gleebooks
Issue 3 Volume 29 June 2022
gleaner
Hot Cocoa Companions New releases to keep you cozy this winter
From David’s Desk We’re halfway through the year, and we hope you find plenty of incentive to read and discover some treasures in this winter-warming Gleaner issue. We’re taking a collective breath after our engagement with the very successful 2022 Sydney Writers’ Festival. From a bookseller’s viewpoint, it’s a wonderful validation of the engagement of writers of all genres with their public. And with inventive and wise programing, there is ample opportunity to see and hear those writers, in conversation, or panels, or debate, in many different formats. I’ve probably said this in previous years, but it’s very heartening to see what a rich and compelling program was on offer, with only a handful of international guests. A reminder of just how robust and healthy the Australian writing scene is, and hopefully the new Federal Government recognises same. It’s also noteworthy that, overwhelmingly, children’s books dominated the bestsellers, perhaps the healthiest sign of all. As I mentioned in the last issue, we’re expecting plenty of changes in and to our Glebe shop (including a temporary relocation) as a major renovation commences in the second half of the year. But expect our lively events program, e-newsletters and Gleaners, to continue with customary enthusiasm. And of course, many personalised reviews and recommendations. Here’s a couple of mine:
Index Australian Literature International Literature Biography & Memoir Crime Fiction Essays & Criticism Food, Health & Garden Science & Environment
p. 3 p. 4 p. 7 p. 8 p. 9 p. 10 p. 11
Horse, is Geraldine Brooks’ welcome return to historical fiction, as per March, a perceptive, yet hard-edged exploration of what it might mean to be black in mid 19th and contemporary America. Chronologically leaping across the time frames and two centuries, Brooks’ narrative is threaded around the impact America’s most famous racehorse, Lexington has on the lives and relationships of several black men, most particularly Jarrett his enslaved trainer. It’s an ambitious novel, and Brooks’ adeptness in weaving meaningful research around art and science, adds heft and depth to the story
Australian Studies
Philosophy & Culture Studies
p. 14
Douglas Stuart swept readers up with the blazing beauty of his writing in Shuggie Bain. Amazingly, his second novel Young Mungo, set pretty much in the same time and place (the grinding poverty of the “schemes” of late 20th century Glasgow) achieves more. Again the central charatcer a sensitve, gay teenage boy, again with an alcoholic mother and complicated siblings. But the dual narrative and scope of Young Mungo makes for a richer, deeper, more sentimental story.
Self-help & Psychology
p. 15
Kids
p. 16
Teen Fiction & YA
p. 18
Dirt Creek is Hayley Scrivenor’s debut fiction and it’s very, very good. Not so much “rural/ruro” as “small town” crime, it’s tightly plotted, has a sure and convincing sense of place, and deftly interweaves a complex set of characters. The town’s children act as a kind of chorus, or commentary, on the action-a superb device in a very impressive novel.
Performing Arts & Poetry
Finally, I recommended Chloe Hooper’s Bedtime Story in our last Gleaner. Two months on, I can’t help but feel it might be the best non-fiction I read this year. Such is its beauty and resonance. Wise and enriching. Until next time, David
History & Politics
Art & Photography Events
p. 12 p. 13
p. 19 p. 21 p. 22
Specials
p. 24
What We’re Reading
p. 26
Highly Recommended Australian Literature
Dirt Town
p. 3
Hayley Scrivenor
Pan Macmillan
$33.00
On a sweltering Friday afternoon in Durton, best friends Ronnie and Esther leave school together. Esther never makes it home, but Ronnie’s going to find her, she has a plan. Character-rich and propulsive, with a breathtakingly original use of voice and revolving points of view. In this stunning debut, Hayley Scrivenor shows us how much each person matters in a community that is at once falling apart and coming together.
The Coast
The Eulogy
Jackie Bailey
Hardie Grant $33.00
Eleanor Limprecht
Allen & Unwin
$33.00
Alice is only nine years old in 1910 when she is sent to the feared Coast Hospital lazaret at Little Bay in Sydney, to visit her mother. Once there, Alice learns her mother is suffering from leprosy and that she has the same disease. The secluded refuge then becomes her entire world until she finds an unusual friendship in a Yuwaalaraay man. A stunning novel of love and courage
One Punch Julie Fison
Affirm Press $33.00
The Secret World of Connie Starr
HarperCollins
$33.00
Sally Piper
Uni of Queensland Press $33.00
Geraldine Brooks
Matthew Spencer
Allen & Unwin
$33.00
Sixteen years have passed, yet Billie clings on to the memories of her murdered daughter like a life raft. Daniel was only a toddler when his mother was killed but he knows he has to move on for a chance at a better future. Deeply human, evocative, and beautifully written, this novel explores themes of trauma, human connection and the ripples of violence on victims and survivors.
Horse
Black River A long, burning summer in Sydney. A young woman found murdered in the deserted grounds of an elite boarding school. A serial killer preying on victims along the banks of the Parramatta River. A city on edge. Sharply plotted and relentlessly paced, it will keep you guessing until the last page.
Yasmin Weston is on holiday when she learns that her son Daniel has been assaulted at home leaving him with a debilitating brain injury. Evie MacIntyre dislikes Daniel because he bullied her son, Brody. When Evie discovers evidence that Brody was involved in the attack, she is torn but decides there is no way she will let Brody go to jail. One catastrophic night and a punch that changes two families forever.
Bone Memories
Robbi Neal
After Connie Starr was born there was more chaos in the world than before she arrived and it wouldn’t leave until Connie did. Connie sees the world for what it is - a swirling mass of beauty and darkness, of trauma and family, of love and war and truth and lies. This ambitious, complex and insightful novel intertwines numerous stories of lives from before World War II and beyond, recreating with intimacy and breadth a world that is now lost to us.
Kathy is running from her tumultuous life in Sydney to plan her sister Annie’s funeral with her five surviving siblings that she hardly speaks to. In writing her sister Annie’s eulogy, Kathy reflects on the complexities that shaped their family and their identities. A literary page-turner from a bold new Australian voice.
Hachette $40.00
A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history. Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.
p. 4 5
Bloomsbury
$30.00
International Literature The Perfect Golden Circle
Keeping In Touch
Benjamin Myers
Anjali Joseph
Over the course of a burning hot summer, two very different men traverse the fields of rural England in secret, forming crop circles in elaborate and mysterious patterns. As their designs grow ever more ambitious, the two men find that their work has become a cult international sensation and that an unlikely and beautiful friendship has taken root.
Meet Ved, a British investor heading back to his Indian roots with a business proposition. Meet Keteki, an art curator with a nomadic lifestyle on her way back home. Their paths cross in Heathrow airport, sparking an affair that soon turns into an intricate power game — and a complicated journey towards intimacy.
Scribe
$30.00
Nightcrawling
This Time Tomorrow
Leila Mottley
Bloomsbury
$30.00
Random House
$33.00
Kiara Johnson does not know what it is to be a normal seventeen-year-old. She finds herself in the middle of a media storm, possibly exposing the corruption of a police department. Inspired by the true story of a shocking scandal, Nightcrawling is an unforgettable novel about young people navigating the darkest corners of an adult world, told with a humanity that is at once agonising and utterly mesmerising.
Emma Straub
Penguin
$33.00
The People On Platform 5
What Goes Unsaid
Clare Pooley
Emiliano Monge and Frank Wynne
Iona Iverson travels to work by train with the same people, making assumptions, yet never talking to them. Then one morning, Smart-But-Sexist-Surbiton chokes on a grape and Sanjay, a nurse, steps up to help and saves his life. This single event starts a chain reaction and an eclectic group of people with almost nothing in common, soon discover that talking to strangers can be pretty life changing.
Scribe
$35.00
Beth Spencer
Deesha Philyaw
$28.00
The novel follows Jael, Eula and Carlotta as they dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good. With their secret longings, new love, and forbidden affairs, these church ladies are as seductive as they want to be, as vulnerable as they need to be, as unfaithful and unrepentant as they care to be, and as free as they deserve to be.
A fictionalised memoir about three men who are driven to escape the confines of their traditional lives and roles. Delving into the fractured relationships between fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandsons; that disinters the ugly notions of masculinity and machismo that the men carry in a patriarchal culture.
The Age of Fibs
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
Faber
Alice Stern isn’t ready to turn forty. She thought she’d have it figured out by now, and have spent more time with her father Leonard, who is very sick. On the morning of her birthday she wakes up as a sixteen-year-old. She realises she can keep coming back, facing the different consequences of her decisions. With this new found ability, Alice must not lose sight of what she wants most.
