Read Readings Monthly, February 2014 here

Transcription

FEBRUARY 2014
FREE
BOOKS
MUSIC
FILM
THE POET’S WIFE
MODERN HISTORY
Krissy Kneen on Mandy Sayer’s
new memoir
Ali Alizadeh on the engrossing
figure of Joan of Arc
page 04
page 06
E V E N TS
OUR MOST ANTICIPATED
BOOKS FOR 2014
page 06
NEW IN FEBRUARY
HANIF
KUREISHI
BENNY
LINDELAUF
MANDY
SAYER
BLUE
JASMINE
BRUCE
SPRINGSTEEN
$29.99
$16.99
page 05
page 10
$33
$27.95
$39.95
$29.95
CD $19.95
CD & DVD $24.95
page 10
page 17
page 18
CARLTON 309 Lygon St 9347 6633 HAWTHORN 701 Glenferrie Rd 9819 1917 MALVERN 185 Glenferrie Rd 9509 1952
ST KILDA 112 Acland St 9525 3852 READINGS AT THE STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA 328 Swanston St 8664 7540
See shop opening hours, browse and buy online at www.readings.com.au
2
R E A D I N G S M O N T H LY F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 4
News
READINGS NEW AUSTRALIAN
WRITING AWARD
The Readings New Australian Writing
Award supports published Australian
authors working in fiction, with the vision
of increasing the promotion and sales of
Australian authors’ works to the wider
community. To be eligible for entry in the
inaugural New Australian Writing Award,
the book must be the author’s first or second
published work only. The shortlist will be
published in the October Readings Monthly,
and winning titles will be published in
the November issue. The winner will be
awarded prize money of $4000. Please visit
readings.com.au for more details, including
full eligibility criteria.
READINGS CHILDREN’S
BOOK PRIZE
The inaugural Readings Children’s Book
Prize supports an Australian author writing
for children aged 5 to 12. The Prize seeks
to support an Australian author – who has
published no more than four children’s
books – in establishing their position as a
valued contributor to children’s literature.
The winner, who matches good literature
with strong appeal to children, will be
awarded a prize of $4000. Please visit
readings.com.au for more details, including
full eligibility criteria.
20% OFF ROUGH GUIDES AT
READINGS ST KILDA
Throughout February, Readings St Kilda
is offering you 20% off all Penguin Rough
Guides, including travel guides to more
than 200 worldwide destinations, phrase
books, inspirational guides, music guides,
and reference books on topics as diverse
as business, computers, climate change,
Shakespeare and social media.
Readings Monthly
Free independent monthly newspaper
published by Readings Books, Music & Film
Editorial:
Readings will also continue to support
the Sacred Heart Mission in St Kilda and
The Brotherhood of St Laurence’s HIPPY
program (Home Interaction Program for
Parents and Youngsters) in Fitzroy with
a $6000 donation to each. Please visit
readings.com.au/news/the-readingsfoundation-grant-recipients-announcedfor-2014 to read more on each funded project.
WHITE NIGHT MELBOURNE AT
READINGS STATE LIBRARY
On Saturday 22 February, Readings’ State
Library shop will be open until midnight
as part of the Melbourne White Night
celebrations, where Melbourne’s streets,
laneways and cultural institutions are
transformed into a cultural playground
from dusk to dawn. Please visit
whitenightmelbourne.com.au for more
information on the festivities.
The Transitions Film Festival returns
to Cinema Nova this February, with an
inspiring program of world-changing
documentaries. The festival begins on 15
February with free screenings on the Big
Screen at Federation Square, before moving
to Cinema Nova for a week, and concluding
with an innovative weekend of Cinema by
Demand screenings. Readings is a proud
supporter of the Transitions Film Festival.
Please visit transitionsfilmfestival.com
for more information.
The Readings Foundation has announced
grants totalling $131,850 to support a
Advertising:
RISE (Refugee Survivors and
Ex-Detainees) $20,000
The Wheeler Centre Hot Desk
Fellowships $20,000
VACCA (Victorian Aboriginal Child
Care Agency) $19,760
Save the Children $19,990
100 Story Building $15,100
Reading Out of Poverty $15,000
The Stella Prize $10,000
TRANSITIONS FILM FESTIVAL
THE READINGS FOUNDATION
GRANTS ANNOUNCED
Belle Place
[email protected]
range of projects and organisations within
Victoria in 2014. The successful grant
recipients for this year are:
Ingrid Josephine
[email protected]
(03) 9341 7739
Graphic Design:
The Art Department Collective
www.theartdepartmentau.com
Front Cover:
Cover illustration by Rick Milovanovic
Based on The Days of Anna Madrigal, page 5
Contributors:
Krissy Kneen
Ali Alizadeh
Thank you to Readings staff members and
contributors for your reviews.
Readings donates 10% of its profits each
year to The Readings Foundation:
readings.com.au/the-readings-foundation
Oslo Davis
CINEMA
NOVA
Steve McQueen’s vivid and brilliant depiction of 1850s America
Nominations inc.
9 Oscar
Best Picture, Actor & Director
380 LYGON ST CARLTON
www.cinemanova.com.au
NOW SHOWING
www.oslodavis.com
RECOMMENDS
Visit the Cinema Nova Bar
Chiwetel Michael Lupita Sarah
Benedict
Paul Brad
Ejiofor Fassbender Nyong’o Paulson Cumberbatch Dano Pitt
Join our e-news for updates on the Met Opera,
National Theatre and other stage spectaculars.
DALLAS
BUYERS
CLUB
Matthew
McCONAUGHEY
From the real-life story of
an accidental AIDS activist
Jared
LETO
6 Oscar Nominations inc.
Actor & Supporting
Actor
“AnBest
ambitious
thriller assisted
A film directed by
Jean-Marc Vallée
by excellent performances” Empire
FEBRUARY 13
3
February Events
11
2
19
Join us for the launch of
Pirouette, from bestselling young
adult author Robyn Bavati. Adopted as
babies by two different families, Simone and
Hannah have never known they are identical
twins, but when the two girls pirouette
into each other’s lives, they see a perfect
opportunity to make their dreams come true.
Free, no booking required.
Sunday 2 February, 3pm
Readings Hawthorn
5
Launch
Wednesday 5 February, 6pm
Readings Hawthorn
Launch
DOUG HENDRIE
ON HOW
GLOBALISATION IS
GOOD
We’re thrilled to be launching Doug
Hendrie’s AmalgaNations: How Globalisation
is Good. Part whirlwind world tour
through surprising subcultures, part subtle
sociological study, all immersive reportage
with humour and warmth, AmalgaNations
takes the reader across Asia, Oceania and
Africa to discover how people are adapting
or repurposing ‘global’ cultures.
Thursday 6 February, 6pm
Readings Carlton
Launch
IN CONVERSATION
WITH TROY
BRAMSTON,
BARRY JONES,
SIMON CREAN &
RALPH WILLIS
Join author Troy Bramston as he sits down
with Barry Jones, Simon Crean and Ralph
Willis for a discussion on Bramston’s latest
book, The Whitlam Legacy.
Free, but please book on 9819 1917.
Tuesday 11 February, 6pm
Readings Hawthorn
KATHRYN LEDSON
ON THE NEW
ERICA JEWELL
NOVEL
Join us for the launch of the next eagerly
awaited instalment in the action-packed
Erica Jewell series from Kathryn Ledson.
Fast-paced, funny and totally engaging,
Monkey Business blends adventure and
romance in an irresistible summer read.
6
11
ROBYN BAVATI
ON PIROUETTE
22
17
Pieces of Eight: Stories of Encounter and
Tele is a collection of tales of allure and
intrigue from Lorraine Michael’s work in
psychotherapy within acute psychiatry.
Join the author along with psychiatrist and
psychodramatist Neil Hucker for a reading
from the book.
19
26
UP ALL NIGHT
WITH WHITE
NIGHT
MELBOURNE
In its 2013 debut, White Night Melbourne
attracted more than 300,000 people, and on
Saturday 22 February 2014, Melbourne’s city
streets, laneways, landmarks and cultural
institutions will once again be transformed
into a cultural playground from dusk-tilldawn. Come visit our State Library shop
during your wanderings.
Saturday 22 February, from 6pm
Readings State Library
LORRAINE
MICHAEL ON
PIECES OF EIGHT
Monday 17 February, 6pm
Readings Hawthorn
22
27
Launch
ON SEEKING
ASYLUM
Together with PEN Melbourne,
join us to celebrate the release
of A Country Too Far: Writings on Asylum
Seekers. Editor Rosie Scott will be joined
by contributors Rodney Hall, Judith
Rodriquez and Arnold Zable to talk
about one of the most conflicted issues
facing Australians. To be chaired by Chris
Kremmer.
23
DO YOU DARE?
RODNEY TIFFEN
ON RUPERT
MURDOCH
In Rupert Murdoch: A Reassessment
Rodney Tiffen takes a comprehensive
look at Rupert Murdoch’s business career,
the entrepreneurial strategies that led to
his early success and his later exercises
of monopoly power. Rodney will be in
conversation with Eric Beecher, publisher
of Crikey.
Readings Carlton
27
TRISTEN HARRIS
IN CONVERSATION
WITH GRAPHIC
NOVELIST
TIM MOLLOY
Join us to celebrate the launch
of a new companion series to
the much-loved Our Australian
Girl books! Do You Dare? presents engaging
Australian historical fiction for readers aged
8 to 12 with fast-paced, adventure-driven
stories. The first two books in the series
are The Bushranger’s Boys by Alison Lloyd
and Tough Times by Simon Mitchell. At the
same event, we will also launch two new
Our Australian Girl books: Meet Pearlie by
Gabrielle Wang and Meet Daisy by Michelle
Hamer. All four authors will be at the event,
signing books and chatting with young
readers and fans.
Grab your Shrivelled Homunculus,
ingest that alien hallucinogen, and
delve into the feverish brain of Mr
Unpronounceable – or at least, into the
mind of his creator, Melbourne graphic
novelist Tim Molloy. Join Tim as he chats
with 3RRR announcer Tristen Harris
about his latest work, Mr Unpronounceable
Adventures, which collects the complete
adventures of Mr Unpronounceable
together for the first time.
Sunday 23 February, 3pm
Readings Hawthorn
Thursday 27 February, 6.30pm
Readings Carlton
Launch
For more information and updates, please visit
the events page at readings.com.au/events.
Free, but please book at wheelercentre.com.
The Wheeler Centre
176 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, 3000
Please note bookings do not necessarily
guarantee a seat and some events may be
standing room only.
Digital WRITERS’
F E S T I VA L
13 – 24 FEBRUARY 2014
digitalwritersfestival.com
P re se n
te d b y
CARLTON
Every Monday 11am.
309 Lygon Street, Carlton. Phone 9347 6633 for details.
ST KILDA
Every Saturday 10.30am commencing 1 February 2014.
112 Acland Street, St Kilda. Phone 9525 3852 for details.
MALVERN
Every Friday 10.30am commencing 7 February 2014.
185 Glenferrie Road, Malvern. Phone 9509 1952 for details.
Please note: All children are
to be accompanied by an
adult at all times. This is not
a child-minding service.
4
New Australian Writing
Mandy Sayer’s third
memoir, The Poet's Wife,
vividly details her
marriage to the Pulitzer
Prize-winning poet, Yusef
Komunyakaa, and their
unconventional life lived
across the United States
and in Sydney’s Kings
Cross. Here, Sayer talks with Krissy Kneen
about committing her tumultuous marriage
to the page.
The
Poet’s
Wife
Krissy Kneen interviews Mandy Sayer about
her third memoir.
W
hen reading a review of
a memoir we often come
across a repeated set of
related words. ‘Brave’ is
the first one that springs to mind, along
with ‘courageous’, ‘fearless’, ‘bold’. But
what is so brave about telling the truth (or
at least your subjective truth) about your
life publicly? So many of us do it on social
media, don’t we?
Well, not exactly. We tell a
version of ourselves but much of the truth
is hidden. We show off our best side: our
most flattering selfies, our most humorous
quips and clever patter. The art of the
memoirist is a different job entirely.
‘Compelling memoirs usually
reveal the narrator’s vulnerabilities,
secrets, confusions and mistakes,’ says
Mandy Sayer, who has just released her
third memoir, and eighth book, The Poet’s
Wife. ‘Many people aren’t comfortable
with that level of public revelation about
their so-called weaknesses, which I can
understand. However, it’s usually on that
level that a bond can grow between
reader and narrator, and where
identification begins.’
Sayer has certainly forged a kind
of bond with her own readers, many of
whom have followed her since her first
novel, Mood Indigo, won the Australian/
Vogel Literary Award when she was
just 26. But it was her first memoir,
Dreamtime Alice that gave readers an
insight into her life and character.
Dreamtime Alice, which focused on her
nomadic life tap-dancing across New
York and New Orleans with her drumplaying father, intersects with The Poet’s
Wife – her newest self-revelation. In
both her previous memoirs, Sayer looks
back at herself as a child. In The Poet’s
Wife, the child becomes an adult, falls in
love, and then struggles to retain some
sense of self within a relationship that is
ultimately destructive.
Sayer survived her marriage
to Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef
Komunyakaa, but The Poet’s Wife begins
and ends with a different ‘poet’s wife’,
the woman Komunyakaa partnered with
after Mandy had left their relationship.
Poet Reetika Vazirani, Komunyaaka’s
partner, tragically killed herself and
their young son. The horror of this
murder-suicide haunts the book, giving
weight to Sayer’s own struggles with
mental illness and self-harm during the
years of her marriage to Komunyakaa.
There are two ‘wives’ in this memoir,
two women who are also writers, and
there is a pervading sense that the fate
of one might easily have been the fate of
the other if things had gone differently
for Sayer.
‘The framing device [of
Vazirani’s murder-suicide] is intentional
and so is the title. I did research a little
of Reetika’s life and did find certain
similarities,’ says Sayer, ‘especially once
I read her posthumous collection, Radha
Says. It is so full of anguish and confusion
over her relationship that some of
the stanzas reminded me of my own
shocking, pleading diary entries years
ago. My heart went out to her, and of
course to their son.’
Sayer’s diary plays a central role
in the book: committing her thoughts to
paper is a powerful act in the memoir. In
fact, the craft of the writer takes centre
stage, as the young Sayer begins to help
Komunyakaa with his poetry and is, in
turn, encouraged by him to embark on a
writing career of her own.
Photograph by Tanya Lake
This book contains many
thoughtful insights into the art of
writing, alongside the personal struggles
of a young woman desperately trying
to salvage her relationship, as well as
her own self-esteem. In The Poet’s Wife,
Sayer studies with some of the great
writers and demonstrates her own
fascination with the process of writing,
and the construction of both novels and
memoirs.
When pressed about the
architecture of her work, and the
differences between the two forms,
her answer sheds light on the assembly
‘The horror of this murdersuicide haunts the book,
giving weight to Sayer’s
own struggles with mental
illness and self-harm during
the years of her marriage to
Komunyakaa.’
of her latest book, echoing the same
passion for craft that infuses a large part
of the narrative in The Poet’s Wife. ‘With
a memoir you start off knowing all of
the material and the real task, in order
to find shapes, patterns and structure, is
asking yourself what to leave out of the
narration. With a novel, it’s the complete
opposite: you start off knowing none of
the material – a literal blank page – and
the task is asking yourself what to include.
The memoir is subtraction; the novel is
addition. Both are mathematics!’
The Poet’s Wife is a pacey read.
The sentences race along, jumping from
moment to moment, leaving a reader with
hardly any time to wonder what has been
subtracted, what parts of this life have
been chipped away to serve the shape of
the plot. Sayer is aware of her own natural
rhythms, which occur in the text. ‘As a tap
dancer, and coming from a musical family,’
she says, ‘I became attuned to nuances
of rhythm and music far earlier than
those of literature. It’s also the backbeat
of everything I write, including fiction,
poetry and essays.’
The Poet’s Wife offers much to
those interested in the construction of
memoir, but also provides readers with
plenty of universal truths to unpack
along the way. It is a fine balance for
most relationships – how do you keep
the mystery of a honeymoon period alive
while fostering a depth of relationship
that only honesty and experience can
engender? The Poet’s Wife is a formidable
lesson in this struggle associated with
marriage. As Sayer says when questioned
about the plot of The Poet’s Wife, ‘In some
ways it can be read as a kind of domestic
thriller, with the wife-detective trying to
unravel the truth about a mysterious and
unknowable husband.’
Krissy Kneen is the author of the novel
Steeplechase (2013), the erotic adventure
Triptych (2011), and the memoir Affection (2009).
She has had short fiction and essays published
in literary journals including Island Magazine,
Griffith REVIEW and Nerve online, and her
documentaries have screened on SBS and ABC TV.
