A Zine on Books, Reading, Writing and Community published bi-monthly by Christine Yunn-Yu Sun
In This Issue:
The Joy of Book Reviewing:
“My new year's resolution for 2025 is to be a joyful book reviewer.”
Acknowledgement of Country:
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land on which we live, learn and work. We pay respect to all First Nations people of Australia, and recognise their connection to this land.
SPECIAL FEATURE #1
Looking back at the Warm Winter Read
Image credit: Your Library Ltd
SPECIAL FEATURE #2 The story of Dragonkeeper
AUSTRALIAN FICTION REVIEW Gemini Falls by Sean Wilson
INTERNATIONAL FICTION REVIEWS
Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise by Lin YiHan
You Like It Darker by Stephen King
The North Wind by Alexandria Warwick
READER RECOMMENDATION American author Willa Cather
Passion for Prose, January 2025, Page 1 of 12
Looking back at the Warm Winter Read
Image credit: Your Library Ltd
NOW THAT SUMMER IS ALMOST HERE, some of us may be reminiscing about the cool winter days, the warm doona and hot cuppa, and a pile of good books to go with the cold, quiet nights. This reviewer recently chatted with Robin Barden, Manager of Lilydale Library, about the Warm Winter Read campaign last June to August.
The annual campaign was hosted by Public Libraries Victoria and facilitated by all 51 public library services across the state. Along with Janet Laws from Croydon Library, Barden coordinated some of the reading initiatives on behalf of Your Library Ltd.
“This was the third year of the campaign, with 1800 readers signing up for the challenge,” said Barden. “It's been tremendous to see so many of our patrons getting involved and sharing their passion for reading. Some very keen readers actually told me they wished the challenge could have gone on longer!”
“The library staff love to get involved as well, reading, reviewing and recommending books and taking part
in the various challenges. Some of our favourite challenges this year were 'Create a Cosy Reading Spot', 'Listen to an Audiobook', and the 'Literary Pair and Share' foodie challenge.”
One of the campaign's highlights was author Garry Disher's visit to Lilydale Library. A Warm Winter Read Ambassador, Disher spoke to a very enthusiastic audience about his crime fiction, including his latest book Sanctuary.
During the challenge, Barden herself enjoyed books by authors such as Claire Keegan, Paul Murray, Madeleine Gray, Clare Chambers, and Bonnie Garmus – just to name a few.
When asked about people's reading tastes and habits in recent years, Barden said: “There has been a big move to ebooks – many people love the convenience, while some still prefer the tactile qualities of a physical book. Audiobooks are also increasing in popularity in our busy lives.”
“The way people discover new books is also changing, with people sharing their passion for reading on
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social media platforms such as TikTok. Ultimately people who love to read will read in any format and don't like to be without a good book.”
“People love Australian stories, as can be seen from the success of 'Australian Noir', gripping crime stories by writers such as Jane Harper, Candice Fox, Chris Hammer, and of course the aforementioned Disher.”
“There has been an increase in diverse voices in Australian writing. For example, there have been some brilliant books published recently by First Nation writers. Graphic novels are also an increasingly popular and inventive way of storytelling,” said Barden.
She described libraries as “warm, vibrant community spaces offering so
SPECIAL FEATURE #2
The Story of Dragonkeeper
DRAGONKEEPER, THE 2024 ANIMATED fantasy adventure film based on Australian author Carole Wilkinson's 2003 novel of the same name, is now showing at cinemas. The voice cast includes Bill Nighy and Bill Bailey.
much to the library user (and for free!)”. “The best way to support libraries is to pay us a visit, join up and use all the great things on offer – and best of all, by borrowing a book... or three.”
“Research shows us that reading for pleasure offers so many benefits, with a positive impact on our mental health and feelings of connectedness. It also increases empathy, self-esteem, and awareness of other cultures.”
“Librarians love to engage with readers and share the pleasure we all gain from stories. Hearing what people have enjoyed reading and sharing recommendations is one of the best parts of my day,” concluded Barden.
Not to be confused with American author Robin Hobb's 2009 fantasy novel Dragon Keeper, Wilkinson's book is set in ancient China where a nameless slave girl escapes from her brutal master and saves the life of an ageing dragon. Together, they must deliver a mysterious stone to the ocean in order to protect the dragon's legacy.
