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THE READINGS PRIZE The judges introduce the shortlist

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MILES JONATHAN ROSIE DIOR THE WAIFS ALLINSON FRANZEN WATERLAND AND I $24.95 $29.99 $32.99 $27.99 $29.95 page 20 $24.99 $29.99 page 15 page 20 page 7 page 8

READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015 3

News

FATHER’S DAY GIFT GUIDE & year’s winner was Ceridwen Dovey for her Special ticket offer through CROSSWORD COMPETITION second work of fiction, Only the Animals Readings: enter the promotion code This month we have included a special (Penguin). Read more about the shortlisted READINGS101 prior to September 30 Father’s Day Gift Guide featuring our titles and the prize on page 7. and receive discounted tickets to the 2015 recommended books to buy for your dad. Wangaratta Festival of Jazz and Blues. We also have two Festival Weekend For literary dads, the guide also features CLASSICAL BOX SET SALE a special 30-question crossword on Passes to give away, plus three nights’ If it’s September it must be time for memorable fathers in literature. Complete accommodation (including breakfast Readings’ Fabulous Classical Box Set Sale! the crossword and sign up to Readings’ package and complimentary gourmet With discounts of up to 60%, this year’s enews for your chance to win a one-year hamper) at Lindenwarrah Country sale includes recordings featuring all the subscription to Market Lane’s Coffee Club House Hotel Milawa (lancemore.com.au/ usual suspects such as JS Bach, Mozart, that delivers a 250g bag of delicious coffee lindenwarrah). For your chance to win, Haydn, Beethoven, Shostakovich, Philip to your door every two weeks (valued at email [email protected] Glass, Schubert, Vivaldi and Wagner. These $480). It’s just like your favourite magazine with ‘Jazz & Blues’ in the subject line. Tell classics are all performed by greats of the subscription – but smells much better! us in 25 words or fewer who you’re most classical world – Alfred Brendel, Herbert interested in seeing at the Festival, and Von Karajan, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Seiji why! Competition closes on Monday 14 INDIGENOUS LITERACY DAY Ozawa, Carlos Kleiber and Claudio Abbado, September. Only the winner will be notified. This year Indigenous Literacy Day is on to name but a few. The sale is available at Wednesday 2 September. The Indigenous all Readings shops and online from now Literacy Foundation (ILF) aims to until 30 September. But hurry, only while THE READINGS FOUNDATION raise literacy levels and improve the stock lasts. GRANTS OPEN opportunities of Indigenous Australians Applications for The Readings Foundation living in remote and isolated regions. Join READINGS MERCHANDISE Grants 2016 will open 9am, Monday 28 us in acknowledging Indigenous Literacy We are excited to announce that we September 2015. The Readings Foundation Day with Martin Flanagan at 6.30pm at have recently developed a small range was established in 2009 to support Readings Carlton as he discusses his funny, of Readings merchandise in time for Victorian individuals and organisations incisive and revealing new biography, Father’s Day, in conjunction with Sydney that wish to further the development of The Short Long Book. This is a compelling artist James Gulliver Hancock from the literacy, community work and the arts. portrait of an immensely important The Jacky Winter Group. James Gulliver This year, The Readings Foundation footballer and Australian public figure, Hancock’s obsession with re-imaging his grant funding had a strong focus on Michael Long, by one of Australia’s greatest world has seen him work for major print, those organisations directly supporting sportswriters. The event is free, but please TV and music publishing releases, taking disadvantaged communities by way book at readings.com.au/events. 10% of funds his whimsical perception with him around of literacy and educational assistance from books sold in our shops on Wednesday the world. He’s most recently been living in programs, including Reading Out Of 2 September will be donated to the ILF. New York, taking the city by storm with his Poverty, Somebody’s Daughter Theatre, personal project allthebuildingsinnewyork. Mallee Family Care, The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Migrant Information THE READINGS PRIZE com. Two items featuring James Gulliver Centre, Aboriginal Literacy Foundation, SHORTLIST 2015 Hancock’s Hipster and Nerd Dad Church of All Nations Community Support We’re delighted to announce this year’s illustrations are Readings micro-fibre lens cleaners (perfect for glasses, mobile phones and the HUSH Music Foundation. This shortlist for The Readings Prize for focus will continue in 2016. For more New Australian Fiction. The shortlisted or iPads) which come in a nifty envelope ($9.95 each) and Readings 100% cotton information please visit readings.com.au/ books are The Other Side of the World by the-readings-foundation. Applications must Stephanie Bishop (Hachette), Last Day in Hipster or Nerd Dad tea towels ($22.95 each). be completed and lodged electronically the Dynamite Factory by Annah Faulkner by 5pm, Friday 30 October 2015. (Picador), In the Quiet by Eliza Henry- Jones (HarperCollins), Arms Race by Nic WANGARATTA FESTIVAL OF MELBOURNE FESTIVAL 2015 Low (Text), Heat and Light by Ellen van JAZZ & BLUES Neerven (UQP) and Hot Little Hands by 2015 is a year of change for the Wangaratta Exciting 2015 marks the 30th anniversary Abigail Ulman (Penguin). Our judging Festival of Jazz and Blues (30 October–2 of Melbourne Festival, an 18-day showcase panel comprises Readings staff and guest November) with a new stage in the King of international acts and exhibitions, judge Hannah Kent, author of Burial celebrating the essence of creativity. Readings Monthly George Gardens and the festival precinct Through cross-platform collaborations Free independent monthly newspaper Rites (Pan Macmillan) and co-founder moving to the Riverside. Change too for and unique works, expect the city to published by Readings Books, Music & Film of Australian literary journal Kill Your the artistic program with the stellar Jazz Darlings, will join them to select a winner and Blues line up complemented by ‘cross explode with music, dance, theatre and Editor from the shortlist. Kill Your Darlings will over’ acts to introduce a new generation visual arts. Readings is a proud partner Elke Power also host a free event celebrating the to the festival and to the world of jazz and of Melbourne Festival, and will be on site [email protected] shortlist on Tuesday 22 September 2015. blues. Readings is the official retailer at the selling books, music and film at a range of Find out more about the event on page 4. festival and will be selling at all events at the events including Headlong’s adaptation of Editorial Assistant The winning author will be announced in Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre and the Orwell’s 1984, Opera Australia and Barking Alan Vaarwerk the November edition of Readings Monthly Blues Marquee. Tickets and full program Gecko Theatre Company’s co-production [email protected] and will receive a prize of $4,000. Last details are available at wangarattajazz.com. of The Rabbits (based on the book written by John Marsden and illustrated by Advertising Shaun Tan), Laura Marling at Hamer Stella Charls Hall and Patti Smith’s Horses performed [email protected] by Courtney Barnett, Jen Cloher, Adalita and (03) 9341 7739 Gareth Liddiard. Melbourne Festival runs from 8–25 October. Visit melbournefestival.com.au Graphic Design for more information. Cat Matteson [email protected]

Front Cover Cover image © Thomas Dworzak/Magnum Photos/Snapper Media, courtesy of Scribe Publications. Image from the cover of Fever of Animals by Miles Allinson, designed and published by Scribe.

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Readings donates 10% of its profits each year to The Readings Foundation: readings.com.au/the-readings-foundation 4 READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015

