Last week we were very pleased to have a visit from the fabulous Andy Griffiths. He kindly signed (and even drew pictures in!) lots of his books, which you could be lucky enough to become the new owner of if you’re quick! A great chance to get a signed copy to add to your collection, or give to someone as a special gift.
Filed under Children's Books, Gift Ideas, Jottings
Every once in a while you come across a book that is so captivating that you immediately want to search out and read everything and anything the author has ever written. Unfortunately for me, The Son is only Phillip Meyer’s second book so I’ll have to wait a while. The novel is nothing short of epic, spanning the vast and bloodied history of Texas from the Comanche raids of the 1800s up until the politics surrounding big oil money in the present day. Meyer’s story beautifully captures the social upheavals sweeping through Texas, but never at the expense of his characters. Each protagonist, Eli, Peter and Jeanie, is distinctly and refreshingly human; fallible, flawed and struggling with their own nature, the pressures of Texan life and the expectations of others. While Eli’s kidnapping by a raiding band of Comanches is the most riveting (and horrifying) vein of the novel, all three characters portray something of the complexity of life on a frontier. Meyers has a wonderful talent for drawing out big questions of what is right and wrong in a way that forces you to re-evaluate any preconceived notions about nature, nurture, strength, kindness and weakness. All in all, The Son is a masterpiece and I have no doubt that Meyer is fully deserving of the praise, ‘a modern day John Steinbeck’. Highly recommended
Filed under Fiction Reviews, Jottings, Reviews, Uncategorized
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Huge congratulations to A.M. Homes, who was the winner of this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction for her novel May We Be Forgiven. The shortlist was very strong and included past winners Zadie Smith and Barbara Kingsolver, as well as favourite Hilary Mantel who has won just about every literary prize going! Miranda Richardson, who was Chair of the judges this year described the book as a “dazzling, original, viscerally funny black comedy” and “a book we want to read again and give to our friends” If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, we have it in stock. Paperback $20
Filed under Jottings
We’ve been lucky in recent years that so many publishers have taken the trouble to produce gorgeous looking collections of classics at great prices. Of course there have always been the good old Penguin Black Classics, but a couple of years ago Penguin added a beautiful clothbound selection of both adults and childrens classics that retail for only $19.95 each. The children’s selection is even available in a lovely boxed set of eight titles for $120 – perfect for a very special gift. And recently they’ve added a delightful selection of clothbound Australian classics. They’ve also released Popular Penguins, a broad collection of older and modern classics in small format traditional orange striped paperbacks for only $9.95 each – bargain!
Around about the same time, Vintage released it’s classics collection, with stunning covers and distinctive red spines – and only $12.95 each. Vintage also added a children’s classics selection with equally thoughtful covers for $9.95 each. At the moment, if you buy any two Vintage classics (either adults or kids) you can have a sweet Book Journal to record everything you read. We also still have some cute activity book and pencils to give away with any kids Vintage classic purchase.
Australia’s own Text Publishing was next off the block with their highly visible yellow Text Classics collection – and all by Australian writers, so ably filling gaps left by Penguin and Vintage. They’ve also gone to lengths to include books that had sadly gone out of print, thereby ensuring these fabulous books won’t be forgotten. And they’re adding new titles to the collection all the time. You can rediscover these titles for only $12.95.
Earlier this year Angus and Robertson released their own collection of Australian classics for $15 each. If you buy two of these great titles, we are giving away a very useful cloth carry bag – we don’t have many left, so be quick!
And finally, something to look forward to – Penguin will be producing a collection of Crime Classics in August this year. They’ll look similar to the Popular Penguin series, but with green stripes instead of orange. And best of all they’ll be only $9.95 each.
So if you’re looking for a failsafe gift, want to fill the gaps in your home library or just want to finally read that book that you never got around to reading, you can’t go past a classic!