Dragonkeeper is the first in a series of seven books, including two trilogies and a prequel. The book has sold more than 250,000 copies and is the winner of multiple awards, including the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year (Younger Readers) and the Queensland Premier's Literary Best Children's Book Award.
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In March 2019, Wilkinson spoke on “Researching China” at the Chinese Reading and Writing Festival in Box Hill. The author said her personal experience of living and traveling across China/Asia helped inspire the writing. But it was diligent research combined with much hard work that contributed to her success.
Wilkinson cited Dutch author Marinus Willem de Visser's The Dragon in China and Japan (1913) as an important source. She also mentioned Zuo Zhuan, a Chinese narrative history that is more than 2,000 years old.
In the author's words: “In [Zuo Zhuan] was a very short story about an emperor who had two pairs of dragons. The man who was supposed to look after them didn't know how to care for dragons and one died. To get rid of the evidence, the man chopped up the dead dragon and made pickle out of it. I thought that was the most amazing little story I'd ever heard. So I used that as the beginning of my story.”
In shaping Long Danzi, the “Courageous Dragon” in the book,
About the Author/Editor
Wilkinson re-conceptualised the many dragon images found in folk religious texts, drawings and paintings across China. As in any work of fiction set against a certain historical era and/or cultural background, the author highlighted the importance of respectful world-building.
Specifically, because the dragon as a mythical creature is portrayed and idealised in considerably different ways worldwide, cross-cultural fantasy novels like Dragonkeeper rely on universal values to keep readers interested. Equally important is to breathe new life into traditional tales while challenging some of the longlasting assumptions and prejudices. Finally, those interested in dragons may want to check out “Carole's dragon tour of Melbourne” on Wilkinson's website. “There is a surprising number of handsome dragons to be seen within Melbourne's central business district... Some binoculars or a telephoto lens will help to see the detail of some of the loftier dragons,” she concluded.
BORN IN TAIWAN, CHRISTINE YUNN-YU SUN has been living and working in Melbourne since 1997, as a writer, translator, reader, reviewer, journalist and independent scholar in English and Chinese languages. Christine has been reviewing books via her blog “Voices under the Sun” since 2012. Then, since February 2021, she has been writing for The Star Mail, part of the prestigious Star News Group. Via her column “Passion for Prose”, she reviews and recommends books and literary events in Australia and overseas. Now, Christine shares her passion for books, reading and writing with readers across the anglophone world.
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Gemini Falls by Sean Wilson
IF YOU LIKE HARPER LEE'S To Kill a Mockingbird, then you'll probably enjoy Australian author Sean Wilson's Gemini Falls, which also explores serious and complex social issues through the eyes of young people.
The year was 1930, and Phar Lap just won the Melbourne Cup. The race failed to raise the spirits of hundreds of thousands of Australians who were in the grip of the Great Depression. Worse, an outbreak of the polio epidemic provoked intense public anxiety in Melbourne.
13-year-old Morris and his family moved to the town of Gemini in rural Victoria. His father Jude, a police detective originally from there, was assigned to investigate the murder of a young woman whose body was left in the local coal mine tunnel.
Morris and his family stayed in a farm owned by Jude's estranged brother Jimmy. There was considerable tension between the brothers, for reasons unknown. Further questions remained
regarding why Jude left Gemini in the first place.
Meanwhile, Morris met his cousin Flo, who dreamed about becoming a detective herself. Together with the mayor's son, Sam, they roam around Gemini trying to identify the killer.
It's often through the eyes of young people that we see the dark and undesired truths of a world dominated by adults. In this case, it's the displaced people and their plight to which Morris's attention was drawn:
“I picture more camps springing up with shacks like these, all over the country. I think about the problems that lead to shacks like this, if they'll ever get fixed or if they'll only be patched up, the way these shacks are. Held together with wire and trine, clinging on until the next storm.”
“This is a place you go when you can't go anywhere else, a place you drop into, falling and reaching out to save yourself. This is not a place you choose to come.”
The author makes it clear that he wants to explore the difficult and tragic and joyful and hopeful parts of life “by showing how characters and relationships transform through conflict”.
