Book Talk

You may have seen the BookTokker, Luke Bateman on Australian Story last week. Some of his statements regarding boys, reading and books have gotten some children/YA authors excited, and not in a good way! Children’s author Scott Stuart posted a reel on Instagram that addresses some of Bateman’s statements. He explains that the issue is not the lack of books for boys, it is how we treat boys reading habits and how society tends to gender books.

Backed by research – the articles that are cited in the reel are readily available if you want to go deeper. Scott’s reel can be found on Instagram @ scottcreates.

A lot of the points regarding getting boys to read are applicable to all teenagers – giving them agency regarding what they read, discussing books and reading together. This is something we’re also doing here at the Fort – we strive to create a rich reading culture where students and staff share their love of reading.

Here at Fort Street, we believe that reading is for everyone, regardless of gender. Below are new books in the library for readers of all interests.

How to Think Like Socrates by Donald J. Robertson (Non-Fiction)

Donald J. Robertson transports readers back to the streets of ancient Athens, weaving together an account of Socrates, the visionary man who eschewed material pleasures and stood by his beliefs, even in the face of controversy, with a steadfastness that ultimately resulted in his execution. Robertson highlights the continuing importance of the four cardinal virtues of Greek philosophy: wisdom; justice; courage; temperance. As a practising cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, Robertson also uses his expertise to reveal the many ways in which the evidence-based concepts and techniques of modern psychology can trace their roots back to Socrates and shows how his philosophical insights can guide and benefit all of us to this day.

Children of Winter by Berlie Doherty (Historical Fiction)

Catherine and her brother and sister are out for a walk when a sudden storm blows up, and they are forced to take shelter in a deserted barn which they have never seen before but which seems strangely familiar. A time warp takes the three children back to the 17th century where they survive a winter during the plague. The story is inspired by the plague village of Eyam, that cut itself off from the world to prevent the plague spreading further.

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (Science Fiction/Dystopian)

Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou (Literary Fiction)

Who gets to tell our stories? And how does the story change when we finally tell it ourselves? Twenty-nine-year-old PhD student Ingrid Yang is desperate to finish her dissertation on the late canonical poet Xiao-Wen Chou and never read about ‘Chinese-y’ things again. When she accidentally stumbles upon a strange and curious note in the Chou archives, she convinces herself it’s her ticket out of academic hell. But Ingrid’s in much deeper than she thinks. Her clumsy exploits to unravel the note’s message lead to an explosive discovery, one that upends her entire life and the lives of those around her. With her trusty friend Eunice Kim by her side and her rival Vivian Vo hot on her tail, together they set off a roller coaster of mishaps and misadventures.

Benang: from the heart by Kim Scott (Indigenous Fiction)

In the vast expanse of Western Australia, a young Indigenous man embarks on a profound journey within himself. Labelled as the successful outcome of his white grandfather’s attempts to breed the ‘first white man born’, Harley wants to be a failure. Finding himself at a difficult point in the history of his country, family and self, Harley’s story takes the reader on an eye-opening and heartbreaking narrative of the impact of colonisation on First Nations people in Australia.

Akarnae by Lynette Noni (Fantasy)

Dreading her first day at a new school, Alex is stunned when she walks through a doorway and finds herself stranded in Medora, a fantasy world full of impossibilities. Desperate to return home, she learns that only a man named Professor Marselle can help her… but he’s missing. While waiting for him to reappear, Alex attends Akarnae Academy, Medora’s boarding school for teenagers with extraordinary gifts. She soon starts to enjoy her bizarre new world and the friends who embrace her as one of their own, but strange things are happening at Akarnae, and Alex can’t ignore her fear that something unexpected… something sinister… is looming. An unwilling pawn in a deadly game, Alex’s shoulders bear the crushing weight of an entire race’s survival. Only she can save the Medorans, but what if doing so prevents her from ever returning home? Will Alex risk her entire world–and maybe even her life–to save Medora?

House of Ash and Bone by Joel A. Sutherland (Horror) 

Seventeen-year-old Josephine Jagger is a talented writer with special abilities she doesn’t fully understand. Over the years she has developed methods to cope with the voices she hears in her head, but the old house her family has inherited in Vermont makes Josephine question what’s real and what’s not more than anything she’s ever encountered before. It’s filled with shadows, and whispers, and the unshakable feeling of being watched. Josephine then catches her first glimpse of a shadowy woman with long hair, pale skin, an impossibly wide smile and hollow pits for eyes. Her name is Dorcas, the ghost of a witch who died three hundred years ago. She has summoned the family to Vermont to ensnare them — then consume them — in order to rise from the grave and live again.

Devotions by Mary Oliver (Poetry)

Throughout her celebrated career, Mary Oliver touched countless readers with her brilliantly crafted verse, expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things. Devotions is a definitive and carefully curated collection featuring work from over fifty years of writing.