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Showing posts from 2017

It is master gameship, The Betrayal

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The Betrayal  by Kate Furnivall Paperback, 400 pages,  Expected publication: November 2nd 2017 by Simon & Schuster Ltd The dogs of war are on the horizon as twin sisters, Romaine (Romy) and Florence DuChamps find themselves caught up in a game of espionage that is being played on the streets of Paris. Both sisters have secrets from each other, from their friends and from the political and social circles they keep. The story commences with a younger Romy standing in the study and covered with her father’s blood. Trying to reason what has occurred, has she murdered her father or has something else happened? She has no memory of what has happened. Florence comes to the rescue and concocts a story that will save Romy from the guillotine.  This singular significant event snakes its way through the lives of the two sisters and creates a crescendo of events that influences their entire lives. Furnivall has taken an interesting period of history to set the novel in. As you have gro

Living the 1960s

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Living the 1960s by Noeline Brown National Library of Australia Pages:   192. Publication Date:   01 October 2017 Bind Format:   Paperback The National Library of Australia rather cleverly asked Noeline Brown to write a book about Australia in the 1960s. Noeline Brown is well known to Australian television audiences for The Mavis Bramston Show, Naked Vicar Show and Blankety Blanks. With her trademark dry humour and ability to spin a yarn, Brown takes you on a personal exploration of the social, political and cultural times of Australia. This is just a wonderful book as Brown has a personal conversation with you about what was happening in Australia. There are big issues are canvassed but it some of the little insights that are the most poignant. When you consider the evolution of the telephone from having prime occupancy in the hall way and almost being revered if you happened to own one. How the car brought about the motels, the introduction of the pill, and the difficulties

Crime time Sunday with one regret

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Crimson Lake (Crimson Lake #1) by Candice Fox Paperback, 389 pages Published January 30th 2017 by Penguin Books Australia You have been accused of a heinous crime, the murder and rape of a child, you are police officer, you have no alibi and your family and friends all believe you are guilty. For Ted Conkaffey he went from having it all to a man trying to keep a low profile in the backwaters of Cairns. He becomes involved with convicted killer Amanda Pharrell, who even though she has a long history with Crimson Lake manages to establish her own investigative agency. The two become involved trying to determine what has happened with local missing author Jake Scully. Fox knows how to write a rapid fire engaging thriller that keeps you flicking the pages. She is able to carefully place clues and hints through out the text and this keeps the twists and turns coming. The characters are complex, struggling to hold it all together and wonderfully flawed. Fox has certainly created a cou

Getting that reading groove back on

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Well the slump has been shed by reading a variety of short, snappy works with meaning and humour. On Doubt by Leigh Sales Paperback, 122 pages, Published September 2017 by Melbourne University Press (first published May 1st 2009) For those who don't know Leigh Sales is an Australian journalist who has fronted news programs such as Lateline and the 7.30 Report on the ABC. The one thing that is universally accepted by all is that there is no pleasure to be had by politician when they are being interviewed by Leigh Sales. She is determined to cut through the carefully rehearsed talking points, uncover the truth and is respected by all. ‘On Doubt’ was originally penned by Sales in 2009, with an additional chapter being included in 2017. For a short essay, Sales manages to cram in a lot of big ideas and themes. From her own beginnings as that rebellious child always asking why to a journalist wondering about the future of the profession. A short, highly insightful read and i

Graphically Speaking

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It's a long weekend, you have been stuck in a reading rut and looking for something to kick off that great reading habit again. For me turning to graphic novels has always been an inspiration, you get to lose yourself in adventure and be regaled by some extraordinary drawings. So I headed into the world of Ms. Marvel and then moved into the artistically twisted mind of Neil Gaiman. Ms. Marvel, Volume 1: Best of the Best  by Brian Reed (Writer), Roberto de la Torre, Frank Cho (Cover Artist) Hardcover, Premiere, 136 pages, Published October 4th 2006 by Marvel Carol Danvers aka Ms.Marvel is bundled up into a package of stories and artwork by Brian Reed and Roberto De La Torro. The blurb says this a new take on Marvel's greatest longest standing female super heroes. So what did I get? A woman who is not well defined. She has baggage but spends the majority of the time lamenting no one knows who she is. She has no real purpose except for getting into save the world situatio

