If you want to get to the really interesting part of Small Great Things, you need to turn to page 459. That’s not to say the preceding 458 aren’t great. They are. You don’t get to be a globally best selling author without the writing chops and Picoult has them in spades. Small Great Things is a cracking moral dilemma…
It is said that everyone has a book in them, and I tend to agree with that sentiment in the sense that everyone has an interesting life story to tell. Given a quiet room, a laptop and a few thousand hours of solitude, I think pretty much everyone could produce something compelling, or at least interesting. Then, there are other…
I am a complete sucker for smart and funny modern romance, and those sorts of books can be a little hard to find. Happily, The Hating Game ticks all those boxes, so it’s an absolute pleasure to welcome its author, Sally Thorne, to Book Birdy. Here’s a little taste of what this Canberra-based author’s debut novel is all about.. Lucy Hutton has…
When people tell me they don’t read or like short stories, I tend to feel a bit sorry for them. And, if I’m honest, a little superior. Perhaps even a little defensive. That’s possibly the wrong approach. As the wise and thoughtful editor, Laurie Steed, says in his introduction to Shibboleth and other stories (Margaret River Press) his response to short-story-prejudice…
I first read Love at First Flight last year, when it was released as an e-book and was completely captivated by the chemistry between the two main characters, Mel and Matt, who meet and fall in ‘lust at first sight’ while sitting next to each other on a flight from Perth to Sydney. Problem is – Mel is a married mother…
I was in a playground when I fell in love with this book. It was the second week of school holidays, a sunny day (one of few) and, for once, a playground that demanded very little parental supervision. I took full advantage. Surrounded by chatting mums and careering kids on scooters, I pulled out my copy of the brilliant yellow…
Every fortnight, my daughter’s school assembly begins with an acknowledgment of country and ends with the singing of the national anthem. It’s easy to sing Advance Australia Fair and not think about the words. Then you read a book like The Dry, and you start thinking. The first verse of Advance Australia Fair is almost all about agriculture. There’s our ‘golden…
A great pleasure to welcome corporate communications guru, Simone Pregellio, as guest reviewer for the Marina Go memoir, Break Through. Like many Gen X women, I remember my very first Dolly magazine, bought and devoured on a holiday to the Gold Coast when I was 13 years old. The reason I remember ‘my first’, and the start of what would…
I have to admit to cringing a little (lot) when I re-read my first (and never to be published) manuscript. What I dislike most about it is that it’s written in the first-person, present tense. Here’s the first paragraph: I watch the stream of water snaking its way down my body. It used to take a more direct route downwards,…
Last week I bought a new shirt. Made from flannel, it’s as comfy as a bed-sheet and if you match it with a leather jacket and boots, it’s a tiny bit ‘Westwood-meets-the-burbs’. That’s if you’re squinting. If you don’t squint, I could pass as a brickie. Win-win. Either way, I pretty much love everything about my new shirt, except the…