Category: Book bingo

July 2020 Wrap Up

In July, I read twenty-two books, and have managed to complete my Australian Women Writer’s Challenge – which I am still going with, and my Book Bingo Challenge. All those posts are written and scheduled, as are several others for reviews and my isolation publicity series, which ends on the twenty-first of this month. I’ve been doing a lot of reading since lockdown and restrictions began, and it has allowed me to get on top of my review list finally. Below are my July numbers and reviews.

 

The Modern Mrs Darcy 11/12

AWW2020 – 78/25

Book Bingo – 12/12

The Nerd Daily Challenge 47/52

Dymocks Reading Challenge 23/25

Books and Bites Bingo 19/25

STFU Reading Challenge: 10/12

General Goal –130/165

July – 22

Book Author Challenge
Finding Eadie Caroline Beecham Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Emma Jane Austen Reading Challenge, Book Bingo, Dymocks Reading Challenge
Beyond Belief

 

 Dee White Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Evie and Pog: Party Perfect Tania McCartney Reading Challenge, AWW2020
The Wild Way Home Sophie Kirtley Reading Challenge
The Schoolmaster’s Daughter Jackie French Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Kitty is Not a Cat: Teddy’s Bear Jess Black Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Kitty is Not a Cat: Light’s Out Jess Black Reading Challenge, AWW2020
A Clue for Clara Lian Tanner AWWW2020, Reading Challenge
Starfell: Willow Moss and the Forgotten Tale Dominique Valente Reading Challenge
What Zola did on Tuesday Melina Marchetta Reading Challenge, AWW2020
The Battle of Book Week Kate and Jol Temple AWW2020, Reading Challenge
Monty’s Island: Beady Hold and the Yum-Yams Emily Rodda AWW2020, Reading Challenge
The Louvre: The Many Lives of the World’s Most Famous Museum James Gardner Reading Challenge, Books and Bites Bingo,
The Adventures of Princess Peony Nette Hilton and Lucinda Gifford AWW2020, Reading Challenge
Ella at Eden: The Secret Journal Laura Sieveking AWW2020, Reading Challenge
Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser 

 

 Kate Bailey Reading Challenge
Toffle Towers: The Great River Race Tim Harris and James Foley Reading Challenge

 
The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Rome Katrina Nannestad AWW2020, Reading Challenge, The Nerd Daily, Books and Bites Bingo
Toffle Towers: Order in the Court Tim Harris and James Foley Reading Challenge
The ABC Book of Australian Poetry: A Treasure of poems for young people Compiled by Libby Hathorn Reading Challenge, STFU Reading Challenge
Max Booth, Future Sleuth: Chip Blip Cameron Macintosh and Dave Atze Reading Challenge
 

Reading Log

 

  1. Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales – Walkley Book Award
  2. Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan
  3. Pippa’s Island: Puppy Pandemonium by Belinda Murrell
  4. Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr
  5. The Nine Hundred: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune McAdam
  6. Josephine’s Garden by Stephanie Parkyn
  7. The Soldier’s Curse by Meg and Tom Keneally (Monsarrat Series Book One)
  8. Ella at Eden: New Girl by Laura Sieveking
  9. The Binder of Doom: Speedah-Cheetah by Troy Cummins
  10. The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim
  11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling (Ravenclaw Edition)
  12. Shark Out of Water by Ace Landers
  13. A Testament of Character (Rowland Sinclair #10) by Sulari Gentill
  14. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  15. The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan
  16. Dragon Masters: Future of the Time Dragon by Tracey West
  17. The Killing Streets: Uncovering Australia’s First Serial Murderer by Tanya Bretherton
  18. Dolphin Island: A Daring Rescue by Catherine Hapka
  19. The River Home by Hannah Richell
  20. The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte
  21. Radio National Fictions (various short stories on ABC Listen App)
  22. Withering-by-Sea (A Stella Montgomery Intrigue) by Judith Rossell
  23. Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club by Julian Leatherdale
  24. Hapless Hero Henrie by Petra James (House of Heroes)
  25. The Story Puppy by Holly Webb
  26. Trails of Apollo: The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan
  27. The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting
  28. The Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valour by Ally Carter
  29. The Republic of Birds by Jessica Miller
  30. Captain Marvel Hero Storybook by Steve Behling
  31. Esme’s Gift by Elizabeth Foster
  32. Friday Barnes: Girl Detective by R.A. Spratt
  33. The Last Firehawk: The Cloud Kingdom by Katrina Charman
  34. Christmas in Paris (Miss Lily 3.5) by Jackie French
  35. The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley
  36. The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester
  37. Museum Kittens: The Midnight Visitor by Holly Webb
  38. Firewatcher Chronicles: Phoenix by Kelly Gardiner
  39. The Lost Jewels by Kirsty Manning
  40. The Girl She Was by Rebecca Freeborn
  41. Ninjago: Back in Action by Tracey West
  42. Layla and the Bots: Happy Paws by Vicky Fang
  43. Friday Barnes: Under Suspicion by R.A. Spratt
  44. Daring Delly: Going for Gold by Matthew Dellavedova and Zanni Louise
  45. Aussie Kids: Meet Katie at the Beach by Rebecca Johnson and Lucia Masciullo
  46. Aussie Kids: Meet Eve in the Outback by Raewyn Caisley and Karen Blair
  47. The Besties Make A Splash by Felice Arena and Tom Jellett
  48. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by JK Rowling/Newt Scamander
  49. Liberation by Imogen Kealey
  50. The Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks
  51. The Deceptions by Suzanne Leal
  52. Puppy Diary: The Great Toy Rescue by Yvette Poshoglian
  53. The Octopus and I by Erin Hortle
  54. Friday Barnes: Big Trouble by R.A. Spratt
  55. The Strangeworlds Travel Agency by L.D. Lapinski
  56. The Inheritance of Secrets by Sonya Bates
  57. Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionaire by Nat Amoore
  58. Jane in Love by Rachel Givney
  59. Persuasion by Jane Austen
  60. The Austen Girls by Lucy Worsley
  61. The Unadoptables by Hana Tooke
  62. Friday Barnes: No Rules by R.A. Spratt
  63. Anzac Girl: The War Diaries of Alice-Ross King by Kate Simpson and Jess Racklyeft
  64. Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery by Renée Treml
  65. Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr
  66. Ribbit Rabbit Robot by Victoria MacKinlay and Sofya Karmazina
  67. Nim at Sea by Wendy Orr
  68. Rescue on Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr
  69. The Complete Adventures on Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr
  70. The Monstrous Devices by Damien Love
  71. An Alice Girl by Tanya Heaslip
  72. Daisy Runs Wild by Caz Goodwin and Ashley King
  73. Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal by Anna Whateley
  74. Her Perilous Mansion by Sean Williams
  75. What Zola did on Monday by Melina Marchetta and illustrated by Deb Hudson
  76. Henrie’s Hero Hunt (House of Heroes) by Petra Hunt
  77. The Power of Positive Pranking by Nat Amoore
  78. Edie’s Experiments: How to Make Friends by Charlotte Barkla
  79. Alice-Miranda at School (10th anniversary edition) by Jacqueline Harvey
  80. Alice-Miranda in the Outback by Jacqueline Harvey
  81. The Giant and the Sea by Trent Jamieson and Rovina Cai
  82. Shoestring: The Boy Who Walks on Air by Julie Hunt and Dale Newman
  83. Orla and the Serpent’s Curse by C.J. Halsam
  84. A Treacherous Country by K.M. Kruimink
  85. Elephant Me by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees
  86. Eloise and the Bucket of Stars by Janeen Brian
  87. Snow White and Rose Red: And Other Tales of Kind Young Women by Kate Forsyth and Lorena Carrington
  88. Tashi: 25th Anniversary Edition by Anna Fienberg, Barbara Fienberg and Kim Gamble
  89. On A Barbarous Coast by Craig Cormick and Harold Ludwick
  90. Elementals: Battle Born by Amie Kaufman
  91. Lilies, Lies and Love (Miss Lily #4) by Jackie French
  92. Kid Normal and the Final Five by Greg James and Chris Smith
  93. Toffle Towers: Fully Booked by Tim Harris and James Foley
  94. Monty’s Island: Scary Mary and the Stripey Spell by Emily Rodda and Lucinda Gifford
  95. Wonderscape by Jennifer Bell
  96. When Rain Turns to Snow by Jane Godwin
  97. League of Llamas: Undercover Llama by Aleesah Darlison
  98. League of Llamas: Rogue Llama by Aleesah Darlison
  99. Kensy and Max: Freefall by Jacqueline Harvey
  100. The Silk House by Kayte Nunn
  1. The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle by Pamela Rushby and Nellé May Pierce
  2. Roxy and Jones: The Great Fairy Tale Cover Up by Angela Woolfe
  3. Alexandra-Rose and Her Icy Cold Toes by Monique Mulligan and Kat Fox (Illustrator)
  4. Meet Mia by the Jetty by Janeen Brian and Danny Snell
  5. Meet Sam at the Mangrove Creek by Paul Seden and Brenton McKenna
  6. Death by Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts by Kathryn Harkup
  7. Edie’s Experiments: How to Be the Best by Charlotte Barkla
  8. Finding Eadie by Caroline Beecham
  9. Emma by Jane Auste
  10. Beyond Belief by Dee White
  1. Evie and Pog: Party Perfect by Tania McCartney
  2. The Wild Way Home by Sophie Kirtley
  3. The Schoolmaster’s Daughter by Jackie French
  4. Kitty is Not a Cat: Teddy’s Bear by Jess Black
  5. Kitty is Not a Cat: Lights Out by Jess Black
  6. A Clue for Clara by Lian Tanner
  7. Starfell: Willow Moss and the Forgotten Tale by Dominique Valente
  8. What Zola did on Tuesday by Melina Marchetta
  9. The Battle of Book Week (Yours Troolie, Alice Toolie) by Kate and Jol Temple
  1. Monty’s Island: Beady Hold and the Yum-Yams by Emily Rodda
  2. The Louvre: The Many Lives of the World’s Most Famous Museum by James Gardner
  3. The Adventures of Princess Peony by Nette Hilton and Lucinda Gifford
  4. Ella at Eden: The Secret Journal by Laura Sieveking
  5. Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser by Kate Bailey
  6. Toffle Towers: The Great River Race by Tim Harris and James Foley
  1. The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Rome by Katrina Nannestad
  2. Toffle Towers: Order in the Court by Tim Harris
  3. The ABC Book of Australian Poetry compiled by Libby Hathorn
  1. Max Booth, Future Sleuth: Chip Blip by Cameron Macintosh and Dave Atze
  2. Lapse by Sarah Thornton
  3. A Monstrous Heart by Claire McKenna