September Events GRAPHIC NOVELS! FRIENDS OF THE 16 MELBOURNE! 21 ABC MEETING INDIGENOUS VERA WASOWSKI Join us for a one-off screening of this feature ABC Friends Victoria is pleased to invite you to 2 LITERACY DAY 10 & ROBERT HILLMAN documentary by Daniel Hayward and Bernard attend a discussion on the topic of The Human WITH MARTIN FLANAGAN IN CONVERSATION Caleo examining the graphic novel culture Right for Information in a Democracy – The of Melbourne, focusing on cartoonists Nicki Role of an Independent ABC led by Ranald Join us in celebrating Indigenous Literacy Vera Wasowski survived being marched into Greenberg, Mandy Ord, Bruce Mutard and Macdonald, former managing director of The Day with Martin Flanagan as he discusses the Lvov Jewish ghetto in Poland at the age Pat Grant, with contributions from luminaries Age and ABC radio presenter. Drinks will be his funny and incisive new biography, The of seven, went on to study journalism and, in Scott McCloud, Paul Gravett and Shaun Tan. served after the formal presentation. Short Long Book. This is a revealing portrait 1958, migrated to Australia with her husband of an immensely important footballer and and young son. It was a wild time in politics Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events To book please email [email protected] Australian public figure, Michael Long, by and the media, and Vera was at the centre of Wednesday 16 September, 6pm Monday 21 September, 6pm one of Australia’s greatest sportswriters. it all. Join biographer Robert Hillman and Readings St Kilda Readings St Kilda Vera for a conversation about the fierce and Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events passionate life of an amazing Australian. 10% of funds from books sold on the day will be BRYAN DAWE IN donated to the ILD Fund. Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events 16 CONVERSATION Wednesday 2 September, 6.30pm Thursday 10 September, 6.30pm Readings Carlton Readings St Kilda Beloved satirist Bryan Dawe will celebrate the release of his humorous new book, Letter from Kalangadoo: The Roly Parks Collection ANDREW FULLER EMMA VISKIC, with an evening of storytelling. Roly’s letters 2 ON UNLOCKING 10 GARY KEMBLE from Kalangadoo to his son in London have YOUR CHILD’S GENIUS AND J.M. GREEN ON been broadcast nationally on ABC radio for over 25 years. Join Andrew Fuller for a glass of wine CRIME FICTION and a discussion about how Unlocking Join Melbourne-based author Emma Viskic Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events Your Child’s Genius reveals ways in which as she delves into crime fiction and her Wednesday 16 September, 6.30pm parents can support their children in debut novel, Resurrection Bay, with fellow Readings Carlton unleashing their talents. Australian crime writer Gary Kemble Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events (Skin Deep, out now) and Sisters in Crime FERRANTE Wine will be served. member and writer J.M. Green (Good Money, 17 FEVER Wednesday 2 September, 6.30pm November). Join a panel of booksellers as they discuss the Readings Hawthorn Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events works of Elena Ferrante, an Italian writer who Thursday 10 September, 6.30pm has taken the reading world by storm – and SHIRLEY BARRETT Readings Hawthorn rightly so. Nina Kenwood, Joe Rubbo, Chris THE READINGS 4 IN CONVERSATION Gordon and Bronte Coates will talk about what 22 PRIZE 2015 WITH REBECCA SONJA DECHIAN it is that makes Ferrante’s books so powerful – SHORTLIST SHOWDOWN in particular, her renowned Neapolitan Novels WITH KILL YOUR DARLINGS HARKINS-CROSS 14 IN CONVERSATION series which just this month reached its Join Readings and Kill Your Darlings for Shirley Barrett, of award-winning Love WITH SEAN O’BEIRNE conclusion with the publication of The Story of a passionate head-to-head showdown Serenade renown, is best known for her work An Astronaut’s Life is a beautiful debut the Lost Child (see our review on page 8). celebrating the six books on the 2015 shortlist as a screenwriter and director. Join Shirley short-story collection from an intelligent new Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events for The Readings Prize for New Australian in conversation with Rebecca Harkins-Cross voice in Australian writing. Join author Sonja Thursday 17 September, 6.30pm Fiction. Hosted by Kill Your Darlings’ online about her first novel, Rush Oh!, a book about Dechian and Readings’ Sean O’Beirne for a Readings Carlton editor Veronica Sullivan, six readers/writers family, whales, unlikely bonds and trying to discussion about this inventive new book. will mount a case for why their favourite book come to terms with life’s disappointments. Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events ROB SNARSKI LIVE from this year’s shortlist should win. See page Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events 7 for the full shortlist. Monday 14 September, 6.30pm 18 AT READINGS Friday 4 September, 6.30pm Readings Carlton Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events Readings St Kilda CARLTON Tuesday 22 September, 6.30 for 7pm THE FINE LINE: Come along to hear Rob Snarski playing Readings Carlton songs from his new album, Low Fidelity 15 JEN STORER IN (Songs by Request Volume 1). From Nina CONVERSATION WITH Simone to Lou Reed to Spiritualised, the CLARE O’NEIL IN LUCINDA GIFFORD 18-tracks were requested by fans and 23 CONVERSATION recorded by Rob at his home in the hills of We are delighted that author Jen Storer and Clare O’Neil, federal Labor member for Tecoma, before they were augmented and illustrator Lucinda Gifford will join us to the seat of Hotham, and Tim Watts, federal mixed by Shane O’Mara in Yikesville and talk about how words and images in books Labor member for the seat of Gellibrand, then mastered by Mikey Young. are both essential for primary-school-aged have written an agenda-setting book taking kids. Using their latest book, The Fourteenth Free, no bookings required the long view: Two Futures: Australia at a Summer of Angus Jack, as an example, Jen Friday 18 September, 6pm Critical Moment. Join them for an essential and Lucinda will discuss collaboration and Readings Carlton discussion about the decades ahead. the need for vivid adventures. Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events Please book at readings.com.au/events ROSIE BATTY IN Wednesday 23 September, 6.30pm Tuesday 15 September, 4.30pm 21 CONVERSATION Readings Carlton Readings Hawthorn WITH RAFAEL EPSTEIN Since her son, Luke, was killed by his father in DAVID MARR IN REBECCA LIM, 24 CONVERSATION ROSIE WATERLAND: a violent incident in February 2014, Rosie Batty 16 LILI WILKINSON & has become an outspoken crusader against WITH BARRIE CASSIDY 8 THE ENCORE EVENT domestic violence, winning hearts and minds KELLY GARDINER ON David Marr’s Quarterly Essay profiles of all over Australia and internationally with her Rosie Waterland rose to fame in 2013 with FEMINIST STORYLINES Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott ignited debate, her laugh-out-loud recaps of The Bachelor, compassion, courage and grace. Rosie was Rebecca Lim and Lili Wilkinson will join firestorms of media coverage and became which Richard Glover described as ‘the named 2015 Australian of the Year and her Kelly Gardiner for a discussion about national bestsellers. In Quarterly Essay 59, best television writing since Clive James’. memoir, A Mother’s Story, is out this month. writing feminist storylines in contemporary, David turns his enquiring mind towards Bill Join us after Clementine Ford and Rosie’s Join Rosie and ABC Radio Melbourne’s Rafael historical and speculative fiction, along with Shorten. Join David and Barrie Cassidy for sold-out conversation event for an encore Epstein for an inspiring conversation. the importance of feminist storylines in a discussion about the man who would be event with Rosie where she will discuss her books for teens. Tickets are $10 per person and all funds will prime minister, and how the union movement darkly comic memoir, The Anti-Cool Girl. go to The Readings Foundation. Please book at continues to shape the Labor Party. Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events readings.com.au/events Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events Wednesday 16 September, 4.30pm Monday 21 September, 6.30pm Tuesday 8 September, 9pm Thursday 24 September, 6.30pm Readings Hawthorn Church of All Nations, 180 Palmerston St., Carlton Readings Carlton Readings Hawthorn READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015 5

Join Paul Dalgarno for the launch of his LESLEY & TAMMY memoir of emigration from Scotland to 24 WILLIAMS Melbourne, And You May Find Yourself. Thursday 10 September, 6.30pm Join mother and daughter Lesley and Tammy Readings Carlton Williams as they discuss their new memoir, Not Just Black and White, and reflect on their Come along to the launch of Jane Rawson & extraordinary lives, the power of family and James Whitmore’s The Handbook: Surviving the importance of history, taking us from and Living with Climate Change. Cherbourg Aboriginal Settlement to Michael Thursday 10 September, 6.30pm Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, to the United Readings St Kilda Nations and beyond. Join leading genetic scientist Dr Margaret Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events Smith and health writer Sue Williams for the Thursday 24 September, 6.30pm launch of their book, Gene Genius. Readings Carlton Thursday 24 September, 6.30pm Readings St Kilda SHEILA 28 FITZPATRICK IN CONVERSATION WITH A peek at October STEPHEN WHEATCROFT & November events Joseph Stalin was the unchallenged dictator of the Soviet Union for so long that most DRUSILLA historians have dismissed the officials 12 MODJESKA IN surrounding him as mere yes-men. Join Sheila October Fitzpatrick as she discusses On Stalin’s Team, CONVERSATION her revealing new book which overturns this WITH MARK RUBBO view, with Stephen Wheatcroft. Join Mark Rubbo and Drusilla Modjeska as they celebrate the publication of Drusilla’s Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events memoir, Second Half First, with a chat about Monday 28 September, 6.30pm Drusilla’s lifetime of writing and the work Readings Carlton of the organisation she founded, SEAM (Sustain Education Art Melanesia), to MILES ALLINSON support community-based projects in Papua 29 IN CONVERSATION New Guinea. WITH SEAN O’BEIRNE Tickets are $15 per person and all proceeds will Miles Allinson’s debut novel, Fever of Animals, be donated to the SEAM Fund. Please book at readings.com.au/events won the Victorian Premier’s Unpublished Manuscript Award in 2014. Join Miles and Monday 12 October, 6.30pm Church of All Nations, 180 Palmerston St., Sean O’Beirne for a discussion about this Carlton beautifully written meditation on art and grief, set in Europe on the trail of the Romanian surrealist Emil Bafdescu, who disappeared MAGDA SZUBANSKI into a forest in 1967. 28 IN CONVERSATION October Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events WITH JO CASE Tuesday 29 September, 6.30pm In her new memoir Reckoning, Magda Readings Carlton Szubanski, one of Australia’s most beloved

performers, takes us from her suburban CRAIG CASTREE ON childhood – haunted by the demons of her 30 EDIBLE GARDENS father’s espionage activities in wartime Poland and by her secret awareness of her sexuality You may recognise gardening expert Craig – to the complex dramas of adulthood. Join Castree from his regular guest appearances Magda and Melbourne Writers Festival on Channel 31’s programme Vasili’s Garden. program director Jo Case as they discuss To celebrate spring and the release of his Reckoning, the shadows we inherit, and the book, Edible Gardens: A Practical Guide, gifts we pass on. Craig will be talking about edible gardens versus vegetable gardens. Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events Wednesday 28 October, 6.30pm Free, but please book at readings.com.au/events Readings St Kilda Wednesday 30 September, 6.30pm Readings Carlton ANNABEL CRABB 13 IN CONVERSATION September Launches November WITH ADAM BANDT Politics aside, join us for a tremendous end- The Rosie Project’s Graeme Simsion will of-event-year bash with journalist and social launch Leah Kaminsky’s new novel, The commentator Annabel Crabb as she chats Waiting Room. with Adam Bandt about all things delicious. Tuesday 1 September, 6.30pm To celebrate the release of Annabel’s Readings St Kilda cookbook, Special Delivery, the night will include wine and tasty recipe samples. Gary Foley will launch Clare Land’s Decolonizing Solidarity: Dilemmas and Tickets are $35 per person and places are strictly Directions for Supporters of Indigenous Struggles. limited. Please book at readings.com.au/events Thursday 3 September, 6.30pm Friday 13 November, 6pm Readings Carlton Readings Hawthorn

GP Bill Williams will be in conversation about his memoir of brain injury and recovery, Bleed, with Professor Fred Mendelsohn. For more information and updates, please visit the events page at readings.com.au/events. Please Wednesday 9 September, 6.30pm Readings Carlton note bookings do not necessarily guarantee a seat and some events may be standing room only. 6 READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015

Mark’s News and views from Readings’ Managing Director, Say Mark Rubbo

Last month I went to an event at our Hawthorn shop to celebrate the publication of The Hush Treasure Book. The book is a collection of original writings and illustrations by some of Australia’s leading children’s authors, and lots of the contributors came to read their stories to a huge crowd. The book comes out of the Hush Music Foundation which was established by physician Dr Catherine Crock. While working with young cancer patients at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, she noticed that some pieces of music had a calming effect on her patients. Cathy enlisted the help of some of Australia’s foremost musicians and composers to produce a range of music to help children and their parents during medical procedures. The result is a special compilation of soothing music designed to calm and relax people of all ages. The progression from music to pictures was a natural one, and The Hush Treasure Book is an absolutely gorgeous children’s picture book of wonderful, original affirming stories and illustrations. When the Hush Music Foundation first mooted the idea, we were so excited that we immediately put money into the project. All profits from the book go to the Hush Music Foundation which supports children’s hospitals around Australia. I’m sure this book will sell out, so if you have children or grandchildren snap one up quickly – from Readings of course! The 2nd of September is Indigenous Literacy Day, and Readings is donating 10% of our book sales on the day to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF). The ILF aims to raise literacy levels and improve the opportunities of Indigenous Australians living in remote and isolated regions. It was founded by Queensland bookseller Suzy Wilson and is supported by booksellers, authors, publishers and readers. My colleague Emily Harms visited the Tiwi Islands last month to see the work the Foundation was doing there and she described it as a wonderful insight into the rewarding two-way exchange between the ILF and the Tiwi Island community. Author Richard Flanagan donated $40,000 from his share of the Prime Minister’s Literary Award to the ILF, and we have his brother Martin helping us mark Indigenous Literacy Day with a talk that evening at our Carlton shop about his book on footballer and Aboriginal activist Michael Long, The Short Long Book (see page 4 for the event details). This September, any donations to The Readings Foundation in-store or online (readings.com.au/the-readings-foundation) will go to support the ILF.

