Subversive Reader Reviews: Losing It (AWW2013)

January 20, 2013Books and ReadingAWW 2013, Book Reviews, books, Subversive Reader Book Reviewssubversivereader View all 5 comments

Book reviews and AWW posts can be found here.

AWW2013 – Book 10

Losing It

Julia Lawrinson
Young Adult Contemporary Fiction

Library Book, Moreton Bay Regional Libraries

Losing it is a story of four girls who make a pledge to lose their virginity before schoolies. The story, told in four different parts, charts their year as they dodge the obstacles of driving tests, parents, older brothers and questions of sexuality to ‘Do It’

To be honest, I didn’t like this book. I’ve read a lot of reviews on it which rave about how great it is to see female sexuality and teenaged sexuality treated so well, and it is a very sexually liberated book. However, throughout the whole book it felt like the characters were two dimensional, defined by only a few things – one of which was always their virginity. Zoe is boy-mad, scattered and a virgin! Mala is boy-crazy, has over protective immigrant parents and is a virgin! Abby has overly christian parents, a difficult brother and is a virgin! Bree is beautiful and cool and is a virgin!

The idea that there was something essentially wrong with girls who hadn’t had a sexual experience by the time they finished high school, also annoyed me. While it’s a convenient set up for the book, there’s something really wrong with the idea that a girl must make the choice to have a sexual experience during her high school years, or she might get drunk and loose on schoolies and ‘do’ someone she regrets. Virginity is seen as an inconvenience or a burden, something which has to be ‘got rid of’ so that you can enter womenhood. And these (apparently) very smart girls, known at the Geek Girls, all automatically buy into that, without one of them saying – oh wait a minute, I can make my own choices about my body without anyone dictating to me what I need to do to become a woman!

Then there’s the slightly unbelievable part where not one of the girls has any regrets about becoming sexually active, even when it goes a bit pear shaped or they don’t have any kind of romantic feelings for the other person involved. I realise that this is the truth for some people, but I find it a little hard to believe that not one of them had any regrets at all.

There’s also the very convenient plot point, where the girls promise each other that they will keep any of their sexual exploits secret. Of course, by doing this they remove a vital support network (good thing none of them had any regrets then, since they had no one to turn to if they wanted to talk about it) and set up a painfully obvious plot twist.

Being sexually liberated doesn’t mean that girls have to lose their virginity early. It doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with those who choose to wait until they’re older or something wrong with those who choose to find a partner that they have a connection with or even (gasp!) love. By having all four of the girls in this book participating in sexual activities without hesitation or regret, it makes it look like this is the only acceptable way to behave – that girls should be so sexually liberated that they’re not allowed to have feelings that a) sex at that age may not be for them b) sex with people they don’t love may not be for them or c) sex might actually have consequences. I’d hate to think a teenaged girl would come to this book and think that she’s ‘wrong’ when she thinks about sex, because she doesn’t meet the ‘sexually liberated’ style that is the only way portrayed in this book.

Subversive Reader Reviews: Camera Obscura (AWW2013)

January 20, 2013Books and Readingsubversivereader Leave a comment

Book reviews and AWW posts can be found here.

AWW2013 – Book 9

Camera Obscura

Kathryn Lomer
Adult Contemporary Fiction – Short Stories

Library Book: Moreton Bay Regional Council

At the end of 2012, I read What Now, Tilda B?, one of Lomer’s young adult books. It was a haunting book which I really loved. So it came as no surprise that I loved this book as well.

Camera Obscura is made up of 17 different short stories. The characters change each time and there appears to be no lap over between stories and no clear theme running through them. As you read on, you realise that you are looking at images, told from particular, biased, points of view. Strangely enough, when I finished, I couldn’t necessarily remember particular stories, but I could remember snippets of characters and moments of action.

Of course, when I look back, I find some favourites. I love the two stories with a Japanese theme to them – Ceiling of an Umbrella Shop and Emerald Princess, both of which make me want to hunt down two of Lomer’s other books which have Japanese themes. Here be Dragons was lovely and Pram Rage managed to be beautiful and sad at the same time. With such a wide range of characters in the different stories, some of them are sympathetic and easy to fall in love with, and some of them leave you just a little bit cold.

