And the Ass Saw the Angel

My Junior Fiction book was a lovely read - it won Australian Children's Book of the Year in 1986 and I can see why. So far, it' probably the funniest book I've read from the list. Some cracking dialogue and very funny family moments all through the book. But of course it was also a very moving book. It would be a lovely book to read in the early teens but nice to read at any age, actually.

Now to Nick Cave's book and I suspect it will be a huge contrast to what I've just read (understatement of the year, I reckon ...). The title comes from Numbers 22.

Junior Fiction

Having finished Sundowners this morning (nice read) we made a trip to the library after Dominic's swimming lesson and picked up lots of books for DJ and a couple for me that I'd reserved. The Green Wind by Thurley Fowler is a Junior Fiction book and it's not the only one on the list,
of books for children. SnugglePot and CuddlePie, for instance and I'm pretty sure the Morris Gleitzman one is for kids. I don't mind in the least - there are some really great kids' books around. The Green Wind is also published with its sequel The Wind is Silver so I'll read both.


While DJ had his swim, I dipped into The Long Prospect, the book I picked up in Melbourne. But it's odd - I kept getting confused between the two characters. So will come back to it in another gap between library books.

This is the other book I got from the library today.

Praise, Remembered. Kind of...

I was trawling through the ABR FAN poll list over the weekend and realised I had another book on my shelf, that's on the list. I barely remember reading Praise which I bought some time around 2000, perhaps. Curious to think what might have posessed me to buy - and read - this book! Not sure I thought it was all that fab. Better re-read it! But not yet. I'll save books like this until last I think. Which means I might yet re-read Thornbirds and Nevil Shute's On the Beach.

But each time I go through the list, I find it incredibly tantalising ... can't wait to discover all these authors and all these favourite books!

Thank You, Fiona Capp

Gorgeous book, Musk and Byrne. I finished this sad story this morning. Such a moving tale and I am very grateful to its author. I will be warmly recommending this book.

Now to The Sundowners. This book was amongst my Christmas stash, not this particular edition, although this image looks more like it's been lifted from a movie blurb. I have reached the end of my current library stash but have one or two on reserve, still awaiting availability.

Musk, Byrne, Bullboar Sausage

Thankfully, I finished Untouched a couple of nights ago. I have made a start on Musk & Byrne. And was quite amazed when bullboar sausage popped up! I was listening to an ABC radio programme, Bush Telegraph while driving out to Cooroy for a hospital meeting at the end of last year and was totally drawn into a story about bullboar sausage. It's a food that was introduced into the Victorian goldfields area in the late 1800s by Swiss-Italian migrants, the setting of Musk & Byrne. I'm only a little way into this book but far enough to know that I'm enjoying it - it's a good one. It's got a specific setting in an interesting period and place in Australia's history. The whole "bullboar" connection is such a coincidence. It's really helped to bring the story to life for me because the radio interview was really fascinating and well done.

Author Talks

Anna Campbell, the Queen of Regency Noir, is doing a talk tomorrow night at the Sunshine Coast Regional Libraries. She will be talking about her writing and her life. I won't be rushing along to that one. I am looking forward to finishing her book Untouched. It's set in Yorkshire and apart from the author, there's not much (nothing!) Australian about the book. It's pretty tedious, sadly. It's not badly written - but the "will they, won't they; should they, shouldn't they" so-called moral dilemmas are as far-fetched as the plot and setting. Anna Campbell "does" the sex bits ok but perhaps it's a bit wasted on me - currently suffering from a bladder infection... Oh dear, definitely too much information .... kinda like the book, really!!

Regency Noir?

Last night I finished The Time We Have Taken and found it mainly to be quite tedious read. Too naval gazing, too much self-indulgent introspection. Maybe tedious is too strong a word as I was always interested to keep reading to find out what would happen next with Rita, Mrs Webster, Michael, Madeline and Vic. But in the end, the book was really about people with too much time on their hands - they were all a bit "me, me, me". They analysed themselves to death!

But now, I have taken a huge plunge into Untouched by Anna Campbell, who is described as "an amazing, daring new voice in romance". This book is "a second dark and dangerous romance from the rising star of regency noir"; whatever that is! I think I am about to find out ...