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Vol. 23 No. 8 September 2016
Indigenous Literacy Day September 7th 1
Australian Literature The Fence by Meredith Jaffe ($33, PB)
Gwen Hill adores Green Valley Avenue. Here she has built friendships, raised her children & nurtured a thriving garden. So when the house next door is sold, Gwen wonders how the new family will settle into this cosy community. Francesca Desmarchelliers has high hopes for the house on Green Valley Ave—it’s a clean slate for Frankie, who has moved her brood in a bid to save her marriage. To maintain her privacy & corral her wandering children, Frankie proposes a fence between the properties, destroying Gwen’s picture-perfect front yard. To Gwen, this is an act of war. Soon the neighbours are in an escalating battle about more than just council approvals, where boundaries aren’t the only things at stake.
Indigenous Literacy Day 2016 September 7th Hope you like our lovely cover. It’s been ten years or more since I became involved in a Book Industry initiative originally known as the Indigenous Literacy Project. From an idea driven by a visionary and dedicated bookseller (Suzy Wilson from Riverbend Books in Brisbane) The Project is now a Foundation (ILF), has raised significant funds to supply, thus far, more than 150,000 books to 230 remote Indigenous communities. As well, the Foundation has worked with wonderful writers and ambassadors such as Alison Lester, Anita Heiss, and Andy Griffiths, to write and publish books in First language as well as English. And its ‘Book Buzz’ program supplies culturally and developmentally appropriate books and first language translations for babies and toddlers. The first Wednesday in September is Indigenous Literacy Day, and the major focus for ILF’s fundraising. You could support this terrific work by going online and donating or making a purchase (ILF.org.au) or by coming into our bookshop and donating in the ‘money box’ at the counter. Please check out the ILF website to find out much more, and thanks for your support. Meanwhile, I’ve been reading... Ian McEwan is a brilliant writer, capable of the most exquisite, pitch-perfect language and imagery. Yet, in my experience he constantly divides readers, and I’m sure the haters will have plenty of ammunition, with Nutshell ($29.95) Imagine a domestic thriller with a Shakespearean (Hamlet, no less) twist. And then, a nine month foetus as narrator of his mother’s devious criminality as the ghastly plot unfolds. An ordinary writer could falter, McEwan does not. Its no gimmicky hi-jinx, but wickedly funny—razor-sharp. It takes the reader on a twisting and challenging imaginative journey (just how might an unborn child foresee this world it’s being forced to enter in such strange circumstances) and our narrator shows an understanding of the folly of humans which is at total variance with his/her world experience. McEwan has fun, no doubt, but this is a serious, provocative and quite dazzling novel, utterly original. I loved the concept of Richard Fidler’s Ghost Empire ($35), a splendid retelling of the story of Constantinople, melded with a father-son bonding adventure. Fidler and his son spent some months together, in 2014, trawling around the Mediterranean, exploring the amazing millennium that was Constantinople’s history. We know him as a fabulous interviewer, and he brings some of that warmth and spirit of genuine enquiry to the book, which manages to be erudite and accessible at the same time. It’s not told as a continuous narrative, rather as a series of stories, historical investigations and questions, interspersed with observations on his evolving relationship with his son. I found it absorbing and engaging. David Gaunt
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The Island Will Sink by Briohny Doyle ($30, PB) Decades from now in a not-too-distant future which is not so different, the energy crisis has come and gone. Cities have been rethought and redesigned, and Ecolaw™ is enforced by insidious cartoon Pandas and their armies of viral-marketing children. Max Galleon is a filmmaker of immersive cinema, a father to two children distressed by the world around, a distant husband, a brother to a comatose mystery man, and falling rapidly in love with a doctor who is not what she seems. ‘Adventurous, dense and poetic…it reminds me of J.G. Ballard’s imaginatively coherent, hard-edged, full-fledged imaginings.’ — Luke Davies
Family Skeleton by Carmel Bird ($30, PB) From inside her Toorak mansion, Margaret, matriarch, widow of Edmund Rice O’Day of O’Day Funerals, secretly surveys her family in the garden. Everyone, including Margaret herself, is oblivious to the secrets that threaten to be uncovered by a visiting American relative who is determined to excavate the O’Day’s family history. How far will Margaret go in order to bury the truth? Family Skeleton examines the dark heart of a family that has for generations been engaged in dark business. You can’t dig a grave without disturbing the smooth surface of the ground. Deftly woven, this dark comedy is about what you might unearth if you dig deep enough. The Historian’s Daughter by Rashida Murphy
In an old house with ‘too many windows and women’, high in the Indian hills, young Hannah lives with her older sister Gloria; her two older brothers; her mother—the Magician; a colourful assortment of aunts, blow-ins and misfits; and her father—the Historian. It is a world of secrets, jealousies and lies, ruled by the Historian but smoothed over by the Magician, whose kindnesses & wisdom bring homely comfort & all-enveloping love to a ramshackle building that seems destined for chaos. And then one day the Magician is gone, Gloria is gone, and the Historian has spirited Hannah & her brothers away to a new & at first bewildering life in Perth. As Hannah grows & makes her own way through Australian life, an education & friendships, she begins to penetrate to the heart of one of the old house’s greatest secrets—and to the meaning of her own existence. ($30, PB)
NoHo: Wisdom Tree 5 by Nick Earls ($20, PB) NoHo, is about living in the shadows of the famous. Meet Charlie and his would-be-star sister, Cassie, in Hollywood, discover the Wisdom Tree and family #5. NoHo reveals the devotion of mothers, and sons who overcome monsters. The Bonobo’s Dream by Rose Mulready ($14.95, PB)
Eight-year-old James and his family live in a beautiful house perched on the edge of a forest, within the curve of a giant glass dome. They circle each other like fish in a fishbowl. Aquila—James’s philandering father and renowned artist—prepares to unveil his latest and most shocking work to the world. Suzanne, James’s mother, medicates herself against a rising tide of loneliness and memory. James seeks refuge from the adult world in his drawings and dreams. But when James’s sister, Charity, returns home, she brings with her a visitor who will shake their fragile order to its foundations. Winner of the 2016 Seizure Viva La Novella Prize
Populate and Perish by George Haddad ($14.95, PB) Nick is treading water. No boyfriend. No career. Living in a granny flat in Fitzroy North. On a whim he decides to travel with his twin sister, Amira, to Lebanon in search of their estranged father. Their mother, who passed away a couple of years earlier, only ever referred to him as the kalb—the dog. In Beirut Nick and Amira find family, a sense of belonging and surprising answers to questions they hadn’t known to ask. The freshest writing to come out of Melbourne since Christos Tsiolkas’ Loaded. Winner of the 2016 Seizure Viva La Novella Prize.
Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta ($32.99, PB)
Chief Inspector Bish Ortley of the London Met, divorced and still grieving the death of his son, has been drowning his anger in Scotch. Something has to give, and he’s no sooner suspended from the force than a busload of British students is subject to a deadly bomb attack across the Channel. Bish’s daughter is one of those on board. Also on the bus is Violette LeBrac. Raised in Australia, Violette has a troubled background. Thirteen years ago her grandfather bombed a London supermarket, killing dozens of people. Her mother, Noor, is serving a life sentence in connection with the incident. But before Violette’s part in the French tragedy can be established she disappears. Bish, who was involved in Noor LeBrac’s arrest, is now compelled to question everything that happened back then. And the more he delves into the lives of the family he helped put away, the more he realises that truth wears many colours. The first adult crime novel from much-loved YA author Melina Marchetta—this is pacy, engrossing, witty, unsentimental and well written. A hard genre change for any writer and I think Marchetta has succeeded brilliantly—Morgan Smith
Gleebooks’ special price $29.99
The Best of Adam Sharp by Graeme Simsion
On the cusp of 50, Adam Sharp has a loyal partner, earns a good income as an IT contractor & is the music-trivia expert at quiz nights. It’s the lifestyle he wanted, but something’s missing. Two decades ago, on the other side of the world, his part-time piano playing led him into a passionate relationship with Angelina Brown, who’d abandoned law studies to pursue her acting dream. She gave Adam a chance to make it something more than an affair—but he didn’t take it. And now he can’t shake off his nostalgia for what might have been. Then, out of nowhere, Angelina gets in touch. What does she want? How far will Adam go for a second chance? ($30, PB)
The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose
Arky Swann is a film composer in New York separated from his wife, who has asked him to keep one devastating promise. One day he finds his way to The Atrium at MOMA and sees Marina Abramovic in The Artist is Present. The performance continues for seventy-five days and, as it unfolds, so does Arky. As he watches and meets other people drawn to the exhibit, he slowly starts to understand what might be missing in his life and what he must do. ($28, PB)
Machines for Feeling by Mireille Juchau ($29.95, PB) Rien and Mark leave St Mary’s Home for Children and start a tentative new life together. While Mark dreams of machines to repair their fractured world, Rien writes stories to help her recover the missing events of her past. When their friend Dog Boy escapes from St Mary’s, he embarks on a journey that will dramatically alter each of their lives. In a world that has little time for those who are different, can these three outsiders find a place to belong? This is a mesmerising novel about alienation, friendship, and the power of the imagination to endure.
On D’Hill
Spring is sprung on D’Hill with a lot going on in September. First up is Dulwich Hill Fair Day on Sunday September 11. Last year we had huge success with a book signing with Alex and James from Cornersmith and this year will be just as good with a visit from Anthony Albanese who will be signing copies of Albanese: Telling it Straight by Karen Middleton. Many of you already know Albo and he and Carmel are regular customers of gleebooks on D’Hill. Apparently Middleton’s book is not just a political biography but reveals much about Albo’s childhood with his much-loved single mother and the mystery of his paternity. Karen Middleton won’t be there but Albo will be at the signing table at 11am. Come and have a chat, I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you. As many of you know, Marrickville Library now hosts author events and we are happy to partner with them. On Wednesday 21st September at 7.45pm, Lucy Clark will talk about her book, Beautiful Failures: How the Quest for Success is Harming our Kids. This is a very important topic dear to the hearts of many of gleebooks’ friends and customers. I really think it’s worth getting a babysitter so both parents can hear what Lucy Clark has to say, or if that’s not possible, one of you come and take notes to share with your partner when you get home. Only this weekend Julia Baird wrote a fabulous piece (having been on a panel with Lucy Clark) about what’s happening in our schools and how bureaucracy is affecting teacher’s workloads. Our education system is failing children and the only way to change it is to get involved. Let’s hope (I fear a hope in vain) modern schools aren’t as dreadfully racist as the one Maxine Beneba Clarke attended on the outskirts of Sydney during the 80s and 90s. Award-winning writer of the short story collection, Foreign Soil, Clarke details the relentless racism she experienced as a child in her memoir The Hate Race. It is not a pretty story, and it does not speak well of us and our country. It is not enough to say ‘children can be cruel’ as many adults, including teachers, were also culpable. Clarke argues this attitude to race is inbuilt in us and goes back over 200 years. Like Stan Grant’s Talking to My Country, The Hate Race is a book every Australian should read—then talk about and discuss, especially with our children. School holidays start on September 23rd and to celebrate, we will be having our annual children’s book sale starting Saturday 24th September and going through the whole two weeks to October 9th. As always, not every kid’s book in the shop is on sale—just those on the trestle tables. There’ll be a wide range to choose from. Lastly, a novel to look forward to this month is Ann Patchett’s Commonwealth, an epic portrait of an American family a la Franzen. Not a blazing masterpiece perhaps, but engrossing and highly enjoyable. See you on D’hill, Morgan
Lucy Clarke: Beautiful Failures Marrickville Library Wed 21.9 7.45–9 pm To book: marrickville.nsw.gov.au/library or 02 9335 2173 Anthony Albanese signing: Dulwich Hill Fair Day Sunday September 11.
The Easy Way Out by Steven Amsterdam ($30, PB) Evan is a nurse, a suicide assistant. His job is legal—just. He’s the one at the hospital who hands out the last drink to those who ask for it. Evan’s friends don’t know what he does during the day. His mother, Viv, doesn’t know what he’s up to at night. And his supervisor suspects there may be trouble ahead. As he helps one patient after another die, Evan pushes against legality, his own morality and the best intentions of those closest to him, discovering that his own path will be neither quick nor painless. He knows what he has to do. Award-winning author Steven Amsterdam challenges readers to face the most taboo and heartbreaking of dilemmas. Would you help someone end their life?
We. Are. Family. by Paul Mitchell ($25, PB) Three brothers are forced to confront the quiet, pervasive violence of their family’s past and the distances to which they have all carried their father’s pain into their own futures. Paul Mitchell’s episodic novel is an unravelling of the twisting threads that tie us to the past. We. Are. Family. explores the trauma handed down through generations as folklore and the way we all relate to those closest to us. The damaging idea of Australian masculinity is described with tenderness and dry humour.
On Becoming Good Enough: Stories from both sides of the couch by Gay McKinley
‘That sounds good enough to me’, she suggested. ‘Oh, good enough is NEVER good enough!’ the other rebuffed. In her years as a psychotherapist, this sense of never being good enough sat alongside most of Gay McKinley’s clients. Through their courageous, inspiring & often heart-wrenching stories, she explores the subtle & not-so-subtle ways our ‘good enough’ selves get lost, stomped on or hidden away. Woven throughout is a candid exposé of McKinley’s own journey of ‘becoming good enough’, the eerie parallels with her clients, and the way forward to reclaim that essential part of ourselves—our ‘good enough’ self. ($22.95, PB)
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Altitude
BlackBooks
International Literature Boo ks w ith
Weren’t we lucky to have Liane Moriarty here in the Blue Mountains! Thanks goes to Susan Hayes who did a great job as moderator and thanks to all our customers who came along to make it a huge success. Our book events seem to be gaining momentum – and we are grateful for your support. We have two very interesting authors and topics coming in September. The first is The House that Jack Built: The Jack Mundey Story. Author James Colman has written this Australian icon’s story and will be here in Blackheath on September 18th. He and Jack will be in conversation with Joan Domicelj—former chair of the World Heritage Advisory Committee—at the Blackheath Community Hall. The second book is completely different. Local author Mel Jacobs’ memoir In Sickness, in Health…and in Jail is another interesting personal story of how one ordinary woman’s seemingly perfect family life was turned upside down when her husband was jailed for two years. Mel will be in conversation with another local author, Mark O’Flynn, on September 22nd at Glenella Guest House, Blackheath. See below for details for both events and bookings are essential. Victoria Jefferys
Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer ($33, PB)
God asked Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac, and Abraham replied obediently, ‘Here I am’. This is the story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis. Over the course of three weeks in present-day Washington DC, three sons watch their parents’ marriage falter and their family home fall apart. Meanwhile, a larger catastrophe is engulfing another part of the world: a massive earthquake devastates the Middle East, sparking a pan-Arab invasion of Israel. With global upheaval in the background and domestic collapse in the foreground, Jonathan Safran Foer asks us—what is the true meaning of home? Can one man ever reconcile the conflicting duties of his many roles—husband, father, son? And how much of life can a person bear?
Gleebooks’ special price $29.99
The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride ($30, PB)
An 18 year-old girl, recently arrived in London from Ireland, is enrolled in drama school. Innocent, nervous, the youngest in her class, she is eager to make an impression, to do well. She meets a man-older, a well-regarded actor in his own right-and falls for him. But he’s haunted by more than a few demons-and their tumultuous relationship might be the undoing of them both. Set across the bedsits and squats of mid-nineties north London, The Lesser Bohemians is a story of love and innocence, joy and discovery, the grip of the past and the struggle to be new again.
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
SEPTEMBER EVENTS IN THE BLUE MOUNTAINS THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT The JACK MUNDeY STORY BY JAMES COLMAN
Jack Mundey is a national figure in Australia. He became a household name for his achievements in heritage conservation and grassroots politics. This book tells his important story for the first time. Author James Colman is a Sydney-based architect, planner and part-time lecturer. Both he and Jack will be in conversation with Joan Domicelj AM who was awarded in 1999 for national and international service to the conservation of cross-cultural heritage. When:
SUNDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER, 2016
Where:
2.00pm for 2.30pm start Phillips Hall, Blackheath Community Centre
Cost:
$20 ($17 concession) includes afternoon tea
IN SICKNESS, IN HEALTH… AND IN JAIL
What happened when my husband unexpectedly went to prison for two years. MEL JACOB
After fourteen years of marriage, Mel Jacob’s life looked as perfect as the roses perched above her white picket fence. Until . . .her life took an unexpected detour when her seemingly saintly husband was jailed for two years. Come and listen to this interesting true story. Mel will be in conversation with author Mark O’Flynn. When: Where: Cost:
THURSDAY 22 SEPTEMBER, 2016
5.30pm for 6.00pm start Glenella Guest House, Govetts Leap Rd Blackheath $15 ($12 concession) includes drinks & nibbles
Bookings essential. Tickets available at Gleebooks Blackheath or phone Gleebooks on 4787 6340 or email victoria@gleebooks.com.au
A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin ($20, PB)
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I have just discovered the incredible writing of Lucia Berlin via this astonishing collection of short stories selected from a career of sporadic but brilliant writing spanning the 1960s to the 1980s. Berlin lived a restless, alcoholic life, moving around the USA )with stints in Chile & Mexico too). She worked a varied set of jobs—cleaning woman, ER nurse, school teacher, switchboard operator, supporting herself and her four sons. The stories are heavily autobiographical, often short vignettes—set one moment in a laundromat, the next in a detox unit, or an abortion clinic. One moment we are in the company of black maids on a bus being ferried to a country club; the next a young woman in an emergency ward delicately undresses a jockey in a masterpiece of erotic writing. Confrontingly wellobserved, with dialogue that is cinema-alive; these stories are vintage Polaroids struck with lightning. Andrew Sims
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, & they plot their escape. In Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is not a metaphor—a secret network of tracks & tunnels has been built beneath the Southern soil. Cora & Caesar’s first stop is South Carolina, where both find work in a city that at first seems like a haven. But the city’s placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens—and Ridgeway, the relentless slave-catcher sent to find her, arrives in town. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing journey, state-by-state, seeking true freedom. ($33, PB)
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue ($30, PB) New York, 2007: a city of dreamers and strivers, where Jende Jonga, who has come from Cameroon, has just set his foot on the first rung of the ladder to success. His new job as chauffeur to Clark Edwards, senior partner at Lehman Brothers, draws him, his wife Neni and their young son into the privileged orbit of the city’s financial elite. And when Clark’s wife Cindy offers Neni work and takes her into her confidence, the couple begin to believe that the land of opportunity might finally be opening up for them. But there are troubling cracks in their employers’ facades, and when the deep fault lines running beneath the financial world are exposed, the Edwards’ secrets threaten to spill out into the Jonga’s lives. Faced with the loss of all they have worked for, each couple must decide how far they will go in pursuit of their dreams—and what they are prepared to sacrifice along the way. The Time-Travels of the Man Who Sold Pickles and Sweets by Khairy Shalaby ($27.95, PB)
Ibn Shalaby, like many Egyptians, is looking for a job. Yet, unlike most of his fellow citizens, he is prone to sudden dislocations in time. Armed with his trusty briefcase and his Islamic-calendar wristwatch, he bounces uncontrollably through Egypt’s rich and varied past, with occasional return visits to the 1990s. Through his wild and whimsical adventures, he meets, befriends, and falls out with sultans, poets, and an assortment of celebrities-from Naguib Mahfouz to the founder of the city of Cairo. Khairy Shalaby’s nimble story-telling brings this witty odyssey to life.