Dear Alison Huber, Reader Head Book Buyer

September in Melbourne is usually associated with a certain feverish state, namely Footy Finals Fever. It may not be surprising to hear that this common ailment does not affect me, but this year I don’t feel so left out because bookish fevers of other kinds give one plenty of reason to cheer and swoon. This is the month we celebrate the release of Fever of Animals, our Book of the Month, and the seriously wonderful debut novel from our colleague in St Kilda, Miles Allinson. I just finished reading an advance copy of this book, and I share our reviewer’s enthusiasm for this unique work about art, which is itself a work of art. The brightness of Miles’s talent is clear, and I’m just pleased to be in its general orbit. His book joins a number of debut Australian novels this month, including Shirley Barrett’s highly anticipated, Rush Oh!, Jenny Ackland’s speculative riff on the story of Ned Kelly, The Secret Son, and Leah Kaminsky’s tale of memory and family, The Waiting Room. Fans around the world have been longing for the fourth and final of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, and at last it arrives this month. It’s no secret that our staff are hugely in love with these books (as our reviewer, perhaps the loudest in the cheer squad, puts it, she ‘can’t recommend them highly enough’); you can join in their fervour at our Ferrante Fever event in the Carlton store on 17 September. Personally, I have been suffering dreadfully from Franzen Fever. Purity hits our shelves this week, and is going to be one of the most talked about international releases of the year. Like all great novelists, Jonathan Franzen tends to incite passions of both the positive and negative variety, so you can expect to hear a lot of opinions about this book: make sure yours is informed by actually reading it! (It’s brilliant, by the way!) Franzen shares the spotlight with William Boyd, whose Sweet Caress promises to win him new admirers as he plays with fact, fiction and visual culture. John Banville, Pat Barker, Iain Pears, Patrick de Witt, Ron Rash and Scarlett Thomas all have new novels this month, along with two young writers making a buzz in the US, Stephanie Clifford (Everybody Rise) and Lauren Holmes (Barbara the Slut), and Bill Clegg’s Man Booker Prize-nominated, Did You Ever Have A Family. Meanwhile, David Lagercrantz picks up where Stieg Larsson left off with The Girl in the Spider’s Web. The best book title award this month must go to Gore Vidal’s biography, written by Jay Parini, Every Time a Friend Succeeds Something Inside Me Dies; I feel like there has to be a German word for that sentiment that means the opposite of schadenfreude. A heap of memoirs appear this month, including Larissa Dubecki’s hilarious account of working in the hospitality industry, Prick with a Fork; rising star Rosie Waterland’s recollections of a difficult childhood, The Anti-Cool Girl; and Lesley & Tammy Williams’ mother–daughter dialogue, Not Just Black and White. Further required reading this month includes The Economics of Inequality, the precursor to Thomas Piketty’s landmark work, Capital in the Twenty-First Century; Jane Rawson & James Whitmore’s practical primer on how to survive climate change in The Handbook; and Granta’s authoritative collection, New American Stories. And did I mention, dear reader, that Yotam Ottolenghi’s new cookbook, Nopi, co‑written with the restaurant’s head chef Ramael Scully, will be in store on 16 September ...? Cue Ottolenghi Fever! READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015 7

The Readings Prize New Fiction for New Australian Fiction 2015 shortlist announced Book of the Month

The Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction (originally known as the Readings New Australian Writing Award) supports published Australian FEVER OF ANIMALS authors of fiction and recognises exciting and exceptional new contributions Miles Allinson to local literature. The inaugural winner of The Readings Prize was Scribe. PB. $29.99 Ceridwen Dovey for her collection of short stories, Only the Animals. $24.99 The judges from Readings for the 2015 Prize are Readings managing director Miles Allinson’s Fever of Animals was just a pile of loose A4 Mark Rubbo, St Kilda shop manager Amy Vuleta, Readings Monthly editor pages when I first read it, as a judge for the 2014 Victorian Elke Power and Hawthorn book buyer Danielle Mirabella. Hannah Kent, Premier’s Unpublished Manuscript Award – which Fever of Animals author of Burial Rites and co-founder and co-publishing director of literary ultimately won. It fundamentally impressed and roused me, and I journal Kill Your Darlings, will be joining the judging panel as special guest judge for the final round was stoked that we judges could agree that it stood out from the of deliberations to select the winner from the shortlist. The winner will be announced in the November hundred-something entries – no mean feat, considering that 2014 Readings Monthly, and will receive $4,000. wasn’t a shallow pool: three other manuscripts (that I know of ) among the runners-ups and commended lists have also since been acquired by Australian publishers. The Readings judging team has read a wealth of debut and second works of Australian fiction and, after lengthy deliberations, selected the six titles you see below for the 2015 shortlist. While the judges return to their deliberations you can read their comments below, and also join Readings and Kill Your Fever of Animals ‘fundamentally Darlings for an event to celebrate the shortlisted books by coming along to the Shortlist Showdown at impressed and roused me.’ which six readers/writers will mount a case for why their favourite book should win. More than any other reason, I was stoked for the manuscript to win the award because I knew it would mean that publishers would read it not as they might have one day (as an IN THE QUIET unsolicited submission, probably offhandedly) but instead as a book-in-waiting. Is this a slight on the work, on its onerousness? No — books often benefit from their backstories. A Eliza Henry-Jones slight on the industry, or even on our neoliberalist society? Perhaps, but that’s not for here. Fourth Estate. PB. $29.99 Fever of Animals has a plot, sure, as much as every person’s day and every person’s week ‘In the Quiet is a beautiful and tender debut novel. Eliza Henry-Jones is a and every person’s life could be said to have a plot. It is about searching, and it is about our bright new talent in Australian literature with a voice that is accomplished, narrator’s interlinked searches: he seeks to understand why he pushed his partner–lover fresh and utterly engaging.’ away, he seeks information on a not-well-known dead surrealist painter, he seeks meaning. The book is also ‘about’ much more: time, nature, relationships, drinking, longing, regret, language, running, cruelty, and art, amongst other things. Miles Allinson is unashamedly a serious writer, in the mould of dark luminaries like LAST DAY IN THE DYNAMITE FACTORY Roberto Bolaño, Thomas Bernhard, Robert Walser, and perhaps W.G. Sebald. And Fever of Annah Faulkner Animals takes itself seriously, like good art should do. It takes itself seriously like John Maus’s Picador. PB. $32.99 songs do and Rick Amor’s paintings do and Vivian Maier’s photos do and Abbas Kiarostami’s films do and Samuel Beckett’s plays do. And it takes you seriously. All it asks is that you take it ‘Annah Faulkner is a gifted storyteller. Following her Miles Franklin seriously back, and to do so is pleasurable and challenging and nourishingly sad. shortlisted debut, The Beloved, her highly anticipated second novel is unique and deftly weaves its characters’ stories and the events of the past into Samuel Cooney is a freelance writer and editor, the publisher of The Lifted Brow and a former judge of the Victorian Premier’s Unpublished Manuscript Award the present.’

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD Australian Fiction many of the most apparently fanciful parts Stephanie Bishop of the story turn out to be grounded in real historical events. Hachette. PB. Was $29.99 Barrett does not shy away from the $26.99 RUSH OH! Shirley Barrett brutality of hunting whales with harpoons, ‘Stephanie Bishop’s second novel is a timeless examination of homesickness Picador. PB. Was $32.99 but this story’s morals are satisfyingly and belonging, and a masterful portrait of a marriage. It is exquisite: elegant, $27.99 complex. Mary and her siblings struggle profound, and unforgettable.’ to reconcile the violence of their family Mary Davidson is business with the need to make enough the eldest money to eat. One of the most moving daughter of a whaling scenes in the book sees Mary confront HEAT AND LIGHT family living in Eden her aging father after he rows out to kill a Ellen van Neerven on the rugged south whale on his own, for reasons he cannot UQP. PB. $22.95 coast of New South fully explain. Wales. In Rush Oh!, she ‘Ellen van Neerven’s stories draw the reader in with a quiet urgency that is Rush Oh! is a thoroughly enjoyable blend narrates her family’s hard to resist. Her imagery leaves deep impressions on the mind, and her of gentle melancholy and warm humour. characters linger. Heat and Light is an affecting and commanding work of tumultuous Eleanor Jenkins is from Readings Carlton fiction from an impressive new talent.’ experiences during the whaling season of 1908. It comes as little surprise that eking out a living based on THE PROMISE SEED the unpredictable movements of whales Cass Moriarty HOT LITTLE HANDS and the weather proves to be difficult; the UQP. PB. $29.95 Abigail Ulman surprising part is that Mary’s story is so When his Hamish Hamilton. PB. $29.99 bittersweet, relatable and funny. ten-year-old ‘This collection of short stories offers an effortless and intelligent read. Much of the book’s wry humour neighbour starts comes from Mary’s attempts to woo the Whether you can recognise or relate to the characters and their experiences, visiting him, an old mysterious new crew member, John Beck. or behold them with voyeuristic unease or a sort of anthropological man begins to reflect Equally endearing are author Shirley fascination, Hot Little Hands is a book that demands an audience.’ on his life. As the two Barrett’s portraits of the whaling crew, bond tentatively over who include several seasoned Indigenous gardening, chess and whalers, a nervous ex-Methodist minister chickens, their ARMS RACE and the disreputable Salty, self-appointed alternative narratives ‘Professor of Whales’. slowly entwine, unlocking both painful and Nic Low The most compelling aspect of the happy memories, forcing each to confront Text. PB. $27.99 story is the cooperation between the Eden his demons. A humble coriander seed ‘The strength of these stories, and indeed the pleasure in reading them, lies in whalers and the pod of Killer whales becomes an unlikely and exotic metaphor their absurdity and cleverness, which, without artifice, engages the reader in living in Twofold Bay. Tom, the leader of for love and renewal in an otherwise the underlying social, cultural, or political comments they are making.’ the Killers, is drawn straight from Eden’s socially and culturally bland landscape whaling history and brought vividly to life, defined by fast food, game shows and his wilfulness and impatience causing just getting wasted. Can the old man give the as much frustration amongst the whalers boy a shred of hope for a normal life? For the full judges’ report and reviews of all the shortlisted titles, visit readings.com.au/news. as excitement. Barrett has drawn skilfully Set between post-war Queensland, See page 4 for the details of The Readings Prize Shorlist Showdown event at our Carlton shop. from newspaper reports of the time, and 1960s Melbourne and present-day 8 READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015