Spineless Wonders
$28.00
Memories of football and class, museums, tv families, barbie dolls, and growing up in the age of Fibs bras and the rise and fall of the Whitlam government. The Age of Fibs, crosses boundaries of genre, time, history and desire; meditating on how we create ourselves through culture and stories, and why it matters.
Galatea Madeline Miller
Bloomsbury
$15.00
In Ancient Greece, a skilled marble sculptor has been blessed by a goddess who has given his masterpiece--the most beautiful woman the town has ever seen--the gift of life. Now his wife, he expects Galatea to please him, to be obedience and humility personified. But she has desires of her own, and yearns for independence. An enchanting short story with a bold retelling.
The Making of Her Bernadette Jiwa
Random House
$33.00
In 1966, Joan Quinn felt all her dreams come true when she married Martin Egan. However, the secret of giving up their first daughter for adoption only months before comes back to haunt them three decades later. Her eldest daughter returns in dire need of help. It’s a matter of life and death. And the fragile facade of Joan’s life finally begins to crack.
Counterfeit Kirstin Chen
HarperCollins
$33.00
Ava has always followed the rules and ticked all of life’s boxes. A successful marriage and an adorable toddler, Ava has the picture-perfect life. Until she bumps into her ex-roommate Winnie— once an awkward, now a wealthy and charismatic businesswoman, who asks for a favour. When one favour turns into three, Ava has to decide if she’s ready to risk it all.
Bolla Pajtim Statovci
Faber
$30.00
April 1995. Kosovo is a country on the cusp of a dreadful war. Arsim is twentytwo, newly married, cautious - an Albanian trying to keep his head down and finish his studies in an atmosphere of creeping threat. Until he encounters Milos, a Serb, and begins a life in secret. A story of what happens when passion and history collide - when a relationship, already forbidden and laced with danger, is ripped apart by war and migration, separated by nations and fate.
International Literature Literature p. 5 p. 7
Highly Recomended We Had To Remove This Post Hanna Bervoets
Pan Macmillan, $33.00 Kayleigh takes on the tedious task of moderating content for social media platform. From offensive videos to conspiracy theories, she takes the call on what has to be removed. She is good at her job, and life seems to be pretty great, but soon it becomes clear that the job seems to change the employees, and a dark underside of social media is unveiled.
Ghost Lover Lisa Taddeo
Bloomsbury, $33.00 An anonymous dating service that promises to keep you composed while talking to your crush. Three women competing for the coveted guest of honour title at a political fundraiser. A daughter’s search for her deceased mother’s old flame. Nine riveting short stories that dare you to look away.
You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty Akwaeke Emezi
Faber, $30.00 Feyi is about to be given the opportunity of a lifetime--a dream island holiday. And as the sun goes down on her old life our heroine also might just be ready to open her heart to someone new. The only problem is, she’s falling for the one man she absolutely can’t have.
The Men
Sandra Newman
Granta, $40.00 Jane Pearson is fast asleep when every single person with a Y chromosome including her husband Leo and son Benjamin, vanishes form the face of the earth. A gripping, beautiful and disquieting novel of feminist utopias that interrogates the dream of a perfect society.
The Last God Standing Michael Boatman
Random House, $28.00 When God retires to join the human race, an army of desperate deities declares war over Earth’s vanishing supply of mortal faith. Now, uncomfortably occupying the body and soul of struggling comedian, Lando Cooper, He finds Himself the target of an unholy uprising. In a world without faith, only one deity can be... But what’s the point of being immortal if you can’t take a joke?
On D’ Hill Our new gleaner editor wanted me to write to the theme of cosy reads this month, but as I’ve been laid up with Covid, I’m not up to writing anything much. However, I pounced on the opportunity to present the marvellous range of very cosy reading accessories we have at Dulwich Hill. Our Glebe and Blackheath stores don’t have the space to stock these items so they can be bought direct from Dulwich or can be transferred to your closest branch. - Morgan
Reading Socks - super warm and cosy in either a plain design or cute animal feet for men or women. One size fits all. $29.95
‘Masterful. Australian crime has a new star.’ CHRIS HA MMER
‘A heart-wrenching mystery . . . A stellar debut.’ JANE HARPER
‘You will not be able to put it down.’ HANNAH KENT
Cupcake Socks - finer, smaller, colourful fun. Girls and women $14.95
Tealight holders - they won’t provide enough light to read by but will create a beautiful ambience, $34.95
Tea cups - for your favourite herbal tea $19.95
Love talking about books? Find us online at Pan Macmillan Australia
Anna: The Biography Amy Odell
Atlantic
$35.00
Biography & Memoir
As a child, Anna Wintour was a tomboy with no apparent interest in clothing but, seduced by the miniskirts and bob haircuts of swinging 1960s London, she grew into a fashion-obsessed teenager. From her first job at a fashionable boutique in London to the moment she was crowned editor in chief, journalist Amy Odell has crafted the most revealing portrait of Wintour ever published.
p. 7
gleebooks favourties The Familia Grande Camille Kouchner
Sentence
Daniel Genis
Penguin
$33.00
In 2003 Daniel Genis, the son of a famous Soviet emigre writer, was fresh out of NYU when he faced a serious heroin addiction that led him into debt and ultimately crime. Popularly known as the “Apologetic Bandit”, Daniel was sentenced to twelve years, in which he read 1046 books, took up weightlifting, and worked prison jobs. Written with empathy and wit, this is a powerful memoir of the brutalities of prison and how one man survived them.
Octopus $23.00
Hip Hop & Hymns
The Stories of My Life James Patterson
Random House
How did a boy from small-town New York become one of the world’s most successful writers? The official autobiography of James Patterson, where he tells the story of his life and his journey to becoming a worldrenowned author who continues to captivate readers across the globe.
Penguin $35.00
$35.00
Rebecca Mead
Wendy Davis
$30.00
In 2020, after the longest and most expensive trial in Western Australian history, Bradley Robert Edwards was convicted of two of the Claremont Serial Killings. But before the killings, Edwards violently assaulted a social worker, only to be convicted on common assault for the attack. Begun as way to deal with the resurgence of trauma after Edwards’ arrest, this memoir looks at the pressure on women to minimise and excuse certain behaviours in others, and demonstrates the devastating consequences of not making a fuss.
Atlantic $30.00
Ann-Marie Priest
Ejnar Mikkelsen
$30.00
The harrowing, amazing, and often amusing personal account of two mismatched Arctic explorers, Ejnar Mikkelsen and Over Iversen, who banded together to keep themselves sane on an historic expedition gone horribly wrong. What may have saved them was their refusal to become as desolate as their surroundings.
When Rebecca Mead relocated to London, her birth city, she was fleeing the political situation in America and seeking to expose her son to a wider world. The move raised poignant questions about place: What does it mean to leave the place you have adopted as home and country? And what is the value and cost of uprooting yourself? A moving reflection the complicated nature of home and homeland.
My Tongue Is My Own
Against The Ice
Random House
Mawunyo Gbogbo Following the journey of Mawunyo Gbogbo from an ordinary girl growing up in a sleepy town in NSW to becoming a music and pop culture reporter for Double J and ABC News. Hip Hop & Hymns is a tussle between the search for belonging and ultimately accepting who you are. A heartfelt story about daring greatly and what it can mean to be Black in Australia.
Home/Land
Don’t Make A Fuss
Fremantle Press
Camille Kouchner’s childhood was marked by sun-drenched summers in the south of France, where a vibrant cast of family and friends would gather at their Sanarysur-Mer house. In February 2017, Camille returned to Sanary to bury her mother and is forced to publicly confront the truth. The Familia Grande poignantly explores the dynamic of abuse, and the questions of guilt and shame surrounding it.
La Trobe Uni Press $38.00
A masterful portrait of a major Australian writer, her incandescent poetry and her battles to be heard in a male-dominated literary establishment. This illuminating, moving biography reveals a deeply passionate figure both at odds with her time and deeply of it, and reclaims and celebrates this important Australian writer.
Crime Fiction
p. 8 5
Penguin
$33.00
Orion
$33.00
A Kiss After Dying
An A-List for Death
Ashok Banker
Pamela Hart
Charming and handsome, Ricky Manfredi is living an idyllic playboy life when, out of the blue, he bumps into a shy pretty girl named Hannah, and finds himself irresistibly drawn in. It’s not long before, to the surprise of them both, Ricky and Hannah are falling for each other. Except, Hannah’s not her real name, and murder is only the first stage of her grand plan.
