Showing posts with label Cath Crowley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cath Crowley. Show all posts

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Aussie Review: Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
Published: February 14, 2012
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Senior year is over, and Lucy has the perfect way to celebrate: tonight, she's going to find Shadow, the mysterious graffiti artist whose work appears all over the city. He's out there somewhere—spraying color, spraying birds and blue sky on the night—and Lucy knows a guy who paints like Shadow is someone she could fall for. Really fall for. Instead, Lucy's stuck at a party with Ed, the guy she's managed to avoid since the most awkward date of her life. But when Ed tells her he knows where to find Shadow, they're suddenly on an all-night search around the city. And what Lucy can't see is the one thing that's right before her eyes.

My Thoughts
Love.love.loved it!!
What a great story! I enjoyed it from cover to cover with not a moment of downtime.

This was an Aussie wonder that was filled with moments of laughter and nothing but love for the characters ofGraffiti Moon. I was an instant fan of Cath Crowley when I came across her beautiful story A Little Wanting Song, but now with Graffiti Moon I know for a definite fact that I can’t pass up anything by this great Australian writer.

Lucy and Ed made a great pair as they shared their story using alternate POVs. I laughed and I sighed as Crowley packed a full adventure these two accomplished in one night.

The writing was vivid as I could clearly picture the art Shadow tagged around the town and the glass blowing projects Lucy created. I’ve never been a fan of graffiti and glass blowing is interesting, but this story made it come to life and bring on a whole new meaning for me. Impressed!

Definitely a book I highly recommend as it’s worth the time and emotional investment. Awesome Aussie book!
5 Snowflakes

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Aussie Review: A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley

A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley
Published: June 8, 2010
Publisher:  Knopf Books for Young Readers
A summer of friendship, romance, and songs in major chords. . .

CHARLIE DUSKIN loves music, and she knows she's good at it. But she only sings when she's alone, on the moonlit porch or in the back room at Old Gus's Secondhand Record and CD Store. Charlie's mom and grandmother have both died, and this summer she's visiting her grandpa in the country, surrounded by ghosts and grieving family, and serving burgers to the local kids at the milk bar. She's got her iPod, her guitar, and all her recording equipment, but she wants more: A friend. A dad who notices her. The chance to show Dave Robbie that she's not entirely unspectacular.

ROSE BUTLER lives next door to Charlie's grandfather and spends her days watching cars pass on the freeway and hanging out with her troublemaker boyfriend. She loves Luke but can't wait to leave their small country town. And she's figured out a way: she's won a scholarship to a science school in the city, and now she has to convince her parents to let her go. This is where Charlie comes in. Charlie, who lives in the city, and whom Rose has ignored for years. Charlie, who just might be Rose's ticket out.

Told in alternating voices and filled with music, friendship, and romance, Charlie and Rose's "little wanting song" is about the kind of longing that begins as a heavy ache but ultimately makes us feel hopeful and wonderfully alive.

My Thoughts
See, the water molecules are attracted to each other so much that they hold on for as long as they can. They grip to each other till they’re too heavy and then they break. It’s why water falls in tears.

Spending a quiet afternoon reading A Little Wanting Song is like watching the stars go harmonic. It’s really beautiful and I loved it! This book is sad, hopeful, funny, heartbreaking, happy all mixed in one from beginning to end. As you read this story, these myriad of emotions just keep crashing into each other like a wave in the ocean, and you can’t help but be swept away by the current. What an awesome Aussie book!

Cath Crowley creates a cast of genuine voices tied to characters that feel so clearly real. Having the story told in alternating POVs was perfection because from Charlie and Rose’s differing perspective we see how two people can be so completely different, but in the end they simply want the same thing… a chance at something new, something different.

See, Charlie is great with words, with lyrics. She can put her thoughts into words but only when she’s singing, not in public, but on her own, in the dark. Sometimes she can’t sleep because she’s swimming in so many words. But when she’s around teenagers her own age, she can’t seem to find that comfort zone, which really hurts her chances at making friends. In the end, she’s just a girl who wants someone she can talk to, someone to fix things when they are broken, someone that’s willing to worry about her and simply show that they care.

