Why I Like YA Fiction, Guest Post by Whitney McCarthy, QLD Secondary Teacher and Lover of the Written Word

As a secondary school teacher of English in Queensland, Australia, I'm engaged in a never-ending search for literature that manages to offer masterful examples of the narrative genre, while challenging students to act upon their social conscience.

In the beginning, this search had me reading an average of 10 Young Adult (YA) titles a month. I did this initially so that I could offer sound recommendations to my students and help them avoid the pitfalls of the many copy-cat texts which followed the vampire-werewolf-district-faction phenomena. Somewhere along the way I found I was enjoying these texts just as much as my students, and I'd like to share with you the reason I like YA fiction.

I believe the reticence of some teenagers today stems not from apathy or ignorance, but rather from the fact that the number and scope of the issues requiring their attention are overwhelming. It's for this reason that YA fiction, and dystopian fiction in particular (more about that later), has exploded in popularity over the last ten years. YA fiction provides adolescents and young adults with direction; if a young protagonist can overthrow a government, then they too can face the problems of their world.

In my opinion, the continual rise of YA fiction can also be attributed to the fact that protagonists give readers a voice. This is true of all protagonists, but as Graham F. Scott at Canadian Business says, YA fiction capitalises on the seemingly endless resource that is teenage angst. While this trivialises the causes of that angst, he has a point; adolescence hits us all with a wonderful cocktail of physical, emotional and social confusion, one which often requires help to understand and negotiate. Enter the army of adolescent protagonists whose brave life-choices, embarrassing love-lives and fierce battles for freedom provide the reader with one recurring message: It will get easier. Even better than the message itself, readers are clearly educated that nothing gets easier without effort, resilience and a clear sense of purpose.

I appreciate the ways in which protagonists work to overcome the challenges of a world usually thrust upon them by an older, wealthier or more well-armed society. My students appreciate that the perspective of an adolescent is valued, even privileged, rather than ignored. As a result, teaching and learning is improved because I can prepare teenagers for a world needing their attention, rather than assuming ignorance (not that I would!).

Parents should certainly engage with the books their children read; a frank discussion about a YA character and his/her actions might allay many of the fears we parents have about our children’s choices. It's worth noting that few YA titles present alcohol, drugs or teen pregnancy as the main issues facing adolescents. Driving and digital communication are still presented as pitfalls, but the issues which occupy the average YA protagonist’s mind are identity, freedom (intellectual and physical), tolerance and purpose. I find that reassuring.

As a genre, YA fiction should not be dismissed out of hand. A younger character voice is just as authentic, and their challenges just as real. Sure, there are some dreadful YA novels out there, but that’s true of any genre. My tip: befriend a teenage reader - they’ll steer you right, and will appreciate that you cared enough to ask.

I'll be back to Carpe Librum soon to share some of my favourite YA novels, but until then, you can have a sneak peak at some of my recommendations here.

Guest blogger, Whitney McCarthy

Bio

Whitney is the Head of English at Downlands College in Toowoomba, QLD and divides her time between school and her children, who spend more time dancing than at home.

She is currently working towards a Masters of Education (Literacy and Language learning) at University of Queensland.

Review: The Pearl by John Steinbeck

The Pearl is the first book I've read by John Steinbeck, better known for Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.

I thought I'd start with something easy, and a parable of just under 100 pages seemed like a good place to start. I should also admit to being influenced by this stunning clothbound classic; I'm in love with these lately.

Kino is a hardworking pearl diver living a simple life, until he finds the pearl of a lifetime. Happy and content with his life before the pearl, he suddenly desires more than he has and is surrounded by greed and envy.

Kino's experience from the moment he discovers the pearl to the bitter end, is an example of how greed and evil can cloud your decisions, and the consequences when we fall victim to these desires.

I read that Steinbeck was inspired to write The Pearl based on a Mexican folktale, and it doesn't surprise me.

Readers who enjoyed The Alchemist will love the simple life lessons contained in The Pearl. I also think this parable is suitable for younger readers, from middle school right through to high school age.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Vanessa Skye vampire giveaway winners announced

Thanks to all those who entered the Vanessa Skye giveaway last week, entries closed at midnight on Friday 19th June. The giveaway included 1 signed copy and 3 ebook copies of Koven by Vanessa Skye.

