February 2015

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Vol. 22 No. 1
February 2015
Three great new
Australian novels
Christmas trading is a distant memory (but at least for this
year a pleasant one, so thanks for the healthy sales!). Welcome to 2015, with lots to offer in fresh reading, eventing
and special treats. This year marks the fortieth birthday of
Gleebooks. In 1975 Tony Gallagher and Ray Jelfs opened
a second-hand bookshop at 191 Glebe Pt Rd, still there today, next to Galluzzo's famous Fruit shop. Roger Mackell,
who had worked in the shop from the early days, and I,
took over in early 1978 after Tony's death, and we're still
here. We'd like you all to join us in celebrating and will let
you know what we have planned as we get into the year.
I've had enough days off to immerse myself in summer
reading, and I started with three very good, and very different, Australian novels. Try them all.
Clade by James Bradley ($33, PB)
James Bradley’s new book canvasses 3 generations from the very
near future to late this century. Central to the novel is the family
of Adam, a scientist, and his wife Ellie, an artist. Clade opens with
them wanting a child and Adam in a quandary about the wisdom
of this. Their daughter proves to be an elusive little girl and then a
troubled teenager, at which time cracks have appeared in her parents’ marriage. Their grandson is in turn a troubled boy, but when
his character reappears as an adult he’s an astronomer, one set to
discover something astounding in the universe. Bradley shifts the
reader subtly forward through the decades, through disasters and plagues, miraculous
small moments and acts of great courage.
Return to Moondilla by Tony Parsons ($30, PB)
Greg Baxter, has recently returned to the Moondilla area where he
grew up to finish writing what he hopes will be a bestselling novel
However his concentration is broken both because he becomes involved in an investigation into a local drug dealing ring, and because he catches the eye of numerous single women in Moondilla,
including an old crush, Julie Rankin, the local doctor. After an attempt on his life, Baxter is hugely relieved when the drug ring is
broken open. Finally able to finish his novel, he’s elated by its success and also finds himself in love.
The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth
Neva Bradley, a third-generation midwife, is determined to keep
the details surrounding her own pregnancy—including the identity
of the baby’s father—hidden from her family and co-workers for
as long as possible. Her mother, Grace, finds it impossible to let
this secret rest, even while her own life begins to crumble around
her. For Floss, Neva’s grandmother and a retired midwife, Neva’s
situation thrusts her back 60 years in time to a secret that eerily
mirrors her granddaughter’s—a secret which, if revealed, will have
life-changing consequences for them all. ($30, PB)
The Torch by Peter Twohig ($30, PB)
The first is by Debra Oswald, acclaimed screen writer,
playwright and children's author. Useful is both wise and
witty, full of darkness and light and rich, humane insight.
Sullivan Moss is a still youngish man whose adult life
has reached a point of loser-ness where suicide seems the
most useful thing he can do. But he can't even manage that
successfully. The novel takes us on his journey of redemption, a trip full of bitter-sweet moments, pitfalls and recovery. Oswald's finely honed skills in plotting and acute
ear for language and dialogue kept me engaged through
the twists and turns. It's terrific.
In the sequel to The Cartographer, Peter Twohig takes us to Melbourne, 1960: Mrs Blayney and her 12 year old son live in South
Richmond. At least, they did, until their house burnt down. The
prime suspect, one Keith Aloysius Gonzaga Kavanagh, also aged
12, has mysteriously disappeared. Our narrator, the Blayney kid,
sets off on a covert mission to find young Keith, who he privately
dubs ‘Flame Boy’, to save him from the small army of irate locals,
including his mother, who want to see him put away. Flame Boy has
not only made himself scarce, but he’s done so with a very important
briefcase of secrets, which Blayney Jnr is keen to get hold of. But he’s got a lot going on:
there’s the new gang, his new girlfriend, Keith’s prison-escapee & possible spy father—
whilst constantly wondering how he can get his hands on the most beautiful object in the
world: the Melbourne Olympic Torch.
James Bradley's Clade shares a theme of redemption with
Useful, but is a massively different novel. Bradley's first
novel in almost ten years is a seriously ambitious and
profound story. Through three generations of narrators
we follow the fortunes of a family living through truly
disturbing times. As the novel moves into the future a
confronting and scarily convincing portrayal of a world
in the grip of the impact of climate change unfolds. It's a
compelling and sensitively told story of lives under great
stress, where hope and renewal can still be seen as possible.
Arkie used to be a trendspotter, running a successful business advising companies on ‘the next big thing’. Until she lost her marriage and her mojo along with it. Her eccentric new friend Haruko
suggests a pilgrimage in Japan. But funds are tight, so instead Arkie’s going on a very Australian trip, to all the ‘Big Things’. With
Haruko as her guide, magic is everywhere. A Buddha appears next
to the Big Redback, the Big Macadamia rises from the jungle like
a lost temple and inside the Big Shell she can hear a tinkling voice,
reminding her of the child she never had. As her improbable adventure unfolds, realisation dawns: could it be that, despite her celebrated foresight, Arkie’s been missing what
was right before her eyes?
As contrasting again is Amanda Lohrey's first full-length
novel in ten years, A Short History of Richard Kline.
Lohreys' book coincidentally shares with Useful the tale
of a man approaching middle age who is profoundly ill at
ease with life. But there the comparison ends. Kline has
been sure since childhood that something is missing, or
lacking in his life. The novel takes us on his search for
meaning, challenging the reader to go with him as the inner life is examined and the big questions about how to
live are explored.
David Gaunt
2
Australian Literature
Arkie’s Pilgrimage to the Next Big Thing
by Lisa Walker ($33, PB)
Useful by Debra Oswald ($33, PB)
Once a charming underachiever, Sully’s now such a loser that he
can’t even commit suicide properly. Waking up in hospital after
falling the wrong way on a rooftop, he comes to a decision—to
do one useful thing, donate a kidney to a stranger. As he scrambles over the hurdles to become a donor, Sully almost accidentally
forges a new life for himself. Sober and employed, he makes new
friends, not least radio producer Natalie and her son Louis, and begins to patch things up with old ones, like his ex-best mate Tim.
Suddenly, everyone wants a piece of him. But altruism is not as easy
as it seems. Just when he thinks he’s got himself together, Sully discovers that he’s most
at risk of falling apart.
Now in B Format
2014 Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award
After Darkness by Christine Piper, $19.99
The Refuge by Kenneth Mackenzie ($12.95, PB)
Late at night Lloyd Fitzherbert, police reporter with the Sydney
Gazette, is picked up by his man in CIB for a ‘last-minute job that
won’t take a minute’ at the morgue. A body has been found in the
harbour. Irma, a beautiful young woman who fled persecution in
Nazi Europe, is dead. She was Fitzherbert’s lover. And, though the
police don’t know it yet, he killed her. Gripping and atmospheric,
The Refuge is a murderer’s confession—a tale of wartime Sydney,
with its paranoia about communism and spies. Kenneth Mackenzie’s last novel, published in 1954 & now reissued in the Text Classics series, shares the psychological acuity & mastery of language of his lauded debut,
The Young Desire It.
Trio by Geraldine Wooller ($28, PB)
Celia, Marcia & Mickey meet and become friends in London.
Searching for work and success in the theatre, they end up sharing
a flat and a deep bond of friendship. Set in Italy, London & Australia from the 60s to current times, Trio brings a London filled with
music & drama vibrantly to life, as it does 80s and contemporary
Perth, Australia & Calabria, Italy. But at its heart this is a novel
about love and friendship, loss and memory; about three unforgettable characters, and the special moments in all our lives that, through
perceived hurt or fear, sometimes threaten to fall away and be lost
forever. Geraldine Wooller’s fourth novel, is a witty, intelligent and unsentimental book
about the essence of the human predicament.
Volcano Street by David Rain ($28, PB)
‘What would Germaine do?’ This is the mantra that Skip & Marlo
Wells use to as they navigate life’s difficulties—like the sectioning of their mother. Marlo puts her faith in her hero, Germaine
Greer, and 12 year old Skip follows her clever big sister’s lead.
But when the sisters are forced to move to their Auntie Noreen &
Uncle Doug’s home in the backwater city of Crater Lakes, even
Marlo can’t think of a solution. At 16, Marlo is forced to quit school
and work in the family hardware store. Skip manages to get on her
auntie’s bad side from the get-go and is an outcast at school as she
vehemently declares the injustice of the Vietnam War—not what Noreen wants to hear
with her precious son Barry off fighting. Volcano Street is a wonderfully vivid portrayal
of small-town life and the uncertainties of childhood.
International Literature
Wolf, Wolf by Eben Venter ($30, PB)
Mattie Duiker is trying very hard to live up to his dying father’s
wishes by putting aside childish things & starting his first business
serving healthy takeaway food to the workers in his district of Cape
Town. At the same time, Mattie is pulled toward an altogether other
version of masculinity, in which oiled and toned bodies cavort for
him at the click of a mouse. His porn addiction both threatens his
relationship with his boyfriend Jack & imperils his inheritance. And
while his father’s peacocking days as a swaggering businessman are
done—as the cancer shrivels & crisps him, his authority intensifies.
Pa haltingly prepares his son for life without him and himself for life without a male heir.
And, while the family wrestles with matters of entitlement and inheritance, around them
a new South Africa is quietly but persistently nudging its way forwards.
Zone by Mathias Enard ($35, HB)
Francis Mirkovic, a French Intelligence Services agent for 15
years, is travelling first class on the train from Milan to Rome.
Handcuffed to the luggage rack above him is a briefcase containing
a wealth of information about the war criminals, terrorists & arms
dealers of the Zone—the Mediterranean region, from Barcelona to
Beirut, from Algiers to Trieste, which has become his speciality—
to sell to the Vatican. Exhausted by alcohol & amphetamines, he
revisits the violent history of the Zone and his own participation in
that violence, beginning as a mercenary fighting for a far-right Croatian militia in the 1990s. Written as a single, hypnotic, physically irresistible sentence,
Mathias Enard’s Zone is an Iliad for our time, an extraordinary & panoramic view of
violent conflict & its consequences in the 20th century & beyond.
The First Bad Man by Miranda July ($28, PB)
Cheryl Glickman believes in romances that span centuries and a
soul that migrates between babies. She works at a women’s selfdefence nonprofit and lives alone. When her bosses ask if their 20
year-old daughter, Clee, can move into her house for a while, Cheryl’s eccentrically ordered world explodes. And yet it is Clee­—the
selfish, cruel blond bombshell—who bullies Cheryl into reality and,
unexpectedly, leads her to the love of a lifetime. “Don’t think you
can loan this book—you’ll never get it back’—A M Homes.
Also New
No Man’s Land: Writings from a World at War
(ed) Pete Ayrton, $22.99
Granta 130: India: New Stories, Mainly True
(ed) Ian Jack ($24.99, PB)
On D'Hill
In a measure of how much I care for my peops on D’Hill I
write this while still on holidays. But then, you deserve it,
given the fabulous support you gave us over Christmas—
our best ever. Gleebooks at Dulwich Hill continues to grow
and we have our loyal customers to thank for that.
I always look forward to books coming out in February as
everyone is a little tired of the titles that have been on the
shelves as far back as October—‘tired’ probably isn’t the
right word—it’s just we’ve read what interested us, and
now there are new releases to enjoy.
A debut crime novel out in February is Medea’s Curse by
Melbourne writer Anna Buist (wife of Graeme Simsion of
The Rosie Project fame). Buist’s main character is forensic
psychiatrist Natalie King who specialises in abused women and their partners and the crimes they commit. Natalie
is tough, rides a Ducati, sings in a band, has no problem
sleeping with a married man, is bipolar and needs to stay
on her meds. While treating and assessing two women accused of killing their children, Natalie is also being stalked
in a very frightening manner. This is gripping crime fiction,
with a lot of interesting psychiatric talk (between Natalie
and her supervisor), which could be argued, slows the action somewhat, but which I found riveting.
Literary fiction at its best comes in the form of The Illuminations by English author Andrew O’Hagan. Anne
Quirk was once a brilliant, though overlooked, documentary photographer, but is now on the verge of full-blown
dementia. Her beloved grandson Luke is fighting in Afghanistan and returns to Scotland, taking his grandmother
on a pilgrimage to Blackpool to see the famous Illuminations, and where secrets from her past will be unearthed.
O’Hagan writes beautifully, the sections in Afghanistan
with Luke and his fellow soldiers being particularly moving and believable (I don’t know how modern soldiers talk,
but the dialogue is raw and in-your-face, as one imagines
it would be). My one disappointment is that we only get to
know Anne through the prism of her fractured memory or
through what others say or remember of her. I would have
liked more of her. Having said that, is a potentially prizewinning book about love, family, memory and truth.
Saving the best to last, Offspring creator and writer Debra
Oswald debuts as a novelist with the wonderful Useful. It’s
a heart-warming, though never sentimental, story of a man
who realises he’s led a selfish existence and decides on a
radical course to become a useful human being. I’ll say no
more now as I will be talking to Debra about the book at
gleebooks in Glebe on February 24th—an event not to be
missed! Please do come along. Read the book before the
event so you can contribute to the discussion.
See you on D’Hill.
Morgan Smith
3
International Literature
The Illuminations by Andrew O’Hagan ($30, PB)
Standing one evening at the window of her house by the sea, Anne
Quirk sees a rabbit disappearing in the snow. Nobody remembers
her now, but this elderly woman was in her youth a pioneer of British documentary photography. Her beloved grandson, Luke, now a
captain with the Royal Western Fusiliers, is on a tour of duty in Afghanistan, part of a convoy taking equipment to the electricity plant at
Kajaki. Only when Luke returns home to Scotland does Anne’s secret
story begin to emerge, along with his, and they set out for an old guest
house in Blackpool where she once kept a room.
Vanessa and her Sister by Priya Parmar ($30, PB)
London, 1905. The city is alight with change & the Stephen siblings
are at the forefront. Vanessa, Virginia, Thoby & Adrian leave behind
their childhood home & take a house in the leafy heart of avant-garde
Bloomsbury. There they bring together a glittering circle of brilliant,
artistic friends who will come to be known as the legendary Bloomsbury Group. And at the centre of the charmed circle are the devoted,
gifted sisters: Vanessa, the painter and Virginia, the writer. But the
landscape shifts when Vanessa unexpectedly falls in love & her sister
feels dangerously abandoned. The brilliant Virginia has always lived
in the shelter of Vanessa’s constant attention & encouragement. Without it, she careens
toward self-destruction & madness. As tragedy & betrayal threaten to destroy the family,
Vanessa must choose whether to protect Virginia’s happiness or her own.
