Jasper Jones - Craig Silvey

Late on a hot summer night in the tail end of 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep-out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan. Rebellious, mixed-race and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for Charlie. So when Jasper begs for his help, Charlie eagerly steals into the night by his side, terribly afraid but desperate to impress.

Jasper takes him through town and to his secret glade in the bush, and it's here that Charlie bears witness to Jasper's horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion as he locks horns with his tempestuous mother, falls nervously in love and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend, Jeffrey Lu. 

And in vainly attempting to restore the parts that have been shaken loose, Charlie learns to discern the truth from the myth, and why white lies creep like a curse. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.

A good friend recommended this book to me and she usually has been spot on the money, and she didn't let me down this time either. I would probably not have selected this book on my own, the cover didn't grab me and the story sounded like a book more suited to young adults, but I soon forgot my original preconceived ideas and was glued to the story! 

This has been hailed as the Australian version of "To Kill A Mockingbird", which was obviously what the author was trying to channel as he referenced the book and Atticus Finch several times. Like TKAM there are many themes that run through the story line: mystery, friendship, romance, comedy, betrayal, racism, but most of all I think this is a coming of age book where a child takes the first steps into young adulthood and learns that things in the adult world are more complicated than they first seem.

The whole thing is very well written and the characters are so vivid and each has an individual personality and 'voice' that is clear throughout the book.  

One I definitely recommend for all age groups, and as an added bonus of reading this book you will be helping support an Australian writer!

The Wedding Gift - Kathleen McKenna

Leann wasn’t good enough for her upper-crust in-laws, so they gave her the mansion none of them wanted. Years ago, something or someone in the house killed Leann’s brother. Will its violent secrets kill her next?“ . . . a spine-electrifying supernatural tale where a huge Southern States mansion contains one of the most terrifying, violent and indeed psychopathic ghosts to haunt any town. It is also a murder mystery—why did Robina Willets apparently kill all five of her young children, and her husband, before stabbing herself to death? And, if you are in the camp of believing that 'Justice . . . just is not,' then this will have you frothing at the mouth with righteous social fury.

Getting this book on sale from Amazon (Kindle) for 99c, I had low expectations as surely they wouldn't be practically GIVING away a book if it was really any good, right??

So I was pleasantly  surprised to discover that not only was the book actually pretty good, I was fast becoming hooked to it!

My first thought was that I wasn't going to be able to finish reading it as I thought I would find the Southern style dialogue too distracting, but now looking back after I have finished reading it I can see how this actually added to the magic of the story. 

You may be forgiven from thinking that this is going to be a story about love, which isn't strictly untrue, but there is so much drama and mystery going on that I didn't expect. 

I can't really comment on whether the characters a true to form in those parts as I have never experienced this part of America first hand, but I do know that I didn't find them ridiculous or frustrating like some other reviewers did. 

I would definitely recommend this book for those who like both love stories or murder mysteries, all in all a great read.

The Lover's Dictionary - David Levithan

ineffable, adj.

These words will ultimately end up being the barest of reflections, devoid of the sensations words cannot convey. Trying to write about love is ultimately like trying to have a dictionary represent life. No matter how many words there are, there will never be enough. 

How does one talk about love? Do we even have the right words to describe something that can be both utterly mundane and completely transcendent, pulling us out of our everyday lives and making us feel a part of something greater than ourselves? Taking a unique approach to this problem, the nameless narrator of David Levithan’s The Lover’s Dictionary has constructed the story of his relationship as a dictionary, with anecdotal entries from aberrant to zenith. Through these short entries, most less than a page long, he provides an intimate window into the great events and quotidian trifles of being within a couple, giving us an indelible and deeply moving portrait of love in our time.

This was such an intriguing way to write a story but it paid off and I absolutely loved it. The snippets given in alphabetical order was not a chronologically accurate, and I loved seeing the truth in their relationship slowly emerge and then given depth. There was a lot left unsaid by the unnamed characters, but at the end the story didn't feel incomplete.

I have always considered myself to be well-read and have an above average vocabulary for someone my age, so it was surprising to me how many words I had to look up the meaning of when I wasn't seeing them viewed in a full sentence.

Now there was one downside to this book...I stumbled across this when I was checking out the recommended books for Kindle on Amazon.com and this one popped up with really good reviews. After reading it, and overall enjoying to short book, I can say that I am glad I read it, but wished I had of waited for it to come on sale as the largest feeling I was left with after reading it within 24 hours was that I shouldn't have paid $13 AUD for the kindle version. But after I got over that feeling of being a little ripped of I reminded myself that I actually really enjoyed the story.

Overall, a good read if you don't have the time to get stuck in to a long, heavy story.

Shantaram - Gregory Roberts David

"Shantaram" is a novel based on the life of the author, Gregory David Roberts. In July 1980 he escaped from Victoria's maximum-security prison in broad daylight, thereby becoming one of Australia's most wanted men for what turned out to be the next ten years. For most of this period, after an interlude in New Zealand, he lived in Bombay. He set up a free health clinic in the slums, acted in Bollywood movies, worked for the Bombay mafia as a forger, counterfeiter, and smuggler and, as a gunrunner, resupplied a unit of mujaheddin guerrilla fighters in Afghanistan. This is the setting of "Shantaram". It is a compelling tale of a hunted man who had lost everything - his home, his family, and his soul - and came to find his humanity while living at the wildest edge of experience.

This book is a whopping 900+ page autobiographical saga, but don't let that deter you as it was one of the most enjoyable and fast-paced 900 pages I have ever read.

One of the things I loved most about this book is that it gave such an insight in to a side of India that I will probably never see personally, and to be honest, one I never really ever thought I wanted to see. It shows the extremes of the city from the unwavering love and loyalty of the Indian people, to the depth of the corruption and power that ultimately runs the city, as well as showing what life in the slum would be like compared to the rich who live there. If I ever did go to India one day I would be going with my eyes slightly more open to my surroundings than they were previously. 

The characters were complex and vivid and even the most despicable characters displayed some endearing quality. There were some pretty gruesome parts to this story (at some sections I actually covered by eyes and felt like screaming out!) but for most of the book the characters were smart and lyrical and I enjoyed reading their witty dialogue. Towards the end of the book when the new mafia was coming in to rule, I found the new characters not as agreeable, so am glad he ended the book where he did. Apparently there is a sequel coming but I would hesitate to read it as I had such a good experience with the first book, I would hate for the second one to not live up to the standard and ruin it for me.

I was a little thrown with the trip to Afghanistan but also enjoyed reading about another culture that is so foreign to me. 

It was a long read but one I definitely recommend - definitely the most confronting yet amazing book I have ever read and I would be lucky to find another book I enjoyed as much as this in the next 5-10 years.