Natasha

Tim Winton is a beloved Australian author. I have only read one other novel by him (Breath), and I can certainly see a pattern emerging.

He writes about life in Australia. It's gritty. It's real. You can actually feel yourself immersed in the culture and people of another time and another place (for those of us who did not grow up in Australia). There is no ‘rose-tinted' filter to his stories, yet I did get a sense of some nostalgia and some regret.

The Turning is a collection of short stories all centring around a small fictional town in Western Australia. The stories are all mostly vaguely connected and work well as a novel, but could also be stand-alone as well. He tells the tale of the people of Angelus focusing on one character in particular – Victor Lang. I think Victor featured in nine of the seventeen stories. He is a damaged man trapped in his adolescent past – and Winton allows us to witness some very important moments in his life through the eyes of his mother, his father, his wife, even a girl who has a crush on him in school.

Along with Vic there are some other very memorable characters: An abused woman who develops and interest in the Christian couple who recently moved into the neighbourhood; a strange relationship between the school bad boy and the smart yet ostracised girl; and a girl with a strawberry scar.

It was a good read. Fans of Tim Winton will love it. The Turning was originally published in 2005 and has won numerous Australian Literary awards. In 2013 it was made into a movie starring Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Hugo Weaving and a host of other acclaimed Auzzie actors.

So why only 3.5 stars? As well written and poignant as this book is, I don't think it is one I will be tempted to read again. Having said that, I think I will undoubtedly read more of Winton's work.

This is not a novel to read if you desire a complex plot, however if (like me) you delight in absurdly hilarious characters, then do spend a night or two with Ms Mitford. Although Polly (and even to some extent Fanny) seem quite vacuous, most of the other characters are wonderful. I love Davey, uncle Matthew, Lady Montdore and Cedric (naturally). Bravo!

I always enjoy a good Shakespearean tragedy and in this book Wroblewski delivers Hamlet for the twenty first century.

While I enjoyed this aspect of the book, I found the beginning especially to be rather long-winded and all the descriptions of dog-training a little unnecessary.

However, being a dog-lover, I enjoyed Almondine's narrative -it was beautifully written and quite unconventional.

As the title suggests, this novel consists of a collection of letters all dealing with some kind of loss. There are three main couples involved: In Cork (1969), a Russian painter and his novelist wife who must come to grips with a terminal illness; Perth in 2011 where a bookstore owner writes to her estranged partner trying to fathom what went wrong with their relationship; and Bournemouth in 1948 where a retired doctor writes to his partner who never made it through the war.

These three couples are all vaguely connected through art, war and parallel imagery. I found this to be quite a clever literary tool. It makes lives that seem so random suddenly seem part of some grand plan. All couples have memories involving the artist or artwork of Paul Klee. I also found the imagery of diving and of watches (time) to be quite effective.

Dreams are also of a great importance in the novel and are described vividly. I suppose when love is lost; dreams are sometimes all you have left.

The novel is beautifully written. It is soulful and sorrowful. As a reader you can feel the yearning in Walker's words; the heartbreak over lost love. There is not really any plot at all – these are simply a collection of love letters. So I don't think this will appeal to the general reading public.

One aspect I didn't really enjoy was the graphic sex scene. Please let me state that I am by no means a prude, I appreciate that sometimes to go into great detail about lovemaking is necessary. It just seemed so out of place in this novel. There are these beautiful and lyrical descriptions of love then all of a sudden BANG! (excuse the pun) and we are into 50 Shades of Grey. I just didn't think it fitted into the novel's gentle themes.

Overall a beautifully written novel without much of a storyline.

This story had so much potential. I loved the idea of Jesus intervening in the lives of mortals. But in the end I was disappointed. The thing is, I can't say exactly why I was disappointed. The book is very well written and, at times, wickedly funny, but the story just didn't resonate with me.

I loved the exchanges between God and Jesus; a troubled Father / Son relationship. However the majority of the novel involved JFK and Castro, so it was a long wait between the clever and humorous dialogue.

I found it a chore to get through, and no book should be that. Having said that, I understand that this is a political satire and I may not be in the correct target audience (a sleep deprived new mother may not have the required concentration and patience).

An interesting and magical glimpse into circus life. I loved the ending and really enjoyed ‘old Jacob'. The character of Marlena, however, I felt never truly developed. She remained, in my mind, a whimsical Marilyn Monroe figure. I also deplored the abuse of the animals (which I know was kind of the point). A good read, now, off to see the movie....

After reading this novel the first thought that came to my mind was a quote from Hamlet: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”. Only with A Serpentine Affair, something is rotten in Hyde Park!

The story follows seven university friends over a period of 25 years. Since graduating, they try to meet up once a year for a reunion. This year they are having a picnic in Hyde Park. Seven women arrive at the picnic, but only six will leave.

This is no happy reunion. Each woman seems to have a secret, and after a few too many bottles of white wine, the allegations and confessions fly. But could one of these secrets be enough to destroy a friendship of 25 years? And could it be a motive for murder?