Vanessa reviewed your entries (and bonus entries) and chose the winners based on your one word descriptions.

1st prize
Congratulations Alfred, you've won a signed copy of Koven for your description of a vampire as tortured.

Winners of an ebook copy of Koven are:
Elusive by Mary
Intriguing by Kate
Bloodthirsty by Sharon

Congratulations to the winners. You'll each receive an email from Vanessa Skye this week regarding the details of your win. Thanks again to all those who entered, and Carpe Librum!

Review: The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Chris Riddell

The Sleeper and the Spindle is written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Chris Riddell, and first came to my attention when it was mentioned by Jen Campbell, author of Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops. 

Jen is both author and bookseller, and I'm a subscriber of her book related videos on YouTube. In her October haul of books she mentioned she'd fallen in love with The Sleeper and the Spindle (click here for the original video) and I just had to check it out - literally, from the library.

Essentially this beautifully illustrated book is the re-telling of the Sleeping Beauty and Snow White fairytales, where Snow White has to save Sleeping Beauty, but not all is as it seems.

The illustrations are dark and elaborately drawn in black ink, with the occasional highlight in gold, giving this edition an almost illuminated feeling. You'll need to know at the outset that this is a very dark tale, there is an abundance of skulls in the illustrations, and in my opinion, The Sleeper and the Spindle is for the mature reader, not for young kids.

Now for the rating, but this time it's a little difficult. I adored the illustrations (4 stars) but for me the re-imagined fairytale fell short of my expectations (2 stars) so I guess my rating is in the middle somewhere.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Carpe Librum celebrates 10 year anniversary

Great news, this month I'm celebrating my 10 year blogiversary. When I started in June 2005, this blog was called My Four Bucks, and in August 2012 I changed the name to Carpe Librum (seize the book) and my URL to www.carpelibrum.net 

I started from humble beginnings with only a few hits per month, and clearly remember the excitement of my first book offer from an author. Since then, I've accepted a few but had to decline over 450+ individual requests emailed to me by authors and publicists. Now that my blog has grown, I receive monthly offers and opportunities via publisher catalogues, including; Simon & Schuster, Pan Macmillan & Picador, Allen & Unwin and Murdoch Books to name a few.

In the last 10 years I've published 576 posts, (most of them book reviews), given away 21 books and have almost reached the milestone of a million page views (I'm currently in the vicinity of 770,000). 

I've met some great authors along the way, participated in blog tours, read-alongs, blog hops and countless reading challenges and enjoyed every minute of it.

Thanks to all those who have supported me over the years, I enjoy my role as an Australian book blogger and look forward to many more entertaining reads, interviews and giveaways in the future.

Review: The Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer

*Copy courtesy of NetGalley *

The Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer is a gripping and entertaining read, straddling both the thriller and crime genres equally.

Anna is a mother trying to come to terms with the disappearance of her young son Daniel, who disappeared one morning and hasn't been seen since. Every day she painstakingly preserves the last sign of him, footprints left in wet cement in front of her house, being poured the morning Daniel disappeared.

Anna's husband James left the front door open on the morning of Daniel's disappearance and their marriage is feeling the strain of the blame game.

We also hear from Detective John Marvel assigned to a different case, but whose investigations will cross over into Daniel's disappearance.

Anna is close to losing her mind with grief, and can't be sure if she is seeing visions or not. There is a subtle tint of the paranormal in The Shut Eye that is slight and well-handled and it added to my enjoyment of this mystery crime thriller.

The character's despair felt so real, and the mystery of the disappearance and other cases Marvel was investigating definitely kept the pace flying along.

This was going to be a five star rating for me until the end; there was one aspect of the ending I wasn't entirely satisfied with, although I - kind of - understand why the author chose to leave one of the cases open ended. We don't always get all the answers we want in life, but I was selfishly hoping for all the answers here.

Highly recommend The Shut Eye by Belinda Bauer to readers who enjoy a good mystery, thriller or crime novel.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

Guest post and giveaway from author Vanessa Skye: why we're fascinated by vampires

Author Vanessa Skye

So who isn’t fascinated by vampires, really? Even with the current domination by vampires in the romance novel category, the fascination remains, and we eagerly await the next incarnation of this genre.

