Stones by Polly Johnson

Stones (2013) (The Friday Project)

Polly Johnson

Grade: C

Genre: young adult

Source: NetGalley 

YA Reading Bingo Challenge 2014: A book with a female heroine 

Sixteen year old Coo is finding it difficult to grieve for her deceased brother. Sam had been a perfectly adequate older brother when they were both younger, but once he found drink, he turned into a different person. Life with this new Sam had been depressing and at times, unbearable. For Coo, her needs were always marginalized or forgotten and her parents seemed to have little consideration for the effects of Sam’s behaviour on her. Her parents would breathe a sigh of relief when he didn’t come home, yet never turned him away when he returned, reeking of alcohol with an undercurrent of violence.

TEDxSussex University

I've espoused my love for TED in a few posts now, and I was lucky enough to be given the chance to attend a TEDx event that was held at my university today. TEDx events are independently organised events where the 'x' can be anywhere from (and I'm just picking random places here; no idea if TEDx events have actually been held here) Sydney to Stockholm to San Francisco to Sussex.

I heard about this TEDx event through the Enterprise Office at the University, and boy am I glad I attended. A full list of speakers can be found here and their talks will be uploaded to TED.com in the coming months. The theme was 'The Hidden Wonders' and we saw a variety of speakers from across the country (and the globe) in three separate areas: Science and Technology, Global Issues and Business and People and Culture.