Book Review No 3: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Having recently read and loved Kate Morton's latest 'The Secret Keeper', I was eager to read another one of her books. Going by reviews The Forgotten Garden seemed to be the most loved of her other titles, so I was very excited to get stuck into it. And what a treat it was - again Kate Morton has created a literary masterpiece in the historical fiction genre she has made her own.

In 1914 a young girl is found abandoned on a ship recently docked in Maryborough, Australia. The kindly wharf master takes the girl home and despite his best efforts to locate her family, he can find no trace of them. To complicate matters the young girl insists she does not know her own name or offer any kind of information about her family. Growing to love the child, the wharf master and his wife (who have battled infertility) decided to move to Brisbane and make a fresh start, unofficially adopting the young girl they name Nell.

Book Review No 2 AWW2013: The Secret Keeper - Kate Morton

When sixteen year old Laurel witnesses a shocking event in the summer of 1961, her life is immediately altered. Suddenly nothing in her world is safe and sure anymore and she makes a hasty escape to the bright lights of London, leaving her loving (if slightly annoying) family behind.

Fifty years later Laurel (now a well known actress) and her sibling are reunited as they nurse their elderly mother through her final days. Knowing she would want to die at home, they agree to take her back to the family home in rural England. It is only when back here that Laurel decides it is finally time to face the past and untangle the mystery that has haunted her for half a century.

Book Review No 1 AWW2013 Goodbye Lullaby - Jan Murray

Australia in 1971 is caught up in the turmoil of conscription for the Vietnam war. A lone woman, Miki (aka Caroline) is on a one woman crusade, aiding those who want to avoid being forcibly sent to war. Constantly on the move and continually evading the law, Miki's mission is personal. Her son, Dominic, whom she was forced to give up for adoption is the right age to be conscripted. And his birthdate just got drawn in the lottery....

Goodby Lullaby swtiches between Miki's campaign in 1971 and her teenage years in the early 1950s. She and best friend Jude are just ordinary Catholic schoolgirls in suburban Brisbane, until Miki discovers she is pregnant. Sent to the notorious St Anthony's home for unwed mothers, Miki resists the immense pressure to give her son up - a decision she is forced to renegge a few years later when the realities of single parenthood in the 1950s hit home.

     

Here are just some of the books I will be reading for the Australian Women Writer's Challenge in 2013. I am really looking forward to expanding the list as the year goes on.

                               

       
                         

Ready For Another Great Year Of Reading!

As you can see by my previous post I have absolutely loved being part of the Australian Women Writer's Challenge and had no hesitation about participating again in 2013. I have decided to up the ante a little and aim for a total of 55 books this year and hope to review at least 40 of them. I look forward to sharing the reviews here on my blog and on my Goodreads page.

Just a reminder that ANYBODY can participate in the challenge and you don't have to review books, you can just read them. Your challenge level is totally up to you - but just remember any book your read can help promote an Australian Women Writer.

So will you join us this year?? For more details check out the Australian Women Writer's website.

A Wonderful Year of Reading!

It was about this time last year that I stumbled across the Australian Women Writer's Challenge for 2012. As an Australian female author, I was so excited to find a challenge promoting me (among many others of course!!). And I will admit my first thought was more about how it could help gain publicity for my book than how it could improve my own reading habits. But that idea soon changed.

I have long been passionate about reading books written by Australian authors, but as many of us know they can be hard to find. While many libraries have the books, very few have a specific section for Australian fiction - let alone Australian female fiction. So the idea of creating a website that combined the knowledge of as many readers as possible was just brilliant. Truthfully when I first set myself a target of reading 50 books for the challenge, I was dubious if I could do it. Not the number of books, but if I could find that many books by Australian women writers. What a pleasant surprise to find that there was easily that many - plus dozens more I was excited about devouring.

I have LOVED reading the books for this challenge and am proud to have reached my goal of 50 books with reviews of 38. Furthermore I hope that some of my reviews have encouraged other participants to read more books by Australian women authors. 

A huge thank you to all the challenge organisers. It truly goes to show that one person can make a huge impact when they are passionate about changing something. Kudos to you! Thanks also to Shellyrae and her amazing Book Blog Book'd Out. It is through her that I have discovered many new authors and gotten myself onto the head of the library queue for upcoming releases. 

Book Review No 38: A Passionate Life by Ita Buttrose

This was my 50th book I read for the Australian Women Writer's Challenge and the final one I will review for the 2012 challenge (Review #38).

I got this book out of the library and ended up with the earlier edition (published in 1998), so I did not get the last decade or so of Ita's life story. However I will still do the review on this edition (and hopefully catch up on the later edition later).

Book Review No 37: Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

It took me a little while to warm to this story, but the more I read the more I became engrossed in it. I don't read a lot of historical fiction, but will be more open to it after reading Caleb's Crossing.

Bethia is a teenaged minister's daughter in 17th century Massachusetts, who yearns to break free of the chains her gender place on her in the tiny settlement of Great Rock. Meeting a young man named Caleb changes her life forever and their lives remain entwined as he sets forth on the journey of becoming the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College.

Book Review No 36: The Double Life Of Herman Rockefeller by Hilary Bonney

Horrible subject matter aside, this was quite an interesting book. I was intrigued by it mainly because I just didn't understand what had driven a man who seemed to have two such distinct sides to his personality. In that sense I was left a little disappointed - because while this book details the crime and the aftermath, it doesn't really explain Herman himself and the darkness within him.

I did get the sense that Herman was a man who obviously battled his dark side, but made no real attempt to defeat it. Rather he used his business interests (involving a lot of travel)to regularly submerge himself in the murky world of swinging. He had gotten away with it for years with no suspicion from his wife or family - but then one night it all fell apart in the worst possible way when he tangled with the wrong people.

Book Review No 35: Wildfire by Susan Geason

It is 1992 in Sydney and police psychologist Rachel Addison is the only woman on the homicide squad. Fear is at fever pitch following the brutal murder of popular young nurse Lisa Broderick (which is very similar to the real life case of murdered nurse Anita Cobby in the 1980s). Adding to this already tense atmosphere are the bushfires that are surrounding the city worsening, it seems, each day.

Right from the start you get a sense of Rachel and the baggage she is carrying from a troubled childhood. As she and the homicide squad make progress on the case, her own anxiety begins to increase as repressed feelings and memories begin to surface. The suspense really picks up when it becomes apparent that the killer is in fact stalking Rachel.