The House in Smyrna by Tatiana Salem Levy
In Rio de Janeiro, a woman suffering from a mysterious illness,
which is eroding her body and mind, decides to accept a challenge
from her grandfather: to take the key to the house in the Turkish city
of Smyrna, where he grew up, and try to open the door. As she embarks on this pilgrimage, she starts to write, and this writing soon
becomes an exploration of her family’s legacy of displacement in
Europe. Sifting through family stories—her grandfather’s migration
from Turkey to Brazil, her parents’ exile in Portugal under the Brazilian military dictatorship, her mother’s death, and her own love affair
with a violent man—she traces her family’s history in a journey to make sense of the past
and to understand her place in it. ($28, PB)
Mr Bones: 20 Stories by Paul Theroux ($29.99, PB)
A renowned art collector relishes in publically destroying his most
valuable pieces. Two boys stand by helplessly as their father stages
an all-consuming war on the raccoons living in the woods around
their house. A young artist devotes himself to a wealthy, malicious
gossip, knowing that it’s just a matter of time before she turns on him.
Set in locations ranging from Uganda & Quebec to London & New
York, Paul Theroux’s new collection of stories explores the tenuous
leadership of the elite & the surprising revenge of the overlooked—
humanity possessed, consumed by its own desire & compulsion.
The Seventh Day by Yu Hua ($30, PB)
Yang Fei was born on a moving train, lost by his mother, adopted
by a young railway worker, raised with simplicity and love—utterly
unprepared for the changes that await him and his country. So when,
at 41, he meets an unceremonious death and lacks the money for a
burial plot, he must roam the afterworld aimlessly. There, over the
course of seven days, he encounters the souls of people he’s lost, and
as he retraces the path of his life, we meet an extraordinary cast of
characters: his adoptive father, beautiful ex-wife, neighbours who perished in the demolition of their homes.
Outside the Lines by Amy Hatvany ($30, PB)
When Eden was ten years old she found her father bleeding on the
bathroom floor. The suicide attempt led to her parents’ divorce, and
her father all but vanished from Eden’s life. 20 years later, Eden
runs a successful catering company and dreams of opening a restaurant. Since childhood, she has heard from her father only rarely, just
enough to know that he’s been living on the streets and struggling
with mental illness. But lately there has been no word at all. After
a series of failed romantic relationships and a health scare from her
mother, Eden decides it’s time to find her father. Her search takes her
to a downtown Seattle homeless shelter, its director, Jack Baker convinces Eden to volunteer her skills as a professional chef with the shelter. In return, he helps her in her quest.
The Man Who Loved Dogs by Leonardo Padura
Cuban writer Iván Cárdenas Maturell meets a mysterious foreigner
on a Havana beach who is always in the company of two Russian
wolfhounds. Ivan quickly names him 'the man who loved dogs'. The
man eventually confesses that he is actually Ramón Mercader, the
man who killed Leon Trotsky in Mexico City in 1940, and that he is
now living in a secret exile in Cuba after being released from jail in
Mexico. Moving between Iván’s life in Cuba, Mercader’s early years
in Spain & France, & Trotsky’s long years of exile, this is the story
of revolutions fought and betrayed, the ways in which men’s political
convictions are continually tested and manipulated, and a powerful critique of the role of
fear in consolidating political power. ($28, PB)
4
Oddfellows by Nicholas Shakespeare
On 1 January 1915, ramifications from the First World
War, raging half a world away, were felt in Broken Hill,
Australia, when in a guerrilla-style military operation, four
citizens were killed and seven wounded. It was the annual
picnic day in Broken Hill and a thousand citizens were
dressed for fun when the only enemy attack to occur on
Australian soil during World War I, took them by surprise.
Nicholas Shakespeare has turned this little known piece of
Australian history into a story for our time. ($15, PB)
The Bridges of Constantine
by Ahlem Mosteghanemi ($20, PB)
Khaled, a former revolutionary in the Algerian war of
liberation has been in self-exile in Paris for two decades,
disgusted by the corruption that now riddles the country he
once fought for. Now a celebrated painter, Khaled is consumed with passion for Hayat, the daughter of his old revolutionary commander, who unexpectedly reenters Khaled’s
life. Hayat had been just a child when he last saw her, but
she has now become a seductive young novelist. This is the
first novel in an award-winning, bestselling trilogy that spans Algeria’s tumultuous recent history.
Love in Small Letters by Francesc Miralles
When Samuel wakes up on 1st January, he is convinced
that the year ahead will bring nothing exciting or unusual—until a strange visitor bursts into his flat, determined
not to leave. The appearance of Mishima, a young stray
cat, leads Samuel to a strange encounter with Valdemar and
his neighbour Titus, with whom he had previously never
exchanged a word, and is the catalyst for the incredible
transformation that is about to occur in the secluded world
he has built around himself. ($20, PB)
The Winter War by Philip Teir
On the surface, the Paul family are living the liberal, middle-class Scandinavian dream. Max Paul is a renowned
sociologist and his wife Katrina has a well-paid job in the
public sector. They live in an airy apartment in the centre
of Helsinki. But look closer and the cracks start to show. As
he approaches his sixtieth birthday, the certainties of Max's
life begin to dissolve. He hasn't produced any work of note
for decades. His wife no longer loves him. His grown-up
daughters - one in London, one in Helsinki - have problems
of their own. So when a former student turned journalist
shows up and offers him a seductive lifeline, Max starts down a dangerous path
from which he may never find a way back. ($27.99, PB)
Biography
Guantanamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi
Since 2002, Mohamedou Ould Slahi has been imprisoned at the detainee camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In all these years, the United
States has never charged him with a crime. Although he was ordered
to be released by a federal judge, the US government fought that decision, and there is no sign that the US plans to let him go. Three years
into his captivity Slahi began a diary, recounting his life before he disappeared into US custody and daily life as a detainee. His diary is not
merely a vivid record of a miscarriage of justice, but a deeply personal memoir—terrifying,
darkly humorous, and surprisingly gracious. ($29.99, PB)
The Poet’s Tale: Chaucer & the year that made The
Canterbury Tales by Paul Strohm ($29.99, PB)
As the year 1386 began, Geoffrey Chaucer was a middle-aged bureaucrat & sometime poet, living in London & enjoying the perks that
came with his close connections to its booming wool trade. When it
ended, he was jobless, homeless, out of favour with his friends and
living in exile. Such a reversal might have spelled the end of his career;
but Chaucer made the revolutionary decision to ‘maken vertu of necessitee’ & keep writing. The resulting Canterbury Tales was a radically
new form of poetry that would make his reputation, bring him to a national audience,
and preserve his work for posterity. Paul Strohm brings Chaucer’s world to vivid life, from
the streets & taverns of crowded medieval London to rural seclusion in Kent, and reveals
this crucial year as a turning point in the fortunes of England’s most important poets.
Joe’s Fruit Shop & Milk Bar by Zöe Boccabella
In 2011, more than 70 years after her grandfather Annibale Boccabella
arrived in Australia, while Zöe Boccabella & her family try to save the
treasured belongings of Annibale & his wife Francesca from the rising waters of the Brisbane River, and Zöe sees the sign from their old
fruit shop & milk bar about to disappear beneath the floodwater, this
triggers in her a realisation that while she has long looked to Italy to
discover her migrant heritage, much of it happened here in Australia. In
her memoir Zöe weaves her own experiences with those of her grandparents, taking a journey from Abruzzo & Calabria to Australian sugar
cane fields, internment camps, Greek cafés, and the fruit shop & milk bar that was the focus
of a family’s hopes & dreams for the future. ($30, PB)
Tove Jansson: Work & Love by Tuula Karjalainen
Tuula Karjalainen’s new biography of author & artist, Tove Jansson, gives a fresh perspective on Jansson’s life and art, showing
us how closely they were interlinked. She reveals how Jansson
worked in times of turmoil and amid her own private heartbreaks,
and how her emotional life, especially her relationship with Tuulikki Pietilä, fed her creativity. Above all she explores how Jansson
changed the values and attitudes of her time—never as a flag-bearer,
but as someone who lived quietly yet uncompromisingly according
to her own choices. ($40, HB)
A Fifty-Year Silence: Love, War and a Ruined
House in France by Miranda Richmond Mouillot
After surviving World War II by escaping the Nazi occupation, Miranda Richmond Mouillot’s grandparents, Anna & Armand, bought
an old stone house in a remote village in the south of France. Five
years later, Anna packed her bags & walked out on Armand, taking the typewriter & their children. The two never saw or spoke
to each other again. To discover the roots of this embittered & entrenched silence, Miranda Mouillot moves to the old stone house,
now a crumbling ruin, where she immerses herself in letters & archival materials, slowly
teasing stories out of her reticent, and declining, grandparents. Along the way she finds
herself learning how not only to survive, but to thrive—making a home in the village and
falling in love. ($32.99, PB)
Epilogue: A Memoir by Will Boast ($27.99, PB)
Every parent’s worst nightmare
comes to life in the debut novel
from Sydney writer Nigel Bartlett.
David’s nephew has been kidnapped
and the finger has been pointed at
him. To clear his name, to find the
boy, he embarks on a mission that
will force him to confront the most
sinister of criminal underworlds.
Bold and unflinching, King of the
Road is a compelling Australian
thriller from an exciting new voice.
randomhouse.com.au
Travel Writing
Rick Steve’s Travel as a Political Act
There’s more to travel than good-value hotels, great art, and
tasty cuisine. In the second edition of this award-winning
book, Rick Steves explains how to travel more thoughtfully—
to any destination. With updated information on Europe, Central America, and Asia; an expanded discussion of the Middle
East; and a brand-new chapter on the Holy Land that covers
Israelis and Palestinians today, Rick shows readers how his travels have shaped his
politics and broadened his perspective. ($23, PB)
Seven Walks: Cape Leeuwin to Bundeena
by Tom Carment & Michael Wee ($70, HB)
Over their weekly conversation in an inner-city cafe, photographer Michael Wee persuaded his friend, painter &
writer Tom Carment, to embark on some walks into ‘wild’
Australia. Inexperienced long-distance bushwalkers, Michael & Tom learned en route as they traversed hot, rainy,
snow-covered & bushfire-blackened terrain. Alongside
Michael’s haunting, dramatic photographs, and Tom’s
delicately observed watercolours & drawings are stories
of each walk, interweaving history with anecdote, humour with observation.
When Will Boast’s father dies he is alone in the world: an American with distant English roots, orphaned, and derailed by grief.
Everything he thought he knew about his parents unravels when
he discovers he has two half-brothers living in England. With the
piercing gaze of a novelist, Boast transforms the pain and confusion
of his family history into an achingly poignant portrait of resilience,
revising the stories he’s inherited to refashion both his past and his
present.
Hong Kong State of Mind: 37 Views of a City
That Doesn’t Blink by Jason Y. Ng ($18 PB)
The only child in a lower-middle-class family, who got his artistic genes from his musician father and his Catholic faith from his
mother, David Lodge was four when World War II began and grew
to maturity through decades of great social and cultural change,
giving him plenty to write about in his distinguished career. In this
memoir of his life up to the publication of his breakthrough book,
Changing Places, David looks back over his childhood and youth.
Candid, witty and insightful, illuminating both the author and his
work, this memoir gives a fascinating picture of a period of transition in British society
and the evolution of a writer who has become a classic in his own lifetime.
Still Travelling by Mal Leyland ($33, PB)
At a time when the outback was still a forbidding, remote
frontier, the Leyland brothers brought it into people’s homes
through their many documentaries & TV series. Mal Leyland
takes us through his eventful life, from his ‘ten-pound-Pom’
immigrant childhood, adventuring with Mike through outback Australia, the brothers’ sometimes stormy relationship,
their dramatic rise to success as filmmakers, their devastating
financial losses, Mal’s triumph over cancer to his ongoing
travels with his beloved wife of 45 years, Laraine.
Quite A Good Time to be Born: A Memoir: 1935–
1975 by David Lodge ($65, HB)
Hong Kong is a city where limousines outnumber taxis, partygoers countdown to Christmas every December 24, and giant billboards of fortune tellers & cram school tutors compete
with breathtaking skylines. This collection of essays zeroes
in on the city’s idiosyncrasies with deadpan precision. An
outsider looking in & an insider looking out, Jason Y. Ng has
created a travel journal for the tourist & a user’s manual for
the wide-eyed expat.
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Gleebooks is forty years young! On 26 January 1975 Ray Jelfs and Tony Gallagher opened a secondhand shop at 191 Glebe Point Rd. Previously it was
the site of Peacock's Hollywood Lending Library and Reading Room. Roger
Mackell worked part time in 1979–1977 while he completed an Arts degree and
DipEd at Sydney University. Following Tony Gallagher's death in 1978, Roger
along with David Gaunt formed a partnership to keep the shop going.... Roger
has promised to provide a complete and detailed account of Gleebooks' illustrious history, sometime this year (get busy, Boss!), so in the mean time the Second
Hand Rows column will be given over to displaying the bestsellers of the 1970s,
both fiction and nonfiction, that yours truly first read as a teenager and which
would have adorned the shelves of Gleebooks when it first opened its doors....
Jaws by Peter Benchley (1974). 'The great fish moved silently through the night
water, propelled by short sweeps of its crescent tail...' After some midnight lovemaking on the beach, a young woman skinny dips into the ocean for a refreshing
swim and is attacked by a giant shark. Cue John Williams' opening film music
theme—the Steven Spielberg production of this mega best-seller about a 20 ft
White pointer shark terrorising the beach resort town of Amity, Long Island, NY
was released in 1975. The book reads just as excitingly as I remember, though
Spielberg wisely left out the mildly sleazy subplot of an affair between the shark
expert and the shark boat skipper's wife. Author Benchley (1940–2006) wrote
the book in a converted turkey coop in Connecticut during the summer of 1973.
Jaws eventually spent 45 weeks on the best seller lists and sold over 20 million
copies. The film's worldwide success also inspired two rather dire sequels (and
that handy catchphrase 'jumped the shark' for a show that has gone off the rails.
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty (1971). 'The power of Christ compels
you!...' Another enormous bestseller that became a cultural touchstone of the
70s. Blatty (b.1928) based the novel in part on an actual 1949 exorcism of a
young boy in St Louis. Again, read by me after I (finally) saw the film. At the
time William Friedkin's controversial 1973 film adaptation and the astonishing
performance of 14 year old Linda Blair as young Regan McNeill, possessed by
the demon Pazuzu, overshadowed the novel in my mind. A re-reading surprised
me at how well written it actually was. In 2011 Blatty issued a 40th Anniversary
edition, with several minor revisions and a newly written scene.
