June 6 2021

Waking Romeo, by Kathryn Barker

Waking Romeo

Waking Romeo, by Kathryn Barker

Title: Waking Romeo
Author: Kathryn Barker
Genre/ issues: YA. Sci-fi. Dystopia. Time travel. Romeo + Juliet reimagining.

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.

Time travel. Dystopian end of the world. Rewritten familiar narratives. Questioning and twisting gender roles. I tell you, this book is going to be on my top 10 list for 2021, I can feel it.
The year is 2083. Jules is estranged from her family, and the love of her life Romeo is in a coma. And around her are only a handful of families, who have chosen to stay where they are rather than jump forward in time, the only direction they’re able to time travel, in search of a better life.
But then Ellis arrives – a mysterious time traveller, with a mission to wake Romeo, and Jules starts to question everything she knows about life and love.
I was expecting the Romeo and Julietesque nature of the narrative, but what I wasn’t prepared for was just how cleverly this would be woven through this fantastic novel by Kathryn Barker. R&J is my least favourite Shakespearean play, and I loved that all the things that annoy me about it get teased out and explored in Waking Romeo. I also love that one of my favourite pieces of classic literature also plays an important part in this impressive novel – I’d guessed at it when a certain character first started referencing his backstory, and was thrilled to discover I was right … but no spoilers. You should really read this yourself. It’s a powerful piece of work that can’t easily be defined by genre or the bounds of an Instagram description. I read this in one sitting, and it’ll be a book I return to in the future, I’m sure (pun intended!)

#TamaraReads #2021readingchallenge 74/2021

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, YA Books | LEAVE A COMMENT
June 6 2021

Off the Map, by Scot Gardner

Off the map

Off the Map, by Scot Gardner

Title: Off the map
Author: Scot Gardner
Genre/ issues: YA. Short stories. Life in a small town. Australian fiction.

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.

There’s a prestigious history of Australian authors capturing the soul of our landscape in their writing. Lawson’s “sketch” short stories which capture a moment in the life of an outback family, where the bush looms large as perhaps the most significant character. Winton’s seascapes, evoking the depth and intensity of small town coastal WA. It may be a big call, but I’d add Off The Map by Scot Gardner to that list.
An anthology of short stories that present the triumphs and heartbreaks of the sons and daughters of an Australian town, both typical and unique. The diversity of stories, characters and ideas is carried throughout the collection, not by plot which is sparse, but by a beautifully measured sense of place. I know this isn’t about my hometown, but it equally could be. One of the stories could be mine. Another a friend I grew up with. And yet another, the family down the street whose comings and goings I used to wonder about.
The majority of these stories are suitable for a younger YA audience, but there is one that features content that may be more suitable to slightly older readers. I read this book yesterday in 2 sittings, and at the end of each story I took a moment to marvel, to ponder, and to wish I was in an English classroom so I could share it with my students. I’m not sure if it’ll be one of my top 5 books overall this year, but it’s certainly one I’m going to be recommending a lot!

#TamaraReads #2021readingchallenge 73/2021

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, Short stories, YA Books | LEAVE A COMMENT
June 5 2021

Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas

Cemetery Boys

Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas

Title: Cemetery Boys
Author: Aiden Thomas
Genre/ issues: YA. Fantasy. Queer fiction. Latinx fiction.

