darcy is your average 16 year old. he goes to school, he plays chess with his social pariah of a mate noah, and he loves audrey, his beautiful meditating neighbour. unlike most 16 year olds however, he cannot keep his mouth shut. well, he can, but as soon as he thinks anything he says it, promptly and uncensored. this makes even the most mundane, like the receiving of maths exam results or the sex talk from parents, humourous and enjoyable.
this was the first steven herrick i have ever read (what!? complete travesty according to a colleague), and im going to have to hunt him down and read all his stuff. he has a really honest funny voice, without any of the bits where you think, hmmm that didn't actually need to be said, and i wish you didn't say it cos now i don't like you as much. there was none of that! i sense a new favourite author person coming on...
Monday, May 3, 2010
the byron journals- daniel ducrou *28 June 2010*
after leaving highschool, family dramas and hometown adelaide behind, andrew embraces the idea of byron bay and the culture that comes with it whole heartedly. he scores half a bag of outdoor almost straight off the plane, punches on with his mates, gets kicked out of the apartment, and moves in with some buskers he meets at a party all in the first two chapters. what was going to be a week at schoolies becomes an extended stay in the dodgier side of byron, and life in general.
andrew was an intriguing character. i couldn't entirely work him out which certainly kept things interesting. he is a concert pianist (or to his friends, concert penis) and seemed like the good side of the tracks boy playing at being bad. however when he buys the weed he notes that it 'looked a bit light', a sentence that marks him as a regular smoker, or at least someone used to weighing bags of weed, implying he had a bit of street smart, or thought he did. but towards the end of the book, as the drug references get more prolific, and the consequences more serious, he is very relatable as the kid in WAY over his head. he was also a bit of a dickhead to his mate benny, and while it was pretty mean, it was also very relatable (even though i wish it wasn't, i like to think i'm not a dickhead...).
i wasnt a huge fan of heidi, andrew's love interest. i've known people like her, and the term 'fuckin crazy bitch' was the one used most often. i know that the love interest is often a fairly damaged character in a lot of ya books, but heidi also came across as a nasty person, manipulative, judgemental and ignorant (although very good at the drums) and in a huge amount of denial. i liked andrew less due to his shit taste in women.
there was a lot of sex, a lot of drugs, and a lot of well described music scenes. ducrou really captured the wavy uncontrollable feeling of playing music in a group, badly or brilliantly, and these scenes were some of my favourites from the book. i also loved the descriptions of being on the road, with different bits of australia flashing past in the bus windows.
i think ducrou is going to be one to watch in the future. 'the byron journals' felt authentic and gritty, and he managed to avoid cliches for the most part, something not always easily done when it comes to ya novels set in byron bay. recommended, but not to anyone under 14.
andrew was an intriguing character. i couldn't entirely work him out which certainly kept things interesting. he is a concert pianist (or to his friends, concert penis) and seemed like the good side of the tracks boy playing at being bad. however when he buys the weed he notes that it 'looked a bit light', a sentence that marks him as a regular smoker, or at least someone used to weighing bags of weed, implying he had a bit of street smart, or thought he did. but towards the end of the book, as the drug references get more prolific, and the consequences more serious, he is very relatable as the kid in WAY over his head. he was also a bit of a dickhead to his mate benny, and while it was pretty mean, it was also very relatable (even though i wish it wasn't, i like to think i'm not a dickhead...).
i wasnt a huge fan of heidi, andrew's love interest. i've known people like her, and the term 'fuckin crazy bitch' was the one used most often. i know that the love interest is often a fairly damaged character in a lot of ya books, but heidi also came across as a nasty person, manipulative, judgemental and ignorant (although very good at the drums) and in a huge amount of denial. i liked andrew less due to his shit taste in women.
there was a lot of sex, a lot of drugs, and a lot of well described music scenes. ducrou really captured the wavy uncontrollable feeling of playing music in a group, badly or brilliantly, and these scenes were some of my favourites from the book. i also loved the descriptions of being on the road, with different bits of australia flashing past in the bus windows.