Watership Down by Richard Adams (1972). After worldwide bestsellers featuring shark attacks and demonic possession, it was a relief to return to what
I remembered as the mostly gentle, pastoral tale of a gathering of rabbits, led
by the seer, Fiver, seeking a new warren at Watership Down. Having forgotten lots of less than pastoral details, concerning the warlike Owsla rabbit clan
and Woundworts last stand against the farm dogs, to name but two, I did recall
the various footnotes scattered throughout the text describing rabbit language
(Lapine), poetry, mythology and social structure. It also took me less time than I
thought to suspend disbelief and re-enjoy this true classic. A successful animated
film based on the book was released in 1978, along with Bright Eyes, Art Garfunkel's syrupy (but world-wide hit) theme song.
The Bermuda Triangle by Charles Berlitz (1974). 'Here is the story of this
planet's most bizarre and sinister enigma—and the unearthly forces that may
very well be its cause...' If Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which disappeared
mysteriously in April 2014, had done so in the same manner forty years earlier,
you can bet reference would have been made to the likely involvement of supernatural forces, extraterrestrial beings or the location of mysterious areas of the
ocean where ships and planes simply vanished without trace. Although earlier
titles had appeared on the subject, for example, John Spencer's Limbo of the Lost
(1969), this was the book that really started it all.
I had never even heard of this fateful area of ocean before I read Berlitz's book—
in one go I might add. The edge of seat accounts and the mass of 'Evidence' he
presented made it well nigh irresistible. A section of the Western Atlantic Ocean
off the southeast coast of the United States, forming a triangle extending from
Bermuda in the north, to southern Florida to the Bahamas and back, 'where
more than 100 planes and ships have literally vanished into thin air, most of
them since 1945'. Charles Berlitz (1913–2003) was a prolific author who wrote
on other paranormal subjects as diverse as the lost continent of Atlantis, the
UFO crash at Roswell, New Mexico, the 1943 Philadelphia 'Project Invisibility'
experiments, the search for Noah's Ark and the Dragon's Triangle (a South East
Asian version of The Bermuda Triangle). If I harboured any doubt about this
ocean mystery, a documentary on the subject, entitled The Devil's Triangle appeared that same year. View it on You Tube. Narrated by none other than Mr
Sinister himself, actor Vincent Price! His silky smooth tone of menace made a
believer out of me! Stephen Reid
All books are Paperbacks priced at $8 ea
6
Crime Fiction
Medea's Curse by Anne Buist ($30, PB)
Forensic psychiatrist Natalie King works with victims & perpetrators of violent crime. Women with a history of abuse, mainly. She
rides a Ducati a size too big & wears a tank top a size too small.
Likes men but doesn't want to keep one. And really needs to stay on
her medication. Now she's being stalked. Anonymous notes, threats,
strangers loitering outside her house. A hostile former patient? Or
someone connected with a current case? Georgia Latimer—charged
with killing her three children, or Travis Hardy—deadbeat father of
another murdered child. Maybe the harassment has something to do
with Crown Prosecutor Liam O'Shea—trouble in all kinds of ways.
Silent Kill by Peter Corris ($20, PB)
When Cliff Hardy signs on as a bodyguard for charismatic populist
Rory O'Hara, who is about to embark on a campaign of social and
political renewal, it looks like a tricky job—O'Hara has enemies.
A murder and a kidnapping cause the campaign to fall apart. Hired
to investigate the murder, Hardy uncovers hidden agendas among
O'Hara's staff as well as powerful political and commercial forces at
work. His investigation takes him from the pubs and brothels of Sydney to the heart of power in Canberra and the outskirts of Darwin.
There he teams up with a resourceful indigenous private detective
and forms an uneasy alliance with the beautiful Penelope Marinos,
formerly O'Hara's PA.
Runaway by Peter May ($29.99, PB)
In 1965, five teenage friends fled Glasgow for London to pursue their
dream of musical stardom. Yet before year's end three returned, and
returned damaged. In 2015, a brutal murder forces those three men,
now in their sixties, to journey back to London and finally confront
the dark truth they have run from for five decades. Runaway is a
crime novel covering fifty years of friendships solidified and severed, dreams shared and shattered and passions lit and extinguished;
set against the backdrop of two unique and contrasting cities at two
unique and contrasting periods of recent history.
The Lion's Mouth by Anne Holt ($30, PB)
Less than six months after taking office, the Norwegian Prime Minister is found dead. She has been shot in the head. But was it a politically motivated assassination or personal revenge? The death shakes
the country to its core. The hunt for her killer is complicated, intense
and gruelling. Hanne Wilhelmsen must contain the scandal before a
private tragedy becomes a public outrage, in what will become the
most sensitive case of her career.
Satellite People by Hans Olav Lahlum ($30, PB)
Oslo, 1969. When Magdalon Schelderup, a multimillionaire businessman and former resistance fighter, collapses and dies during a
dinner party Norwegian Police Inspector Kolbjørn Kristiansen is
shaken because the victim had contacted him only the day before
fearing for his life. Schelderup was disliked, even despised, by many
of those close to him; and his recently revised Will may have set
events in motion. Which of the guests—from his current & former
wives & three children to his attractive secretary & old cohorts in the
resistance—had the greatest motive for murder?
The Locked-Room Mysteries (ed) Otto Penzler
The purest kind of detective story involves a crime solved by observation & deduction—especially that which involves the explanation
of an impossible crime—a vanishing act that would make Houdini
proud, a murder that leaves no visible trace. Virtually all of the great
writers of detective fiction have produced masterpieces in this genre,
including Agatha Christie, Edgar Allan Poe, Dorothy L. Sayers, Arthur Conan Doyle, Raymond Chandler, G.K. Chesterton, John Dickson Carr, Dashiell Hammett, Ngaio Marsh & Stephen King. Otto
Penzler has selected a multifarious mix from across the entire history
of the locked room story. ($39.99, PB)
King of the Road by Nigel Bartlett ($33, PB)
David Kingsgrove’s nephew, 11 year old Andrew has been a regular
visitor to David’s home right up until the day he disappeared, walking out the front door to visit a neighbour. The police to decide that
David—single, in his thirties, living alone—is their prime suspect.
Soon Andrew’s parents will share that opinion. Realising that the
only way Andrew will be found is if he finds him, David turns to the
one person who he knows will help him: Matty an ex-cop now his
personal trainer, whose own son disappeared several years before.
Butterfly Skin by Sergey Kuznetsov ($15, PB)
When a brutal and sadistic serial killer begins stalking the streets of
Moscow, Xenia, an ambitious young newspaper editor, takes it upon
herself to attempt to solve the mystery of the killer’s identity. As her
obsession with the killer grows, Xenia devises an elaborate website
with the intention of ensnaring the murderer, only to discover something disturbing about herself: her own unhealthy fascination with
the sexual savagery of the murders.
Gun Street Girl by Adrian McKinty ($30, PB)
Belfast, 1985. Gunrunners on the borders, riots in the cities, The
Power of Love on the radio. And somehow, in the middle, DI Sean
Duffy is hanging on, a Catholic policeman in the hostile Royal Ulster
Constabulary. Duffy is initially left cold by the murder of a wealthy
couple, shot dead while watching TV. And when their troubled son
commits suicide, leaving a note that appears to take responsibility for
the deaths, it seems the case is closed. But something doesn't add up,
and people keep dying. Soon Duffy is on the trail of a mystery that
will pit him against shadowy US intelligence forces, and take him
into the white-hot heart of the biggest political scandal of the decade.
A Demon Summer by G. M. Malliet ($20, PB)
Someone has been trying to poison the 15th Earl of Lislelivet. Since
Lord Lislelivet has a gift for making enemies, no one-particularly his
wife-finds this too surprising. What is surprising is that the poison
was discovered in a fruitcake made and sold by the Handmaids of
St. Lucy of Monkbury Abbey. Max Tudor, vicar of Nether Monkslip
and former MI5 agent, is asked to investigate. But just as Max comes
to believe the poisoning was accidental, a body is discovered in the
cloister well.
The Ice Queen by Nele Neuhaus ($30, PB)
The body of Holocaust survivor and American citizen, Jossi Goldberg, is found shot to death execution style in his house near Frankfurt. A five-digit number is scrawled in blood at the murder scene.
The autopsy reveals an old tattoo on the corpse's arm—a blood type
marker once used by Hitler's SS—causing detectives Pia Kirchhoff
and Oliver Bodenstein to question his true identity. Two more murders reveal the connections between the victims. They were all lifelong friends with Vera von Kaltensee, baroness, well-respected philanthropist, and head of an old, rich family that she rules with an iron
fist. Pia and Oliver follow the trail, which leads them all the way back
to the end of World War II and the area of Poland that then belonged
to East Prussia. No one is who they claim to be, and things only begin
to make sense when the two investigators realise what the bloody
number stands for, and uncover an old diary and an eyewitness who is
finally willing to come forward.
Easy Death by Daniel Boyd ($14, PB)
'Twas the week before Xmas …and two robbers hired by a local crime
boss manage to heist half a million dollars from an armoured car. But
getting the money and getting away with it are two different things,
especially with a blizzard coming down, the cops in hot pursuit, & a
double-crossing gambler and a murderous park ranger threatening to
turn this white Christmas blood red.
Black Light by K. A. Bedford ($24.99, PB)
Ruth Black is an English novelist left widowed by the mysterious
death of her husband during the Great War. She immigrates to Australia & settles in the sleepy coastal town of Pelican River to repair
her broken heart & work on her next novel. But her Aunt Julia arrives
to disturb this peace with an urgent, dreadful message. Ruth's life is in
danger and the threat is from a source not entirely of this world. With
the assistance of her butler Rutherford, and her good friend the inventor Gordon Duncombe, Ruth finds herself caught up in a hair-raising
race to defy her impending doom.
A Dark Anatomy by Robin Blake ($19.99, PB)
1740, and England's remoter provinces remain largely a law unto
themselves. In Lancashire a Squire's wife, Dolores Brockletower,
lies in the woods above her home, Garlick Hall, her throat brutally
slashed. Called to the scene, Coroner Titus Cragg finds the Brockletower household awash with rumour & suspicion. He enlists the
help of doctor Luke Fidelis, but forensic science is in its infancy, and
policing hardly exists. In their first gripping investigation, Cragg and
Fidelis are faced with the superstition of witnesses, obstruction by local officials, and denunciations from the Squire himself.
The Venom Business
by Michael Crichton as John Lange ($13, PB)
As an expert handler of venomous snakes—and a smuggler of rare
artefacts—Charles Raynaud is accustomed to danger. So the job bodyguarding an old acquaintance about to come into a fortune shouldn't
make him break a sweat. But when the attempts on the man's life
nearly get Raynaud killed, he's left wondering: is he the killers' real
target?
The Man From Berlin by Luke McCallin ($17.99, PB)
Amidst the chaos of World War II, in a land of brutality and bloodshed, one death can still change everything. Sarajevo, 1943: Marija
Vukic, a beautiful young filmmaker & socialite, and a German officer
are brutally murdered. Assigned to the case is military intelligence officer Captain Gregor Reinhardt. Haunted by his wartime actions and
the mistakes he’s made off the battlefield, he has to manoeuvre his
way through a minefield of political, military, and personal agendas
and vendettas, as a trail of dead bodies leads him to a secret hidden
within the ranks of the powerful—a secret they will do anything to
keep.
Q
uentin Beresford
illuminates for the
first time the dark corners
of the Gunns empire. He
shows it was built on close
relationships with state
and federal governments,
political donations and use
of the law to intimidate and
silence its critics. Gunns may
have been single-minded in
its pursuit of a pulp mill in
Tasmania’s Tamar Valley, but
it was embedded in an anti-
democratic and corrupt system of power supported
by both main parties, business and unions. Fearless
and forensic in its analysis, the book shows that
Tasmania’s decades-long quest to industrialise
nature fails every time.
M
egan Davis and George
Williams explain
everything that Australians
need to know about the
proposal to recognise
Aboriginal peoples in the
Constitution. It details how
our Constitution was drafted,
and shows how Aboriginal
peoples came to be excluded
from the new political
settlement. With clarity and
authority the book shows the
symbolic and legal power of
such a change and how we
might get there.
w w w. n ews o u t h p u b l i s h i n g .co m
Now in B Format
Want You Dead by Peter James, $17.99
Bitter Wash Road by Gary Disher, $20
7
books for kids to young adults
compiled by Lynndy Bennett, our children's correspondent
Gleebooks turns 40 this year; can you believe it?! So far we’ve survived the retail crises of the C21st: The GST (‘tax on learning’) imposed on books, and the subsequent recommendations by two Federal government ministers to shop online via foreign suppliers; as well as the GFC which led to belatedly increased prices in Australia. Despite the prevalence of internet ordering from mega-colossal overseas companies and dire predictions amidst the burgeoning of e-readers and e-books, we are still here. No matter what we do,
it is you, our customers, who keep us aloft. Sincere thanks to all of you who loyally choose to shop with us; who prefer to savour the printed object and who trust our collective
knowledge. (Roger calculated it at greater than 400 years’ worth of book expertise amongst our current staff.) Here’s to many more years of giving you what you want! This year
to celebrate there will be jubilation, fireworks, dancing and other revelries. (Any incendiaries will necessarily be off-site, and dancing might be DIY,
but you are welcome to be pleased on our behalf and to join us in celebratory events later this year) Lynndy
for littlies
20 Big Trucks in the Middle of the Street
by Mark Lee, (ill) Kurt Cyrus ($9.95, BD)
Now in a size just right for youngsters to hold and scrutinise at their own pace, this is the story of a traffic jam started by the ice cream truck breaking
down that caters to those who love vehicles and more than a hint of bedlam. Count along as an entire parade of trucks grinds to a halt, blocking the street
and prompting a young boy wanting ice cream to propose a solution using… the vehicles themselves. The story in rhyme is fun to read aloud, and the
pictures which show the dilemma from various perspectives also contain small details to captivate observant listeners. Lynndy
Lift-the-Flap General Knowledge
by Alex Frith & James Maclaine, (ill) Marco Palmieri ($20, BD)
nonfiction
This, the latest in the popular See Inside… books, offers hundreds of miscellaneous facts amid and beneath more than 135 flaps. Whether it’s history or
food, creative or sporting achievements, the natural world or the built world that piques your curiosity, it’s very possible you’ll find the answers here.