What doesn’t leave me cold, though, is the writing. I’m becoming a real fan of this musical style of writing, something which I also found in Love Like Water and Cracklescape. It’s not always easy to move between it and the more straight forward style of writing I often see, but when you fall into the rhythm of it, and let it take you along, it’s a little bit magical. Lomer is one of those authors who can really take you along on nothing but her words. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I look forward to reading more by her.

Project 365 Books: Week Three

January 18, 2013PicturesPhoto post, Project 365: Bookssubversivereader Leave a comment

I’m undertaking a 365 project for the first time. My theme for the year is books! Eventually you’ll find all the posts under this tag. At the moment I’m posting them on Friday.

Week Three

The Daily Photos

11/365
A few books borrowed from the library

12/365
Almost finished Camera Obscura

13/365
A few books, finished and not

14/365
The library book pile

15/365
AWW books waiting to be read

16/365
Harry Potter Books – Almost a part of the decor now

17/365
Ever had a book follow you all around the house, but you don’t seem to get any further with it . . .?

Cloth Nappies: Why We Use Them and How . . .

January 18, 2013Familybaby clothes, Crunchy, squirmsubversivereader View all 2 comments

When we were getting ready for Squirm’s birth, there was one thing we were pretty sure of from the beginning – we were going to use cloth nappies. I’d seen some of the fancy new fangled type when one of my old workmates had been showing some off, and I was pretty confident that we could manage those.

We had many, many reasons for choosing cloth nappies over disposable. Mr Pilot and I both lean to the more environmental side of things, so we liked the fact that cloth nappies don’t produce the amount of rubbish that cloth nappies do. Although there’s some extra water and electricity used to clean cloth nappies, we did some research and found that there was also a lot of water and electricity used to produce disposable nappies.

Cloth nappies were also possible for us because of some of our own circumstances. We’re lucky enough to live in Queensland with excellent sunshine all year around which makes drying the nappies easier. We’re fortunate enough to own a dryer and have under cover space if the weather is bad. We had the means to create a good nappy collection to begin with. Squirm also has lovely chubby legs which seem to work really well with the nappies we’ve bought – we have very few ‘leakage’ problems.

Plus, even with the plain colours we mostly went with – cloth nappies are really cute 🙂

When we first started looking into cloth nappies, there was a lot to learn! They’ve definitely moved on from the old cloth squares which my mother used when my sisters and I were young (though you can still buy those and all the pieces if you want some truly old school nappying). These had different styles and sizing. And nappies with multiple sizes all in one.

We wanted something that would be relatively easy to look after, but also nappies that would grow with Squirm. We didn’t really want to be buying new nappies every time he grew! In the end we ended up with one-size-fits-most pocket nappies. This means that they were adjustable nappies (through folding or press snaps) which had a plastic fabric outside sewn to an absorbent material (fleece or bamboo) with a space left to put an absorbent insert in. The inserts were sold with the nappies, so after a couple of washes, everything was ready for Squirm to use them!

Washing turned out to be easier than we thought it would be. We remove the inserts from the outers and dry pail the nappies when we change them (no soaking required), then put them through a long cycle on the washing machine and hang them on the line for maximum sunshine. The nappies were slightly coloured after we first washed them, and I thought the whole venture would be a disaster, but by the time we took them off, the sunshine had removed all the colour (amazing stuff). We can put them through the dryer, but we try to use that only when we need to.

In the end, it’s all been easier than we thought it would be. Sure, it means washing every two or three days, but there’s an increase in washing anyway now that Squirm is here. We’ve been really lucky that the brands we bought (we bought three different brands – Softbots, Snappy Nappys and Sweet Peas) have worked so well for us and allowed us to head down this particular route.

Adventures of a Subversive Reader:Nappies

Letter to Squirm: A Special Letter

January 17, 2013FamilyLetters to Squirmsubversivereader View all 7 comments

Dear Squirm,

Usually I write to you for your ‘month birthdays’. I talk about how much you’ve grown, and all the things you can do that you couldn’t do before. I chart your development and talk about the big moments in your life.

But sometimes I get so caught up on facts and milestone, that I forget to tell you something. How much I love you.

The way I love you in the early hours of the morning, when we hear the rhythmic thumps from your room and we know that you’re a) awake, b) exploring all four corners of your cot, and c) hungry. The way you snuggle into me when you feed, moving quicker than you ever do during the daytime. How you smile at us when you wake up properly, and you reach out to touch both me and your father, to reassure yourself that both of us are there.

