Thursday 28 August 2014

The Jane Austen Community

Thanks to one of our AiA reviewers, I started searching for a Jane Austen society in Australia...which has led me on to a much bigger world of Jane Austen love than I could ever have dreamed or hoped for!

I thought that some of you might also like to see just how much love there is for Jane Austen and just how far that love has traveled.

I give you the Jane Austen Society of Australia...founded in 1989. (I had hoped to attend their August meeting entitled 'Through a Scholar's Lens: R W Chapman and Jane Austen' but bad weather got the better of me.)

The Jane Austen Festival in Australia:

Jane Austen Festival Australia is an annual celebration in Canberra where Austen and Napoleonic fans from all over Australia come and indulge themselves in everything Regency – including dancing, music, food, games, archery, fencing, theatre, promenades, grand balls, talks, workshops, costumes and books. Since its inception in 2008 this little festival has blossomed into one of the most delightful four days anyone could experience each April.

They also have their own, regularly updated blog here.

Jane Austen Society of Melbourne has been meeting since 1993.

The Jane Austen Society of Adelaide started in 1996.

The UK are very organised with their JAS.

All the regional branches are clearly listed on their home page.

There is a Jane Austen Centre in Bath (which I have been fortunate enough to visit in 2007). They also have their own Jane Austen magazine.

Ireland have their own Jane Austen Society blog.

The Jane Austen Society of North America can be found here and Canada here.

If you have a google translate option you can read the JAS Netherlands site or Brazil's!


Goodreads has a Jane Austen group. You can also join the Republic of Pemberley!

If you prefer Jane Austen adaptations then My Jane Austen Book Club could be your cup of tea.

There are so many blogs devoted to all things Jane Austen it would be impossible to list them all. Here are a few to get you started though...

Austenprose

Austen Family Album

Jane Austen Addict

The Secret Dream World of a Jane Austen Fan

Jane Austen's World

Stitching With Jane Austen

Thank you to Jenna for hosting this year's Austen in August. It's wonderful to have a whole month every year devoted to all things Jane Austen.

Wednesday 27 August 2014

Haruki Murakami

I only 'discovered' Murakami last year when I finally got around to reading 1Q84.

If I wanted to be picky, there were some niggles about translation, length and plot developments. But these were details...and as time has gone by, I've come to view Murakami as a bigger picture, all encompassing, get under your skin & into your psyche kind of writer.

1Q84 certainly infected my psyche...I wanted more.

Over the past year I have been slowly accumulating Murakami's backlist. And this year I found myself caught up in the excitement surrounding the worldwide release of his English translation of Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage.

Although I use the word English loosely, since for some unknown reason, the worldwide publication has gone with the American spelling of colorless. For many of us in England and Australia this is annoying, offensive and/or just mildly irritating depending on how much of a purist you are!

Perhaps that's why the UK & Aussie editions came with stickers - a consolation prize in the trans-Atlantic spelling bee!

As a book collector who likes her editions to match when possible, the cover chosen for our edition is to be applauded for it's attempt to match the Random Vintage covers for Murakami's backlist (below).

The cover reflects the colours of the characters & their overlapping connections.

The stickers represent Tsukuru - they allow us to make/build/create our own covers.

A couple of days after starting the book, I spotted the Japanese Literature Challenge and their month long readalong for CTTAHYOP.

Perfect.

Except I am now struggling to put together my review for Colourless Tsukuru, so I thought I'd play around with a few lists and Lizst instead!

Since I'm still a Murakami novice, I've been wondering which one I should read next.

Goodreads top 5 Murakami books are:

1. Kafka on the Shore
2. Norwegian Wood
3. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
4. 1Q84
5. Hard-Boiled Wonderland & the End of the World

Refinery29 suggests:

1. Norwegian Wood
2. Dance Dance Dance
3. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
4. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
5. After Dark
6. South of the Border, West of the Sun

Priyanko Sarkar at Mensxp recommends:

1. Norwegian Wood
2. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
3. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
4.Kafka on the Shore
5. 1Q84

Matthew C Strecher at Publishers Weekly lists:

1. A Wild Sheep Chase
2. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
3. Hard-Boiled Wonderland & the End of the World
4. 1Q84
5. Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
6. Kafka on the Shore
7. Hear the Wind Sing
8. Pinball, 1973
9. Norwegian Wood
10. Dance Dance Dance

Which one should I read next?
I'd love to hear what you think is Murakami's best book to date and why.

