don't let the barstools get you down: a farewell

Friends, I've neglected this blog so successfully for a long time. So I'm cutting it free officially at long last. Thank you for reading all my waffle since August 2009.

Since I first posted I've been a bookseller, a nanny, a student, a book reviewer, a publishing assistant, a junior editor, a bookseller, an editor, a bookseller, a production editor and a bookseller some more. And a writer.

I began with my current bests. I shall close with them too.

favourite coffee: Wide Open Road's Bathysphere coffee, but I love it best when served at Heartattack and Vine because it's the most wonderful cafe/bar/my future home.

favourite book: currently this prize goes to Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr, which is beautiful and lyrical historical fiction set in the bronze age; Doodle Cat is Bored by Kat Patrick and Lauren Marriott, a hilariously funny picture book that espouses the benefits of boredom for children's imaginations; and Jaclyn Moriarty's story 'Competition Entry #349' from Begin, End, Begin: A #LoveOzYA Anthology by Danielle Binks (ed), which is thoroughly original and hysterical and tender.

And I'll add my current favourite news:

My debut YA novel, Untidy Towns, will be published by the University of Queensland Press in October this year. Because apparently, sometimes (if you're lucky) you get everything you ever wanted.

I ran away on a Tuesday afternoon in late March. Six pm and I was headed south-west in a train that smelled stale.

Seventeen-year-old Adelaide is sick of being expected to succeed on other people’s terms. She’s made a new plan: drop out of her fancy boarding school to read and dream. She just needs to stick it out at home for one more year and then she’ll be free.

But before she can work out her next move, Addie’s grandad offers her a job at the local historical society. It’s dusty and messy, like her hometown, like her new life. Then she accidentally kisses Jarrod, the boy who spends his days getting into trouble. But he’s as stuck as she is and Addie starts to wonder that maybe when you really want something in life, you’ve actually got to do something about it.

A heartfelt story about love, friendship and untidy towns.

Please come to the launch party at The Sun Bookshop in Yarraville on Saturday 7 October. (date TBC)

I'll be loitering on the internet at various places...
web: kateodonnell.com.au
twitters: @readingkate
insta: @readingkate

GOODBYE I LOVE YOU KEEP READING

early harvest

New from the kooky and brilliant brains behind the Pigeons Project (the very talented and good looking Jenna and Lachlann) comes early harvest. It's a literary magazine written and edited by kids. Kids! With the help of harvest's Davina Bell and community development worker Emma Hewitt, as well as Jenna and Lachlann, these kids spent the last few months learning all about calling for submissions, editing, publishing, marketing...and just look at what they've done!

I went in to have a chat with the editorial board fairly early on and we discussed things from a broad bookselling point of view: what makes a book look good (ie. how to judge a book by its cover), the process of getting a book from publisher to store, starting to think about the blurb and a good sales pitch - and pricing. I think the pricing might have been the most exciting part of our session...


The final product is in stores now and it looks a.m.a.z.i.n.g. And it reads e.x.c.e.l.l.e.n.t.l.y. I am so impressed and pleased and excited!

Come along to the launch tomorrow at the Sun Bookshop in Yarraville. It's all on at 11am in the foyer of the Sun Theatre. Come and meet the gang and hear some reading from the mag. It's going to be a gas - launched by Sally Rippin!


Visit the Pigeons Project website.

national bookshop day

tomorrow you go to a bookshop. go directly to a bookshop.* do not pass go, do not collect $200.
national bookshop day. it's all part of making sure people remember how incredibly wonderful bookshops are and the job they do within the community. it's about sticking it to the man. you know that scene at the end of empire records? it's going to be pretty much exactly like that.**

the sun bookshop and the younger sun are having a 10am story time with our favourite local (man) william mcinnes for the kidlets and their swooning mums (and dads) and then at 1pm we are launching the rerelease of our favourite local (woman) kerry greenwood's novel medea.

we we we so excited, we so excited.***

and hannah's been making the shop all clean for you.

*though if you detour or deviate in the direction of coffee you will most likely be forgiven. especially if you bring me one. a skinny latte, thanks.

**it will probably be absolutely nothing like that. but awesome nonetheless.

***forgive me for THAT!

Clara in Washington BOOK LAUNCH TODAY

Come on down to the Sun Bookshop tonight (Tuesday 26 July) to help us celebrate the launch of Clara in Washington - the new hilarious YA novel by Penny Tangey.

6pm for a 6.30 start

Have a drink and some nibbles and grab a copy of the book.

See you tonight!

review : little sister

Little Sister, Aimee Said (Walker Books)

Aimee Said's second book covers a lot of ground - there's the rampant use of social media and how it impacts on your life during high school, there's sibling rivalry, lusting after the hottest guy in school and a kickin' battle of the bands. When the rumour and the secret about Al's perfect, overachieving big sister Larry are revealed, everyone's prejudices come to the surface and tension runs high.

Little Sister is a very engaging story with a plethora of great characters - as well as multiple scenes in a cheese shop that will certainly get you drooling (if cheese be your thing...mmmm...cheese...). At times Al comes across as unsympathetic and a little bit blind to what her actions are doing to her friends, making her sometimes unlikable...but honestly, quite a true depiction of teenage behaviour. As a teenager it often is as though you're the one the world revolves around.* And in the end, you'll find yourself cheering for her.