Hide by Matthew Griffin ($28, PB) Wendell Wilson, a taxidermist, and Frank Clifton, a veteran, meet after WW2. But, in this declining textile town in a southern US state, their love holds real danger. Severing nearly all ties with the rest of the world, they carve out a home for themselves on the outskirts of town. For decades, their routine of self-reliant domesticity—Wendell’s cooking, Frank’s care for a yard no one sees, and the vicarious drama of courtroom TV—seems to protect them. But when Wendell finds Frank lying motionless outside at the age of 83, their carefully crafted life together begins to unravel.
The Cosmopolitans by Anjum Hasan ($30, PB) Qayenaat is a middle-aged editor & critic who hovers at the edge of the Bangalore art scene. Her former protégé, Baban Reddy, has become a hugely successful artist on the international stage & his return to Bangalore brings back memories & experiences Qayenaat had carefully repressed. In a swirl of heightened emotion, Qayenaat commits an unforgivable crime & flees to rural India in the hope of avoiding its repercussions. There she forms a relationship with the local monarch whose palace, like the region, has fallen into disrepair.
Nutshell by Ian McEwan ($33, HB)
Umami by Laia Jufresa ($28, PB)
Trudy has betrayed her husband, John. She’s still in the marital home—a dilapidated, priceless London townhouse—but not with John. Instead, she’s with his brother, the profoundly banal Claude, and the two of them have a plan. But there is a witness to their plot: the inquisitive, nine-month-old resident of Trudy’s womb. Told from a perspective unlike any other, Nutshell is a classic tale of murder and deceit from one of the world’s master storytellers.
Gleebooks’ special price $29.99
The Love of a Bad Man by Laura E. Woollett
A schoolgirl catches the eye of the future leader of Nazi Germany. An aspiring playwright writes to a convicted serial killer, seeking inspiration. A pair of childhood sweethearts reunite to commit rape and murder. A devoted Mormon wife follows her husband into the wilderness after he declares himself a prophet. The 12 stories in The Love of a Bad Man imagine the lives of real women, all of whom were the lovers, wives, or mistresses of various ‘bad’ men in history. Beautifully observed, fascinating, and at times horrifying, the stories interrogate power, the nature of obsession, and the lengths some women will go to for the men they love. ($28, PB)
Deep in the heart of Mexico City, where five houses cluster around a sun drenched courtyard, lives Ana, a precocious twelve-year-old who spends her days buried in Agatha Christie novels to forget the mysterious death of her little sister years earlier. Over the summer she decides to plant a garden in the courtyard, and as she digs the ground and plants her seeds, her neighbors in turn delve into their past. As the ripple effects of grief, childlessness, illness and displacement saturate their stories, secrets seep out and questions emerge—Who was my wife? Why did my Mom leave? Can I turn back the clock? And how could a girl who knew how to swim drown?.
The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 Years Old by Hendrik Groen ($33, PB)
Hendrik Groen may be old, but he is far from dead and isn’t planning to be buried any time soon. Granted, his daily strolls are getting shorter because his legs are no longer willing and he had to visit his doctor more than he’d like—but surely there is more to life at his age than weak tea & potted geraniums? Hendrik sets out to write an exposé: a year in the life of his care home in Amsterdam, revealing all its ups and downs—not least his new endeavour the anarchic Old-But-Not Dead Club. And when Eefje moves in—the woman Hendrik has always longed for—he polishes his shoes (and his teeth), grooms what’s left of his hair and attempts to make something of the life he has left, with hilarious, tender and devastating consequences.
Selection Day by Aravind Adiga ($30, PB) Manju is fourteen. He knows he is good at cricket—if not as good as his elder brother Radha. He knows that he hates his domineering The Winterlings by Cristina Sanchez-Andrade and cricket-obsessed father, admires his brilliantly talented brother Two sisters return to the small parish of Tierra de Chá in Galicia and is fascinated by CSI and curious and interesting scientific facts. after a long absence, to the former home of their grandfather, But there are many things, about himself and about the world, that from which they fled when they were children. At Tierra de Chá, he doesn’t know—everyone around him, it seems, has a clear idea nothing and everything has changed: the people, the distant little of who Manju should be, except Manju himself. But when Manju house in the rain, the acrid smell of gorse, the flowers, the crops, begins to get to know Radha’s great rival, a boy as privileged and confident as Manju is the customs. Yet the return of the sisters disrupts the placid existnot, everything in Manju’a world begins to change and he is faced by decisions that will ence of the villagers, stirring up memories best left alone. When challenge both his sense of self and of the world around him. news arrives that the famous American actress Ava Gardner will Commonwealth by Ann Patchett ($30, PB) be shooting a movie in Spain and that lookalikes are wanted, the sisters have a chance It is 1964: Bert Cousins, the deputy District Attorney, shows up at to make their dreams come true. But the past is catching up with the present, and the Franny Keating’s christening party uninvited, bottle of gin in hand. family secrets that led to the Winterlings’ return won’t stay buried for long. ($30, PB) As the cops of Los Angeles drink, talk and dance into the June afternoon, he notices a heart-stoppingly beautiful woman. When Bert New this month kisses Beverly Keating, his host’s wife, the new baby pressed beFreeman’s—Family: The Best New Writing on Family tween them, he sets in motion the joining of two families whose John Freeman’s 2nd edited literary anthology circles a new topic whose definition is shared fate will be defined on a day seven years later. A tender tale of constantly challenged by the best of our writers: family. Contributors include: Aminfamily—a meditation on inspiration, interpretation and the ownership atta Forna, Claire Vaye Watkins, Helen Garner, Marlon James, Claire Messud, Alekof stories. Recommended by Janice Wilder in the August Gleaner sandar Hemon & Sandra Cisneros. ($33, PB)
A heartbreakingly honest and utterly convincing story of a Dominican girl, the white woman who introduces her to riding, and the horse who changes everything for her. The Mare is a profound, important novel about how love and family are shaped by race, class and privilege. It is a devastating portrait of the unbridgeable gaps between people, and the way we long for fairytale endings even when we know they don’t exist.
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Crime Fiction
The Owl Always Hunts At Night by Samuel Bjork
September To-Read List
Told from a perspective unlike any other, Nutshell is a classic tale of murder and deceit from one of the world’s master storytellers.
Sapiens showed us where we came from. Homo Deus shows us where we’re going.
When a young woman is found dead, the police are quick to respond. But what they find at the scene is unexpected. The body is posed, the scene laboriously set. And there is almost no forensic evidence to be found. Detective Mia Kruger has been signed off work pending psychological assessment. But desperate to get her back in the office, Holger Munch offers her an unofficial deal. Even so the team struggle to close the case. Until a young hacker uncovers something that forces the team to confront the scope of the murderer’s plans and face the possibility that he may already be on the hunt for a second victim. ($33, PB)
The Jealous Kind by James Lee Burke ($33, PB) On its surface, life in Houston is as you would expect: drive-in restaurants, souped-up cars, jukeboxes, teenagers discovering their sexuality. But beneath the glitz and superficial normalcy, a class war has begun. When Aaron Holland Broussard spots the beautiful and gifted Valerie Epstein fighting with her boyfriend, Grady Harrelson, at a Galveston drive-in, he inadvertently challenges the power of the Mob and one of the richest families in Texas. He also discovers he must find the courage his father had found as an American soldier in the Great War..
Out of Bounds by Val McDermid ($33, PB) When a teenage joyrider crashes a stolen car, a routine DNA test could be the key to unlocking the mystery of a 20 year-old murder inquiry. Detective Chief Inspector Karen Pirie is an expert at solving the unsolvable. With each cold case closed, justice is served. So, finding the answer should be straightforward, but it’s as twisted as the DNA helix itself. Meanwhile, Karen finds herself irresistibly drawn to another case, one that she has no business investigating. And as she pieces together decades-old evidence, Karen discovers the most dangerous kind of secrets. Secrets that someone is willing to kill for. Darktown by Thomas Mullen ($33, PB)
The stories behind one of the world’s worst sporting disasters: The night that fifteen young men of the Mornington Football Club would never make it home.
Paul Brickhill was an Australian hero of WW11. Brickhill’s extraordinary story explodes vividly to life on the centenary of his birth.
Atlanta, 1948. On one side of the tracks are the rich, white neighbourhoods; on the other, Darktown, the African-American area guarded by the city’s first black police force of only 8 men. These cops are kept near-powerless by the authorities: they can’t arrest white suspects; they can’t drive a squad car; they must operate out of a dingy basement. When a poor black woman is killed in Darktown having been last seen in a car with a rich white man, no one seems to care except for 2 black cops Boggs & Smith. Their efforts bring them up against a brutal old-school cop, Dunlow, who has long run Darktown as his own turf—but Dunlow’s idealistic young partner, Rakestraw, is a young progressive who may be willing to make allies across colour lines.
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny ($33, PB)
Melina Marchetta’s gripping new novel Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil is part family saga, part crime fiction, and wholly unputdownable.
The story of a fracturing family in a moment of crisis from the bestselling author of Everything Is Illuminated.
Former CI Gamache has been hunting killers his entire career and as the new commander of the Sûreté Academy, he is given the chance to combat the corruption & brutality that has been rife throughout the force. But when a former colleague & professor of the Sûreté Academy is found murdered, with a mysterious map of Three Pines in his possession, Gamache has an even tougher task ahead of him. When suspicion turns to Gamache himself, and his possible involvement in the crime, the frantic search for answers takes the investigation to the village of Three Pines, where a series of shattering secrets are poised to be revealed.
Precious & Grace by Alexander McCall Smith ($33, PB) One bright morning, Precious Ramotswe—head of Botswana’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency—receives a visitor: a woman from Australia. This woman asks Precious to take on a case: to find the nursemaid who raised her during her childhood in Botswana. The woman wants to thank her for being such an important part of her life. Precious has a history of successfully solving cases, but this one proves difficult and throws up a number of surprises and challenges. The Shadow Game by Steve Lewis & Chris Uhlmann
The extraordinary true story of how an ordinary Australian family took on the Egyptian government to get Peter Greste out of prison.
6
The story of the friendship and collaboration of Grant McLennan and Robert Forster, who gave Australia the band The Go Betweens.
In this conclusion to the political trilogy, The Marmalade Files & The Mandarin Code, Harry Dunkley is in disgrace, having failed to reveal the existence of The Alliance, a sinister cabal of mandarins pulling the strings of power in Canberra. But new purpose is in the air. As the Coalition government looks increasingly disastrous, a revived Dunkley, aided by an unlikely group of allies, is emboldened to take on resurrected Labor powerhouse Catriona Bailey, and Sir Jack Webster, Defence Secretary, respected statesman and member of The Alliance. Dunkley will find personal redemption, and the death of analyst Kimberley Gordon (in The Marmalade Files) will be avenged. ($30, PB)
The Borrowed by Ho-Kei Chan ($33, PB) The year is 2013, and Hong Kong’s greatest detective is dying. For fifty years, Inspector Kwan quietly solved cases while the world changed around him. Now his partner Detective Lok has come to his deathbed for help with one final case. Where there is murder, there is humanity. Told through six different murder cases set over fifty years in a Hong Kong Police Force, this bold and intricate crime novel spans five decades of love, honour, race, class, jealousy and revenge in one of the most intriguing nations in the world. This is the story of a man who let justice shine in the space between black and white. This is the story of Hong Kong.
The Rules of Backyard Cricket by Jock Serong ($30, PB)
It starts in a suburban backyard with Darren Keefe and his older brother, sons of a fierce and gutsy single mother. The endless glow of summer, the bottomless fury of contest. All the love and hatred in two small bodies poured into the rules of a made-up game. Darren has two big talents: cricket and trouble. No surprise that he becomes an Australian sporting star of the bad-boy variety—one of those men who’s always got away with things and just keeps getting. Until the day we meet him, middle aged, in the boot of a car. Gagged, cable-tied, a bullet in his knee. Everything pointing towards a shallow grave. The Rules of Backyard Cricket is a novel of suspense in the tradition of Peter Temple’s Truth..
The Dying Detective by Leif G.W. Persson ($33, PB)
Retired Chief of the National Crime Police & Swedish Security Service Lars Martin Johansson has just suffered a stroke. He is paying the price for a life of excess—stress, good food and fine wine. In the hospital, a chance encounter with a neurologist provides an important piece of information about a 25-year-old murder investigation & alerts Lars Martin Johansson’s irrepressible police instincts. The period for prosecution expired just weeks earlier and that isn’t the only limitation—he is determined to solve the atrocious crime—from his deathbed.
Necropolis by Avtar Singh ($25, PB)
Necropolis follows Sajan Dayal, a detective in pursuit of a serial (though nonlethal) collector of fingers. He encounters would-be vampires and werewolves, and a woman named Razia who may or may not be centuries old. Guided by Singh’s gorgeous and masterful writing, the novel peels back layers of a city in thrall to its past, hostage to its present, and bitterly divided as to its future. Combining elements of crime, fantasy, & noir, Singh tackles the questions of origin, ownership, and class that such a revolution inevitably raises. The world of Delhi, the sweep of its history—its grandeur, grimness, and criminality—all of it comes alive.
Brighton by Michael Harvey ($28, PB) Brighton, 1975: a Boston neighbourhood where racial tensions run high & gangs jostle for dominance in the trades that matte—drugrunning, book-keeping & theft. 15 year-old Kevin Pearce knows his best hope is to get the hell out. Bitterness & brutality stalk the hard-drinking generations of his Irish immigrant family. But when an act of violence tears their home apart, Kevin is forced to leave for New York, changing the course of his life forever. In 2002, Kevin wins the Pulitzer Prize for an investigative article on the wrongful conviction and death of a man from Brighton, and decides to visit his old neighbourhood for the first time in decades. But when Kevin’s prosecutor girlfriend Lisa asks his advice on a murder case, he is plunged into a web of deception and bloodshed. Lady Cop Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart ($33, PB)
In 1915, lady cops were not expected to chase down fugitives on the streets of New York City. But Bergen County’s Sheriff Heath has appointed Constance Kopp as one of the nation’s first female deputies. This outing sees Constance on the trail of a fugitive, helping runaway girls taken in by unscrupulous men, and sorting out why an old woman is taking the fall for a murder she couldn’t have committed. Cheering her on are her sisters Norma and Fleurette—when they aren’t training pigeons for the war effort or fanning dreams of a life on the stage.
Razor Girl by Carl Hiaasen ($33, PB) When jumped-up reality TV star Buck Nance aggravates the crowd in a Key West bar, he incites a riot & vanishes in the melee. His hapless agent Lane Coolman has been taken hostage by 2 petty crims who now think they can turn a quick profit by ransoming an LA talent agent. Add a delusional fan of Buck’s show; the local sheriff who’s desperate for re-election; a disgraced cop who now works restaurants on roach patrol; a shady lawyer & his gold-digging fiancé; the gay mayor & his restauranteur partner; a Mafioso hotelier; and a redheaded razor-wielding con artist named Merry for an hilarious, furious paced Floridian Hiaasen rampage. The Legacy of the Bones by Dolores Redondo ($33, PB)
A year after arresting Jason Medina for the rape and murder of his stepdaughter, DI Amaia Salazar has one last duty to complete before starting her maternity leave—attending Medina’s trial. But the trial is suddenly called off—Jason Medina has committed suicide in the bathroom of the courthouse, leaving behind a cryptic note addressed to Amaia: the single word ‘Tarttalo’.What message was Medina trying to send with this obscure reference to Basque mythology? To unravel the truth, Amaia must return once again to the Baztan valley, her family home & the place where she feels most vulnerable.
Closed Casket by Sophie Hannah ($30, PB) Lady Athelinda Playford has planned a house party at her mansion in Clonakilty, County Cork, but it is no ordinary gathering. As guests arrive, Lady Playford summons her lawyer to make an urgent change to her will—one she intends to announce at dinner that night. She has decided to cut off her two children without a penny and leave her fortune to someone who has only weeks to live . . . Among Lady Playford’s guests are two men she has never met—the famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, and Inspector Edward Catchpool of Scotland Yard. Neither knows why he has been invited . . . until Poirot starts to wonder if Lady Playford expects a murderer to strike.
THE FENCE MEREDITH JAFFE
NEIGHBOURHOOD
HETTY MCKINNON
The battle lines are drawn.
From the author of Community
‘A keenly observed satire on the boundaries we set. Good fences make good neighbours. Or do they?’ WENDY HARMER
This second delicious collection of salads (and sweets!) from Hetty McKinnon is sure to delight friends and family.
EAT CLEAN LUKE HINES
SELECTION DAY ARAVIND ADIGA From the award-winning author of The White Tiger A moving and beautifully observed new novel, of adolescence, ambition and self-realisation, set in contemporary Bombay.