In his words:
“What happens in a society when the gap between rich and poor widens? How do we treat the displaced who end up in the unused spaces around our cities and towns? Who do we blame in a
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crisis? Who holds out a hand, and who raises a fist?”
The bittersweet adventures of Morris and his friends in 1930s Gemini reflect some of the issues that never left our society – violence, xenophobia, problematic masculinity, inadequate housing, weak labour rights, and politicians taking advantage of public
INTERNATIONAL FICTION REVIEW
division for personal gain. But there are also dashed ambitions and unfulfilled dreams, as well as families and friends who stand by us through times tough and uncertain.
Gemini Falls is a novel full of empathy and compassion. Highly recommended.
Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise by Lin Yi-Han
FANG SI-CHI'S FIRST LOVE PARADISE, written by Taiwanese author Lin Yi-Han and translated by Jenna Tang, is an intense and uncomfortable read.
The story is full of pain and trauma, and is said to be of an autobiographical nature. It is widely recognised as the most influential book of Taiwan's #MeToo movement.
As Lin described in an interview eight days before her death by suicide at the age of 26 in 2017, the story can be summarised in one “direct and brutal” sentence:
“Over many years, a teacher used the power of his position to seduce,
rape and sexually abuse female students.”
And that is what happens to 13year-old Fang Si-Chi, who loves reading and learning, and whose parents are rich and strict yet unsuspecting of all figures of authority.
When a revered literature teacher offers private tutoring for free, Si-Chi's parents happily accept. After all, he is a long-term resident in their upscale apartment complex.
Si-Chi's story is a harrowing account of sexual violence and sexual grooming, but it is also a fierce attack at the power structures that allow it to continue happening. One of the most haunting paragraphs in the book is from the teacher and serial predator himself:
“Lee Guo-Hua discovered...that social taboos about sex were all too convenient for him. After he raped a girl, the whole world would point at her and tell her that it was her own fault. And then the girl would actually think it was her fault. A sense of guilt would chase her back to him.”
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Equally chilling is the scene when Si-Chi informs her mother that “a student in her school” is having a relationship with a teacher. Her mother quickly passes a judgement: “Already a seductress at such a young age.”
When Cookie, another girl in the story, reveals what Teacher Lee has done to her, she is immediately dumped by her boyfriend: “How can I still be with you when you've been dirtied?”
When Hsiao-Chi, yet another girl in the story, tries to expose Teacher Lee online, she herself is condemned: “So how much money did you take from him?” “Home-wreckers should go to hell.” “That teacher's wife should be pitied.”
And when Si-Chi's literary mentor I-Wen gets married, she cannot know
INTERNATIONAL
FICTION REVIEW
that one day her beloved husband will wake up from his drunkenness to find himself in a pool of her blood. “He thought about the night before, when he came back home and kicked I-Wen fiercely.”
As translator Tang explains: “The idea of sexual grooming...is central to what this novel wants to bring to our attention. It is the idea of a monster trying to make sense of the world for those who didn't understand what situation they were in, and therefore, through its crooked logic, that monster convinces its audience that certain sentiments, certain emotions, exist for a reason.”
Fang Si-Chi's First Love Paradise is Lin's only novel. Trigger warning.
You Like It Darker by Stephen King
HORROR STORIES DON'T NEED murder, mayhem and madness to create a sense of dread, despair and doom. The best stories in this genre both disturb and inspire. While monsters do and often
appear in the broad daylight, one can still seek and find hope on dark and stormy nights.
The 12 stories collected in Stephen King's latest book You Like It Darker “delve into the darker part of life – both metaphorical and literal”. Some of these tales share the themes of old age and death, and are perhaps informed by the author's reflections on the myriad ways in which our twilight years can and should be lived meaningfully.
“Define 'meaningful',” one might ask. In the case of “Laurie”, it's to never give up fighting even when all hopes are lost. In the case of “The Answer Man”, it's to accept that life's triumphs and
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tragedies may or may not be your doing – and, either way, it doesn't matter. What remains important is doing the decent thing to the best of your abilities.
Other stories showcase the kind of brilliance that King is known for, the seemingly natural ability to lure the reader into an alternative reality where anything is possible and everything has its cause and consequence. Take “The Turbulence Expert”, a reminder of Richard Matheson's “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”. Or “The Dreamers”, a Lovecraftian cosmic horror tale that echoes “Jerusalem's Lot”. Or even “Two Talented Bastids”, a very subtle story that somehow brings back memories of the character David Drayton in “The Mist”.
