Happy Holidays everyone! Iāll post my summer reading list on here a bit closer to the end of the year... xxx
What were you like at 25? What would you tell your "quarter-life crisis" self to stop worrying about?
At 25 I was a mess! Ā Sick all the time. Ā Not happy though I wouldnāt admit it. Ā Married with two babies. Ā I needed creative work. Ā Soon after I found it and with that my life changed. Ā And here I am 52 years later ā happy, fulfilled ā so donāt ever give up!
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Hello everyone! Just a quick post today to show you what I plan to read these holidays (next week!) I have quite a lot on: my folks are visiting and itās my birthday (!!!!) but I have about 5 completely free days where I plan to read (hopefully in the sunshine) all day long.
Around the turn of the millennium, the ābe yourselfā message was popping up everywhere. Soda companies wanted me to be myself while sipping a refreshing can of Dr. Pepper. Old Navy wanted me to be myself while wearing a pair of khakis and a messenger bag. It was a pretty hollow message that basically said, be yourself, as long as āyourselfā is cool. Be yourself, but donāt be weird. And definitely donāt be queer. Be yourself, not a freak!
My book Honor Girl is about an all-girls camp I went to every year. The camp was 100 years old, deep in the South, and more or less untouched by time. The summer I was fifteen, I got slammed with unexpected, intense feelings for an older female counselor. A lot of the story is about me trying to negotiate the awkwardness of those feelings in a setting where the ābe yourselfā message ā even the lightweight Dr. Pepper version ā hadnāt really hit yet.
There was a powerful sense of sisterhood ā weād all been going to this camp together for years ā but the price of entry was an unspoken agreement to all be the same as one another. And what you find is that itās easy to love and support people who are pretty much the same as you. That kind of love isnāt real ā itās not nourishing your soul or making society better. Itās not inclusive or challenging.
So when it started to come out that I was actually in love with this girl, it was interesting to see who was up for the challenge of helping me ā of actually being a friend ā and who wasnāt. Which isnāt to say that Iām condemning the people who didnāt step up ā it was the ādonāt ask donāt tellā era, and the messages from society were confusing. It was a very nebulous time to be LGTBQ. I never got beat up or was particularly bullied; the reactions were much more passive-aggressive, and therefore harder to point out and say, āHey, youāre not accepting me!!!!ā I could just feel that a wall had gone up.
I think that today, ābe yourselfā is still a pretty commercialized concept, and an over-simplified one, but I hope it means a little more than it used to.
I just finished reading Honor Girl by Maggie Thrash and WOW, this is one of the best coming-of-age graphic memoirs I have ever read. Powerful stuff, filled with lovely bits, but also some darker and harder themes that were wickedly illustrated and totally awe-inspiring. I want more. Maggie Thrash is amazing!
Firstly thank you for reading my blog, and writing me questions or commenting on things, or reblogging my posts. You are all amazing! This has been such a fun and inspiring side project for me for the past few months.
However I have a (little) bit of bad news... Iām going to scale down my reviews/writing on this blog. As much as I love writing about the books Iām reading, at the moment Iām trying to do some writing myself, and this blog is the PERFECT procrastination station for me not to work on my own short stories or potentially something longer...
So, Iāll still be updating my Goodreads ratings, and probably reading just as much as ever, AND I might even post the odd thing on here, but for the next few months Iām really going to focus on my fiction writing, and try to bang out some great stuff. Wish me luck!
Karys x
PS. Feel free to still contact me with book suggestions/requests for recommendations because that is what I live for.
Itās raining, itās Thursday (hurry the heck up Friday) and I miss my cat. Iām going to answer these questions to get me in a better mood... whatās better that chatting (writing?) about the books you read and love!?
1. I got into reading because I grew up in a small, small town (so it was a good way to pass the time) which also happened to have the most brilliant library and librarian on the planet.Ā
2. My first favourite book would have to be anything from the GoosebumpsĀ or The Baby Sittersā Club series. I was properly addicted.