From the Clean Living cook
Eat Clean and feel great with 100 fresh, flavoursome and fuss-free wholefood recipes. Eating clean doesn’t mean skimping on flavour or going without the things you love!
www.panmacmillan.com.au
Now in B Format Kidnapped: The Crime that Shocked the Nation by Mark Tedeschi, $23
True Crime
The 15:17 to Paris by Anthony Sadler
On 21 August 2015, Ayoub al-Khazzani boarded a train in Brussels bound for Paris. We now know that he was an ISIS terrorist. Khazzani’s mission was clear: he had an AK-47, a pistol, a box cutter, and enough ammunition to obliterate the 554 passengers on the crowded train. But as he began to execute his plan, he encountered an unstoppable line of defence: three American friends. The 15:17 to Paris is a gripping account of the foiled attack by the three men who lived it-Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos and Spencer Stone. It is also the story of what compelled three lifelong friends to run towards danger instead of from it-towards humanity, not away from terror. ($30, PB)
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer ($33, PB)
In the 1980s, a young adventurer & collector for a government library, Abdel Kader Haidara, journeyed across the Sahara Desert & along the Niger River, tracking down & salvaging tens of thousands of ancient Islamic & secular manuscripts that had fallen into obscurity. In 2012, thousands of Al Qaeda militants from northwest Africa seized control of most of Mali, including Timbuktu. They imposed Sharia law, chopped off the hands of accused thieves, stoned unmarried couples to death & threatened to destroy the great manuscripts. In response mild-mannered archivist Haidara organised a dangerous operation to sneak all 350,000 volumes out of the city to the safety of southern Mali—becoming one of the world’s greatest & most brazen smugglers.
Gangland Robbers by Morton & Lobez
Morton and Lobez cover the stories of the robbers and robberies of the past 200 years; from the tunnel-digging heist of the Bank of Australia robbery in 1828 through to the bushrangers; Squizzy Taylor and his crew; the train robbers of the 1930s; Jockey Smith; ‘Mad Dog’ Cox; the ill-fated Victorian Bookie Robbery, as well as the less well known ‘Angel of Death’, ‘The Pushbike Bandit’ and ‘The Gentleman Bandit’. Robbers explores the lives—their own and others—that they ruined; the robbers who went to the gallows, and the very few who redeemed themselves. ($30, PB)
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Biography
HISTORICAL FICTION
TRUE ADVENTURE
New Reading Adventures From piranha-infested waters to mining company boardrooms, triumphs and disasters on the gold trail.
On Australia’s vast southern oceans, sealers and their captives must cooperate or die.
CRIME
Iris Foster is the Fire Lady – psychological profiler and suspected arsonist.
CRIME
There’s a killer on the loose in Broome and it’s no croc.
SHORTLISTED NED KELLY AWARD 2016
Gleebooks’ special price $29.99
The Unknown Judith Wright by Georgina Arnott
Judith Wright (1915–2000) remains a giant figure within Australian art, culture and politics. Her 1946 collection of poetry, The Moving Image, revolutionised Australian poetry. She helped to establish the modern Australian environmental movement and was a key player in early campaigns for Aboriginal land rights. A friend and confidante of artists, writers, scholars, activists and policy makers—she remains an inspiration to many. And yet, as Georgina Arnott is able to show in this major new work, the biographical picture we have had of this renowned poet-activist has been very much a partial one. Arnott presents a more human figure than previously seen, concentrating on Wright’s younger years. New material allows us to hear, directly, thrillingly, the feisty voice of a young Judith Wright and forces us to reconsider the woman we thought we knew. ($30, PB)
Lecretia’s Choice: A Story of Love, Death and the Law by Matt Vickers ($33, PB)
A successful young lawyer in Wellington, Lecretia Seales met and fell in love with Matt Vickers in 2003. In Lecretia’s Choice, Matt tells the story of their life together, and how it changed when his proud, fiercely independent wife was diagnosed with a brain tumour and forced to confront her own mortality. The death she faced—slow, painful, dependent—was completely at odds with how she had lived her life. Lecretia wanted to die with dignity, to be able to say goodbye well, and not to suffer unnecessarily—but the law denied her that choice. With her characteristic spirit, she decided to mount a challenge in New Zealand’s High Court, but as the battle raged, Lecretia’s strength faded. She died on 5 June 2015, at the age of forty-two, the day after her family learned that the court had ruled against her.
Darling Days by iO Tillett Wright ($33, PB) I was born, September 1985, in the vortex of the Lower East Side of New York: there were few rules of life & zero constraints on behaviour. If you were not eccentric, you were weird. iO grew up—or rather scrabbled up—in a tenement building at the centre of the drug-addled, punk-edged, permanent riot that was Lower East Side of New York City under the broken wing of a fiercely protective, yet wildly negligent mother. Rhonna was a showgirl, actress, dancer, poet. A widow by police murder, she was also an addict. She doted & obsessed over iO, yet lacked an understanding that a child needs food & sleep & safety. Unfolding in animated, crystalline prose, this is an emotionally raw, devastatingly powerful memoir of an extraordinary coming of age—a tale of gender & identity, freedom & addiction, rebellion & survival in the 1980s and 1990s, when punk, poverty, heroin and art collided in NYC urban bohemia. The Story of Beatrix Potter by Sarah Gristwood
Sarah Gristwood follows Potter from her constricted Victorian childhood to the success and tragedy of the years 1901-13, when she published nearly all her major books yet was denied love by the death of her fiancé. Finally, she traces the last 30 years of Potter’s life, when she abandoned books to become a working farmer and pioneer of the conservation movement in the early days of the National Trust. Special features throughout the book will show how Beatrix Potter developed many of her most famous characters, including Peter Rabbit, Mrs Tiggy-Winkle and Jemima Puddleduck. ($35, HB)
Céleste: The Parisian Courtesan Who Became a Countess and Bestselling Writer by Roland Perry
fremantlepress.com.au
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Grant & I by Robert Forster ($35, PB) The 1980s songwriting partnership of Go-Between’s McLennan/ Forster was a little like an Australian Lennon/McCartney. This is an extraordinary portrait of an intense, creative, sometimes fraught friendship that represented a genuine meeting of artistic minds. Robert and Grant were arts undergraduates at Queensland uni in the seventies, where they bonded through a shared passion for literature and film. (Their band name was taken from L.P. Hartley’s novel of the same name, and much of their material was inspired by other cultural works.) Robert Forster gives the reader a front-row seat at the sessions that produced an incredibly prolific and diverse song catalogue, while also going backstage to the sometimes troubled rise and fall of the band itself. He is as natural a storyteller and prose writer as he is a songwriter, and Grant and I is an unforgettable ride.
Born in the gutters of Paris in 1824, Céleste made her name as a dancer in the Parisian dance halls, where it is said she invented the can-can. Then, as an equestrienne at the Paris hippodrome, her daring feats on horseback thrilled the crowds. However, it was as the city’s most celebrated courtesan that the young Parisian found genuine fame & fortune—her lovers included famous novelists, artists & composers, it is believed Georges Bizet based his free & fearless Carmen on her. But when Céleste married the Count de Chabrillan, a prominent member of the French aristocracy, Parisian society was scandalised. And when the pair turned up in far off Australia, where the count served as the first French consul, Melbourne society was scandalised in turn. Later a bestselling memoirist, novelist, playwright & librettist, the remarkable Countess Céleste de Chabrillan was, indeed, a woman far ahead of her time. ($33, PB)
Freeing Peter by the Greste Family ($35, HB)
When Peter Greste’s family learned he’d been arrested in Egypt, they were shocked but not panicked. He had been a foreign correspondent for two decades in numerous dangerous countries, and been arrested before. Moreover, he was only in Egypt on temporary assignment— he couldn’t have got into too much trouble. But after a sham trial where he was given a seven-year sentence, the Grestes went to work on the campaign to free him. Here each of them writes frankly and movingly about how they worked as a family, and the times they didn’t: about the daily uncertainty, the paucity of information, the strain of decision-making, the emotional visits to Peter in prison, the incomprehensible Egyptian legal system, and, most importantly, the overwhelming support from every level of Australian society.
Gleebooks’ special price $29.95
Wool Away, Boy! A Ripping Memoir of Life in the Shearing Sheds by Alan Blunt ($35, PB)
The son of a shearer, Alan Blunt spent his teenage years in the woolsheds of the 1950s & 60s. As his father laboured, Alan would imagine himself opening the batting for Australia or boxing for the world middleweight championship, only to be startled out of his daydream with a cry of: ‘Wool away, boy. Wake up!’ In this colourful memoir Alan chronicles all the larger-than-life personalities he met: the misfits, romantics, larrikins and psychopaths. From the cooks who ruled the sheds—those solitary, often crazy men who could make or break a team’s stay—to the gun shearers & maverick managers, he captures the voices of the men he worked with and brings to life a golden era of shearing.
I’m Supposed to Protect You From All This: A Memoir by Nadja Spiegelman ($33, PB)
Nadja Spiegelman’s (daughter of Maus creator Art Spiegelman) French-born New Yorker art director Françoise Mouly—exerted a force over reality that was both dazzling and daunting. As Nadja’s body changed and ‘began to whisper to the adults around me in a language I did not understand’, their relationship grew tense. Unwittingly, they were replaying a drama from her mother’s past. The weight of the difficult stories Françoise told her daughter shifted the balance between them. Nadja’s grandmother’s memories then contradicted her mother’s at nearly every turn, but beneath them lay a difficult history of her own. Nadja emerged with a deeper understanding of how each generation reshapes the past & how sometimes those who love us best hurt us most.
The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories From My Life by John Le Carré ($33, PB)
From his years serving in British Intelligence during the Cold War, to a career as a writer that took him from war-torn Cambodia to Beirut on the cusp of the 1982 Israeli invasion, to Russia before & after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, John le Carré has always written from the heart of modern times. Whether he’s writing about the parrot at a Beirut hotel that could perfectly mimic machine gun fire, or visiting Rwanda’s museums of the unburied dead in the aftermath of the genocide, or celebrating New Year’s Eve with Yasser Arafat, or interviewing a German terrorist in her desert prison in the Negev, le Carré endows each happening with vividness and humour, now making us laugh out loud, now inviting us to think anew about events and people we believed we understood. Best of all, le Carré gives a glimpse of a writer’s journey over more than six decades, and his own hunt for the human spark that has given so much life and heart to his fictional characters.
Gleebooks’ special price $29.99
Jean Cocteau—A Life by Claude Arnaud ($89, HB)
Unevenly respected, easily hated, almost always suspected of being inferior to his reputation, Jean Cocteau has often been thought of as a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Claude Arnaud contests this characterisation, as he celebrates Cocteau’s ‘fragile genius—a combination almost unlivable in art’ but in his case so fertile. Narrating the life of this legendary French novelist, poet, playwright, director, filmmaker, and designer who, as a young man, pretended to be a sort of a god, but who died as a humble and exhausted craftsman, Arnaud examines the nature of Cocteau’s chameleon-like genius, his romantic attachments, his controversial politics, and his intimate involvement with many of the century’s leading artistic lights, including Picasso, Proust, Hemingway, Stravinsky & Tennessee Williams. This penetrating work reveals a uniquely gifted artist & offers a magnificent cultural history of the 20th century.
In Sickness, in Health ... and in Jail by Mel Jacob
After fourteen years of marriage, Mel Jacob’s life looked as perfect as the roses perched above her white picket fence. The nice house in the suburbs, two great kids, a good husband. Until . . . Her life took an unexpected detour when her seemingly saintly husband was jailed for two years. In Sickness, in Health . . . and in Jail follows Mel’s funny, moving and insightful journey as she navigates single parenthood, prison visitations and nosy neighbours. Mel’s revealing account is the story of the family left behind, chronicling the grief & the conversational minefields of her husband’s whereabouts. ($30, PB)
Travel Writing
The Street Philosopher & the Holy Fool: A Syrian Journey by Marius Kociejowski ($30, PB)
Based on five journeys, undertaken over as many years, Marius Kociejowski’s book is entirely concerned with the slow journey towards friendship. Instead of coups or conspiracies, iconic monuments or historic travellers, you meet a chance handful of Syrians—Myrna, a Christian faith-healing stigmatic, Yasser, a Palestinian refugee and political activist, Abu al-Tahib, a prince of fools, a modern desert father, Paolo Dall’Oglio, and the street philosopher and the holy fool of the book’s title. Written during the era of conversation, before the use of mobiles, and long before the current civil war, this is now in danger of becoming a testament to the last of the old Levant.
Ethiopia: Through Writers’ Eyes (ed) Yves-Marie Stranger ($30, PB)
A compendium of all things Ethiopian, the book throws wide open precious windows of understanding, allowing you to gaze deeper into the landscape and people with additional wonder. As well as peopling the land with its own caste of priest kings descended from Solomon and Sheba, Ethiopia has long attracted the attentions of eccentric adventurers, Jesuit explorers, foolish would-be conquerors, as well as saints and sinners in equal measure ... and the keen interest of writers of all stripes. This book offers the best bits from whole libraries of past travel accounts, hand-picked by YvesMarie Stranger, a long time Ethiopia resident, trilingual interpreter and writer—the perfect companion to any exploration of Ethiopia, be it in the precarious saddle of an Abyssinian pony, or from the folds of an armchair.
Atlas of Improbable Places: A Journey to the World’s Most Unusual Corners by Travis Elborough ($40, HB)
From deserted cities & strange settlements to remote islands and underground labyrinths, An Atlas of Improbable Places uncovers our planet’s most unique, intriguing & often unknown places. Travis Elborough explores such unusual & perplexing locations as San Juan in Parangaricuto, a town entirely submerged by lava & Leap Castle in Ireland—allegedly the world’s most haunted house. Spanning centuries & reaching all around the globe, each entry provides key information, wittily observed, accompanied by beautiful illustrations that evoke both the habitat & our relationship to it.
Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas by Rebecca Solnit & Joshua Jelly-Schapiro
This book conveys innumerable, unbound experiences of NYC through 26 maps & essays. Bringing together the insights of dozens of experts, from linguists to historians of music, urbanism & ethnography to environmental journalists, amplified by cartographers, artists, & photographers, it explores all five boroughs of New York City and parts of nearby New Jersey. Travel through Manhattan’s playgrounds, from polyglot Queens to many-faceted Brooklyn, and from the resilient Bronx to the mystical kung fu hiphop mecca of Staten Island to celebrate NYC’s unique vitality, its incubation of the avant-garde, and its literary history, and also critique its racial & economic inequality, environmental impact & erasure of its past. Nonstop Metropolis excavates New York’s buried layers, to scrutinize its political heft, and to discover the unexpected in one of the most iconic cities in the world. ($48.95, PB)
Top Walks in Australia ($37, PB) Melanie Ball has hiked every track in this book for walkers of all levels of experience. Included are some of Australia’s most famous walks, including the Larapinta Trail and Overland Track, plus some undiscovered gems. Most of the tracks can be completed in a few hours, but there are some more difficult multi-day walks for those wanting more of a challenge. For each walk there is detailed trail information, a map, and photographs. Andalucia: A Literary Guide for Travellers by Andrew Edwards & Suzanne Edwards
Andalucia is the quintessence of Spain & yet, historically & culturally, it is utterly unlike the rest of the country. Its literary history began with the Romans & reached an early flowering when Arabic poets drew on centuries of literary tradition, together with the landscapes & passions of Moorish Spain. Later, Prosper Merimee, Byron & Washington Irving forged legends of exotic southern Spain that persist to this day & Spanish writers themselves captured the rich passions of Andalucian culture, from Cervantes’ Seville to the Cordoba of Baroque poet Luis de Gongora & Lorca’s ‘hidden Andalucia’. With the Civil War, a new generation flocked to Andalucia & were inspired to write some of the 20th century’s most iconic works of literature, from Hemingway & Orwell to Gerald Brenan’s The Spanish Labyrinth. As vibrant & compelling as the region itself, this book illuminates the very soul of Spain. ($46.95, PB)
Now in B Format This is London by Ben Judah, $23
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books for kids to young adults
compiled by Lynndy Bennett, our children's correspondent
September brings 3 major celebrations: Indigenous Literacy Day, Father’s Day, and the start of Spring. Indigenous Literacy Day 7 September is fast approaching and we’re seeking everyone’s help to advocate in raising awareness and importantly funds for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Why? This independent not for profit charity works to raise literacy levels in remote Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia. Focusing on early literacy, it provides three free programs which help to build a culture of literacy in communities and homes where there are few to no books. It does this through two way engagement, publishing books (where communities request) in the first language, in running workshops and through a free book supply program (new, culturally appropriate books, 40% of which are written by Indigenous authors or illustrators). ILF is independent and works without government support. It aims to take small but sustainable steps that empower communities and families. On Indigenous Literacy Day you can buy a book at Gleebooks and a percentage of sales will go to the Foundation, OR you can make a straight donation. Further details on the program are available @ilf.org.au.
for the very young
Give & Take by Lucie Felix ($25, BD)
Here’s a truly original book to engage littlies and the rest of the family. Press-out shaped pieces taken from one picture can be given to the next page, creating a whole new image and building up an awareness of shapes, vocabulary and opposites. The consolidated final picture relates back to the very first, connecting them through the various play pieces. On reading the description I was interested in the concept, but seeing it in action, constructing and deconstructing the images and recognising the inherently clever design had me marvelling and now I’m a convert. Check it out for yourself! Lynndy
Copy Cat by Ali Pye ($25, HB) Being a copycat is not ideal, but it is a part of childhood, and can be a part of learning. Copying someone can be a form of flattery, but it can also be very irritating to the person being copied. Ali Pye’s Copy Cat addresses this childhood habit beautifully, in a picture book about two little cats, Bella and Anna. Bella loves Anna so much she wants to be just like her, until Bella finally gets sick of being copied by her friend, and a spat occurs. Hurt feelings ensue, and Anna goes off by herself and learns how to do something on her own. This is not a preachy book in the least, but it does address a very real part of a child’s social development, and presents a wonderful solution to a problem. Really sweet pictures illustrate the text, with very pretty colours, backgrounds and delightfully expressive kittens. This is an excellent book for those starting kindergarten or school. Louise
fiction
The 78-Storey Treehouse ($15, PB/$19, HB) by Andy Griffiths (ill) Terry Denton
In The 78-Storey Treehouse Andy and Terry are making a movie but Andy is replaced by a monkey. So Andy starts to get mad. And everyone likes Terry, even the Andys in Andyland! Unfortunately evil spy cows want to ruin Terry’s fame! But what will happen on the movie premiere day?! This book is better than the last one because it has a watermelon smashing station, an open-air cinema and a scribbletorium. I would recommend it to crazy people who like crazy things (like me!). 4½ stars out of 5. Theo Bird (aged 9).
