I Know I Say the Same Thing Every Semester But...

Hello!

I know it's been a while but I promise I haven't forgotten you all. Where have I been you ask? Well, the simplest answer is I have been buried under piles and piles of textbooks and journal articles. This semester has been hectic at uni and I know I say this every time, so you would've thought I would time manage more efficiently but it just never seems to work out, no matter how organised I am.

I have been checking in every now and then and posting on the Facebook page any little bits of news or things I think you might find of interest but I haven't actually found the time to write a review of anything. However, in the middle of semester I took two weeks off to go to Europe for my friend's wedding in Belgium and the ridiculously long plane rides gave me some much needed non-uni related reading time. This means that when uni finishes in less than two weeks, I will have reviews of Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith and Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl. I'm also super excited to be part of Ellie Marney's Every Word blog tour and will be featuring a review of the follow up to Every Breath on 11th June.

Other bits of news in the book world?

Amanda (AJ) Betts won the Ethel Turner Prize at the NSW Premier's Literary Awards for her wonderful novel Zac & Mia.

The trailer for the movie adaptation of If I Stay is doing the rounds. I am seriously excited about this one!

 

Gayle Forman has released Just One Night, a companion novella, to Just One Day and Just One Year.

Katie McGarry has announced she is writing a sequel to Pushing the Limits, one of my favourite novels, to be released 30th December 2014.

Breaking the Rules

For new high school graduate Echo Emerson, a summer road trip out west with her boyfriend means getting away and forgetting what makes her so . . . different. It means seeing cool sights while selling her art at galleries along the way. And most of all, it means almost three months alone with Noah Hutchins, the hot, smart, soul-battered guy who’s never judged her. Echo and Noah share everything—except the one thing Echo’s just not ready for.

But when the source of Echo’s constant nightmares comes back into her life, she has to make some tough decisions about what she really wants—even as foster kid Noah’s search for his last remaining relatives forces them both to confront some serious truths about life, love, and themselves.

Now, with one week left before college orientation, jobs and real life, Echo must decide if Noah's more than the bad-boy fling everyone warned her he'd be. And the last leg of an amazing road trip will turn . . . seriously epic.

And finally, if you live in Perth, Penguin Teen Australia has finally announced they are holding their first PTA Live event in Perth! It is a completely free event and a great opportunity to meet other like-minded YA fans and get the scoop on up-coming releases. Check out the details here. 

And with that I will leave you with a couple of selfies from my time in Europe :)

Have you heard the news?

There have been quite a few announcements in the last couple of weeks so I thought I would sum them all up for you.

The cover for the final book in Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy has been revealed. Isn't it stunning?! Dreams of Gods and Monsters will be released April 2014. You can also read a "brief tantalizing excerpt" here. 

  

Maggie Stiefvater has shared the news that she has written a companion novel to Shiver. The standalone story, titled Sinner, will feature Cole and Isabel in Los Angeles and will be released July 2014. You can read more about it here.

The co-authors of the Caster Chronicles series have announced they are writing a new series featuring the characters Link and Ridley who readers first met in Beautiful Creatures. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl will first release an e-novella, Dangerous Dream, on December 17th 2013, and then  follow it with the first novel, Dangerous Creatures, on May 6th 2014. Read more about it here.

 

And unless you have been living under a rock, you will know that Jamie Blackley has been cast as Adam alongside Chloe Moretz's Mia in the adaptation of Gayle Forman's best-selling novel, If I Stay.

 

J.K. Rowling is writing a script for a Harry Potter spin-off focused around the fictional author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The film will feature Newt Scamander in New York and will be set about 70 years before Harry Potter. Read more about it here.

 

Filming of City of Ashes, the follow up to the film adaptation of Cassandra Clare's City of Bones, has been delayed with no set date as to when it will start and the possibility of it being cancelled all together. Find out why, here. 

John Green with Ansel Elgort (Augustus), 

Nat Wolff (Issac) and Shailene Woodley (Hazel).

(Source)

And finally, if you are a fan of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars (and if you're not, why not?!) then you will surely be interested in following all the news from the film set. John Green has been visiting regularly and keeping us up to date with what is going and sharing plenty of happy snaps from the set. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

So, what are your thoughts on all these bits of gossip? Are you excited for Sinner and Dangerous Dream or are you sick of spin-off/companion novels?  Should the filming go ahead for City of Ashes or did you dislike what they did with City of Bones? Are you happy with the casting of Jamie Blackley as Adam or was there someone else you thought would be perfect? Post in the comments below :) 

Happy Saturday to all xx

October Housekeeping

So...

You may have noticed I've been a bit absent the last few weeks. Fear not, I'm back! I've just handed in my last uni assignments for the year and I now have five glorious months off to spend however I want.

First off, I'm still yet to email the winners of my Melina Marchetta Giveaway which finished two weeks ago. I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOU. You are on my list of things to do today so keep an eye on your inbox (and junk too).

 

Meanwhile, Aussie authors Ursula Dubosarsky, Jackie French, Morris Gleitzman and Melina Marchetta have been nominated for the 2013 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, which is the world’s largest prize for children’s and young adult literature. They are four of 207 candidates from 67 countries around the world who have been nominated for this prestigious award. The winner will be announced 26 March 2013.

Coming up on The Tales Compendium...

I will be reviewing a heap of really cool books which have been my motivation to get my assignments finished. Having all these books staring down at you is a great reminder to hurry up!

  On  26th October I'll be guest posting over at Following the Reader for Amy's Halloween Spooktacular and on 30th October I'll be participating in Kate Evangelista's blog tour for Reaping Me Softly. 

