Staff Review - Cult Classic

by Jessie Kinivan

On a night out with friends, Lola, an embittered, embattled New Yorker runs into an ex-boyfriend. The next night she sees another, and another and another… As these meetings start to pile up, Lola begins to suspect a greater force may be at play, and when her former boss admits to using her as a test subject for a mind control experiment (a pesky habit of his) she is given the option to willingly participate in this bizarre form of past regression therapy.

From long-term loves to brief dalliances, Lola is thrown back into her romantic past to question and attempt to make sense of her habits and flaws. If she can, will it allow her to move forward and finally settle into the kind of life she has been resisting for so long? 

Witty, weird and often confusing, Cult Classic dips gently into speculative fiction while maintaining immense relatability, thanks to Lola’s perceptive and authentic voice. Her snarky take on life is pure enjoyment to read and with each awkward, painful or unexpected encounter I grew fonder of this darkly comic heroine.

It asks questions about what we take from a relationship and what we leave behind. How does each person change us and we them? Maybe sometimes it’s the ill-defined, seemingly insignificant liaisons that leave the biggest mark of all.

If you enjoy smart, unconventional romances with humour and heart, Cult Classic is for you! 

Riverbend Bookclub Reads - September

RIVERBEND READERS + KNITS & NOVELS

HORSE

by Geraldine Brooks

A discarded painting in a roadside clean-up, forgotten bones in a research archive, and Lexington, the greatest racehorse in US history. From these strands of fact, Geraldine Brooks weaves a sweeping story of spirit, obsession and injustice across American history. Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South, even as the nation reels towards war. An itinerant young artist who makes his name from paintings of the horse takes up arms for the Union and reconnects with the stallion and his groom on a perilous night far from the glamour of any racetrack. New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance. Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse - one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success. With the moral complexity of March and a multi-stranded narrative reminiscent of People of the Book, this enthralling novel is a gripping reckoning with the legacy of enslavement and racism in America. Horse is the latest masterpiece from a writer with a prodigious talent for bringing the past to life.

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

THE STARDUST THIEF

by Chelsea Abdullah

 Inspired by stories from One Thousand and One Nights, The Stardust Thief weaves the gripping tale of a legendary smuggler, a cowardly prince and a dangerous quest across the desert to find a legendary, magical lamp. Neither here nor there, but long ago... Loulie al-Nazari is the Midnight Merchant: a criminal who, with the help of her jinn bodyguard, hunts and sells illegal magic. When she saves the life of a cowardly prince, she draws the attention of his powerful father, the sultan, who blackmails her into finding an ancient lamp. With no choice but to obey or be executed, Loulie journeys with the sultan's oldest son to find the artefact. Aided by her bodyguard, who has secrets of his own, they must survive ghoul attacks, outwit a vengeful jinn queen and confront a malicious killer from Loulie's past. And, in a world where story is reality and illusion is truth, Loulie will discover that everything - her enemy, her magic, even her own past - is not what it seems, and she must decide who she will become in this new reality.

THE TEACHER LIBRARIAN BOOKCLUB

PICTURE BOOK

THERE’S NO SUCH BOOK

by Jessica Dettmann + Jake Minton

There's No Such Book is a funny and heartwarming that will resonate with anyone who has experienced the frenzy of Book Week.
It's the night before the Book Week parade and Ellie announces that she needs a costume by the morning. Mum, who is taken by surprise, desperately tries to piece together a costume from what’s lying around the house …
They went into the bathroom.
‘Hmm,’ said Mum. ‘Don’t I remember once reading you a book about a monster whose skin looked like it was made of bright green towels?’
‘No,’ said Ellie. ‘There is no such book.’ Ellie heads to bed only with Mum's promise that she’ll have a costume sorted by the morning. Mum stays true to her word, but perhaps not in the way that Ellie was hoping.

JUNIOR FICTION BOOK

HOW TO BE PRIME MINISTER AND SURVIVE GRADE FIVE

by Carla Fitzgerald

Imagine your dad gets the top job but isn't exactly up to it. Then he sneaks off on holiday, leaving the country without a leader. What would you do? When Harper's dad becomes the prime minister of Australia he's terrible at it. He was thrust into the top job after a heroic boogie-board rescue of two kids (and a labradoodle) from a shark attack, but surviving government is proving hard. Their family is a laughing stock, and Dad disappears to a 'conference' - but he leaves his phone behind. With her little sister, Lottie, Harper must secretly take his place and decide on a new policy by the end of the week. She finds herself torn between ideas - should she ban plastic bottles? Or make weekends longer? Can she prove a kid can lead the country better than a grown-up?

