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February's featured books

FICTION

Blood from a Stone

Donna Leon

(LEO)

Guido Brunetti, the protagonist of Donna Leon's brilliant series about crime in high and low places in Venice, Italy, is back in this his 14th investigation.
Illegal immigrants from Senegal, known as vú cumprá because they say ‘vú cumprá?, vú cumprá?’ (‘Do you wanna buy?’) to the tourists, ply their trade in fake designer accessories in the streets of Venice. When one is murdered, in-fighting amongst these workers is the obvious answer, but once Brunetti begins investigating this Venetian underworld, he discovers that matters of great value are at stake within the immigrant society. Leon depicts the city she also clearly loves with such skill the reader can almost hear the watter lapping at the edges of the canals and smell the espresso beans roasting in the crisp cold winter air. In addition to the vivid descriptions, readers can expect an intricate plot and complex characters. Fans new to the series will be wanting to chase up the backlist of titles featuring Brunetti and his colleagues.

Blood is Thicker

In the bayside suburb of St Kilda, a young girl is murdered.  It is no ordinary murder, the method was violent but the killer left her in an almost serene position post mortem.  With no evidence and a trail of young people murdered around the state, Inspector Ryan McAbbey is baffled by the murderer’s choice of victims and apparent randomness of the crimes. Just as you think you have a lead on the murderer and the motive, it changes and keeps you guessing.  With local scenery and down to earth characters, Blood is Thicker creates an enjoyable read with a surprising ending.

Blood Redemption

Alex Palmer

(PAL, CASS PAL, MYSTERY)

The Bookseller of Kabul

Asne Seierstad

(SEI)

In Afghanistan after the American invasion, a journalist from Sweden spends sometime living with a family in Kabul. Although this is fact, the story has been written as fiction, which allows the author to change stories, but gives the reader an idea of the lives and culture of the people at this time. In particular, the life of females and how they have no say in decision-making and are treated as second class compared to those of western world. The wearing of the Burkha and why women are compelled to suffer this is a topic. Women’s relationships, their support for each other and loyalty to their family as well as the constraints on the males are all part of a regime that seems to subdue the rights of the people. The book is written about a family headed by the bookseller Sultan Khan who sells books banned by the Taliban regime. He wishes for a democratic society in some ways but his strict following of the Muslim faith and the strict rules of the Taliban do not seem to match.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

John Boyne

(BOY, YA BOY)

The Bride's Kimono

Sujata Massey

(MAS)

Rei Shimura is US-born but lives & works in Japan as an antiques dealer. She gets the best job of her career; to transport a package of priceless and beautifully embroidered 19th Century kimono from a Japanese museum to an exhibition in Washington. Getting involved in a package group of Japanese office ladies on their US shopping spree turned out to be more risky than planned when one of the ladies goes missing and a kimono is stolen from Rei’s hotel room. Meanwhile Rei’s ex re-emerges to seek her attention and her passport is found on a body found dumped at the shopping mall. This is an absorbing journey as Rei tries to find the culturally significant stolen kimono, and its place in an ancient Japanese love triangle, as well as catch the murderer.
Exciting stuff; for a novel of suspense with a hint of cultural antiquities, try this. 

Chill Factor

Sandra Brown

(BRO)

Coronation Talkies

Susan Kurosawa

(KUR)

This is an amusing book which describes Lydia Rushmore’s Experience in Chalaili, an Indian Hill station during the 1930s. Lydia marries William Rushmore rashly to escape her mundane existence as an English Schoolteacher. William has been given a month by his superiors to return to England and bring back a suitable wife. Life in India is not filled with Indian jungle adventures as Lydia had expected and hoped.

The Rushmore’s lives become entwined with the larger than life Mrs Premila Banerjee who owns the newly refurbished cinema “Coronation Talkies”. Mrs Banerjee is running from her own demons. There are some unexpected twists and Susan Kurosawa writes with a good eye on the more amusing and absurd aspects of life in India during the British Raj.
Although the end of the book is farcical, I recommend it for people who enjoy something a little different with a good adventure and many chuckles along the way.

Cocaine Blues

Kerry Greenwood

(GRE, LP GRE, CD GRE, MYSTERY)

At the end of the 1920s, the Honourable Phryne Fisher is booked into the Windsor Hotel in Melbourne Australia to do some sleuthing on behalf of an English girl’s father. In a matter of moments after arrival, Phryne is embroiled in mystery – poisoned wives, cocaine smuggling rings, corrupt cops and communism.  Her adventure reaches its steamy end in the Turkish baths of Little Lonsdale Street. Having been a Kerry Greenwood fan for quite some time, I was delighted to stumble across what is advertised on the cover as “a scintillating start to the series”.  This story not only introduces the delicious Ms Fisher to Melbourne, but also the other characters that populate the series’ books – Dot the maid, the taxi-driving duo Bert and Cec and Inspector Jack Robinson.  This is Phryne at her best doing what she does best – catching crooks while wearing the latest fashion, driving at breakneck speed in the (now classic) Hispano Suiza, and lighting up a ‘gasper’ after some sensual dalliance.  It’s a rollicking good story, one that should set many a new reader on the trail of the Phryne Fisher series.

Coyote

Allen Steele

(SF/Fantasy)

Coyote is an astonishing discovery, a habitable moon in a solar system 40-odd light years from Earth. A despotic post-US government decides to colonise this precious find and constructs the starship Alabama. The ship is about to launch when it is hijacked by its own crew. Instead of the intended party loyalists it is populated with malcontents and social dissidents who must learn to work together in the struggle to reach and then conquer their prize: Coyote. Vast in scope, passionate in its conviction, and set against a backdrop of completely plausible events, Coyote tells the story of Earth' s first extra-solar colonists, and the mysterious planet that becomes their home.

The Curious incident of the dog in the night-time

Mark Haddon

(YA HAD, HAD, LP HAD)

This multi award winning novel follows Christopher, an autistic teenager who lives his life according to a very strict sequence of rules. He counts different coloured cars on his way to school to determine if the day will be bad or not, he refuses to touch anything in a colour he doesn’t like and dislikes people who speak in metaphors. His ordered life starts to unravel when he discovers his neighbour’s dog dead and decides to find out who killed it. His investigations lead him to discoveries about his past that he never realised and end up in his leaving his sheltered, ordered life in a bid to discover the truth.

Daylight

Elizabeth Knox

(KNO)

Bad is an expert climber and caver and, while on vacation on the French-Italian border, he helps bring a body out of a rocky, wave-swept cove. Curiously, the dead woman bears striking similarities to a young woman he met years ago, shortly before she disappeared in a flooded French cave. Haunted by the strange connection, Bad is compelled to investigate.

While following a series of increasingly eerie leads, Bad learns the story of the Blessed Martine Raimondi, a World War Two resistance heroine and martyred nun. He also meets Eve Moskelute, the beautiful widow of a celebrated French artist; Daniel Octave, a Canadian Jesuit who investigates miracles; and, most surprisingly, Dawn Moskelute, Eve's twin sister, who just may be a vampire.

Daylight is set in one of the most beautiful regions on Earth, with delights such as the unspoilt beauty of the Cinque Terre and the antiquities of Avignon, yet much of the action takes place in a world of caves and secret passages, of hidden cloisters and the rooms behind doors in the vaulted tunnels of medieval streets.

The Dumas Club

Arturo Perez-Reverte

(PER)

Lucas Corso, middle-aged, tired, and cynical, is a book detective, a mercenary hired to hunt down rare editions for wealthy and unscrupulous clients. When a well-known bibliophile is found hanged, leaving behind part of the original manuscript of Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers, Corso is brought in to authenticate the fragment. The task seems straightforward, but the unsuspecting Corso is soon drawn into a swirling plot involving devil worship, occult practices, and swashbuckling derring-do among a cast of characters bearing a suspicious resemblance to those of Dumas's masterpiece. Aided by a mysterious beauty named for a Conan Doyle heroine, Corso travels from Madrid to Toledo to Paris in pursuit of a sinister and seemingly omniscient killer. Perez-Reverte has written a book with more twists and convolutions than a Chinese puzzle, which races along like a runaway freight train, but never careens out of control. Intelligent and endlessly surprising, it is recommended for mystery fans and bibliophiles alike.