novelty
Sky-High Building Puzzle by Marc Boutavant More than 19 million combinations are possible with this set of double-sided puzzle pieces. French artist Boutavant includes sweet little (Scarry-like) characters on the puzzle pieces, featured along with components of detailed buildings—enough to absorb anyone for hours, playing with these mix-and-match constructions. Great value for ages 3-7 who enjoy creating stories and building their own little kingdoms. ($28, BX) Lynndy
new release
The Goanna Was Hungry by Ann James & Sally Morgan
Imagine being at a camp in the Great Victorian Desert in Western Australia with two of Australia’s best-loved author/illustrators and working with them to produce your very own illustrated story. Ten lucky kids had just such an opportunity. In June 2015, the Indigenous Literacy Foundation brought together Sally Morgan and Ann James, and kids from Tjuntjuntjara, Mt Margaret, Menzies and Melbourne for a 5-day writing and illustrating camp on Spinifex Country. The illustrated stories they produced at the camp have been put together in this book—there are stories of friendship and loyalty, experiments that go badly wrong, a battle over a dinosaur bone, and a mysterious bowl. Then there’s a story about a very scary goanna. ($23, PB)
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Picture Books
Grandpa’s Big Adventure by Paul Newman (ill) Tom Jellett
What a lot of ‘Dad’ books there are, yes I know it’s Father’s Day, and maybe they are redressing the balance of ‘Mum’ books, but still… why? Tom Jellett and Paul Newman’s refreshing new book is a Dad book with a difference: Grandpa’s Big Adventure is a most entertaining take on the Tall Tales and True theme, with a very droll grandfather trying to encourage his grandson to learn to swim. This Grandpa claims to have swum around the world, with a minimum of fuss, and with a high expectation of both comfort and adventure. Tom Jellett’s illustrations are full of humour and expression, a perfect match for Paul Newman’s very amusing text. The really charming part of the story is the wonderful word play, which the illustrator consolidates through his pictures. This is what sets the book apart, and into a much more interesting realm than the norm. Great for 4-8 year olds. ($20, HB) Louise
They All Saw a Cat by Brendan Wenzel ($30, HB)
In the first picture book that Wenzel has both written and illustrated, what could in less adept hands have been a forgettable addition to this year’s picture books is elevated to ‘Wow!’ status by his imaginative interweaving of the concept through text and art. As the cat pads gracefully through the book its presence is registered by others—a child, a dog, a bird, a fish, a bat and other creatures—all according to their own perceptions and hierarchy in Nature. From the plumply furry bundle to cuddle that the child sees to sleek prey, from world-eclipsing monster looming over a mouse to the object seen through the multifaceted lenses of an insect, the same cat is inventively wrought in an exploration of perception and size. Inevitably we recognise the importance of point of view, while admiring Wenzel’s skill in creating this book which is attracting acclaim from around the world. An unassuming gem of a book that is simply masterful. Lynndy
gift classic
The World Treasury of Fairy Tales & Folklore: A Family Heirloom of Stories to Inspire and Entertain (ill) Fausto Bianchi
Presented in order of original publication, this expansive collection of fairy tales ranges beyond the well-known offerings of Perrault, Andersen and the Brothers Grimm to include culturally diverse tales from around the world. The tales are grouped and introduced by leading academics, offering insight into these stories we’ve grown up with. With such breadth within the 400 pages, glorious illustrations by Bianchi, and durable leather binding, this anthology is a perfect gift for individuals or families—I defy you to resist! ($30, Leatherbound) Lynndy
For Keeps: A Treasury of Stories, Poems and Plays Celebrating 100 Years of School Magazine
I’ve yet to meet an adult who grew up in Australia when I did —in the 1960s and 70s, who isn’t moved to enthusiasm by their memories of receiving the School Magazine every month. For Keeps is a wonderful collection of stories, pictures, poems, plays, riddles, all gleaned from the vast treasure trove that must be the School Magazine archives. Well designed, with interesting information about the history of the magazine, and with very endearing photographs from across the decades; full of the best of stories and poems, and rich with illustrations from our best loved illustrators. How wonderful to see the work of Noela Young (the magazine’s “longest serving contributor”), the peerless Walter Cunningham, and the inimitable Kim Gamble. Poetry by Judith Wright, Archie Roach, Michael Rosen, to name just a few, stories by Robin Klein, Margaret Mahy, Anna Feinberg…the list goes on. This is much more than just a nostalgic look at institution, it is fresh and relevant…and will evoke the question, does children’s literature reflect the state of childhood, or does it influence it? In this case, I think the answer is surely the latter. ($30, PB) Louise
Food, Health & Garden Planting Dreams: Shaping Australian Gardens by Richard Aitken ($50, HB)
Waratah or wattle? Chrysanthemum or rose? Planting Dreams celebrates the artistry and imagination that have shaped Australian gardens. Respected garden historian Richard Aitken explores the environmental and social influences that have helped produce our unique gardening culture—from Indigenous land management and the earliest European garden at Farm Cove, to the potted plants and besser block screens of mid-20th century modernist design and beyond. Drawing on the unparalleled collections of the State Library of NSW, Planting Dreams showcases Australian garden making in all its richness and diversity through a stunning and intriguing mix of paintings, sketches, photographs, and prints, from popular culture to high art.
Gleebooks’ special price $40
The Bee Friendly Garden by Doug Purdie ($40, PB) Bees are our most important pollinators and they are in decline the world over. They love to live in urban environments, where it’s a short flight path from one type of plant to the next. But conventional gardens that favour lawns and pesticides over flowers and edible plants are scaring the good bugs away. This book tells you how bees forage and why your garden needs them, giving a comprehensive plant guide to bee friendly plants, ideas for gardens of all sizes, and natural pest control and companion planting advice Sabrina’s Dirty Deeds by Sabrina Hahn ($20, PB)
Gardening goddess Sabrina Hahn has never been afraid of getting dirty, and nor should you! Packed full of useful information from January right through to December, Sabrina’s Dirty Deeds is a handson guide for what to do in your garden and when to do it. With great tips for chores in your climate zone, this little book will help keep your garden thriving all year round.
Cheaper than Therapy: A Guided Journal
Filled with 120 tongue-in-cheek prompts, thought-provoking quotes from the likes of Carl Jung, Rorschach inkblot tests, dream analysis, and word association tests straight out of a therapist’s head, Cheaper Than Therapy is the best of therapy—with none of the pointed looks and the not-so- therapeutic, ‘What do you think that means?’ and ‘Let’s explore that further’. Who needs a therapist when you have this brilliant (and much cheaper) journal? ($20, PB)
Keep Your Brain Stronger for Longer by Tonia Vojtkofsky ($25, PB)
Tonia Vojkofsky PsyD, a specialist in treating Alzheimer’s and dementia, has put together a variety of fun exercises to challenge the full range of your cognitive functions, from memory and reasoning to language and visual-spatial skills. Start at the beginning and work your way through, or pick and choose which exercises you want to do each day—you’ll see which cognitive ability you are exercising, allowing you to learn about the workings of your brain along the way.
One Pan, Two Plates: Vegetarian Suppers by Carla Snyder ($45, PB)
Vegetables take centre stage in these satisfying and hearty meals that are easily achieved with minimal clean up. Delicious offerings such as Tuscan White Bean Salad with Sweet Potato & Lemon Vinaigrette or a modern take on Moussaka, Potato Gratin with Tomato, Olive, and Caper to lighter fare such as Barley Salad with Fennel and Nectarine ‘Pico de Gallo’. With 70 recipes to choose from, you’ll never be at a loss for a tasty vegetarian dinner for two.
New this month Lucky Peach Issue 20: Fine Dining, $23 Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book 2017, $20 2017 Foodies Diary, $35
Vertical Gardens by Leigh Clapp ($50, HB)
Vertical gardening is a fun, creative way to grow plants. All you need is a blank wall, a bare fence or an area that needs a green and flowering element to pretty it up and turn your bare spaces into gorgeous living walls. Follow the step by step instructions on how to create and customise your vertical garden to suit your own personal environment or need. Why not grow fresh herbs, or display annuals, even perennials, within your vertical garden.
The Power of Flour by Rowie Dillon ($35, PB) This book is a must have for anyone wanting to experience the deliciousness of cake while maintaining a gluten, wheat & yeast free diet & lifestyle. The product ingredients are carefully selected & all suppliers have the same high accreditations as Rowie Dillon does. She uses flours made from Aztec grains such as Quinoa and Amaranth as well as tapioca, potato and wheat-free corn flours, all stone-milled to her specifications—and combines these flours with oil, vinegar or coconut to create egg replacement.
Neighbourhood by Hetty McKinnon ($40, PB)
I’m still exploring Hetty McKinnon’s previous book of salads, Community—every recipe I’ve tried —easy to follow and Delicious! So I’m very happy to see she’s got a new book in the pipeline. Neighbourhood takes its cues from Community, venturing a little bit further with salad and sweets recipes inspired by many different places, journeying from Brooklyn to the greater Americas, the Mediterranean, Asia, France, Australia and many other places around the world for inspiration.
Flavors of Indonesia by William W. Wongso
Each region of Indonesia is home to a distinctive cuisine, many of which trace back to the marvellous, abundant history of these islands. William Wongso takes you on a journey through Indonesia, retracing the religious, architectural & culinary history of Java as seen through the island’s royal cuisine. ‘This book is a masterpiece, a feast for the senses, a tribute to the traditional authentic flavours that are synonymous with the Indonesian archipelago’—Christine Mansfield. ($40, HB)
Composing the Cheese Plate: Recipes, Pairings, and Platings for the Inventive Cheese Course by Brian Keyser & Leigh Friend ($33, HB)
This book is a gateway into the wonderful world of pairing and plating your favourite cheeses with dozens of sweet and savoury condiments. Fromager Brian Keyser and pastry chef Leigh Friend provide inventive recipes that go way beyond the average crackers and jam. Instead, think chutneys, pestos, purees, whole grain mustards, fruit curds, nut brittles, pickles, honeys, and more! Included are 70 recipes for accompaniments and the philosophy behind pairing flavours, so you can create impressive, unique cheese plates for your next gathering.
Ferment, Pickle, Dry: Ancient Methods, Modern Meals by Simon Poffley ($40, HB)
This book offers a simple and exciting guide to fermenting, drying and pickling food, covering the practical techniques & essential kit you need—guiding beginners as well as challenges seasoned preservers. It explores the art of ancient cooking methods. Each recipe goes beyond the central preserved element to suggest a complete modern meal or snack—ranging from classics such as yoghurt, pickled gherkins & dried mushrooms, to clever creations such as carrot kimchi & garlic pickled in honey. Dishes cover simple meals (such as a sauerkraut rosti), to more elaborate recipes, including pickled orange and squid linguine.
Now in paperback Spice Temple by Neil Perry, $40 China: The Cookbook ($59.95, HB) Featuring more than 650 recipes for delicious and authentic Chinese dishes for the home kitchen, this impressive and authoritative book showcases the culinary diversity of the world’s richest & oldest cuisines with recipes from China’s eight major regions & numerous minor regions. The book celebrates popular staples such as Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs and Dim Sum, as well as lesser-known regional classics like Fujian Fried Rice and Jiangsu’s Drunken Chicken, and features additional selected recipes from star chefs from around the world. Complete Book of Vegetables, Herbs and Fruit in Australia ($50, HB)
Featuring over 100 different herbs, 70 vegetables & 100 fruits, this magnificent guide will help, encourage & inspire novices & experienced gardeners alike. From growing tomatoes throughout the year, to the great variety of potatoes you can grow in your own backyard, and the herbs that can be grown in even the smallest of spaces. Written with Australian consultants for Australian conditions with lavish illustrations & information that is easy to read & find.
The Field Guide to Australian Produce: A Gde to Australia’s Best Growers & Producers
This book showcases the most progressive & respected producers at the heart of Australia’s vibrant food industry. With interviews with leading chefs accompany 100 profiles on the most important artisanal growers & producers on the land today, this guide tells the stories of the people growing & producing the most interesting & unique food products with integrity & sustainability in mind. ($60, HB)
Flavours of the Middle East by Ghillie Basan
Mezze, Salads & Soups; Hot Hummus with Samna & Pine Nuts or Broad Beans with Eggs & Dukkah. Roasted Meatstuffed Onions with Honey & Tamarind, Poached Fish with Saffron Rice. Turmeric Potatoes with Chillies, Lime, and Coriander, Quinces Poached in Clove Syrup. With feature spreads 11 profiling the essential ingredients. ($40, HB)
events
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Event—6 for 6.30 Andrew McMillen
Skeleton School in conv. with Stephen Romei Would you donate your body to science? Our future medical professionals rely on body donations to learn human anatomy first-hand. Andrew McMillen had unprecedented access to the anatomy facilities of one of Australia’s leading medical schools to report on this closely guarded world.
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Karen Middleton
Albanese: Telling it Straight in conv. with Anthony Albanese This is both a window on the recent turbulent years of federal politics and the deeply personal story of Anthony Albanese and the remarkable mother, Maryanne, who raised him. This event will be held at The Marrickville Town Hall
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Elizabeth Tynan
Goenawan Mohamad
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Adele D Autho
No Man is 24-year-old Sydne mont volunteered to men in immigr Christmas Island, Curtin detention c in WA. This is a un ry that takes a hu on immigrati
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In Other Words: 40 Years of Essays in conv. with Greg Earl Goenawan Mohamad is one of Indonesia’s foremost literary figures and public intellectuals, and this translated volume of essays, from 1968 to 2014, demonstrates the breadth of his perceptive and elegant commentary on literature, faith, mythology, politics, history and Indonesian life.
The Safest Pl Launcher: F In Maggie Joel’ frightened childre ent mothers, and fying Blitz bomb War Two. And wh falling, only one emerge from
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Event—6 for 6.30 Jeremy Gavron
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James Colvin
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The Phoe in conv. with R This book tells th rise from economi ant in the 4 decade started opening to By following the p contemporary Ch shows how China sions between the state that conti
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Matt Autho
Working Class Boy This is the story of how James Swan became Jimmy Barnes. It is a memoir burning with the frustration and frenetic energy of teenage sex, drugs, violence and ambition for more than what you have.
The House that Jack Built in conv. with Sen. Lee Rhiannon This is the story of how an ordinary bloke from the bush became the key figure in a movement that would change the shape of our cities and bring about lasting political and legal reform. This is the story of the house that Jack Mundey built.
Breakin Matt Noffs is a mu reason in the nati around the drug war on drugs ha failure, and this b proof that we mus a public health iss Sir Richar
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Event—6 for 6.30 Atomic Thunder: Graeme Simsion The Maralinga Story In September 2016 it will be 60 years The Best of Adam Sharp since the first British mushroom A novel about love, music and comcloud rose above the plain at Maralinga in SA. These tests wreaked ing to terms with the past, from the havoc on Indigenous communities author of the international bestseller The Rosie Project. & turned the land into a radioactive wasteland. How could Australia host another country’s nuclear program? 12
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A Woman on the Edge of Time in conv. with ??? 1965. In north London, a beautiful young woman has just gassed herself to death, leaving behind a suicide note, two small children & an aboutto-be-published manuscript: The Captive Wife. Jeremy Gavron’s memoir of his mother examines the constrictions placed on intelligent ambitious women in mid-20th C.
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What a Time to be Alive in conv. with Craig Reucassel This is the ugly and un-sanitised diary behind the curtain of the double dissolution election campaign. Mark di Stefano documents the daily ride of an historic election campaign, week by long week, taking you into the bizarre world of staged photo ops, booze-drenched regrets and dirty direct messages.
Jimmy Barnes
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Event—6 for 6.30 John Murphy
Evatt: A Life Evatt traces the course of HV Evatt’s life and places him in the context of a long period of conservatism in Australia. John Murphy treats Evatt’s inner, personal life as being just as important as his spectacular, controversial and eventual tragic public career.
All events listed are $12/$9 concession. Book Launches are free.
Gleeclub members free entry to events at 49 Glebe Pt Rd September 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
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s an Island eysider Adele Dud to teach English ration detention on , & then worked at centre near Derby nique personal stoumanitarian stance ion detention.
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Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil Launcher: ?? Melina Marchetta’s gripping new novel, Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil is part family saga, part crime fiction, and wholly unputdownable.
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lace in London Fiona Higgins ’s 4th novel, two en, two very differone night of terribing during World hen the bombs stop mother and child m the shelter.
enix Years Richard Glover he story of China’s ic ruin to global gies since the country o the world in 1978. personal stories of 9 hinese artists, Odea a’s rise sparked tene individual & the inue to this day.
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ng the Ice uch-needed voice of ional conversation ice. The so-called as been a colossal book offers further st treat drug use as sue, not as a crime’ rd Branson.
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Roald Dahl’s Birthday Celebration
Wai Chim
Help us celebrate Roald Dahl’s 100th birthday with a biffsquiggling treasure hunt, lots of gobblefunking competitions and a delumptious birthday cake. Join us on Tuesday 13 September after school at our Blackheath shop, and Saturday 17 September at our Dulwich Hill and Glebe shops.
Freedom Swimmer Launcher: Justine Larbalestier This incredible tale about two boys’ swim from mainland China to Hong Kong in search of freedom from poverty and oppression is inspired by a true story.
23 Launch—6 for 6.30 Peter Boyle
Ghostspeaking Launcher: Luke Fischer Eleven fictive poets from Latin America, France and Québec. Their poems, interviews, biographies and letters weave images of diverse lives and poetics. In the tradition of Fernando Pessoa, Boyle presents an array of at times humorous, at times tormented heteronymous poets.
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Launch—6 for 6.30 Jennifer Livett
Wild Island Launcher: Michelle de Kretser This dazzling modern recreation of a 19th century novel ingeniously entwines Jane Eyre’s iconic love story with Sir John Franklin’s great tale of exploration and empire.