While you're pondering your responses, you might like to listen to Liszt's "Le mal du pays" from his Years of Pilgrimage suite Year 1: Switzerland.

We're enjoying a 2 week long rain-fest in Sydney at the moment (with no immediate end in sight)! The visual (below) feels like it was made for my mood right now.

Tuesday 26 August 2014

Use Your Imagination by Nicola O'Byrne

Use Your Imagination becomes the standard response for the big bad wolf when rabbit asks for help to tell a story...

...as long as rabbit's imagination involves a 'once upon a time', a baddie in the size and shape of a wolf, a hero, a forest and an ending where the big bad wolf is no longer hungry!

Obviously, the big bad wolf has forgotten how all good fairy tales really end though as rabbit takes control of his story...just in time!

O'Byrne tells a tale that is funny, vaguely familiar and full of imagination.

This fractured fairy tale is the perfect resource for school teachers to explain the basics of storytelling to their classes.

It's also perfect for parents to share with their 4+ year olds or for anyone, any age, who enjoys seeing the innocent underdog best the baddies of this world!

A win/win book for everyone (except the big bad wolf of course!)

Saturday 23 August 2014

Japanese Literature Challenge

I've been blogging for 5 years now & I'm still surprised by just how HUGE this book blogging world really is.

Thanks to Tamara at Thyme for Tea (who I only found recently when I joined in my first Paris in July challenge) I've just discovered the Japanese Literature Challenge hosted by Bellezza at Dolce Bellezza.

This is its eighth year (really!) and right now it's perfect for me.

I bought my brand new copy of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Year of Pilgrimage on the 12th August (with bonus stickers!)

Thanks to visitors and family birthday's though, I've only just started it this week.

The first night was taken up with sticker mania.

I spent some time trolling through instagram & twitter to see what others had done with their stickers.

Most people were being quite creative with their cover designs, although a few were hilarious in their "lets just put all the stickers on as carelessly as possible" method.

However I realised very quickly that this cover design thing was not going to work for me.

As soon as I spied the sheet of stickers - I knew what I wanted to do.

Therefore I plan to read through the book and as I spot the phrase that represents a sticker I will add it to that page. Simple!

The only problem so far is that 5 of the stickers are in Japanese script. I have absolutely no idea what they say!

So now that I've sorted out the sticker situation; I'm reading to get stuck in.

This readalong & I are a match made in heaven!

Friday 22 August 2014

Vanilla Ice Cream by Bob Graham

Vanilla Ice Cream is Bob Graham doing what he does best.

Ordinary lives in microcosm - the similarities between very different communities - the simple pleasures of life, family, pets and the inter-connectedness of, well, everything!

This simple story begins in India with a sparrow looking for food.

Like all Graham's work, though, the bulk of the story occurs in the illustrations. We see children playing hopscotch outside a small food shack. A customer is sitting down to a plate of samosa's. The sparrow flits around, until it eventually spies an open rice bag on top of a truck full of rice bags...about to head off to the big city and the docks.

The rice is placed on board a cargo ship and sails across the ocean, with the sparrow on board too.

Eventually the ship arrives in a new city and the sparrow flies out over the land.

Walking through the Botanic Gardens are toddler Edie Irvine, her grandparents and their dog. They stop at the cafe for afternoon tea. Edie has her bottle and her grandparents sit down to enjoy an ice cream cone.

Along comes our cheeky little sparrow, looking for fresh food. It spies some crumbs on the table. The dog leaps after it, pulling grandad's arm, knocking over the vanilla ice cream and.........


Vanilla Ice Cream has been endorsed by Amnesty International UK "because it reminds us that we should all enjoy life, freedom and safety."

If you'd like to see more Bob Graham illustrations, then click here to see my post about his recent Retrospective in Canberra.

Thursday 21 August 2014

Henny by Elizabeth Rose Stanton

Henny is not your usual chicken - she's a chicken born with arms!

"Sometimes Henny liked having arms and sometimes she didn't.

She liked being different.

She didn't like being different."

This is a sweet and funny story about how Henny copes with being different. 
She faces her worries & discovers all the good things she can do with arms - all from the safe haven of her mother's unconditional love.

