Plots, Prayers & Big Sky I love the photo on the cover of Niki Savva’s Plots & Prayers—Malcolm Turnbull looking intelligent, urbane and amused, and Scott Morrison looking, well, not like that. In fact I’m not a political person, and have never read a book about politicians in my life; but I was curious about this book. Like many people, I don’t understand why Malcolm Turnbull was overthrown, and noone seems to be able to explain why it happened. Niki Savva calmly and competently unravels the whole mess, somehow managing to put in a timeline that makes sense, with a credible description of all the players in this coup. It’s not her fault that they are, in the main, insufferably dull, and incredibly self serving. Savva maintains a dignified stance with all of them, even the really awful ones, never descending to their level, which is admirable given the behaviour of some of them. What does come across is the incredible plotting and machinations of the people who are supposed to be governing us—the extreme solipsism and utter egocentricity of most of them, while they scheme and backstab, grandstand and flounce. Monkeys in a zoo, although lacking in any simian charm. This is a good book, but I still don’t understand what happened. Speaking of our leaders’ banality, the latest Jackson Brodie book by Kate Atkinson, Big Sky, is riddled with similarly nasty and banal characters. Set in a seaside town in North Yorkshire, Jackson Brodie has left the police and is now a PI. He is working on one case, which of course leads to far greater crimes for him to eventually uncovers. Jackson is a charismatic character, the product of a tragic childhood, he has risen above this tragedy and gone forth into the world, attracting both good and bad. This is the fifth Brodie book, and it’s definitely the darkest—reflective of the times we live in—where long buried crimes and misdemeanours are coming to light, and silenced victims are getting a voice. I would recommend that you read some of the earlier books in this series, before embarking on this one. Fans of Jackson are invested in him, but he isn’t at his peak in this book. Like a lot of us, he is tired and somewhat disappointed, and that’s reflected in this story. Most of Kate Atkinson’s books have lots of intriguing secondary characters, and a strong and evocative sense of place, Big Sky is no exception. Louise
Pen in Hand: Reading, Rereading and other Mysteries by Tim Parks ($30, HB) How can other people like the books we don’t like? What benefit can we get from rereading a work? Can we read better? If so, how? These & many other questions, ranging from the field of writing to that of reading & translation, are given a comprehensive answer by author, translator & essayist, Tim Parks, in a series of stimulating & challenging literary essays perfect for all book explorers & practitioners of the pen.
Growing Up Queer in Australia (ed) Benjamin Law ($30, PB)
‘No amount of YouTube videos and queer think pieces prepared me for this moment.’ ‘The mantle of “queer migrant” compelled me to keep going - to go further.’ ‘I never “came out” to my parents. I felt I owed them no explanation.’ ‘All I heard from the pulpit were grim hints.’ ‘I became acutely aware of the parts of myself that were unpalatable to queers who grew up in the city.’ ‘My queerness was born in a hot dry land that was never ceded.’ Benjamin Law has assembled voices from across the spectrum of LGBTIQA+ identity that spans diverse places, eras, ethnicities and experiences of growing up queer in Oz.
Our Women on the Ground: Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World (ed) Zahra Hankir ($35, PB)
A growing number of intrepid Arab & Middle Eastern sahafiyat—female journalists—are working tirelessly to shape nuanced narratives about their changing homelands, often risking their lives on the front lines of war. From sexual harassment on the streets of Cairo to the difficulty of travelling without a male relative in Yemen, their challenges are unique—as are their advantages, such as being able to speak candidly with other women at a Syrian medical clinic or attend an exclusive beauty contest for sheep in Saudi Arabia. This book collects 19 of these women—their daring and heartfelt stories, told here for the first time, shatter stereotypes about the region’s women & provide an urgently needed perspective on a part of the world that is frequently misunderstood.