Ideal for readers of 6+, or to share with inquisitive younger fact-seekers, General Knowledge adds further topics to the reputable Usborne series. Lynndy
The Mennyms
by Sylvia Waugh ($20, PB)
F iction
Despite being written in the mid-1990s, this
marvellous book has all the atmosphere of a
classic English children's book by E. Nesbit or
Mary Norton. An eccentric and deeply unusual
extended family live together in seclusion in a
house in an English town; each member of the
family has their own place, if not designated job within
the family, enabling them to live in the world and yet
not be part of it. The secret of this family is revealed
early on in the book—I won't say what it is, but it's so
imaginative and highly entertaining that I laughed out
loud when I read it. The serious, if not earnest tone of the book carries the reader along,
making the Mennym family surprisingly credible, completely allowing you to suspend
all disbelief. Beautifully written, full of suspense and surprise, and rich descriptions, it's
a treat to read such flawless prose in a children's book. Louise
(I’ve loved this book since it was first released and I’m thrilled Louise shares my opinion of it, and that recently we’ve drawn other readers into the secret life of the Mennyms. There are four more books following the classic that is volume one, which means
plenty of innovative storytelling to absorb readers who love realistic fantasy and superb
writing. LB)
Teen Fiction
The Boyface books by James
Campbell, (ill) Mark Weighton
Boyface Antelope, an inquisitive but dullish (human) boy.
His mother, an enterprising woman who appropriates from
other people's houses bits that take her fancy—a chimney here,
a parlour there—to bodge together their own house, giving it a
distinctive look of being built by someone clueless, which it is.
Mr Antelope, father of Boyface and operator of the Quantum Chromatic Disruption
Machine. Shortage of ponies? No problem: Mr Antelope’s machine converts zebras
into ordinary ponies. Lamenting the lack of tartan clothing? Mr Antelope can fix
that, or any colour or pattern problem you have.
Clootie Whanger, involuntary shouter, who is fascinated by Mr Antelope’s Stripemongery business.
Boyface’s tenth birthday is a momentous one. That day he and Clootie discover they
share a birthday, and become friends; and following the male Antelope tradition Boyface is initiated into Stripemongery and the secrets of the Quantum Chromatic Disruption Machine. Standby chaos! I love the offbeat hilarity of this series which offers a
splendid alternative to the absurdity of Andy Griffiths’ or Philip Ardagh’s books. For
a snapshot of the unfettered madness within, just consider the titles: Boyface and the
Quantum Chromatic Disruption Machine, Boyface and the Tartan Badger and Boyface
and the Uncertain Ponies. Share with young children or let readers of 7+ read and
laugh themselves into hiccups over the antics of the worst pet in the world, the equine
identity crisis, and other forthcoming adventures. ($15 each) Lynndy
The Witch of Salt and Storm by Kendall Kulper ($15, PB)
A delightful surprise! Kulper's debut novel is an atmospheric and beautifully written story about witches, whaling and magic. Set against a
bleak island backdrop, this book is full of mystery, heartbreak, tension, romance and one very determined and strong young lady—Avery
Roe. A pleasure to read and the perfect holiday escape for teens. Hannah L
Sway by Kat Spears ($23, HB)
There are some books that you can't put down, this is one of them. Kat Spears has realised this book beautifully—in a way that most authors
can't capture. In Sway, her debut novel, she portrays the characters so well she makes you feel as though you're witnessing it all. From fake ID's to prom
dates, Jesse Alderman (aka Sway) can get you anything. But when on a job he finally finds out what it feels like to be in love... with Bridget Smalley,
however this job isn't just for anybody, it is for Ken Foster, captain of the football team. Follow the twists and turns of Jesse through his final year of high
school. Things are not as easy as they used to be. Isabella Leslie (age 11)
There Will Be Lies by Nick Lake ($20, PB)
At almost 18 Shelby Cooper is an ordinary teenager. Sure, her life is predictable, her over-protective mother enforces strict routine around homeschooling
her daughter, and neither of them forms any strong personal relationships, but Shelby counteracts that with her online friendships. Self-conscious about severe scarring Shelby avoids exposure and sports, except for her cherished weekly sessions at the baseball batting cages. Her other indulgence is time spent
at the local library, where she connects with a young librarian—her only personal friendship. An accident on her way home one day results in hospitalisation and surgery; as she is discharged Shelby unwittingly initiates the destruction of the life her mother has so carefully wrought for them and suddenly they
are on the run. Imagine your boring, sedentary mother revealing herself to be an escaped murderer—how do you reconcile that, and the immediate changes
to your previously closeted life? Each subsequent event further shatters Shelby’s reality, unmooring and bewildering her. Deft interweaving of Native American mythology with
Shelby’s recurring dreams, and suspenseful plot twists create a pacey, compelling thriller, provoking the reader to question their own assumptions and expectations. Lynndy
TO Y S
Late last year I made the serendipitous discovery of the best Australian animal soft toys I’ve ever seen, and we now stock a selection
of them. Forget those vacuous stiff-pile koalas and wombats in tourist outlets, check out the Eastern spotted quoll, numbats, echidnas,
lollopy-legged emu, Tasmanian devil, koala with joey, and other plush authentic toy Australiana, in both large ($14.95–$28) and
10cm mini ($7.95) sizes. Irresistible! (And there’s no risk of smuggling charges if you pack off this realistic fauna
to overseas friends and family). Lynndy
One of the best compliments we’ve had lately, from a customer who shares our bibliopassion:"Mum, if I was a homeless person with not much money,
8each day I would go to Gleebooks and spend a few hours looking at books and reading." Finn (10½) ... Finn, you are always welcome here. Lynndy
Food & Health
Easy Vegan by Sue Quinn ($40, PB)
With 140 recipes for delicious non-dairy milks, basic pastries,
warming soups and mains, salads, pasta, rice, noodles and sweet
things, Easy Vegan has your vegan options covered. It's packed
with advice on how to 'veganise' a recipe by swapping out key
ingredients for plant-based, healthier alternatives, without compromising on taste or flavour.
Quit Cannabis by Jan Copeland etal ($23, PB)
Do you feel you're losing focus and concentration? Is weed taking a
toll on your relationships? Is it taking over your life? The longer you
have used marijuana, the harder it is to quit. Maybe, like many others,
you have experienced anxiety, sleeplessness and strong cravings when
you've tried coming off it. This ground-breaking guide is based on the
experience of hundreds of users. It cuts through the folklore surrounding marijuana to reveal the truth about its impact on your health and
how to quit for good.
Playing the Genetic Hand Life Dealt You: Epigenetics and How to Keep Ourselves Healthy
by Craig Hassed ($24.95, PB)
Genetics, the very blueprint of life on Earth, is constantly adapting
& re-expressing itself in an ongoing interplay with the environment,
mind and consciousness. The old way of looking at genetics was that
we just got dealt a genetic hand by nature and we were either lucky or
unlucky in what we got dealt. We are now coming to understand that
this is where the genetic story starts, not ends. We do get to play the
genetic hand we are dealt & Dr Craig Hassed explains in lay-person’s
terms how we can achieve this.
That Sugar Book by Damon Gameau ($35, PB)
When actor and filmmaker Damon Gameau met a girl he was keen to
impress he decided to get healthy by dramatically reducing his sugar
intake. In no time he was slimmer, calmer, fitter & happier. Why did
the elimination of sugar have such beneficial effects on his health &
wellbeing? He decided to experiment & film the results. He would
eat 40 teaspoons of sugar a day for 60 days. Crucially, he would only
consume perceived 'healthy' foods like muesli bars, breakfast cereals,
low-fat yoghurts, juices & smoothies. Although his caloric intake was
the same as his regular diet, he put on nearly 9 kilograms in 60 days.
Gameau's journey blows the lid on how the food industries make
& sell our food. His book also offers advice on kicking the habit,
foods to avoid, how to shop, how to read labels & how to cook
sugar-free food, with over 30 easily prepared recipes.
Saison by Simon Wright ($80, HB)
The famous Auckland restaurant The French Cafe has long been
the epitome of excellence—Simon & Creghan Wright have woven magic there ever since they took the restaurant over in 1999,
constantly striving for an even richer experience for their guests—
be it their recent garden development or adjustments to the menu.
This 2nd cookbook from Simon Wright showcases his glorious approach to food and his respect for the seasons in which ingredients
are at their peak.
Rachel Khoo's Kitchen Notebook ($40, PB)
Rachel Khoo leaves her tiny kitchen in Paris to embark on new culinary adventures. The resulting recipes in this cookbook are exciting and varied, each one crafted with Rachel's trademark inventive
twists. Discover her Slow-roasted pork belly with sloe gin, Smoked
haddock hash with cornichon creme fraiche, Cauliflower cheese
burgers, Pickled pear, lentil and gorgonzola salad, Cherry-glazed
lamb shanks with pilaff, Pistachio and pomegranate cake, Honeyroasted peach creme Catalana and Black Forest gateau bowls.
My Abuelo's Mexican Feast by Daniella Germain
Daniella Germain traces the life of her Abuelo (grandfather) & his
love affair with food. Recipes & brief anecdotes depict what his
life consisted of, as a child, selling sweets & pastries on the streets
to help support his family & later helping his father in his modest fishing business, to helping his stepmother's bake for the local
bread shop. From street food to traditional ranch food & Mexican
sandwiches to the seafood dishes he would devour as a fisherman
in his late teens, this is an authentic look at the food of Mexico, into
the soul of Mexican cooking & family life. ($35, HB)
Greens 24/7 by Jessica Nadel ($29.99, PB)
Green vegetables are essential in a balanced diet—brimming with
vitamins, antioxidants & minerals that help bodies to naturally detox. They have even been shown to decrease the risk of obesity,
diabetes & other health issues. Jessica Nadel demonstrates the incredible versatility of kale, zucchini, broccoli, spinach, chard, cabbage & lots of other green vegetables with over 100 recipes from
cinnamon zucchini waffles to crispy kale chips and even spinach brownies, with many of
the recipes gluten-free.
Now in paperback
Maggie's Kitchen by Maggie Beer, $40
Science & Nature
After Physics by David Z. Albert ($49.95, HB)
This book presents ambitious new essays about some of the
deepest questions at the foundations of physics, by the physicist and philosopher David Albert. Albert argues that the difference between the past and the future—traditionally regarded
as a matter for metaphysical or conceptual or linguistic or phenomenological analysis—can be understood as a mechanical
phenomenon of nature. In another essay he contends that all versions of quantum
mechanics that are compatible with the special theory of relativity make it impossible, even in principle, to present the entirety of what can be said about the world
as a narrative sequence of 'befores' and 'afters'. Novel discussions of the problem of
deriving principled limits on what can be known, measured, or communicated from
our fundamental physical theories, along with a sweeping critique of the main attempts at making sense of probabilities in many-worlds interpretations of quantum
mechanics, round out the collection.
Mathematics without Apologies: Portrait of a
Problematic Vocation by Michael Harris
What do pure mathematicians do, and why do they do it? Looking beyond the conventional answers—for the sake of truth,
beauty, and practical applications—this book offers an eclectic
panorama of the lives and values & hopes & fears of mathematicians in the 21st century. Drawing on his personal experiences and obsessions as well as the thoughts and opinions of
mathematicians from Archimedes & Omar Khayyam to such
contemporary giants as Alexander Grothendieck & Robert Langlands, Michael Harris takes a candid, entertaining & relentlessly intelligent tour of the mathematical
life, from the philosophy & sociology of mathematics to its reflections in film &
popular music, with detours through the mathematical & mystical traditions of Russia, India, medieval Islam, the Bronx & beyond. ($59.95, HB)
Octopus!: The Most Mysterious Creature in the
Sea by Katherine Harmon Courage ($20, PB)
Veteran Journalist & contributing editor for Scientific American,
Katherine Harmon Courage, dives into the amazing underwater
world of the octopus. She reveals that the oldest known octopus
lived before the first dinosaurs; that two thirds of an octopus's
brain capacity is spread through its arms—meaning each one
literally has a mind of its own; and that it can change colours
within milliseconds to camouflage itself, even though it appears
to be colourblind. Courage deftly interweaves personal narrative & interviews with
leading octopus experts, giving an entertaining & scientifically grounded exploration of the octopus and its astoundingly complex world.
Trees, Woods & Forests: A Social & Cultural
History by Charles Watkins ($67.99, HB)
Throughout human history our relationship with trees, woods
& forests has remained central to the development of our
technology, culture & expansion as a species. In this engaging
book Charles Watkins examines & challenges our historical &
modern attitudes to wooded environments, and our continuing
anxiety about humanity’s impact on these natural realms.
New in the Nature & Culture Series $35 each
Islands by Stephen A. Royle
Tsunami by Richard Hamblyn
Stargazers: Copernicus, Galileo, the Telescope
and the Church by Allan Chapman ($19.99, PB)
The fascinating story of the 200 year campaign to map the
heavens, Stargazers presents a comprehensive history of how
leading astronomers, such as Galileo & Copernicus, mapped
the stars from 1500AD to around 1700AD. Building on the
work of the Greek & Arabian astrologers before him, church
lawyer Nicholas Copernicus proposed the idea of a sun-centred universe. It was
later popularised by Galileo, who presented new evidence, which suggested that
the earth moved. Allan Chapman investigates the Church’s role & its intriguing
relationship with the astronomers of the day, many of whom were churchgoers. He
rebuts the popular view that the Church was opposed to the study of astronomy. In
reality, it led the search to discover more.
Unnatural Selection: How We are Changing
Life, Gene by Gene by Emily Monosson
Emily Monosson explains how humans are driving rapid contemporary evolution through the use of toxic chemicals and
what we can do about it. Gonorrhoea. Bed bugs. Weeds. Salamanders. Polar Bears. People. All are evolving, some surprisingly rapidly, in response to our chemical age. In Unnatural
Selection, Emily Monosson shows how our drugs, pesticides,
and pollution are exerting intense selection pressure on all
manner of species. And we humans might not like the result. ($40, HB)
9
events
s
Eve nt
ar
d
n
e
Cal
SUNDAY
1
Launch—3.30 for 4
Nigel Bartlett
MONDAY
2
3
Launch—3.30 for 4
Madilina Tresca
The White Rose
To be launched by a Mystery Guest
The White Rose is the debut romance
mixed with fantasy fiction novel
from Sydney-based writer Madilina
Tresca.
15
22
9
Event—6 for 6.30
David Day
Keating: The Biography
in conv. with Peter Hartcher
Based on extensive research in libraries and archives, interviews with
Keating's former colleagues and associates, and walking the tracks of
Keating's life, Day has painted the
first complete portrait of Paul Keating, covering both the public and
private man.
WEDNESDAY
4
Event—6 for 6.30
Frank Walker
Gallipoli
Author Talk
As the Gallipoli campaign approaches its centenary, Peter FitzSimons
recreates the disaster as experienced
by those who endured it, or perished
in the attempt.
Maralinga: The Chilling Expose of
our Secret Nuclear Shame & Betrayal
of our Troops & Country
A must-read true story of the abuse
of our servicemen, scientists treating
the Australian population as lab rats
and politicians sacrificing their own
people in the pursuit of power.
