October 22 2020

Future girl, by Asphyxia

Future girl front cover

Future girl, by Asphyxia

Title: Future Girl
Author: Asphyxia
Genre/ issues: Illustrated novel. Near future dystopia. Food insecurity. Deaf community and sign language. Censorship.

I finished this wonder of a novel today, and I’m feeling all the feelings. Visually stunning is a given – check out these interior shots, or head over to Asphyxia’s website for more of their stunning artwork!! The narrative voice of Future Girl is so powerful and compelling.
This is Piper’s art journal, and I love how the colour and intensity of the art and collage in the pages reflects her journey as she negotiates complex relationships with her mother, her friend and her new maybe boyfriend, as well as her relationship with food in a near-future Melbourne dealing with a food crisis.
We also gain deep insight into her experience of life as a d/Deaf person in a hearing world, and how powerful and important it is to be able to communicate on your own terms. Piper’s struggle to communicate as a Deaf person is effectively paralleled with the growing concerns over increasing censorship in a world where communication is all filtered through a monolithic IT corporation. Asphyxia plays beautifully with the idea of voice – spoken, written, signed, painted or texted, our voices matter, and EVERYONE should have the right to use theirs.
I’ve always been interested in learning to sign, but I have to confess to previously not having fully understood the depth, complexity and beauty of signing as its own distinct and unique language. This book was eye-opening to me about some of the issues around accessible communication for the deaf community. I know that I’ll always be a hearing person who can sign a little, and that my relationship with this language will always be as an outsider, but it’s something that I’m committed to starting to learn now, rather than just always thinking about it. This book is a wonder, and it’s high on the list of best books I’ve read this year, and ones I’ll be recommending for a long time to come.
Future girl interior page

#TamaraReads #2020readingchallenge 72/100

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, Graphic Novels, YA Books | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 20 2020

How to make a bird, by Meg McInlay

How to make a bird

How to make a bird, by Meg McInlay and Matt Ottley

Title: How to make a bird
Author: Meg McInlay
Illustrator: Matt Ottley
Genre/ issues: Picture book. Creativity.

Happy book birthday to this gorgeous thing! How To Make a Bird is a stunning story by @megmckinlay which explores the process of creativity and bringing to life your vision. I’m endlessly in awe of picture book authors who convey such insightful messages with such a brevity of words. Combined with this is the magic of @mattottleyart’s illustration, which is utterly breathtaking, and captures the joy and hope of McKinlay’s story so beautifully. This is a gorgeous picture book and I’m glad I read it when I did – it reminded me of the power of the hope that lies within me. Highly recommended for all ages.

#TamaraReads #2020readingchallenge 71/100

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, Children's Books, Picture books | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 18 2020

Picture book weddings

Julian

Julian at the wedding, by Jessica Love

Title: Julian at the wedding
Author: Jessica Love
Genre/ issues: Picture book. Love. Personal expression. Queer representation.

Shop local where you can: For Australian readers, you can find this book on Booktopia. or support your local independent bookstore. US readers, check out Bookshop.org.

Julian is a Mermaid was one of my favourite picture books last year, and Julian is back, this time for a wedding! Julian wears a gorgeous purple suit, and when he and his friend Marisol go playing in the gardens, her dress gets dirty, so Julian comes to the rescue. Featuring two stunning brides, an adorable dog, and a cacophony of colours, this book is an utter joy. “A wedding is a party for love”, this book tells us, and I love everything about it. I particularly love that the default background colour is kraft brown rather than white – it feels significant and appropriate in a book that celebrates the joy of a wedding party filled with people of colour. If you’ve not read Julian is a Mermaid, pick that up when you get this. Both delightful reads, and I hope we get to see more of Julian from Jessica Love.

Aunty's wedding

Aunty’s Wedding, by Miranda Tapsell and Joshua Tyler

Title: Aunty’s Wedding
Author: Miranda Tabsell, Joshua Tyler and Samantha Fry (ill)
Genre/ issues: Picture book. Love. Personal expression. Queer representation.

Another wedding book! Vibrant colours and a simple and accessible storyline feature in this lovely story about a family preparing for Aunty’s Wedding. It celebrates the cultural traditions of a Tiwi wedding, and includes a Tiwi language glossary at the end. Sweet and engaging- well worth adding this lovely book to your collection!

