On de-filing the Queen

There's a statue outside the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney of it's namesake. She towers over her minions as they scurry past on their way to work or the stores or wherever else it is they go (because lets face it. she's the queen. she doesn't really give a rats.)




But for the next couple of weeks, the stoic (read: grumpy) Queen is dressed like this:








*sniggers* I mean. How embarrassing. She must be turning in her grave. It's all part of Art and About, which basically celebrates Sydney's creativity and the arts. It runs for a month and there are a bunch of exhibitions (mostly free) as well as other little surprises like the one above right through the city. There are a few statues like this one around town of other notable figures like Captain Cook and Prince Albert, and they're all dressed just as flamboyantly. Check them out if you're around!




In other news, I've been reading quite a few good books lately. Here's some mini-reviews on my favourites:




Await Your Reply, by Dan Chaon, is an great example of contemporary fiction. By that, i mean its set in current times, and deals with current issues in a really current way. That's a trifecta. And I was hooked from the first sentence. It's not often that happens - sometimes you really have to wait to get into a book, but not this one. It revolves around three characters, who's lives interconnect in ways they themselves don't know or understand. But what is real and what is fake? Trust me, give this one a go if you want an easy but gripping read. I finished it in 3 days.





In The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, by Alan Bradley, the star of the show is Flavia, our 11 year old heroine. There are characters you come across on the rare occasion with whom you totally fall in love, and she was one of them. Precocious, unflappable and funny without knowing it, Flavia becomes embroiled in a mystery which she's determined to solve. Set in the summer of 1950, the sleepy English village of Bishop's Lacey and it's host of colourful characters provides the backdrop to this murder-mystery. It's another quick read, and you'll be rooting for Flavia by the end of this one, unless you're a cold-hearted snake. And hey, you might be. In which case this book's not for you. Sorry.





Lastly, I've just finished the wildly popular young-adult series, The Hunger Games. Now, YA novels always carry a certain stigma, but i don't mind them as long as they're well-written, and have likable characters. In fact there are a lot of YA novels that are more commonly read across the ages these days. Harry Potter and Twilight are fine examples of this very craze. So. (I'm really just justifying my reading choices.) Onto the review.





The Hunger Games is a trilogy which has gotten a lot of attention because its content is considered pretty violent and graphic for YA novels. Set in the future, the USA has collapsed because of war, famine and a host of other problems. Taking its place is the state of Panem, which is divided up into 12 poor districts and the rich Capital. Panem is essentially a dictatorship - the Capital Government makes sure its subjects are kept under wraps by terrorising them. As a reminder to the people that rebellion will not be tolerated, 2 children from each district, a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18, are chosen each year through a lottery to participate in The Hunger Games. Lemme tell y'all, this takes reality TV to another level.





Televised for all to see, the 24 participants are dumped into an arena and forced to eliminate each other through whatever means necessary. And by eliminate, i mean kill, usually brutally. Last one standing is the winner. Our heroine, 16 year old Katniss, must compete in the games after volunteering to take her little sister's place. The boy chosen from her district is Peeta, who is at first a friend and then...more? Well you'll have to read it to find out. Then there's the boy she leaves behind, her best friend Gale. And he's hot. I mean, totally hot. All moody and strong and ready to rebel. But that's another story. There's nothing between them, or so she says, and this sets up a pretty little love triangle that sees you through the whole series. I won't tell you who she ends up with cause that's half the fun.




More than anything, these books were engaging - I raced through all three. The violence was pretty PG in my opinion, especially considering the video games out there. There were some very poignant moments that got me pretty teary, for reals. Even though the scenario was totally unrealistic, the characters were real. It's cheesy, but i really came to care about them. When you read a series, you have to invest in the characters for it to work, otherwise you won't bother reading on. If you can see past the YA thing, I'm sure you'll want to know what happens as much as i did.





I'll leave you with this picture of me and my friend Erin - we went to see Wicked in it's last week in Sydney. I know i know, I've already seen it twice, but what he hell. We're dorks like that. If you missed it - SHAME ON YOU!