I can’t tell you how many nights I lay awake as a teen and begged for a visit from a local vampire to rescue me from my life, take me away, turn me and make me immortal. Never happened though, dammit! Instead, I decided to create my own vampire world in Koven, and the ride was indeed fun.

So why are we, as humans, so fascinated by these mythical creatures?

Vampires are powerful. At one time or another in our lives, we have all felt quite powerless, whether we are being bullied at school or work, or we are feeling put upon or taken for granted by others. So, the idea of being a powerful vampire, with superhuman powers and abilities is pretty appealing. Not only would bullying be a problem of the past, but vengeance also becomes an easy option. People always want more power, so it’s unsurprising that we love our vampires.

Vampires are immortal, and who doesn’t want to live forever? Imagine all the changes you could witness in human history? Imagine what you could achieve without the shackles of mortality limiting your potential? Enough said really.

Vampires are sexy, and not because they are always portrayed as being good looking (because they don’t have enough going for them!). They are the perfect ‘bad boy’, offering that elusive mix of sensitivity and brute strength. They are the oppressors and the protectors in a single hot package. If a vampire loves you, you’d never have to feel unsafe again. And then there are the fangs. Long, elongated, penetrative. It’s doesn’t get much more phallic than that, does it?

Vampires are above the law. You can try to catch a vampire, but it’s unlikely to go well for you. Vampires have freedom, because they can act outside the law, and with caring about consequences or repercussions. 

My fascination with vampires started when I first read Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice.

I devoured the entire series in just days because Anne managed to capture all the frailties and sensitivities of these beings, and mix them with just the right amount of power and naughtiness. 

I loved it all. I loved Louis with his conscience. I loved Lestat in all his unashamed manipulations, indulgence and wickedness, plus his name “Lestat de Lioncourt”; I mean could there be a better name for a character in the entire history of the novel?

And Armand—so sexy. The Vampire Chronicles propelled vampires from being evil, bloodsucking minions of satan, to being these sexy, beautiful, sexually ambiguous, erotic Gods that all us sadly-mortal humans aspire to be.

This is the book that started the modern love of the vampire. Bram Stoker’s Dracula, while great, was published a century before this and had long since dropped off your average teenager’s reading list. Anne Rice brought sexy vampires to the apex of pop culture, and they haven’t left since.

We all love our naughty vampire gods!

(Entries closed midnight Friday 19th June 2015.)
_____________________________________________________________________

Koven by
Vanessa Skye

Koven will be released in eBook and paperback on 11 June, so check it out or ask your local book store to order it in for you.

You can also check out Koven on Goodreads or find out more about Vanessa Skye’s crime fiction Edge of Darkness series at www.vanessa-skye.com

To celebrate the release of Koven, Vanessa’s debut crime fiction novel, The Enemy Inside, eBook will be only US99c for the month of June 2015! Get it here! 

Review: Viva la Repartee - Clever Comebacks and Witty Retorts from History's Great Wits & Wordsmiths by Dr. Mardy Grothe

I always appreciate a witty comeback or clever retort and for that reason I picked up Viva la Repartee - Clever Comebacks and Witty Retorts from History's Great Wits & Wordsmiths by Dr. Mardy Grothe.

While I did enjoy some of the content, I was overwhelmingly frustrated by the fact that there was very little material post 1995, and the majority of examples were from actors and writers from decades ago, and an abundance of entries from Winston Churchill.

Now while Churchill has some of the best comebacks of all time, there was no current material to offset the time spent on silver screen actors and nation leaders from 50+ years ago.

Here are five of the best worth recording here:

From Page 30 
Outraged father says: "You think you can run this school any damn way you please, don't you?" In response, Educator Horace Dutton Taft replies: Your  manner is crude and your language vulgar, but you have somehow got the point.

From Page 33-34
I didn't know where the expression 'off the cuff' originated, and was fascinated to learn: it comes from the world of formal affairs in the 1930s, when tuxedo-clad dinner guests would jot brief notes on the cuffs of their sleeves during the meal in order to give the impression of speaking spontaneously later on when they were called upon to deliver a few after-dinner remarks. Such remarks were clearly not spontaneous, but as years passed the expression took on the meaning it has today.