Mark’s
Say
5
New Fiction
News and views from Readings’ managing director,
Mark Rubbo
One of the things I’ve always liked to do is support Australian writing and publishing.
Over my career, it has been a thrill to see how the local publishing industry has grown, and
how Australian readers have embraced the exciting writing being produced. However, it
has always been a struggle for Australian writers to gain an audience and secure a living
from their works. Of course, there have been well deserved success stories where debut
authors gain almost immediate recognition: Favel Parrett’s Past the Shallows, Hannah Kent’s
Burial Rites and Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project come to mind, but they are very much
the exception. A cynic could argue that there’s good reason first-time authors struggle –
they just aren’t good enough – and this might be true in some cases, but anyone familiar
with the vagaries of creative recognition knows that excellent works are often overlooked
or have limited commercial appeal. I know that recently at Readings we have tended to
concentrate on those books we feel have the greatest sales potential. It’s been a natural
reaction to the vicissitudes of the book trade, though this was something that gnawed
at me. I have been trying to figure out how we could give new and emerging Australian
writers, particularly, better attention and support. I had the thought of a Readings
award, judged by our experienced staff, which required us to seriously consider the new
Australian books published each month and commend them to our readers. I discussed
this with some colleagues who were equally excited about the concept and over a few
months the idea was debated and refined. Martin Shaw, our books division manager,
pointed out that for many authors it was their second book that was the important one, as
if that book failed then their writing careers were often over. Children’s author and one
of our children’s specialists, Emily Gale, also made an impassioned plea to include a prize
dedicated to children’s literature. It was harder, she argued, for children’s writers to gain
recognition even after their third or fourth book. A prize could make a real difference.
So, it is with great pleasure that I announce the inaugural Readings New
Australian Writing Award and Readings Children’s Book Prize for 2014. The New
Australian Writing Award will be for a work of adult fiction that must be the author’s
first or second published book, and the Children’s Book Prize is for an author writing
for children aged 5 to 12 who has published no more than four children’s books. We
have committed to fund the two awards for the next three years – hopefully it will
continue indefinitely!
Book of the Month
THE LAST WORD
Hanif Kureishi
Faber. PB. $29.99
Hanif Kureishi is probably best known for his early work:
his screenplay My Beautiful Laundrette (made into a film by
Stephen Frears and starring Daniel Day-Lewis), won a New York
Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay in 1986 and was
nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing in 1987; The
Buddha of Suburbia won a Whitbread Book Award (now the
Costa Book Awards) for the best first novel in 1990. Both are lighthearted works
dealing with issues of race and sexuality in Thatcher’s England. His 1998 novel,
Intimacy, was a much bleaker sort of work which kicked up controversy: the plot –
the story of a man leaving his wife and two young sons – closely resembled
Kureishi’s own life. Kureishi’s work has raised the ire of family members
throughout his career for laying bare (or misrepresenting) intimate details of their
personal lives.
Amid the buzz surrounding his new novel is discussion of the plot’s
uncanny resemblance to the story behind Patrick French’s 2008 biography of
Nobel Laureate V.S. Naipaul, The World Is What It Is. Kureishi’s novel is about the
battle of wills between two men: Mamoon, the older, eminent writer, and Harry,
the young up-and-comer who wants to make his mark in the world by writing
Mamoon’s biography. In the book’s promotional clip, Kureishi describes it as a ‘sort
of English country comedy, quite light in some ways, but it’s also about some of the
most serious things: sexuality, passion, love and writing’.
Kureishi’s writing rolls out at a good clip: there are fantastic, bright lines
and his prose is an enchantment – crisp, brisk and sharp as a tack. But The Last
Word is also a curious book: Mamoon’s resemblance to Naipaul, whose misogyny
is no secret, means that the female characters are necessarily portrayed as objects,
around which the two men play out their battle. This portrayal results in a slightly
off-kilter reading experience, which suits Kureishi (and his characters) to a T.
Ed Moreno is from Readings Carlton
Australian
From
the
Books
Desk
ONE BOY MISSING
Unwittingly, Harry becomes trapped in a
spiral of murderous violence and
intimidation that he can neither
understand nor resist.
Stephen Orr
Text. PB. $29.99
Martin Shaw,
Readings Books Division Manager
February of course is back-to-school month, but with the new Liberal government
signalling education is in need of ‘pulling its socks up’, as it were, it’s salient that two new
books address issues that will surely only be perpetuated under Minister Pyne. Marion
Maddox, in Taking God to School, considers the surprising impact that Christian groups
are having on what was once the proudly free and secular public school tradition. David
Gillespie, meanwhile, in Free Schools, considers whether the backing given to the private
sector in our school system actually benefits no one, least of all the students themselves.
Another title certain to create a little controversy this month is a new book about
the place of the Anzac legend in the Australian consciousness. In Anzac’s Long Shadow: The
Cost of Our National Obsession, James Brown, a former military man himself, argues that
the eulogising aspects of our commemorations occlude our awareness of serving officers
in contemporary war zones, thereby rendering those who should be the pride of our nation
into a rather marginal position in our society.
This month we also have a couple of quite interesting literary autobiographies.
Mandy Sayer has A Poet’s Wife, a sequel of sorts to Dreamtime Alice, documenting her
marriage to the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa. And the American novelist
Gary Shteyngart – of Super Sad True Love Story fame – has a hilarious but also deeply
affecting memoir of his emigration to the United States from Russia as a child, and how
he slowly shrugged off the tag his mother only half-jokingly gave him growing up, which
provided him the title for his memoir: Little Failure.
From the fiction offerings, we have two fine novels in translation: Patrick Deville’s
Plague and Cholera from the French, and Danish author Jonas T. Bengtsson’s A Fairy
Tale. Hanif Kureishi is always a singular reading pleasure, so The Last Word is eagerly
anticipated. And fans of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series have the ninth, and
perhaps last, instalment to devour: The Days of Anna Madrigal. Our reviewer declares it to
be ‘a joy, and those of us who have followed the lives of this group of San Franciscans for so
many years will be genuinely touched’.
Finally, two offerings of a South Pacific theme: Nancy Horan, who wrote an
acclaimed novelisation of the life of Frank Lloyd Wright a few years ago, has now re-created
Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson’s life in Samoa in Under the Wide and Starry Sky; and
the latest GriffithREVIEW is a New Zealand-themed issue entitled Pacific Highways – a
fascinating collection of essays, memoir, poetry, visual art, fiction and reportage from
‘across the ditch’.
One Boy Missing is a new
departure in literary crime
from Stephen Orr. It was a
butcher on smoko who
reported the man stashing
the kid in the car boot. He
didn’t really know whether
he’d seen anything at all, though. Maybe an
abduction? Maybe just a stressed-out father.
Detective Bart Moy, newly returned to the
country town where his ailing, cantankerous
father still lives, finds nothing. As far as he
can tell, no one in Guilderton is missing a
small boy. Still, he looks deeper into the
butcher’s story – after all, he had a son of
his own once. But when the boy does turn
up, silent, apparently traumatised, things
are no clearer. Who is he? Where did he
come from and what happened to him?
ASKING FOR TROUBLE
Peter Timms
HarperCollins. PB. $27.99
There are things in his past
that Harry Bascombe
definitely doesn’t want to
remember. But when a nosey
journalist with a taste for
scandal turns up out of the
blue, he is forced to confront
his memories. An uncertain and diffident
boy, Harry struggles to survive a suburban
upbringing in the 1950s. Family life is
complicated, with an ineffectual father, a
highly strung mother who is leading a
double life, and an older brother who is ‘not
quite himself’. School is no easier. However
hard young Harry tries to stay out of
trouble, it seems he is always ‘asking for it’.
International
THE DAYS OF ANNA
MADRIGAL
Armistead Maupin
Random House. PB. Was $32.95
$27.95
Armistead Maupin
began writing Tales of
the City as instalments for a
San Francisco newspaper in
the seventies. Nearly four
decades later, The Days of
Anna Madrigal, which is his
ninth book in the series, is said to be the last.
Transgender lady Anna Madrigal
is 92 years old and content. She is in close
contact with her former tenants from 28
Barbary Lane; they consider her as family.
But a rediscovered childhood book sparks
memories of the desert whorehouse where
Mrs Madrigal grew up and some unfinished
business that she feels must be put to rest.
Anna employs the help of her old friend,
Brian, and his new wife, Wren, and they
head off to the brothel in Winnemucca that
she fled from as a 16-year-old boy named
Andy Ramsey.
Meanwhile, another of Anna’s
old tenants, Michael Tolliver, his
husband, Ben, and Brian’s adult daughter,
Shawna, are making their way to the
Nevada desert to take part in Burning
Man, the weeklong cultural and ‘radical
self-reliance’ festival. Shawna wants
to fall pregnant at the festival but her
choice of father is far from conventional,
especially for Michael.
Continued on page 7
6
Essays
Turning a new page
Readings’ chief book buyer Martin Shaw looks to our most anticipated books for 2014
W
ell, what a bountiful year
2014 is shaping up to be!
There will be legions of
fans awaiting new novels
from the likes of Haruki Murakami,
Marilynne Robinson, Sebastian Barry,
Emma Donoghue, Ian McEwan,
Sarah Waters, David Mitchell and Siri
Hustvedt. Short-story aficionados have
new collections from Lorrie Moore
and Lydia Davis to look forward to. A
new Gerald Murnane novel is always a
cause for celebration. And towards the
end of the year we can await a collection
of personal essays from Lena Dunham,
which recalls Nora Ephron, Tina Fey and
David Sedaris, and comes with quite a
pitch: ‘I’m already predicting my future
shame at thinking I had anything to offer
you with this book, but also my future
glory in having stopped you from trying an
expensive juice cleanse or having the kind
of sexual encounter where you keep your
sneakers on.’
There’s even a novel already
getting touted as a Booker Prize contender:
the South African writer Damon Galgut,
who has already been shortlisted twice
for the award, brings us Arctic Summer
(Atlantic Books), a fictional re-creation of
E.M. Forster’s travels to India – and the
freedoms and inspiration he found there –
which led to the creation of Forster’s classic
novel, A Passage to India.
I’ll finish with a rather eclectic
list of predominantly Australian titles
that are well worth keeping your eye out
for. Particularly pleasing is to see some
fantastic young writers on debut, with
significant careers ahead of them, I suspect.
Tony Birch With The Promise
(UQP), Birch returns to arguably his
métier – the short form – with this story
collection. Already it’s being hailed as his
best work to date.
Emily Bitto A noteworthy debut
this year, I’m sure, will be Bitto’s novel, The
Strays (Affirm Press), loosely based on the
Heide arts community of 1930s Melbourne.
Bitto is influenced by how the controversial
artists’ lives impacted on their offspring,
and the novel explores the deep cracks in
this utopian colony.
Maxine Beneba Clarke
Clarke’s story collection, Foreign Soil
(Hachette), was the first book I read for
2014 and, to be honest, I’m not sure I’ll
read a better debut this year. With stories
of migration and emigration ranging
across America, Africa, the United
Kingdom and Australia, Clarke’s material
is compelling, and her writerly facility
utterly extraordinary.
Joël Dicker is a name you
most likely won’t have heard before, but
this Swiss author knocked Dan Brown
from the top of the bestseller list in
Europe last year with The Truth about
the Harry Quebert Affair (MacLehose).
Concerning a young writer who discovers
his university professor and mentor
is accused of committing a murder 30
years before, it’s enough for me to know
that this literary thriller is published by
Christopher MacLehose, the legendary
publisher who most recently brought
Stieg Larsson to the attention of the
English-speaking world.
Geoff Dyer There can’t be
many authors with a more diverse list of
publications, both fiction and non-fiction,
than Dyer. This time, in Another Great Day
at Sea (Random House), he documents life
on board a US aircraft carrier, and how the
men and women on the vessel lead lives
diametrically opposite to his own, governed
by service and self-constraint, and a refusal
to embrace uncertainty. No doubt as funny
as it will be insightful, it seems this is more
classic Dyer.
Chris Flynn It’s great to hear
there is a second novel due from Flynn,
whose first, A Tiger in Eden (Text),
released two years ago, was so fresh
and inventive. This time he adopts an
Australian setting, with a tale concerning
a travelling fair. Apparently, Flynn was
once a sumo wrestling judge at such a fair
himself!
Helen Garner A new Garner
book is always the cause of much interest
and anticipation. Given this forthcoming
title is another in the ‘true crime’ genre
– detailing the tragic tale of Robert
Farquharson, convicted of killing his three
children by driving them into a farm dam –
I’m sure it will be no different.
Eli Glasman Glasman recently
published on his blog a terrific piece
about his writing journey to date, which
left you in no doubt that he is a real
writer, with all the self-doubt and hardwon successes involved. His debut novel,
The Boy’s Own Manual to Being a Proper
Jew (Sleepers), concerns a homosexual
boy growing up in the Melbourne
Orthodox Jewish community.
Karl Ove Knausgaard No doubt
the translator is working very hard to be
as quick as he can, but alas it’s looking like
a new Knausgaard will only be an annual
event in the years to come. This year we’ll
receive Boyhood Island (Harvill), volume
three of the acclaimed Norwegian’s sixpart autobiographical series, My Struggle.
Boyhood Island focuses on his childhood
in the 1970s, and is described as the most
Proustian of all the volumes. For the
fans, these books are a drug (I admit, I’m
hopelessly addicted!), so all I can say is if
you haven’t yet taken the trip, I heartily
recommend that you do so.
Wayne Macauley In recent
years, Macauley, author of The Cook, has
well and truly arrived as one of our most
exciting prose practitioners. No word
on the content of Demons (Text), his
forthcoming novel, but I don’t think we
care – we’re reading it!
Angela Meyer From the muchadmired writer and critic comes Captives
(Inkerman & Blunt), a debut collection of
what Meyer calls ‘micro’ or ‘flash’ fictions,
in which – in the publisher’s words –
‘Roald Dahl meets Raymond Carver’.
Expect then lots of rather strange things
going on – and Meyer tells me that they’re
also rather dark.
Miriam Sved Usually, if anyone
had asked me to read a book of stories set
around the game and culture of AFL, I
would have tended to do a handball. But
the stories I have read so far in Game Day
(Picador), Sved’s debut story collection,
are stunning, showing that all manner of
narrative thematics and perspectives are
possible in what turns out to be a fertile
and fresh literary terrain.
Rebecca Starford I was intrigued
to discover that Starford, the well-known
co-founder of edgy literary journal Kill
Your Darlings, has a memoir coming
(Bad Behaviour, A&U). It’s an account of
adjusting to life at the Timbertop boarding
campus of Geelong Grammar during her
high school years, and an advance excerpt
published in the GriffithREVIEW made for
riveting reading.
How do you solve a problem like Joan?
Ali Alizadeh writes on the trouble with depicting the perplexing figure of Joan of Arc
I
have spent quite a number of
years reading about the enigmatic,
engrossing historical figure of
Joan of Arc, the young European
peasant who ran away from home, became
a knight, led the armies of the King of
France against his enemies, and was burnt
as a heretic in the early fifteenth century.
Most historical accounts of the medieval
woman’s life and persona are attempts
at a purely factual representation of her
story, or attempts at telling her story, as
the thinker Walter Benjamin may have
it (according to his important essay on
the philosophy of history, as collected in
Illuminations), ‘the way it really was’.
While some of these texts make
for highly informative, persuasive historical
studies and biographies of Joan – among
my own favourites being anything by
Régine Pernoud, Mary Gordon’s biography
and Marina Warner’s brilliant study of
Joan’s iconic image – they mostly confirm,
supplement and contest the existing
views of the famous figure, known to her
contemporaries as Jehanne la Pucelle
(Joan the Maid), rather than offering new
depictions.
I am instead mostly interested
in the portrayals of Joan that are, put in
Benjamin’s terms, ‘our own concerns’.
According to Benjamin, instead of focusing
on ‘the way the past really was’, we must
realise that ‘every image of the past that
is not recognised by the present as one of
its own concerns threatens to disappear
irretrievably’. In other words, for a radical
thinker or writer, the past is not over, but it
is ‘time filled with the presence of the now’.
Images of the past must ‘be blasted out of
the continuum of history’ to be made new;
in my view, it is creative writers and other
artists, and not historians and biographers,
who have provided us with a fascinating
array of imaginative, unsettling, inspired
and at times frankly weird new depictions
of Joan of Arc.
Starting with her own
contemporary, the late-medieval poet
and feminist Christine de Pizan’s long
poem La Ditié de Jehanne d’Arc (1429),
poets, novelists, playwrights, composers,
songwriters, painters and filmmakers have
sought to remove Joan from her immediate
historical and political context – that is, the
battlefields of the Hundred Years’ War – to
make her story relevant to literature readers,
theatregoers and moviegoers of the artists’
own eras. In so doing, these artists have
indeed blasted Joan out of her historical
continuum, albeit with rather erratic levels
of artistic success and effectiveness.