Now Rose on the other hand is surrounded by people that care, actually too much in her opinion. See she has a secret she can’t share with her family and friends. She won a scholarship to a city school, but chances are her family won’t let her go and her friends will make it hard to leave. All she wants is a ticket out of her small town and a chance to see the world, and that means leaving her friends and family behind.

Put these alternating voices together and you have a summer filled with lessons, love and inevitably a little bit of hurt.

This book is filled with so many funny moments and light hearted dialog between the characters that blend together perfectly. Some of my favorite scenes below include Dave, which I came to adore. I loved his quiet, confident way and how despite his family situation, he never took his friends for granted and found a way to just make it work.

Favorite Quotes
Some people are hard to understand, so you gotta understand yourself.

I’m not angry at all anymore really. I’m not sad. I’m certain.

See friendship is about believing in someone so hard they believe it too. Sure, it’s about trust. But if anyone hurts her tonight, it’s about ripping them apart with my bare hands and really enjoying it.
5 Snowflakes


Monday, July 22, 2013

Teaser Tuesday, #37


Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays! Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following: Grab your current read Open to a random page Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser Tuesday is for the following...
 
Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley


Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
Publication Date: August 1, 2010
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia






Teasers from book pages: 48 & 47:

Jazz looks at her chest. I pat her shoulder. "Guys care about personality too."
"Girls like me started that rumor."

"I've got this special way of getting the truth out of Dylan."
"How?" I ask.
"I kick him in the balls."
"That's pretty special," I tell her, and hand back the mirror.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here if you don’t have a blog Thanks!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley
Rating: 5 Snowflakes


I absolutely Loved this book! It has all the right elements of a 5 star to me. The writing was unique but so fun. I haven’t laughed so hard reading a book in quite some time. Seriously, this is a MUST READ in my opinion. I’m not one to write or highlight my favorite parts, but I so would make the exception in this case because there are SO many funny parts! I think 90% of the book would be a glorified graffiti disaster when I was done with it. This was so original and smart. Unlike anything I have read before. Those Aussie authors sure know how to do it right!
Blurb:
It’s the end of Year 12. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about.
His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere.
Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls. But the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.

Quotes:
~”I’m so close to meeting him, and I want it so bad. Mum says when wanting collides with getting, that’s the moment of truth. I want to collide. I want to run right into Shadow and let the force spill our thoughts so we can pick each other up and pass each other back like piles of shiny stones.”
~“Jazz looks at her chest. I pat her shoulder. Guys care about personality too.” “Girls like me started that rumor.”
~”Don’t get too excited, but I think that might be the guy of your toilet-wall dreams knocking at the door.” (The girls are in the bathroom which is referred to as “the cubicle of truth)
~”Wait, I know, it’s because you’re scared of him, you cockroach-eating-coward motherfucker.” (This scene had me rolling on the floor laughing!)
~"It's eighty-six degrees, and the city's going crazy. Would you help two guys push a pink van?"
~”The guy was a sheddy, one of the kids who spent a lot of time leaning against the back sheds skipping classes.”
~”That’s the way it is. Most people don’t know what they want till it’s right in front of their face.”

The characters in this book are nothing but AMAZING! The friendship between Lucy and Jazz, so fun and cute. The meetings in the bathrooms and the crazy conversations just had me rolling! I loved the fact that Lucy had this image of Shadow in her mind but finally came to realize that the person she was searching for was right there in front of her the whole time. She’s fun and feisty and can pack a mean punch…literally. Ed and Leo, just a perfect combination. Ed was so intriguing and the way he expresses his feelings and unwritten words through his graffiti art was beautiful by description. I couldn’t get enough of the descriptions and the memories associated with each piece. You truly could visualize the work of art he had created. Ed and Leo were like yin and yang. They complimented each other and were best of friends. It was such a cute friendship and a respectful one as well.

The secondary characters were so well written as well. It wouldn't have been the same without good'ol Malcomlm. Even though he's a bad guy, he sure did make me laugh. Oh my, is all I can say about that. Daisy and Dylan, well, they will crack you up. Those boys do some dumb stuff but really they have good hearts.

The girls wanted to celebrate by a late night out. It became that and so much more. They encountered an adventure like no other, I assure you. Have you been peirced with a compass? Didn't think so..
At first when I started this book I wasn’t so sure about it. But it didn’t take but a few pages in to figure out that I was going to love it. Overall this was a big hit in my eyes. I definitely would recommend this book!