Review and Blog Tour: Beyond the Orchard by Anna Romer

* Copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster *

Today I'm participating in the blog tour for Beyond the Orchard by Australian author Anna Romer, author of Thornwood House.

Blurb
Lucy Briar has arrived home in turmoil after years overseas. She’s met her fiancé in London and has her life mapped out, but something is holding her back.

Hoping to ground herself and find answers, Lucy settles into once familiar routines. But old tortured feelings flood Lucy’s existence when her beloved father, Ron, is hospitalised and Morgan – the man who drove her away all those years ago – seeks her out.

Worse, Ron implores Lucy to visit Bitterwood Estate, the crumbling historic family guesthouse now left to him. He needs Lucy to find something – an old photograph album, the very thing that drove Ron and his father apart.

Lucy has her own painful memories of Bitterwood, darkness that has plagued her dreams since she was young. But as Lucy searches for the album, the house begins to give up its ghosts and she is driven to put them to rest.

And there, held tightly between the house, the orchard and the soaring cliffs, Lucy uncovers a long-hidden secret that shattered a family’s bond and kept a frightened young girl in its thrall ... and Lucy discovers just how fierce the lonely heart can be.

My Review

Beyond the Orchard is an historical novel with dual time frames, a crumbling estate called Bitterwood (great name right?) and family secrets of love, grief and guilt to discover.

Distinctly Australian, I loved the early references to places in Melbourne I instantly recognised, including: Dandenong Road, Elsternwick, Prahran, Geelong and the Great Ocean Road. It certainly gave me a buzz to see Lucy visit these familiar places.

However what hampered my enjoyment further was the sheer number of character points of view combined with the multiple different time frames. Looking back, I counted at least four time periods (1917/1918, 1929/1930, 1977 and 1993) at least five different character perspectives and the manuscript of a fairytale entwined with the story. This was just too much for me.

With all of this going on, the fairytale didn't work for me, the romance didn't interest me and I found it hard to accept the ending. (Peace? I don't think so! Not a spoiler, but hopefully those on the blog tour who have read it will know what I'm referring to here.) 

The strongest part of the novel by far was the story of Orah, and I would have preferred to read her story over that of Lucy unravelling her family history at Bitterwood any day. Orah was a fascinating character who really came alive on the page. Her rescue had me gasping in suspense and I found her story moving and definitely memorable.

I haven't read Thornwood House, so I can't compare it to this, but Beyond the Orchard will appeal to readers of Australian fiction and fans of Kate Morton.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Check out the next stop on the blog tour here on 2 November.

Review: Atlas of Improbable Places - A Journey to the World's Most Unusual Corners by Travis Elborough & Alan Horsfield

* Copy courtesy of Murdoch Books *

The Atlas of Improbable Places - A Journey to the World's Most Unusual Corners by Travis Elborough is a stunning hardcover book with maps from Alan Horsfield.

This collection of deserted islands, subterranean secrets and bizarre and strange locations around the world is broken down into categories, including: Deserted Destinations, Architectural Oddities, Floating Worlds, Otherworldly Spaces (my favourite) among others.

The lack of colour photographs often had me seeking more information online, however some of the highlights of the book for me included the following places:

• Slab City in California, USA (squatter metropolis)
• Battleship Island, Japan (deserted mining settlement)
• Oradour-sur-Glane, France (village abandoned since WWII)
• Wittenoom, Western Australia (asbestos town)
• The Kingdom of Redonda, Caribbean (uninhabited island)
• Poveglia Island, Italy (former plague quarantine island)
• Aokigahara, Japan (the demon forest)

With such a stunning cover and dust jacket (complete with gold foiling), not to mention the beautiful cartography end papers, I'm at a complete loss as to why the photos are black and white. Colour photographs would have enhanced this Atlas ten-fold and their absence is the only reason I'm giving a rating of 4 stars instead of 5 stars.

