The Australian writer Helen Garner has been publishing for nearly 50
years but only recently has her work taken off in the United States. I had never heard of her until a friend gave
me one of Garner’s published diaries,
and as I read I wondered why I had never heard of her.
It’s an absolute pleasure reading her honest,
witty, intelligent take on her world and her often amusing, painful encounters with colleagues, family, and strangers. She has an exceptional eye for the small details
that make life rich, the quirks and traits in other people that make them
compelling or objectionable or funny.
Garner vividly brings her world into your living room. I particularly admire the honesty with which
she writes about herself, her own failings and weaknesses, because she manages
to make the personal universal. Read
this book and you’ll likely recognize aspects of yourself in Garner’s…
Finally, Helen Garner has opened her diaries and invited readers into the world behind her novels and works of non-fiction. Recorded with frankness, humour and steel-sharp wit, these accounts of her everyday life provide an intimate insight into the work of one of Australia’s greatest living writers.
Yellow Notebook, Diaries Volume I, in this new paperback edition, spans about a decade beginning in the late 1970s just after the publication of her first novel, Monkey Grip. It will delight Garner fans and those new to her work alike.
Although I was a little scared of Halloween as a kid, I’ve grown to love the silly side of spookiness. Growing up with Pee-Wee’s Playhouse every Saturday morning, I learned that silliness is a superpower. Now, when working on kids books, my ultimate goal is to put work into the world that will delight kids, and won’t make the parents groan and say, “that one again?” Finding the sweet spot of being fun to read, fun to hear, and fun to look at is what I love most about creating kids books. I hope you and your little ghouls and goblins enjoy my spooky board Boooook list!
Goodnight Goon takes the familiar rhyming and simplicity of Goodnight Moon and creates something weird and wonderful.
It’s Michael Rex’s tiny details in the art that drew me in – from eyeballs in holes in the wall to tiny crawly creatures. There are loads more to look at in these ghoulish illustrations than the original book it’s parodying.
This #1 New York Times bestselling picture book parody is the perfect Halloween read!
Goodnight tomb. Goodnight goon. Goodnight Martians taking over the moon.
It's bedtime in the cold gray tomb with a black lagoon, and two slimy claws, and a couple of jaws, and a skull and a shoe and a pot full of goo. But as a little werewolf settles down, in comes the Goon determined at all costs to run amok and not let any monster have his rest.
A beloved classic gets a kind-hearted send up in this utterly monsterized parody; energetic art and clever text…
“We’re not worthy! We’re not worthy!” Wayne and Garth said it best. This is how I felt when I read my first time-travel romance almost twenty years ago. It was a masterpiece, and it’s since gone on to sell in record numbers and become a Starz network TV series. You know the one. I enjoyed this immense tome full of gritty history and realistic romance, but for my next read, I found myself gravitating toward lighter fare. If, like me, you prefer the literary equivalent of fluffy, buttery popcorn to the steak dinner of heavier stories, you’ll love my bestselling time-travel romance series, starting with Wishing for a Highlander.
Evangeline Anderson writes steamy, swoony Alien romance. A lot of it. And I’ve read most of it with gusto. When she tossed in a story with an unconventional take on time travel, I grabbed it up the second it hit the ebook stores. As per usual for Evangeline, her hero and heroine leap off the page and the steamy bits made me tingle in all the right places. Pick this one up for a steamier, sci-fi take on time-travel romance.
A woman trapped in the past...
A dark, intense warrior who claims she is his wife...
Will Caroline survive her stay in the parallel universe she has fallen into?
Or will she be forever...Trapped in Time? Dr. Caroline Lambert has a PhD in Astro-Temporal Physics but no clue about matters of the heart. Married to her work, she has built a machine called PORTAL, capable of opening a window into other universes. She believes it is only for observation, so imagine her horror when she finds herself sucked through the window and right into a whole other world--a world that…
I was always a peculiar child with no friends, so I found my friends in books. As I got older I turned to writing my own. I wrote many stories, until one night I wrote my first book. It was paranormal fiction. Quite horrid actually. However, it started my obsession with crime romance. I love romance, but I find them a bit dull at times, but a crime novel never leaves me wanting. I decided to join the two worlds, and create my own. It's the reason even after 20 books published, my books are all linked to the biggest crime of all. But that is a secret you need to figure out for yourself.
I have a thing for Mafia crime books, and I have read plenty. My reason for choosing Bound to Cruelty was because it is still fresh in my mind. I read it three months ago. And it was cruel, brutal but so deliciously breathtaking.
How do you know when you are wrong for someone? When do death and honor intertwine? How do you face yourself, and the one you love, knowing you are the biggest monster?
This book was brilliant because the characters are so well developed, that you are transformed into a world that is thrilling.
I’m the shadows that reach out and take a bite. No one sees me coming, which is why I’m sent to do the things even our fearless leader won’t touch.
After months of watching our enemies it’s time to take them out. I’m ready to feel their blood on my hands, their worthless lives ground to dust.
But I don’t get the chance, when a dark haired beauty comes crashing into my plans, seeking sanctuary from our enemies. Now I’m stuck on guard duty, babysitting a mafia princess.
As tensions rise, the flames of desire flicker between us. We shouldn’t…
Science is still assumed to be a ‘male’ subject in which women are a minority. I should know—I was one of those women when I worked as an astrophysicist. But there have always been women in science and their stories are fascinating, whether told in nonfiction or in fiction. Fiction is ideally placed to convey the emotions behind the scientific processes and the way in which human interactions and relationships influence what happens in the lab.
Cli-fi is a well-established genre now, but this was one of the very first novels that dared to engage with climate change in a realistic way. As a reader, I was engrossed by the fully fleshed-out main character, Tina, a geochemist. Her professional life on board a research ship is so beautifully written that we can practically feel the spray of salt water on her skin.