MIDDLE FICTION BOOK

ANSWERS IN THE PAGES

by David Levithan

Donovan is excited to read The Adventurers, the new book Mr Howe has assigned his class. But before he can dig in, his mother gets her hands on it--and she is not excited by what she reads. Soon the whole town is freaking out about whether the book's two main characters are gay, and Donovan is caught in the middle. Rick and Oliver are the two main characters in The Adventurers. They're trying to stop an evil genius from acquiring the Doomsday Code and destroying life as we know it. Meanwhile, Gideon and Roberto have been paired up on their own book project, which draws them closer and closer together... With Answers in the Pages, bestselling author David Levithan delivers a bold, fun story about taking action (whether it's against book censors or killer alligators), being brave (in love and in adventure), and standing up for what's right, no matter the circumstances.

SECONDARY FICTION

THE STRANDED

by Sarah Daniels

A gripping, near-future thriller - The Hunger Games meets Station Eleven. Welcome to the Arcadia. Once a luxurious cruise ship, it became a refugee camp after being driven from Europe by an apocalyptic war. Now it floats near the coastline of the Federated States - a leftover piece of a fractured USA. For forty years, residents of the Arcadia have been prohibited from making landfall. It is a world of extreme haves and have-nots, gangs, and make-shift shelters. Esther is a loyal citizen, working flat-out to have the rare chance to live a normal life as a medic on dry land. Ben is a rebel, planning something big to liberate the Arcadia once and for all. When events throw them both together, their lives, and the lives of everyone on the ship, will change forever . . . Complete with love triangles, betrayals, and fights for freedom - this is the unmissable YA debut of 2022.

10 Minutes with Jackie Bailey

Do you have any writing rituals?

If I haven’t been writing for a while, I write my morning pages, which is just a brain dump of whatever is in my head. That clears it out like a good blow of the nose. 

I might also do ten minutes of meditation, especially if I am in the creative phase of making up words. 

I make sure my phone is off and in another room, and then I sit down and have to do at least an hour, preferably more, before I can do any other work for the day.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

A bit of both really. I initially like to find the voice, and that can take a lot of words. But once I have the voice I am happy to plan – not every detail, but the overall architecture. Sort of like deciding which way to drive from Sydney to Brisbane, but not where you will stop for lunch or wee breaks.

How do you feel about the book now it’s out of your hands?

Relieved! I am also so moved when I read a message from a reader. There is this great little poem by Sean Thomas Dougherty, ‘Why Bother?’ Because right now, there is / someone / out there with / a wound / in the exact shape ‘ of your words.’

As you were writing, who did you have in mind as the ideal reader?

My sister Allison. The book is basically written to her.

If The Eulogy was made into a movie, who would you see playing the main characters?

Ooh, I love fantasising about this. Sandra Oh has to be in it, right? Maybe as the mum? Apart from that I really don’t mind!

What is your number one rule for writing?

Just keep going.

What element of your writing brings out the grammar police in your editor?

I am truly terrible with tenses. When did this or that or the other thing happen, exactly? My editors and I had to make multiple timelines to sort that out!

Do you have a favourite writing place?

I wish I was the type of person who could write in cafes. I am best in my little office, with the blinds down. Which is where I am right now.

Are you reading anything at the moment?

I am reading This is not a book about Benedict Cumberbatch by Tabitha Carvan, which is making me laugh out loud with satisfying regularity. I was on a panel with Tabitha Carvan and Cadance Bell, hosted by Tom Gibson, at the Canberra Writers Festival a couple of weeks ago and it was a lot of fun. I also just finished Cadance’s memoir, The All of It: A Bogan Rhapsody. That was funny, sad and excellent in every way. 

 What are you working on next?

I am working in a nonfiction book about how to live a spiritual life without religion. I studied a Masters of Theology in interfaith studies and was ordained an interfaith minister after my sister died. My peers became hospital and prison chaplains, that sort of thing, but for me it was always about writing and death. I became an independent funeral director, celebrant, and author.