I find it fascinating that some of
the least memorable literary depictions
of Joan have been offered by some of
the world’s best-known writers – such
as Shakespeare, Voltaire, Schiller and
Mark Twain – and many an acclaimed
writer has failed to produce a version of
the famous woman’s life that has stood
the test of time. Thomas Keneally’s 1974
novel Blood Red, Sister Rose is one of
the Booker Prize-winner’s least-known
novels, and is currently out of print.
Keneally’s decision to characterise his
protagonist as some kind of gender
outcast, due to her not menstruating, has
very little historical basis – there exists
only one second- or third-hand statement
given by Joan’s (male) squire, Jean
d’Aulon, 25 years after Joan’s death, in
which the attendant claims to have heard
that women who had seen Joan undress
had not noticed signs of menstruation –
but Keneally’s depiction is, nevertheless,
unusual, even bold, speaking to the
contemporary readers’ fascination
with the body, gender, sexuality and
physiology.
Continued on page 7
Continued from page 6
A far more successful and
enduring modern retelling of Joan’s story
is George Bernard Shaw’s 1923 play Saint
Joan. While this text, as with most other
creative representations of the historical
figure, entails a level of loyalty to the
historical records – most scenes in the play
are based on rather well-known episodes in
the commonly accepted narrative of Joan’s
life, such as her supposedly miraculous
recognition of the French King, Charles
of Valois, upon her arrival at his castle in
Chinon in 1430 – Shaw used the narrative
to offer a new and timely critique of
organised religion. In his version of the
above historical scene, for example, Joan’s
recognition of Charles is attributed to her
common sense, intelligence and scepticism,
and not the workings of a divine force.
Shaw’s humanist depiction of
Joan may be seen as a reaction against
her canonisation by the Vatican in 1920.
Another powerful and arguably antireligious portrayal of the medieval figure
is to be found in a different work of this
period, Carl Dreyer’s 1928 silent movie
La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc. Here, Joan –
portrayed by the actress Renée Jeanne
‘Maria’ Falconetti – is seen as a pious
individual, victimised by the clergymen
who intimidate and mock the young
woman during her Trial of Condemnation,
prior to sentencing her to death. Despite
being a financial failure upon release,
Dreyer’s film is now seen as one of
the greatest movies of all time. Other
cinematic depictions of Joan, however,
have been far less compelling. The 1948
historical epic Joan of Arc with Ingrid
Bergman, the 1994 two-part drama Jeanne
la Pucelle with Sandrine Bonnaire, and
1999’s bloody, star-studded Jeanne d’Arc,
featuring Milla Jovovich, have all been
rather quickly forgotten. The latest movie
based on Joan’s life, Jeanne Captive (2011),
with Clémence Poésy, seems to have
disappeared without a trace.
Joan of Arc’s historical narrative
is perhaps too complex, paradoxical
and challenging to lend itself easily to a
literary or cinematic mould. But I don’t
believe that readers interested in this
remarkable figure should limit themselves
to the works of historians and scholars.
Creative writers and other artists have,
in my view, mostly failed to produce
depictions that do justice to the gravity
of Joan; regardless, their work can be
acknowledged as projects which have
prevented the image of Joan of Arc from
‘disappearing irretrievably’. Even the
epic rap battle between the Maid and
Miley Cyrus on YouTube may help with
animating the medieval figure ‘with the
presence of the now’.
The news is everywhere
and we check it constantly –
but what is it doing to our minds?
Ali Alizadeh is a Melbourne writer, and his
latest book is Transactions. He is currently
writing a novel about Joan of Arc, and is a
lecturer in Creative Writing and Literary
Studies at Monash University.
In this dazzling new book, Alain de Botton takes twenty-five
archetypal news stories – from an aircrash to a murder, a celebrity interview
to a political scandal – and submits them to unusually intense analysis.
The ultimate manual for our news-addicted age.
Continued from page 5
The Days of Anna Madrigal is a
joy, and those of us who have followed the
lives of this group of San Franciscans for
so many years will be genuinely touched.
Admittedly, I find it hard to be overly
critical of any Tales of the City book; my
respect for these characters runs too deep.
It’s said that for many readers, Tales of the
City marked the first time gay characters
were portrayed as normal people. That is
definitely the case personally, and picking
up the first book in the series at the age of
20 was revelatory. I’m sure I’m not alone
in saying that they have been companions
along the road.
Jason Austin is from Readings Carlton
A FAIRY TALE
Jonas T. Bengtsson
Scribe. PB. $29.99
Do not let the title fool
you: there are no fairies
– kindly godmother types or
otherwise – in Danish author
Jonas T. Bengtsson’s third
novel. It is a narrative that
navigates through the
shadows of humanity and, like the works of
the Brothers Grimm, eagerly throws open
doors many would consider best left closed.
That being said, an undercurrent of
tenderness and innocence is present in the
form of the protagonist: a young boy
desperately trying to understand the
opposing forces of love and betrayal he
feels towards his father.
A Fairy Tale charts the nomadic
life of this boy and his idiosyncratic father
who believes they are being pursued by
what he classifies as ‘The White Men’. As
a consequence, the boy’s life is scattered
into brief encounters with a variety of
characters and locations that shape, for
better or worse, the man he eventually
becomes. Bengtsson cleverly examines
how parental authority can mould a child’s
internal world and brings to painful clarity
how easy it is for things to go wrong,
despite best intentions.
A Fairy Tale is not an easy read,
just as Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is
not an easy read: the novel challenges
the reader to examine the extremes of
familial love and the resilient bonds
that knit such love together. The father
figure in A Fairy Tale, however, is a more
complex character than McCarthy’s dad,
a man whose sole focus is the safety of
his child, no matter the cost. Bengtsson’s
father is a character more prone to
mistakes, delusions and human error; as a
consequence, the impact his behaviour has
on his son is both affecting and tragic.
Bengtsson has artfully created a
piece of existential fiction (fans of Knut
Hamsun or John Fante rejoice!) that tugs
on the heartstrings and leaves a solid
impression.
Samuel Zifchak is from Readings Carlton
PLAGUE AND CHOLERA
Patrick Deville
Little, Brown. PB. $29.99
I like my novels to
drop me straight into
events and Patrick Deville’s
Plague and Cholera does just
that. The reader joins
Dr Alexandre Yersin in
Paris, May 1940, as he is
fleeing France during World War II.
Moments later a second narrative is
introduced, taking the reader through
Yersin’s early life: from his medical studies
to his induction and time spent at the
Pasteur Institute and his yearning for
travel and adventure.
In this fictionalised memoir of
the Swiss-born scientist and polymath,
the two narratives cleverly present the
different stages of Yersin’s life. As a young
7
8
What
I
Loved
Annie Condon
Readings Hawthorn
HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN
M.J. Hyland
I
Penguin. PB. $9.95
n 1996 I began the RMIT Professional Writing and Editing
course, and while I didn’t share any classes with M.J. Hyland, I
soon began to hear a lot about her from classmates. Not only was
she an amazing writer, I heard, but a talented editor as well.
Since our student days she has published three books, one of which
(This Is How, 2007) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. However it’s her first novel,
How the Light Gets In (2003), which I re-read every few years.
The book begins with 16-year-old exchange student Louise Connor on a plane
from Sydney to Chicago, where she will spend a year with a host family. Louise, known
as Lou, is terribly afraid and also excited; she is escaping a life of poverty, crime and
two older sisters who relentlessly mock her. Lou has tried to learn as much as she can
about the habits of middle-class life and secretly hopes her host family will adopt her
so she never has to return home. But she’s not prepared for the forceful emotional
dynamics of the Harding family.
From the outset, the reader knows things are not going to be clear cut for Lou.
When she asks the air hostess, ‘Could I possibly borrow some of your perfume?’, it’s
apparent that Lou’s personal boundaries are compromised. The beauty of Hyland’s
writing is that she builds these small, irregular moments into a surprising crescendo.
Within moments of Lou meeting her host family, the mother, Margaret, takes Lou’s
hand and holds it as they walk. Her host brother, James, stares at her, commenting each
time she blushes. Bridget, her host sister, is both disdainful of Lou, and jealous of her
mother’s affections.
‘The beauty of Hyland’s writing is that she builds these small, irregular
moments into a surprising crescendo.’
Lou arrives at the Hardings’s prefabricated suburban mansion worn out,
overcome with jetlag but unable to sleep. When the Hardings take a two-week road trip
before school resumes, Lou’s insomnia, a pivotal problem throughout the novel, and
James’s scrutiny mean that she is exhausted and underwhelmed by the trip. She has
come to America to escape the close quarters of her family’s council flat in Sydney, but
finds herself in even closer quarters with the Hardings.
Hyland is wonderful at evoking emotionally claustrophobic situations.
The more sleepless and unwell Lou feels, the less she meets the mostly unspoken
expectations of her host family; things spiral downward from here.
In Lou, Hyland has created a wonderfully flawed narrator. The reader can
empathise with her desire to live a life other than the one she’s grown up with,
and her humour, intelligence and wordplay converge into literature of the finest
form. Lou’s vulnerability, which is at odds with her fierce desire for independence,
makes you want to give her a big hug at the end of the book. But of course she
would hate that!
man he could well be seen as fickle, unable
to stay put in any one career or locale.
The young Yersin is eager to learn and
explore the unchartered; he is bored stuck
in a laboratory doing research and gains
employment as a ship’s doctor, widening
his thirst for exploration. As an old man
leaving war-torn Europe for the sanctuary
of his second home in Indochine, he
reflects on the life he has made, fondly
recalling friends and colleagues, now
long passed, and wonders with what luck
he is still here.
Deville’s prose is comfortable
– almost conversational – and is vividly
engaging. I struggled to put the book
down, torn between racing through
it like a young Yersin eager for his
next great discovery or adventure, or
reading at a slower pace akin to Yersin
in his seventies. I chose slow and steady
to best enjoy every moment of this
epic adventure. Yersin is most often
remembered as the discoverer of the
bacillus bacteria responsible for the
bubonic plague – but his life work and
experience was far wider than just this.
With an enthralling blend of fact and
fiction, Deville’s Plague and Cholera
brilliantly highlights this wonderful
man. A great read.
Suzanne Steinbruckner is from
Readings St Kilda
THE UNDERTAKING
Audrey Magee
A&U. PB. $29.99
On the Eastern Front in
1941, Peter Faber, a
German soldier, is fighting
for his country. In a not yet
divided Berlin, Katharina
Spinell is waiting for a
conflict she doesn’t
understand to end. Fed up with rations and
the banality of something so big it’s entirely
incomprehensible, Peter and Katharina
– having picked each other from a
catalogue of photographs – decide to marry.
A thousand miles apart, their
ceremonies take place simultaneously. The
arrangement is a good one: honeymoon
leave for Peter and a pension for
Katharina if he doesn’t return from the
front. Such is great fortune in times of
war. Unexpectedly, or perhaps out of a
desperate need to give meaning to their
petty lives, when Peter and Katharina
meet they fall in love.
Returned to Russia and
surrounded at Stalingrad, Peter wonders
if he is more than just cannon fodder
while Katharina climbs the social ranks
of the Nazi Party in Berlin. Consumed by
their individual desires, neither appears
to fully understand the ramifications of
their actions, or those of the party they
blindly obey.
Leaving the specific horrors
of the Holocaust out of the story, The
Undertaking is an empathetic tale about
two people who can’t, or won’t, see the
truth of the war or the regime they have
wed themselves to – it’s this tension that
defines Audrey Magee’s debut. Covering
the conflict in Northern Ireland for six
years as a correspondent for The Times,
Magee wanted to tell a story about people
whose experience of war pushed the
issues and politics to one side: the result
is an unsettling read. Light on historical
content, The Undertaking is an unlikely
romance that’s heavy on the heartstrings.
Tara Kaye Judah is from Readings St Kilda
THE VISITORS
Rebecca Mascull
Hodder Headline. PB. $29.99
The ghost story has
been rattling the chains
of literary history for
centuries, with the likes of
Shakespeare, Dickens, Poe,
and Henry James (among
many others) all
experimenting with the subject – Rebecca
Mascull’s debut novel adds another
imaginative tale to the genre.
Adeliza Golding is deaf and
blind, unable to interact with anyone
except the ghosts she communicates
with in her head until she runs out into
the fields of her father’s hop farm and a
stranger, Lottie, takes her hand and draws
shapes upon it with her fingers. Lottie
teaches Adeliza how to communicate,
opening the world to her, and the two
become inseparable.
Set in late Victorian England, The
Visitors explores Liza’s friendship with
Lottie and her brother Caleb, as she travels
from her father’s farm to the oyster beds
of Kent, to a doctor’s office in London,
and onward to South Africa during the
Boer War, where the truth of the Visitors
ultimately unfolds.
As the story opened I was
reminded of Patrick Süskind’s Perfume: the
reader is led by the nose into a vivid reality
of smell and touch via a lively character a
little out of kilter with the world, somewhat
wild and not always likeable. The Visitors is
written in the first person, present tense – a
narrative style not to everyone’s liking –
but Mascull has utilised it well; it gives the
tale a sense of immediacy while allowing
the reader inside the head of her eccentric
deaf-blind protagonist.
The Visitors is an inventive
story with well-drawn characters but
sometimes falls short by telling the
reader too much – the wrap-up towards
the end seemed unnecessary. However,
for lovers of ghost stories and oddities,
Mascull’s tale will offer a weird and
wonderful escape into a richly imagined
world peopled with some extraordinary
characters.
Deborah Crabtree is from Readings Carlton
THE PEOPLE IN
THE TREES
Hanya Yanagihara
Atlantic Books. PB. $27.99
In 1950, a young doctor,
Norton Perina, and the
anthropologist Paul Tallent
set out for a remote
Micronesian island in search
of a rumoured lost tribe. They
succeed, but also find a group of forest
dwellers they dub ‘The Dreamers’, who turn
out to be fantastically long-lived. Perina
suspects the source of their longevity is a
hard-to-find turtle, and after smuggling
some meat back to the States, he proves his
thesis but soon discovers that its miraculous
property comes at a terrible price.
SEASON TO TASTE
Natalie Young
Headline. PB. Was $30
$24.95
Meet Lizzie Prain. Ordinary
housewife. Fifty-something.
Lives in a cottage in the
woods, with her dog Rita.
Likes cooking, avoids the
neighbours. Runs a little
business making cakes. No
one has seen Lizzie's husband, Jacob, for a
few days. That’s because last Monday, on
impulse, Lizzie caved in the back of his
head with a spade. And if she's going to
embark on the new life she feels she
deserves after 30 years in Jacob's shadow,
she needs to dispose of his body. Her
method appeals to all her practical
instincts, though it’s not for the fainthearted. Will Lizzie have the strength to
follow it through? Season to Taste is a
deliciously subversive treat and in the
shape of Lizzie Prain, Natalie Young has
created a most remarkable heroine.
UNDER THE WIDE
AND STARRY SKY
Nancy Horan
Hachette. PB. Was $30
$24.95
In her second novel, New
York Times bestselling author
Nancy Horan tells the
passionate and turbulent
story of Stevenson – who
would eventually write such
classics as Treasure Island and
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
– and his tempestuous American wife. At the
age of 35, Fanny van de Grift Osbourne has
left her philandering husband in San
Francisco to set sail for Belgium to study art.
There she meets Robert Louis Stevenson,
ten years her junior, who is instantly smitten
with the earthy and opinionated belle
Americaine, and the two begin a fierce love
affair that spans decades.
THAT PART WAS TRUE
Deborah McKinlay
Orion. HB. $24.99
When Eve Petworth writes
to Jackson Cooper to praise a
scene in one of his books,
they discover a mutual love
of cookery and food. As their
letters criss-cross the ocean
that lies between them,
friendship and then romance blossom
despite Jackson’s colourful love life and
Eve’s tense relationship with her soon-tobe-married daughter. Little by little, Eve
and Jack begin to believe that they may
have a chance to change their lives, they
just need to actually meet.
THE LIE
Helen Dunmore
New Crime
Dead Write
with Fiona Hardy
Random House. PB. $27.99
In 1920s Cornwall, just
after the First World War, a
young man is back from the
war, homeless and without
family. Behind him lies the
terror of the trenches, but
also the most intense
relationship of his life, forged in a
crucible of shared suffering. Daniel has
survived, but the horror and passion of
the past seem more real than the quiet
fields around him. He is about to step into
the unknown, but will he ever be able to
escape the terrible, unforeseen
consequences of a lie?