Brisbane, the threat of violence simmers THE LANDING has been worth the wait. I’ll be thinking One supposes that Boyd has through this debut novel from the opening Susan Johnson about Purity and its characters – the kinds drawn on the life of the American war page. Moments of tenderness are routinely of flawed, odious, endearing messes that photographer, Margaret Bourke-White, A&U. PB. $29.99 crushed by moments of brutality that are both familiar and alien at their who was the first woman to be allowed Susan Johnson is a garner force as the novel progresses. extremes – for years to come. to work in combat zones. Intriguingly, funny woman. Moriarty tackles complex issues around It would be ludicrous for me even to Sweet Caress is illustrated by Amory’s Anyone who has read her parenting and family life – abandonment, try to gesture towards the complexities photographs, photographs that Boyd has previous work will abuse, betrayal and emotional health, of of this 600-page work’s plot in a 300- painstakingly found to match each period already value her ability men in particular – with sensitivity and word review, so instead let me highlight in Amory’s career. I enjoyed Sweet Caress to see the absurdity of insight. Her portrait of motherhood is some (but not all) of the themes it toys immensely; it’s a broad and compelling everyday monotonous especially and uncomfortably confronting. with: it’s about secrets and lies and narrative artlessly told and demonstrates routines. The Landing is Interestingly, like so many victims of truth and living in the internet age. It’s Boyd’s great skill as a writer. In short, it’s full of such observations, family violence reduced to nameless about inappropriate relationships, self- totally enjoyable. although it would not be considered a statistics, Moriarty’s main characters, the loathing, and (ultimately) the human humorous novel. It is more a snapshot of Mark Rubbo is the managing director of old man, the boy and his mother, remain need for intimacy, family and belonging middle-aged and middle-class people doing Readings anonymous throughout. in a world where the performance of what they need to do to get through the day. In an era of helicopter parenting and intimacy online can be mistaken for The story focuses on Jonathan Lott, a THE STORY OF THE LOST paranoia about inappropriate relationships really knowing someone. It’s about the man wealthy but stranded at his weekend CHILD between older adults and children, The oppressiveness of information. Its moods retreat, located a healthy distance from Elena Ferrante Promise Seed prompts us to consider what encompass the paranoia, anxiety and Brisbane. His wife has left him for a woman Text. PB. $29.99 has been lost in policing the development discomfort of surveillance, across the and here he is, alone, sad and restless. of genuine friendships between children eras of Stasi Germany and post-Wikileaks If you’re already Surrounding him and his loneliness is a and adults outside their family. While the USA, dispositions that are terrifying reading Elena cast of eccentric local residents. There novel tackles the horrific impact of abuse in their ordinariness. It explores the Ferrante’s Neapolitan are beautiful, interesting women; aging, head on, it also offers an alternative picture tensions between old media morality Novels, you know why disagreeable men; misfits; and, always, of positive friendships between young and as it sits against new media’s eagerness this author is considered there is the presence of his ex-wife. elderly people, one defined by nurturing for openness that is served with a side a literary sensation by The novel begins with Lott hosting a potential and sharing of wisdom. effect of corporate exploitation. Franzen readers worldwide. Her dinner party for an assortment of these Despite some small missteps, this is a asks, what is left of privacy, what value books are shattering and neighbours. It is here we become tangled powerful story, simply told, that delivers an truth, what morality and ethics of care enthralling, intimate in the lives of others. We know who drinks emotionally satisfying reading experience. exist when everything secret is recorded, and vicious. If you too much, who yearns too greatly, and Many readers may, like me, be moved to everything personal is almost always haven’t read the first three books in this who searches for too long. Lott’s desire to tears in the closing chapters. Redemption, exposed? In the end, when will the jig be series, I really must insist you go and do so be seen as social, coping, interested and when it comes, is worth the wait. up for all of us? immediately. interesting means he acutely observes the An elliptical narrative structure takes With The Story of the Lost Child, Sally Keighery is a freelance reviewer pain of others. Johnson has always been able the reader off on tangents of faith, but Ferrante brings the reader full circle to the to eloquently describe that which is hidden be assured that each diversion wends its beginning of book one, My Brilliant Friend. THE SECRET SON in us all. She understands the everyday way back towards the centre, and as this This final instalment did not disappoint. Jenny Ackland stoicism needed to survive one’s lot. masterfully constructed plot winds tighter From the opening pages I was once more A&U. PB. $29.99 This novel is an aide-mémoire that we and tighter towards the novel’s conclusion, immersed within the world of Elena and all travel through sorrow and memories, The Secret Son the tension builds to an almost unbearable Lila. The Neapolitan Novels are the kind that we all try too hard at times to be heard weaves two level. This is writing to marvel at, its of books that swallow me whole. As soon and appreciated, and that often we are stories that continue to writer a soothsaying chronicler of the age. as I pick one up, I don’t want to breathe or simply peculiar. The Landing is an emotional shape the Australian Can you tell that I loved this book? Please, move lest I break the spell. testament to arriving at peace. Johnson’s psyche with an read it now. At the end of book three, Those underbelly of rebellion language makes this voyage, alongside Lott, Who Leave and Those Who Stay, Elena Alison Huber is the head books buyer for and republicanism. easy to navigate. The Landing is a quick and makes a life-altering decision that Readings What if Ned Kelly had a purely delightful read. sees her returning home – to Lila and son who fought at Chris Gordon is the events manager for SWEET CARESS to the complicated ecosystem of their Gallipoli and remained Readings neighborhood in Naples. Ferrante’s after the war? Does it matter if it’s untrue? William Boyd depiction of this neighbourhood is Jenny Ackland’s debut novel cleverly THE WAITING ROOM Bloomsbury. PB. $29.99 utterly compelling: claustrophobic and guides us into that space of suspension of Leah Kaminsky There’s a small deeply marked by violence, a place disbelief where truths in fiction question Vintage. PB. $32.99 group of us at where the political and domestic are the very essence of truth. Readings who are great inseparable from one another. Having Dina, born in Melbourne James Kelly is raised by his mother to lead fans of William Boyd, left for another life, Elena’s position to Holocaust survivors, a simple life and told not to ask questions. with one of my in this neighbourhood is tenuous and is a family doctor living Arriving in Melbourne from country Victoria, colleagues claiming his her homecoming lacks the bittersweet in Haifa, Israel. After he quickly grows from a bee-keeping farm Any Human Heart as quality often associated with such a making a new start in lad to a bookish newspaperman and is soon one of her favourite return. Meanwhile, Lila has grown into a the Promised Land, she off for the Turkish front. It is 1915 and he is books. Boyd is a master powerful figure among their friends and finds her life falling determined to stay alive and kill no man, but storyteller who weaves families, not without putting herself at apart beneath the his fate is determined by a fond heart and history into his narratives and does so risk. The bond between the women is as demands of a marriage an unexamined past. Readers will wrestle absolutely convincingly. In Sweet Caress (as fraught as ever, by turns taut and then starting to fray, the with this in a parallel narrative, largely set in Any Human Heart) he places his slack, always oscillating between fear and ever-present threat of terrorism and in the Turkish village of Hayat during the character against the broad sweep of desire that one or the other might drop memories she’d prefer to leave on the other mid-1990s. The book opens with young Cem history and, in this case, most of the their end of the rope. side of the world. Leah Kaminsky plumbs the travelling from Australia searching for his twentieth century. The confessional tone of these books depths of her characters' memories in a single family roots in Turkey. As it turns out, he Amory Clay was born in 1908; she was and the author’s own mysterious absence climactic day to uncover a truth that could meets a history professor setting out for the supposed to be a boy and so was given the from public life inevitably suggest these save Dina’s sanity – and her life. same village. slightly androgynous name. When she was a works are autobiographical, and none Ackland draws the plot with finesse teenager her father tried to drown them both more so than The Story of the Lost Child. as the narrators move through time. International Fiction by driving their car into a lake. Fortunately, Here, Ferrante explicitly looks at the act Spanning a century, there is a tiny element it was shallow, although her father confided of writing and how it impacts on life. The of Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, that he had thought it was deeper. power of words is a recurring theme in where the all-knowing and mystical Aunt PURITY Later, an interest in photography the series; from the copy of Little Women Berna sees fortunes in the beans or wishing- Jonathan Franzen leads her to become an assistant to her the two girls buy in book one, through trees. However, while the village scenes Fourth Estate. PB. Was $32.99 mother’s brother, a society photographer. to Elena’s ambition as a writer now. are the most enjoyable, there is also a slight $27.99 Then, bored, she moves to Berlin and This emphasis on the power of words is reminder of Christos Tsiolkas’ hauntings Fellow lovers of photographs the clubs and brothels of fitting for these books, whose own words in Dead Europe where a man returned to Big American the Weimar Republic. Her subsequent have wielded their power over me. The a village with a family curse. But in Cem’s Novels, clear your exhibition scandalises London society and, Neapolitan Novels are among the most case there is a debt to repay and a history diaries: the new chastened, she moves to New York with important in my reading life. I can’t to unveil. While the Kelly story remains Jonathan Franzen is the promise of a job as a photographer recommend them highly enough. with an American magazine published by prominent, it’s a great hook and leaves here. It has been five Bronte Coates is the digital content plenty of space to explore the power of long years since her married lover. As war looms, Amory is coordinator for Readings. fiction and the truths it reveals. Franzen’s last work of posted to London and then to France with Luke May is a freelance reviewer fiction, Freedom, and it the Allied invasion. READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015 9