Meanwhile, “Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream” seems to have won over most of the readers out there. While King admits that Inspector Franklin Jalbert is “sort of like Inspector Javert in Les Miserables”, the character reminds this reviewer of the paper-ripping Craig Toomy in “The Langoliers”. As in the
INTERNATIONAL FICTION REVIEW
case of “Finn”, the horror in this story is how everything is possible in this reality, if someone in the right place at the right time is determined to make it so.
An equally welcomed story is “Rattlesnakes”, which is as much a sequel to Cujo as Doctor Sleep is a followup to The Shining. The story could work if the first-person narrator were another man grieving the loss of his family, but Vic Trenton's sense of guilt over what happened to his wife Donna and their son Tad enriches the plot while adding another dimension to the already impressive tale of haunting monsters and the many unknowns of the afterlife.
It'll be interesting to see if King plans to bring closure to some of his other fictional characters in the years to come. For starters, this reviewer would like to know what happens to Dinah Bellman after “The Langoliers”, and what happens to David Carver after Desperation. We just have to wait and see.
The North Wind by Alexandria Warwick
THE NORTH WIND, by American author Alexandria Warwick, is the second work in the romantasy genre that this reviewer has read. It allows this reviewer to avoid being affected by too many other readers whose comments centre on how similar or different this book is to other titles in the genre.
The first book in the Four Winds series, The North Wind is a standalone story “inspired by Beauty and the Beast and the myth of Hades and Persephone” as described by the publisher. It is interesting that literary tropes like these may serve as points of reference, making it easier for publishers and
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authors to connect with readers. But tropes can be and often are the first criterion for assessing a book's performance.
For example, the story's firstperson narrator Wren is a reminder of Katniss in The Hunger Games, a huntress who volunteers to take her sister's place.
In this case, Wren is to be sacrificed to the North Wind, also known as the Frost King and bringer of winter. Her blood will be used to sustain the Shade, the barrier that protects her hometown from the icy Deadlands. Thanks to the author's rich and vivid descriptions, the Deadlands is a fascinating place. The rivers Les and Mnemenos, the brothers Sleep and Death, the judgement of the dead, the City of Gods and the towns of Neumovos and Makarios – not to mention the darkwalkers – these give new meanings to the notion of eternality.
Meanwhile, Boreas is more of a traditional character, like the handsome, arrogant, broody, antisocial, often misunderstood yet ultimately immortalised Mr Darcy that is the favourite of all (female) readers. With his characterisation entirely done through the eyes of Wren, the author ensures that Boreas captures readers' hearts in the story's enemies-to-lovers process.
In contrast, Wren is presented with all of her virtues and flaws, her fervent motives and hidden agendas, and her triumphs and failures. This allows readers to judge her, and makes one wonder whether her portrayal as a strong female character would be any different if the story were written from Boreas's or a third person's perspective. With that said, Wren is feisty and stubborn, and while she is loyal and fearless, she is also broken and deeply insecure. Her evolution and redemption is subtly handled, and gives emphasis to other factors that contribute to her relationship with Boreas. It is a relationship where both parties are able to find their lost selves in their discovery of each other.
The North Wind achieves a healthy balance between romance and fantasy and a refreshing re-imagination of myths and fairy tale. This reviewer looks forward to reading the other books in the series.
“Some facts in life are immutable. One is, trust no-one who uses the word 'trope'.”
– Mark Gatiss
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American author Willa Cather
Image credit: Library of Congress Blogs
READER JILL, FROM MT EVELYN, recently recommended American author Willa Cather's O Pioneers! (1913), The Song of the Lark (1915) and My Antonia (1918).
In Jill's words, these are “excellent, beautifully written and evocative”. “Although the stories are works of fiction, they bring to life the scenery and society of the American West which has long since disappeared.”
These books are often referred to as Cather's “Prairie Trilogy”, as they portray life on the Great Plains, the western part of the flatland in North America between the Appalachian Plateau and the Rocky Mountains. Throughout the 19th century, settlers of mainly European backgrounds migrated to the Great Plains as part of a vast westward expansion.