I read Henny to a group of 3-4 yr olds this week to great delight. 
The children and their parents chuckled at the textual & visual humour. They poured over the simple line drawings, fascinated by Henny's arms.

Stanton is a debut picture book author with a blog & website of her own - I can't wait to see what she does next. 

But for now, if you love your quirky with a good dose of adorable, then check out Henny now!
Giggles guaranteed.

Wednesday 20 August 2014

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

I decided to reread S&S for this year's Austen in August.

To give my reread structure & direction I decided to compare Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility with some of it's adaptations and movies.


This post will focus on the original novel (1811), the Emma Thompson movie (1995) & Joanna Trollope's modern interpretation (2013).

The first, very obvious, big difference are the ages of Elinor and Marianne. In the novel, they are 19 & 17 respectively. Thompson was 36 in 1995 (& Winslett 19).

19 & 17 were perfectly usual ages for getting married in Jane Austen's time. Today, we would be horrified to hear of someone marrying so young. Perhaps Thompson's actual age during the filming reflects our modern sensibilities surrounding the usual marrying age for women?


The movie uses a lot more park & garden scenes early on to allow Elinor & Edward time to converse & get to know each other.
Jane Austen, instead, leaves us (like Elinor) without a lot of detailed information about Edward's character, so that we are left to battle the same feelings of doubt & insecurity as Elinor. Austen leaves us to work out Edward's character by his actions rather than his words.

However a movie requires showing & telling, action & drama and obvious connections, therefore we watch Edward attempting to confide in Elinor about his engagement to Lucy.
When Lucy reveals to Elinor her secret engagement (in one of the most magnificent dastardly bitch-slaps in literary history), we don't feel too harshly towards Edward because the scene in the stables showed us he tried to be honourable & open.
Austen leaves all of us hanging.

Austen has an alive & well Lady Middleton with several small children at Barton "her manners had all the elegance which her husband's wanted".

S&S provides many examples of mismatched marriages & ill-fated affairs  - the Middleton's, the Palmer's, the John Dashwood's, Col Brandon's early love affair, his god-daugther's fall from grace and eventually Willoughby & Miss Gray.


These unhappy, ill-suited pairings contrast sharply with the girls expectations to marry for love (sensibility), but also with respect, honour, dignity, common interests & prudence (sense).

Young Margaret has a much larger role in the movie than in the book. In both versions she is the childish revealer of family secrets. In the movie she becomes another way for us to see how honourable, gracious and fun Edward really is.
Austen leaves us hovering between Elinor's esteem & admiration for Edward and Marianne's concern that he is lacking vitality or passion. Is Edward in fact, too meek and mild for Elinor? In the movie we are left with none of these doubts - Edward is charming, sensitive and everything we could hope for (in a partner for Elinor).

Austen has Edward visit the Dashwood's at Barton Cottage for a week just after Marianne is left in the lurch by Willoughby. In the movie we don't see him again until London - the promised visit is forgone - he only sends the atlas.

In the book, Lucy reveals her engagement to Edward whilst walking in the park with Elinor - this reflects JA's habit of using the garden and the great outdoors for major revelations and turning points.



The movie condenses several dramatic moments and important points in the one London party & softens Willoughby's "hardened villany."
Austen marries Willoughby to Miss Grey whilst the Dashwood sisters are still in London. Brandon also reveals to Elinor, in the book, that he and Willoughby duelled.

Marianne, at Cleveland, does go for a long walk to see Combe Magna from the hill, but there is no rain or storm and she returns well. Her illness comes on several days later, very gradually.
Whereas the movie uses the storm to show how much Colonel Brandon cares for Marianne - he rescues her and carries her inside, almost collapsing on the floor from the exertion (unlike the younger more athletic Willoughby earlier on in the movie who deposits Marianne effortlessly on the couch).

Austen gives Willoughby, upon hearing about Marianne's illness, the opportunity to rush to Cleveland and speak with Elinor. This is how we finally hear his version of events in the book. Miss Gray composed the ghastly letter her wrote to Marianne and forced him to return her trinkets.
Both versions, though, seem to gloss over the fate of Brandon's god-daughter.