Books and Bites Bingo

 

Set in Europe: Josephine’s Garden by Stephanie Parkyn

 

Debut Novel: The Soldier’s Curse by Meg and Tom Keneally (Monsarrat Series Book One)

Travel Memoir: The Strangeworlds Travel Agency by L.D. Lapinski

Published More than 100 Years Ago: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Written in the First Person: Pippa’s Island: Puppy Pandemonium by Belinda Murrell

 

Fairy Tale Collection: Snow White and Rose Red: And Other Tales of Kind Young Women by Kate Forsyth and Lorena Carrington

A Book with a door on the cover: The Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valour by Ally Carter

Written by someone called Jane: Persuasion by Jane Austen

An Australian crime or thriller: A Testament of Character (Rowland Sinclair #10) by Sulari Gentill

Wherever you go:

 

Eco-themes: The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte

A Neil Gaiman book:

Short story collection: Radio National Fictions (various short stories on ABC Listen app

Published the year you were born:

Makes you blush: The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Rome by Katrina Nannestad

 

 

That book you keep putting off: The Louvre by James Gardiner

A book with lots of hype: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling (Ravenclaw Edition)

Has “the girl” in the title: The Girl She Was by Rebecca Freeborn

A book with bad reviews: Trials of Apollo: The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan

Book to movie: Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr

 

Scary: The Monstrous Devices by Damien Love

Someone you love’s fave book:

Made into a TV Series:

A title longer than five words: The Nine Hundred: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune McAdam

Fave childhood book:

 

STFU Reading Society #AustLit Reading Challenge

  1. Found on #BookstagramAustralia

The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan

​

  1. An Australian classic
  1. A book by an Indigenous Australian author

Meet Sam by the Mangrove Creek by Paul Seden and Brenton McKenna

  1. A book about climate change [cli-fi or non-fiction] 

Fiction: The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte, The Giant and the Sea by Trent Jamieson and Rovina Cai

Non-Fiction:

  1. A book by an LGBTQ+ Australian author

Firewatcher Chronicles: Phoenix by Kelly Gardiner

  1. A #LoveOzYA book

The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte

  1. A memoir by an Australian woman

Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales

  1. A poetry collection

The ABC Book of Australian Poetry compiled by Libby Hathorn

 

 

  1. A 2020 Finalist for a State Premier’s Literary Prize

* Note: Not all states have a Premier’s Literary Prize / some are awarded biennially rather than yearly, so are not running in 2020.

* New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards – Shortlist announced March 2020 / Winners announced 27 April 2020 –

* The Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature – Shortlist out now / Winners announced 29 February 2020 –

* Victorian Premier’s Literary Award – Shortlist out now / Winners announced 30 January 2020 –

Bonus: Read a finalist [shortlisted book] from each of the State Premier’s prizes

  1. A Book by a Territorian author – NT or ACT

Bonus: Read both an NT and ACT author

ACT: On A Barbarous Coast by Craig Cormick and Harold Ludwick

NT: An Alice Girl by Tanya Heaslip, Between Us by Claire Atkins

  1. Read and watch a book to movie adaptation

Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr (21st anniversary edition)

  1. A book from across the ditch – A book by a New Zealand author 

Josephine’s Garden by Stephanie Parkyn

THE MODERN MRS. DARCY

2020 Reading Challenge

a book published the decade you were born:

a debut novel: The Soldier’s Curse by Meg and Tom Keneally (Monsarrat Series Book One)

a book recommended by a source you trust: Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales – Amanda Barrett

a book by a local author: Pippa’s Island: Puppy Pandemonium by Belinda Murrell

a book outside your (genre) comfort zone: The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim – literary fiction

a book in translation: The Bell in the Lake by Lars Mytting

a book nominated for an award in 2020: Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery by Renée Treml (Nominated for the 2020 Readings Children’s Prize)

a re-read:  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling (Ravenclaw Edition)

a classic you didn’t read in school: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

three books by the same author:

  1. Friday Barnes: Girl Detective by R.A. Spratt
  2. Friday Barnes: Under Suspicion by R.A. Spratt
  3. Friday Barnes: Big Trouble by R.A. Spratt

