{"id":4435,"date":"2018-07-27T11:37:54","date_gmt":"2018-07-27T01:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/veritysparks.com\/?p=4435"},"modified":"2018-07-27T11:48:21","modified_gmt":"2018-07-27T01:48:21","slug":"4435","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/?p=4435","title":{"rendered":"FOUR NEW BOOKS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four new books! I am preparing a talk for Text Marks the Spot, the schools program of the Bendigo Writer’s Festival, so right now, I am reading, reading, reading. Which is great, as we’re in the depths of winter and there is nothing nicer than snuggling up with a cup of tea, a nanna rug and a book.
\nThat being said, I really, really like books that aren\u2019t too long! It\u2019s great to find a satisfying read that isn\u2019t a marathon. Short doesn\u2019t have to mean simple, just as simple language can tell a complex story. How to Bee <\/em>(reviewed earlier) is one example. So is Martine Murray\u2019s lovely Marsh and Me<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Joey Green is a good kid. He\u2019s kind and smart and funny, but just not the sort of boy who gets noticed. He\u2019s kind of hesitant. He lacks confidence. He\u2019s so scared of failure that he doesn\u2019t try. He plays guitar and would love to take part in The Battle of the Bands \u2013 he\u2019d like to be friends with some of the kids at his school – but his doubts are holding him back.<\/p>\n

At school, there\u2019s a footy match on at lunchtime. The guys are all playing, except for me and Digby. Digby is watching a trail of ants. So he isn\u2019t talking. I am sitting in the sun, half watching the guys, half wishing I was one of them, half glad to be just sitting there and not showing how bad I am at ball stuff. I know that\u2019s a lot of halves, but that\u2019s what it\u2019s like inside my mind. It doesn\u2019t add up neatly.<\/em><\/p>\n

When he meets Marsh – a most unusual girl in a tree house – Joey\u2019s life begins to change. This is a gentle, thoughtful book about friendship, music, taking chances, risking failure – and above all, how you can enter into the mysterious inner lives of other human beings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Take Three Girls<\/em> is a collaboration between 3 well-known YA writers, Simmone Howell, Fiona Wood and Cath Crowely. Three very different girls \u2013 Ady, Kate and Clem \u2013 are taking part in a Wellness Program at their posh private school, St Hilda\u2019s. They\u2019ve all been smeared by PSST, a misogynistic cyber-bullying website. This is a compelling look at life as a 16 year old in Year 10, and it’s definitely for “young adults” – maybe readers from 14 or 15.
\nLots of questions are raised. How do I know who I am? What I want to be? Is belonging the same as fitting in? Do I have to do what I\u2019m expected to do? Expect to explore issues of friendship, honesty, love, sexuality, change, and courage. It’s also pretty funny in parts, so expect to laugh as well.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Lifespan of Starlight<\/em> is #1 in a trilogy by Thalia Kalkipsakis. It was first published in 2015, and actually slipped by me then. It\u2019s speculative fiction (as we seem to be calling sci-fi\u00a0 these days) and deals with time travel. As we begin the book, the future is now – it\u2019s 2084, Melbourne. Unequal, surveilled, grimy and run-down, with food and water rationed, every citizen is supposed to be chipped so that each aspect of their lives \u2013 where they go, what they do, how much they spend \u2013 is monitored. One day, in a park in Footscray, an unchipped, illegal teenager called Scout makes a shocking discovery. Soon, she and two friends are pushing the limits of what\u2019s possible as they test the ability to move around into the future.The authorities are closing in. Are they desperate enough to risk everything they know? This novel is speedy and exciting, with superior world-building. #2 is Split Infinity<\/em> and the 3rd<\/sup> instalment, Edge of Time<\/em>, has just been released. This is for you, if you you\u2019re into dystopian fiction and would like to hear an Australian voice.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>From the future to now. World building usually is used in reference to fantasy or sci fi titles, but in this case, I\u2019ll use it in reference to Ellie Marney\u2019s White Nights<\/em>. Ellie\u2019s the author of the best-selling Every<\/em> trilogy, which reimagined Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson as a couple of Australian teenagers. Here, she has created a realistic and believable small country town as the setting for this novel. Teenager Bo Mitchell is a good kid. He\u2019s into sport, he loves his family and friends. So far, so ordinary. Then Bo\u2019s family life starts to get seriously messy. And he befriends the new girl in his class, \u201cferal\u201d Rory, who comes from an alternative, secretive, off the grid community called The Garden of Eden. Secrets, lies and obsessions can have devastating consequences. This has Ellie Marney\u2019s trademark suspenseful plotting and gritty characterisation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four new books! I am preparing a talk for Text Marks the Spot, the schools program of the Bendigo Writer’s Festival, so right now, I am reading, reading, reading. Which is great, as we’re in the depths of winter and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4435"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4447,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4435\/revisions\/4447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veritysparks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}