Michael Robotham coming soon!

As you've already read here, the State Library of Victoria is presenting free special author events across the state and we're delighted to host Toni Jordan - this Sunday 19 May, 2.30pm at Pakenham Library, and Jane Clifton, 7-8pm on Wednesday 29 May at Narre Warren Library.
To say we're chuffed to host Michael Robotham on Saturday 15 June, 2-3pm at Cranbourne Community Theatre, though, would be an understatement!

Australian Michael Robotham started his career as a journalist but then became a ghostwriter, writing many bestselling autobiographies in collaboration with politicians, pop stars, psychologists, adventurers and showbusiness personalities. He then turned his hand to novels and these thrillers have been translated into twenty-two languages and published in more than 50 countries.  One of the most brilliant crime writers today, Michael he has twice won Australia's Ned Kelly Award for best crime novel.   Check out the video clip for his latest release, Say You’re Sorry and my review below.  Oh, and make sure you don't miss our fabulous 'get up close and personal' event by booking your seat now!  Book at www.tinyurl.com/cclcevents or phone Cranbourne Library on 03 5990 0150.



Say You're Sorry is my first Robotham and I will definitely be checking out his other seven titles. Though a little slow in starting with quite complex storylines running under it, we are inexorably pulled in as it’s told from two viewpoints – Joe the clinical psychologist, and the one missing girl, Piper. It’s a gripping adult suspense thriller, and the closer the ending gets, the faster the pages turn. It’s not an easy read, quite brutal and sickening in places actually, but once on the path, you can’t turn back, you just have to find out how it all pans out.
Deb.

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Black Wattle Creek

Black Wattle Creek by Geoff McGeachin
Narrated by:  Peter Hosking

From the winner of the 2011 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel - The Diggers Rest Hotel - comes a cracking new Charlie Berlin mystery.

From the cover:  It's September 1957, two days before the VFL grand final, and Detective Sergeant Charlie Berlin, former bomber pilot and ex-POW, finally has some time off. But there's no rest for Charlie, a decent but damaged man still troubled by his wartime experiences. A recently widowed friend asks a favour and he's dropped into something a hell of a lot bigger than he bargained for when he discovers a Melbourne funeral parlour has been burying bodies with parts missing. A Hungarian émigré hearse driver points Berlin in the right direction but it quickly becomes obvious anyone asking the wrong questions is in real danger.
    With his offsider beaten and left for dead, witnesses warned off, Special Branch on his case, and people he doesn't know watching his every move, Berlin realises even his young family may be in danger.
    His pursuit of the truth leads him to Black Wattle Creek, once an asylum for the criminally insane and now a foreboding home to even darker evils. And if Berlin thought government machinations during World War II were devious, those of the Cold War leave them for dead.

If this book was any more laid back, it’d be perpetually horizontal!  [Or maybe that’s just the way it is narrated by Peter Hosking – his slow, well-modulated and steady voice is a good take on Charlie’s personality.]  This is my second Charlie Berlin novel – he’s an empathetic character set in an era when the world was very much a different place to the 21st century – bakelite phones, lucky strike cigarettes, men wearing hats when outside, 6 o’clock closing, cracker night, and little girls wearing their party frocks and patent leather shoes to go to ‘town’.  
As banal as that sounds, this is a very dark story that slowly evolves as Charlie becomes enmeshed in something that is way bigger than first thought.  Though it takes time to build the whole picture, it’s one that eventually packs a hefty whallop at the end, leaving you wondering just how much of this is true.  Disturbingly good book. 
Deb. 
PS - For a complete change of pace and some laugh out loud humour, check out McGeachin's hilarious Fat, Fifty and F ***ed [click here to read a review from RR 2009] and D E D Dead!  [click here to read a review from RR 2011].

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Storyteller

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult 

From the back cover:- Sage Singer is a baker, a loner, until she befriends an old man who's particularly beloved in her community. Josef Weber is everyone's favorite retired teacher and Little League coach. One day he asks Sage for a favor: to kill him. Shocked, Sage refuses—and then he confesses his darkest secret – he deserves to die because he had been a Nazi SS guard. And Sage's grandmother is a Holocaust survivor. How do you react to evil living next door? Can someone who's committed truly heinous acts ever atone with subsequent good behavior? Should you offer forgiveness to someone if you aren't the party who was wronged? And, if Sage even considers the request, is it revenge…or justice? 

