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Showing posts with label Lili Wilkinson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lili Wilkinson. Show all posts
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Hard-to-Find Australian Doomsday Novel Tense, Gritty
6:59 AM
(Image from Book Depository)
"I don't know who I am now the world is different" (261).
In the last three years, Rick Palmer has gone from a relatively normal father to a paranoid doomsday prepper. After his wife took off, he poured his energy into educating himself and his three teenage daughters on how to survive the apocalypse he claims is imminent. He drilled his kids on how to find water in the desert, how to conserve resources, how to set bones and perform emergency first aid, and most of all, how to slip out of their house and into their well-stocked bunker without giving away the secret of its existence. Despite these frantic exercises, life in the Palmers' tiny Australian town is perfectly peaceful, even boring. Prudence Palmer and her sisters are convinced their father is mad as the proverbial hatter. They long for a normal, on-the-grid life full of the luxuries the other teens in town take for granted—smartphones, dates, regular school, parents who aren't off their rockers ...
Then, the lights go out in the Palmers' small village. Communication with the outside world is cut off. Confusion and chaos quickly replace order and reason. With Rick missing—he hasn't returned from the distant mine where he works—it's up to Pru to decide the best way to keep herself and her sisters safe. She knows she should retreat to the bunker immediately, but a chance meet-up with a handsome boy visiting from America, whose parent is also missing, gives her pause. As fear and desperation settle over their once-peaceful town, Pru must ask herself some important questions. Does she do what her father taught her and hoard her resources or defy his wishes and aid her helpless neighbors? What kind of person is she really, when push comes to shove?
I don't read as many dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels as I once did, but I still enjoy them when I do. After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson was mentioned on some best-of-the-genre list, so I knew I wanted to read it. It's not an easy book to get a hold of, though; luckily, Book Depository came through for me. While there's nothing really original about After the Lights Go Out, it's still a tense, engrossing novel. It's atmospheric, gritty, and compelling. The plot moves quickly, the characters are intriguing, and the decisions Pru has to make throughout the story makes it a thought-provoking tale. Like all books of this kind, it made me ask myself, "What would I do in this situation?" It's an interesting thought. All in all, then, I enjoyed this one, even if it's nothing I hadn't seen before.
(Readalikes: Reminds me of the Tomorrow, When the War Began series by John Marsden and lots of other dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for language, violence, and sexual content
To the FTC, with love: I bought a copy of After the Lights Go Out from Book Depository with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger. Ha ha.
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Top Ten Tuesday: Hands-On Reading
8:35 AM
Welcome to another edition of my favorite bookish meme! I love Top Ten Tuesday, even if today's topic—Books That I Refuse to Let Anyone Touch (too special/valuable/fragile/etc.)—doesn't really apply to me. I'm not interested enough to collect rare books, not sentimental enough to keep nostalgic reads (at least not old, fragile copies), and not cautious enough not to let family and friends borrow my books. So, yeah, for this topic? I got nothing. Instead, I'm going to spin it a little and list the Top Ten Books I'm Hoping to Touch This Summer (or, My Summer TBR List). This will actually be the subject of the TTT list on June 25, but since I'm constantly biting off more than I can chew (er, read), I will no doubt be able to come up with another, entirely different list in a month. No problem.
Before we get to that, though, I want to encourage you to join in the TTT fun. It's a simple way to spread the love around the book blogosphere while adding to both your blogroll and your TBR
Top Ten Books I'm Hoping to Touch This Summer (or My Summer TBR List, Part I)
1. The County of Ross: A History of Ross County, Ohio, from the Earliest Days, with Special Chapters on the Bench and Bar, Medical Profession, Educational Development, Industry and Agriculture, and Biographical Sketches by Henry Holcomb Bennett—Since February, I've been working hard to fulfill the first requirement in the process of becoming an accredited genealogist through ICAPGen. It involves writing a lengthy research report on four generations of a family who lived continuously in the part of the world in which you are seeking to specialize. For me, that's the Great Lakes region, where most of my ancestors settled after immigrating to the U.S. from England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. The specific family I'm researching has lived in Ross County, Ohio, for generations. Thus, I'm reading this 785-page gem, which was published in 1902. It's more scintillating than I thought it would be. I actually stayed up until midnight the other night reading it! #genealogynerd
That being said, The County of Ross is hardly the kind of page-turner that I'm going to be reading cover-to-cover just as fast as I can. I'll be reading chapters in between other books (probably mystery/suspense novels that I will want to consume at warp speed) so it will likely take me all summer to finish this hefty tome. I've got time since my report isn't due until August ...
2. The Good Neighbor by Maxwell King—I bought this Fred Rogers biography after seeing the excellent documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor? in the movie theater. I found the film so inspiring that I wanted to learn more about this iconic figure whose t.v. show was a daily part of my early childhood.
3. Educated by Tara Westover—This memoir about a woman's unconventional childhood and education has gotten all kinds of buzz since it was published. It's been sitting on my physical TBR pile for months and I still haven't gotten to it. Soon, I will.
4. Because of the Rabbit by Cynthia Lord—I love Lord's poignant children's books, so I'm excited to read her newest. This slim novel is about a girl who's going to public school for the first time after being homeschooled and the rescue rabbit who helps her cope with all the challenges she's facing. Sounds sweet.
5. Amina's Voice by Hena Khan—I found this MG novel, which I've heard good things about, while browsing at the library yesterday. The story revolves around a Pakistani-American Muslim girl and her struggles with friendship, culture clashes, etc.
6. After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson—This Australian post-apocalyptic novel sounds intriguing. This is one I'd really like to get my hands on, but I can't find it anywhere, even though it was published last year. It's not available at my local libraries and it's not for sale on Amazon. Anyone know how to get a hold of this elusive volume without traveling to Australia?
7. Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune by Roselle Lim—I'm reading this one for a blog tour and it looks really fun. It's about a chef who wants to revitalize the Chinatown restaurant she inherits from her estranged mother.
8. The Spies of Shilling Lane by Jennifer Ryan (available June 4, 2019)—I pre-ordered this WWII novel, which concerns a disgraced divorceé who travels to London to reunite with her estranged daughter. When she discovers that, in the chaos of war, her daughter has gone missing, she launches her own investigation to find her vanished child.
9. Her Daughter's Mother by Daniela Petrova (available June 18, 2019)—An expectant mother who becomes an unwitting stalker of the "anonymous" egg donor responsible for her pregnancy is the star of this forthcoming thriller. When the donor disappears, the woman launches her own investigation to find out what happened to the woman to whom she owes so much.
10. My Sister's Grave by Robert Dugoni—I came across an intriguing-looking series by Dugoni while perusing the mystery/thriller section of the library yesterday. My library didn't have the first installment, My Sister's Grave, so I requested it from another branch. It's about a homicide detective who's determined to solve her sister's disappearance and alleged murder.
What do you think of my summer reading list? Have you read any of these titles? What books are on your summer TBR? If you did today's topic, which books do you refuse to let anyone touch? I'd truly love to know. Leave a comment on this post and I will happily return the favor on your post (please make sure to leave the URL so I can find you).
Happy TTT!
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