A compelling, ambitious work of historical fiction set around the time of the burning of Alexandria’s magnificent library. I like big books and I cannot lie.

Let me begin by saying how daunting it is to review a work of quite epic proportions (and this is only book 1!). Once upon a time, I did entertain dreams of being an Egyptologist, thanks to Henry Jones Jr., but I claim no formal qualifications—just a fascination with history in general because it has been said that ‘the past is never dead. It’s not even past.’

‘Hatred is a poison, you cannot drink it and expect another to die’.

What an amazing line! I feel as though an essay might better suffice, but then Written in the Ashes is a journey that is better experienced without the spoilers that a review of that length would no doubt be littered with. Yes, the novel is inspired by actual historical figures and events, but it is told mainly through the eyes of Hannah, a Jewish shepherd girl abducted from her home in the deserts of Sinai and sold into slavery on the streets of Alexandria.

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BOOKMARKED is the name we gave to our paper.li journal, but since not everyone is on Twitter and not everyone on Twitter likes paper.li, we also run an adhoc compilation of links on the blog to highlight links and news that might be of interest.

ARRC13 reader registration is open

Early-bird registration is now open for readers going to the Australian Romance Readers Convention in Brisbane next year. The event runs from March 1 to March 3 at The Mercure. You can find more details and a link to the registration form at the ARRA blog. Guys, you HAVE to come along! Keynote speakers are Kristan Higgins, Anne Gracie and Rachel Vincent.

Lady Jane Salon at ARRC13

And in related news, New York-based Lady Jane Salon, a monthly romance fiction reading event, will be held overseas for the first time when it comes to ARRC13.  The event is open to everyone who has a ticket to the ARRC13 welcome reception. Here’s a teaser from the ARRA blog:

Modeled in spirit on the literary salons of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Lady Jane’s provides guest authors, patrons, industry professionals and members of the media the opportunity to meet, mingle, read aloud, and discuss great romance reads in a free-flowing forum. At Lady Jane’s, we don’t have ‘Q&As’, we have conversations. We don’t have coffee, we have cocktails, or ‘mocktails’ as our guests prefer. The Salon takes place in the evening at a wine bar, lounge, or coffee house and typically includes four guest authors and a break to allow attendees to chat with authors.

Australian Romance Readers Survey

If you haven’t already done so, I’d urge you to fill in the annual ARRA survey. The survey aims to collect some statistics about our reading habits. The survey closes October 18. Note: Australian readers only, please.

Has Fifty Shades of Grey changed your life?

If so, I was contacted by the TV show Can of Worms last week. They’re looking for personal stories and opinions from readers about the book, its characters and themes.

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This book needs a hug.

Charlie is a freshman in high school. He writes letters to a friend that we don’t know about, like a diary, filled with wry observations on his life and what’s going on in it. The entire book is in letter form—we never get a reply from his friend—and is filled with raw emotion, in what I imagine to be Charlie’s matter-of-fact, possibly even slightly monotone—but always honest—passive voice.

At first, Charlie doesn’t have any friends. He is a little weird—even weirder than the cool kind of weird—and it’s a bit hard for him to fit in. He makes friends with two seniors, Patrick and Sam, and begins to experience life, sometimes without really trying.

I first heard of this book when it was released and kept meaning to read it, not realising, ten years later, that I would be determined to read it because they’ve made it into a movie! I thought it would be a typical coming of age book, and I expected to be caught up and be able to relate to the story, because who hasn’t felt like a wallflower sometimes—on the outside looking in? It was a lot more than I expected.

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Via Australian Romance Readers Association

Yes, it’s the event we’ve all been waiting for—ARRC 2013 registration is now open to readers.

You can find a link to the ARRC 2013 brochure and registration at the ARRA blog. The event will be held at The Mercure, Brisbane from March 1 to March 3. The keynote speakers will be Kristan Higgins, Anne Gracie and Rachel Vincent.

Registration rates

Early-bird — $214/$234
From November onwards — $244/$264
Day rate — $144
Book signing only — $7.50/$10

* Day and book signing only  registration will be available in November.

