Book Review: Bereft by Chris Womersley

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Sep 212010
 
Book Review: Bereft by Chris Womersley

Bereft by Chris Womersley, Scribe, RRP $32.95, ISBN 978-1-921640-60-5, Available now. The back cover of Bereft promises that it is a “searing gothic novel of love, longing and justice.” It doesn’t disappoint. Bereft is as gothic  as you can get without black eyeliner. All the gothic elements are there: a small town, a little girl who may or may not be a witch, and a murder. The prodigal son returns after the Great War to find a flu epidemic, and rumours that the world is ending. To give you an idea of the darkness within this book, Bereft is used by one character to describe a terrible state of aloneness. “Widows, widower. Orphan – and you know I was already one of those. Do you know, Quinn, there isn’t even a word for a parent who has lost a child? Strange, isn’t it? You would think, after all these centuries [...read more...]

BookieMonster gets her angry face on over Penguin & Witi Ihimaera

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Sep 212010
 

Penguin will not be republishing Witi Ihimaera’s The Trowenna Sea, despite the plagiarism in the first edition and despite saying they would. So instead they’ve released a full statement including an acknowledgement and apology from Ihimaera, plus a detailed explanation of how and why the situation was even allowed to occur and a full list of the plagiarised material and sources. Oh no, my mistake, they “refused to comment”. It’s not like they owe us anything. I mean, who do we think we are, consumers or something? Just buy the books and shut up already. My angry face is getting in the way of my sarcasm, so I’ll be blunt. One suspects they’ve: a) made enough money off the novel already, and b) are still happily selling it anyway, even as remainders (or were as of a couple of months ago), and c) simply don’t want to pay to republish it. [...read more...]

What’s BookieMonster Reading? Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

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Sep 172010
 
What’s BookieMonster Reading? Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Buy Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi from The Book Depository.co.uk! So. Fricken. Good. SO. FRICKEN. GOOD. I owe a huge debt of thanks to @roundball from Twitter for sending me this to read. It’s SO good. Did I mention that? Ship Breaker is about Nailer – a scavenging, ship breaker on a beach in the Gulf of Mexico – a drowned Gulf of Mexico as this is a future world where the seas have risen, and we can no longer sustain our oil use. Nailer has a crappy life, quite frankly. Hard, brutish and probably destined to be short. But Nailer is a little different. And when he and a friend discover a fancy clipper ship, beached after a hurricane (“city killer”) and containing rather a lot of expensive treasures, including a girl, his life changes forever. Ship Breaker is visceral and descriptive and truly gripping – it really doesn’t [...read more...]

2010 Waiheke Book Festival

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Sep 142010
 
2010 Waiheke Book Festival

Take an inspiring journey of words on Waiheke. Welcome to the second Words on a Small Island, the 2010 Waiheke Book Festival. Enjoy award-winning writers, poets and novelists in writers sessions on Friday afternoon and Saturday. The Festival Gala Opening, Painted Word: Spoken Word at the Waiheke Community Art Gallery on Friday 8 October 5.30PM. Discover the passion of environmental artist and photographer, Martin Hill. Literary giant, C.K.Stead will talk about his life of words on Saturday. A feast for art lovers with books about Colin McCahon and Len Lye, both provide an insight into these leading NZ artists. Len Lye also a filmmaker – film footage will be shown and a documentary about making the large Flip and Two Twisters. The finale – The Mudbrick Classic Sunday Brunch on 10 October showcases some of New Zealand’s finest-ever novels. The iconic Popular Penguins with retro orange covers celebrate 75 years. Followed by food secrets from Julie Le Clerc [...read more...]

Book Review: Campaign Ruby by Jessica Rudd

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Sep 142010
 
Book Review: Campaign Ruby by Jessica Rudd

Campaign Ruby by Jessica Rudd, Text Publishing, RRP $32.95, ISBN:  978-1-921656-57-6, Available now. Campaign Ruby begins as the usual bubbly chick lit. Ruby is an investment banker who is obsessed with shoes but lacks a man. She gets made redundant, gets sloshed on Australian wine and drunkenly books a flight from her fashionable London flat to Melbourne. So far, so good. It’s a nice set up, and the relationships between Ruby and her sister and niece are tenderly, if hastily, drawn. However, once in Australia, Ruby meets the Chief of Staff for the Leader of the Opposition  and becomes a political advisor. The rest of the book revolves around the Australian elections. In short, Campaign Ruby has one of the most ridiculous plots I’ve ever seen. I struggled to understand why the Chief of Staff would pick an unemployed banker to be a political advisor (especially as the job mainly [...read more...]

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