News: books
Indulgences: YA novels
YA novels always get a bit of a bad rap but I am here to celebrate all the weird and wonderful thing about them because I think that they deserve your attention (Author: Yasmine).
Recommendation: Max Joseph
In 'How to read more in the golden age of content', Max Joseph words "Bookstores are basically like art galleries with stories attached" really spoke to me.
Book reflection: "Self-reliance"
I feel the weariness of friends in lockdown interstate. Here we are, quickly approaching the end of 2021 and we’ve yet to open up our borders. I wish there was more I could do to help. Spring has sprung and although I have so much to look forward to – longer daylight hours and blossoming flowers, summer fruit and raw vegetables, picnics and salty hair – the first feeling is that of déjà vu. Has a year not passed, why do things still feel the same? Is it because nothing has changed much in the world? Is it because I’ve not finished my thesis yet? Is it because of travel restrictions and a feeling of being physically stuck? And why is it uncomfortable? But also, does it have to be uncomfortable?
A new book? How frightening
I love reading, I always have, but the problem I have with it is that I find it really difficult to leave the comfort and safety of teenage and young adult fiction. I find the romance of YA fiction to be idealistic and thrilling – the way characters are swept off their feet, the improbable meet-cutes, the aspirational promises they make to each other…I’m a huge softie, it’s true. I also love fantasy, but the adult fantasy is just so weird sometimes. Thankfully, I can always rely on good ol’ teenage fiction to bring me the joy of magic.
Finding comfort in fiction
When things are hard, novels are not the first place I go. Usually I will seek easier distraction through social media, television and junk food. But novels should be my first port of call.
The Dictionary of Lost Words
Who decides which words go in the Dictionary? Which words are left out?
Books you have to read before you die!
Reading is a great way to escape the real world, immerse yourself in a magical fantasy, feed the brain, and also a great thing to do when you need to take time away from social media and technology. Whatever type of reader you are, a slow reader, an average reader, or a crazy book lover, this shortlist of books of the fantasy genre are some of my own personal favorites and are one’s that everyone has to read at least ONCE in their lives.
'Christodora' and the New York novel canon
Christodora, Tim Murphy's 2016 debut novel, is the latest in the 'New York novel' canon: it deals with addiction, trauma, family relationships, LGBTQI+ identity, and the search for connection in a world that seeks to divide.
[Read more about 'Christodora' and the New York novel canon]
Book reflection: Gratitude - by Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks has always been one of my favourite writers. As a neurologist, his book, The man who mistook his wife for a hat is superbly written and details the many peculiar and bizarre neurological cases he’s studied through the years. His writing is also very insightful. The New York Times calls him the ‘poet laureate of medicine’. He was able to complete a few short essays before passing away from cancer in 2015. He was eighty-two.
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