UNDERMAJORDOMO Oliver Orme is both loathsome the rules of his world. Meanwhile, in the follow in her mother’s footsteps, giving MINOR and likeable, in almost equal measure. real world, one of Lytten’s former herself to the family completely. When a Likeable because he’s so fantastically intelligence colleagues tracks him down new heir is born, a reign of violence Patrick deWitt skilled with language, and so candid in for one last assignment. Lytten discovers begins, and Nelly finds out what it is to Granta. PB. $27.99 the terrible things he’s done. Loathsome he is not sure how he wants his stories to know true sacrifice. After a brush with because he’s smart enough to have done end, nor even who is imaginary. death, the wistful things differently. WE NEVER ASKED FOR young misfit Lucien Oliver Orme – as well as being a EARLY ONE MORNING WINGS Minor decides to embark painter/painster – is a thief. A ‘picker- Virginia Baily Vanessa Diffenbaugh on a new life, leaving his up of unconsidered trifles’. One of the Little, Brown. PB. $29.99 Pan Macmillan. PB. $29.99 idyllic dead-end village to ‘unconsidered trifles’ he’s recently ‘picked In Rome in 1943, a As a single parent, Letty take up a post assisting the up and put in his pocket’ is Polly, the wife young woman, Chiara does everything for her majordomo of a remote of his best friend, Marcus. And that’s where Ravello, is about to flee two children – apart castle belonging to the we start the novel. With the affair being the occupied city. from raise them. Being a mysterious Baron Von discovered and Oliver Orme running away, Locking eyes with mother terrifies her Aux. At once a coward and a compulsive liar, leaving Polly to bear the brunt of what’s to another woman being more than she can admit, Lucy finds himself (through his own doing as come next. herded onto a truck, and so she’s always let much as fate) entangled with honourable The Blue Guitar is a beautifully written she makes a decision her mother take that thieves, partisan soldiers fighting a book, perfect for those of you who like your that changes her life role. But when her mysterious war, and the beautiful Klara. Then characters complex and your humour dark. there is the mystery of the elusive Baron, the for ever – claiming the mother suddenly leaves, Letty has to Gabrielle Williams is from Readings Malvern estranged Baroness, the demise of Lucy’s woman’s son as her confront her fears. Letty’s teenage son, predecessor, and the general air of unease own nephew. Gradually, over three decades, Alex, struggles to forgive his mother for that pervades every corner of the castle and THE SEED COLLECTORS we learn of the havoc wrought on Chiara, choices she made in the past. But he and threatens the sanity of its occupants. Scarlett Thomas her family and her friends by the boy she Letty are not so dissimilar – both prepared Undermajordomo Minor is not a novel Canongate. PB. $29.99 rescued, and how he eventually broke her to risk everything for those they love. of grand themes, or serious questions of Scarlett Thomas heart. A powerful tale of love, loss and the the human condition – though nuggets is a very prolific reverberations of war. WHISPERS THROUGH A of wisdom abound. It is a story told for young writer (The MEGAPHONE BEAUTY IS A WOUND the pleasure of storytelling, as much a Seed Collectors is her Rachel Elliott Eka Kurniawan surreal fairytale as a twisted comedy of ninth novel) and Viking. PB. $32.99 manners. Dialogue is punchy and witty, she’s also immensely Text. PB. $29.99 Miriam hasn’t left her almost Wildean in its playfulness. Lucy’s talented. Her witty The English-language house in years, and progress is narrated in short, sharp prose is captivating debut of Indonesia’s cannot raise her voice episodes, with small interstitial signposts from the first page of rising star, Beauty Is a above a whisper. But – in some ways the reading experience this sprawling and Wound combines today she has had is a little like the progression of a role- highly original family saga. It begins with history, satire, and enough, and is finally playing game, with characters moving the funeral of Great Aunt Oleander (all the family tragedy in an ready to rejoin the quickly from scene to scene. characters have botanical names) and it is epic novel, in which outside world. At times deWitt’s lightness of touch and soon revealed that she has left mysterious the beautiful Meanwhile, timid quirky turn of phrase can verge on twee, seed pods to some of her family members. prostitute Dewi Ayu psychotherapist Ralph discovers his wife but these moments are kept in check by We then get a glimpse inside each and her four Sadie doesn’t love him. He decides to run darker, more grotesque elements (not least character’s chaotic and dysfunctional daughters are beset by every monstrosity. away – but where can he go? Miriam and a pivotal scene in the castle’s ballroom that world before the fantastical secret of the Kurniawan’s gleefully grotesque hyperbole Ralph’s chance meeting in a local wood is as blackly comic as it is depraved) and a seed pods is revealed, leading to what can is a scathing critique of Indonesia’s marks the beginning of a quirky and shade of melancholy that holds the story only be described as some tragically troubled past, from colonialism and the mutually supportive friendship. back from out-and-out absurdity. comical outcomes. chaotic struggle for independence to DeWitt’s style can take some warming I am not normally a fan of magic realism Suharto’s despotic rule. Drawing on folk NEW AMERICAN up to, but fans of the Canadian author’s but it just works here and doesn’t detract tales and shadow-puppet plays, Beauty is a previous book The Sisters Brothers will from the realism of the characters who Wound is exuberant and ironic. STORIES feel at home straight away. Even for the you will come to love and loathe. A little Ben Marcus (ed.) uninitiated, Undermajordomo Minor is a warning, there are some racy bits, and I NOONDAY Granta. PB. $29.99 lively and immensely pleasurable read. think there’s a big question mark over the Pat Barker A collection of the Alan Vaarwerk is the editorial assistant for depiction of some of the sex, which can get Viking. PB. $32.99 best short fiction quite violent in parts, but it’s absolutely still being written in Readings Monthly Paul, Elinor and Kit worth reading to make up your own mind America, selected and first met in 1914, about whether this is necessary or not. introduced by Ben THE BLUE GUITAR before their Thomas’ writing is that rare Marcus, author of The John Banville generation lost hope, combination of smart, funny and satirical Flame Alphabet and Viking. PB. $32.99 faith and so much but without laboring the point. As well Leaving the Sea. New Right from page else on the Western as teaching creative writing, she has also American Stories one of John Front. Now it is studied ethnobotany, which looks at the presents the boldest, Banville’s new novel, you 1940, they are interrelationship between people and most innovative and know you’re in for a ride middle-aged, and plants, a subject that is very much at the most resonant fiction coming out of the with a tricky, slippery another war has heart of this novel. For me though, it’s American literary scene. From established character. Oliver Orme begun. London is a the characters that make this book, their masters of the form like Don DeLillo and describes himself as a haunted city. Some have even turned to thought processes will make you smile Lydia Davis to neoteric trailblazers such as thief and a painter, and séances in an attempt to contact lost loved and the dialogue is absolutely spot on. It’s Rebecca Curtis and Rachel B. Glaser, this then writes, ‘Ha! What I ones. As the bombs fall and the friends also a deceptively easy book to read but it’s collection is a must-read volume for wrote down first, instead of painter, was struggle to survive, old temptations and worth taking your time so as not to miss the readers of literary fiction. painster. A slip of the pen, slip of the mind.’ obsessions return, and all are forced to brilliant and astute satire on modern life. And in that strange, jarring sentence, you make choices about what they really want. EVERYBODY RISE realise that what he’s really alerting you to, Kara Nicholson is from Readings Carlton Stephanie Clifford right from the start, is the fact that he’s the NELLY DEAN Hachette. PB. $29.99 classic Trickster character of literature. That ARCADIA Alison Case you can’t trust him. About anything. Iain Pears HarperCollins. PB. $29.99 At 26, bright, funny and socially anxious On the one hand he goes into a full Faber. PB. $29.99 Nelly Dean is a gripping Evelyn Beegan has and detailed account of all the things he’s Henry Lytten – a spy and heartbreaking long felt like an experienced: his wife, his child, his family, turned academic and reimagining of life at outsider to her the house he grew up in, his beautiful writer – sits at his Wuthering Heights privileged peers and mother, the chip on his father’s shoulder. desk in Oxford in through the eyes of the social-climbing And then, just when you think you’re 1962, dreaming of Earnshaws’ loyal mother. But when getting a handle on what sort of character other worlds. Lytten servant, Nelly Dean. she gets a job at elite he is, he changes tack and goes down a imagines a highly Young Nelly has been social network completely different path, skittering away advanced and Hindley’s closest People Like Us, she from you like an undisciplined child. And regulated society companion for as long as she can steps into a promised land of private laughing over his shoulder as he drags you trying to master time remember. But when the master brings a schools and society pages. The lure of along behind him. travel, and an 11-year-old boy questioning wild child into the house, Nelly must 10 READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015 belonging is intoxicating and Evelyn soon New Crime Dead Write POST MORTEM tries to pass as old money herself. But as Kate London money and class collide, Evelyn’s position with Fiona Hardy Atlantic. PB. $24.99 on the rickety social ladder begins to shake. After every rise, must there be a fall? While fiction is Crime Book of the Month wonderful because BARBARA THE SLUT anyone (including AND OTHER PEOPLE RESURRECTION BAY you, dear reader) Emma Viskic can have a crack at Lauren Holmes Echo. PB. $27.99 PB it, when an author HarperCollins. PB. $27.99 While I love a solely plot-driven book as much as I love a truly knows the A woman takes