"The Tiny Wife" by Andrew Kaufman

"The Tiny Wife" is more of a short story than a novel as it is only about 80 pages long, so it only took me about one hour to read it. From the opening paragraph I knew it would be an interesting and unique story:

"The robbery was not without consequences. The consequences were the point of the robbery. It was never about money. The thief didn't even ask for any."  

Basically a mysterious thief demands items of emotional and personal significance from each of the people he is holding up, rather than something of financial value. These items appear to function as their souls, and the rest of the book involves the different characters dealing with strange consequences relating to the loss of their significant item/soul and attempts to repair their lives. Some survive and some don't, and it's quite a bizarre story in many ways. I'm sure there's meant to be a hidden meaning or moral, as the story does read like a fable...perhaps it's just reminding us to cherish and be grateful for what we have in life and not take things for granted in case they are taken away or destroyed. or maybe I'm reading too much into it and it's just a crazy fairytale :-)

The book is written in an almost dream-like/nightmare-like fashion where the most crazy unexpected things can happen and somehow appear normal and be described in a matter-of-fact way at the same time. This dream-like style of fairytale writing reminded me a bit of "The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her own Making"  by Catherynne M. Valente that I read a couple of years ago.

It's a very short book, and although quite strange, I found it interesting reading just to experience the uniqueness of it. 

Started reading on my kindle: 1st January 2015
Finished the same day.
My score: 6.5/10 

Summary of Books I Read in 2014

I read 27 books this year, slightly less than the 32 I read in 2013. Although there are 4 other books I started reading in 2014 but have yet to finish. In 2014 I completed the Aussie Author Challenge (see previous post for summary), but I also read a lot more non fiction books than I have in previous years (8 completed, 3 started but not quite finished), and I tend to take longer to read non fiction books than novels, so that probably contributed to reading less books overall this year.

My favourite books that I read in 2014 were:
FICTION:
"Jasper Jones" by Craig Silvey (10/10)
"Gifts of the Permangk" by Dean Mayes (10/10)
 "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena" by Anthony Marra (10/10)
 NON FICTION:
"The Undesirables" by Mark Isaacs (10/10)
"The Brain that Changes Itself" by Norman Doige (9.5/10)
"The Dirty Chef" by Matthew Evans (9/10)
"The 1000 Hour Day" by Chris Bray (9/10 *however I am probably biased as he is my brother*)

Books read in 2014:
"Barracuda" by Christos Tsiolkas (4/10)
"The Pirates of the Deep Green Sea" by Eric Linklater (10/10 kids book)
"The Brain that Changes Itself" by Norman Doidge (9.5/10)
"The Lieutenant" by Kate Grenville (8.5/10)
"The Dirty Chef" by Matthew Evans (9/10 Non fiction)
"Sorry" by Gail Jones (6.5/10)
"I came to say goodbye" by Caroline Overington (7/10)
"The Ocean at the end of the lane" by Neil Gaiman (7/10)
"All the names" by Jose Saramago (6.5/10)
"Jasper Jones" by Craig Silvey (10/10)
"The invention of wings" by Sue Monk Kidd (8/10)
"A Constellation of Vital Phenomena" by Anthony Marra (10/10)
"The 1000 Hour Day" by Chris Bray (9/10)
"Mister Pip" by Lloyd Jones (8.5/10)
"A Feast for Crows" by George R R Martin (9/10)
"The Undesirables" by Mark Isaacs (10/10)
"Chasing the light" by Jesse Blackadder (7/10)
"The Family Frying Pan" by Bryce Courtenay (8/10)
"Gifts of the Permangk" by Dean Mayes (10/10)
"When the night comes" by Favel Parrett (8/10)
"It starts with passion" by Keith Abraham (read, but no review)
"Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell (6/10)
"Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert T Kiyosaki (read, but no review)
"Like a virgin" by Richard Branson (6/10)
"The Rosie Effect" by Graeme Simsion (8/10)
"Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver (7.5/10)
"Can you keep a secret?" by Caroline Overington (6/10)

Aussie Author Challenge 2014 Summary

I actually didn't think I had managed to complete the Aussie Author Challenge in 2014 until today when I went back through my book lists and reviews and actually counted them. I am happy to reveal that I read 14 books by Australian authors in 2014, meeting the various rules for the "Kangaroo" level of the Challenge (see below for details) :-) Thank you to Jo from the Booklover Book Reviews blog for hosting the Challenge again, it was good fun taking part, and I read many books I might not have otherwise read, including two 10/10 books - "Jasper Jones", "Gifts of the Permangk". Here's my summary of the books I read as part of the Challenge and links to my reviews of them.