I love the way you explore the world around you. You spent a good ten minutes yesterday, rolling back and forward between your father and myself, trying to work out that Daddy has hair above his lips and Mummy doesn’t. The way you’ll spend ages with a new toy, rolling it over, tasting it, listening to it, to make sure you’re satisfied with it. You’re so proud of your new discoveries – like the way you realised that kicking your feet on the lino made a different sound to kicking your feet on the carpet.

I love the afternoons and evenings, when we play giant games of peek-a-boo, and you laugh every time you see me, like I’m the funniest thing you’ve ever seen in the world. You work out ways to keep me in your sight when I cook dinner, rolling and squirming around until you get in just the right position to watch me. You go out of your way to watch other people too, and I love the way you make other people happy by smiling at them.

I love your round little head, and your perfect little ears, and the way your eyes flutter closed when you fall asleep feeding. I love how expressive your hands are – exploring, grabbing, waving in the air, stoking my skin, curled up while you sleep. I love your round little belly and your chubby arms and legs. I love that your legs manage to be both chubby and long and they almost never seem to stop moving.

I love you utterly and completely, and I hope you always know that.

With oodles of love

Mum

Squirm’s Book Reviews: A Community Edition

January 16, 2013Books and ReadingAWW 2013, Book Reviews, books, Squirm's book reviewssubversivereader View all 3 comments

Each week I review books we’ve read with Squirm. Find other reviews here

Kip by Christina Booth

(AWW 2013 Squirm Challenge: Book 6)

This CBA short-listed book is a lovely story about a rooster who loves to crow. Unfortunately, the people who live around him don’t love it so much. They keep asking him to not crow at particular times, and Kip puts off crowing until later and later in the day, but still people don’t want to hear it. So Mrs Bea takes him away. How will people feel about Kip now?

This is a great book about living as part of a community and respecting the part that everyone plays in a community, regardless of their role or status. Interestingly, in real life, people seem to take real offense to a rooster crow (even in rural areas!) but don’t mind honking horns, noisy trucks or endless whipper snippering! This seems to be reflected in the shadowed illustrations underneath the main illustrations, which show all the human made noise, while people complain about the rooster noise. There are beautiful colours in this book, especially on the pages where Kip crows. I love the way the story builds and builds, much like the pressure that builds in Kip.

There could be some very interesting listening activities you could do with this book. You could stop and listen, recording all the noises that you hear in your neighbourhood. You could discuss the noises that different birds make, including roosters, ducks and geese. If you’re lucky, you might be able to visit a rooster, but they do seem to be moving them more and more out of places where people live 😦

Same, but Little Bit Diff’rent by Kylie Dunstan

Adventures of a Subversive Reader: Same but a little bit diffrent - dunstan

(AWW 2013 Squirm Challenge: Book 7)

I adore this book. It’s about two friends, one of whom (Normie) is from the very top of Australia. Things, he says, are same, but little bit diff’rent up there. He tells his friend about the things from his home, and how they’re like the things in her world, drawing beautiful contrasts between a more traditional Aboriginal community and the city life of the little girl.

Kylie Dunstan worked in art galleries around Australia, including in Arnhem Land. Her illustrations are fresh and beautiful, with lovely fresh lines and designs. It would be a lot of fun to play with creating pictures in a similar style. The text weaves through the pictures, and is easy to read, rolling off your tongue. It’s a fabulous introduction for young children to realise that there’s more to Australia than the small world they live in.

This is a lesson which could be carried on into some activities. It would be great for children to look at different traditions and cultures within Australia, particularly indigenous cultures. It would be very easy for children to look for things that were ‘same, but little bit diff’rent’

Thank Goodness for Librarians

January 15, 2013Books and Reading, Librarieslibrariessubversivereader View all 7 comments

As you may have worked out, I kind of love libraries. And since Squirm was born, I’ve been trying to get to as many as possible so I can a) find awesome libraries, b) expose Squirm to lots of awesome libraries and c) tell everyone else about awesome libraries.

But more and more, I’ve become increasingly aware of the work librarians do. It’s not like I’ve been totally ignorant of the the work they do before this, but it’s almost like I was thinking ‘books first, librarians after that.’ The funny thing is, I even worked as a school librarian for a part of a school term, early in my teaching career.