Everyman's rules for scientific living

Carrie Tiffany

(TIF)

The “Better Farming Train” chugs through the wheatfields of country Victoria in the 1930s, bringing expert city advice to the farmers. Amongst the swaying cars full of prize cows, pigs and wheat, an unlikely seduction occurs between Robert Pettergree, a man with an unusual taste for soil, and Jean Finnegan, a talented young seamstress with a hunger for knowledge. In an atmosphere of heady scientific idealism they settle in the impoverished Mallee with the ambition of proving that science can transform the land. Eventually drought, depression and war intervene to thwart their now quaint-seeming ideas. The story is sprinkled with impossibly odd details such as a recipe for Spaghetti Beehive and a horse who “no look so good” who turned out to be blind. I particularly liked Miss Pfundt, the librarian, who has five categories of books: Detective, Light Love, Wild West, Children’s and Heavy but no science or anything that isn’t nice. This is a debut novel for Carrie Tiffany. It was short listed for The Miles Franklin Award and is featured in the 20 great novels

The Firefly

P.T. Deutermann

(DEU)

P. T. Deutermann is an Ex US Navy destroyer Captain who writes authentic and stylish thriller novels, usually with a background in navy/military politics and crime. In Firefly, a plastic surgery clinic is burnt out, apparently killing an operating team and patient – but was it accident or arson? Who was the patient and is a terrorist plot to strike in Washington real or just a ‘firefly’? A good read for those who like well written thrillers. (Even better is his previous book ‘Darkside’, about the death of a cadet at Annapolis Naval College). 

The Geographer's Library

Jon Fasman

(FAS)

When a twelfth-century Sicilian burglar snatches a sack of artifacts from the court geographer's library, the tools and talismans of "transmutation" are scattered all over the world. Nine hundred years later, in a sleepy New England town, Paul Tomm, a young reporter investigating the mysterious death of a local professor, finds that someone is collecting them again." "Jumping back and forth across centuries, Jon Fasman interweaves Paul's present-day investigation with stories of characters from the past into whose hands the extraordinary relics once fell. A Genoese merchant, a Soviet engineer, a British antiquarian, an elderly Chinese father - all have found that these objects of immeasurable value attract extremely determined pursuers." Chasing the story of a lifetime, Paul falls in love with the one person who knew the professor, and as he follows a trail of clues to the heart of an international smuggling ring that may hold the secret of eternal life, he gradually learns that the professor was not who he claimed to be - a discovery that comes with harrowing consequences.

The Golden Compass

Philip Pullman

(YA PUL)

Goodnight Nobody

Jennifer Weiner

(WEI, CASS WEI, LP WEI)

For Kate Klein, the unsolved murder of a fellow mother is the most interesting thing to happen since the neighbours cracked their septic tank.   Her once-loving husband is always working and the super-mommies at the playground routinely snub her.  When Kate finds one of the mothers with a knife in her back, suddenly life becomes not so ordinary after all. This story is taken out of the realm of ho-hum by snappy writing and some long-overdue ‘dissing’on the role of American super-Moms with their beauty appointments and insanity of living an image. You can’t help but think god help their strangely-named offspring as they are ferried to the park in their designer romper suits with prepared snacks of organic, low GI, egg-white only, fat-reduced, cholesterol-free, colourless, odourless and tasteless ‘food’.  The story flows well and surprisingly has some depth to it; Kate is a likeable character; and score another point for excellent narration. 

Heavenly Pleasures

Kerry Greenwood

(GRE)

No one has less interest in mysteries than Corinna Chapman, who has bread to bake, but they seem to be arising spontaneously in the vicinity of her bakery, Earthly Delights. Between the mouth-watering distractions of loaves and muffins, of Jason her apprentice and Horatio the cat, she's keeping an eye on the door as she waits for the exciting Daniel, her recently acquired lover, to walk back into her life. After a week of no communication Daniel finally returns, bruised and battered from a run-in with a so-called messiah. But disturbing things are also happening close to home. Juliette Lefebvre, the owner of Heavenly Pleasures and maker of the most gorgeous chocolates in town, is distraught. Someone is spiking her very expensive chocolates. Is it an elaborate and horrible joke, or is it a warning that worse may yet happen? One for mystery readers who like it light, fun and not too demanding.

Hidden Talents

Erica James

(JAM, CASS JAM)

Read by Anne Dover

Dulcie Ballantyne knows that creative writers’ groups attract an unlikely bunch of people, so when she starts up Hidden Talents, she is well prepared for the assortment of people she is bringing together. Containing five main characters, the author expertly weaves their individual stories into what adds up to a very pleasing read.  The characters are written with a deft hand, their personalities and ages all different - from the frustrated and insecure teenage Jasmine to 63-year old Dulcie who is having an affair with a married man; James, a bitter divorced 40-something father of two; Victor, a twisted and depressed single 50-year old who’s been made redundant; and Beth, a struggling Mum trying to bring up her son whose father committed suicide. It sounds like this is some kind of melodramatic soap opera, but the way the story has been crafted shows an intelligent hand, a deep understanding of human nature, and proffers light and shade throughout.   Some good belly chuckles and the occasional tear make this book one of the better reads. 

How I live now

Meg Rosoff  (YA ROS)

Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.

As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way.

Heralded by some as the next best adult crossover novel since Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, who himself has given the book a thunderously good quote, this author's debut is undoubtedly stylish, readable and fascinating. 

I'm not scared

Niccolo Ammaniti

(AMM)

I’m not scared has been on the best-seller list in Italy since its release in 2001 and has won many literary awards. One reviewer from The Herald said: “Make a pot of coffee, take the phone off the hook, and let I’m not scared scare the pants off you.” 
The book focuses on a tiny community of five houses in the middle of wheat fields in rural Italy during the hottest summer of the twentieth century. While the adults shelter indoors, six children venture out on their bikes and when exploring a dilapidated and uninhabited farmhouse, nine year old Michele Amitrano discovers a secret so momentous, so terrible, he cannot bring himself to tell anyone about it.

Imperium

Robert Harris

(HAR)

Robert Harris, author of Pompeii and Enigma, returns to ancient Rome for this entertaining novel of Marcus Cicero's rise to power. Running from 79 to 64 B.C., the story is narrated by Tiro, Cicero's slave and secretary, who is credited with inventing shorthand, living to age 100 and writing a life of his master, now lost. Imperium, the first volume of a planned trilogy, is an imaginary recreation of that missing work, and Tiro makes a useful narrator: He can ask about matters for which a slave (as well as the modern reader) needs background information even as he sits in on high-level strategy sessions. Loathed by the aristocrats, Cicero lived by his wits in a tireless quest for imperium—the ultimate power of life and death—and achieves "his life's ambition" after uncovering a plot by Marcus Crassus and Julius Caesar to rig the elections and seize control of the government. The action is relentless, and readers will be disappointed when Harris leaves Cicero at the moment of his greatest triumph. Written in the same readable style as Pompeii, this is a story that lovers of ancient Rome will not want to miss.

Incurable

John Marsden

(YA MAR, YA CD MAR)

In this the second book in The Ellie Chronicles, the border clashes are getting worse, the Liberation front is becoming more daring and her young ward’s terrible secrets threaten Ellie’s hopes and hard work … even her life.  The war may be over but battles rage in every direction. The stupendous success of ‘Tomorrow When The War Began’ pretty much forced Marsden’s hand to continue with his engaging heroine, Ellie Linton, and book one of The Ellie Chronicles offered much to appease long-suffering fans.  Book Two, however, has lost a lot of its momentum as it’s nearly all Ellie, and a very introspective one at that, with only cameos of Homer and Lee.  Gavin has more of a focus in this book, playing a larger but obviously quiet role.  It pays off to stick with it all the way through as the last 20% fires up and you can regain some of “Go Ellie!” feelings that were initially kindled in the Tomorrow series, but the war theme is fading faster than jeans left on a clothesline.   Book three is apparently underway … fingers crossed it will be better than this one.

Indiscretion

Jude Morgan

(MOR)

Indiscretion is a story of Regency England. Not quite in the literary genre, it is nevertheless witty, observant and well written. The characters are believable if sometimes predictable but that only contributes to their charm as you easily feel comfortable, laugh and rage with and at them in turn. Caroline Fortune's lovable but hopeless father loses all they possess and so provides for her by finding her a position as companion to the extremely wealthy and childless Mrs Catling. Although uncomfortable with the plan, she makes the most of this introduction to polite society, and soon her beauty and intelligence attract the attentions of male admirers. But, much to her horror, she is just as quick to discover that love and romance are not what some 'gentlemen' seek. Surrounded by people with an alarming readiness to reveal each other's confidences, Caroline finds herself unjustly implicated in their indiscretions. But will Miss Fortune be able to do the right thing, maintain her reputation and find happiness for herself?