Fairy Tales with a creative twist

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The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, Helen Simpson  Paperback, Vintage Classic Twins: Vintage Fear, 176 pages Published 2007 by Vintage Books (first published 1979) There is a quote on the back of the book by Ian McEwan which sums this book up brilliantly, as a 'Magnificent set pieces of fastidious sensuality'. I can find no words that expand on just how extraordinary Carter's words are.  She takes traditional fairy tales and gives them new focus. Her re-imaging is clever and takes the tales in directions. This is a short collection but the writing is dense and exquisite. I really loved this book and was just swept away into the world of fairy tales.

Historical Aussie Cafe Society

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A Curate in Bohemia by Norman Lindsay  Paperback, 248 pages Published 1972 by Arcon paperbacks, Angus & Robertson (first published 1913) I picked this up at a book fair and I have never read any of Norman Lindsay's work, let me correct that, besides the Magic Pudding. This is about a young man, the Curate on the cusp of entering the priesthood, spends some time with a group of Melbourne artists. What follows is a series of adventures in trying to secure the means to procure their next drink and discussions about the nature of art. There is a splattering of Lindsay's drawings through out the book which give form to the characters. Written in 1913 you are given a wonderful view of Australia at that time with the tobacco and coffee shops, the local pubs and being a poverty stricken artist. Doing some research it suggested that this maybe a fictional memoir of Lindsay. I enjoyed the read and took the story on face value. Don't normally make comment on a cover but

Nevermoor the place to be

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The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #1)  by Jessica Townsend Hardcover, 640 pages Expected publication: October 31st 2017 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers For Morrigan Crow life is going to be short as it is guaranteed she will not reach her 12th birthday. Morrigan is considered a curse child and is blamed for everything that goes wrong.  She spends most of her young life writing letters of apology for making someone’s life a misery and trying not to be a nuisance to her father. Yet, there is something special about Morrigan. On the eve of her death, an enigmatic red headed man named Jupiter North arrives and offers Morrigan a chance to live.  There is just one catch she is going to have  survive a series of trials that just may kill her anyway.  Townsend has created a magical world that it well-crafted and exceptionally well realised.  Nevermoor leaps of the pages as you explore the hotel, travel along the streets and come to understand a little about

Kathy Acker - a study of a complex character

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After Kathy Acker: A Biography by Chris Kraus Hardcover Expected publication: August 31st 2017 by Allen Lane I read Kathy Acker’s Blood and Guts in High School, not long after it was released in Australia and to put it mildly the book had a profound impact on me. Here was this young woman, emerging from the safe suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia, who was several worlds away from what she was reading. What was in the pages was violent, sexual, explicit drawings and covered areas that were quite simply taboo in my world at that time. It was nothing I had ever come across before and was my first real foray outside of mainstream fiction. What was illuminating to me was a woman wrote this brutal and brazen book. The very few female authors I knew at that time wrote nice fiction. Even though I regret not keeping a copy of the book, it is a novel that I recall rather vividly.  It was a nice surprise to be allowed an opportunity to read a biography on Kathy Acker’s life, a

Garner opens up her soul

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The Feel Of Steel by Helen Garner Paperback, 223 pages Published April 1st 2008 by Picador (first published November 10th 2007) I have to admit I really struggle to review Helen Garner's works. I find myself being quickly swept into the words on the page and I do not stop reading. I do not take notes, I just keep reading and soaking it all in.  In the Feel of Steel, Garner has given us an insight into some of the curly moments of her life, from the doubts one faces after a divorce, placing your mother in a nursing home and struggling to write words on the page. These insights are quite extraordinary with her honesty and vulnerabilities laid down. There is also some wonderful moments of observation that are really poignant and revealing.  I lost myself in the words, the scenes and the descriptions.  This is a wonderful book, just read it.   I could not find a website for Helen Garner but you view more of Helen Garner's works at Text Publishing . Death: The Hi