Staff Review - Babel by RF Kuang

Babel - Or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution

RF KUANG

review by Chloe Townson

Robin Swift – an unassuming name for an unassuming character, lifted out of poverty and plague and transplanted in a new world where he is given all that he needs and afforded every opportunity. Robin Swift, who soon does not remember the name he was born with, only the anglicised name that he chose to fit in – a requirement, he is told, to make it easier for Englishmen to pronounce.

Taught to read, write, and breathe in Latin, Greek, English, and Chinese, Robin’s ultimate destination is Oxford and the Babel Institute of Translation. Set in an alternate London where silver is used as a conductor for magic via language and translation, Robin’s education and purpose is to be able to create and wield these magical silver bars, usable only by those who can not only speak two or more languages but who understand those languages right down to their etymological roots.

Babel is a book for language nerds; it’s a book for those who are in love with words and language and the ebbs and flows of borrowed meaning and meaning lost. It does not fit squarely into any specific genre – some will call it fantasy, some will call it dark academia, others will call it historical fiction. Like language, it borrows from all the above, pieces that fit together to create an alluring whole.

At Oxford, Robin finds his people; others who have been uprooted from their Motherlands and used by the British Empire to further imperial gain. This is not a book about friendship and scholarly adventures, not really. It’s a book about colonialism, about otherness and the internal struggle between taking the path that is easy or taking the path that is right, because the two don’t always converge. As the main protagonist, Robin’s struggles are wholly believable. He is not the ‘reluctant’ hero who suddenly finds courage and valour. It takes time – as it should.

At first, Babel meanders. It’s a quiet novel that slowly gathers momentum until it lays an invisible wire in the reader’s path, tripping them into a chaotic bramble of murder, tragic betrayal, and emotional upheaval. Babel is not just a new fantasy that sits prettily amongst the others. No, Babel is an important novel – one that I will push into the hands of others not only because it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year, but because I think it’s a book that needs to be read.

Babel is due for release on September 7th. Click the link below to pre-order your copy.

BEST NEW BOOKS COMING OUT IN SEPTEMBER

If August was the calm before the storm, September IS the storm. The whip of hard wind that slams a door just as the rain starts to pelt the roof — because you know what? Christmas is just around the corner. I know you don’t want to hear it! But if you’d like to get in some early gift shopping, we’ve got your book-lovers covered…

FICTION

FANTASY

CRIME

NON-FICTION

Staff Review - Fight Night

by Jessie Kinivan

“He looked happy and sad at the same time. That’s a popular adult look because adults are busy and have to do everything at once, even feel things.”

Fight Night follows three generations of women; our narrator Swiv, who is ‘around a hundred months old’, her mother, and her grandmother Elvira. The stubborn and anxious Swiv has been suspended from school for enacting Elvira’s lessons in fighting back, and so spends her time with her grandmother, shopping, watching basketball games and attending weekly ‘editorial meetings’. 

As her heavily pregnant mother, an actress with a flair for the dramatic (as well as visible PTSD) waits to give birth, Swiv is assigned the task of documenting their lives for her absent father, noting down the domestic routines that tell a far bigger story, in a way that only a child can. When Elvira books a spontaneous trip to California, it is up to Swiv to keep her boisterous grandmother safe, and as the two navigate travel from Canada together, their blend of stern naivete and jovial wisdom make for a delightfully odd duo – one you would always want to be seated next to on a flight. 

Swiv’s blunt observations and honest empathy bring to mind Scout Finch, and the love she has for the women in her life, all so different, yet bonded by the same grit and heart, determined to fight for the right to live life on their own terms, is spectacular.

Full of brilliant lines that are both riotously funny and deeply moving (I stopped highlighting sentences early in when the book started to resemble a colouring book) it is a paean to mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers. All three women are irrepressible, staunchly loyal and filled with charm and empathy. They guard themselves, and each other, with a fighting spirit that cuts through the novel’s darker edges and leaves the reader emboldened and hopeful. 

Fight Night will break your heart (in all the right ways) and then immediately seek to heal you with its warmth and humour. I can’t recommend it enough. 

Chloe's Speculative Fiction Round-Up

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Riverbend Bookclub Reads - August

RIVERBEND READERS + KNITS & NOVELS

THE PERFECT GOLDEN CIRCLE

by Benjamin Meyers

England, 1989. Over the course of a burning hot summer, two very different men - traumatized Falklands veteran Calvert, and affable, chaotic Redbone - set out nightly in a clapped-out camper van to undertake an extraordinary project.