In the movie I struggled with the leap for Marianne to marry Colonel Brandon. In the book it clearly states that 2 years goes by and how Marianne "was born to discover the falsehood of her own opinions...."


The movie also has the advantage of facial expression, gestures and tone of voice. Whereas JA relies entirely on "the careful crafting of her sentences, the intricacy of her story-telling, and the accuracy of her observation on human nature." (Lindsay Doran)

Sense and Sensibility was written in 1795 but not published until 1811.

The Sense and Sensibility Screenplay and Diaries by Emma Thompson (1995) was far more fascinating than I thought it would be.

Ang Lee "spoke of the deep meaning that the title held for him - Sense and Sensibility, two elements that represent the core of life itself, like Yin and Yang, or Eat, Drink, Man Woman." (pg 15)

I liked the duality of this image - the importance of a balance between sense AND sensibility.

Dotted with stills & memorable images & an introduction by Lindsay Doran, the diaries are a curious mix of modern and Regency England .

At times, I found Thompson's modern voice disconcerting - swearing, smoking and drinking after a hard day on the set. Sleepless, stressful nights with sleeping pills, self-doubt and dietary problems. Reflections on Hugh Grant's problems in LA after finishing his part in the shoot! And, curiously, no mention of her growing feelings for Greg Wise (Willoughby) who she went on to marry in real life in 2003.


I loved learning about how the actors got themselves into their characters & how the hair & makeup crew became obsessed with working tapestries between scenes.
Insights into what they intended with certain scenes were fascinating as was the reason why some scenes were added and others dropped.

"At least we know that over the years we've tried everything - bringing Edward back in the middle (which didn't work as there was nothing for him to do), seeing Brandon and Willoughby fight the duel (which only seemed to subtract from the mystery), bringing Willoughby back at the end: a wonderful scene in the novel which unfortunately interfered too much with the Brandon love story. "

Ang Lee asked all his actors to get into the interior life of their characters by answering questions & doing 'homework'.
Imogen Stubbs who played Lucy Steele, won the best effort award when she wrote a letter to Elinor from Lucy years after both their marriages! Thompson included the letter in the appendix. It was hilarious and very clever - Imogen inhabited Lucy's skin perfectly.

Thompson also shared her thoughts on acting technique, romance & feminism...

"Primary emotions like anger, fear and sorrow, even happiness, are a doddle in comparison with an exchange of dialogue that makes Elinor and Marianne, for instance, genuiniely appear to be sisters."


"S&S is about love and money. Perhaps its main question is, can love survive without money?...Romantic codes teach us that love conquers all. Elinor disagrees. You need a decent wage, a competence. Some people need more. Some people need more money than love. Most people would rather have love with a comfortable amount of money. . It's a difficult thing to accept....But interesting that our 'western' romantic symbols cost a great deal. Roses, diamonds..."  And don't forget the exorbitant cost of most modern weddings and honeymoons. A display of wealth is very much a part of our modern day romance.

"Elinor and Edward seem both to belong to the eighteenth century, the age of Augustan reason....Marianne shoots towards the middle of the nineteenth century, embracing each romantic ideal like a new lover. The turn of the century seems to produce a Janus-like generation, some clinging to the old systems, some welcoming the new age. Always a powerful time. As for 1995, hm."

I have deliberately left my views on Trollope's recent adaptation to last. It was impossible to compare it to the original or the movie without throwing it across the room in disgust!

I gave it a week's grace and tried again, but still found it impossible to finish. The problem for me is that Trollope insisted on telling me everything I needed to know instead of showing me via her dialogue or action.

ie "Fanny had turned out to be a pure concentration of self-interest. She was, apparently, just like her equally tiny mother: hard as nails and entirely devoted to status and money. Especially money. Fanny was mad about money."


Did you get that? Fanny is a nasty piece of work who loves money! Trollope then goes on in this vein for several more paragraphs!

JA doesn't tell us any of this. We see & hear it for ourselves. We hear it when Fanny talks John down from providing any money to his sister's welfare, in the way she arrives at Norland, in her many comments about Edward's career & marriage prospects, in her treatment of Lucy....

I've never read any Trollope before, so I don't know if this is her usual way of writing or whether she simply baulked at the classic example of story telling before her.

All I can say is, if you're looking for an entertaining, well-crafted, beautifully written, complex story then stick with the original! If time is short, then by all means watch Emma Thompson's movie...it's almost as good as the book! Which is high praise indeed!

