Source: http://www.booksellerandpublisher.com.au/articles/2009/06/12434/

This article from Thorpe Bowker's Weekly Book Newsletter and Media Extra is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2009, Thorpe-Bowker

In the last Bulletin, I said that I'd be compiling a list of the best Australian books of the first half of 2009, as chosen by you. The only rule was that you had to have read it this year, and it had to be less than one year old, so, published during or after July 2008. Here are some of the books I was emailed about, and some of the comments by the subscribers who recommended them.

The Sinkings by Amanda Curtin

In 1882, human remains were discovered at the Sinkings, a lonely campsite near Albany, Western Australia. The surgeon conducting the autopsy claimed they were those of a woman. Why, then, was the victim later identified as Little Jock, a former convict? And why was the murder so brutal, so gruesome? More than a hundred years later, Willa Samson embarks on a long and lonely search to find out. The Sinkings is a story within a story, the tragic historical account of Little Jock's life embedded within a contemporary narrative of a mother's guilt and grief. Beautifully crafted, the novel deals with the dilemma confronting parents of an intersexed child and the issue of gender. While a work of fiction, the discovery of Little Jock's remains and the controversy surrounding their identification are actual events.

Recommended by: Amanda M., Sally V.

Comment: "Full of interesting historical detail, Curtin’s Samson occasionally makes giant leaps of assumption, as she ties her story together, which left me a little dazed at times.  Regardless, it is a sensitive, beautifully written look at a mercifully uncommon dilemma that some parents must face."
- Amanda M.

Wanting by Richard Flanagan

It is 1839. A young Aboriginal girl, Mathinna, is running through the long wet grass of an island at the end of the world to get help for her dying father, an Aboriginal chieftain. Twenty years later, on an island at the centre of the world, the most famous novelist of the day, Charles Dickens, realises he is about to abandon his wife, risk his name, and forever after be altered because of his inability any longer to control his intense passion. Connecting the two events are the most celebrated explorer of the age, Sir John Franklin - then governor of Van Diemen's Land - and his wife, Lady Jane, who adopt Mathinna, seen as one of the last of a dying race, as an experiment. Lady Jane believes the distance between savagery and civilisation is the learned capacity to control wanting. The experiment fails, Sir John disappears into the blue ice of the Arctic seeking the North-West Passage, and a decade later Lady Jane enlists Dickens' aid to put an end to the scandalous suggestions that Sir John's expedition ended in cannibalism. Dickens becomes ever more entranced in the story of men entombed in ice, recognising in its terrible image his own frozen inner life. He produces and stars in a play inspired by Franklin's fate to give story to his central belief: that discipline and will can conquer desire. And yet the play will bring him to the point where he is finally no longer able to control his own passion and the consequences it brings. Based on historic events, Wanting is a novel about art, love, and the way in which life is finally determined never by reason, but only ever by wanting.

Recommended by: Cameron P., Chris K., Samantha R., Jenny S.

Comment: "Well this year I set myself the reading challenge to complete the shortlist for the Miles Franklin. I do think the shortlist was exceptional this year with five very worthy contenders in Breath, Wanting, Ice and The Pages. However, Wanting by Richard Flanagan was the stand out for me personally with the most beautiful language and an interesting story about desire and its tragic consequences."
- Jenny S.

Another take: "Wanting is how it left me, a very disappointing experience."
- Amanda M.

Roadside Sisters by Wendy Harmer

Nina, Meredith and Annie have been friends for a long, long time. Elegant Meredith, motherly Nina and the determinedly single Annie are as unlikely companions as you could find. But like a matched set of 1950's kitchen canisters of Flour, Sugar and Tea, they always seem to end up together. Now each is facing the various trials of middle age: divorces, less than satisfactory marriages, teenage kids, careers going nowhere. One night, over one too many Flaming Sambuccas during a reunion dinner, they somehow find themselves agreeing to take a road trip to Byron Bay in a RoadMaster Royale mobile home, to attend Meredith's daughter's wedding. Fights and friendship, tears and laughter - not to mention the possibility of finding Mr. Right along the way - this trip might tear them apart or it might just save their lives.

Recommended by: Sue F., Jasmine T., Rowena R.

Comment: "Really, really, really fun."
- Jasmine T.