 

#TamaraReads #2020readingchallenge 69/100 and 70/100

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, Children's Books, Picture books | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 17 2020

Migrants by Issa Watanabe

Migrants

Migrants, by Issa Watanabe

Title: Migrants
Author: Issa Watanabe
Genre/ issues: Wordless picture book. Migrant/ refugee experiences.

Shop local where you can: For Australian readers, you can find this book on Booktopia. or support your local independent bookstore. US readers, check out Bookshop.org.

Migrants by Issa Watanabe is a stunning wordless picture book. Brightly coloured animals stand upright in human dress, and are forced to leave the forest. They share a tough journey as they cross borders and seas to find a new home.

This is a visually stunning and compelling picture book, that effectively portrays both the diversity and commonality of the migrant experience. Whilst there is some strong and potentially challenging imagery (the character who tells the animals to leave has a skull head, for example) there’s nothing too confronting about this book that would make it inappropriate for very young readers. Similarly, whilst the reading path is simple with a linear picture progression and no text, it provides an emotionally impactful story that could be enjoyed by older readers. Truly one of those books that’s accessible and meaningful for all ages of reader.

#TamaraReads #2020readingchallenge 68/100

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, Picture books | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 17 2020

Dog, by Shaun Tan

Dog

Dog by Shaun Tan

Title: Dog
Author: Shaun Tan
Genre/ issues: Picture book. Animal friendship.

Shop local where you can: For Australian readers, you can find this book on Booktopia. or support your local independent bookstore. US readers, check out Bookshop.org.

I love Shaun Tan’s work, and one of the sheer thrills of my job is that I had the privilege of interviewing him a couple of years ago at the Sydney Writers’ Festival. His art is detailed and gorgeous, and the stories he tells are thoughtful and compelling.

Dog was originally part of Tan’s Tales from the Inner City, and has been reimagined in this stand-alone book, which represents the enduring relationships between human and canine across time and stages of life. It’s as stunning as you would expect from such an incredible artist, and I keep going back to examine each page, stroking it with my fingers to try and absorb the depth and texture he manages to bring to something that is so fundamentally 2 dimensional. If you have a picture book lover, and art lover or a dog lover in your life, this would make a perfect gift.

#TamaraReads #2020readingchallenge 67/100

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, Picture books | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 17 2020

Diamonds by Armin Greder

Diamonds

Diamonds, by Armin Greder

Title: Diamonds
Author: Armin Greder
Genre/ issues: Picture book. Consumerism. Diamond trade. Inequality. Corruption.

Shop local where you can: For Australian readers, you can find this book on Booktopia. or support your local independent bookstore. US readers, check out Bookshop.org.

I read 6 picture books last night, so be prepared to be bombarded with reviews. Diamonds by Armin Greder is as complex and thought-provoking as you’d expect a Greder book to be. A child asks their mother where her diamonds come from, and after a detailed explanation of the buying and gifting process, the mother eventually mentions that they’re mined in Africa. “Where Amina comes from”? the child questions – and what follows is a nightmarish depiction of the process of diamond consumption from the ground to the consumer, with the corruption and exploitation of the industry illustrated in signature Greder style.

The majority of the story is wordless – a few pages of text at the beginning and end provide a frame for this powerful parable of the deeper impacts of greed and consumption. It’s hard to describe this book as enjoyable, but it’s certainly powerful and important. Greder’s work is always one of the ones I mention when people say that picture books are for kids!

#TamaraReads #2020readingchallenge 66/100

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, Picture books, Serious Adulty Books | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 16 2020

The unbeatable Squirrel Girl vol 1: Squirrel Power

Squirrel girl

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl vol1: Squirrel Power

Title: The unbeatable Squirrel Girl vol 1: Squirrel Power
Author: Ryan North and Erica Henderson
Genre/ issues: YA. Superheroes. Graphic novels.

Shop local where you can: For Australian readers, search Indies to locate your closest independent bookstore, or find it on Booktopia. US readers, check out Bookshop.org.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl could have been written for me. Curvy girl superhero. Quirky. Funny. Clumsy. Easily distracted but totally loyal to her friends. I adore this comic, and I’m glad I ordered the first three trade paperback editions at once, so I don’t have to wait for the more! A good friend recommended this one, and I’m so glad she did. Doreen Allene Greene is an absolute joy.

