Aussie Readers discussion

When you get time Davina send me a PM (private message) with your addy and I'll post it to you.:)

1. Portia De Rossi - Unbearable Lightness
2. TBA (probably Leah Giarratino - Black Ice)
3. TBA

I think I will add mine as I go as well and at the end when I reach whatever level, though I am aiming for True Blue I will list them all.

My first book completed is 52 Waratah Avenue by Lynne Wilding - I truly enjoyed this book about a family who lives in Sydney.

Forgive my ignorance please, and don't hate me if I'm rekindling a rivalry or something - but would a New Zealand author count for this?

Cheryl wrote: "Forgive my ignorance please, and don't hate me if I'm rekindling a rivalry or something - but would a New Zealand author count for this?"

If you want to read a NZ author that's perfect Cheryl. We're sort of cousins anyway (although there is plenty of friendly rivalry!). Their National Day (Waitangi Day) is in February so I missed it for the challenges this year but will definitely schedule a NZ author/setting challenge in Feb 2012.

http://www.newzealand.com/travel/medi...

I don't think there would be any problem.. Don't us Aussies claim everything good from NZ as being Australian anyway?

Cass wrote: "I don't think there would be any problem.. Don't us Aussies claim everything good from NZ as being Australian anyway?"

LOL!!

Cass wrote: "I don't think there would be any problem.. Don't us Aussies claim everything good from NZ as being Australian anyway?"
So true and then return them if they go strange..lol XDD

Yay, first book down :D

1) The Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak (release in September)

2) The Story of Danny Dunn by Bryce Courtenay

3) Breath by Tim Winton

4) Peeps by Scott Westerfeld FINISHED :)

5) Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden

6)The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld

I'm currently reading The Distant Hours by Kate Morton who I was surprised to learn is an Australian, so I can add this to my challenge. I seem to be taking along time to get through this one. I 'm half way through now and the story is finally picking up the pace a bit.

Has anyone else read it?

Maggie wrote: "I'm currently reading The Distant Hours by Kate Morton who I was surprised to learn is an Australian, so I can add this to my challenge. I seem to be taking along time to get through..."


I read all three of Kate Morton's books just a few months ago. It took me a little while to get into The Distant Hours as well. It did pick up after a while and I liked it well enough, but I preferred her other two books. Especially The Forgotten Garden.

I'm about halfway through my list

1. Diamond Dove by Adrian Hyland

2. Watch the World Burn by Leah Giarratano

3. The Valley by Di Morrisey

4. The Body Count by PD Martin:currently reading

5. Things Bogans Like by E C McSween

6. Saltwater Vampires by Kristy Eagar

7. The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks

8. Lessons in Letting Go: Confessionsn of a Hoarder by Corinne Grant

9. Frantic by Katherine Howell

10. What Alice Forgot Liane Moriarty

11. I Came To Say Goodbye by Caroline Overington

12. Destiny Kills by Keri Arthur

Nice list Shelleyrae! Two in your list are books I'd like to read.

Bogans and Lesson In Letting Go.

Was the Bogan book a good chuckle?

Honestly Laura - save your money and read their blog instead - there is very little different from what they have already posted :) Its amusing but the snideness gets to you after a while.

My review and a link to their blog is here:
http://bookdout.wordpress.com/2011/02...

Shelleyrae wrote: "I'm about halfway through my list

1. Diamond Dove by Adrian Hyland

2. Watch the World Burn by Leah Giarratano

3. The Valley by Di Morrisey

4. The Body Count by PD Martin:currently reading

5. T..."

Hi Shelleyrae

You are sure getting through this list pretty fast - we have a whole year for this challenge don't we.

I have taken a couple off your list to add them to mine. Thanks for the ideas.

I have just read my 2nd book in this challenge Dancing with the Devil by Keri Arthur and I quite enjoyed it.

Shelleyrae wrote: "Honestly Laura - save your money and read their blog instead - there is very little different from what they have already posted :) Its amusing but the snideness gets to you after a while.

My revi..."
Oh nice! I read your review as well, very informative :) I think I will do as you say and just read the site instead.

I seem to be working my way through the Aussie Challenge much faster than my other lists.