THE KING
Kader Abdolah
A&U. PB. $29.99
Already a bestseller in
Europe, The King follows the
young Persian King, Shah
Naser, who upon taking the
throne inherits a medieval,
enchanted world. But beyond
the court, the greater forces
of colonisation and industrialisation close
in. The Shah’s grand vizier sees only one
solution – to open up to the outside world,
and to bring Persia into modernity. But the
Shah’s mother fiercely opposes the vizier’s
reforms and sets about poisoning her son’s
mind against his adviser.
THE WIND IS
NOT A RIVER
Brian Payton
Pan Mac. PB. $29.99
Following the death of his
younger brother in World
War II, journalist John
Easley is determined to find
meaning in his loss. Leaving
behind his wife, Helen, he
heads north from Seattle to
investigate the Japanese invasion of
Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. While John is
accompanying a crew on a bombing run, his
plane is shot down over the island of Attu.
He survives, only to find himself exposed to
a harsh and unforgiving wilderness where
he must battle the elements and starvation
while evading discovery by the Japanese.
Alone in their home three thousand miles
to the south, Helen is forced to re-imagine
who she is. Somehow, she must find John
and bring him home, a quest that takes her
into the farthest reaches of the war.
Anthology
PACIFIC HIGHWAYS:
GRIFFITH REVIEW 43
Julianne Schultz &
Lloyd Jones (eds)
Text. PB. $27.99
Pacific Highways explores
and maps New Zealand, in
the words of the country’s
finest writers, including Kate
De Goldi, C.K. Stead,
Bernard Beckett, Owen
Marshall, Hinemoana Baker
and many more. From reports of the Kiwi
Diaspora in Australia, to a consideration of
the growing Asian economic and cultural
influence, to the contribution of Pacific
society to the arts and sports, this collection
of original essays, memoir, poetry, fiction
and reportage will challenge the way you
think about New Zealand.
Book of the Month
DESERVING DEATH
Katherine Howell
Pan Mac. PB. $29.99
On a springtime morning in Sydney, two paramedics get a call:
to attend to a collapsed woman in Sydenham. The paramedics
recognise the address, and when they arrive their worst fears are
confirmed: their co-worker and friend, Alicia Bayliss, is found
bloody and beaten to death. Just weeks earlier, another paramedic
suffered the same grisly fate.
In Katherine Howell’s latest Detective Ella Marconi novel, there is as much
emotional involvement as there is procedural detail. Marconi is unnerved, sensing
unexpected tensions among the paramedics she interviews, while attempting to
sustain her relationship with Dr Callum McLennan as the anniversary of his cousin’s
death approaches. Marconi is the one who helped find the killer – the doctor’s own
perverse father – and McLennan’s mother cannot forgive her for it. Meanwhile,
paramedic Carly Martens is troubled, determined to find justice for her dead friend,
while waiting to see if her girlfriend will be able to brave her family’s bigotry and
disclose their relationship. The emergency services – both police and ambulance –
require trust on the field, but in this case, suspicion spreads far and wide.
Deserving Death was a revealing and tense read, and the cause of a Very Late
Night Staying Up Just To Finish One *cough* Twelve More Chapters. This is a book
full of smart and powerful women, and the men who feel inadequate when confronted
by them. Exactly the right kind of crime novel to throw us screaming into 2014.
RIPPER
YOU WILL NEVER FIND ME
Isabel Allende
Robert Wilson
Fourth Estate. PB. $29.99
Orion. PB. $29.99
Isabel Allende is a lyrical
storyteller, and each of her
characters is always vividly
built. In Ripper, she tells the
tale of a mother and daughter,
Indiana and Amanda Jackson,
holistic healer and teenage
sleuth respectively: they are happy, close,
and heading into danger. Amanda has a
predilection for crime novels and spends her
time playing Ripper, an online mystery game;
when she discovers a series of deaths in their
beloved home of San Francisco could be
connected, she is well placed to investigate
further – until Indiana vanishes.
Charlie Boxer knows how to
find people – he does it for a
living – but when his
daughter, Amy, goes missing,
leaving a note that reads, You
will never find me, Charlie
knows that sometimes the
disappeared don’t want to be found. After
years of work in intense environments,
Charlie’s relationship with Amy is patchy,
and his uneven parenting means he may not
have enough insider knowledge to find her.
THE FARM
Tom Rob Smith
Simon & Schuster. PB. $29.99
Daniel is a dutiful British son,
pleased that his parents have
retired to an idyllic farm in
his mother’s homeland of
Sweden, until news comes
from his father: his mother
has had a psychotic
breakdown, accusing those around her of
horrendous crimes. After being released
from a psychiatric ward she has since
vanished. Before he can leave England,
Daniel gets another call: this time from his
mother, seemingly rational, and on her way
to Heathrow to prove that there was a crime
– and that Daniel’s father was involved.
BIG BAD WOLF
Nele Neuhaus
Pan Mac. PB. $29.99
It’s a hot German summer
and Inspectors Pia Kirchhoff
and Oliver von Bodenstein
are trying to uncover the
identity of a teenager brutally
murdered and washed up on
a Frankfurt riverbank. There
are no leads until they stumble upon a
connection in a new case – a controversial
television personality is violently attacked
– and the investigation takes a turn for the
sickening. Complex, surprising and not for
the faint of heart.
IN THE MORNING
I’LL BE GONE
Adrian McKinty
Profile. PB. $29.99
One grand thing about the
end of the January holidays is
that February means getting
my paws on a copy of this, the
latest no-longer-Detective
Inspector Sean Duffy book.
With Duffy at a place so low
it’s close to underground, it’s the best time
for MI5 to strike with a request, and he’s
tasked to track down IRA prison escapee,
bomb builder and ex-schoolmate Dermot
McCann. Said mission points him in the
direction of a locked-room mystery and
– because he’s never far from it – further
peril and utterly enjoyable reading.
THE GIRL WITH A CLOCK
FOR A HEART
Peter Swanson
Faber & Faber. PB. $29.99
In college, George Foss has a
relationship that ends with
drama, confusion and a
warrant out for his girlfriend’s
arrest; decades later, in his
favourite bar, Liana Decter
reappears, asking for a favour.
Still in her thrall despite the intervening
years and (you’d think) acquired wisdom,
George agrees – anything to save Liana from
what a punch in the kidneys by a hired goon
shows to be a very real danger. But what will
that one favour lead to? (Answer: a pretty
great and twisty crime novel.)
9
Victorian
Premier’s
Literary
Awards 2014
Here are the winners, each an exceptional
literary achievement – and together
making for a robust reading list
Prize for Poetry
LIQUID NITROGEN
Jennifer Maiden
Giramondo. PB. $24
Politically-charged and
exquisitely-structured,
Jennifer Maiden’s intimate
poems read like verse essays,
subjecting the political issues
of our time, and the figures who dominate
them, to a fierce scrutiny. Maiden was also
awarded the Victorian Prize for Literature.
Prize for Fiction
COAL CREEK
Alex Miller
A&U. PB. Was $30
$26.95
In this tenderly provocative
novel, Bobby Blue becomes
caught between loyalty to his
only friend Ben Tobin, and
his boss Daniel Collins, the
new Constable at Mount
Hay. Readings’ Managing Director Mark
Rubbo calls it ‘a great achievement.’
Prize for Non-Fiction
FORGOTTEN WAR
Henry Reynolds
New South. PB. $29.99
Forgotten War continues the
story told in Reynolds’
seminal book The Other Side
of the Frontier, which argued
that the settlement of
Australia had a high level of
violence and conflict that we
chose to ignore. Our reviewer describes it as
‘an intelligent, challenging work.’
Prize for Writing for
Young Adults
MY LIFE AS AN
ALPHABET
Barry Jonsberg
A&U. PB. $14.99
My Life as an Alphabet is a
delightful novel about an
unusual girl who goes to great
lengths to bring love and
laughter into the lives of
everyone she cares about. Our
reviewer writes, ‘This book
completely won me over, just as unusual
misfit Candice wins over everyone she meets.’
Prize for Drama
With Savages, multi award-winning
playwright Patricia Cornelius takes a
tough look at masculinity and misogyny
amongst a pack of ordinary young men.
10
New Young Adult Fiction
New Non-Fiction
See books for kids, junior and middle readers on pages 14-15
Australian
Book of the Month
NINE OPEN ARMS
Benny Lindelauf (translated by John Nieuwenhuizen)
A&U. PB. $16.99
Emily Gale is from Readings Carlton
Romily Bernard
S&S. PB. $16.99
Wick Tate and her
sister haven’t had an
easy life. With a mother who
committed suicide and a
drug-dealing father on the
run, the Tate sisters have
finally been put in a loving
foster home and feel like they can start a new
life. That is until Wick, an expert computer
hacker, finds the diary of a local dead girl left
at her front door with the message ‘find me’
written inside. As Wick starts to delve into
the girl’s world through social media, she
gets a nasty surprise to discover that the
person responsible is ready to strike again,
and this time much closer to home.
I have to admit, it took me a little
time to get into this book, I think because
I wasn’t really sure how it was going to
work and if it would be captivating enough.
However, by the time I was about a quarter
of the way in, I was hooked, and keen to
find out what would happen. Find Me
certainly isn’t literary genius, but it doesn’t
claim to be. Simply put, it’s a fun mystery
that will engross teens who like a bit of
whodunnit. For ages 13 and up.
Katherine Dretzke is from Readings
Hawthorn
GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE
Andrew Smith
Egmont. PB. $19.95
This unusual comingof-age novel has been
likened to the voices of
Vonnegut and Salinger’s
Catcher in the Rye, with
good reason. The narrator, a
self-proclaimed historian,
Austin Szerba, is a 15-year-old Polish kid
living in the middle of a dead-end town in
Lutheran Ohio. He’s obsessed with sex and
cigarettes and happens to be equally in
love with his best friend, Robby, as his
girlfriend, Shann. He is also recording the
end of the world, which may or may not
have been caused by him and Robby, and
which will definitely involve giant,
sex-obsessed insects. As our narrator
Mandy Sayer
A&U. PB. Was $33
$27.95
We see many successful adult novels translated to English
from the Dutch (a notable release of late being Herman
Koch’s The Dinner). Nine Open Arms is welcome proof that young
adult publishers recognise the value of translated fiction, too.
Originally published in 2003, Nine Open Arms has won several
esteemed awards in its native Holland. It’s unclear whether we’ll
get the sequel (which has been compared to The Book Thief), but I sincerely hope so.
Nevertheless, this story stands alone.
It takes place during the 1930s, in the Netherlands, and follows the trials of a
large, motherless family, always on the move because their father – a dreamer – takes
risks that never pay off. In fact, they’re destitute and come to live in a dilapidated
house at the end of a dusty road, placing them literally on the edge of civilisation.
The narrative is with the eldest girl, Fing, a wise and responsible child,
perfectly pitched to show off the more eccentric characters, such as her sister
Muulke, who is dramatic and fearless, and her hard-as-nails grandmother, Oma Mei.
The house has its secrets, and somehow they are linked to Fing’s family. We’re
taken back to the 1860s to see how. For me, the joy was in the journey more than the
revelations, in the warmth and humour alongside the hardship and sadness. Highly
recommended for ages 12 and up, with good crossover appeal.
FIND ME
THE POET’S WIFE
notes, ‘good books are about everything’
and Grasshopper Jungle is a great book
that is both a crazy, thrilling ride and a
wise and funny look at the confusion of
being a teenager – especially when the end
of the world happens to be just around the
corner.
Angela Crocombe is from Readings St Kilda
THE INTERN
Gabrielle Tozer
When Josie Browning lands
an internship at the glossy
fashion magazine Sash, she
thinks her luck could finally
be changing. A coveted
columnist job is up for grabs,
but Josie quickly learns that
the magazine industry is far from easy. This
debut novel from industry insider Gabrielle
Tozer reveals just what is behind the
seeming sparkle of the magazine industry.
TAPE
Steven Camden
In 1993, Ryan records a diary
on an old tape. He talks about
his mother’s death, about his
dreams and about his love for
a new girl at school who
doesn’t even know he exists.
In 2013, Ameliah moves in
with her grandmother after her parents die
and discovers a tape in the spare room. The
tape has a boy’s voice on it, which seems to
be speaking to her. But Ryan and Ameliah
are connected by more than just a tape.
THIS STAR WON’T GO OUT
Esther Earl
Penguin. PB. $19.99
A collection of the journals,
fiction, letters and sketches of
the late Esther Grace Earl,
who passed away in 2010 at
the age of 16. Photographs and
essays by family and friends
help to tell Esther’s story, along with an
introduction by award-winning author John
Green, who dedicated his bestselling novel,
The Fault in Our Stars, to her.
Mandy Sayer’s vivid
new memoir, set
predominantly in New
Orleans, Indiana, and later in
Sydney’s Kings Cross, details
her volatile ten-year marriage
to the Pulitzer-Prize winning
poet, Yusef Komunyakaa. Two memoirs
precede this work: Dreamtime Alice, which
detailed the years she spent tap-dancing on
the street with her drummer father, Gerry;
and Velocity, the story of her childhood spent
on society’s fringe. In The Poet’s Wife we are
introduced to Sayer as she meets
Komunyakaa at Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
Sayer is in her early twenties, still busking
with Gerry, while Komunyakaa is nearly
forty, a struggling poet from the Deep South.
Sayer positions news she
received in 2003 of the murder-suicide of
Komunyakaa’s two-year-old son and then
partner, the poet Reetika Vazirani, at the
beginning of her memoir, and it’s difficult
to shift the shadow that this situation casts.
In Sayer’s marriage to Komunyakaa, he
is unpredictable and dynamic, roaming
without any real warning between
vehemence and tenderness. His bad
behavior makes for engaging reading, before
the jolt comes that this is someone’s life
story. While Sayer is capable of tremendous
achievements they do nothing to mollify her
shallow sense of self-worth, and she suffers
from crippling anxiety and depression.
She’s an intriguing character, one capable
of staggering pragmatism – you root for her
while being simultaneously infuriated.
Despite the bleakness of Sayer’s
domestic landscape, her writing is buoyant.
Aside their travels between America
and Australia, the pair makes impressive
professional achievements. Sayer has now
moved outside of Komunyakaa’s orbit, but
it’s impossible not to wonder about his
influence. Professionally, he encouraged her
to write and produce novels – Sayer’s first,
Mood Indigo, was published while she was
married to Komunyakaa – though dually she
contributed editorial advice to his poetry.
The Poet’s Wife would be striking simply
as an account of the early careers of a
significant poet and an accomplished writer
– but this is, of course, a record of a deeply
troubled relationship. Sayer offers a memoir
written with clear-eyed precision, The Poet’s
Wife rippling as much with her measured
prose as her generous storytelling.
Belle Place is the editor of Readings Monthly
ANZAC’S LONG
SHADOW: THE COST
OF OUR NATIONAL
OBSESSION
battle over Australia’s culture brings into
question what Anzac means in
contemporary Australia. Education Minister
Christopher Pyne suggests that the review
will address concerns about the history
curriculum ‘not giving important events in
Australia’s history and culture the
prominence they deserve, such as Anzac
Day’. Yet here, Brown, former Australian
Army officer and current military fellow at
the Lowy Institute, puts forward that the
Anzac legend is in no danger of slipping
from the public consciousness.
The fourth book from Black Inc.’s
Redback imprint, Anzac’s Long Shadow
takes a candid look at how Australia
eulogises the Anzacs and why. Brown
considers the costs and dangers of a culture
that reveres the Anzac story and spirit,
yet predominantly ignores our current
military presence in Afghanistan. This is
not a damning critique of the Anzac legacy,
but rather a considered commentary on
the myriad ways in which the ‘sheer effort
we are expending on the Anzac centenary
is utterly irreconcilable’ with the marginal
place of the serving military in our society.
Brown writes that ‘touching the
sacred is a difficult thing to do. Grabbing
hold of it with both hands and wrestling
with it can be tricky indeed.’ Brown, as
both an intelligent military theorist and
an engaging storyteller, is able to tackle
such a controversial issue with humour
and candour. A personal, challenging and
informative work, Anzac’s Long Shadow
has the potential to contribute a great deal
to Australia’s understanding of our own
military service, and how we think about
war itself.
Stella Charls is from Readings Carlton
Biography
LITTLE FAILURE:
A MEMOIR
Gary Shteyngart
Penguin. PB. $32.99
Gary Shteyngart’s loving but
mismatched parents dreamed
that he would become a
lawyer, or at least an
accountant, something their
distracted son was simply not
cut out to do. Fusing English
and Russian, his mother created the term
Failurchka – ‘Little Failure’ – which she
applied to her son. With love. Mostly. A
candid and deeply poignant story of a Soviet
family’s trials and tribulations, and of their
escape in 1979 to the consumerist promised
land of the United States, Little Failure is
also an exceptionally funny account of the
author’s transformation from asthmatic
toddler in Leningrad to 40-something
Manhattanite with a receding hairline
and a memoir to write.