Sometimes the hardest thing you can do is take a chance on yourself

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Wish You Were Here by Sheridan Jobbins 330 pages,  Expected publication: August 29th 2017 by Hachette Australia Your heart is broken, your marriage is in disarray, your life is in chaos and years of self-doubt come crashing down all at once, what do you do? Well for Sheridan Jobbins in this slightly fictionalised memoir, her solution after a glorious scene of smashing the crockery is to go on a journey across the United States of America in a car called Betty. What is really nice is that you are invited as the backseat passenger as Jobbins looks for the reasons as how it all came to this point. Now there are many memoirs as to how men and women find their way of out a state of depression. For some they tell you about their descent into a world of drugs and alcohol and then crawling out the other side. This is not that kind of book and it is not ‘woe is me, look how much despair I am in and here is the magical cure’ kind of read. What we have is a really honest journey of the diff

Another catch up session

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I must get more organised and post these opinion pieces up a great deal quicker. Trouble is the 'to be read' pile keeps getting bigger and I keep picking up another tome rather than update the blog. Here is this weeks catch up session. Two Nights by Kathy Reichs  Kindle Edition, 336 pages, Published July 11th 2017 by Simon & Schuster Kathy Reichs has forged a successful writing career using one primary character Dr. Temperance Brennan and there is nothing wrong with that at all. However what does send a shiver up the publishing world's spine is when after some 18 plus books along comes a new character in a stand alone book. It is a bold move by Reichs as she could have continued to pump out Brennan novels until the cows came home and none of her fans would have minded. So the question is does Reich's new novel has what it takes?  In Two Nights we meet Sunday Night (yes that is her name) a former police and military officer who has become a semi recluse afte

My slackness knows no bounds

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Yep, that bloody thing called life has taken over. While still reading, the ability to post up reviews diminished somewhat. So again another posting with a few thoughts on some of the books I have read in the last month or so. Into the Water - Paula Hawkins Hardcover, 388 pages,  Published May 2nd 2017 by Riverhead Books After the highly successful 'Girl on a Train', Paula Hawkins has released her much anticipated second novel 'Into the Water'. The story centre around the death of several women over a number of years but it is the questionable death of Nell Abbott, a single mother to Lena, that brings forth all the dark secrets of the local town. The story is told from the viewpoint of ten characters, yes you read that right, ten characters. It could become a tangled mess but Hawkins is able to navigate the reader through with relative ease. I did find one or two of the voices were not as distinctive as they needed to be especially early on with a couple of th

A rush of reading and a host of reviews

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The Natural Way of Things – Charlotte Wood Paperback, 320 pages. Published October 1st 2015 by Allen & Unwin A group of ten young women find themselves imprisoned on a dilapidated property in the Australian outback. They have no idea how long they will remain and all are forced to shave their heads and wear strange uniforms. They are lorded over by three employees, two young men their jailers and a woman who plays nurse. Over all of them is the mysterious security company that impacts on all their lives. I have wanted to read this book for some time but as it has won a slew of awards for me that usually does not bode well. I have to say I am kicking myself for not coming to this book so much earlier. It is quite an amazing story and Wood does something extraordinary she makes you the reader, the 11th person in the story.  You find yourself brought into the story as the characters do. You have the same questions as they do. Why are we here, why do we not run, where do we r

Dark and thrilling Australian crime

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Fall (Archer & Bennett #3)  Candice Fox  Paperback, 352 pages Published December 1st 2015 by Random House Australia This is my first foray into the world of Candice Fox and coming in at book three was probably not the smartest idea. This book can be read as a stand alone with no issues at all. Fox is able to bring into the world quickly and you are racing along with the story. However, this is a series where knowing the characters previous interactions will only enrich the story. I will go back and read the other books but I should have done that first! Bad reader. Detectives Frank Bennett and Eden Archer are knee deep in crime and waist deep in personal troubles. Someone is out there killing female joggers, the people are not happy about it and about to take action. For Bennett, he is still struggling to come to terms with the past with his girlfriend Imogen creating tension with his partner Eden. The Amy comes to the fore and shows her skills and potential in some distu