Under cover of darkness, the two men traverse the fields of rural England in secret, forming crop circles in elaborate and mysterious patterns. As the summer wears on, and their designs grow ever more ambitious, the two men find that their work has become a cult international sensation and that an unlikely and beautiful friendship has taken root as the wheat ripens from green to gold.

Moving and exhilarating, tender and slyly witty, The Perfect Golden Circle is a captivating novel about the futility of war, the destruction of the English countryside, class inequality and the power of beauty to heal trauma and fight power.

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

ENCLAVE

by Clair G. Coleman

'These are troubling times. The world is a dangerous place,' the voice of the Chairman said. 'I can continue to assure you of this: within the Wall you are perfectly safe.'

Christine could not sleep, she could not wake, she could not think. She stared, half-blind, at the cold screen of her smartphone. She was told the Agency was keeping them safe from the dangers outside, an outside world she would never see. She never imagined questioning what she was told, what she was allowed to know, what she was permitted to think. She never even thought there were questions to ask. The enclave was the only world she knew, the world outside was not safe. Staying or leaving was not a choice she had the power to make. But then Christine dared start thinking . . . and from that moment, danger was everywhere.

In our turbulent times, Claire G. Coleman's Enclave is a powerful dystopian allegory that confronts the ugly realities of racism, homophobia, surveillance, greed and privilege and the self-destructive distortions that occur when we ignore our shared humanity.

CLASSICS

THE CODE OF THE WOOSTERS

by P.G. Wodehouse

Aunt Dahlia has tasked Bertie with purloining an antique cow creamer from Totleigh Towers. In order to do so, Jeeves hatches a scheme whereby Bertie must charm the droopy and altogether unappealing Madeline and face the wrath of would-be dictator Roderick Spode. Though the prospect fills him with dread, when duty calls, Bertie will answer, for Aunt Dahlia will not be denied.

In a plot that swiftly becomes rife with mishaps, it is Jeeves who must extract his master from trouble. Again.

'To have one of his books in your hand is to possess, by way of a pill, that which can relieve anxiety, rageiness, or an afternoon-long tendency towards the sour. Paper has rarely been put to better use than printing Wodehouse.' Caitlin Moran

THE TEACHER LIBRARIAN BOOKCLUB

PICTURE BOOK

WHAT TO SAY WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO SAY

by Davina Bell & Hilary Jean Tapper

I'm not brave enough today.

Maybe next time.

You're hurting my feelings right now.

Want to join in?

A warm and whimsical guide to negotiating life's little moments and big emotions with empathy, kindness and words from the heart. From award-winning and much-loved author Davina Bell and exciting new illustrator, Hilary Jean Tapper.

JUNIOR FICTION BOOK

AUGUST & JONES

by Pip Harry

Eleven-year-old Jones Kirby has just moved to Sydney from her farm in country New South Wales. She's missing her alpacas and wide-open paddocks and can't get used to her family's tiny city apartment. She's also worried that her vision is blurry - she lost her eye to cancer as a toddler. Could it be another tumour? Enrolling at her new school, Jones meets shy, awkward August Genting. He loves fun facts, the library, and knitting as much as Jones loves rock climbing and being outdoors. Who would have thought they'd become fast friends? At home, August's parents are fighting. And for Jones, the news from the doctor is not good. To cheer themselves up, the pair hatch a brilliant plan: the August and Jones Must-See Bucket List. Together, this brave duo will set out to meet a rare monkey, run across the Harbour Bridge and even climb Australia's highest mountain. After all, with your best friend beside you, anything is possible!

MIDDLE FICTION BOOK

COP & ROBBER

by Tristan Bancks

If your mum was a cop and your dad was a crim who needed your help to commit a crime, would you do it to save him? At what cost? Nash Hall's dad is a criminal who just can't seem to go straight. He wants Nash to help him commit a robbery. A big one. The trouble is, Nash's mum is a cop. And the robbery is at Nash's school. But Dad owes a lot of money to some very dangerous people and if Nash doesn't help him do the job, it could cost both their lives.

SECONDARY FICTION

COMPLETELY NORMAN (AND OTHER LIES)

by Biffy James

Love has rules. So does grief. And Stella Wilde’s about to break them all.

