Category: books

Setting Jane Austen’s cads, bounders and douchebags on fire

On By Liz BarrIn books

Our own post on books we love to re-read has sent me diving into Austen. Again. Specifically David M. Shapard’s annotated editions, which are only US$9.99 on Kindle, and are full of fascinating facts and context and whatnot. I’m quite bummed that the annotated Mansfield Park (my favourite Austen novel, FIGHT ME) isn’t out until next year.

This re-read got me thinking about Austen’s troupe of terrible jerks. Each of her books presents its heroine with a Bad Romantic Option, but they’re all terrible in different ways, and to different degrees. But I think we can all agree that they deserve to be set on fire — the only question is, who do we burn first?

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No Award reads books (over and over again)

On By Liz BarrIn books3 Comments

One of the things we hear a lot from the YA and Middle Grade authors of our acquaintance is that one of the best things about writing for young people is that they don’t just read a book once. They’ll revisit it again and again, and their reactions to it change as they grow.

It’s been a while since we were part of the young reader demograp

hic, but we still have favourite books or series that we reread — and also works that we used to reread, but have now moved on from. Let’s talk about some of those books…

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Hugos 2016: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

On By Liz BarrIn books, fantasy, Hugos 20161 Comment

Uprooted is one of those hugely popular books that just left me … cold.

It won the Nebula. Lots of my friends loved it. (A handful disliked it, or liked it with reservations, reasons for which I’ll discuss below.)

I found it hugely derivative, with an unpleasant hero and more rape attempts and general rapeyness than the book actually needed. (Content warning ahead.)

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Hugos 2016: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson

On By Liz BarrIn books, Hugos 2016, science fiction1 Comment

Once again, I’m attempting to read as many Hugo nominated works as I can stomach, review them here, and vote according to merit. Luckily, I have a really good library.

When I was twelve or thirteen, I read 2001: A Space Odyssey.

I didn’t like it. The first two thirds were okay, but then we hit the hallucinatory journey through the monolith, and although I lacked the appropriate vocabulary at the time, I thought it was a load of wank. My reading that year was equal parts Asimov and McCaffrey, and I didn’t have the patience for hallucinogenic metaphysical trips. (Spoilers: I still don’t.)

On the other hand, I adored 2010: Odyssey Two and 2067: Odyssey Three. I read my dad’s copies until they fell apart — there was something reassuring about them, with their spaceships full of multicultural, variously-degrees-of-stereotyped civilians and military officers. They were just simple enough for a young teen to understand, with occasional flashes of complexity that made me feel like I was reading proper literature. I even rented the 2010 film adaptation on VHS (it was my introduction to Helen Mirren, who played the commander of a Soviet space ship).

Which brings us to Seveneves.

(Spooooooilers ahead!)

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Tomorrow, When the War Began

On By Liz BarrIn australia, books, television

Tomorrow, When the War Began is a YA novel (which became a series, which spawned a sequel trilogy) about a group of teens who are off camping in the bush when Australia gets invaded over a long weekend/show weekend, and what they have to do when they find themselves suddenly living in a warzone.

In 2010 it was adapted as a movie; it has just begun showing on ABC3 as a six part series, presumably just adapting the first book.

We’re gonna review ALL SIX EPISODES, with weekly updates. Starting here, where we discuss our complicated history with the world constructed in Tomorrow, racism, and the importance of fire safety.

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A jolly good apocalypse

On By Liz BarrIn books, enid blyton, science fiction4 Comments

Today’s post is brought to you by my subconscious!

Let me tell you, Enid Blyton and Mad Max: Fury Road make for an odd combination. But how would the Malory Towers girls fare in an apocalypse?

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Liz liveblogs Ancillary Mercy

On By Liz BarrIn books, Hugos 20161 Comment

The problem with a series: you catch up, and you’re all up to date — and by the time you get around to reading the next book, you’ve forgotten everything.

In fairness to Leckie, it’s taken me a while to get to Ancillary Mercy, because I haven’t been in the mood for long infodumps about how colonialism is bad. But in the process of resting my broken foot, I’ve absolutely burned through my to-read pile, and, well, here we are.

I started to bombard Stephanie with reaction emails, but then I figured, what the hell, I’ve been slacking off on blogging since I broke my foot, let’s make it into a post.

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No Award reviews: The Wells & Wong Mysteries by Robin Stevens

On By Liz BarrIn books, enid blyton

Liz made Steph read “Wells and Wong,” a series of books featuring young lady detectives in an English boarding school.

Liz:

Technically, what I said was, “These books exist, the heroine is Chinese, I think they’re quite good, you might like them.” I wasn’t exactly standing over Stephanie with a pile of books and a gun.

Deepdean School for Girls, 1934. When Daisy Wells and Hazel Wong set up their very own deadly secret detective agency, they struggle to find any truly exciting mysteries to investigate. (Unless you count the case of Lavinia’s missing tie. Which they don’t, really.)

Steph:

I was skeptical, but I’ve been won over. Mostly? Mostly.

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No Award brings you an important floppy-haired-boy update

On By Liz BarrIn books, enid blyton, movies2 Comments

But first: thank you so much, everyone who voted for me in the NAFF election.  I TOTALLY WON, so I’m off to Brisbane in March!  I AM QUITE EXCITED AND ALREADY PLANNING, ie, trying to work out if the Contact venue is convenient for MOS Burger.

Now, Floppy Haired Boys.

As people who were teenage girls in the ’90s, Stephanie and I have a weakness for this Non-Threatening Boy subgenus. It’s just something about the way their fringe falls into their eyes, you know?  I have fond memories of the day the darkest, angriest goth girl in my year group confessed that she, too, loved nothing more than a gormless white boy who hadn’t been to the hairdresser in a while.

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