Moomin's Little Book of Colours

Tove Jansson wrote and illustrated the Moomintroll books between 1945 and 1970. The characters and stories in books such as Finn Family Moomintroll, Comet in Moominland and Moominsummer Madness have become favourites of several generations of children throughout the world.

Recently a series of board books featuring the Moomin characters have been made for very young children - Moomin's little book of words, colours, numbers and opposites. A boxed set of small board books designed to introduce children to the Moomin characters - Meet Moomintroll, Moomimpappa, Snorkmaiden and Moominmama - is also available. It is good to see the revival of these characters in this format which hopfully will introduce another generation of children when they are older to the world of Moomins.

Several volumes of the cartoon strips about the Moomins that originally appeared in Finnish-Swedish newspapers in the late 1940s are also available (in English) in some bookshops including Readers Feast.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tove_Jansson

Naked Heat

For a number of years Sunday evening television entertainment provided by Channel 7 in Melbourne has been Bones followed by Castle.

Don't get me started about television stations who promote a new series, eg Bones, show a few episodes then return to reruns before replacing the series with another program. The remaining programs in the new series can be viewed on the Internet so they do exist. I guess that Channel 7 may agree to show them to their viewing public.

Anyway, back to Castle. Richard Castle is an author who gains permission to follow the daily activities of Detective Kate Beckett  and her team in the murder squad as source material for a new series of books that he is writing. His main character, Nikki Heat, is to be based on Detective Beckett. An improbable situation but an entertaining television program. A spin-off from the program is the publication of a series of Nikki Heat books purported to be written by Richard Castle. Heat Wave, the first book, made the best seller lists in the USA. It was shortly followed by Naked Heat with Heat Rises recently published.

In Naked Heat, Jameson Rook is a journalist who has written a magazine article based on his time following Detective Nikki Heat and her team as they go about their work solving murders. They meet again when Rook is waiting for them at the scene of a murder, the victim being the gossip columnist about whom his next  article will be written. Together Jameson and Nikki work together to identify the murderer, not an easy task as few people liked the murder victim. This is an entertaining story with plenty of action to keep you wanting to read further. The parallels between the characters and plot in the book and the television series are also interesting to observe.

Fans of the television series will certainly enjoy this book but it can also be enjoyed as a stand-alone detective story. A film of the first Nikki Heat book will be out soon.

Further information about the Casle books can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Castle or at
Amazon

Odd one out

In this short story by Monica McInerney Sylvie feels that she is the odd one out in her artistic family but a holiday in Melbourne helps her to reaccess her life and relationship with family members and also eventually allows her to find love.

The Bride's Farewell

Written for young teenagers by Meg Rosoff, The Bride's Farewell is the story of Pell and her family. On the day that she is to marry Pell decides to leave home on her horse Jack but is followed by her young brother, Bean who insists on going with her. The book follows their journey as Pell, an extremely resourceful young lady with a gift for judging and looking after horses tries to establish a new life. Set in south west England in the nineteenth century the effects of the industrial revolution on the lives of people form a backdrop to the story. During the book Pell discovers how her actions to gain independence affected not only her life but the life of the other members of her family.

Views from younger readers about this book can be found at
http://www.megrosoff.co.uk/books/the-brides-farewell/

Mia Culpa

Mia Freedman's most recent book is subtitled confessions from the water cooler of life. As a social commentator Mia writes about everyday issues in modern life that affect the lives of many people, particularly younger women. Communication in the age of digital technology, relationships, attitudinal differences between men and women, living with children, perceptions of being cool and when one stopped being so and fashion trends are some of the topics canvassed in this book.

Mama Mia - a memoir of mistakes, magazines and motherhood

The subtitle sums up the contents of this memoir by Mia Freedman. At 19 Mia worked at Cleo, initially on a work experience try-out before officially joining the staff as a beauty writer. At 24 she was editor of the Australian edition of Cosmopolitan (Cosmo Magazine). In 2003 she became Editor-in Chief of the magazines, Cosmopolitan, Cleo and Dolly. Mia provides vivid descriptions of the stress as well as the glamour experienced when working for such publications, especially the long hours, the need to play the role depicted by the magazine and trying to keep ahead of the opposition as well as predicting what the public want to read.Marian Keyes in her novel, Sushi for beginners, paints a similar picture of the women's glossy magazine industry. Mia also worked in television with appearance on the Today show and when she resigned from her editing role was offered an executive position at Channel 9 - a career move that was short-lived. Mia then turned her attention to the Internet including her successful website mamamia.com.au. She also writes a column for the Sunday Age and has written the books, The New Black (2005) and Mia Culpa (2011)

This book however is also about relationships, good and bad, special friendships and her family. Juggling motherhood with full time work is one of the themes of the book. The grief of a miscarriage is discussed as well as other people's attitudes to pregnant women. Mia writes of her mistakes and fears as well as her successes in this account of how she has developed a life where she can enjoy her work and also enjoy being a mother. As Mia would agree, having an understanding husband, family and friends definitely helps. An interesting account of the life so far of a fascinating and determined woman aiming to publicise the real concerns of women. One of the changes that she introduced at Cosmopolitan was not publishing diets in the magazine and portraying women with a variety of body shapes and nationalities in the publication. This is a belief that she continues to promote including being appointed chair of the National Advisory Group on Body Image.

The Faraday girls

The complexities of family relationships are examined in this novel by Monica McInerney. The five Faraday girls live with their father, Leo, in Hobart. Tessa, their mother, died when the girls were young but her memory is kept alive in stories told by Leo plus family traditions continued in her memory. Family dynamics change when the youngest sister, Clementine, has a daughter, Maggie, who is consequently brought up by the five sisters and their father.  When Maggie is five her Aunt Sadie takes her on holiday to Melbourne and then decides to disappear from the family taking Maggie with her. Discovered by Leo and Clementine in New South Wales, Maggie is returned safely to her home but her aunt severs all family connections. Maggie is told that her aunt has chosen to join a hippie colony.

Years later, in New York, Maggie is visited by her grandfather who wants her to change her decision about not attending a family gathering in Ireland. He asks Maggie to read the diaries kept by her grandmother to try and determine the initial reason that caused Sadie to leave the family as Sadie was the only family member to have previously read the diaries. Maggie agrees and on that holiday visit discovers many of the family secrets that had long been hidden and the fragility of family bonds. She also discovers herself and how she wants to live her life as an individual, not as one segment of a family.