The Nerd Daily 2020 Challenge

  1. Author Starting with A: Shark Out of Water by Ace Landers
  2. Female Author: The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan
  3. Purchased on Holidays: Withering-by-Sea (A Stella Montgomery Intrigue) by Judith Rossell
  4. 2020 Film Adaptation: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  5. Fantasy or SciFi: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling (Ravenclaw Edition)
  6. Recommended by Us: The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte
  7. Under 200 pages: Ella at Eden: New Girl by Laura Sieveking
  8. Six Word Title: The Binder of Doom: Speedah Cheetah by Troy Cummins, Death at the Ladies’ Goddess Club by Julian Leatherdale
  9. Written by two authors: The Soldier’s Curse by Meg and Tom Keneally (Monsarrat Series Book One)
  10. Mystery/thriller: A Testament of Character (Rowland Sinclair #10) by Sulari Gentill
  11. Green Cover: The Soldier’s Curse by Meg and Tom Keneally (Monsarrat Series Book One)
  12. Recommended by a friend: Any Ordinary Day be Leigh Sales
  13. Set in the past: Josephine’s Garden by Stephanie Parkyn
  14. 2019 Goodreads Choice Winner:
  15. A book you never finished: The Louvre by James Gardiner (Never finished in time to review for release date, managed to finish after)
  16. Protagonist starting with H: The Soldier’s Curse by Meg and Tom Keneally, Hapless Hero Henrie by Petra James (House of Heroes)
  17. Reread: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  18. Non-fiction: The Nine Hundred: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune McAdam
  19. Released in February: Ella at Eden: New Girl by Laura Sieveking, The Binder of Doom: Speedah-Cheetah by Troy Cummins
  20. Part of a duology: The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley
  21. New York times best seller:
  22. Recommended by family:
  23. Over 500 pages:
  24. An award-winning book: Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales – Walkley Book Award 2019
  25. Orange cover: Trials of Apollo: The Dark Prophecy by Rick Riordan
  26. Bookstore recommended: The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Rome by Katrina Nannestad
  27. A number in the title: Alice-Miranda at School (10th Anniversary Edition) by Jacqueline Harvey
  28. An audiobook: Radio National Fictions (various short stories)
  29. Debut author: The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim
  30. Inspired my mythology/folklore: Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan, Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr,
  31. A retelling: Jane in Love by Rachel Givney
  32. A one-word title: Liberation by Imogen Kealey
  33. Bought based on cover: Friday Barnes: Girl Detective by R.A. Spratt
  34. Author that starts with M: What Zola did on Monday by Melina Marchetta and illustrated by Deb Hudson
  35. Start a new series: Ella at Eden: New Girl by Laura Sieveking
  36. A book released in 2019: The Last Firehawk: The Cloud Kingdom by Katrina Charman
  37. Male author: Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan, Death in the Ladies’ Goddess Club by Julian Leatherdale
  38. 2020 TV Adaptation:
  39. A book gifted to you: Captain Marvel Hero Storybook by Steve Behling
  40. Author with a hyphenated name: Elephant Me by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees
  41. Released in September: The Wild Way Home by Sophie Kirtley
  42. Purchased years ago:
  43. A standalone: The River Home by Hannah Richell
  44. Author with the same initials:
  45. Told from two perspectives: The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte
  46. Romance or thriller: Liberation by Imogen Kealey, The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte
  47. A protagonist starting with S: Withering-by-Sea (A Stella Montgomery Intrigue) by Judith Rossell (Stella Montgomery)
  48. Two-word title: Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr, Esme’s Gift by Elizabeth Foster
  49. Set in a foreign country: Josephine’s Garden by Stephanie Parkyn, The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan
  50. Animal featured in cover: Dolphin Island: A Daring Rescue by Catherine Hapka
  51. Written by your favourite author: The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester
  52. Based or inspired by a true story: Museum Kittens: The Midnight Visitor by Holly Webb, The Lost Jewels by Kirsty Manning

Dymocks Reading Challenge

  1. A book by an Australian author: Pippa’s Island: Puppy Pandemonium by Belinda Murrell
  2. A book by an Indigenous author: On A Barbarous Coast by Craig Cormick and Harold Ludwick, Meet Sam by the Mangrove Creek by Paul Seden and Brenton McKenna
  3. A book from our Top 101:
  4. A book from our Kids’ Top 51: Withering-by-Sea (A Stella Montgomery Intrigue) by Judith Rossell, Friday Barnes: Girl Detective by R.A. Spratt
  5. A Dymocks ‘Book of the Month’:
  6. Re-read your favourite book of all time: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
  7. Ask a friend for a recommendation: Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales
  8. A book featuring your favourite country: The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan (Ireland)
  9. A book from your TBR pile: Josephine’s Garden by Stephanie Parkyn
  10. An award-winning book: Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr – CBCA Honour Book, Prime Minister’s Literary Award 2017 – WINNER: 2017 Prime Minister’s Literary Award, Children’s Fiction
    WINNER: 2018 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature, Children’s Literature
    HONOUR BOOK: CBCA Book of the Year, Younger Readers, 2017
  11. A Mystery/Thriller: The Soldier’s Curse by Meg and Tom Keneally (Monsarrat Series Book One), A Testament of Character by Sulari Gentill
  12. A memoir:
  13. A book outside your usual genre: The God Child by Nana Oforiatta Ayim
  14. A book of short stories: Snow White and Rose Red: And Other Tales of Kind Young Women by Kate Forsyth and Lorena Carrington
  15. A self-help/motivation: Elephant Me by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees
  16. A fairytale/fable adaptation: Esme’s Gift by Elizabeth Foster
  17. Book one in a fantasy series: Trials of Apollo – The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan
  18. A book that teaches you something new: The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester
  19. A book with a red cover: Elementals: Battle Born by Amie Kaufman
  20. A book with a colour in the title: Snow White and Rose Red: And Other Tales of Kind Young Women by Kate Forsyth and Lorena Carrington
  21. A book you can read in a day: Pippa’s Island: Puppy Pandemonium by Belinda Murrell, Ella at Eden: New Girl by Laura Sieveking
  22. A book about books: Jane in Love by Rachel Givney
  23. A book that made you laugh: Puppy Diary: The Great Toy Rescue by Yvette Poshoglian, The Power of Positive Pranking by Nat Amoore
  24. A book published this year: The Nine Hundred: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune McAdam, The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte
  25. A book you said you’ve read but haven’t: Emma by Jane Austen

Australian Women Writers Challenge – 25

 

