Audiobook Listens July 2017

It's the audiobooks that have kept me sane the last couple of weeks!

The Barefoot Summer by Carolyn Brown

This one is hard to comment on, because I really liked some aspects of it. I loved the premise - a woman finds out at her husband's funeral that he has two other wives, one daughter, and another kid on the way. The three women go to a cabin owned by their dead husband, intent on waiting each other out and claiming the place. I thought the book was going to be a bit more of a mystery who-dun-it, and I guess it was, but the southern / Texas romance aspect kind of took over, and whilst there's nothing wrong with that, it just wasn't what I was expecting.

Depends What You Mean By Extremist by John Safran

I'm a huge John Safran fan. I've watched all his shows (and re-watch John Safran vs God on a yearly basis), loved his podcast, and really enjoyed his last book. I bought a paperback copy of Depends What You Mean By Extremist, but as soon as I saw he read the audiobook, I knew that I needed to listen to it. I mean, when I read the last one, I heard his voice reading it in my head, so same same, but this time I could be driving / walking / doing other crap while I listened.

This didn't disappoint. John looks at what an 'extremist' actually is, and his journey into the world of right-wing Australia was frightening and eye opening.

Mercy by Rebecca Lim

School is crazy right now, so one from the archives... November 2011 to be exact.

From the publisher:

Exiled from heaven, a lost soul seeks her soulmate...Mercy 'wakes' on a school bus bound for Paradise, a small town where everyone knows everyone else's business - or thinks they do. But they will never guess the secret Mercy is hiding... As an angel exiled from heaven and doomed to return repeatedly to Earth....

My thoughts.... 

Another cover buy... although the back cover blurb had me sucked in straight away. I wasn't expecting much from this book because I've had a few let downs lately, but was very pleasantly surprised!

Scary Story Sizzling Starts

Creative Writing with Year 8. Eeep!

Now that school is back, my reading time has completely shrunk. However, I had fun this afternoon during the little man's nap time putting together a lesson on how to start a scary story, and compiled 17 story starters to 'inspire' year 8. (Any teachers out there will understand that 'inspire' and 'year 8' don't generally go well together in a sentence.)

Anyway, I came across some awesome ones, and wanted to share some of the opening lines that made the cut...

Adding to the TBR pile #1

I may have gone a little crazy in the local bookshop today. The YA section is small, but quality. After a good half hour of browsing, I picked up these (in addition to the stack of audiobooks I may have 'accidentally' downloaded a couple of days ago...)

Podcasts I love #1

Because I spend over an hour in the car every day, I spend a lot of time listening to audiobooks. But, sometimes, after slogging through a 20+ hour listen, I often divert and listen to podcasts. For the last couple of years I've been going through a real true crime phase (Serial, Undisclosed, Up and Vanished, Real Crime Profile, Truth & Justice with Bob Ruff) but a horribly graphic recount of the James Bulger murder not long ago on one of these made me feel physically ill, and at a result, I've stopped with the true crime for the time being.

The Party by Robyn Harding

Yesterday I dropped the toddler off at daycare, and took myself off to the local shopping centre to treat myself to brunch - the bacon craving was real! I ran into Kmart on my way to the cafe (as you do), and impulse bought The Party by Robyn Harding (book 44 of #50booksin2017).

I was totally sucked in by the cover, and the shiny 'Love it or your money back' publisher sticker on the front. Read about it and see an author interview at the publisher's website.

Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume - anthology

Confession. I've had more blogs than I can count. I often stumble across an old one, and, very quickly, set it to private. However, there are some interesting (to me anyway) snippets about books I've read, and now will probably need to re-read.

Without further adieu, here's an extract of a post from December 2010. I babble about a LOT of books, but I'll keep it to just one.

Yellow by Megan Jacobson

Paperback library copy. I think I need one!

From the publisher:

Kirra and the ghost make a pact. She'll prove who murdered him almost twenty years ago if he makes her popular, gets her parents back together, and promises not to haunt her. But things aren't so simple, and Kirra realises that people can be haunted in more ways than one.

There's a reason this book has been shortlisted for the CBCA Book of the Year Award.