The Nest - dysfunctional families at optimal level

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The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney  Kindle Edition, 416 pages Published March 22nd 2016 by The Borough Press Well this is a challenge to review for a number of reasons, the main one that at the conclusion, I had no idea really what the story was about. You start off with a problem, Leo Plumb has been involved in a car accident with a young woman. The ramifications is that the family financial nest is raided to pay for the young woman's medical bills and the rest of the family to put it mildly is pissed that they have lost their inheritance. They want Leo to make good and put the money back. None of this happens. So what does happen? You are introduced to a host of characters, all who have a story to tell. Those characters keep coming and by chapter 17 they are still coming. The problem was that though some of these characters are necessary, none of them drive the story forward and some disappear with no fanfare. The matriarch of the family appears at the beginning, t

A good ending for a new beginning

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Hidden Killers (Jane Tennison #2) by Lynda La Plante  Paperback, 496 pages, Published October 20th 2016 by Simon & Schuster UK The second book in what would be called the Jane Tennison origin series. Tennison has finally finished her probation and has started working at Bow Street as a Detective Constable. Tennison finds herself attending the scene of what is called an accidental death but she knows something is amiss. What is wrong with the scene Tennison can not clearly identify and she starts to investigate. While trying to start in her new career her days associated with Hackney are not over. A case is about to go before the courts where a man is accused of a series of sexual assaults and a vicious rape that occurred some time ago. Yet, Tennison is not sure that the arrest was above board and suspects that evidence may have been planted. It is in this book that the character of Jane Tennison we know through the books and associated TV series begins to emerge. There is

Young love done right

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Summer Skin – Kirsty Eagar Paperback, 352 pages Published February 1st 2016 by Allen & Unwin Jessica Gordon is 19, attending Unity University College, coming out of a horrid relationship and is not looking forward to anything but having a good time, hanging with friends and getting through her studies. She is also seeking payback on the guys from Knight’s College for an incident that happened to her friend last year. Meeting a good looking guy from the detested Knight’s College was certainly not in her plans. What happens is a girl meets boy romance that does not fit into the normal conventions of a romance story. There is a lot to like in Eagar’s Summer Skin. The all the characters come with baggage, lots of emotional baggage, it is relatable and very real. What I did like that it was not angst ridden in that Bella/Edward Twilight way where Bella became completely unable to function. No, Jessica remains feisty, true to herself, carries around doubts but is willing to seek s

Small town - big issues

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Goodwood – Holly Throsby Paperback, 304 pages Published October 1st 2016 by Allen & Unwin A small country town in Australia, two missing people within a week and everyone is walking on eggshells. Told primarily through the eyes of Jean, a teenager in the town, we come to know the characters and secrets of the town. I found myself in two minds about this story. The first half showed a great deal of promise, Jean and her friend Georgia were curious, engaging and certainly knew all the gossip about town. With the disappearance of Rosie, the two teenagers do quite a bit of theorising about what happened and when Bart the butcher also goes missing the two go into overdrive. It is through Jean we meet the characters of the town and they are a group of people you would find in every single Australian country town. Yet by the halfway point of the novel the mystery of the two missing people had been pushed to the background as Jean struggled with her identity. It is the second

Fisher reflects on that Princess

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The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher Kindle Edition, 267 pages.  Published November 22nd 2016 by Blue Rider Press “ I was sitting by myself the other night doing the usual things one does when spending time alone with yourselves. You know, making mountains out of molehills, hiking up to the top of the mountains, having a Hostess Twinkie and then throwing myself off the mountain. Stuff like that .” There is a lot that makes this book hard to read and death of the author being the biggest one. Yet the main thing you have to remember that this is the recollections of a 19 year old woman trying to find her way in a man’s world. She is involved in a casual relationship with her married co-star, Harrison Ford and she cannot talk to anyone about what is happening. This forms the basis of Fisher’s memoir about her time on the first Star Wars movie. I found Fisher’s writing to be honest and heartfelt. As outsiders, we see actors as confident, worldly people who are able to handle anyth