My updated progress (& reviews) so far:

People of the Book
The Book Thief
True History of the Kelly Gang
Tomorrow, When the War Began
I Am the Messenger
The Thorn Birds
Breath

Patricia wrote: "I seem to be working my way through the Aussie Challenge much faster than my other lists.

My updated progress (& reviews) so far:

People of the Book
The Book Thief
True History of the Kelly Gan..."

Fantastic work Patricia! I think you could have done this challenge twice over!;)

Patricia wrote: "I seem to be working my way through the Aussie Challenge much faster than my other lists.

My updated progress (& reviews) so far:

People of the Book
The Book Thief
True History of the Kelly Gan..."

Congrats on this good work. Challenges are a pretty good idea I am finding.

Hi - I added Sweet Dreams, Miss England to the giveaways if someone is interested - I'm semi Aussie LOL so it might count for this challenge :-)

Thanks Iris, I have just entered!! :)

Brenda / Carmel - good luck ...

Carmel ... yes i know i've neglected you guys ... *sigh* trying to cope with obstacles in my life as well as finding a publisher ....

The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (awful)
The Imaginary Gentleman (She is one of the best Jane Austen fan-fiction writers)
Contest by Matthew Reilly(The author just wants to be Spielburg and focuses so much on his movie career that he forgets he has readers).
The Story of Danny Dunn by Bryce Courtenay (Danny Dunn had a bloody midas touch that pissed me off. He was a teenager pleasuring a woman for the first time an making her orgasm 5 times... slightly unbelievable).
10 Short Stories You Must Read This Year (This really is a must read!).
The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do (Not bad but not great. The first part is really moving)
Current level: MATILDA

Still to read:
Brother Fish by Bryce Courtenay
Something by Nevil Shute
Something by Tim Winton
Australians Origins to Eureka
People of the Book

Finished the first book in the list ... Something Fishy. Great book, witty, funny, scary as hell in parts, definitely 5 stars and I think I read someones preview where they said Murray Whelan should be Prime Minister ... my thoughts exactly.

1 Something Fishy; READ
2 Cocaine Blues;
3 The Seventh Tower;
4 Foundling;
5 The Book Thief;
6 Neap Tide;
7 The Unknown Terrorist: A Novel which I started a while back, which I plan to restart and finish so I return it to my friend;
8 Indelible Ink;
9 The Great Big Enormous Book of Tashi which I am slowly reading with my sons;
10. more books in the Ranger's Apprentice series to catch up with my eldest son;
11. tba but possibly The Dressmakerwhich sounds interesting and
12. tba.

Cass wrote: "The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet (awful)
The Imaginary Gentleman (She is one of the best Jane Austen fan-fiction writers)
Contest by [author:Matthew ..."

Cass, Nevil Shute's best books in my opinion are "A Town Like Alice" and "On The Beach". All his books are good reads. Those two have been filmed and so was "No Highway".

Can't help you with Tim Winton. Don't intend ever to read him. Sorry, Tim, I'm a commoner and just not into "literacher". I likes me a rattling good yarn from the likes of Patrick O'Brian.

Which reminds me, one of our writers group members recently wrote a hilarious assignment piece in which he nearly walked off with a Nobel Prize because his name happened to be Tim Winton too.

I understand where you're coming from with the comment about Bryce Courtenay. Similar thing happened in "Day Of The Jackal", p..d me right off too, though otherwise it was a superb thriller. I think some male writers just indulge their sexual fantasies!

Your pithy comments on each book were spot on. As you may notice, I tend to be wordy myself... Enjoy the rest of your challenge. And your avatar is cute. Mine, alas, is me, in 2002. I've aged a wee bit since. Whoops, what was I saying about being wordy?

Monya (aka Mary)

Monya wrote: ", Nevil Shute's best books in my opinion are "A Town Like Alice" and "On The Beach". All his books are good reads. Those two have been filmed and so was "No Highway"."

I loved On the Beach, it is one of my very favourite end-of-world books. It is haunting. I haven't read it in many years though and have never reviewed it. On the other hand I have heard the book A Town Like Alice mentioned (was a movied made based on it?) a lot, so I am keen to read it. I actually only just recently connected that the two were written by the same author.

Perhaps Bryce Courtenary annoyed me when he had his character Danny Dunn criticise a heap of lowbrow authors and included Neville Shute in the list.