i think ducrou is going to be one to watch in the future. 'the byron journals' felt authentic and gritty, and he managed to avoid cliches for the most part, something not always easily done when it comes to ya novels set in byron bay. recommended, but not to anyone under 14.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
beautiful malice- rebecca james
O.M.G.
im not usually one for omg, lol, rofl etc., in fact i make fun of people that say lol in real life. but o.m.g. (said pausing deliberately at each full stop and in a high pitched excited twitty voice) is the only thing that comes immediately to mind after having just read the entire book in a day (at work, in between customers none the less).
so i read the excerpt about a month ago, and i wrote it off (unjustly, i know this now) immediately as another trashy looking vampire/werewolf/crappy 'ting' albeit with a seductive beginning.
but, behold! not a vampire, hairy wolf boy or emo fallen angel, (not that the excerpt ever implied there would be, i just assumed. and made an ass out of u and me...) not even a sniffle, on any page, despite the fact that the cover makes it look like it's being marketed to that kind of audience. and it wasn't shit!
intriguing from the start, katherine is the girl with the murdered sister and the miserable, grief affected existence. alice is the beautiful charismatic one with the promise of secrets beneath that glittery exterior. and oh my god (o.m.g!) she is super crazy and evil. it's fantastic. so, so gripping. the plot is structured around katherine's present, living life cautiously with her little girl sarah, and flashes back into the past gradually uncover the events that lead to life as it is now.
and the best bit was the way it wrapped up so nicely, (no, not in a nice way, but in a complete jigsaw kind of way) and the way the reason alice is such a crazy bitch is a something that makes you go... O.M.G.
Friday, April 23, 2010
dont just bedazzle, vajazzle!
dear god. has anyone else heard about the vajazzling craze that is sweeping across the world? well. its a cool word, fun to say, but the idea of gluing things to my bits seems kind of odd...
apparently it started getting popular in new york, where after letting them rip off strips of pubic hair, some mad folk allowed the staff to cover their vajajays in little bits of sparkly plastic. or if you are particularly rich, you can choose swarovski crystlals (no i am not kidding).
cindy barshop, owner of completely bare spa, does have a few sage words of advice in relation to vajazzling and men- 'They love it! They love it even more especially when it's a surprise'.
hahahahaha i'll be sure to try it, thanks cindy.
AND word on the street is that it penazzling will also soon be available. yay!
apparently it started getting popular in new york, where after letting them rip off strips of pubic hair, some mad folk allowed the staff to cover their vajajays in little bits of sparkly plastic. or if you are particularly rich, you can choose swarovski crystlals (no i am not kidding).
cindy barshop, owner of completely bare spa, does have a few sage words of advice in relation to vajazzling and men- 'They love it! They love it even more especially when it's a surprise'.
hahahahaha i'll be sure to try it, thanks cindy.
AND word on the street is that it penazzling will also soon be available. yay!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
sorry john!
Cannot believe i forgot to put any of John Green's amazing novels in my YA top 10. Cos he is really, really, up there in terms of being a FANTASTIC author. Super fantastic in fact. One of my favourites. Ever.
I read Looking for Alaska (years ago, but i remember it being utterly fab, time for a reread), Paper Towns (Q makes dork chic look chic'er than chic) and An Abundance of Katherines (Colin puts relationships in a graph and still manages to be sexy) and i just finished Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. And it was great!
There is Will Grayson. There is Tiny Cooper. And there is the other Will Grayson. When the three meet up outside a porn shop through a series of mildly unfortunate coincidences (okay maybe extremely unfortunate), enter a totally fabulous high school romance, a musical, some heartbreak, and a particularly beautiful plain glass bowl.