A comedic take on celebrity culture, fandom, senior citizens and archaeology. Shooting for fame could end your career ... and your life. Follow TV researcher Poppy McGowan as she digs deep to uncover the secrets of an a-list family. With her boyfriend Tol, wrongly accused for a murder, Poppy must act fast to clear his name, risking her own safety.
HarperCollins
$30.00
Complicit
The Daughter
Winnie M Li
Liz Webb
Once on the cusp of her big Hollywood deal, Sarah Lai now teaches students about it. There are only two important rules one would need to know about the film industry. Ignore these rules and the whole system will crumble. Stick to the rules and you’ll succeed. A comment here, a closed door there, turning a blind eye to get ahead. But at what cost?
Hannah Davidson has a dementiastricken father, an estranged TV star brother, and a mother whose death opened up hidden fault lines beneath the ordinary surface of their family life. Years later, Hannah is determined to uncover exactly what happened to her mum but discovers that she may not win the dangerous game she’s playing.
Faber Factory
$30.00
The Murders at Fleat House
A Spoonful of Murder
Lucinda Riley
J M Hall
HarperCollins
$30.00
Every Thursday, three retired school teachers have their ‘coffee o’clock’ sessions at the Thirsk Garden Centre café. One fateful week they bump into their ex-colleague, Topsy. By next Thursday, Topsy’s dead. But Liz, Thelma and Pat know there’s more to Topsy’s death than meets the eye – and it’s down to them to prove it.
PanMacillan
$33.00
The sudden death of a pupil in Fleat House at St Stephen’s is a shocking event that the headmaster is very keen to call a tragic accident. But the local police cannot rule out foul play and the case prompts the return of highflying Detective Inspector Jazmine ‘Jazz’ Hunter to the force. However, Fleat House hides secrets darker than even Jazz could ever have imagined.
Killer Reads The Woman in the Library
Hide
Sulari Gentill
Kiersten White
Ultimo Press, $33.00
Random House, $33.00
Hannah Tigone crafts her new thriller, set in the Boston Public Library. In this process, she shares each chapter with her biggest fan Leo, who seems to have an unusual expertise with murder, violence, and motive. Perhaps, he is not all that he seems to be. An unexpectedly twisty literary adventure which shows that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.
The challenge? Spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park and don’t get caught. The prize? Enough money to change everything. Fourteen competitors. Seven days. Everywhere to hide, but nowhere to run. Mack is certain that the odds are in her favour, she’s an expert at hiding, but as the competition gets more sinister she doubts her chances at survival.
Dear Sibyl,
Essays & Criticism
Got a query? Ask sibyl on dearsibyl@gleebooks.com.au and you can stand a chance to win a $50 gleebooks voucher!
Introducing to you, gleebook’s very own, advice columnist, Sibyl-an ancient Greek oracle and fount of wisdom, or simply an ironically-named mouthy millennial? We’ll let you decide. Each month she will recommend books especially tailored to your conundrum, problem or complaint. Consult the oracle, framing your question in less than one hundred words, and Sibyl will choose the book for you. Don’t be shy; Sibyl may not protect your feelings, but will protect your anonymity. Without further delay, take a peek into who has Sibyl chosen to be her victim, umm, advisee this month. Dear Sibyl, I recently took a punt on a new role in federal politics. I not only failed in my bid, but have found myself treated most unfairly by all comers. Why are people so cruel and how can I get my message across to people? K.D. Warringah Dear K D, One doesn’t need to be an oracle to smell hubris and frankly, madam, the stench of it coming off you is quite something! Your grubby leader’s attempt at dog whistle politics was so hamfisted as to be ludicrous. Perhaps get some tips from five inspiring graziers and learn the science behind muster dog behaviour in Muster Dogs by Aticia Grey $35. If you are capable of an introspective moment you could try a forensic examination of the impacts on vulnerable youth when they are sacrificed on the altar of political opportunism and may wish to visit Benjamin Law’s superb Moral Panic 101: Equality, Acceptance and the Safe Schools Scandal $23. Otherwise, just get in the bin, and stay there.
p. 9 Scorched Earth Jonathan Crary
Bloomsbury, $30.00 In this uncompromising essay, Jonathan Crary surveys the obvious but unsayable reality of our ‘digital age’. He dismantles the presumption that social media could be instruments of radical change and contends that the networks and platforms of transnational corporations are intrinsically incompatible with a habitable earth needed to build egalitarian post-capitalist forms of life.
Imagine If...
Ken & Kate Robinson
Penguin, $23.00 Imagination and creativity are at the root of every uniquely human achievement and those achievements have brought us to this present moment. Ken Robinson presents us with a guide for re-imagining education and schools to help our children thrive in the turbulent world they’ve inherited.
Vegan Entanglements Edited by Z. Zane McNeill
Red Wheel/Weiser, $50.00 Scholarly and personal essays on the intersections of the prison-industrial complex, industrial animal agriculture, and capitalism. The contributors to this collection not only dissect and interrogate this relationship between the animal welfare movement and carcerality, surveillance, white supremacy, and capitalism, but offer concrete tactics for activists, nonprofits, and other stakeholders to create a more equitable animal welfare movement based upon abolition and collective liberation.
Happy-Go-Lucky David Sedaris
Hachette, $30.00 David Sedaris once again captures what is most unexpected, hilarious, and poignant about these recent upheavals during the pandemic, personal and public, and expresses in precise language both the misanthropy and desire for connection that drive us all. If we must live in interesting times, there is no one better to chronicle them than the incomparable David Sedaris.
Food, Health & Garden
p. p.10 5
Living Roofs
teNeues $80.00
Ashley Penn A green paradise high above the city’s rooftops is something so many people dream of, including those living in cities and searching for peace and quiet. Whether it’s a communal garden or an exclusive personal and private oasis, a colourful sea of flowers, home-grown vegetables or a pool, there are no limits when it comes to the imagination of amateur gardeners. This book of photographs showcases the most beautiful and varied urban rooftop terraces and exotic garden paradises from all around the world.
Vegan Recipes From France Kristina Arnold
Grub Street
$53.00
The Magnificent Book of Vegetables
The Modern Gardener
Sonya Patel Ellis Welcome to modern matchmaking – for plants! All you need to do is be honest about what you can invest into your plant relationship and voila – The Modern Gardener will suggest the best matched plant partner for you. This comprehensive reference book starts by covering all the best types of plants and planting for every HarperCollins type of environment– you’ll find everything $30.00 you need to know about how to find the perfect plants for you and your lifestyle, and how help them to thrive.
Alice Hart
Allen&Unwin
$60.00
George Monbiot
Eat Weeds
Thames & Hudson $50.00
Penguin
$33.00
Pan Macmillan $35.00
Campaigners, chefs and food writers rail against ‘intensive farming’. But the problem isn’t the adjective. It’s the noun. Regenesis is an exhilarating journey into a new possible future for food, people and the planet. Drawing on the revelatory, rapidly advancing science of soil ecology, Monbiot shows how the hidden biological universe beneath our feet could transform what we eat and how we grow it.
Vegan BBQ Katy Beskow
Girlhood
Maggie Dent The early years of a little girl’s life will shape her future in powerful ways. Maggie Dent, Australia’s queen of commonsense parenting, has investigated the development period from birth to age eight. Drawing on nearly 5,000 survey results, the latest research, and her own extensive experience, Maggie shows us how to help our girls build an emotional and psychological base for life.
The hunger for thoughtful, wholesome and truly delicious vegetarian recipes is only increasing, especially now that we all know that eating more veg is good for our health - and the planet. In this magnificent guide, trained chef and food writer Alice Hart shares over 80 tantalising recipes that not only taste great, but will leave you feeling amazing.
Regenesis
Diego Bonetto Three generations ago it was common practice all over the world to collect this wild food. But with the advent of supermarket culture the knowledge associated with foraging has mostly been lost. Today, we want this knowledge back. There is wild food and medicine available to those who know where to look. This book shows you how to engage with wild food sources, transforming your neighbourhood into an edible adventure.
French food is regional, full of variety and above all designed for enjoyment. But it is also traditionally rich in products of animal origin: meat, butter, cream, eggs and cheese. Vegan Recipes from France translates all the French classics into vegan alternatives. You will discover many easy recipes to make, with simple ingredients.