#TamaraReads #2020readingchallenge 65/100

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, Graphic Novels | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 10 2020

The extraordinaries, by TJ Klune

The extraordinaries

The extraordinaries by TJ Klune

Title: The extraordinaries
Author: TJ Klune
Genre/ issues: YA. Superheroes. Friendship. Queer fiction. Mental health.

Shop local where you can: For Australian readers, search Indies to locate your closest independent bookstore, or find it on Booktopia. US readers, check out Bookshop.org.

I love a good superhero story. Can’t get enough YA fiction. And books with great queer characters? Sign me up. I read The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune earlier this year and it’s easily one of the best books I’ve read, this year and for a long time before that really. So I was excited to read some more of their work.

The Extraordinaries tells the story of Nick, who struggles with his ADHD, has a fantastic group of friends, and writes a popular fanfiction about the superheroes in Nova City with a heavy dose of teen lust over Shadow Star. If I had to describe this book in one sentence, I’d say it’s what The Boys would be if it was a wholesome quirky queer YA novel.

I personally found some of the plot twists a bit predictable, but that didn’t in any way minimise my enjoyment of it – and, let’s face it, a mid-40s cishet woman is probably not the target audience for this book! I loved the characters – Nick’s feelings for Seth and his bow ties, Jazz and Gibby’s banter, and Nick’s dad’s overwhelming desire to protect his son all felt really authentic and engaging. The way that Nick’s struggle with ADHD is represented was particularly great, and I think would resonate will readers who deal with this themselves. I’m assuming given the stinger at the very end that we’ll see more in this universe, and I’m here for it.

#TamaraReads #2020readingchallenge 64/100

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, YA Books | LEAVE A COMMENT
October 2 2020

Lumberjanes, Vol 2 Friendship to the Max

Lumberjanes

Lumberjanes Vol 2: Friendship to the Max

Title: Lumberjanes volume 2: Friendship to the max
Author: Noelle Stevenson
Genre/ issues: Comics. Mystery. Adventure. Supernatural.

Shop local where you can: For Australian readers, search Indies to locate your closest independent bookstore, or find it on Booktopia. US readers, check out Bookshop.org.

A quick catch up post – I thought I’d posted about this, but then realised I had expected to read a lot more graphic novels last month so was going to post them all together. Instead, this was one of only 4 books I read in September. It’s worthy of its own post, regardless. I love Lumberjanes. It’s smart, funny, quirky and cool. The diversity of strong female characters gives me endless seratonin. Volume 2x Friendship tor the Max, sees the campers encounter some characters you might be familiar with from Greek mythology, but in a whole new way. Such a great comic series!

#TamaraReads #2020readingchallenge 63/100

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, Children's Books, Graphic Novels | LEAVE A COMMENT
September 28 2020

Anxious People, by Fredrik Backman

Anxious people

Anxious people by Fredrik Backman

Title: Anxious People
Author: Fredrik Backman
Genre/ issues: Adult contemporary fiction. Mental health. Relationships. Family.

Shop local where you can: For Australian readers, search Indies to locate your closest independent bookstore, or find it on Booktopia. US readers, check out Bookshop.org.

“It ‘s such an odd thing, how you can know someone so perfectly through what they read.”
I’ve learned that when people whose bookish opinions you respect from different facets of your life recommend the same book to you within hours of each other, you listen. And boy, am I glad I listened when both some from my real life and my TikTok circles reviewed this book and sung its praises. I’ve been listening to the audiobook over the past few days, and I can’t remember the last time I felt so -seen- by a book.
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman is beautifully sweet and sensitive comedy about a bank robbery that wasn’t, a hostage situation that isn’t, and a group of people who are brought together by life, death, and circumstances beyond their control.
This book is magnificent. It’s my first by Backman, and it won’t be my last. Powerful, affirming, and poetically passionate, which is no mean feat for a novel in translation.
“We need to be allowed to convince ourselves that we’re more than the mistakes we made yesterday. That we are all of our next choices, too. All of our tomorrows.” Beautiful, and what I needed to read right now.

#TamaraReads #2020readingchallenge 62/100

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Audiobooks, Book chat, Serious Adulty Books | LEAVE A COMMENT