Kate’s 2¢: “Amelia Westlake was never here” by Erin Gough

“Amelia Westlake was never here” by Erin Gough

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   They say to read what you want to write, so,  I read Amelia Westlake was never here”,  written with Senior High and older people in mind. Of course, by ‘read’, I mean listen to and I love Erin Jones’s soft Australian accent. It differs from the British accents with which many books are narrated.

   Gough has captured the essence of being a teenage girl in an all  girl’s school. I suppose it is a pervasive part of our culture today to have the LGBTQ of the girls’ sexuality to be so prominent and accepted.  

   I hope that the bigger take away message is that sexual harassment is not acceptable. The recent 2018 movement of “hashtag me too” brought to the forefront that snide comments, innuendos, touching, and unwanted intimacies are not acceptable in any walk of life.

   I also hope that teachers will re-examine their own pedagogical practices, eliminate their personal bias toward individual students and teach a curriculum that is fair and balanced.

From her website:

   Erin Gough is a fiction writer whose stories have been published in a number of journals and anthologies, including Best Australian Stories, Griffith Review, The Age, Overland, Southerly and Going Down Swinging. Her novel for young adults, The Flywheel, won Hardie Grant Egmont’s Ampersand Prize and was published in February 2015.

   Erin’s second novel, Amelia Westlake, was published in April 2018. It won the Readings Young Adult Book prize in July 2018 and the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards in April 2019. It was short listed in the Queensland Literary Awards 2018, the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards 2019, the Indie Book Awards 2019, the ABIAs 2019 and for the Gold Inky 2019. It was published in the US by Little, Brown, in May 2019.

From NLS/BARD/LOC”

Amelia Westlake was never here DB96328

Gough, Erin. Reading time: 8 hours, 45 minutes.

Read by Erin Jones.

Human Relations

Young Adult

Told in separate voices. Harriet Price, a prefect at the elite Rosemead Preparatory School, risks her perfect life by joining forces with bad-girl Will Everhart in a hoax to expose the school’s many problems. Strong language. For senior high and older readers. 2018.

Kate’s 2¢: “The River”, “The Dog Stars”, “The whale warriors: the battle at the bottom of the world to save the planet’s largest mammals” by Peter Heller

“The River”, “The Dog Stars”, “The whale warriors: the battle at the bottom of the world to save the planet’s largest mammals” by Peter Heller

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   “The River”  starts out a bit slowly, but, gets more exciting the farther Jack and Wynn canoe in this wilderness adventure of a lifetime. I enjoyed “The River” except for the ending. I think Jack should have given Jessie the small canoe that Wynn hand carved.

   “The Dog Stars” tells of several survivors of the pandemic super flu. Steven King has also written of a the pandemic super flu  in “The Stand”. Although both stories have this same theme, the authors have their characters reactions and attitudes, deal with the issues at hand in their own unique fashion.

   Heller has a wonderful way of describing nature and all her glory, then, juxtapositions it with a stream of consciousness.

   “The whale warriors: the battle at the bottom of the world to save the planet’s largest mammals” chronicles how the rich and powerful countries can flaunt international laws by using loop holes in the laws (culling for research purposes)  or by not even acknowledging the law and that what they are doing is decimating natural resources for their personal gain. Heller’s knack of melding nature and a narrative arc weaves a masterful, non-fiction  tale with an agenda.

From www.peterheller.net

Peter Heller holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in both fiction and poetry. An award-winning adventure writer and longtime contributor to NPR, Heller is a contributing editor at Outside magazine, Men’s Journal, and National Geographic Adventure, and a regular contributor to Bloomberg Businessweek. He is also the author of several nonfiction books, including Kook, The Whale Warriors, and Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet’s Tsangpo River. He lives in Denver, Colorado.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

The painter: a novel DB78835

Heller, Peter. Reading time: 11 hours, 28 minutes.

Read by Mark Deakins. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Suspense Fiction

Years ago, after he shot a man in a bar, well-known Santa Fe expressionist painter Jim Stegner fled to rural Colorado to paint and fish. But now Jim comes across a man beating a small horse, and a brutal encounter rips his quiet life wide open. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2014.

The river DB94108

Heller, Peter. Reading time: 7 hours, 19 minutes.

Read by Mark Deakins. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Suspense Fiction

Adventure

While canoeing the northern Canadian Maskwa River, two friends learn about a nearby wildfire. Hearing a man and woman arguing on the riverbank, they stop to warn them, but find no one. The next day a man appears on the river, paddling alone. Where is the woman? Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2019.

The whale warriors: the battle at the bottom of the world to save the planet’s largest mammals DB66530

Heller, Peter. Reading time: 9 hours, 58 minutes.

Read by Michael Scherer. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Nature and the Environment

NPR contributor and award-winning adventure writer recounts his two months aboard Farley Mowat, the flagship of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a radical environmental group. Chronicles the efforts of the group’s founder, Paul Watson, and the all-volunteer crew as they patrol Antarctic waters to stop a Japanese whaling fleet. 2007.

The dog stars DB75493

Heller, Peter. Reading time: 11 hours, 14 minutes.

Read by Gary Telles. A production of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress.

Science Fiction

Hig survived the global pandemic that decimated the world nine years ago. Now, he has only his plane, his dog, and one neighbor. When Hig overhears a radio signal, he goes in search of the source. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. Bestseller. 2012.

Kate’s 2¢: “Vulture peak” by John Burdett

“Vulture peak” by John Burdett

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   What the trailer doesn’t mention is that the story also involves the sex trade and how selling body parts doesn’t differ all that much from male, female, and those in-between prostitutes selling their bodies  or whatever body part the client wants.

   Stephen Hogan, The narrator, uses character voices and it is, sometimes, difficult to understand the heavily accented, foreign speech.

   This story isn’t for the faint of heart, as there are descriptions of sex, surgeries, mutilations, and sorrow.

   I did, however, like learning more about the countryside in Bangkok, Thailand, parts of China, and beyond, but, no way, am I going there to visit.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Burdett was born in London, England, the son of a London policeman.[1] Burdett is a former lawyer who practised in Hong Kong. As of 2007, he split his time between southwestern France and Bangkok.[1]

   Burdett is an English crime novelist. He is the bestselling author of Bangkok 8 and its sequels, Bangkok Tattoo, Bangkok Haunts, The Godfather of Kathmandu, and Vulture Peak. His most recent novel in this series, The Bangkok Asset, was published on 4 August 2015.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Vulture peak DB96488

Burdett, John. Reading time: 10 hours, 54 minutes.

Read by Stephen Hogan.

Suspense Fiction

Mystery and Detective Stories

Royal Thai Police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep is put in charge of an attempt to stop human organ trafficking. He sets in motion a massive sting operation that involves the diabolical co-queenpins of the international body-parts trade: the Chinese twins known as the Vultures. Unrated. Commercial audiobook. 2011.