Atlas of Improbable Places is recommended for readers curious about the world around them and the strange impact humans have on their environment. Also recommended for those who enjoy travel, geography and history. Great coffee table book too.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

Review: Embroidered Home by Kelly Fletcher

* Copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster *

Embroidered Home by Kelly Fletcher contains a collection of contemporary embroidery designs to decorate the home.

Broken down into categories like bold, country, vintage, festive (and more) this is an easy and enjoyable read.

The stitch directory in the beginning of the book is helpful and contains diagrams useful for beginners and the more experienced stitcher.

Each project comes with easy enough to follow instructions and the highlight of the book, stunning photographs.

However, the gardening tool roll and the picnic blanket strap resulted in this reviewer deducting a full star from my original rating. The impracticality of a gardener rolling up their tools in a linen embroidered tool roll or picnic goers rolling their blanket and strapping it into a holder with a handle so that they could carry it was too much for me to believe.

At a price point of $45AUD, I think Embroidered Home by Kelly Fletcher will make a beautiful gift for a loved one, but the everyday crafter or reader may prefer to borrow a copy from their local library.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Review: Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Andersen

Having enjoyed Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh so much earlier this year, I was keen to read Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Andersen.

Sarah Andersen comes across as a somewhat shy and reclusive cartoonist and illustrator with a great sense of humour (often self-deprecating) and I enjoyed her collection of work here.

Adulthood is a Myth can be read in a single sitting, however I preferred to enjoy a few pages at a time and space it out rather than reading it all at once.

Here's just a taste of her style and sense of her humour.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

* Copy courtesy of Pan Macmillan Australia *

The Wonder is an historical fiction novel set in 1850s Ireland written by Emma Donoghue, bestselling author of Room.

Nurse Elizabeth Wright is sent to a small village in Ireland to monitor the condition of Anna, a young girl who claims to live on the love of God alone; not needing food or water in order to survive. Is it a hoax or is Anna a Saint in the making? 

So begins a two week continual 'watch' of the eleven year-old girl, shared with Sister Michael. Nurse Wright begins her task expecting to uncover a fraud, but things aren't as they seem. Anna is deeply devout and as such the novel contains a lot of religious content and context, all offset against Nurse Wright's struggle to comprehend Anna's spiritual devotion.

A fictional story inspired by the true case history of fasting girls in the 1800s, I was glad to learn more about this phenomenon. I did want to know more about the nun Sister Michael and even a chapter or two from her perspective would have added to my enjoyment of the novel.

On the other hand, I could easily have done without the character of the journalist in The Wonder - although I could somewhat appreciate his purpose - that relationship was superfluous to the story in my opinion. (In fact, the journalist is responsible for the deduction of a full star in my star rating below).

Claims this novel is a psychological thriller are misplaced in my opinion. The Wonder is certainly a compelling mystery, but the nature of the 'watch' and the religious content means the pace works steadily towards the denouement.

I recommend The Wonder to historical fiction readers and if you enjoy the work of Hannah Kent, I think you'll like this one too. It certainly has one of my favourite book covers of the year.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Review: Ink and Bone - The Great Library by Rachel Caine

The Great Library of Alexandria was the greatest and most significant library in the world, however 2000 years ago the library and thousands of priceless scrolls were destroyed by fire.

In her novel Ink and Bone, Rachel Caine has imagined a world where the Alexandria Library wasn't destroyed and remains a prominent force in society.

For some reason, I mistakenly thought this book was an historical fiction novel, and it took me a while to adjust my expectations to what I consider to be a YA fantasy novel.

With students going through a somewhat gruelling selection process to become a librarian, it had a very YA / Harry Potter vibe.

Ink and Bone has automatons and alchemy and book lovers will no doubt enjoy the references to 'the library' but will need to keep an open mind with regard to the world-building.

Ink and Bone is the first in a series of more than 3 books, however the world-building just wasn't what I was expecting and I never really felt 'at home' so I won't be continuing any further with the series.