There’s been a misconception about librarians for quite some time. I think there’s an idea that they just sit behind desks, checking out books and occasionally waft out to the shelves to restock. Of course, that’s not the case! Since we’ve been visiting libraries, here’s just some of the things I’ve noticed librarians doing:

checking out books
returning books
shelving books
repairing books
writing certificates
running rhyme times (which have been prepared earlier)
running story times (which have been prepared earlier)
cleaning – including the toys in the children’s section
greeting visitors to the library by name
setting up displays
recommending books
checking books to make sure they’ve all been returned properly (stocktaking, I assume)
setting up games and trouble shooting them
setting up movies and trouble shooting them
helping people with computer problems
organising special events
promoting special events

And that’s just the things I could think of off the top of my head. My guess is that we don’t even see half the stuff that goes on behind the scenes! And library staff do this on tighter and tighter budgets, under threats of job cuts.

As I’ve said, I was a teacher, a profession which is very good at pointing out that they aren’t particularly appreciated. But libraries and librarians play such a huge role in our community, and are even less appreciated! So, I propose that everyone who uses a library goes out of their way to thank the staff who work there.

I put out a question to librarians – how would you like to be thanked? – and got some great responses. A box of chocolate or a cake is a time honoured and much appreciated gift by everyone, but how about writing a letter to your local newspaper or the local council (even better, since they are the employers) to share your appreciation. Write a letter or a card or a postcard to your local library, expressing thanks for their work, or telling them a story about your experiences in the library. Or, just go up to your librarian and say Thank You!

I’m going to try to put some of these into place over 2013, but I wanted to say thank you right now! Unfortunately, I’m shocking at names, and sometimes I didn’t get a chance to get them, so I’m identifying by libraries, mostly. But here are my first lot of thank yous for the marvellous librarians we’ve come across in our library travels.

Thank You to:

The lovely Karen at Strathpine who not only runs an awesome rhyme time, but actually remembers the little ones who regularly comes.
The other staff at Strathpine who are always friendly and helpful, even when I offer them two piles of books with two different library cards!
Librarians at Albany Creek who helped me use the photocopier, wrote Squirm his first reading certificate and smile at me, even when it’s just been a quick trip in and out
The lovely people at Redcliffe, who were willing to mend a book straight away if I wanted to borrow it, and didn’t laugh at me when I misplaced my car key
The wonderful staff at Caboolture who did such a good job in cleaning up the children’s area, plus went out of their way to make sure Squirm would have a beautiful second reading certificate
The librarians at Narangba and Bribie Island who created a lovely, cosy atmosphere in the library
The librarians at Mt Gravatt and Grange libraries that ran awesome story time and Babies, Books and Rhymes programs, respectively
The enthusiasm from the staff at New Farm – the children who were there when we arrived were brimming with excitement!
The friendly librarians at Sandgate who took time out of their day to chat
The library staff at Chermside who put on an amazing event for the Mem Fox and Judy Horacek visit and promoted it beautifully – they’re very present in their library and do a great job!
The awesome staff at Logan North who made me smile with their gorgeous displays

I’m sure I’ve missed people, but this is a good place to start.

Have you got a librarian you would like to thank? Feel free to thank them in the comments!

The Great Library Tour: Grange Library

January 14, 2013Library Tourbooks, Exploring South East Queensland, libraries, library toursubversivereader View all 5 comments

Adventures of a Subversive Reader: Grange Library

The Great Library Tour

It was a stinking hot day, so I didn’t really want to travel too far to get to this week’s library. I also wanted to make a bit more of a dint in Brisbane City Council’s 33 libraries. With those restrictions, Grange library looked like a perfect solution! When I checked their website and saw they had Baby, Books and Rhymes (or Rhyme Time) on, it became a must visit!

Grange Library is quite an airy library, with a high ceiling, wooden rafters and lots of light. There was a real buzz in the air when we entered, even though the library had just opened. With the rhyme time soon to start, there were a lot of families with babies and young toddlers there – so many that all the seating in the children’s area was taken up! Luckily there’s a fair amount of seating right nearby.

The children’s area is dominated by a large mural on the wall of a lovely water scene, inspired, I assume, by the nearby Kedron Brook. There’s a collection of low, coordinating book storage in the middle of the area, with seating scattered around the edges. Junior fiction novels take up the end of the wall. One thing that was particularly nice was the young adult section which had been created separately. Along with the mural in the children’s section, there’s also bright colourful posters on the wall, including one with a small girl stacking books – an act being recreated by a small boy in the library!