Born in Virginia in 1873, Cather's family moved to Nebraska when she was nine years old. Her time in that frontier state was a formative experience, as the
vastness of the prairie and the diverse cultural backgrounds of the local immigrant families left her with a deep impression.
Cather started writing during her university years, but it was only after the Prairie Trilogy became popular that her work was widely recognised. She was praised for having ordinary people as characters and using plainspoken language in her books, as well as “bringing Nebraska to the wider world for the first time”.
Inspired by a poem by Walt Whitman, O Pioneers! tells the story of a farming family of Swedish-American immigrants in Nebraska at the turn of the 20th century.
Meanwhile, The Song of the Lark tells the story of a talented singer from Colorado who finds success in New York City but never forgets her small home town. As Jill explains, this story is regarded as the most autobiographical of Cather's novels.
But it is My Antonia that truly showcases the American West as one of the novel's most memorable characters. The book tells the stories of Jim, an orphaned boy from Virginia, and Antonia, the elder daughter in a family of Bohemian immigrants. (As Jill clarifies, “Bohemia” is another name for “Czechoslovakia”, now Czech Republic.) Both are brought to Nebraska as children and raised as pioneers near the end of the 19th century.
Narrated from Jim's perspective, My Antonia paints a vivid picture of
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pioneering life in the American West where farming is an essential part of everyday existence. The lifelong friendship between Jim and Antonia is shaped with a sense of place – both natural landscapes and domestic spaces, where adventures, families and communities are found.
It is interesting that My Antonia is described as “a departure from the focus on wealthy families in American literature”. It is said that even F. Scott
FINAL WORDS
Fitzgerald considered his own The Great Gatsby a failure in comparison to My Antonia. Cather received the Pulitzer Prize for her 1922 novel One of Ours, which is set during the First World War. However, it is the Prairie Trilogy that defines her as a novelist of the frontier and pioneer experience. Thanks again to Jill for recommending this extraordinary author.
The Joy of Book Reviewing
Image credit: “11 New Year's Resolutions for Your Mental Health”, Rootd (https://www.rootd.io/11-new-yearsresolutions-for-your-mental-health/)
MY NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION FOR 2025
is to be a joyful book reviewer.
Why? Because, after four years of writing the “Passion for Prose” column, I still get asked the question (read: interrogation and antagonisation): “Why do you want to write and publish book reviews for free?”
There are several presumptions behind this question. The first and foremost, I think, is the surmise that
doing something on a voluntary basis is the same as (a) slave labour or (b) exploitation or (c) a waste of time and energy or (d) pure stupidity or (e) all of the above.
Another equally obscure supposition is that all media organisations, like all online platforms operated by multinational enterprises, are rich, ruthless, exploitative and manipulative. They make you feel you are doing meaningful work because they want to profit from it.
What I suspect is a more fundamental “principle” is that, because my time is valuable, I shouldn't waste it on useless things such as writing reviews and sharing them with others for free. i.e. It's fine for me to read free library books, but people should pay to read my writing!
But what hurts the most is when I truly enjoy doing something and work really hard to build it in the ways I want it to be – as a writer, a journalist and
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even an academic – that something is deemed worthless and futile. As if whatever I do, no matter how hard I try, it is not good enough. As if I am not and will never be good enough.
Well, that's not the way to start a new year, is it? No, no, no.
So, my new year's resolution is to be a joyful book reviewer – to spread the joy of reading, the joy of discovering new books and revisiting good ones, and especially the joy of reviewing and recommending great books.
(In other words: “To hell with you, my inner critic! I can and will be a better critic than you! Just watch me!” )
I've always subscribed to renowned Australian literary critic Kerryn Goldsworthy's view, that a good book review should be “both favourable about
its subject and skilfully, knowledgeably written on the basis of a careful, thorough reading of the book in question”. More importantly, Goldsworthy stresses: “A book reviewer has a responsibility.”
Not just to readers and potential readers of the book, but also to the writer(s) and/or editor(s) of the book. And to the publication for which you're writing. And to yourself.
Most of all: “To the literary culture in particular and indeed to the culture in general, to make a worthy contribution to it and not demean or devalue it by adding junk rather than good useful stuff.”
If I can achieve this... then, does money really matter that much?
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