Stella Wilde is secretly in love with the hottest guy in school, Isaac Calder. He seems to love her back, but there’s a problem – he already has a girlfriend, the gorgeous Grace Reyes. When Isaac is killed in a car accident, the entire school is turned upside down with grief. And while Grace can mourn publicly, Stella has to hide her feelings to stop people from finding out about her and Isaac being more than friends. But how long can Stella keep lying – to herself and everyone else? And when the truth finally comes out, how will it affect her newfound friendship with Grace?

What Are the Riverbenders Reading Right Now?

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Riverbend Readers - 'Sea of Tranquility'

by Britt, Laura, and Vicky

Once again our book club book divided readers. Some, (a largish majority - much to Chloe's delight) were fascinated by the idea of time travel, impressed with how deftly the author dealt with so many themes and stories in such an intelligent and cohesive way, were seduced by the beauty of the writing and found it a compelling novel that they couldn’t put down. Many readers did not expect to enjoy a novel about time travel, and were surprised by how easily they were drawn in to the future Mandel had imagined. However, others, despite conceding that the book was beautifully written and very clever in parts could not make sense of the story lines or the time changes, did not find the characters relatable and didn’t get the point of the book.

For those in the latter category the changes from era to era were a big impediment. They couldn’t keep track of whether we were in 2200 or 2400 and what moon colony we were on. They thought there was just too much back and forth and they didn’t understand the significance of the anomaly in the space time continuum that was the narrative spine of the story. Not many readers truly understood what happened in the last chapter even after reading it twice.

However, despite the confusion at the end of the novel, most readers were happy to let go, suspend belief, and just trust that things worked out as they should. As Mandel herself said in an interview, she does not focus on mechanics and science, and trusts her readers intelligence to fill in the gaps.

Most readers agreed that the very first sentence - “Edwin St.John St.Andrew, eighteen years old, hauling the weight of his double-sainted name across the Atlantic by steamship” - beautifully showcased Mandel's writing style from the outset. It was Edwin's story that led us in to the narrative, and for many readers his was their favourite thread in the novel.

Being a novel of speculative fiction, Sea of Tranquility raised a number of hypothetical questions which we posed to our readers this week. Would we be able to go back in time and not mess with the past? Could we look someone in the eye and not tell them they were fated to die imminently unless they changed course? The response was a unanimous "no". The question did raise an interesting point with one reader, who felt the simple answer would be for the Time Institute to change its policies. Why did the Time Institute simply not tell its agents what would befall the people they were visiting? Had Gaspery been unaware that Olive would die in three days, he would not have had to try (and fail) to resist telling Olive to leave the book tour, thus breaking the rules and ending up as a 'prisoner' lost to time.

What would happen if we suddenly realised we were in a simulation? The answer, for the most part, was nothing much. Readers felt incredulous as to who would want to simulate our human lives with all the tedium of our day to day ritual - and what kind of sadistic overlords would create a simulation which subjected us to flood, fire, famine and war? Some readers felt the realisation that our free will was an illusion would result in bouts of depression, and others felt perhaps there would be a period of chaos, and then we would just get on with it. As Gaspery says, “So What? A life lived in a simulation is still a life.”

We spoke about the simulation hypothesis and observed the similarities between this theory and organised religion (an all-powerful God creating and controlling us from on high), movies we have seen (The Truman Show, The Matrix), other more eastern ideas of spirituality and psychology (that the world as we know it is not real but a mere projection that we create in our own minds), and also video games from our past (Sims). Most readers were pretty sure we do not live in a simulation, and figured we should leave that hypothesis to Elon Musk.

Despite our regrets most readers did not wish for a world where time travel was available since the idea that we only have one go at our lives is what makes them so precious, and learning to live with our mistakes rather than go back and correct them is how we evolve as human beings.

Thank you all, once again, for another week of great discussions!

10 Minutes with Sally Piper

Do you have any writing rituals?

Oh… get up? I write in the morning mostly, and I usually do my new writing in the morning and I look at it again in the afternoon and edit. But I don’t have any little quirky things where I have to have any special clothes or cups or socks or anything like that. I’m just very disciplined. Get up and turn up. It’s a bit different at the moment because it’s different sort of stuff I’m doing at the moment for promotion – bit different from writing.

What element of your writing brings out the grammar police in your editor?