Hardie Grant
$30.00
From Grilled mango flatbreads, Hassleback squash steaks, and Teriyaki tofu skewers, to Bourbon baked beans, Coconut corn on the cob or kiwi salsa, the recipes are easy to follow, using seasonal and readily available ingredients – proving that you don’t have to grill meat to enjoy a barbecue! Featuring 70 simple, summery recipes to cook, this is a must-have to build your confidence on the grill.
Everybody Hertz
Science & Environment
Richard Mainwaring
Profile Books
$35.00
Strange frequencies are all around us - in fact, there may be no limit to the marvellous power of vibration. So catch a wave with musical adventurer Richard Mainwaring and take a wild ride across the keys of his infinite piano. You’ll discover what strange melodies are hidden in rats’ whiskers and rainbows. And you’ll find out how vibrations good and bad govern more or less everything around you.
The Playbook Jennifer Jacquet
Penguin
$35.00
A biting satire of corporate power— how it works, how it harms us and what we can do about it. The Playbook is an exposé of the extraordinary lengths that corporations will go to in order to deny the scientific facts—whether on climate change, public health risks, worker safety, or anything else — when they don’t suit their agenda.
The Rise & Reign of the Mammals Steve Brusatte
Picador
$35.00
Palaeontologist Steve Brusatte weaves together the history and evolution of our mammal forebears with stories of the scientists whose fieldwork and discoveries underlie our knowledge, both of iconic mammals like the mammoths and sabretoothed tigers of which we have all heard, and of fascinating species that few of us are aware of. In this fascinating and ground-breaking book, he tells their – and our – story.
Life As Told by a Sapiens to a Neanderthal
p. 11 The Illusionist Brain
Jordi Cami & Luis M. Martinez How magicians exploit the natural functioning of our brains to astonish and amaze us. How do magicians make us see the impossible? The Illusionist Brain takes you on an unforgettable journey through the inner workings of the human mind, Princeton Uni revealing how magicians achieve their Press spectacular and seemingly impossible $35.00 effects by interfering with your cognitive processes.
Bitch
Lucy Cooke
Random House $35.00
Fen, Bog and Swamp Annie Proulx
HarperCollins
$30.00
Scribe
$30.00
A sobering look at the degradation of wetlands over centuries and the serious ecological consequences, this is a stunningly important work and a rousing call to action by a writer whose passionate devotion to understanding and preserving the environment is on full and glorious display.
How to Stay Smart in a Smart World
Juan Jose Millas & Juan Luis Arsuaga Juan Jose Millas has always felt like he doesn’t quite fit into human society. Sometimes he wonders if he is even a Homo sapiens at all, or something simpler. So he turns to Juan Luis Arsuaga, one of the world’s leading palaeontologists and a super-smart sapiens, to explain why we are the way we are and where we come from. Millas and Arsuaga invite you on a journey of wonder which unites scientific discovery with the greatest human invention of all- the art of storytelling.
Lucy Cooke looks to the animal kingdom to ask what it means to be female and what can it teach us about its true nature? Mother. Daughter. Ruler. Provider. What does it mean to be female? The female species has never been more scrutinized or politicised. As we search to define our gender, combat prejudice, and celebrate the myriad of femininity.
Gerd Gigerenzer
Penguin
$35.00
Is more data always better? Do algorithms really make better decision than humans? Can we stay in control in an increasingly automated world? Drawing on decades of research into decision making under uncertainty, Gerd Gigerenzer makes a compelling case for the enduring importance of human discernment in an automated world that we are told can and will - replace our efforts.
Reid All About It
Australian Studies
p. p.12 5
The Lucky Laundry Nathan Lynch
HarperCollins
$35.00
In today’s ruthless world of organised crime, the best criminals aren’t foolish enough to steal money out of banks. They wear tailored suits and discreetly slip money into banks. Australia is awash with dirty money that flows through our economy, and seeps into anywhere that value is moved. Financial crime expert Nathan Lynch delves deep inside this hidden world to explain how dark money has infected the lives of ordinary people - and tainted Australian democracy.
Three Sheets To The Wind Adam Courtenay
HarperCollins
$33.00
Calcutta-based Scottish merchants Campbell & Clark dispatched the Sydney Cove to NSW in 1796, hoping to make a fortune. But when the Sydney Cove went down cargo master William Clark and sixteen other crew members were compelled to walk 600 miles to Sydney Town to get help to save the rest of the crew and the precious goods, including 7000 gallons of rum. A rollicking account of a little-known event that changed the course of Australian history.
Happy Together David Walker and Li Yao with Karen Walker
Random House
$35.00
A fresh perspective on the Australia-China relationship told through the lens of memoir, culture and friendship between Li Yao and Australian historian David Walker. Their stories are interwoven, sharing similar themes of beginning a new life on an unfamiliar and difficult land. Their personal histories provide a fascinating and illuminating window into life in China.
Veiled Valour Tom Frame
NewSouth
$50.00
Concluding the day before the Brereton report’s public release, Veiled Valour explores the background to the allegations – the gradual demise of the Afghan state and society, the decision to deploy Special Forces personnel to Central Asia after 2001, the inquiries into apparent mistakes and alleged misconduct, and the shocking hearsay and rumours that led to a formal inquiry.
Unvaxxed Dyani Lewis
Hardie Grant
$23.00
A nuanced, timely look at vaccine hesitancy and how uncertainty and misinformation have influenced the Australian experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. Written by award-winning science journalist Dyani Lewis. Interweaving personal experience and first-hand narratives from those on the frontlines, Unvaxxed plots a sorely needed way forward for Australia in 2022.
For a year, as a fifteen-year-old, I kept a journal listing books I had read during that time. I found it again while cleaning up during the last lockdown. When I say “journal”, I mean a sewn 112-page Collins Landseer Exercise Book. (Remember them?) covered in contact selfadhesive clear plastic (Remember that?) and embellished with my name and school grade in Dymo green plastic embossing tape (Remember THAT?) Looking through it once more – five decades later – I was a little surprised at how much spare-time reading I managed on top of all the required school texts. Most books in my journal are non-fiction – I suspect to balance out the school novels, but I was already reading a wide range of books that I thought would be interesting and from which I could perhaps learn something. Some of the titles were: Erich von Daniken – Chariots of the Gods (1968) Pb. $19.99. In 1972 our science class was herded into the school hall to watch the West German documentary film of the same name. Based von Daniken’s book that proposed extra-terrestrials had arrived on earth and aided human evolution and progress. My paperback edition cover had the subtitle “Was God an Astronaut?” I was keen to see the movie because of an interest in archaeology and I had also begun studying German. Rewatching it recently on YouTube, I was impressed at how well made it was. An evocative, otherworldly soundtrack. Partly a colour travelogue over several continents. Examining numerous “mysterious” archaeological sites, artworks, texts, sculptures. With the narrator repetitively explaining, “What other explanation for these mysteries can there possibly be?” At the end of the screening, our science class voted 20 to 10 in favour of alien assistance. I voted no. Even at fifteen – though I was quite willing to believe in UFOs – I thought “We humans are smarter than this. We know how to build the pyramids etc.” Albert Speer – Inside the Third Reich (1969) Pb. $ 32.99. The memoirs of Albert Speer (1905-1981), Hitler’s chief architect and later Minister of Armaments. Fluidly and excitingly ghost -written by noted journalist Joachim Fest, they presented Speer as “The Good Nazi” - an apolitical technocrat who fell prey to Hitler’s evil charm. His insider’s view of the workings of the Third Reich and the titillating intrigues of Hitler’s inner court made for an international bestseller. This contrived self-portrait, Speer’s historical – and personal – omissions, along with his self-serving mendaciousness, were left to be exposed by others. Henri Charrière – Papillon (1970) Pb. $19.99. Autobiographical account of Henri Charrière (1906-1973) – who took the nickname Papillon (Butterfly). His wrongful conviction for murder in France, life sentence and the fourteen years (19311945) imprisoned in Devils Island at Cayenne in French Guiana – before his escape to Venezuela. Read this in 1973 about the same time the film – starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman - came out. Great book. Good film. - Stephen
Highly Recommended
History & Politics p. 13
Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917-1921 Antony Beevor
Hachette
$55.00
Between 1917 and 1921 a devastating struggle took place in Russia following the collapse of the Tsarist empire. Many regard this savage civil war as the most influential event of the modern era. Antony Beevor, assembles the complete picture in a gripping narrative that conveys the conflict through the eyes of everyone from the worker on the streets of Petrograd to the cavalry officer on the battlefield and the woman doctor in an improvised hospital.
