Someone else's view who is the same as mine:
Dirt Music is a wild ride - a story of love, death, the mess people make of their lives, and their redemption through love. It is essentially the love story of Georgie Jutland and Luther Fox: Georgie, on the verge of alcoholism and finding herself in an unsure relationship with a widower named Jim and his two boys; Lu, the survivor of a world of death (everyone he loved has died in ghastly, gory ways) terrified of the thought that he is cursed, that anyone he loves will meet a horrible fate. The other characters are just as dodgy but only Jim (who, in his desire for his own redemption, seeks to help Georgie discover herself, even at the cost of their relationship) is drawn with any of the detail with which Georgie and Lu are delineated. These rough characters exist in a rough landscape: Western Australia, somewhere north of Perth, in a fishing town where most of the locals (who are literally White Pointers) have become rich from harvesting lobster but still maintain their frontier ways, often solving disputes with shotguns. Georgie is a blow-in, unsure of how she ended up living in this wild west town; Lu is a local but he's an outcast in a town of outcasts. He plays the dobro but, after the grim fate of his music-playing family, he is afraid of the psychic pain returning to music might give him so he makes a living poaching fish and crustaceans from his fellow townsfolk - a dangerous game in this unforgiving place. Through this landscape, and the even harsher landscape of the Kimberley, the love story (it would be too banal to call it a romance) of these two is played out. The novel is a genuine page-turner and a quick read, partly because of the effortless prose and partly because we can't wait to see what happens next - in that sense it's full of suspense as well, almost like a thriller/mystery. The dialogue is both sharp and blunt at the same time and only occasionally strays into unbelievability. The novel's climax is in the extreme northern country, where Lu escapes after he is nearly killed by redneck White Pointers. Georgie and Jim follow and try to find this lone, dazed, half-mad figure hiding in the wilderness.
I just loved it. Winton's language is sublime, no wonder it won the Miles Franklin.
I really loved this book! It was so good! I was actually quite shocked by just how engrossing the story really was - not to mention how surprisingly sad it was for such a cheerful cover. Really, it was just so riveting. While reading it, I didn't know how I wanted it to end... nor was I able to really predict the ending, either. I just loved reading this and I am anxious to read her other books! 
Summary: Tayo arrives at Cathy's with only the clothes he stands up in. He has been brought to her by the police, but he is calm, polite, and very well spoken, and not at all like the children she normally fosters. The social worker gives Cathy the forms which should contain Tayo's history, but apart from his name and age, it is blank. Tayo has no past. Tayo is an 'invisible' child, kidnapped from his loving father in Nigeria and brought illegally to the UK by his drink and drugs dependent prostitute mother, where he is put to work in a sweat shop in Central London.
Ex Libris is an outstanding book for those who enjoy reading and the pleasures that a library offers the reader. The authors love of books and reading comes alive in every page as only a reader will appreciate. I enjoyed sharing her insightful look at books and their impact on an individual. Easy to read, honest and delightful in that it shares her personal enjoyment with the reader. The book consists of a series of short essays on book and reading-related topics: happy arguments between new spouses about how to merge their collections; the peculiarities of how each of us treats books (to bend down a corner or not to bend), the joys of spelunking in used bookstores; and the like. Lovely!
After reading My Sister's Keeper I had to go back for more of Jodi Picoult. Plain Truth tells the story of an 18-year-old Amish girl, Katie Fisher, who secretly gives birth to a child out of wedlock. Mysteriously the baby disappears and a few hours later is found dead in the barn located on the Fisher farm. After an initial investigation, Katie is charged with murder and a Philadelphia attorney, Ellie Hathaway - who also is loosely related, is set to defend her case. Adding to the fascination of this particular murder trial is the fact that Katie Fisher is Amish, and the Amish convictions are very different from others in the English world. The fact that an Amishman, who by nature does not believe in confrontation and violence, would kill another is entirely unheard of. A great story, easy read but I think the ending was rather obvious. Picoult has sucked me in though - which one to read next?
Summary: This is the true, first-hand account of one woman's courageous struggle for justice, and the story that in 2001 made the eyes of the world turn to the small Nigerian village of Tungar Tudu. Safiya Hussaini was accused of adultery, arrested and taken from her farming village in northern Nigeria. Brought before a Sharia court, she was sentenced to death by stoning. Her crime was to become pregnant outside of marriage and to give birth to her little girl, Adama. The child's father at first accepted responsibility, but then changed his story, denied everything and was released without penalty. Betrayed, terrified and outcast, Safiya summoned the strength to fight for her life. Supported by her family, her lawyer and her faith in Allah, she was determined to stay alive to care for her little girl.
What a sad book that looks at parents who have abducted their own children. Left-behind parents, abducting parents and some of the children themselves have contributed to the book; so have the bureaucrats who have to implement the tough decisions, and the retrievers - men who risk all for someone else’s children. It is just sad that relationships can fall apart that this has to happen in the first place. It was a really interesting book to see the different perspectives but it is wise to remember that we are only seeing one side of the story. Fascinating to hear the retrievers different stories, almost like big adventures but then reality hits that this is real - scary stuff!
