Discussions Archives - Page 34 of 69

Sessions I Can’t Wait To See | MWF 2019

Jul 11, 2019

Yesterday the program for the 2019 Melbourne Writers Festival was released and today I wanted to share the events that I hope to get to. As tickets are already live I’ve bought some tickets, but I’m hoping to make it to some other sessions as well.

The program for this years looks pretty fantastic with the theme ‘When we talk about love.’ I love that we get a whole day of YA events – although, some events do collide it’s pretty cool. There is also some romance events – which I cannot wait for. Like yes, please. Overall, I think there is something for everyone. And here we go, these are the sessions I cannot wait to see.

Watching Them Grow: From Page to Screen – Authors Becky Albertalli, Melina Marchetta and Christos Tsiolkas talk all about the journey of their novels turning into tv and movie adaptations. With Angela Savage as moderator.

This session sounds so interesting and it’s something that I am always interested in as a reader, therefore, it will be really cool to hear 3 different authors takes on adaptation and everything that comes along with it.

Saturday, August 31 1:00 PM. The Capitol

Why YA? – Randa Abdel-Fattah and Melina Marchetta will talk about why they write for the YA audience. These are two authors that I both admire and have wanted to see for quite some time now and this sounds like the perfect way to see them. With Mellisa Keil.

Sunday 1 September, 11.30am. State Library Victoria, Isabella Fraser Room

It’s Complicated – Nina Kenwood and Jodi McAlister will talk about the ups and downs of young love. You know I love my romance and I do love how complicated it can be especially in young adult novels. So I am really excited to see what comes from this discussion.

Sunday 1 September, 1 pm. SLV, Isabella Fraser Room

Pop Culture Currency – Jenna Guillaume and Lili Wilkinson discuss the phenomenon of YA books being turned into series and mini-series on streaming services like Netflix and Stan. And the impact they both have on each other with Adele Walsh.

Sunday 1 September, 2.30pm. SLV, Isabella Fraser Room

YA’ll Are Thirsty: Romantic FanFic Showcase – This one features Alison Evans, Will Kostakis, Jes Layton, and CB Mako as they talk about the what if’s of YA romances. Overall, this one just seems like a lot of fun.

Sunday 1 September, 4 pm. State Library Victoria, Village Roadshow Theatrette

Becky Albertalli: Love, Simon – Becky Albertalli talks with Jenna Guillaume about the success of Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda and its movie adaptation. They will also explore adolescent love and the importance of diversity. I’m always up to listening about success in the YA industry especially if diversity is involved.

Sunday 1 September, 5:30 pm. The Capitol

Eve L Ewing: Ironheart – Sami Shah will speak with Marvel’s Ironheart writer Eve L Ewing about what it’s like working with Marvel and combining power and the notion of a moral compass. This one just sounds amazing. I mean it’s Marvel why wouldn’t it be.

Wednesday 4 September 7:00 pm. State Library Victoria, Isabella Fraser Room

Romance as Resistance – Anne Gracie, Melanie Milburne and CS Pacat discuss how romance novels can challenge in the status quo of the world right now, with Jodi McAlister. A session all about romance and how it’s pretty cool, um yes, please.

Sunday, 8 September 10:00 am. The Wheeler Centre, Performance Space.

Who Gets to Love? – With romance novels being populated for those that are white, straight and able-bodied, Daniel de Lorne, Maria Lewis, and Maureen Matthews, discuss this lack of diversity. With Kate Cuthbert as moderator. A romance session that talks about diversity – and this is totally for me.

Sunday 8 September 11:30 am. The Wheeler Centre, Performance Space

Unpicking Classic Romances – This one here is about how and if classic romances would hold up to today’s standards. Clare Connelly, Anne Gracie, and Toni Jordan will talk with Calla Wahlquist. I’m just ready for all these romance sessions really.

Sunday 8 September 2:30 pm. The Wheeler Centre, Performance Space

And that is it! That is most of the sessions at this years Melbourne Writers Festival. A mix of YA and romance seems like a pretty good mix for me. I’ve gotten tickets to most of these events now, but I am hoping to get a couple more session tickets closer to the festival. Nevertheless, what sessions are you looking forward to? Let’s Chat!

Female Protagonist That I Adore

Jul 10, 2019

Today I get to talk about the female protagonist that I just adore and I can’t wait. Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and Bookish and is hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl.

I love reading about a female protagonist. Always have and always will. There is something really great about having a badass female taking over the page. So today I thought I would share some of my favourites from all types of genres.

Emma Carstairs from The Dark Artifices series by Cassandra Clare: Emma has to be one of my favourite Cassandra Clare characters ever, I mean there are so many from this series alone that I love. But there is something about Emma that just sticks with me. Firstly she isn’t like Clare’s other female protagonists. She has been training to be a shadowhunter her whole life, then everything changes in her life and The Dark Artifices series takes her for a ride.