Being a fan of Jodi Picoult, I eagerly sat down with her latest offering. This book, I consider one of her best ones. Again, she tackles a controversial issue - should someone be able to decide when they would like to die? 

The writing here is superb, and the story of Sage's grandmother's life during the Holocaust is both amazing and disturbing. Sage herself has her own demons to overcome as well, and a little bit of romance helps with that! 

I found it hard to put down, and of course with most of Jodi's books expect the unexpected!! 

Highly recommended! 

~ Janine

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Sean Dooley - event & review

On Tuesday 7 May, 7.00-8.00pm at Emerald Library, author, TV comedy writer, radio presenter and managing editor of Australian Birdlife - Sean ‘The Birdman’ Dooley -  will be chatting about the frequently hilarious and occasionally harrowing hows and whys of becoming a Twitcher Extraordinaire.  He holds the Australian record of seeing the most number of bird species in the one year, and wrote a book about it – The Big Twitch, thereby outing himself as a bird-nerd.  He followed this up in 2007 with another bird book, Anoraks to Zitting Cisticola – a whole lot of stuff about bird watching, then in 2012, the biographical story of his family Cooking With Baz – how I got to know my father.  The title appealed, as did the blurb below, so I borrowed Cooking With Baz and am glad I did. 

From the cover:  It would be hard to find two people more different than Sean Dooley and his old man.  Baz is your typical ocker who loves his beer, footy and the races, while Sean is more of an intellectual, bird-watching type.  But when Sean’s Mum, Di, has to undergo chemotherapy, Baz sets out to restore her appetite by cooking the perfect irresistible meal.  Sean begins to see his father in a new light, so when Baz himself receives a grim diagnosis, it’s the son’s turn to step up to the hotplate.  There’s no denying they’re an odd couple in the kitchen, but these two men come to share a lot more than just recipes.
 
Set in the baby boomer era, it's an easy read that contains a lot of human behaviour I recognised and remembered in my own Mum and Dad. Like Sean himself, I lost my parents pretty much in the same way, so found that rather emotional going at times but thankfully there are many episodes of humour to give light and shade -  I loved Baz and Sean’s big night out at The Flower Drum! There’s not as much cooking in it as I’d hoped, but there is one recipe at the end of the book for Baz’s Tea-Bag Chicken!  This journey of personal discovery was well written - warm, funny and emotional.

He’s quite a character, this Mr Sean Dooley, so if you can get along to the event, I’d say you’re in for a memorable evening. 
Deb.

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Miles Franklin shortlist

The Miles Franklin Literary Award was established with proceeds from the estate of My Brilliant Career author, Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, to support and encourage authors of Australian literature. 

The winner will be announced on Wednesday 19 June 2013 in Canberra at the National Library of Australia, and will receive $60,000 for the novel judged to be of the highest literary merit which “must present Australian life in any of its phases” in line with Miles Franklin’s wishes. 

Each of the five shortlisted authors will also receive $5,000 in prize money from the Copyright Agency’s Cultural Fund, a long term partner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award.

The 2013 shortlist is:

Romy Ash - Floundering
Annah Faulkner - The Beloved
Michelle de Kretser - Questions of Travel
Drusilla Modjeska - The Mountain
Carrie Tiffany - Mateship with Birds

Deb

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Fractured

From the publisher: An unforgettable novel that brings to life a new mother's worst fears. Tony is worried. His wife, Anna, isn't coping with their newborn. Anna had wanted a child so badly and, when Jack was born, they were both so happy. They'd come home from the hospital a family. Was it really only six weeks ago? But Anna hasn't been herself since. One moment she's crying, the next she seems almost too positive. It must be normal with a baby, Tony thought; she's just adjusting. He had been busy at work. It would sort itself out. But now Anna and Jack are missing. And Tony realises that something is really wrong... What happens to this family will break your heart and leave you breathless. 