Monday 18 August 2014

This House of Grief by Helen Garner


I seem to be drawn to stories of loss, death and grief this year.
Either that, or the publishing world & our authors are producing more books than usual, with these themes.

This House of Grief follows Garner's journey to understand the tragic real life story surrounding the death of three young boys in 2005.

On Father's Day, in a small country in Victoria, a car left the road at night and ended up in a dam. The father escaped, but all three of his boys drowned. He was returning the boys to their mother after an access visit.

Was it a tragic accident or a horrible act of revenge?

Garner attended the subsequent court hearings and appeals, right to the bitter end.

She worked hard to keep an open mind - to assess the information and the witnesses without prejudice. She grappled with self-doubt, disbelief & repulsion.
She also provided anecdotal stories that highlighted the nature of anger, lies, suicide, marriage break-ups and country town life.

I found this story fascinating, horrifying, compelling and so very sad on so many levels.

My initial response had been "oh no, I can't read about this."

But in the end, I went on this journey with Garner - the journey to understand human nature.

What makes us do the things we do? Why do we lie about them? What pushes us over the edge? How do we cope when we find ourselves over that edge? How do we live with the things we do, especially the bad things we do?

This is a tale of lies, family breakdown, changing loyalties and grief. Garner explores these very human themes from all angles - with compassion and courage.

This House of Grief will be published next week through Text Publishing.

Sunday 17 August 2014

Baby Lit Primers by Jennifer Adams

As a fan of the classics, I love the idea of the Baby Lit Primers, however some of them work better than others.

Pride and Prejudice: A Counting Primer is one that works.

With the tag 'two rich gentlemen' & a facing a page featuring Mr Darcy & Mr Bingley - what's not to love!

We also see 1 English village, 4 marriage proposals, 5 sisters, 7 soldiers in uniform, 9 fancy ball gowns and a grand finale of £10 000 - I defy any P&P fan not to be excessively diverted!





Another favourite is Sherlock Holmes: A Sounds Primer.
Dark, gloomy illustrations & dramatic fonts move from hounds who howl, screeching gates, chiming clocks to leaves that rustle.

This one oozes atmosphere and gives many opportunities to have a lot of fun when reading aloud!


I also like Anna Karenina: A Fashion Primer for it's glam.
It features a look and find element - we see Anna's gown & are asked to find her fan, we see her buttons but have to find the bird.

It's a lush, visual delight from start to finish with the occasional quote throughout.



However Sense and Sensibility: An Opposites Primer is a hit and miss example.

It starts off fine with big Norland Park and little Barton Cottage, happy Willoughby & sad Colonel Brandon.

Even single Elinor & Marianne and married Elinor & Edward and married Marianne & Colonel Brandon is okay, but old & new clothes, empty & full chicken coop and the day & night pages seem like a stretch too far.

As for the bizarre Edward riding on his horse, over a bridge followed by Edward standing in the water, horseless, under the bridge?? Who knows? Perhaps piracy was the only option after all!

The success of these books relies strongly on the adult readers being able to recognise the links & passages being referenced - and that's where S&S falls down (as does Jane Eyre: A Counting Primer).



Jungle Book: An Animal Primer has a relevant quote on each page to introduce or describe each animal.

It's a colourful and fun way to meet all the Jungle Book creatures.





The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Camping Primer is full of quotes that reflect appropriate camping words like - river, friends, raft, fishing line, birds & lanterns.




Moby Dick: An Ocean Primer uses a mix of text styles.
Some pages have appropriate quotes for ship, captain, waves & stars. Some pages use speech bubbles or labels and some use onomatopoeia to great effect.







This is not the entire range of Baby Lit Primer books
(you can also find Romeo & Juliet: A Counting Primer, A Christmas Carol: A Colours Primer, Wuthering Heights: A Weather Primer, Dracula: A Counting Primer and brand new titles to the range The Wizard of Oz: A Colours Primer & Frankenstein: An Anatomy Primer), but I think you get the general idea!



For now, I will finish with my all time favourite - Jabberwocky: A Nonsense Primer.

Carrol's silly verse is made for reading aloud & this bite-sized version of the poem is just perfect for toddlers.

