From the Desk—July in Review

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Matilda Bookshop Review #14, your monthly chronicle of books and writing, where we share with you our current reads, author interviews, book club wrap ups, and other literary ephemera such as reviews, award news, and books we love. Don’t forget to scroll to the very end (articles and poems).

During the winter school holidays our bookshop has been buzzing with children and families, and our book-loving hearts have delighted in witnessing the sheer pleasure taken by kids in choosing books and stories.

July also saw us welcome debut novelist, Alex Sawyer, into the fold of our gorgeous and cosy in-the-shop events, where he chatted about Rat Daniels with Alex Cothren. Alex Sawyer has been one of our Deep Creek Residency shortlisted authors, so we are particularly proud to see his novel on the shelves.

Our featured author in this month's Review is Karen Comer, who’s astonishing novel-in-verse, Once Upon Tomorrow, is reviewed here by Emilie. The interview is as generous and imaginative as her writing. Browse the complete archive of Author Q&As here.

And finally, Gavin has just landed in Aotearoa where this weekend he’s representing both the Australian Booksellers Association and Matilda Bookshop at the New Zealand Booksellers conference. We look forward to hearing what we might learn from NZ book industry practices, and vice versa, upon his return.

Happy Reading,
Jo, Gavin, Molly, Kasey, Rose, Heather, Nadia & Emilie

Emilie: Graciela in the Abyss by Meg Medina (out now)

This middle grade read almost has the cadence and themes of a folkloric tale passed down through the generations. The spirit of a girl drowned long ago assists a sensitive young blacksmith to change the trajectory of fate for his vengeful family, his island and the ocean in which she lives. Emilie

Gavin: Granta 175: Scandinavia (out now)

An often thrilling overview of some of the best contemporary writing coming out of Scandinavia, including literary giants such as Fosse, Ravn and Balle. That Sigbjørn Skåden's Backwoods Fable hasn't been translated in its entirety from Sami into English remains personally devastating.

Heather: The Girls by John Bowen (out September (reissue))

Set in the 1970s Cotswolds, it's the tale of two women desperate to stay (murderously) together; a 'macabre comedy, crime thriller, cosy romance' (?!?) Yes please, does that come in a tattoo?

Jo: Partita by Barbara Kingsolver (out October)

Barbara Kingsolver never disappoints! This story about Livia and the ramifications of her brief, passionate love affair is both funny, tender, heartbreaking and so beautifully empathetic. Five stars!!!

Molly: White Moss by Anna Nerkagi (out now)

Living on the Tundra in Northern Siberia, a community of indigenous Nenets people reckon with the elemental forces at play when a young man chooses to follow a dangerous passion rather than submit to tradition and expectation.

Nadia: Repetition: a novel by Vigdis Hjorth (out now)

This novella earns its title by illustrating how trauma reverberates throughout the life of an unnamed woman, starting from her childhood with an overbearing mother. It is brilliantly executed.

Rose: My Death by Lisa Tuttle (out now)

A widow starts writing the biography of her favourite artist and soon uncovers creepy parallels between their lives. Beautifully written and strange.

Kids Book Club News

Dear book-loving young people, we run three book clubs for kids, Magical Minds, The Matilda Society, and Chapter & Ink book clubs. Newcomers are always welcome for engaged chats and snacks in our cozy bookshop setting. But be quick, sessions sell out fast.

We hope you’ve had a fabulous school holidays of reading!

Our Kids’ Book Clubs resume for Term 4. and here’s what we’ll be reading:

In Magical Minds (8-10 yrs) we’ll be chatting about Wombat Waiting by Katherine Applegate on Monday August 10th (SOLD OUT)

In The Matilda Society we’ve got Run by Sarah Armstrong coming up on Monday August 17th (SOLD OUT)

And in Chapter & Ink, we’ll be getting stuck into Don’t Let Them Leave by Mike Lucas on Wednesday August 19 (TIX AVAILABLE)

Highlight on Authors Series

Welcome to this month's Highlight on Authors series, where we ask authors (whose books we've read and absolutely loved) questions on books and writing. 

The next author we're introducing you to is the imaginative and talented, Karen Comer, discussing her dreamy fairytale-esque, Once Upon Tomorrow.

(We've provided a glimpse of the interview  below):

Further Reading

Here's the literary ephemera that we've been loving this month, from the best in LitHub, Australian Book Review, The New York Times, The London Review of Books, The Sydney Book Review, and others ...

With a certain film smashing into the box office this week, we of course remind you to read the book of The Odyssey as well — especially the incandescent translation by the inestimable Emily Wilson. We love this essay by her in the Paris Review: “My beloved adaptations of the Odyssey pointed me to the possibility that one might yearn for home without actually wanting to spend much time there".

We are very excited for the new Mary Oliver documentary, directed by Sasha Waters. Here Waters explains that she was ‘drawn to film Oliver’s life story [because] of a lifelong fascination with images: “There’s a relationship between representational photography and poetry”’

Twenty Questions with Kathryn Scanlan, author of a Matilda favourite, Kick the Latch, and soon to be releasing an inventive new thing (stay tuned).

“It’s true that your friendly neighborhood bookseller is probably the closest thing your community has to a local book critic, especially now that nearly all local papers have eliminated arts criticism of any kind and the major papers have followed suit.”

“Without empathy, art is nothing more than a flapping mouthpiece for whichever aesthetic, ideology or political point has been placed above the duty to truth”, says Eimear McBride in this Guardian article, talking about her latest book The City Changes Its Face (which we loved).

Your monthly poem: Bonfire Opera by Danusha Laméris