these are some of my very favourite books...

The Mouse and his Child by Russell Hoban (Penguin) - perhaps my favourite book ever. This children's book is a powerful parable about territory, belonging and family. It's also a fine work of philosophy. Read it, read it, read it soon!

Josh by Ivan Southall (Puffin) - the winner of the 1971 Carnegie Medal, this book had a huge impact on me as a child, not least of all because it was the first book to show me that there are more ways to tell a story than in the third person, past tense, with "normal" sentences. Very, very good.

love, ghosts & nosehair by Steven Herrick (UQP) - a verse novel for young adults by my good friend. This book was shortlisted for the 1997 CBC Children's Book of the Year Award.

A Place Like This by Steven Herrick (UQP) - this is a sequel to love ghosts & nosehair and was also shortlisted for the 1999 CBC award (and should have won).

The Narnia Chronicles by CS Lewis (Puffin) - a favourite with so many, but for me this series took me into a place that made me want to tell stories. Read Becoming Lucy on my Musings page to see what I mean.

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome (Puffin) - the first in an incredibly popular series about a bunch of kids who spend their holidays sailing and camping around the English Lakes district. A reviewer once said that this book made you feel like these things had actually happened to you. They were spot on. A great bedtime story.

After January by Nick Earls (UQP) - a terrific book for young adults, all about young love and having to wait whilst having limited time.

48 Shades of Brown by Nick Earls (Penguin) - winner of the 2000 CBC Book of the Year (Older Readers). As Nick himself says, this book's success demonstrates that the issues in a young adult's life are already big enough, without a writer introducing bigger ones just so they've got a dramatic story to tell. Nicely put.

Borrowed Light by Anna Fienberg (Allen & Unwin) - Honour Book in the 2000 CBC awards (Older Readers) behind 48 Shades. This book is gorgeous. Anna's writing is... luminous? Yes, luminous. No pun intended, of course.

Cloudstreet by Tim Winton (MacMillan) - a modern Australian classic, and a Banjo Prize winner. This book inspired me to start my first novel Almost Wednesday.

A Woman Named Drown by Padgett Powell (FSG) - a terrifically written and quirky little book set in the American Deep South. Delta Blues, crayboats and Miami polyester examined up close. Excellent stuff!

Blue Highways by William Least Heat Moon (Picador) - a travelogue of a rather different kind, this book paints a picture of America that tourists very rarely see - the places off the interstates.

Choo Woo by Lloyd Jones (Penguin) - creepy, creepy, creepy. No ghosts or dead people here, just a chilling account of a parent's way of dealing with the sexual abuse of his daughter by her step-father. Beautifully written, and as one reviewer said, I wanted to stop reading but I couldn't. I totally agree.

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