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine is recommended for fans who enjoyed the dark side of Harry Potter and YA fantasy.

My rating = **1/2

Carpe Librum!

Review: The World as 100 People - A Visual Guide to 7 Billion Humans by Aileen Lord

The World as 100 People - A Visual Guide to 7 Billion Humans by Aileen Lord is an interesting concept. Viewing the world of 7 billion people represented by just 100 has enabled Lord to analyse all kinds of statistics.

Full of easy to read infographics covering such topics as economics, health and education, the information is boiled down to the basics and percentages.

I love stats and was keen to read this, but disappointed to find no background on the data she used or how she formulated her results.

The simplistic nature of The World as 100 People makes it a quick and easy flick thru but for me it failed to make any kind of impact. Perhaps I need an 'adult' or expanded version?

Appropriate for all ages.

My rating = **

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Good People by Hannah Kent

* Copy courtesy of Pan Macmillan Australia *

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent was a sensation a few years ago and readers who loved it will also enjoy her latest novel The Good People. Despite being set in different countries, both novels are set in the early 1800s and contain Hannah Kent's ability to conjure and describe the landscape, lifestyle and superstitions of the time.

Set in Ireland in 1825, in a small rural community full of Gaelic superstitions and folklore, the novel is essentially about the lives of Nance (an elderly healing woman) and the recently widowed Nora.

Incredibly evocative, the lives of these two women intersect and slowly build towards a climax that demonstrates just how little control women had over their lives at the time.

Inspired by a true event in history (just as Burial Rites was), Hannah Kent's signature writing style creates a dark and fearful atmosphere that had me worrying for Nance.

Here's a quote from Page 257:

"Sean knocked the feathers out of Peter. Punched him everywhere except the roof of his mouth and the soles of his feet, as I heard it. Brought him down into the mud and stomped the face of him so that, once the men had dragged Sean off - swinging all the while - the bellows boy was out in the yard, picking teeth like flowers."

Another memorable quote from Nance on Page 261:

"Sean Lynch has been against me for long years. If I had it in for him, he'd have been pissing bees and coughing crickets long before now."

I just love the visual of picking teeth like flowers and coughing crickets. In January 2014 I wondered if Burial Rites was a one-off (based on her intense personal connection) and if Hannah Kent could throw herself with equal abandon into another novel. A few years on and she's answered my question without doubt. The Good People is just as descriptive and emotive as her award winning debut, I just didn't find the actual story as engaging or all-encompassing.

Recommended for readers of historical fiction.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

P.S. Reading The Good People better prepared me to understand several episodes in the TV series Outlander, which dealt with faeries and changelings. Without this historical novel under my belt, I wouldn't have understood half of what was going on.

Guest Post by Bram Connolly, author of The Fighting Season about reading and military fiction

Author Bram Connolly

Today's guest post is from Bram Connolly, author of The Fighting Season where he takes the reader deep into an authentic world of high-intensity combat few have experienced. Having served in the Australian Army for 20 years, he knows firsthand about war, mateship, violence and survival.

Here Bram Connolly explores how the realities of war are portrayed in books, the nature of military fiction, and how reading gave him a tactical advantage. Over to you Bram.

The very first book I can remember being given to read was Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. Written in 1820, this book sparked my interest in early British history. Thinking back, it was also when I realised that an author could take a reader on a journey. The images that played out in my head had been conveyed by someone in a different place and time. This concept of time travel for the reader forms the basis of how I write now.

It would be safe to say that English was the only subject I took seriously at school. There were some great books on the reading list: Animal Farm and 1984 (George Orwell), The Call of the Wild (Jack London), and All Quiet on the Western Front (Erich Maria Remarque). The fact that I still joined the Army after reading All Quiet on the Western Front proves that its brutal lessons were lost on me. I came to understand the realities of war some twenty years later.

In my last few years in the military, the operational tempo increased. The imperative was for me to read books that directly supported my main goal: winning on the battlefield and bringing my soldiers home. The following books were crucial in my development as a Special Forces officer.