With all the made-up words, alliterations and bright, colourful illustrations - adult and child alike will be captivated by slithy toves, frumious bandersnatches & tum-tum trees!

Have you seen these books? Do you have a favourite?
Are these books for children...or are they really for their classic loving parents?

I'd love to see The Brother's Karamozov: A Philosophy Primer to help me get through my Classic's Club spin #5 book!

This post is part of Austen in August.

Friday 15 August 2014

Stuff Happens: Jack by Tony Wilson

Penguin Australia, under the guidance of Susannah MacFarlane has developed a new series for primary school boys that reflects their real lives, just like her earlier series for girls - Go Girl! did.

MacFarlane has said,

"while boys also worry about friends, school and family, they'll find it a lot easier to find a book on defending themselves against marauding dinosaurs than the sting of a friend's rejection or the fear of not fitting in."

In the teachers' edition of Jack we are reminded of Kindlon and Thompson's Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Lives of Boys who believe a

"boy must see and believe that emotions belong in the life of a man. If we teach our sons to honour and value their emotional lives, if we can give boys an emotional vocabulary and the encouragement to use it, they will unclench their hearts."

With these stirring words ringing in their ears, four well-known and well-respected male authors have launched the series about a Yr 5 class class at Monvale Public School.

Jack by Tony Wilson
Ned by Andrew Daddo
Sean by Will Kostakis (September release)
Michael by Phillip Gwynne (September release)

Jack's story could also be my stepson's.

Soccer, wall ball and a great group of friends...until Jack ends up at the bottom of a recess stacks-on tackle with a broken arm (although thankfully, that has not been part of our family story!)

Friendships are tested as the boys struggle with telling the truth, letting someone else take the blame & accepting responsibility. Each chapter ends with a little emoticon graph that Jack highlights to show his feelings at each stage of the story.

Wilson tells his tale lightly with humour and sensitivity. The boys sound and act just like the boys I know. This is an affectionate and authentic portrayal of an Australian school yard.
I loved it.

My stepson is now 14 and sadly, not an avid reader. But I asked him to put his 10 yr old hat on & read this story for me because I wanted his honest feedback.
He promptly donned his old Spongebob cap and read Jack in one sitting whilst having his afternoon tea.
He said it was 'great because it was real'. He liked the boys and empathised with their dilemma and he thought the soccer scenes sounded authentic.

I had a quick peek at the first few chapters of Ned by Andrew Daddo. It revealed another well written, engaging story about the start of the school year....and getting the dreaded, most feared teacher as your new class teacher.

These first two books in the Stuff Happens series have set a high standard.
I cannot recommend these books to you & your 7 - 11 boy highly enough!

Thursday 14 August 2014

Welcome to My Country by Laklak Burarrwanga and Family

Welcome to My Country was a pleasant surprise.

Over the years some of the CBCA Eve Pownall shortlisted books have be worthy, but also oh so dry and/or dull.

The cover on this book is not immediately engaging, at least not for me - it looked too much like a travel guide picture. Which is why this is the last book from the CBCA Information book section for me to review.

But I'm so glad I finally picked it up.

This is the story of 8 women from Arnham Land telling us about their people - the Yolna and their land, Bawaka.

In the Introduction they tell us:

"When napaki, non-Indigenous people, come to Bawaka they see the beauty of the blue sea and the white sand, but they don't see what really makes our land beautiful. They don't see the stories, the connections, the patterns, the rhythms, the songlines. In this book we want to share the true beauty of our country with you, our readers."

What follows are 8 chapters of such stories with lovely full page colour photographs of (mostly) children living, sharing & interacting with their land and each other.

Welcome to My Country will make a wonderful addition to all school libraries to enhance their Australian studies modules, as well as diversity, community & belonging themes.

The CBCA winners will be announced tomorrow (Friday) - good luck one and all!

Wednesday 13 August 2014

Wondrous Words Wednesday

WWW is a great opportunity for me to actually look up & define those few tricky words that occur in the book that I'm currently reading.

This week it's Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen for Austen in August.

"A small court was the whole of its demesne in front; and a neat wicket gate admitted them into it." pg 30

demesne
noun
historical

A piece of land attached to a manor and retained by the owner for their own use.


"But I have no inclination for the law, even in this less abstruse study of it."  pg 87

abstruse
adjective
  1. difficult to understand; obscure.


