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Author Appreciation Week – Melina Marchetta

By | 20 March 2010 | 5 Responses

2009 Author Appreciation WeekIn which I continue my undignified squeeing over a fantastic Australian author.

Thanks to Adele at Persnickety Snark I discovered that this week is Author Appreciation Week. How perfect.

Everyone who follows me on Twitter is groaning, I’m sure. For the past few weeks most of my book conversations have revolved around—or eventually ended up with—Melina Marchetta.

I love her work. I want to marry her books and grow old with them.

When Looking For Alibrandi first came out, I was heavily into category romances and the last thing I wanted to read was an angsty teen novel set in Australia. It wasn’t until last year that I first picked up Marchetta’s work when I read her short story, Twelve Minutes, in last year’s Books Alive anthology. Even then I wasn’t sure I’d read the novel that the short story was based on, The Piper’s Son.

But the hype for The Piper’s Son was impossible to ignore, and after reading the excerpt on the Penguin website, I borrowed a copy of the sort-of prequel, Saving Francesca, from the library.

It was so damn good. I read it again the next day.

Then I bought a copy of The Piper’s Son and read it in one sitting, never mind that I was surrounded by family members who were suffering from starvation and neglect.

Then I read it again.

For a week I read nothing but these two books, and every time I got on a bus I wanted to be a teenager again. Seriously, Melina Marchetta caused me to want to relive those wretched teenage years. That’s high praise right there.

Melina Marchetta

Source: Melina Marchetta

You can read excerpts from Melina Marchetta’s work via Penguin Australia:

Author Appreciation Week runs from March 15 – 19 and is hosted by Heidi R. Kling (click on the link for more details). Yes, this post is late but it’s still yesterday in the northern hemisphere, so I think it’ll be okay.

The AAW banner used in this post is courtesy of Novel Novice. Melina Marchetta’s photo is from www.melinamarchetta.com.au.

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina MarchettaSaving Francesca by Melina MarchettaOn the Jellicoe Road by Melina MarchettaFinnikin of the Rock by Melina MarchettaThe Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta

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Keywords: australian authors, author appreciation week, melina marchetta
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5 comments »

  1. 1
    Marg
    21 March 2010 at 2:36 pm

    I thought I could still hear you squeeing! lol

  2. 2
    Lisa
    22 March 2010 at 8:40 pm

    I too am in love with Melina Marchetta’s books. It all started for me last year with “On the Jellicoe Road”. I couldn’t stop singing her praises to anyone who would listen. I left feedback on websites, I felt a little obsessed, which is so not me, but the book really wowed me.  Anyway, I was happy to read your little appreciation offering and it has reminded me to go out and buy the ‘Piper’s Son’ quick smart.

  3. 3
    Kat (author)
    23 March 2010 at 11:03 am

    Lisa, Jellicoe Road felt a lot more literary(ish?) than her other books, but I loved the teenage characters in it, and once I settled into the story I couldn’t put the book down. I’d love to know what you think of The Piper’s Son when you’re done reading it.

  4. 4
    Edie
    23 March 2010 at 11:44 pm

    Love LOVE Melina, am so going to have to dig out the old favourites and pick up some of the more recent ones that I have missed.

  5. 5
    Kat (author)
    23 March 2010 at 11:53 pm

    Marg — I just saw the Alibrandi film. Pia Miranda does such an excellent Josie.

    Edie — Be careful—they’re addictive! (But they you already knew that, right? :D) Have you read The Piper’s Son? That one resonated a lot more with me because I was more angsty in my early 20s than in my teen years.

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