Review of Four Small Stones (Urban Hunters #1)

By Gary Taffe

Published: Aug. 01, 2011

Synopsis:
Billy’s gotta find some girls, or he and his brothers face extinction, the last of their kind living a Stone Age life in the Australian bush. The spirits choose Billy to see what he can find in the big city. But he’s never even seen a girl before and all he’s got to wear is a loincloth. His dad wants a fat one to keep him warm in winter and his oldest brother Mallee, wants six! No one knows what Pindaari wants.

Before he goes he must pull off the impossible and earn his brother’s respect, outsmarting them at their own game with a stinking dead kangaroo, a flooded cave crawling with bats and a quartz crystal.

Could life get any more difficult? Why yes it could, Billy could fall in love …

My Thoughts

This is a great story and although many years since my childhood, I can remember the pranks and tricks we used to play on each other in my group of friends.  The characters are cleverly crafted and the story is as old as the Australian Continent.  As an Aussie I am proud to see such a book in hands of young people.

I really enjoyed the boy Billy, using his innate skills to beat his brothers at their own game and coming out the victor. The setting of wild country in Australia is so accurate and the interaction of the boys and native animals is something that can only be learnt from the cradle. The teaching and training of young men in the tribe is a lesson to all.

The writing is well done and the language is authentic. I enjoyed the story and it is a fun trip that will be very different for many young people. Young boys will especially enjoy the school yard humour and the deep seated moral of the story is well developed.

I am sure that the remainder of the books will be as good as this one.

Available: Smashwords

 

Review: Barbed Wire and Roses by Peter Yeldham

Author:  Peter Yeldham                         

Published: Penguin 2007

Synopsis:

It was exciting to be on our way at last…but we were such innocents. We had no idea of the hell that lay ahead. Even if we had known, what could we have done about it?

They were our golden youth, seeking adventure on foreign battlefields. The First World War in 1914, that everyone said would be over by Christmas, and Stephen Conway rushes to enlist in the belief he should fight for King and Empire. Leaving behind a new wife and a baby on the way, he soon finds himself in the trenches of Gallipoli. Four horrific years later, Stephen is the only survivor of his platoon, shell-shocked and disillusioned, and during the heat of battle on the bloodstained fields of France, he mysteriously disappears.

Stephen’s ultimate fate is still a mystery when more than eighty years later his grandson Patrick finds a diary that leads him to Britain and France on a journey during which he unexpectedly finds love, and the truth about his grandfathers’ fate that is even stranger and more shocking that he imagined.

Status: Read on February 20 2013 — A borrowed copy from Holdfast Bat Library

My Thoughts:  The book is really two story lines. Stephen Conway is a young man who, like so many in times of war, is swept up by romantic notions of victory and heroism on the battlefield. He volunteers for the army in the early weeks of WWI, leaving behind a new wife and the child she unknowingly carries. As the weeks turn into months and the months into years, Stephen loses his naivety, his friends and eventually his mind under constant bombardment of the enemy.

Two generations later, Stephen’s grandson is plagued with questions regarding the war diary of a man he never knew. Seeking answers, Patrick and his sister scour the internet but can’t find a single scrap of evidence to prove Stephen Conway died in 1918 as family legend suggests. Bedevilled by the unknown, Patrick begins a journey that will lead him half way around the world in search of answers.

Stephen’s is one of the most intriguing war stories I have ever read. He is without doubt a hero but he is by no means the stereotypical personification one usually encounters. I would try to explain but I think Patrick Conway says it best, “[Stephen] is scared shitless most of the time.” Stephen’s struggle with PTSD struck a chord with me. Living in a time and place where the disorder is considered very real I found it hard to comprehend Stephen’s situation. These men were mentally disturbed by their experiences yet many were given white feathers and still more were diagnosed fit to return to battle. It is an alarming concept flawlessly recreated under Yeldham’s pen.

Patrick’s narrative was decidedly less moving but it is not without merit. I had little sympathy for the character but I felt his experience showcased a different aspect of Yeldham’s talent. Every character Patrick encounters, no matter how insignificant has a distinct personality. Not only that, they are without exception multidimensional! Off the top of my head I can’t think of another author who has exerted so much effort in regards to the supporting cast.