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25 Events in Early October
Tuesday Oct. 4—Hannah Kent, The Good People Wednesday Oct. 5—Nick Brodie, 1787 Thursday Oct. 6—Clementine Ford, Fight Like a Girl
Tim Winton in October Author Talk Sun. October 9—5 for 5.30
The Boy Behind the Curtain The remarkable true stories in his new book reveal an intimate and rare view of Tim Winton’s imagination at work and play. $45 (no concession) Ticket price includes entry to the event, drinks on arrival & a copy of the book
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Granny’s Good Reads with Sonia Lee
The Art of Time Travel: Historians and Their Craft ($35) by Tom Griffiths gives us portraits of fourteen historians, most of whom were Tom’s teachers or colleagues in the History Department of Melbourne University. It’s the sort of book which leaves you with a nice long list of further reading. Top of that list for me is Eleanor Dark’s The Timeless Land, which I somehow missed out on as a teenager, though it was at the time a bestseller as well as a textbook. Dark’s historical novel is a meticulously researched story of Bennilong, who watched the ‘boat with wings’ sail into Port Jackson, bringing time to a timeless land. Dark was one of the earliest historians to refer to the Aborigines as ‘the Australians’, with Phillip’s marines and convicts, among whom was my ancestor Ann Forbes, cast as interlopers in an alien and often hostile terrain. The Dark family lived in the Blue Mountains, where Eleanor’s regular bushwalks gave her a special feeling for the land’s first inhabitants. (In a lighter vein she wrote Lantana Lane, one of my favourites, where rubbish is ‘chucked down the lantana’ and Nelson the one-eyed kookaburra flies in at breakfast time and sits on the teapot, depriving them of their second cuppa.) Griffiths gives Judith Wright and Henry Reynolds a chapter each for their books on the frontier wars, and another chapter to farmer, poet and environmental historian Eric Rolls, author of two monumental works, A Million Wild Acres on the Pilliga Scrub, and They All Ran Wild on the havoc wrought by introduced plants and animals, both of them ‘must reads’. Tom’s next subject is Donna Merwick, the American colleague who turned her students into historians by training them to do research from primary sources. I wish I had read Merwick’s Death of a Notary, her account of the 17th-century Dutch settlements on the Hudson River, before starting on Annie Proulx’s Barkskins, which covers some of the same period. Another very moving chapter is devoted to Tom’s beloved ex-Jesuit teacher Greg Dening, author of Mr Bligh’s Bad Language and other accounts of the denizens and exploiters of the South Pacific. Historian Graeme Davison, author of Lost Relations, my favourite read in 2015, aroused the suspicion of two burly policemen as he tramped around Richmond wearing out several pairs of boots in search of relics of the early 19th century, giving point to RH Tawney’s remark that historians need good boots. In his chapter on Inga Clendinnen, Griffiths discusses her picture of our first inhabitants in Dances with Strangers and examines the problems which historical novelists like Kate Grenville have in turning frontier conflict into fiction while staying true to the historical evidence. All of Inga Clendinnen’s books are worth reading, especially her great work Aztecs. Other historians discussed by Griffiths include John Mulvaney and Geoffrey Blainey. I can’t recommend this book too highly. What Happened to the Car Industry? ($25) by Ian Porter (with cartoons by Mark Knight and John Spooner) is another for the ‘must read’ list. It would seem to make sense for an island nation in a troubled world where sea lanes could be cut off to be as selfsufficient as possible. Porter asks why we subsidise mining so lavishly but can’t keep our car and steel industries going when they have been such large employers and generate so many spin-offs. Why, he asks, can’t we make electric cars with batteries from our own lithium deposits, using the old plant at Elizabeth?
Peacock and Vine ($31.99), AS Byatt’s latest offering, compares two masters of design, William Morris and Mariano Fortuny. All I knew about Fortuny is that Hilda in LP Hartley’s Eustace and Hilda had a Fortuny dress—a wondrous garment made from beautifully patterned silk with tiny permanent pleats. His creations, I learn, were inspired by Sir Arthur Evans’s The Prehistoric Tombs of Knossos, while his ‘Delphos’ dresses were modelled by his elegant wife Henriette. Fortuny also designed table lamps and furniture, patented a new type of photographic paper and devised a bowl-shaped portable theatre. Morris taught himself weaving, embroidery, calligraphy, stone- and wood-carving and devised loose artistic dresses for his wife Jane, whose dark, brooding sensuality attracted Dante Gabriel Rossetti, whose model and mistress she became. Byatt was at the Museo Fortuny in Venice when the idea of comparing these two creative and versatile artists came to her, and she finished this account of them in time for her 80th birthday. She tells us that as she grows older she has become more interested in glass blowers, potters, and makers of textiles and the like, and reminds us that her forebears made pots in the ‘Five Towns’ in Staffordshire. Many of Byatt’s books bear witness to her passion for art. The Virgin in the Garden, still my favourite Byatt novel, begins with a glittering party in the National Portrait Gallery and she has written appreciatively of the ceramics of Edmund de Waal, while Morris makes an appearance in The Children’s Book, which is mainly about arts and crafts. Peacock & Vine is a sumptuously beautiful book with its peacock cover and ravishing photographs and designs. A sheer delight. Sonia
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Australian Studies The House That Jack Built: Jack Mundey, Green Bans Hero by James Colman ($50, PB)
Jack Mundey overturned the bulldozer mentality of the 1960s and 1970s & helped to persuade Australians everywhere to cherish & protect the heritage of special buildings, places & sites. Without the green bans movement of the 1970s, Sydney & many other cities would look very different. Pulling together an unlikely alliance of environmentalists & union players earned Jack Mundey a reputation as both the ‘best-known unionist & best-known conservationist in Australia’. Under his leadership, the movement fought against the slash-and-burn philosophy that almost saw The Rocks fitted out with high-rise buildings, a highway through the centre of Glebe & total development of Centennial Park. James Colman reflects on Jack’s remarkable life and his ongoing legacy. Gleebooks’ special price $40
Atomic Thunder: The Maralinga Story by Elizabeth Tynan ($35, PB)
In September 2016 it will be 60 years since the first British mushroom cloud rose above the plain at Maralinga in SA. In 1950 Australian prime minister Robert Menzies blithely agreed to atomic tests that offered no benefit to Australia & relinquished control over the tests—leaving the public completely in the dark. After earlier tests at Monte Bello & Emu Field, in 1956 Australia dutifully provided 3200 square kilometres of South Australian desert to the British Government, along with logistics & personnel. The atomic weapons test series wreaked havoc on Indigenous communities & turned the land into a radioactive wasteland. This book covers the whole saga, from the time that the explosive potential of splitting uranium atoms was discovered, to the uncovering of the extensive secrecy around the British tests in Australia many years after the British had departed.
Evatt: A life by John Murphy ($50, HB) ‘Bert’ Evatt remains a polarising figure—still considered by many in Labor as the man who ‘split the party’ and by many conservatives as unreliable and dangerous. Remembered as the first foreign minister to argue for an independent Australian policy in the 1940s and for his central role in the formation of the UN, HV Evatt went on to be the leader of the Labor party in the 1950s, the time of the split that resulted in the party being out of power for a generation. John Murphy traces the course of Evatt’s life & places him in the context of a long period of conservatism in Australia. He treats Evatt’s inner, personal life as being just as important as his spectacular, controversial & eventually tragic public career—looking closely at Evatt’s previously unexamined private life to unravel some of the puzzles that have lead Evatt to be considered erratic, even mad. The Tim Carmody Affair: Australia’s Greatest Judicial Crisis by Rebecca Ananian-Welsh et al
In 2014 Tim Carmody, a former police officer, was sworn in as Chief Justice of QLD. He had been Chief Magistrate for only 9 months & had never served on the Supreme Court. It was one of the most controversial judicial appointments in Australia’s history. Chaos ensued. Carmody lacked the experience & nous to hold QLD’s judicial system together. How could someone with a limited judicial background be appointed to such a powerful position? This book explores his damaging & divisive tenure & the judicial rebellion that followed. It proposes ways Australia can improve the process of judicial appointments to avoid this kind of controversy again. ($30, PB)
The Great Multinational Tax Rort: How We’re All Being Robbed by Martin Feil ($33, PB)
In 2011, Amazon paid an effective tax rate of 0.5 per cent on its UK earnings of £3.35 billion. In 2013–14, Apple Australia paid around $80 million in income tax on revenue of over $6 billion. 4 accounting firms—PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and— are the global accountants and tax advisers for the multinationals. The favourite tool of the ‘Big Four’ accountancies to minimise tax for their multinational clients is transfer pricing: a complex and confusing array of methodologies and strategies that works to reduce tax or even avoid tax payments altogether. Martin Feil, one of the few independent experts on transfer pricing and profit repatriation by multinationals—a former poacher turned gamekeeper— explains how transfer pricing developed, and describes the strategies and tactics that the Big Four global accounting firms use on behalf of their voracious clients. This is a call to arms for citizens and governments to restore a fair taxation system.
History Of Australia In 100 Objects by Toby Creswell ($50, HB)
Sometimes these big events are most powerfully told through a small object belonging to someone long forgotten: a gold locket, a boomerang, a cup and saucer from the Country Women’s Association. Toby Creswell takes each object as a starting point to tell the stories that make up our national history, exploring key technological, social, political, artistic & sporting moments. From Ned Kelly’s armour to Henry Lawson’s pen & Julia Gillard’s glasses, the mix creates a compelling, multi-layered story.
Convict Tattoos: Marked Men and Women of Australia by Simon Barnard ($40, PB)
At least 37 per cent of male convicts and 15 per cent of female convicts were tattooed by the time they arrived in the penal colonies. Each convict’s details, including their tattoos, were recorded when they disembarked, providing an extensive physical account of Australia’s convict men & women. Simon Barnard has combed through these records to reveal a rich pictorial history. Convict Tattoos explores various aspects of tattooing—from the symbolism of tattoo motifs to inking methods, from their use as means of identification and control to expressions of individualism and defiance—providing a fascinating glimpse of the lives of the people behind the records.
1787: The Lost Chapters of Australia’s Beginnings by Nick Brodie ($30, PB)
1787 traces the journey of Australia before the infamous 1788 date, to explore just how ‘discovered’ the southern continent was by not only the Indigenous Australians who had lived and prospered for thousands of years, but also the sailors, traders, fishermen and many others who had visited our shores. By charting the encounters with Australia and its original people by several major groups of visitors, primarily the Portuguese, Dutch, Malay, French, and British from the late Middle Ages, 1787 reveals the stories of first encounters between Indigenous Australians and foreigners, placing Indigenous Australians back into our known history rather than a timeless pre-historical one. It’s a fascinating story that shifts focus away from postcolonial history and engages the reader in the eventful and lively stories of Australia as a vast and active land participating in a global history..
Up Came a Squatter: Niel Black of Glenormiston, 1839–1880 by Maggie Black ($50, PB)
Niel Black, a Scot from Argyllshire, arrived in Melbourne intending to make his fortune. Ambitious & determined, he became one of the most successful & energetic squatters in the Western District of Victoria—a livestock breeder & a Member of the Legislative Council. He was also a correspondent extraordinaire, and his letters to family, fellow pastoralists, colonial officials, and his chief UK business partner, Thomas Steuart Gladstone (and first cousin of the British prime minister), offer a unique insight into the time. Battles with local Aboriginal people, other settlers, Commissioners of Crown Lands & bush-fires, along with droughts, family feuds, multiple trips back to Scotland to find a wife & Black’s rise to gentrified excess are all vividly brought to life by his great-granddaughter.
History
Hitler’s Compromises: Coercion and Consensus in Nazi Germany by Nathan Stoltzfus ($62, HB)
Previous histories have focused on Adolf Hitler’s use of charisma & terror, asserting that the dictator made few concessions to maintain power. Nathan Stoltzfus challenges this notion, assessing the surprisingly frequent tactical compromises Hitler made in order to preempt hostility & win the German people’s complete fealty. When widespread public dissent occurred at home—which most often happened when policies conflicted with popular traditions or encroached on private life—Hitler made careful calculations & acted strategically to maintain his popular image. Extending from the 1920s to the regime’s collapse, this revealing history is a powerful & original argument rethinking of Hitler’s rule.
The Maisky Diaries: The Wartime Revelations of Stalin’s Ambassador in London ($43.95, PB)
The terror and purges of Stalin’s Russia in the 1930s discouraged Soviet officials from leaving documentary records let alone keeping personal diaries. A remarkable exception is the unique diary assiduously kept by Ivan Maisky, the Soviet ambassador to London between 1932 & 1943. Maisky was distinguished by his great sociability & access to the key players in British public life, and this selection from his diary, never before published in English, grippingly documents Britain’s drift to war during the 1930s, appeasement in the Munich era, negotiations leading to the signature of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, Churchill’s rise to power, the German invasion of Russia, and the intense debate over the opening of the second front. Also revealing the role personal rivalries within the Kremlin played in the formulation of Soviet policy at the time, this extraordinary narrative diary offers a fascinating revision of the events surrounding the WW2.
The Real Lives of Roman Britain by Guy De La Bedoyere ($32.95, PB)
The Britain of the Roman Occupation is, in a way, an age that is dark to us. While the main events from 55 BC to AD 410 are little disputed, Guy de la Bedoyere is the first to recover the period exclusively as a human experience. He focuses not on military campaigns and imperial politics but on individual, personal stories. Meet Fortunata the slave girl, Emeritus the frustrated centurion, the grieving father Quintus Corellius Fortis, and the brilliant metal worker Boduogenus. Through a wide array of records & artifacts, de la Bedoyere introduces the colourful cast of immigrants who arrived during the Roman era, offering an unusual glimpse of indigenous Britons, until now nearly invisible in histories of Roman Britain.
Voices From the Air: The ABC war correspondents who told the stories of Australians in the Second World War by Tony Hill ($40, HB)
With the outbreak of WW2 a new breed of reporters joined the ranks of war correspondents—and through the reach & power of radio Australians back home heard their voices and their stories shaped from the sounds of battle. From Chester Wilmot’s gripping accounts of the Siege of Tobruk to Dudley Leggett trekking with the diggers through the mud of the Kokoda Trail, Haydon Lennard helping to free Australian nurses from a Japanese prison camp & John Elliott’s shocking death in the final campaign in Borneo, ABC correspondents shared the highs, lows & the dangers of the frontline with the troops. The photographs of the correspondents in the field & the ephemera that has survived—the torn pages, blotted, crossed out & hastily typed scripts that are reproduced in this book bring these experiences to life.
Bush Heritage Australia: Restoring Nature Step by Step by Sarah Martin ($40, PB)
Started by Bob Brown in 1991, Bush Heritage was born from an urgent mission: to protect pristine land from logging. After buying 2 blocks of land in Tasmania’s Liffey Valley, Brown built a philanthropic organisation to help pay for them. As donations flowed in & the organisation grew, Bush Heritage set its sights on acquiring tracts of land across the country, repairing environmental degradation & bringing native plants & wildlife back to health. 25 years later, with more than one million hectares in its care, Bush Heritage has grown from humble beginnings into a large non-profit with benefactors all over the world. Central to this story are the ecologists, researchers, land managers, local Indigenous groups, staff, donors & a brigade of volunteers who have helped the organisation to thrive.
Politics
Why the Future is Workless by Tim Dunlop
The landscape of work is changing from Uber, Airbnb & the new share economy to automated vehicles, 3D printing & advanced AI. The question isn’t whether robots will take our jobs, but what we will do when they do. The era of full-time work is coming to an end & we have to stop holding out the false promise that at some magical moment the jobs are going to reappear. So what does our future in the brave new world of non-work look like? Tim Dunlop argues that by embracing the changes ahead we might even find ourselves better off. Workless goes beyond the gadgetry & hype to examine the social and political ramifications of work throughout history and into the future. ($30, PB)
QE 63: Don Watson on the US Election ($23, PB)
Plunging into the apparent chaos of the presidential campaign and tracing America’s recent past, Don Watson puts Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump & Bernie Sanders in a larger frame. He considers the irresistible pull—for Americans—of American exceptionalism, and asks whether this creed is reaching its limit. He explores alternative paths the US could have taken, and asks where its present course might lead Australia as a dutiful ally.
Trillion Dollar Baby: How Norway Beat the Oil Giants and Won a Lasting Fortune by Paul Cleary ($28, PB)
For most of its history, Norway eked out a marginal existence from fishing, forestry & shipping. But things changed in 1969, when the country found one of the world’s biggest offshore oilfields. As the revenue started to flow, Norway began to create the world’s best system for developing mineral resources—and for extracting the maximum possible share of the profits. From the outset, Norway decided that it was the master & not the servant of Big Oil. 20 years after it began stashing its cash, this country of just five million people has amassed the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, with assets of more than US$850 billion—and it’s on track to exceed $1 trillion in 2020. Unlike many other countries, Norway has taken a non-renewable resource & turned it into a financial asset that can last for generations to come. This is the story of how the Norwegians did it.
One World Now: The Ethics of Globalization by Peter Singer ($33.95, PB)
One World Now seamlessly integrates major developments of the past decade into Peter Singer’s classic text on the ethics of globalization, One World. Singer addresses essential concerns such as climate change, economic globalization, foreign aid, human rights, immigration & the responsibility to protect people from genocide and crimes against humanity, whatever country they may be in. Considered from an ethical perspective, Singer argues powerfully that we cannot solve the world’s problems at a national level, and shows how we should build on developments that are already transcending national differences. This is an instructive and necessary work that confronts head-on both the perils and the potentials inherent in globalization, posing bold challenges to narrow nationalistic views & offering valuable alternatives to the statecentric approach that continues to dominate ethics & international theory.
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Science & Nature
Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari ($35, PB)
War is obsolete—You are more likely to commit suicide than be killed in conflict; Famine is disappearing—You are at more risk of obesity than starvation; Death is just a technical problem; Equality is out – but immortality is in. Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Human Kind, examines our future with his trademark blend of science, history, philosophy and every discipline in between. Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams & nightmares that will shape the 21st century—from overcoming death to creating artificial life. It asks the fundamental questions: Where do we go from here? And how will we protect this fragile world from our own destructive powers? This is the next stage of evolution. This is Homo Deus.
The Trainable Cat: A Practical Guide to Making Life Happier for You and Your Cat by John Bradshaw
S
eptember 27, 2016, will mark 60 years since the first
British mushroom cloud rose above the plain at Maralinga, wreaking havoc on Indigenous communities, exposing thousands of service personnel to risk, turning the land into a radioactive wasteland and leaving an unholy mess behind. Atomic Thunder is a comprehensive account of the nuclear tests and their shocking legacy.