From Page 186
As he got older, Churchill retained his sense of humor, despite many of the predictable problems associated with aging. When told by a friend that his fly was open, he suggested it was no big deal, saying with resigned acceptance: A dead bird does not leave its nest.

In summary, I'd recommend Viva la Repartee by Mardy Grothe as a coffee table book or a library selection, but don't expect to be 'wowed' on every page. The gems are sprinkled throughout.

My rating = **

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides (author of Middlesex and more recently The Marriage Plot) seems to have been around for ages, despite only being published in 1993.

The novel is set in 1970s Michigan, USA and centres around the Lisbon girls, who - we learn very early on - all commit suicide.

Their decline and ultimate demise is narrated in first person plural, which I found confusing in the beginning until I realised I wasn't just reading their story as witnessed by a teenage boy, but from the perspective of a group of boys.

Their curiosity about the Lisbon girls fills the pages, each of them having their own story to tell about one of the sisters. This fixation develops into a morbid fascination that never really leaves the boys in their later lives.

Despite the somewhat dark subject matter of teenage depression and suicide, Eugenides is somehow able to weave in plenty of humorous moments and amusing observations and his writing is a pleasure to consume.

The Virgin Suicides is a haunting but rewarding read, and I would definitely consider reading more from Eugenides in the future.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

P.S. This is the first book I can remember being narrated in first person plural (a new term for me), do you know of any others?

Letter to the Editor of Good Reading Magazine published in June 2015 edition

June edition Good Reading Magazine

I have some exciting news to share, my letter to the editor of Good Reading Magazine has been published in the June edition, woohoo!

I was responding to a subscriber (Liz) who wrote to the magazine in April to express her disappointment as follows:

As one of the first subscribers to GR I am really disappointed with the reliance on and reference to Facebook all the time. 
For many reasons I have refused to join Facebook. It's beginning to seem as if I must. But I won't! Do any other readers feel the same? I am not behind the times. I just know that Facebook is not right for me.
I am sure many other readers feel the same. I guess there are valid reasons for Facebook being part of Good Reading, but they elude me.

I couldn't let this letter go unanswered, and you can read my reply below:

It's been a while since I had my last review published in the June 2013 edition of Good Reading Magazine, so I'm really happy to be in print again. I wonder if Liz will reply...

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Girl On Legare Street (Tradd Street #2) by Karen White

The Girl on Legare Street is the second book in a series by Karen White to feature Melanie, a realtor living in South Carolina who can see ghosts. The series began with The House on Tradd Street however this one can be read as a stand-alone.

Melanie is now restoring her historic (and inherited) home on Tradd Street with friends, when she is asked to purchase a home for her estranged mother. Melanie hasn't spoken to her mother since the opera singer left her as a child and the animosity is palpable.

One small thing that did irk me though, was the number of times the characters raised their eyebrows, or moved their eyebrows in the book. I read the e-book version so was able to do a search and it was an astonishing 47 times, argh!

That aside, when I wasn't reading it, I couldn't wait to pick it up again which means a high rating for me. I highly recommend The Girl on Legare Street for readers who enjoy a plot driven novel with great characters, historic restoration and a little ghost hunting.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

P.S. There are two more in the series, and I might just check them out: The Strangers on Montagu Street and Return to Tradd Street.

Review of War Diaries: A Nurse at the Front - The First World War Diaries of Sister Edith Appleton

I read War Diaries: A Nurse at the Front - The First World War Diaries of Sister Edith Appleton in the lead up to ANZAC Day last month and it certainly was a meaningful preparation in the lead up to the centenary.

Blurb
This, the first in a series of four unique War Diaries produced in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum, will tell a story that is rarely heard: the experiences of a nurse working close to the Western Front in the First World War. 

Incredibly, Edith Appleton served in France for the whole of the conflict. Her bravery and dedication won her the Military OBE, the Royal Red Cross and the Belgian Queen Elizabeth medal among others. Her diary details with compassion all the horrors of the 'war to end wars', including the first use of poison gas and the terrible cost of battles such as Ypres, but she also records what life was like for nurses and how she spent her time off-duty. 