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 often talk about the power of books to transport you, allowing you to see the world through different viewpoints and experiences. Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas exemplifies this for me, in more wonderfully visceral ways than any book I’ve read in quite a while.
What happens when you summon a ghost – but it’s the wrong one, and he refuses to leave? Yadriel is from a long line of brujos, but his traditional Latinx father has problems accepting his gender, so he performs his quinces ceremony himself and sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. Instead, he summons Julian, a guy he knows from school, who is just as shocked as Yads is because he didn’t know he was dead. Julian won’t go quietly, though, and wants to figure out what happened to him. Yadriel agrees to help,so they can both get what they want, but he quickly realises that he doesn’t want Julian to leave.
So, if you’re a follower of mine, you know a few things about me. I’m a white, cishet, English speaking middle class woman. I’m a proud SJW leftie and queer ally, so I have always tried to be open to other perspectives and experiences. But I have to say, this books was challenging for me. I don’t mean that with any negative connotations. It was a good challenge. I enjoyed teasing out the language and cultural references from context, and resorting to google translate to confirm I had it right. I also loved that it doesn’t homogenise culture, but celebrates the diversity of Latinx culture and identity, through the glorious preparations for and celebration of Día de los Muertos. Whilst I know a few trans people, and I do a lot of reading to educate myself so that I can be a good ally to my friends, family and community, I’ve never really questioned my own gender, so reading narratives from the point of view of trans characters is always an experience I enjoy, especially when they are so brilliantly crafted by an own-voices author. If you’re looking for a book that is first and foremost a cracking good read, but will also allow you to visit the unique and wonderful world of a trans Latinx teen coming to terms with his multifaceted identity, I’d highly recommend this.

#TamaraReads #2021readingchallenge 72/2021

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, YA Books | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 31 2021

Sunburnt Veils, by Sara Haghdoosti

Sunburnt Veils

Sunburnt Veils, by Sara Haghdoosti

Title: Sunburnt Veils
Author: Sara Haghdoosti
Genre/ issues: YA. Contemporary fiction. Identity. Racism. Relationships.

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.

Yes, it’s another book review post. Can you guess how my weekend has been spent? Hint: it hasn’t been on housework!
Sunburnt Veils by Sara Haghdoosti tells the story of fantasy/ romance-reading, hijab-wearing uni student Tara, who gets caught up in a bomb scare on her first day of uni, and somehow ends up running for the student union having her campaign managed by the premier’s son, campus smooth-talker Alex. Her parents don’t want her to wear hijab. Her best friend has a complicated relationship with her family. And she’s well aware of what people think of her when they see her headscarf – but she’s more interested in what she thinks of herself.
This is a fab book. I wanted something light to read after plowing through quite a few heavy books in the past few weeks, and whilst this fit that bill, it’s also full of depth and heart, touching on some timely and relevant issues. Racism. Discrimination. Family pressures. Structural and institutional issues. A great own-voices YA read, featuring authentic characters who made me smile and familiar settings that made me feel at home. There’s a definite Alibrandi vibe, and it even references Marchetta’s iconic book, with many references to contemporary YA fantasy books that readers will be familiar with. I’m not gonna lie, the HP references grated on me given my feelings about the author of that particular series, but despite that, this feels like a book nerd’s book. You have to know how happy that makes me!

#TamaraReads #2021readingchallenge 68/2021

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, YA Books | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 29 2021

Imposter, by Scott Westerfeld

Imposter

Imposter, by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Imposter
Author: Scott Westerfeld
Genre/ issues: YA. Science fiction. Dystopia.

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 have loved @scott_westerfeld’s Uglies series since I read it back when I first started teaching, and I have been loving revisiting it in this incredible follow-up YA dystopian series 20 years after Tally Youngblood led a revolution to change the world. In Imposter we met Frey and Rafi, twin daughters of the ruler of Shreve. Whilst Rafi is nurtured by her father to be a beloved diplomat and figurehead, Frey is a secret – a highly trained but disposable body double, wirh expert combat skills and only valuable in her role of keeping her sister alive and safe. In Mirror’s Edge, book 3 in this thrilling saga, Rafi is gathering a rebel army outside the city, whilst Frey ventures back into Shreve on a secret rescue mission, which necessitates a disguise – and after going through camp-surge to change her face and identity, she not only has to deal with the dangers surrounding her if she is discovered, but also has to come to terms with what it means to no longer be her sister’s mirror image.
This is another cracker of a book, with some really interesting reflections (no pun intended!) on notions of power, authority, individuality and freedom. I’m very much looking forward to the final book in the series – at which point I will hopefully have made a decision about what to do about these damned mismatching covers! I really do love publishers and authors, but when they decide to redesign the covers of a series partway through publication, I swear …. sigh. Thanks for the shelf is dilemma, Allen and Unwin!