Inheriting Jack

Kris Webb and Kathy Wilson

(WEB)

Julia and Anita made a pact that if anything happened to one of them, then the other would take care of the children.  Little did Julia expect that one day she would have to honour this promise?  Anita, living the other side of the world has been killed, and she has left behind an eighteen month old toddler named Jack.  Julia, a 28 year old lawyer, who knows nothing about raising children, attempts to juggle her career and bring up Jack.  Jack won’t eat anything but fairy bread, and is very attached to a brown plastic toad called Harold.  Julia’s life seems to have taken a turn for the worst as her career prospects begin to falter, and her personal life take a nose dive.

Jigs and Reels

Joanne Harris

(HAR, CD HAR)

Joanne Harris, famous for the novel Chocolat, treats us to a selection of twenty-two dark and amusing stories, only one previously published. Some, such as the playfully defiant "Faith and Hope Go Shopping" are surprisingly realistic - two elderly women dream of escaping their nursing home and trading in their leatherette slip-ons for the perfect pair of Jimmy Choos. Others embrace Harris's trademark fascination with fairy-tale lore and magic realism. "Gastronomicon" unfolds as a young wife decides to experiment with recipes near the end of the ancient cookbook given to her by her mysterious mother-in-law. "Ugly Sister" is a retelling of the Cinderella story from the viewpoint of one of the Ugly Sisters. Little could we have imagined what this poor woman has had to endure. Apparently it's even more devastating at Christmas time when she appears in plays and is hissed, booed, and "spat at by shrieking, sticky children with ice cream all over their faces." Even those stories which cry out for greater development, or a less-than-rushed ending, will charm readers with their originality.

Keeping the World Away

Margaret Forster

(FOR)

Forster starts with the idea of following the life of a painting from creation to the present day through the various people who have owned it. The painting is a real one and, thankfully, is reproduced on the cover. The life of the artist - Gwen Johns - is also more-or-less faithfully portrayed. The next hundred years in the life of the painting is pure fiction as the twentieth century lives of the various owners of the painting are explored. Forster has a knack for observing female relationships which is the main strength of the novel. The overall tone is quite downbeat (nothing good happens to most of the owners), though it is an enjoyable read. An interesting book about the enduring power of Art.

The Last Anniversary

Liane Moriarty

(MOR)

It has been over seventy yeas since Connie and her sister found their neighbours’ new baby alone in the house. The ‘Munro Baby Mystery’ tour became a money spinner for the sisters on Scribbly Gum Island (their Australian holiday island home). Years later, Connie bewilders her family by leaving her house to Sophie (her nephew Thomas's ex-girlfriend) setting the scene for examing Sophie and Thomas's history, Sophie's new life amid the eccentric family and the solution to old mystery. A tad darker than most 'chick lit', this story is funny and quirky and poignant in equal parts. Dont miss it.

Lost

Michael Robotham

(ROB, LP ROB)

"Lost" is a psychological thriller on the theme of the falsly accused man by Sydney-based author Michael Robotham. On a cold London night, homicide detective Vincent Ruiz (a supporting character in Robotham's debut, Suspect) is fished out of the Thames with a bullet in his leg and no memory of the circumstances surrounding the shooting. In his pocket is a photograph of Mickey Carlyle, a seven-year-old girl kidnapped three years before and presumed dead. Though the pace is brisk, the plot is a thoughtful and subtle, with convincing, three-dimensional characters.

March

Geraldine Brooks

(BRO)

This latest novel from Geraldine Brooks features the fictional character from Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women", the absent father, Mr. March, who is off fighting in the Civil War. The character is based on Alcott's own father - an idealist, supporter of runaway slaves and a friend of Thoreau and Emerson. The story begins with cheerful letters home, but March gradually reveals to the reader what he does not to his family: the cruelty and racism of Northern and Southern soldiers, the violence and suffering he is powerless to prevent and his reunion with Grace, a beautiful, educated slave whom he met years earlier as a Connecticut peddler to the plantations. In between, we learn of March's earlier life: his whirlwind courtship of quick-tempered Marmee and the surprising cause of his family's genteel poverty. March's pacificism and niave beliefs contrast strongly with the moving descriptions of the horrors of war and the realities of civil war politics. He struggles through his eventual sickness, disillusionment and despair with a dogged perserverance and with the support of his "Little women". 

Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro

(ISH)

The Omega Scroll

Adrian d'Hage

(DHA)

It's 2005 and the Vatican is under the control of the power hungry Cardinal Petroni. The Omega Scroll is part of the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls, currently being translated and a threat to Catholicism as we know it. The scroll is in 3 parts summed up as the Magdalene Numbers, the origin of DNA and the promise of cataclysm. Any one of these parts of the scroll could undermine the teaching of the Vatican and expose centuries of deceit. As far as Cardinal Petroni is concerned, it is a secret that must be maintained at any cost.
Adrian d’Hage is an Australian with extensive experience in the defence forces as well as holding an honours degree in Theology. Being a religious thriller, The Omega Scroll invites comparision with the Da Vince Code. It is bigger and more of a page-turner but the secrets are perhaps not quite as engaging.

Ordinary Heroes

Scott Turow

(TUR, LP TUR)

Stewart Dubinsky knew his father had served in World War II. And he'd been told how David Dubin (as his father had Americanised the name that Stewart later reclaimed) had rescued Stewart's mother from the horrors of the Balingen concentration camp. But when, after is father's death, he discovers a packet of letters to a former fiancee and learns of his father's court-martial and imprisonment, he is plunged into the mystery of his family's secret history and is driven to uncover the truth about this enigmatic, distant man who always refused to talk about the war. As he pieces together his father's past through military archives, letters, and, finally, notes from the memoir his father wrote in prison, secretly preserved by the officer who defended him, Stewart starts to assemble a dramatic chain of events that illustrate the horrific impact of war on the human psyche. Whilst this book departs from Turow's usual courtroom dramas, we see a similar theme develop where those who believe in justice are cruelly disillusioned.

Perfume

Patrick Suskind

(SUS, CASS SUS)

In 18th century France, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born with no scent of his own, but with a supernatural ability to detect the scent of others is driven to murder in order to create the perfect perfume. As off-putting as that sounds, this is a beautifully written story about a character with some similarities to The Phantom of the Opera or the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Perfume is a bizarre tale, but it is also lyrical and hypnotic--almost a fairy tale of terror. If you're looking for something different, something special, I highly recommend Perfume.

The Philosopher's doll

Amanda Lohrey

(LOH)

What happens when one partner in a relationship wants to have a child and the other doesn't? Lindsay Eynon, a philosophy lecturer, isn't ready to start a family yet; he has other plans. But Kirsten's biological clock is ticking and she sees the world differently. As their arguments intensify, so does the probability of the unexpected... This is a highly unusual and surprising novel about the perennial conflict between  the head and the heart. Thought-provoking and readable, it reverberates with the dilemmas of contemporary life. In a culture of affluence, what do we need in order to be happy? And just how much control do we really have over our lives?

The Queen's Fool

Philippa Gregory

(GRE & LP GRE)

This novel takes place during the reign of Mary Tudor who would come to be known as "Bloody Mary" for her burning of heretics. The narrator is a girl named Hannah Green, a young teenager who has fled Spain and its Inquisition with her father, following the death of her mother. She had been burned alive at the stake as a heretic, when it was discovered that she was a "Marrano", a false Christian, that is, a Jew who has converted to Christianity but who follows the Jewish faith in secret. Hannah, who also enjoys "second sight", is adopted by the glamorous Robert Dudley, who brings her to court as a "holy fool" for Queen Mary and, ultimately, Queen Elizabeth. Hired as a fool but working as a spy, Hannah sometimes seems like a very modern girl. This is a great way to enjoy a bird's eye view of historical events - through a story that revolves around a fictional character but is set firmly in the narrative of history. Gregory knows her stuff, both as a great storyteller and in her presentation of the details of Tudor life and times. The cover art of this book intrigues me - there seems to be a trend amongst historical novels to feature headless women on the covers!

