The End of This Road

Having been growing increasingly frustrated by Blogger making its own mind up on formatting posts, etc., we have made the decision to move our blog. Please follow us from now on at the new Readers in the Mist

Australian Book Industry Awards 2011 Finalists

The finalists for this year's Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIA) have been announced.

There are lots of book industry categories including Chain Bookseller of the Year, Independent Bookseller of the Year, Small Publisher of the Year and so on (see all the category finalists by clicking here) but as readers I'll cut to what I think interests us most :

Illustrated Book of the Year 2011
A Food Lover’s Pilgrimage to Santiago De Compostela by Dee Nolan
Bill’s Basics by Bill Granger
Our Family Table by Julie Goodwin
Quay by Peter Gilmore
Real Food Companion by Matthew Evans
Yiwarra Kuju: the Canning Stock Route by the National Museum of Australia
(seems being a cook book gives you a leg up in this category)

Biography of the Year 2011
Ben Cousins – My Life by Ben Cousins
How to Make Gravy by Paul Kelly
Lazarus Rising by John Howard
The Family Law by Benjamin Law
The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do

General Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2011
Here on Earth by Tim Flannery
Power Trip: The Political Journey of Kevin Rudd by David Marr
Street Fight in Naples by Peter Robb
The Changi Brownlow by Roland Perry
True Spirit by Jessica Watson

Book of the Year for Younger Children (0 to 8 years) 2011
All Through the Year by Jane Godwin, illus by Anna Walker
Feathers for Phoebe by Rod Clement
Maudie and Bear by Jan Omerod, illus by Freya Blackwood
Mirror by Jeannie Baker
Noni the Pony by Alison Lester
The Legend of the Golden Snail by Graeme Base

Book of the Year for Older Children (8 to 14 years) 2011
Conspiracy 365 by Gabrielle Lord
Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
Shakespeare’s Hamlet illus by Nicki Greenberg
Museum of Thieves: The Keepers Book 1 by Lian Tanner
Now by Morris Gleitzman

Literary Fiction Book of the Year 2011
Bereft by Chris Womersley
How it Feels by Brendan Cowell
Rocks in the Belly by Jon Bauer
That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott
The Legacy by Kirsten Tranter

General Fiction Book of the Year 2011
After America by John Birmingham
At Home with the Templetons by Monica McInerney
Campaign Ruby by Jessica Rudd
I Came to Say Goodbye by Caroline Overington
The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

Newcomer of the Year (debut writer) 2011

Into the Woods: The Battle for Tasmania’s Forests by Anna Krien
Poh’s Kitchen by Poh Ling Yeow
The Bark Cutters by Nicole Alexander
The Family Law by Benjamin Law
The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do

Book of the Year 2011

Bereft by Chris Womersley

How to Make Gravy by Paul Kelly
I Came to Say Goodbye by Caroline Overington
Lazarus Rising by John Howard
The Family Law by Benjamin Law
The Happiest Refugee by Anh Do

The winners of the awards will be announced at the Australian Book Industry Awards presentation dinner in Melbourne on Monday 25 July during the 2011 ABA Conference.

The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards 2011

Yesterday the winners of the 2011 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards were announced by Prime Minister, Julia Gillard and Arts Minister, Simon Crean.

Now in its fourth year, the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards recognise and reward excellence in Australian literature. This year each category winner is given $80,000 and each shortlisted author received $5000. Click here for the shortlisted titles.

Fiction Prize : Traitor by Stephen Daisley
Traitor is a story of war and love, and how each changes everything, forever. It tells the story of two men thrown together by war in the battle-smoke and chaos of Gallipoli – a young New Zealand soldier and a Turkish doctor.
It is Stephen Daisley's first novel.

Non-fiction : The Hard Light of Day by Rod Moss
The Hard Light of Day is Moss’ moving memoir of his life in Alice Springs as a young art teacher and his intimate friendship with the traditional owners, the Arrernte people.