a job blustery action movie (i.e. a LOT), a book that has world they write selling sex toys in San characters of real depth and diversity, like Resurrection Bay, is about, it really Francisco; a daughter quite simply a pleasure to read. And having diversity in a shines through. hauls a suitcase of book’s characters is, quite honestly, a relief: it shows awareness Kate London lingerie to Mexico for of the world around us, one that is not full of much-loved spent eight years her estranged mother cookie-cutter crime staples but actual humans. in The Met’s homicide squad, and to resell there; and a everything that Detective Sergeant Sarah Here, we follow a profoundly deaf main character, his 57-year- young woman named Collins does sounds unflinchingly old female ex-cop detective partner, his Koori ex-wife and her extended family, a Barbara navigates her accurate, but never feels like dull selection of good-to-partly-good and bad-to-monstrously-bad cops, and friends and high school’s toxic, minutiae in the least. And it’s riveting passers-by, all of them involved in a case that beats down your door and knocks you slut-shaming culture watching Collins at the crime scene at the with open eyes. Lauren Holmes tackles eros heart of the book: two people have fallen and intimacy with a deceptively light touch ‘While I love a solely plot-driven book as much as I love a blustery to their deaths off a building – a teenager in this fresh, honest, and darkly funny debut action movie (i.e. a LOT), a book that has characters of real depth and and a police officer – and on the rooftop, collection about family, friends, and lovers, clinging to each other, are a young boy and the flaws that make us most human. diversity, like Resurrection Bay, is quite simply a pleasure to read.’ and another officer, who then disappears hours later. A gripping procedural. DID YOU EVER HAVE out cold from page one, when Caleb Zelic responds to a friend’s alarming message A FAMILY only to find him torn to shreds. Caleb and Gary have been friends since they were THE KILLING KIND Bill Clegg children, tearing up Resurrection Bay as rowdy kids, before Gary became a cop and Chris Holm Jonathan Cape. PB. $32.99 Caleb a detective of a different kind. So when the police seem determined not to Mulholland. PB. $29.99 On the morning of her follow any leads, Caleb knows he must hunt his friend’s killer himself, no matter Say you’re a bit of a daughter’s wedding, where that search may lead. terrible person. June Reid’s house And it leads, inevitably, to him bunkering down in his ex-wife’s house, a Perhaps you’ve goes up in flames, relationship ruined by personal tragedy and stubbornness, but one he still treasures. laundered some destroying her entire Kat and he have unfinished business, but whether they can tie their loose ends money using your family. Fleeing from together before Gary’s killers slice them apart is another thing. There are breathless business. Perhaps the carnage, stricken scenes of tension – when your main character cannot hear, what happens when worse. (Not you and alone, June finds you’re fighting for your life in the sand and you can’t hear what the other person personally, of herself in a motel is yelling at you? – and times when I was guiltily desperate to skip ahead just to course – Readings room by the ocean, make sure the people I loved were going to make it through okay. And in the capable customers are hundreds of miles signing hands of Viskic – a Ned Kelly short story award winner – you never know excellent people.) from her Connecticut home, held captive by what’s around the corner, in the very best kind of way. Anyway, someone’s memories and the mistakes she has made. In found you out, and now they want you the turbulence of grief and gossip left in dead. That’s bad for you. But Michael June’s wake we slowly make sense of the Hendricks has found out. And that’s bad something to change the world instead unimaginable. The novel is a gathering of BLACK-EYED SUSANS news – for them. Hendricks is someone of busting small-scale crimes. Dimitri voices, and each testimony has a new Julia Heaberlin who is very good at killing very bad Telegonus draws a short straw with his revelation about what led to the catastrophe. Penguin. PB. $32.99 people, and he’s on the side of good new partner, who has the knowledge yet At sixteen, Tessa is – though, when it comes to murder, good none of the drive – but has already found in a field full of is a fairly loose term, and no one is ever ABOVE THE WATERFALL worked on the case they are assigned, flowers, along with far from the business end of a gun. This Ron Rash the 1994 disappearance of a 24-year-old the dead bodies of detailed thriller is gloriously Text. PB. $29.99. Available 9 September Sydney escort. So what happened to three other women. atmospheric, full of character and as fast Enduring the mistakes Renee Summers? A meaty, excellent She is the only as a sniper’s bullet. and tragedies that have thriller by a seasoned and lauded survivor, and two of indelibly marked them, Australian author. them are nothing but Les, a long-time sheriff bones. Their killer is True Crime just three weeks from THE GIRL IN THE found, prosecuted, retirement, and Becky, imprisoned. But nearly twenty years later, SPIDER’S WEB a park ranger with a WILD MAN just as his execution looms, Tessa finds David Lagercrantz harrowing past, are something planted outside the house she Maclehose Press. PB. $27.99 Alecia Simmonds drawn together by a shares with her daughter: Black-Eyed Affirm Press. PB. $29.99 reverence for the A book so Susans, out of season, and put there on In April 2012 a man natural world. When an irascible elderly local secretive that it her birthday. This is a tale just as chilling was shot dead by is accused of poisoning a trout stream, Les was written on a as its premise, and Tessa, trying to claw police on a remote and Becky are forced to question themselves computer with no her memories out of the darkness of the farm in New South and test their tentative bond. internet connection past, is memorable – personable but lest it get hacked, Wales. The victim, TRIGGER MORTIS tough, a survivor but in danger – and this here is the who was high on a story a thrill that blooms (sorry) from the controversial cocktail of drugs Anthony Horowitz first page. fourth book in the and suffering from a Orion. PB. Was $29.99. Available 8 September. Millennium series, mental illness, had $26.99 DETECTIVE WORK begun by Stieg been threatening Anthony Horowitz’s John Dale Larsson and now attendees of a Bond is sure to delight Xoum. PB. $29.99 continued by fellow Swedish writer hippie festival with a crossbow and a fans of the original 007 hunting knife. When the police arrived, It’s a good title, of David Lagercrantz, who had free rein on novels and new readers they were unable to subdue him. In Wild course: it tells you where to take the story. It sees the alike. Beginning in the Man, Alecia Simmonds follows the exactly what’s going return of everyone’s favourite lethal world of Grand coronial inquest into these tragic events. on inside. Detective eponymous capital-g Girl, the excellent Prix and with an She examines the tensions between the work at its best, Lisbeth Salander, who is again onside attempt by the Russians hunting party to which the victim spearheaded by a with Millennium journalist Mikael to sabotage a race at the belonged and the community attending cop who’s just been Blomkvist and on the trail of a secret so most dangerous track in Europe. Bond is in the festival, she reveals what really promoted to a new powerful that will again put them in the driving seat but events swiftly take an happened that night, and delves into the unsolved crime unit danger, after so narrowly escaping it in unexpected turn, pitching him into an broader societal issues raised in the course and is determined the past. entirely different race with implications of the inquest, including drug use, to finally do that could change the world. violence, mental health, and safety. FEVER OF ANIMALS Miles Allinson Scribe. PB. Was $29.99 $24.99 CRIME ‘This is an exquisite, painterly novel, Fiction and Allinson is a writer destined for a cult following.’ CLOSE YOUR EYES – Emily Bitto, Stella Prize-winning Michael Robotham author of The Strays Sphere. PB. $29.99 ‘The grand master of this dark genre.’ PURITY – The Weekend Australian Jonathan Franzen Fourth Estate. PB. Was $32.99 RUSH OH! $27.99 Shirley Barrett Picador. PB. $27.99 ‘It has been five long years since Franzen’s last work of fiction, ‘It comes as little surprise that eking Freedom, and it has been worth the out a living based on the unpredictable wait. I’ll be thinking about Purity movements of whales and the weather and its characters – the kinds of proves to be difficult; the surprising flawed, odious, endearing messes that part is that Mary’s story is so bittersweet, relatable and funny.’ A GAME FOR ALL THE are both familiar and alien at their FAMILY extremes – for years to come.’ – Eleanor Jenkins Sophie Hannah – Alison Huber Hodder & Stoughton. PB. $29.99 THREE MOMENTS OF ‘For those who demand emotional AN EXPLOSION DAY BOY intelligence and literary verve from their thrillers, Sophie Hannah is the China Mieville Trent Jamieson writer of choice.’ Macmillan. PB. $29.99 Text. PB. $29.99 – The Guardian ‘The writing, never less than excellent, ‘At the fingertips of a gifted writer takes many tones throughout the 28 there will always be new and stories ... his wit dazzles, his humour interesting takes on the vampire tale is lively, and the pure vitality of his and happily, Day Boy is one of them.’ imagination is astonishing ...’ – Melbourne Review of Books – The Guardian THE AMERICAN Nadia Dalbuono Scribe. PB. $32.99 ‘Detective Leone Scamarcio is a WIND/PINBALL straight cop with a bent history … Nadia Dalbuono has the ability to Haruki Murakami A GUIDE TO BERLIN throw out new information, red Harvill Secker. HB. Was $35 Gail Jones herrings, and glimpses into both $29.99 Vintage. PB. Was $32.99 $27.99 Scamarcio’s fractured past and ‘Which other author can remind current grappling with his morals.’ ‘I’ve always felt that Gail Jones is you simultaneously of Fyodor – Fiona Hardy Dostoyevsky and JK Rowling, not yet to receive the recognition she merely within the same chapter but on deserves. This is her sixth novel and the same page?’ it is, I believe, a masterpiece. It is a – The Independent beautifully constructed novel that builds slowly to its horrific and violent nothin' but the truth conclusion.’ – Mark Rubbo

