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Vol. 23 No. 10 November 2016
Summer Reading
1
Goodbye 2016
The Pulitzer is my favourite prize. It’s introduced me to a lot of writers, and great books, over the years. The Sympathizer by Thanh Viet Nguyen ($23) is no exception. An utterly original and gripping novel, from it’s memorable opening lines to its profound conclusion, this is an ambitious, at once dark and funny novel. Set during and after the Vietnamese War, the long, complex, often discursive narrative is told by an anonymous narrator(‘the Captain’). His life and doubleidentity (as spy, as immigrant and dual Vietnamese and American citizen, as victim and perpetrator of war crimes) provide the focus for some deeply fascinating and unsettling social and political satire and commentary. It’s a remarkable first novel I came to John le Carre’s books via the TV adaptations starring Alec Guinness in the 70s. He’s an absolute master of his genre, I reckon, and the wonderfully plotted novels are full of political wisdom and humanity. He’s at last published his first work of non-fiction, The Pigeon Tunnel ($33)—an alluring patchwork of reminiscences and stories about a writing career stretching over half a century. Some startling revelations, and home-truths, from a writer with an unflinching gaze, especially on himself. Norman Ohler is a German novelist, whose remarkable best seller about whole scale substance abuse in Nazi Germany, Blitzed ($44.99) has just been published in English. It reads unevenly, as you might expect from a non-historian writing history, but it’s such a riveting subject (who knew that meth amphetamines were widely used by the Wehrmacht in their successful invasion of France in 1940, for instance—I certainly didn’t) that the idiosyncratic style doesn’t matter. It’s a macabre and eye-popping story, and a serious contribution to our understanding of one of the blackest periods in history
My year’s reading has been beautifully book ended by two wonderful collections of previously unpublished (or uncollected) pieces. So when it comes to my favourite read for the year it’s a dead heat between two all of the best writers of our time, Helen Garner and Tim Winton with Everywhere I Look ($30) and The Boy Behind the Curtain ($39.99). This is our final newsletter for 2016. Thanks for sticking with us, and we’ll look forward to your readership next year. Look out for our 2016 Summer Reading Guide, which is full of tempting new releases and special offers. Hope you find something of value there. And for my last word, please remember the value of the work the Indigenous Literacy Foundation does, and think about a Christmas donation for their work. cheers, David
The Chocolate Tin by Fiona McIntosh ($33, PB)
Alexandra Frobisher is a modern-thinking woman with hopes of a career in England’s famous chocolate-making town of York. Matthew Britten-Jones is a man of charm and strong social standing. He impresses Alex and her parents with his wit and intelligence, but would an amicable union be enough for a fulfilling life together? At the end of WW1, Captain Harry Blakeney discovers a dead soldier in a trench in France. In the man’s possession is a secret love note, tucked inside a tin of chocolate that had been sent to the soldiers as a gift from the people back home. In pursuit of the author of this mysterious message, Harry travels to Rowntree’s chocolate factory in England’s north, where his life becomes inextricably bound with Alexandra and Matthew’s. From the battlefields of northern France to the medieval city of York, this is a heartbreaking tale about a triangle of love in all its forms and a story about the bittersweet taste of life—and of chocolate.
Foal’s Bread by Gillian Mears ($32.99, PB) Set in hardscrabble farming country and around the country show high-jumping circuit that prevailed in rural New South Wales prior to the Second World War, Foal’s Bread tells the story of two generations of the Nancarrow family and their fortunes as dictated by the vicissitudes of the land. This special hardback edition of the award-winning novel is published to commemorate the life and work of Gillian Mears, 1964–2016. Griffith Review 54 Earthly Delights: The Novella Project IV (ed) Julianne Schultz ($28, PB)
Griffith Review turns its attention to the fast-growing novella form with its annual edition dedicated to the 5 winning entries from our fourth novella competition. The novellas that emerge from our competition, Cate Kennedy writes, are ‘short enough to consume like a single satisfying meal, long enough to linger over with coffee…(they) deliver us into worlds we don’t expect and have a hard time forgetting. ’
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Australian Literature S PEC IA L
OF FE R
THE BEST OF 2016 3 FOR THE PRICE OF TWO The Best Australian Essays 2016 (ed) Geordie Williamson, $29.99 The Best Australian Poems 2016 (ed) Sarah Holland-Batt, $24.99 The Best Australian Stories 2016 (ed) Charlotte Wood, $29.99
Crimes of the Father by Tom Keneally ($33, PB)
Ex-communicated to Canada due to his radical preaching on the Vietnam War and other human rights causes, Father Frank Docherty is now a psychologist and monk. He returns to Australia to speak on abuse in the Church, and unwittingly is soon listening to stories from two different people—a young man, via his suicide note, and an ex-nun (now driving taxis)—who both claim to have been sexually abused by an eminent Sydney cardinal. This senior churchman is himself currently empanelled in a commission investigating sex abuse within the Church. As a man of character and conscience, Father Docherty finds he must confront each party involved in the abuse and cover-up to try to bring the matter to the attention of the Church itself, and to secular authorities. Ex-seminarian, Tom Keneally, pulls no punches as he interrogates the terrible damage done to innocents as the Catholic Church has prevaricated around language and points of law, covering up for its own.
Quicksilver By Nicolas Rothwell ($30, HB) Quicksilver begins on a quiet day in contemplation of a lizard deep in the heart of the outback but quickly moves to the Russia of Tolstoy and Gorky, and on to other lands and times, bringing into play universal questions about the essential nature of the human condition. Nicholas Rothwell’s chief subject is always the inland: the mystic Kurangara cult that flourished in the Kimberley; the story of the Western Desert artists, their works and their eventual fate; the tracks across the wilderness of Colonel Warburton and George Grey; the bush dreams and intuitions of D. H. Lawrence and the landscape word-portraits by the great biographer of nature Eric Rolls—taking the reader in search of the sacred through place and time, in an enchanting reverie of calm wondering. The Whip Hand by Mihaela Nicolescu & Nadine Browne ($28, PB)
Who holds the whip hand? From a young mother stealing back her child to a disillusioned lover seeking revenge with a potion, from house cleaners contemplating a life of crime to a woman parting ways with Jesus, these are stories of people living on the edge. Mihaela Nicolescu and Nadine Browne illuminate the complexity of the everyday with compassionate but unflinching accounts of the ways in which people gain, lose or reclaim control of their lives.
Fearless by Fiona Higgins ($30, PB) What happens when pampered Westerners on a spiritual retreat in Bali end up fighting for their lives? Six strangers from across the world meet on the tropical island of Bali to attend a course designed to help them face their fears. Their backgrounds are as diverse as their fears—which range from flying, public speaking & heights, through to intimacy, failure & death. Friendships & even romance blossom as the participants are put through a series of challenges which are unusual, confronting & sometimes hilarious. However, week of fun in the sun suddenly turns into something far more serious when the unthinkable happens—a tragic disaster that puts the group in deadly danger, testing the individual courage of every member.. The Permanent Resident by Roanna Gonsalves
A woman who can’t swim wades into a suburban pool. An Indian family sits down to an Australian Christmas dinner. A single mother’s offer to coach her son’s soccer team leads to an unexpected encounter. A recent migrant considers taking the fall for a second generation ‘friend’. A wife refuses to let her husband look at her phone. An international student gets off a train at night. Roanna Gonsalves’ short stories unearth the aspirations, ambivalence & guilt laced through the lives of 21st century immigrants, steering through clashes of cultures, trials of faith & squalls of racism—cutting to the truth of what it means to be a modern outsider. ($25, PB)
Wedding Bush Road by David Francis ($30, PB)
When Daniel, a young Australian lawyer based in Los Angeles, is called back to his family’s horse farm, he has to contend not only with a philandering father and a sick mother, but also the burden of memory. He arrives in the heat of his parents’ conflict with Sharen— some-time tenant and his father’s ex-lover—who is now squatting on family land. As Daniel is increasingly drawn to Sharen, tensions spark events that will change them all. With a keen eye for the Australian landscape and the workings of a rural horse farm, David Francis looks at the choices we make, the regrets that linger, and the unquestionable, inevitable pull of home.
A Distant Journey by Di Morrissey ($35, HB)
In 1962 Cindy drops out of college to impulsively marry Australian grazier Murray Parnell, moving from the glamorous world of Palm Springs, California, to an isolated sheep station on the sweeping plains of the Riverina in NSW. Cindy is flung into a challenging world at Kingsley Downs station. While facing natural disasters and the caprices of the wool industry, Cindy battles to find her place in her new family and continues to feel like an outsider. As she adjusts to her new life, she realises that the Parnells are haunted by a mystery that has never been solved. When she finally uncovers the shocking truth, her discovery leads to tragedy and Cindy finds herself fighting to save the land that she has grown to love as her own.
Extinctions by Josephine Wilson ($30, PB) Professor Frederick Lothian, retired engineer, world expert on concrete & connoisseur of modernist design, has quarantined himself from life by moving to a retirement village. His wife, Martha, is dead and his two adult children are lost to him in their own ways. Surrounded and obstructed by the debris of his life—objects he has collected over many years and tells himself he is keeping for his daughter—he is determined to be miserable. When a series of unfortunate incidents forces him and his neighbour, Jan, together, he begins to realise the damage done by the accumulation of a lifetime’s secrets and lies, and to comprehend his own shortcomings. Extinctions is a novel about all kinds of extinction—natural, racial, national and personal—and what we can do to prevent them.
The Chaser Quarterly 5: The Shovel Annual 2017
A special bumper two-books-in-one, providing the perfect summer reading for anyone who’s smart phone has run out of batteries. In this issue, The Chaser looks forward to the trends and events of 2017. We take a look at the places most likely to be riven by conflict and despair, and give you pro tips on how to ignore the plight of a planet slowly descending into chaos. ($25, PB)
On D’Hill
Keeping my promise to read more books by blokes, I have just finished a chilling crime novel by an Argentinian author being translated into English for the first time. Kill the Next One is Frederico Axat’s third novel and it is a psychological thriller in the true sense of the word—the protagonist Ted McKay is about to kill himself when there’s a knock on the door. A man who seems to know him proposes that if Ted kills two other men, then they will in turn kill him, the reasoning being that Ted’s beloved wife and daughters won’t be so traumatised if he is murdered instead of him suiciding. At this point the reader thinks it’s all a bit silly and unbelievable but then reads on only to be sucked in by a labyrinth of clues and doubts and mystery. Nothing is as it seems and Axat expertly leads the reader down one dead end after another right up to the very surprising end. My only concern is that due to the very mixed-up nature of the main character, Ted is hard to identify with or get to know. Although there’s some brandishing about of guns (this is the USA) Kill the Next One is not a violent crime novel and will be enjoyed by those who prefer minds being blown away rather than bodies. I’ve been indulging in some nostalgia this month with the release of Larry Writer’s Pitched Battle: In the Frontline of the 1971 Springbok Tour of Australia. I was there! I turned up at the gates of the SCG in my school uniform, much to the joy of the protest organisers who filled my school bag with whistles and other demonstration aids which I now forget although I’m pretty sure there were no bombs. I also went to the protest outside the Springbok’s motel but I guess my tender years meant I was never to become a prominent, newsworthy radical like the indefatigable Meredith Burgmann (who was in conversation with Larry at our event on the 12th). Still, I take some pride in my activism which, in the case of apartheid, was brought on after seeing gruesome photos of black South Africans slain at Soweto in a book on my mother’s bookshelf—one of those old New Left Library books with the yellow covers, the name of which escapes me (as does so much else!) Who says books can’t change us?
The 70s also harken when I read glowing reviews of The Invention of Angela Carter which Viki, our esteemed gleaner editor, wrote about last month. I’ve never been one for Carter’s magical, fairytale-like genius, but she was an icon of literary feminism back in the day. Also published this month is Carter’s The Bloody Chamber and gleebooks has a bind-up of the two for $49.99 (save $15!) Give it to your daughters!
Who can believe we’ve been at Dulwich Hill for 6 1/2 years? Kids who were still being read picture books when we opened are now devouring books from the 8-12 shelves. Such a joy! Have a wonderful summer—I won’t say Happy Christmas because I’ll see you in the shop many times before then. See you on D’hill, Morgan
Special offer! Save $15 Buy The Invention of Angela Carter and the special edition of The Bloody Chamber together for $49.99 Kids event at gleebooks Dulwich Hill 2 pm Saturday November 12
Join Claire Garth and the wonderful Grover McBane for a very special doggy event. Grover McBane is the star of Claire’s three lovely chapter books about this very special rescue dog. Claire will tell you how she came to adopt Grover and how he became a rescue dog for other rescue dogs! The latest book, Grover McBane: Rescue Dog—Grover, Benji and Nanna Jean, is out in November. Free: ages 7-9 rsvp: gleebooks Dulwich Hill.
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International Literature
Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days by Jeanette Winterson ($30, HB)
The tradition of the Twelve Days of Christmas is a tradition of celebration, sharing and giving. And what better way to do that than with a story? Jeanette Winterson supplies ghosts & jovial spirits, chances at love & tricks with time, frost & icicles, mistletoe & sledges, a cat & a dog & a solid silver frog, a haunted house, a SnowMama and a Christmas cracker with a surprising gift inside. And for the icing on the Christmas cake, there are twelve festive recipes from Yuletides past and present. Red cabbage, gravlax, turkey biryani, sherry trifle, Mrs Winterson’s mince pies and more.
Swing Time by Zadie Smith ($33, PB)
Two brown girls dream of being dancers—but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm & time, about black bodies & black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It’s a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early 20s, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten, either. Tracey makes it to the chorus line but struggles with adult life, while her friend leaves the old neighbourhood far behind, travelling the world as PA to famous singer, Aimee, observing close up how the one per cent live. But when Aimee develops grand philanthropic ambitions, the story moves from London to West Africa, where diaspora tourists travel back in time to find their roots, young men risk their lives to escape into a different future, the women dance just like Tracey—the same twists, the same shakes—and the origins of a profound inequality are not a matter of distant history, but a present dance to the music of time.
Gleebooks’ special price $29.99
The Dark Flood Rises by Margaret Drabble
Francesca Stubbs holds our hand as we take a walk through old age and death. Fran brings us to drinks with her dear friends, dropping off mouth-watering suppers for Claude, her ex-husband, warm and cosy in his infirmity. She visits her daughter, Poppet, holed up as the waters rise in a sodden West Country, and texts her son Christopher in Lanzarote, as he deals with the estate of his shockingly deceased girlfriend. In her beautifully imagined new book, Margaret Drabble is at her incisive best, exploring the end of life with her trademark humour, composure and wisdom. ($30, PB)
The Ice-Cream Makers by Ernest van der Kwast In the far north of Italy lies the valley of the ice-cream makers: about a dozen villages where, for generations, people have specialised in making ice-cream. Master maker Giuseppe Talamini claims it was actually invented here. Every spring his family sets off for the ice-cream parlour in Rotterdam, returning to the mountains only in winter. Eldest son Giovanni Talamini decides to break with this tradition by pursuing a literary career. But one day his younger brother, Luca, approaches him with a highly unusual request—will Giovanni serve the family’s interests one last time or choose his own path in life. ($30, PB)
The Spy by Paulo Coelho ($30, HB) When Mata Hari arrived in Paris she was penniless. Soon she was feted as the most elegant woman in the city. A dancer who shocked and delighted audiences, as a confidante & courtesan she bewitched the era’s richest & most powerful men. But as paranoia consumed a country at war, Mata Hari’s lifestyle brought her under suspicion. In 1917 she was arrested in her hotel room on the Champs–Élysées & accused of espionage. Told through Mata Hari’s final letter, this is the story of a woman who dared to break the conventions of her time, and paid the price. New this month: Granta 137: Followers (ed) Sigrid Rausing ($25, PB)
The Story of a Brief Marriage by Anuk Arudpragasam ($28, PB)
Dinesh is a young man trapped on the front lines between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers. Desensitized to the horror all around him, life has been pared back to the essentials: eat, sleep, survive. All this changes when he is approached one morning by an older man who asks him to marry his daughter Ganga, hoping that victorious soldiers will be less likely to harm a married woman. For a few brief hours, Dinesh and Ganga tentatively explore their new and unexpected connection, trying to understand themselves and each other, until the war once more closes over them. An unforgettable literary debut set during the final days of the Sri Lankan civil war, portraying two people’s struggle to create a human relationship when being human has become impossible.
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A Horse Walks Into a Bar by David Grossman
In a comedy club in a small Israeli town an audience has come expecting an evening of amusement, but instead sees a comedian falling apart on stage; an act of disintegration, a man crumbling, as a matter of choice, before their eyes. They could get up and leave, or boo and whistle and drive him from the stage, if they were not so drawn to glimpse his personal hell. Dovale Gee, a veteran stand-up comic— charming, erratic, repellent—exposes a wound he has been living with for years: a fateful & gruesome choice he had to make between the two people who were dearest to him. ($40, HB)
The Woman on the Stairs by Bernhard Schlink
For decades the painting was believed to be lost. But, just as mysteriously as it disappeared, it reappears, an anonymous donation to a gallery in Sydney. The art world is stunned but so are the three men who loved the woman in the painting, the woman on the stairs. One by one they track her down to an isolated cottage in Australia. Here they must try to untangle the lies and betrayals of their shared past - but time is running out. The Woman on the Stairs is an intricately-crafted, poignant and beguiling novel about creativity and love, about the effects of time passing and the regrets that haunt us all. ($30, PB)
Between Dog and Wolf by Sasha Sokolov ($33.95, PB) Between Dog and Wolf, written in 1980, has long intimidated translators because of its complex puns, rhymes & neologisms. Language rather than plot motivates the story—the novel is often compared to James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake—and time, characters & death all prove unstable. The one constant is the Russian landscape, where the Volga is a more-crossable River Styx, especially when it freezes in winter. Sokolov’s fiction has hugely influenced contemporary Russian writers. Thanks to Alexander Boguslawski’s bold translation, English readers can access what many consider to be his best work. The Atomic Weight Of Love by Elizabeth J Church
Meridian Wallace has lived through the WW2, the atomic age, the Vietnam War & the dawn of the new millennium—yet she has always been torn between who she is and who circumstances demand her to be. In 1941, spirited, ambitious, Meridian won a place at the University of Chicago to study ornithology. The last thing she expected was to fall in love with a man two decades older: her brilliant physics professor, Alden Whetstone—or for him to be recruited to Los Alamos, New Mexico, to take part in a mysterious wartime project. When Meridian defers her plans to join him, she agrees to give Alden a year of her life. But this is a world, and a time, in which a wife cannot be a scientist & a woman cannot choose her own destiny. What begins as an electrifying intellectual partnership soon evolves into something quite different, and as the decades pass, Meridian strives to resist the clipping of her wings. ($29.99, PB)
Cousins by Salley Vickers ($32.99, PB)
Brilliant and mercurial Will Tye suffers a life changing accident. The terrible event ripples through three generations of the complex and eccentric Tye family, bringing to light old tragedies and dangerous secrets. Each member of the family holds some clue to the chain of events which may have led to the accident and each holds themselves to blame. Most closely affected is Will’s cousin Cecelia, whose affinity with Will leaves her most vulnerable to his suffering and whose own life is for ever changed by how she will respond to it.
Gleebooks’ special price $29.99
The Transmigration of Bodies and Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera ($30, PB)
Two novellas in one volume from ‘Mexico’s greatest novelist’. The Transmigration of Bodies is a response to the violence of contemporary Mexico, with echoes of Romeo and Juliet, Roberto Bolaño and Raymond Chandler—a noir tragedy & a tribute to those bodies— loved, sanctified & defiled—that violent crime has touched. Signs Preceding the End of the World is a haunting and arresting condensed epic about immigration. Yuri Herrera does not simply write about the border between Mexico and the United States and those who cross it. He explores the crossings and translations people make in their minds and language as they move from one country to another, especially when there’s no going back.