Young Adult Fiction : Graffitti Moon by Cath Crowley
Graffitti Moon is a story of graffiti artist Shadow and his friend Poet who haunt the night and the dreams of a girl named Lucy. Told from alternating points-of-view, Crowley perfectly captures the teenagers’ tenderness and their toughness.

Children's Fiction : Shake a Leg written by Boori Monty Pryor & illustrated by Jan Ormerod
When three boys go into a pizza shop in far north Queensland they meet a pizza-maker, an Aboriginal man, who reveals not only the secrets of great pizza – but the stories that he draws upon for inspiration.

Winter Tales

Everyone is invited to an afternoon of stories to warm you from the inside out featuring some of Australia’s favourite storytellers and writers for young readers including :

Lee Castledine

Tohby Riddle

Louise Pfanner

Emily Rodda

Wentworth Falls School of Arts
Sunday 7 August from 1pm

This is a Free family event, but bookings are essential. Phone 4758 6811 or email admin@mocs.org.au.

Afternoon tea will be served

Books by the visiting authors available for sale courtesy of Megalong Books

Presented by WestWords, MOCS and Blue Mountains City Council

The Good The Bad The Ugly : Reviewed by You

Anne Boleyn : Fatal Attractions by George Bernard.

Review : Anne Boleyn (pronounced 'Bullen"), the second wife of king Henry VIII, was beheaded in 1536 for having had several lovers. She protested her innocence to the last.

Historians have generally taken the line that she was the blameless victim of king Henry's sexual voracity, and also of her politico-religious enemies.

George Bernard explores the possibility that, desperate to give Henry a male heir, Anne was driven to take lovers because Henry himself was intermittently impotent - when he was not persuing some new mistress.

This review was written by an anonymous Library user in one of our review journals, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly : Reviewed by You.

Look out for a copy of The Good, The Bad, The Ugly : Reviewed by You in your local branch and add your own review.

Carolyn's Books of the Month - July 2011

Best read : Love You More by Lisa Gardner
Thriller : The Tulip Virus by Danielle Hermans and The Identity Man by Andrew Klavan
General Fiction : The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards
Saga/Romance : Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Australian Author : Violent Exposure by Katherine Howell
Crime : Red Wolf by Liza Marklund

Blackheath Bookworms in July

School Holidays in July

The Ramons present a fast moving 40-50 minute circus attraction on stage. The variety packed show includes: trick-cycling, balancing, juggling, balloon animals, comical clown acts, audience participation, giveaways and featuring small live animals. The Ramons offer 30 years experience in performing. The Ramons Circus Spectacular will provide you with a performance that is hard to equal in quality, variety and fun.

Read It 2011

It's now July and time for a new theme for Read It 2011. This chilly month we will be reading crime and mystery books, both fiction and non fiction - #whodoneit

Crime reading, whether fiction or non-fiction are a huge part of most library collections.

With fiction sub genres like detective (men or women in charge), legal, historical, psychological, forensic, cosy, gourmet, comical, spy and suspense, there is a never ending supply of reading material. Blue Mountains Libraries have separate Crime/Suspense shelves so it's easy to find a crime story that will suit you.

There’s no shortage of true crime to read either. Seedy, cruel, heartbreaking, lawbreaking and fascinating, and often all at once. Look about in the Library shelves at 364.994 for Australian true crime.

You can join us and tweet about what you are reading in July using the Twitter hashtag #whodoneit. You can also use this tag on other social media sites such as flickr or when you post about your reading on your blog.

You might also want to add tags for each month’s reading to Trove or LibraryThing so that other people can see what you are reading.

We hope you will join us in our suspenseful reading, as you share your own crime and mystery reads during #whodoneit.

Read It 2011 Online Discussion

Tonight there will be real time Twitter discussion for #readit2011.

At 8pm (AEST) come online to talk about this month's #goreads. What titles did you enjoy reading for this category?

To participate you will need a twitter account. Don't forget to use #goreads in your tweet.

If you don't have a twitter account you can still watch the discussion by going to Twitter search and searching on #goreads.

For more information about #readit2011 go to the Read It 2011 blog