The Unfinished Bookshelf

Writing and reviews

The Graces by Laure Eve

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the graces

Like everyone else in her town, River is obsessed with the Graces, attracted by their glamour and apparent ability to weave magic. But are they really what they seem? And are they more dangerous than they let on This beautifully written thriller will grip you from its very first page.

The wonderful thing about studying literature is I get to read heaps of books. Of course, the downside is I have very little time to read anything other than the novels each class requires. By the end of my first semester I was hanging out for a YA read I could pick up purely for enjoyment and The Graces proved the perfect pick. Mysterious and thrilling, I was spellbound by this story from the very first page. 

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A magical celebration: Harry Potter 20th Anniversary box from Be Bookish

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I’ve never bought a book subscription box before, although I’ve seen them all over Instagram and they always look so appealing. But when I saw the Harry Potter 20th Anniversary edition boxes from Be Bookish, I just couldn’t help myself. I’m so glad I decided to buy my Ravenclaw hardback edition in this box, although I was totally tempted to get the paperback edition as well. 
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Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell

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everything beautiful

Riley Rose doesn’t want to be at Spirit Ranch Holiday Camp. Riley wants to be partying with her best friend Chloe at the beautiful Ben Sebatini’s house. She has a plan to get away from the jumpsuit-wearing counsellors, the feel-good mantras, do-gooder campers and the monotonous schedule of team-building exercises and outdoor activities. But is everything at the Spirit Ranch as it appears? What secrets are waiting for discovery in the abandoned Fraser house? And why doesn’t anyone want to talk about the accident that landed the mysterious Dylan in a wheelchair last year?

I really can’t believe it’s taken me so long to read Everything Beautiful, given how much I adored Girl Defective. It’s one of those gorgeous, underrated Aussie YA books which captured my heart from the very first page. It didn’t take me long to fall for almost every character and become completely absorbed Riley Rose’s story. 
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Uglies by Scott Westerfield

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Everybody gets to be supermodel gorgeous. What could be wrong with that? Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can’t wait. Not for her license — for turning pretty. In Tally’s world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there. But Tally’s new friend Shay isn’t sure she wants to be pretty. She’d rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world and it isn’t very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

To be quite honest, I wouldn’t have picked this book up if it hadn’t been on my university reading list. Which really would have been a shame, but I think every book nerd can relate to the overwhelming sense of never being able to read all the fabulous books being published. But that’s another story. I’m so glad university forced me to read Uglies, because I really think I may have found a series I might actually finish. Although, you never know with my incredibly lazy reading habits…
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Before I Die by Jenny Downham

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before I die
Tessa has just a few months to live. So she compiles her bucket list, her To Do Before I Die list. Number one is sex. Released from the constraints of ‘normal’ life, Tessa tastes new experiences to make her feel alive while her failing body struggles to keep up.
I’ll admit, I avoided that book about a girl with cancer. You know the one? Okay? Okay. I watched the movie and, I know I’m the odd one out when I say it wasn’t really my thing. I definitely had a hangover of that movie when I started Before I Die and I was wary. Was this book going to make me roll my eyes too? (Yes, I know that probably makes me heartless). This was a tough book to read and not at all something I could consider enjoyable, but it did make me think and sometimes that’s the best outcome from any book.
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This House of Grief by Helen Garner

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Garner
On the evening of 4 September 2005, Father’s Day, Robert Farquharson, a separated husband, was driving his three sons home to their mother, Cindy, when his car left the road and plunged into a dam. The boys, aged ten, seven and two, drowned. Was this an act of revenge or a tragic accident? The court case became Helen Garner’s obsession. She followed it on its protracted course until the final verdict. In this utterly compelling book, Helen Garner tells the story of a man and his broken life. She presents the theatre of the courtroom with its actors and audience, all gathered for the purpose of bearing witness to the truth, players in the extraordinary and unpredictable drama of the quest for justice.
The heartbreaking case Helen Garner explores in This House of Grief is one I’d really only known the barest details on. I vaguely remember the initial news reports, but living in Queensland I’m sure something closer to home soon took up the headlines. While we studied part of the media coverage at university, various legal appeals were ongoing and there seemed to my memory no definitive outcome. Was this a tragic accident or the most horrific and unthinkable murder? Read More

Talking Points: Why I don’t read series

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series
This post will probably make me sound like a big grump, but when it comes to choosing books I try to avoid reading series as much as possible. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of positive things about reading a series. If you love the characters, you get to revisit them over and over in new and exiting situations. In recent years, it has also been the ‘blockbuster’ series which have been made into seemingly endless movie adaptations. Read More

Second Glance by Jodi Picoult

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second glance
In a small Vermont town, an old man puts a piece of land up for sale, igniting a firestorm of protest from the local Abenaki Indians, who insist it is an ancient burial ground. To appease them the developer looking to buy the property hires a ghost hunter, Ross Wakeman. Ross is a suicidal drifter desperate to cross paths again with his fiancee, who died in a car crash eight years earlier. But after several late nights all Ross can lay claim to discovering is Lia Beaumont, a skittish, mysterious woman who, like Ross, is on a search for something beyond the boundary separating life and death. Thus begins Picoult’s enthralling and ultimately astonishing story of love, fate and a crime of passion.
Jodi Picoult is one of my favourite authors for a reason: every single book she writes challenges my world view. Her books explore euthanasia, racism and white supremacism, the Holocaust, and whether you can sue for medical emancipation from your parents. But Second Glance was perhaps the most challenging of her books for me because it asked me to believe in the paranormal, something I’ve always relegated to the realm of fiction.
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Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

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big magic
Readers of all ages and walks of life have drawn inspiration and empowerment from Elizabeth Gilbert’s books for years. Now this beloved author digs deep into her own generative process to share her wisdom and unique perspective about creativity. With profound empathy and radiant generosity, she offers potent insights into the mysterious nature of inspiration. She asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear. She discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives. Balancing between soulful spirituality and cheerful pragmatism, Gilbert encourages us to uncover the “strange jewels” that are hidden within each of us. Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work,  embark on a dream long deferred, or simply infuse our everyday lives with more mindfulness and passion, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy.
One of my earliest memories is of trying to draw a picture. I don’t remember what I was drawing, just that I was so frustrated because I couldn’t translate what was in my head onto the page. It was just a bunch of squiggles. That was the first time my perfectionism clashed with my creativity. Over time, perfectionism won and convinced me I wasn’t a creative person. I ended up a professional writer, yet I still believe I’m not creative. I weave words together almost every day, but I still don’t think my factual writing makes me a creative person. Big Magic made me look at things in a new light. Read More
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