The Guineveres by Sarah Domet ($35, HB)
Vere, Gwen, Ginny, and Win come to The Sisters of the Supreme Adoration by different paths, delivered into the rigorous and austere care of Sister Fran. Together they are the all powerful and confident The Guineveres, bound by the extraordinary coincidence of their names and girded against the indignities of their plain, sequestered lives. Together, they learn about God, history, and, despite the nuns’ protestations, sex. They learn about the saints whose revival stories of faith and pain are threaded through their own. But above all, they plot their futures, when they can leave the convent and finally find a true home. But when four comatose soldiers, casualties of the War looming outside, arrive at the convent, The Guineveres’ friendship is tested in ways they never could have foreseen.
A book for every bookshelf Discover more at penguin.com.au
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THE WILDER AISLES
Some time ago I became interested in the Manhattan Project and the making of the atomic bomb. I think it started with reading Los Alamos by Joseph Kanon, a crime novel, based on the secret happenings in the desert of New Mexico. I then went on to read some non-fiction, including Richard Rhodes’ The Making of the Atomic Bomb and Brighter Than a Thousand Suns by Robert Jungk. I don’t remember why I found all this so fascinating, but I think it was partly the men involved—Fermi, Feynman and Robert Oppenheimer, among others—all great men of science. This introduction leads me to a new book by Elizabeth J. Church, The Atomic Weight of Love. Beginning in Philadelphia, where Meridian Wallace is living with her mother and father—a father she idolises, who has instilled in her a love of science. After Meridian, known as Meri, wins a scholarship,in 1941, the action moves to the University of Chicago. One of the youngest students and lacking confidence and social skills, Meri spends most of her time peering down a microscope. Her mother says she scares boys off with her brains, so she is surprised & pleased when she is asked to a dance by her lab partner Jerry. She enjoys herself despite the fact that her mind is never far from what is happening under the microscope. Then she meets professor Alden Whetstone—long tousled hair, large bushy moustache, wearing baggy corduroy trousers, a shirt with frayed cuff beneath his suit coat, a man of great scientific intellect and over 20 years older. Meri thinks that in him she has finally met her expectations of what a scientific education should be. As their relationship develops, Meri decides to work with birds in her post-graduate work, concentrating e on crows. She has known for sometime that Alden is involved in some kind of secret work, but doesn’t know the details. This work takes him away from Chicago periodically—Alden tells her that he is working in New Mexico, but not exactly where. They exchange letters that are heavily censored, and eventually Alden invites her to visit him down south, so she postpones graduate school to visit him. Eventually Meri gives up on her education and moves to live with Alden in New Mexico. Her life is dramatically changed—from scientific study she now finds herself a housewife in a small house in the middle of the desert. How Meri copes with the change and what happens in the future is somewhat surprising. She carries out her study on crows and this leads to an unexpected meeting with unexpected consequences. A lovely touch is that each chapter heading is a collective name for groups of birds and the cover has lovely pictures of birds. And now another book about Berlin (and London as well). Set in WW2, The New Mrs Clifton by Elizabeth Buchan follows the relationships between five people—Intelligence Officer Gus Clifton, his sisters Tilly and Julia, his best friend Teddy, and Nella, Teddy’s sister. Into this close group comes Krista—a German rescued by Gus from the horrors of worn-torn Berlin. She is sick, starving, her hair falling out, and terrified of everyone and everything. Gus marries her and takes her back to the family home in Clapham Common. To say that she is not made welcome is a bit of an understatement. For a start, Gus had been engaged to Nella, Julia’s husband Martin was shot down by the Luftwaffe, and Tilly has her own reasons for not wanting Krista there, although she does, at least, try to understand what Krista is going through. And then there is Teddy, furious with Gus for jilting his sister, but with secrets of his own. The locals are at first hostile to Krista, but gradually most of them come round. She likes to visit Herr Laube, the owner of the nearby second-hand bookshop—happy to speak her own language, while he gives her English books to help her understand the people around her. Gus’s work involves visits to Berlin, and he is forced to take Krista with him to act as an interpreter. She goes, reluctantly, and is devastated by the destruction of her city. Their work with war criminals is particularly awful for her—she is accused of being a traitor to her people, but she has no time for the perpetrators of such terrible violent acts. Why Gus married Krista, what happens to Julia, Tilly, Teddy and Tilly makes for a very entertaining read. I thought it a very good depiction of how war affects people lives, making them behave in ways they never would in peacetime. It seems that all walls are down and when rules that people live by are broken a new way of living needs to be found. Just quickly, a couple of recommendations for some summer reading, First Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth, which I reviewed a month or so ago—a story of love, marriage and children. Also, An Isolated Incident by Emily Maguire, crime in country Australia. Music and Freedom by Zoe Morrison, music and love in London. And I have a confession to make—I have set aside for future reading Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz, the writer behind the TV series Midsomer Murders. I must say it looks like fun. I love the fact that so many people are killed, not just a namby-pamby one or two. I will let you know what it is like in the new year, but perhaps you could find out for yourselves. Janice
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Crime Fiction
The Whistler by John Grisham ($33, PB)
Investigating judicial misconduct by Florida’s one thousand judges, Lacy Stoltz’s cases so far have been relatively unexciting—until she meets Greg Myers, an indicted lawyer with an assumed name, who is representing a whistle blower who knows of a judge involved in organised crime. This judge has amassed a fortune due to illegal activity & Under Florida law, those who help the state recover illegally acquired assets stand to gain a large percentage of them. Myers and his whistle blower friend could make millions. But first they need Lacy to start an investigation. Is she ready to pit herself against the most corrupt judge in American history, a judge whose associates think nothing of murder?
Chaos by Patricia Cornwell special price $34.99, HB
26 year-old Elisa Vandersteel is killed while riding her bicycle along the Charles River. It appears she was struck by lightning—except the weather is perfectly clear with not a cloud in sight. Dr Kay Scarpetta decides at the scene that this is no accidental Act of God. Then she begins receiving a flurry of bizarre poems from an anonymous cyberbully who calls himself Tailend Charlie. Meanwhile a venomous media is whipping the public into a frenzy, questioning the seasoned forensics chief’s judgment and ‘a quack cause of death on a par with spontaneous combustion’.
Never Alone by Elizabeth Haynes ($30, PB)
After the death of her husband & departure of her children, Sarah Carpenter lives alone in an isolated farmhouse in North Yorkshire. But she’s not lonely. She has two dogs, a wide network of friends and her best friend, Sophie. When an old acquaintance, Aiden Beck, needs somewhere to stay for a while, Sarah’s cottage seems ideal. But when Sophie disappears, and the weather closes in, events take a dramatic turn. But she isn’t facing this alone; she has Aiden, and Aiden offers the protection that Sarah needs. Doesn’t he?
Old Scores by David Whish-Wilson ($30, PB)
It’s the early 1980s: the heady days of excess, dirty secrets and personal favours. Former detective Frank Swann is still in disgrace, working as a low-rent PI. But when he’s offered a security job by the WA premier’s fixer, it soon becomes clear that someone is bugging the premier’s phone—and it may cost Swann more than his job to find out why.
Signal Loss by Garry Disher ($30, PB)
In the 7th instalment in Garry Disher’s Peninsula Crimes series a small bushfire is nasty enough for ice cooks to abandon their lab. Fatal, too. But when the bodies in a burnt-out Mercedes prove to be a pair of Sydney hitmen, Inspector Hal Challis’ inquiries into a local ice epidemic take a darker turn. Meanwhile, Ellen Destry, head of the new sex crimes unit, finds herself not only juggling the personalities of her team but hunting a serial rapist who leaves no evidence behind.
Kill the Next One by Federico Axat ($29.99, PB)
Ted McKay had it all: a beautiful wife, two daughters, a high-paying job. But after being diagnosed with a terminal brain tumour he finds himself with a gun to his temple, ready to pull the trigger. Then the doorbell rings. A stranger makes him a proposition: why not kill two deserving men before dying? The first target is a criminal, and the second is a man with terminal cancer who, like Ted, wants to die. After executing these kills, Ted will become someone else’s next target, like a kind of suicidal daisy chain. Ted understands the stranger’s logic: it’s easier for a victim’s family to deal with a murder than with a suicide. It isn’t long, however, until Ted’s reality begins to unravel.
The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly
Harry Bosch is working as a part-time detective in the town of San Fernando outside of Los Angeles, when he gets the invitation to meet with the ageing aviation billionaire Whitney Vance. When he was 18 Vance had a relationship with a Mexican girl called Vibiana Duarte, but soon after becoming pregnant she disappeared. Vance wants to know what happened to Vibiana and whether there is an heir to his vast fortune. And Bosch is the only person he trusts to undertake the assignment. As Harry begins to uncover Vibiana’s tragic story, he finds uncanny links to his own past & knows he cannot rest until he finds the truth. ($32.99, PB)
Gleebooks’ special price $27.99
A Cast of Falcons by Steve Burrows ($17, PB) A man falls to his death from a cliff face in western Scotland. From a distance, another man watches. He approaches the body, tucks a book into the dead man’s pocket, and leaves. DC Inspector Domenic Jejeune recognizes this book as a call for help—one that could destroy the life he and his girlfriend Lindy have built for themselves in the village of Saltmarsh, in north Norfolk. Back in Saltmarsh, the brutal murder of a researcher involved in a local climate change project has everyone looking at the man’s controversial studies as a motive. But Sergeant Danny Maik, heading the investigation in Jejeune’s absence, believes a huge cash incentive being offered for the research may play a crucial role.
Rather be the Devil by Ian Rankin ($32.99, PB)
40 years may have passed, but the death of Maria Turquand still preys on John Rebus’ mind. Murdered in her hotel room on the night a famous rock star a& his entourage were staying there, Maria’s killer has never been found. Meanwhile, the dark heart of Edinburgh remains up for grabs. A young pretender, Darryl Christie, may have staked his claim, but a vicious attack leaves him vulnerable, and an inquiry into a major money laundering scheme threatens his position. Has old-time crime boss Big Ger Cafferty really given up the ghost, or is he biding his time until Edinburgh is once more ripe for the picking?
The extraordinary story of the world's most influential, intriguing and surprising ruler
Gleebooks’ special price $29.99
Souls of Air by Mons Kallentoft ($33, PB)
Malin Fors’ daughter has just discovered the dead body of a 79-year-old resident at the nursing home where she works. He’s been hanged by his own alarm cord. At first it looks like a straightforward suicide. But when the autopsy suggests foul play, Malin uncovers some disturbing rumours about the home’s management and its millionaire owner. Was it a mercy killing, or was someone trying to silence the victim? Who could possibly benefit from the death of an elderly man? Only someone with a lot to gain—or a lot to lose.
The Travelling Bag And Other Ghostly Stories by Susan Hill ($25, HB)
Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves ($30, PB) December release
In the dark days of a Shetland winter, torrential rain triggers a landslide that crosses the main Lerwick-Sumburgh road & sweeps down to the sea. At the burial of his old friend Magnus Tait, Jimmy Perez watches the slide smash through a croft house in its path. Everyone thinks the croft is uninhabited, but in the wreckage he finds the body of a dark-haired woman wearing a red silk dress. In his mind, she shares his Mediterranean ancestry and he becomes obsessed with tracing her identity. When it emerges that she was already dead before the landslide hit the house, Perez knows he must find out who she was, and how she died.
The Ice Lands by Steinar Bragi ($30, PB) 4 30-somethings from Reykjavik—the reckless hedonist Egill; the recovering alcoholic Hrafin; and their partners Anna and Vigdis—embark on an ambitious camping trip, their jeep packed with supplies. When an impenetrable fog descends they crash into a rural farmhouse. Seeking refuge, the group discover that the isolated dwelling is inhabited by a mysterious elderly couple who inexplicably barricade themselves inside every night. Who has been butchering animals near the house? What happened to the abandoned village nearby where bones lie strewn across the ground? And most importantly, will they ever return home?
American Blood by Ben Sanders ($20, PB)
After a botched undercover operation, ex-NYPD officer Marshall Grade is living in witness protection in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Marshall’s instructions are to keep a low profile: the mob wants him dead, and a contract killer known as the Dallas Man has been hired to track him down. Racked with guilt over wrongs committed during his undercover work, and seeking atonement, Marshall investigates the disappearance of a local woman named Alyce Ray. Word of Marshall’s efforts spreads, and soon the worst elements of his former life, including the Dallas Man, are coming for him.
BlackBooks
Altitude
John Puller’s mother disappeared nearly 30 years ago. Despite an intensive search & investigation, she was never seen again. But new allegations have come to light suggesting that Puller’s father—now suffering from dementia and living in a VA hospital—may have murdered his wife. Puller is officially barred from working on the case, facing a court martial if he disobeys orders but he knows he can’t sit this investigation out. When intelligence operative Veronica Knox turns up, Puller decides he will stop at nothing to discover the truth about what happened to his mother—even if it means proving that his father is a killer.
October was a great month here in the mountains. Not only did some warm weather arrive…but we had two great book events: Don Watson talking about American politics with his Quarterly Essay, Enemy Within (pictured) and Winton Higgins and his new novel Rule of Law. Thanks again to all our customers who continue to support these events and we plan to bring you lots more next year.
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No Man’s Land by David Baldacci ($30, PB)
A bumper round-up of news the way you’d like it
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Fireraiser by Torkil Damhaug ($20, PB) A man calling himself the Fire Man is obsessed with the cleansing power of fire—destroying everything that reminds him of his youth. That same Easter, a teenager is threatened by his girlfriend’s tradition-bound family, and his attempts to protect himself put him and his sister Synne at even greater risk. Then he disappears all together. Eight years later, Synne is determined to find out what happened that night. But her investigation will ignite smouldering and dangerous memories. And the Fire Man is still there, waiting, and watching her search for the truth at every step.
How the mighty clipper ships transformed Australia from convict outpost to a nation
Boo
On a murky evening in a warmly lit club off St James, a bishop listens closely as a paranormal detective recounts his most memorable case: a devoutly Christian mother tries to protect her children from the evil influence of their grandmother, both when she is alive and when she is dead; A lonely boy finds a friend, but years later he is forced to question the nature of that friendship, and to ask whether ghosts can perish in fires. Susan Hill at her best, telling flesh-creeping tales of thwarted ambition, terrifying revenge & supernatural stirrings to keep you wide-awake.
October and November are also big months for the bookseller as all the new releases for Christmas start to arrive. There are so many great new books to read and so I started with two of my favourite authors …
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett. If you have been reading your Gleaner every month then you will know that this book has already been reviewed— so all I will say is that you won’t want to put it down once you start. It is a book about relationships and the obligations they bring. It is poignant and funny. Patchett convinces the reader of her characters by writing with sympathy, great wit and no moral judgement. I have loved all her books and this one doesn’t disappoint. Days Without End by Sebastian Barry is set amidst the American civil war and is the story of Irish immigrant Thomas McNulty and his friend John Cole and the lives they are dealt with during these fateful years in American history. This book is written in the first person, creating an intensity and atmosphere that is breathtaking and absorbing. Barry is the master of language and a wonderful storyteller. Victoria
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Biography Keeping On Keeping On by Alan Bennett
Alan Bennett’s third collection of prose contains his diaries 2005 to 2015, reflecting on a decade that saw four premieres at the National Theatre (The Habit of Art, People, Hymn and Cocktail Sticks), a West End double-bill transfer, and the films of The History Boys and The Lady in the Van. There’s a provocative sermon on private education given before the University at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, and Baffled at a Bookcase offers a passionate defence of the public library. The book includes Denmark Hill, a darkly comic radio play set in suburban south London, as well as Bennett’s reflections on a quarter of a century’s collaboration with Nicholas Hytner. ($49.99, HB)
Gleebooks’ special price $44.99
The First Poets: Lives of the Ancient Greek Poets by Michael Schmidt ($60, HB)
Poet and critic, Michael Schmidt, brings to life the great Greek poets who gave our poetic tradition its first bearings & whose works have had an enduring influence on our literature & our imagination. Starting with the legendary Orpheus & the possibly mythical Homer, Schmidt conjures a host of our literary forebears. From Hipponax, ‘the dirty old man of poetry’, to Theocritus, the father of pastoral; from Sappho, who threw herself from a cliff for love, to Hesiod, who claimed a visit from the Muses—the stories merge fact & conjecture into compelling portraits of our cultural ancestors. ‘Every poet should buy a copy of this book to keep on their bookshelves. And, when the occasion arises, they should throw it at the cynic who may try to ignore or demean them.’
Living with a Dead Language: My Romance with Latin by Ann Patty ($40, HB)
After 35 years as a book editor in NY, Ann Patty moved to the country. In retirement she decided to challenge her restless, word-loving brain through a serious study of Latin at local colleges. As she begins to make sense of Latin grammar and syntax, her studies open unexpected windows into her own life. The louche poetry of Catullus calls up her early days in 1970s New York. Lucretius elucidates her attraction to Buddhism while Ovid’s verse conjures a delightful dimension to the flora and fauna that surround her. Women in Roman history give her new understanding and empathy for her tragic, long-deceased mother. Finally, Virgil reconciles her to her new life as a rustic scholar, writer and teacher. Along the way, she meets an impassioned group of professors, students, and classicists outside of academia who keep Latin very much alive.
Victoria: The Woman who Made the Modern World by Julia Baird ($49.99, HB)
‘What was it like to reign over the world’s greatest empire as queen-but in an age when women were supposed to be submissive, supportive, subservient? Baird does not shy away from reality or complexity. She has given us a moving, lusty, passionate, thoroughly human story of one of the most fascinating women of her, or any, time.’
Gleebooks’ special price $44.99
Ariel: A Literary Life of Jan Morris by Derek Johns ($40, HB)
For many readers Jan Morris is best known for her candid memoir Conundrum, which described the gender reassignment operation she underwent in 1972. But as Derek Johns demonstrates, this is just one of the many remarkable facts about her life. As James Morris she was the journalist who brought back the story of the conquest of Everest in 1953 and who discovered incontrovertible evidence of British involvement in the Suez Crisis of 1956. Her many books include a classic on Venice, a 1,600 page history of the British Empire, and a homage to what is perhaps her favourite city, Trieste. Her writings on Wales represent the most thorough literary investigation of that mysterious land. Ariel is not a conventional biography, but rather an appreciation of the work and life of someone who besides being a delightful writer is known to many people as a generous, affectionate, witty and irreverent friend.
I Read the News Today, Oh Boy by Paul Howard
Tara Browne grew up in aristocratic & bohemian luxury (his mother was a Guinness heiress); he walked out of school at 11 & never went back; he moved to Paris, where he knew the backstreet jazz bars like a local. At 17, he arrived in London, just as the 60s were beginning to swing, and became part of a new elite cultural world—including the Beatles & the Stones, as well as figures from film, fashion, photography and high society, and a few more dubious sorts on the fringes of the criminal & low-life worlds. Paul Howard has interviewed more than one hundred people who knew Tara Browne, including his widow Nicki (he managed a marriage, a family and a separation in this short life) and his brother Garech, to piece together this extraordinary life. ($33, PB)
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Margaret Court: The Autobiography ($45, HB)
In 1970 Margaret Court became the first woman in the open era to win the singles Grand Slam. The youngest player in history to win the Australian Open at 17, ‘the Aussie Amazon’ had an extraordinary career record of 64 major titles overall. Born in 1942 to a hard-living father & acutely agoraphobic mother, her first ‘racquet’ was an old fence paling, but after winning French, US & Wimbledon championships as a teenager, she held the world #1 ranking for seven of her 17 years on the professional circuit, touring with her two of her four children during her long reign. However, having risen so high Court fell hard in retirement. After a period of depression & seclusion, she was reborn in 1991 as an ordained minister & founder of Victory Life Churches. Today, ‘Pastor Marg’ preaches to 1500+ every Sunday & feeds thousands of Perth’s lost, homeless & hungry via her charities.
Rasputin by Douglas Smith ($50, HB)
Douglas Smith’s Rasputin separates fact from fiction to reveal the true life of one of history’s most alluring figures. Smith draws on a wealth of forgotten documents from archives in seven countries to demolish the caricature of Rasputin as the holy devil. His account presents Rasputin in all his complexity—man of God, voice of peace, loyal subject, adulterer, drunkard. More than just the story of an extraordinary life, Smith’s book offers a fascinating portrait of the twilight of Imperial Russia as it lurched towards catastrophe.