Also, while I was busy studying, my page views surpassed 100 000 so a big thankyou to everyone who continues to visit The Tales Compendium.

Thanks for hanging around and I look forward to appearing in your news feeds once again :)

New Jaclyn Moriarty Announced

Acclaimed Australian author Jaclyn Moriarty, arguably best known for Feeling Sorry for Celia and Finding Cassie Crazy, has a new book coming out! A Corner of White, the first in the Colours of Madeleine trilogy, will be released 18th September 2012.

Described as mesmerising, extraordinary, poetic and deeply moving, A Corner of White is sure to have a spot on your TBR pile in the lead up to September.

Madeleine Tully lives in Cambridge, England, the World – a city of spires,
Isaac Newton and Auntie’s Tea Shop.

Elliot Baranski lives in Bonfire, the Farms, the Kingdom of Cello – where
seasons roam, the Butterfly Child sleeps in a glass jar, and bells warn of
attacks from dangerous Colours.

They are worlds apart – until a crack opens up between them; a corner of
white – the slim seam of a letter.

A mesmerising story of two worlds; the cracks between them, the science
that binds them and the colours that infuse them.

And if that isn't enough to pique your interest, in the words of Markus Zuzak...

‘Perfectly strange, and absolutely comical and heartfelt ... Jaclyn Moriarty is one of the most original writers we have.’

New Gayle Forman Titles Announced

So in case you missed the big news in the YA world this week, Gayle Forman announced she will be releasing two new books in 2013 and 2014. They are not a series, but companion novels, and will not have anything to do with fan favourites Adam and Mia.

From Gayle's website:

"Can you fall in love in just one day? Can you become a new person? How about in just one year? In JUST ONE DAY and its companion novel JUST ONE YEAR, sheltered American good girl Allyson “LuLu” Healey and easygoing actor Willem De Ruiter are about to find out against a guidebook-worthy array of foreign backdrops. Equal parts romance, coming-of-age-tale, mystery and travel romp (with settings that span from England’s Stratford upon Avon to Paris to Amsterdam to India’s Bollywood) JUST ONE DAY and JUST ONE YEAR show how in looking for someone else, you just might wind up finding yourself."

Head over to Gayle's blog to read her answers to some FAQ about the future of Mia and Adam and more details about her new books.

Are you excited for Just One Day and Just One Year?
I am!

Bits and Pieces (2)

Amy Plum's debut book Die For Me has officially been released in Australia. Here is a little clip of Amy trying Vegemite for the first time and thanking Aussie bloggers (including yours truly :D)

The winner of the signed copy of Bite Club is...
*Arielle*
Congratulations Arielle, I have contacted you by email and thankyou to everyone who entered.
So I'm a little bit late with posting this but here is the magical book trailer for Forever, the third and final book in Maggie Steifvater's The Wolves of Mercy Falls series. The trailer features a track written by UK band Jonas & Plunkett, "Summer Girl" - with lyrics from Shiver.
Also, Cassandra Clare, author of the best-selling Mortal Instruments series is due to arrive in Australia this week for ten days. If you live in Sydney or Melbourne there are a number of different events where you can meet her. Click here for details.



And finally, head over to my Coming Soon page were new books by David Levithan, Andrea Cremer and Jay Asher have been added.

Bits and Pieces

Firstly, The Tales Compendium has reached 100 followers! Thankyou to everyone old and new who checks in here, and an extra big thankyou to those who leave comments. Your interest is much appreciated and I hope I continue to keep you wanting to come back in the future.


If you haven't already become acquainted with Inside A Dog, I suggest you do. It is a website where teenagers (or people in general) can create a profile, post their reviews, participate in a book club and keep up to date with what is going in YA via the Inside A Dog blog. Each month there is a different 'Writer In Residence' who posts three times a week about whatever they feel like. March was Brian Falkner, April will be Gayle Forman! The site is run by the Centre for Youth Literature at the State Library of Victoria and is being taken care of by Adele, who you may know from her blog Persnickety Snark, who is the new program coordinator.


I would like to say a massive CONGRATULATIONS to Aussie Shaun Tan! He has just won the biggest children's literature prize in the world, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, in Sweden. As most of you probably know, he also won an Academy Award last month in the category of Best Animated Short Film for The Lost Thing, his picture book released in 2000. He is also known for his picture books The Red Tree, The Arrival, The Rabbits and Tales From Outer Suburbia. Looks like 2011 is his year!



For those of you who missed my post the other day, I will be interviewing Rachel Caine when she comes to Perth next month. So I ask you, what would you like to ask Rachel? Send me your questions via email (found on my About Me page) or leave a comment.



Don't forget this is your last chance to enter the signed Bernard Beckett give-away, which I will draw on April 1st. Visit this post to enter.

The Wait Is Almost Over...

Inheritance, the final book in Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle series has been revealed and the release date announced!

Inheritance will be released 8th November 2011 worldwide.
It is the fourth book in the epic fantasy series following on from Eragon, Eldest and Brisingr and fans have been waiting three years for this info.

While, personally I am not a fan, I am very familiar (due to my time working in a book store) with the amount of hype surrounding this long-awaited title and the eagerness of fans to get their hands on a copy.

From Random House:

"Not so very long ago, Eragon—Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider—was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon, Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now the fate of an entire civilisation rests on their shoulders.

Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will have to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chances.

The Rider and his dragon have come further than anyone dared to hope. But can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaësia? And if so, at what cost?

This is the much-anticipated, astonishing conclusion to the worldwide bestselling Inheritance cycle."