"This is the story of Faith, a rock singer who lives in Kings Cross and Angel, a dreamy young homeless girl. Angel is surrounded by danger, her fragile hold on life weakened by the violence of a client and her spiralling drug habit." (Blurb)

Contacted by Festivus after the Brisbane Writers Festival and advised that Festivus books were not released as per release notes - caught from BWF office at South Brisbane on Monday 8 November 2004.

Started reading this it this morning - very interesting - short and snappy chapters which are ideal for reading on public transport and at lunch during a work day ;)

Received at the weekend meetup, thanks Neesy!

I enjoyed this read on the whole. The story was dramatic and interesting yet I wasn't really touched. I felt the same way about the writing. But there were moments where the content was compelling, and the language beautiful or striking, it just wasn't consistently or overwhelmingly so.
There was one passage that struck 'a chord' with me in particular and I thought I might include it in this entry:

"Even when I was at the height of my success and had a lot of plausible powerful people around me skilfully trying to blur my edges, I always instinctively preferred the company of genuine outsiders. It was what I liked in Paul for all his coldness. He was genuinely uninterested in self-promotion and public opinion because they interfered with his only preoccupation, music.
That rare combination-singing talent and a kind of diffidence in pursuing it- was always deeply attractive to me. Most of the successful people around me consumed the best of themselves in their addiction to fame, the energy they used to stay on the greasy pole. Their eyes in a constant flicker of calculation, the subtleties of falsity, performance, little relentless soft facts about themselves being dropped into every sentence. I felt uncomfortable around them, the airlessness of their self-absorption. With this kind of self-serving nonsense at all the fabulous stylish parties we used to go to I craved the freshness of diffidence."

Let's just say I can relate to what is written!

I will release this at a future Brisbane meeting.

Picked this up at meetup today, looks good, I like Australian fiction (or set in Australia anyway!). Thanks

RELEASE NOTES:

at meetup

Picked up at Brisbane meeting 21/08/05.

Well this was a bit of a page turner for me, I was a little shocked from my sheltered world with the images of drugs and the thought that I am not perhaps as tolerant as I would like to be.

I guess it is all too easy to say "druggy - should know better" and yes sometimes they do know better but that does not make it any easier to get off the drugs and change your life.

I would have been interested to know more about Faith's singing life and some more about Daisy, I felt that we got a glimpse of both that left me wanting to know more.

I will offer this up in the near future to be passed around, maybe someone in Sydney might like to pass it around the city for a while.

Offered this book on BCAUS and have had a bit of interest so I will start up a Bookray.

1. Little Mave
2. LizzieM
3. Xoddam

Hello *waves at everyone here*
Sorry, this got covered up with a load of stuff and I forgot to journal it... I picked it up a week ago from the mail box. Have had a tidy up today, so thought I'd better 'catch' it asap. *g*
I lived just down the road from Kings X for around 10 years and used the baby clinic up there, and had friends with kids around there also, so the places will probably be quite familiar.
Am looking forward to reading this when I have finished The Winter Queen.
Thanks.

A beautiful and haunting book. Boy, this lady can muster up some emotions! I loved all the descriptive parts about Sydney, like the walk from the Cross to the Botanical Gardens. I wonder which, if any, cafe the Bar Calais was based on?
Really this was quite a confronting view of inner city homelessness, but a situation which unfortunately DOES exist, and it made the story better for the bare-faced reality, albeit pretty rank.
Definite recommendation material.
Thanks Madam Muck, I will contact LizzieM now.

Thanks for dropping this off LittleMave - lovely to meet you! I'm really looking forward to sinking my teeth (eyes?) into this one since it's set in my neighbourhood. Something tells me this is about to shoot to the top of the TBR pile!

Caught! Waiting for me at my desk when I returned to work this morning after a self-imposed long weekend, complete with an assortment of exotic teabags. Much appreciated, LizzieM!

The first page (with the BC label) has come loose so I'd better do some repair before I release the book. I was thinking of a wild release around the Cross (about 100m up the hill from me right now) but I'll decide that once I've read it.

Lent to a workmate who lives in the Kings Cross / Woolloomooloo neighbourhood. I'll be getting it back to read myself, but if she likes the idea of BookCrossing I'll let her decide where it goes next.