1. The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahedeen Tactics in the Soviet-Afghan War by Lester W. Grau 

This is mandatory reading because history does repeat. Understanding how the Mujahedeen operated and learning about what the Russians endured was crucial in knowing how the Taliban would respond to us being there too. Grau has written over a hundred academic papers and his research was thorough and probing. It’s safe to say that this book gave me an advantage tactically on the battlefield.

2. On Killing and On Combat by LTCOL Dave Grossman

These two books are essential reading for any leader who intends to take men in to battle. The psychology of how to kill is important to understand, but conversely the psychology of dealing with men after they have killed is crucial for their long term wellbeing. These books served as the basis for the lessons I developed to help inoculate my soldiers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Time will tell if it was effective. As a platoon we went to great lengths to ensure we discussed the events that took place on the battlefield and to contextualise the actions we had to take in order to survive.

These books have influenced how I go about my business now.

Finally, I believe there are two types of stories in the genre of military fiction. Both have their place and I am not espousing one over the other; that’s up to the reader’s taste or mood at any one time.

First, there is the escapism of well-written and well-researched second-hand accounts created in the mind of the author. This style of book is full of Hollywood explosions, complex combat scenes where everything and anything is possible and the characters are designed to be loved and loathed. Then there is authentic military fiction that brings intimate knowledge about the tactics, weapons and explosive effects and raises questions of morality. This is witnessed truth, raw and realistic. 

Given my military background coupled with my area of academic study, I see the latter style of authentic military storytelling as my responsibility. The books that I have read in the past, some that I still treasure, have been a major influence in how I now go about this.

Happy reading,

Bram Connolly

(Click here to read an excerpt of The Fighting Season).

Author Bio

Bram Connolly joined the Australian Army as a seventeen year old and rose through the ranks to retire from Special Forces as a Major in 2011. In a distinguished twenty-year career (over fifteen years in Special Forces) Bram was deployed to Somalia, East Timor (twice) and Afghanistan (twice). In 1997 Bram was selected on Australia’s first course for service as a commando. In 2002 he was selected on the first course run for domestic counter terrorism outside of the Special Air Service Regiment. He spent five years as an operator in the Tactical Assault Group and was the Officer in Charge of Selection for Special Forces before departing from service life. Bram was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for leadership in battle in the 2012 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Bram Connolly is now a writer and stay-at-home dad to his two sons and recently completed a Bachelor’s degree in international relations, majoring in societies and peace studies. He lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates where his wife works as a human resources executive for a global company.

Winner of The Cleanskin by Laura Bloom announced

Thanks to those who entered my international giveaway last week to win a copy of The Cleanskin by Laura Bloom. Entries closed at midnight on Friday 23rd September and the winner was drawn today. Congratulations goes to:

Veronica

Congratulations Veronica, you'll receive an email shortly and will have 7 days to provide me with your postal address. If you're in Australia, you'll receive a print copy and if you live overseas, you'll receive an ebook. I'd like to thank The Author People for this prize.

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Troubles Keeper by Susan May

* Copy courtesy of the author *

Rory Fine has the ability to lift the worries and concerns of a person just by touching them. A handshake or the briefest touch can leave people feeling lighter, happier and as if their troubles have just disappeared. In fact, Rory takes those troubles and stores them away in his mental attic until he can dispose of them later. What a guy!

What do you think a man with this type of gift would do for a living? Counsellor, doctor or emergency worker springs to mind. Nope, Rory drives a bus and uses his gift to alleviate the worries and concerns of his regular passengers; and they love him for it.

One day Rory picks up a negative energy, something dark and powerful, and that's where The Troubles Keeper by Australian author Susan May really kicks off.

