Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

BIG LITTLE LIES by Liane Moriarty

Wow. BLL has been sitting on my desk next to my laptop for months! Months and months. This post is so overdue. Woops! Sorry to anyone who was waiting for this.

I LOVED THIS BOOK. Liane Moriarty is, as you probably already know, one of my favourite authors in the world. AND she's Australian.

Her books are hilarious and intelligent, her characters are authentic and believable, her stories are out-of-this-world entertaining, and her writing is unmatchable in quality and execution. I got to see her at the Perth Writers Festival this year, which was amaaazzzinnggg.

Big Little Lies is her latest release (she's written quite a number of novels, and I haven't read all of them yet but I WILL!) and it has a murder mystery! Someone has been killed, and at a primary school quiz night, no less! The characters are so captivating, the plot can't help but entice, and the writing delivers the whole package together so brilliantly.

There are some heavy things some of the characters go through that are pretty serious and challenging, such as domestic violence, but Liane touched upon them with finesse and grounded authenticity. I absolutely love the way Liz Byrski worded it when she talked about this at the Perth Writers Festival in a panel along with Liane. Liz described them as "dark, contentious issues dealt with very lightly and never trivially".

I'm really excited for this book to be adapted to the screen - especially with Reese Witherspoon playing Madeline and Nicole Kidman playing Celeste.

My rating: 4.5 stars

Liane Moriarty at #PWF15

Last month I went to the Perth Writers Festival to meet one of my favourite authors f all time – Liane Moriarty. I went to all three sessions she was at and I got to meet her and have all my books of hers signed. What’s even better was that I won her secret Facebook competition, the prize being a signed book of hers, and luckily I had every single book of hers already, except for one! The Husband’s Secret – so she signed it and gave it to me. Yay!

I’ve already read The Husband’s Secret but I’m glad I own it now, the cover is gorgeous, and the book itself isn’t too shabby either, haha! (You can read my review of The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty here)

The first session of Liane’s was her main one I suppose, featuring her newest book Big Little Lies (a review of that one coming soon!). I was pretty darn excited for it, to say the least. I sat in the second row from the front. In this session I questioned my pronunciation skills and learnt that Liane is pronounced Lee-AHn, and not how I thought it was pronounced. After this session I went straight to the signing, practically walking beside Liane and failing to muster the courage to say hello and speak that secret phrase for the Facebook competition. But even though I was like 10^th in line at the signing, I managed to win! I was thrilled and confounded as to how I was the first person to whisper that secret phrase (“I wasn’t born in an earthquake either”) and win. Liane signed all 100000 of the books I brought plus the one I won and she was delightful. I should have asked for a photo with her.

But I found a photo of me in the line for the signing! Pan Macmillan Australia posted it on twitter.

I'm the asian-looking girl third in line :P

The second session was a panel with a few other authors, talking about ordinary lives, and the extraordinariness of them. I do kinda wish Liane spoke more because there was one quite boisterous and loud author on the panel (although she was funny at times, I found her a tad obnoxious) and Liane has quite a gentle and unassuming personality. Basically I was only interested in what one author had to say.

The last session was all about turning the book into a film, and Liane was joined with the author of The Rosie Effect, Graeme Simsion. Liane told us about meeting with Nicole Kidman for coffee, how Reese Witherspoon’s production company is making the film, and how Nicole Kidman wants to play the role of Celeste and Reese Witherspoon wants to play the role of Madeline. Some of what she said was repeated from earlier sessions but I didn’t really mind. Graeme also had really interesting things to say because he’s a screen-writer as well as a novelist, so he knows about the process. I haven’t read his books yet but I still found everything he had to say rather insightful. The authors were asked about their dream casts, and Liane promptly said, Matt Damon, in any role. I would heartily agree. 
Big Little Lies is going to be set in the US, which makes sense, but is still a little sad to think of – to think of all the lovely Australian things infused into the novel, and knowing the world will be seeing quite a different version of Pirriwee Public on the big screen. But anyway, it’s probably for the best – I always feel a little strange watching big blockbusters set in Australia. It’s weird to me, watching movies with characters that have Aussie accents, it’s just too real, or something. I don’t know.

Finally this post is up! It took me ages to write. Anyway, I need to go review Big Little Lies now, and another book, and those posts shall be up next. If you haven’t picked up Big Little Lies, I suggest you find it in a bookstore or Big W or online, buy it, and read it! It’s really really good. And funny, and those characters will take your heart for a little spin.

The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty

The Last Anniversaryby Liane Moriarty

When I flipped through the Perth Writers Festival brochure I was shocked and excited to see one of my favourite author’s names. Liane Moriarty, in PERTH?!?! my mind exclaimed. I was in a year-long reading slump and decided I’d had enough. A few of Liane’s pre-Husband’s Secret novels were sitting unread on my bookshelf so I picked up the one I knew the least about (I had started reading Three Wishes a while back but I wanted to dive into something completely afresh). That book happened to be The Last Anniversary.

It all happened because of a mystery. The Munro Baby Mystery, to be specific. A baby was found in its home, the parents nowhere to be found. Alice and Jack Munro disappeared into thin air, leaving the kettle boiling for tea and a freshly baked marble cake ready for frosting. The neighbours, two teenage girls, Connie and Rose, came by to visit them and found the baby.

This mystery is the basis of every plotline and character in the novel. Connie and Rose took the baby home and looked after her as their own. They called the baby Enigma, and Enigma went and had kids, and then her two kids went and had three kids. All the kids are adults now, the youngest is in their late thirties. Suffice to say, there are a lot of characters in this book. It took me a little while to figure out who was whose daughter, who were siblings, who were cousins, etc. But obviously it was worth it to take the time to get to know the characters, because it’s Liane Moriarty and duh, the book is gonna be awesome. And it was. Awesome characters, awesome writing, awesome storyIine, awesome everything. I rated it 4.5 stars, so..