  1. Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales – Walkley Book Award
  2. Pippa’s Island: Puppy Pandemonium by Belinda Murrell
  3. Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr
  4. Josephine’s Garden by Stephanie Parkyn
  5. The Soldier’s Curse by Meg and Tom Keneally (Monsarrat Series Book One)
  6. Ella at Eden: New Girl by Laura Sieveking
  7. A Testament of Character (Rowland Sinclair #10) by Sulari Gentill
  8. The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan
  9. The Killing Streets: Uncovering Australia’s First Serial Murderer by Tanya Bretherton
  10. The River Home by Hannah Richell
  11. The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte
  12. Withering-by-Sea (A Stella Montgomery Intrigue) by Judith Rossell
  13. Hapless Hero Henrie by Petra James (House of Heroes)
  14. The Republic of Birds by Jessica Miller
  15. Esme’s Gift by Elizabeth Foster
  16. Friday Barnes: Girl Detective by R.A. Spratt
  17. Christmas in Paris (Miss Lily 3.5) by Jackie French
  18. The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester
  19. Firewatcher Chronicles: Phoenix by Kelly Gardiner
  20. The Lost Jewels by Kirsty Manning
  21. The Girl She Was by Rebecca Freeborn
  22. Friday Barnes: Under Suspicion by R.A. Spratt
  23. Aussie Kids: Meet Katie at the Beach by Rebecca Johnson and Lucia Masciullo
  24. Aussie Kids: Meet Eve in the Outback by Raewyn Caisley and Karen Blair
  25. The Year the Maps Changed by Danielle Binks
  26. The Deceptions by Suzanne Leal
  27. Puppy Diary: The Great Toy Rescue by Yvette Poshoglian
  28. The Octopus and I by Erin Hortle
  29. Friday Barnes: Big Trouble by R.A. Spratt
  30. The Inheritance of Secrets by Sonya Bates
  31. Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionaire by Nat Amoore
  32. Jane in Love by Rachel Givney
  33. Friday Barnes: No Rules by R.A. Spratt
  34. Anzac Girl: The War Diaries of Alice Ross-King by Kate Simpson and Jess Racklyeft
  35. Sherlock Bones and the Natural History Mystery by Renée Treml (Nominated for the 2020 Readings Children’s Prize)
  36. Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr
  37. Ribbit Rabbit Robot by Victoria MacKinlay and Sofya Karmazina
  38. Nim at Sea by Wendy Orr
  39. Rescue on Nim’s Island
  40. The Complete Adventures on Nim’s Island by Wendy Orr
  41. An Alice Girl by Tanya Heaslip
  42. Daisy Runs Wild by Caz Goodwin and Ashley King
  43. Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal by Anna Whateley
  44. What Zola did on Monday by Melina Marchetta and illustrated by Deb Hudson
  45. Henrie’s Hero Hunt (House of Heroes) by Petra Hunt
  46. The Power of Positive Pranking by Nat Amoore
  47. Edie’s Experiments: How to Make Friends by Charlotte Barkla
  48. Alice-Miranda at School (10th Anniversary Edition) by Jacqueline Harvey
  49. Alice-Miranda in the Outback by Jacqueline Harvey
  50. Shoestring: The Boy Who Walks on Air by Julie Hunt and Dale Newman
  51. Eloise and the Bucket of Stars by Janeen Brian
  52. A Treacherous Country by K.M. Kruimink
  53. Snow White and Rose Red: And Other Tales of Kind Young Women by Kate Forsyth and Lorena Carrington
  54. Tashi: 25th Anniversary Edition by Anna Fienberg, Barbara Fienberg and Kim Gamble
  55. Elementals: Battle Born by Amie Kaufman
  56. Lilies, Lies and Love (Miss Lily #4) Lilies by Jackie French
  57. Monty’s Island: Scary Mary and the Stripey Spell by Emily Rodda and Lucinda Gifford
  58. When Rain Turns to Snow by Jane Godwin
  59. League of Llamas: Undercover Llama by Aleesah Darlison
  60. League of Llamas: Rogue Llama by Aleesah Darlison
  61. Kensy and Max: Freefall by Jacqueline Harvey
  62. The Silk House by Kayte Nunn
  63. The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle by Pamela Rushby and Nellé May Pierce
  64. Alexandra-Rose and Her Icy Cold Toes by Monique Mulligan and Kate Fox (Illustrator)
  65. Meet Mia by the Jetty by Janeen Brian and Danny Snell
  66. Edie’s Experiments: How to Be the Best by Charlotte Barkla
  67. Finding Eadie by Caroline Beecham
  68. Beyond Belief by Dee White
  69. Evie and Pog: Party Perfect by Tania McCartney
  70. The Schoolmaster’s Daughter by Jackie French
  71. Kitty is Not a Cat: Teddy’s Bear by Jess Black
  72. Kitty is Not a Cat: Light’s Out by Jess Black
  73. A Clue for Clara by Lian Tanner
  74. What Zola did on Tuesday by Melina Marchetta
  75. The Battle of Book Week (Yours Troolie, Alice Toolie) by Kate and Jol Temple
  76. Monty’s Island: Beady Hold and the Yum-Yams by Emily Rodda
  77. The Adventures of Princess Peony by Nette Hilton and Lucinda Gifford
  78. Ella at Eden: The Secret Journal by Laura Sieveking
  79. The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Rome by Katrina Nannestad
  80. Lapse by Sarah Thornton
  81. A Monstrous Heart by Claire McKenna

 

Book Bingo – BINGO

 

Themes of culture – The Republic of Birds by Jessica Miller

Themes of inequality – The Nine Hundred: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz by Heather Dune McAdam

Themes of Crime and Justice – A Testament of Character (Rowland Sinclair #10) by Sulari Gentill

Themes of politics and power – The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte

About the environment – The Giant and the Sea by Trent Jamieson and Rovina Cai

Prize winning book – Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales – Walkley Book Award

Friendship, family and love – Pippa’s Island: Puppy Pandemonium by Belinda Murrell

Coming of age – Ella at Eden: New Girl by Laura Sieveking

Set in a time of war – The Paris Secret by Natasha Lester

Set in a place you dream of visiting – The Good Turn by Dervla McTiernan (Ireland)

Set in an era you’d love to travel back in time to – Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr (Minoan Times)

A classic you’ve never read before – Emma by Jane Austen

 

 

 

Books and Bites Bingo That book you keep putting off: The Louvre by James Gardiner

books and bites game card

When it came to a book I keep putting off, it was hard. I usually don’t put a book off for the reasons many people do – it’s something they don’t want to explore yet, or something they’re being forced to read. For me, it came down to one that I had to put off because at the time, I had lots to get through for certain release dates, and this book came after the book itself was released. I often put books that arrive after release date off, unless it is for a blog tour. It helps me manage my schedule to work this way and ensures that I get through everything and get things done in time.

 

the louvre

The book that I chose for this category was The Louvre: The Many Lives of the World’s Most Famous Museum by James Gardner. When it arrived, I had lots to get through. Several books had arrived after release date, and I had many that were being released on the same day. As a result, I was trying to get through everything before it piled up too much. This was a fascinating exploration of the history of the Louvre – which started as a fortress, and evolved into a palace, and finally, the museum we know today, and was added to by a succession of French rulers and governments. Today it combines ancient and modern aspects for visitors and focuses on all aspects. It is dense and intricate – and has so much information, it is hard to condense it all here. If you’re interested in history, art, and architecture, it is a fascinating read.

Books and Bites Book Bingo – makes you blush: The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Rome by Katrina Nannestad

books and bites game card

Welcome to another round of Books and Bites bingo. I’m starting to get to the squares that are trickier – whether that’s because it’s a specific author or title I must track down, or wait for, or the square hints at a genre I may not always read. A book that makes you blush is one of those squares that suggests certain elements of a book that might not be for everyone. On the other hand, it is one that can possibly be widely interpreted. I had been struggling with this one, as I don’t read many books that have cause to make me blush. Unless it is second-hand embarrassment for the characters, or embarrassment on behalf of the character.

 

the girl the dog and the writer in rome

One of these characters is Tobias Appleby from The Girl, The Dog and The Writer by Katrina Nannestad. He’s not in the least bit embarrassed by what he does, but Freja – and the reader – whilst entertained, are also slightly embarrassed and end up blushing on his behalf. It is one small scene in this book that did this, however, as this was one, I’ve been struggling to fill, I went with the first one I found myself blushing a little, even if was only momentary.

As this is the first in a series, I am sure there are more moments where the reader feels embarrassed for Tobias. I’m sure there are many other books out there that might cause people to blush – what are ones that you’ve found that do this to you?

The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Rome by Katrina Nannestad

the girl the dog and the writer in romeTitle: The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Rome
Author: Katrina Nannestad
Genre: Fiction/Travel
Publisher: HarperCollins Australia
Published: 23rd October 2017
Format: Paperback
Pages: 352
Price: $16.99
Synopsis: For the first ten years of Freja’s life, she and her mother Clementine have roamed the Arctic in search of zoological wonders. Happy, content, together. Freja and Clem. Clem and Freja.
But now, everything is changing, and Clementine must send Freja away to live with her old friend Tobias, a bestselling crime writer and, quite possibly, the most absent-minded man on earth.
Tobias isn’t used to life with a child, and Freja isn’t used to people at all, but together they’ll stumble into an Italian adventure so big that it will change things forever …
Award-winning Australian author Katrina Nannestad returns with a delicious new series about family, friendship and finding yourself.