The Politics of Immunity Mark Neocleous
Bloomsbury
$50.00
Engaging four key concepts with enormous cultural weight Cell, Self, System and Sovereignty, Politics of Immunity moves from philosophical biology to intellectual history and from critical theory to psychoanalysis to expose the politics underpinning the way immunity is imagined. The book thus opens into a critique of the violence of security and spells out immunity’s tendency towards selfdestruction and death.
Talking About A Revolution Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Random House
$35.00
With her trademark optimism, sass, boldness and search for answers, across a collection of new and revisited essays, Yassmin AbdelMagied explores resistance, transformation, and revolution. In all these essays, written with the passion, lived-experience and intelligence of someone who wants to improve our world, the concept of revolution, however big or small, is ever-present.
The Habsburgs Martyn Rady
Penguin
$23.00
Martyn Rady tells the epic story of a dynasty and the world it built - and then lost - over nearly a millennium. With its seemingly disorganized mass of territories, its tangle of laws and its medley of languages, the Habsburg Empire has always appeared haphazard and incomplete. But here Martyn Rady shows the reasons for the family’s incredible endurance, driven by the belief that they were destined to rule the world.
The Greatest Invention
Silvia Ferrara Picador, $50.00
The invention of writing allowed humans to create a record of their lives and to persist past the limits of their lifetimes. This book chronicles an uncharted journey, one filled with past flashes of brilliance, present-day scientific research and the faint, fleeting echo of writing’s future. Professor Silvia Ferrara, a modern-day adventurer who travels the world studying ancient texts, takes us along with her.
Freedom to Think Susie Alegre
Atlantic, $35.00 Part history and part manifesto, this book charts the history and importance of our most basic human right: freedom of thought. Freedom to Think is a groundbreaking and vital charter for taking back our humanity and safeguarding our reason.
Come To This Court and Cry Linda Kinstler
Bloomsbury, $30.00 In this major non-fiction debut, Linda Kinstler investigates both her family story and the archives of ten nations to examine what it takes to prove history in our uncertain century. Probing and profound, this title is about the nature of memory and justice when revisionism, ultra-nationalism and denialism make it feel like history is slipping out from under our feet.
Money Men Dan McCrum
Random House, $35.00 The astonishing inside story of Wirecard’s multibillion-dollar fraud, Europe’s biggest new tech darling revealed as a house of cards. Uncovering fake bank accounts, fake offices and possibly even a fake death, McCrum offers a searing expose that will finally lay bare the truth. This is the stranger-than-fiction story of how a $30 billion company became a smouldering wreck.
Our Members Be Unlimited Sam Wallman
Scribe, $40.00 How did the idea of unionism arise? Where has it flourished? And what are its challenges in the 21st century? With dynamic and distinctive art style, and writing that’s both thoughtful and down to earth, this graphic novel is an invigorating read to those already engages in the struggle for better working conditions—and a better world.
p.p.145 in w at No orm f B-
Penguin $55.00
Philosophy & Culture Studies The History of Sexuality: Vol 4
Apocalypse Ready
The final, previously unpublished volume of one of the twentieth century’s seminal works. In this fourth and final volume, Foucault turns his attention to early Christianity, exploring how ancient ideas of pleasure were modified into the Christian notion of the ‘flesh’ - a transformation that would define the Western experience of sexuality.
A visual guide that displays an expertly curated compilation of officially published step-by-step guides on how to deal with every kind of disaster imaginable, drawn from government archives all around the world from the 1910s to today. This carefully curated selection reveals differences in public attitudes towards impending catastrophe and showcases the variety of approaches taken by governments in advising their citizens.
Taras Young
Michael Foucault
Thames & Hudson $50.00
Open Secrets
How Words Get Good
The lives of writers are a topic of perennial fascination to readers – and indeed to other writers. And yet the writer at work is often a mythologised figure, distant from the cares of the day. In Open Secrets, Australian writers reflect upon the material conditions that give rise to their writing practice. Bringing together an eclectic and distinctive set of writers, this is a rich and provocative account of contemporary Australian literature.
Once upon a time, a writer had an idea. They wrote it down. But what happened next? Join Rebecca Lee, professional word-improver, as she embarks on the fascinating journey to find out how a book gets from author’s brain to finished copy. She’ll learn the dark arts of ghostwriters, uncover the hidden beauty of typesetting and find out which words end up in books (and why)
Edited by Catriona Menzies-Pike
Giramondo $30.00
Rebecca Lee
Profile $35.00
The Japanese Myths
Timecode of a Face
Joshua Frydman
Ruth Ozeki
Allen&Unwin $20.00
What did your face look like before your parents were born? What is your true self? These are the questions in Ruth Ozeki’s mind as she challenges herself to spend three hours gazing into her own reflection, recording every thought. What follows is a revelatory treatise from the Booker-shortlisted author about how her face has shaped and been shaped by her life.
Thames & Hudson $30.00
A smart and succinct guide to the rich tradition of Japanese mythology, from the earliest recorded legends of Izanagi and Izanami, their divine offspring and the creation of Japan, to medieval tales of vengeful ghosts, through to the modern-day reincarnation of ancient deities as the heroes of mecha anime. The perfect introduction to the world of Japanese myth and legend.
Highly Recommended Intact
Daughters of Durga
Penguin, $45.00
Manjula Datta O’Connor Melbourne Uni Pb, $35.00
The pressure to change our bodies is overwhelming. We strive to defy ageing, build our biceps, cure our disabilities, conceal our quirks. In this thoughtprovoking, original work, acclaimed political philosopher Clare Chambers argues that the unmodified body is a key political principle. Through a clearsighted analysis of the power dynamics that structure our society, this book offers a bold, transformative vision of the human body that is equal without expectation.
In the early 2010s a spate of domestic violence-related murders in the Victorian Indian community compelled psychiatrist Manjula Datta O’Connor to investigate the causes of patriarchal abuse in South Asian families. The most powerful lessons came from those she met through her practice - survivors of transnational abuse and of sexual and dowry exploitation. These are the daughters of the goddess Durga, wielding the tools of history to produce meaningful change.
Clare Chambers
The Wilder Aisles
Self-Help & Psychology p. 15
Good Intentions by Kasim Ali has caught my attention this month. I found it to be a difficult read as I identified with Nur, the Pakistani college student, in love with Yasmina, who is Sudanese. Nur and Yasmina have been together for four years, but while Nur was introduced to Yasmina’s family at the beginning of their relationship, Nur has never told his parents about Yasmina. After pressure from Yasmina, Nur determines he will tell his parents at midnight on New Year’s Eve. For almost his whole life, Nur has hidden his real life from his parents and his friends. But before meeting Yasmina, Nur was insecure and troubled, not knowing what he wanted from life. He meets Yasmina at a party, and they quickly realise that they are in love. This is when all of his self-doubts and insecurities emerge.
Unstuck
Lia Garvin
Media Lab Books $35.00
What My Bones Know
Nur’s self-talk is all negative and self- destructive. When he and Yasmina move in together he realises that the ability to live a proper life with the woman he loved was not open to him. In trying to be the good son that his parents ask him to be, and the good boyfriend that Yasmina needs him to be, everything that is important to him is put to the test. I really felt for Nur and his mental stress. I have been there and it is not a good place. It asks the question what is in some of us that makes us like this, churning every thought over and over, getting more confused and by that, losing the ability to make the right decision. A lovely, but challenging book, it took me a while to stop thinking about it, and to me that is a sign of a very good novel. Highly recommended. Another book to challenge you, is No Land to Light On by Yara Zgheib. The story Sami and Hadi is the story of many refugees. Landing in Boston, Sami a student and Hadi as a refugee, they are living the life they thought they would never have. Sami is pregnant, they are building a home and future together with the son that Sami and Hadi are looking forward to arriving. Then their peaceful, happy life is torn apart when Hadi is called home by the death of his father. Things don’t go well for Hadi as he is arrested and detained at the airport. Things are not good for Sami as she is on her own, worrying where Hadi is, as he promised he would be back in a few days. Although it is written as a novel, I feel is true in its depiction of what it is like for so many refugees in the land of the free. Read it. It is an important book for our sad and difficult times.
Frustrated? Burned out? Stuck? It’s time to reframe. Unstuck shows women how to harness the power of perspectives to reenvision and reinvent their approach to work, and well, life, to achieve more, stress less and overcome the barriers that stand in their way. With a fresh, no-holds-barred approach, Lia Garvin provides you with the tools you need to nail the technique of reframing and helping you transform into a whole new person.
Stephanie Foo
Murdoch Books $33.00
In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don’t move on from trauma - but you can learn to move with it.