Saturday

Ian McEwan

(MACE)

Saturday, February 15, 2003 . Oddly - he' s never done such a thing before - Henry Perowne wakes before dawn to find himself already in motion, drawn to the window of his bedroom. He is a contented man - a successful neurosurgeon, the devoted husband of Rosalind, a newspaper lawyer, and proud father of two grown-up children, one a promising poet, the other a talented blues musician. What troubles Perowne as he stands at his window is the state of the world - the impending war against Iraq, and a general darkening and gathering pessimism since the attacks on New York and Washington eighteen months before. Later during this particular Saturday morning, Perowne makes his way to his weekly squash game with his anaesthetist, trying to avoid the hundreds of thousands of marchers filling the streets of London, protesting against the war. A minor accident in his car brings him into a confrontation with Baxter, a fidgety, aggressive, young man, on the edge of violence. To Perowne's professional eye, there appears to be something profoundly wrong with him.

Shadow Child

Judith Lennox

(LP LEN, CASS LEN)

It’s July 1914 and fourteen year-old Alix Gregory is holidaying in France with the wealthy Lanchbury family, looking after their two-year old son, Charlie.  When he disappears during a family picnic, Alix is blamed and cannot escape from the resulting disintegration of the family.   Through marriage and the birth of her son she eventually finds happiness; yet she is haunted by the loss of her baby cousin.
Set in England, this novel possesses great depth as it sweeps us through eras that are foreign to baby boomers:  the Great War and the dreary nursing homes in the countryside; the growing fascination with archaeological digs; the jazz age with its indulged, and indulgent, bored-and-beaded flappers; then the depression, WWII, and ultimately, the landing at Dunkirk.  In the interim, the author takes our major characters on different paths and journeys through life while never losing the main premise … what happened to Charlie Lanchbury. It may be long, 12 cassettes, and by today’s standards not exactly action-packed, but it’s an absorbing story, beautifully narrated by McKenzie, and would make an excellent ABC TV series.

Ten Thousand Islands

Randy Wayne White

(WHI, LP WHI)

Florida attracts con men and predators.  It always has and always will.  Fifteen years ago in the labyrinth of mangrove, sawgrass and swamp called the Ten Thousand Islands, off Florida’s gulf coast, a 15-year old girl with a gift for finding things unearthed a four-century old gold medallion, a relic of the Calusa Indians.  Then she began having nightmares.  And then she was found hanging from the limb of a tree.  An ‘accident’ ruled the coroner, but now Doc Ford isn’t so sure after her home is ransacked and her grave dug up. I picked this book up by pure chance when cruising the shelves for another author – Stephen White.  Never having read any of Randy Wayne White’s books before, I was unaware that Doctor Marion Ford, marine biologist and ex seal marine, is an ongoing character in his other books.  Thankfully, the story doesn’t rehash a lot of old ground like some others do and the novel doesn’t suffer one iota for it. This book is a bit of a find actually and although it seems very much skewed to the male reader, I found it a gripping story.  It moves along well; has some terrific settings both on land and sea; is peppered with memorable people; and possesses the most evil character I’ve ever read, knocking even Hannibal Lecter off his vile perch.   For a change of pace, it’s good stuff!

The Tenth Circle

Jodi Picoult

(PIC)

From the outside the Stone family resembles the picture perfect American family. Mum, Laura teaches Dante’s ‘Inferno’ at a local college, while husband Daniel is a comic book artist and stay at home dad to their daughter Trixie, a popular fourteen year old and the light of her father’s life. When Trixie is raped by her first love, Jason; the family begins to crumble from the false foundations on which their family was built. Jodi Piccoults’ ‘The Tenth Circle’ deals with a family breakdown and the final heartbreaking repercussions of trying to play hero.

Three dollars

Elliot Perlman

(PER & AUSTRALIAN)

Three dollars is the story of a chemical engineer caught up in the problems and obsessions of professional and family life today; with the effects of economic and social rationalism. It might sound like dry material for a novel, but in fact it is both humorous and dramatic, Three Dollars is about Eddie, an honest, compassionate man who finds himself, at the age of 38, with a wife, a child and three dollars. How did he get that way? And who is Amanda? Its nice to read Australian fiction (set in Melbourne) with an absorbing story and very human characters. I look forward to seeing the film with David Wenham.

Tickled Pink

Rita Rudner

(RUD)

Rita Rudner draws on her own life for inspiration in this, her first novel. Mindy Solomon is leaving Florida for New York - her goal is to make it big on Broadway. Instead she breaks her leg when the two men who are meant to catch her in a dance routine cannot take their eyes off each other. Mindy decides to try her luck at stand-up comedy instead. This is a sharply humourous story about show business in the Reagan years that is fun, light, and surprisingly well-written. Like Rudner’s own material, it’s intelligent and acerbic but has an undercurrent of warmth as friendships struggle in the cut-throat world of the comedy circuit and show business in general.  Pretty good!

We need to talk about Kevin

Lionel Shriver

(SHR)

This is a chilling, yet compulsively readable account of the causes of a Columbine-style school massacre. It is told through a series of letters from a mother desperately attempting to understand why her son, 15-year-old Kevin, brutally murdered seven of his fellow classmates, a cafeteria worker and his English teacher. There have been many discussions on the cause of events like these - especially during the 1990s when it seemed like school shootings ran rampant throughout the US. Some argue that the proliferation of and easy access to guns is the cause; others that the excess of violence in movies, TV programs and video games induce violent behavior in children and adolescents. The one question almost everyone seems to have in common is, "What were these murderous kids' parents like?" "Didn't they recognize symptoms of violence in their own children?" Kevin's bereft mother, Eva, examines her son's life, from conception to his terrible act of violence, trying to understand the why of it. What becomes clear early on is that Eva tortures herself with blame. She is guilt-ridden that her shortcomings as a parent might have caused Kevin's evil act, his violent behavior, his very nature. She also considers that neither nature nor nurture are solely responsible for shaping a child's character. Her honest, introspective correspondence to her beloved ex-husband causes the reader to consider that some children just might be born bad. How and when are psychopaths created? The reader is pulled back and forth between empathy and blame, anger and grief, and perhaps, ultimately to forgiveness.

The Whole Business of Kiffo and the Pitbull

Barry Jonsberg

(YA JON)

An impressive debut from this Darwin-based author. Clever teenager, Calma, and her classmates take great delight when the new English teacher is pushed over the brink by Kiffo, the classroom delinquent. Their mouths drop, however, when they see her replacement - Miss Payne "the pitbull" who is more than a match for them. Through a strange and hilarious set of circumstances, Calma and Kiffo suspect that Miss Payne is involved with drugs, and they set out to prove their case. Tragedy, humour and adventure are all contained in this must-read novel for teenagers of all ages.

White Earth

Andrew McGahan

(MACG, MP3 MACG)

FAMILY saga, social and political history, mystery thriller: The White Earth is all these and more, as Mabo meets rural racism and fascism, and a boy becomes the pawn of an obsessive relative. When eight-year-old William’s father is incinerated in his harvester, his mother accepts her uncle John McIvor’s offer of a home on his Darling Downs cattle property. Kuran House fuses Wuthering Heights and Great Expectations. Decay, family secrets and cruelties, a malevolent housekeeper and a locked room provide a potent brew of gothic gloom, horror and mystery. 'McGahan writes with a total command of thematic design and narrative structure. The White Earth draws on the full resource of the novel as an imaginative form to explore some of the most urgent social and political issues haunting Australia today.' Judging Panel, the Miles Franklin Award. 

Winter Fire

William Trotter

(TRO)

Called upon to investigate the loyalties of the highly cultured Finns and secure them for the Nazi cause, Erich Ziegler, an orchestra conductor and ambivalent warrior, meets the famed composer Jean Sibelius and becomes obsessed by the mysterious Eighth Symphony.
Historian and novelist William Trotter’s critically acclaimed fictional debut burns with the fuel of timeless music and is laden with the magic of Norse mythology, the savage power of the northern forests, and the horrors of the Finnish and Eastern fronts during World War II. This astonishing novel takes you quite unprepared into an alien landscape of human battle and weaves haunting images and evocative music through it.  You have to keep reminding yourself that this really is a fictional work as the strategies, plots and plans to advance the war were all terribly, terribly real, as was Finland’s greatest musician, Jean Sibelius.   Although unfamiliar with the work of the composer, I can hear the cold icy bells forged to bring life to Sibelius’s work, and will search out a CD to hear this genius at work.  A truly remarkable book, and one that stays with you for quite some time.