#TamaraReads #2021readingchallenge 65/2021

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, YA Books | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 17 2021

Check Please! Book 2, Sticks and Scones, by Ngozi Ukazu

Check Please! Book 2, Sticks and Scones

Check Please! Book 2, Sticks and Scones, by Ngozi Ukazu

Title: Check Please!
Author: Ngozi Ukazu
Genre/ issues: Graphic novels. Hockey. Queer fiction.

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.

A perfect book to finish reading on #idahobit – Check Please! Book 2, Sticks and Scones by @ngoziu. Whilst book 1 was about Eric Bittle finding himself, book 2 is firmly about him announcing himself. Figuring out how to navigate the complexities of his new relationship that isn’t yet open to the world – or his parents. Dealing with what happens when a celebratory kiss makes a splash in the media. And, thankfully, discovering that sometimes, people will surprise you … Bitty’s mum DOES get upset when he finally confesses something to her, but it’s not what you think …
a delightful book, featuring authentic jock characters with a refreshing diversity of interests and opinions. I’m so glad I finally got to read this series!
Also, this hammock hotel is legit awesome.

#TamaraReads #2021readingchallenge 60/2021

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, Graphic Novels, YA Books | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 14 2021

Check Please! Book 1 #hockey, by Ngozi Ukazu

Check Please! Book 1 #hockey

Check Please! Book 1 #hockey, by Ngozi Ukazu

Title: Check Please! Book 1 #hockey
Author: Ngozi Ukazu
Genre/ issues: Graphic novel. Hockey. Queer fiction.

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.

Whilst my go-to place to hang out on any university campus is always the library, the TL Robertson Library at Curtin is under renovations, and with half of the floor space being out of action, what’s left is quite rightly focused on study spaces. So, on a cool Friday afternoon, I parked myself in one of these sun lounges out the front of the library, and finished this gem of a graphic novel, which I gave to @thegeekymonkey for Christmas and then they kindly let me borrow to read. Check, Please! Book 1: #hockey, by @ngoziu, is narrated by Bittle, a sweet southern ice skater turned hockey player (yay athletic scholarships!) who vlogs and tweets his way through his first couple of years at Samwell University. He’s an adorable sweet queer blogger, tweeter and baker, whose teammates all adopt him as their little brother and supplier of pies. Of course, there’s romance – and a crush on the star of the team.
Ukazu presents a beautiful message of acceptance, in a queer love story revolving around sportsing that’s mercifully free of homophobia. A much-needed heartwarming read today!

#TamaraReads #2021readingchallenge 59/2021

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, Graphic Novels, YA Books | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 10 2021

Here The Whole Time, by Victor Martins

Here The Whole Time

Here The Whole Time, by Victor Martins

Title: Here The Whole Time
Author: Victor Martins
Genre/ issues: YA. Queer fiction. Relationships. Body identity.

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.

Sigh. Sorry, @samreads66, this is another one for the list of “awesome books Tamara has read that you’re going to want to borrow.” A lot can change in 15 days, so Felipe discovers when his mother invites their neighbour’s son Caio to stay when his parents are out of town. They’ve known each other since they were kids, but for the past few years have largely ignored each other in the building’s elevator.
Felipe is fat, and used to being bullied about it. He’s also attracted to Caio, but can’t imagine how he’d feel the same. What unfolds is 2 weeks of stumbles and laughter, misunderstandings and midnight conversations, and one of the sweetest beginnings of a love story that I’ve read in a long time. Wholesome, adorable, and a total joy to read.
Felipe’s Mum says to him at one point, in a suitably awkward and delightful ‘mum’s relationship advice’ conversation, “Don’t fall in love with someone who doesn’t make you feel beautiful.” As someone who has always had a conflicted relationship with my weight, the struggles Felipe felt as he dealt with his own body issues struck a real chord with me, and I feel extremely lucky to have fallen in love with someone who always makes me feel beautiful – even in my dodgiest pyjamas with terrible bed hair. Anyway, my personal issues aside, this book is a joy that I read in one sitting, and I want to read again.