This Is How Your Marriage Ends
Matthew Fray
Profile Books $33.00
Good people can be bad partners. This book offers immediately actionable advice to help readers identify toxic behaviour patterns in their own lives, and break them out of the cycles dysfunction that ruin relationships. A thoughtful, down-toearth, contemporary guide to help you address relationship-killing behaviour and change it for good.
That Little Voice In Your Head
Mo Gawdat
Pan Macmillan $35.00
The practical guide to retraining your brain for optimal joy by Mo Gawdat, the internationally bestselling author of Solve for Happy. Mo reveals how by beating negative self-talk, we can change our thought processes, turning our greed into generosity, our apathy into compassion and investing in our own happiness. This book provides readers with exercises to help reshape their mental processes.
Kids
p. 16
What Are You Doing Today Mother Nature?
Tasmanian Devil
Claire Saxby & Max Hamilton
Walker, $27.00
An engaging addition to the Nature Storybooks series, Tasmanian Devil showcases different elements of the habitat, behaviours, and day to day life of one of Australia’s most famous marsupials.
Check out more events on page 22! For further details on all kids events, visit our website: www.gleebooks.com.au
Board Books Ages 0 - 2
Lucy Brownridge & Margeaux Samson Abadie
Quarto, $40.00
This exquisitely illustrated treasury of narrative non fiction stories about the natural world, organised season by season and around the world, shows children the infinite beauty and variety of nature in every part of the planet.
Kids’ Non Fiction Ages 5+
June 11th is going to be a busy day for our year 3/4 book clubbers as Gabrielle Wang will be launching Zadie Ma and The Dog Who Chased The Moon at 2 P.M. At 3:30 P.M., Sarah Armstrong will be welcomed by our year 5/6 and we’ll be talking about her new book Big Magic! Oh and did we mention there will be popcorn, cheezels and marshmallows invovled! See you there!
All The Colours of Our Rainbow Daniel Gray-Barnett
All events are free but bookings are mandatory. To book a spot or for more details, contact rachel@gleebooks.com.au
Affirm Press, $20.00 March through the rainbow in this glorious celebration of pride! With cheerful and uplifting illustrations and colourful ribbons throughout, this is the perfect introduction to the colours of the rainbow pride flag.
Graphic Novels
Remarkably Ruby Terri Libenson
HarperCollins, $18.00
This is a story about how there’s more to everyone than meets the eye. Ruby and Mia are total opposites. While Mia is type A and popular(ish), Ruby is a little awkward, and loves to write poetry. They used to be friends, but now they have nothing in common anymore…or do they? (8+)
Cranky Chicken: Party Animals Katherine Battersby
Lothian Children’s Books, $15.00 Cranky Chicken is super hungry and the crank-O-meter is on high. What can Speedy the worm do to help? How about ... a yummy snack? A day at the beach? An unsurprising party? It’s party time for Cranky and Speedy, two Best Feathered Friends! (6+)
Picture Books Ages 2- 5
Children’s Fiction Ages 8- 12
Let’s Do Everything & Nothing
The Breakfast Club Adventures
St Martins Press, $27.00
PanMac Kids, $17.00
A lush and lyrical debut picture book about the marvels—big and small—of childhood. Standing side by side with someone you love, the unimaginable can seem achievable. Simply being together is the best journey of all.
When twelve-year-old Marcus kicks his favourite football over the school fence, he knows he’s never getting it back. He is then pulled into an exciting club to solve the mystery and have an adventure of a lifetime!
People Are Wild
Ellie Makes Her Move
Random House, $28.00
Random House, $13.00
Julia Kuo
Margaux Meganck
An inviting read that turns the table and asks what animals think of us. We may not always see eye to eye, but the more we understand each other, the better we’re able to live in harmony.
Some Questions About Trees Tony Yuly
Atheneum, $27.00 An utterly charming picture book that celebrates a child’s sense of curiosity about the world with playful yet thoughtful questions about trees. Follow along as a lively little girl explores the natural world, asking questions big and small.
Open Your Heart to Country Jasmine Seymour
Magabala $25.00 A moving account of reconnection to Country from a First Nations perspective. Sharing the nourishing power of returning home and being immersed in the language of Country, this picture book invites readers to reflect on the importance of place, not only for First Nations peoples but for everyone.
The Music In Me Sophy Henn
Simon&Schuster, $25.00 Have you ever stopped to think about all the different kinds of music that make you, you? Maybe, some days, you can’t find your rhythm, and then on other days your music will come together and you’ll march to the beat of your own drum. This reassuring, playful picture book is the perfect way to get to know all kinds of emotions!
Marcus Rashford
Marilyn Kaye
A magical spyglass reveals secrets that will bring four girls together in this new series. A story filled with light magic and heart in this first book in the Spyglass Sisterhood series. Each girl will take a turn at the spyglass, confronting fears and sticking up for her peers.
The Bravest Word Kate Foster
Walker, $18.00 When eleven-year-old Matt finds Cliff, a hurt, neglected dog abandoned in the bush, he knows the brave little pup needs saving. He wants to help. But can he? Lately, Matt has had way more bad days than good days and he’s afraid to share what’s going on with anyone. Maybe it’s not only Cliff who needs saving.
The Lost Ryu
Emi Watanabe Cohen
Allen & Unwin, $17.00 A heartwarming tale set in Japan about a grandfather and his grandson, who will do whatever it takes bring a smile on his Ojiisan’s face, before it’s too late. Packed with bravery, adventures, and dragons big and small.
Cress Watercress Gregory Maguire
Walker, $30.00 When Papa doesn’t return from a nocturnal honey-gathering expedition, Cress holds out hope, but her mother assumes the worst. It’s a dangerous world for rabbits, after all. Mama moves what’s left of the Watercress family to the basement unit of the Broken Arms. Can a dead tree full of annoying neighbours, ever be home?
Teen Fiction & YA
p. p.18 5 The Agathas
Kathleen Glasgow & Liz Lawson
HarperCollins $20.00
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re ve co ! s i m d Un ge
Last summer, Alice Ogilvie’s basketballstar boyfriend, Steve, dumped her. Then she disappeared for five days. Now, another one of Steve’s girlfriends Brooke, has vanished with no signs of coming back. Luckily, Alice has exactly what they need to crack the case — the complete works of Agatha Christie. If there’s anyone who can teach the girls how to solve a mystery, it’s the master herself. (14+)
Megan Whalen Turner
Hachette $20.00
My Spare Heart
Rinn Olivera is finally going to confess to her longtime crush AJ. Daniella Korres writes poetry for her own account, secretly. Imogen Azar is just trying to make it through the day. When Rinn, Daniella, and Imogen clock into work at Wild Nights Bookstore they’re expecting the hours to drift by the way they always do. Instead, they have to deal with the news that the bookstore is closing. (14+)
Seventeen-year-old Phoebe’s life is turned upside down when she moves from the city to the country to live with her dad in this powerful and uplifting story about family breakdowns, facing truths and finding balance. Follow Phoebe as she navigates the mess, chaos and complexities of life with grace. She’s as real, and as complicated, as you are. Her story will move you. (14+)
Jared Thomas
Allen&Unwin $20.00
Museum of Broken Things
What We All Saw
Reece still isn’t used to living in the small beachside town of Hamilton- she misses her old school, her old friends and her old life. But when Reece inherits a strange artefact that belonged to her beloved grandmother, she begins to unravel a mystery that might change the way she feels about everything around her, including her charismatic classmate Gideon. (14+)
Witches only exist in stories. Everyone knows that. But what if the stories are real? Four friends, four truths, one nightmare. If you wander into the wood, if you hear scratching sounds from the Old Quarry, if you go too close to the edge…watch out. (14+)
Lauren Draper
Text PB $20.00
Gen the thief can steal anything - or so he says. Then his boasting lands him in the king’s prison, and his chances of escape look slim. So when the king’s magus invites him on a seemingly impossible quest to steal a legendary object and win back his freedom, Gen in no position to refuse. The magus has plans for his king and his country. Gen has plans of his own. (12+)
This Is All Your Fault Aminah Mae Safi
PanMacmillan $20.00
The Thief
Mike Lucas
Penguin $20.00
bookclubber selections Traitor Amanda McCrina
St Martins Press, $20.00 Tolya is half-Ukrainian, half-Polish, and he joined the Soviet Red Army just to stay alive. When he shoots his political officer in the street, he’s taken in by a squad of insurgent Ukrainians. He doesn’t trust Solovey, the squad’s young war-scarred leader. He doesn’t know just how well Solovey understands the cost of looking out for life over loyalty. Then a betrayal sends both on the run.