You gotta have balls

Lily Brett

(BRE)

Ruth Rothwax runs a successful letter-writing business in New York. She is married to Garth, an Australian artist who is away for six months, and Edek, her 87 year-old Jewish father moves from Melbourne to New York to help, or should that be hinder, his darling Ruthie in her business.  Then a buxom sixty-something with one eye for business and another for Ruth’s father makes an entrance …
This novel offers laugh-out-loud humour, some fascinating insights into what it is to be a holocaust survivor’s offspring, and presents a large dollop of day-to-day living in New York. Edek is a memorable character. His ‘logic’ is endearing (e.g. because he buys in stationery and office stock for Ruth, he tells people he works in the Stocking Department), but to Ruth, like most grown-up children with quirky parents, the ‘endearing’ is actually annoying.  Enter Zofia and Walentyna, the champions of the Polish meatball, ‘bolls’ as Edek calls them, and everybody’s life takes a surprising turn.  The accents and turns of phrase that Brett employs to bring the characters to life are spot on.  This is some book, already!  

Zorro

Isabel Allende

(ALL)

Born in southern California late in the eighteenth century, he is a child of two worlds. Diego de la Vega’s father is an aristocratic Spanish military man turned landowner;  his mother, a Shoshone warrior. Diego learns from his maternal grandmother, White Owl, the ways of her tribe while receiving from his father lessons in the art of fencing and in cattle branding. It is here, during Diego’s childhood, filled with mischief and adventure, that he witnesses the brutal injustices dealt Native Americans by European settlers and first feels the inner conflict of his heritage. At the age of sixteen, Diego is sent to Barcelona for a European education. In a country chafing under the corruption of Napoleonic rule, Diego follows the example of his celebrated fencing master and joins La Justicia, a secret underground resistance movement devoted to helping the powerless and the poor. With this tumultuous period as a backdrop, Diego falls in love, saves the persecuted, and confronts for the first time a great rival who emerges from the world of privilege. Between California and Barcelona, the New World and the Old, the persona of Zorro is formed, a great hero is born , and the legend begins. After many adventures – duels at dawn, fierce battles with pirates at sea, and impossible rescues – Diego de la Vega, a.k.a. Zorro, returns to America to reclaim the hacienda on which he was raised and to seek justice for all who cannot fight for it themselves.

HISTORICAL FICTION

Women on the Rocks

Kristin Williamson

(WIL)

In 1820, Mary Jones is wrongly convicted of a crime committed by her alleged best friend Maria.  Mary is transported to Sydney and assigned to a wealthy Scottish merchant.  She also spends time in the notorious ‘female factory’ in Paramatta, where she meets up again with Maria, who by this stage has assumed a new identity. Mary becomes an independent Rocks woman and establishes a successful business.  Maria/Jane establishes a new life for herself as well, in New Zealand, and the lives of the two women are intertwined throughout the course of the narrative.
Kristin Williamson is a novelist whose career I’ve been following for some years.  Some of her earlier novels ‘Tanglewood’, and ‘The Jacaranda Years’ were contemporary stories with modern themes and settings, but this latest novel is set firmly in convict Sydney, and England during the time of transportation. The time of the Maori European wars in New Zealand features as well. An interesting literary feature used throughout the novel, is the addition of a catchy short phrase at the start of each chapter, which gets your interest  - so much so that it’s very hard not to read this book in one sitting! The author asserts that this is definitely a work of fiction, but it is based on several real characters.
Recommend this story to anyone who likes history, and who may have a convict in their own family tree, and anyone who likes a thoughtful and intriguing read.

NON-FICTION

At Home with Beatrix Potter

Susan Denyer

(747.2278 DEN)

As an artist and story-teller Beatrix Potter is world-famous. She also worked to protect some of the finest examples of the Lake District's landscapes and created romantic interiors and a beautiful garden at Hill Top, the farmhouse she bought at Near Sawrey in 1905. Her picturesque house and the breathtaking scenery inspired many of Beatrix's stories and drawings, and this book looks at the intimate connection between the Lake District and her work. With numerous extracts from her letters and diaries, this illustrated book celebrates Potter's achievements in the Lake District and her major gifts to the National Trust.

Alexander the Great

Robin Lane-Fox   (938.107092 LAN)

Tough, resolute, fearless, Alexander was a born warrior and ruler of passionate ambition who understood the intense adventure of conquest and of the unknown. When he died in 323 BC aged thirty-two, his vast empire comprised more than two million square miles, spanning from Greece to India. His achievements were unparalleled - he had excelled as leader to his men, founded eighteen new cities and stamped the face of Greek culture on the ancient East. The myth he created is as potent today as it was in the ancient world. Robin Lane Fox's superb account searches through the mass of conflicting evidence and legend to focus on Alexander as a man of his own time. Combining historical scholarship and acute psychological insight, it brings this colossal figure vividly to life. Also of interest is Lane-Fox's The making of Alexander the Great (791.4372 LAN) - the official guide to the epic film.  

Blink: the Power of Thinking without Thinking

Malcolm Gladwell

(153.44 GLA)

Coasting

Susan Kurosawa

(994.420992 KUR & CASS 994.420992 KUR)

Follow Journalist Susan Kurosawa and her husband Graeme Blundell (Of Alvin Purple fame) as they undergo their own “Sea Change”, moving from the hustle and bustle of Sydney to scenic Hardy’s Bay on the north coast of New South Wales. In 1998 they bought a weekender then, over the course of the year, loved it so much they decided to live there permanently. Besides the various stories of decision making and moving, we learn a bit about Susan’s travels (as Travel writer for the Australian) and her childhood in the 1950s. We get a bit of a peek into the lives of Aussie celebrities as well as a history of the settlement of the area and few recipes and pencil drawings of local fauna. I particularly enjoyed the evocation of the Australian summer at the beach.

Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed

Jared Diamond

(304.28 DIA)

In this very readable blend of science, history and personal experience, Jared Diamond makes a compelling case for using the lessons of the past - particularly those relating to resource over-use - to inform the decisions of the present. In his earlier book, Guns Germs and Steel, he examined how and why Western civilizations developed the technologies and immunities that allowed them to dominate much of the world. Now, Diamond probes the other side of the equation: What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to collapse into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates?". Moving from the prehistoric Polynesian culture on Easter Island to the formerly flourishing Native American civilizations of the Anasazi and the Maya, the doomed medieval Viking colony on Greenland, and finally to the modern world, Diamond traces a fundamental pattern of catastrophe, spelling out what happens when we squander our resources, when we ignore the signals our environment gives us, and when we reproduce too fast or cut down too many trees. Environmental damage, climate change, rapid population growth, unstable trade partners, and pressure from enemies were all factors in the demise of the doomed societies, but other societies found solutions to those same problems and persisted." The chapter about Australia is called “Mining Australia” - it contends that many of our farming and land management practices are unsustainable. He sees some hope for future, however in the growing recognition of environmental and ecological contraints to economic growth and in innovative projects that seek to maintain and increase sustainability.

Come away with me

edited by Sarah MacDonald   (910.4 COM)

Take a first-class trip around the world and back with some of Australia's favourite adventurers. Share the joys of discovering the unknown as ten well-travelled authors share their tales of being strangers in strange lands. Enjoy a good beating in a Russian bathhouse with Irris Makler; French Disneyland à la Nikki Gemmell; passion and regret as jazz, soccer and sex unravel with Sarah Macdonald in Italy; love and longing in Portugal with Christopher Kremmer; loathing and paranoia in Nick Earls' London; an unlikely bikie culture in Peter Moore's Vietnam; the perils of Sri Lankan dinner parties with Tim Elliott; New York underground with Caroline Overington and a Chinese haunting with Annette Shun Wah.

Death at the Priory

James Ruddick

(364.152309 RUD & LP 364.152309 RUD)

This book comes with the almost irresistible sub-title, “Love, sex and murder in Victorian England.” It chronicles the short, unhappy marriage and painful death of promising young barrister Charles Bravo. Just four months after his wedding, Bravo is seized one night with appalling pains, leading to his death after fifty-five hours of agony. Everyone in his household is suspected, including his widow, Florence, a woman with a past. The case became a sensation, especially after the revelations of the coroner’s inquest, but no arrests were ever made. Ruddick offers a plausible and tightly argued solution to one of the Victorian era’s favourite scandals.