There are moments of humour amongst the tragedy, and even lyrical accounts of the natural beauty that still existed amidst all the destruction. 

My Review
Reading Edith's diary entries gave me a glimpse into the life of a nurse at the Western front including her living conditions in France and the hospitals and medical centres she worked in.

Edith's accounts are filled with touching observations, intimate moments with patients, her efforts to honour the dead and write to the families of her patients as well as comments about the conflict and her thoughts about the enemy and German patients she was ordered to treat. 

She also records important holidays and milestones and the ways in which the medical staff and soldiers celebrated them (Christmas) and kept up their morale with skits and concerts.

An overarching theme throughout Edith's diaries is an amazing appreciation for mother nature and the passing of the seasons. Amidst the death and destruction going on around her, it was surprising to learn that Edith enjoyed nothing more than 'tramping about the landscape' and was deeply in touch with her surroundings. While other nurses preferred to go into town and go shopping during their rare hours off, Edith always preferred to take tea somewhere quiet or go for a swim in the ocean.

Her writing is indicative of the time which I thoroughly enjoyed (our language and phraseology has changed so much in the last 100 years) and I was charmed by her delightful sense of humour and admired her strength of character.

Since the publication of these diaries, much work has been done by Edith's ancestors and fellow historians to formally identify as many of the patients mentioned in Edith's diaries as possible; an impressive feat of research in my opinion.

I thoroughly recommend reading Edith Appleton's war diaries, and for more information, you can visit the website created by Edith's great nephew here, A Nurse At The Front.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

Review: Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta

* Copy courtesy of Penguin Random House*

I received this gorgeous hardcover edition of Looking For Alibrandi from Random House last year, as part of their National Book Bloggers Forum (NBBF14) and finally got around to reading it last month.

For those who don't know, Looking For Alibrandi was written by Australian author Melina Marchetta and published in the early 1990s. 

Based in Sydney, it's essentially a YA coming of age novel focussing on teenager Josephine (Josie) Alibrandi as she attends a Catholic school on scholarship, falls in love, argues with her mother and grandmother, meets her father and decides her future.

Considered a modern Australian classic, I enjoyed Josie's sense of humour and Marchetta's ability to capture the character of an Italian nonna so very well.

I'd recommend Looking For Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta for YA readers of either gender.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Get your FREE copy of The Countess' Captive by Andrea Cefalo here

Earlier this year, I enjoyed reading The Fairytale Keeper and the author Andrea Cefalo has just let me know that her sequel, The Countess' Captive is now FREE on Amazon.

Blurb

From award-winning author of The Fairytale Keeper comes another masterful, historically-set retelling of Grimm's fairytales. The Countess' Captive combines Grimm's fairytale characters with real historical settings to a tale that leaves readers wondering where fact ends and fiction begins. 

During March of 1248, Adelaide Schumacher-affectionately called Snow White-has lost so much: her mother, her possessions, and now her home. Adelaide hates abandoning her home city, her family’s legacy, and her first love-Ivo. More than anything, she hates her father growing closer to her mother’s cousin-Galadriel. Adelaide plots to end their tryst before her fate is sealed, and she never sets foot in Cologne again.

But good and pious can only get Galadriel so far.  Never again will she be destitute. Never again will she be known by the cruel moniker-Cinderella. Never again will someone take what is rightfully hers. No matter what it takes.

The Countess' Captive was only free until 23 May 2015.

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Museum of Literary Souls by John Connolly

The Museum of Literary Souls is an enjoyable novella with an enticing premise: when a book becomes very popular and is read by thousands, this can bring the main characters to life.

Mr. Berger prefers the company of books, and after an uneventful career as a Closed Accounts Registrar, and never marrying, he retires to the English countryside with his books.

However, Mr. Berger sees a person he thinks looks like a famous character from a book, and following her leads him to the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository.

I loved the character of Mr. Berger, and the Caxton Private Lending Library & Book Depository is every booklover's dream! With that aside, I just wished The Museum of Literary Souls was longer. 