10
11 Launch—6 for 6.30
Event—6 for 6.30
Andrew Tink
Australia 1901-2001:
A Narrative History
and Alasdair McGregor
A Forger's Progress:
The Life of Francis Greenway
In conv. with Richard Morecroft
Joanne Fedler
Love in the Time of Contempt: Consolations for Parents of Teenagers
To be launched by Danielle Teusch
Joanne Fedler draws upon her own
current experiences as the parent of
two teenagers, as well as interviews
with other parents of teenagers to
explore some of the numerous issues
that one confronts as the
parent of a teenager.
16
17
23
24 Event—6 for 6.30
25
Useful
in conv. with Morgan Smith
Sullivan Moss is useless—he can't
even commit suicide properly. Waking up in hospital after falling the
wrong way on a rooftop, he decides
to donate a kidney to a stranger. But
Altruism is not as easy as it seems.
Internal Medicine: A Doctor's Stories
in conv. with Natasha Mitchell
Personal, poignant, and meticulously precise, these stories evoke Chekhov, Maugham, and William Carlos
Williams. Internal Medicine is an account of what it means to be a doctor,
to be mortal, and to be human.
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10
Event—6 for 6.30
Peter FitzSimons
King of the Road
To be launched by PM Newton
When David Kingsgrove's 11-yearold nephew, Andrew, goes missing
and he finds the finger pointed at
him, he has no choice but to strike
out on his own to find the truth about
Andrew's disappearance.
8
TUESDAY
All events listed are $12/$9 concession. Book Launches are free.
Gleeclub members free entry to events at 49 Glebe Pt Rd
February
Events are held upstairs at #49 Glebe Point Road unless otherwise noted.
Bookings—Phone: (02) 9660 2333, Email: events@gleebooks.com.au, Online: www.gleebooks.com.au/events
2015
18
Deborah Oswald
Event—6 for 6.30
Terrence Holt
THURSDAY
5
Free Event—6 for 6.30
The Velvet Love Tour
Australian Love Stories
Publishers Inkerman and Blunt and
Gleebooks invite you to an evening
of velvety love readings hosted by
Geordie Williamson with Australian
love writers Catherine Cole,
Irma Gold & Jacqueline Stack.
12 Event—6 for 6.30
Andrew Ford
Earth Dances: Music & the Primitive
in conv. with Kim Williams
Alternating between chapters of criticism & interviews (including with
Brian Eno), author & broadcaster
Andrew Ford explores the relationship between primal forms of music
& the most refined examples
of the art.
FRIDAY
6
Launch—6 for 6.30
Anwen Crawford
Hole's Live Through This
In conv. with Vanessa Berry
An album about girlhood and motherhood; desire and disgust; self-destruction and survival, there have
been few rock albums before or since
Hole's 1994 Live Through This so intimately concerned with the female
experience.
13 Launch—6 for 6.30
SATURDAY
7
Launch—3 for 3.30
Erin Gough
The Flywheel
To be launched by Hilary Rogers
Ever since her father took off, 17
year-old Delilah has been struggling
to run the family's café without him
& survive high school. But after a
misjudged crush on one of the cool
girls, she's become the school punchline. Is it ever truly possible to dance
in public without falling over?
14
Visakesa Chandrasekaram
The King & the Assassin
Launcher: Garry Wotherspoon
The President of Sri Lanka rules the
island like a king. ‘Where there is
a king there is an assassin.’ A great
shambling futuristic novel that takes
you through the intrigues of Sri Lankan politics over the next 40 years.
19
20
21
26
27
28
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11
Australian Studies
Paul Keating by David Day ($50, HB)
Once a charming underachiever,
Sullivan Moss is now such a loser
that he can’t even commit suicide
properly. Waking up in hospital after
falling the wrong way on a rooftop,
he comes to a decision. After a life
of regrets, Sully wants to do one
useful thing: he wants to donate a
kidney to a stranger.
From the creator of Offspring comes
a smart, moving and wry portrait
of one man’s desire to give
something of himself.
In Em and the Big Hoom, the son
begins to unravel the story of his
parents: the mother he loves and
hates in the same moment and the
unusual man who courted,
married and protected her
- as much from herself as
from the world.
Paul Keating was one of the most significant political figures in Australian politics of the late 20th century, firstly as Treasurer for 8 years
and then Prime Minister for five years. Although he has spent all of his
adult life in the public eye, Keating has eschewed the idea of publishing
his memoirs & has discouraged biographers from writing about his life,
so biographer of Curtin & Chifley, David Day, has taken on the task of
giving Keating the biography that he deserves. Based on extensive research in libraries and
archives, interviews with Keating's former colleagues and associates, and walking the tracks
of Keating's life, Day has painted the first complete portrait of Paul Keating, covering both
the public and private man.
Griffith REVIEW 47: Looking West
(ed) Julianne Schultz ($28, PB)
Since the 1980s Perth has become a byword for new wealth and in
the first years of the 21st Century became a boom-town the likes of
which Australia hasn't seen since the 1850s. There is evidence this is
starting to slow, but what will be left when the boom deflates? WA is
also Australia's (and perhaps the world's) largest state, most of which
is a vast desert butting hard against a broiling ocean. The view, looking back east, is sceptical, looking west uncertain, with a lot of space
between both. This edition of Griffith REVIEW will see submissions from Tim Winton to
Carmen Lawrence reflecting on the unique place and perspective that is Western Australia.
The Rise and Fall of Gunns Ltd
by Quentin Beresford ($33, PB)
At its peak, Gunns Ltd had a market value of $1 billion, was listed on
the ASX 200, was the largest employer in the state of Tasmania and its
largest private landowner. Its collapse in 2012 was a major national
news story, as was the arrest of its CEO for insider trading. Quentin
Beresford illuminates for the first time the dark corners of the Gunns
empire. He shows it was built on close relationships with state & federal governments, political donations & use of the law to intimidate &
silence its critics. Gunns may have been single-minded in its pursuit of
a pulp mill in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley, but it was embedded in an anti-democratic & corrupt
system of power supported by both main parties, business & unions.
‘I cannot remember when I last read
something as touching as this.’
-Amitav Ghosh
The Purpose of Futility: Writing World War I, Australian Style by Clare Rhoden ($40, PB)
A provocative, urgent novel about
time, family and how a changing
planet might change our lives, from
James Bradley, acclaimed author
of The Resurrectionist.
With great skill Bradley shifts us
subtly forward through the decades,
through disasters and plagues,
miraculous small moments and acts
of great courage. Elegant, evocative,
understated and thought-provoking,
it is the work of a writer in command
of the major themes of our time.
Tove Jansson’s books have
been translated into over forty
languages, adored in her native
Finland and all over the world.
And while millions have delighted
in the adventures of Little My,
Snufkin, Moomintroll and the other
creatures of Moominvalley, the life
of Jansson - daughter, friend and
companion - is more touching still.
The Great War wrecked Europe. Millions lost their lives, whole towns
disappeared into the mud, and the golden age of civilisation collapsed.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the world, a new nation was born. Australia leapt from the debris, led by Anzacs silhouetted against the rising
sun. One of the most astonishing outcomes of this war is the proliferation of art and creativity, both inspired by and addressing the War.
Viewed as the most literary war ever fought, World War I was the first
to involve literate populations on a grand scale. Clare Rhoden surveys Australian Great War
narratives, demonstrating their particularly Australian features which help to explain the
unique & disputed position of the Great War in Australian history.
Everything you Need to Know About the Referendum to Recognise Indigenous Australians
by Megan Davis & George Williams ($20, PB)
This book explains everything that Australians need to know about the
proposal to recognise Aboriginal peoples in the Constitution. It details
how our Constitution was drafted, and shows how Aboriginal peoples
came to be excluded from the new political settlement. It explains what
the 1967 referendum—in which over 90% of Australians voted to delete discriminatory references to Aboriginal people from the Constitution—achieved & why discriminatory racial references remain. Showing how the symbolic
& legal power of such a change & how we might get there, this is essential reading on what
should be a watershed occasion for Australia.
Blood Revenge: Murder on the Hawkesbury 1799
by Lyn Stewart ($34.95, PB)
Lyn Stewart examines the first time that white men were held to account in a criminal court of NSW for killing Australian Aborigines,
and answers the disturbing question: Why were five men found guilty
of killing two Aborigines—yet they were never punished? The trial
happened in 1799, just 11 years after the NSW colony began, when
Governor John Hunter tried to carry out his orders and stop the wanton
killing of Aborigines. Inevitably, there was a divide between policy and
practice, and the politics of this murder case reads like a missing chapter of Doc Evatt’s Rum Rebellion.
Fighting Hard: The Victorian Aborigines Advancement League by Richard Broome ($39.95, PB)
penguin.com.au
12
The Aborigines Advancement League is the oldest Aboriginal organisation in Australia. It influenced the fight for civil rights & took a stand
against the government’s assimilation policy. Its activism with government & the UN predates the better known Tent Embassy & provided
a Victorian, national & international perspective on Aboriginal affairs.
Over the years the League has proven that despite the pervasive mythology, Aboriginal people can successfully govern their own organisations, by its example of
good governance while maintaining Aboriginal cultural values.
Politics
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
by Bryan Stevenson ($33, PB)
The US’ prison population has increased from 300,000 in the early
70s to more than two million. One in every 15 people is expected to
go to prison. For black men, the most incarcerated group in America,
this figure rises to one out of every three. Bryan Stevenson grew up a
member of a poor black community in the racially segregated South.
He was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice
dedicated to defending the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women & children trapped
in the farthest reaches of the US’ criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of
Walter McMillian, a young black man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder
he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political
machination, startling racial inequality, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his
understanding of mercy and justice forever.
Ukraine Crisis What it Means for the West
by Andrew Wilson ($31.95, PB)
The Ukraine issue has rapidly escalated into a major geopolitical crisis, the most severe test of the relationship between Russia and the
West since the Cold War. Andrew Wilson's account situates the crisis within Russia's covert ambition since 2004 to expand its influence
within the former Soviet periphery, and over countries that have since
joined the EU and NATO, such as the Baltic States. He shows how
Russia has spent billions developing its soft power within central Europe, aided by US diplomatic inattention in the area, and how Putin's conservative values
project is widely misunderstood in he West. The book examines Yanukovych's corrupt
'coup d'état' of 2010 and provides an intimate day-by-day account of the protests in Kiev
from November 2013 to February 2014 (at which Wilson was present). He explores the
military coup in Crimea, the role of Russia & long-term tensions with the Muslim Crimean
Tatars, and covers the election of 25 May 2014 & the prospects for new president Petro
Poroshenko. He analyses other states under pressure from Russia—Georgia, Moldova,
Belarus, stating: 'Russia will clearly not stop at Ukraine'.
Greed: From David Hume to Gordon Gekko by Stewart Sutherland
In the film Wall Street, Gordon Gekko proclaims, 'Greed is good'. The philosopher David
Hume, on the contrary, describes greed as the most destructive of the vices. The banking
debacle & the continuing row about bonuses has placed the controversial issue of greed at
the very heart of how we view our society. Is Gekko's maxim merely in need of some moderation? After all, incentives are essential to achieve results. Or is it Hume who, uncharacteristically in this instance, lacks moderation? His claim be greed is 'directly destructive
of society'. Can this be true? This example of Hume's reasoning illustrates very clearly his
attachment to the idea of 'a science of man' rather than religion or sentiment as a basis for
moral, social & political practice. Sutherland examines this science & questions its practical applications for the modern age. ($19.95, PB)
Red Notice: How I Became Putin's No. 1 Enemy
by Bill Browder ($35, PB)
November 2009. An emaciated young lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, is led
to a freezing isolation cell in a Moscow prison, handcuffed to a bed
rail, and beaten to death by eight police officers. His crime? To testify
against the Russian Interior Ministry officials who were involved in
a conspiracy to steal $230 million of taxes paid to the state by one
of the world's most successful hedge funds. Magnitsky's brutal killing
has remained uninvestigated and unpunished to this day. His farcical
posthumous show-trial brought Putin's regime to a new low in the eyes of the international
community. Red Notice is a searing exposé of the wholesale whitewash by Russian authorities of Magnitsky's imprisonment and murder, slicing deep into the shadowy heart of
the Kremlin to uncover its sordid truths.
Blueprint for Revolution: How to use rice pudding,
lego men, and other non-violent techniques to galvanise communities, overthrow dictators, or simply
change the world by Srdja Popovic ($28, PB)
Srdja Popovic was one of the unexpected leaders of the student movement Otpor! that overthrew dictator Slobodan Milošević & established
democracy in Serbia—all by avoiding violence & opting for something
far more powerful: a sense of humour. In this inspiring guide for wouldbe activists, he tells his story & those of other 'ordinary revolutionaries'
who have created real social change using non-violent techniques.
The CIA World Factbook 2015 ($22, PB)
From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, The CIA World Factbook 2015 offers complete and up-to-date information on the world’s nations. This
comprehensive guide is packed with detailed information on the politics, populations, military expenditures, and economics of 2015.
Palestine Speaks: Narratives of Life Under Occupation (eds) Cate Malek & Mateo Hoke ($20, PB)
In their own words, men and women from West Bank and Gaza describe how their lives have been shaped by the conflict & oft-ignored
daily human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories. Ebtihaj, whose son
was killed by Israeli soldiers; Nader, a professional marathon runner from Gaza determined to compete internationally races despite severe travel restrictions; Ibtisam, the director of a children's centre in the West Bank whose work is significantly constrained by
mobility obstacles in the region. Kifah, who was jailed for years with no charges.
History
Europe Under Napoleon by Michael Broers
Napoleon Bonaparte dominated the public life of Europe like no
other individual before him. This book looks at the history of the
Napoleonic Empire from an entirely new perspective—that of the
ruled rather than the ruler. Michael Broers concentrates on the
experience of the people of Europe—particularly the vast majority
of Napoleon's subjects who were neither French nor willing participants in the great events of the period—during the dynamic but
short-lived career of Napoleon, when half of the European continent fell under his rule. ($35.95, PB)
Farzana: The Woman Who Saved an Empire
by Julia Keay ($55.95, HB)
Amongst the riches of 19th century India, as the British fought
their way across Mughal territory, an orphaned street-girl is
brought to court to perform for the Emperor. That girl was Farzana, and she would become a courtesan, a leader of armies, a
treasured defender of the last Mughal emperor and the head of
one of the most legendary courts in history. Julia Keay weaves a
story which spans the Indian continent and the end of a golden era
in Indian history, the story of a nobody who became a teenage seductress and died
one of the richest and most prominent woman of her age. Farzana rode into battle
atop a stallion, though only 4 1/2 feet tall, and led an army which defended a sickly
Mughal empire. She dabbled in witchcraft while gaining favour with the Pope, and
died a favourite of the British Raj.