SHEILA
James Brown
Robert Wainwright
Black Inc. PB. $19.99
A&U. PB. Was $33
This year, many local
books will focus on the
Gallipoli centenary in 2015;
indeed, James Brown’s Anzac’s
Long Shadow offers a timely,
biting analysis of the Anzac
legend – one that will most
likely sit outside the usual commemorative
milieu. As the Abbott government launches
a review of the national curriculum, a new
$27.95
An extraordinary woman
unknown to most
Australians, Shelia is
spellbinding. Born on an
Australian sheep station in
New South Wales, she
wedded earls and barons,
befriended literary figures and movie stars,
bedded a future king, and was feted by
London and New York society for 40 years
before dying as a Russian princess. Edward,
Prince of Wales, called her ‘a divine
woman’ and his brother Bertie, the future
George VI of England, was especially
close to her.
INSIDE TRADER
Trader Faulkner
Scribe. PB. $35
As a boy, Ronald ‘Trader’
Faulkner was a troubled and
rebellious surfer and
tearaway, and dreamed of a
career in the Royal
Australian Navy. But
through a series of chance
encounters, he found himself embarking
on a career in the theatre — not unlike his
father, the silent film actor John Faulkner,
and his mother, Sheila Whytock, a
ballerina who danced with Diaghilev’s
Ballets Russes and the great Anna Pavlova.
After he arrived in England in 1950, his
career in the theatre soon took off,
bringing him into contact with some of
the finest actors, directors, and
playwrights of his time.
Politics
MY PROMISED LAND:
THE TRIUMPH AND
TRAGEDY OF ISRAEL
Ari Shavit
Scribe. HB. $45
My Promised Land is a
profoundly inspiring
and challenging book. It is
an intensely personal
impression of a country, for
which the writer has
intense admiration and
affection but also grave misgivings. Israel
was founded on a paradox. The ideals of
Zionism embodied the rights to freedom,
to self determination, to safety and to a
just society – politically and
economically. The early Zionists were
amazingly successful in creating a real
living society that incorporated these
ideals but the creation of this society
required the displacement of millions of
people, often quite harshly.
Ari Shavit, a leading Israeli
journalist and a columnist for Haaretz,
does not shy away from any aspect of
Israeli history or society. He speaks
lovingly and admiringly of the Zionist
movement and what it achieved in a harsh
land. But he also writes of a massacre of
Palestinians in the town of Lydda, and how
the survivors were forced to leave their
homes for the refugee camps in Jordan –
he acknowledges that the Israeli soldiers
‘did dirty work that enables myself, my
daughter and my sons to live’.
Shavit explores how the State
of Israel has evolved, and what it has
become. There is much that worries
him but he does not have the answers:
‘If Israel does not retreat from the West
Bank, it will be politically and morally
doomed, but if it does retreat, it might
face an Iranian-backed and Islamic
Brotherhood-inspired West Bank regime
whose missiles could endanger Israel’s
security.’ This is not a history of Israel;
it is a beautifully written reflection on
a complex society by a compassionate
and intelligent participant. It is essential
reading.
Mark Rubbo is Managing Director of
Readings
THE SNOWDEN FILES
Luke Harding
Faber. PB. $29.99
It began with a tantalising,
anonymous email: ‘I am a
senior member of the
intelligence community...’
What followed was the most
spectacular intelligence
breach in history: the leaking
of highly sensitive secrets from the heart of
US power by young contractor Edward
Snowden. Award-winning Guardian
journalist Luke Harding spins a highoctane account of integrity and intrigue as
he unspools the thread of Snowden’s
narrative, one that simultaneously earned
him the titles of hero and traitor.
Cultural Studies
T
his comprehensive book
traces his business career,
THE ROAD TO
MIDDLEMARCH
the entrepreneurial strategies
that led to Rupert Murdoch’s
early success and his later
Rebecca Mead
exercises of monopoly power. It
Text. PB. $32.99
I’ve read Middlemarch
twice, once as a
teenager and once as an adult.
Although I loved it the first
time, it was the second
reading that convinced me
this was to be my favourite
novel. Rebecca Mead reads Middlemarch
every five years and each time finds more to
admire. There is something truly remarkable
in Eliot’s ability to create an epic story that
still has such resonance today, despite the
fact that the characters are confined to a
provincial English town during a short
period of time in the early 1830s.
The complicated genius of the
author is something that Mead set out to
discover along her road to Middlemarch.
The subtitle is ‘My Life with George Eliot’,
and certainly Mead uses reflections from
her own life to explore her deeply personal
relationship with the book, but this never
feels like an indulgent autobiography; it’s
almost as if it’s impossible to discuss the
novel in any depth without conveying what
it means to the reader. Nor does Mead shy
away from discussing criticisms of both the
book and its author; her research uncovers
some letters written by Eliot that she finds
difficult to read for their ‘embarrassing
pretentiousness’. But it’s Mead’s close
analysis of the book that I most enjoyed,
from pages and pages examining a single
paragraph to speculation about which
acquaintances of Eliot’s might have
inspired particular characters.
Although I suspect the reader
will get more from Mead’s book if they
have read Middlemarch at least once, it
will certainly inspire others to revisit its
pages. I think it’s time I got started on my
third reading.
Kara Nicholson is from Readings Carlton
THE NEWS: A USER’S
MANUAL
Alain de Botton
Hamish Hamilton. HB. $29.99
In The News, Alain de Botton,
the bestselling author of
Religion for Atheists, takes 25
archetypal news stories –
from an aircrash to a murder,
from a celebrity interview to a
political scandal – and
submits them to intense analysis. His
manual is sure to bring understanding and a
measure of sanity to our daily interactions
with the news machine.
dissects his political ideas, the
relish with which he approaches
political campaigning, and the
way he leverages political support
into policy outcomes that favour
his business.
w w w . n e w s o u t h b o o k s . c o m . a u
Art ClimAte ethiCs:
WhAt role for the Arts?
6.00–7.30pm (free entry)
Saturday 15 February, 2014
Deakin Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne
Art Climate Ethics will consider what
role the arts can play in understanding
and deepening our engagement with
the challenge of climate change.
Hear what leading thinkers in art,
science and philosophy have to say.
Moderated by ABC’s rafael epstein
with panellists including Philosopher
Damon Young, Artists mandy martin and
fiona hall and Climate Expert
Peter Christoff.
further information at www.climarte.org
Proudly supported by Sustainable Living Festival, Sofitel Luxury Hotels,
Cordial Creative and Melbourne Conversations
MARITIME
MYSTERY
Why did the elegant SS Koombana
disappear off the Pilbara coast in 1912,
and why was it never found?
‘an impressive and engagingly
written history …’
The West Australian
‘a fascinating mix …* * * * ’
Books+Publishing
fremantlepress.com.au
11
12
THE TRIPLE PACKAGE
Amy Chua & Jed Rubenfeld
Bloomsbury. PB. $29.99
The Triple Package is an
examination of how three
cultural traits enable some
groups to outperform others: a
superiority complex;
insecurity; impulse control.
Drawing on original research
and startling statistics, Amy Chua and Jed
Rubenfeld explore the motivational drive
that leads to the rise, and sometimes fall, of
cultural groups.
BLOCKBUSTERS
Anita Elberse
Scribe. PB. $32.99
What’s behind the
phenomenal success of
entertainment businesses such
as Warner Bros and MGM –
along with such stars as Jay-Z
and Lady Gaga? Anita Elberse,
Harvard Business School’s
expert on the entertainment industry,
reveals why executives often spend
outrageous amounts of money in search of
the next blockbuster, and why superstars are
paid unimaginable sums. Required reading
for anyone wanting to understand how the
entertainment industry really works.
Travel Writing
INSIDE A PEARL
Edmund White
Bloomsbury. PB. $29.99
Writers writing in
Paris – Genet, Proust
and Rimbaud – are who
attracted me to Inside a
Pearl and while touched
upon they appear
infrequently within the
pages of the latest memoir by Edmund
White. An American writer, White arrived
in Paris in 1983 at 43, where he lived for 15
years, penned the definitive Jean Genet
biography and wrote about the lives of
Marcel Proust and Arthur Rimbaud.
White writes a little about his
work, his Vogue writing assignments, about
hiring assistants and meeting friends,
associates or descendants of these writers,
but mostly Inside a Pearl reads like a glossy
celebrity magazine that left me wondering
how he ever found the time to write.
Luminous characters appear out
of nowhere, star in an anecdote or two
and are gone again. Susan Sontag, Nigella
Lawson, Julian Barnes, Lauren Bacall,
Salman Rushdie, Stephen Fry, Catherine
Deneuve, Michel Foucault, Yves Saint
Laurent, Martin Amis, Paloma and Claude
Picasso, Christian Lacroix, and the King
and Queen of Sweden are just some of this
cast of, seemingly, thousands.
There is a name-dropping aspect
to the writing that at times left me wanting
a little more depth, but it is the 1980s and
the writing is perhaps reflective of the
excesses of the time. White’s thousands
of anonymous and named gay lovers
also grace the pages here, not without
devastation as AIDS takes hold and many
are diagnosed HIV positive.
At the heart of this memoir is
White’s friendship with Marie-Claude,
an older French woman who is his guide
to Paris, French language and etiquette.
White’s observations and discoveries offer
a mixture of cultural generalities and astute
and wry reflections, while he deftly weaves
some dazzling sentences together in this
recollection of a remarkable life.
Deborah Crabtree is from Readings Carlton
AFTERNOONS IN
ITHAKA: A MEMOIR OF
GREECE AND FINDING
YOUR PLACE
Spiri Tsintziras
From the first heady taste of
tomatoes on home-baked
bread at her mother’s village
in Petalidi, to sitting at a
taverna some 30 years later in
Ithaka with her own young
family, Spiri Tsintziras heads
on a culinary journey that propels her
between Europe and Australia. These funny
and poignant stories explore how food and
culture, language and music all help to
create a sense of meaning and identity.
THE PERFECT THEORY
Pedro G. Ferreira
Little, Brown. PB. $32.99
From the moment Albert
Einstein first proposed his
General Theory of Relativity
in 1915, it was received with
enthusiasm alongside
tremendous resistance – and,
for the following 90 years,
was the source of feuds, ideological battles
and international collaborations. In this
first complete popular history of the theory,
Pedro G. Ferreira shows how it has
informed our understanding of exactly
what the universe is made of, and how
much is still undiscovered today.
MORAL TRIBES
Joshua Greene
Atlantic. PB. $32.99
Our brains were designed for
tribal life, for getting along
with a select group of others
(Us), and for fighting off
everyone else (Them). But
modern life has thrust the
world’s tribes into a shared
space, creating conflicts of interest and
clashes of values, along with unprecedented
opportunities. A grand synthesis of
neuroscience, psychology and philosophy,
Moral Tribes reveals the underlying causes
of modern conflict and lights a way forward.
demolishing the once proudly free and
secular education system in favour of
taxpayer-funded dogma and division, and
the frightening implications for Australia’s
future as a democracy.
FREE SCHOOLS
David Gillespie
Pan Mac. PB. $29.99
In Free Schools the
bestselling author of Sweet
Poison shows us how to get
the better of an education
system that is costing a
fortune in fees, yet failing to
deliver. David Gillespie was
considering sending his six children to
private schools for an estimated cost of $1.3
million and so began to investigate what
level of advantage they would receive.
Shockingly, the answer he found was none
whatsoever. Taking on an ingrained and
historical system of vested interests, his
findings are a must-read for parents,
teachers and policy-makers.
Visual Arts
THE DEALER IS THE
DEVIL: AN INSIDER’S
HISTORY OF THE
ABORIGINAL ART TRADE
Adrian Newstead
Brandl & Schlesinger. PB. $49.95
Psychology
Personal Development
ONE WAY AND
ANOTHER: NEW AND
SELECTED ESSAYS
MY AGE OF ANXIETY
Adam Phillips
Penguin. PB. $32.99
Throughout his brilliant
career, Adam Phillips has lent
a new and incisive dimension
to the art of the literary essay,
and in so doing revived the
form for audiences of the new
millennium. Collected here
are 20 pieces that have best defined his
thinking – including ‘On Tickling’, ‘On Being
Bored’ and ‘Clutter’ – along with a selection
of new writings and an introduction by Man
Booker Prize-winner John Banville.
Science
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Earl Owen
Vintage. PB. $34.99
Here, Earl Owen, one of the
earliest and most inventive
pioneers of microsurgery,
tells his story from receiving
radiation treatment as a baby
with a birth defect, to
performing the first finger
transplant on a child and becoming the first
surgeon to be able to reverse vasectomies
and complete fallopian tube ligatures.
Scott Stossel
William Heinemann. PB. Was $35
$29.95
Drawing on his own life-long
experiences with anxiety,
Scott Stossel presents an
astonishing history of efforts
to understand anxiety from
medical, cultural,
philosophical and experiential
perspectives. His story travels from the
earliest medical reports of Galen and
Hippocrates, to the investigations by great
nineteenth-century scientists such as
Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud, and
on to the latest research by neuroscientists
and geneticists.
Adrian Newstead presents
the definitive exposé of ‘the
first great art movement of
the 21st century’, from
pre-contact and colonial
days to the heady
celebrations of the Sydney
Olympics, to the devastating impact of the
global financial crisis. Through vivid
portraits of artists, dealers and scamsters,
Newstead takes us deep into remote
Indigenous communities where
dispossessed populations of tribal elders
and troubled youth play a significant role,
and on to the galleries and art institutions
of major cities all over the world.
Australian Studies
CHEQUERED LIVES
Iola Hack Mathews & Chris Durrant
Education
TAKING GOD TO SCHOOL
Marion Maddox
A&U. PB. $29.99
In Taking God to School
Marion Maddox uncovers
the surprising impact of
Christian groups on what
was once secular public
schooling, and examines the
ways in which governments
have been persuaded to support their
cause. She demonstrates how our
governments are systematically
Wakefield Press. PB. $29.95
Chequered Lives is the story
of a Quaker family from
England who camped on the
beach in 1837 before the city
of Adelaide was created, but
rose to owning a 3000-acre
estate in the Adelaide Hills.
Barton Hack became a merchant who
owned ships, a whaling station and a
vineyard, but his family lost everything in
the crash of 1841–43. When Barton’s
great-great-granddaughter, journalist Iola
Hack Mathews, uncovered their letters and
memoirs, she knew she had to write the
family’s story.
*Includes travel and phrase books
and business and computer books.
20% off all Rough Guides
at Readings St Kilda*
Valid on in stock items in store at
Readings St Kilda only from 1 –
28 February 2014, 112 Acland St,
St Kilda. Ph 9525 3852.
www.readings.com.au
Meet
the
Bookseller
Samuel Zifchak
Readings Carlton
Why do you work in books?
Books have always been an instrumental
part of my life. My grandfather was
heavily involved in bookselling and both
my parents are voracious readers. We
used bookshelves for wallpaper. I would
rarely raise my head from a book as a
child. Books inspire me, entertain me and
gently encourage me to examine my own
beliefs about everything: from water usage
to love. It’s a joy to work among such
instigators of change.
What’s something new you’ve observed
in bookselling?
A bookshop, despite a world of efficiency
and the quick fix, remains a sanctuary
where time slows. I’ve observed people
spend hours engrossed in browsing shelves
while ignoring the attention-seeking
whines of their mobiles. It’s a place where
you can put your world aside for a while
and leave with another world under your
arm. I hope that never changes.
Describe your own taste in books.
Stephen King once described books as
‘uniquely portable magic’. I like books that
have enough magic to evoke a reaction
in me. I want to finish a book feeling that
something indescribable within me has
been satiated.
Name a book that has changed the way
you think, in ways small or large.
There’s a title called The Gift by Lewis
Hyde. It’s a gorgeous exploration into
market-driven societies and the role and
importance of creativity in a moneyfuelled world. It’s a gentle and wellresearched book with a powerful message.
I’d strongly recommend it to both artists
and non-artists alike.
What book would you happily spend
a weekend indoors with?
I’d happily spend a weekend indoors
engrossed in a Haruki Murakami novel.
Kafka on the Shore is an obvious choice, but
Dance, Dance, Dance was one of the few
novels that I had to read from start to finish
without pause.
Your job entails recommending good
reads: how do you balance personal taste
with customer nous?
I think you can get a pretty good idea of
someone’s taste through a simple enquiry
about what books they’ve enjoyed in the
past. From there it’s just a matter of going
through an internal catalogue and finding
a match.