ARCADIA R&R WILD MAN Iain Pears Mark Dapin Alecia Simmonds Faber. PB. $29.99 Viking. PB. $32.99 Affirm Press. PB. $29.99 ‘The future starts here: Pears’s tale ‘Forget whatever film you’ve seen or ‘Wild Man is neo-journalism from of the imagined worlds of spy turned book you’ve ever read about Vietnam the gates of hell. A study in modern academic and writer Henry Lytten [is] because Mark Dapin’s R&R will blow Australian gothic, madness and published as both a traditional book your mind away. Apocalypse Now horror.’ and an interactive app, the better to meets Good Morning Vietnam, – John Birmingham showcase its time-slipping narrative.’ R&R is hilarious, poignant and – The Guardian incredibly powerful.’ – ABC Queensland 2 READINGS MONTHLY FATHER'S DAY GIFT GUIDE 2015

THE AUSTRALIAN VICTORIES IN FRANCE IN 1918 John Monash BIOGRAPHY NON-FICTION Black Inc. HB. $45 ‘The definitive eyewitness account of Australia’s greatest military PENGUIN AND THE achievement by Australia’s greatest LANE BROTHERS military commander ... the most Stuart Kells important book ever written about Black Inc. HB. $39.99 Australia’s Great War.’ ‘The book [wears] the enormous – Hugh White WARRIOR ELITE amount of Kells’ research lightly … Robert Macklin essential reading for all those Hachette. PB. $35 CATCH AND KILL fascinated by ‘books about books’ Joel Deane and about the foundation stories of ‘Lively and engaging ... Macklin UQP. PB. $32.95 great businesses.’ never shies away from commenting – Books+Publishing on the politics of the time, which ‘Joel Deane writes about politics in makes Warrior Elite a fascinating the way it should be practised: with a alternative history of Australia’s last cool head, a warm heart and a sense 70 years.’ of humour.’ BOYHOODLUM – Bookseller+Publisher – George Megalogenis Anson Cameron Vintage. PB. Was $34.99 $29.99 ‘An evocative and entertaining ride LEADERSHIP IN through an Australian boyhood.’ ACTION – Ellen Dean AN ECONOMY IS NOT John Cantwell A SOCIETY MUP. PB. $24.99 Dennis Glover ‘An insight into the meaning and Redback. PB. $19.99 application of true leadership born ‘Dennis’s book is a thoughtful out of a lifetime of hard-won lessons reminder that these years of on the frontline.’ economic growth have not come – Ben Roberts-Smith VC, MG PRICK WITH A FORK without cost.’ Larissa Dubecki – Anthony Albanese A&U. PB. $29.99 ‘A lot like [Dubecki’s] restaurant THE MONEY MEN appraisals, but funnier, faster, and certainly more furious. This is the Chris Bowen ultimate kiss and tell book from one MUP. PB. $34.99 NOTES ON THE side of the food chain to the other.’ ‘Essential reading for anyone DEATH OF CULTURE – Chris Gordon interested in economics­ and politics, Mario Vargas Llosa including [Treasurer Joe] Hockey.’ Faber. HB. $35 – The Australian ‘In this provocative collection of essays, the Peruvian novelist and intellectual argues that the West’s THE SEVEN GOOD obsession with entertainment has YEARS dulled minds and turned politicians Etgar Keret into clowns.’ Scribe. PB. $27.99 – The Guardian TWO FUTURES ‘Brevity and craftsmanship blend with insight and observational humour like Clare O’Neil & Tim Watts that of David Sedaris, making The Text. PB. $29.99 Seven Good Years a vibrant and ‘A refreshing look at the big issues in highly enjoyable read.’ the decades ahead.’ SportY – Alan Vaarwerk – Laura Tingle, Political Editor, Australian Financial Review THE STRAIGHT DOPE Chip Le Grand FLESH WOUNDS MUP. PB. $29.99 Richard Glover ‘The Essendon supplements ABC. PB. $29.99 investigation became a wrecking ‘Sad, funny, revealing, optimistic and ball. Chip’s access to key players on hopeful.’ SILENT SHOCK both sides makes this a must read for – Jeanette Winterson Michael Magazanik anyone interested in the truth.’ Text. PB. $32.99 – Tim Watson ‘An extraordinary story … Magazanik has moulded [the Rowes’] story into a modern Australian myth, the battlers who took on the pharmaceuticals and won.’ EDDIE – The Age Michael Bodey THESE THINGS Hachette. PB. $32.99 HAPPEN Greg Fleet ‘Michael Bodey, one of Australia’s PanMacmillan. PB. $29.99 leading media writers, is one journalist who prefers to watch ‘You really have to read it.’ from the sidelines and let the facts – Irvine Welsh do the talking.’ – The Weekend Australian READINGS MONTHLY FATHER'S DAY GIFT GUIDE 2015 3

GUIDELINES FOR RICK STEIN: FROM MOUNTAIN LION VENICE TO ISTANBUL SAFETY ART & DESIGN Rick Stein Poe Ballantyne BBC. HB. $44.99 Was $55 Transit Lounge. PB. $29.95 $44.99 ‘It is not a book that flinches ... Thank MAP ‘You know a cookbook is good when goodness for Poe Ballantine, for while you’re pressing unsolicited copies of a Phaidon Editors he is around we have someone wise recipe onto workmates. Consider this Phaidon. HB. $75 and perceptive paying attention for us’ book a winter’s tale most divine.’ – Robbie Egan ‘This is a stunning book featuring – Fairfax NZ 300 beautiful maps of all types from around the world from 5000 years ago to the modern day, as well as WINDSORS WAY works of art inspired by cartography.’ – Emily Harms Tony Windsor MUP. PB. $32.99 SCIENCE JAPAN STYLE & NATURE ‘Instructive and insightful on many Gian Carlo Calza counts ... Windsor’s Way can be read Phaidon. PB. $49.95 as both a political memoir devoid of GUT party ideology and a common-sense ‘This is the perfect gift for those Giulia Enders guide to getting the best democratic fascinated by all aspects of Japanese Scribe. PB. $29.99 outcomes.’ culture including literature, cinema, – Bookseller+Publisher arts, crafts and architecture illustrated ‘A publishing sensation that ... sets out with traditional and contemporary to free toilet talk from its taboo!’ images.’ – The Times – Emily Harms VENOM DOC Brian Grieg Fry 30:30 LANDSCAPE Hachette. PB. $32.99 ARCHITECTURE ‘A story of one man’s grand Meaghan Kombol adventures and how they almost killed Phaidon. HB. $99.95 him. Venom Doc is darker, grittier, ‘A magnificent look at the best and funnier, and more enthralling than I brightest landscape architects around THE BRAIN’S WAY OF could have imagined.’ the globe.’ HEALING – Discover Magazine – Emily Harms Norman Doidge Scribe. PB. $35 ‘An exciting overview of powerful new neuroscience theories that connect mind, body, and soul ... A Michelin MONASH Guide to this hopeful new trove of Grantlee Kieza knowledge and insight.’ ABC. HB. $39.99 FOOD & booze – Boston Globe ‘A major book that gives us a full picture of Monash, the man behind the myth.’ – Emily Harms WAR OF THE HALLIDAY WINE WHALES COMPANION 2016 Joshua Horwitz S&S. PB. $24.99 James Halliday Hardie Grant. PB. Was $39.95 ‘War of the Whales reads like $33.95 the best investigative journalism, with cinematic scenes of strandings ‘Every year, one man spends four and dramatic David-and-Goliath months tasting 80 wines a day, courtroom dramas as activists starting before 7am. At the end of diligently hold the Navy accountable.’ P's & Q's it all, he doesn’t take a well earned – Huffington Post nap – instead, he writes an 800 page book.’ SIMPLY ENGLISH – ABC Radio National Simon Heffer THE ENERGY- Cornerstone. PB. $22.99 FREEDOM HOME A YEAR OF Beyond Zero Emissions ‘Simply English is much more Scribe. PB. $39.99 readable than a reference book has PRACTICULTURE any right to be.’ Rohan Anderson ‘The Energy-Freedom Home is the Hardie Grant. PB. $49.95 – The Guardian perfect guide to help home-owners ‘A temperate, seasonal cooking liberate themselves from costly and book with an edge of grit and grime, non-renewable sources of energy.’ or maybe that’s just the soil on the – Emily Harms garden-fresh vegetables.’ – Kirsten Bradley, Milkwood

RIDDLEDOM ATMOSPHERE OF David Astle TOAST HOPE A&U. PB. $29.99 Raquel Pelzel Tim Flannery Phaidon. HB. $29.95 ‘A great read, looks at the history Text. PB. $29.99 of riddles and also comes up with ‘Toast – of all things – is enjoying its ‘Thoughtful, candid and – yes – some crackers on his top 10 list [and] culinary moment. I’ve been doing it ultimately upbeat, Atmosphere of a section on what are called anti- all wrong, apparently … Pelzel has Hope could not be more timely. It is riddles …’ opened my eyes with insider tips [and] just the book the world needs right – ABC News Breakfast savoury snacks like fried chicken toast now.’ and sweet ones like apple pie toast.’ – Elizabeth Kolbert, author of – Laura McCandlish, The Sixth Extinction Portland Press-Herald 2 READINGS MONTHLY FATHER'S DAY GIFT1 GUIDE 20152 3

4 5

6 7

8 9

10

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12 13 14 ACROSS

4 Which fictional father famously calls it a ‘sin’ to kill a mockingbird? (7, 5) 15

6 What is the name of Stanley’s great, great grandfather in Louis Sachar’s Holes? (4, 7) 16 8 Which young girl’s reclusive grandfather lives on the 17 Swiss Alps and introduces her to the delights of fresh

goat cheese? 18

14 What is the name of the father (and disgraced English 19 Professor) in J.M. Coetzee’s novel Disgrace? (5, 5) 20 15 In Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Grandpa Joe Bucket is so excited when Charlie finds the Golden Ticket that he jumps out of bed and does what? 21

17 In which beloved rhyming picture book by Michael 22 23 Rosen and Helen Oxenbury, do a father and his 24 children encounter obstacles like ‘squelchy mud’ and ‘swishy grass’? (4, 5, 2, 1, 4, 4)

20 The Brontë sisters’ literary aspirations were reputedly 25 nurtured by their father. What was his name? (7, 6) 26 22 In Roald Dahl’s Danny The Champion of the World, what kind of birds does Danny’s father William long to poach? (9) 27 28 24 Which father forces his sickly son Linton into marriage to gain control of Thrushcross Grange? (10)

25 What is the name of the elephant who hatches an egg in a much-loved story by Dr Seuss? (6) 29 30 26 In which famous play does an ill-fated father attempt to murder his son in order to thwart a prophecy? (7) 3 In Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly 13 In Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden, Lord 27 In which of Shakespeare’s plays does the titular Close, Oskar is inspired to search for his father when he Archibald Craven is afraid his son will grow to be a character descend into madness after disposing of his finds a key in which household object? (4) hunchback like himself – until which contrary little girl estate between two of his three daughters based on helps change his mind? (4, 6) their flattery? (4, 4) 5 Who plays Liesel’s surrogate father in the film adaptation of Markus Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief? (8, 4) 16 Which Charles Dickens’ novel features blacksmith Jo 28 What is the name of Storm Boy’s reclusive father? (8, 3) Gargery as an enviable surrogate father to a young 7 In Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of boy named Pip? (5, 12) 29 In Tim Winton’s novel, The Riders, what is the name of Kavalier & Clay, what is Sammy Clay’s vaudeville actor the Billie’s father – Fred ... ? (6) father known as? (3, 6, 8) 18 In Looking for Alibrandi, what is the name of Josephine’s biological father – who she meets for the In Michelle Magorian’s , what 30 Goodnight Mister Tom 9 Who played Pa Ingalls in the 1974-1983 televised first time at 17? (7, 8) is the name of the village where Willie is sent by his adaptation of the Little House on the Prairie books by mother and in which he meets the gruff Mister Tom? Laura Ingalls Wilder? (7, 6) 19 Who is the author of the Readings customer favourite (6, 8) picture book, My Dad Thinks He’s Funny, illustrated by 10 Which classic French novel set on the French Tom Jellett? (7, 7) DOWN Riviera featured Cécile living with her playboy father Raymond? (7, 9) 21 What is the name of the novel in which Geraldine 1 In Jane Yolen’s picture book, Owl Moon, a father takes Brooks reimagines the story of the absent father of his daughter on a trek into the woods to view which 11 Jonathon Kent is the adopted father of which Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women? (5) owl? (5, 6, 3) superhero? (8) 23 Which Cormac McCarthy novel has been described as 2 What is the name of Cosette’s substitute father in 12 Which father takes a job as the off-season caretaker of the author’s ‘love letter to his son’? (3, 4) Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables? (4, 7) the historic Overlook Hotel, to terrifying results? (4, 8)