Reminiscent of Dean Koontz, I was far more interested in Rory than the thrilling circumstances he finds himself drawn into, and would have been happy to learn more about him and his youth given the chance. The character reminded me a little of the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz, where I'm always more fascinated by his gift than what he 'gets up to' in each book. I wanted to stop and sift through the troubles Rory takes from people and was somewhat reluctant to be pulled into a thrilling ride to pursue the owner of the dark energy.

The Troubles Keeper has a touch of everything to keep the reader entertained throughout, including elements of crime, science fiction, the paranormal and the age-old motivators of love and revenge. Recommended for fans of Dean Koontz and Stephen King.

My rating = ***

Carpe Librum!

Friday Freebie and Blog Tour for The Cleanskin by Laura Bloom

RRP $26.99 AUD

*Copy courtesy of The Author People * 

Today's Friday Freebie is part of the The Cleanskin blog tour, so be sure to check out the next stop on the tour on 18 September over at Reading, Writing and Riesling.

Blurb
I needed someone I could trust. Someone others would trust. Someone with no criminal record. With no previous involvement. A cleanskin. Someone to come over, do the job, and go home …

Some days, even Halley can’t find the person she once was. She’s changed her name and no one – least of all her husband and son – knows of her past. No one except Aidan, who turns up one day in her small Australian town and shatters the façade she’s built so carefully.

Aidan is on a mission. But why is he still taking orders from his brother in an English jail – at the cost of his own happiness?

When Aidan forces Halley to face what she’s done, what they discover not only changes their understanding of what happened back then, it changes everything now.

Laura Bloom deftly goes to the dark heart of The Troubles to explore the lingering damage wrought by sectarian conflict on communities, families and individuals. Based on real events, The Cleanskin is a story of intense human relationships with a cast of flawed and entirely believable characters.

Author Bio
It’s the people traditionally left out of the frame who interest Laura the most, as well as what happens after what would be the climax in many stories. A couple reuniting after the war, in In The Mood; a woman who has changed her name and started a new life, only to find her old life catching up with her, in The Cleanskin; what happens when you break up with the perfect person, in Choosing Zoe.

Laura grew up in Sydney and has travelled widely, including living for spells in Germany, India, the UK, and – as a baby – in New Guinea, which is where she began her love affair with the subtropics, and where she later received possibly the world’s smallest traditional tattoo.

Laura’s novels have been shortlisted for the NSW Literary Awards, the ABC Fiction Prize and the Young Australian Readers’ Awards and published in France, the US and the UK. She now lives in a small subtropical town near Byron Bay with her chosen family, including her godson and her son – who has autism. 

Giveaway
This giveaway has now closed.

Review: The Colouring Book of Cards and Envelopes - Nature by Rebecca Jones

RRP $14.99 AUD
Published May 2016

* Copy courtesy of Allen & Unwin *

The Colouring Book of Cards and Envelopes - Nature by Rebecca Jones has got to be one of the most beautiful books I've received for review this year.

Containing 24 cards and envelopes to colour, this book is so cute I didn't want to tear out a single card from the perforated pages. Eventually I did of course, and took great care to colour one in and give it to a loved one (who enjoyed the personal touch).

Illustrated by Rebecca Jones and printed on high quality paper, each card and envelope has the illustration quality of Secret Garden that adults and youngsters will enjoy colouring. 

This little treasure is perfect for stationery lovers as well as readers and budding artists of any age who love to colour in and add that personal touch for a loved one. For those on a budget, I'd like to point out that each card (with envelope and sticker seal) costs only $0.63 cents each. What a bargain!

C'mon, you know you want one.

My rating = ****

Carpe Librum!

Winner of The Fence by Meredith Jaffe announced

Thanks to those who entered my giveaway last week to win a copy of The Fence by Meredith Jaffe. Entries closed at midnight on Friday 9th September and the winner was drawn today. Congratulations goes to:

Amanda B

Congratulations Amanda, you'll receive an email shortly and will have 7 days to provide me with your postal address. Pan Macmillan Australia will mail your book out to you and I'd like to thank them for this prize.

Carpe Librum!