#TamaraReads #2021readingchallenge 53/2021

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, YA Books | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 10 2021

Six Angry Girls, by Adrienne Kisner

Six Angry Girls

Six Angry Girls, by Adrienne Kisner

Title: Six Angry Girls
Author: Adrienne Kisner
Genre/ issues: YA. Feminism. Identity.

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.

Can you tell how I’m spending my long long weekend? Six Angry Girls by @adrienne_kisner is a delightful YA novel which centres around mock trial, feminism and knitting. Presented in alternate narratives, we meet Raina, whose boyfriend dumps her partway through her epic senior year and throws her life into chaos, and Millie, whose mock trial team kicks her out despite the fact that she does all the work. Thanks to some unexpected advice from an advice columnist, Raina finds a new passion for knitting and political activism, and ends up inspiring Millie to start her own mock trial team, joining with four other angry girls to smash the patriarchy while they’re at it.
Listing all the subject matter that this book covers – toxic masculinity, judicial bias, political activism, gender identity and pronouns, sexuality, parental expectations and gender bias – you’d think it’d be heavy going. But this is a lovely, light, thoughtful and funny narrative that left me feeling incredibly joyful when I reached the end. It also left me feeling really proud of the people I see around me, young and old, who are proudly fighting battles in their own way to make the world a better place, for those around them on a larger scale as well as for themselves. Not accepting the stereotypes of heteronormativity that tell them they should act/ think/ be/ achieve a certain way. Recognising that change is ok when it helps you achieve the outcome you want, and can feel proud of. Plus – a book with a kick-ass teacher librarian? Hell yes!
Six Angry Girls is a play on the title of the US courtroom drama Twelve Angry Men – a humorous nod to the idea that you only need half the amount of women to accomplish the same thing that a group of men could do. But it also works nicely with the mock trial setting and legal case note chapter headings to frame the many battles that the young women in this gem of a book face. This is a lovely read, presenting some complex and contemporary ideas about feminism and equality in smart, accessible and non-controversial prose. Highly recommended.

#TamaraReads #2021readingchallenge 52/2021

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, YA Books | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 8 2021

The Black Flamingo, by Dean Atta

The Black Flamingo

The Black Flamingo, by Dean Atta

Title: The Black Flamingo
Author: Dean Atta
Genre/ issues: YA. Verse novel. Queer fiction. Trans identity.

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’ve had this book on my TBR for a while. I’m not quite sure what made me toss it in my suitcase whilst frantically packing the other night, but I’m very glad I did! The Black Flamingo is a fantastic verse novel by @deanatta. At its core, it’s about identify – how other people see us, how we see ourselves, and how we shape and define our relationship with both of these viewpoints. Mike is biracial, queer, raised by a single mother and ignored by an absent father, and throughout the course of 19 years in the narrative we see him question his own interests and the way that these are seen by those around him. From barbie dolls to flamingo toys to beards and feather boas, Mike’s relationships with his family and friends evolve, as does how he presents himself to the world, in his desire to feel proud and fierce and free. There were a number of moments through this poetic gem that brought me to tears, and I’ll be proudly adding this one to my bookshelf rather than adding it to my donations pile. I should have listened earlier when people told me I needed to read it- lesson learned, I guess!

#TamaraReads #2021readingchallenge 50/2021

Happy reading,

Tamara

 

 

Category: Book chat, Poetry, YA Books | LEAVE A COMMENT