I am the big sister in my family. The evil sister had a little bit more rage than I did when we were growing up. Perhaps she just has a lot to say. I hope she never felt overshadowed, because I was definitely not an over-achiever. Never have been, never intend to be. Just pleasantly average.


You can come to a Little Sister party this Saturday if you would like to. Information here.
You can read my review of Aimee's first book, Finding Freia Lockhart, here.
*only sometimes, and not everyone. but, on the other hand, often and lots of teens.

wee jeanie - now open

...and it's good.

nay, great!

a saturday lunch in yarraville yesterday. a visit to wee jeanie. i ate the beetroot salad and it was DELICIOUS and so speedy from order to plate to me - perfect for a half-hour lunch break nibble. my friend assured me her soy latte was delectable and we admired the (apparently very expensive) coffee machine with its sleek green bits and it's fancy wooden knobs.

with lots of diners and friendly staff, i'm very excited. it's more take-away vibe means it caters to a different crowd to cornershop and i think this means the two places can co-exist nicely. excellente.

anyone else been yet?

coffee : can't find a seat?

because there just aren't enough cafes in yarraville, here's one more. from the people who brought you cornershop - wee jeanie. just down by the train line (where there ought to be an overpass but isn't - grrr) it's not quite finished, but looking pretty gorgey already with a potentially nice courtyard and beautiful wooden furniture.

yes yes yes.

she said 'do me a favour if you wanna be my saviour then you're gonna have to learn how to sing'

It's been one of those weeks where there's many many things to do, places to go, people to see, coffees to drink and books to read.

Coming up on bean there, read that there are lots of reviews of very exciting and wonderful books. Here is a taster:

How to say goodbye in robot, Natalie Standiford

One of the best and most beautiful books I have read in a while. It's an intelligent and heart-rending story about Bea aka Robot Girl and what happens when she tried to befriend the prickly and odd Jonah, also known as Ghost Boy. Kind of Paper Towns meets Stargirl.

The Confessions of the Sullivan Sisters, Natalie Standiford

After Robot I had to go and read anything, anything else by Natalie. This one was quite different, but extremely hilarious and equally well written. Someone has offended Lou Almighty and must confess or else the entire Sullivan family will be cut from her substantial will.

Angel Creek, Sally Rippin

Jelly, languishing in that summer between year six and year seven, is hanging out with her cousins Pik and Gino down the Merri Creek when they find a baby angel with a broken wing. It's absolutely marvellous - for those middling readers and for grown-ups too. I kept expecting Cedar B to pop around the corner...

The Our Australian Girl series

The historian in me (lying essentially dormant since honours ended in 2007) gets a sense of glee when fab historical fiction comes out for young Australian readers. These four books were all brilliant. More on them later.

Yellowcake, Margo Lanagan

Still reading...don't interrupt. Margo's stories blow me away, no exceptions. But my lovely pal Clare describes this collection even better than I think I will be able to when she said (in her Bookseller and Publisher review, latest edition Junior term 1): "Each one is truly elegant, possessing a haunting, often unnerving quality that leaves the innards of the story lingering long after the last page is turned."

Other Very Exciting Things emerging in the next little while...

• I reviewed A Pocketful of Eyes (Lili Wilkinson) and The Dead I Know (Scot Gardner) for the next Junior edition of B+P and cannot wait to share my thoughts on those when I can.
• The Reading Matters conference is coming up in May. Get tickets, ok?
• Literary anthology Visible Ink will be launched at the John Curtin on March 2nd from 6.30pm. I've worked really hard on this. Come see.
• How to say goodbye in robot is available at the Younger Sun Bookshop in Yarraville. Go there and buy it.

And with no more to-do, here is the latest Darren Hanlon film clip, directed by Natalie van den Dungen, for the song Butterfly Bones*:

*if you don't like it i will be forced to believe you have no heart. truly.

coffee : co'klat cafe

yarraville has been pretty quiet over new years and most of the cafes are closed. i was very worried i would have to resort to java for my morning cup of joe...but thankfully the very nice people at co'klat cafe are open for business and their coffee is quite okay. while they're known more for their chocolate, and sell an array of delicious-looking treats - and i've also heard their hot chocolate is amazing - the coffee was not bad: an interesting taste, pretty strong and quite smooth. nice to know there's a second option in the 'ville when cornershop is closed, even if co'klat doesn't have quite the same vibe.

co'klat website here.

coffee : cornershop cafe

the cornershop cafe in yarraville does the best coffee in the wild west. well, at least in yarraville. occasionally i'll get a coffee that's been slightly over-extracted, but thankfully it doesn't happen all that often!

their menu is delicious and there are lots of options for vegetarians, which is nice. if you go for lunch or dinner i really recommend the zucchini fritters and my friends tell me the meatballs are wonderful. for breakfast i often get the fruit toast, and sometimes what i call the "fancy scrambled eggs" - the eggs with cavolo nero and herbs.

the atmosphere is bustling but organised - sometimes on the weekend you do have to wait a loooong time because every single person in yarraville is trying to eat there - and it's particularly nice in the evenings when they dim the lights and there are candles on the tables.

this review is great. plus you get to see all the beautiful people who work there. and even one of my colleagues (i shan't say which one she is, in case she's shy)

just a wee disclaimer - this place is next door to my work. therefore, i go there all the time and feel like i own the place.