3. My current favourite book is Single, Carefree, Mellow by Katherine Heiny which I devoured this week, and canāt stop thinking about.
4. My favourite book of all time in Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides, followed closely by The Handmaidās Tale, High Fidelity and Forever.
5. One book I felt really disappointed by was Why We Broke Up - such a brilliant premise, but it just didnāt live up to ANY of my expectations.
6. Anything in the YA readership... I think Iāll be reading YA until Iām a hundred years old.
7. Anything that captures romance in a truly genuine, realistic way.
8. Not really! I do have a bit of a love/hate relationship with David Levithan books though.
9. A bazillion, but right now I am particularly in awe of all the newest debut Australian LADY authors that are killing it: Abigail Ulman, Eliza Henry-Jones, Emily Bitto, Rochelle Siemienowicz, Ellen van Neerven... and so many more!
10. Iām sorry, but I just could not stand Paper Towns or Me, Earl and the Dying Girl. I have higher hopes for the movie versions!
11. At the moment, Iām on about 20-25 a month, close to one a day!
12. Iāll be happy if I reach 250 this year.
13. Take a break from reading! When Iām not feeling it, itās best not to push it.
14. Only a handful.
15. YA and Romance... or both of those at the same time.
16. Historical Fiction
17. Just one big one in the living room. Itās divided into my books, and my boyfriendās books. Even though Iām a librarian, theyāre not in any order!
18. At home at the moment, maybe 100? But if I include all the ones at my parents house, maybe 250 all up? I have bought thousands in my lifetime, but often donate them or give them away as gifts/loan them out and donāt ask for them back. Iām not very precious about books. And now that I work at a library, I borrow WAY more than I buy.
19. I used to go to the UWA Book Sale every year, which is $10 to fill a box of books. One year I spent $100 and had to get a trolley to bring all the books home.
20. I try to limit myself to 4 a month.
21. Itās currently at 200 but I need to bump it up because Iām nearly there!
22. I usually dislike series, but I just could not put down the Burn for Burn series by Jenny Han & Siobhan Vivian.
23. The Matched series by Ally Condie
24. Harry Potter (although itās in storage at my folks house)
25. Iām not home so I cannot do this! Iāll update later...
26. Too many to remember! BUT more recently, I have admired this one:Ā āIf you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing.ā (The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie)
27. The Lisbon sisters, always.
28. I love Caitlin Moran, but gee whiz I dislike her characters (which is weird because theyāre semi-autobiographical...) and also as much as I worship Jenny Han, I could never get on board with Belly.
29. 160
30. 28
31. Not really! Is that terrible to admit?
32. Nope!Ā
33. Yes, most definitely.
34. 100%, love it! #WeNeedDiverseBooks
35. Not so much, only every now and then.
36. Yes, I do! Especially really contemporary stuff.
37. Just my dad - my mum & sister are not big readers at all.
38. A few, but not many.
39. Yes! Although growing up my dad used to tell me to put down my book and look out the window every now and then.
40. It would have to be The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
41. I love Anne Hathaway butĀ One Day was a hot mess.
42. Eleanor & Park forever.
43. Nope! But Iām not psychotically against them or anything, I just prefer the real thing. If you wanna read them, thatās cool.
44. Nope!
45. I like a combo of both. Paperbacks that fit into my purse are a bonus, but sometimes a good hardback is a pleasure to read.
46. Yes, the one I work in!
47. I am a wannabe author.
48. Yes, sort of!
49. Donāt I know it... (yeah so, no)
50. Oh god, so many. Too many! My boyfriend gets cross when he finds me reading sad books because he doesnāt like to see me upset. But yes, all the deaths and lost loves in fictional worlds just kill me.