Roads Taken: The Great Jewish Migrations to
the New World and the Peddlers Who Forged
the Way by Hasia Diner ($51.95, HB)
Between the late 1700s & the 1920s, nearly one-third of the
world's Jews emigrated to new lands. Crossing borders & often
oceans, they followed paths paved by intrepid peddlers who preceded them. This book tells the remarkable story of the Jewish
men who put packs on their backs & travelled forth, house to
house, farm to farm, mining camp to mining camp, to sell their
goods to peoples across the world. Hasia Diner tells the story of
millions of discontented young Jewish men who sought opportunity abroad, leaving parents, wives & sweethearts behind. In the Irish Midlands, the Adirondacks of
NY, the mining camps of NSW & many other places, these travelling men brought
change to themselves & the families who followed, to the women whose homes &
communities they entered, and ultimately to the geography of Jewish history.
Gallipoli, the Turkish Defence: The Story from
the Turkish documents by Harvey Broadbent
Author & Turkish language expert Harvey Broadbent spent
five years in the Official Archives in Ankara to unearth the
Turkish story of the Gallipoli campaign. There, he had access
to a huge collection of previously unresearched documents,
ranging from official government records to the personal diaries and correspondence of soldiers. The result is the fullest
possible account of the Turkish defence at Gallipoli and a
comprehensive history that will provide the most detailed battlefield history of the campaign yet produced. ($90, HB)
Stuff and Money in the Time of the French Revolution by Rebecca Spang ($69, HB)
Rebecca Spang uses one of the most infamous examples of monetary innovation, the assignats—a currency initially defined by
French revolutionaries as 'circulating land'—to write a new history of the French Revolution, one in which radicalisation was
driven by an ever-widening gap between political ideals & the
realities of daily life. Money played a critical role in creating this
gulf. Wed to the idea that liberty required economic deregulation
as well as political freedom, revolutionary legislators extended
the notion of free trade to include 'freedom of money'. The consequences were disastrous. Backed neither by the weight of tradition nor by the state that issued them,
the assignats could not be a functioning currency. Ever reluctant to interfere in the
workings of the market, lawmakers thought changes to the material form of the assignats should suffice to enhance their credibility. Their hopes were disappointed,
and the Revolution spiralled out of control.
Dying Every Day Seneca at the Court of Nero
by James Romm (33, PB)
This is a high-stakes drama full of murder, madness, tyranny,
perversion, with the sweep of history on the grand scale. At the
center, the tumultuous life of Seneca, ancient Rome's preeminent
writer and philosopher, beginning with banishment in his fifties
and subsequent appointment as tutor to twelve-year-old Nero, future emperor of Rome. James Romm seamlessly weaves together
the life and written words, the moral struggles, political intrigue,
and bloody vengeance that enmeshed Seneca the Younger in the
twisted imperial family and the perverse, paranoid regime of Emperor Nero, despot
and madman.
13
Holiday Reading
It's been a funny old summer for reading this year—I've been unpacking many cartons of my books and reshelving them in my new house,
which is a sobering reminder not to buy any new books, and to finish
reading the old ones. Listening to This American Life has also been
most diverting, especially The Serial, the completely riveting twelve
part story of a murder that took place 14 years ago, probably the best
audio I've ever heard.
The tower by my bed is growing already: the latest Jane Smiley, Some
Luck, which is the first in an 'epic trilogy' is the extremely dense, detailed story of a young family on a remote farm in rural Iowa. I'm still
reading it, but loving the immediacy with which Jane Smiley writes,
and the fine, subtle observations of all the characters. This volume is set
in 1920 to 1953, with the second book, Early Warning (due out in the
US in April) taking up the story from 1953.
Also set in Iowa is Lila, by Marilynne Robinson, being the third book
after Gilead, and Home (two of my favourite books ever), but I feel I
must reread them before starting this most recent book, as it is set in the
same time and place as the first two, with the same characters, this time
the narrative focuses on Lila, the minister's wife.
From the sublime to the slightly silly, one book I did finish reading was
the first book in the Austen Project (each of Jane Austen's novels are to
be reimagined and rewritten in a contemporary setting by a contemporary author). Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope, released back in
2013, was the first. It is a faithful retelling of the original, with some
slightly startling modern aspects. The Dashwood girls are familiar,
with the sensible Elinor and the beautiful, sensitive Marianne, sullen
schoolgirl Margaret and their rather vague and irritating mother Isabelle. When they are pushed out of their lovely, rambling home by the
girls' spineless half brother Henry, at the behest of his spoilt wife Fanny,
they must fall on the mercies of a distant cousin, who installs them all
into a neat, modern little house on his property. All the characters in the
original book have parallels in the new one, and some are extremely
well drawn—Willoughby (Wills) and Fanny Dashwood are particularly vivid. The excesses of modern day are all here—youtube, Twitter,
iPods, drugs, fast cars, as well as some grating slang ('totes amazeballs'
most memorably). Luckily most single women today aren't reliant on
the charity of their male relations as they were in Jane Austen's day, but
the yearning for love and marriage still seems to prevail.
One surprising aspect was the insight I gained from reading Joanna
Trollope's retake—somehow it gave clarity to the original, where the
motivations of some of the characters can be a bit hard to fathom. It
would also be good to read it in the context of all the books in the Austen Project: Val McDermid's Northanger Abbey, the latest—Emma by
Alexander McCall Smith and yet to come (possibly late this year, early
2016) Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld. The rewriters of last
two, Mansfield Park and Persuasion are yet to be revealed.
Louise Pfanner
Cultural Studies & Criticism
Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the
War on Drugs by Johann Hari ($29.99, PB)
January 2015 marks 100 years since drugs were first banned. Johann
Hari set off on a three-year long, 20,000-mile journey to find out why
they were criminalised, how this is causing a disaster today and what
happens when you choose a radically different path. His discoveries are told entirely through the startling and moving stories of real
people—from a transsexual crack dealer in Brooklyn, to a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who discovered the real causes of addiction.
Exercises in Criticism: The Theory and Practice of
Literary Constraint by Louis Bury ($57.95, PB)
This is an experiment in applied poetics in which critic & poet Louis
Bury utilises constraint-based methods in order to write about constraint-based literature. By tracing the lineage & enduring influence
of early Oulipian classics, he argues that contemporary American
writers have, in their adoption of constraint-based methods, transformed such methods from apolitical literary laboratory exercises
into a form of cultural critique, whose usage is surprisingly widespread, particularly among poets & 'experimental' novelists. More,
Bury's own use of critical constraints functions as a commentary on
how & why we write & talk about books, culture & ideas.
Hole's Live Through This by Anwen Crawford
Hole's second album, Live Through This, awoke a feminist consciousness in a generation of teenage girls. It is an album about
girlhood and motherhood; desire and disgust; self-destruction and
survival. There have been few rock albums before or since so intimately concerned with female experience. The album is a key document of third-wave feminism, but the conditions that produced its
particular aesthetic have disappeared. So where did the energy of
that feminism go? And why is Courtney Love's achievement as a songwriter and musician
still not taken seriously, nearly twenty years on? ($20, PB)
The Utopia Experiment by Dylan Evans
In 2007 Dr Dylan Evans, a respected behavioural psychologist, and
an expert on robots and artificial intelligence, was sectioned at a hospital in Aberdeen. This book is Evans's account of how he abandoned
his life in 2006, sold up everything & moved to the Black Isle in
Scotland to found a self-sufficient community in a remote valley,
with a group of acolytes he had recruited on-line. The project was
called the Utopia Experiment, and the idea was to attempt to imagine, through real-life role-playing, the conditions that might exist in
the aftermath of society's collapse. As the months went by, what began as an experiment
became deadly earnest. Factions formed with different views about the future of the human race, and competition & fighting broke out. The yurts leaked, the vegetables they
farmed wouldn't grow. Dylan began to fear for his sanity, and then his life. This is not
just the story of Evans's experiment in Utopia, but also an examination of the millenarian
impulse—why do these doomsday scenarios fascinate us, and is there any sensible way we
can prepare for the worst? ($30, PB)
The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity, and
the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy by David Graeber
Where does the desire for endless rules, regulations, and bureaucracy
come from? How did we come to spend so much of our time filling
out forms? To answer these questions, anthropologist David Graeber
starts in the ancient world, looking at how early civilisations were
organised and what traces early bureaucratic systems have left in
the ethnographic literature. He then jets forward to the 19th century,
where systems we can easily recognise as modern bureaucracies
come into being. In some areas of life—like with the modern postal systems of Germany
and France—these bureaucracies have brought tremendous efficiencies to modern life.
But Graeber argues that there is a much darker side to modern bureaucracy that is rarely
ever discussed. Indeed, in our own 'utopia of rules', freedom and technological innovation
are often the casualties of systems that we only faintly understand. ($33, PB)
The Internet is Not the Answer by Andrew Keen
Keen has written a sharp, witty polemic proving that, so far, the
web has been mostly a disaster for everyone except a tiny group
of young privileged white male Silicon Valley multi-millionaires. Rather than making us wealthier, the unregulated digital
market is making us all poorer. Rather than generating jobs, it
is causing unemployment. Rather than holding our rulers to account, it is creating a brightly lit, radically transparent prison in
which everything we do is recorded. Rather than promoting democracy, it is empowering mob rule. And rather than fostering
a new renaissance, it is encouraging a culture of distraction, vulgarity and narcissism.
says we need to rethink the web, revive government authority, rebuild the value of
content, resurrect privacy and, above all, reconceive humanity. The stakes couldn't be
higher, he warns. If we do nothing at all, this new technology and the companies that
control it will continue to impoverish us all. ($30, PB)
14
Fury: Women Write About Sex, Power and Violence
(ed) Samantha Trenoweth ($27.95, PB)
One woman dies every week due to domestic violence in Australia.
Violence against women is the leading contributor to death, disability and illness in women aged 15 to 44. Anne Summers writes about
the early days of the women's refuge movement. Van Badham puts
the ball back in men's court and asks what they can do. Mandy Sayer
gives a moving account of her childhood, spent fleeing from a violent stepfather. Natasha Stott Despoja writes about family violence
from a political perspective. Meena Kandasamy discusses violence
against women in India. Clem Bastow urges us to stop tweeting & do something about
misogyny. Other contributors include Susan Chenery, Louise Taylor, Margo Kingston,
Fahma Mohamed, Max Sharam, Wendy Bacon, Susan Ardill & Helen Razer.
Now in B Format
Straight Sex: Rethinking the Politics of Pleasure
by Lynne Segal, $22
Why I Read by Wendy Lesser, $20
Philosophy & Religion
There Are Two Sexes: Essays in Feminology
by Antoinette Fouque ($59.95, HB)
Antoinette Fouque cofounded the Mouvement de Libération des
Femmes (MLF) in France in 1968 & spearheaded its celebrated 'Psychanalyse et Politique', a research group that informed the cultural
& intellectual heart of French feminism. Rather than reject Freud's
discoveries on the pretext of their phallocentrism, Fouque sought to
enrich his thought by more clearly defining the difference between
the sexes & affirming the existence of a female libido. By recognising women's contribution to humanity, Fouque hoped 'uterus envy,'
which she saw as the mainspring of misogyny, could finally give way to gratitude, and
by associating procreation with women's liberation, she advanced the goal of a paritybased society in which men & women could write a new human contract. The essays,
lectures, & dialogues in this volume finally allow English-speaking readers access to the
breadth of Fouque's creativity and activism.
Philosophy's Artful Conversation by D N Rodowick
A major contribution to cross-disciplinary intellectual history, Philosophy as Artful Conversation reveals the many threads connecting
the arts and humanities with the history of philosophy. In a timely
& searching examination of theory as role in the arts & humanities
today, Rodowick expands on the insights of his earlier book, Elegy
for Theory, and draws on the diverse thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein, G. H. von Wright, P. M. S. Hacker, Richard Rorty & Charles
Taylor, Rodowick provides a blueprint of what he calls a philosophy
of the humanities. He views the historical emergence of theory through the lens of film
theory, arguing that aesthetics, literary studies & cinema studies cannot be separated where
questions of theory are concerned, offering readings of Gilles Deleuze & Stanley Cavell,
bringing forward unexamined points of contact between two thinkers who associate philosophical expression with film and the arts. ($67, HB)
The Face of God: The Gifford Lectures
by Roger Scruton ($30, PB)
In the human face we find a paradigm of meaning. And from this
experience, Scruton argues, we both construct the face of the world,
and address the face of God. We find in the face both the proof of our
freedom and the mark of self-consciousness. One of the motivations
of the atheist culture is to escape from the eye of judgement. You
escape from the eye of judgement by blotting out the face: and this,
Scruton argues, is the most disturbing aspect of the times in which
we live. In his wide-ranging argument Scruton explains the growing sense of destruction
that we feel, as the habits of pleasure seeking and consumerism deface the world. His book
defends a consecrated world against the habit of desecration, and offers a vision of the
religious way of life in a time of trial.
Foucault and Politics: A Critical Introduction
by Mark G. E. Kelly ($60, PB)
Mark Kelly details and criticises all of Foucault’s major political
ideas: the historical relativity of knowledge; exclusion and abnormality; his radical reconception of power; his historical analysis of
biopolitics in terms of discipline and biopower; his concept of governmentality; and his late work around ethics and subjectivity. Kelly
shows how Foucault’s positions changed over time, how his thought
has been used in the political sphere and examines the importance
of his work for politics today.
The Meillassoux Dictionary
(eds) Peter Gratton & Paul John Ennis ($60, PB)
Quentin Meillassoux—described as the fastest-rising French philosopher since Derrida—is one of the most exciting philosophers
writing today. A–Z entries in this dictionary explain the influence of
key figures, from Derrida to Heidegger to Kant, and define the complex terms that Meillassoux uses. The entries are written by the top
scholars in the field of speculative realism, often highlighting their
own disagreements with him. The book defines Meillassoux's 75
most important concepts & themes, plus the figures he cites, fully cross-referenced. It sets
out key criticisms of Meillassoux's work by prominent authors in the field, such as Adrian
Johnston & Christopher Norris, provides clear definitions for readers new to Meillassoux's
work, and offers avenues for further specialist research.
