2012 reading challenge: The Puzzle Ring by Kate Forsyth

Not sure what category this fits into, it could be Young Adult, could be Fantasy, it wasn't one I'd planned to read for either, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

The first little bit of the story is set in modern day Australia, then the next quarter or so in modern day Scotland. The protagonist is a 12 year old girl who discovers, upon travelling to Scotland to meet her father's family for the first time, that her family is cursed. She then manages to travel back to the Scotland of Mary Queen of Scots in order to remove the curse by solving various mysteries. It all sounds a bit ridiculous when set out like that, but it is typical Kate Forsyth: meticulously researched, but written in such a way that the research is not intrusive. The only little criticism I'd make of it is that the plot did seem a bit rushed towards the end; it perhaps would have benefited by being released as two books rather than one.

My favourite Kate Forsyth books are still by far her Witches of Eileanan series but I suspect I would very much have liked this, and her other books aimed at children/young adults, when I was in primary school. Speaking of which, I'm about to go and scour the library for the second and third volumes of her Chronicles of Estelliana series which I didn't realise had been published.

This post is part of my 2012 reading challenge.

2012 reading challenge: 'The Golden Day' by Ursula Dubosarsky

I listed this book in the "crime/mystery fiction" genre of my 2012 reading challenge and I think I may have unintentionally cheated. It certainly isn't a cheap page turning paperback mystery, although the plot is centred around a mystery.

Set in 1960s Sydney in an all girls private school, it tells the story of a class of 11 year olds who go on an excursion with their teacher, only to have their teacher vanish and not return.

Although the content is dark and the mood sombre it's very readable; I spent about an hour on it whilst Little E was having her lunch time nap and finished it that night. In a guest post at Kids Book Review, Ursula Dubosarsky wrote that the novel was partly inspired by a painting she saw the National Gallery in Canberra, Floating Schoolgirl: "It’s a painting of a surreal schoolgirl in hat and tunic floating above the city in the darkness - the flying child may be frightened, but she’s also brimming with the joy of a secret life."

Prior to reading this book the only thing of Dubosarsky's I had come across was her picture book The Terrible Plop which is funny and clever and gets a regular workout at our place. Impressed by her versatility, I then picked up another of her "young adult" novels The Red Shoe. I preferred The Golden Day but recommend both.

2012 reading challenge: Manhattan Dreaming by Anita Heiss

This is the first of my reviews for my 2012 reading challenge. I actually read two books from my list in January but didn't get around to reviewing them.

I really liked the idea of this book. The first quarter/third is set in Canberra/Golbourn and it's always interesting to read a contemporary description of familiar places. The protagonist is a female Aboriginal art curator who works at a gallery in Canberra and there's certainly not too many of them in fiction (and probably not in real life either!) The next setting is New York City, and one of the aspects I enjoyed most was getting to voyeuristically experience living there.


However. For me at least, this turned out to be a poor execution of a bunch of good ideas. I didn't think the writing was particularly skilful; not enough of the "show don't tell" - I found the style stilted and everything over-explained. There was a supposed twist at the end of the book which I thought was pretty obvious.


The protagonist just about irritated me to tears. Other than the fact she was an educated, succesful Aboriginal woman doing an interesting, professional job there wasn't much about her that I liked. I couldn't stand that her friends called her "Loz" as a nickname for "Lauren." I thought the way she behaved towards her boyfriend was entirely pathetic (I do realise that was sort of the point of the book, that she only went to NYC as a means of getting over/escaping from the boyfriend, but I still found it intensely annoying).


Other good things I can say about it is that it's a light, easy read. It definitely fits into the romantic fiction category, which was always going to be a challenge for me to enjoy. Others might not have the same issue I did with the protagnoist. That being said, it annoyed me sufficiently that if it hadn't been a book on my list I don't think I'd have finished it.


So not a very positive review for my first book! Fingers crossed the next ones will be better.