Many women in science and other professions will relate to the problems she faces as she tries to balance her personal and professional lives.
At an oceanography institute in northern California, geochemist Tina Arenas studies climates of the distant geologic past. Heedless of life beyond her circle of scientists, Tina is immersed in a world of dinosaurs and shifting continents, where time is measured in ten-million-year spansbut when both her research and an extracurricular love affair take off in directions she has not anticipated, she is catapulted into the late twentieth century world of people and politics.
Set in the early 1980s, when the problem of global warming had yet to garner much public concern, Carbon Dreams tells the story of one scientist's struggle…
Ever since I can remember I had a special love for western romance books. My mom has written several books set in 1800s America and that probably stirred me in that direction as well since I love her books (they're in German, which is why I couldn’t recommend them). Regency has become my second historical fiction genre, which is probably why I write and read both time periods. I'm a German-born US-Indie author and total romance fanatic. I write Christian Romance set mostly in the above time periods. I'm a massive Harry Potter fan, have been married to my husband for nearly 18 years and we have two teenage sons.
This was a sweet regency novella. I enjoyed the characters and plot, even though it was a bit rushed at times and the ending a bit abrupt, but it was a delightful read and kept me hooked enough that I wanted to know what would happen next. I will definitely be reading more from this author.
Can something beautiful grow from a marriage born of spite?
When Cori Featherbottom accepts her neighbor’s shocking marriage proposal, she has no idea that he still loves her sister—until after the wedding. Guarding her heart, she determines to make the most of her loveless relationship and find a friend in her husband.
Adam Arnett does the only thing he knows for certain will remove a title-hungry flirt—he marries her sister. It doesn’t take long before he finds himself attracted to his new bride, but when her sister tries to throw a wrench in their budding relationship he must fight to…
I came across this book quite by accident. It tells the journey of several misfit characters in an unrecognizable future where humans can transcend their human forms and where those who desire it can spend their entire lives in the virtual world.
All of the characters in this story are searching for something, and none of them wants any help from anybody else. But they are thrown together by fate only to discover that they need each other after all.
This is by far the best indie book I’ve ever read, and I hope you’ll take a chance on it too.
I’m a writer (‘natch) and work with my fabulous wife, Susan McLennan. We’re winners of two regional Emmy awards and have created and/or written television shows for PBS, Disney, BBC, and CBC. I’ve always gravitated toward characters who really get put through the physical and emotional ringer. If they’re enduring an outlandish pile-on of hardships, I’m with them all the way. I’m not sure what this says about me, but what I love is how these hard done by characters find ways to turn things around and stagger to victory, often when all seems lost–not by magic, not by divine intervention, but thanks to some unseen force inside themselves.
This is my favourite Dr. Seuss book (sorry, Horton!). Our hero is… um, maybea bear? Anyway, he’s carefree, young, and lives in the Valley of Vung. Pretty idyllic, yes? Until it’s not. Poor guy gets attacked by creatures determined to bite off his body parts. Fortunately, a chap in a one-wheeler-wubble shows up (I love it when that happens) and offers to take him to Solla Sollew, “Where they never have problems, at least very few.” What follows is a hero’s journey crammed with no end of near-death experiences culminating in him finally reaching utopia to discover…he can’t get in. He’s been resilient all along, but it’s here he excels and decides to go home and face his problems head-on. Sure, he brings a club. But, well, different times…
As our hero struggles to reach the city of Solla Sollew, where they never have troubles, at least very few, we realise that it's better to face up to life's problems than to try to run away from them!
With his unique combination of hilarious stories, zany pictures and riotous rhymes, Dr. Seuss has been delighting young children and helping them learn to read for over fifty years. Creator of the wonderfully anarchic Cat in the Hat, and ranked among the UK's top ten favourite children's authors, Dr. Seuss is a global best-seller, with over 650 million books sold worldwide.…
This LitRPG series by Matt Dinniman is not my usual
fare. It is far more adult (not sex, but lots of gore and language) and has higher
stakes than I usually read, so readers should be aware that it is an adult
series and not appropriate for young adults.
But it is SOOOOO freaking good. I’m usually not
gripped by LitRPG stories because the world they are fighting in is fake
(virtual, only exists in make-believe, etc.). But this story turns it on its
head because the entire Earth becomes a massive role-playing
arena. It is sort of Hunger Games meets Ready Player One meets Hitchhiker’s Guide
to the Galaxy.
It is ridiculous and gripping and funny. There are cheers and tears. And
in the end, they are all fighting to take back Earth. It is very well-plotted,
well-paced, and just a good time.
I’m a Canadian author and artist that loves to write and draw the darker side of fantasy. Ever since I was a child, I have adored mythology, horror, and the creatures and worlds that are present within the fantasy genre. The world of fantasy has unlimited imagination, and its lore and structure grow constantly, which gives endless ideas to us writers to create endless brilliant realms and the creatures that dwell within them.
The Tekken fighting game franchise has always been an inspiration to me. When this comic book series came out, I was beyond thrilled, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. Tekken is a series about a family battle between a son, father, and grandfather, all possessing a form of cursed bloodline and the desire for power and to become the best there is within a fighting tournament. This book and its visuals helped me finalize some of the character aspects within my first novel and helped me picture fight scenes being more powerful and ferocious. I recommend this book and its series to any who likes fantasy-like fights and fighting games/books.
Based upon the biggest fighting videogame franchise of all time, Titan Comics/Bandai Namco's brand new TEKKEN comic series brings the fight right to the page in a bid to determine the true King of the Iron Fist! With a history colored by betrayal and bloody violence, the Mishima Clan are not your average family. Now something emerges that threatens to tear not only this broken dynasty but the entire known universe - asunder!