"Barracuda" by Christos Tsiolkas (Male author, New to me, First published in 2013) 4/10
"The Lieutenant" by Kate Grenville (Female author, New to me) 8.5/10
"Chasing the light" by Jesse Blackadder (Male author, New to me) 7/10
"The Dirty Chef" by Matthew Evans (Male author, New to me, Non Fiction) 9/10
"Sorry" by Gail Jones (Female author, New to me) 6.5/10
"I came to say goodbye" by Caroline Overington (Female author) 7/10
"Jasper Jones" by Craig Silvey (Male author, New to me) 10/10
"The 1000 Hour Day" by Chris Bray (Male author, Non Fiction) 9/10
"The Undesirables" by Mark Issacs (Male author, New to me, Non Fiction, First published in 2014) 10/10
"The Family Frying Pan" by Bryce Courtenay (Male author, Audio book) 8/10
"Gifts of the Permangk" by Dean Mayes (Male author, New to me) 10/10
"When the light comes" by Favel Parrett (Female author, New to me, First published in 2014) 8/10
"The Rosie Effect" by Graeme Simsion (Male author, First published in 2014) 8/10
"Can you keep a secret?" by Caroline Overington (Female author, First published in 2014) 6/10

Kangaroo level: Read and review 12 titles written by Australian Authors of which at least 4 of those authors are female, at least 4 of those authors are male, and at least 4 of those authors are new to you; At least 6 fiction and at least 2 non-fiction, and at least 3 titles first published in 2013 or 2014.

"Can you keep a secret?" by Caroline Overington

This is the fourth novel by Caroline Overington that I have read, and I read it as part of the Aussie Author Challenge. While this book was an easy read, it really did not engage me in the way that the other three books did, and I was a bit disappointed as I had scored "Sisters of Mercy" 9/10, "Ghost child" 8/10 and "I came to say goodbye" 7/10 when I read them.
I really found it hard to empathise or be really interested in either of the two main characters - Caitlin (a pretty but uneducated Australian who had an unconventional upbringing and left home at 16) and Colby (a rich American who works on Wall St). The unlikely pair meet when Colby and some other rich friends organise a Whitsundays yachting holiday to celebrate the end of 1999 while their offices are shut for the Y2K bug, and Caitlin, who had been working as a 'skimpy' waitress in a local bar, accepts a casual job as deckhand for the trip. The story starts off as a bit of an uninspiring teenage one-night-stand becomes romance scenario, then Caitlin moves to New York, leaving her mother with MS behind in a nursing home. The love story starts wearing thin then collides with the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, leaving Caitlin too scared to fly home and seeing therapists and Colby, despite being obviously bored with Caitlin even after 6 weeks together, marries her. For me, neither of the characters come across as likeable or really believable, more like stereotypes. Next great idea they have is to adopt a child from an orphanage in Russia, which predictably does not go to plan. As the book goes on Caitlin appears to be more delusional and very selfish in everything she is doing and things get less and less believable, while Colby distances himself as much as possible from her by working longer hours. I wont go on to describe the storyline in any more detail as it will give away the 'twist' at the end, but I did find this book quite shallow and disappointing compared to the other books I've read by this author. It hasn't put me off wanting to read her other books, but I do hope the rest are more like 'Sisters of Mercy' and less like 'Can you keep a secret?'.  

Started reading on my kindle: 30th December 2014
Finished: 31st December 2014
My score: 6/10
Aussie Author Challenge stats: female author, first published in 2014, genre: drama

"The Rosie Effect" by Graeme Simsion

 

"The Rosie Effect" is the highly anticipated sequel to "The Rosie Project", one of my favourite books that I read last year. I read it as part of the Aussie Author Challenge, but also because I had been looking forward eagerly to rejoining the crazy adventures of Don Tillman.

I really enjoyed "The Rosie Effect", Don Tillman cracks me up. I didn't think that the sequel was quite as good as "The Rosie Project", but that was always going to be a hard act to follow since it was so awesome. This book sees Don married to Rosie and living in New York and embarking on the "Baby Under Development (BUD) Project". Plenty of crazy situations arise that could only ever happen to Don, and many were pretty funny, although the story was not as light-hearted and hilarious as in the first book. Still, if there was a 3rd book in the series written, I would definitely look forward to reading it!

Started reading on my kindle: 28th December 2014
Finished: 30th December 2014
My score: 8/10
Aussie author challenge stats: male author, book first published in 2014, comedy/drama genre.

"Flight Behaviour" by Barbara Kingsolver

This is the first book I've read by this author. It was a bit slow to start, but I really enjoyed it when I got into it. This story is about the Monarch butterflies that migrate massive distances from South America to Northern America, one of the fascinating biological events in the world that intrigue me. The interesting biology of the butterflies and the problems of climate change are interwoven with a generational family drama set in a rural setting. At first I thought the book was set maybe 100 years ago as the farm life and attitudes of the main characters seemed so out of touch, but then references to modern things like iPads made me realise that it was set in current times, and as the story developed it revealed a community where University/College education was rarely aspired to, most families would be considered disadvantaged and were struggling to make ends meet by farming, and the general population gave more credibility to the commercial tv news presenters than to scientists on topics like climate change. It is a really good novel, combining the science and environmental issues with a family drama of a style reminiscent to me of Jodi Picoult's books.

Started reading on my kindle: 19th December 2014
Finished: 28th December 2014
My score: 7.5/10

"Like a virgin" by Richard Branson

I started reading "Like a virgin" on my kindle 3rd November 2014 and finished it on the 11th November. My score: 6/10....actually I probably would have scored the first 1/3 of the book 8/10 and should have stopped reading then, as the rest of the book was very repetitive. Richard Branson is a very inspiring person, involved in lots of successful businesses but also making a big effort in terms of the environment and community welfare, and coming up with innovative ways to address critical problems we are facing on a global scale.