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

I had a lot of fun writing Goodreads status updates for this one as I read through it. 

You can see them here.

This was a rather intense one. I know it's called The Husband's Secret so I should have expected some mystery and twists, but there's some heavy stuff that these characters deal with! For example: grief, guilt, betrayal, the blurred line between right and wrong, and murder. There were also lots of secrets and tragedies.

Books I Want To Buy (But Can't Because I Have No Money)

While my bank account, general life spirit and joie de vivre whittles itself down from pathetic to practically non-existent, I'm finding myself left with merely empty wishes and dreams.

So to kick-off from that delightful introductory sentence, this post is going to be filled with books that I want on my bookshelf, but can't afford to go out and buy at the moment. (I tend not to borrow books from the library, not because I'm a snob for cleanliness but because I have too many books on my shelves left unread)
Let's get this thang going.

A Corner of White by Jaclyn Moriarty

I've been waiting for this Kingdom of Cello thing to be released ever since Dreaming of Amelia came out! Jaclyn Moriarty is one of my favourite authors.. like, EVER. Her YA Contemporary novels (the Ashbury series) leave me in stitches so adding fantasy into the equation?.... will probably make me pee my pants. And then explode. That is how much I love Jaclyn Moriarty's books.

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
After reading What Alice Forgot, Liane Moriarty immediately joined her sister up there at the top of my list of faves. I went and bought all of Liane's other novels (I haven't read em yet but I need to, ASAP!) way back when, and now that this new one's out, I'm itching to get my little hands on it.

Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter

There's been quite a long wait between Heist Society #2 and Heist Society #3 (this book). I absolutely LOVED Ally Carter ever since the beginning of the Gallagher Girls series. I actually first found out about Ally Carter from MySpace! THAT WAS THE DINOSAUR AGE, PEOPLE!!!
Normally I'm quick about getting my hands on the new releases of her books, but for some reason I forgot about this or didn't realise it had been released, and now I'm late on the bandwagon!

The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
I read Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief early this year when I was vacationing overseas... in fact I bought the first and the second books of the series for pretty cheap when I was in the Strand bookstore in NYC. I know I'm going to love the entire series even though I haven't read the second one yet. The Titan's Curse is the third, and I want it! I will probably end up getting ALLLLLLLL of them. Eventually.


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Day 24: Two Books I Wish More People Had Read

REMEMBER TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY FOR FRIENDSHIP ON FIRE (ends next Monday!)

Day 01 – The best book you read last year

Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 times

Day 03 – Your favourite series

Day 04 – Favourite book of your favourite series

Day 05 – A book that makes you happy

Day 06 – A book that makes you sad

Day 07 – Most underrated book An unexpected good read

Day 08 – Most overrated book

Day 09 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving

Day 10 – Favourite classic book

Day 11 – A book you hated

Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore

Day 13 – Your favourite writer

Day 14 – Favourite book of your favourite writer

Day 15 – Favourite male character

Day 16 – Favourite female character

Day 17 – Favourite quote(s) from your favourite book(s)

Day 18 – A book that disappointed you
Day 19 – Favourite book turned into a movie
Day 20 – Favourite romance book

Day 21 – Favourite book from your childhood

Day 22 – Favourite book you own
Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t

*Day 24 – A book that you wish more people would’ve read*

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

This one I think I featured on Day 1 of the 30 Day Book Meme, as the best book I read in 2010. I haven't really read any other amnesia-based stories other than this one, but I know that it's worth the read! Liane's writing is effortlessly funny and the witty humour flows smoothly through the novel. 

How to Live Forever by Colin Thompson

I picked this up from the school library because I wanted to read another standalone book by this author after Pepper Dreams had such an effect on me. How to Live Forever is definitely much darker, there are scary creatures and characters and some interesting issues that I never really saw too much of in the books I read as a kid. Definitely an intriguing one to check out. But I wouldn't give this to my kid to read if they were younger than 9 years old. 

Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most

Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something

Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending

Day 28 – Favourite title(s)

Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked

Day 30 – Your favourite book of all time

The Time Will Come #9: *THREE WISHES*

'The Time Will Come' is a Thursday book meme which began at Books for Company, where we pick a book we've been meaning to read but haven't got around to yet, one that's been sitting on 

our shelf gathering dust for a while...

Day 1 of the 30 Day Book Meme: THE BEST BOOK I READ LAST YEAR

Memes are fun! Well, some of them are at least. 

That's why I've decided to participate in this one! I stumbled across the 30 Day Book Meme when I was googling book memes today. 

I'm not going to be able to do each day consecutively, not just because I have exams in the next 2 weeks and I'm going to The States for 5 weeks after that but because I want to come up with good, substantial answers for you! :)

If you've done the 30 Day Book Meme before/are currently participating, please link me to yours so I can have a peak? Thanks!

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Day 01 – The best book you read last year 

Last year I didn't actually read that many books, probably 30 or even less. But of the books I did read, most of them were so amazing they quickly hopped on board my All Time Favourites list. I mean, 2010 was the year I read Harry Potter for the first time. HARRY POTTER. My friend Jess made me read the first HP book so all credit to her! 


However, in amongst the craze of HP... and also discovering the world of The Shopaholic, Becky Bloomwood via Sophie Kinsella, there was one stand alone novel, by an Australian author I might add, that somehow had me reeling for weeks after I'd finished it.