Review: Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory

* Copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster Australia *

It's 1501 and Margaret Tudor (sister to the future Henry VIII) is our narrator in Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory.

The sisters in the title are Margaret Tudor, her younger sister Mary and her future sister-in-law Katherine of Aragon. All three sisters will become Queens in their own right - of England, Scotland and France - but it's how they get there that kept me enthralled. 

In fact, after the first page I knew this was going to be a 5 star read and was already mourning the fact it was going to end too soon for my liking.

Three Sisters, Three Queens is primarily a story of sibling rivalry, envy, greed and the pursuit of true love. The importance of delivering a male heir and subsequent miscarriages is the cause of much angst and grief for the sisters, but also competition between them. 

Secret weddings, betrayals and invasions take place and Henry VIII's overarching influence over each of the women is evident. When the women are in his favour, his attention and support is like the sun, and when he turns his back on Margaret, it almost costs her life.

I'm confident Three Sisters, Three Queens by Philippa Gregory will make it into my list of Top 5 Books for 2016. It's the perfect entry point for YA readers looking to dip their toe into historical fiction who may not know where to start. As well as offering a completely new perspective on the rule of Henry VIII and for me a welcome introduction to Margaret Tudor and her life in Scotland.

Incredibly accessible, the history of the early 1500s unfolds in this novel like a TV drama series, leaving me wanting to binge-watch episode after episode, or in this case, chapter after chapter. Brilliant!

My rating = *****

Carpe Librum!

Friday Freebie to WIN a copy of The Fence by Meredith Jaffe

RRP $32.99

* Copy courtesy of Pan Macmillan Australia *

The Fence is a quick-witted dramedy of domestic discord between two new neighbours. Click here to check out the free reading group notes and enter below for your chance to win a print copy.

Blurb
Gwen has lived on Green Valley Avenue all her adult life. Here she brought her babies home, nurtured her garden and shared life's ups and downs with her best friend and neighbour, Babs. So when Babs dies and the house next door is sold, Gwen wonders how the new family will settle into the quiet life of this cosy community.

Frankie has high hopes for the house on Green Valley Avenue. More than just a new home, it’s a clean slate for the mother who has moved her brood from Sydney's inner city to the leafy north shore street in a bid to save her marriage.

To maintain her privacy and corral her wandering children, Frankie proposes a fence between their properties, destroying Gwen’s lovingly cultivated front garden.
To Gwen, this as an act of war.

Soon the neighbours are in an escalating battle about more than just council approvals, where boundaries aren’t the only things at stake.

Author Bio
Meredith Jaffé is a writer and occasional book critic and regularly chairs panels, presents workshops and interviews fellow authors for various literary events and writers' festivals.

As a keen believer in the power of literacy, Meredith volunteers at The Footpath Library where she manages their annual EPIC! writing competition for school children. She is currently working on her next novel in between riding her horses and enjoying farm life with her family on the beautiful NSW south coast.

Giveaway
This giveaway has now closed.

Review: Dark Aemilia by Sally O'Reilly

Little does she know it, but author Sally O'Reilly wrote this book just for me.

Set in London during the late 1500s and the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Dark Aemilia has it all: Shakespeare, plague, sorcery, witchcraft, witty dialogue, great writing and hot sex scenes. I mean come on! Sally O'Reilly, I love you!

And the cover, oh the cover, simply stunning.

Based on a real person, Aemilia is an inspirational woman born before her time, thought to be Shakespeare's dark muse, struggling with the role of women in society and how little power they had over their destiny. She was England's first female poet, and in O'Reilly's hands she's intelligent, proud, headstrong and passionate.

Here's a great quote from Page 129:
"...all my other little aches and torments have gone. Those besetting symptoms that all of us in London must put up with: soot-wheeze, ale-runs, head-gripe, back-ache, lassitude and dread-belly - not to mention sundry scabs, carbuncles and lesions of the skin - all such ailments have vanished."