I really enjoyed the rhyme session which was held in the adjacent meeting room. The atmosphere was immediately set in the room, with rhymes being played on a CD player as we came in. The rhymes were displayed on cards for us to read, and were generally familiar, though often with a couple of different verses which I didn’t know (some of which I’ll just have to track down – they were brilliant!). There were two short books read as part of the session and it felt very organised, with lots of enthusiasm in the room.

Like Bribie Island, this felt very much like a community library, with an extremely friendly staff who seemed to know their clientele very well. It was lovely to see so many people of different ages in the library, as well as hearing about some of the things which will be on offer there over the coming months. I hope the local community realises what an awesome resource they have in their midst!

The library also offers a small coffee kiosk on the back deck (which I didn’t try though, because of the heat) and a very nice playground behind the library. It would make a great morning excursion to go to the library and then out to the playground for a play!

The best parts of Grange Library

The lovely mural
A great collection of books
A real community feel
The great, well organised rhyme time – and those extra rhyme verses!

Important Information about Grange Library

79 Evelyn Street, Grange

Website

Open Tuesday to Saturday

Parking is available at the side of the library.

AWW Challenge 2013: Week Two

January 12, 2013Books and ReadingAWW 2013, Book Reviews, books, Reading, Subversive Reader Book Reviewssubversivereader Leave a comment

Follow my journey through the AWW 2013 challenge here

Surprisingly, I’m still moving quickly through this challenge, with only two books left to read before I officially meet the challenge level I set myself. However, I will be reading more! I have at least 8 books out from the library at the moment, and more on my wish list, so I promise this won’t be a two week wonder.

However, I’m starting a Coursera course on Monday, so things might slow down a little. Hopefully that means more time to linger over books like Cracklescape, which I absolutely adored.

I was talking about the challenge with someone yesterday and was asked a strange question ‘Are the books depressing?’ I had no idea what she was talking about until she clarified – ‘I find Australian movies depressing, so I wondered if the books were as well.’

I’ve read enough hilarious Australian books to know that this isn’t the case, but what about some speculative fiction or literary fiction. Are they more ‘depressing’ as a genre, regardless of where they come from (though, ‘grim’ might be a better descriptor) or are Australian books more depressing?

I haven’t organised Squirm’s books so well this week – I’ve discovered that it’s a lot harder to determine if children’s picture books are written by Australian women, especially once you get away from the big names.

Subversive Reader Books Read and Reviewed

Subversive Reader Reviews: Cracklescape (AWW2013)

January 12, 2013Books and ReadingAWW 2013, Book Reviews, books, Subversive Reader Book Reviewssubversivereader View all 5 comments

Book reviews and AWW posts can be found here.

AWW2013 – Book 8

Cracklescape

Margo Lanagan
Adult Speculative Fiction

Kindle e-book, Purchased through Amazon

Another of the Twelve Planets series, like Love and Romanpunk, this book contains four short stories. Unlike Love and Romanpunk, though, which had a clear storyline thread through the four books, the thing that connects the stories in Cracklescape is more fleeting and indescribable – a bit ghostly.

The first story, The Duchess Dresser, is a story about a share house and the ghost that is invited in when Tan brings home a dresser with a mysteriously locked drawer. Tan and the other members of the household are curious but accepting of the dresser, and the woman who seems to live among them, particularly in their sleep. The Isle of Suns, which is probably my favourite story is about a group of children who set off, Pied Piper style, lured by tall and thin and golden people. The third story, Bajazzle introduces Sheelas and a deeply unlikable main character and is better read than reviewed. The last story, Significant Dust, slips back and forward between times, as Vanessa run from the ghosts of her past.

Margo Lanagan’s writing is like poetry – even if you’re not exactly sure what’s going on in the story (and at times I definitely felt like this – it’s been great thinking it over for a couple of days) you’re carried away by the pure beauty of the words. Her characters feel very real, like people you should know, even if they’re ghosts who reside in a locked drawer. A lot of people talk about the genre bending quality of the author’s work and I can understand that – this is a very accessible collection of stories, even if speculative fiction isn’t really your thing. It wouldn’t be out of place with a literary collection of short stories.

I thoroughly enjoyed these, and am both happy and sad that I’ve completed two of the Twelve Planets books – as much as I want to read them, I always want more there to read!