Blood Mystic by George Gittoes ($44.99, HB) Equal parts artist & warrior, George Gittoes is world-famous for waging war on war with art, circus, photography & film. ‘Soldiers die for flags. For me it is art’, he says. Gittoes has been shot, stabbed, bombed, beaten, tortured, drowned & jailed. He has worked with Andy Warhol, dined with Fidel Castro, plotted with Julian Assange, been feted by Mandela, blessed by Mother Theresa, sneezed on by the Dalai Lama. In this memoir he reflects deeply on a life less ordinary—his boyhood being groomed as a gangster, his escape to New York, the Yellow House art revolutions, crazy brave adventures in outback Australia, ghetto America, jungle Nicaragua, war-torn Cambodia, badlands Baghdad, hollow Bosnia & beyond.
Gleebooks’ special price $39.99
Little Fish Are Sweet by Matthew Condon
This is Matthew Condon’s extraordinary personal account of writing the Three Crooked Kings trilogy. When Condon first interviewed disgraced former police commissioner Terry Lewis, he had no idea that it would be the start of a turbulent 6 year journey. As hundreds of people came forward to share their powerful & sometimes shocking stories, decades of crime & corruption were revealed in a new light. Risking threats & intimidation, Condon tirelessly pursued his investigations into a web of cold murder cases & past conspiracies. What he discovered is much more sinister than anyone could have imagined. ($32.95, PB)
Outlandish Knight by Minoo Dinshaw ($70, HB)
In his enormously long life (he was born in 1903 and died in 2000), Steven Runciman managed not just to be a great historian of the Crusades and Byzantium, but Grand Orator of the Orthodox Church, a member of the Order of Whirling Dervishes, Greek Astronomer Royal and Laird of Eigg. His friendships, curiosities & plottings entangled him in a huge array of different artistic movements, civil wars, Cold War betrayals and, above all, the rediscovery of the history of the Eastern Mediterranean. He was as happy living in a remote part of the Inner Hebrides as in the heart of Istanbul. He was obsessed with historical truth, but also with tarot, second sight, ghosts & the uncanny. This is an extremely funny book about a man who attracted the strangest experiences, but also a very serious one: about the rigours of a life spent both in the distant past & in the harsh world of the twentieth century in which so much of what he studied & cherished across the Balkans and Asia Minor was subjected to rapid & often catastrophic change.
Songs of a War Boy by Deng Thiak Adut
Deng Adut’s family were farmers in South Sudan when a brutal civil war altered his life forever. At six years old, his mother was told she had to give him up to fight. Deng was conscripted into the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. He suffered from cholera & malaria but still he had to fight. A child soldier is expected to kill or be killed and Deng almost died a number of times. Rescued from war by his brother John, he made it to Australia, where he grabbed the chance to make a new life. He worked in a local service station and learnt English watching The Wiggles. He taught himself to read and started studying at TAFE. In 2005 he enrolled in a Bachelor of Law at Western Sydney University, and is now a lawyer & committed worker for the disenfranchised, helping refugees in Western Sydney. This is an important reminder of the power of compassion and the benefit to us all when we open our doors and our hearts to fleeing war, persecution and trauma. ($32.99, HB)
Gleebooks’ special price $27.99
Travel Writing
Explorers’ Botanical Notebook: In the Footsteps of Theophrastus, Marco Polo, Linnaeus, Flinders, Darwin, Speke and Hooker ($40, HB)
This splendid book traces the journeys of more than 60 pioneering botanists who explored the unknown world & collected thousands of unusual plants. Each spread in the book describes the journey & the naturalist—with a map tracing the routes taken, and on the facing page is the actual plant collected, complete with notes, seeds, pollen, and identifying documents. The text describes the theories of the day, the difficulty of raising money, and traversing jungles and forests—each coloured by the excitement of discovering orchids, trees, teas, flowering roses and acanthus, ferns, strange bulbs & mountain flowers. The book has 80 maps, 150 photographs, drawings and engravings. All work to reproduce the spirit of the quest and the discovery of plants.
Rolling Blackouts: Dispatches from Turkey, Syria & Iraq by Sarah Glidden ($35, HB)
In her follow-up to How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, cartoonist Sarah Glidden details her two-month long journey through Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. Glidden accompanies her two friends—reporters and founders of the journalistic non-profit The Seattle Globalist—as they research stories on the Iraq War’s effect on the Middle East and, specifically, the war’s refugees. Joining them is a former Marine and childhood friend of one of the journalists whose deployment to Iraq in 2007 adds an unexpected and sometimes unwelcome viewpoint, both to the people they come across and perhaps even themselves. From the Iranian blogger, the UN Refugee administrator, a taxi driver, the Iraqi refugee deported from the US to the Iraqis seeking refuge in Syria, Glidden records all that she encounters with a sympathetic and searching eye. Painted in her trademark soft muted watercolours and written with self-effacing humour.
Walking in Berlin: A Flaneur in the Capital by Franz Hessel ($29.99, PB)
Franz Hessel was an observer par excellence of the increasingly hectic metropolis that was Berlin in the late 1920s. Originally published in Germany in 1929, this book captures the rhythm of Weimar-era Berlin, recording evidence of the seismic shifts shaking German culture at the time. Nearly all of the pieces take the form of a walk or outing, focusing either on a theme or part of the city, and many end at a theatre, cinema, or club. Hessel effortlessly weaves historical information into his observations, displaying his extensive knowledge of the city. From the Alexanderplatz to Kreuzberg, his record of Berlin is priceless. Superbly written, and as fresh today as when it first appeared, this is a book to be savoured.
New York: Through a Fashion Eye by Megan Hess ($30, HB)
Fashion illustrator Megan Hess offers a guide through New York, showing you the hottest places to eat, sleep and play— all illustrated in her inimitable, elegant style. Featuring fashion-themed restaurants, hotels and sites to visit, as well as Megan’s favourite places to shop, this is a must-have insider’s guide to New York for any fashion lover.
Wild Beauty: A Photographic Field Guide to Australia’s Biggest, Oldest and Rarest Natural Treasures ($50, HB)
Over the course of four years, journalist Graham Lloyd and photographer Vanessa Hunter sought out Australia’s wildest, most significant and least known natural phenomena. From a blindfolded helicopter ride to view a stand of king’s holly, the world’s oldest plant, in Tasmania’s South-West Wilderness Area to swimming up close to the world’s largest mass migration of minke whales near the Great Barrier Reef, this book offers a rare glimpse into the little known and secret places that shelter endangered species and spectacular landscapes.
Incredible Dog Journeys by Laura Greaves
Meet Bonnie, the kelpie-blue heeler cross, who led her owner to safety through one of the deadliest bushfires in Australia’s history; Penny, a Hungarian vizsla, who was dognapped and found 3800 miles from where she was taken; and Inka, the friendly bull-mastiff cross, who made her way back to her owner after ten years, and just in time for Christmas. From heartwarming tales of canine loyalty to mysterious cases of dogs turning up thousands of miles away, these are the incredible true stories of how sixteen remarkable dogs found their way home. ($35, PB)
Around the World in 80 Dinners by Janne Apelgren & Joanna Savill ($45, PB)
This gastronaut’s guide to the globe helps you book your restaurants before your air fares, and gives you the lowdown on the most exciting places to eat at home & abroad. It takes you into 80 of the world’s very best & most timeless dining destinations, and divulges hundreds of food adventures in more than two dozen countries, plus delicious detours & places to stay. It’s stuffed with tips on how to snag a reservation, and inside knowledge that might save you a fortune or help you eat like a local.
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books for kids to young adults
compiled by Lynndy Bennett, our children's correspondent
for the very young
To develop a taste for books, let your tinies sink their gums into the range of Indestructibles—vibrantly coloured cloth books that are nontoxic, chew-proof and completely washable. Choose from a range of simple images, nursery rhymes, and first concepts. As they are also rip-proof, you can save them for later additions to the family. Prices range from $8–$11.95.
Magic Beach by Alison Lester
At last, one of past Laureate Lester’s bestknown classics is in a toddler-durable format, with a world of imaginary adventures plus rockpools to peer into, and plenty of everyday beachside objects to spot and recognise.($15, BD) Lynndy
picture books
The Tale of Kitty-in-Boots by Beatrix Potter (ill) Quentin Blake ($25, HB)
Penguin Problems by Jory John (ill) Lane Smith ($25, HB)
From the very front cover we grasp that one particular penguin is different, and that distinction continues throughout the book, with this individual becoming increasingly irritated with his lot. It’s too early, too cold, his flippers ache, the sea is too salty, the others are constantly squawking… The endless complaining is rendered even funnier by Smith’s deadpan illustrations, tipped by a curve of beak and contrast with the other penguins into hilarity. The grouchy young penguin eventually capitulates to advice from a walrus, accepting there are wonderful things in life. But snarkiness has the last word. This should resonate with all, from littlies through to the very oldest reader. Lynndy
My Brother by Dee, Oliver & Tiffany Huxley ($25, HB)
A book like no other, My Brother was written by the Huxley family to honour their late son, and brother, Morgan. A gentle creature has lost his brother, and he goes on a journey to find him. Wistful black and white pictures depict this journey, with wide white borders, and nearly empty pages with one line of text. The mood is quiet, searching and full of yearning, and the reader looks into the pictures, and watches the little creature’s quest. But something happens after he sleeps, and ‘the darkness is going away’. A band of colour on one page heralds pages suffused with golden, warm light, and a last illustration full of colour and happiness; and the reader becomes part of the pictures, no longer just looking into them. This is a profound book that reflects the difficulty of its subject matter, but it also transcends it, with both its sincerity and the beauty of the book itself—the illustrations and the design of the book are both extraordinary. Very highly recommended. Louise
novelty
We always stock up at this time of year with an assortment of small toys, perfect for Christmas stockings, or just for holiday fun. Once again we have a dazzling assortment of spinning tops, handmade in Austria. These do require varying degrees of spinning skills, so try them out first. Prices range from $7–$20.We also have a range of French novelty toys: story torches, miniature click-clack televisions, shadow puppets, footpath chalk, French skipping elastics, mini villages in a box, and kaleidoscopes. Again prices vary from $5–$25. The very popular Bocchetta Australian animal plush collection is back, with hand size miniatures around $8. We are keeping up our colour pencil supplies, despite the decline of the colouring book in popularity. Colour pencils never really go out of style, and we stock pencils from Lyra, E-Boo and Micador, each one chosen specifically for its unique properties, whether it’s the durability and creaminess of Lyra’s coloured ‘leads’($1.95 each), the size of the E-Boo Jumbo colours ($14.95), or the versatility of Micador’s paint pens ($19.95). We have a spectacular flock of hand carved wooden birds, from the German toy company Osterheimer. Ranging in size from the tiniest chick ($8.95) to stately owls ($16.95), the birds are nice on their own, or in a flock on the Osterheimer wooden bird tree ($79.95).
Beatrix Potter originally wrote this tale in 1914, but it seems she abandoned it when her publishers weren’t particularly enthusiastic about it. Manuscripts of the story were discovered in 2013, and it has now been published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Beatrix Potter’s birth. Quentin Blake has illustrated it—an illustrator whose style is a real departure from Beatrix Potter’s naturalistic, sensitive watercolour illustrations. Ostensibly that is, but underneath Mr Blake’s wonderfully scratchy pictures lies the same vivacity and tight composition that Beatrix Potter achieved throughout all her books. Kitty is an unusual cat, with a double life—her nocturnal habits are dashing and a little bloodthirsty, and most charmingly, she thinks of herself as Miss Catherine Saint Quintin, a fact that clearly amuses her contemporary illustrator. All care has been taken with this book—it is a larger format than the other Beatrix Potter books (they were designed to be held in a child’s hand), but still has a substantial dust jacket, similar use of large margins, clear type, and a familiar palette. Most endearingly, some of the beloved characters make an appearance, Peter Rabbit and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle most particularly, in a lively reinterpretation of the beloved characters. Highly recommended for 4–adult. Louise
I Will Not Eat You by Adam Lehrhaupt (ill) Scott Magoon ($25, HB)
Lehrhaupt, award-winning author of Warning! Do Not Open This Book! returns with another crowd-pleasing picture book. Lurking in his cave, Theodore the dragon contemplates the meal possibilities of each passing animal (depicted by Magoon’s clever cartoon-like art). Not until an intrepid boy challenges him with a roar and unexpected reactions does Theodore emerge; then dragon and boy-knight engage in energetic activities. Humour abounds, especially through Magoon’s textured digital art that is suitably dark and bright in turn, and if the story is reminiscent of Joel Stewart’s Dexter Bexley books, we can forgive the homage as this is a fun dragonphile romp. Lynndy
The Colouring Book of Beautiful Gift Boxes: Christmas by Sarah Walsh ($40, HB)
For a truly personal touch, colour the Christmassy designs, remove one of the 48 perforated pages and fold it into a special box to contain surprises and treats. Or the box itself could be a gift—just use pencils or sharpies to decorate it and you have a colourful gift unlike any other.
Australia All Wrapped Up by Alice Oehr ($25, Pack)
Renowned Melbourne designer and graphic artist Oehr has created this great pack to give an unmistakeable Australian touch to your gifts. Our flora and fauna adorn the 12 sheets of wrapping paper; and the pack also includes 12 greeting cards, 12 self-folding envelopes, 2 sheets of stickers, and 24 gift cards. Brilliant value, and suitable for all occasions!
Make Your Own Mini Erasers by Klutz Editors ($27, Pack) Making mistakes has never been this much fun! Sculpt your very own creations with eraser clay, and then bake them in the oven to make absolutely adorable, slightly squishy erasers that really work. With 8 bright colours of clay and 35 eraser designs to choose from, you’ll never have to worry about making an error again. This kit is fun for the whole family, and gives you scope to create individual gifts that are functional too. LEGO Pop-Up by Matthew Reinhart ($40, HB) Exciting the interest of not only the younger crowd, but also fans of pop-up art, this first LEGO Pop-Up book contains a LEGO adventure, miscellaneous facts, and a whole world of interactive elements as well as the pop-ups created by famed pop-up creator Reinhart. Lynndy Finally, we always have a collection of delightful advent calendars (with not a chocolate in sight), but don’t forget they need to be on the wall and ready for December the first, for the beginning of Advent.
happy christmas and happy reading!
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The Lost Property Office by James R. Hannibal ($20, HB)
fiction
The Unforgettable What’s His Name by Paul Jennings (ill) Craig Smith ($15, PB)
At the time of writing this no copies were available, so we rely on the publisher for this blurb: ‘Even before all this happened I had never been like the other kids. I tried not to be seen. If I climbed a tree or hid among the bins, no one could find me. ‘Where’s What’s His Name?’ they’d say. Then, one weekend, I got what I wanted. First, I blended in with things. But on the second day I changed. I mean, really changed. The hilarious story of a boy with an unusual problem, from children’s book legend Paul Jennings. Includes fantastic look-and-find colour illustrations.
For this, with no advance copies, I trust our rep’s effusive description. This is an action-filled fantasy adventure through history, complete with mysteries, secret items, codes, and a touch of magic. 13-year-old Jack Buckles is great at finding things, things normal people have long given up on ever seeing again. If only he could find his father, who has disappeared in London without a trace. But Jack’s father was not who he claimed to be. It turns out that he was a member of a secret society of detectives that has served the crown for centuries and his own membership into the Lost Property Office is Jack’s inheritance. Jack will never see his father again unless he uncovers what the nefarious Clockmaker is after: the Ember, which holds a secret that has been kept since the Great Fire of London. Anna
Podkin One-Ear by Kieren Larwood (ill) David Wyatt ($20, HB)
Stories from Stella Street by Elizabeth Honey ($20, PB)
It’s great to see the complete collection of Stella Street stories: 45 + 47 Stella Street, Fiddle-back and The Ballad of Cauldron Bay all back in print. This 21st anniversary edition brings to a new generation the mischief, adventure, and realism of a neighbourhood group of friends, both adults and children. If you’ve not encountered them yet, come and join the gang – you’ll be swept up in their enthusiasm, slightly dangerous exploits, and greatest joys. Lynndy
The Cat & the King by Nick Sharratt ($13, PB)
fiction for younger readers
Sharratt brings the distinctive humour of his many picture books to his first novel: here’s hoping it won’t be his last! In his privileged royal life the king excels at duties such as walking on red carpet and balancing his crown on his head, but it is his twelve servants who do all the castle work, and his cat who supervises absolutely everything – except the dragon-related Unfortunate Incident, which renders them all homeless. The cat and the king go house-hunting, and gradually the ingenious cat adapts their everyday life to mirror the king’s favourite activities in the castle, with varying success. When entrusted with shopping, the king buys only items with ’king size’ or ‘royal’ in the description; and the cat still has to attend to the king’s bath as his majesty knows nothing about taps, or turning them, or bathplugs. And surely there’s something familiar about the villagers who help them… Half text, half illustrations, this is easy enough for newly independent readers and cheeky enough for older readers to enjoy as well, with abundant visual and verbal humour. This debut is a right royal delight, highly recommended. Lynndy
Nature writing has had a resurgence in the world of adult books, and children’s literature as well. There’s a plethora of beautiful books celebrating the natural world: here are just a few of them.
A Pandemonium of Parrots by Kate Baker (ill) Hui Skipp ($30, HB)
An ambush of tigers, a troop of monkeys, a bouquet of hummingbirds: this is a fascinating collection of collective names for each creature, and a fun picture book for the very young. Louise
Because of an Acorn by Lola M Schaefer and Adam Schaefer (ill) Frann Preston-Gannon ($30, HB)
This beautiful book captures all the colour and life of a forest, with warm illustrations full of texture and movement. Close-up pictures of the plants and animals eventually give way to the bigger picture of the forest itself, and well placed die-cut holes provide tantalising glimpses from one page to the next (much like peering through leaves). Simple poetic text shows the connection between the smallest to the biggest things, starting with a single dropped acorn, and ending with a whole forest. Louise
Chronologica: The Incredible Years That Defined History by Whitaker’s Almanack From the foundation of Rome to the creation of the internet, this illustrated compendium focusses on 100 years critical to our history—through individuals, events and inventions. Far from predictable, it’s packed with facts about Alexander the Great, monkeys in space, explorers and rulers, and lesser-known folk such as sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Fascinating! ($35, HB) Lynndy
Described as The Hobbit meets Redwall this first volume in a new series also shares similarities with Erin Hunter’s vast opus The Warriors, here substituting rabbits for cats. Opening with a sensory-laden description of a venerable Bard visiting a rabbit community to celebrate Bramblemas Eve, and share the excitement of little ones awaiting the Midwinter Rabbit’s gifts, the story soon has the Bard succumbing to demands for the story of their rabbit hero, Podkin One-Ear. Decorated with occasional intricate drawings that add a more sinister tone, it’s a tense, adventuresome tale of the rabbit world struggling to maintain their peaceful lives when confronted by mechanised soulless ex-rabbits. The breathless pace of this heroic fantasy is balanced by the dignity found in Tolkein’s stories, and the twist at the end is a slyly playful surprise. Lynndy
Erica’s Elephant by Sylvia Bishop (ill) Ashley King
From start to finish I loved this book and had I read it as child, I’d fondly recall it as an adult and track down a copy. Erica is surprised on her 10th birthday by the arrival of an elephant on her doorstep. A gift from her travelling uncle Jeff, the elephant presented many difficulties, yet resourceful Erica did as she always did in trying circumstances: she Got On With Things. Bishop unleashes plenty of humour and glimpses into the mind of the confused pachyderm in this chaotic tale. ($13, PB/ $20, HB) Lynndy a
non-fiction
A First Book of Animals by Nicola Davies (ill) Peter Horacek ($30, HB)
Wonderful, colourful illustrations of animals—from butterflies to elephants, and a lively text with interesting vocabulary that’s written to be read aloud. Louise
The Butterfly Garden by Laura Weston ($27, BD) Another lift-the-flap book, this one with strong black and white illustrations of a garden full of butterflies. Lift the discrete flaps and monarch butterflies lie underneath, depicting the whole of their life cycle. How Do Flowers Grow? by Katie Daynes (ill) Christine Pym ($20, BD)
Part of the Usborne Lift-the-Flap First Questions and Answer series, this is a charming, detailed book that uses illustrated flaps to answer all kinds of questions. It’s as imaginative as it is informative, especially designed for younger children, with sturdy card pages, and lots of sweet, colourful pictures. What’s more, it was shortlisted for the 2016 Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize. Louise
It Starts With a Seed by Laura Knowles (ill) Jennie Webber ($19.95, HB)
Starting with a tiny seed floating onto the page, we watch as it transforms into a tree. Lovely, naturalist illustrations depict not only the tree, but its roots, and its inhabitants. Louise
Atlas of Oddities by Clive Gifford & Tracey Worrall
A splendid companion to Chronologica, exposing some of the weirder elements of human society. The more standard features of an atlas, like geography and population, are enlivened by facts such as the location of the world’s largest photographic studio; Iceland’s banana plantation (who knew?) atop a volcano; desert sand dunes adjacent to snow-topped mountains; and a plethora of other intriguing data. As for underwater pursuits—ice hockey championships and a hotel are just the start. Irresistible to the trivia-hound! ($35, HB) Lynndy
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Food, Health & Garden
The Virago Book of Women Gardeners (ed) Deborah Kellaway ($35, HB)
From diggers & weeders, to artists & colourists, writers & dreamers to trend-setters, plantswomen to landscape designers, women have contributed to the world of gardening & gardens. Deborah Kellaway, author of The Making of an English Country Garden, has collected extracts from the 18th century to the present day, to create a book that is replete with anecdotes & advice from Colette, Margery Fish, Germaine Greer, Eleanor Sinclair Rohde, Vita Sackville-West, Rosemary Verey, Edith Wharton & Dorothy Wordsworth among others.
