By Tanya Steele
Books are for all ages and the team at Star Mail in Healesville are here to declare their favourite books and recent reads.
Only one amongst us knows the true pain of this week , which is pulling together a costume for our changeable children, but we all love reading.
(Hint: It’s me)
At any rate, let’s get on with it – there are some nice recommendations in here and I have a few extra things on my reading list now.
Mikayla van Loon – our esteemed editor and Lilydale and Mount Evelyn journalist said that the last book she read was Emily Henry’s “Happy Place”.
“It was an easy read but one I couldn’t put down,” she said.
‘Happy Place’ was described by someone on Goodreads as an “angsty romance and self-growth story with a beautiful friendship” and was released in 2023.
Emily Henry is the author of Book Lovers, People We Meet on Vacation, Beach Read, and Happy Place.
Mikayla said her favourite book would have to be “The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart” by Holly Ringland.
“She has a way with words,” she said.
The debut 2018 novel follows the story of a young girl who is the daughter of an abusive father. The main character Alice Hart is forced to leave her seaside home and is taken in by her estranged grandmother, June, a flower farmer.
Cal Ludwig our Upper Yarra reporter has most recently dug into ‘Into the Fire’ by Gregg Hurwitz.
The fifth in the Orphan X series, the book follows former government assassin and ‘Nowhere Man’ Evan Smoak as he helps Max Merriweather, a man who has lost his wife, home and career when a murdered cousin leaves him a package and a team of assassins are on his trail.
He recalls his favourite Book Week costume was dressing up as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
“We combined it with Italian Day,” he said.
Ranges Trader reporter Shamisya Hussainpour puts up ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ by Khaled Hosseini as her favourite and said she has “never cried over a book this much.”
“I mistakenly read that in a public space, so I was bawling my eyes out while trying to hide behind the book,” she said.
The turbulent novel dives into life in Afghanistan from the Soviet takeover in 1980s through to post 9/11 Taliban control and tells the story through the eyes of Mariam and Laila, two women whose a generation apart, whose lives cross as they become the wives of the same man, Rasheed.
I have read this as well and can confirm it is beautifully heartbreaking and to be gentle with yourself after reading it.
At the moment Ferntree Gully journalist Gabriella Vukman said her favourite books are either ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’, ‘The Alchemist’ or Tennessee Williams’ ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.’
“I love deep explorations of humanity and facing adversities in different contexts,” she said.
Gabriella also loves “anything Harry Potter, always!”
Andrew Kwon, our Healesville reporter said the last book he read was ‘Sidelines’ by Karen Viggers.
“I interviewed Karen for her book launch event in Yarra Glen and I realised the book is about junior soccer players while I was interviewing her,” he said.
“As I read the book I could see the similarities and differences of junior level sports environments and cultures between Korea and Australia.”
I feel I should represent the a subset of readers that maybe don’t shoot as high brow with their tastes as some of my colleagues do.
I recently quite enjoyed a book called ‘When the Moon Hatched’ by Sarah Parke.
It is a fantasy romance and a quick but fun read. It has nearly all the notes for a good fantasy, a dragon or two, some magic, fast pace and a witty heroine who doesn’t take no for an answer.
My favourite book series ever is a true love affair that has lasted 20 years with Robin Hobb’s ‘The Farseer Trilogy’ featuring the life and foibles of Fitz and the Fool.
Fitz Chivalry Farseer is a royal bastard come assassin and as he works in the shadows for his king, he goes on a journey to discover who he really is – a pawn or someone in charge of his own destiny.
The books span a lifetime and you will get to know Fitz extremely well if you read this, there are magics – mental ‘skill’ and animal ‘wit’ of which Fitz has both of.
Hobb’s work is fantasy but the characters are real, I have read series a number of times and I always get something new out of this with each read.
I myself have never dressed up for book week – but my kids have pulled off costumes as ‘Charlie’ from the classic Roald Dahl novel ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ and Lyra from ‘The Golden Compass’ books by Phillip Pullman.
Reading is to be celebrated and it comes in many forms, these days modern day audio books offer a solution to people that find it difficult to sit and immerse. I personally read on holiday as to have clarity to appreciate the book I am reading.
From the Star Mail team – Happy Book Week for 2024!
