Alissa York's Fauna Random House, 2010 What is so remarkable about Fauna is that it is all-of-a-piece. (It's exactly the kind of book that makes me proud to be a reader.) From its beautifully crafted outer covers: a soft, earthy brown -- imprinted with a turtle. Underneath its rich burgundy
Téa Obreht’s The Tiger’s Wife Weidenfeld & Nicolson-Orion, 2011 (Looking for a swallow rather than a full glass? ORANGE Squirt below.) Here are the elements of Téa Obreht’s debut novel that really worked for me: * Her depiction of a society saturated by war, violence, and loss is solid. “We’re
Carol Birch’s Jamrach’s Menagerie Canongate, 2011 (Looking for a swallow rather than a full glass? ORANGE Squirt below.) This is a true story: while being delivered to Jamrach’s menagerie near Ratcliffe Highway, a Bengal tiger escaped. “An eight-year-old boy who walked up and patted it on the nose was knocked
“Oh, I just don’t have time for fiction.” “I want to read about the Real World.” “Novels are a waste when you could be learning something.” Sentiments like these have infuriated me countless times because my reader’s heart belongs to fiction. I collect quotes like these that I imagine tossing out
Witi Ihimaera's The Whale Rider (1987) Harcourt Inc, 2003 The Whale Rider is set on the East Coast of New Zealand, and that is, indeed, where Paikea is the tipuna ancestor, but this is a novel, not a narrative of myth and culture. It is a story of one fictional