Social functions

Welcome reception — $39/$63
Awards dinner — $58/$92

The cheaper rate doesn’t include drinks.

Have you registered yet? Which events and speakers are you most excited about?

Today is Indigenous Literacy Day, an initiative by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation to help raise funds and awareness for literacy in Indigenous communities.

You can participate by making a donation, supporting an Great Book Swap event in your local community or buying a book from a bookshop that supports ILD and will donate a percentage of sales today to the ILF.

I’ve listed a few below, but if your event isn’t listed, please feel free to add their details in the comments.

Ashfield Library, NSW — Aboriginal Dreaming stories

Cockburn Library, Perth WA — Parent forum with Mem Fox (6/9) with proceeds donated to ILF

Fisher Library (University of Sydney), Camperdown NSW — Great Book Swap

Health Sciences Library (University of Sydney), Lidcombe NSW — Great Book Swap

Mosman Library, NSW — Family story time

Museum of Contemporary Art, The Rocks NSW — Great Book Swap and talks

National Library of Australia, Canberra ACT — Great Book Swap and special events (15/9)

One Word, One Day, Ultimo NSW or online – Art auction by illustrators, organised by the Australian Society of Authors

Pages and Pages, Mosman NSW — Book busking

If you can’t make it to any of these, you can check out for other ILF events in your local area throughout the year.

Merrian Weymouth saw my plea on Twitter for a recap of the romance panel at the 2012 Melbourne Writers’ Festival and generously took some notes for Book Thingo. Huge thanks to Merrian for this excellent recap!

The Panel

The panel was chaired by Caroline Lowry. Stephanie Laurens, Rachael Treasure and Su Dharmapala were the authors speaking about why they love writing about love.

Stephanie represented genre romance. Su and Rachael write with romantic elements—Su perhaps more multi-cultural chick lit, and Rachael stories about life and love in rural Australia.

All three authors’ work history has been as women in strongly male environments, science, corporate Australia and the world of sheep shearing, horses and dogs.

I need to mention Rachael’s most excellent cowboy boots stamped with peace hearts and angel wings, reminding me of the Gram Parsons’ cowboy angels.

There was a full house in ACMI studio One to hear the presenters.

The motivation to write

Rachael spoke about self-help author Louise Hay’s statement ‘we are in a place of love or a place of fear’ as her motivation to write; that she wanted to write about and bring about that place of love for her characters and readers. Her love of living on the land and rural Australia is a prime motivator and her constant setting.

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A collection of tweets reacting to Katherine Feeney’s Fairfax piece, Are romance novels as bad for relationships as porn?

I’ve tried to organise the conversations by topic so they’re not in strict chronological order, though I’ve attempted to keep replies close to the tweets they’re replying to. If you can’t see the embedded link below, click here to view it directly on Storify. And if you feel I missed an important conversation, please let me know in the comments.

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On why the Sydney Writers’ Festival should include romance authors in its program. (Updated to add Chip Rolley’s asshat tweet about the ‘romance lobby’. With screencaps!)

Instead of just whingeing about the lack of romance writers at the Sydney Writers’ Festival, I decided to send a request, via the SWF website, that romance fiction be represented in the 2013 program. I got a brief but very prompt reply to say that my comments have been passed on to the organisers, so I guess we’ll find out next year if anything comes of it.

In any case, here’s what I wrote, and if it’s something you’d also like to see at SWF, I’d encourage you to submit your own letter using the contact form on their website.

Subject: Romance genre should be represented at the SWF

Hi,

I’m writing to request that the Artistic Director please consider including romance genre authors in the 2013 program.

Australia is home to bestselling authors in the genre, including Stephanie Laurens, Marion Lennox, Keri Arthur, Anne Gracie and Anna Campbell. We also have a significant number of successful Mills and Boon authors, some of whom have been publishing books since the 70s. This year, Fiona Lowe won both the RITA and the RWA awards for her digital-first book Boomerang Bride. (In romance, this would be the equivalent of winning an Oscar and a Logie.)

Sadly, the genre is continually under-represented at mainstream writing festivals despite the large body of work that Australian authors have contributed to the genre and with continual disregard to avid readers of romance fiction.

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