"Can you keep a secret?" by Caroline Overington

This is the fourth novel by Caroline Overington that I have read, and I read it as part of the Aussie Author Challenge. While this book was an easy read, it really did not engage me in the way that the other three books did, and I was a bit disappointed as I had scored "Sisters of Mercy" 9/10, "Ghost child" 8/10 and "I came to say goodbye" 7/10 when I read them.
I really found it hard to empathise or be really interested in either of the two main characters - Caitlin (a pretty but uneducated Australian who had an unconventional upbringing and left home at 16) and Colby (a rich American who works on Wall St). The unlikely pair meet when Colby and some other rich friends organise a Whitsundays yachting holiday to celebrate the end of 1999 while their offices are shut for the Y2K bug, and Caitlin, who had been working as a 'skimpy' waitress in a local bar, accepts a casual job as deckhand for the trip. The story starts off as a bit of an uninspiring teenage one-night-stand becomes romance scenario, then Caitlin moves to New York, leaving her mother with MS behind in a nursing home. The love story starts wearing thin then collides with the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, leaving Caitlin too scared to fly home and seeing therapists and Colby, despite being obviously bored with Caitlin even after 6 weeks together, marries her. For me, neither of the characters come across as likeable or really believable, more like stereotypes. Next great idea they have is to adopt a child from an orphanage in Russia, which predictably does not go to plan. As the book goes on Caitlin appears to be more delusional and very selfish in everything she is doing and things get less and less believable, while Colby distances himself as much as possible from her by working longer hours. I wont go on to describe the storyline in any more detail as it will give away the 'twist' at the end, but I did find this book quite shallow and disappointing compared to the other books I've read by this author. It hasn't put me off wanting to read her other books, but I do hope the rest are more like 'Sisters of Mercy' and less like 'Can you keep a secret?'.  

Started reading on my kindle: 30th December 2014
Finished: 31st December 2014
My score: 6/10
Aussie Author Challenge stats: female author, first published in 2014, genre: drama

"The Rosie Effect" by Graeme Simsion

 

"The Rosie Effect" is the highly anticipated sequel to "The Rosie Project", one of my favourite books that I read last year. I read it as part of the Aussie Author Challenge, but also because I had been looking forward eagerly to rejoining the crazy adventures of Don Tillman.

I really enjoyed "The Rosie Effect", Don Tillman cracks me up. I didn't think that the sequel was quite as good as "The Rosie Project", but that was always going to be a hard act to follow since it was so awesome. This book sees Don married to Rosie and living in New York and embarking on the "Baby Under Development (BUD) Project". Plenty of crazy situations arise that could only ever happen to Don, and many were pretty funny, although the story was not as light-hearted and hilarious as in the first book. Still, if there was a 3rd book in the series written, I would definitely look forward to reading it!

Started reading on my kindle: 28th December 2014
Finished: 30th December 2014
My score: 8/10
Aussie author challenge stats: male author, book first published in 2014, comedy/drama genre.

"Flight Behaviour" by Barbara Kingsolver

This is the first book I've read by this author. It was a bit slow to start, but I really enjoyed it when I got into it. This story is about the Monarch butterflies that migrate massive distances from South America to Northern America, one of the fascinating biological events in the world that intrigue me. The interesting biology of the butterflies and the problems of climate change are interwoven with a generational family drama set in a rural setting. At first I thought the book was set maybe 100 years ago as the farm life and attitudes of the main characters seemed so out of touch, but then references to modern things like iPads made me realise that it was set in current times, and as the story developed it revealed a community where University/College education was rarely aspired to, most families would be considered disadvantaged and were struggling to make ends meet by farming, and the general population gave more credibility to the commercial tv news presenters than to scientists on topics like climate change. It is a really good novel, combining the science and environmental issues with a family drama of a style reminiscent to me of Jodi Picoult's books.

