Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye.
Care of Wooden Floors by Will Wiles Continue reading
Tag Archives: Orange Prize
Women’s Prize for Fiction 2013
Two nights ago my friend had a baby boy. She named him Jarvis. When I reported this to my husband he said “Oh, like Jarvis Cocker!” “Who’s Jarvis Cocker?” I replied.
*insert much carry-on and eye-rolling from husband*
Anyway, he told me to file Jarvis Cocker alongside Lil’ Wayne and stick to listening to Air Supply (very long, funny story that I’ll share if we ever find ourselves chatting over a beer) and I went back to catching up on Twitter. So are you wondering what Jarvis Cocker has to do with the 2013 Women’s Prize for Fiction? Continue reading
Orange Prize 2012 – Shortlist
Let’s hope the 2012 Orange Prize doesn’t go the same way of this year’s Pulitzer! Continue reading
‘Of A Boy’ by Sonya Hartnett
How did Of a Boy by Sonya Hartnett escape my attention in the decade since it was first published? I have just finished it and I am shaking like a leaf.
The year is 1977, and Adrian is nine. He lives with his gran and his uncle Rory; his best friend is Clinton Tull. He loves to draw and he wants a dog; he’s afraid of quicksand and self-combustion. Adrian watches his suburban world, but there is much he cannot understand. He does not, for instance, know why three neighbourhood children might set out to buy ice-cream and never come back home…
I read this book with a mother’s grief as my constant companion. Grief over the missing children. Grief for Adrian – separated from his mother and feeling so alone in the world. It was in fact Adrian’s loneliness, combined with that special brand of self-centred pragmatism that kids have, that I found incredibly heartbreaking. If you’ve ever observed a child sitting alone in a playground, you’ll know what I mean. Continue reading