Stars in their Eyes
Jessica Walton, Aska (Ill.)
Fremantle Press, $20.00 In this debut graphic novel, pop cultureobsessed Maisie can’t wait to get to her first Fancon. But being a queer, disabled teenager with chronic pain comes with challenges. Can Maisie make it through the day without falling over, falling in love or accidentally inspiring anyone?
gleebooks favourites Performing Arts & Poetry
Through Old Eyes
p. 19
Uncle Wes Marne
Blacktown
$20.00
Published to commemorate the author’s 100th birthday, Through Old Eyes is a tribute to the resilience of Aboriginal people and culture seen through the eyes of a highly respected and renowned Elder and storyteller. Through his poems Uncle Wes invites the reader to join him by the fire as he generously shares his reflections and reminiscences on one hundred years.
The Important Things
The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures Paul Fischer
Faber
$45.00
Audrey Molloy
Gallery Books
$23.00
‘I blame Madonna’ is the arresting opening of one of the poems in Audrey Molloy’s remarkable and distinctive first collection. In an unusual display of different forms the book resounds with echoes of other writers but is the work of a true original. It chronicles the end of a marriage and the discovery of new love and renewed passion. This is a woman’s tale reported in feisty, sensual and beautiful poetry.
The Jaguar Sarah Holland-Batt
Uni of Queensland Press
$25.00
With electrifying boldness and fearlessness of vision, Sarah HollandBatt confronts what it means to be mortal in an astonishing and deeply humane portrait of a father’s Parkinson’s Disease, and a daughter forged by grief. A stunning new collection from one of Australia’s finest poets - her most impressive work yet.
Harvest Lingo
Wild Imperfections Edited By Natalia Molebatsi
Cassava Republic
$30.00
$25.00
An unabashedly feminist and womanist anthology honouring Black women across generations and memories. Featuring the work of Black women poets from Botswana to Brazil, if this collection teaches anything, it is that love is always messy, that our sacrament requires wet wipes and that we are just flesh and bone honing practice.
Reverberations Zhang Meng
Puncher and Wattmann
$25.00
Lionel Fogarty
Giramondo
In 1888 Louis Le Prince shot the world’s first motion picture in Leeds, England. In 1890, weeks before the public unveiling of his camera and projector Le Prince stepped on a train in France - and disappeared without a trace. This book excavates one of the Victorian age’s great unsolved mysteries, and in the process offers a revelatory rewriting of the birth of motion pictures.
Harvest Lingo is the fourteenth collection of poems by Lionel Fogarty, a Murri man with traditional connections to the Yugambeh people from south of Brisbane and the Kudjela people of north Queensland. These poems are bold and fierce, at times challenging and confronting, moved by strong rhythms Palazzo Editions and a remarkable freedom with language.
$35.00
Zhang Meng’s poetry carries with it a strong smell of the River South, with its rural ambience in decline, facing the threat of daily encroachment by an ever expanding Shanghai, his poetry on the side singing a swan song of what was beautiful that is only a shadow of what it was.
The Velvet Underground Chris Roberts Over half a century since they exploded inevitably onto New York’s underground music and art scenes, the legacy and mythology of The Velvet Underground continues to resonate and grow. Chris Roberts has created a small but perfectly formed biography one of the most inscrutable bands ever.
Camping Around Australia 4th Ed. $50
Van-Lifers. $50.00 Anxious Girls Do It Better. $30.00
Hand Luggage Only: Great Britain. $40.00 Collits’ Inn: Uncovering the Past. $55.00
What They Saw: Historical Photobooks by Women, 1843-1999
Art & Photography
Various Authors 10x10 Photobooks, $192.00
p. 21
Most recent “book-on-photobooks” anthology in its ongoing examination of photobook history, explores photobooks created by women from photography’s beginnings to the dawn of the 21st century. Presenting a diverse geographic and ethnic selection, the anthology interprets historical photobooks by women in the broadest sense possible.
Highly Recommended Vivienne Binns
Anneke Jaspers & Hannah Mathews
Hockney’s Eye
Martin Gayford Paul Holberton Pb, $130.00 David Hockney is the best known and most widely admired painter in the world. Throughout his long career, he has insistently explored diverse ways of depicting the visible world, scrutinising the methods of the old masters, and exploring radical departures from their cherished assumptions. This vibrant catalogue reveals in a new way the working of Hockney’s unique eye.
Power Publications $49.00
Designing Modern Japan
Sarah Teasley
Ends of Painting
David Homewood and Paris Lettau Power Publications, $40.00 Contemporary art begins where painting ends, or so goes the myth that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s. In eleven lively essays, this book offers a counterhistory, showing how the practice and discourse of painting remained integral to art throughout those years.
Architecture
Reaktion Books $60.00
Wild Cabins
Martin Caiger-Smith
Rizzoli $108.00
This beautiful and comprehensive monograph, expanded and updated in a new affordably priced edition, examines the entirety of Gormley’s career, from his earliest sketches to his best-known public installations. Illustrated with hundreds of images that explore the scale and impact of Gormley’s work this book is the definitive survey of a monumental career.
Frida Kahlo: Her Universe
Carlos Phillips et al.
Indian Tiles
Arthur Millner Prestel, $175.00 Historic India is celebrated for the richness of its architectural, decorative and fine arts, but its glazed tiles are often overlooked aspect of a culture encompassing the modern nations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Indian tiles is a richly illustrated narrative tracing the development of ceramics and their ancient origins to modern times.
From woodblock prints and porcelains to Hello Kitty, Issey Miyake and the Honda Civic, Japanese design has indelibly marked our everyday life for the past 150 years. This comprehensive history, the first of its kind in English, explains the emergence, development and social, political and economic impact of areas including fashion, graphic, product and automotive design.
Antony Gormley
Anna Minguet Monsa Publications, $50.00 Today’s cabins are for all-season use, making them the delight of hikers and explorers searching for peace of mind. From rustic to “glamping”, cabins offer all sorts of experiences. Clearly, the idea of escaping to remote locations to reconnect with nature has expanded its experiential boundaries, but traditional cabins prevail as timeless structures that sensibly integrate into their surroundings. Anna Minguet explores the principles and designs of sustainable architecture.
Vivienne Binns is an important and singular figure in the history of Australian visual art. Vivienne Binns: On and Through the Surface is the first monograph on the artist’s six-decade career. Edited by Anneke Jaspers and Hannah Mathews, the publication charts the dynamism of Binns’s conceptual and material investigations with an extensive, full-colour plate section.
Prestel $115.00
The iconic Mexican painter as seen through over 300 archival items, from her wardrobe to her personal art collection. This compendium presents the rich diversity of themes, ideas, concepts and emotions generated around two fundamental, iconic figures of modern Mexico: painter Frida Kahlo and her husband, muralist Diego Rivera.
Join leading Australian and international authors, thinkers, and speakers in an engaging discussion of their work. All events take place upstairs at 49 Glebe Point Road.
June Monday
Book launches are free and open to the public. Our Literary Events are $12 & $9 concession (pensioner/student) and free to gleeclub members – though bookings are still required, as popular events do sell out. Weekday events generally commence at 6pm for 6.30pm, and weekend events at 2.30pm for 3pm. Places are unreserved, so arrive a little early if you require a particular seat.
Tuesday
Wednesday
Join us for the Gleebooks Queer Lit Book Club! We get together from 5.30-8.00pm on the first Monday of every month, to discuss the previous month’s title. Entry is free, and book club participants receive 10% off the cost of all book clubs! Seats are limited, so make sure to not miss out!
6 Jun Queer Literature Book Club
13 Jun No Events on Monday
20 Jun No Events on Monday
27 Jun
7 Jun
The Eulogy: 6 for 6:30 with Jackie Bailey
E
14 Jun
1 Jun 12 Rules For Living A Better Life with Bill Crews
2 Jun
E
8 Jun
Meet Professor George Paxinos: A River Divided
15 Jun
E
21 Jun The Jaguar by Sarah Holland-Batt
28 Jun
Purchase of tickets are mandatory for events marked with E.