I guess for me it’s probably my sentence structure that I really look at – they can be too long. One thing I’ve learnt with each progressive book is I actually like to read short punchy sentences so I try and write those more myself. So that’s probably one of the big things I look at to try and pull in is long sentences that probably have a bunch of extraneous words that don’t need to be there.

How do you feel about the book now it’s out of your hands?

It’s a fairly personal story this one, so it’ll be interesting to see how other people perceive it when they’re taking a little bit of your heart with it when they read it. So far the feedback’s been fantastic, that it resonates with people on so many different levels. So I feel good about it, actually! Hearing different people’s interpretations of things has been really lovely.

If Bone Memories was made into a movie who do you see playing the main characters?

Geography of Friendship is going to be made into a series and people ask me this – I’m a reader? I don’t watch television or film much! To be honest when people ask me about Geography and who I’d like cast in that I actually want to give new people a go? That’s what I want them to do. I want them to go to NIDA and say “here’s some really upcoming rising talent”. And I’d love them to use that. I would probably say the same for this one.

When you read, do you see it playing out in your mind or do you just see the words?

I’m a visual writer, so I’m a visual reader. I teach landscape writing, and it’s called ‘witnessing landscape’ because that’s what I do when I’m in nature, and so for me I don’t want to just be told what a place looks like, I need to have that as a felt experience so anyone who does good place writing has immediately got me.  And it’s the same with characterisation - I need to see a three dimensional character.

What are you working on next?

I’m not working on anything at the moment but there is an idea percolating and it’s still this elusive little chimeric thing  that I really can’t get my head around at the moment. It’ something about women who are in service to other women. I’m a bit intrigued by that. Just that alone makes me think it’s going to be a novel about class. That’s about all I’ve got at the moment.

The stepping off point for it was a poem I read by Robin Morgan, an American Poet, and it was from Dark Matter, I think the collection was called. And it was about a young girl they found in the tomb of a Moche woman from the 4th century and surprisingly this Moche Empress was a great warrior because she was buried with shields and swords and had many scars from battle, but sort of tossed alongside her was this fifteen year old girl who was obviously a servant, and Robin Morgan has done a beautiful re-imagining of that girl’s experience and I would love to somehow weave the contemporary with that sort of experience. And that’s all I’ve got!

Our July Bestsellers

FICTION

NON FICTION

KIDS 9-11

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TEEN 15+

10 Minutes with Sarah Schmidt

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I’m a pantser!

How do you feel about the book now that it’s out of your hands?

I feel happy that it’s out. I also feel like I want to cling onto the family because I miss them, even though they drive me nuts. I feel good that it’s out but I want to hold them.

Are you reading anything at the moment?

I am! I’m reading The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight and I LOVE it.

What is your number one rule for writing?

Go with your gut instinct and try to stay true to that.

What is your favourite writing place?

Because I write long hand, I like to write anywhere that I can just be with that notebook and be off by myself – no distractions.

What are you working on next?

I think what’s about to come out of me is a very dark fairy tale for adults about a little monster buy who seeks his revenge on a village. That’s what I think I’m doing. Failing that – maybe some historical figure or something like that! It’s very early days.

I wanted to be dark but full of joy as well because I’ve gone back to – I guess because of the pandemic – I went back to read fairy tales and things I loved as a kid, the really dark stuff, and I just thought… I feel like as an adult these are the kinds of stories that often build and shape who you are and I wanted to go back to that and just have fun with it. So yeah, I hope that’s what happens!

BEST NEW BOOKS COMING OUT IN AUGUST

August - the calm before the storm. Except the calm is a miniature storm, because 2022 is really pulling out the big guns…

Click the covers below to pre-order our August New Releases!

FICTION

CRIME

NON FICTION

Staff Review - Ordinary Monsters by JM Miro

by Chloe Townson

Ages 18+ | $32.99

At over six-hundred pages long, you might try to convince yourself that Ordinary Monsters is far too long and you’d rather not. I’m here to convince that little voice in your head that it’s wrong — it’s just a number, and it’s only intimidating if you allow it to be. You can do this!

But really, you can. Ordinary Monsters is set in London and Scotland in the late 1800s. Think muck and grime and orphans in a dog-eat-dog world, except that world is inspired by great gothic classics like Dracula and Frankenstein.

There’s a school run by an old eccentric — Dr Berghast — who sends his trusty detectives out into the world to bring back ‘talents’ — children with extraordinary abilities who always, for reasons unknown, end up orphaned. The means by which Berghast finds said orphans is also the the gate through which unimaginable evil can be unleashed. One of our young main characters, Marlowe, is the key.