Digital Kids: How to Balance Screen Time, and Why it Matters by Martin L. Kutscher
This handy book lays out the essential information needed to understand and prevent excessive Internet use that negatively impacts behaviour, education, family life, and even physical health. Martin L. Kutscher, MD analyses neurological, psychological and educational research showing how to spot digital addictions, and offering whole family approaches for limiting the harmful effects of too much screen time, such as helping kids to learn to control their own Internet use. ($22.95, PB)
Street Food Asia by Luke Nguyen ($60, HB)
Luke Nguyen eats and explores his way through the bustling & fragrant backstreets of Asia—through Saigon & Jakarta, to Bangkok & Kuala Lumpur— trying traditional noodle soups & sweet sticky meats, to more adventurous dishes like Stir-fried Embryo Egg with Tamarind & Duck & Banana Blossom Salad. Venturing out at dawn & late into the night to discover street vendors, stallholders and roaming food carts, Nguyen captures the energy of each place at their busiest times of the day.
Gleebooks’ special price $53.99
Sleep by Nick Littlehales ($25, PB)
One third of our lives are spent trying to sleep. Most us have disturbed, restless nights & rely on a cocktail of caffeine &sugar to drag us through the day. Yet the hours we spend in bed shape our mood, motivation & decision-making skills— defining our performance in work, at home & while keeping fit. Nick Littlehales, elite sleep coach to some of the world’s leading sports stars & teams, lays bare his strategies for us all to use. Discover how to map your own sleep cycle, what the optimum room temperature is, which bedding is best & why napping is actually good for you.
The Ethical Carnivore: My Year Killing to Eat by Louise Gray ($28, PB)
Fed up of friends claiming to care about the provenance of their food, Louise Gray decides to follow the argument to its logical extreme. Starting small, Gray shucks oysters and catches fish. Gradually she gets to know countrymen and women who teach her how to shoot pigeons & rabbits. As she begins to reconnect with nature and her own upbringing in the countryside, Gray starts to question modern attitudes to the meat we eat. How did we end up eating so much meat with no idea how animals are raised and killed on our behalves? Towards the end of her challenge, she explores alternative sources of protein, including eating insects, in vitro meat & plant-based proteins. She reflects on the impact of the growing global demand for meat & argues that all of us eating less meat should be a key part of fighting climate change.
Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons by Raymond Blanc ($95, HB)
Set in the rolling Oxfordshire hills, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons is a bastion of haute cuisine & a beacon of l’art de vivre. This book is Raymond Blanc’s personal tour of Le Manoir through the 4 seasons; the ultimate host, he lovingly reveals the stories behind its luxury rooms & beautiful gardens. He also supplies the recipes for 120 of its most celebrated dishes, ranging from Soupe au pistou and Soufflé de rhubarbe to sensational creations Thème sur la tomate & Cassolette d’abricot—which have earned the restaurant its status as one of the world’s legendary gastronomic destinations.
The Cabaret of Plants: Botany and the Imagination by Richard Mabey ($25, PB)
Ranging widely across science, art and cultural history, poetry and personal experience, Mabey puts plants centre stage, and reveals a true botanical cabaret, a world of tricksters, shape-shifters and inspired problem-solvers—vital, inventive, individual beings worthy of respect—and that to understand this may be the best way of preserving life together on Earth.
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The Complete Gut Health Book by Pete Evans
Together with naturopath and nutritionist Helen Padarin, Pete Evans outlines everything you need to know about gut health—and how to improve yours. Featuring basic information on the digestion process, a six-fold path to getting your gut right, the star ingredients for gut health, healing herbs and spices to grow at home, a four-week meal plan and more than 100 delicious new recipes. ($40, PB)
The Ultimate Cook’s Manual by Marianne Magnier-Moreno ($60, HB)
This book gives readers all the technical know-how required to become an expert in the art of cooking. Each of the recipes feature a full-colour cross-section illustration & step-by-step photography. The book includes basics (preparing meat; preparing fish; sauces; stocks; emulsions) as well as recipes for fish and seafood, meat, vegetables and warm and cold entrées. A comprehensive glossary includes tips for plating, chopping, setting a table and essential utensils.
Vegetables by Antonio Carluccio ($40, HB) Antonio Carluccio turns his attention to his favourite vegetables, and many others, adding up to over 100 different varieties. He researches the botanical family of each type of vegetable, its history, describes in loving detail how to buy and prepare it—and in over 150 recipes tells us how to make the most of the humble veg, whether eaten raw, cooked or preserved. There are pastas with vegetables, soups, vegetable bakes and salads, risottos, pickles, stews, tarts and dips. There are even some sweet cakes and biscuits based around vegetables. The Cook’s Table by Stephanie Alexander
In The Cook’s Table, Stephanie Alexander shares 25 of her favourite menus for entertaining family and friends, from special occasions such as Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, to menus inspired by her travels in France, Italy, Turkey and Peru. This must-have guide to entertaining includes 130 new tried and tested recipes, all accompanied by beautiful images by photographer Mark Chew. ($69.99, HB)
New this month Australian Wine Vintages 2017 by Rob Geddes ($35, HB) Into the Orchid House by Stanley Breeden
High on the hills of the Atherton Tablelands in far north Queensland stands a glasshouse built by orchid expert Bruce Gray. Whether from the cloud forests of South America, the Himalayan Mountains of India, the mangroves of the Philippines, the rocky outcrops of Madagascar or the dense rainforests of New Guinea, tropical species thrive here. Award-winning photographers Stanley and Kaisa Breeden capture the plants in rich, detailed images. Step into the orchid house to discover this extraordinary and diverse world. ($45, HB)
Appetites by Anthony Bourdain ($49.99, HB) As a restaurant professional, Anthony Bourdain worked while normal people played, and played while normal people slept. Since then he has settled (kind of) into family life and these are the recipes he turns to when called in for pancake service at sleepover parties or when preparing a violence-free family dinner. He wants you to understand the principles of Bad Sandwich Theory, and has distilled his views on dessert to this: it should always be Stilton. Bourdain’s first cookbook in 10 years—is a home-cooking, homeentertaining cookbook like no other.
Gleebooks’ special price $44.99
Smith & Daughters: A Cookbook (That Happens to be Vegan) by Shannon Martinez & Mo Wyse
This book offers 80+ delicious vegan recipes with a Spanish twist to recreate at home. From ‘chorizo’ and potato, Spanish ‘meatballs’ in a saffron almond sauce, chipotle cashew ‘cheese’, ‘tuna’ and green pea croquettes to warm Spanish doughnuts or spiced Mexican flan, the recipes give new inventive life to classics that will appeal to meat and vegetarian eaters alike. ($48, HB)
Italian Street Food by Paola Bacchia
Italians are a social bunch who love to share, therefore it comes as no surprise that food is often prepared and shared on the streets and in the laneways. Italian Street Food is not just another Italian cookbook; it delves into these back streets to bring you some of Italy’s most exciting food. Learn how to make authentic polpettine, arancini, stuffed cuttlefish, cannolis and fritters, and perfect your gelati-making skills with authentic Italian flavours such as lemon and basil, affogato and aperol and orange. ($50, HB)
storage
boxes
gift shop
Bring order to your 2017 in sets of three: Medium $34.95, Large $49.95 Classy Correspondence— boxes of 12 cards for $30!
scratch to reveal glowing nightscapes
Colour me mindful! (Love the) Cat Querkles, $20 Colour Me Jane, $22 Great Paintings to Colour In, $22 HEAPS MORE
Cities & Landmarks $15, Mandalas $25
Australian Contemporary Indigenous Art Memory Game, $35 IT’S BACK!! QuestionTime! 2nd edition A game of Australian politics—history, intrigue and rat cunning. If you don’t know the answers filibuster your way to the front bench! Great fun! $90
Creatures of The Deep: The Pop-up Book Ernst Haeckel transformed by paper engineer Maike Biederstaedt $55
Elephant Bookends Step right up & witness the magnificent book holding capabilities of this pair of circus elephants $59.95
1000 piece jigsaw madness —all $35
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events
s Eve nt ar d n e Cal
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MONDAY
TUESDAY 1
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Event—6 for 6.30
The Crimes of the Father in conv. with Susan Wyndham Tom Keneally, ex-seminarian, pulls no punches as he interrogates the terrible damage done to innocents as the Catholic Church has prevaricated around language and points of law, covering up for its own.
Don’t miss out! ail! Sign up for gleem y Liz Allen’s weekl te. email events upda m co .au asims@gleebooks.
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Event—6 for 6.30 Cadel Evans
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Event—6 for 6.30 Sue Joseph
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Event—6 for 6.30 Nicholas Lee
All This in 60 Minutes in conv. with Ellen Fanning & James Carleton This is the hilarious inside story of life on the road as a 60 Minutes cameraman—‘Perfectly capturing the controlled chaos, the seat-of-thepants improvisation’ that goes on behind the scenes at 60 Minutes
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9
Event—6 for 6.30
Mark Isaacs & Lucy Fisk
THUR 3
Launch—
Peter M
Janet Ven Launcher: D Covering her 40 y evolution as an a engagement and t dle East, and her Australia – this bo biography of Jane intrepid and pa
10 Launch—
Chris
What is Journali Nauru Burning Politics of and Launcher: The Human Rights, Refugee Protest & This book argues Immigration Detention should treat itself A percentage of profits from the discipline on a pa sales at this event will go to Refugee ography and socio Advice & Case Work Service form in its
17 Event—
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Matthew
Little Fish in conv. with Qu The stories I collec came in like scho … hundreds of th flashes of underst dark story. This don’s personal ac the acclaimed Thr trilo
The Art of Cycling in conv. with Tracey Holmes Cadel Evans writes about the triumphs, the frustrations, the training, the preparation, the psychology of the sport, his contemporaries, past legends, how he maintained such amazing consistency and, always, his enduring love of cycling.
Behind the Text in conv. with Stephen Feneley 11 influential authors explore their writing process, ethical dilemmas and connection to the capacious genre. As the first collection of its kind, this work brings Australian creative nonfiction into the literary spotlight.
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Deng Adut
Songs of a War Boy in conv. with Ben Mckelvey Deng Adut escaped Sudan & is now a lawyer committed to working for the disenfranchised & helping refugees in Western Sydney. This is an important reminder of the power of compassion and the benefit to opening our doors & our hearts to fleeing war, persecution & trauma.
Thomas Keneally
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Event—6 for 6.30
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Remember! Join the Gleeclub and get free entry to events held at our shops, 10%credit accrued with every purchase, and the Gleaner delivered to your door every month.
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WEDNESDAY
23
Event—6 for 6.30 Winton Higgins
Rule of Law in conv. with Michael Kirby Rule of Law deals with the Nuremberg trial and plunges into the dramatic birth of the international law underpinning peace, genocide prevention & human rights.
30 Event—6 for 6.30 David Hunt
True Girt 2 in conv. with Andrew P. Street In this side-splitting sequel David Hunt takes us to the Australian frontier. This was the Wild South, home to hardy pioneers, gun-slinging bushrangers, directionally challenged explorers, nervous indigenous people, Caroline Chisholm and sheep. Lots of sheep.
24
Event—
Clive H
What Do We Wa Protest in in conv. with D Clive Hamilton ex test movements f and environmenta fronted the uglin society and caus shifts in soci
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Dece
All events listed are $12/$9 concession. Book Launches are free.
Gleeclub members free entry to events at 49 Glebe Pt Rd November Events are held upstairs at #49 Glebe Point Road unless otherwise noted. Bookings—Phone: (02) 9660 2333, Email: events@gleebooks.com.au, Online: www.gleebooks.com.au/events 2016
RSDAY
—6 for 6.30 Manning
nn-Brown David Malouf years in Rome, her artist, her political travels in the Midr recent return to ook is an important et Venn-Brown, an assionate artist.
—6 for 6.30 s Nash
ism? The Art and f a Rupture eo van Leeuwen s that journalism academically as a ar with history, geology, and as an art s own right.
—6 for 6.30 w Condon
h Are Sweet uentin Dempster cted along the way ools of small fish hem, adding bright tanding to a very is Matthew Conccount of writing ree Crooked Kings ogy.
—6 for 6.30 Hamilton
FRIDAY 4
SATURDAY 5
11 Launch—6 for 6.30 Lowell Tarling
Launch—3.30 for 4 David Burfoot
Finding the Elephant Launcher: Julie Beesley This book shows how modern research in physics, biology, philosophy, parapsychology and spirituality can combine to reveal the mega-phenomenon of ‘Subspace’, an extra dimension which, if harnessed, could propel humanity into a new age of possibilities.
12 Launch—3.30 for 4 Ann Wigglesworth
Sharp Activism and Aid Launcher: Peter Kingston Launcher: Helen Hill Martin Sharp was an integral part How aid influenced processes of of international Pop Art in the 1960s. development can work to realise In this first of two volumes, Lowell people’s visions of a nation’s future. Tarling offers us a way into the enAndrea Needham igmatic and reclusive artist, Martin The Hammer Blow Sharp, through his extensive interHow & why 10 women, in 1996 disviews with Sharp and all of his armed a warplane. trusted friends.
18 Launch—6 for 6.30 Mark Rafidi
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Launch—3.30 for 4
Trisha Pender Ishmael’s Oud I’m Buffy & You’re Dead Launcher: Peter Skrzynecki Launcher: Catherine Driscoll At once a memoir and biography, a father and son contend with the fra- Trisha Pender puts the TV series gility of their own relationship in Oc- Buffy the Vampire Slayer under the cupied Palestine. This exciting new microscope, investigating its gender work explores the discovery of idenand feminist politics. tity and love, apartheid and trauma.
25 Launch—6 for 6.30 Michael Powell
ant: The Story of Musquito Brutality and Exile: Abon Australia riginal Resistance in NSW and Van David McKnight Diemen’s Land xamines how pro- This is the biography of the aborigifor equality, peace nal resistance leader Musquito in al action have con- New South wales and Van Diemen’s ness in Australian Land and his exile in from NSW. sed epoch-defining ial attitudes.
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Launch—3.30 for 4
FourW 27: Anthology
Launcher: Paul Daley A sinuous, inventive, anthology of new writing containing more than fifty new poems and twenty new stories, including the 2015 winners of the Booranga Literary prizes. Fantastic reading….
SUNDAY 6 Tue 29th November Event
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Stan Grant QE64: Stan Grant on Indigenous Futures at the Seymour Centre Contact Seymour Centre for details.
20 Launch—3.30 for 4
Cock Crow: Rosemary Dobson in Words & Music
Launcher: Diana Weston Rosemary Dobson’s poems will be read accompanied by music from Bach, Vivaldi & Australians Elena Kats-Chernin, May Howlett. Performers include Leonie Cambage (reader), Shaun Ng (viola da gamba, lute & Diana Weston (harpsichord).
27 Launch—3.30 for 4 Croakey Authors
#Just Justice Launcher: Tom Calma #JustJustice is a crowd-funded and crowd-sourced project that profiles ways to address the systemic problem of the over-incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Friday 2nd: Launch—Jo Frasca, Delving Deeper Saturday 3rd: Launch—Tanveer Ahmed, I’m a Closet Gay Muslim In ember Sunday 4th (10am): Event—Trixi Symonds, Sew Together, Grow Together Xmas Children’s Workshop $35 (includes copy of book) Tuesday 6th: Event—Troy Bramston, Paul Keating: The Big Picture Leader Thursday 8th: Event—Mark Colvin, Light & Shadow: Memoir of a Spy’s Son Friday 9th: Poetry Launch—Berndt Sellheim & Stuart Cooke Sunday 11th: Launch—Noel Olive, Out with the Pilbara Mob Tuesday 13th: Event—Neil Macdonald with Peter Brune, Valiant for Truth: The Life of Chester Wilmot, war correspondent
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Granny’s Good Reads with Sonia Lee
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, author of the acclaimed Bel Canto, begins in Los Angeles at a christening party. Gatecrasher Bert Cousins falls in love at first sight with the baby’s mother, they subsequently marry and their two spouses and six children have their lives irrevocably changed. Fast forward to Chicago, where Franny Keating, the baby of the christening, has dropped out of Law School and is working as a bar waitress. She resolves not to be a lawyer and not to take her clothes off, the former being easier than the latter when writer Leon Posen walks in and her life too changes irrevocably. In pillow talk she tells him the story of her two dysfunctional families and he turns it into a bestseller, setting off more chain reactions. Patchett writes dispassionately but she has in effect written a morality tale. I shed a few tears over this one.
