The New Three 'R's: Reading, Writing and Recession

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that reading is a "low-cost escape from the recession." People are being more careful about spending, they're less extravagant, and thankfully they're rediscovering relatively cheap entertainment in the form of books.

What are people reading to take their minds off the new three 'R's? A fourth 'R', actually. An interesting article popped up in the New York Times on how, in this economic climate, romance novels are outselling other genres.

Vampire books are not dead--at least in Australia. Stephenie Meyer alone seems to be propping up sales.

Do you have any clever ideas on low-cost or no-cost entertainment to keep your mind off the global financial crisis? Has the GFC influenced your buying decisions?

Oh, and a HUGE shout out to my CP and good friend Stephanie Kuehnert, whose first book, I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE, has been nominated in the YA category of OKRWA's National Reader's Choice Awards! Well deserved, I might say! Good luck, Steph!

Retail Therapy

In case you haven't heard me moaning on Facebook and Twitter, I am sick with an annoying cold. I've spent the last couple of days seeking treatment at UK-based online bookseller The Book Depository. They may not yet have the range my other haunt has, but they do offer FREE DELIVERY anywhere in the world and I'm told their service is quick.

So I added inches to my YA TBR pile with HEARTBREAK RIVER by Tricia Mills, INVISIBLE TOUCH by Kelly Parra (who recently signed a film option for her first book, GRAFFITI GIRL), WHAT WOULD EMMA DO? by Eileen Cook and MISS MATCH by Wendy Toliver.

This is in addition to the books I bought at bricks'n'mortar stores during the contagious phase of my cold - TANTALIZE by Cynthia Leitch Smith and POLAR BOY by Sandy Fussell.

I really have to hold back now, 'cause the commenters over at the We Love YA blog gave me a ton of recommendations and I want to read them all.

Which books have you bought lately? Are you actively buying books to keep the sellers and authors in business?

Group Hug!

This past week has been a blur of work, chocolate and work. And I've been very remiss in telling you there's a new group blog in town - a blog I belong to. We launched We Love YA on Monday. By "we" I mean a fab group of Australian & New Zealand YA writers - Amanda Ashby, Diane Curran, Kiki Lon, Natalie Hatch, Sara Hantz and me. There's still time to catch Amanda's first post and win yourself a copy of her ZOMBIE QUEEN OF NEWBURY HIGH.

On Good Friday, join me for an interview with Walker Books Australia publisher Sarah Foster, who'll tell us about the market on this end of the planet. Post a comment there for your chance to win a book by CBCA Book of the Year nominee, Sandy Fussell.