Yeldham’s story is a beautiful tribute to the Lost Generation, an intensely moving novel that will haunt the reader long after the final page. 

Available to Purchase

Amazon

 

Men and Book Reading

Recently I chose to select a book for an Australian Mens Book Club monthly reading.

After selecting an excellent Australian author, Peter Yeldham and then choosing his award winning book ‘Barbed Wire & Roses’, a story about an Australian soldier in World War 1, I chose the book to coincide with Anzac Day, the time we Australians celebrate our War heroes and Fallen,  the selection did not received a single post or comment.     Very disappointing.

This is sad and I guess that having been a book worm all of my 70 odd years, it still comes as a shock to hear some of my peers comment, somewhat proudly, ‘I haven’t read a book since I left school.’ My thoughts generally are – Well, frankly, it shows!

I have this growing feeling that as a society we are slowly being  ‘dumbed down’.      The TV tells us what to look at and think, the radio tells us what to listen to and think, the press tells us what to read and think and the Internet tells us all we want to know whether we want to or not.  Why then do we need to read a book?

Well, books are the stepping stones for entry into life. This is why books were so important to me growing up: they were magic, literally magic.  I never did find the Holy Grail; I never traveled to the Outer Space. I never net The Mad Hatter, but by reading a book, I could have!

Now in a more mature time of life, I take the opportunity to read and re-read those books I missed whilst I still have the time, I still have working eyes and I can still reflect on the importance books have to me.

Books have never been more readily available; Council Libraries have wonderful collections and if you’re Library does not have it then check another dozen or so, online,   for that elusive book. The Internet offers literally millions of books at the click of a mouse and if all else fails check out the recycled shops; they always have stacks of second-hand books.

So, I have learnt my lesson. I was advised that a Mens Book Club would not work, but, I knew better, or so I thought.  Well, it didn’t and Australian men are the poorer for not participating.  Women have no problem with social interaction whilst discussing the merits of a particular book or author. How come we men have this problem?

 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

 

3 Stars. * * *

Synopsis:  It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.

This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

My Thoughts:

Prior to reading this book I had been given many descriptions of merit. They were right. This is a highly acclaimed book by a talented Australian author

The book is well written with a macabre narrator – Death – who cleverly leads the reader into the horrors of war torn Nazi Germany and the characters he collects along the way.  This approach repelled me at first and then I got to dislike the narrative.

The story is slow moving and whilst I enjoyed Liesel’s character, the general character profile was very grey and drab.

The issue was the setting – Nazi Germany – and the sad and depressing environment that many Germans (and all Jews) were trapped in during this time. However, what could have been an exciting story with high drama and much intensity, unfortunately, became a plodding story that was devoid of much drama. The book has much merit but that was not enough for me to stay the distance and I struggle to rate it 3 Stars.

Available:  Amazon, Kobo, Bookworld.

 

Review of Maddie’s Choice by Jacquelin Winn

Review: Maddie’s Choice

 

4 Stars: * * * *

 

Author: Jacqueline Winn

 

Published: – January 2013

 

Status:  Read on April 24 2013 – I own a copy

 

 

 

 

Synopsis:       

Always last in line and last to be chosen at school, eleven-year-old Maddie desperately hopes her mother will come and see her in the presentation day choir on her last day of primary school. But she’s not sure if her mother will set aside her addiction to drugs or her cruel boyfriend to put Maddie first in her affections.
This short story has won a 1st prize and other prizes in literary awards in Australia and the UK, as well as a number of international short-listings. It has been published in anthologies in Australia and the UK.

 

 

My thoughts:

Powerful books do not need to have 450 pages to be powerful.  Maddie’s Choice is a short story and like all short stories the message of the story must be told with as few words as is necessary to tell the tale. However it is the un-used word that sets this book apart from many others. Ms Winn has cleverly used sufficient words to tell the tale but, left out the words that you as the reader have to find for yourself.