Harper from A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer: Harper has to be one of my favourite female protagonists ever. Her voice seized me from the very start. I was able to connect with not only Harper’s voice but also the worries that she has throughout A Curse So Dark and Lonely. I adored that she was quick on her feet and didn’t let anyone stop her. Harper just took everything and went with it. One of the things that I loved about Harper, was that she didn’t like her disability define her. It wasn’t brushed aside and it didn’t let it stop her.

Taylor from Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde: Taylor is such a fantastic protagonist. I was able to connect with her on so many different levels it was crazy, and that made me love her even more. Her passion for everything that she loved, including her friends was so great to see. I adored that she wasn’t ashamed to share her love for books, TV shows, movies. She is that fandom queen and it worked so well.

Beatrix Hathaway from Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas: I love so many of Lisa Kleypas female protagonist but Beatrix stands out. She just lights up the page whenever she is there. Beatrix made me laugh so much. I adored that she was able to care for animals and didn’t care what others really thought about her. Looking after animals is what made her happy and she will keep on doing that no matter what. Beatrix doesn’t let others stop her for being who she is.

Bailey Rydell from Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett: I totally clicked with Bailey as a protagonist and I immediately wanted to take the journey with her. I loved that she was hesitant, that she wasn’t sure of herself or even where she wanted to go. When Bailey questioned who she was and her passion for movies and what they explore was so fun to see.

Rebecca from Brooklynaire by Sarina Bowen: She is sassy, strong and just made me smile. After Rebecca’s accident on the ice, she feels lost. She can’t work, she can’t stand without feeling dizzy, she just wants things to go back to normal. It was hard to see Rebecca struggle with this. She wants to go back to work and do things with her life – but her health stops her. While it’s only temporary for Rebecca, I could totally connect with her.

Lada Dragwlya from The Conqueror’s Saga by Kiersten White: Lada was quite interesting, she is very brutal and has little to no remorse. Sometimes it was hard to connect with her nevertheless, I do understand why she was that way. But that is also why she is one of my favourite protagonists ever. I never know what Lada is going to do, say and hell that makes her so interesting.

Rachel Watts from the Every Series by Ellie Marney: I adore Rachel so much. If you haven’t had the chance to read the Every Series up, then please do. Because Rachel is a kickass protagonist without even trying. I love that is unapologetic about who she is, she is just her.

And those are some of my favourite female protagonists! Do we share any that’s the same? Who are some of your favourites? Let’s Chat!

Books I Loved Reading as a Child

Jul 2, 2019

I haven’t done a Top Ten Tuesday post in ages! And what better way to get back into than talking about all the books I loved as a child. Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and Bookish and is hosted by The Artsy Reader Girl.

I’ve always loved reading – I really don’t remember a time when I wasn’t reading. So today I am going to share the books that I loved reading when I was younger. For the sake of this post all the books, I talked about were books I read before I was about 12. It was after that that I started reading YA. So the books on this list are a mix of books that I couldn’t stop reading or had read to me from a young age.

If I Ran the Circus by Dr. Seuss: I think this one here has to be my favourite Dr Seuss book ever – I seriously cannot tell you how many times I read this. There are many reasons why I love this one so much, firstly, it’s a pretty long book. I didn’t love the other Dr Seuss books as much because I could finish then in 10 minutes, but this one, this one I could spend a while reading. It was also so much fun to read.

The Sleepover Club by Rose Impey: This was one of my favourite TV shows growing up. Not only did it have some great young Australian actress and actors, but it was also all about girls and friendship. So, of course, I read the books. These were such great books to read when I was 10-12. They were fun, easy and always put a massive smile on my face.

Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling: I couldn’t make this list without Harry Potter being on it. There isn’t much more to say than, I grew up either reading the books or them being read to me. I have a lot of memories of Harry Potter entwined with my childhood and that will never go away.

Rainbow Magic by Daisy Meadows: These fairy books were my childhood, I remember reading these late at night with a flashlight because I wanted to know what adventure was going to begin next. This is a great series for those just starting to read novels. It’s a great combination of easy sentences but also pushes some boundaries. I also just love the adventures that the reader goes on each book.

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney: This one here is from when I was a baby. While I can’t remember too much about it, I know that I knew this one by heart because of how many times it was read to me. And even now I try and sell

Possum Magic by Mem Fox: Now this here is an Australian classic. I think that every child needs to read this in their lifetime. This book just warms my heart. The illustrations in this one – oh gosh they are just beautiful.

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown: This is another one of those books that I knew by heart when I was younger. I just love books like this one. They are easy to learn and they tell a beautiful story. I recently brought this one for my cousin and I can’t wait to start reading it to and with him.

Haunted Australia by John Heffernan: This one is a strange one on my list. I’m not a massive non-fiction reader. I much prefer watching documentaries. But this one I read with a bunch of my friends in primary school when I was about 11. We would sit down at lunch and just read it out loud to each other. At first, it was something silly and then it became something fan and what we couldn’t wait to do.

And that is it for this post! What are some of the books that you loved reading as a child? Do we share any of the same? What is the one book that you would recommend to children? Let’s Chat!