I picked up Fractured by Dawn Barker, as it is a debut novel by an Australian author who is a Psychiatrist. This book kept me fully engaged from the first page to the last and is very well written. The tragedy that happens in this book is told from a number of character's perspectives, and tackles a very common condition and the devastating effect it had. The last 30 or so pages were very sad, so get the tissues ready. If this is an indication of this new writer's work, then I am eagerly awaiting her next novel.

~ Janine

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Jane Clifton Re-scheduled

RE-SCHEDULED!  Jane couldn't make our previously advertised date, so if you thought you missed out, now's your chance to book your place.

Come along for an evening with a genuine show business all-rounder: actress, singer, published crime novelist, and registered Marriage Celebrant [!] – JANE CLIFTON. 
Don’t miss this hugely entertaining evening 7-8pm Wednesday 29 MAY at Narre Warren Library.  NO COST - Book your place now at www.tinyurl.com/cclcevents or phone 9704 7696.

        The Address Book     A Hand in the Bush       Half Past Dead

Deb.

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The Stella Prize

The Stella Prize, named after one of Australia’s iconic female authors, Stella Maria ‘Miles’ Franklin,  is a major new literary award commending Australian women’s writing. Celebrating women’s contribution to Australian literature, it has a significant monetary prize of $50,000.

The inaugural winner of the Stella Prize is Carrie Tiffany for her novel Mateship with Birds. 

The other shortlisted titles are:

The Burial
by Courtney Collins
Questions of Travel
by Michelle de Kretser
The Sunlit Zone
by Lisa Jacobson
Like A House on Fire
by Cate Kennedy
and
Sea Hearts
by Margo Lanagan.

Deb.

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Pulitzer Winners

Awarded last night, 15 April, the Pulitzer Prize is an American award by Columbia University for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature, and musical composition produced in the United States. Among the many categories within each section is the Prize in Letters - books published in the US that are fiction, biography, general non-fiction, history and poetry. And the winners are:

FICTION: The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson 

BIOGRAPHY: The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss

GENERAL NONFICTION: Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys by Gilbert King

HISTORY: Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall  

POETRY: Stag’s Leap by Sharon Olds  

Deb. 

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Win with Miles Franklin!

No, you are not being asked to run a race.

Rather the Miles Franklin Award, Australia's most prestigious literary award, is inviting you to read one or more titles from the list of this year's nominees, for their Miles of Reading Challenge.

You are invited to submit your review on the Miles Franklin discussion forum to be in the chance to win a set of the Miles Franklin Awards' most famous books.

This year's long list is:

Romy Ash - Floundering
Lily Brett - Lola Bensky
Brian Castro - Street to street
Michelle de Kretser - Questions of Travel
Annah Faulkner - The Beloved
Tom Keneally - The Daughters of Mars
Drusilla Modjeska - The Mountain
M.L. Stedman - The Light Between Oceans
Carrie Tiffany - Mateship with Birds
Jacqueline Wright - Red Dirt Talking

Click on the link to place your hold at the library and get moving as reviews must be submitted to the discussion forum by 30th April 2013.  The winner will be announced 19th June, so not too long to wait until you find out whether you and the judges see eye-to-eye on this one. :)

~ Michelle

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The Amber Amulet

From the cover:  "Dear Sir/Ma’am, 

Please find enclosed this Amber Amulet. That must sound unusual to a citizen, but you will have to trust me on this count because the science is too detailed for me to outline here. All you need to know is that the Amber Amulet will eliminate your unhappiness by counteracting it with Positive Energy. This should see you straight. Fear not, you’re in safe hands now. 
Take care. 
The Masked Avenger.

Meet twelve-year-old Liam McKenzie, who patrols his suburban neighbourhood as the Masked Avenger - a superhero with powers so potent not even he can fully comprehend their extent. Along with his sidekick, Richie the Power Beagle, he protects the people of Franklin Street from chaos, mayhem, evil and low tyre pressure - but can he save them from sadness?  This perfect jewel of a book by the award-winning author will hold all readers in its irresistible power. 