Cass wrote: "Contest by Matthew Reilly(The author just wants to be Spielburg and focuses so much on his movie career that he forgets he has readers)."

Ha, I had exactly the same reaction when I was reading it!

The only book I've read of Mr Reilly is 'Ice Station' and from a feeling of anticipation of enjoyment I was disappointed. Every scene in the story gave me the feeling that it had been written as a film script. A friend of mine borrowed the book and really enjoyed reading it - perhaps it is horses for courses etc as Mr Reilly has become famouse and very popular.
Perhaps it is my fault or am I out of step . . . :-o)

I enjoyed Matthey Reilly's first and early novels, but the last few have been long, drawn out and tedious IMO. I have his last 2, and haven't read them yet, as it's coming across to me as a chore, and I don't want to try to read them when I feel like that. Hopefully I'll pick them up one day...:)

But you are right Carmel, that is why there is so much diversity in the reading world, as everyone loves something different. It would sure be boring for readers, and writers, if we all loved the same genre!

Cass wrote: "Monya wrote: ", Nevil Shute's best books in my opinion are "A Town Like Alice" and "On The Beach". All his books are good reads. Those two have been filmed and so was "No Highway"."

I loved [book:..."

Cass, A Town Like Alice was made into a movie in the 1950s with Peter Finch and Virginia McKenna. It could not cover all the subject matter in 90 minutes so the T.V. series, starring Bryan Brown and Noni Hazlehurst, is better in that sense.

I'd look up Abe books + Australia online to find a second-hand copy. You'd probably find all of his books there, he wrote a lot of them. NO HIGHWAY was excellent, and I think the movie was called NO HIGHWAY IN THE SKY, starred James Stewart and Glynis Johns. The Pied Piper was also made into a movie in the Fifties.

Good luck, and enjoy!

Monya (aka Mary)

Cass wrote: The Story of Danny Dunn by Bryce Courtenay (Danny Dunn had a bloody midas touch that pissed me off. He was a teenager pleasuring a woman for the first time an making her orgasm 5 times... slightly unbelievable)..."

Sounds more like a comedy or fantasy novel with that statement!!;)

Finished Odd One Out today, so that is two down. This book did not do much for me. I think the idea was there but it could have been improved if something happened, eg a bit of revenge, or comedy or action or a great reunion scene ... anything!

1 Something Fishy; READ
2. Odd One Out; READ
3 The Book Thief; currently reading
4 The Great Big Enormous Book of Tashi; currently reading

5 Cocaine Blues;
6 The Seventh Tower;
7 Foundling;
8 Neap Tide;
9 The Unknown Terrorist: A Novel ;
10 Indelible Ink;
11. Ranger's Apprentice series;
12. The Dressmaker

So glad to find someone else who isn't a great fan of Tim Winton or Bryce Courtenay. I have read books by these authors and just don't enjoy them. I felt for a long time that I must be too stupid to understand their work, or not Australian enough to appreciate our authors.

But what the hey, I'm me. If I like an author I read them, if I don't, I don't. Intelligence and nationality don't come into it.

Maggie wrote: "So glad to find someone else who isn't a great fan of Tim Winton or Bryce Courtenay. I have read books by these authors and just don't enjoy them. I felt for a long time that I must be too stupid t..."

I'm sure Maggie, that you have HEAPS of other authors you thoroughly enjoy...at least you have tried their books..some people say they don't like so and so, and haven't even read their writing!

I'm aiming for true Blue status with a selection of the following books:

Sick to Death: A Manipulative Surgeon and a Healthy System in Crisis-a Disaster Waiting to Happen
The House at Salvation Creek
Monsoon READ 14/1/11 3 STARS OK BUT ONLY BECAUSE I'VE BEEN TO VIETNAM
The Six Sacred Stones
Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Difficulties READ TWO AND A HALF STARS, TOO THIN ON CONTENT
On the Jellicoe Road
Liar
Curious Obsessions : In the History of Science and Spirituality
Border Watch READ 31/1 3 STARS OK
The Book Thief
Pied Piper
Walking Naked READ 25/1 2 STARS DISAPPOINTING
Good Health in the 21st Century
Of A Boy
Seventeen Seconds READ 3 STARS, NOT AS EXCITING AS I EXPECTED
Without Consent
Unbearable Lightness READ 17/1/11 5 STARS FASCINATING
The Distant Hours READ 23/2 3 STARS DISAPPOINTING

Poo! I've lost all my book links.

