Friday, August 21, 2020

The Lost Blackbird by Liza Perrat

The cover of The Lost Blackbird by Liza Perrat, featuring a little girl on a boat deck facing the sea and cloudy sky with a bird flying up.The Lost Blackbird is a story about two sisters shipped from a London orphanage to Australia, where they are promised a better life awaits them.

Separated upon arrival, despite having been promised that they would be able to stay together, they are both thrown in their own set of hardships. The older sister has to endure harrowing circumstances of child labour on a faraway farm. The younger is adopted into a loving, well-off family, but her life comes with its own kind of trauma.

The story is told alternately from both girls’ perspectives, proving once more Liza Perrat’s masterful ability to convey children’s voices from a very young age into adulthood, enabling the reader to not only see but feel them grow up as well as witness the world and people around them in vivid, palpable detail.

Hence, The Lost Blackbird was a fast and utterly absorbing read that taught me something new, as I had no knowledge of child migration from the UK to the other parts of the former British empire (or perhaps I had forgotten about it.)

On the whole, this story sucked me up into its world and still didn’t quite let me go, and certainly left me with a good feeling.  

Monday, August 17, 2020

Bout-of-Books 29

The Bout of Books readathon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It’s a weeklong readathon that begins Monday, through Sunday, YOUR time zone. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are daily challenges, Twitter chats, and exclusive Instagram challenges, but they’re all completely optional. For Bout of Books 29 information and updates, visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Bout of Books

I will be participating on Twitter (@strangenewwords), but I thought it would also be handy to have a summary-of-everything post on this blog (so it gets used at least a little once in a while.)

Monday, 17/8/2020

Reading: The Lost Blackbird by Liza Perrat, The Old Guard fanfiction
Pages/words: 24 pages of The Lost Blackbird, ~14K fanfic
Instagram challenges/other: Currently reading

A display of book covers for Midnight Sun, The Lost Blackbird, Poems of William Blake and fan-made (by me) covers for The Old Guard and Agents of Shield Daisy and Daniel Fanfiction on light blue background titled Currently Reading in black font

Tuesday, 18/8/2020

Reading: The Lost Blackbird by Liza Perrat, The Old Guard fanfiction
Pages/words: 123 pages of The Lost Blackbird, ~13K of fanfic
Instagram challenges/other: 

Cover of The Lost Blackbird by Liza Perrat on light blue background showing a girl on a ship facing stormy sky and a bird flying up

Wednesday, 19/8/2020

Reading: The Lost Blackbird by Liza Perrat
Pages/words: 83 pages of The Lost Blackbird, ~1.5K of Revolution fanfic (reread)
Instagram challenges/other: 

A cover of A Seditious Affair by KJ Charles featuring a young man lying on a bed on light blue background.

Thursday, 20/8/2020

Reading: The Poems of William Blake
Pages/words: 9 pages of The Poems of William Blake
Instagram challenges/other: /

Friday, 21/8/2020

Reading: The Poems of William Blake
Pages/words: 6 pages of The Poems of William Blake
Instagram challenges/other: Wrote reviews for both The Lost Blackbird and Poems of William Blake (GR-only).
Saturday, 22/8/2020

Reading: The Old Guard & AoS fanfiction
Pages/words: ~15K of fanfic
Instagram challenges/other: I had a blast participating in the Twitter chat! 

Covers of The Engineer by C.S. Poe, King's Crown by Maire Johnston, and Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo on a light blue background.

Sunday, 23/8/2020

Reading: AoS fanfiction
Pages/words: ~4.5K of fanfic
Instagram challenges/other: /

Wrap-up:

What I read: Finished The Lost Blackbird and Poems of William Blake
Pages/words: 245 pages +48K words
Instagram challenges/other: I participated in 5 challenges, but on Twitter and also on Saturday's twitter chat.

This was another great Bout-of-Books, I had a blast and certainly read more than I would have otherwise!