Month: April 2012

The Festival by the Sea, by June Loves

In four chaotic weeks Gina negotiates way through booking glitches, venue changes, author hissy-fits and brushes with the past, all the while wondering if she’s really ready to swap this new life for the bright city lights.

Adrian (former lover, now friend) had called in for coffee that morning. For the last year he’s been organising a writer’s festival in Shelly Beach. He’d convinced authors t come, raised funds through charity events, persuaded the local council to chip in, and advertised the festival far and wide. And now, with a month to go, he’s gone and got himself a job in the city. So guess who’s running the festival now? No choice in the matter. It’s a fait accompli.

A year and a half ago Gina Laurel came to Shelly Beach with her whole life in just two suitcases, her life in tatters after the breakup of her marriage and a big setback to her writing career. Since she’s moved here, she’s made friends, found a new lover and been adopted by a dog. She’s found new jobs, and built a life for herself. But maybe now she’s ready to move on. So when she’s offered a brilliant job back in the city she’s ready to take it. But first there’s just the small matter of the writers’ festival that has suddenly become her responsibility.

In four chaotic weeks Gina negotiates way through booking glitches, venue changes, author hissy-fits and brushes with the past, all the while wondering if she’s really ready to swap this new life for the bright city lights.

The Festival by the Sea is a comic romp through seaside living, literary festivals and mid life changes. A sequel to The Shelly Beach Writers’ Group, the story stands alone, with enough back story to ensure a new reader is not disadvantaged. Gina is a humorous and likable first person narrator, ably supported by a range of other characters from comic to tragic, with The Dog a curiously endearing one. Whilst partly a story about the festival, The Festival by the Sea is just as much a tale of self-discovery and friendship.

A clever story.

The Festival by the Sea

The Festival by the Sea, by June Loves
Penguin, 2012
ISBN 9780670076444

This book is available in good bookstores or online from Fishpond.

The Cold Cold Ground, by Adrian McKinty

A shock of mid-length yellow hair was visible from here.
I walked closer.
The cliche of every cops and robbers show – the dead blonde in the garbage tip. Course the blonde was always a bird, not what we had before us: some chubby guy with yellow tips in a denim AC/DC jacket.

It is 1981 and Detective Sergeant Sean Duffy is called on to investigate a strange case. Two men have been murdered, their bodies found in different locations, but each with a severed hand, and the hand of the other located next to each body. Duffy suspects he might be on the trail of Northern Ireland’s first ever serial killer. In the meantime, he has a second case to investigate – the apparent suicide of a young woman, which Duffy suspects may turn out to be a murder. The cases may be different, but Duffy finds links between the two, involving the IRA and their enemies, the UVF. For Duffy the case is even more complex, because no one trusts a Catholic policeman.

The Cold, Cold Ground is crime fiction, but it is also more – an absorbing blend of social and political history, set amidst the turmoil of 1981 in Belfast. Whilst the murders and most of the characters are fictional, events including the famous hunger strikes are real, and both frame and influence the turns of the fictional tale. McKinty is careful though to keep the focus on his characters and story, allowing the historical events to build but not overshadow the story.

The Cold, Cold Ground is the first of three Sean Duffy stories planned. It will be a pleasure to see where this character – and his creator – takes us.

The Cold, Cold Ground

The Cold, Cold Ground, by Adrian McKinty
Serpent’s Tail, 2012
ISBN 9781846688225

This book can be purchased from good bookstore or online from Fishpond.

366 Books – March Update

In spite of my busy busy month I am still enjoying the challenge and not regretting setting it for myself. I think without the challenge I would have read even fewer books in March.

This is my third month of my year long self-challenge to read a book a day – that is 366 books in 366 days, to celebrate the National year of Reading. I must confess that having started strongly in January, and keeping up to target in February, march saw a bit of a slide, and although I’m not yet up to the April report, things are looking a bit grim. When I set myself the challenge I didn’t take into account that I was busily looking for a day job. As it happens I ended up with not one, but two jobs, which I started at the beginning of March, at the same  time as the release of  my new book, Do Not Forget Australia. So in March I started two day jobs, launched and promoted a book (including a 14 day blog tour), attended  two literature festivals and, and did some school visits – all the while trying, but not succeeding, to keep up with my reading targets. But read I did, and finished the following books in March:

61 A Bear and a Tree Stephen Michael King Penguin Picture Book
62 Liar Bird Lisa Walker Harper Collins Adult
63 Hatched Asphyxia Allen & Unwin Children’s
64 Dead, Actually Kaz Delaney Allen & Unwin Young Adult
65 Stella Makes Good Lisa Heidke Allen & Unwin Adult
66 The Quicksand Pony Alison Lester Allen & Unwin Children’s
67 Every Minute in Australia  Yvette Poshoglian Scholastic Children’s Nonfiction
68 Comeback Peter Corris Allen & Unwin Adult
69 Strictly Confidential Roxy Jacenko Allen & Unwin Adult
70 Watermelon on my Plate Paddy Dewan Papyrus Publishing Children’s Poetry
71 Professor Fred Hollows Hazel Edwards New Frontier Children’s Nonfiction
72 The Red Poppy David Hill Scholastic Picture Book
73 Sarah Thornhill Kate Grenville Audio Adult
74 Currawalli Street Christopher Morgan Allen & Unwin Adult
75 Raven Lucas is Missing Christine Harris Scholastic Young Adult
76 Mort Martin Chatterton Random House Children’s
77 The Secret of the Swords Frances Watts Allen & Unwin Children’s
78 The Poison Plot Frances Watts Allen & Unwin Children’s
79 Shy the Platypus Leslie Rees National Library Children’s
80 Sea Hearts Margo Lanagan Allen & Unwin Young Adult
81 Jakes Concert Horror Ken Spillman Fremantle Press Children’s
82 Yippee! Summer Holidays Tjalaminu Mia Fremantle Press Children’s
83 Emu and the Water Tree Gladys Milroy Fremantle Press Children’s
84 All Monkeys Love Bananas Sean E Avery Fremantle Press Picture Book
85 The Festival By The Sea June Loves Allen & Unwin Adult
86 Unnamed Children’s

 

If you are quick with your sums you’ll see at the end of March I was five books behind target (that is,  my total thus far should have been 91). Not an irredeemable figure, I’m hoping. As things settle into a better pattern with work, writing, family and the rest, I’m hoping I’ll get back into the swing of things and  make up for time (though I must confess April hasn’t started spectacularly either). You might  also note that there quite a few books on the list this month that I  haven’t reviewed. Some are books I’ve sent the way of my fellow reviewer, and some are on my desk awaiting review. And there are a few that I won’t review because they weren’t review copies. Also, just to clarify, the last one on the list ‘unnamed’ did have a title, but I’ve chosen not to reveal it, simply because it relates to some research I’m doing on a confidential project.

In spite of my busy busy month I am still enjoying the challenge and not regretting setting it for myself. I think without the challenge I would have read even fewer books in March.

I’ll be back with another update in a month or so. Wish me luck!