The cast of characters include many strong, independent women who need no man to save them when times are tough and a crew of self-sufficient young charges who do not hesitate to take matters into their own hands — hands that can wield dust as a weapon, that can create giant flesh monsters, that can turn invisible, and that can heal instantly. And then there are the villains, of course, and they’re the best kind. The kind that aren’t black and white. The kind that are complex, and you almost want to root for them. That Jacob Marber — it’s said many times — has very nice hands.

What I’m trying to say, in the end, is that despite it’s length, Ordinary Monsters is so readable you’ll feel as if you’ve immersed yourself into a season of Netflix’s Stranger Things only it’s set two-hundred years earlier. Six-hundred pages feels like two-hundred. If I can do it, you can do it, and I promise you’ll have no regrets.

10 Minutes with Toni Jordan

Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Pantser, 100%.

How do you feel about the book now it’s out of your hands?

Once it’s on the shelf, it doesn’t belong to me anymore. It’s got nothing to do with me at all.

What is your number one rule for writing?

Read more. Reading other books is how you understand the way narrative works, the way sentences work, the whole shebang.

What elements of your writing bring out the grammar police in your editor?

Oh, where do I start? In this book: not enough commas, and complete inability to spell the word ‘yoghurt’, which appears more often than you’d think.

Do you have a favourite writing place?

Either my study at home in Collingwood, or Central Library at the University of Queensland.

Are you reading anything at the moment?

She is Haunted by Paige Clarke

What are you working on next?

I’m not done with the Schnabels yet!

The Riverbend Regulars Series - Michelle Davies

Michelle Davies

 Q1. What do you think makes Riverbend so special?

Personable staff, a friendly face, a nice chat, local knowledge and feeling like home.

Q2. Do you have a favourite memory from riverbend?

More and ongoing preference, I love coming in to purchase books for our kindergarten library. It's always a joy.

Q3. How has reading impacted/ influenced your life?

My mother was a teacher librarian and so we grew up surrounded by books and learnt to read early. I used to spend some of my school holidays covering the library books, which in retrospect was quite a dull pastime. But reading has been really integral to many parts of my life, my career, for relaxation, for pleasure, for learning and for cooking.

Q4. What have read recently?

Give unto Others by Donna Leon, The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim, Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima, Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen, plus a large pile of cookbooks!

Q5. What’s your favourite book of all time?

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Q5. What are you most looking forward to reading?

Sally Vicker’s The Gardener and Helen Garner’s How to End a Story.

Staff Review - The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley

by Chloe Townson

Ages 15-150 | LGBTQ+ rep | $32.99

The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley by Sean Lusk sets the scene in mid 1700s England and Constantinople. The first half of the novel follows Abel Cloudesley — a slightly eccentric clock maker who, through unfortunate circumstances, becomes a single father to a son, Zachary. Young Zachary is surrounded by a quirky cast of part-time caretakers including his wet nurse Grace Morley, his aunt Frances (who is arguably far more eccentric than his own father), his butler Mr Samuels, and his father’s apprentice-with-a-secret, Tom.

When he’s six years old, Young Zachary is victim to an accident in his father’s workshop which costs him half his sight. Convinced that he is not fit to be a father, Abel sends Zachary to live with his Aunt Frances. Before he is able to change his mind, Abel is sent to Constantinople to act as spy — he never comes home.

The second half of the novel follows a sixteen-year-old, diabolically clever Zachary who has a peculiar second sight. Zachary is able to see into the hearts of others, to prophesise things past or things yet to come. Upon finding out that his father is still alive, Zachary sets off on an adventure to find him and bring him home.

The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley is akin to a warm hot chocolate on a Winter night, but with a touch of spice. The cast of characters are rightly described as Dickensian in nature — they are quirky and larger-than-life, caricaturistic but not to the point of ridicule (though they are ridiculously lovable). Historically accurate, the events described in the book are thoroughly researched and richly detailed so you’ll feel as if you’re stepping into the past.

Zachary’s second sight is unobtrusively threaded through the novel; it’s that twist of magical realism that, even in the story itself, is constantly questioned and disbelieved. The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley is ultimately about what it means to be a parent, and the love shared between family. It’s about found family and finding family, and is an inclusive coming-of-age adventure written in a way that hearkens back to the classics.