I'm confident there's enough content in this story for author John Connolly to make it a novel, and I'm sure many readers would love to join Mr. Berger and explore the Book Depository further.

Great read, great price (less than $2 for the ebook), and brilliant concept, but only three stars because I was disappointed by the brevity.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Embroiderer by Australian author Kathryn Gauci

* Copy courtesy of the author * 

It's 1972, and Eleni is summoned to her dying aunt's bedside in Athens. Her aunt wants to come clean about Eleni's family history and recounts a shocking life, full of secrets, loss, war, betrayal, death, love and espionage.

The tale takes us as far back as 1822, during the The Greek War of Independence, and essentially follows one particular family and their efforts to survive the conflicts, keep their business going and stay alive in turbulent times.

My understanding of these conflicts is not as comprehensive as it should be, and reading The Embroiderer was a great way to learn about the battles, invasions and wars in Greece from the Greek War of Independence (1821-1832) through to the Balkan Wars (1912-1913).

Readers who enjoy reading historical fiction based around real historical conflicts will enjoy reading The Embroiderer, and will definitely learn more about Greece (and WWI) in the process.

The contents of a senior family member's journal at the end of the novel took the number of characters I could follow just a little too far, and I longed for a briefer method of learning what lay in her journal. I also wished for more time to linger on the details of the family business of embroidery and couture fashion during the period, my main attraction for this novel.

Having said that, if you have an interest in Greece, or are of Greek lineage yourself, you are bound to fall in love with The Embroiderer.

In conclusion, here's an excerpt from the blurb that sums up the novel really well: Set against the mosques and minarets of Asia Minor and the ruins of ancient Athens, The Embroiderer is a gripping saga of love and loss, hope and despair, and of the extraordinary courage of women in the face of adversity.

My rating = ***1/2

Carpe Librum!

About the Author

Kathryn Gauci was born in England, and studied textile design, carpet design and technology. After graduation, Kathryn spent a year in Vienna before working as a carpet designer in Athens for six years.

Before turning to writing full-time, Kathryn ran her own textile design studio in Melbourne for over fifteen years and The Embroiderer is her first novel; a culmination of her love of design and travel, and her years living and working in Greece – a place she is proud to call her spiritual home.

Book cover and blurb announced for The Lake House, new novel by Kate Morton

I'm a huge fan of bestselling Australian author Kate Morton, and I'm so excited today because Allen & Unwin have just sent out a media release containing the blurb and Australian front cover for her new novel The Lake House.

Blurb
An abandoned house... After a particularly troubling case, Sadie Sparrow is sent on an enforced break from her job with the Metropolitan Police and retreats to her beloved grandfather’s cottage in Cornwall. There she finds herself at a loose end, until one day she stumbles upon an abandoned house surrounded by overgrown gardens and dense woods, and learns the story of a baby boy who disappeared without a trace.

A missing child... June 1933, and the Edevane family’s country house, Loeanneth, is polished and gleaming, ready for the much-anticipated Midsummer Eve party. For Eleanor, the annual party has always been one of her treasured traditions, but her middle daughter, Alice, sixteen years old and with literary ambitions, is especially excited. Not only has Alice worked out the perfect twist for her novel, she’s also fallen helplessly in love with someone she shouldn’t. But by the time midnight strikes and fireworks light up the night sky, the Edevane family will have suffered a loss so great they leave Loeanneth and never return.


An unsolved mystery... Seventy years later, in the attic writing room of her elegant Hampstead home, the formidable Alice Edevane leads a life as neatly plotted as the bestselling detective novels she writes. Until a young police detective starts asking questions about her family’s past and seeking to resurrect the complex tangle of secrets Alice has spent her life trying to escape...

The Lake House will be released here in Australia on 31 October 2015 and I can't wait to read it!

It's an exciting day here at Carpe Librum!

Review: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

As a lover of literature, it's hard not to notice the many great quotes from Oscar Wilde. Here's a few to refresh your memory:

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” 

“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.”  

“You can never be overdressed or overeducated.”

Despite my admiration of his intellect, I've never actually read any of Oscar Wilde's work, and thought it best to remedy that this year. So it was that I picked up the beautifully designed Penguin edition of The Picture Of Dorian Gray, the only novel ever written by Oscar Wilde.

