August

In August 2009 this blog was born. I was reading The Ask and the Answer.

On this day in 2010 I was singing along to Darren Hanlon's latest (at the time) album.

Around this time in 2011 I was reading Yellowcake and enjoying some MWF sunshine.

In 2012 I  was being brief (though excited) about books, and keen to hear The Futureheads' acapella album, RANT.

August last year... who knows, really... But I had been to see Joan Baez (has it really been a year?!) and was soon to muse on the cost of books.

Skipping to the present day...

AUGUST 2014

Four months (almost to the day) after being retrenched from my in-house editor job, I am cheerfully living the #rockstarfreelancelifestyle, editing picture books for Little Hare and proofreading whatever comes my way.

I have also returned to my original career as a children's bookseller! I like to think of it as working at the coal face. Excitingly, this includes visiting local primary schools...

And there's time to read.

The protag has already eaten at least one "simple meal".

I loved it. In spite of this cynical review.

Some pop-lit-psych as an entree to understanding literacy.

And the end of August is bringing SPRING to Melbourne. It's (starting to be) T-shirt Weather!

an awfully exciting gift

i haven't read it yet. just keep touching it. and looking at it. and reading the bit that says "for kate". i'm sure the rest of the book will be just as good as the bit that says "for kate".

thank you, thank you to our lovely walker rep, who is beautiful and stylish and kind.

review: monsters of men

Monsters of Men, Patrick Ness

This review will assume knowledge of books one (The Knife of Never Letting Go) and two (The Ask and the Answer) and may contain spoilers. However, I will not give away anything specific from Monsters of Men.

The town that was once Haven, now New Prentisstown, is on the brink of war. War between Mayor/President Prentiss' army and the guerrilla army led by Mistress Coyle the Answer. Then there are the thousands of Spackle flooding from across the planet to fight for their species.

Todd and Viola narrate the happenings in alternating chapters, but there is also a surprise new voice in the telling. The convoy from Earth is arriving soon - Viola and Todd are fighting to have a peaceful planet/environment from the ship that landed at the end of The Ask and the Answer. Todd and the Mayor, whom he spared at the end of the second book, are constantly in each other's company in Monsters of Men and much is discussed in reference to people's tendencies and abilities to change; can you trust someone who has proven in their past to be unspeakably evil?

Todd must also learn to cope with the atrocities he has seen - and participated in. Memories, visions, dreams haunt him, but in learning to control his Noise it is possible he may find a way to block out his pain. With Viola away with the Answer, and with the convoy the duo have to keep blind faith in one another, but they also must make terrible decisions as individuals in order to ensure the peaceful future of their planet. Not every decision, however, will play out as planned. Things are murky, and sometimes gut instinct is not enough. Sometimes it can result in more devastation.

In Monsters of Men, the action is almost non-stop. It's almost visceral, breathless and you are swept along, each time you think something is over, that you can rest, it starts up again.
This is the incredible final act in the stunning Chaos Walking trilogy. I've had a lot of customers complain that this series is too violent - they talk about that awful death in The Knife of Never Letting Go that traumatised the middle-aged ladies more than it did the children; they speak about the scenes of torture in The Ask and the Answer. But I think it is just magnificent. Patrick Ness has masterful command of language and the books explore and show war in such a brutal and honest way, showing the best and the worst of humanity, the necessity of love and trust, compassion and strength. Just, just, just...so.