Destination 1: Oceania

As some of you have seen, we will be displaying our trip around the world in books in the store, with a shelf to highlight the region we’re traveling to. This month, we’re visiting Oceania, with places like Australia & New Zealand, Guam and Hawaii. I read 2 books from there, Sharks In the Time of Saviours by Kawai Strong Washburn and Owls Do Cry by Janet Frame.

If I can recommend a new author to you, it would be Janet Frame. She was a fascinating woman and an amazing writer. I would put quotes that I loved from the novel, but I would essentially just be putting the entire novel here. She was born in New Zealand in 1924 and after a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia, she was institutionalised. Shortly before her schedule lobotomy, it was discovered she had actually won a literary award. It’s what saved her. Her writing is incredible. I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll leave it at that. Poetic, ephemeral, untenable and mad. I’ve never read anything like her before and I have 2 more of hers to read that I bought immediately after finishing Owls Do Cry.

Sharks In the Time of Saviours was also very good, for completely different reasons. Hawaiian native Washburn tells the story of a boy saved by sharks after falling off a boat. He blends Hawaiian myth with daily, but not romanticising life on the big island. It is full of anger, loss, struggles and exile, but also hope, family and resilience. His writing is very poetic and lyrical, but also blunt. Everyone handles trauma, familial expectations and exile in their own way, even if they’re family. Would also highly recommend this one.

We have a lot more of authors in the store to check out, but so far, really liking my time in Oceania.

Happy Reading, everyone.