Narrated by Grant Cartwright, this e-Audiobook download was short but entertaining!  Diametrically opposed to the powerful Jasper Jones, one of the great Australian reads, Craig Silvey has gone left field with a heart-warming little novella that seems quite child-like but one that touches something inside that makes an adult reader sigh, nod their head, and take a trip down memory lane.  Jumping off the garage roof with an umbrella?  Wearing Mum’s tablecloth as a cape to track down baddies?  Been there, done that, and glad to have travelled that road again with Liam.
Deb.  

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Summer Read Recommends

The Victorian Summer Read program has come to an end, even as our summer shows us one last blast.

Readers across the state enjoyed ten Victorian reads and as part of a competition, made suggestions for their favourite recommended reading.

So if you are looking for a great read, here are the top twenty recommendations from fellow Victorian readers, which you can borrow free from your local library.

• A secret gift, by Ted Gup
• All that I am, by Anna Funder
• Cafe Scheherazade, by Arnold Zable
• Foal's bread, by Gillian Mears
• Gone girl, by Gillian Flynn
• Jack of diamonds, by Bryce Courtenay
• Jasper Jones, by Craig Silvey
• Oh dear Sylvia, by Dawn French
• Seven types of ambiguity, by Elliot Perlman
• The book thief, by Markus Zusak
• The broken shore, by Peter Temple
• The bronze horseman, by Paullina Simons
• The dressmaker, by Rosalie Ham
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer
• The help, by Kathryn Stockett
• The laughing clowns, by William McInnes
• The light between oceans, by M.L. Stedman
• The street sweeper, by Elliot Perlman
• The sunken road, by Garry Disher
• Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel

~ Michelle

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Author Event - Matthew Reilly

I admit I have not yet read a Matthew Reilly book, but that certainly didn’t stop me from attending his author event at the Cranbourne Community Theatre on Monday 4th March. The event was organised by the Cranbourne Library and well publicised both in the library and in the local media. I was only one of about 250 people who had flocked to see the popular writer of the Jack West Jr.  and the Scarecrow series.
 
Matthew Reilly is funny and friendly, and he does a great Sean Connery impression. He spent the time before the official event chatting with the early arrivals, his readers, his fans. They talked about movies and why the fifth Die Hard didn’t work, and the last Indiana Jones movie should never have been made. He shared with his fans, his own anger and frustration when his favourite books get butchered in film. We can all relate to that.
 
When the theatre was filled and the official event started there was a sudden hush where moments before there had been a cacophony of sound. Matthew began by reading to us some of his bad reviews. These were ‘really’ bad reviews. One in particular described his books as “light-weight adventure crap.” Ouch!
 
Contest – his first stand-alone book – was initially self-published. Here’s the blurb from his wesite:
 
The New York State Library. A silent sanctuary of knowledge; a 100-year-old labyrinth of towering bookcases, narrow aisles and spiralling staircases. For Doctor Stephen Swain and his eight-year-old daughter, Holly, it is the site of a nightmare. For one night, the State Library is to be the venue for a contest. A contest in which Stephen Swain is to compete – whether he likes it or not. The rules are simple: seven contestants will enter, only one will leave. With his daughter in his arms, Swain is plunged into a terrifying fight for survival. The stakes are high, the odds brutal. He can choose to run, to hide or to fight – but if he wants to live, he has to win. Because in a contest like this, unless you leave as the victor, you do not leave at all.
 
One interesting piece of trivia is that for the US edition, the publishers asked that he change his imaginary ‘State’ library to the actual New York Public Library, which he did. He visited, took photos, drew up a floor plan and changed the scenes in the book to reflect the true layout. That’s dedication.
 
Matthew says his writing has evolved since his first book (first published in 1996 with a print run of just 1000 copies), and as a writer I know that the more you write the better you are at it. There’s more to it though. Matthew said that he feels he has to keep up with the audience, “the audience evolves, grows more sophisticated.” He needs to “up the ante.” In regard to Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, he said “I wanted this book to be relentless in its relentlessness.”

“Your hero is only as good as your villains.”

Some critics have described Matthew’s books as formulaic. He said the only part of his writing that may follow a formula are the openings of the Scarecrow books. “They always start with Scarecrow zooming into danger.”