Anna Quindlen’s Still Life with Bread Crumbs is one of my favourite novels. Her latest, Miller’s Valley, is a coming-of-age novel. The narrator is Mary Margaret Miller, Mimi to everyone, and her father owns a not very successful farm which the authorities want to flood and turn into a reservoir. Her mother, a nurse who works the night shift at the local hospital, tells Mimi to make something of herself and get out of the place. Eddie, the eldest son, gets to college and becomes an engineer. Tommy, the apple of his mother’s eye, joins the Marines and ends up in Vietnam, coming home not Tommy any more. Mimi surprises herself by winning a scholarship to medical school. Quindlen cleverly gets her narrator to change from an eleven-year-old to an old lady with laconic character assessments and vivid descriptive phrases. The valley eventually gets flooded and many secrets are buried under the water while some resurface. I loved this book. Tell the Truth Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta, author of Looking for Alibrandi, is a thriller set in London. It begins in Calais with a bomb blast in a bus full of English teenagers. ‘Bish’ Ortley, a suspended Chief Inspector from the London Met whose daughter Bee was on the bus, is drawn into the case. Also on the bus was Violette Le Brac, whose grandfather bombed a supermarket twelve years before. The tabloids tag her as the bomber but she disappears with young Eddie Conlon and the race is on to find the fugitives. After the earlier bombing Violette’s father supposedly committed suicide, while her mother Noor who confessed to being involved in the crime is still in prison serving a lengthy sentence. By sheer coincidence, Bish was the person who took little Violette from her mother and placed her in care. Since then she has grown up with grandparents in Australia who think she is in Tasmania on a Duke of Edinburgh Award hike. The so-called terrorists are of Algerian extraction and the reader soon suspects that there has somewhere been a terrible miscarriage of justice. The chief attraction of this novel is Marchetta’s depiction of the teenagers and their modes of speech and the engaging bunch of survivors that help Bish unmask the real bomber and prevent a further tragedy. A real cracker of a novel and another ‘Must Read’. My daughter told me I should read the four ‘Neapolitan’ novels by Elena Ferrante so I did. They tell the story of Lila and Elena, two girls born in 1944 in a deprived district of Naples. Lila is stupendously bright as well as beautiful but her parents don’t let her go to high school, so she marries at sixteen—not a wise move in Catholic Italy with, at that time, no divorce. Elena goes to high school, wins a scholarship to uni. in Pisa and writes a bestseller. After each of the first three novels I vowed I wouldn’t read the next one, wrung out as I was by all the tempestuous carry-on and the incredibly horrible life choices made by the heroines—but each time I recanted, swept along by the plot and longing to see how everything was going to turn out. A journalist has recently disclosed the likely identity of Elena Ferrante but it doesn’t really matter because the novels are out there and truly brilliant. I’m very glad I read them. My favourite novel for 2016 is Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift. My favourite nonfiction is Idle Talk: Gwen Harwood’s Letters 1960–64. Sonia
Out this month & in the Summer Reading Guide: Australians: A Short History by Thomas Keneally ($49.99, HB) True Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia V2 by David Hunt ($29.99, HB) Paul Keating by Troy Bramston ($44.99, HB) Best Australian Political Cartoons 2016 ($29.99, PB) What do We Want? The Story of Protest in Australia by Clive Hamilton ($39.99, PB) Antipodes: In Search of the Southern Continent by Avan Judd Stallard ($39.95, PB)
16
Australian Studies
Victory at Villers-Bretonneux by Peter FitzSimons
It’s early 1918, and after four brutal years, the fate of the Great War hangs in the balance. The Russians have withdrawn, but the Americans are on the way. Seizing the moment, the Germans launch the Kaiserschlacht, the Kaiser’s battle—the biggest set-piece battle the world has ever seen. Across a 45-mile front, no fewer than two million German soldiers hurl themselves at the Allied lines, with the specific intention of splitting the British and French forces, and driving all the way through to the town of Villers-Bretonneux. Exhausted British troops flee before them, together with tens of thousands of French refugees, and a desperate General Douglas Haig calls upon the Australian soldiers to stop the German advance, and save Villers-Bretonneux. Not for nothing does the primary school at Villers-Bretonneux have above every blackboard, to this day, ‘N’oublions jamais, l’Australie.’ ($50, HB)
Every Mother’s Son is Guilty: Policing the Kimberley Frontier of Western Australia 1882–1905 by Chris Owen ($50, PB)
Chris Owen provides a compelling account of policing in the Kimberley district from 1882, when police were established in the district, until 1905 when Dr Walter Roth’s controversial Royal Commission into the treatment of Aboriginal people was released. He gives a fuller understanding of the complex social, economic & political changes occurring in WA during the period when the policing of Aboriginal people changed from one of protection under law to one of punishment & control. The subsequent violence of colonial settlement & the associated policing & criminal justice system that developed, often of questionable legality, was what Royal Commissioner Roth termed a ‘brutal and outrageous state of affairs’.
Under Full Sail by Rob Mundle ($45, HB)
The story of the Clipper ships, and the tens of thousands of migrants they bought to the Australian colony of the 19th century, is one of the world’s great migration stories. For anyone who travelled to Australia before 1850, it was a long & arduous journey that could take as much as 4 months. With the arrival of the clipper ships, and favourable winds, the journey from England could be done in a little over half this time. It was a revolution in travel that made the clipper ships the jet airlines of their day, bringing keen & willing migrants ‘down under’ in record time, all hell-bent on making their fortune in Australia. A ripping yarn brimming with countless stories of the magnificent ships & the fearless (and feckless) characters they carry.
Fighting with America: Why saying ‘No’ to the US wouldn’t rupture the alliance by James Curran
Australia has long been a reliable ally of the United States. But has it become too reliable? 65 years after the signing of the ANZUS treaty, and amid great strategic change caused by the rise of China, it is time for a fresh look at the Australian–American alliance. James Curran argues that the current intensity in Canberra’s relations with Washington has led Americans & Australians to forget past disagreements between the two nations. As the alliance becomes more focused on Asia, Australian & American interests sometimes coincide—other times they clash. ($10, PB)
QE64: Stan Grant on Indigenous Futures
Stan Grant takes a deep and passionate look at Indigenous futures, in particular the fraught question of remote communities. Moving beyond simplistic talk of ‘lifestyle choices’, Grant explores what makes for a sustainable community and life, and then asks: what can we do to instigate change? ($22.99, PB)
Living with the Locals: Early Europeans’ Experience of Indigenous Life by Haskins & Maynard
This book tells the stories of 13 white men, boys and women who were taken in by the Indigenous people of the Torres Strait islands and of eastern Australia and who lived in their communities between the 1790s and the 1870s, from a few months to over 30 years. They assimilated to varying degrees into an Indigenous way of life—several marrying and learning the language. For the most part, both parties mourned the white people’s return to European life, and many of the white survivors spoke up against the appalling treatment of the Indigenous people, and advocated for conciliation and land rights. ($45, PB)
The Secret Cold War: The Official History of ASIO, 1975–1989 by Blaxland & Crawley
Until now, few would have known of the surprising extent of clandestine operations in Australia by foreign intelligence operatives & the violence-prone activities of local extremist groups from the Middle East, Armenia & Croatia in the 1970s & 1980s. The 3rd & final volume of The Official History of ASIO uncovers behind the scenes stories of the Hilton bombing in Sydney, assassinations of diplomats, the Combe-Ivanov affair, & the new threat from China. It reveals that KGB officers were able to recruit and run agents in Australia for many years, & it follows ASIO’s own investigations into persistent allegations of penetration by Soviet moles. ($50, HB)
History
The Tunnels: The Untold Story of the Escapes Under the Berlin Wall by Greg Mitchell ($35, PB)
A DISTANT JOURNEY
BLOOD MYSTIC
DI MORRISSEY
GEORGE GITTOES
Di Morrissey is celebrating 25 years as Australia’s Favourite Storyteller.
The illustrated autobiography of Australian peace warrior and artist George Gittoes
A new life, a new country and a family with a tragic secret…
Notorious for waging war on war with art, circus, photography and film, George Gittoes’ life defies belief.
From Australia’s bestselling author, A Distant Journey is a compelling, sprawling novel of family, adventure and love of the land.
For fans of David Walsh’s Bone of Fact and Joshua Yeldham’s Surrender.
THIS WAS A MAN
MARGARET COURT
JEFFREY ARCHER
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
The thrilling conclusion to the number one bestselling Clifton Chronicles. Love, loss and ambition for the Clifton family will never be the same in this shocking final chapter.
The untold story of what lit a fire in the poor girl from Albury and made her one of the greatest champions tennis has seen and the fierce woman she is.
In the summer of 1962, one year after the rise of the Berlin Wall, a group of daring young West Germans risked prison, Stasi torture & even death to liberate friends, lovers & strangers in East Berlin by digging tunnels under the Wall. As the world’s press heard about the secret projects, two television networks raced to be the first to document them from the inside, funding two separate tunnels for exclusive rights to film the escapes. In response, President John F. Kennedy and his administration, wary of anything that might raise tensions & force a military confrontation with the Soviets, maneuvered to quash both documentaries. Meet the legendary cyclist who became East Berlin’s most wanted man; the tunneller who had already served 4 years in the East German gulag; the Stasi informer who betrays the ‘CBS tunnel’; the young East Berliner who escapes with her baby, then marries one of the tunnellers; and an engineer who would later help build the tunnel under the English Channel.
In the Summer Reading Guide Four Princes: Henry VIII, Francis I, Charles V, Suleiman the Magnificent and the Obsessions that Forged Modern Europe by John Julius Norwich ($32.99, PB)
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Frederick the Great By Tim Blanning ($30, PB) Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, dominated the 18th century in the same way that Napoleon dominated the start of the 19th - a force of nature, a caustic, ruthless, brilliant military commander, a monarch of exceptional energy and talent, and a knowledgeable patron of artists, architects and writers, most famously Voltaire. From early in his reign he was already a legendary figure— equally at home on the battlefield or in the music room at his extraordinary miniature palace of Sanssouci. Drawing on a lifetime’s obsession with the 18th century Tim Blanning recreates a remarkable era, a world which would be swept away shortly after Frederick’s death by the French Revolution. Lenin On The Train by Catherine Merridale
www.panmacmillan.com.au
Politics
Things That Can and Cannot Be Said by Arundhati Roy ($13, PB)
By 1917 the European war seemed to be endless. In the German government a small group of men had a brilliant idea— why not sow further confusion in an increasingly chaotic Russia by arranging for Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, currently bottled up in neutral Switzerland, to go home? Catherine Merridale recreates Lenin’s extraordinary journey across a Germany falling to pieces to his eventual ecstatic reception by the revolutionary crowds at Petrograd’s Finland Station. She weaves the story of the train & its strange group of passengers with a gripping account of the now half-forgotten liberal Russian revolution & shows how these events intersected. Using a huge range of contemporary eyewitnesses, she observes Lenin as he travels to a country he has not seen for many years. ($55, HB)
In late 2014, Arundhati Roy, John Cusack & Daniel Ellsberg travelled to Moscow to meet with NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The result was a series of essays & dialogues in which Roy & Cusack reflect on their conversations with Snowden. In these provocative & penetrating discussions, Roy & Cusack discuss the nature of the state, empire & surveillance in an era of perpetual war; the Stalin & the Scientists: A History of Triumph meaning of flags & patriotism; the role of foundations & NGOs in limiting dissent; and and Tragedy 1905–1953 by Simon Ings ($50, HB) An epic story of courage, genius and terrible folly, this is the the ways in which capital but not people can freely cross borders. first history of how the Soviet Union’s scientists became both What is a Refugee? by William Maley ($30, PB) the glory and the laughing stock of the intellectual world. SiWilliam Maley offers a guide to the complex idea of ‘the refugee’ mon Ings weaves together what happened when a handful of and sets the current crisis within the wider history of human ex- impoverished and underemployed graduates, professors and ile, injecting much-needed objectivity and nuance into the debate. entrepreneurs, collectors and charlatans, bound themselves Arguing that Western states are now reaping the consequences of to a failing government to create a world superpower. And he policies aimed at blocking safe and ‘legal’ access to asylum, Maley shows how Stalin’s obsessions derailed a great experiment in shows why many proposed solutions to the refugee ‘problem’ will ‘rational government’. exacerbate tension & risk fuelling the growth of extremism among people who have been denied all hope. He also tells of the families The Trials of the King of Hampshire & individuals who have sought refuge, highlighting the suffering, by Elizabeth Foyster ($43, HB) separation & dislocation on their perilous journeys to safety. Only through such stories The 3rd Earl of Portsmouth voted in the House of Lords, took county positions, invited Jane Austen to his balls, counted Wilcan we properly begin to understand what it is to be a refugee. liam Cobbett as one of his Hampshire neighbours and had Lord The Verso Book of Dissent ($20, PB) Byron as a key witness to his second marriage. Then, at the age Throughout the ages & across every continent, people have strug- of fifty-five, his own family launched a case citing him as a gled against those in power & raised their voices in protest—rallying danger not only to the peerage but to himself. Elizabeth Foyster others around them & inspiring uprisings in eras yet to come. Their invites us into the jury box for the lengthiest, most expensive echoes reverberate from Ancient Greece, China & Egypt, via the dis- and vastly controversial British insanity trial ever heard. sident poets & philosophers of Islam & Judaism, through to the Arab slave revolts & anti-Ottoman rebellions of the Middle Ages. These Imperial Triumph by Michael Kulikowski sources were tapped during the Dutch & English revolutions at the Beginning with the reign of Hadrian in Rome & ending with the outset of the Modern world, and in turn flowed into the French, death of Julian the Apostate on campaign in Persia, Michael KuHaitian, American, Russian & Chinese revolutions. More recently, likowski offers an intimate account of the twists & often deadly resistance to war & economic oppression has flared up on battlefields & in public spaces turns of imperial politics in which successive emperors rose & fell with sometimes from London & Hong Kong to Athens & New York City. This anthology, global in scope, bewildering rapidity. He describes the empire’s cultural integration in the 2nd cenpresents voices of dissent from every era of human history: speeches and pamphlets, po- tury, the political crises of the 3rd when Rome’s Mediterranean world became subject ems and songs, plays and manifestos. Every age has its iconoclasts, and yet the greatest to the larger forces of Eurasian history, & the remaking of Roman imperial institutions in the 4th century under Constantine & Constantius II. 200 years of Roman among them build on the words & actions of their forerunners. imperial politics & power brought to life in an action-packed narrative. ($60, HB)
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Science & Nature
The Circle: A Mathematical Exploration beyond the Line by Alfred Posamentier & Robert Geretschläger
GIFT BOOK
Good Reads and Dirty Deeds Specialising in macro photography using natural light, the Breedens produce masterful floral portraits. Step into the orchid house to discover their world.
GARDENING
Gardening goddess Sabrina Hahn has never been afraid of getting dirty, and nor should you! This book will help keep your garden thriving all year round.
TRUE ADVENTURE
From piranha-infested waters to mining company boardrooms, triumphs and disasters on the gold trail.
CRIME
The cowboy capitalists of Perth’s 1980s just rode into town and PI Frank Swann is in the firing line.
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The circle has fascinated mathematicians since ancient times. This entertaining book describes in layperson’s terms the many intriguing properties of this fundamental shape. If math has intimidated you, this may be the ideal book to help you appreciate the discipline through one of its most important elements. ($45, HB)
Weird Dinosaurs: The Strange new fossils challenging everything we thought we knew by John Pickrell
From outback Australia to the Gobi Desert and the savanna of Madagascar, award-winning science writer John Pickrell sets out on a world tour of new discoveries and meets the fossil hunters leading the charge. Discover the dwarf dinosaurs unearthed by an eccentric Transylvanian baron, an aquatic, crocodile-snouted carnivore bigger than T. rex, the Chinese dinosaur with wings like a bat, and a Patagonian sauropod so enormous it was heavier than two commercial jet airliners. ($30, PB)
The Wasp That Brainwashed the Caterpillar ($30, HB)
Featuring quirky illustrations and the signature blend of science smarts and humour that make Matt Simon’s Wired column so entertaining this book is a funny and informative look at the stranger side of evolution. He looks at: the Zombie ants mind-controlled by a fungus; beautiful salamanders that can regenerate any part of their bodies—including their brains; the mantis shrimp, which fires its club-like appendage so fast that the surrounding water becomes as hot as the surface of the sun; the Antechinus, whose runaway testosterone levels cause them to have so much sex during their three-week mating season that they bleed internally, go blind, and drop dead.
Future Humans: Inside the Science of Our Continuing Evolution by Scott Solomon ($42.95, HB)
Are humans still subject to the forces of evolution? Evolutionary biologist Scott Solomon draws on the explosion of discoveries in recent years to examine the future evolution of our species. He offers convincing evidence that evolutionary forces still affect us today. But how will modernization—including longer life spans, changing diets, global travel, & widespread use of medicine & contraceptives—affect our evolutionary future? Solomon draws on fields from genomics to medicine and the study of our microbiome to offer Surprising insights on topics ranging from the rise of online dating & Cesarean sections to the spread of diseases such as HIV & Ebola—suggesting that we are entering a new phase in human evolutionary history—one that makes the future less predictable & more interesting than ever before.
The Invention of Science by David Wootton ($30, PB) We live in a world made by science. How and when did this happen? This book tells the story of the extraordinary intellectual and cultural revolution that gave birth to modern science, and mounts a major challenge to the prevailing orthodoxy of its history. David Wootton’s landmark book changes our understanding of how this great transformation came about, and of what science is. In the Summer Reading Guide The Best Australian Science Writing 2016 (ed) by Jo Chandler, $29.99 Adam Spencer’s Time Machine, $29.99 Time Travel by James Gleick, $29.99 The Meaning of Birds by Simon Barnes, $39.99 Where The Animals Go by James Cheshire ($60, HB) For thousands of years, tracking animals meant following footprints. Now satellites, drones, camera traps, cellphone networks, apps & accelerometers allow us to see the natural world like never before. Geographer James Cheshire & designer Oliver Uberti take you to the forefront of this animal-tracking revolution. Meet the scientists gathering wild data—from seals mapping the sea to cougars crossing Hollywood, from birds dodging tornadoes to jaguars taking selfies. Join the journeys of sharks, elephants, condors, snowy owls, & a wolf looking for love. Find an armchair, cancel your plans & go where the animals go.
The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself by Sean Carroll ($40, HB)
Over the last few hundred years an avalanche of discoveries have changed our world dramatically, having a profound effect on what we think really matters. Sean Carroll breaks down how the universe works at the quantum, cosmic & human levels to reveal how our everyday lives connect to the underlying laws of nature. A synthesis of cosmossprawling science & the most profound questions about life, death & our place in it all, this book is the ultimate guide to the scientific revolution that has taken us from Darwin & Einstein to the origins of life, consciousness & the universe. Carroll demonstrates that while our lives may forever be dwarfed by the immensity of the universe, they can be redeemed by our capacity to comprehend it and give it meaning.
Philosophy & Religion
American Philosophy: A Love Story by John Kaag
John Kaag—a disillusioned philosopher at sea in his marriage and career—stumbles upon a treasure trove of rare books on an old estate in the hinterlands of New Hampshire that once belonged to the Harvard philosopher William Ernest Hocking. The library includes notes from Whitman, inscriptions from Frost, and first editions of Hobbes, Descartes, and Kant. As he begins to catalogue and preserve these priceless books, Kaag rediscovers the very tenets of American philosophy—self-reliance, pragmatism, the transcendent—and sees them in a 21st century context. Part intellectual history, part memoir, American Philosophy is an invigorating investigation of American pragmatism and the wisdom that underlies a meaningful life. ($37, HB)
A Plea For The Animals: The Moral, Philosophical, and Evolutionary Imperative to Treat All Beings with Compassion by Matthieu Ricard ($45, HB)
Matthew Ricard comprehensively examines all areas of animal abuse as well their negative environmental effects, and he argues in favour of vegetarianism and its nutritional viability; but he equally targets the abhorrent aspects of experiments on animals by science & the many ways animals are reduced & abused as objects of amusement, from captivity in zoos to enslavement as pets. A section exposes the unimaginable abominations practiced as part of the international trade in exotic fauna & animal products (bear bile, rhinoceros horns, elephant tusks). And he devotes an entire chapter to the cruelties & absurdities of bullfighting. This field, it is a complete & general indictment of the execrable treatment of animals by humans in our world today, of the moral bankruptcy that allows it, and its deleterious environmental effects.
Discworld and Philosophy ($30, PB)
The philosophical riches of Discworld are inexhaustible—from discussion of Moist von Lipwig’s con artistry showing the essential con of the financial system, the examination of the murderous luggage, the lawless Mac Nac Feegles & what they tell us about civil government, to the character Death. Other chapters look at the power of Discworld’s witches, the moral viewpoint of the golems, how William de Worde’s newspaper illuminates the issue of censorship, how fate & luck interact to shape our lives, and why the more simple & straightforward Discworld characters are so much better at seeing the truth than those with enormous intellects but little common sense.
Now in paperback Every Time I Find the Meaning of Life, They Change It: Wisdom of the Great Philosophers on How to Live by Daniel Klein, $23 Disparities by Slavoj Žižek ($40, HB)
Disparities explores contemporary ‘negative’ philosophies from Catherine Malabou’s plasticity, Julia Kristeva’s abjection and Robert Pippin’s self-consciousness to the God of negative theology, new realisms and post-humanism and draws a radical line under them. Instead of establishing a dialogue with these other ideas of disparity, Slavoj Žižek wants to establish a definite departure, a totally different idea of disparity based on an imaginative dialectical materialism. This notion of rupturing what has gone before is based on a provocative reading of how philosophers can, if they’re honest, engage with each other. Žižek borrows Alain Badiou’s notion that a true idea is the one that divides. Radically departing from previous formulations of negativity & disparity, he employs a new kind of negativity: namely positing that when a philosopher deals with another philosopher, his or her stance is never one of dialogue, but one of division, of drawing a line that separates truth from falsity.