I found this to be a compelling read. After the initial confusion (very short-lived) of who was who, I felt like I had to discover all their secrets. I felt like a voyeur on a reality television series – watching a train wreck unfold but not being able to look away. And Seskis sure knows how to deliver on the drama. Revelation follows revelation and you never quite know when it will stop.

But don't expect to love the characters. They are awful (with a few exceptions of course). These are bitter, angry and resentful women with so much baggage they may as well own a Louis Vuitton store. Their marriages are mostly unhappy, with the exception of Camilla and probably Sissy, though she has her fair share of tragedy.

I view this novel as an examination of strained relationships. How our connection (or lack thereof) to other people define us. While outwardly successful, these women fail in their roles as wives, mothers, daughters and friends.

The story is told from various points of view and can be a little difficult to follow at first, but you soon learn to compartmentalize each individual character (I found myself imagining my own university friends, although thankfully, none of them are as malicious and damaged as these women yet!). One criticism is that all the different voices sometimes confuse the story (especially in part 3 where extremely peripheral characters narrate a chapter each).

Overall a very entertaining read that appealed to the drama queen in me, and clearly illustrates the old adage: with friends like these, who needs enemies!

Thank you Netgalley and Kirk Parolles for providing me with a copy of this novel for review. A Serpentine Affair was released on 2nd August 2013

I don't usually review children's books, but when I read the premise of Twerp I decided to break the rules.

The story is told from the perspective of Julian Twerski, a twelve-year-old boy living in New York in 1969. After an undisclosed incident involving another boy named Danley Dimmel, Julian is suspended from school and asked by his English teacher to write about the events leading up to this incident. What follows is a humorous, honest and touching account of a sixth grade boy trying to get to grips with that awkward space between childhood and adulthood.

I absolutely loved reading Twerp. I am a thirty something mother who grew up in South Africa, but when I read Twerp I was a twelve year old from Queens in the 60's. Julian's voice seemed so authentic I had to remind myself it was written by a New York Times columnist in his fifties.

The thing I probably liked most about this book is all the positive messages it sends to the kids who will read it. It teaches tolerance and has very strong anti-bullying messages without being preachy. The characters are flawed; they make mistakes, but in the end they own up to these mistakes and accept the consequences of their actions. A lot of adults could learn from this book.

Twerp covers an array of pre-teen experiences and emotions. From first love to first betrayal. But the main emphasis always is on friendship and loyalty. It is a warm and funny read, bursting with pre-adolescent mischief but remains innocent at heart. I hope my son will read this book one day.

Kids will love the antics of the characters so much they won't even realize they are being taught valuable moral lessons. Well done Mark Goldblatt!

What a strange strange novel. I find it difficult to believe that this is a Booker Prize winner (I hold this prize in very high esteem, but I am afraid this time it let me down). I found the narrator's preoccupation with sex (especially her own family's) and genitals rather disturbing. Almost the entire first half of the novel involves her imagining how her grandparents met and did or didn't shag! And if that isn't enough, at one point she thinks about her dead baby brother and imagines how he is having little cherub sex in heaven - umm, icky!

Occasionally there is a glimpse at the kind of book this could have been (and I suppose why it won the booker prize), when Enright delivers the most beautiful and powerful prose. However, this is few and far between. As for the plot, well, it is nothing new. Why would a man grow up to be a damaged alcoholic? Take a guess and you will probably be right.

Never judge a book by its cover. We all know the idiom well. However, I am afraid, that on this occasion I did judge the book by its cover. A beautiful and interesting image and a title that really appealed to me: The Book of Someday. How much possibility lay in that title, yet how disappointed I was with just about everything else.

There are three narrators in this story. First there is Livvi; an introverted writer who comes from an abusive background. Next, Micah; a world famous and renowned photographer who finds out she has breast cancer, and finally, AnnaLee, a Long Island housewife who is slowly selling off family heirlooms to help support her family because her husband can't hold down a job.

I have read reviews describing The Book of Someday as ‘intriguing' and ‘fascinating', but I felt it was predictable and rather unoriginal. The mystery of the story is supposed to be that there is a connection between these women. However, I figured it out rather early on in the book. The only reason I kept reading (and the only reason this has an extra star) is not that I wanted to find out WHAT happened, but to find out HOW it happened.

Livvi drove me nuts with her neediness (and I realise she was damaged and abandoned, but so were a lot of great characters in literature.) She also develops an unhealthy obsession with basically the first child she meets.

The saga felt rather overdone and melodramatic. It could fit right in with Days of Our Lives. Dixon's methods of concealing ‘the truth' also grew a little tiresome as the story progressed SPOILER! (was nobody known by their birth name in 1986?)

There was nothing particularly clever about the writing either. There was no turn of phrase that took my breath away. Nothing I wanted to add as a quote. When I read a novel I want the author to wow me; to make me see and experience the world they created, to love or loathe the characters, but Dixon left me feeling indifferent.

