“Big little lies” by Liane Moriarty

 
This book was recommended to me by my Mum and she gave me her copy to read when she finished it. Thanks Mum :-) I had heard several people mention they had really enjoyed Liane Moriarty's books, but had not realised until recently that she is an Australian author, but since I realised that I bumped the book up the priority list and started reading it as part of the Aussie Author Challenge 2018. 

After the last few books I have read which have been mostly historical fiction mixed with creative sci-fi, this book was a complete change of genre and pace. It is a murder mystery and probably also considered "chick lit" (not a genre I read a lot of), and so in many ways was a lot lighter than the other books I've read lately. That said however, it does involve bullying, domestic violence and murder, so it's not really that light! It was a page-turner, and I finished it over 4 days despite only having time to read on the bus to/from work or late at night. Liane is very good at capturing all the tiny elements that make characters unique and yet also so readily recognisable. She has done a great job at describing all the gossippy/bitchy nature of some people, as well as the conflict that often exists between the confident external facade of a person and the reality of what that person is going through internally.

I don't know if Pirriwee Public School is meant to be a fictitious place or not, but in my mind it seemed to be set on Sydney's Northern Beaches, and if so, it captured a lot of the sterotypical behaviour, people and lifestyle that would be so familiar to anyone who had spent time living on 'the Peninsula'. 

I wont give away the twists of the murder mystery aspect of the book, but it is gripping and easy to read, with the story told from lots of different characters perspectives, which I really enjoyed. Definitely worth reading.

Started reading: 8th February 2018
Finished: 11th February 2018
My score: 9/10

"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

"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

"Chasing the Light" by Jesse Blackadder

This is the first book I have chosen to read as part of the Aussie Author Challenge for 2014.

According to the publishers it is "A fictional recounting of the little-known true story of the first woman to ever set foot on Antarctica, and her extraordinary fight to get there". http://www.harpercollins.com.au/books/Chasing-Light-Novel-Antarctica-Jesse-Blackadder/?isbn=9780732296049

This is an historical novel, and I found it to be very interesting from the historical perspective of learning something about whaling in Antarctic waters in the 1920-30s as I knew nothing about it really, despite being a supporter of anti-whaling campaigns in modern times. The author (as part of her arts thesis) actually did a lot of historical researching and quite a few little known details and facts of the first women to land on Antarctica are embedded in this novel. However, being a novel, there is lots of speculation and invented angles and interpretations, hyped up romances etc. Some of the invented 'dramas' irritated me, making me think 'really, are you, like, at high school, or in your 30s?' even though I know some 'liberties' and 'equalities' we take for granted now were more taboo in the early 1900s.
Overall I enjoyed the book and feel like I now know a little bit more about that slice of history involving Norwegian whaling in the early 1900s in Antarctic waters and a little more of the adventures of the first women to land in Antarctica. I recently saw a really interesting exhibition on Antarctica and Australian exploration of the continent at the South Australian Museum, and although I dont recall any mention of women explorers or adventurers in the exhibition, it was still fascinating. So if you live in or will be visiting Adelaide soon i recommend you visit the museum and check it out (it's free entry too).  

"Chasing the Light" by Jesse Blackadder
Started reading on my kindle on 6th January 2014
Finished: 15th January 2014
My score: 7/10

Aussie Author Challenge Stats: 
Male Author, New to me, First published in 2013 or 2014.
Genre: Historical fiction 

"Everything I Knew" by Peter Goldsworthy

I read this book as part of the Aussie Author Challenge. I have previously read two other books by this author ("Wish" and "Honk if you are Jesus") both of which I thought were excellent. This book was quite different. It was set in Penola, South Australia. It reminded me more of Tim Winton's style of writing rather than the style I associate with the other Peter Goldsworthy books I've read. Basically it follows the story of a young teenage boy and his infatuation with his teacher. Some very creative aspects, but inevitably tragic, like a train crash watched in slow motion. The ending was not satisfying to me, and actually reminded me of when I had creative writing assignments at school and was criticised for ending my stories with "and then she woke up and it was all a dream". Peter Goldsworthy is  a great writer and captures so many details of the era and the atmosphere of a small country town in South Australia, but it left me wanting more from the last 1/4 of the book. 
 
Started reading on my kindle: 19th October 2013
Finished: 26th Oct 2013
My score: 6/10

"Second Chances" by Charity Norman

This is the first book I've read by this author Charity Norman. It is the story of a family who leave the UK for a better life in New Zealand, and then how the "dream"/"nightmare" unfolds. It is very well written with good descriptions of characters and landscapes, and I have to admit I actually cried towards the end (I almost never cry reading books or watching movies so that's saying something). I must say I had suspicions early on in the book about who was at the root of the 'nightmare' and why, but this didnt detract from my enjoyment of the story unfolding, and I did find it quite a page turner. the reason it too me so long to read the book was no reflection on how gripping it was, it just happened to be a very busy couple of weeks at work combined with waiting for an electrician to fix the problem with the lights in my bedroom, so I didnt get a lot of reading done. 
Being Australian, but having friends from both the UK and New Zealand some of the aspects of the book dealing with the family's assimilation after migration from the UK to New Zealand was really interesting, and the author did capture many of the local mannerisms and customs that seem normal to Aussies/Kiwis but seemed more foreign when seen from the UK family's point of view.  I am keen to read more books by this author, although since signing up for the Aussie author challenge I think I better try to fill in a few of the gaps in my Australian literature first ;-) I have heard from a friend that another book by this author "Son in law" is also very good.

Started reading on my kindle: 4th August 2013
Finished: 17th August 2013
My score: 8.5/10

"A short history of tractors in Ukrainian" by Marina Lewycka

I'm not quite sure how to describe what I thought of this book. I haven't read a book quite like it before. It reads kind of like a soap opera in which none of the characters are 100% likeable...but you feel sympathy, frustration, disbelief about them all in turn, and you do want to keep turning the pages (I finished the book in 2 days). While the cover says 'extremely funny' I think it's more in the way of black humour rather than laugh-out-loud funny most of the time.

The story is interesting though, and I did enjoy it in some ways, but it kind of felt like I was spying on an extremely dysfunctional family a lot of the time. Basically the story is of a family in the UK who were orginally immigrants from Ukraine after the second world war. The 2 grown-up daughters barely talk to each other, but are brought together as co-conspirators when they discover their elderly father (in his mid 80s) is about to marry a 'gold-digging' hussy in her 30s, who basically seems to be marrying him to get a permanent visa into the UK from Ukraine, despite already being married, having a teenage son and multiple affairs going on. So the two daughters Nadia and Vera unite forces to try to prevent this occurring, and the dramas that ensue are sort of funny and sort of sad, mixed up with history of the war and politics and tractors....


Started reading on my kindle: 26th April 2013
Finished: 28th April 2013.
My score 6/10