What’s the best book you’ve read lately?
I really enjoyed The 100-Year-Old Man who
Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
by Jonas Jonasson. It’s a humorous and
insightful novel about a centenarian who
decides to break out of his nursing home
on his birthday. From that premise, it
gets wilder and wilder as you realise that
throughout his life the protagonist has,
albeit unintentionally, shaped the modern
world. There are gangsters and elephants
as well. What’s not to love?
Who has the best book cover?
It’s a hard question, but Alexis Wright’s The
Swan Book certainly caught my attention.
It’s a stark cover where the coloured type
offsets the sombre, detailed bird in the
background. It’s alluring and draws you
in. Dorothy Porter’s Collected Works uses a
similar strategy and is just as striking.
Art & Design
with Margaret Snowden
RELICS: DAMIEN HIRST
Francesco Bonami (ed.)
Skira. HB. $95
This richly illustrated
retrospective catalogue
traces Damien Hirst’s
career from his
emergence on the art
scene in the Young
British Artists
movement to his
present status as one of the most
controversial and highly regarded artists of
his generation. The catalogue gathers over
100 works, combining historic oeuvres with
more recent projects, and is a complete
overview on the artist’s wide-ranging
practice, which includes installation,
painting, sculpture and drawing, and
challenges the boundaries between art,
science and popular culture.
THE BOOK OF TREES:
VISUALIZING BRANCHES
OF KNOWLEDGE
Manuel Lima
PAP. HB. $47.95
The author of Visual
Complexity, Manuel
Lima, here examines the
more than 800-year
history of the tree
diagram. Lima presents
200 intricately detailed
tree diagram
illustrations on a remarkable variety of
subjects, from some of the earliest known
examples from Ancient Mesopotamia and
the manuscripts of medieval monasteries
to contributions by leading contemporary
designers. Tree diagrams suggest
strategies for representing data across
many disciplines, including science, law,
genealogy, linguistics, economics and
sociology.
DESIGNING PATTERNS
Lotta Kühlhorn
DGV. HB. $79.95
From whom should we
learn how to design
timelessly elegant patterns
if not from a Swede?
Leading Scandinavian
pattern designer Lotta
Kühlorn explains the ins
and outs of how to design patterns – for
everything from wallpaper designs to tea
services. Readers are shown how to use the
most common techniques for creating
patterns and the best ways to combine
colours and forms. An included CD features
10 sample projects to get you started, and
the author also shares personal anecdotes,
photographs and inspirations.
IMPRESARIO:
PAUL TAYLOR, THE
MELBOURNE YEARS,
1981—1984
Helen Hughes & Nicholas Croggon
Surpllus. PB. $30
This book brings together a
diverse body of texts focused
on Paul Taylor, the
Australian editor, writer,
curator and impresario, and
in particular his important
and influential early years in
Melbourne between 1981 and 1984. The
dates of the texts included span some 30
years and take a variety of forms – critical
essays, reviews, short reflective texts,
interviews, transcriptions of lectures – the
combination of which seeks to analyse
Taylor’s impact on Australian art history
in the early 1980s, when he founded Art &
Text and curated the landmark exhibition
POPISM at the National Gallery of
Victoria, and the subsequent ripples that
continue to encircle us in his wake, 30
years on.
LIVING WELL IS THE
BEST REVENGE
Calvin Tomkins
Museum of Modern Art. PB. $19.95
First published in 1971 and
now available for a younger
generation with a new
introduction by the author,
Living Well Is the Best
Revenge is Calvin Tomkins’
now-classic account of the
lives of Gerald and Sara
Murphy, American expatriates who formed
an extraordinary circle of friends in France
during the 1920s. First in Paris and then in
the seaside town of Antibes, they played
host to a cast of some of the most
memorable artists and writers of the era,
including Cole Porter, Pablo Picasso,
Fernand Léger, Ernest Hemingway and
Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. It was in Paris
that Gerald Murphy first encountered
Cubist painting, which prompted him to
embark on an all-too-brief career as a
painter – roughly from 1922 to 1929 –
during which he produced 15 works, seven
of which survive, and every one of which is
a unique American modernist masterpiece.
BEFORE THEY
PASS AWAY
Food & Gardening
with Chris Gordon
In the last few years,
cookbooks have become
more glamorous, more
tactile, more suited to the
coffee table as we spin
around the world with
tremendous cookbooks
from UK chefs writing on
India, beautiful images of mosaic tiles
from Turkey and gourmet sliders from
New York. This trend of international
cuisines and artisans will continue in 2014,
of course. Expect more wonderful Asian
cookbooks as Australia takes note of who
its geographical neighbours are. Phaidon have a wonderful ode to authentic
Thai home cooking in the aptly named
Thailand: The Cookbook (pictured),
coming out in May. It’s a beautiful
collection with recipes from simple
street food to elaborate palace cuisine.
Another theme heading from
the outskirts to your kitchen table is
the paleo effect. As more people look to
roll their eating habits back hundreds
of years, more on-trend cookbooks will
surely emerge. Look out for Paleo Café
owner Marlies Hobbs own collection
on healthy living in Paleo Cafe Lifestyle
& Cookbook.
And my challenge for you this
year? Celebrate your local chef in your
local restaurant as much as you might a
British chef on your television. Let’s buy
local in both food and books. I hope to see
more books from Melbourne chefs who
understand our particular needs
and desires.
Jimmy Nelson
teNeues. HB. $320
In his landmark project,
Before They Pass Away,
Jimmy Nelson captures
the lives and traditions of
the last surviving tribes
who have managed to
preserve their traditional
ways and customs within
our increasingly globalised world. The
British photographer’s epic portraits
present these dignified inheritors of noble
and age-old traditions in a proud spirit and
in all their glory – a unique visual
experience. This exquisitely photographed
showcase for world tribal culture is not
only a joy to look at, but also an important
historical record. Nelson’s large-plate field
camera has captured the wide variety of
human experiences and cultural
expressions across the ages.
THIS IS DALÍ &
THIS IS WARHOL
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to our
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the latest
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and film.
Catherine Ingram &
Andrew Rae (illus.)
Laurence King. HB. $19.95
These are the first in a
new graphic-novel style
series of artist
introductions (This is Dalí
pictured here). They are
an excellent format for
presenting the artists’
lives, and have a fresh perspective, which is
very engaging. Starting with formative
childhood experiences, the text follows the
multi-faceted careers of both within a
cultural and social framework. Great
illustrations by Andrew Rae make the
books delightful, even if you are already
very familiar with this famous pair.
13
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anywhere in Australia.
14
Picture Books
ALONG THE ROAD TO GUNDAGAI
Jack O’Hagan & Andrew McLean (illus.)
Omnibus. HB. $24.99
‘There’s a track winding back, to an oldfashioned shack / Along the road to Gundagai
...’ Musician Jack O’Hagan wrote the song in
1922 and it became a well-known folk tune.
Andrew McLean’s illustrations bring to life
the story of the men who went to the Great
War, many of them never to return home.
A BOOK IS A BOOK
Jenny Bornholdt & Sarah Wilkins (illus.)
Gecko. HB. $19.99
I gasped with delight on my first
encounter with this whimsical
marriage of words and pictures, and I
reverently turned the cream-coloured pages
with their delightful illustrations. Obviously
talented creators had fun celebrating
everything to do with the wonder that’s the
book. You too will be inspired to have lots of fun exploring
with young readers what a book is, what it’s for, how to use
it and what to do with it.
My favourite observation is that, ‘Some books
are small because some writers are very tired.’ And of
course, ‘A book can never run out of power.’ Hark, book
lovers! This beautiful little treasure is for you. Highly
recommended.
Story
Time
Athina Clarke is from Readings Malvern
FIRE
Jackie French & Bruce Whatley (illus.)
Scholastic. HB. $24.99
Readings Carlton
Mondays 11am – 11.30am
Readings St Kilda
Saturdays 10.30am – 11am
Readings Malvern
Fridays 10.30am – 11am
Each week, Readings’ staff
will read their favourite
picture books – new or classic
– for pre-school children (0
to 6 years old). The emphasis
is very much on providing a
relaxed environment and on
reading being fun. Story Time
is free and there’s no need to
book. For half an hour after
Story Time, Readings offers
a 20% discount off all fullpriced children’s books.
Please note: all children must be
accompanied by an adult as this
is not a child-minding service.
Fire, everyone’s nightmare if not
contained in a fireplace, is something
Australians are all too familiar with, and this
moving picture book hauntingly conveys the
sheer immensity of bushfire. The succinct
urgency of the verse captures the spark that ignites the
landscape in all its terrifying ferocity and the atmospheric
pictures bring it all to life.
While bush and properties are destroyed by
nature, it is the unwavering courage of the firefighters
and the preciousness of our loved ones that is quietly
championed. And then, nature, which took so much away,
will slowly give back and new growth will appear among
the blackness, and birds, animals and hope will return. This
book captures it all brilliantly. For ages 5 and up.
Alexa Dretzke is from Readings Hawthorn
MY TWO BLANKETS
Irena Kobald & Freya Blackwood (illus.)
Little Hare. HB. $24.95
Cartwheel arrives in a new country, and
feels the loss of all she’s ever known. She
creates a safe place under an old blanket
made out of memories and thoughts of
home. As time goes on, Cartwheel weaves
a new blanket, one of friendship and a
renewed sense of belonging. It is
different from the old blanket but eventually just as
warm and familiar. A beautiful tale about friendship and
culture, paired with award-winning Freya Blackwood’s
stunning illustrations.
Junior Fiction
WAFFLE HEARTS: LENA AND
ME IN MATHILDEWICH COVE
Maria Parr
Walker. HB. $19.95
They say opposites attract and the
two main characters of this charming
Norwegian novel couldn’t be more
different. Lena and Trille live next door to
each other and where Trille is sensitive and
steadfast, Lena is a resilient daredevil who
gets them into all manner of scrapes with
her impetuous and questioning nature. This is a gentle
and magical book about friendship and loving families
with the added attraction of a different culture that is in
tune with the sea and the land. Lena reminds me of a
modern-day Pippi Longstocking, and Trille, who fears
Lena doesn’t consider him her best friend, is her trusty
sidekick. However when needs must, Trille can be bold
and brave enough to save someone or something he cares
deeply about. Simply told Waffle Hearts is thoroughly
enjoyable and would suit children aged from 6 to 10. AD
THE VANISHING OF BILLY
BUCKLE: WINGS & CO. 3
Sally Gardner & David Roberts (illus.)
Hachette. PB. $14.95
The Wings & Co detectives are in
Puddliepool-on-Sea. The giant Billy Buckle
is missing. His daughter Primrose is
desperate to find him – and so are the
detectives, because Primrose is growing
bigger every day and living with a giant isn’t
half as fun as it sounds. There’s also a
murdered pianist and a vanished fortune-teller to deal
with. It’s up to Emily, Fidget and Buster to get to the
bottom of it! With marvellous illustrations from David
Roberts, creator of Dirty Bertie.
PRANK ALERT: DOUBLE
TROUBLE BOOK 1
Fiona Regan & Louis Shea (illus.)
Scholastic. PB. $3.99
Meet Thomas and Cooper: identical twins
and master prankers! The best thing about
being twins is that you always have twice
the fun (but get into double the trouble!).
Tommy and Coop can’t help themselves,
they just love pranking. But what will
happen when their school prank gets
completely out of hand? Will they get
stuck with the worst punishment ever ... more recorder
practice? The second book in the series, Skateboard Stars,
is also available.
THE CATIER EMERALD: KITTEN
KABOODLE MISSION 1
Eileen O’Hely & Heath McKenzie (illus.)
Walker. PB. $14.95
‘Your mission,’ said the chief, ‘should you
choose to accept it, is to penetrate DOG
Fortress, disguised as a pedigree kitten.’
Kitten Kaboodle is no ordinary cat. He’d
rather chase a Rottweiler than a ribbon
and prefers kung-fu to cuddles. He is the
number one secret agent at CAT – the
Clandestine Activity Taskforce. When
pedigree kittens start disappearing, Kitten Kaboodle is on
the job. Who could guess that this mission will lead him
straight to DOG – the Disaster Organisation Group – and
the priceless Catier Emerald?
Middle Fiction
OPHELIA AND THE
MARVELLOUS BOY
Karen Foxlee
Five Mile. PB. $14.95
Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy has it
all: a magical realm embroiled in a
battle between good and evil; a council of
wizards pitted against an evil Snow Queen;
a 300-year-old boy and a pragmatic,
rational girl caught in a peculiar museum; a
delicious juxtaposition of magic and logic;
and a quest to save the world. Our heroes, Ophelia and the
Marvellous Boy, are endearing characters, vulnerable yet
strong, ultimately courageous in the face of adversity,
their fates inextricably linked. Certainly, Ophelia’s quirky
mannerisms and adroit observations inject a touching
humour. I cared for both of them deeply and shed a few
tears when the going got tough!
In this enchanting story, which skilfully draws
from a number of sources, fantasy kingdoms collide
and merge with the real world and parallels are artfully
drawn and explored. A wonderful adventure, perfect for
independent readers 9 years and up, and an ideal readaloud for the whole family. AC
15
Book of the Month
A VERY GOOD IDEA:
THE TINKLERS THREE
M.C. Badger
Egmont. PB. $12.95
Fresh material for those growing in confidence with their reading is always
welcome, and I think this new series will be popular with parents as well as
children. The Tinkler children (one boy, two girls) fend for themselves while
their parents work in a travelling circus. Their lives are both recognisable and
deliciously far-fetched. In A Very Good Idea they decide to see if they can get across
town without once touching the ground. Such a simple and familiar challenge (who
hasn’t tried to do this across a room as a child?), but the Tinklers are allowed to take it
further than boring old reality.
The siblings are nice to one another and realistically mischievous, while the
humour is gentle and doesn’t try too hard. Short sentences and illustrations
make this an ideal step up from Sally Rippin’s Billie B books. A lovely new
addition for ages 5 to 8. The second and third books in the series, An
Excellent Invitation and The Coolest Pool, are also available.
Emily Gale is from Readings Carlton
KEEPER OF THE PHOENIX: ASH
ROVER BOOK 1
Aleesah Darlison & Nicole Onslow (illus.)
Walker. PB. $14.95
Can Ash and his friends rescue the village
and break the evil wizard’s spell in time?
Ash Rover wants to do something
important with his life. When he discovers
a phoenix egg, he gets his wish. But the
magical bird brings trouble to Ash’s village.
Soon Ash is not only the unlikely Keeper of
the Phoenix, he is also on a desperate quest to save his
family and friends.
SHAMANKA
Jeanne Willis
Walker. PB. $16.95
What is magic? What is illusion? What is
real? Step into the extraordinary world of
Sam Khaan, who has just discovered a witch
doctor’s notebook in her attic. Convinced that
it belongs to her long-lost father – the son of a
witch doctor – she sets out on a journey to
discover the answers to these questions. In
her encounters with diviners and healers, conjurers and
mystics, Sam learns the truth about magic the hard way.
Here is your chance to take a far easier route.
QUINCY JORDAN: CRYSTAL BAY
GIRLS BOOK 1
Jen Storer
Puffin. PB. $16.99
One of the things I recall about being
an avid pre-teen reader was my love
of Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley High
books, that widely criticised series – soap
opera in book form – that nobody approved
of apart from the millions of tweens who
devoured them. What Melbourne writer
Jen Storer does with her new series is to create the warm,
easy feel of SVH but with lots of improvements: more
realism, more attention to cultural diversity, rounded
characters. I think she gets the balance right. In the first
book, Quincy’s life is ruined when her father walks out,
and a new life on the coast is difficult to adjust to. Quincy
is likeable but not perfect, and although romance is a
theme it is only part of her journey, rather than the
destination. Quality escapism for ages 10 and up. EG
New
Kids’
Books
Activity Books
THE FLYING MACHINE KIT
Nick Arnold & Brendan Kearney (illus.)
T&H. HB. $29.95
A spectacular interactive guide to
aerodynamics that has five fabulous
flying machines to make. There are two
specially designed paper planes, a
rubberband-powered single-prop plane,
a unique, superspeedy twin-prop plane and a vertical
take-off helicopter. Flying hints and tips suggest how to
manipulate your machine’s speed, distance and flight
direction, demonstrating the basic aerodynamic principles
and helping you to understand the forces that affect flight.