From Empiricism to Expressivism: Brandom Reads
Sellars by Robert B. Brandom ($59.95, HB)
The American philosopher Wilfrid Sellars ranks as one of the leading 20th century critics of empiricism, a philosophical approach to
knowledge that seeks to ground it in human sense experience. Unifying and extending Sellars' most important ideas, Robert Brandom
constructs a theory of pragmatic expressivism which, in contrast to
empiricism, understands meaning and knowledge in terms of the
role expressions play in social practices. Brandom reconciles otherwise disparate elements of Sellars' system, revealing a greater level of coherence and
consistency in the philosopher's arguments against empiricism than has usually been acknowledged—clarifying what Sellars had in mind when he talked about moving analytic
philosophy from its Humean to its Kantian phase, and why such a move might be of
crucial importance today.
Psychology
Reaching Down the Rabbit Hole
by Allan Ropper with B. D. Burrell ($30, PB)
In this gripping book, Dr Allan Ropper takes the reader behind
the scenes at Harvard Medical School's neurology unit to show
how a seasoned diagnostician faces down bizarre, life-altering
afflictions. A figure skater whose body has become a ticking
time-bomb; A salesman who drives around and around a roundabout, unable to get
off; A college quarterback who can't stop calling the same play; A mother of two
young girls, diagnosed with ALS, who has to decide whether a life locked inside
her own head is worth living; How does one begin to treat such cases, to counsel
people whose lives may be changed forever? How does one train the next generation
of clinicians to deal with the moral and medical aspects of brain disease? Ropper
answers these questions by taking the reader into a rarefied world where lives and
minds hang in the balance.
The Brain's Way of Healing: Remarkable Recoveries & Discoveries From the Frontiers of
Neuroplasticity by Norman Doidge ($35, PB)
In his first book, Norman Doidge described the discovery that
the brain can change its own structure and function in response
to mental experience—what we call neuroplasticity. In this new
book he shows how this amazing discovery really works, significantly broadening the field from traumatic brain injury to all
manner of diseases & conditions in which brain functioning is
a factor—including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and dementia—and describes how patients have retrained their
brains & learned to walk, speak, or hear, while others have reset the brain's energy
patterns & circuits to overcome or reduce chronic pain, alleviate anxiety, trauma,
learning disorders & many other impairing syndromes.
Me, Myself, and Us: The Science of Personality
and the Art of Well-Being by Brian R. Little
In the past few decades, personality psychology has made
considerable progress in raising new questions about human
nature—providing some provocative answers. New scientific
research has transformed old ideas about personality based on
the theories of Freud, Jung & the humanistic psychologies of
the 60s, which gave rise to the simplistic categorisations of the
Meyer-Briggs Inventory and the 'enneagream'. In Me, Myself,
and Us, Brian Little, one of the psychologists who helped reshape the field, provides the first in-depth exploration of the new personality science
and its provocative findings for general readers. The book explores questions that
are rooted in the origins of human consciousness but are as commonplace as yesterday’s breakfast conversation. ($35, PB)
Behind the Gates of Gomorrah: Life Inside One
of America's Largest Hospitals for the Criminally Insane by Stephen Seager ($30, PB)
Gorman State is one of the US's largest forensic mental hospitals, dedicated to treating the criminally insane. Unit C, where
psychiatrist, Stephen Seager, was assigned, was reserved for
the 'bad actors', the mass murderers, serial killers, and the reallife Hannibal Lecters of the world. Against campus-like setting
where peacocks strolled the well-kept lawns is a place of remarkable violence, a place where a small staff of clinicians are
expected to manage a volatile population of prison-hardened ex-cons. Reflective &
at times darkly funny, Seager's gripping account of his experiences at Gorman State
hospital offer an extraordinary insight into a unique & terrifying world, inhabited by
figures from our nightmares.
Working with Involuntary Clients: A Guide to
Practice 3rd Ed by Chris Trotter ($45, PB)
Social workers face particular challenges when working with
involuntary clients who may be resistant or even openly antagonistic to the offer of assistance. Chris Trotter's pro-social model
shows how it is possible to work in partnership with involuntary
clients and reconcile the two sometimes conflicting aspects of
the role: the legalistic and the helping. Illustrated throughout
with case examples, this book has established itself as an essential guide for social work & welfare students & as an invaluable
reference for professionals. The third edition has been fully revised & updated &
includes new material on cognitive behavioural strategies & risk assessments.
Mindful Way through Stress
by Shamash Alidina ($31.95, PB)
Whatever the source of stress—work pressures, dealing with
difficult people, financial strains, or family demands—mindfulness offers new tools for remaining calm in challenging situations & attaining a new level of physical & emotional well being. In as little as 10 minutes a day over 8 weeks, the reader
is taken step by step through a carefully structured sequence of
guided meditations and easy yoga exercises.
15
A Biographical
Summer
It has been a Summer of reading Biography for me, and here are three books that
explore the lives of an eclectic trio.
Joan of Arc: A History by Helen Castor ($40, HC)
'In the firmament of history, Joan of Arc is a massive star. Her
light shines brighter than that of any other figure of her time
and place'. Her life is endlessly startling. Consider. In the 15th
Century, a young French peasant girl from an obscure village
hears divine voices proclaiming French salvation from an invading English army. In 1429, dressed as a man, she arrives
at the court of the disinherited French king, Charles VII, and
convinces him she is doing God's will.
Donning battle armour she leads an army and raises the
English siege of Orleans, captures Reims and presides over
the coronation of the French monarch. Later she is captured by English allies, condemned as a heretic and in 1432, aged 19, is burnt at the stake at Rouen. Five centuries later she is made a saint by the Catholic church.
Helen Castor seeks to rediscover the young woman who lived rather than the saint
who died. She tells Joan's story 'forwards, not backwards' from the 1420s onwards.
To better explain the shock of Joan's arrival and the responses she received, Castor
sets Joan firmly in the political and social unrest happening within the France of that
time. This book is also an account of a stricken nation. Not only were France and
England at war, a bitter civil war had also been raging in France itself for more than
twenty years before Joan appears on the scene.
Her narrative is drawn on strictly contemporary records of Joan's life and events. Of
these there is a profusion—chronicles, letters, journals. The main sources are two
remarkable documents: the record of her interrogation during her heresy trial of 1431
and the testimony given by those who knew her in the nullification trial held by the
French monarch twenty five years later to rehabilitate Joan's name.
There is also little point, as numerous other biographers have done, in applying modern diagnoses as to what psychological disorder may have 'afflicted' Joan of Arc.
The author's subtle and insightful examination of the 'thought world' of 15th Century
inhabitants and our need to understand both the nature of faith and the mindset of
the world Joan and her contemporaries inhabited provides the key to understanding a
truly fascinating historical figure.
Rebel Yell: The Violence, Passion and Redemption of
Stonewall Jackson
by S. C. Gwynne ($60, HC)
Confederate General Thomas Jonathan 'Stonewall' Jackson
(1824–1863) is the American Civil War's most interesting
figure, apart, of course, from Abraham Lincoln. He was a true
eccentric. A man who sucked on lemons, who held his left
arm up while riding 'to balance the blood', an obsessive hypochondriac. A devout Calvinist, whose intense religious devotion attracted comment even in an age of public piety. One
who sincerely believed in peace between Christ's subjects,
yet who announced it his divine duty to 'kill Yankees' and who regularly raised his
hands in prayer amidst the heat of battle.
An obscure, woefully inept college teacher (nicked 'Tom Fool' by his students) who
became, for a short twenty four months, the most gifted military tactician on either
side of the war. He was a severe disciplinarian who was adored by his troops. A
grumpy, taciturn, socially ill-at-ease individual, who was also a deeply emotional,
adoring husband and father. A remote and stoic public manner disguised his numerous acts of private kindness and charity to strangers. Although seemingly indestructible, he was accidentally shot by his own men while returning from a night reconnaissance during the Battle of Chancellorsville on 2 May 1863 and died a week later.
Jackson is already well served by a dozen earlier, more comprehensive biographies—many exhaustively so: British military commander G. F. R. Henderson published the first substantial complete life: Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil
War in 1898. Frank Vandiver's elegantly written classic, Mighty Stonewall (1957)
also remains useful and James Robertson's astonishingly detailed 976 page account
of Jackson's life and times—Stonewall Jackson (1997) is perhaps the most complete
account we shall ever have.
Gwynne's work is a shorter, more nuanced portrait and has its own unique strengths.
No previous biographer that I have read has delved as sensitively into aspects of
Jackson's personal life. His death-haunted youth for instance. Jackson's sister, father
and mother all died before he was six. Later, his first wife died giving birth to a
stillborn child. Any explanation of the formation of Jackson's character, his quirky
eccentricity and genuine military genius demand in the words of another biographer,
'restraint and a facile pen'. Throughout this fine book the author provides both.
16
Napoleon the Great by Andrew Roberts ($60, HC)
In his book, Whitlam PM, published in 1973, Gough Whitlam's
first biographer, Laurie Oakes, recorded an amusing anecdote
provided by Gough's sister, Freda. She remarked that her brother was a great admirer of the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte. Not, she hastened to add to the surprised biographer, his
military achievements, rather it was his great legal, social and
administrative reforms which completely remade and modernised France that appealed to Gough. If that was so, he would
have enjoyed reading this account of Napoleon's life and times
since author Roberts gives equal space to both aspects of his subject's life.
'A great, bad man'—The English historian Clarendon's judgement on Oliver Cromwell was also used by later writers to describe Napoleon. As a teenager, I recall
reading a C. S. Forrester Hornblower novel of English naval heroics during the Napoleonic Wars, and agreeing thoroughly with an Admiral gazing at a French coin
bearing Napoleon's likeness with the words 'Republic of France' who remarks: 'The
Republic is a mere hypocrisy of course, there never was a worse tyranny since the
days of Nero!'
It is biographer Andrew Roberts' enjoyable task to rehabilitate the Emperor's reputation. To free it from other recent major works that have emphasised the violence and
love of power that drove Napoleon, and declare him a predecessor to numerous twentieth century tyrants! Roberts wishes the reader to admire, or respect, his subject. He
succeeds so well in this because the work is based on his exhaustive travels to both
archives and military sites throughout Europe. Wonderful use is also made of the gigantic, newly translated French edition of Napoleon's letters—some 33,000—which
allow for an unparalleled view and complete re-evaluation of the man.
Here is an instance: 'I am always working, and I meditate a great deal', Napoleon
wrote to politician, historian and economist, Pierre-Louis Roederer in 1809. 'If I appear always ready to answer for everything and to meet everything, it is because,
before entering on an undertaking, I have meditated for a long time ... It is not genius
which reveals to me suddenly what I have to say or do in a circumstance unexpected
by other people: it is reflection and meditation.'
After reading this huge, vivid and thrillingly (there is no other word) written book I
was ready to revise my teenage viewpoint and cry 'Vive l'Empereur!'
Stephen Reid
Poetry
An Amorous Discourse In The Suburbs Of Hell
by Deborah Levy ($20, PB)
She is a shimmering, tattooed and acerbic angel, flown from Paradise to save him from the suburbs of hell. He, an accountant worn
down by the day-to-day struggles of the 9 to 5, is dreaming of
a white Christmas, a little garden and someone to love. She attempts, with scornful wit, to shock him out of his commuter's
habits and into an experience of ecstasy. A storm of romance &
slapstick, of heavenly & earthly delights, a dystopian philosophical poem about individual freedom & the search for the good life.
Open House by David Brooks ($24.95, PB)
A poem is a place where you can bring things together, you don't
have to know why. The mad and the bad, the gentle and the dead,
tooth-ache and heart-ache and the ache and quandary of history.
We are all creatures trembling under the sun of witness (or is it
rain?); some of us, for reasons it would be hard to explain, trying to catch the strange, sad music of it, on the days we can hear
it, before it disappears again. Opening the house of his life and
extending naturally the striking love poetry of his last volume, The
Balcony, Brooks' arrestingly confessional poems range in scale from observations
of the smallest creatures underfoot—stepped over, left in peace—to acknowledgments both of the smallness of human endeavour and the catastrophic effects of our
custodianship.
Six Poets: Hardy to Larkin
An Anthology by Alan Bennett ($29.99, HC)
In this personal anthology, Alan Bennett has chosen more than 100
poems by six poets (Thomas Hardy, A. E. Housman, John Betjeman, W. H. Auden, Louis MacNeice & Philip Larkin), discussing
the writers & their verse in his conversational style through anecdote, shrewd appraisal and spare but telling biographical detail.
Speaking with candour about his own reactions to the work, Alan
Bennett creates profound and witty portraits of the poets & their
work. Also available on CD, $29.99.
Conversations I've Never Had by Caitlin Maling
Writing from Perth, Houston and Cambridge, Maling's early years
to adulthood are told through the lens of the Australian landscape.
For young settler Australians this is a place that both defines and
undermines identity. A place that claims but can't be claimed in
return. Restlessly questioning and slipping between promise and
possibility, Maling's Australia is richly evoked in narratives of
raw power and feeling. ($24.95, PB)
N
E W
Now $16.95
Now $16.95
Ancient Light
John Banville, HB
The Childhood of Jesus
J. M. Coetzee, HB
Was $60
Now $24.95
Was $50
Now $18.95
Was $21.95
Now $18.95
Now $12.95
A Difficult Woman:
The Challenging Life & Times
of Lillian Hellman
Alice Kessler-Harris, PB
Was $26
Now $12.95
C
I
L
A
Was $77
Now $16.95
A Gate at the Stairs
Lorrie Moore, HB
Was $35
Now $14.95
Empires of the Dead:
How One Man's Vision
Led to the Creation of
WWI's War Graves
David Crane, HB
Now $14.95
Was $27
Now $14.95
Now $18.95
Venice: A New History
Thomas F. Madden, HB
Was $27
Now $14.95
The Ballad of Bob Dylan
Daniel Mark Epstein, PB
Was $25
Now $9.95
Was $25
Now $9.95
Schottenfreude: German Words
for the Human Condition
Ben Schott, HB
Now $18.95
Was $74
Now $18.95
Seduced by Logic: Emilie Du
Chatelet, Mary Somerville and
the Newtonian Revolution
Robyn Arianrhod, HB
The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread:
The Language Wars:
Uglier Than a Monkey's Armpit: UnCliches: What They Mean and
A History of Proper English translatable Insults, Put-downs and
Where They Came from
Henry Hitchings, PB
Curses from Around the World
Scrivenor & Fountain, HB
Robert Vanderplank, PB
Was $40
Was $51
Engineers of Victory:
The Problem Solvers Who Turned
the Tide in the Second World War
Paul Kennedy, HB
Lives Like Loaded Guns:
Emily Dickinson and
Her Family's Feuds
Lyndall Gordon, PB
Was $29
S
Was $44
Now $19.95
The Complete Works
of Kate Chopin, PB
The Deadly Sisterhood: A Story of
Women, Power, and Intrigue in the
Italian Renaissance, 1427–1527
Leonie Frieda, HB
Was $45
The Undivided Past:
Humanity Beyond
Our Differences
David Cannadine, HB
E
P
Was $47
Was $44
At Home: A Short
History of Private Life
Bill Bryson, HB
S
Was $34.95
Now $16.95
Birds
Jeffrey Fisher, HB
Was $55
Now $24.95
Looking at Ansel Adams
Andrea Gray Stillman, HB
17
Clade by James Bradley
The Arts
Why the Romantics Matter by Peter Gay ($37.95, HB)
Peter Gay enters the contentious, long-standing debates over the romantic period. Here, in this volume, he reformulates the definition of
romanticism and provides a fresh account of the immense achievements of romantic writers and artists in all media. Guiding readers
through the history of the romantic movement across Britain, France,
Germany, and Switzerland, Gay argues that the best way to conceptualise romanticism is
to accept its complicated nature and acknowledge that there is no single basket to contain
it. Gay conceives of romantics in families, whose individual members share fundamental
values but retain unique qualities. He concludes by demonstrating that romanticism extends
well into the twentieth century, where its deep and lasting impact may be measured in the
work of writers such as T. S. Eliot & Virginia Woolf.