AWARDS
Notable Book – CBCA Book of the Year Awards
Shortlisted – 2018 Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards
~*~

When Freja’s mother, Clementine, must go away to Switzerland, she asks her old friend, Tobias to look after Freja. Freja isn’t very good with people or making friends – she wears a tag that says ‘This Child Bites’ when she meets Tobias, Tobias is absent-minded – neither are used to people in their lives. Yet as they stumble into an Italian adventure, they’ll find that everything changes and that making friends and having people you can rely on isn’t that bad after all.

AWW2020An adventure to Rome, or anywhere for that matter, is something that many of us can only dream about in these hard lockdown, isolation and pandemic times. Perhaps that’s why everyone is getting a lot of reading done, and why bookstores seem to be doing well, even if they’ve had to adjust operations to get books to people over the past few months. Books can take us on adventures when we have to stay at home, and this is exactly what The Girl, the Dog and the Writer in Rome does.

From eating raspberry gelato, to cooking lessons with Nonna Rosa, and eating at Café Vivi whilst making friends with the locals and evading three mysterious priests who seem to have taken to following Freja and Tobias, opening a mystery that follows them around Rome. While they travel, Freja and Tobias find that family and friends are found in the least likely places, and she beings to investigate the secret that Tobias and Clementine are keeping – who is Tobias, really, and what does he mean to Clementine?

This is a charming story that pulls the reader in and makes you feel like you are in Rome with the characters. The gelato is tasty and smooth, and the world they inhabit is rich, vibrant. You feel like you are there with them, watching as Finnegan eats everything in sight. These characters came to life on the page, and made the story into something special that readers of all ages will love. There is a bit of Freja and Tobias in all of us, and together, they are family and friends, and I’m looking forward to the next two books in the series.

June 2020 Wrap Up

 

The Modern Mrs Darcy 11/12

AWW2020 – 67/25

Book Bingo – 12/12

The Nerd Daily Challenge 45/52

Dymocks Reading Challenge 23/25

Books and Bites Bingo 15/25

STFU Reading Challenge: 9/12

General Goal –110/165

 

In June, I managed to read eighteen books in total, fourteen by Australian authors, and all but one of those were Australian women authors. Fifteen of the eighteen were by women authors from Australia and the United Kingdom, and my reading crossed all kinds of genres and audiences this month as I work towards my yearly reading goals.

Towards the end of the month, I participated in an Emma versus Pride and Prejudice read-along with some blogger friends – it seemed several of us went with Emma- perhaps because we had not read it yet and had already read Pride and Prejudice – and two of us found we could use it for a classics book bingo square.

I’m moving slowly through my stacks of books to read, and will hopefully be on top of all of them soon.

June – 18

Book Author Challenge
Elementals: Battle Born Amie Kaufman Reading Challenge, AWW2020, Dymocks Reading Challenge
Lilies, Lies and Love Jackie French Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Kid Normal and the Final Five Greg James and Chris Smith Reading Challenge
Toffle Towers: Fully Booked Tim Harris and James Foley Reading Challenge
Monty’s Island: Scary Mary and the Stripey Spell Emily Rodda and Lucinda Gifford Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Wonderscape Jennifer Bell Reading Challenge
When Rain Turns to Snow Jane Godwin Reading Challenge, AWW2020
League of Llamas: Undercover Llama Aleesah Darlison Reading Challenge, AWW2020
League of Llamas: Rogue Llama Aleesah Darlison Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Kensy and Max: Freefall Jacqueline Harvey Reading Challenge, AWW2020
The Silk House 

 

 Kayte Nunn Reading Challenge, AWW2020
The Mummy Smugglers of Crumblin Castle

 

 Pamela Rushby and Nellé May Pierce Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Roxy and Jones: The Great Fairy Tale Cover Up Angela Woolfe Reading Challenge
Alexandra-Rose and Her Icy Cold Toes by

 

 Monique Mulligan and Kate Fox (Illustrator) Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Meet Mia by the Jetty Janeen Brian and Danny Snell Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Meet Sam at the Mangrove Creek Paul Seden and Brenton McKenna Reading Challenge, STFU Reading Challenge, Dymocks Reading Challenge
Death by Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts  Kathryn Harkup Reading Challenge
Edie’s Experiments: How to Be the Best Charlotte Barkla Reading Challenge, AWW2020

 

 

 

 

 

Isolation Publicity with Wendy Orr

Due to recent events, many Australian authors have had to cancel book launches and festival appearances. For some, this means new novels, series continuations and debut novels are heading into this scary, strange world without much publicity or attention. The good news is, you can still buy books – online or get your local bookstore to deliver if they’re offering that service. Buying these books, talking about them, sharing them, reading them, reviewing them – are all ways that for the next six months at least, we can ensure that these books don’t fall by the wayside.

Over the next few months, a lot of us will be consuming some form of art – entertainment, movies, TV, radio, music, books – the list goes on. It is something we will be turning to to take our minds off things and to occupy vast swathes of free time. One of the things I will be doing to support the arts, and specifically, Australian Authors, will be reading and reviewing as many books as possible, conducting interviews like this where possible, and participating in virtual book tours for authors.

NimsIsland_roughs

Wendy is the author of several books for children, including the Nim’s Island series, Dragonfly Song and Swallow’s Dance – the latter are both set in Bronze Age Greece. 2020 marks the 21st Birthday of Nim Rusoe, and Wendy had to cancel lots of celebrations around this milestone. So she has agreed to appear here to celebrate, along with my review of Nim’s Island which appeared a few weeks ago.

Hi Wendy and Welcome to The Book Muse

  1. You’re a prolific writer, perhaps best known for Nim’s Island, which celebrates its 21st birthday this year – where did the idea for Nim come from, and what is the basic premise?

Nim’s Island is the story of a girl who lives with her scientist dad and various animal friends on a small, secret island. When her dad disappears on a research trip, Nim reaches out to an adventure writer for help – and they both discover more courage than they knew they had.

Nim was inspired by seeing a small rocky islet off the coast of Vancouver Island when I was eight or nine and deciding I’d like to run away and live on an island all by myself. When we got home – to a town in the landlocked Canadian prairies –  I started writing a story about an orphan girl who runs away to live on an island.

Then in 1995, after Ark in the Park won the CBCA book of the year, two girls wrote one week, each asking me to write a book about them. I said that I couldn’t do that, but I started playing the writer’s game of “What if?” “What if a girl wrote to an author and said “Could you please write a book about me?” and the author said, “No, because I’m a very famous writer who writes very exciting books.”  But what if the girl’s life was more exciting than the author’s?   I decided that the girl’s life was more exciting because she lived on an island, and after many bad drafts, remembered the feeling of writing the island story when I was nine, and Nim’s Island finally came to life.

  1. As a remarkable coincidence, the day we set this up, a review copy of the 21st anniversary edition of Nim’s Island appeared on my doorstep just before I sat down to write these questions. Did you have anything fun planned to celebrate Nim turning 21 that had to be cancelled due to the pandemic?

I was planning to do lots of birthday parties at various bookstores, which would have been fun.

  1. Were any other events – festivals, school visits – cancelled in the wake of the pandemic?

Yes, a few. I had less scheduled than usual because of some family events that had to take precedence.

I can’t wait to dive into Nim. I’ve also seen the movie with Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin – how do you think the movie differs to the books, or at least, the first book, which I think the movie was based on? The first movie is very close to the first book. The book doesn’t have the author’s interaction with her protagonist, as the movie does, but it makes so much sense to me I often forget that I didn’t put it in.

  1. Nim’s Island was the first Australian children’s book to be adapted for a Hollywood film – what was it like to be the first author to go on this journey, and how do you think the Australian adaptation with Bindi Irwin differs? Or is Nim’s Island the kind of place that could be situated anywhere in the world?