I am sure some people will really like this book. Just like some people (a lot in fact) like Danielle Steel. And there is nothing wrong with that. It just wasn't for me.

I think I set myself up for a bit of a disappointment with this one. I LOVED the first two BJ books, they were some of the only books I re-read every now and then, so I expected a lot from Mad About the Boy.

I don't think I can ever really forgive Helen Fielding for killing off Mark Darcy . I don't think it was necessary. However, it was fun getting to know Bridget as a mother and ‘cougar' in her fifties. In some ways she was the old Bridget, but I don't think the book reads like the ‘old Fielding.' Some parts were just overly sentimental (esp bit at the end about the Owl) and the romance at the end of the book seemed a bit rushed (although I knew where it was going from the beginning)

Overall, I really enjoyed it - It made me laugh out loud a couple of times - but it won't be placed on the pedestal with BJ 1 and 2.

When I began reading this book the characters disgusted me. The world McGregor portrays is so foreign and sinister to what I am used to (thank goodness I suppose) that I found it quite unsettling reading. It is a world of drug users, alcoholics and delinquents; where the most urgent and important need is to make enough money for the next score. By the end of the novel, i can't say i liked any of the characters, but they became more human. I pitied them. I hoped for something positive amongst the ashes and squalor.

I found it to be a rather cautionary tale; nothing good comes from this lifestyle, and most of the characters come to a rather gristly end. Yet it gives the addicts; the homeless; the forgotten people in society a face and a voice - even if what that voice says is something that makes us uncomfortable, and we would rather be deaf to it.

Well written and thought provoking.

Occasionally I caught glimpses of the genius and magic of the author of Midnight's Children - and it gave me chills. I sometimes felt, however, that there was a lot of unnecessary philosophy for the sake of sounding profound - a kind of ‘academic wanking' of sorts. Rushdie is most profound when he doesn't try to be.

Winner of the 2014 Miles Franklin Literary Award

This is a mystery, but not that fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller type. All the birds, singing is more a gradual revelation, but leaves you just as hungry for answers as the classic ‘who-dunnits”.

I don't really believe in re-writing the entire synopsis of a novel for a review, but I will give a quick run-through for context. Jake Whyte lives an isolated life on a sheep farm on an unnamed British Island. Recently, something or someone has been mutilating and killing her sheep. There are two mysteries for the reader to solve. Firstly: what kind of animal or person could harm her flock in such a horrid way? Secondly: What drove Jake from her home and family in Australia and why does she choose to live in such seclusion?

These unanswered questions kept me hooked. The answers are slowly revealed in alternating chapters. One: in the present in England, then the next concerns her past in Australia. The way her past is exposed seems to confuse some people (according to Goodreads reviews) but it didn't take me very long to figure out that (and I don't think this is a spoiler – but if you are sensitive to this kind of thing skip the rest of the paragraph) her story is told in reverse. I really enjoyed this literary device because once you received an answer to one question the next raised its intriguing head. Great stuff!

Evie Wyld is a very gifted writer (clearly illustrated by the awards and nominations she has received for her work). She is probably a little too good in this novel actually: her descriptions on life in Australia makes it sound awful – a dry, dead country teeming with flies and dodgy men. (I live here tourists, believe me, it is not).

There are a few dark seedy bits, a touch of lust and some undesirable characters – all makes for a rather enjoyable read.

3.5 Stars

Shelley Parker has a gift. She is able to see people after they crossover into the next life. She lives with her mother and brother on Black Mountain in North Carolina in the 1930's and they work for the malevolent Rev. Dobbins and his family. Shelley has never liked Faith Dobbins, the Reverend's daughter. But after a persistent spirit in a yellow dress asks Shelley to ‘finish her story', she realizes she may have more in common with Faith then she realises.

The Storycatcher is a dark, brooding tale of the search for truth and justice in politically unjust times, and to uncover a family secret that links all the characters together.

Ann Hite writes simply, yet eloquently and creates a realistic voice for her characters. At first I found it quite difficult trying to keep up the all the different narrative voices. I found myself flicking back to the beginning trying to find out how they were all connected. But as I continued through the book I realised this was unnecessary; Hite explains all eventually.

The Storycatcher is a female dominated story. The women are strong, although it takes time for them to stand up to the Pastor. Most of the men (with the exception of Will) are mean and tyrannical, or play minor roles.

My biggest quarrel with the book is that too many characters had ‘special gifts'. And if everyone has one (sight, spells, clairvoyance, ability to predict the future) then the gift doesn't seem so special anymore. There were also, in my opinion, way too many ghosts. There only needs to be one or two mysterious ones to have me hooked.

Hite, very successfully, creates a sense of time and place. The language and the descriptions transport you to the Depression-era South. Her story is very ‘visual'; you can picture the mysterious Black Mountain and the spooky cemetery.

The Storycatcher is a hauntingly beautiful tale and worth a read if you like a bit of the supernatural with your historical fiction.