Don't kiss them goodbye

Allison Dubois

(B133.91092 DUB)

Fiasco: the American military adventure in Iraq

Thomas E. Ricks

(956.70443 RIC)

It is clear from the title that this book is a severe condemnation of the US invasion of Iraq and most of the points have been made already, but if you’re interested in the role played by the military (rather than the politicians) then this is THE book for a clear analysis of events. Ricks contends that the Pentagon concocted "the worst war plan in American history," with insufficient troops and no thought for the invasion's aftermath. Thus, an under-manned, unprepared U.S. military stood by as chaos and insurgency took root, then responded with heavy-handed tactics that brutalized and alienated Iraqis. Based on extensive interviews with American soldiers and officers as well as first-hand reportage, Ricks's detailed, unsparing account of the occupation paints a woeful panorama of reckless firepower, mass arrests, humiliating home invasions, hostage-taking and abuse of detainees. 

The Garden at Bronte

Leo Schofield

(712.609944 SCH)

As a young boy Leo Schofield often passed Sydney's Bronte House while travelling to the beach and wondered what lay beyond the tall fence and dense vegetation. Fifty years later he signed a lease that carried with it responsibility for maintaining the house and garden. Both were in a debilitated state, but Leo's passion for restoration and his obsession with gardening have helped give this unique environment new life. The garden at Bronte in now a kind of small-scale botanical garden, a repository for rare and beautiful plants.

Bronte House is one of Australia's most picturesque surviving colonial residences and dates back to 1845. Built in the 'Gothick' taste so fashionable in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries, it is a perfect example of the cottage orne, not a mansion but a romantic retreat from more formal city life. Both house and garden are open to the public six days a year and attract over 10 000 visitors. 

Himalaya

Michael Palin

(954.5496 PAL & CD 954.96 PAL)

Himalaya is an alternative account written by Michael Palin of the trip that was filmed for the TV program of the same name. The text is drawn from Palin's diaries and includes many more personal observations than were aired on show. The book also includes many beautiful pictures by Basil Pao, the stills photographer who accompanied the BBC team on the trip. The trip included many beautiful and exciting places around the Himalayan Mountains, some of them well off the tourist track and some of them with security problems such that the team needed armed guards. Specifically, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Tibet, China, Nagaland, Assam, Bhutan and Bangladesh were visited. A total of 3000 miles was traveled during 125 days (6 months). Highlights include several treks on foot up into the mountains, visiting the Dalai Lama, milking a yak, talking to a retired headhunter, buying booze in Pakistan, having an almost-encounter with Maoists in Nepal, watching bull racing and no-rules polo, and giving an elephant a rub-down. Palin writes with wit and charm and his love of travel shines through. Not to be missed.

 The Home of the Blizzard: the history of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914

Sir Douglas Mawson

The Home of the Blizzard is a tale of discovery and adventure in the Antarctic - of pioneering deeds, courage, rescues, and perseverance. This is Douglas Mawson's first-hand account of his years spent in sub-zero temperatures and gale-force winds focusing on mapping and scientific inquiry. His trek had no aspirations to reach the Pole; in fact he had earlier rejected a place in Scott's ill-fated team. At the heart of the story is Mawson's epic sledge journey from 1912-1913, during which his companions both perished. Told in a laconic but gripping narrative, this is a story that all armchair explorers will cherish. This classic book is also a detailed account of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition's daily subsistence on the icy continent in the early years of the century.

Originally published to great acclaim in 1915, this book has been out of print for many years. The Home of the Blizzard is illustrated with more than ninety original photographs depicting the wildlife, the harsh living conditions, and the spirit of the explorers. 

The Irish Game

Matthew Hart

(364.162 HAR)

In 1974, the Vermeer 'Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid'  was stolen from the Beit collection at Russborough House near Dublin by a gang whose most curious and visible member was Rose Dugdale, a seductive, smart, spoiled rich kid who rebelling against whatever, was an Englishwoman supporting the IRA's campaign of terror. Twelve years later, it was stolen again by Dublin gangster Martin Cahill. Most of Hart's book has to do with the difficulties of finding the paintings again, the dangers and the dead ends as international police forces set spies on Cahill and his gang, and Cahill set his spies on them. Remarkably, after both these robberies, conservators that had to clean and repair the painting found new aspects of the canvas that changed scholarly opinions about them. The work of the restorers, and their discoveries, are described here in satisfying detail. Tangential to the main story are descriptions of the famous unsolved thefts from the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston and the 1994 theft of Munch's 'The Scream' from the National Gallery of Norway.

Hart has given a fast-paced and captivating account of the symbiosis between cops and robbers. He has valuable remarks on the contemporary art world, art restoration, and the particular way the Irish play the game. He helps explain the peculiar relationship between Cahill's gang and the Garda by analyzing the history of the Irish resistance to authority. Very readable.

Joe Cinque's Consolation

Helen Garner

(345.947 GAR)

On Sunday 26 October 1997, in a Canberra house Jo Cinque was murdered by his girlfriend, Anu Singh.  Two days later, the police went to the home of Singh’s closest friend, Madhavi Rao, and took her in as well.  She too was changed with murder.  This is the story of Anu and Madhavi’s individual court cases, the impact and responses from Jo Cinque’s family and friends and just trying to make sense of a truly senseless crime.  Because when all is said and done, Jo Cinque is dead.
This well written story is easy to follow and devoid of legal jargon and keeps you interested in how the court case progresses and the impact it has on all peripheral characters.

Julie and Julia

Julie Powell

(641.5092 POW)

Julie & Julia : 365 days, 524 recipes, 1 apartment kitchen : how one girl risked her marriage, her job, and her sanity to master the art of living.
Julie is nearly 30 and decides to give herself the ultimate challenge.  Armed with a copy of her mother’s book Mastering the Art of French cooking by Julia Child published in 1961, Julie is determined to make every recipe in Julia Child’s book in a year.  Long suffering husband Eric must contend with very late dinners, piles of dishes to wash, and a lot of swearing from Julie.  She sets up a blog on the internet as she diarises her experiments and experiences.  Some of the recipes are not for the squeamish, but anyone who likes cooking will find this amusing and entertaining.
This book can be found in the cookery section of the non-fiction at 641.5092 POW.

Keep the Table Laughing

Susan Whelan and Meredith Flynn

(641.5 WHE)

The authors of this new book tell us that “Its time for a reality check in the kitchen” and it certainly is a different kind of cookbook. Forget your glossy pix and obscure ingredients – this is about aussie mums cooking dinkum food and with plenty of chat about it. It reminds me of my tattered but much-loved PWMU cookbook – great ideas and recipes using fresh, readily available ingredients but without the slightly virtuous tone of the Presbyterian ladies. In fact, Flynn and Whelen are remarkably irreverent, poking fun and indulging in back-and-forward chat about the history and their experiences with a particular recipe or (sometimes) about nothing much at all. As well as the expected chapters on soup and salad, you’ll find “Take one chook” about turning a supermarket chook into a family meal and “The good, the bad and the ugly” about men in the kitchen – which digresses for 4 odd pages before it gets to the recipes! Even if you don’t cook, this is a fun read – and a great antidote to the pretentiousness of most cookbooks today. 

Let's Dance

Lyndon Wainwright

(KIT 793.33 WAI)

Want to learn to dance but dont know where to start? Let's Dance features simple foot diagrams and step-by-step photography to make ballroom dancing fun and easy to learn. It is intended for the complete beginner - all you need is a partner and a bit of enthusiasm to get started. Dancing master Lyndon Wainwright will teach you the Foxtrot, Waltz, Cha Cha, Quickstep, Jive, Samba, Salsa, Tango and Rumba. The CD that accompanies this book contains ideal music for the various dances featured.

The Lost German Slave Girl: the extraordinary true story of slave girl  Sally Miller and her fight for freedom

John Bailey

(331.11734 BAI)

The story of a white girl(maybe) pressed into slavery in Louisiana in the 1840s is just part of this fascinating piece of micro-history. Also covered are the beginnings of New Orleans, the immigrant experience after years of famine and deprivation in the old world and the practice of ‘redemptioning’ (a kind of bonded servitude). Bailey began his research interested in the minutiae of slave law between states and the ways that anomalies arose. ‘Slavehood’ was passed through the mother, so slaves became increasingly ‘white-looking’ over time as masters and overseers fathered children on slave women. By the same token, free women could not give birth to slaves, though many disputes arose where children of free black people were seized as slaves. The case of slave girl Sally Miller, identified by long lost family friends as a free white girl Salome Muller, was long and full of twists and is only partially resolved in the end. Great reading.