I was very lucky; I had a truly wonderful experience all through the production and film process. The producer Paula Mazur and I formed a firm friendship, and I ended up working on the first two drafts of the screenplay with her, as well as being a consultant. I think that there was a total of 10 days that we didn’t communicate with each other in the entire 5 year process – it was very intense, stimulating, and I learned a huge amount. I was on set twice, was very well treated by the stars as well as crew, and then was taken over for the Premiere at Graumman’s Chinese Theater and a short tour of the US. The whole thing was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Return to Nim’s Island, starring Bindi Irwin as Nim, was loosely based on Nim at Sea. This book would have been horrendously expensive to film as I’d written it, so there had to be a lot of changes, but when I read the final screenplay, I loved it and felt it was very much a story that I could have written. It was filmed in the Gold Coast studios and hinterland, as the first film was, and of course Bindi was a natural for Nim.

Rescue on Nim’s Island  then had to work both as a sequel for the book, and for the people who’d seen the film and expected it to carry on from there. It took a bit of juggling but once I’d worked out what I wanted to do, it was a joy to play in that world again.

 

  1. You’ve also written two books – Dragonfly Song and Swallow’s Dance – set in Bronze Age Greece. What was it about the Bronze Age that made you choose it as a setting?

It’s fascinated me from childhood – Rosemary Sutcliff’s Eagle of the Ninth was probably the most pivotal for me, but all of her work as well Mary Renault’s fed my obsession. Then when I first started writing seriously, about 30 years ago, I had a dream which led me to start researching the Minoans, an absolutely fascinating people.

Both of these novels incorporate free verse and prose – which to me, felt like you were drawing on the oral traditions of antiquity – was this a conscious decision? No, though I’m very pleased it feels like that.  Very little of the writing of Dragonfly Song felt like a conscious decision, although of course with Swallow’s Dance I knew that I wanted to do it the same way. I simply always heard Dragonfly Song in verse – I often hear my books in verse before I write them, but this time I was unable to persuade it to turn into prose. I felt the story was too complex and so eventually decided to write it in the combination that it is now. I was very sure that my publisher would say it was a terrible idea, but she said why not try it? So I did.

  1. How much research did you do into myths of the minotaur prior to writing Dragonfly Song, which very much felt like the journey of Theseus heading to thwart the beast of the labyrinth?

Quite a bit of reading different interpretations of the minotaur myths, and a huge amount on the Minoan civilisation. Swallow’s Dance required even more specific research, and I was lucky enough to receive an Australia Council grant to travel to Santorini and Crete to visit the archaeological sites and museums there and spend time with an archaeologist. Seeing the places in person was almost overwhelming.

  1. You’ve written everything from picture books to middle grad, young adult and as I just found out, you even have a book for adults! Are there any challenges in juggling different styles, genres and audiences, and do you have a preferred audience to write for?

It seems to be more that I find a story and as I work it out, it becomes obvious which genre or age group it needs to be for. If I could only choose one it would probably be middle grade.

  1. If you were to live on an island like Nim, what sort of island would it be, and what sort of shelter would you live in?

Nim’s suits me perfectly: a tropical island, lots of animal friends, and a small hut with internet connection…

  1. Have you won any awards for any of your books?

 

 

*coughs modestly. Quite a few. I’ll attach a list and you can choose which to mention.

Some of Wendy’s awards – she has won and been shortlisted for awards in Australia and America. We both agreed to just feature a handful of the awards she has won or been shortlisted for.

Winner:

Award for Children’s Literature (Dragonfly Song)

Australian Prime Minister’s Award for Children’s Literature (Dragonfly Song)

Australian Standing Orders Librarians’ Choice Award, Secondary Schools, (Dragonfly Song)

Environment Award for Children’s Literature, Australia (Rescue on Nim’s Island)

“Mits’ad Hasfarim” – “The March of Books” Israel (Nim’s Island)
Parent’s Guide  Children’s Media Award Winner (USA)

Puggles Award – Children’s Choice, Australia (Rescue on Nim’s Island)

 

Honour or Shortlist:

 

BILBY Award (Queensland)

CROW Award (South Australia)

Kirkus Reviews Best Middle Grade Books, USA
KOALA awards, NSW , Australia

NSW Premier’s Award: Children’s Literature;Community Relations

Rocky Mountain Award
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Crystal Kite Award

South Carolina Best Books for Young Adults

Speech Pathology Australia Awards,
Student Choice Picture Book Award (USA)

  1. How long have you lived in Australia, and what made you and your family choose to move here?

I married an Australian farmer while studying in London, UK, so it was obvious that we would move here when I finished college, which is what we did. There were a few unfortunate twists and turns after that, but we ended up managing to buy a farm eventually.

 

  1. Have any particular places in Australia inspired some of your works?

Spook’s Shack was inspired by the 5 acre bush block that we live on now. There was a very creepy shack here that seemed likely to be inhabited by a ghost.

  1. What did you do prior to becoming an author, and what made you decide to give writing a go and submit to publishers?

I was a paediatric occupational therapist. At lunch one day a friend told me she’d written a book and I thought, ‘I’ve always said I was going to write – when am I going to start?’ I was doing a postgrad course at the time but started writing the day after I mailed my last assignment. My dream was to write and work part time but after breaking my neck, I became a full time writer.

 

  1. Do you have any favourite writing companions, snacks or rituals?

My dogs remind insist that two walks a day is the most important writing ritual. I had started becoming a bit precious about favourite pens and notebooks, but since the pandemic started we’ve had family living with us, which includes two toddlers, and I’ve quickly gone back to being able to write whenever there’s a moment, with whatever’s at hand, much as I did when I started writing with two young children.

  1. When not writing, what do you enjoy doing or reading?

Walking – after being told that my injuries meant I’d never be able to go for a walk again, I’m constantly grateful that I can do it. I especially love beach walks. Singing brings me a lot of joy too. Apart from that, all very normal things – coffee with friends, seeing my family, travelling…  And of course reading, but that’s like saying breathing.

 

  1. Who are your favourite authors to read when you’re not writing?

I’m always working on a book, so I always keep on reading too. Lots of classics, a lot of literary fiction – and of course children’s books. I’m not good at choosing favourites, but a couple that I’ve loved lately were Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and There Was Still Love by Favel Parrett. I can’t wait to read the next Hilary Mantel – you can’t go past Phillip Pulman’s Dark Materials series.

  1. Do you have a favourite local bookseller where you live, and who are they? (multiple is okay too)

We’re incredibly lucky to have four great indie bookshops on the Peninsula – 5 if you count Frankston, which has Robinsons Books. Farrell’s Booksellers in Mornington; Petersen’s Bookshop in Hastings, The Rosebud Book Barn and Antipodes Book Shop in Sorrento – they’re each quite individual shops, different from each other except all run by passionate individuals with a great knowledge of books.

  1. Do you have any new projects in the works, and what do you think they will be?

How would I survive without new projects in my head? The next will be Cuckoo’s Flight, a third Bronze Age novel which will come out in March 2021. The others are too embryonic t be shared right now.

  1. The arts are always important, and is even more important now as we isolate from each other – what impact do you think the pandemic will have, and how can people help to support the arts, in particular the Australian arts industry?

I’m hoping that as people turn to the arts during their quarantine, they’ll realise how important arts are to their well-being at all times.  Like many authors and other artists, I’m offering some free resources but hope that people will also understand the need to support the arts that are supporting them. Most bookshops are processing orders and often delivering even while they’re closed, so I’d encourage people to buy from them rather than a multinational like Amazon – your local shop will be able to suggest suitable books for different tastes, so you’ll read books that you’d miss by shopping online. And of course that’s also a great way of supporting Australian authors.

Books and Bites Bingo Fairy Tale Collection: Snow White and Rose Red: And Other Tales of Kind Young Women by Kate Forsyth and Lorena Carrington

books and bites game card
I’m moving through this challenge a bit slower than I’d like – for several categories I do have the books, I just need to read them. For others, I’m waiting for the right or specific book to arrive. One square I might struggle to fill is the book I keep putting off, as I don’t intentionally put a book off if it’s on my TBR or shelves. In a way I am because I have been working on a strategy to get through everything.