The Devil Wins: A History of Lying from the Garden of Eden to the Enlightenment by Dallas G. Denery
For medieval and early modern Christians, the problem of the lie was the problem of human existence itself. To ask ‘Is it ever acceptable to lie?’ was to ask how we, as sinners, should live in a fallen world. As it turns out, the answer to that question depended on who did the asking. The Devil Wins uncovers the complicated history of lying from the early days of the Catholic Church to the Enlightenment, revealing the diversity of attitudes about lying by considering the question from the perspectives of five representative voices—the Devil, God, theologians, courtiers, and women. Examining works by Augustine, Bonaventure, Martin Luther, Madeleine de Scudery, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and a host of others, Denery shows how the lie, long thought to be the source of worldly corruption, eventually became the very basis of social cohesion and peace. ($49.95, PB)
Pocket Pantheon by Alain Badiou ($17, PB)
In Pocket Pantheon Alain Badiou invites readers to engage with some of the great thinkers of the postwar Western tradition such as Lacan, Sartre and Foucault. Drawing on his own encounters with this pantheon—his teachers, opponents and allies—he is able to offer unique insights into both the authors and their work. These studies form an accessible, authoritative distillation of continental theory and a capsule history of a period in Western thought.
Psychology Shrinking Violets: A Field Guide to Shyness by Joe Moran ($33, PB)
Joe Moran explores the hidden world of shyness, providing insights on everything from timidity in lemon sharks to the role of texting in Finnish love affairs. As he seeks answers to the questions that shyness poses—Why are we shy? Can we overcome it? Does it define us?—he uncovers the fascinating stories of the men and women who were ‘of the violet persuasion’, from Charles Darwin to Agatha Christie, and from Tove Jansson to Nick Drake. In their stories—often both heart-breaking and inspiring—and through the myriad ways scientists and thinkers have tried to explain and cure shyness, Moran finds a hopeful conclusion. To be shy, he decides, is not simply a burden—it is also a gift, a different way of seeing the world that can be both enriching and inspiring.
Freud: In His Time and Ours by Élisabeth Roudinesco ($79, HB)
Based on new archival sources, this is Freud’s biography for the 21st century—a critical appraisal, at once sympathetic & impartial, of a genius greatly admired & yet greatly misunderstood in his own time & in ours. Roudinesco traces Freud’s life from his upbringing as the eldest of 8 siblings in a prosperous JewishAustrian household to his final days in London, a refugee of the Nazi’s annexation of his homeland. She recreates the milieu of fin de siècle Vienna—an era of extraordinary artistic innovation, given lustre by such luminaries as Gustav Klimt, Stefan Zweig & Gustav Mahler. In the midst of it all, at the modest residence of Berggasse 19, Freud pursued his clinical investigation of nervous disorders, blazing a path into the unplumbed recesses of human consciousness and desire. Yet this revolutionary who was overthrowing cherished notions of human rationality and sexuality was, in his politics and personal habits, in many ways conservative. In his chauvinistic attitudes toward women, and in his stubborn refusal to acknowledge the growing threat of Hitler until it was nearly too late, even the analytically-minded Freud had his blind spots. Alert to his intellectual complexity the numerous tensions in his character & thought that remained unresolved Roudinesco ultimately views Freud less as a scientific thinker than as the master interpreter of civilization & culture.
Life Breaks In: A Mood Almanack by Mary Cappello ($63, HB)
What is a mood? How do we think about & understand & describe moods & their endless shadings? What do they do to and for us, and how can we actively generate or alter them? These are all questions Mary Cappello takes up as she explores mood in all its manifestations. Travel with her from mood rooms to art installations to off the beaten path natural history museums, to the more scientific corners of topics like depression & synesthesia, to jazz improv and, of course, the countless writers who have attempted to pin down just what this central aspect of being human is & means. The result is a book as brilliantly unclassifiable as mood itself, blue & green & bright & beautiful, smart & sympathetic, as powerfully investigative as it is richly contemplative.
The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed the World by Michael Lewis ($45, HB)
Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky met in war-torn 1960s Israel. Both were gifted young psychology professors: Kahneman a rootless son of holocaust survivors who saw the world as a problem to be solved; Tversky a voluble, instinctual blur of energy. Michael Lewis tells the extraordinary story of a relationship that became a shared mind: one which created the field of behavioural economics, revolutionising everything from Big Data to medicine, from how we are governed to how we spend, from high finance to football. Kahneman & Tversky, shows Michael Lewis, helped shape the world in which we now live—and may well have changed, for good, humankind’s view of its own mind.
The Poet’s Voice in the Making of Mind by Russell Meares ($55, PB)
How did the human mind evolve and how does it emerge, again & again, in individual lives? Russell Meares proposes that the way in which mind, or self, evolved, may resemble the way it emerges in childhood play & that a poetic, analogical style of thought is a biological necessity, essential to bringing to fruition the achievement of the human mind. Taking a fresh look at the language used in psychotherapy, he shows how language, and conversation in particular, is central to the development & maintenance of self. His theory incorporates the ideas from William James, Hughlings, Jackson, Janet, Hobson, Gerald Edelman, Wolf Singer, Vygotsky & others. It is illuminated by extracts from literary artists such as Wallace Stevens, W.S. Merwin, Virginia Woolf, Joseph Conrad and Shakespeare.
Now in paperback Unforbidden Pleasures by Adam Phillips, $25
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A World Gone Mad Cultural Studies & Criticism
The Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren created one of the most beloved characters in children’s literature, Pippi Longstocking, while she was laid up in bed with an injured ankle, during World War 2. She had already written and published articles and short stories, but her job was working in the letter censorship division of the Swedish war office, reading and censoring all mail going in and out of neutral Sweden. At home, she started to create a diary scrapbook of war news at the outbreak of the war, not for publication, but for her own self, to make some kind of sense of the war. These diaries were not in the public eye until recently, and they make extraordinary reading.
Astrid Lindgren counted her blessings—the Swedes were far better off than their other Scandinavian and European neighbours, a fact she was acutely aware of. Her outlook is extremely global, possibly because of her day job, and very probably because she didn’t personally suffer many privations in her daily life. This is not meant to be a personal diary, the author doesn’t reveal very much of herself, but she does give tantalising glimpses into her family life—creating appealing vignettes of her domestic self. Her detailed descriptions of their celebratory meals are interesting (food is often a theme in war diaries, understandably); Sweden did have rationing, but nothing like the rest of starving Europe. Pippi Longstocking’s genesis is noted, but modestly, the author would have had no idea of what she had just created in the anarchic, freedom loving Pippi.
In her diaries, Astrid Lindgren was writing and collating articles for herself and her family, never the less, she is extremely engaging, descriptive but economical, summing up complex situations adroitly in just a few lines, and with an admirably clear eye. Her impressions are immediate, but considered—she had her own biases, but could always see both sides of a story. She was more than Swedish, she was Scandinavian, and extremely sensitive to the situation of her neighbours, particularly the Finns and Norwegians. With the addition of some news articles and letters, (mainly in Swedish), and a concise index of everyone mentioned in the diaries, this is a really compelling book, especially since its author was such a very outstanding person. (A World Gone Mad: The Diaries of Astrid Lindgren 1939-45 ($40, HB) is due for release in December)
My favourite book for 2016 is White Sands: Experiences from the Outside World by Geoff Dyer. I laughed, I cried, and learned a lot about art and foreign travel in between. Geoff Dyer’s latest book is both funny and profound, he has a very clear eye, and a wonderfully light touch. ($33) Louise
Mothertongue by Sybille Smith ($25, PB) From street dogs of Buenos Aires to street cars of Vienna, from Sydney in the1940’s to the puzzles of return journeys and the enigmas of ageing, these precisely observed and finely crafted essays are by turns moving, funny and profound. More than a memoir, they are an investigation of the act of remembering and the intricate part language plays in retrieving the past: There is a sort of continuous band of surface memory, registering daily events and able to deliver a printout at any time. There is a deeper level of archival data, which you can scroll through for a specific piece of information. And there is cutting a hole in the ice and lowering a line into the black water. These pieces are both entertaining and thought-provoking, and reveal a unique voice among contemporary essayists. My Lost Poets by Philip Levine ($53, HB)
In prose both as superbly rendered as his poetry and as downto-earth and easy as speaking, Peter Levine reveals the things that made him the poet he became. In the title essay, originally the final speech of his poet laureate year, he recounts how as a boy he composed little speeches walking in the night woods near his house and how he later realized these were his first poems. He wittily takes on the poets he studied with in the Iowa Writing Program: John Berryman, who was his great teacher and lifelong friend, and Robert Lowell, who was neither. His deepest influences--jazz, Spain, the working people of Detroit—are reflected in many of the pieces, and there are essays on Spanish poets he admires, William Carlos Williams, Wordsworth, Keats, and others.
Life Worth Living: Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning by Robert Zaretsky ($37.95, PB)
In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Albert Camus declared that a writer’s duty is twofold: ‘the refusal to lie about what one knows and the resistance against oppression’. These twin obsessions help explain something of Camus’ remarkable character, which is the overarching subject of this sympathetic and lively book. Through an exploration of themes that preoccupied Camus—absurdity, silence, revolt, fidelity & moderation—Robert Zaretsky portrays a moralist who refused to be fooled by the nobler names we assign to our actions, and who pushed himself, and those about him, to challenge the status quo.
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A Single Tree: Voices from the Bush by Don Watson
This book assembles the raw material—diary extracts, memoirs, journals, letters, histories, poems & fiction—underpinning Don Watson’s award-winning The Bush. Each of these varied contributors – settlers, explorers, anthropologists, naturalists, stockmen, surveyors, itinerants, artists and writers– represents a particular place and time. The science of the landscape and climate, and the way we have perceived them. Our deep and sentimental connection to the land, and our equally deep ignorance and abuse of it. The heroic myths & legends. The enchantments. The bush as a formative and defining element in Australian culture, selfimage and character. The flora & fauna, the waterways, the colours. The heroic, selfdefining stories, the bizarre & terrible, and the ones lost in the deep silences. From Dampier and Tasman to Tim Flannery and assorted contemporary farmers, environmentalists and grey nomads, these pieces represent a vast array of experiences, perspectives and knowledge. ($45, HB) Gleebooks’ special price $39.99
Frantumaglia: A Writer’s Journey by Elena Ferrante ($24.99, PB)
This is a riveting compilation of Elena Ferrante’s letters to her publisher, interviews with editors and journalists, and responses to readers’ questions over the course of her writing career. Essential reading for fans of Ferrante, and for fans of writing—this is a woman who not only knows her own mind, she can see deep into ours, too.
The Givenness of Things by Marilynne Robinson
In this collection of 14 essays Marilynne Robinson brings a profound sense of awe to the essential questions of contemporary life and faith, exploring the dilemmas of our modern predicament. How has the US, a so-called Christian nation strayed from so many of the teachings of Christ? How could the great minds of the past, Calvin and Locke— and Shakespeare—guide our lives? And what might the world look like if we could see the sacredness in each other? A reminder of what a marvel our existence is in its grandeur—and its humility, these essays are a necessary call for us to find wisdom and guidance in our cultural treasures. (due in December) ($23, PB)
Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O’Neil ($33, PB)
We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives—whether we get a job or a loan, how much we pay for insurance—are being made by mathematical models. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: everyone is judged according to the same rules, and bias is eliminated. But as Cathy O’Neil reveals the opposite is true. These models are opaque, unregulated, and incontestable, even when they’re wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination, creating a toxic cocktail for democracy. Tracing the arc of a person’s life, O’Neil exposes the black box models that shape our future as individuals and as a society. These ‘weapons of math destruction’ score teachers and students, sort CVs, grant or deny loans, evaluate workers, target voters and monitor our health. She calls on modellers to take more responsibility for their algorithms & on policy makers to regulate their use. But in the end, it’s up to us to become more savvy about the models that govern our lives.
Progress: Ten Problems Humanity Has Almost Solved by Johan Norberg ($35, HB) It’s on the televisions, in the papers and in our minds. Every day we’re bludgeoned by news of how bad everything is—financial collapse, unemployment, growing poverty, environmental disasters, disease, hunger, war. But the rarely acknowledged reality is that our progress over the past few decades has been unprecedented. Examining official data from the UN, the World Bank and the WHO, political commentator Johan Norberg traces just how far we have come in tackling the issues that define our species. While it’s true that not every problem has been solved, we do now have a good idea of the solutions and we know what it will take to see this progress continue.
The Bigot: Why Prejudice Persists by Stephen Eric Bronner ($37.95, PB)
Stephen Eric Bronner’s new book presents bigotry as a systematic, all-encompassing mindset that has a special affinity for right-wing movements. Bronner explores its appeal, the self-image it justifies, the interests it serves, and its complex connection with modernity. He reveals how prejudice shapes the conspiratorial and paranoid worldview of the true believer, the elitist, and the chauvinist. In the process, it becomes apparent how the bigot hides behind mainstream conservative labels in order to support policies designed to disadvantage the targets of his contempt. Examining bigotry in its various dimensions—anthropological, historical, psychological, sociological, and political— Bronner illustrates how the bigot’s intense hatred of ‘the other’ is a direct reaction to social progress, liberal values, secularism, and an increasingly complex & diverse world. This sobering look at the bigot in the 21st century helps make sense of the dangers facing democracy now & in the future.
The Well-Tempered City: What Modern Science, Ancient Civilizations, and Human Nature Teach Us About the Future of Urban Life by Jonathan F. P. Rose ($55, HB)
As the 21st century progresses, metropolitan areas will bear the brunt of global megatrends such as climate change, natural resource depletion, population growth, income inequality, mass migration, and education & health disparity, among many others. Jonathan F. P. Rose— the man who ‘repairs the fabric of cities’—distills a lifetime of interdisciplinary research and firsthand experience into a five-pronged model for designing and reshaping cities with the goal of equalizing their landscape of opportunity. Drawing from the musical concept of ‘temperament’, Rose argues that well-tempered cities can be infused with systems that bend the arc of their development toward equality, resilience, adaptability, and well-being, to achieve ever-unfolding harmony between civilization and nature.
Literary Wonderlands: A Journey through the Greatest Fictional Worlds Ever Created ($35, HB)
From the advent of the first works of literature many millennia ago, writers have used imaginary worlds both to entertain their readers and to examine concepts, highlight key issues and consider their personal beliefs about the society, natural surroundings and experience of being of which they are a part. Literary Wonderlands explores the most fantastic and influential fictional worlds in literary history and delves into the captivating features of their formation—from the writer’s own lives to the relevance of their fiction within a broader social context and the meaning that can be extracted from the details of their composition.
The Descent Of Man by Grayson Perry ($35, HB)
What is masculinity and what can it become? It might seem like a luxury in a world facing climate change and vast imbalances in global wealth, but Grayson Perry sees masculinity as a highly active component in all the big issues. Tracing the contours of the dominant male role today, its history and its clearly defined rules, Perry explores everything from sex, seriousness and intimidation to clothing, childhood and power, suggesting a more modern model of manhood which may reach escape velocity from the gravity of Traditional Man.
The Language Of Cities By Deyan Sudjic ($55, HB) ‘To make sense of a city, you need to know something about the people who live in it, and the people who built it. You need to ask how they did it and why.’ Most of us now live in cities. But what makes a city? Is it a place—or an idea? How should we define the city as it evolves today? Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum, decodes the underlying forces that shape the urban spaces around us, from their buildings to their names, from the power of crowds to why being a Londoner, New Yorker or Muscovite can offer a sense of identity greater than any other.
Democracy’s Detectives: The Economics of Investigative Journalism by James T. Hamilton ($67, HB)
In democratic societies, investigative journalism holds government & private institutions accountable to the public. As newspapers confront shrinking subscriptions & advertising revenue, who is footing the bill for journalists to carry out their essential work? James T. Hamilton looks at the types of investigative stories that now get prioritised and funded, and shows how a single dollar invested in a story can generate hundreds of dollars in social benefits. He gives an in-depth case study of Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Pat Stith of The News and Observer in Raleigh, NC, who pursued over 150 investigations that led to the passage of dozens of state laws, illustrating the wide-ranging impact one intrepid journalist can have. Important stories are going untold as news outlets increasingly shy away from the expense of watchdog reporting, Hamilton warns, but computational journalism—making novel use of digital records and data-mining algorithms—promises to lower the costs of discovering stories and increase demand among readers.
s d d w n n a o 2 H R Tales of Derring Do
As a final offering for this year I offer a duo of paperbacks recounting true stories of courage, endurance and daring during World War II. Freedom the Spur by Gordon Instone. 1956. A revised edition Paperback. Originally published in 1953. Good condition. $10.00. ‘A book that any man with guts would like to have written’, says General Sir Frederick Pile in the introduction. ‘An escape story with a difference, no barbed wire, tunnels, dummies, or the ingenious contrivances of leisured imprisonment, but a story of one man’s war against Nazi Germany’. Young British soldier, Gordon Instone (1916–1989?) was captured near Calais in May 1940, and this is the tale of his 900-mile journey by foot across France and his repeated escapes from both German and Vichy French captors. Of his capture he writes: A German sergeant came over and addressed us in excellent English… “The war is over for you my gallant friends. The victorious German army will be in Paris in two weeks and a fortnight later will be marching through the streets of London. Meanwhile you are all going to Germany! But do not worry, in a couple of months the war will be over and you will all be sent back to England.’’ I like the photograph taken of Gordon Instone in 1940, looking very dapper and confident, hiding with a French family in German occupied Paris—under the name ‘Pierre’. He looks like he can cope with any eventuality. However, a surprise encounter in the Jardin de Luxembourg proves that his Englishness is unmistakable—despite any attempted disguise. As he sits in the garden, smoking a pipe & pondering his options: a middle-aged woman glanced at me curiously…She came up to me and said quietly, in perfect English, “You’re English, aren’t you?” I looked at her in astonishment. “As a matter of fact I am—but how on earth did you know?” “It wasn’t very difficult. You see only an Englishman holds his pipe that way you’re holding it!” “Good lord’, I exclaimed “and I thought I was the complete Frenchman!” Having studied up on correct pipe handling, Gordon Instone eventually reached Spain and was interned. British authorities secured his release and he reached Gibraltar in May 1941. The Tartan Pimpernel by Donald Caskie. 1960. Paperback. Originally published in 1957. Good condition.$10.00. ‘He exchanged his cassock for the cloak of the Resistance.’ In 1940, Dr Donald Caskie (1902–1983), born on the Isle of Islay, was Minister of the Scottish Kirk—the congregation of the Church of Scotland—in Paris. Having denounced the Nazis from the pulpit, Caskie was forced to flee the city. He turned down the opportunity to leave France, due to a sense of calling, and his sense of responsibility for suffering humanity. A French policeman told him: “We know you are the only member of your calling now at liberty in France. We can arrange for you to go home if you wish”. Caskie replied: “There’s nothing I’d like better, but that is impossible. I cannot desert my own people in such a dreadful hour of need. I am a minister. How could I leave them?” Caskie eventually arrived in Marseilles—under Vichy French control—and established a ‘congregation’ for Allied servicemen, which also served as a refuge for those fleeing the Nazis. He helped many British civilians to leave France, largely via Spain and often working closely with British intelligence services. Caskie also took a position as a university lecturer, using the university church as a hiding place for Allied military personnel and resistance fighters. He eventually aided over 2,000 Allied servicemen to escape from occupied France. Stephen
More Folio Society editions for Xmas
Culture by Terry Eagleton ($39.95, HB)
In this keenly analytical and acerbically funny book, Terry Eagleton explores how culture & our conceptualisations of it have evolved over the last 2 centuries—from rarified sphere to humble practices, and from a bulwark against industrialism’s encroaches to present-day capitalism’s most profitable export. Ranging over art & literature as well as philosophy and anthropology, and major but somewhat ‘unfashionable’ thinkers like Johann Gottfried Herder and Edmund Burke as well as T. S. Eliot, Matthew Arnold, Raymond Williams & Oscar Wilde, Eagleton provides a cogent overview of culture set firmly in its historical and theoretical contexts, illuminating its collusion with colonialism, nationalism, the decline of religion, and the rise of and rule over the ‘uncultured’ masses. Eagleton also examines culture today, lambasting the commodification and co-option of a force that, properly understood, is a vital means for us to cultivate and enrich our social lives, and can even provide the impetus to transform civil society.