As domestic pets, cats have evolved very differently from dogs: naturally solitary, wary, easily threatened by newcomers, they are attached first and foremost to place rather than people, and much of their ‘antisocial’ behaviour arises in situations where that attachment is threatened. But, as Sarah Ellis & John Bradshaw argue, such stress-induced behaviour can be prevented, reduced, even eliminated, by training. Using this comprehensive & engaging step-by-step guide You can train your cat to do what is in its own best interests—even when its instincts tell it otherwise. ($50, HB)
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben ($30, PB)
Are trees social beings? Forester Peter Wohlleben convincingly makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. Wohlleben also shares his deep love of woods and forests, explaining the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in his woodland. ‘Wohlleben traces his conversion over a working lifetime from conventional forester to tree conservationist... He says that the untrained perspective of visitors he took on tours opened his own eyes. Read it, and you’ll see how his changed life transformed the way the forest could be viewed, and preserved’.—David Gaunt
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes by Adam Rutherford ($33, PB)
T
his is the story of how an ordinary bloke from the
bush launched a movement that would change the character of Australia’s towns and cities, and bring about lasting political and legislative reform. This is the story of the house that Jack built. Jack was an inspirational leader in the fight against the slash-andburn philosophy of the 1960s and 1970s which almost saw The Rocks in Sydney transformed into
a high-rise commercial and residential zone, a motorway through the centre of Glebe, and an Olympic stadium in Centennial Park. In this long-awaited book, James Colman reflects on Jack’s remarkable life and his ongoing legacy.
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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Since scientists first read the human genome in 2001 it has been subject to all sorts of claims, counterclaims and myths. In fact, as Adam Rutherford explains, our genomes should be read not as instruction manuals, but as epic poems. DNA determines far less than we have been led to believe about us as individuals, but vastly more about us as a species. In this captivating journey through the expanding landscape of genetics, Adam Rutherford reveals what our genes now tell us about history, and what history tells us about our genes. From Neanderthals to murder, from redheads to race, dead kings to plague, evolution to epigenetics, this is a demystifying & illuminating new portrait of who we are and how we came to be.
Astrophotography: The Most Spectacular Astronomical Images of the Universe by Rhodri Evans ($50, HB)
The very best images captured by the new generation of terrestrial telescopes, orbiting telescopes and deepspace probes and landers have been collected in this magnificent volume. Detailed captions explain the equipment and technicalities of producing such images, which are not only mesmerising but also provide a huge amount of information about the geology and atmospheres of celestial bodes, and the formation of distant galaxies. From the world’s gigantic telescopes in the Canary Islands, Hawaii and Chile to the New Horizons probe now heading into the Kuiper Belt to examine other icy mini-worlds, each page reveals extraordinary images that take us deeper into our universe.
Fearful Symmetry: The Search for Beauty in Modern Physics by Anthony Zee ($49.95, HB)
The concept of symmetry has widespread manifestations & many diverse applications—from architecture to mathematics to science. Yet, as 20th century physics has revealed, symmetry has a special, central role in nature, one that is occasionally & enigmatically violated. Fearful Symmetry brings the incredible discoveries of the juxtaposition of symmetry & asymmetry in contemporary physics within everyone’s grasp. A. Zee, a distinguished physicist & skilful expositor, tells the exciting story of how contemporary theoretical physicists are following Einstein in their search for the beauty & simplicity of Nature, describing the majestic sweep & accomplishments of 20th century physics.
Rethink: The Surprising History of New Ideas by Steven Poole ($35, PB) This is the story of how old ideas that were mocked or ignored for centuries are now storming back to the cutting edge of science & technology. It’s the story of Grace Hopper, the programming language pioneer who allowed us to speak to computers; of Ignaz Semmelweis, the brilliant doctor who worked out how infections occur long before there was a proper germ theory of disease; of Democritus, the laughing philosopher who inferred the atomic foundations of reality just by thinking about bread. Incorporating examples from areas ranging from epigenetics to value investing, from chess tactics to quantum physics, Steven Poole shows what we can learn by revisiting old, discarded ideas and considering them from a new perspective.
Philosophy & Religon
Psychology
Ethics in the Real World: 86 Brief Essays on Things that Matter by Peter Singer ($33, PB) Finding Sanity: John Cade, Lithium & the TamIn this book of brief essays, Singer applies his controversial ways ing of Bipolar Disorder of thinking to issues like climate change, extreme poverty, animals, abortion, euthanasia, human genetic selection, sports doping, the by Greg de Moore and Ann Westmore ($33, PB)
sale of kidneys, the ethics of high-priced art, and ways of increasing happiness. Singer asks whether chimpanzees are people, smoking should be outlawed, or consensual sex between adult siblings should be decriminalised, and he reiterates his case against the idea that all human life is sacred, applying his arguments to some recent cases in the news. In addition, he explores some of the deepest philosophical questions, such as whether anything really matters and whether the pale blue dot that is our planet has any value. The collection also includes some more personal reflections, like Singer’s thoughts on one of his favourite activities, surfing, and an unusual suggestion for starting a family conversation over a holiday feast.
In 1948, an Australian doctor & recently returned prisoner of war, working alone in a disused kitchen, set about an experimental treatment for one of the scourges of mankind—manic depression, or bipolar disorder. That doctor was John Cade and in that small kitchen he stirred up a miracle. John Cade discovered a treatment that has become the gold standard for bipolar disorder —lithium. It has stopped more people from committing suicide than a thousand help lines. Lithium is the penicillin story of mental health— the first effective medication discovered for the treatment of a mental illness—and it is one of Australia’s greatest mental health stories.
In this exploration of the drama, music, symbolism and philosophy of the Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle Roger Scruton shows how, through musical connections and brilliant dramatic strokes, Wagner is able to express truths about the human condition which few other creative artists have been able to convey so convincingly. For Wagner, writes Scruton, the task of art is to ‘show us freedom in its immediate, contingent, human form, reminding us of what it means to us. Even if we live in a world from which gods and heroes have disappeared we can, by imagining them, dramatize the deep truths of our condition and renew our faith in what we are.’ Scruton’s passionate and moving interpretation allows us to understand more fully than ever how Wagner conveys his ideas about who we are, and why The Ring continues to be such a hypnotically absorbing work.
Guy Claxton draws on the latest findings in neuroscience & psychology to reveal how our bodies—long dismissed as mere conveyances—actually constitute the core of our intelligent life. From the endocrinal means by which our organs communicate to the instantaneous decision-making prompted by external phenomena, our bodies are able to perform intelligent computations that we either overlook or wrongly attribute to our brains. Claxton shows how the privilege given to cerebral thinking has taken a toll on modern society, resulting in too much screen time, the diminishment of skilled craftsmanship, and an overvaluing of white-collar over blue-collar labour. Discussing techniques that will help us reconnect with our bodies, Claxton shows how an appreciation of the body’s intelligence will enrich all our lives.
According to Aristotle, the capacity for reason sets us apart from other animals, yet today it has ceased to be a universally admired faculty. Rationality & reason have become political, disputed concepts, subject to easy dismissal. Julian Baggini argues eloquently that we must recover our reason & reassess its proper place, neither too highly exalted nor completely maligned. Rationality does not require a sterile, scientistic worldview, it simply involves the application of critical thinking wherever thinking is needed. Addressing such major areas of debate as religion, science, politics, psychology & economics, Baggini calls for commitment to the notion of a ‘community of reason’, where disagreements are settled by debate & discussion, not brute force or political power.
Is mental illness—or madness—at root an illness of the body, a disease of the mind, or a sickness of the soul? Should those who suffer from it be secluded from society or integrated more fully into it? Mike Jay explores the meaning of mental illness through the successive incarnations of the institution that defined it: the madhouse, designed to segregate its inmates from society; the lunatic asylum, which intended to restore the reason of sufferers by humane treatment; and the mental hospital, which reduced their conditions to diseases of the brain. Rarely seen photographs & illustrations drawn from the archives of mental institutions in Europe & the US illuminate & reinforce the compelling narrative, while extensive ‘gallery’ sections present revealing & thought-provoking artworks by asylum patients & other artists from each era of the institution & beyond.
Intelligence in the Flesh: Why Your Mind Needs The Ring of Truth: The Wisdom of Wagner’s Ring Your Body Much More Than it Thinks by Guy Claxton ($35.95, PB) of the Nibelung by Roger Scruton ($50, HB)
The Edge of Reason: A Rational Skeptic in an Ir- This Way Madness Lies: The Asylum & Beyond by Mike Jay ($60, HB) rational World by Julian Baggini ($39.95, HB)
The Mind-Body Problem by Jonathan Westphal
Philosophers from Descartes to Kripke have struggled with the glittering prize of modern and contemporary philosophy: the mind-body problem. The brain is physical. If the mind is physical, we cannot see how. If we cannot see how the mind is physical, we cannot see how it can interact with the body. And if the mind is not physical, it cannot interact with the body. Or so it seems. In this book the philosopher Jonathan Westphal examines the mind-body problem in detail, laying out the reasoning behind the solutions that have been offered in the past & presenting his own proposal. ($34.95, PB)
Faith: Embracing Life in all its Uncertainty by Tim Costello ($30, HB)
In a world that is so often challenging, with events that cause us all to wonder what is going on, Tim Costello takes us on a journey through the notion of faith and how we all need to believe in something greater than ourselves, no matter what religious background we are from. In this thoughtful and provocative book Tim explores some of the world’s most challenging issues, including refugees, corruption, war, intolerance, poverty, inequality and global warming. He meditates on what is going wrong and points out how we so often lose sight of our shared humanity. In Faith Tim Costello takes us all to task on the big issues facing our world.
Music Therapy with Families: Therapeutic Approaches and Theoretical Perspectives (eds) Stine L. Jacobsen & Grace Thompson
This comprehensive book describes well-defined models of music therapy for working with families in different clinical areas, ranging from families with special needs children or dying family members through to families in psychiatric or paediatric hospital settings. International contributors explain the theoretical background & practice of their specific approach, including an overview of research & illustrative case examples. Particular emphasis is placed on connecting theory & clinical practice & on discussing the challenges & relevance of each model. ($55.95, PB)
Understanding OCD: A Guide for Parents and Professionals (ed) Adam B. Lewin ($28.95, PB)
Giving a full overview of childhood obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and discussing all major treatment options, including cognitive behavioural therapy and medication, this guide provides the essential information that families, teachers, caregivers, clinicians and mental health professionals need in order to understand and treat childhood OCD. It covers origins, symptoms and related illnesses and explains how OCD is diagnosed. The book also suggests ways to maximise the outcomes of treatment, what to do when treatment doesn’t work, and how to help manage OCD in children at school and in the home.
The Murderous History of Bible Translations: Power, Conflict and the Quest for Meaning DBT-Informed Art Therapy: Mindfulness, Cogby Harry Freedman ($40, HB) In 1535, William Tyndale, the first man to produce an English ver- nitive Behavior Therapy & the Creative Process sion of the Bible in print, was captured & imprisoned in Belgium. by Susan M. Clark ($54.95, PB)
A year later he was strangled & then burned at the stake. His cotranslator was also burned. In that same year the translator of the first Dutch Bible was arrested & beheaded. Harry Freedman tells the remarkable, and bloody, story of those who dared translate the word of God. The Bible has been translated far more than any other book, and Bible translations underlie an astonishing number of religious conflicts that have plagued the world. Harry Freedman tells of the struggle for authority and orthodoxy in a world where temporal power was always subjugated to the divine. A world in which the idea of a Bible for all was so important that many were willing to give up their time, their security and often their lives.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) treats problems with emotion regulation. Combining the structure & skill development of DBT with the creativity & non-verbal communication of art therapy can be a significant advantage in treating patients who are resistant to talking therapy. This book includes a comprehensive overview of the growing literature & research on DBTinformed art therapy and creative visual exercises and activities for developing the skills of core mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and non-judgemental acceptance among clients.
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Blockbuster Relaxation Cultural Studies & Criticism
Who knows why I don’t really enjoy blockbuster books, possibly because there’s typically too much plot, and not enough description, but I’ve recently read three very popular books that have helped break my reading drought, so I’m very grateful to them. The first was Liane Moriarty’s Truly Madly Guilty. Set now, in the suburbs of Sydney, about a group of friends and neighbours, the story starts after a traumatic event at a barbecue involving all the main characters. The author builds the suspense most successfully up to the middle of the book, and then deals with all its consequences in a sort of dovetailing waterfall to a neat, but satisfying conclusion. It would spoil the book to give away any of the plot, but I will say that the underlying themes of friendship and parenting are as interesting as the more obvious ones of responsibility and guilt. The main relationship in the book is between Clementine and Erika, two old friends, and it is a curious one. Even more interesting is the relationship between Erika and her appalling mother, an inveterate hoarder, and the damage that ripples out from growing up under the weight of that debilitating disorder.
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes is a very popular book about Louisa, a young woman who is employed to care for Will, a previously high flying lawyer (I think) who has become paraplegic after being hit by a motorcycle. Louisa and Will are different in every way—different backgrounds, from different classes (it is set in England after all), different expectations, but here they are... Louisa needs a job, and Will needs Louisa. It’s a story of transformation (there’s a reference to Pygmalion at some point), as well as story of the devastation that can be rendered to not just an accident victim but his whole family. Louisa is certainly a familiar character, under-confident, kind hearted and impulsive, and very endearing. Will less so, although of course he is magnetic, and has hidden depths. Although it is very trite in parts, the story had unexpected twists, and gave a really good insight into the world of disability. It poses ethical questions, that don’t really have just one answer, and I have found myself thinking this book quite a bit since I read it. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is being the hailed as the eighth Harry Potter book—quite a misleading handle, I think. It is in fact the script of the stage play by Jack Thorne, based on a story by JK Rowling and John Tiffany. So it is NOT a new Harry Potter book, but it is a new Harry Potter story, and well worth reading. If you aren’t conversant with reading scripts of plays, and I’m not, it takes a little while to familiarise yourself with that way of reading. However, it’s not a complex script, or story, although it’s helpful to know the back story and be familiar with some of the characters and the magical objects. Again, I am not going to give away any of the plot, but of course the story revolves around Harry Potter and his friends, as youngish middle aged parents of teenaged children—in particular, Harry’s younger son, Albus. The school boy villain, Draco Malfoy, also has a son, Scorpius, and the relationship between the two boys, starting at Hogwarts at the same time, is ostensibly the driving force of the story. At the real heart of the narrative is Harry’s childhood fate, and it’s interesting to see how those difficulties are handed down to his son. Being the child of a celebrity wizard can be clearly as fraught as being a child of a Muggle celebrity, and Albus is as recalcitrant as any teenager can be. For me, the most interesting part of the Harry Potter books was always the friendship between Harry, Ron and Hermione, and the play takes us back and forth in time ( through the agency of a forbidden time changing magical device, a Time-Turner), where we are shown several alternative parallel realities for these three characters. Many of the best characters make an appearance, Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, and the wonderful Moaning Myrtl—all just as vivid and as amusing as in the books. Happily, I read The Cursed Child on a train journey, and I was transported back into that other world as effectively as I had been when I read the first Harry Potter book, all those years ago. Louise
White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America by Nancy Isenberg ($50, HB)
The wretched and landless poor have existed from the time of the earliest British colonial settlement. They were alternately known as waste people, offals, rubbish, lazy lubbers, and crackers. By the 1850s, the downtrodden included so-called clay eaters and sandhillers, known for prematurely aged children distinguished by their yellowish skin, ragged clothing, and listless minds. Surveying political rhetoric and policy, popular literature and scientific theories over four hundred years, Isenberg upends assumptions about America’s supposedly class-free society where liberty and hard work were meant to ensure real social mobility. ‘Marginalized as a class, white trash have always been at or near the center of major political debates over the character of the American identity—We acknowledge racial injustice as an ugly stain on our nation’s history. With Isenberg’s landmark book, we will have to face the truth about the enduring, malevolent nature of class as well’.
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How To Win An Argument by Stanley Fish ($35, HB)
‘The wish to escape argument is really the wish to escape language, which is really the wish to escape politics, and is finally the wish to escape mortality—and it won’t matter a whit’. With wit and wisdom, Fish delves into a wide range of subjects, including Donald Trump, the Supreme Court, the logic of toddlers, Monty Python, the National Football League, Holocaust denial and creationism, the nature of political spin, and the fall of Adam and Eve to reveal how successful argument can be used to win over popular opinion.
A Field Guide to Lies and Statistics: A Neuroscientist on How to Make Sense of a Complex World by Daniel Levitin ($30, PB)
We live in a world of information overload. Facts and figures on absolutely everything are at our fingertips, but are too often biased, distorted, or outright lies. From unemployment figures to voting polls, IQ tests to divorce rates, we’re bombarded by seemingly plausible statistics on how people live and what they think. In a world where anyone can become an expert at the click of a button, being able to see through the tricks played with statistics is more necessary than ever before. Daniel Levitin teaches us how to effectively ask ourselves: can we really know that? And how do they know that?
