Non-Fiction<\/strong><\/p>\n I read a lot of 1960s non-fiction as research for the book I am currently trying (and failing) to write, but I can\u2019t count any of them as 2019 favourites because they were re-reads. I did enjoy A Good School: Life at a Girls\u2019 Grammar School in the 1950s<\/em> by Mary Evans, which included some amusing commentary on the ridiculousness of school regulations and the ingenuity of school girls in getting around these rules. I am not sure I can truly call Growing Up Queer in Australia<\/em><\/a>, edited by Benjamin Law, a favourite<\/em> book, but I found it to be far more interesting and wide-ranging than I expected. I have issues with the term \u2018queer\u2019 and I was bothered by the apparent misogyny and ignorance of a few of the contributors, but I finished the book feeling that I had a much greater understanding of and empathy with younger Australians who identify themselves as living under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. And surely that\u2019s why we read non-fiction – to walk in someone else\u2019s shoes for a while.<\/p>\n Graphic Novels<\/strong><\/p>\n Children\u2019s Books<\/strong><\/p>\n I also enjoyed The Terrible Two Get Worse<\/em><\/a> by Mac Barnett, Jory John and Kevin Cornell, sequel to The Terrible Two<\/em><\/a>. This time, the pranksters plot to oust their terrible school principal, but find his replacement is even worse. There are plenty of jokes, an inventive plot and fabulous illustrations, alongside some surprisingly sophisticated references (to Occam\u2019s razor and Chekhov\u2019s gun, among others).<\/p>\n I am hoping next year will be a more successful year for me in terms of reading and writing books. Here is the pile of books I brought home from the library for holiday reading:<\/p>\n I’ve also noted that Girls Gone By are publishing another of Antonia Forest’s Marlow books<\/a> early next year, although they’ve decided to skip Book Seven, The Ready-Made Family<\/em> and go straight to Book Eight, The Cricket Term<\/em>. WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE, GIRLS GONE BY? I’M TRYING TO READ THEM IN THE CORRECT SEQUENCE. Although of course, I’ve ordered The Cricket Term<\/em>.<\/p>\n Thank you to everyone who visited Memoranda this year. Happy Christmas to everyone celebrating it and happy end-of-December to everyone else!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This year, I was in a reading slump and a writing slump (and a general dealing-with-life slump), so I finished reading only 31 new books. I did a lot of comfort reading of old favourites and I spent many hours online reading newspapers and journal articles and blog posts, trying to make some sense of … Continue reading My Favourite Books of 2019<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,6,293,21,18],"tags":[25,23,292,288,291,279,281,286,280,290,289,287,285],"class_list":["post-5904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1950s-and-1960s","category-books","category-childrens-books","category-lgb","category-my-favourite-books","tag-antonia-forest","tag-ben-aaronovitch","tag-benjamin-law","tag-cece-bell","tag-jillian-tamaki","tag-jory-john","tag-kevin-cornell","tag-lissa-evans","tag-mac-barnett","tag-mariko-tamaki","tag-mary-evans","tag-meg-mckinlay","tag-sally-rooney"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5904"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5924,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5904\/revisions\/5924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"'Normal](\"http:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Normal-People-by-Sally-Rooney.jpg\" "\\"'Normal")
This year, I failed to finish reading a number of novels that had received a great deal of hype. It is possible there’s something wrong with my literary tastes, but I feel life is just too short to waste a lot of time ploughing through pretentious waffle about uninteresting characters and situations. I did enjoy the latest Rivers of London<\/em> novel from Ben Aaronovitch, Lies Sleeping<\/em><\/a>, but I was underwhelmed by his new novella, The October Man<\/em><\/a>. One book that did live up to the hype was Sally Rooney\u2019s Normal People<\/em><\/a>, although I do understand the criticisms of it and I think I am now done with novels about writers. Writers do not tend to live fascinating lives. Please, novelists, from now on, write about characters who do something else for a living.<\/p>\n![\"'Skim'](\"http:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Skim-by-Mariko-Tamaki.jpg\" "\\"'Skim'")
I really liked Skim<\/em><\/a>, a graphic novel set in Canada in 1993, written by Mariko Tamaki<\/a> and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki. I presume it\u2019s at least a bit autobiographical, because it feels so authentic. Teenage Kim is having a fairly bad year. She breaks her arm after tripping over her own home-made Wiccan altar; she falls disastrously in love with a female teacher with boundary issues; she sneers at her racist Mean Girl classmates; she observes her parents’ unhappy relationship with dismay; she grows apart from her best friend and makes a new unexpected friend. Despite the depressing themes, it\u2019s often very funny and the art works very well with the story.<\/p>\n![\"'El](\"http:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/El-Deafo-by-Cece-Bell.jpg\" "\\"'El")
I read some great books aimed at middle graders. El Deafo<\/em><\/a> by Cece Bell<\/a> was an entertaining, endearing graphic memoir about a girl with acquired hearing loss growing up in 1970s America. Cece has problems that most children will relate to (finding and keeping friends, dealing with mean teachers and bullying classmates, having a crush on a boy in her neighbourhood) but she\u2019s also the only child in her school who uses a Phonic Ear \u2014 which turns out to give her super powers. The author includes a helpful note at the end, explaining the different forms of communication used by people who have hearing impairments or are Deaf and explaining that she now views her deafness not as a disability but \u201can occasional nuisance, and oddly enough, as a gift: I can turn off the sound of the world any time I want.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"'Catch](\"http:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Catch-a-Falling-Star-by-Meg-Mckinlay.jpg\" "\\"'Catch")
Catch a Falling Star<\/em><\/a> by Meg McKinlay<\/a> was a warm-hearted, gentle exploration of grief, set in rural Western Australia in 1979. Twelve-year-old Frankie is busy looking after her eccentric little brother Newt while her widowed mother works overtime as a nurse. Frankie\u2019s father died in a plane crash several years before, just as Skylab was launched into the atmosphere. Now Skylab is about to plummet back to Earth and Newt is acting very strangely \u2014 and Frankie is the only one able to figure out what\u2019s going on. The child characters are realistic and endearing and the historical research is thoughtfully incorporated into the story. And yes, books set in 1979 are now regarded as historical fiction. I feel so old.<\/p>\n![\"'Wed](\"http:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Wed-Wabbit-by-Lissa-Evans.jpg\" "\\"'Wed")
Finally, I absolutely loved Wed Wabbit<\/em><\/a> by Lissa Evans<\/a>. Ten-year-old Fidge finds herself stuck in a surreal world that bears a twisted resemblance to her little sister\u2019s favourite book, \u2018The Land of the Wimbley Woos\u2019. With the dubious assistance of a plastic carrot on wheels that dispenses psychological advice, a giant purple elephant with a passion for community theatre, and her awful cousin Graham, Fidge must solve a series of clues to rescue the Wimbley Woos from an evil dictator and return to the real world. There\u2019s plenty of fast-paced adventure, hilarious jokes and a great deal of heart, with an emotionally satisfying conclusion. As with Alice in Wonderland<\/em> and the Wizard of Oz<\/em> books, some of the satire may be more amusing to adults than to child readers; on the other hand, there\u2019s a recurring joke involving the word \u2018fart\u2019 that made me laugh like a drain every time, so I\u2019m probably not the best person to discuss levels of sophistication in text-based humour. My only issue was that the map in the front of the book didn\u2019t seem to bear much resemblance to Fidge\u2019s travels in Wimbley Land so was rather confusing, although that could be part of the joke.<\/p>\n![\"Holiday](\"http:\/\/michellecooper-writer.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Holiday-Reading-2019.jpg\")
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