New this month Best American Magazine Writing 2016 (ed) Sid Holt ($42.95, PB)
The Diary of a Nobody by George & Weedon Grossmith (ill) John Lawrence, $25 The Golden Fleece by Robert Graves (ill) Grahame Baker, $40 Cautionary Tales & Other Verses by Hillaire Belloc (ill) Posy Simmonds, $30
The Wit of Oscar Wilde (ill) Ian Archie Beck, $35 The Complete Memoirs of George Sherston by Siegfried Sassoon (ill) John Lawrence, $50 Christmas Ghost Stories (ill) Peter Stewart, $45
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Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa & Haruki Murakami ($45, HB) Haruki Murakami’s passion for music runs deep. Before turning his hand to writing, he ran a jazz club in Tokyo, and the aesthetic and emotional power of music permeates every one of his much-loved books. In this book he fulfills a personal dream, sitting down with his friend, acclaimed conductor Seiji Ozawa, to talk about their shared interest. Transcribed from lengthy conversations about the nature of music and writing, here they discuss everything from Brahms to Beethoven, from Leonard Bernstein to Glenn Gould, from record collecting to pop-up orchestras, and much more.
Gleebooks’ special price $39.99
Love For Sale: Pop Music in America by David Hajdu
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rom outback Australia to the Gobi Desert and
the savanna of Madagascar, award-winning science writer John Pickrell sets out on a world tour of new discoveries. Discover the dwarf dinosaurs unearthed by an eccentric Transylvanian baron, an aquatic, crocodile-snouted carnivore bigger than T. rex, the Chinese dinosaur with wings like a bat, and a Patagonian
sauropod so enormous it was heavier than two commercial jet airliners. Weird Dinosaurs examines the latest breakthroughs and new technologies radically transforming our understanding of the distant past.
F
rom the furthest reaches of the universe to the
microscopic world of our genes, science offers writers the kind of scope other subjects simply can’t match. Now in its sixth year, The Best Australian Science Writing 2016 brings together knowledge and insights from Australia’s brightest thinkers as they explore the intricacies of the world around us. This lively collection of essays covers a wide range of subjects and challenges our perceptions of the world and how we exist within it.
w w w. n ews o u t h p u b l i s h i n g .co m
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David Hajdu begins his personal history of pop music not with nostalgic reminiscences of the 45s of his youth but with the sheet-music era at the end of the 19th century—not so much the beginning of popular music as the beginning of the popular music industry. And if he’s going to understand what his 45s meant to him, this is the place to start: the rise of Tin Pan Alley, of minstrelsy, of million-copy sellers & one-hit wonders & cultural arbiters decrying the baseness, simplicity & signs of the end of times in popular music. Hajdu goes back to Alexander Graham Bell & the invention of records, to his grandmother’s collection of Italian crooners on shellac records that young Hajdu liberated from her New Jersey basement, and to his mum—a waitress in a chrome-clad diner on Route 22 who helped shape the fate of a budding young music critic by introducing him to one of the diner’s most prominent patrons, the writer of the timeless song I’m from New Jersey. ($38, HB)
New this month Platform Papers 49: Rethinking Australian Screen Documentary by Curtis Levy, $17 Music for Life: 100 Works to Carry You Through by Fiona Maddocks ($30, PB)
How does music reflect the key moments in our lives? How do we choose the works that inspire, delight, comfort or console? Classical Music critic of the Observer Fiona Maddocks selects 100 classical works from across nine centuries, arguing passionately, persuasively and at times obstinately for their inclusion, putting each work in its cultural and musical context, discussing omissions, suggesting alternatives and always putting the music first.
Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy, from the Seventies to the 21st Century by Simon Reynolds As the sixties dream faded, a new flamboyant movement electrified the world: GLAM! In Shock and Awe, Simon Reynolds explores this most decadent of genres on both sides of the Atlantic. Bolan, Bowie, Suzi Quatro, Alice Cooper, New York Dolls, Slade, Roxy Music, Iggy, Lou Reed, Be Bop Deluxe, David Essex—Reynolds charts the retro future sounds, outrageous styles and gender-fluid sexual politics that came to define the first half of the 70s and brings it right up to date with a final chapter on glam in hip hop, Lady Gaga & the aftershocks of David Bowie’s death. ($50, HB)
The Art of Movement: NYC Dance Project ($70, HB)
This exquisitely designed, book captures the movement, flow, energy, and grace of many of the most accomplished dancers in the world. Artists who are defining dance today are frozen in time in the most exquisite poses, and yet there’s a feeling of movement in every photograph that makes them appear to be dancing across the pages. Accompanying the photographs are words from the dancers, as well as from choreographers and artistic directors, on what dance means to them.
Kiffy Rubbo: Curating the 1970s (eds) Janine Burke & Helen Hughes ($29.99, PB)
Kiffy Rubbo was a dynamic and unique force in Australian art in the 1970s. It was under Kiffy Rubbo’s leadership that the George Paton Gallery, at the University of Melbourne, would become known as a vital, nationally recognised centre for contemporary art. It became the home for feminist enterprises such as the Women’s Art Movement and the Women’s Art Register, as well as fostering publications such as the Art Almanac and Arts Melbourne. Featuring contributions by many significant curators, artists, and critics, this book explores for the first time Rubbo’s enduring legacy
Seth’s Dominion by Seth & Luc Chamberland
When you live in an ornamented world where your home is a museum of 1940s design, you don’t leave the house without a hat and tie, and your wife owns a barber shop—which you designed—it’s hard to imagine letting a documentary about you go to press without constructing an exquisite package for it. In Seth’s Dominion, the National Film Board documentary by filmmaker Luc Chamberland about the acclaimed Canadian cartoonist, Seth has done just that. ($40, HB)
The Arts
The Natural History of Edward Lear ($70, HB)
Before he became celebrated as the writer & illustrator of nonsense poetry, Edward Lear was a prolific painter of natural history subjects who earned near-universal praise for the accuracy, originality and elegant style of his animated depictions of birds and other wildlife. In that golden age of colour-plate books, an era still celebrated for the great volumes created by John James Audubon and John Gould, Lear created some of the most spectacular natural history illustrations ever published—and he did so without the benefit of any formal training in art. This volume reproduces the original watercolours for his scientific paintings (many for the first time).
Marking the Infinite: Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia ($95, HB)
This book explores women artists who are at the forefront of the Aboriginal arts movement in Australia. Comprised of a series of illustrated essays, the book brings to life a wide array of artistic practices, each attempting to grapple with the most fundamental questions of existence. Written by leading art historians, anthropologists, curators & other experts in the field, these essays provide a penetrating look at one of today’s most dynamic artistic movements.
Janet Venn-Brown: A Life in Art by Peter Manning ($60, PB)
Australian painter Janet Venn-Brown moved to Rome in the early 1960s where she joined a circle of intellectuals & artists, began exhibiting her work. She fell in love with Palestinian activist Wael Zuaiter, and when he was murdered by Mossad in 1972, it changed Venn-Brown’s life, bringing Palestinian activism to the forefront of her next four decades. Now in her 90s, and still painting, Venn-Brown has exhibited her work widely, but her paintings have never been collected so comprehensively as they are in Peter Manning’s richly illustrated book. Celebrating her life and work—her 40 years in Rome, her evolution as an artist, her political engagement and travels in the Middle East, and her recent return to Australia—this book is an important biography of an intrepid and passionate artist.
Art for All: The Color Woodcut in Vienna Around 1900 ($108, HB)
At the turn of the 20th century, amid the domed grandeur of Vienna, a group of Secession artists reclaimed the humble woodblock. Elevating a primarily illustrative, mass-production medium to the status of fine art, the woodblock revival set a formal precedent for Expressionism while democratizing an art for all. Through prints, publications, calendars and pages from Ver Sacrum, the official magazine of the Vienna Secession, this volume gathers works remarkable for their graphic and chromatic intensity, and vital with the traces of japonisme as much as the stylistic seeds of Die Brucke, Der Blaue Reiter and later Expressionist movements. Through figure studies, landscapes, patterns, and typographical treasures, the featured works are accompanied by detailed captions, as well as essays exploring their aesthetic and ideological implications, and biographies for the more than 40 artists.
Embrace Of The Serpent: Dir. Ciro Guerra
Karamakate, a warrior shaman & last of his tribe, transcends the worlds of men & seeks truth through their dreams. He alone knows how to find the mysterious & psychedelic Yakruna plant; for some it has life-saving properties, for others it is a commodity waiting to be exploited. Two scientists, in two different times with very different agendas enlist Karamakate on their individual quests in an epic adventure into the heart of the Colombian Amazon to find this mythical plant. Seen through Karamakate’s eyes, the film bears witness to the effects of colonialism, religion & the exploitation of rubber, that affect indigenous traditions & the environment to which they are inextricably linked. ($33.95, Region 2)
Best of Enemies: Dir. Morgan Neville ($32.95) Best of Enemies is a behind-the-scenes account of the explosive 1968 televised debates between the lefty novelist Gore Vidal and leading light of the then new conservative movement William F. Buckley, and their rancorous disagreements about politics, God, and sex. Witness the moment when personality & punditry trumped policy & substance and the world became a place where politicians have to host SNL or no-one will pay attention. The Hunting Ground ($26.95)
This documentary presents a scorching exposé of the startling prevalence of sexual assault at US institutions of higher learning. Those brave enough to report the crimes face disbelief, apathy, victim-blaming, harassment and retaliation from both their fellow students and the administrators who are charged with protecting them. The film weaves in two courageous survivors who are shining a spotlight on the alarming trend of universities and colleges to downplay and deny sexual assaults on their campuses. As they strike back using an innovative legal strategy, they gain momentum to inspire justice in the process.
The Intimate World of Josef Sudek ($62, HB) Josef Sudek (1896–1976) was a Czech photographer, best known for his photographs of Prague. He was a bookbinder before turning to photography after losing his right arm in WWI. This book examines how Sudek’s photographs reflect his relationship to the world around him, from intimate explorations of cherished objects and views through his window to his night walks through the streets of Prague and its periphery, as well as excursions into the surrounding countryside. With essays & reminiscences by two former assistants, accompanying the photographs, this is a compelling view of Sudek’swork, and the art of his friends and fellow artists. Dutch and Flemish Paintings ($99, HB) by Michiel Jonker & Ellinoor Bergvelt
Dulwich Picture Gallery in London holds one of the most remarkable permanent collections of Dutch and Flemish art in the world. It contains key paintings by some of the most renowned artists of the period including Rembrandt van Rijn, Anthony van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob van Ruisdael, Aelbert Cuyp, Gerrit Dou and Meindart Hobbema. This major new volume is the first time this remarkable collection has been presented in a comprehensive publication. It brings to light new technical analysis, conservation work, provenance and historical significance, combined with rigorous authorship by leading art historians, the late Michiel Jonker & Ellinoor Bergvelt.
Scandinavia Dreaming: Nordic Homes, Interiors and Design ($95, HB)
Artisans fresh from design school breathe new life into the wonted usage of tile, wood, glass, ceramics, and other customarily Nordic materials. Design firms such as Hay, Ferm Living & Frama bring a new layer of warmth & energy to contemporary Danish design while honouring Scandinavian aesthetics & a space’s need to be both livable & logical. Finnish home textiles by Klaus Haapeniemi & Kustaa Saksi prove that the categories of art & décor are not mutually exclusive. Copenhagen’s Gubi design retouch neglected furniture to create pieces of the current design narrative, while the tantalizing sculptures of Oslobased designers Kneip illustrate & investigate the phenomena of nature whilst reflecting the gentle coexistence of Nordic architecture with its surroundings.
The Hinterland: Cabins, Love Shacks and Other Hide-Outs ($95, HB)
We all need to be somewhere else, just for a little while. The cabin is that somewhere else. They allow us to get into a different state of mind, one where we can just have a good time. Four walls and a roof and a weekend-these getaways free us from the distracting and unessential, and put us back in touch with nature and our own inner peace. In cabins, we can savour solitude or share experiences with friends among mountains, rivers, woods, and wildlife. The Hinterland explores architecture and design approaches to creating the refuges that refresh and revitalize amidst the beauty of nature— presenting the best new cabin architecture and design.
DVDs With Scott Donovan Rams: Dir. Grimur Hakonarson ($32.95) Siblings Gummi (Sigurður Sigurjónsson) and Kiddi (Theodór Júlíusson) have been living side by side without speaking to each other for forty years, each tending to their pedigree ancestral flock. When communication can’t be avoided, Kiddi’s dog Somi trots between houses carrying their handwritten notes between his teeth. Their world is upended when the valley comes under threat from infection. While neighbours abandon their land, each brother tries to stave off disaster. A loving portrait of both culture and family in a place where change doesn’t come easily.
A Month of Sundays: Dir. Matthew Saville ($32.95) Real estate agent, Frank Mollard (Anthony LaPaglia), won’t admit it, but he can’t move on. Divorced but still attached, he can’t sell a house in a property boom—much less connect with his teenage son. One night Frank gets a phone call from his mother. Nothing out of the ordinary. Apart from the fact that she died a year ago. With Julia Blake, Justine Clarke and John Clarke
I Saw The Light: Dir. Marc Abraham
This is the story of the legendary country western singer Hank Williams (a bravura performance from Tom Hiddleston), who in his brief life created one of the greatest bodies of work in American music. The film chronicles his meteoric rise to fame & its ultimately tragic effect on his health and personal life. Also starring Elizabeth Olsen, Bradley Whitford, David Krumholtz & Cherry Jones. ($29.95, Region 2)
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(Some of) MY READING LIST - 2016 ‘Have you read all the books in this shop?’ Three decades as a bookseller and this golden oldie still gets uttered by customers. I’m afraid the answer is still ‘No.’ Another reading year concluded. So many books...and increasingly, so little time! So, herewith - a selection of titles I have enjoyed this last year. A mixed year for music biographies.
Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run—(Gleebooks special price, $42.99) eight years in the making—arrives as I write this, so we will be reading the Boss’s 528-page magnum opus over the holidays. Kim Gordon’s Girl in a Band ($23) was a smoothly written recounting of her turbulent time in 1990s band Sonic Youth, with some entertaining zingers aimed at the New York music and art scene. Carly Simon’s Boys in the Trees ($23), dealt with her leisured Long Island upbringing, her parent’s fractured marriage, her father’s early death, the emergence of a chronically shy performer—first as a family trio folk singer and then her rise as a phenomenal solo pop performer in the early 1970s. That pure, powerful yet intimate voice. Those achingly personal lyrics resonated with millions—including me. She name drops like crazy, including among many, Warren Beatty, Chris Kristofferson, Mick Jagger and—of course—James Taylor, but she’s earned it.
Chrissie Hynde’s Reckless: My Life as a Pretender ($25) is my pick. The jangling opening guitar chords of The Pretender’s Brass in Pocket (1979), followed by Chrissie’s shouty, husky, flat out sexy voice just stopped me in my tracks when I first heard it. I played the grooves off that first Pretender’s album. Chrissie Hynde needed a good editor to pack all her adventures into 300 pages. She didn’t get one, but this kaleidoscopic, sometimes shambolic recounting of her very varied life is worth dipping into. From middle class Akron, Ohio in the 1960s to the punk music scene of 1970s London. As shoplifter, Kent State student radical, band follower, drug imbiber (lots), a weakness for ‘heavy bikers and get down boys’ (with shocking consequences on one occasion she recounts, when she was 21), music magazine reviewer, shop girl at a Vivienne Westwood boutique and—eventually—punk band aspirant and lead singer of The Pretenders. The memoir ends with the drug deaths of two band members, James Honeyman-Scott and Pete Farndon in 1982–1983. Gideon Haigh is one of our finest writers, as two recent titles confirm: Certain Admissions: A Beach, a Body and a Lifetime of Secrets ($33), is his book detailing the trials—and later life—of John Bryan Kerr, a 24-year-old Melbourne radio announcer who in 1949 was charged with the murder of 20 year-old typist Beth Williams at Albert Park Beach. Haigh was given special access to closed police case files. He solves the question of Kerr’s guilt or innocence—to my mind at least—but the book also reads as real life social history, family saga and a meditation on living with the unknown and the unknowable.
Disease. Removing numerous layers of hagiography and myth to reveal a far more complex individual. Along the way there are interesting digressions on early cricket photography, how Trumper came to embody the pre-1914 ‘Golden Age’ of cricket and also the enduring cultural impact—over a century later—of Beldam’s representation of Trumper’s brilliance.
When my family moved up from Melbourne in 1968 we eventually lived not too far from Fuller’s Bridge, near Lane Cove National Park. As a teenager in the 1970s I had heard of the mysterious deaths of Dr Gilbert Bogle and Mrs Margaret Chandler near there on 1 January 1963. One of the first true crime books I remember reading—borrowed from my parent’s bookshelf—was journalist Stafford Silk’s book called The Bogle Mystery a slender 130 pages (1963). Even then there was much speculation of some ‘unknown poison’ being responsible for their deaths. Some 53 years later, case closed. Investigate filmmaker, Peter Butt’s Dr Bogle & Mrs Chandler—The Confession combines painstaking research over a decade with new evidence, including an eyewitness account, to at last conclusively identify the deadly, natural killer of the couple—hiding in plain smell, one might say.
By the time you read this, the United States will have embarked on the Second Age of Clinton, helmed by their first female President Hillary Rodham Clinton. So, just in time is Joe Conason’s Man of the World: The Further Endeavours of Bill Clinton which details the post-Presidential career of her husband, the 42nd President. The constant torrent, it seems, of social media criticism of all aspects and towards all members of the Clinton political dynasty, makes it refreshing to read a detailed, well written (but not entirely uncritical) account of Clinton’s worldwide ‘good works’ by a confessed admirer. The death of American writer and war correspondent Michael Herr (1940–2016) this year led me to re-read his classic book on his time spent in Vietnam in 1967—Dispatches. Originally published in 1977, no bookshelf was complete without one. I read through two or three copies. Herr’s style, described as ‘a stream of consciousness pulsing with energy, but masterfully controlled’, caught the fear, horror and excitement of war in the jungle and the cities.
Lastly, a couple of fiction selections: Caroline Kepnes’ You and Hidden Bodies. Two thrillers featuring Joe Goldberg, bookseller—charming, sensitive, obsessive psychopath and serial killer. Imagine The Talented Mr Ripley updated for a social media age. The first novel is set in New York, the second in Los Angeles, which sees Joe on the run and trying to (sometimes literally) bury his past. Both books are shot through with black humour. The sequel however has a lighter tone. Stephen Reid
In his latest book, Stroke of Genius: Victor Trumper and the shot that changed cricket Haigh investigates pioneer cricket photographer George Beldam’s now iconic posed photo—taken in 1902—of Australian premier batsman Victor Trumper (1877–1915), entitled Jumping out for a straight drive. Haigh moves outward from the photo to examine Trumper’s relatively short life—he died at 37 from Bright’s
Poetry
My Private Property by Mary Ruefle ($45, HB)
Author of Madness, Rack, and Honey (‘One of the wisest books I’ve read in years’, according to the New York Times) and Trances of the Blast, Mary Ruefle continues to be one of the most dazzling poets in America. My Private Property, comprised of short prose pieces, is a brilliant and charming display of her humour, deep imagination, mindfulness, and play in a finely crafted edition.