Known and Strange Things by Teju Cole ($30, PB) In this collection of essays Teju Cole finds fresh & potent ways to interpret art, people & historical moments by taking in subjects from Virginia Woolf, Shakespeare & W. G. Sebald to Instagram, Barack Obama & Boko Haram. He brings new considerations to James Baldwin in the age of Black Lives Matter; the African American photographer Roy DeCarava, who, forced to shoot with film calibrated exclusively for white skin tones, found his way to a startling and true depiction of black subjects; and (in an essay that inspired both praise & pushback when it first appeared) the White Savior Industrial Complex, the system by which African nations are sentimentally aided by an America ‘developed on pillage.’ String Theory: David Foster Wallace On Tennis
Gathered for the first time in a deluxe collector’s edition, here are David Foster Wallace’s legendary writings on tennis, five tour-de-force pieces written with a competitor’s insight and a fan’s obsessive enthusiasm. Wallace brings his dazzling literary magic to the game he loved as he celebrates the other-worldly genius of Roger Federer; offers a wickedly witty dissection of Tracy Austin’s memoir; considers the artistry of Michael Joyce, a supremely disciplined athlete on the threshold of fame; resists the crush of commerce at the US Open; and recalls his own career as a ‘near-great’ junior player. ($30, HB)
Flaubert by Michel Winock ($77, HB)
Michel Winock’s biography situates Gustave Flaubert’s life and work in France’s century of great democratic transition. Flaubert depicts a man whose personality, habits, and thought are a stew of paradoxes. He spent his life inseparably bound to solitude and melancholy, yet he enjoyed periodic escapes from his ‘hole’ in Croisset to pursue a variety of pleasures: fervent friendships, society soirées, and a whirlwind of literary and romantic encounters. He prided himself on the impersonality of his writing, but he did not hesitate to use material from his own life in his fiction. Nowhere are Flaubert’s contradictions more evident than in his politics. An enemy of power who held no nostalgia for the monarchy or church, he was nonetheless hostile to collectivist utopias. And above all, he hated the bourgeoisie. Vulgar, ignorant, obsessed with material comforts, impervious to beauty, the French middle class embodied for Flaubert every vice of the democratic age. His loathing became a fixation—and a source of literary inspiration.
Elizabeth Bishop at Work by Eleanor Cook
This book examines Elizabeth Bishop’s art in detail—her diction, syntax, rhythm, & meter, her acute sense of place, & her attention to the natural world. It is also a study of the poet at work, challenging herself to try new things & to push boundaries. Eleanor Cook traces Bishop’s growing confidence & sense of freedom, from her first collection, North & South, to Questions of Travel, in which she fully realized her poetic powers, to Geography III and the breathtaking late poems, which—in individual ways—gather in & extend her earlier work. Cook shows how Bishop shapes each collection, putting to rest the notion that her published volumes are miscellanies. ($56.95, HB) Decoding Chomsky by Chris Knight ($45.95, HB) Chris Knight adopts an anthropologist’s perspective on the twin output of Noam Chomsky, acclaimed as much for his denunciations of American foreign policy as for his theories about language & mind. Knight explores the social & institutional context of Chomsky’s thinking, showing how the tension between military funding & his role as lynchpin of the political left pressured him to establish a disconnect between science minus politics on the one hand, politics minus science on the other, deepening a split between mind & body characteristic of Western philosophy since the Enlightenment. This provocative study explains the enigma of one of the greatest intellectuals of our time, revealing a profoundly divided man who shows disturbing cracks in his genius.
New York, 2007: a city where the newly-arrived and the long-established jostle alike for a place on the ladder of success. And Jende Jonga, who has come from Cameroon, has just set his foot on the first rung. A powerful story of marriage, class, race and the pursuit of the American Dream.
Born in Paris in 1824, Céleste made her name as a dancer in the Parisian dance halls, however it was as the city’s most celebrated courtesan that she found genuine fame and fortune. This true story of the Countess Céleste de Chabrillan is a rich and tempestuous tale of an extraordinary woman far ahead of her time.
This is a high adrenalin, sometimes moving, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, entirely gripping story of a man who’s living an extraordinary life, documenting some of the most confronting and moving moments in international conflicts and our recent history. Here is the story behind the pictures.
Letter Writing Among Poets: From William Wordsworth to Elizabeth Bishop (ed) Jonathan Ellis Fifteen chapters by leading international biographers, critics and poets examine letter writing among poets in the last 200 years. Poets discussed include Coleridge, Wordsworth, Keats and Shelley in the 19th century and Eliot, Yeats, Bishop and Larkin in the 20th. Divided into three sections—Contexts and Issues, Romantic and Victorian Letter Writing and Twentieth-Century Letter Writing—the volume demonstrates that real letters still have an allure that virtual post struggles to replicate. ($48, PB)
The Glamour of Strangeness: Artists and the Last Age of the Exotic by Jamie James ($38, HB)
Jamie James focuses on 6 artists to locate ‘a lost national school’ of artists who left their homes for the unknown. Walter Spies, the devastatingly handsome German painter remade his life in Bali; Raden Saleh, the Javanese painter found fame in Europe; Isabelle Eberhardt, a Russian-Swiss writer roamed the Sahara dressed as an Arab man; the American experimental filmmaker Maya Deren, went to Haiti & became a committed follower of voodoo. From France, Paul Gauguin left for Tahiti; and Victor Segalen, a naval doctor, poet & novelist, immersed himself in classical Chinese civilisation in imperial Peking. Stifled by the culture of their homelands they fled to islands, jungles & deserts in search of new creative & emotional frontiers. Their flight inspired a unique body of work that doesn’t fit squarely within the Western canon, yet may be some of the most original statements we have about the range & depth of the artistic imagination.
The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race by Jesmyn Ward ($45, HB)
In light of recent tragedies and widespread protests across the US, The Progressive magazine republished one of its most famous pieces: James Baldwin’s 1962 Letter to My Nephew, which was later published in his landmark book, The Fire Next Time. Addressing his 14 year-old namesake on the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Baldwin wrote: You know and I know, that the country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too soon. National Book Award-winner Jesmyn Ward has gathered short essays, memoir, and a few essential poems to engage the question of race in the United States. In the fifty-odd years since Baldwin’s essay was published, entire generations ‘have’ dared everything and made significant progress. But the idea that we are living in the post-Civil Rights era, that we are a post-racial society is an inaccurate and harmful reflection of a truth the country must confront. Baldwin’s fire next time is now upon us, and it needs to be talked about. Of the nineteen pieces, fifteen were written specifically for this volume, contributors include Edwidge Danticat, Natasha Trethewey, Isabel Wilkerson, Roxane Gay, Jelani Cobb, and Kevin Young.
s d d w n n a o 2 H R A Sleuth’s Quartet
This month, four further titles of vintage crime. Featuring the return of ‘H.M.’, Hercule Poirot, Colonel Race and an intrepid investigative reporter, Kathryn Forrester. All these paperback are in Fair to Good condition. The two Christie titles have spine damage, repaired by adhesive tape. A Graveyard to Let by Carter Dickson (1950). PB reprint 1955. $10.00. Sir Henry Merrivale (H.M.), Scotland Yard detective, makes his first visit to the United States. A visit caused by an invitation from millionaire Frederick Manning, to ‘witness a miracle and explain it’ at his country house. The morning after Sir Henry’s arrival, and just as the house party hears police sirens approaching the Manning estate, the millionaire dives into the swimming pool, fully clothed. His clothes and hat float to the surface, but he appears to have vanished... The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie (1936). PB reprint 1959. $8.00. A mysterious letter is received by detective Hercule Poirot: Mr Hercule Poirot, —you fancy yourself, don’t you, at solving mysteries that are too difficult for our poor thickheaded British police? Let us see, Mr Clever Poirot, just how clever you can be. Perhaps you’ll find this nut too hard to crack. Look out for Andover on the 21st of the month. yours, etc., ABC Following its arrival, a Mrs Asher, a tobacco shop owner, is murdered at Andover on the 21st. A second letter announces a murder at Bexhill and Betty Barnard, a waitress, is found strangled. A third names Churston, the victim is Sir Carmichael Clarke. A fourth lists Doncaster on the day of the St Leger horse race. An open ABC railway guide is left with beside each victim... Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie (1945). PB reprint 1955. $8.00. Seven people dine at the elegant restaurant, Luxembourg. One of them, Rosemary Barton, dies by cyanide poisoning. Her death is ruled a suicide due to depression. After receiving mysterious letters stating she was murdered, her husband George restages the dinner with the same guests—and an actress portraying his late wife—hoping to force a confession. Unfortunately, George meets the same fate. This prompts his good friend, ex-army officer (and associate of Hercule Poirot) Colonel Race, to investigate. Death and the Sky Above by Andrew Garve (1953). PB reprint 1956. $10.00. Paul Garve was one of three pseudonyms used by English journalist and crime writer Paul Winterton (1908–2001). He authored some 40 novels between 1938 and 1978. With author Elizabeth Ferrars (1907–1995), he co-founded the Crime Writers Association in 1953. In Death and the Sky Above, the murder of Charles Hillary’s bitter, dissolute wife, Louise, leaves him the chief suspect. His ongoing affair with his true love, television journalist Kathryn Forrester, adds to suspicion. Charles is convicted of murder and sentenced to hang. A prison fire enables him to escape with Kathryn. The couple attempt a small boat crossing of the Channel, which ends with the boat capsized and Charles’ recapture. Kathryn’s investigation of the crime results in a last minute stay of execution and the reversal of Charles’s sentence when she is able to conclusively prove his innocence—all thanks to the timing of a cricket Test Match at the Oval! The novel was later filmed as Two Letter Alibi (1962). Stephen
Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck by Adam Cohen ($50, HB)
One of America’s great miscarriages of justice, the Supreme Court’s infamous 1927 ‘Buck v. Bell’ ruling made government sterilization of undesirable citizens the law of the land. In 1927, when the nation was caught up in eugenic fervour, the justices allowed Virginia to sterilize Carrie Buck, a perfectly normal young woman, for being an imbecile. It is a story with many villains, but the most troubling actors of all were the 8 Supreme Court justices who were in the majority including William Howard Taft, the former president; Louis Brandeis, the legendary progressive; and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr, America’s most esteemed justice, who wrote the decision urging the nation to embark on a program of mass eugenic sterilization. With the precision of a legal brief & the passion of a front-page expose, Cohen’s Imbeciles is a triumph of American legal & social history.
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an unknown compelling force...”
Mountain of the Dead: The Dyatlov Pass Incident by Keith McCloskey ($31, HB) Dyatlov Pass Keeps Its Secrets by Irina & Vlad Lobatchev ($25, HB) Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident by Donnie Eichar ($24.95, PB) I had never heard of the Dyatlov Pass Incident until I read Donnie Eichar’s book a couple of months ago. Little did I know that providing a solution to this mysterious event has obsessed numerous individuals for over five decades. This is the Russian variant of the Kennedy Assassination fixation. A dozen books in Russian have appeared on the subject, half a dozen more in English, both non-fiction and fictional accounts—and it has also inspired a recent large budget film science fiction horror film—Devil’s Pass—by director Renny Harlan. In January 1959 a group of ten experienced hikers—8 men & 2 women —led by 23 year old engineering student Igor Dyatlov set off from Ivdel, Sverdlovsk for a 650 km ski trek through the Russian Ural Mountains with the aim of reaching Mt Otorten. 9 were either students or graduates from Ural Polytechnic Institute, Yekaterinburg, aged between 21 to 25 years—they all wanted to obtain their Level III Certification, —the highest level of difficulty in ski tourism which would enable them to train others. The 10th, Alexander Zolatarev (37), was an experienced ski instructor & guide had joined the expedition late to get his ‘Master’ Instructor accreditation. Three days into the trip, 21 year-old Yuri Yudin fell ill and left the group to return home. That decision saved his life. Igor Dyatlov had stated that he expected the trek to be completed by 12 February. But no one was concerned when no word was received by that date. Such trekking expeditions were often a few days overdue. However when nothing was heard by 20 February, concerned friends and relatives pressured local authorities into mounting a search effort. The hikers tent—and the first bodies—were found on 26 February 1959. Photographs and a ‘group diary’, written up every evening by various group members, document their progress up until 1 February 1959. In the last written entry in the diary all seems well. The tent was found partly covered in snow. Inside boots were found neatly placed, food has been prepared. Between 6 and 7 pm a meal was eaten. Sometime between 9.30pm & 11.30pm something or someone causes the group—in various states of undress—to suddenly cut through the tent from the inside & flee down the slope to the forest. Clothing, skies, food, knives, torches... everything to help ensure survival is left behind. The bodies of Georgyi Krivonischenko & Yuri Doroshenko are found at the forest edge under a large pine tree—next to the remains of fire—branches for which were broken off the pine up to 5m high. Between the tree and the tent 3 more bodies are found: Dyatlov, Zina Kolmogorova & Rustem Slobodin. These are located separately at distances of 300m, 480m & 630m from the tree as if they had been trying to crawl behind each other back up to the shelter of the tent. Another four months passed before the rest of the group were found on 5 May 1959, under 4.5m of snow. A den had been hollowed out for shelter & the floor covered with fir branches. The remaining 4 bodies were found several metres away in a small tributary of the Lozva River. Lyuda Dubinina was on her knees with raised hands on a rock, face down. Alexander Kolevatov, Nikolai Thibeaux-Brignolles & Zolatarev were all found huddled close to each other. They had stripped clothing from their two other companions found under the tree—presumably for warmth. Both Dyatlov & Zolatarev had injuries on their hands consistent with fighting. An official autopsy found that 3 of the last group had suffered mortal internal injuries while still alive: Dubinina had fractured ribs on both her right & left sides, had her tongue ‘removed’ & was missing her eyes; Thibeaux-Brignolles suffered a fractured skull & Zolatarev had rib fractures on his right side. Odd bits of their clothing contained higher than normal levels of radiation—at the funerals, relatives & friends reported that some of the bodies had an unnatural orange tan and that their hair had turned white. This information was suppressed at the time, and when the last four bodies were found Lev Ivanonov—the official Soviet investigator into the tragedy—was ordered to close the case. He concluded in his hastily composed report that all 9 deaths had been caused by ‘an unknown compelling force which they were unable to overcome’. The entire region was then sealed off by the Soviet authorities for the next four years. And now the theories start... An avalanche? This drives them all out of the tent and they perish attempting to find shelter—but the tent was found virtually upright and the region is not known for avalanches. These were experienced hikers, not likely to be easily frightened. Sexual tension with fatal consequences? Did a drunken argument lead to a brawl among the men, competing for the favours of either Zina or Lyuda? The tent is slashed & the instigator(s) storm off into the arctic night. But surely at least one or more calmer persons to have remained in the tent. Robbery by persons unknown? Nothing seems to have been taken. Money and valuables were found in the tent. One recent theory is they encountered illegal gold miners. Such activity was an economic crime in the Soviet Union and carried the death penalty if caught. Any unexpected witnesses to it would have to be disposed of. Paradoxical undressing? Also known by mountaineers as ‘Cold Stupid’—A psychological condition that afflicts a person near death from hypothermia, that causes one to imagine they are overheating & therefore remove their clothes. But all 9 at once? Natural infrasound? A theory that suggests the dome-shaped Elevation 1097—the mountainside where they camped—is perfect for producing what is known as a Karmarn Vortex Street, which is essentially a phenomenon that can cause uneasi-
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ness, nausea, panic and even mass hysteria. Sounds plausible why don’t they scatter in all directions, rather than seemingly walking down the slope in single file? A military accident?/ secret military testing? Were the hikers within a restricted military zone? Perhaps they witnessed something they were not supposed to and became fatal victims of a military cover-up—their bodies were scattered to suggest otherwise? Lev Ivanov later privately commented he thought the whole area and placement of the bodies resembled a ‘staged scene’. A wild animal attack? A Yeti? (known in the Urals as a ‘Menk’) Don’t be too quick to dismiss this! One of the last photos taken by the group shows an unsettling image of a large human-like creature among the trees. Odd footprints were also claimed to have been found around the campsite by searchers. Perhaps the hikers realised something was in the forest, which is why they chose to camp on a mountainside instead of in the forest itself where it would be warmer and more sheltered. It may also explain the severe internal injuries some suffered. Aliens? UFO’s?, Indigenous peoples, etc The mysterious last photo take by the hikers has defied all analysis. Perhaps it shows a glowing light or vapour trail. Perhaps it is simply an overexposure. Other travellers in the region at the same time as the Dyatlov group reported witnessing unexplained ‘glowing orbs of light’ in the sky the night that the Dyatlov group died. A fatal close encounter? Or perhaps they met the indigenous people of the region, either the Mansi tribesmen or the even more mysterious Voghuls—and things ended badly? One theory posits the appearance of the mythical spectre of the ‘Golden Lady’ which lures travellers to their doom .... The problem remains that no one theory explains all that seems to have happened or can provide a glimpse of the mysterious—indeed eerie—aspects of The Dyatlov Pass Incident. In an interview toward the end of his life, Yuri Yudin, the lone survivor of the group (he died in 2013) remarked: If I had a chance to ask God just one question, it would be, ‘What really happened to my friends that night?’ Stephen Reid
Poetry
Rupture by Susan Varga ($23, PB)
‘The directness and simplicity of these poems, beautifully arranged as stages in a recovery, carry the urgency, honesty and celebration of a life reclaimed.’—Joan London. ‘The poems that comprise Rupture are lucid, deft, unapologetic, forthright. There are images and lines that are literally breathtaking, stanzas that punch with wisdom, and whole poems that linger long after the book is finished.’—Andrea Goldsmith.
Ghostspeaking by Peter Boyle ($29.95, PB) ‘Somewhere between a brief, succulent anthology of the best 20th century poetry & a rare contemporary novel, Ghostspeaking rescues, from a world within this one, 11 poets who never existed. But that can never be said again. These lives and works are so convincing that readers will trawl the web to learn more about them. All of the writers gathered here are wonderful, some quite remarkable: what then does that leave us to say of the man who created them?’—David Brooks. Fragments by Antigone Kefala ($24, PB)
Fragments is Antigone Kefala’s first collection of new poems in almost 20 years. It follows her prose work Sydney Journals (Giramondo, 2008) of which one critic wrote, ‘Kefala can render the music of the moment so perfectly, she leaves one almost singing with the pleasure of it’. This skill in capturing the moment is just as evident in Fragments, though the territory is often darker now, as the poet patrols the liminal spaces between life and death, alert to the energies which lie in wait there.
I Must Be Living Twice: New and Selected Poems 1975–2014 by Eileen Myles ($33, HB)
I Must Be Living Twice brings together selections from the poet’s previous work with a set of bold new poems that reflect her sardonic, unapologetic and fiercely intellectual literary voice. Steeped in the culture of New York, this collection is a prism refracting a radical world and a compelling life.
Available this month Faber & Faber Poetry Diaries 2017, $25
A full colour hardback A5 size desk diary with a week to a view, with 40 poems. Illustrated throughout with vintage and contemporary book jackets the diary has a sturdy cover and an elastic closure.