Non-Fiction
Classic of the Month
THE OPEN OCEAN
THE CHILDREN OF GREEN
KNOWE COLLECTION
Francesco Pittau & Bernadette Gervais
Hardie Grant. HB. $34.95
Guess a sea creature from its silhouette,
shell, or scales – and lift the flap to discover
the answer! This lush, oversized book about
marine life features a variety of guessing
games and special features, and provides
hours of educational entertainment. With
elegant, graphic illustrations, plus intriguing
facts about each animal, learning about ocean life has never
been so fun and interactive. Also available in this series: Out
of Sight (mammals) and Birds of a Feather.
LONELY PLANET WORLD
SEARCH SERIES
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet. PB. $19.99 each
Fancy riding high in the saddle with a group
of gauchos in Argentina? Or strapping on
your rollerblades and zooming through the
streets of Paris with the police? Get ready for
an adventure around the globe with loads of
cool jobs to try. Aimed at readers aged 5+,
this fun series, including Amazing Jobs (pictured), Busy
Jobs and Incredible Animals lets kids lift the flap on scenes
from around the world to see what’s happening inside.
Lucy M. Boston
Faber. PB. $15.99
It was such a delight to
re-read this past favourite
for this review and find it still as
spellbinding and full of
enchantment as I remember.
Tolly, the young hero, is
such a quiet, introspective boy,
and his holiday with his greatgrandmother at the old farm Green
Knowe promises to be slow-paced and solitary. But
the house – with its ancient furnishings, half-tame
birds and old topiary gardens – is full of mystery, and
Tolly is used to being on his own and listening to the
house around him.
In this place, where the line between past and
present is very thin, his great-grandmother seems
unsurprised that he mysteriously meets other children
who have also loved the manor. Like them, Tolly fears
the overgrown Green Noah, lurking for generations
in a corner of the garden. A world not to be missed
for imaginative readers aged 10 and up, or as a shared
family read-aloud.
Kathy Kozlowski is from Readings Carlton
16
MASTERING THE
ART OF SOVIET
COOKING
Anya Von Bremzen
Jane Mount &
Thessaly La Force
PB. Was $24.95
Now $12.95
HB. Was $29.99
Now $12.95
In this tragicomic memoir, Anya Von
Bremzen reconstructs her family history
spanning three generations through
stories of cooking and food. Her narrative
is embedded in a larger historical epic:
Lenin’s bloody grain requisitioning, World
War II starvation, Stalin’s table manners,
Khrushchev’s kitchen debates, Gorbachev’s
disastrous anti-alcohol policies and the
ultimate collapse of the USSR.
THE NAKED LADY
WHO STOOD ON
HER HEAD
Gary Small & Gigi Vorgan
HB. Was $41.95
Now $15.95
The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head
is a spellbinding record of psychiatrist
Gary Small’s most bewildering cases,
from shrinking penises and hysterical
blindness to fainting schoolgirls and selfamputations. Small takes you on a tour
of his career that moves from the halls of
a crowded inner-city Boston emergency
room to the multimillion-dollar ski lodges
of the nation’s elite.
THE HANDMADE
LOAF
Dan Lepard
HB. Was $35
Now $15.95
Dan Lepard presents a collection of
recipes, personal stories and photographs
that capture the breads and home bakers
of Europe. The blend of history and
innovation will appeal to the experienced
baker, but also to a generation ready to
discover the simple pleasure of baking their
first crisp loaf at home.
VAGINA:
A NEW
BIOGRAPHY
Naomi Wolf
PB. Was $29.99
Now $12
This astonishing book from Naomi Wolf,
the author of The Beauty Myth, will
radically change how you think about,
talk about and understand the vagina.
Wolf combines cutting-edge science with
cultural history to explore the role of
female desire and how it affects identity,
creativity and confidence; the result is
revelatory and exhilarating.
THE HOUR
BETWEEN DOG
AND WOLF: RISK
TAKING, GUT
FEELINGS AND
THE BIOLOGY OF
BOOM AND BUST
John Coates
HB. Was $42.95
Now $15.95
A successful Wall Street trader turned
Cambridge neuroscientist reveals the
biology of boom and bust and how risk
taking transforms our body chemistry,
driving us to extremes of euphoria and
risky behaviour, or to stress and depression.
While Coates’s research concentrates on
traders, his conclusions shed light on all
types of high-pressure decision making,
from the sports field to the battlefield.
THE VOICE IS
ALL: THE LONELY
VICTORY OF
JACK KEROUAC
MY IDEAL
BOOKSHELF
Joyce Johnson
In My Ideal Bookshelf, one hundred leading
cultural figures reveal the books that matter
to them most. This gorgeous book includes
excerpts of interviews with editor Thessaly
La Force, alongside original paintings
by artist Jane Mount that showcase the
selections, with colourful, hand-lettered
book spines and occasional objets d’art from
the contributors’ personal bookshelves.
HB. Was $56.95
Now $15.95
Joyce Johnson peels away layers of the
Kerouac legend to show how, caught
between two cultures and two languages,
the young man forged a voice to contain
his dualities. She looks deeply into how
Kerouac’s French Canadian background
enriched his prose and gave him a unique
outsider’s vision of America.
THE CHEMISTRY
BETWEEN US
PERMANENT
REVOLUTION:
MIKE BROWN
AND THE
AUSTRALIAN
AVANT-GARDE
1953-97
Larry Young & Brian
Alexander
HB. Was $41.95
Now $13.95
All manners of ‘love’ – physical
attraction, jealousy, infidelity,
mother-infant bonding – are
under scrutiny by social
neuroscience. In The
Chemistry Between Us,
expert Larry Young
and journalist Brian
Alexander place the
influx of revelations
into historical, political
and social contexts,
touching on everything
from gay marriage to why
single-mother households
might not be good for society.
Richard Haese
HB. Was $49.99
Now $19.95
In 1961 the 22-year old
Mike Brown joined the
New Zealand artist,
Ross Crothall, in an old
terrace house in inner
Sydney’s Annandale,
and over the following
two years the artists filled
the house with a remarkable
body of work. Their work
launched the movement they
called Imitation Realism which introduced
collage, assemblage and installation to
Australian art for the first time.
Bargain
Table
THE MAGIC
TOYSHOP
Angela Carter
HB. Was $27.99
Now $12
With a stunning cover design
by Jacqueline Groag and an introduction by
Carmen Callil, this special edition of Angela
Carter’s 1967 gothic novel is a must-have.
After her parents are killed, a young girl is
sent to London to live with her tyrannical
uncle, a toy-maker whose creations are
uncannily life-like.
CULINARY
VIETNAM
Daniel Hoyer
HB. Was $57.95
Now $19.95
Daniel Hoyer teaches how the aspects of
flavour, aroma, texture, colour, contrast,
balance, and even the sound a food makes,
should be taken into consideration in the
planning of a Vietnamese meal. Opening
the door into the world of Vietnamese
cooking methods and theories, Culinary
Vietnam shows the astounding breadth of
this cuisine.
INTO THE
SILENCE: THE
GREAT WAR,
MALLORY, AND
THE CONQUEST
OF EVEREST
Wade Davis
HB. Was $39.95
Now $16.95
In this magisterial work of history and
adventure, Wade Davis vividly recreates
Britain’s epic attempts to scale Mount Everest
in the early 1920s. With new access to
letters and diaries, Davis recounts the heroic
attempts of George Mallory and his fellow
climbers to conquer the mountain in the face
of treacherous terrain and furious weather.
New books are regularly added to our website – visit the bargains page at readings.com.au for more.
AN UNLIKELY
PRINCE: THE
LIFE AND TIMES
OF MACHIAVELLI
Niccolo Capponi
HB. Was $44
Now $15.95
Acclaimed historian Niccolo Capponi is a
direct descendant of Machiavelli, and here
he analyses his relative in the context of
his own times. Capponi’s intimate portrait
of Machiavelli shows how the famous
political theorist’s behaviour was utterly
un-Machiavellian, and how his vision of
the world was limited by his own, very
provincial outlook.
THE LANGUAGE
OF PASSION
Mario Vargas Llosa
& Natasha Wimmer
(trans.)
PB. Was $25.95
Now $12
Internationally acclaimed novelist Mario
Vargas Llosa has contributed a lively
and fascinating column to Spain’s major
newspaper El País since 1977. In this
collection of his columns from the 1990s, he
weighs in on some of the burning questions
of the last decade, makes a pilgrimage to Bob
Marley’s shrine in Jamaica, and celebrates
the sexual abandon of Carnaval in Rio.
DOGS IN
AUSTRALIAN
ART
Steven Miller
PB. Was $39.95
Now $19.95
Steven Miller looks at the story of
Australian art through the lens of dogs,
showcasing over 150 masterworks and
presenting the argument that all major
shifts which have occurred in this story
can be traced to the dogs themselves. His
book is also a study of how the various dog
breeds have been depicted from colonial
times until the present.
LOVE AND
CAPITAL: KARL
AND JENNY
MARX AND THE
BIRTH OF A
REVOLUTION
Mary Gabriel
HB. Was $39.99
Now $15.95
Drawing upon years of research, acclaimed
biographer Mary Gabriel brings to light the
story of Karl and Jenny Marx’s marriage.
He follows them as they roam Europe, on
the run from hostile governments amidst a
secret network of would-be revolutionaries,
revealing Karl not only as an intellectual,
but as a protective father, loving husband
and a man of tremendous passions.
WE OTHERS:
NEW AND
SELECTED
STORIES
Steven Millhauser
HB. Was $39.95
Now $14.95
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Steven
Millhauser writes fiction that consistently,
and to dazzling effect, dissolves the
boundaries between reality and fantasy,
waking life and dreams, the past and the
future, darkness and light. The stories
collected here unfurl in settings as
disparate as nineteenth-century Vienna,
the corridors of a monstrous museum and
Thomas Edison’s laboratory.
HALFWAY TO
HOLLYWOOD:
DIARIES
1980—1988
Michael Palin
HB. Was $39.95
Now $14.95
Halfway to Hollywood follows Michael
Palin’s torturous trail through seven movies
and ends with his final preparations for the
documentary that was to change his life,
Around the World in 80 Days. His life with
Helen and the family remains a constant, as
the children enter their teens.
ARMY OF EVIL:
A HISTORY
OF THE SS
Adrian Weale
HB. Was $46.95
Now $15.95
Adrian Weale delves into materials not
previously available, including recently
released intelligence files as well as rare
and never-before-published photographs,
looking beyond the myths to reveal the
reality of the SS as a cadre of unwavering
political fanatics and power-seeking
opportunists who slavishly followed an
ideology that disdained traditional morality.
SOUTH WITH
THE SUN
Lynne Cox
HB. Was $44.95
Now $15.95
Roald Amundsen left his
mark on the Heroic Era as one of the
most successful polar explorers ever.
Here, adventurer and swimmer Lynne
Cox presents a full-scale account of the
explorer’s life and expeditions, and how
reading about ‘the last of the Vikings’
inspired her to follow her own bold dreams.
New Film & TV
with Lou Fulco
SCATTER MY ASHES
AT BERGDORF’S
$34.95
It’s the most mythic of all
American emporiums –
featuring interviews with
Karl Lagerfeld, Giorgio
Armani, Candice Bergen and
Joan Rivers to name but a
few, Scatter My Ashes at
Bergdorf offers a rarified chance to peek
into Bergdorf’s fascinating inner workings.
KEATING: THE
INTERVIEWS
$29.95
Paul Keating is one of the
most significant and
contentious figures in
Australian political history.
In this candid four-part
interview series with Kerry
O’Brien, he reveals the
forces that shaped his ambitions, and
shares the inside stories of a tumultuous
period of economic and social reform.
RICK STEIN’S INDIA
$29.95
Released 5 February
Determined to track down
the perfect curry, Rick Stein
embarks on a spectacular
journey though the Indian
sub-continent to trace the
origins of dishes, ingredients
and spices that are celebrated
the world over. His series offers viewers a
feast of delights, alongside captivating
cultures and religious communities.
RED OBSESSION
$39.95
With the fierce purchasing
power of its elite class,
China has become the
biggest importer of wines
from the Bordeaux region of
France. Red Obsession
examines tensions that have
arisen from this arrangement as staid
Bordeaux winemakers struggle to
embrace a new clientele whose
sensibilities do not always align with
French tradition.
MONTY DON’S
FRENCH GARDENS
$29.95
Released 5 February
In this three-part series,
Monty Don, the much-loved
presenter of BBC television
series Gardeners’ World,
visits historical gardens in
France. Through his
explorations, Monty reveals
how these gardens have been used to
express both money and power, and the
myriad ways French food and art are
reflected in the country’s horticulture.
ANDREW MARR’S
HISTORY OF THE
WORLD
$34.95
Released 5 February
Andrew Marr presents this
incredible series that brings
70,000 years of human
history to life, though
dramatic reconstructions
and gripping storytelling.
This epic series tells the
story of civilisations, cultures, successes
and crashing failures, a story that charts
progress and development through the
centuries, exploring crucial turning points
in history.
THE LOOK
$29.95
This biographical study of
legendary actress Charlotte
Rampling is told through
her own conversations with
artist friends and
collaborators, including
Peter Lindbergh, Paul
Auster and Juergen Teller, and intercut
with footage from some of Rampling’s
most famous films. This ‘self-portrait
through others’ is a revealing look at one
of our most iconic screen stars.
17
Release of the Month
BLUE JASMINE
Was $39.95
$29.95
Woody Allen hits another home run with this funny, startling reimagining of Tennessee Williams’ seminal stage play A Streetcar
Named Desire. Positing the titular Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) in the
role of Blanche DuBois, Allen uses Williams’ paradigm to frame his
own devastating but blackly funny vision of the social effects of the
global financial crisis; in particular, the fall of New York’s elite after
indictments for insider trading.
Having had the carpet quite literally pulled from under her feet, Jasmine jumps
on a plane to San Francisco to stay with her adoptive sister Ginger (Sally Hawkins)
in her modest home filled with cheap knick-knacks and rowdy children. Unwilling to
park her Chanel-covered derriere for too long, Jasmine makes plans to work in interior
design, and takes on employment as a dentist’s receptionist in the meantime.
Determined to help Ginger by insulting her lifestyle as well as her choice in
men, Jasmine puts one awkward designer-clad foot in front of the other until the stress
of pretending to be who she thinks she is, socially and emotionally, finally becomes too
much. Discovering a few home truths about how her excessively privileged lifestyle
came at the cost of ordinary folk like her sister, Jasmine’s realisation is one of the
greatest dramatic moments recently captured on film.
Comfortably cushioned by an excellent supporting cast including Andrew Dice
Clay, Bobby Cannavale and Alec Baldwin, Blanchett gives an incredible, heart-stopping
performance that will have you gasping for breath under the weight of its gravitas. As
always with Allen, the city plays its part too and San Francisco is nicely poised as the
colourful and lively alternative to steely NYC. A dramatic delight, this is Allen at the
top of his game.
Tara Kaye Judah is from Readings St Kilda
THE RETURNED
FRANCES HA
$39.95
Released 5 February
$39.95
A stylish take on the zombie
genre that verges on
Lynchian, French drama
series The Returned looks at
how an idyllic French
village is thrown into
emotional turmoil when a
crowd of dead people, seemingly alive and
normal, return home. As the returned
attempt to resume their lives, their arrival
coincides with a series of gruesome
murders which bear a chilling
resemblance to the work of a serial killer
from the past.
Frances (Greta Gerwig) lives
in New York, but she doesn't
really have an apartment.
Frances is an apprentice for
a dance company, but she's
not really a dancer. Frances
has a best friend named
Sophie, but they aren't really speaking
anymore. Frances throws herself headlong
into her dreams, even as their possible
reality dwindles. Frances wants so much
more than she has but lives her life with
unaccountable joy and lightness. Frances
Ha is a modern comic fable that explores
New York, friendship, class, ambition,
failure and redemption.
18
New M us ic
Pop/Rock
DIZZY HEIGHTS
Neil Finn
release, revealing a departure from their
debut album The Fool. Most of the tracks
were reportedly born of free-form jamming
sessions on stage and the result is exquisitely
brooding, intricately layered and
exceedingly chilled-out.
$21.95
Jazz & Soul
Finn travelled in two bursts
to producer Dave
Fridmann’s Tarbox Road
studio in upstate New York,
to record songs composed
at his Auckland studio, Roundhead. With
Fridmann (The Flaming Lips), and with
contributions from New Zealand musician
SJD, and wonderful string arrangements by
Victoria Kelly, Finn has assembled a
textured, heady sound, elevated by woozy
strings and soaring vocals.
GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT
THEY WANT
THE BRINK
The Jezabels
$24.95
Following the outstanding
success of Prisoner,
Australian band the
Jezabels settled in London
to work on their
sophomore album, a sweeping blend of
alternative-rock and pop that was seemingly
summoned from a very dark place. The
result is an utterly fearless record of
youthful optimism, taut with gleaming
hooks and indelible melodies, all hammered
out by a group of young musicians during
dark days in a strange new city.