My thoughts were with this strong little girl as she confronts some major issues in her life with only the homilies of Gran to help her. One can only wonder at the life that Maddie, with this dysfunctional family, will carry forward into her adolescence.

A great story with a powerful message.

 

Available:   Amazon

 

 

Review of The Lavender Keeper

4 Stars * * * *    

Synopsis:

Are you German or are you French? Are you working against Germany or for it? Are you telling me the truth, or are you a very accomplished liar?’

Lavender farmer Luc Bonet is raised by a wealthy Jewish family in the foothills of the French Alps. When the Second World War breaks out he joins the French Resistance, leaving behind his family’s fortune, their home overrun by soldiers, their lavender fields in disarray.

Lisette Forestier is on a mission of her own: to work her way into the heart of a senior German officer – and to bring down the Reich in any way she can. What Luc and Lisette hadn’t counted on was meeting each other.

When they come together at the height of the Paris occupation, German traitors are plotting to change the course of history. But who, if anyone, can be trusted? As Luc and Lisette’s emotions threaten to betray them, their love may prove the greatest risk of all.

From the fields of Provence to the streets of wartime Paris, The Lavender Keeper is an extraordinary, moving story of action and adventure, heartbreak and passion, devotion and treachery from an internationally bestselling author

My Thoughts:

I enjoy Historical novels. Fiona McIntosh has provided us with The Lavender Keeper and it is an excellent historical novel with a love triangle to keep the interest rolling along.

Set in the beautiful Provence region of Occupied France in the 1940’s, we meet Luc Bonet, a lavender farmer, a man of the land living his life by the seasons.   Life has not yet been interrupted by the cruelty of the war. However, within the space of a week his world is shattered. He learns that his adoption at a young age has a bizarre twist. Born of a German/French couple he is German living in France with a Jewish family. Suddenly his family is wrenched from him to be sent to a Labour camp, his beloved grandmother is murdered and in desperation he leaves his farm and he joins the Marquis as a resistance fighter for France.

At the same time an orphaned young girl, Lisette Forester is coming to terms with the complications of being French and living in Britain. Lisette too, has a French/German parentage and her fluency in both languages has made her an attractive recruit for the espionage network of Britain. Following her training she is sent to France with the mission to attract the attention of Colonel Markus Kilien, highly respected German officer who has become dis-affected with Hitler’s war. In the process of travelling to Paris she crosses paths with Luc and an immediate attraction has occurred. They fall in love, but both have a mission in this terrible war and they part.

Lisette did not reckon the colonel being a charming and attractive man and before long she is in love with him too! Fiona has cleverly focused on the love triangle of Luc, Lisette and Markus, with the backdrop of the German Armies grip on Paris and France weakening, the imminent arrival of the Allied forces and the wrath of the French population. The ending is a twist and has ingeniously left the door open for a sequel.

The story and plot have been well crafted and has great depth revealing the pain and suffering experienced by the Occupied countries of Europe during that vicious war. I found the characters well developed and with an appealing insight into their personas. I particularly empathised with Luc and the terrible tragedies that he experienced during this conflict. He is portrayed as a strong, deeply complex and caring man who is asked to shoulder an enormous burden. Lisette on the other hand had a dominant pragmatism which perhaps prevented me from embracing her character.

An excellent book which has left me wanting to read the sequel.

My copy from Holdfast Bay Library. Adelaide

Available:  Amazon – Kobo – Bookworld.

 

An evening with Fiona McIntosh

My wife and I recently attended a Book signing and talk by Fiona McIntosh, an accomplished and successful Australian author. The venue, Pages & Moore bookshop at Glenelg was packed with interested supporters and Fiona entertained us with wonderful stories and humorous  anecdotes of her life and in particular the writing of ‘The Lavender Keeper’.

The degree and extent of the research undertaken for this book was amazing and we all felt grateful to Fiona for the effort she made to to travel to England and France to obtain the first-hand accounts of events as portrayed in the story.

Her passion for writing is patently obvious and her skills as a storyteller have been enhanced by her close association with the late Bryce Courtney.  At my wife’s urging and listening to Fiona have convinced me to read this book, so watch for my review.