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The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden Jonas Jonasson, HB
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The Face of Britain: The Nation Through its Portraits Simon Schama, HB
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Whistler: A Life for Art’s Sake Daniel E. Sutherland, HB
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Faithful and True: A Rare Photograph Collection Celebrating Man’s Best Friend, HB
Now $17.95 The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI & the Rise of Fascism in Europe David I. Kertzer, HB
A Plague of Informers: Conspiracy and Political Trust in William III’s England Rachel Weil, HB
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Venice and Vitruvius Margaret D’Evelyn, HB
Owls of the World König & Weick, HB
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The Paying Guests Sarah Waters, PB
The Copernicus Complex: Our Cosmic Significance in a Universe of Planets and Probabilities Caleb Scharf, HB
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Silence: A Christian History Diarmaid MacCulloch, HB
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Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence Daniel Goleman HB
The Anatomy of Violence: The Biological Roots of Crime Adrian Raine, HB
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100 Philosophers: A Guide to the World’s Greatest Thinkers D. Peter J King, HB
The Adventures of Henry Thoreau: A Young Man’s Unlikely Path to Walden Pond Michael Sims, HB
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Parrot and Olivier in America Peter Carey, HB
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The Amazing Book of Mazes Adrian Fisher, HB
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The Great Swindle Pierre Lemaitre, HB
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Alexander to Constantine Meyers & Chancey, PB
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1,000 Gluten-free Recipes Carol Lee Fenster HB
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The Arts
Everything is Happening: Journey into a Painting by Michael Jacobs ($25, PB)
Michael Jacobs was haunted by Velazquez’s enigmatic masterpiece Las Meninas from first encountering it in the Prado as a teenager. In Everything is Happening Jacobs searches for the ultimate significance of the painting by following the trails of associations from each individual character in the picture, as well as his own memories of & relationship to this extraordinary work. From Jacobs’ first trip to Spain to the complex politics of Golden Age Madrid, to his meeting with the man who saved Las Meninas during the Spanish Civil war, via Jacobs’ experiences of the sunless world of the art history academy, Jacobs dissolves the barriers between the past & the present, the real & the illusory. Cut short by Jacobs’ death in 2014, and completed with an introduction and coda by his friend & fellow lover of art, the journalist Ed Vulliamy, this visionary, meditative & often very funny book is a passionate, personal manifesto for the liberation of how we look at painting.
My Cool Treehouse: An Inspirational Guide to Stylish Treehouses by Jane Field-Lewis ($30, HB)
Versatile and endlessly adapting, treehouses offer a unique opportunity for creative expression and an individualistic challenge. Treehouses enable us to build on ‘unbuildable’ plots, create unusual business models and even use them as a form for art installations. Using high-end interiors, landscape & lifestyle photography & styling in the specially commissioned images (photographed in all seasons and weather conditions), this book includes 35 treehouses with different budgets & styles, from the rustic that seem to disappear into the foliage to the futuristic made out of contemporary materials.
Age of Collage 2 (ed) Dennis H. Busch
This collection ranges from subversive to museum-worthy. While some examples make explicit statements, others are gloriously Dada. Bringing disparate images and items together, collage transcends the boundaries between artistic disciplines. The traditionally analog technique of collage has effortlessly evolved to embrace digital tools and the combinatory freedom that they offer. This volume presents the work of more than 80 collage artists—from established names including John Baldessari and Richard Prince to upandcoming talents such as Lola Dupré. ($99.50, HB)
Slow Manifesto: Lebbeus Woods’ Blog
In the Autumn of 2007, Lebbeus Woods (1940–2012), long admired for his visionary architecture and mastery of drawing, began a blog. Part forum and part public journal, the eclectic mix of articles, drawings, anecdotes, poetry, interviews, and photographic essays explored topics ranging from architectural theory and criticism to education and politics. Amassing more than three hundred entries by its end in the summer of 2012, it is regarded by many as the most comprehensive and accessible archive of Woods’ prodigious creativity. This edited volume of the blog’s centrepiece entries, stands as a fragmentary essay on the nature of architecture. ($59.50, PB)
DVDs With Scott Donovan
The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art by Sebastian Smee ($35, PB)
Matisse and Picasso. Manet and Degas. Bacon and Freud. De Kooning and Pollock. Eight of the most significant modern artists; four pairs linked by friendship and a shared spirit of competitiveness. But in each case the relationship had a flashpoint, a damaging psychological event that seemed to mark both an end and a beginning, a break that led to audacious creative innovations. Sebastian Smee’s The Art of Rivalry takes us to heart of each of these relationships. It offers revelatory insights into the ways in which these major artists influenced and changed each other—and into their ultimate quest ‘to be unique, original, inimitable; to acquire the solitude, the singularity, of greatness’.
History of Pictures: From the Cave to the Computer Screen by David Hockney & Martin Gayford ($60, HB)
The making of pictures has a history going back perhaps 100,000 years to an African shell used as a paint palette. Twothirds of it is irrevocably lost, since the earliest images known to us are from about 40,000 years ago. David Hockney & Martin Gayford privilege no medium, or period, or style, but instead, discuss how & why pictures have been made, and insistently link ‘art’ to human skills & human needs. Each chapter addresses an important question: What happens when we try to express reality in two dimensions? Why are optical projections always going to be more beautiful than HD television can ever be? What makes marks on a flat surface interesting? Energised by two lifetimes of looking at pictures, combined with Hockney’s 70-year experience of experimentation makes for a profoundly moving and enlightening volume.
The Munich Art Hoard: Hitler’s Dealer and His Secret Legacy by Catherine Hickley ($22, PB)
In February 2012, in a Munich flat belonging to an elderly recluse, German customs authorities seized an astonishing hoard of more than 1,400 paintings, drawings, prints & sculptures. When Cornelius Gurlitt’s trove became public in November 2013, it caused a worldwide media sensation. Catherine Hickley has delved into archives & conducted dozens of interviews to uncover the story behind the headlines. Her book illuminates a dark period of German history, untangling a web of deceit & silence that has prevented the heirs of Jewish col- lectors from recovering art stolen from their families more than 7 decades ago by the Nazis. She recounts the shady history of the Gurlitt hoard as 21stcentury politicians & lawyers puzzle over the inadequacies of a legal framework that to this day falls short in securing justice for the heirs of those robbed by the Nazis.
Gift Shop
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A Bigger Splash: Dir. Luca Guadagnino
Ralph Fiennes delivers a bravura performance as the hyperactive record producer Harry Hawkes in Luca Guadagnino’s excellent third feature The Bigger Splash. Tilda Swinton, who appeared in the director’s stunning debut I Am Love, returns as aging rock star Marianne Lane recovering after a throat operation which has rendered her virtually speechless. Keen to renew his relationship with Lane, his former charge and lover, Hawkes invites himself to the luxurious retreat she is sharing with her current partner Paul (Matthias Schoenaerts) on an exclusive stretch of the Italian coast. He brings along his teenage daughter Penelope (Dakota Johnson) in an ill conceived attempt at bonding or possibly to lure Paul away from an adoring Lane. What follows is a brilliantly tense game of divided loyalties, uncontrollable passions and destructive self-interest— a game which one suspects can only end badly! ($32.95, region 2)
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse
Francis Ford Coppola began to film Apocalypse Now in February 1976. After 238 days in the jungle, filming was complete and millions of dollars had been spent (Marlon Brando was on set for three weeks at a million dollars a week). Actors had been replaced (Harvey Keitel by Martin Sheen—who proceeded to have a heart attack). They had all gone a bit insane (according to Coppola) and the whole thing was documented on film by his wife, Eleanor. ($21.95, region 2)
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Full of good ideas, deep thoughts and drafts for masterpieces
Under Milk Wood: Dir. Pip Broughton ($39.95, region 2)
Michael Sheen, Tom Jones & Ioan Gruffudd star in this BBC adaptation of Dylan Thomas’s radio play. The plot reveals the innermost thoughts of the residents of the little, Welsh fishing village Llareggub as it delves into the dreams of various townspeople including blind sailor Captain Cat (Jones), who is haunted by visions of drowned shipmates, Mog Edwards & Myfanwy Price (Gruffudd & Kimberley Nixon), who dream of each other, and Mrs Ogmore Pritchard (Charlotte Church), who dreams of her former husbands. The cast also includes Matthew Rhys, John Rhys-Davies, Jonathan Pryce, Katherine Jenkins & Siân Phillips.
The Disappearance
Francois-Xavier Demaison plays Bertrand Molina, a detective sent to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a young teenager at a music festival in Lyon. With the grieving family pressing for answers, it’s not long before Molina uncovers a number of shocking secrets which could push them to breaking point. A very highly strung French version of The Missing—this time with a head strong teenage girl as victim. Gripping—I only managed to guess who did it only in 2nd last episode. ($42.95, region 2)
Winton's Paw Prints
I’ve just finished binge-reading Clive James’ new book, Play All ($35.95). Like the high-end (and less so) ‘box set’ series James writes about in this collection of essays, his deep trove of both literary and cinematic references and the stream of consciousness connective pleasure in his age-old, oil-burning TV, VHS habit that the dealers have re-upped with some great new stuff ... the credentialed TV epic, niftily slotted into a folding sleeve, amplifying a long-term addiction into a form of brainscrambling suicide, warrant an immediate re-read. For example he explains his use of the now standard neologism ‘box set’ as opposed ‘boxed set’ by referring to Jonathan Swift’s horror at the 18th century barbaric use of ‘idolatry’ instead of the etymologically correct ‘idololatry’. Or that Sartre’s Being and Nothingness could be anagrammatically Binge and Nothingness. So he’s keeping up his monumental ‘latest’ reading despite the time consuming effort of box set viewing, and re-viewing. James wrote a regular weekly column about TV for the London Observer between 1972 and 1982 at the end of which he signed off with a confident prediction that although the American production centres, having fed their shows to the networks, might go on picking up secondary earnings by flooding the world with stuff priced low because it had already made a profit in the home market, the droll sarcasm of the desk sergeant Phil Esterhaus in Hill Street Blues would be about as clever as their effort would ever get. Seriousness, sophistication, and the thrill of creativity could be supplied only by the older, wiser, more mature nations. He is charming about the depth of his wrongness comparing the rise of the cable shows to what the Americans had done in WW2, for which, at the beginning, they had very little military equipment, and the end, after only a few short years they were building a new aircraft carrier every fortnight and had developed the B-29 pressurized high-altitude bomber, not to mention the atomic bomb. None of that had been predictable either, but the thought did not console me when, at the millennium, I looked back on my confident pronouncements of the early 1980s and lashed myself for having so completely failed to guess what might happen to the American television output later on. It was a punishing example of what ought to be a critical rule: if you can’t quell your urge to make predictions, don’t make them about the future. In recovery from his cancer treatments, James did most of his viewing with his younger daughter, Lucinda. Their viewing was pretty moderate—5 episodes on Sunday night, not the lone hallucinatory 24 hour whole season/series gulp when you wake from troubled dreams haunted by the homepage music loop and have to figure out where you nodded off. So there’s a comradely conversational style to his critiques of shows from NYPD Blue and The Sopranos to Game of Thrones—like you’ve joined him & Lucinda on the couch. Unfortunately James has a set against zombies, which is a shame as I would have liked his take on The Walking Dead—he’s at his funniest when putting the boot in. Stockard Channing, and Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston cop some good one-liners. After a second reading, and following up all the references in Play All, I’ve decided it’s time to turn off the TV, open up James’ literary criticism in Latest Readings, and embark on a directed reading project. As stimulating as they can be, I think I may have spent enough of my lives on the ‘box set’. Winton
what we're reading
John: I really enjoy William Boyd’s books. Any Human Heart ($22.95) published about 15 years ago is one of my favourite books (admittedly I have a long list of favourites.) Sweet Caress ($18), his latest novel follows the model of Any Human Heart in being a fictional memoir. We follow the life of Amory Clay from 1908 to the late 1970s. Her life is framed by her work as a photographer and three wars, WW1, WW2 & Vietnam, and Boyd deftly makes her life both ordinary and extraordinary. Sweet Caress is a new favourite to ad to the list.
Andrew: I’m reading The North Water by Ian McGuire ($33) which has been flying out the door at our Glebe shop owing to a marvellous confluence of publicity leg-ups; effusive praise on the ABC’s Book Club, positive reviews from Colm Tóibín and Hilary Mantel, and a place on this year’s Booker longlist. I will admit my heart sank when I began this book. Set as it is, in Victorian England, it has an opening chapter full of scene-setting clichés; all that piss and prostitute stuff. I thought I had wandered onto the storyboard of a remake of Oliver. It is also written in the present tense (a pet grievance of mine unless you have the finesse of someone like Mantel herself). But... It’s actually marvellous. It shook off its clichés within pages, and has me hooked. Set on a whaling ship in the icy Arctic, with a pair of unsettlingly flawed and engaging protagonists it is a pageturning thiller, with a dark sexual undercurrent. I don’t reckon it is high literature, but it has me gripped. And it is not going to finish well for somebody.
Viki: Think of the long trip home./ Should we have stayed at home and thought of here?/ Where should we be today? ... Continent, city, country, society:/ the choice is never wide and never free./ And here, or there ... No. Should we have stayed at home,/ wherever that may be? Andrew Solomon quotes Elizabeth Bishop at the head of his new (and hefty) collection of essays Far and Away: Reporting from the Brink of Change—Seven Continents, Twenty-Five Years ($35). When he was 7 Solomon’s father told him about the Holocaust. When he posed the question,‘Why didn’t those Jews just leave when things got bad?’, his father answered that ‘They had nowhere to go’. From that moment on Solomon decided he would always have somewhere to go—’If genocide ever threatened midtown Manhattan, I would be all set to gather up my passport and head for some place where they’d be glad to have me’. This, married to a pre-gay sense of difference that manifested itself in a youthful Anglophobia, and a mother who loved travel and made sure the kids were well read on the culture and history of their destination, created a man with seriously itchy feet. It is amazing how Solomon has managed to write all those weighty award-winning books like Far From the Tree and The Noonday Demon given the places he’s been and the adventures he’s had. This book collects articles he’s written over 25 years, reporting from the frontlines of political and cultural change all over the world. At 500 pages, it’s the perfect bedside book to take your time with.
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gleaner is a publication of Gleebooks Pty. Ltd. 49 & 191 Glebe Point Rd, (P.O. Box 486 Glebe NSW 2037 Ph: (02) 9660 2333 Fax: (02) 9660 3597 books@gleebooks.com.au
Editor & desktop publisher Viki Dun vikid@gleebooks.com.au Printed by Access Print Solutions
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The gleebooks gleaner is published monthly from February to November with contributions by staff, invited readers & writers. ISSSN: 1325 - 9288 Feedback & book reviews are welcome
Registered by Australia Post Print Post Approved
Bestsellers—Non-Fiction 1. Ghost Empire
2. Reflections of Elephants 3. Chaser’s Australia
Richard Fidler Bobby-Jo Clow The Chaser Team
4. The Poet’s Voice in the Making of Mind
Russell Meares
5. Dark Emu, Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?
Bruce Pascoe
6. The Art of Time Travel: Historians & Their Craft
Tom Griffiths
7. The Silk Roads: A New History of the World
Peter Frankopan
8. Planet Jackson: Power, Greed & Unions
Brad Norington
9. Brett Whiteley: Art, Life & the Other Thing
Ashleigh Wilson
10. The Genius of Birds
Jennifer Ackerman
Bestsellers—Fiction 1. Truly Madly Guilty 2. Maggie’s Kitchen
Liane Moriarty Caroline Beecham
3. On Becoming Good Enough: Stories From Both
Sides of the Couch
4. Barkskins
Gay McKinley Annie Proulx
5. My Brilliant Friend: 1 Neapolitan Novels
Elena Ferrante
6. The Last Painting of Sara de Vos
Dominic Smith
7. Barbed Wire & Cherry Blossoms
Anita Heiss
8. The Dry 9. When the Music’s Over 10. The North Water
Jane Harper Peter Robinson
and another thing.....
Christmas is already looming and the big books are starting to surface. I’ve got a couple of proofs of books due for release in the next couple of months. Tom Keneally’s Crimes of the Father—ex-seminarian Keneally’s new fiction interrogates the Catholic Church and its response to the history of child abuse and paedophilia within its ranks. I’ve read the first couple of chapters, and, as a person with no religious background, I’m finding the discussions of changes in the Church from the early 60s on very enlightening. More on that next month. Also out for Christmas will be a book of conversations between Haruki Murakami and conductor Seiji Ozawa about the nature of music and writing—another book perfect for a daily dip. Meanwhile this month, I have such a long list from the crime and biography pages I am well set. There’s a new James Lee Burke, and a new Carl Hiaasen (his last few have been a bit disappointing but I hold out hope that this will be a return to the full and perfect Floridian eccentricity I love so well). Louise Penny has a new Gamache in the offing, and I like the look of Darktown by Thomas Mullen. On the biography pages I’m looking forward to Robert Forster’s memoir of his Go-Betweens writing partnership with Grant McLennan, and John le Carré’s memoir (both at Gleebooks special prices). Art Spiegelman’s daughter Nadja has written a book about her relationship with her mother, New Yorker editor Françoise Mouly that sounds intriguing, as does fellow New Yorker, iO Tillett Wright’s genderbending memoir from the Lower East Side. Please drop in for cake and treasure hunts and competitions on Roald Dahl’s 100th—Tue 13 after school at Blackheath, Sat 17 at Dulwich Hill & Glebe. And don’t forget to donate to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation—on September 7th, or any other day or week or month of the year. Viki
For more September new releases go to:
Ian McGuire
Main shop—49 Glebe Pt Rd; Ph: (02) 9660 2333, Fax: (02) 9660 3597. Open 7 days, 9am to 9m Thur–Sat; 9am to 7pm Sun–Wed Gleebooks 2nd Hand—191 Glebe Pt Rd; Ph: (02) 9552 2526. Open 7 days, 10am to 7pm Sydney Theatre Shop—22 Hickson Rd Walsh Bay; Open two hours before and until after every performance Blackheath—Shop 1 Collier’s Arcade, Govetts Leap Rd; Ph: (02) 4787 6340. Open 7 days, 9am to 6pm Dulwich Hill—536 Marrickville Rd Dulwich Hill; Ph: (02) 8080 0098. Open 7 days, 9am to 7pm, Sunday 9 to 5 www.gleebooks.com.au. Email: books@gleebooks.com.au; oldbooks@gleebooks.com.au
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