I liked John Green's Will Grayson better, and while this may be just a case of me falling slightly in love with yet another of Green's nerdy-sexy-intelligent-witty-but not too gorgeous-i wish-you-were-mine-not-in-a-book characters, it may also be because i found the o.w.g. (other will grayson) a bit depressing, and while he was depressing in a relatable way, it still got a bit boring. Towards the end i almost felt like i was wading through a type of goo, a very nice type of goo that i was happy to be surrounded by, but that was just a bit slow to get through. I was also bit confused by the ending with the ovation of Graysons. I feel slightly like I missed something, like someone had told a joke i didn't understand, although it very possibly was just be me being a bit thick.
All in all though, it was a brilliantly voiced gay extravaganza, and while to me it smelt more of classic John Green, Levithan's voice gave it a nice edgy feel and the two complemented each other delightfully.
Highly recommended.
I read Looking for Alaska (years ago, but i remember it being utterly fab, time for a reread), Paper Towns (Q makes dork chic look chic'er than chic) and An Abundance of Katherines (Colin puts relationships in a graph and still manages to be sexy) and i just finished Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. And it was great!
There is Will Grayson. There is Tiny Cooper. And there is the other Will Grayson. When the three meet up outside a porn shop through a series of mildly unfortunate coincidences (okay maybe extremely unfortunate), enter a totally fabulous high school romance, a musical, some heartbreak, and a particularly beautiful plain glass bowl.
I liked John Green's Will Grayson better, and while this may be just a case of me falling slightly in love with yet another of Green's nerdy-sexy-intelligent-witty-but not too gorgeous-i wish-you-were-mine-not-in-a-book characters, it may also be because i found the o.w.g. (other will grayson) a bit depressing, and while he was depressing in a relatable way, it still got a bit boring. Towards the end i almost felt like i was wading through a type of goo, a very nice type of goo that i was happy to be surrounded by, but that was just a bit slow to get through. I was also bit confused by the ending with the ovation of Graysons. I feel slightly like I missed something, like someone had told a joke i didn't understand, although it very possibly was just be me being a bit thick.
All in all though, it was a brilliantly voiced gay extravaganza, and while to me it smelt more of classic John Green, Levithan's voice gave it a nice edgy feel and the two complemented each other delightfully.
Highly recommended.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
gecko times
i randomly mentioned to my dad the other day that i wouldn't mind a pet gecko. i then forgot about it, came home yesterday and mum was all 'dad caught you a gecko' and it was on the floor sitting under an upturned salad bowl. i was super impressed with dads gecko hunting prowess, and gecko feet are one of the good things in life, all padded and spindly and geckoey. am going to release it back into the trailer out the front of the house so it can go back to being a free and marbled gecko.
Friday, April 9, 2010
the glass demon- helen grant
When Lin finds a dead guy under an apple tree, laid out snow white style with the crisp, barely nibbled fruit lying next to him, it seems like just another bad omen to follow the uprooting of her family. So she almost doesn't notice the glittering pile of glass on the ground.
It is only later on she remembers about Bonschariant, the Glass Demon, said to haunt the Allerheiligen stained glass windows. The windows her father is researching, the windows that dragged her family to the middle of a german forest inhabited by huge surly men with slavering monster dogs, the windows that might destroy them all.
Well written with a tightly constructed plot, this deliciously suspensful novel dangles tantalising between both crime and fantasy. It ended in a very satisfying way and I really, really liked it. Lin, Michel (the cute son of the huge surly man with the toothy canine) and the super creepy Bonschariant were all I could think about for a 48hour period, and damn I hope there is a sequel.
It is only later on she remembers about Bonschariant, the Glass Demon, said to haunt the Allerheiligen stained glass windows. The windows her father is researching, the windows that dragged her family to the middle of a german forest inhabited by huge surly men with slavering monster dogs, the windows that might destroy them all.
Well written with a tightly constructed plot, this deliciously suspensful novel dangles tantalising between both crime and fantasy. It ended in a very satisfying way and I really, really liked it. Lin, Michel (the cute son of the huge surly man with the toothy canine) and the super creepy Bonschariant were all I could think about for a 48hour period, and damn I hope there is a sequel.
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