Started reading on my kindle: 19th December 2014
Finished: 28th December 2014
My score: 7.5/10

"Like a virgin" by Richard Branson

I started reading "Like a virgin" on my kindle 3rd November 2014 and finished it on the 11th November. My score: 6/10....actually I probably would have scored the first 1/3 of the book 8/10 and should have stopped reading then, as the rest of the book was very repetitive. Richard Branson is a very inspiring person, involved in lots of successful businesses but also making a big effort in terms of the environment and community welfare, and coming up with innovative ways to address critical problems we are facing on a global scale.

"My Story" by Julia Gillard

This book is an autobiographical account of the first female Prime Minister in Australia about her time leading our country. I must say I found her an inspiring leader, and wish she was still governing our nation. I bought her book the day it was released, and attended a seminar presentation she gave at the University of Adelaide last Thursday night. Julia appeared down to earth, humourous at times, inspiring and intelligent. After her presentation I had the chance to get my copy of her book signed and to say a few words to her. Very glad to have this opportunity.

My review will appear here, once I have finished reading her book. It is a page turner, but it is a hard cover book and quite heavy so it's not easy to bring on public transport so it may take me longer to read than I would like. I do most of my reading at the moment on public transport, so I have been reading other books on my kindle in preference to lugging this heavier book around.

Aussie Author Challenge details: Australian Author, Female Author, New to me, first published in 2014, non-fiction, autobiography genre, politics.

"Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

Started reading about 11th September 2014
Finished: 1st Oct 2014.

Non fiction book looking at what makes successful people and geniuses so unique from a different angle. Suggesting that it is not intrinsic intelligence per say, rather that any reasonably intelligent person if born at the right time in history, with the right family environment, exposed to "lucky" opportunities will succeed over someone more intelligent but not offered the same opportunities delivered by chance/family environment/history/random events outside their control. 
Some of this book was really interesting and thought-provoking, other bits just made me feel that you can make a correlation with all sorts of random things, doesnt necessarily mean it is causative.

My score: 6/10. Although some chapters were more 8/10, other chapters dragged the score down.
 

"When the night comes" by Favel Parrett

I read "When the night comes" by Favel Parrett as part of the Aussie Author Challenge. It is set in Hobart, Tasmania and also Antarctica during the 1980s, and features the 'great little ship' "Nella Dan". The "Nella Dan" is a real ship, one of four ships leased from a Danish shipping line and used by the Australian government during the 1950-1980s for various Antarctic trips. The story is mostly fictional, but with enough accurate details thrown in to make it realistic and believable. 

It is hard to know how to describe this book and do it justice. It doesn't really have an in-depth story line, and mostly the characters are not fully fleshed out, yet this book really captured me on an emotional level. The chapters are mostly quite short, sometimes only 1-2 pages long, and are mostly told from the perspective of 2 main characters - Isla - a young lonely girl (primary school age I think) living in Hobart with her mother and her even younger brother, or Bo, a Danish sailor on board the "Nella Dan" who visits Hobart multiple times on route to Macquarie Island and the Australian Antarctic bases and befriends Isla and her family. The book doesn't really have a storyline in the usual way, but almost seems to be vignettes of powerful moments in Isla and Bo's lives, that when collected together build up a story. It is mostly very sad and raw, and I felt quite emotional reading parts of it, maybe this was partially due to many chapters being written in either a very down to earth (Bo) or alternatively a childlike voice (Isla), somehow at odds with the events being described. I don't know why I liked or was so emotionally affected by this book and I ended up with lots of unanswered questions, but I do recommend it. 

"When the night comes" is the second book by the Australian author Favel Parrett (her first book was "Past the shallows"). I haven't read her first book, but I have added it to my 'to read' list as I am impressed with "When the night comes".   


Started reading: 31st August 2014 
Finished: 10th September 2014
My score: 8/10
Aussie Author Challenge stats: Female author, new to me, first published in 2014, genre: unknown. the back cover suggests it is 'Wintonesque' after Tim Winton, another Australian author.