#40 - #47: Tamaki, Tan, Papunya School, Lat, Heiss, Gavin, Winch, Sykes

[sweet-adelheid.livejournal.com]

My 50books_poc year ends on January 31, and although I have still been reading, I've gotten slack with posting reviews. So here's an 8-book catchup post.

#40 - Skim, by Mariko Tamaki and Jill Tamaki
Although it isn't an Issue-with-a-capital-I book, there's an awful lot in here that I'd kind of hope a kid who read it would discuss with someone else. Like I said, it wasn't an easy read. A lot of the storylines were very close to my heart. It doesn't end with all the ends tied off neatly (something I always admire); there's a wonderful ambiguity to it all. More here.

#41 - Tales from Outer Suburbia, by Shaun Tan
Another completely awesome book from the mind of Shaun Tan. This is a beautiful, beautiful collection of short stories. Most are essentially text-based with illustrations, but two - including one of my favourites - are visual collage/graphic novel-type pieces. Tan deserves every award he's been given for this book so far, and then some. More here.

#42 - Papunya School Book of History and Country by the Papunya School community
A good combination of showing that life really is different in the Communities to a) the stereotype and b) the lives of non-Indigenous remote, rural and urban Australians (not all Indigenous Australians live in Redfern//not all communities are awful), and that history is important and is still having consequences today. More here.

#43 - Kampung Boy, by Lat
It’s a beautifully rendered graphic novel of (essentially) Lat’s childhood in a village – a kampung – in Malaysia. His and his family’s religious observance is matter-of-fact, and his childhood mischief is endearing. (Like that of most children.) More here.

#44 - Not Meeting Mr Right, by Anita Heiss
Indigenous Australian chick-lit! Totally awesome! Alice and her thick-headedness got on my nerves occasionally, but only occasionally. Generally it was great fun, and far more enjoyable than the sort of Marian Keyes-esque chick lit that I’ve read in the past. More here.

#45 - The Wheel of Surya, by Jamila Gavin
Book one of a trilogy. I picked it up initially because I’m interested in the end of the British Raj era of Indian history. This book has less of that (because of the focus on the partition and following) but is a wonderful story, hooking me in completely. More here.

#46 - Swallow the Air, by Tara June Winch
A fabulous, hits-you-over-the-head-and-buries-you-in-horror kind of book. There’s a deadly (and not in the colloquial sense) reality to this book, and yet it is also pretty deadly in the colloquial sense as well: it killed me but oh, how amazing it is nevertheless. More here.

#47 - Love poems and other revolutionary actions, by Roberta (Bobbi) Sykes
Reactions to poetry are so very personal. Like most of the Indigenous Australian poetry I've read, this collection rips out my heart and stamps on it. But I find I can still deal much better with the heart-ripping if it's done by women rather than by men. More here, including notes on specific poems.