Leonardo, Michelangelo & the Art of the Figure
by Michael Cole ($54.95, HB)
In late 1504 & early 1505, Leonardo da Vinci & Michelangelo
Buonarroti were both at work on commissions they had received to
paint murals in Florence's City Hall. Leonardo was to depict a historic battle between Florence & Milan, Michelangelo one between
Florence & Pisa. Though neither project was ever completed, the
painters' mythic encounter shaped art & its history in the decades
& centuries that followed. This thought-provoking book looks
again at the one moment when Leonardo & Michelangelo worked
side by side, seeking to identify the roots of their differing ideas of the figure in 15th century
pictorial practices & to understand what this contrast meant to the artists & writers who followed them. Through close investigation of these two artists, Cole provides a new account
of critical developments in Italian Renaissance painting.
inside our Sydney publishing house
Writing A Novel
Evening Course
March - September 2015
with
Kathryn Heyman
& guests
Course includes sessions with agents & publishers
Meet Kathryn in our airy learning space:
Information Night
Monday 2 February, 6:30-8:30pm
Wine and cheese provided
RSVP for a free book!
Akademie X: Lessons in Art + Life ($45, HB)
Assembled from the wisdom of 36 legendary art teachers—all artists or critics at the top of their field—this book is an ideal curriculum for the aspiring artist. Each of the book's 'tutors' has provided a unique lesson that aims to provoke, inspire and stimulate
the aspiring artist. These lessons cover technical advice, assignments, tips for avoiding creative ruts (including suggestions for
mind-expanding materials to read, watch or listen to), principles of
careful looking, advice on the daily practice of art, career pointers
& personal anecdotes. Taken together, these lessons offer the reader a set of tools
for thinking, seeing and living as an artist. Not just a text book for artists, this book
provides first hand revelations into the philosophies and techniques of some of the
world's best artists and writers.
Bauhaus Weaving Theory: From Feminine
Craft to Mode of Design by T'Ai Smith
T’ai Smith deftly reframes the Bauhaus weaving workshop
as central to theoretical inquiry at the school, uncovering new
significance in the work the weavers did as writers. Exploring
questions of establishing value and legitimacy in the art world
along with the limits of modernism, this book confronts the
belief that the crafts are manual and technical but never intellectual arts. ($44.99, PB)
Focus and Field by Daniel von Sturmer
documents Daniel von Sturmer's show at Young Projects Gallery, Los Angeles, 2014. Using video, photography, installation & architectural interventions, von Sturmer's work draws
on more traditional mediums of painting & sculpture, making direct—and often humorous—references to still life,
modernism & minimalism. Drawing connections between
psychology and philosophy, von Sturmer interrogates the
modes of perception at play when a viewer encounters an artwork, and
how they are influenced by presentation and context. ($50, HB)
DVDs with Scott Donovan
The Fall: Season 2
Gillian Anderson’s disarmingly cool Police Superintendent Stella
Gibson resumes the hunt for serial killer Paul Spector (Jamie Dornan) in the second season of this nail-biting BBC crime drama. After inadvertently revealingly the identity of a key police witness
who subsequently disappears Gibson must track down the young
woman before she becomes the killer’s next victim. Tense, unpredictable
and genuinely creepy this is crime television of the first order. ($39.95,
Region 2)
All Is Lost: Starring Robert Redford
With virtually no dialogue All Is Lost is the perfect film to watch with
friends or relatives who feel compelled to talk throughout movies. Robert Redford plays a lone yachtsman whose journey takes an unexpected
and deadly turn when his boat strikes an abandoned shipping container drifting
in the Indian Ocean. As a violent storm gathers on the horizon the hole is hastily
patched and what follows will test the nerve and resourcefulness of Redford’s aging
hero. ($29.95, Region 2)
18
Impressions of Paris: Lautrec, Degas,
Daumier by Jane Kinsman ($39.95, PB)
This book examines the major contribution to French art made
by three key figures: Honoré Daumier, Edgar Degas and Henri
de Toulouse-Lautrec. A generation apart, each was a consummate draughtsman whose innovative compositions & embrace
of modern subject matter captured the spirit of Paris. Featuring
over 150 prints, posters, drawings & monotypes drawn from the
collection of the National Gallery of Australia the book considers the significant role of each artist in the development of 19th
century art in France—their influence & their originality.
Clade: a group of organisms believed to comprise all the evolutionary descendants of a common ancestor.
I haven’t read James Bradley’s earlier bestselling novels, Wrack
or The Resurrectionist for reasons that escape me, but I am a
huge fan of his award-winning literary criticism. We seem to
have the same taste in fiction so I very much wanted to like his
new novel, Clade, but approached it with trepidation because its
apocalyptic nature is not usually my bag. I needn’t have worried.
Clade takes what we know now about climate change, and what
scientists predict may happen to the planet, then extrapolates to create a not-too-distant
future in which the ice caps have completely melted; in which cities like London, Venice
and Shanghai have been submerged; in which millions of people have died in floods or
pandemics and millions more have been displaced and live in camps; in which the dead
can be recreated virtually as ‘sims’ for the comfort of the bereaved; in which there are
no longer birds, bees or coffee; in which plants genetically engineered to store carbon
have instead destroyed natural habitats; in which there is still war in the Middle East and
terrorism everywhere—and in which people still love each other and leave each other,
in which families matter and children are still born, in which art is still made and beauty
still exists.
The story begins around about now with Adam, a climate scientist, watching the Antarctic break up and shift before his eyes as his partner Ellie waits in Sydney for results of
their latest IVF attempt. Moving through this century in leaps and bounds, the narrative
incorporates all of the above, seen through the eyes of characters related in one way or
another to Adam and Ellie (the common ancestors?). Bradley resists the urge to include
long sequences of the many catastrophes which beset the planet, alluding to them sometimes in an aside or a phrase, instead settling for just one beautifully written description
of a devastating flood in England. There Adam escapes the oncoming torrents with his
errant daughter and newly discovered grandson, Noah—perhaps the most moving of all
his characters.
Most of what Bradley posits has the seeds of fact in the here and now and is entirely
believable (unless you’re a climate sceptic in which case the book will read as pure
fantasy). Advances in technology such as lenses, virches (virtual worlds) and layovers
are not that far-fetched. This from Dylan, who creates ‘sims’: And so I put my lenses
on, went walking in one of the virches…I fetched up on a moon around a gas giant in a
system on the edge of the Rift, a place where gardens grew on gleaming towers and the
great sphere of the planet and its rings filled the sky. Bradley's writing is superb—spare
but lyrical, especially his descriptions of the natural world.
What gives this astonishing novel its heart and humanity, is the way in which these
frightening scenarios are seen through the prism of his characters, people who struggle
and despair, but who also continue to live day-to-day through the thick smog and uncertainty of it all. Yes, the world has gone to hell in a hand-basket (to put it mildly), but the
world and the planet is always changing and people manage to live with new realities. In
the end, Bradley's greatest achievement in a novel of so many incredible moments, is his
transcendent ending which suggests that we are all part of a clade, the human clade—and
we will survive.Morgan
Yin Xiuzhen ($59.95, PB)
A leading female figure in Chinese contemporary art, Yin Xiuzhen (b. 1963, Beijing, China) began her career in the early
1990s following her graduation from Capital Normal University in Beijing where she received a B.A. from the Fine Arts
Department in 1989. Best known for her works that incorporate second-hand objects, Yin uses her artwork to explore
modern issues of globalisation and homogenisation. By utilising recycled
materials such as sculptural documents of memory, she seeks to personalise objects
and allude to the lives of specific individuals, which are often neglected in the drive
toward excessive urbanisation, rapid modern development and the growing global economy. The artist explains, 'In a rapidly changing China, 'memory' seems to vanish more
quickly than everything else. That's why preserving memory has become an alternative
way of life.'
Janice: A copy of Useful by Debra Oswald was placed in my hand, with the
instruction to read & report. Well, I am happy to say I loved it. I was very
taken by the main character & his struggles with life. Sullivan Moss is a man
not well liked by his friends—which would explain why he doesn't have
any, & his life is a shambles. He is a drunken, overweight desperate man
who thinks life is no longer worth living and decides to end it all. Of course,
being Sullivan Moss, this like everything in his life, doesn't go to plan and
Sullivan wakes up in hospital with a badly bruised head and terrible concussion. While lying there contemplating his failure of a life, Sully decides to
stop being useless and to become useful instead. Through meeting a seriously ill man in the hospital café, he decides he will become a living donor
and donate a kidney to a stranger. What follows is funny, sad but also kind of
poignant as Sully tries to change and become the person that someone might
like to receive a kidney from. He loses weight, stops drinking, starts a fitness
regime—all to look after that precious gift, his kidney. From being someone
no one wanted to know, suddenly he is wanted by everyone. Women who
would not look at the old Sully are now are very keen to get to know the
new one. This of course, leads to complications, and Sully's determination to
stay clean and pure are put to the test. There are many lovely scenes in the
book, but one of my favourites is when Sully meets Natalie, who turns out
to be a great friend to Sully. The scene involves moving a dead body, which
is wrapped in a sheet, from one flat to another. Shades of my most loved episode of Faulty Towers. As a result of all these happenings, Sully very quickly
realises that it is not easy to be altruistic, and the struggle to remain a good
person turns out to be harder than he thought it would be.
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Scarlet and Black
In what may be one of his earliest film roles Ewan McGregor plays
the dashing cad Julian Sorel in this BBC adaptation of Stendhal’s
comic masterpiece. Deciding between a career in the army or the
church to improve his social prospects the ambitious but impoverished Sorel chooses the latter and as a novice priest proceeds to
seduce Paris’s most influential women and to court senior clergy
in his quest for wealth and power. With an excellent supporting
cast including Rachel Weisz and Crispin Bonham-Carter this 3 part
series is terrific fun. ($34.95, Region 2)
what we're reading
Morgan: Women in Clothes edited by
Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits and Leanne
Shapton is a wide and diverse, endlessly
interesting exploration of what clothes
mean to women, what their personal
style is, how they came to it and how it
may have changed over the years. (I love
Shapton’s work but am unfamiliar with
the other two writers) The editors sent a questionnaire to over 600 women
and have put the responses together, along with illustrations, stories and interviews to create a fascinating sociological survey. In one sequence a group
of women in an office photocopy their hands and then talk about the rings
they wear—where they came from and the meaning they have. Includes wellknown women like ‘It’ girl, Lena Dunham as well as hundreds of women just
like you and me. A book you can dip into, though I read it cover to cover.
City/Suburb
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19
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Bestsellers 2014
1
1.
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
2. The News
3. My Story
4. Far From the Tree 5. The Fights of My Life
6. The Goldfinch
7. The Bush
8. Australian Notebooks
Richard Flanagan
Alain de Botton
Julia Gillard
Andrew Solomon
Greg Combet
Donna Tartt
Don Watson
Betty Churcher
9. Where Song Began
10. This House of Grief
Tim Low
Helen Garner
11. The Children Act
Ian McEwan
12. Amnesia
Peter Carey
13. Plenty More
Yotam Ottolenghi
14. Diary of a Foreign Minister
Bob Carr
15. The Fictional Woman
Tara Moss
16. Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn
17. The Life of I
Anne Manne
18. All the Birds Singing
19. The Wife Drought
20. Dirty Secrets: Our ASIO Files
Evie Wyld
Annabel Crabb
Meredith Burgmann
21. The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher
Hilary Mantel
22. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki
Haruki Murakami
23. The Rosie Project
Graeme Simsion
24. Capital in the 21st Century
25. Nora Webster
26. Dangerous Allies
Thomas Piketty
Colm Toibin
Malcolm Fraser
27. A First Place
David Malouf
28. Dear Leader
Jang Jin-Sung
29. Cadence
Emma Ayres
30. A Bone of Fact
David Walsh
....... and another thing
Welcome to 2015, Gleebooks' 40th birthday year. I do hope you all had a good
break despite the hell-in-a-handbasket world and local events. My Xmas gift of a
Crikey subscription came in handy when the 'jesuischarlie' movement hit the fan.
Guy Rundle's dissection of the political farce of right and left marching together
spouting sententious and seriously hypocritical statements about freedom of speech
was a welcome trip back to the reality of Western corporate 'democracies' and crony
capitalists that only stand for free speech when it isn't directed at them. I hope he
works his series of articles into a book, or at least a Quarterly Essay. Meanwhile
Rundle's portrait of the '#istandwithcharliehebdo' tweeters as indulging in 'costfree, zero-content pseudo-solidarity that flatters the issuer' has me thinking I might
give Andrew Keen's polemic, The Internet is Not the Answer (p.14), a read. Taking
a leap back in time, I'm currently reading a tale of ancient Roman political intrigue,
Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero. So far, Seneca's dilemmas don't
seem that alien to those faced by the modern, or postmodern world. The Roman
proverb heading the introduction—If you put up with the crimes of a friend, you
make them your own—seems terribly current. Speaking of dilemmas (this time of
the climate change variety), Morgan and David have me convinced I must take on
James Bradley's new book Clade, and likewise Deborah Oswald's Useful has been
given a rousing chorus of praise in this month's magazine. On the domestic front
I've been cooking up a salad storm with Hetty McKinnon's book Community—
fantastic recipes, easy to follow (no fancy hard-to-get ingredients or Master Chef
preciousness), and always enough for a feast. And last, while Winton may be on a
break, I did not manage to get away, so Tom Carment and Michael Wee's Seven
Walks call to me—an armchair holiday is better than none. Viki
For more February new releases go to:
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