Filed under Gift Ideas, Jottings
We’re all familiar with the saying never judge a book by its cover, but what about judging the covers? The APA Book Design Awards were announced last night and here are a few of the winners …
For best designed children’s fiction book: Marina Messiha
For the best designed children’s non-fiction book: Tony Palmer
For the best designed young adult book: Kirby Armstrong
For the best designed fiction book: Lisa White
And joint winners of the best designed literary fiction book are:
W.H Chong and Allison Colpoys
You can see the complete list of award winners at http://www.publishers.asn.au/awards.cfm?doc_id=24 and check out the shortlist at http://www.fancygoods.com.au/fancy-goods/2013/03/07/apa-book-design-awards-2013/
Which is your favourite?
Filed under Jottings
Sadly, it’s the final week of our Meet a Local Author month here at Fairfield Books. Our lucky last visitor is Nick Place, who is the author of popular kids series The OK Team, and has just released his first book for adults. It’s called Roll With It, and is an immensely enjoyable crime caper set in and around Fairfield – if you scroll down, you can read Heather’s review. Nick will be in the store to have a chat and sign books this Saturday 25 May between 11am and 12.30pm, so do drop by and say hello!
Filed under Jottings
Well, Carrie Tiffany has done it again! Her novel Mateship with Birds has won another award – this time the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction at this year’s NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, which were announced over the weekend. Go Carrie! The category winners were:
Christina Stead Prize (Fiction, $40,000)
Mateship with Birds, Carrie Tiffany (Pan Macmillan Australia)
UTS Glenda Adams Award for New Writing ($5,000)
The Last Thread, Michael Sala (Affirm Press)
Douglas Stewart Prize (Non‐fiction, $40,000)
The Office: A Hardworking History, Gideon Haigh (Melbourne University Publishing)
Kenneth Slessor Prize (Poetry, $30,000)
Ruby Moonlight, Ali Cobby‐Eckermann (Magabala Books)
Patricia Wrightson Prize (Children’s Literature, $30,000)
The Ghost of Miss Annabel Spoon, Aaron Blabey (Penguin Group Australia)
Ethel Turner Prize (Young People’s Literature, $30,000)
A Corner of White, Jaclyn Moriarty (Pan Macmillan Australia)
Nick Enright Prize (Playwriting, $30,000)
The Damned, Reg Cribb (Black Swan State Theatre Company)
Betty Roland Prize (Scriptwriting, $30,000)
Dead Europe, Louise Fox (See‐saw films)
Community Relations Commission for a multicultural NSW Award ($20,000)
Don’t Go Back to Where You Came From, Tim Soutphommasane (New South Publishing)
NSW Premier’s Translation Prize ($30,000)
Peter Boyle
Book of the Year ($10,000)
Ruby Moonlight, Ali Cobby‐Eckermann (Magabala Books)
People’s Choice
Animal People, Charlotte Wood (Allen & Unwin)
Special Award ($10,000):
David Ireland AM
Congratulations, all!
Filed under Jottings
Congratulations to the five talented Australian writers who made it on to the shortlist for the Commonwealth Book Prize 2013: Romy Ash for Floundering, Dylan Coleman for Mazin Grace, Chris Flynn for Tiger in Eden, Michael Sala for The Last Thread and Majok Tulba for Beneath the Darkening Sky. The regional winners have just been announced – they are:
Africa: Sterile Sky by E E Sule
Asia: Island of a Thousand Mirrors by Nayomi Munaweera
Canada and Europe: The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell
Caribbean: Disposable People: Inspired by True Events by Ezekel Alan
Pacific: The Last Thread by Michael Sala
Well done Michael Sala! The overall winner of the Commonwealth Book Prize 2013 will be announced on 31st May.
Filed under Jottings
It’s week three of our Meet a Local Author Month and this Saturday 18th May we have writer extraordinaire Michael Pryor (yes, corny I know, but I couldn’t resist!) coming along to the store for a visit. Michael is the author of several fantastic series for kids of all ages including The Chronicles of Krangor, The Laws of Magic and The Extraordinaires. The second book in The Extraordinaires series, The Subterranean Stratagem, has recently been released, so it’s a perfect opportunity to get a copy signed and have a chat. Michael will be here in the store between 11am and 12.30pm.
Filed under Jottings