FLESH & BLOOD
John Butler Trio
$24.95
Flesh & Blood is the sixth
studio album release from
Australian roots and jam
band led by guitarist and
vocalist John Butler.
Recorded at The Compound, Butler’s
studio in Fremantle, the album took a mere
20 days to record and though beautifully
structured in sonic terms, there is a
rawness and honesty to the tracks that
reflects the brevity of its laying down. The
trio will tour with the album in early 2014.
TALES FROM THE REALM
OF THE QUEEN OF
PENTACLES
Suzanne Vega
$24.95
With her first new studio
album in seven years, Tales
from the Realm of the Queen
of Pentacles, Suzanne Vega
has crafted a stunning
collection of songs that showcase the
singer-songwriter’s trademark wit and
poetic language. The new album taps into
Vega’s broad range of musical tastes, classic
folk to soul-packed background vocals, from
lush orchestral strings to hip-hop sampling.
WARPAINT
Warpaint
$21.95
The self-titled sophomore
album from American indie
rock band Warpaint was
one of the most eagerly
anticipated early releases
for 2014. Produced together with Flood, the
all-female quadrant let loose new and
exciting experimental sounds on this
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
$22.95
Album number five
from the inimitable
Ms Jones and her DapKings was slated for
release last August, though
these plans were put on
hold when Jones was diagnosed with
cancer in June. With the cancer now
thoroughly licked, it’s time for soul sister
number one and her crack band to get back
to doing what they do better than anyone:
namely, being the slickest, most bad-ass
soul-funk outfit on the planet.
Album opener ‘Retreat!’ is a
statement of intent if ever there was one
and a song which has surely taken on new
meaning since Jones’s grapple with illness.
It’s classic Motown with a twist – all echo,
big horns and bigger drums, and as Jones
wails, ‘I’ll chew you up and spit you out’,
consider yourself warned, be you an errant
man or insidious disease.
Other highlights include the
Northern soul stomper ‘Stranger To My
Happiness’, and ‘We Get Along’, a message
song which perhaps best encapsulates what
makes these guys so damn special – the
ability to draw on a form so firmly rooted in
the past and place it smack bang in the here
and now with complete authenticity.
Sharon Jones had her final
chemotherapy treatment on New Year’s
Eve and will soon return to performing live.
If that ain’t soul I don’t know what is.
Declan Murphy is from Readings Carlton
EXTENDED CIRCLE
Tord Gustavsen Quartet
$24.95
The superstar
Norwegian pianist’s
sixth album is his most
diverse and yet cohesive
musical statement yet: it’s
full of circular motifs,
such as the way the album-closing ‘The
Prodigal Song’ recalls opener ‘Right
There’, as if inviting you to continue
playing the album forever. The quartet
(with Tore Brunborg on tenor saxophone,
Mats Eilertsen on bass and Jarle Vespestad
on drums) has matured into a unit able to
follow every musical thought to its
conclusion and develop a wider variety of
sound-worlds than before. The tunes are
mainly gospel pieces and ballads, but there
is a directness and slow-burning fire to
pieces like the immensely stirring ‘Staying
There’, which harks back to the classic
seventies quartets of Jan Garbarek and
Bobo Stenson, and Keith Jarrett.
As the group’s mutual
understanding has grown, so has the
freedom allotted to the players. Witness
Brunborg’s ravishing intro to ‘Devotion’;
the way Eilertsen supports and counters
the melody of ‘Right There’; or the way
Vespestad bubbles under the propulsive,
syncopated arrangement of the Norwegian
folk tune ‘Eg Veit I Himmerik Ei Borg’ (‘A
Castle in Heaven’), the drummer as ever-
Album of the Month
HIGH HOPES
Bruce Springsteen
CD $19.95
CD & DVD $24.95
The American myth gets a reboot! On Springsteen’s
eighteenth studio album (if this could indeed be called a
studio album) we are introduced to a collection of covers, outtakes and re-workings of
collection of tracks from past albums.
Alongside guest guitarist Tom Morello, this album features the E Street Band,
Clarence Clemons and Danny Federici, but its genesis is centred on Springsteen’s
relationship with the former Rage Against the Machine guitarist, Morello. His soaring
and at times strange and bizarre guitar play on politically charged numbers juxtapose
nicely with more laid-back tracks, which include a couple of great cover versions of
Suicide’s ‘Dream Baby Dream’ and ‘Just Like Fire Would’ from Australia’s own the Saints.
Long time live favourites ‘High Hopes’, ‘American Skin (41 Shots)’ and the
rebooted ‘Ghost Of Tom Joad’ (with an out of control Morello soaring through an
amazing lead guitar break) all stand out, but it’s the wonderfully optimistic ‘Frankie
Fell In Love’ that sits right in the middle of this collection and gets you thinking, ‘Yeah!
That’s the classic Springsteen right there!’
This is not the most cohesive of albums, but as a Springsteen fan, I am – as
always – happy to hear any release from the Boss. Is this a new direction or just an
interim before he goes back into the studio to write the next great American songbook?
Well, firstly he will have to get off the road, but not before touring Australia again for
the second time in a year.
The DVD extra is a live performance of Born in the U.S.A., which was recorded
in London in 2013. By the time you get to ‘Downbound Train’ (one of my favourite
Springsteen songs), ‘I’m On Fire’ and ‘No Surrender’, you remember what made this
such a massive seller and took Bruce to another stratosphere in the consciousness of
existing and new fans alike. This DVD is a great companion to the CD, serving as a
reminder that maybe, just maybe, the next Born in the U.S.A. is just around the corner.
Lou Fulco is from Readings Hawthorn
changing motion, like a boxer circling his
opponent looking for an opening that never
presents itself.
Extended Circle is a document of a
group at the tipping point, perfecting a way
of working sans formula or template – may
there be much, much more to come.
Richard Mohr is from Readings Carlton
KIN ()
Pat Metheny Unity Group
$24.95
Over the course of more
than three decades,
guitarist Pat Metheny has
set himself apart from the
jazz mainstream, blurring
boundaries between musical styles. Now he
presents the Pat Metheny Unity Group
which features Metheny together with
Chris Potter on sax and bass clarinet,
Antonio Sanchez on drums and Ben
Williams on bass, as well as multiinstrumentalist Giulio Carmassi. Their first
release, Kin (), is a shifting, explosive
album that provides ever-changing
opportunities for each musician to shine.
Country
THE RIVER & THE THREAD
Rosanne Cash
2CD deluxe edition $24.95
Rosanne Cash’s first album
of original songs in eight
years is sweeping in its
breadth, capturing a
multi-generational cast of
characters such as a Civil War soldier off to
fight in Virginia, and a New Deal-era farmer
in Arkansas. Together with her husband,
musician and producer John Leventhal,
Cash draws inspiration from swampy Delta
blues, gospel, Appalachian folk, country and
more, as she tackles the delicate orchestral
passages of ‘Night School’, to the ghostly
keyboards of album closer ‘Money Road’.
BLUE SMOKE
Dolly Parton
Was $24.95
$19.95
To coincide with her Blue
Smoke World Tour, Dolly
Parton has released an
album of new music, Blue
Smoke. Dolly is arguably
the most successful female country singer,
well known for both her musicianship and
stage presence, as well as her philanthropy.
Blue Smoke sits with some of her very best
recorded work and includes duets with
long-time collaborators Willie Nelson and
Kenny Rogers.
World
EVE
Angelique Kidjo
$24.95
Rich with melody and
rhythm, Eve is Angelique
Kidjo’s tribute to the
women she grew up with
in her West African
homeland of Benin. Kidjo performs in an
array of native Beninese languages
alongside an eclectic line-up of talents,
including women’s choirs from African
villages in Benin and Kenya, as well as
Rostam Batmanglij from the indie rock
band Vampire Weekend.
OU T ON VINY L
New Orleans Funk: Volume 3
Various
$44.95
Pet Sounds
The Beach Boys
$39.95
Satan is Real
The Louvin Brothers
$34.95
A Love Supreme
John Coltrane
$24.95
BEETHOVEN: CELLO
SONATAS
New C la ss i ca l M u s i c
Hyperion. CDA679812. $49.95. 2CD
DESTINO MEXICANO
La Compañia
LCR. LCR4632. $24.95
In 2012, the Melbourne-based Baroque group La Compañia
released their album, Ay Portugal. An homage to fifteenthcentury Portuguese music, it was a triumph – and I still enjoy
listening to it. So it was with great excitement that I received their most recent release,
Destino Mexicano. Subtitled ‘Baroque Rhythms from the New World’, it’s a fusion of
classical Baroque as we know it and the rhythms of South America. When the Spanish
invaded Mexico there was a melding of two worlds, not just in culture and peoples, but
also music. In Destino Mexicano, La Compañia have focused on a particular song style
from this melding, the villancico, a repetitive, secular song that uses dance rhythms with
a sense of three beats, and in doing this have given cohesiveness to the whole album.
Although the liner notes are detailed with interesting background on each
work, I found this recording was more something I put on just to listen without
needing any academic knowledge. It was terrific to have on in the background as I
cooked, finding myself cutting up vegetables and moving around the kitchen in time
to their sprightly percussive dance rhythms. Lotte Betts-Dean and Daniel Thomson
soar as the singing soloists, expertly accompanied by the rest of La Compañia. In the
few instrumental moments, La Compañia acquit themselves with great aplomb, but
it’s when the singers join in that the toes start tapping. Their harmonies blend so
effortlessly that sometimes it seems like there are three solo singers, rather than just
the two. If you’re a fan of Baroque music, but looking for something beyond Bach and
Handel, this is a must. On the other hand, if you’re just a fan of some good rhythmic
ideas, this will be extremely pleasing to the ears.
Kate Rockstrom is a friend of Readings
C.P.E. BACH:
WÜRTTEMBERG
SONATAS FOR
HARPSICHORD
Mahan Esfahani
Hyperion. CDA67995. $24.95
Iranian-American
harpsichordist Mahan
Esfahani has recorded
C.P.E. Bach’s six
‘Württemberg’ sonatas,
published in 1744, and his thrillingly intense
performances make the best possible case
for this dramatic, endlessly imaginative but
for some reason under-performed music.
The sonatas range stylistically from initial
stirrings of Sturm und Drang in keyboard
music to sublime imitations of the human
voice, with nods to the High Baroque and the
idiom of C.P.E. Bach’s more famous father.
SCHUBERT: SYMPHONIES
NOS. 3, 4 & 5
Thomas Dausgaard & Swedish
Chamber Orchestra
BIS. BIS1786. $24.95
Working their way
backwards through the
symphonic output of Franz
Schubert, Thomas
Dausgaard and his Swedish
Chamber Orchestra have now reached
Symphonies Nos. 3, 4 and 5. These works
were all composed before Schubert had
turned 20, though they nevertheless
demonstrate the composer’s astonishing
command of the orchestral medium.
Schubert doesn’t seem to have taken much
interest in the works after having composed
them; however, today it is hard to imagine
being without the irrepressible tarantellafinale of the Third Symphony, the dramatic
tension of the opening of the ‘Tragic’ No. 4,
or the Mozartian minuet of the Fifth.
ESSENTIAL TAVENER
Various
Decca. 4786424. $16.95
This compilation was
originally created to
celebrate the composer’s
70th birthday in January;
however, with his passing
in early November of last year, it is now a
tribute to his profound musical voice. John
Tavener’s unique composing career has
featured some surprising and dramatic
spiritual and stylistic changes since the early
success of his cantata, ‘The Whale’, in 1968.
Famously, it was ‘Song for Athene’,
performed at the funeral of Princess Diana,
that secured his international reputation.
Alongside the original choral version of the
work, which opens this recording, he later
arranged the work for violinist Nicola
Benedetti and this is presented as the closing
track on the album.
You can also browse and buy
at our secure website:
www.readings.com.au
Opera Highlights Series
Steven Isserlis & Robert Levin
Classical Album of the Month
19
In this new chamber
recording, Steven Isserlis,
together with his regular
collaborator, fortepianist
Robert Levin, presents a
magisterial and long-awaited compendium
of Beethoven’s complete works for cello and
piano, including Beethoven’s arrangement of
his Op. 17 horn sonata. The use of the
fortepiano opens up a wealth of sonic
possibilities for these works. The five cello
sonatas span Beethoven’s compositional
epochs and comprise the most important
cycle of cello sonatas in the entire repertoire.
INCANDESCENCE
Michael Duke
Saxophone Classics. CC4002. $26.95
Australian saxophonist
Michael Duke presents his
second CD on the
Saxophone Classics label,
this time with long-time
collaborator pianist David Howie to form
HD Duo. Opening and closing this CD are
two polar opposite trio works by Pulitzer
Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon.
While ‘Dash’ leaps off the page with
unceasing high energy, ‘Lullaby’ sings with
a calming beauty. Revelling in the harmonic
influences of Debussy and Ravel are the
two compositions of Fernande Decruck.
Stacy Garrop’s ‘Fragmented Spirit’ shows
why she is such a powerful force in new
music; the deeply emotive work truly runs
the gamut. Commissioned specifically for
this project, Australian composer Katy
Abbott’s ‘Undercurrent’ juxtaposes
everlasting, lyrical phrases with potent
rhythmic energy. One of the most prolific
contributors to the saxophone repertoire,
Ida Gotkovsky’s work presents a tour de
force of lyricism and virtuosity with the
premiere recording of ‘Incandescence’.
VIVALDI: A TALE
OF TWO SEASONS
These are the first six titles of Opera
Highlights in the Virtuoso range – an excellent
opportunity to delve into the world of opera.
VERDI: LA TRAVIATA
Joan Sutherland, Carlo Bergonzi &
John Pritchard
Decca. 4786410. $11.95
‘... a Traviata of beautiful
voices all right ... and John
Pritchard conducting with
real sympathy.’ Gramophone
VERDI: RIGOLETTO
Renato Bruson & Neil Shicoff
Decca. 4786408. $11.95
‘Bruson ... does more than
produce a stream of velvety
tone ... responding to the
conductor and combining
beauty with dramatic bite.’
The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music
PUCCINI: LA BOHÈME
Renata Tebaldi & Tullio Serafin
Decca. 4786406. $11.95
‘… astonishingly vivid, with a
very convincing theatrical
atmosphere.’ The Penguin
Guide to Recorded Classical
Music
BIZET: CARMEN
Agnes Baltsa, José Carreras
& Herbert von Karajan
DG. 4786400. $11.95
‘... a sophisticated traversal
of the piece that doesn’t
exclude a realisation of its
more intimate side.’
Gramophone
MOZART: LE NOZZE
DI FIGARO
Anne Sofie von Otter &
James Levine
DG. 4786402. $11.95
Adrian Chandler & La Serenissima
AVIE. AV2287. $25.95
Adrian Chandler and La
Serenissima, with virtuoso
soloist mezzo-soprano
Sally Bruce-Payne,
continue their enlightening
exploration of Vivaldi. Focusing on two
Venetian operatic seasons of 1717 and 1733,
the program juxtaposes the work of an
eager young man with that of an older, more
cunning composer. Vivaldi specialists,
Chandler’s and La Serenissima’s hallmark
qualities of erudition have made them one
of the most acclaimed period-instrument
bands performing today.
‘Levine scores with one of
the most attractive
Cherubinos on disc in Anne
Sofie von Otter, nicely
palpitating in both arias.’
Gramophone
MOZART: DIE
ZAUBERFLÖTE
Christoph Strehl & Claudio Abbado
DG. 4786404. $11.95
‘Anyone who loves Die
Zauberflöte should hear this
performance, especially as
preserved in DG’s crisp and
full sound.’ AllMusic
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The Readings New Australian Writing Award
The Readings New Australian Writing Award supports published Australian authors working in fiction
Vision
To increase the promotion and sales of Australian author’s work to the wider community
Eligibility?
• A work of published fiction that may be either a novel or collection of short stories by a single author
• The author must be an Australian citizen or hold permanent residency
• Book must be the author’s first or second published work only
• Work must have been published between 1 August 2013–31 July 2014
2014 Readings New Australian Writing Award
• Shortlist to be published in the October 2014 Readings Monthly
• Winning titles to be published in the November 2014 Readings Monthly and Summer Reading Guide
The Readings Children’s Book Prize
These will be books that families love reading together, or that children read under the covers with a
torch late into the night because they can’t bear to put it down – books they tell their friends about.
Vision
To raise the profile of an Australian children’s author
Eligibility?
• The author must be an Australian citizen or hold permanent residency
• The author should have published no more than four children’s books
• Work must be written for children aged 5–12
Winners of both awards receive $4000
For more information on both awards, visit readings.com.au

Read Readings Monthly, February 2014 here

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