I'll admit I was a little apprehensive in the beginning, (what if Wilde is too high-brow for me?) but that was soon put to rest as early as Page 3 when Lord Henry says:

"But beauty, real beauty, ends where an intellectual expression begins. Intellect is in itself a mode of exaggeration, and destroys the harmony of any face. The moment one sits down to think, one becomes all nose, or all forehead, or something horrid. Look at the successful men in any of the learned professions. How perfectly hideous they are!"

I knew then I was safe in expert hands, and continued willingly discovering this once offensive text. We all know the premise (so I won't waste time recounting it) but what I was surprised to learn was that the sins Dorian Gray gets up to are never really expanded upon. His cruel treatment of lovers is there for all to see, but his sexual exploits are only ever alluded to, never described in full. What a pity.

There are countless homoerotic scenes - particularly between Lord Henry and Dorian Gray - but there is never any evidence to suggest they were ever together or even whether they loved each other. Lord Henry clearly loves Dorian for his youth and beauty, and in my opinion Dorian admires Lord Henry's ideals and freedoms, but that's as much as we ever really know for sure about them.

I was looking forward to reading a gothic horror story of sorts, taking me through the slow degradation of Dorian's soul - reflected in the portrait - however The Picture of Dorian Gray often read like an essay; the character of Lord Henry a mouthpiece for Wilde's own thoughts on society, religion, youth and beauty.

In summary, I enjoyed the writing immensely, the plot less so and I'm left to wonder what Oscar Wilde would write about if he had the freedom to write for us today. He was shocking in his time, would he shock us still now? I think he would.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero

* Copy courtesy of NetGalley *

The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero has one of the best covers I've seen all year, and in this case I was relieved to find the novel definitely lived up to the cover. 

The novel contains excerpts from letters, journals, notebooks, audio recordings and various other sources and if you have the choice, I definitely recommend you choose to read the print copy. I read an e-book version and I just know that reading a hard back copy would have increased my overall enjoyment factor.

The Supernatural Enhancements has it all: an inheritance, a secret society, coded messages, a group of rich people carrying out intellectual and scientific pursuits, code names and even a ghost.

If you loved Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan then you're bound to fall in love with The Supernatural Enhancements as well; particularly if you enjoy a good gothic ghost story with a modern twist.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

Free Recipe from Season of Salt & Honey by Hannah Tunnicliffe

* Extract courtesy of Pan Macmillan *

Blurb
A novel of love, grief and antipasti.

Francesca 'Frankie' Caputo has it all figured out. She's finally going to marry the man she loves and then they will live happily ever after. But when a freak accident cuts her fiancé Alex's life tragically short, all of Frankie's future plans suddenly disintegrate.

Drowning in grief, Frankie flees from her overbearing Italian-American family, and escapes to an abandoned cabin owned by Alex's parents in a remote part of Washington forest.

As her heart slowly begins to heal, Frankie discovers a freedom that's both exhilarating and unsettling to everything she has always known for sure. So when her old life comes crashing back in, Frankie must decide: will she slip quietly back into her safe, former existence? Or will a stronger, wiser Frankie Caputo stand up and claim her new life?

Recipe Extract
Foodies and foodlovers everywhere will be pleased to know that recipes for the dishes mentioned in Season of Salt & Honey are included in the book so you can make them for yourself; yum! It makes my mouth water to bring one of those recipes to you right now courtesy of Hannah Tunnicliffe and Pan Macmillan. The recipe is for Nzuddi, which are small almond biscuits.

About the Author
Born in New Zealand, Hannah Tunnicliffe is a self-confessed nomad. She has previously lived in Canada, Australia, England, Macau and, while travelling Europe, a campervan named Fred. She currently lives in New Zealand with her husband and two daughters, having happily ditched a career in Human Resources to become an author. When she is not writing or reading she can usually be found baking or eating and sometimes all four at the same time (which is probably somewhat hazardous). She is founder and co-author of the blog Fork and Fiction, which, unsurprisingly, explores her twin loves - books and food. Season of Salt and Honey is her second novel.

Nzuddi, looking delicious and ready to eat