Poems: New & Selected by Ron Rash ($45, HB) Award-winning poet, novelist, and short- story writer Ron Rash channels the rhythms of life in Appalachia, deftly capturing the panoply of individuals who are its heart. In language that is accessible, sometimes colloquial, but imbued with a subtle craft derived from the intra-line harmonies (cynghanedd) of medieval Welsh poetics, Ron Rash evokes the splendour of the natural landscape & renders the lives of those dependent on its bounty in cotton mills & tobacco fields, farmlands & forests. The haunting memories & shared histories of these people their rituals & traditions animate this land, and are celebrated in Rash’s crystalline, intensely imagined verse.
Float by Anne Carson ($40, PB) A box of 12 individual booklets that can be read in any order: conjuring a mix of voices, time periods & structures to explore what makes people, memories, and stories ‘maddeningly attractive’ when observed in liminal space. Begin with Carson puzzling through Proust on a frozen Icelandic plain, or in the art-saturated enclaves of downtown NYC, or atop Mount Olympus as Zeus ponders his afterlife. A 3 woman chorus of Gertrude Steins embodying an essay about ‘falling’, and an investigation of monogamy & marriage as Carson anticipates the perfect egg her husband is cooking for breakfast. The Map and the Clock: A Laureate’s Choice of the Poetry of Britain & Ireland ($40, HB)
Curated by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy & Gillian Clarke, the National Poet of Wales, this new anthology starts with the very first poets whose names we know—Taliesin & Aneirin, who composed in Welsh & Old Brythoneg in what is now Scotland—to explore the poetry of Ireland & the British Isles across the ages.
Poetry by Heart: Poems to Read Aloud ($27, PB) Poetry moves us when we read it but when we say or hear the words aloud it can be spellbinding. From Geoffrey Chaucer to Emily Dickinson, Emily Bronte to Benjamin Zephaniah, the poems included in Awake at the Wheel by Berndt Sellheim ($25, PB) this treasury have been chosen because they delight the ear as much From the backroads of the Australian outback to the icy streets as they do the mind. of Paris winter, these dynamic & original poems traverse geograOdes by Sharon Olds ($31, PB) phies, languages & techniques. Marked by a subtle probing of the Opening with a powerful & tender Ode to the metaphysical layerings that underpin human experience, Berndt Hymen, Sharon Olds uses this age-old poetic Sellheim returns again & again to the concrete details of everyday form to address many aspects of herself, in a happenings. Drawing equally on moments of joy & loss, shifting collection that is centred around the female from comic & bawdy bohemianism to introspective sensory enbody and female pleasures. In Ode to My Sisvelopment, this collection evokes a dynamic & fragile world. This ter, Ode of Broken Loyalty, Ode to My Whiteness, Blow Job Ode, fragility is an insistent theme, both in terms of human mortality & ecological crisis. A collection of playful, innovative & imaginative poems, driven by a Ode to the Last 38 Trees in New York City Visible from This Window, Olds treats us to an intimate self-examination that, like all her refined & attentive musicality, brimming with possibility & surprise. work, is universal and by turns searing and charming in its honesty.
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The Bone Clocks David Mitchell, HB
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Churchill Ashley Jackson, HB
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The 50 Greatest Train Journeys of the World, Anthony Lambert, PB
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Now $16.95 Consciousness and the Brain: Deciphering How the Brain Codes Our Thoughts Stanislas Dehaene, HB
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Believing Is Seeing: Observations on the Mysteries of Photography Errol Morris, HB
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What Philosophy Can Tell You About Your Dog (ed) Steven D. Hales, PB
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Charles Dickens at Home Hilary Macaskill, HB
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Coming Through Slaughter Michael Ondaatje, HB
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Strange Glory: A Life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Charles Marsh, HB
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Pacific: The Ocean of the Future Simon Winchester, HB
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Time to be in Earnest: A Fragment of Autobiography P. D. James, HB
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The Secret History of Wonder Woman Jill Lepore, HB
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Joy: Poet, Seeker, and the Woman Who Captivated C. S. Lewis Abigail Santamaria, HB
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The 50 Greatest Walks of the World Barry Stone, PB
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Gutenberg’s Apprentice Alix Christie, HB
Robert Burns: Poems (ed) Don Paterson, HB
Gandhi Before India Ramachandra Guha HB
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Elizabeth David Classics: Mediterranean Food, French Country Cooking, Summer Cooking, HB
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Now $34.95
In Arab Lands: Orientalism: The Bonfils Collection, HB The Orient in Western Art Gerard-Georges Lemaire, HB 25
Jonathon: It took me a moment to find the time signature of Carola Dibbell’s dystopia, The Only Ones ($31), but once I found it I was pulled along by the creeping consequences of its world. Her book is heartwrenching. It investigates motherhood, and the ethics of reproduction, genetic engineering and cloning, by creating a dangerous landscape of cascading pandemics that constantly threaten loss. Something like Children of Men meets the later books in The Last Policeman series, but fundamentally about raising a child and sending them off into the world. Sally: Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe is a fascinating examination of pre-invasion Aboriginal farming systems and settlements and the underlying philosophy which Pascoe calls ‘abidingness’. He documents the colonial myopia and ongoing censorship which kept this all hidden to enable the land-grab and genocide to proceed unimpeded. ($35)
Chris: Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje—I had not reread this novella for many years but having taught it last semester I can affirm this pyschogeographic detective story, cathedral window, love song, prose poem, this ‘squawk’, as my book of this year and many of the other years I have lived. Trust me when I say there is a photo of you somewhere inside it. Mandy: I loved The Doldrums by Nicholas Gannon ($25), a quirky adventure wherein 11 year old dreamer, Archer B. Helmsley, enlists the help of his friends, Adelaide and Oliver, to go in search of his grandparents. He has never met them, they are a ‘mystery wrapped in a secret’, famous explorers who have gone missing on an iceberg. Great storytelling, imaginative use of language and gorgeous illustrations; perfect for 10-13 year olds. A couple of other stand-outs, also for 10-13 year olds: Time Travelling with a Hamster by Ross Welford, My Gym Teacher is an Alien Overlord by David Solomons (funny, action-packed sequel to the excellent My Brother is a Superhero); and I’m so looking forward to Wormwood Mire by Judith Rossell (sequel to the delightful Withering-by-Sea).
our 2016 favourites
Roger: I got started on my books of this year not because of publisher hype or whatever, but for family reasons. About fifty five years ago my grandmother gave me and my two brothers a little Doulton Toby jug each of the three musketeers: Athos, Porthos, and D’Artagnon. Somehow, I suppose we were only three we missed out on Aramis , or maybe he was too cultivated. And last year my nonagenarian aunt said in passing one day that The Count of Monte Cristo was her favourite book ever—and that, at her age, was a lot of books. After she said that I realised that much as I had absorbed of the two stories from popular culture, I had never read them. So this year I did. I loved them, the excitement, the sweep of history, the philosophy, the humour. The three (four) are taken through suspenseful plot and satirised mercilessly for their different quirks and activities, but we still love them throughout. By sad coincidence my aunt died in the same week I had just started reading The Count.... It is different, still full of history, plot and excitement, but closer in time and with that grand impersonal view of the individual in history that makes me think of Joseph Conrad. With The Musketeers there was the added bonus of discovering the sumptuous and hilarious 1973 film directed by Richard Leste and starring Michael York, Raquel Welch, Spike Milligan and all the stars of my youth. I’ve yet to look for a film of The Count. I hope there is one just as good. PS the lesser known Black Tulip by Dumas I read a few years ago—also excellent.
Andrew: A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin—Berlin’s stories, written from the 1960s to the 1980s, were all but forgotten until this collection was published late last year in the USA. They were a revelation to me. Set in laundromats, rehab centres, abortion clinics, and greyhound buses; they are grittily realist but with a woozy, hypnotic, other-worldly allure. ($33)
Tatjana: The North Water by Ian McGuire is a story of unredemption set on board a whaling ship heading north towards destruction (or Greenland) in 1856. On board is disgraced, opium addicted former army surgeon Patrick Sumner and the malevolent harpooner Henry Drax, who within the first 20 pages has murdered a man with a brick to the head & raped & killed a homeless boy. The rest of the crew is comprised of equally dubious and treacherous men, and the voyage will see many come undone either by the cold or by the pure evil on board ship. This is a gruesome and violent thriller saved by the writing, which is sharp & precise when describing the brutal business of whales, seals and polar bears being slaughtered but is also eloquent and lyrical in passages that describe what the arctic cold really feels like. The North Water is a dark, bloody and cruel story of struggle & survival in a harsh climate which makes for a totally gripping read. ($33)
David M: Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich & the Siege of Leningrad by M. T. Anderson ($28): Most of the casualties of war are civilians, not combatants. And so much of cultural value is wantonly destroyed or stifled by warfare. To maintain integrity as an artist within an oppressive regime is difficult enough at any time, let alone at a time of armed conflict. Dmitri Shostakovich was arguably the greatest musical genius of the 20th Century, his work complicated and enriched by his life as a citizen of Soviet Russia; and the story of the Leningrad Symphony, created by Shostakovich and performed by and for the population of that city in the face of extreme suffering during World War II, is testimony to a singular triumph of genius and the human spirit. Of course it’s all there in the music. But I believe that it is also important to know the story, to be shocked and moved by it, so as to deepen our respect for those who suffer and refuse to be destroyed, and to help us be even more open to the music itself. We need to remind ourselves, again and again, of what it means to be human and to be creative in all circumstances. John: The Shepherd’s Life by James Rebanks ($25) is my non-fiction pick. This book keeps coming back to my mind. It spans Rebanks’ personal journey, his thoughts on the environment, and a different perspective on ‘environmentalism,’ education and the life and future of rural communities. My fiction pick, and a terrific piece of Australian crime writing, is The Dry by Jane Harper ($33). AFP investigator Aaron Falk returns to his home town in rural Victoria to mourn the death of a family, a murder/suicide, victims of a long hard drought. Aaron cannot believe that his childhood friend could turn a gun on his family and himself, and soon Aaron is investigating and finding that the facts of the case don’t gel with a murder/suicide scenario.
James: Killing & Dying by Adrian Tomine: I read once that graphic novels should be compared to great cinema rather than literature. If that’s true then Tomine’s Killing and Dying should be right at home with the offbeat comedies of FX, or the poignant dramas of HBO. Crisp art and painfully bittersweet stories made this my favourite read of 2016. ($33)
Scott D: The Letters of Samuel Beckett 1966–89. The fourth and final volume of Samuel Beckett covers the last twenty-four years of what was, as Beckett saw it, a surprisingly long life. Beckett was a prodigious correspondent and his many letters (in several languages) to friends, agents, publishers and others reveal a remarkable intellect, a biting wit and a personality marked by great courage and a profound humanity. Over ten years in the making, this series has involved an astonishing level of research and scholarship with each letter carefully annotated to identify Beckett’s frequently obscure references and personal allusions. Always entertaining and often very funny, Beckett’s letters provide a wonderful insight into the man and his work. ($89.95, HB)
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Judy: The Outrun by Amy Liptrot is an autobiography I enjoyed very much this year. In some ways it reminded me of H is for Hawk: a young woman making sense of a life in disarray by going back to ground, back to the natural world, back to body-knowing. Having grown up in the Orkney Isles, it’s there she returns to get sober and re-orient herself. She becomes an observer & recorder of birds’ ways, of animals, humans, the sea and the weather. All of the passion, vitality and intelligence she sought to manage with alcohol gradually return to her in ways she can live with. She joins a small group of winter sea-bathers. ‘The cold water is cathartic. It’s refreshing like the first drink; it offers transformation & escape, like drowning. I am so thirsty and full of desire’. The harsh, glorious landscape of the Orkneys and Amy Liptrot’s own humility, courage and desire make this a beautiful read. ($23, B format due in December)
Victoria: My very favourite book was History of the Rain by Niall Williams. A book so beautifully written it will slow you down so you can absorb and savour every word. ($20)
Joshua: What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi—Oyeyemi’s first collection of protean short stories bears a strong resemblance to her brilliant novels: punctured and blended fairytales underscored by a strong sense that this young author can do whatever she pleases with language and structure.
Isabel: Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style by W. David Marx. Sharp, well-written, and fascinating—if you’ve ever wanted to know more about the influence of American fashion on Japanese style and vice-versa, while at the same learn about Japanese culture and history, this is the book to read. ($37)
Hannah: Barkskins by Annie Proulx—Yes, the irony of a tome of this size being about tree conservation is not lost on me! This was neckand-neck with Patchett’s Commonwealth for my book of the year, but ultimately Proulx won out, due to the scope, lyricism, and imagination of her prose. Well worth the wrist strain. Scott V: This Divided Island by Samanth Subramarian. Samanth tours Sri Lanka in the aftermath of its devastating civil war: a war which has spanned decades. Through interviewing people who survived the conflict, he portrays an island divided by religion and language and its descent into violent madness. A compassionate but haunting read. ($25)
Morgan: Someone had to pick this for book of the year, despite the slight cheat that it’s four books—The Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante. Every (good) thing you’ve read about the quartet is true. Ferrante deserves the accolades piled onto her brilliant, visceral writing. The lives of her characters Lina and Elena are forever etched in the reader’s mind, and the city of Naples comes off the pages as a living, breathing entity. Yes, it’s a bit of a melodrama and I can’t wait for the TV series being made by the Italians. Don’t be put off by the hype, just read the first book (My Brilliant Friend $23) and you’ll be hooked.
Lynndy: The dilemma in being asked to nominate a favourite when one is an insatiable reader is how to choose a single book? I’ve opted for one that lingered in my mind long after reading it: unsurprising, given the author’s skill, research, and unfailing originality. Dragonfly Song by Wendy Orr is an outstanding action-packed story of Aissa, a girl rendered mute by the horrors she escaped as a child. Abandoned and raised as a slave, Aissa volunteers as a tribute in the royal court’s annual competition to escape community ostracism. At the court she undergoes arduous training but also discovers the truth about her exalted origins. Wellcrafted Bronze Age bravery and resilience for readers of 10+. ($17)
Tania: After discovering Neil Gaiman’s work many years ago I always enjoyed indulging every once in a while in reading through one of his novels in one go. Nowadays, being someone who only dreams of stealing an hour or two to read, Gaiman’s recent publication. The View from the Cheap Seats ($30) was ideal. This compilation of previously published essays, introductions, speeches & thoughts is inspiring, interesting & easy to read through out short sittings. Tilda: Lady Midnight: 1 Dark Artifices by Cassandra Clare ($28)—After looking forward to Lady Midnight, my expectations were exceeded. It was a brilliant but haunting addition to Clare’s previous series (Infernal Devices and Mortal Instruments)
Belle: More Than This by Patrick Ness ($19)—this is a beautifully written sci-fi dystopian novel that takes you on a philosophical journey with life’s biggest questions. The beginning of the novel is quite slow, making it hard to be engaged with however this fades as you read further. The plot deepens and creates more layers, becoming more complex and as each mystery is disclosed, another door is revealed making it impossible to put down. Ness’s novel is creative and original, with characters that are incredibly lovable and honest, leaving you wanting more.
Toby: The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson. If you like your memoirs to be genre-bending, in all senses of the term, and about sex, family and poetry, this one’s for you. Also, if you love poetry, read The Hatred of Poetry by Ben Lerner. (both $20)
Liz: The book I most enjoyed reading this year was The High Places by Fiona McFarlane ($33). It is hard to pinpoint what it was about it that appealed to me so much. I think it was because I found a lot of the characters so generous, funny, kind and quirky. This book really made me laugh out loud (I mean that literally, not in a figurative ‘lol’ or ‘rofl’ sense). How can you not adore a book that has the power to elicit such a strong emotional response even if it is hard to understand the magic that has produced it.
Damian: Fight Like a Girl by Clementine Ford—A cornerstone piece of literature for anew generation of feminists. It’s fearless, a book that stops being nice and names things for what they are, in a way that is passionate, angry, and relatable.
Tamarra: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones ($15). I originally bought this for my son to get him reading a little more as he and myself are huge fans of the movie adaptation of the same name produced by legendary director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. Being a fantasy tragic myself, I ended up reading it first. This is a Childrens/YA fantasy, but please don’t let that stop you. We have the resilient young heroine Sophie Hatter turned old by a nasty magical spell cast by the self absorbed Witch of the Waste, the solitary and extremely odd Wizard Howl, and the mischievous fire demon Calcifer to name a few of the vivid characters. The novel has a sophisticated magical narrative—it is quite different to the movie adaptation, with richer back stories to all the characters. I was totally transported into this fantasy realm where witches, wizards and moving castles with multiple land portals are totally believable, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. I must add that the movie did a wonderful job of visually bringing the characters to life—especially Howl and his castle—but it’s not as detailed as the book. Nevertheless, I still absolutely love the film which Gleebooks also stocks.
Janice: Commonwealth by Ann Patchett—a story of two families & how a stolen moment can wreak havoc, tearing people apart, causing them to face issues that they would rather not. A complex, multi-layered book, full of complicated characters living their lives under difficult situations. I consider this a grown-up novel, not one to read in a hurry but to savour, to meditate on & think about for some time after.
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Bestsellers—Non-Fiction 1. Fight Like A Girl: Raise Voices, Raise Courage,
Raise the Flag
2. The Boy Behind the Curtain
Clementine Ford Tim Winton
3. QE 63: Enemy Within: American Politics in the
Time of Trump
Don Watson
4. The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How
They Communicate
Peter Wohlleben
5. Working Class Boy
Jimmy Barnes
6. Bob Ellis: In His Own Words
Bob Ellis
7. The House That Jack Built: Jack Mundey—Green
Bans Hero
James Colman
8. Pitched Battle: In the Frontline of the 1971
Springbok Tour of Australia
9. The Pigeon Tunnel
Larry Writer John le Carré
10. Dark Emu, Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?
Bruce Pascoe
Bestsellers—Fiction 1. The Good People 2. The Girl on the Train 3. The Best of Adam Sharp 4. Commonwealth 5. Nutshell 6. Wild Island 7. Ghostspeaking
Hannah Kent Paula Hawkins Graeme Simsion Ann Patchett Ian McEwan Jennifer Livett Peter Boyle
8. My Brilliant Friend
Elena Ferrante
9. The Last Painting of Sara de Vos
Dominic Smith
10. The Dry
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and another thing.....
I’ve had one of those reading years where I don’t have to think twice before nominating my book of the year—Annie Proulx’s Barkskins was my favourite before I’d finished— like Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies. I am now reading it again (as Hannah says on the favourites pages, it is ironic that a book about the destruction of the world’s forests is such a whopper—so best to honour the trees that went into its pages with a second read). I’ll be giving it to everyone this Christmas. Speaking of all time favourites and Mantel, I do hope she’s got over the writer’s block (possibly due to not wanting to send Cromwell to the block) and The Mirror and the Light will be released in 2017. For my 2016 non-fiction favourite I nominate David Thomson’s Television: A Biography. I’m taking this slowly—not just because his dense stream of connected thoughts demands that, but because as a child of the television era his dissection of the small screen (remember how it once was the small screen) is revelatory—to really think about television, is to think about my life. Speaking of existential panic, I’ve been reading The Year of Voting Dangerously—Maureen Dowd’s collection of columns about The Donald and the Bush & Clinton Dynasties. She’s been covering the Presidents since Bush Senior, so it’s a really good overview of how the US democracy got to here. I do hope by the time you read this the Trump run for President will have been relegated to a History Channel bloopers reel where it belongs. It’s the end of the year again and I’m looking forward to some holiday reading. Everyone’s voting for Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth, Andrew has me convinced I must try Lucia Berlin, and from this month’s Gleaner I’m thinking David Grossman’s A Horse Walks Into a Bar. Thank you to all the hard working Gleaner columnists for their reviews in 2016, and all the best to you, our loyal readers, for the new year. Don’t forget the Summer Reading Guide will be in your mailboxes soon—see you at the orders desk. Viki
For more November new releases go to:
Jane Harper
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