SnowWhiteCover copy

Back to this post though, I had a few ideas of what I was going to read, and I finally settled on the latest in the long-lost fairy tale collection by Kate Forsyth and Lorena Carrington, Snow White and Rose Red – And Other Tales of Kind Young Women. This fulfilled several challenge categories, and was a much-anticipated book. It was released at the height of the pandemic, and so I invited Kate and Lorena to appear on my blog in an interview – I am biased in saying it is one of my favourite interviews of the series, because we chatted about fairy tales, writing and illustration processes and many other things about writing and Kate’s books.

This book is lovely – from the stories chosen and retold, to the beautiful layered, photographic and digital illustrations Lorena created to be paired with Kate’s magical and spellbinding words. It is a fantastic fairy tale book and I am glad I chose it for this square.

Book Bingo Six 2020 Themes of Crime and Justice

Book Bingo 2020 clean

Welcome to the June edition of Book Bingo with Theresa Smith Writes and Mrs B’S Book Reviews. This time around, I am checking off Themes of Crime and Justice with the tenth book in the Rowland Sinclair series by Sulari Gentill, A Testament of Character.

Book bingo 2020

Rowly and his friends take a detour on their way home from China and find themselves in America looking into the death of an old friend of Rowly’s. As the story progresses, Rowly and his friends fall deeper into a mystery of deaths, and who killed Daniel, as well as who Otis Norcross is, and where he is. In terms of justice, it has more to it than just solving the crime. The justice system that gives certain people preferential treatment or deems certain proclivities criminal – and how Rowly and his friends help those they are working with deal with these issues in 1930s America. These issues are not always overt, but they are bubbling there and hinting at what is to come and why things are the way they are.

ATOC_3D

I’m finding this book bingo a bit easier. It means that there is the chance that all books will be read, reviewed and scheduled long before December, which is a bonus in trying to get through it all easily.

 

Isolation Publicity with K.M. Kruimink, Vogel Award winner 2020

image001 

Due to recent events, many Australian authors have had to cancel book launches and festival appearances. For some, this means new novels, series continuations and debut novels are heading into this scary, strange world without much publicity or attention. The good news is, you can still buy books – online or get your local bookstore to deliver if they’re offering that service. Buying these books, talking about them, sharing them, reading them, reviewing them – are all ways that for the next six months at least, we can ensure that these books don’t fall by the wayside.

image001

Over the next few months, a lot of us will be consuming some form of art – entertainment, movies, TV, radio, music, books – the list goes on. It is something we will be turning to to take our minds off things and to occupy vast swathes of free time. One of the things I will be doing to support the arts, and specifically, Australian Authors, will be reading and reviewing as many books as possible, conducting interviews like this where possible, and participating in virtual book tours for authors.

 

A Treacherous Country

 Katherine is the winner of the 2020 Vogel Award with A Treacherous Country, which I am really looking forward to reading and reviewing. This is one book that due to its secrecy due to the prize announcement, did not have much publicity planned, so this is one interview that is helping to get it out there. Katrina had some fun with these questions as all my participants have, and I enjoyed finding out about her book, and her reading  and writing life.

 

Hi Katherine, and welcome to The Book Muse

 

  1. First, congratulations on winning the Allen and Unwin Vogel’s Literary Award. Where did you hear about it, and what made you decide to enter?

 

Thank you very much, and thank you for including me in The Book Muse!

I’m not sure exactly where I heard about the Vogel’s; I’ve known about it for years. Every year I’ve thought to myself ‘Is this the year I enter?’ and last year was it. I had an infant daughter, and I was so exhausted I was hallucinating. I’d be sitting up in bed, holding the baby, and getting annoyed with my husband that he wouldn’t take her so I could sleep. He’d say, ‘Darling, the baby you’re holding is imaginary. I’ve got our baby. You can sleep.’ I really needed something to do with my mind, so I googled the Vogel’s and saw that I had about eight months until the deadline. I felt the value for me in entering would be in the deadline and the wordcount: it would really compel me to complete something. So I did! I needed a bit of structure in my life.

 

  1. Your winning manuscript, A Treacherous Country, was published this year – can you tell my readers about your book, and the history and people behind the story?

 

A Treacherous Country is set in Van Diemen’s Land in 1842. The narrator is a young Englishman who has been sent to find a woman called Maryanne Maginn, who was transported there decades before. He’s very pliable, though, and easily led, and has won a distracting pair of newfangled harpoons in a card game. Through the harpoons, he gets caught up in the world of shore-based whaling. On his journey, he reflects on the situation he left behind at home – the young woman he proposed to, and his family of origin – and comes to the point where he realises he has to adjust his perception of things, and make a decision. I like an air of mystery, and keeping some facts back, so the young man’s motivations are revealed slowly.

The whaling industry was in decline around the time I set my novel, because the species was being hunted out. Nowadays, however, southern right whales are being seen with increasing frequency in Tasmanian waters. I remember standing on a friend’s verandah and watching a whale and her calf slowly swim north. It spurred me to think about how long their memories are. They almost became metaphorical for me.

  1. Tasmania seems to be getting a lot of attention lately – what do you think it is about Tasmania that is sparking so many different stories?

 

I feel like there are probably many elements to this! A significant aspect of it, I think, is that being from a small place has a kind of distinction to it, just because it’s something you share with relatively few other people. If you add to that the fact that we’re on an island, this becomes intensified. The isolation is both physical and conceptual. That tends to make its mark on your identity, for better or worse.

Another is that Tasmania, in many ways, feels like a microcosm of a larger place: we have big stories, and deep, dark histories, but it’s all condensed into a small place, so it feels more immediate.

As for why it’s getting more attention lately…I do think that people are increasingly drawn to the relative seclusion and safety Tasmania seems to offer. There is a kind of comfort in being on a little island off a bigger island, tucked away in the Tasman Sea.

 

  1. The Vogel’s announcement had to be made online due to the COVID-19 pandemic – what other events did you have to cancel or put on hold surrounding publicity for your book?

 

It’s hard to say, because the secret nature of my book meant that we didn’t have much publicity lined up. The party was definitely the big one!

 

  1. Prior to entering the Vogel’s, did you think about submitting to other prizes or publishers?

 

Not this manuscript, because I wrote it specifically for the Vogel’s. But I have certainly submitted other (shorter) works for consideration elsewhere.

 

  1. What drew you into the genre of historical fiction, and is the story in A Treacherous Country based on known facts and stories, or did you go searching for these facts to craft your story?

 

I’m drawn to strong stories, rather than a particular genre. I love a story with resonance. I love it when things clunk into place, and you think ‘Ah, of course!’. It’s just that this story was necessarily grounded in the past.

It really did unfold organically for me. It’s not based on known stories, but I tried to be as factual as possible. I allowed myself great scope for invention, but checked up on every invention so that it would be rooted in plausibility – was it possible? How would it have looked? How would it have been explained?

 

  1. How important is authenticity of the voice of your story and characters to you, and by extension, the reader?

 

It’s pretty important. I wanted to create a natural-feeling world, inhabited by real and likely people. I wanted my narrator to feel familiar: like a tangible person who happens to be living at a certain point in time.

 

  1. When not writing, what do you enjoy doing?

 

I love walking, reading, and creative pursuits like knitting and drawing. I quite like cooking, but really only because I like eating and sharing food. I love a glass of wine, and movies. But listing all these things feels a bit like I’m pretending my life is this slow and elegant series of quiet pursuits. Mostly I’m playing froggies with my daughter – or horsies – or doggies…and enjoying the cognitive dissonance of eating golden syrup dumplings while wearing tummy trimmer jeans.