And this from Page 270:
" 'Leave this house', I say. 'Get out, you scripture-spouting, fish-cold arse-wart. Or I'll call down a curse which'll curdle the guts in your belly'. " 

Brilliant writing, richly evocative and an intelligent story, I loved and adored this novel and didn't want it to end. 

Dark Aemilia is for lovers of historical fiction, witty dialogue, Shakespeare and the darker side of London in the 16th Century. Yes please! I can't wait to see what talented author Sally O'Reilly writes for me next. A tale worthy of the Bard I'm sure.

My rating = *****

Carpe Librum!

And another quote from Page 270, because I just have to:
"I'll broil your brain in its shallow skull! Mangle your preachifying words into Bedlam babble, and corrupt your skin into a thousand worm-infested sores! I'll make you pray for Hades as a respite from your pain! And I'll twist your mind to such distraction that you'll tear off all your limbs to find relief and sanity! Do you hear me, you pox-groined, foul-nosed turd-stain?"

Review: How to Watch the Olympics - An instant initiation into every Olympic sport at Rio 2016 by David Goldblatt and Johnny Acton

RRP $24.99 AUD
Published July 2016 by
Allen & Unwin and Profile Books

* Copy courtesy of Allen & Unwin *

I love everything about the Olympics and always watch as much as I physically can, with gymnastics, diving, weightlifting and synchronised swimming being some of my favourite events.

Reading How to Watch the Olympics - An instant initiation into every Olympic sport at Rio 2016 by David Goldblatt and Johnny Acton was the perfect preparation and I learned a lot about different sports that I didn't know beforehand.

Set out alphabetically by sport, this handy reference guide was informative without being overwhelming and entertaining with a light sense of humour throughout.

Some tidbits were memorable, like this one from the sport of badminton on page 76: 

"The shuttlecock may be mere cork and feathers but struck correctly it can split a watermelon in two."

While enjoying the Olympic footage, I often found myself recalling knowledge from the book: "oh, they don't have to row inside their lanes, they can row across the buoys as long as they don't interfere with anyone else" and "in synchronised swimming they can't touch the bottom of the pool, and the spectacle they put on before they dive into the water is called deckwork which isn't included in the scoring."

How to Watch the Olympics was a great companion for armchair Olympic viewers like me and I'll be sure to have it beside me in 2020 for the Tokyo Olympics.

My rating = ***1/2

Carpe Librum!

Review: Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley

* Copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster *

This review is going to be very unpopular. Lily and the Octopus seems to be the 'it' book at the moment, and many readers, bloggers and reviewers I know have fallen in love with this book. I just didn't. I might cop some flack for this but I have to be honest, I hated Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley.

The best parts were every segment of dialogue from Lily the dog. Great voice and amusing dialogue.

The reason I hated this book was because I couldn't stand Ted, the main character. I thought he was a self-absorbed, narcissistic, self-indulgent, vacuous man and I just couldn't warm to him or his plight.

And that was even before I got to the magical realism that didn't quite work and a 30 page dream sequence that had me hoping the finish would arrive soon.

I know I'm going to be in the minority of readers here, but sometimes that happens. This book wasn't for me, but I know it has made readers laugh and cry and provided enjoyment for plenty of others.

I was going to give this book 2 stars until I checked my own rating scheme. Two stars for me means not a good read, didn't really enjoy this one, whereas one star means terrible read, don't bother. I really wouldn't bother with this one and it was a terrible read for me, so one star it is.

My rating = *

Carpe Librum!

Winner of The Falls by B. Michael Radburn announced

Thanks to those who entered last week's giveaway to win a copy of The Falls by B. Michael Radburn. Entries closed at midnight on Friday 5 August and the winner was drawn today. Congratulations to:

Elias Zanbaka

Congratulations Elias, you'll receive an email shortly and will have 7 days to provide me with your postal address. Pantera Press will mail your book out to you and I'd like to thank them for this prize.

Carpe Librum!