Mister God, This is Anna

Fynn

(CD 248.2092 FYN)

Fynn found Anna wandering the streets of East London in the 1930s and took her home.  He would spend his evenings talking and playing with the child. They chatted about life, particularly science and mathematics, and Anna would tell him about her conversations with ‘Mister God’.  Anna’s innocent but insightful world view causes Fynn to reassess his own. As one of the reviews states on the back cover, this is “a book that swells in the mind and haunts the thoughts”.  It is deceptively simple, but for those with an open mind, the story carries the weight of eons as theology, philosophy, poetry and even Einstein himself are turned inside out, examined, put back together or totally discarded as Anna attempts to place herself in the world.  And what a place Anna’s world is!   A truly memorable story that exercises the brain, swells the heart, and wrings tears from deep down. I recommend the audio version – the narrator truly brings this book to life!

A Month of Sundays

James O'Loghlin

(914.44104 OLO)

When is a travel book not really a travel book? When the traveller does not need to take time off from work and when he returns home at the end of each day to sleep in his own bed. A Month of Sundays is about one such traveller - James O'Loghlin - who, with his partner and young daughter sets out to explore the city in which he lives. When their neighbours on both sides embark on building projects seemingly designed to cause maximum noise and disruption, O'Loghlin and his partner, Lucy, decide not to get mad, and not to get even either. Instead, they will leave home each day to escape the disturbance. They will use the time to explore the Sydney they live in, to get to know it more intimately. They will use the time to visit places they've never seen and to rediscover suburbs they thought they knew.
A Month of Sundays is a record of these travels, but it is more. It is also a record of O'Loglin's personal journey - both in the time-frame of the book and in the years before. It is a serious book, but it is also very witty. O'Loghlin's view of the world is both insightful and comic.
James O'Loghlin is a comedian who used to be a criminal lawyer. He is known as the face as the ABC's New Inventors and is also heard on ABC Radio. This is his second book. Readers will be grateful that he took the time to write it - and to live it.

Mr China

(332.673095 CLI)

This is a MUST read for anybody interested in China and the Chinese, and by far the most up-to-date and accurate account of what China is like in this new century – and why wouldn’t it be when he has grasped the language to such an extent and lived there for over a decade. Forget paddy fields and multitudes of bicycles, this book is written about some of the author’s recent business experiences in China which reflects much more honestly the direct path that China is currently following. Although there is a lot of literature published recently on and about China, much of it seems to romanticize China in a mystical travel haze, this book certainly does not.
Although some parts of Mr China dwell on actual business deals, the constant snippets the author throughs us of modern-day China are astoundingly accurate, which makes it worth reading til the last magnificent page. I could not possibly have summarised the book better than the author did in his final words, “If…I can make the Chinese people seem more human, less mysterious or threatening, just flawed and beautiful like us…” then we can understand each other on a different level. I felt that this is what he has achieved with this book.

Reviewed by Heidi Haywood, local library patron who has spent the past 5 years living and working in China

Phaic Tan

Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner and Rob Sitch

(A827.4 CIL)

Move over Lonely Planet, Fodders and Let’s go Guides, there is a new travel bible on the block and it is the Jetlag travel guide.  If you are after a tongue in cheek look at travel, then this is the book for you.  You will find yourself pronouncing out loud words such as Bumpattabumpah (Phaic Tan’s capital city) and Pha Phlung (exotic Northern province) and chuckling to yourself in between. Set out like a travel guide, complete with photos, information about religion, culture, climate and maps, all you need to travel to Phaic Tan is a sense of humour and the need for a laugh.

Selling Sickness: how drug companies are turning us all into patients

Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels

(338.476151 MOY)

The marketing strategies of the world's biggest drug companies now aggressively target the healthy and well. The ups and downs of daily life have become mental disorders, common complaints are transformed into frightening conditions and more and more ordinary people are turned into patients. With promotional campaigns that exploit our deepest fears of death, decay and disease, the $500 billion pharmaceutical industry is literally changing what it means to be human. Rightly rewarded for saving life and reducing suffering, the global drug giants are no longer content selling medicines to the ill. Because, as Wall Street knows, there's a lot of money to be made telling healthy people they're sick. Moynihan, a health journalist for the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet, and Cassels, a Canadian science writer, note, for instance, that eight of the nine specialists who wrote the 2004 federal guideline on high cholesterol, which substantially increased the number of people in that category, have multiple financial ties to drug manufacturers. Through aggressive merchandising, funding of medical conferences and expensive perks, drug companies win doctors over to diagnosing these "diseases" and prescribing drugs for them.

A Short History of Progress

Ronald Wright

(909 WRI & CD 909 WRI)

Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart

Gordon Livingston

(158 LIV)

Out of a lifetime of experience, Livingston has extracted thirty bedrock truths: We are what we do. Any relationship is under the control of the person who cares the least. Only bad things happen quickly. Forgiveness is a form of letting go, but they are not the same thing. Livingston illuminates these and others in a series of essays, many of which emphasize our closest relationships and the things that we do. His style is straight forward and slightly school teacherish - there are plenty of anecdotes mixed in with the main points he makes. Often things start out sounding like common sense but end being very deep and meaningful. 

Treasure Islands

Pamela Stephenson

(910.45 STE)

Megaselling biographer, internationally renowned psychoanalyst, ex-comedienne, mother of four (three teenage girls and Billy Connolly), the extraordinary Pamela Stephenson now adopts a new guise—historian, sailor, and circumnavigator of the globe. In Treasure Islands, Pamela follows in the intrepid footsteps of Fanny Stevenson (no relation), maverick wife of the even more maverick Robert Louis. They have much in common - a fascination with the South Seas, and a thirst for adventure, a fearlessness and great humour in the face of adversity and unpredictable husbands. This is her adventure - and the story of her and Fanny. Motivated  by burn-out and privately funded, Pamela’s voyage is in a modern 112-foot clipper, complete with crew and mod cons, though she faces many of the dangers that Fanny faced—from pirates to storms to seasickness. The book is both historically erudite and delightfully bright and entertaining. Stephenson has a light touch with the pen and a good eye for her world. Adventures in both eras are grippingly well wrought in an unusual work which is both a biography and a travel book.

Twenty good summers

Martin Hawes

(332.024014 HAW)

Voting for Jesus: Christianity and Politics in Australia

Amanda Lohrey

(322.10994 LOH)

From the Hillsong Church to the Family First Party, Australia appears to be experiencing an evangelical revival. Amanda Lohrey investigates it's shape and scope and what it means for the mainstream churches and the nation's politics. She talks to young believers and analyses the machinations of the Christian Right. She discusses, with humour and insight, the appeal of the mega-church, the changing image of Jesus and the political theories of George Pell and Peter Jensen. Voting for Jesus is an essay about the use and abuse of religion in party politics. Examining the success of Family First, Lohrey argues that Christians in politics have far less influence than they would like - the government uses them when convenient and otherwise disregards them. Blending individual interviews with political argument, she makes a subtle case for the blessings of secularism and the variety of spiritual encounters it makes possible.

Quarterley essays provide a forum for an Australian author to present a significant contribution (a single essay of 25,000 words) on a topic of  national interest. This is the 22nd issue in the series.

The Weather Makers: the history and future impact of climate change

Tim Flannery

(551.6 FLA)

Every day we hear new reports of evidence on global warming.  Should we be worried?  In his book, Tim Flannery presents a clear and compelling case that we need to do something now to stem the CO2 tide choking our atmosphere.  If not, man and thousands of species may soon be extinct on this planet.
This is a gripping read, quite terrifying in fact.  Included is a list of actions we can each take to help alter the course we’re on and stop a global cataclysm. A recent adaptation of the book has been published for younger readers. It is called "We are the Weather Makers"

Weeds in the garden of words

Kate Burridge

(420.9 BUR)

From the author of 'Blooming English' comes 'Weeds in the Garden of Words': more of Kate Burridge's entertaining pieces on the rich and extraordinary nature of our language.
'Weeds in the Garden of Words' looks at the way words are used and put together to create meaning, at arcane rules and infuriating exceptions, and at the vital 'living' history of the way the language has changed through the centuries to create a richness and depth that exceeds that of many other languages. Professor Kate Burridge's book is approachable, entertaining and fun. Browse through and find yourself hooked by fascinating pieces on such topics as why verbs move to nouns and vice versa, why pronunciation may differ from place to place, why 'regionalisms' develop, and the creative ways of slang and jargon. It is filled with the joys of the eccentric, unruly, rich and complex language that is English.  

