Emily Paull

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2013/08/librarian-slams-9-year-old-for-reading-too-much Imagine my outrage upon hearing about the above story as I was driving to work this morning.  A nine year old boy (that's right, he's NINE) has been told not to participate in his school's read-a-thon because he reads too much. Is there even such a thing as reading too much ? The mere idea fills me with militant rage. I thought as much. Working as a bookseller full time this year has taught me two things about kids and reading. 1) Kids are either readers or they are not.  And it's really hard to get the non-readers into the reader camp- it takes a special kind of book, so thank God for Andy Griffiths. 2) There are boys out there who love to read and they should be encouraged. I believe that the spirit of competition means that the person who works the hardest wins.  I used to love read-a-thons, or at least the idea of them because I don't think m...

I have a confession to make.  I was really only drawn to this book because of it's BEAUTIFUL cover.  I know.  Bad form, Miss Em. But seriously, look at it.  It's gorgeous! Interesting factoid: The River of No Return is also the name of a Marilyn Munroe film, as I discovered on searching for this image! Embosses with gold, this large book jumps out at a person from a shelf or display, and I think it's going to be a runaway hit for the second half of the year.  And deservedly so! From the Blurb "'Time is like a river.  It always flows in one direction.' Nicholas Davenant lives a lie.  Single, handsome and wealthy, his perfect life is a facade constructed to hide the incredible truth- he was born two hundred years ago.  Somehow, in the face of certain death, Nicholas inexplicable jumped forward in time and awoke to find himself in the care of a mysterious society. The Guild, a secretive fraternity of time travellers, helped hi...

I'm currently most of the way through Bee Ridgway's The River of No Return, and I am absolutely loving it.  I don't want it to end, but I have to know what happens!  So when I saw the link to Ridgway's Top 5 Writing Tips on someone's Twitter, I clicked right on that link.  I'm going to share it for you all now, because honestly these are the best, most helpful, and least cliched tips on writing that I have seen in a very long time- and I studied creative writing, which is basically just "How to Write" lists week after week.  Enjoy!  Write! http://www.novelicious.com/2013/07/rosanna-leys-top-five-writing-tips-.html I particularly liked tip #4, as I often have trouble getting what I want out of critiquing partners.  What do you think? Review of The River of No Return to come!

The Save the Children charity book sale is one of my favourite bookish events of the year.  It's on right now at UWA, in the undercroft area of Winthrop Hall, and let me tell you that this is one sale not to be missed! It begins with a line that snakes around the back of the building.  If you've got a great friend to chat with, the time passes like nothing, but bring an umbrella, because part of the wait will be out of the shelter of the veranda.  There is a Scout's group peddling sausage sizzle to those of you in line.  People walk past with boxes of books, trolleys even.  An older gentleman saunters past with a stack of dictionaries.  Each is bigger than my head.  The one on the bottom is Russian.  Some has a Gabriel Garcia Marquez, someone else a Carlos Ruiz Zafon.  You get excited.  Clearly there are good books to be had within. When you make it within sight of the doors, there is a pile of boxes.  You take one, knowing you ...

  "I am sitting on the beach at sunset after work, watching the kite surfers emerge from the sea.  They guide their airborne wings towards the ground incrementally, then wait for them to either crash into the sand, or be plucked from the updraught by someone waiting.  The red ones are the brightest against the sunset, and there are many of them.  I could almost forget that these are tools, that there are people below them, using them.  But I can hear the people over the gushing of the waves, talking, their dogs barking, laughing, The wind is a scream in my ears.  It gets down my clothes.  I am cold, but don't want to admit it.  I always do that, go to do something whimsical and then abandon the idea once I get there.  Even if there's a logical reason on the surface, the real reason is usually that I hate not to share it.  What good is being whimsical and artistic if there is no one to witness it?  Thank goodness for Instagram." ...

Eyrie Tim Winton 9781926428536 Penguin/ Hamish Hamilton From the Blurb Tom Keely's reputation is in ruins.  And that's the upside. Divorced and unemployed, he's lost faith in everything precious to him.  Holed up in a grim highrise, cultivating his newfoundisolation, Keely looks down at a society from which he has retired hurt and angry.  He's done fighting the good fight and past caring. But even in his seedy flat, ducking the neighbours, he's not safe from entanglement.  All it takes is an awkward encounter in the lobby.  A woman from his past, a boy the likes of which he's never met before.  Two strangers leading a life beyond his experience and into whose orbit he falls despite himself. What follows is a heart-stopping, groundbreaking novel for our times- funny, confronting, exhilarating and haunting.  Inhabited by unforgettable characters, Eyrie asks how, in an impossibly compromised world, we can ever hope to do the right thing. Re...