51. A few, but two weeks ago The Accident Season had me looking under my bed before sleeping.
52. Thommo and Mackās mum in Frankie and Joely - motherly, loving, and cooks a great roast potato.
53. Stewartās dad in We Are All Made of Molecules - quiet, a bit kooky and totally accepting.
54. Any of the Melina Marchetta love interests- smart, funny, loves his nonna, and is my high school sweetheart.
55. I won a prize once in high school for writing a 70 word story! It was a life highlight. Also I won the chance to get my blog published into a book.
56. Absolutely not.
57. Well Iāve always wanted to be a librarian, and now I am one! But I would also quite like to do this job.
58. Other than books, not really! But I do fit all the reader/librarian stereotypes: I have a cat, wear glasses and drink endless cups of tea.
59. YES. PLS BUY THEM FOR ME.
60. Yes, I am a terrifically fast reader.
61. Definitely not, unless I hate something, and then I would just give up anyway. Thereās not enough time to read bad books.
62. I try so hard! And I usually fail!
63. Itās what Iām known for. I hardly ever buy gifts that ARENāT books.
64. The library, from friends, Booktopia and Readings online.
65. Of course, for everything I read. I have a favourite one but itās getting a little haggard so it might be time for something new.
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Thereās something in the water in Oz this year, because far out, there is just so much brilliant YA coming out of my lovely home country. Green Valentine is yet another killer novel that ticks all the right YA romance boxes, but it stands out for me because it doesnāt conform to any of the crappy genre tropes. Itās whip-smart and very funny, she-said (rather than the tired format where everyoneās POVs are on display) and unpredictable. I actually had a young girl ask me for āan intelligent YA romance that isnāt like anything Iāve read beforeā this morning, and she happily skipped off with a copy of Lili Wilkinsonās latest in her hands. And that says it all, really: this is a book that rises above so many because it isnāt dumbed-down or stereotypical in the slightest.
In saying all that, the premise does sound a little cliched. Unpopular boy meets popular girl, love blossoms, love derails. Itās all the inbetween bits of this story that will get you. Like the fact that the mistaken identity is solved early, not built upon until a predictable climax. And there's a nice little social message intertwined as well, which isnāt thrown in your face, but does get you thinking.
The first half of this book won me right away, and I couldnāt put it down. I did get slightly lost in the āderailmentā chapters, only because Astrid started to bug me a little bit. But, what are the best characters if not flawed!? By the end I was back on board, and rooting for Astrid and Hiro all the way.
I think young adults (and probably some adultsā¦) will fall in love with the characters, and enjoy this read immensely. Green Valentine is a feel-good, passionate and very contemporary book that will make you laugh. It also has one of the best book covers of the year! Highly recommended, four stars.
What Iām Reading: Single, Carefree, Mellow by Katherine Heiny
I am only a few stories into this collection, and I already feel like there is no way I will be giving Katherine Heiny any less than five stars for her effort. The first three stories (āThe Dive barā, āHow To Give The Wrong Impressionā and āSingle, Carefree, Mellowā) and the best short stories I think I have ever read, and the title story felt almost life-changing. Wow.
This is the kind of book where I involuntarily make noises and canāt help gushing out loud during reading. It is evoking a serious, audible reaction from me. All of the tales are about women in various states of love and relationships (and so far none of them are single...): unrequited, long-term, other woman, online, and platonic but wanting more. They are darkly funny and incredibly intuitive. Iāve read sentences and paragraphs that so perfectly sum up feelings I did not know how to describe. Iām in awe!
If any of these short stories were extended into novels, Iād happily read the whole thing. The characters in particular are so full of brilliant nuances and personality quirks (many of them highly unlikeable... in the best way possible) that I canāt help but imagine their lives away from the handful of pages they feature on.
I never say stuff like this, but seriously, if you read Single, Carefree, Mellow and donāt like it, we probably canāt be friends.
(sidenote: I also just read this NY Times profile of Katherine Heiny and now I like her even more)
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