Five out of five.

Riverbend go to Conference

by Chloe Townson

Our Jessie with author, Holly Ringland

From June 11th to June 13th, a handful of Riverbend Staff abandoned the store and headed to Sydney for the Australian Bookseller’s Association Conference. Excited is an understatement. Due to Covid, this is the first in-person conference we have had in at least three years. It was an absolute joy to see everyone face to face, and there’s something to be said about the independent booksellers of Australia, the way they support each other and help each other. They’re not our competitors, they’re our friends.

From the very beginning there was a vibe of hope — empathy was shared where needed, and those who are new to the industry were welcomed with open arms.

The high point of any conference, most of the time, is the trade fair. The Riverbend Staff divided and conquered, visiting each publisher stand to find out what new, great books are coming for Christmas. And, oh boy! There are a lot. Keep an eye on future blog posts - I’ll list them all so you can pre-order at your leisure!

On a serious note, the topic that continued to be raised over and over across the course of the conference was sustainability. What are we doing to offset the carbon created by our industry? What can we do to lower our emissions, or offset them completely? Here at Riverbend we already do a lot of recycling and are conscious of which brands we support. Soon, we’ll reveal our goals to the public and will share the ways in which we have been and will become more ecologically friendly. Watch this space!

We also came home pondering what’s important to our customers. We think we know you pretty good already but we’d like to get to know you better. What are your reading habits? Where do you find your recommendations? Do you come to the store armed with the titles you’d like to read or do you like it better when we can find something for you? Are you influenced by social media or would you rather do without?

We met many inspiring authors and speakers and ate so much food. A few cheeky cocktails were enjoyed, too. When in Rome, right? We have returned to Brisbane armed with knowledge, enthusiasm, and hope - we don’t need the reminder, but we do love this industry. We love books, and we love the readers that we get to chat to on a daily basis. Here’s to you!

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ABIA BOOK OF THE YEAR WINNERS

ABIA BOOK OF THE YEAR

ABIA LITERARY FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR

Michaela and Eve are two bright, bold women who befriend each other their first year at a residential college at university, where they live in adjacent rooms. They could not be more different; one assured and popular – the other uncertain and eager-to-please. But something happens one night in O-week – a drunken encounter, a foggy memory that will force them to confront the realities of consent and wrestle with the dynamics of power.

Initially bonded by their wit and sharp eye for the colleges’ mix of material wealth and moral poverty, Michaela and Eve soon discover how fragile friendship is, and how capable of betrayal they both are.

General Fiction Book of the Year

General Non-Fiction Book of the Year

Biography of the Year

Book of the Year for Older Children

Book of the Year for Younger Children

Children’s Picture Book of the Year

Illustrated Book of the Year

International Book of the Year

Down the Rabbit Hole - 'The Kaiju Preservation Society'

by Chloe Townson

This month our Down the Rabbit Hole readers discussed ‘The Kaiju Preservation Society’ by John Scalzi.

Written during the pandemic, Scalzi describes his book as “a pop song…light and catchy, with three minutes of hooks and choruses for you to sing along with, and then you go on with your day.” Although on a deadline to write a much heavier book, Scalzi couldn’t focus on a symphony. He wanted something fun.

Which is exactly what he gave us. The group concurred that ‘The Kaiju Preservation Society’ wasn’t at all deep but that did not detract from its value. We could easily see the book being made into a movie, with quite a few suggestions on who might play the main character, Jamie. Some thought Ryan Reynolds would do an excellent job, while others suggested that his wife, Blake Lively, might also fit the bill. You see, Jamie was purposefully written without any gender signifiers. There was a lively discussion around why readers assumed a particular gender for Jamie, some seeing themselves in the character while others took context from the story.

The pacing was nice, though the novel could have profited from some expansion of the universe. The dialogue was witty and the science was just nerdy enough to be understood, and not so overdone as to be overwhelming.

If ‘The Kaiju Preservation Society’ has purpose, it is to highlight the imbalance of power in our universe; tech bro millionaires and their wealthy buddies in Parliament have too much control over the Earth’s future, and though the motives of the ‘bad guys’ were cliche and black and white, they weren’t too far off the mark.

Overall, we had fun!

Next month’s book is vastly different to the previous two — prepare to be taken into the past to follow the tumultuous life of Zachary Cloudesley.