The Boat by Nam Le

In 1979, Nam Le's family left Vietnam for Australia, an experience that inspires the first and last stories in The Boat. In between, however, Le's imagination lays claim to the world. The Boat takes us from a tourist in Tehran to a teenage hit man in Colombia from an ageing New York artist to a boy coming of age in a small Victorian fishing town from the city of Hiroshima just before the bomb is dropped to the haunting waste of the South China Sea in the wake of another war. Each story uncovers a raw human truth. Each story is absorbing and fully realised as a novel. Together, they make up a collection of astonishing diversity and achievement.

Recommended by: Jason B., Narelle P.

Comment: "A marvellous collection of short stories. For one so young, Le already has all the hallmarks of a great writer. I look forward to his next effort."
- Narelle P.

Dog Boy by Eva Hornung

In a deserted Moscow apartment building four-year-old Romochka waits for Uncle to come home. Outside the snow is falling, but after a few days hunger drives Romochka outside, his mother's voice ringing in his ears: don't talk to strangers. Overlooked by passers-by, he follows a street dog to her lair in a deserted basement at the edge of the city. There he joins four puppies suckling at their mother's teats. And so begins Romochka's life as a dog. The story of the child raised by beasts has fascinated through the ages, but Eva Hornung has created a vivid and original telling, utterly emotionally convincing. Taking us with Romochka into the world of his dog-family, she shows through his clear, alien eyes the disintegration - and obdurate persistence - of community, of family the uncertain embrace of society, the consequences of social breakdown and exclusion.

Recommended by: Narelle P.

Comment: "I thought I would have to suspend belief a bit when I began this, but it quickly pulled me in and developed into a story that was both moving and gripping. By entering into the world of dogs, the reader learns much about what it is to be human. A great read."
- Narelle P.

Loathing Lola by William Kostakis

Fifteen-year-old Courtney Marlow didn't exactly think it through. She thought the offer to have her life broadcast on national television was the perfect solution to her family's financial troubles.
She was wrong.
Mackenzie Dahl, the show’s producer, promised to show Australia a real teenager. Courtney was going to be a positive role model, someone on television without a boob job and an eating disorder.
Soon, everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame via a little bit of Courtney – especially her conniving friend Katie, and her stepmother, Lola. And Courtney is just beginning to realise that ‘ordinary’ does not translate to ‘entertaining’…

Recommended by: Jason B., Tom F., Jasmine T.

Comment: "It's greatest asset is also its greatest curse, I was laughing so hard my eyes were watering, and I couldn't read the next line!"
- Tom F.

I don't know if they just tacked my book into their emails to ensure they were featured in the Bulletin or not, but thanks for the positive comments, and to everyone, thanks for contributing your favourite reads of 2009 thus far.

The best response this fortnight belonged to Jessica F., who said:

"While there is some merit to the views put forth in the discussion I am so over all the so called 'constructive criticism' being bandied about in the media. 'Outrage' is so passe. CBCA does an amazing job. For once, I would love to hear a story about what we achieve on a shoestring budget and a pitifully small supporter base. There are a lot of assumptions about the CBCA supporting only a limited number of authors and illustrators, but in truth, it is we that are only supported by a small group of loyal and generous authors and illustrators. We are also criticised for being too teacher librarian centric. I apologise if everyone else in children's literature is too busy to come to a meeting once a month and share their experience, but without their input, our focus will continue to serve our areas of expertise. If you have a suggestion or a skill to share our doors are always open."

Now, as someone who's becoming more and more involved with the CBCA, I find myself agreeing with Jessica. It is driven by such a small, driven group of literature-loving people, and the sad thing is, they're forced to fight for supporters, when they should be 100% focused on serving children's literature. More support means they'd have the pull to provide incentives for people out of their immediate circle to act as judges, and I feel, that with more diverse judges, there'll come more diverse judgements. I'm also for the CBCA having different judges for all the different categories.

There is some truth to the claims of elitism, I mean, the CBCA prides itself on its criteria of the "literary" merit of a work. To be "literary" is to have all of the qualities an adult looks for in a book. So, the CBCA are, in looking for "literary", looking for what adults want in books, in children's books... which is sort of against the point, isn't it?