Adult Fic, I Read That Too
Oh, internets, it has been so long since I babbled at you about book related matters. And yet, books! They are the centerpiece of my life! So it is about time I did. I am a young adult fiction writer, and thus primarily a young adult fiction reader by both career and preference, but I also read adult books from time to time. Then I review them in dialogue style in a spoilerific manner that often renders in-depth, wonderful works nonsensical. Here are recent highlights of my adult fic reading: The Long Song, Andrea Levy. BOOK: Would you like to read a story of Jamaican slavery ostensibly...
read moreReading For Change
Last year I did a little something called the 48 Hour Book Challenge, where I read 15 YA books in – yes! – 48 hours, and wrote brief reviews of them as I went, and collapsed into a wrecked pile of wreckage at the end. It looked like this: It was awesome. But the most awesome part was that, thanks to sponsors and donators, we raised over a thousand dollars for the Alannah and Madeline Foundation. The Alannah and Madeline Foundation is an organisation founded by a father whose two daughters and their mother were brutally murdered. The foundation is dedicated to helping children...
read moreThis Is A Love Song
And now, dear Internets, for the final in my series of “the songs I used for chapter headings (that can be found on YouTube)”. It is “Not Given Lightly”, by the mighty Chris Knox! I am a bit sad writing this, because Chris Knox had a stroke last year that affected his speech and language centres. He now has much trouble with the words he put together so sweetly. BUT. He is awesome, and also awesome is the way that the music community rallied to get support for him and his family. His mates and fans played benefit concerts and put together a cover album of his songs. It...
read moreAnd the Thought Becomes a Memory
Goldenhorse! “Maybe Tomorrow”! I love girls with magical voices singing pop hits, but I am actually not as big a fan of this song as I could be, largely because everywhere you went in 2003 THIS SONG WAS THERE. I don’t even listen to radio, and I couldn’t get away from it. But there is no better song for the epilogue than this: If you think I am going to give you a cookie from the epilogue, you don’t know me at all. Instead, let us have some Iris, because Iris is a delight. MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD Iris walked straight up to Mark until she was close enough to...
read moreTo The Edge Of The Earth
Tim and Neil Finn, in their various incarnations (in their bands, Crowded House, Split Enz, individually, together at The Finn Brothers, hanging out with Dave Dobbyn and Bic Runga, etc etc) have actually acquired a fair amount of international fame and deserved repute. Because they are great. The advantage of them being in so many incarnations is that I got to grab two songs – one from Crowded House, and one by The Finn Brothers. Some people might call this “cheating”. “Together Alone” is a song partially about one of the myths underlying Guardian‘s...
read moreJust The Thought Fills My Heart With Pink Frost
The Chills are a Dunedin sound band, which is a musical era with which I’m not that familiar, but I have decided is mostly about hanging around with your mates in a horrible freezing flat in the early 80s and eventually someone suggests that you start a band as a way to keep warm damn the man! Then Flying Nun Records signs you up and you make a million dollars become an indie-pop cult hit. This is “Pink Frost”, a lovely little ditty about a man who has accidentally murdered his girlfriend and is now really distressed about the way she’s not moving. I feel awful sorry...
read moreAbout Karen
Karen Healey is a young adult novelist. She is the author of the urban fantasies GUARDIAN OF THE DEAD and THE SHATTERING, both set in New Zealand, and the forthcoming sci-fi adventure WHEN WE WAKE. GUARDIAN OF THE DEAD won the 2010 Aurealis Award for Best YA Novel and was a finalist for the William C. Morris Award. Karen can tell you a lot about baking, covers of "Hallelujah" and superhero comics.
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