Sydney-based hangman Robert ‘Nosey Bob’ Howard with Rachel Franks
9 Jun
E
Meet Richard Broinowski: Fact or Fission
No Events on Monday
E
Thursday
22 Jun Rebel Talk with Jane Hutcheon
E
29 Jun Blue Hour by Sarah Schmidt
16 Jun
6 for 6:30 with Suzanna Falkiner: Rose
E
23 Jun Ernest Hunter launches Reef Madness
30 Jun
Inner & Outer Worlds by Gail Jones
Bookings are essential for both free and ticketed events, so we can staff and cater the event appropriately. Phone 02 9660 2333 or book online on our website. An order confirmation will be emailed immediately upon completion of your booking; please bring a copy as proof of your booking, as we do not issue physical tickets. For virtual (zoom events) we send a Zoom link to all registered attendees by late morning on the day of the event.
Friday
Saturday
3 Jun
Sneaky Little Revolutions: Selected Essays of Charmian Clift
4 Jun
E
10 Jun Painting The Light with Ned Manning
11 Jun
E
17 Jun Cackyhander with Richard Cashman
18 Jun
p. 23
Sunday 5 Jun
Schoolgirl Rape & Four Murders with Sri Bhagavadas
12 Jun
> Not Even The Black Sea with Milan Vignevich > Acts of Cruelty with Sr Aileen Crowe
19 Jun
Year 7/8 bookclub featuring The Golden Hour and Stars In Their Eyes from 3:30 P.M.
24 Jun Forgotten Island: Australia, Realism and the Timor Crisis by Bruce J Watson
Events
25 Jun Year 5/6 bookclub featuring Cop and Robber by Tristan Banks from 4 P.M.
26 Jun The Healing Power of Cancer by Rob Prior
Upcoming in July • 1/7 Quit Smoking Launch with Sam Chapman
• 7/7 Sixty-Seven Days event with Yvonne Weldon
• 5/7 Quarterly Essay event with Hugh White
• 10/7 Deborah Bird Rose launches Shimmer
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American Empire: A Global History
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Fentanyl, Inc.
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Fortune’s Many Houses
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The Global Age: Europe 1950-2017
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Slowdown: The End of the Great Acceleration
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Janis: Her Life & Music
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Fall; Or, Dodge in Hell
Europe: A Natural History
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Henry VII: And the Men Who Made Him
France: A Modern History
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Midnight: Three Women at the Hour of Reckoning
The Shapeless Unease
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The Europeans: Three Lives
Foursome
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On Nineteen EightyFour
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Meaty: Essays
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Vermeer and the Masters of Genre Painting
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Mud & Stars
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Schumann: The Faces & Masks
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Orchestra of Minorities
What We’re Reading Jack Reviews Small Things Like These: The kind of novel you didn’t know you were waiting for, had forgotten was still possible to write....but long for when you open a book. After you have read it, you say to yourself, how is it that such a book can exist and cut so deep in only ninety-six pages? Then you immediately re-read it, vowing to tell anyone who will listen that it features a small act of courage you couldn’t begin to describe but leaves you with a profound feeling of hope. Beautiful. Necessary. Lasting.
Anna Reviews The Silence of Scheherazade: This is a book set
in the wake of the First World War. It shows how conflict between Greeks and Turks afflicted individual families and ultimately destroyed a thriving multicultural community. Refugees fled the conflict and some ended up in Australia. It’s a very timely book, given the current global movements of people fleeing war.
Tilda Reviews Sea of Tranquility: A beautiful and
dizzying work of science fiction. Similarly to Mandel’s previous work, ‘Station Eleven’, this novel explores overlapping and intertwined narratives. But while her previous work is quite grounded, Sea of Tranquility expands into space and the very fabric of reality. It is visceral, breathless, deeply sad, but ultimately optimistic. Mandel keeps you clinging to every word as she unfolds the universe around you.
Andy Reviews The Second Cut: Louise Welsh writes really
wonderfully exceptional crime fiction. She has created a gloriously seedy milieu of the Glasgow auction and deceased estate scene ( all gray skies, driving rain, the heavy scent of beeswax and leather, hungover coffees, dank bedsits, pawnshops, standover men, and snuff movies) and an even more gloriously imperfect hero in Rilke, a heavy-drinking, morally imperfect, utterly charming auctioneer.
Scott Reviews Young Mungo: A Jonathon Reviews The Red Arrow: This is a great novel for anyone working on their mental health. It draws on Michael Pollan’s writing on psychedelics and psychology to build a narrative of career derailment, stunted relationships and a hopeful cure that I found really compelling. I found its descriptions of depression quite evocative; Brewer presents the ordinariness of mental dysfunction very well—how it interrupts and intersects with everyday activities so seamlessly and out of nowhere. It’s a hopeful book and hopefully it contributes to an openness to new ways of recovery.
heartbreaking story of one boy’s search for love. Tender, harrowing and utterly compelling.
Jonathon Reviews The Old Woman With The Knife: This is a subtle thriller.
Part meditation on ageing and the changing body, part observation of class in Korean society, and part bloody story of contract killing. Rather than shocking — though still gruesome — the violence is presented matter-of-factly; our 65-yearold assassin describes her work as if she is describing her trips to a local market for sweet seasonal fruits. And there is a question about what passion remains for her: her mentor/ flame is long dead, but a chance encounter with a young doctor lights up something in her. Our contract killer is lovingly constructed, a sweet but bruised fruit, which is the Korean title of the novel: Pagwa. Overall a fun, light read.
Glimpses from the SWF
gleaner
is a publication of Gleebooks Pty. Ltd. 49 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 Akshaya Parthasarathy akshaya@gleebooks.com.au Printed by Access Print Solutions
Print Post Approved 100002224
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
POSTAGE PAID AUSTRALIA
Registered by Australia Post Print Post Approved
Bestsellers—Fiction & Poetry 1.
Dropbear
2.
Love & Virtue
3.
Young Mungo
4.
The Murder Rule
5.
Where The Light Gets In
6.
The Candy House
7.
How To Make A Basket
8.
Sea of Tranquility
9.
Love Stories
10. Song of the Crocodile
Bestsellers at the SWF
Evelyn Araluen
1.
Dropbear
Evelyn Araluen
Diana Reid
2.
The Promise
Damon Galgut
Douglas Stuart
3.
Love Stories
Trent Dalton
Dervla McTiernan
4.
Stolen Focus
Johann Hari
Zoe Coyle
5.
The Uncaged Sky
Jennifer Egan
6.
Orwell’s Roses
Jazz Money
7.
Kylie Moore-Gilbert
How To Lose Friends &
Trent Dalton
8.
Indelible City
Nardi Simpson
9.
Killernova
10. How We Love
1. 2.
The Space Between the Stars How To Lose Friends &
Indira Naidoo Antoinette Lattouf
Influence White People 3.
The Avoidable War
4.
Quarterly Essay 85:
Kevin Rudd Sarah Krasnostein
Not Waving, Drowning 5.
Ten Steps to Nanette
6.
Keeping Them Honest Stephen Charles & Catherine
Hannah Gadsby Williams
7.
Stolen Focus
Johann Hari
8.
The Jane Austen Remedy
Ruth Wilson
9.
Bedtime Story
10. Machines Behaving Badly
Chloe Hooper Toby Walsh
Antoinette Lattouf
Influence White People
Emily St John Mandel
Bestsellers—Non-Fiction
Rebecca Solnit
Louisa Lim Omar Musa Clementine Ford
Bestsellers at the SWF - Kids & Teens 1.
Pawcasso
2.
We Run Tomorrow
Nat Amoore
3.
Secrets of a Schoolyard Millionare
Nat Amoore
4.
Social Queue
5.
The First Scientists
6.
Milo Finds $105
7.
Pie in the Sky
8.
Squidge Dibley Destroys
Remy Lai
Kay Kerr Corey Tutt Matt Stanton Remy Lai Mick Elliot
The School 9.
Funny kid for President
10. My Spare Heart
Matt Stanton Jared Thomas
For more June new releases go to:
Main shop—49 Glebe Pt Rd; Ph: (02) 9660 2333, Fax: (02) 9660 9842. Mon to Sat 9am to 6pm; Sunday 10 to 5 Blackheath—Shop 1 Collier’s Arcade, Govetts Leap Rd; Ph: (02) 4787 6340. Open 7 days, 9am to 5pm Blackheath Oldbooks—Collier’s Arcade, Govetts Leap Rd: Open 7 days, 10am to 5pm Dulwich Hill—536 Marrickville Rd Dulwich Hill; Ph: (02) 9560 0660. Tue-Fri 9am to 6pm; Sat 9am to 5pm; Sun 10 to 4; Mon 9 to 5 www.gleebooks.com.au. Email: books@gleebooks.com.au; oldbooks@gleebooks.com.au