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Now in B Format The Unpunished Vice by Edmund White, $23
Cultural Studies & Criticism Women, Men and the Whole Damn Thing by David Leser ($30, PB)
‘How to find the right words to frame this horror? How to understand why men do what they do to women? How to comprehend this malign force that seems to seep from the male psyche and infect us all? . . . That is the central hope, the appeal, embedded in this book: that other men might join me in this investigation and ruthless self-interrogation-and in doing so, become part of the change that is so urgently required.’. ‘David Leser has written the book a man needed to write. He has a deep ethical understanding of discrimination against women. He cares about that injustice.But he also cares about how men themselves can be part of the solution.’—Catherine Lumby
Home Grown: How Domestic Violence Turns Men Into Terrorists by Joan Smith ($30, PB)
Terrorism is seen as a special category of crime that has blinded us to the obvious—that it is, almost always, male violence. The extraordinary link between so many tragic recent attacks is that the perpetrators have practised in private before their public outbursts. Feminist & human rights campaigner Joan Smith makes a persuasive argument for a radical shift in perspective. Incomprehensible ideology is transformed through her research into a disturbing but familiar pattern. From the Manchester bomber to the Charlie Hebdo attackers, from angry white men to the Bethnal Green girls, from US school shootings to the London gang members who joined ISIS, she shows that, time & time again, misogyny, trauma & abuse lurk beneath the rationalisations of religion or politics. Criminal authorities miss this connection because violence against women is dangerously normalised. Yet, since domestic abuse often comes before a public attack, it’s here a solution to the scourge of our age might be found.
Make, Think, Imagine by John Browne ($30, PB)
Today’s unprecedented pace of change leaves many people wondering what new technologies are doing to our lives. Has social media robbed us of our privacy and fed us with false information? Are the decisions about our health, security and finances made by computer programs inexplicable and biased? Will these algorithms become so complex that we can no longer control them? And has our demand for energy driven the Earth’s climate to the edge of catastrophe? John Browne argues that all progress stems from the human urge to make things & to shape the world around us, resulting in greater freedom, health & wealth for all. Drawing on history, his own experiences & conversations with many of today’s great innovators, he uncovers the basis for all progress & its consequences, both good & bad. He argues compellingly that the same spark that triggers each innovation can be used to counter its negative consequences.
A Primer for Forgetting: Getting Past the Past by Lewis Hyde ($35, HB)
We live in a culture that prizes memory—but what if forgetfulness were seen not as something to fear, but rather as a blessing, a path to peace & forgiveness? Lewis Hyde forges a new ‘history of forgetfulness’ by assembling fragments of art & writing from the ancient world to the modern, weighing the potential boons forgetfulness might offer the present moment as a philosophical & political force. He also turns inward, using the his own life & memory as a canvas upon which to extol the virtues of a concept too long taken as an evil. Drawing material from Hesiod to Jorge Luis Borges to Elizabeth Bishop to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, from myths & legends to very real & recent traumas both personal & historical, he produces a unique & remarkable synthesis.
Fabulous Monsters: Dracula, Alice, Superman, and Other Literary Friends by Alberto Manguel
Alberto Manguel examines how literary characters can have changing identities, and can suddenly shift from behind their conventional stories to teach us about the complexities of love, loss & life. In this personal reckoning with his favourite characters, including Jim from Huckleberry Finn, Phoebe from The Catcher in the Rye, Job and Jonah from the Bible, Quasimodo, the Hippogriff, Little Red Riding Hood, Captain Nemo, Hamlet’s mother & Dr Frankenstein’s Monster, the author shares his unique powers as a reader, encouraging us to establish our own unique literary relationships. Manguel’s own doodles complete this delightfully magical book. ($38, HB)
That Other World: Nabokov & the Puzzle of Exile by Azar Nafisi ($50, HB)
The ruler of a totalitarian state seeks validation from a former schoolmate, now the nation’s foremost thinker. A literary critic provides commentary on an unfinished poem that both foretells the poet’s death & announces the critic’s secret identity as the king of a lost country. Humbert is lost within the antithesis of a fairy story, in which Lolita does not hold the key to his past but rather imprisons him within the knowledge of his distance from that past. In this precursor to Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi deftly explores the worlds apparently lost to Nabokov’s characters, their portals of access to those worlds, and how other worlds hold a mirror to Nabokov’s experiences of physical, linguistic & recollective exile. Written before leaving the Islamic Republic of Iran this book evokes the reader’s journey of discovery & reveals what caused Nabokov to distinctively shape & reshape that journey for Azar Nafisi.