Matthew headed off one of the most common questions a writer is asked by telling us that he reads a lot of non-fiction and watches a lot of documentaries; both “fire his imagination”, he said. He wants his ideas and his stories to be “world changing.”

“The strangest things in the books are true.”

One of the questions from the audience was “Do you have to visit a place to write about it?” He said that although it’s not necessary, it does help. That said, he revealed that “about 85% of the stuff in Ice Station is true” and no, he hasn’t been to Antarctica; he researched the facts in his local library. The two best places he ‘has’ been in the world are Egypt and Easter Island in that order.

“Don’t antagonise your biggest fans.”

Matthew has long made it a habit to end his chapters on a cliff-hanger. While writing The Six Sacred Stones he decided he would end the whole book in the same way. “It was a good idea at the time,” he said. The trouble was, his fans read fast. They usually purchase his books the moment they hit the shelves and finish them within the first week. They then had to wait two years to learn the outcome of those final pages. To say they weren’t happy would be putting it mildly.

An audience member asked the question that many of Matthew’s fans would probably like to ask. “With the Jack West Jr. series will you continue to write them until you reach number one?” Matthew said he probably will, but with how long it takes him to write each book and the other projects he’ll be working on in between it may take a while.

“My head was exploding by the end of Temple.”

Temple, another of his stand-alone books, is a split story. It is the longest of his books and was also “the hardest to write.” Matthew said if his fans reread the description of character William Race, they would soon realise that it is an exact description of the author himself.

Hover Car Racer is a book you could give a ten year old to read. Matthew said, “It doesn’t have the violence or, let’s face it, the swearing of his other books.” He wanted Hover Car Racer to be fast, fun, and to contain some life lessons. The best message in the book is what Matthew referred to as the ‘Bradbury Principle’ – based on the 2002 Winter Olympic gold medal win by skater Steven Bradbury. Essentially this message boils down to:

“Never give up.
Never say die.
You are always in the race.”

Find out more about Matthew here http://www.matthewreilly.com/
Follow Matthew on Twitter https://twitter.com/Matthew_Reilly
Like his facebook page www.facebook.com/OfficialMatthewReilly

Lisa.

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Book Chat from Emerald

Book Chat is a great time to get together over a cuppa and share what we've been reading.  Here is a snippet from Emerald Library's last get together - such wildly different books, but I shouldn't be amazed because we're all wonderfully different readers!

The Stories that Changed Australia: 50 years of Four Corners  Edited by Sally Neighbour
50 Years is a remarkable feat for a TV program and this book highlights a range of stories, many of them controversial, topical and often confronting. Highly recommended for those who love in-depth, brave journalism.
Ali.

Snow White Must Die by Nele Heuhaus

A young man comes home to his small German town after serving ten years in prison for the murder of two teenage girls. He was convicted only by circumstantial evidence, the bodies have never been found. He and his family have been through hell in those years, and the trouble isn’t over yet; his presence is stirring up events from the past. There are so many clever twists and turns – just when you think you know what happened, you don’t! Absolutely brilliant!

Dot.

Animal People by Charlotte Wood
As an ordinary day develops into an existential crisis, Stephen Connolly is at a loss. As he decides to break up with his girlfriend, he must also fend of his demanding family, deal with a near tragedy, endure another shift at his zoo job and attend a children’s birthday party. Masterfully told and beautifully written, Animal People is compassionate, sharply observed and humorous. It is with good reason the book was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award, 2012. Just fantastic!
Ali

Four Sisters, All Queens by Sherry Jones
This is very good ‘faction’. The story of four sisters from Provence in the 13th century – Marguerite, Queen of France (Louis); Eleonore, Queen of England (Henry); Sanchia, Queen of Germany (Richard); and Beatrice, Queen of Sicily (Charles). There are politics aplenty, greed, murder, loneliness, family, and a monster mother-in-law. A fascinating look at the lives of these women – from birth to middle age, and the different ways they and their children influenced history.
Dot.

Emerald Library's next Book Chat is on May 31. Pick up a flyer for other 2013 dates.
Deb.

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