More events than you can poke a stick at!

Well it is certainly event time here at the Sun Bookshop get out your diary and start putting aside some time for the following. Saturday 24th of September we have ex Doggies player Barry Hall signing his memoir Pulling no Punches. Put your scarf on and head down at 10.00am. Then the very exciting launch of William McInnes and Sarah Watt's beautiful, funny and moving book, the story of their lives together and with their children Worse Things happen at Sea on Tuesday 27th at 6pm you are all welcome but book for this as it is an event exclusive to the Sun . Our bookclub meets September 28th at 8pm this time we are reading the powerful Kinglake 350 and we are so lucky to have author Adrian Hyland coming along. Saturday October 1st at 11.00am sees Kerry Greenwood's fantastic new Corrina title Cooking the Books being launched, book as Kerry's launches are always popular. Then on Wednesday October 5 we are selling books for Sydney comedian Mandy Nolan at Aqua y Vino call them to purchase tix 9687 9006. Finally at 1.30pm, Saturday the 8th Claire Saxby's beautiful childrens picture book The Carrum Sailing Club will be launched. Whew after that I will be having a fab Latin american meal at Los latinos in Maidstone where I went to for the first time last week and had incredible Fajitas yum, I can not wait to go back.

Not Actual Bedside Table

Well tonight is bookclub night and we will be at the Sun Theatre upstairs room 8pm. Unusually we are reading optional books this month either The Hare with Amber Eyes that prize winner, or Townie the book that Michael loves. I unfortunately due to holidays and conferences and time flying and 50 books in a pile beside my bed have read neither bookclub book! Sorry. I have, in the non- fiction vein, started the incredible Kinglake-350 by Adrian Hyland it is a book about the 2009 bushfires, Adrian lives in St Andrews and has written the story in a moving page turner way. Stay tuned for dates on Adrian attending the bookclub (we hope).‘So you have been on holidays’ I hear you say, the answer is a big yes to warm, warm Bali where I read trashy holiday reads only, it was fab. I loved Poison tree by Erin Kelly and Beauty Queens Libba Bray and I can’t remember what else weird as it was only a week ago. What I do remember was an unforgettable meal at Mozaic in Ubud and I came back to find the book of the restaurant is out in September, yummy. So much is going on I had better get into more blogging, and up with the times as I am do you follow us on facebook?

Warm events for cold nights

Cold and Foggy! Why that is perfect reading weather if ever I lived it. Just in at the Sun which I read on the weekend and is quickly doing the rounds is Kylie Ladd’s new book Last Summer great entertaining chick book for the 30+ it is a bit like watching Tangle it sucks you in and you can’t stop till the very end. Tonight at 8pm at the Sun we have Favel Parrett at bookclub we are so lucky to have her come along to talk to us about Past the Shallows an incredible debut novel, I haven’t stopped crying since I reread it on Sunday. I hope to see you there can you bring some tissues? We are also counting down to an exciting event July 18 at The Corner Shop to celebrate the release of The Butcher, The Baker, The Best Coffee Maker, with authors Kylie Smorgan and Gaye Weedon This event is right up my alley, learn the secret locations of amazing food and coffee places around Melbourne. Starting with the Corner shop 11 Ballarat st Yarraville

A Bookseller never forgets?

I just had a terrible bookseller moment trying to recall the books I have read this week and coming up completely blank, however working backwards it has all returned. Finished Fall this month’s bookclub book. Loved it. Still going with Terror of Living (Urban Waite) incredible writing very Cormac MCarthy. I love that Canadian award The Giller Prize the books are always just my type, beautiful writing and an exploration of human nature, also there is usually a picture of water on the cover. Anyway I completely loved the latest Winner The Sentimentalists by Johanna Skibsrud. Onto the new Sleepers book This too Shall Pass by S.J Finn we are so lucky in Australia to have these small and exciting publishers, so let’s support them. Finally started that incredibly well written and compact story of illness and snails The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey. So very excitingly the Miles Franklin Prize Longlist has been announced. The Short list will be announced next month. I am jumping up and down because my favourite book of last year is on the longlist. Bereft by Chris Wormesley. On the 27^th of April Chris will be attending the Sun Bookclub so get reading and come on down.

Here is the Miles Franklin Longlist list in case you missed it.

Jon Bauer - Rocks in the Belly / Honey Brown - The Good Daughter / Patrick Holland - The Mary Smokes Boys / Melina Marchetta - The Piper's Son / Roger McDonald - When Colts Ran/ Stephen Orr - Time's Long Ruin / Kim Scott - That Deadman Dance / Kirsten Tranter - The Legacy / Chris Womersley – Bereft

So many good Australian Writers, so little time.

Scary Times

Well in these times of floods, earthquakes, tsunamis nuclear meltdowns and so on, I feel the need to escape and escape I did, yesterday, into the excellent psychological thriller by Julia Crouch called Cuckoo. Cuckoo is a page turner of a first novel. When Rose, who is seemingly, contented with her life, invites her recently widowed best friend, Polly, to stay she opens a very nasty can of worms. Glamorous, fragile, Polly arrives at the graceful English home with her wild young boys and the unravelling of everything Rose has strived to perfect, begins. I had a couple of quibbles but all in all so enjoyable.

Last time I blogged (so exciting) I mentioned an Indian restaurant in Victoria st, Seddon. The restaurant is Indian Palette and has perfect small dishes of delicious traditional Indian food with real spices to put to one side, like cardamom pods and cloves. Indian Palette puts me in mind of another book I recently read, Snake by Australian author Kate Jennings which is just about to be reissued. Snake was fabulous; a novel told in small portions, the story of a marriage, it is rich and beautifully executed. Snake was first published in 1996 and is well worth revisiting. Also loving the bookclub book, Fall by Colin Mc Adam and The Terror of Living by Urban Waite (an apt title).

September Bookclub : Jasper Jones

The bookclub book for September is Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey (Allen & Unwin)

Wednesday 29th September at 8pm and we meet at Corner Shop, on the corner of Ballarat and Canterbury streets, Yarraville.

Jasper Jones is highly acclaimed, and was one of our favourite books of 2009. We are offering all customers 10% off Jasper Jones for the month of September.

Overall Winner, Indie Book of the Year Award 2009
Winner, Indie Book of the Year 2009 - Fiction
Shortlisted, Miles Franklin Literary Award 2010
Shortlisted, 2010 NSW Premier's Literary Award - Christina Stead Prize for fiction
Shortlisted, 2009 Western Australia Premier's Literary Award (Fiction)