 

  1. Do you also read historical fiction, or do you prefer reading a different genre to the one you write in?

 

Yes, I love historical fiction! I don’t limit it to that, though. I love a compelling mystery. I love a good classic, or sci fi, or the kind of contemporary drama that inevitably gets described as ‘searing’ or ‘luminous’ or ‘searingly luminous’. Whatever’s good.

 

  1. Prior to entering this prize, had you written anything else, worked in the arts in another capacity, or is this novel completely different from what you had been doing previously?

 

Yes, I’ve had a couple of publications with the excellent Going Down Swinging, and a couple of other publications too long ago to mention. Both pieces I’ve published with GDS are set in the future, actually. One is set in a post-apocalyptic Hobart, and the other in an imagined sort of neo-noir neon city. This novel is different in genre, but similar in that I’m interested in the challenge of telling human stories within a context that creates a degree of remove – like the future or the past. I love anything with a sense of the strange.

 

  1. Do you have a preferred writing method?

 

I started typing ‘Half-drunk and at 3 am,’ but only out of habit. My twenties are over. I write on my laptop, and I’m good for short bursts. I might do forty-five minutes, go and make a cup of tea, and do another forty-five. Or an hour, and then a walk, and then another hour, and then binge-watch a whole season of Buffy. That kind of thing.

 

  1. How much research do you like to, or feel you need to do before putting the first words of the story onto paper?

 

I do it as I go. I tend to get the spark of inspiration from something, find the voice, and find the fabric of the story, and that leads me to the research I need to do. I love the different directions the research takes me. For instance, I did a lot of reading about language for this novel. There was a great deal of delving through quotations in the OED to check the use and age of various words and phrases. And then I found myself looking through old newspapers on Trove looking for advertisements to work out the prices of things, and what people found useful. Next I’d be looking at diagrams of rowing boats and sketches of different kinds of harpoons. And in between, always, writing.

 

  1. Do you have any favourite authors who have inspired you?

 

Oh god yes. For a while I was quite a derivative writer; I’d read something that got me so excited I’d race off and start writing in that style. That’s OK, that was just part of the process of finding my own voice. But writers like Hilary Mantel and Kazuo Ishiguro will always make me want to write like them!

 

  1. Now that you’re working in the arts, what is it like to be in this industry?

 

It’s wonderful, but I don’t think I can answer with any real depth because apart from small forays into publishing, this is new to me.

 

  1. Do you have a favourite bookseller and which books have they recommended to you that you have loved?

 

Hobart has some really great bookshops! There’s the Hobart Bookshop, Fullers, Cracked and Spineless, the State Bookstore…all favourites. I’m pretty self-directing when it comes to reading, so I can’t recall any specific recommendations, although I’m sure there have been!

 

  1. The cover of your book is amazing – what was it like the first time you saw it, and do you feel that it captures the essence of your story?

 

It was wonderful! I felt quite awestruck at the skill and style of Sandy Cull, the designer. It made the book feel more tangible. It was at a time when we were discussing changing the title, and seeing the new title in all its glory like that made me really feel like it was the right choice.

 

  1. You reference Greek mythology at the beginning of the novel – and Homer’s Odyssey – what bearing does this have on the novel?

 

There’s the obvious correlation of a person on a quest, and I’m sure other similarities could be drawn. But I’m not very fond of Odysseus! I don’t mean to downplay the importance of Homer (that would be silly), or the wonderfulness of the Odyssey and the Iliad, but I wouldn’t want to write about Odysseus. My narrator references the Odyssey because he has the scraps of classical knowledge that have come from being a well-brought-up but not particularly well-educated 19th century gent, and he doesn’t have much life experience of his own to rely on.

 

  1. Following on from the previous question, would you say this element suggests this is an Australian retelling of the Odyssey?

 

I wouldn’t say that, although I suppose any story of a journey might invite comparison to Homer. I suppose a key difference between my book and the Odyssey – apart from personality and stage of life – is that Odysseus is actively journeying home, and my narrator is journeying towards a less tangible end.

 

  1. How long did it take you to write this novel, from germination of the idea to the finished product?

 

About eight months, from when I googled the Vogel’s award to about twenty minutes before midnight on the final day it was open.

When I first started working on something to submit, I looked at a manuscript I’ve been working on for years. For my state of mind at the time, I actually found it too difficult – just not the thing that was really working for me. I found a little, unimportant side character I’d written about in that original manuscript, and expanded and developed his story into A Treacherous Country. So while it was new, the idea did grow from an older idea.

 

  1. Do you have more novels planned for the future?

 

I do! I’m working on that older manuscript I mentioned in the previous question. It means a lot to me, and I think about it a great deal. I just wasn’t in the right headspace for it last year. And there are other things on the go – it would never do to have everything finished and be able to get a good night’s sleep, after all.

 

Any comments about anything I may have missed?

 

 

Thank you Katherine, and best of luck with future writing,

 

 

 

May 2020 Round Up

In May, we seemed to settle into a lockdown routine, so I got a bit more reading done. This month, I read 20 books – the vast majority of those – seventeen – were by Australian women writers – some for review, some my own reads and one or two that I read alongside Isolation Publicity interviews. Below is a breakdown of my current numbers, and a table with each read and the challenge they worked for. Some categories are easier to fill, as always, and some have multiple entries. I’ve got plenty to read – the books keep coming so I’m trying to keep on top of everything as best I can.

The Modern Mrs Darcy 11/12
AWW2020 -53/25
Book Bingo – 11/12
The Nerd Daily Challenge 45/52
Dymocks Reading Challenge 22/25
Books and Bites Bingo 15/25
STFU Reading Challenge: 10/12
General Goal –89/165

May – 20

Book Author Challenge
The Monstrous Devices Damien Love Reading Challenge, STFU Reading Challenge, AWW2020
An Alice Girl Tanya Heaslip Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Daisy Runs Wild Caz Goodwin and Ashley King Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Peta Lyre’s Rating Normal Anna Whateley Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Her Perilous Mansion Sean Williams Reading Challenge
What Zola did on Monday

 

 Melina Marchetta and illustrated by Deb Hudson Reading Challenge, AWW2020, The Nerd Daily Challenge
Henrie’s Hero Hunt (House of Heroes) Petra Hunt Reading Challenge, AWW2020,
The Power of Positive Pranking Nat Amoore Reading Challenge, Dymocks Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Edie’s Experiments: How to Make Friends Charlotte Barkla Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Alice-Miranda at School Jacqueline Harvey Reading Challenge, The Nerd Daily, AWW2020
Alice-Miranda in the Outback Jacqueline Harvey Reading Challenge, AWW2020
The Giant and the Sea Trent Jamieson, Rovina Cai Reading Challenge, Book Bingo, STFU Reading Challenge
Shoestring: The Boy Who Walks on Air by Julie Hunt and Dale Newman Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Orla and the Serpent’s Curse C.J. Halsam Reading Challenge
Elephant Me Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees Reading Challenge, Dymocks Reading Challenge, The Nerd Daily Challenge
A Treacherous Country K.M. Kruimink Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Eloise and the Bucket of Stars Janine Brian Reading Challenge, AWW2020
Snow White and Rose Red: And Other Tales of Kind Young Women  Kate Forsyth and Lorena Carrington Reading Challenge, Dymocks Reading Challenge, AWW2020, Books and Bites Book Bingo
Tashi: 25th Anniversary Edition Anna Fienberg, Barbara Fienberg and Kim Gamble Reading Challenge, AWW2020
On A Barbarous Coast Craig Cormick and Harold Ludwick Reading Challenge, STFU Reading Challenge, Dymocks Reading Challenge

In June I am hoping to read more and get further on top of all my reviews – look for more great books by Australians and especially kids and young adult books to come in the next few weeks.

Peta Lyre