Category Archives: Fiction

Book Review: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Fowler

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9781846689666We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Fowler

 

Book Summary

Rosemary’s young, just at college, and she’s decided not to tell anyone a thing about her family. So we’re not going to tell you too much either: you’ll have to find out for yourselves what it is that makes her unhappy family unlike any other. Rosemary is now an only child, but she used to have a sister the same age as her, and an older brother. Both are now gone – vanished from her life.

There’s something unique about Rosemary’s sister, Fern. So now she’s telling her story; a looping narrative that begins towards the end, and then goes back to the beginning. Twice.

It’s funny, clever, intimate, honest, analytical and swirling with ideas that will come back to bite you. We hope you enjoy it, and if, when you’re telling a friend about it, you do decide to spill the beans about Fern, don’t feel bad. It’s pretty hard to resist.

WARNING COMMENTS CONTAIN SPOILERS

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NEW Good Reading Resource Hub is launched!

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Good readingThe Good Reading Magazine has launched a new Resource Hub for book lovers to make reading the ‘Good Reading’ magazine easier and includes exciting interactive features. Access to the new resource is free to Library members, click here to access the Hub. When you click you will be taken to the homepage of the Resource Hub instead of the digital version of the magazine, you then sign up for a free membership with your email and chosen password. Once you sign up you will have access to:

 

 

 

  • Set up your own profile
    • Create a list of books you want to read
    • Create a list of books in your personal library that you’ve read
    • Recommend books to other readers
    • Write your own reviews and share them with other readers
  • Have access to the articles and reviews in all the magazines in a website format.  You will also have access to bonus exclusive interviews and stories just for online subscribers.
  • View the print magazine in a digital format. This is the same format as you have been viewing before.
  • Purchase books. For the convenience of readers they have connected their website with Booktopia, so you can purchase books.

 

2016 AusRom Today Reader’s Choice Awards now open

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ausrom today2016

Do you want to help celebrate Australian Romance Fiction? Why not vote now in the 2016 AusRom Today Reader’s Choice Awards – nominations are now open!

To nominate your favourite author and/or book, simply click here and choose the category you’d like to nominate in, one nomination per category per person. Catergories to choose from include: Best New Author, Best Established Author, Author of the Year, Cover of the Year and Book of the Year.

AusRomToday will compile nominated finalists for each award on 30th October 2016.  The ten most nominated nominees in each category will make it through to the public voting round.  These finalists will then be uploaded into voting albums on Facebook and open for public voting from November 1st.

Book Review: The Dress by Kate Kerrigan

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xthe-dress.jpg.pagespeed.ic.wUEEwGQWRgAbout the Book

Grippingly interweaves the stories of Lily, vintage fashion blogger, Joy, a 1950s New York socialite and the iconic dress she commissioned Lily Fitzpatrick loves vintage clothes – made all the more precious because they were once owned and loved by another woman.

Thousands follow her vintage fashion blog and her daily Instagram feed. But this passion for the beautiful clothes of the past is about to have unforeseen consequences, when Lily stumbles upon the story of a 1950s New York beauty, who was not only everything Lily longs to be, but also shares Lily’s surname. Joy Fitzpatrick was a legend. But what was the famous dress which she once commissioned – said to be so original that nothing in couture would ever match it again? What happened to it – and why did Joy suddenly disappear from New York high society? Kate Kerrigan’s enthralling novel interweaves the dramatic story of Joy, the beautiful but tortured socialite and that of Lily – determined to uncover the truth and, if possible, bring back to life the legendary dress itself.

Comment

A great, easy holiday read!  A believable plot; with characters that were well developed, engaging you from the first chapter.   The story flicks between New York in the 1950s, centring on Joy and Honor and modern day London with fashion blogger, Lily, with ease.  Most of our group felt that while Lily’s journey was well written, we were turning her pages quicker to get back to what was happening in New York.   While we all loved the storyline and the way it finished, we also felt that the last chapter left us feeling a little flat, feeling it could have ended one chapter earlier.

Recommend for anyone who loves a bit romance, fashion and New York in the 50s.  The book also reminded us a little of Cecilia Ahern’s books.

Rating    7 1/2 out of 10

Read by   Cultcha Club Book Group