BIOGRAPHIES

Au revoir

Mary Moody

(B 155.92 MOO)

Many women in mid-life will relate to this story of throwing off the shackles and going to live alone in rural France for 6 months. Mary Moody achieved fame as a gardener, TV presenter and journalist and that means she writes well and seems to be comfortable about revealing personal details. I enjoyed her descriptions of her youth, family life and career as well as her experiences in France. In her later book, Last Tango in Toulouse, she loses the plot somewhat as she again goes to France, has an affair, and then agonises over the ramifications for her husband and grown children.

Autobiography of a Geisha

Sayo Masuda

(B 305.433909 MAS)

In 1950s a Japanese women’s magazine had a competition for “true stories by women”.  Masuda won second prize.  The article was later made into a book in 1957.  Masuda not only needed the money but also wanted Japan to know that the life of a geisha was far from glamorous.  She tells of her life as a housemaid at six years old, and how her mother sold her to a geisha house at twelve as the family needed the money.  She later struggles to survive in rural Japan, once she ceases to be a geisha. Despite all her misfortunes, Masuda always tried to help others, and she hoped that in sharing her story that others may not suffer as she did.

I feel bad about my neck

Nora Ephron

(B305.24402 EPH)

Acclaimed screenwriter and director Nora Ephron turns her sharp powers of observation onto her own life, as she examines the indignities of being a certain age for a woman of the Baby Boom generation. Filled with wickedly funny autobiographical pieces like 'On Maintenance' and "Blind as a Bat', this book offers the consolation that everyone experiences sagging necks, drooping boobs and children who dont appreciate you. Of course, Hollywood matrons go to a lot more trouble than the rest of us to reverse the effects of time, which would be depressing if the stories wernt told with such heartfelt humour. My favourite story is titled 'I hate my purse'. It's bad enough that handbags end up full of junk and remind you of how disorganised you are - which I knew - but Nora points out that they restrict your arm movements (one reason men wont tolerate them) and make a statement about your fashion sense!

It's not about the bike: my journey back to life

Lance Armstrong with Sally Jenkins

(B796.62092 ARM)

In 1996, 24-year-old Lance Armstrong was ranked number one cyclist in the world, but that October, tests revealed that advanced testicular cancer had spread to his lungs and brain. Here he reveals his journey from a 20 per cent chance of survival, to fatherhood and victory in the Tour de France. This book is about sickness and health, defeat and triumph and struggle (there is a bit about the bike). He writes with an easy and natural style about some pretty uncomfortable things - his treatment for cancer, the demands of training and his experience with IVF. It is a wonderfully told story that leaves you feeling uplifted. Go Lance!

In my Skin

Kate Holden

(B362.2909 HOL)

A biography about a normal Australian girl from a relatively well off family, through no ones fault but her own, tried heroin, enjoyed it and was hooked by its appealing effects.  This book is a story of personal decline, of use, working the streets in St Kilda just to maintain her and her boyfriend’s habit, brothels and the men that frequent them.  The book also displays a families undying love, forgiveness and support for a member that has gone off the rails and their struggle to accept their daughter / sister’s choice of lifestyle and profession.
Not necessarily well written and somewhat repetitious in its examples of brothel situations.  I felt that throughout the book the author was glamorizing prostitution rather than giving an honest profile, but then again, it is her life story, what she felt like while she was in the profession and her experience, so really from the outside – who am I to judge.

Inside Out

Robert Adamson

(B A821.3 ADA)

Robert Adamson is an Australian poet probably the most outstanding contemporary poet of the sixties in Australia He is now the publisher of paperbark press. The story covers Robert’s early years, his upbringing during the fifties and sixties in Neutral bay and the Hawkesbury River N.S.W.  A life of adventures, hardships, and crime prove to be exciting for this young man. His love of wildlife, birds and fishing starts his visits to Boys homes when he steals an exotic bird from the Taronga Park Zoo. Robert’s life inside prison eventually results in a turn around for him. He makes no excuses or apologies for his life of crime, drug taking and bludging from society and friends. In fact he seems to have enjoyed an idyllic childhood. Amongst all this he manages to serve his time as a pastry cook and wins a prize at the Melbourne show for cake decorating. His adventures are reckless and there are times of great happiness among the sad times and many of his antics he recounts with great humour. Although I felt the truth was somewhat embellished. At the end of the book his mother is attending the launch of ‘The Law at Hearts Desire’ and is talking to Brett Whitely. He says she must be proud of her son’s achievements, to which she replies that he would have done well to stick to his trade and could have owned a chain of cake shops. A woman of few words, she captures the essence of his life in her last few words of the book.

The Invisible Girl

Peter Barham

(B 616.85262 BAR)

Within a few years of packing her bags for London as a 15-year-old, D.A. (Debbie) Barham had become one of the wittiest and most prolific writers in Britain, working in television, radio and journalism.  Barham's copious credits include work for the BBC’s Clive Anderson, Rory Bremner and Graham Norton. She contributed to Spitting Image, Channel 4's cult  Eleven O'Clock Show, and Loose Ends on Radio 4. She wrote regularly for newspapers, magazines and websites.  And then she died, at age 26, of anorexia. 
As it says in this, her Father’s book about her short and troubled life, she lived for her work.  She flatly refused inpatient treatment because it would have destroyed her one purpose in life, writing.  It’s a moving story that makes you laugh, cry, and get very, very angry – angry with her family, the people around her, and particularly Debs herself.   It’s a harrowing read but a good one. 

Marley and Me: life and love with the world's worst dog

John Grogan

(B 636.752709 GRO & LP B 636.752709 GRO)

The Olive Grove

Patrice Newell

(B 630.92 NEW & CASS 630.92 NEW)

This is a quiet celebration of rural life by a former urban dweller and model, Patrice is the wife of journalist Philip Adams. It describes their daily struggle to establish an olive grove at a property called Elmswood in the Upper Hunter Valley of NSW; where life is vigorous but never dull. The big issues are explored, for example, the need for sustainability with an unreliable water supply is a constant problem and her passionate devotion to maintaining a biodynamic farm with beef cattle and olives is all part of the challenge. There are welcome reminders of the value of personal involvement, plus the odd country farmhouse cooking tip - Patrice proves that growing food can be as creative as an act of cooking it!  

Roses of the Earth

Carol Anne Lee

(B 940.531809 LEE  &  LP B 940.531809 LEE  &  CASS B 940.531809 LEE )

Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl is the most widely read work of non-fiction after the Bible.Yet remarkably there has never been an in-depth biography of the teenage writer who perished in the concentration camp of Bergen-Belsen.Written with the full cooperation of her family, Roses from the Earth vividly recreates the short life of Hitler’s most famous victim and goes further than any prior evidence in establishing who betrayed the Franks in their hiding place.This book paints a full picture of Anne Frank through her father Otto’s memoir, personal family letters and conversations, and those who when to school with her, grew up with her, and accompanied her through the gates of hell.The reminiscences have been well documented and start from Otto and Edith’s grandparents in the late 1800s and end in 1998. I wonder if anyone who read Anne Frank’s Diary pondered, like I did at the time, if the betrayer of their hiding place was ever brought to justice. Although the cover blurb of this well-read talking book says “it goes further than any prior evidence”, the truth is apparently hidden better than the eight were in the annex. 

Ruby of Trowutta: recollections of a Country Postmistress

Christobel Mattingley

(B383.42092 PAU)

Author Christobel Mattingley, well known in Australia for her young people's fiction and for her biography of Tasmania's Deny King, King of the Wilderness, presents in Ruby of Trowutta: Recollections of a country postmistress a wholly different work – a biography based entirely on the spoken word of Ruby Paul, a remarkable woman who lived her entire life in Tasmania's isolated west and north-west regions.
The nearly thirty hours of tape-recorded sessions with Ruby, augmented by interviews with her daughters, deliver the story of the lives of Ruby and her family, primarily during the period of 1893 to the 1950s. The voice of Ruby, which Mattingley found to contain 'such integrity and identity' that