Books I Read in June

There's something about this year that just seems to be whipping passed, more so than usual. It's great in some ways - I can feel myself racing towards the end, to exciting trips and deadlines and events, but it's also leaving me nostalgic. Needing to ground myself in the month that's gone passed. So hey! Welcome to a new series! Books I Read This Month.

June was kind of light-on reading-wise, and certainly manga heavy (I'm inhaling Fullmetal Alchemist for the second time and just. You know. Relatively obsessed again), but I read some things I'd never touched before. Jane Eyre was a big one (cue gasps). It's a bit of a monster of a book too, and I really maintain you could cut the whole of the first section and not be robbed of any emotional sucker punching, but that might just be my inner editor talking. The romantic in me didn't love Jane Eyre (mostly because Mr. Rochester strikes me as pretty high on the cray cray scale), but I appreciated Jane a lot as a character - strong and stubborn and kind of brilliant.

Lost at Sea by Bryan Lee O'Malley was almost the opposite. A graphic novel detailing the coming-of-age of a girl who believes her soul's been stolen by a cat is both wonderful and slight (particularly compared to Jane Eyre). I read the Scott Pilgrim series a few years ago and this very much feels a precursor to it in terms of O'Malley's writing style and character types. Which isn't a bad thing! Just a thing.

I also ended up with Kate Lilley's collection of poetry, Ladylike, after partaking in an experiment with a writer at Emerging Writers Festival. The experiment involved doing an interview with her and then picking one of her pre-loved books to take home. I ended up with Lilley's collection and, while I find it mostly unremarkable, the process was something I really enjoyed and engaged with. It was pretty great.

And Fullmetal Alchemist! Well. I'll get to that when I finish the series again.

Sunday Short: Aperture by Jennifer Mills

Of course his mother was too short-sighted to buy them a tank, so for the first few days Confucius—the name was Helen’s idea—lived in temporary digs, a plastic juice bottle with the top cut off with scissors, until Jeff finally yielded to its persistence and bought a glass fishbowl, a squat sphere that sat like a model planet on the counter, in the place where he usually dropped his keys. For weeks Confucius did laps around its planet, glowering at him. Reminding him. He hated it. Its eyes took everything in and give nothing away.

This is a rather lovely piece about a man living in China with his girlfriend, only to be promptly visited by his American parents. The short explores themes of isolation and relationship breakdown rather wonderfully through the use of a goldfish named Confucius, who is as quickly out of Jeff and Helen's life as he arrived in. You can read Aperture care of the Meanjin website here.

Friday Finds

- Kill Your Darlings has an excellent podcast over on their blog about the value of agents in Australia. Really interesting stuff. There's also a great list care of DIY MFA telling you three things to know before you publish.

- Chuck Wendig has another awesomesauce list of 50 Rantypants Snidbits of Writing & Storytelling Advice told with his usual cussing charm.

- People are always writing these 'Must Read' books lists, but Flavorwire's 50 Books Everyone Needs to Read 1963 - 2013 is really something else. Excellent array of books (and some pretty surprising ones in there too!)

- Google Poetics! And, in completely unrelated news, a Troy McClure supercut!

- I've always had a huge soft spot for characters wearing eyepatches (they're super great okay) and The Mary Sue has put together an awesome list of 10 Powerful Eyepatch Wearing Characters in Geekdom (Fury! Mad Eye Moody! KING BRADLEY!).

- How lovely is this new lookbook for Project 104 swimsuits?  Gorgeous stuff.

- If you're up for some weekend viewing, why not check out this list of 13 Independent Sci-fi/Fantasy Movies You Need to Watch? There's something for everyone!

- To take you out for the weekend, have some illustrations featuring the patron saints of brilliant female characters. I am chin-handsing all over the place right now.

Orla Kiely Resort 2014

Oh man, I've posted collections by Orla Kiely before, but this new one out for Resort 2014 is gorgeous.The late-fifties inspired prints and the tailored silhouettes are doing things to me. There's not a look here I wouldn't wear. Plus the model is sixties stunning, with her thick bangs and dark eyes. Check out the full collection over here.

Your Mid-Week Art Break: Andrew MacLean

How aces are Andrew MacLean's illustrations? Brilliantly atmospheric and a strong, angular sensibility to it all. He's doing a comic at the moment called Head Lopper and it's, well, pretty gory but awesome. You should check him out.

Sunday Short: Abraham's Boys by Joe Hill

“I don’t know. I am not finish yet.” But as Max spoke, he was already beginning to realize he had made a mistake, allowed himself to get carried away by the fascinating possibilities of the assignment, the irresistible what if of it, and had written things too personal for him to show anyone. He had written you were the only one I knew how to talk to and I am sometimes so lonely. He had really been imagining her reading it, somehow, somewhere—perhaps as he wrote it, some astral form of her staring over his shoulder, smiling sentimentally as his pen scratched across the page. It was a mawkish, absurd fantasy and he felt a withering embarrassment to think he had given in to it so completely.

I've been reading Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts at the moment - a rather brilliant short story collection which explores the real intimacies of the absurd and the supernatural in situations that run a little too close to reality. Abraham's Boys is a hard short about two brothers who are confronted with a bitter, unpleasant truth about their father. It's ultimately about the loss of innocence and damaged boys entering desperate situation. It's heart breaking and horrifying and just quite excellent. You can read Abraham's Boys over at Fifty-Two Stories.

Friday Finds

Hannah Kent has written a rather brilliant behind the scenes of her novel, Burial Rites, from conception through to publication. It's a really good read for anyone interested in the process and is beautifully written to boot.

- This is a great post on compiling short stories for your short story collection. Really helpful stuff.

- Love Reading, Hate Books is one-star reviews of classic lit. Super fun and perfect reading for your Friday.

- The Feminist Taylor Swift twitter account has given me life this week. It's incredibly funny.

- Flavorwire has a really interesting exploration of postfeminism in cinema at the moment - particularly in the guise of Spring Breakers and The Bling Ring (or which I have sadly seen neither!). Really worth the read. On a lighter (?) note, they also have a list of the 50 Greatest Movie Antiheroes of All Time and it is basically the best. I love love love a good antihero.

- These 6 Fairytales for the Modern Woman are pretty great too.

- These stunning photographs by Rayyiu Radzi are my happy place this weekend too. Check them out fooreever.