My Picks for 2011

My picks for 2011’s best reads – as always, because at least two thirds of my reading is backlist, the books are selected from everything I read this year, not just released in 2011. You can find reviews for all these books in the ‘Books I’ve Reviewed’ list to the left of screen.

Best wishes for all in 2012. I hope the importance of books continues to be celebrated, and I hope you all read a book that just worms its way into your heart. I also hope to shortly have good news of my own. Here’s to 2012 – Australia’s National Year of Reading.

BEST KIDS BOOK READ IN 2011:

The Neverending Story, by Michael Ende & The Night Fairy, by Laura Amy Schlitz

The Neverending Story is a children’s classic, which once you’ve read it, you know why it’s so. There is such imagination here, magic that never ends and is constantly surprising, a moral tale that’s never overdone, and lastly, a fabulous message about the importance of books. The Night Fairy, a few years old now, looks and reads like a new children’s classic and has a wonderfully spunky central character and loads of charm.

BEST YA BOOK READ IN 2011:

Good Oil, by Laura Buzo & Graffiti Moon, by Cath Crowley

When contemporary Aussie YA gets it right, it really gets it right. Both books were funny and true, with memorable main characters and great writing. Good Oil is a straightforward contemporary YA story, with dialogue and scenes as real as they come, while Graffiti Moon has a lovely touch of whimsy that perfectly captures the kind of night it describes. But where these books really get you is

with the emotional punch.

BEST KIDS SERIES READ IN 2011:

Wildwood, by Colin Meloy & Tales from the Tower, edited by Isobelle Carmody and Nan McNab

Wildwood was, I feel, just everything a middle grade kids adventure book should be. Tales from the Tower (Wilful Eye and Wicked Wood) was just a great idea well executed, and showcased some of Australia’s best YA and children’s writers.

BEST WRITING:

Tantony, by Ananda Braxton-Smith

Her books may not be for everyone, and they may not be easy, but the beauty she can create with words is outstanding – the weird, unusual and other becomes just gorgeous in Braxton-Smith’s hands. The Mourning Emporium too, just for the sheer joy Michelle Lovric takes in story and words and dialect.

BEST DISCOVERY:

Past the Shallows by Favel Parrett

Not YA, but this little story set on Tasmania’s coast really got to me in the best kind of way.

MOST PLEASANT SURPRISE:

When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead

I was wary of the hype but this book was a delight to read, and told with such affection and power.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T READ UNTIL NOW:

 The Neverending Story, by Michael Ende

MOST UNPUTADOWNABLE:

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley & Tantony by Ananda Braxton-Smith

BEST CHARACTER:

Martha in Me and Mr Booker by Cory Taylor.  She is a walking wisecrack and I love it.

FAV COVER:

The Mourning Emporium, by Michelle Lovric & Tales from the Tower (both books)

MOST ANTICIPATED READING FOR 2012:

Night Beach, by Kirsty Eagar & Talina in the Tower by Michelle Lovric

Graffiti Moon, by Cath Crowley

First published in 2010 by Pan Macmillan

Lucy and Ed. Leo and Jazz. Daisy and Dylan. Six characters and one sultry spring night. They are searching for Shadow and Poet – graffiti artists whose work makes even the bleakest parts of the city into something beautiful. But each of them are also dreaming for something else. Graffiti Moon has us travel with them as they search for answers over one long, surprising night.

This is one of those books that is kind of indescribable. How to put into words a book that has all the beauty of a dream and yet such wonderfully funny slices of reality, so much heart and so much hurt. It has that achy feel; bittersweet and momentary – like one of those nights where even everything that is imperfect is perfect, because you know it will never happen in this way again. One of those nights where your chest feels full to bursting. Graffiti Moon is just like that.

I wasn’t convinced at the beginning, but the book won me over with its characters, its humour and Cath Crowley’s beautiful writing.

The writing is kind of flowery and stream-of-conciousness but it is done in a way that is pretty but not purplish. There are so many lines in this book that just get it right.

And of course, the way the six main characters interact is wonderful and warm and witty. There is lots of funny banter, clever without being carried away by it. The three main romantic relationships are cute and charming, but the interplay between the three girls and the three guys is done well too – I especially loved Leo and Ed.

Lucy as a heroine is rather gorgeous – from worrying about her parents to ‘dinking’ Ed on her bike, she has all the quirk and personality heroines should have. How I would love to see more female leads in YA written like this!

Lucy and Ed ended a bit too fairytale-ish for me. I would kind of preferred it if they didn’t end up the way they did – endings can still be happy without everyone getting what they want.

I liked the poems that were included for what they do for the book as a whole, but on their own they don’t do much for me.

I also loved how Crowley created the ambience of a hot night in the city, the strange mix of beauty and filth, the sense of being young and alive with only the night ahead of you. It reminded me a bit of Leanne Hall’s This is Shyness (another great Aussie YA read if you haven’t already).

Graffiti Moon is a pretty book, whimsical and romantic and adept at finding beauty in the strangest and ugliest of places. I can see why it has received so much praise. It is hopeful and sad and vivid with emotion. One of my fave reads this year.

Literary Musings

"I stare at him, trying to see him for who he is, not all the bits that have been scattered tonight ... and then I do know the truth. Then he clicks together and I see him. His face is kind of lopsided for a second, like he's trying to keep himself together, keep himself in the shape that he shows to the world but he can't do it anymore and everything in him is sliding out."

From 'Graffiti Moon' by Cath Crowley