:O! Maggie you are doing really well in this challenge!!!

Which one have you enjoyed the most since you've read so many?

Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain would appear to be Maggies favourite.

Gail "cyborg" wrote: "Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain would appear to be Maggies favourite."

Cheers Gail!

I see now..next to the dates in how many stars. Yeah, that book is on my TBR too.

I am dragging the chain on this challenge at the moment. I do have a few lined up that I'll catch up with soon.

Maggie wrote: "Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Difficulties..."

Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Difficulties! That would bave to be one of the funnier book titles I've heard this year!;)

Yay! I just got a book shipment from Barnes & Noble containing a few Aussie titles I could not get at my library; Oscar and Lucinda, Cloudstreet and Shantaram. I'm excited about reading them but I think they will have to wait until after I read The Wise Man's Fear.I am going to an author's reading for this book tonight. :D

I just finished Picnic at Hanging Rock and Jellicoe Road. My list so far:

People of the Book
The Book Thief
True History of the Kelly Gang
Tomorrow, When the War Began
I Am the Messenger
The Thorn Birds
Breath
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Jellicoe Road

Patricia wrote: "Yay! I just got a book shipment from Barnes & Noble containing a few Aussie titles I could not get at my library; Oscar and Lucinda, Cloudstreet and Shantaram. I'm excited about reading them but I ..."

Patricia you're doing brilliantly!! I think we're going to have to create a whole new level for you at the rate you're going. Good stuff!!:)

I'm about to start I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak for this challenge...

Thanks, Mandy. I'm enjoying these books!

Carmel, what does the around the world Melina challenge consist of? I twittered a reference to the South Sydney football club in Jellicoe Road yesterday and got a couple of people interested in reading the book. One of them is a teacher and will recommend it to her high school students if she likes it (how could she not, right?).

Wow, Carmel, that's awesome! Good on you for doing that..a wonderful idea..:)

Just read the link you put up, everyone's very excited about it, aren't they. It's such a great idea..there probably should be more Aussies involved..:)

That sounds like a really fun challenge for the group, Carmel. I think it will be fun to follow the book's progress. Kinda sad that the book will end up in more places than I'll ever get to. haha

I just may have to join that YA group if it's not just for young adults (being a not quite so young adult now). I've read quite a few YA books recently that I really enjoyed.

Carmel I just joined that group of yours...not sure whether I'll participate much, but I do read some YA, and always enjoy it! Thanks for putting the link up here! :)

I have just devoured in rapid succession: Unbearable Lightness by Portia de rossi; The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do and currently reading How it feels by Brendan Cowell. The first two were so inspiring and motivating, particularly the happiest refugee, and both easy to get into. How it feels is fantastic so far. People are comparing it to the Slap, which I hated, but I find brendan cowells voice must more relatable and interesting.

Laura wrote: ":O! Maggie you are doing really well in this challenge!!!

Which one have you enjoyed the most since you've read so many?"

Yep, definitely Unbearable Lightness -resonated with me and a situation I have at home.

Looking forward to a few of the others on my list (have read a few 'not so keen' ones first). Very keen to read Sick to Death: A Manipulative Surgeon and a Healthy System in Crisis-a Disaster Waiting to Happen, The House at Salvation Creek, and The Six Sacred Stones (will have to brush up on the preceeding books - its been ages since i read them).

Mandy wrote: "Maggie wrote: "Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Difficulties..."

Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Diff..."</i>

<i>Laura wrote: ":O! Maggie you are doing really well in this challenge!!!

Yes that title appealed to me too.

Which one have you enjoyed the most since you've read so many?"</i>

Yep, definitely [book:Unbearable Lightness -resonated with me and a situation I have at home.

Looking forward to a few of the others on my list (have read a few 'not so keen' ones first). Very keen to read Sick to Death: A Manipulative Surgeon and a Healthy System in Crisis-a Disaster Waiting to Happen, The House at Salvation Creek, and The Six Sacred Stones (will have to brush up on the preceeding books - its been ages since i read them).