"Mrs Ferrars looked exceedlingly angry, and drawing herself up more stiffly than ever, pronounced in retort this bitter phillippic...." pg 187

philippic

noun
LITERARY: A bitter attack or denunciation, especially a verbal one

"The impertinence of these kind of scrutinies, moreover, was generally concluded with a compliment, which though meant as its douceur, was considered by Marianne as the greatest impertinence of all. "  pg 197
douceur
French 
noun
  1. a financial inducement; a bribe.

Tuesday 12 August 2014

Ice Wind Rock by Peter Gouldthorpe

Ice, Wind, Rock: Douglas Mawson in the Antarctic has been shortlisted for this year's CBCA Eve Pownall information book award.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     This picture book is based on the true story of Mawson's journey to Antarctica in 1908 & 1911. Full of derring-do, adventure & discovery, this is a story of heroism & determination.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     The illustrations are wonderful - so clear and vivid - you can almost feel the desperate cold as you turn each page! It also includes a fold out map and timeline at the back.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Ice, Wind, Rock is perfect for early readers or to share in your primary school classroom. This book covers Australian history, exploration, science & environmental issues.

Monday 11 August 2014

Light Horse Boy by Dianne Wolfer

Light Horse Boy is a follow up book to Lighthouse Girl for Wolfer.

It's a fictionalised account of WW1 dotted with real photos.

Light Horse Boy is also beautifully illustrated by Brian Simmonds with atmospheric black & white drawings.

The story uses narrative and letters to show us Jim, at war and his sister, at home.

We follow Jim and his horse, to Egypt & eventually Beersheba in 1917.

The story of the Battle for Beersheba is curiously, almost unknown in Australia.

At a recent book event, Morris Gleitzman (who has also written a book about Beersheba - Loyal Creatures) mentioned how odd it is that we Australians, celebrate and remember the disaster, chaos & failure that was Gallipoli, instead of celebrating & remembering the victory of our Light Horse Brigade at Beersheba.

It would seem that our childrens' authors are determined to rectify this matter though, with Mark Greenwood also writing a story that focuses on Beersheba called Midnight.

Wolfer has the unusual pleasure of being shortlisted for two (very different) CBCA books this year, with her picture book Granny Grommet and Me also up for nomination.

Light Horse Boy would be an excellent resource for all primary school and high school libraries. It could also be incorporated into the new HSC area of study: discovery.



Sunday 10 August 2014

Jandamarra by Mark Greenwood and Terry Denton

Jandamarra is based on a true story from the Bunuba people of the Kimberley region in far north W.A. This area encompasses Fitzroy Crossing, the Napier Ranges, King Leopold Ranges and the Lennard River.

Jandamarra was born in the 1870's but his legend lives on in local folk tales. The white folk saw him as an outlaw, whilst the Indigenous people view him as a courageous hero protecting their sacred lands.

Greenwood & Denton sought permission from the Bunuba people to bring his story to greater prominence.

We learn about his childhood; his nickname Pigeon, his first job looking after the white fella's sheep, learning how to ride & shoot.

We see the growing animosity between the white settlers and the native population who see their sacred sites being fenced in & over run by cattle.

Before we know it, Jandamarra is being arrested & jailed for stealing sheep. Whist in jail, he befriends the local police officer, Richardson. When he is released, he becomes a wanderer. He doesn't feel that he belongs anywhere anymore. He has broken tribal laws and white laws. Eventually, he gets work with Richardson as a police tracker.

He helps Richardson arrest his uncle and cousins until his conscience gets the better of him. He kills Richardson and sets free his family. They all go on the run. Jandamarra becomes a fugitive from justice and engages in a three year guerrilla style war against the white settlers.

His daring and cunning and ability to disappear led everyone to believe he had acquired magical powers. Magical powers that came from a secret billabong near Tunnel Cave. It took another Aboriginal tracker with special powers and from another tribe, to track him down and kill him near Tunnel Cave.

The story highlights the tragedy of early white settlement in Australia on the local people.

Greenwood leaves us with these powerful words from the Bunuba people,

Burrudi yatharra thirrili ngarra

We are still here and strong. 

Jandamarra has been shortlisted for this year's CBCA Eve Pownall award  for information book.