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New Non-Fiction how she came to slowly accept her illness are conversation between a mother and her how not to be a boy. some of the strongest parts of the book, and daughter. Her story is a frank and moving her observations of those suffering alongside testimony to the injustices and EVERY TIME A FRIEND Biography her are honest and moving. discrimination faced by Indigenous SUCCEEDS SOMETHING In several of the essays, Wright turns to Australians forced to live as ‘inmates’ in INSIDE ME DIES literature. She writes in detail about Christina government and church-run ‘settlements’ in Jay Parini PRICK WITH A FORK Stead’s For Love Alone and Tim Winton’s the middle of the last century. Orchard. HB. $55 Larissa Dubecki Cloudstreet, two Australian novels that feature Lesley was brought up in the Cherbourg A&U. PB. $29.99 hungry young women, and she weaves the Settlement in rural Queensland and, like An intimate yet frank I’ve been a fan of stories of the characters expertly around her many of her people, she was raised to work biography of Gore Vidal, one Larissa Dubecki’s own. as labourer/servant at the behest of the of the most accomplished, writing for a long time. I I loved this book. Wright is an state government. Life in the Settlement visible and controversial really like that she is not exceptionally talented writer. Her work is full was tightly controlled and highly American novelists and a poser. I enjoy her of empathy and it provides deep insight into regulated with weekly home inspections, cultural figures of the past restaurant reviews; she an enormously complex disease. insufficient food rations and strict work century. The product of thirty years of friendship is astute and droll. Prick Nina Kenwood is the digital marketing details for young and old alike; Lesley’s and conversation, Jay Parini’s biography with a Fork is a lot like manager for Readings elderly grandmother was forced to work her restaurant as a laundress even while she was the sole probes behind the glittering surface of Vidal’s appraisals, but funnier, THE ANTI-COOL GIRL guardian of nine grandchildren. Families colourful life to reveal the complex emotional and sexual truth underlying his celebrity- faster, and certainly more furious. In this Rosie Waterland lived under the constant threat of forcible strewn life. But there is plenty of glittering hilarious book, Dubecki makes her way HarperCollins. PB. $27.99 separation as individuals could be, and through her years as a waitress, a reviewer, often were, sent out of the community to surface as well – a virtual Who’s Who of the Rosie Waterland is and an owner at the best and worst remote locations on work contracts. American Century. frank, fearless and restaurants in town. Does she name them? Growing up in the era of the very, very funny. Reading Well, yes and no. Does she point fingers at Queensland Protection Act, Lesley THE MAN WITH THE her memoir, The Anti-Cool individuals in the restaurant world? She sure contributed decades of unpaid work. Wages GOLDEN TYPEWRITER Girl, feels in many ways does. Does she relate stories of how disgusting were held in trust by the government and Fergus Fleming (ed.) like sitting down to chat the general public is? Here, she does not hold only token pocket-money was given to the with a complete over- Bloomsbury. PB. $29.99 back. Is she shaming anyone by name? Well, workers. Many years later, widowed with sharer (a no-holds barred, After writing Casino she is too canny to do that, but goodness she is three young children, Lesley drew upon here’s-my-entire-life-story-so-far kind of Royale, the first in the close to the edge and it is fun to read. her tenacious spirit to guide her children conversation that takes place over a bottle or James Bond series, Ian Dubecki’s understanding of attitudes towards better outcomes. Tammy was more of wine, and ends at dawn with Fleming treated himself toward food is on glorious display and a a teenager when Lesley first began her emotional declarations of life-long friendship). to a gold-plated tribute to her years of involvement in the crusade to reclaim her ‘savings’ from the At 28-years old, Waterland is known to many typewriter. It was on this restaurant world. I was particularly partial government. A nine-year battle ensued for her hugely successful, laugh-out-loud glittering machine that to the artful way she has of combining food which saw mother and daughter take their funny recaps of The Bachelor on mamamia. he typed not only his descriptions with author influences, from story to Michael Jackson’s Heal the World com.au. But in focusing on her own chaotic bestselling novels, but Shakespeare to Orwell. With her ability to Children’s Congress and then on to the upbringing in The Anti-Cool Girl, Waterland also his letters. He wrote constantly, to his chart social phenomena feeding from and into United Nations Committee on the Rights of proves that she’s more than just a talented wife, publisher, editors, fans, friends and the restaurant scene over many years, this the Child conference in Switzerland. comedy writer. critics – his correspondence energetic, book is, in a sense, also a cultural history of Lesley and Tammy’s stories are not The blurb for The Anti-Cool Girl reads like engaging and direct, and full of wry Melbourne. It is the type of book that we, as just about confronting injustice, but also a checklist for a soap opera: addict parents, remarks, succinct comments and insightful consumers, can all read, nod along with and about sharing a vision for equity and overdoses, butchers’ knife attacks, rehab stints, observations. This book of his quietly learn from. I laughed so many times. I equality for all. eating disorders, schoolyard bullying, abusive correspondence shows the man behind spy read passages out loud countless times. Prick foster parents, suicide attempts and living in Natalie Platten is from Readings Malvern fiction’s most compelling hero. with a Fork is the ultimate kiss-and-tell tale the shadow of a near-perfect, beautiful older from one side of the food chain to the other, sister. It would be easy to dismiss a list like this THESE THINGS HAPPEN BRIEF CANDLE IN THE and a vivid portrait of life in Melbourne. as stranger than fiction. But, like Augusten Greg Fleet DARK Chris Gordon is the events manager for Readings Burroughs’ Running with Scissors, Waterland’s Macmillan. PB. Was $34.99 Richard Dawkins skill lies in retelling her life events in a blackly $29.99 SMALL ACTS OF Random House. PB. $35 funny way that keeps the reader giggling and For 25 years, Greg Fleet In An Appetite for Wonder DISAPPEARANCE engrossed throughout. has been one of Richard Dawkins brought Fiona Wright In turn, when she steps away from the Australia’s best-known us the engaging memoir of Giramondo. PB. $24.99 jokes to talk honestly about her experiences, comedians. For the same his first 35 years. In Brief Small Acts of Waterland’s writing is unfussy and raw. period, he’s had a drug Candle in the Dark he Disappearance is Reading these passages feels like being hit habit that has delivered follows the threads that Fiona Wright’s memoir of straight in the gut. Scenes such as coming to him comedy and tragedy have run through the her eating disorder. It’s terms with her father’s death, or descriptions in equal parts. A genius second half of his life, structured as a series of ten of the moments that her mother demonstrated wit and prodigious work ethic takes him homing in on the essays, and from the very real, tender love, are powerful because from NIDA and Neighbours to writing and institutions, ideas and exceptional characters first lines of the opening Waterland proves that she doesn’t always need performing around the world – while a that inspired and motivated him, from chapter, I was captivated to lace every story with her trademark wit. mutated yearning for true love leads to scientific fieldwork on the Panama Canal to by Wright’s voice: ‘I’ll Waterland has packed a lot into 28 years, addiction and an extraordinary downward publishing, television and the heady period of always remember the particular intensity that and her experiences as a child and teenager spiral. These Things Happen is Fleet’s being dubbed the world’s most outspoken and malnutrition brings on ... that alertness of encompass many of the toughest things hilarious, heartbreaking memoir of the controversial atheist. sensation, where every minute cell in the body life can throw at a person. While The Anti- life-or-death battle for his soul. is awake and alive to the smallest details of the Cool Girl does not shy away from tackling AUSTRALIAN WOMEN outside world.’ some heavy issues, Waterland’s strength as BOYHOODLUM WAR REPORTERS a storyteller allows the reader to trust that Anson Cameron Wright is an award-winning Australian Jeannine Baker a sense of humour (and bucket loads of Random House. PB. Was $34.99 poet, and her careful, skilful use of language NewSouth. PB. $39.99 is apparent on every page of this book. Her resilience) can take you all the way – and it $29.99 The stereotypical war essays tell of being in and out of hospital, makes for riveting reading. Boyhoodlum is the correspondent is a and of living in Sri Lanka, Berlin and Sydney. Stella Charls is the marketing and events hilarious confession of heroic, male reporter on Underpinning every piece is a larger story of coordinator for Readings an ingeniously devious the frontline, but women hunger: what it means to starve yourself, how and destructive boy. In reporters have been it feels, and why you would do it: ‘Hunger is, NOT JUST BLACK AND the late 1960s and early more numerous and I think, always an attempt to transcend the 70s, Anson Cameron WHITE significant than we ever body, to become something other, something waged guerrilla war on Lesley & Tammy Williams knew. Jeannine Baker more.’ his hometown in UQP. PB. $32.95 provides a much-needed Throughout many of the essays, Wright country Victoria. When Respected Murri account of the pioneering women who returns to the idea of what it means to be he wasn’t blowing his family TV to Elder Lesley reported from the biggest conflicts of the someone with an eating disorder, and her smithereens, he was electrocuting a friend’s Williams has a compelling twentieth century, from the rise of Nazism reluctance to accept that identity for herself: ‘I mother, or raining expletives on a genial story to tell. Written in to the beginnings of the Vietnam War, thought that eating disorders only happen to deaf neighbour. Brilliantly evoking an era in collaboration with her deftly linking the experiences of these women who are vain and selfish, shallow and which the Cisco Kid and Valiant Charger youngest child, Tammy, women and today’s women journalists of somehow stupid; it took me years to realise reigned supreme, Anson Cameron’s riotous this memoir reads like a war, allowing us to see both in a new light. the very opposite is true.’ Her reflections on memoir is a crash-investigator’s report on 16 READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015

TWO FUTURES RIDDLEDOM Australian Studies Art & Design Clare O’Neil & Tim Watts David Astle Text. PB. $29.99 A&U. PB. $29.99 with Margaret Snowdon UNDER COVER What will Australia be Welcome to the weird Craig Munro like in 2040? Will new word adventure ON THE STREET: Scribe. PB. $29.99 society be more from David Astle, 1980–1990 University of unequal? What will plunging into the realm Amy Arbus Queensland drive economic growth? of riddles, chasing down Rizzoli. HB. $79.95 Press (UQP) is a fine How should we respond and prising open 101 Between 1980–1990, independent publisher to climate change and curious questions from over five hundred of but from the early 70s regional instability? Too around the planet. A photographer Amy to the late 90s in often these questions get mindtrip across time Arbus’s impromptu particular it really churned up in the spin cycle of daily and place, Riddledom uncovers relics from and edgy portraits of punched above its politics. In this agenda-setting book, two over 50 cultures, delving into language and New Yorkers appeared weight. At one time or young parliamentarians take the long view. deception, sampling Pompeii walls and in the Village Voice’s another, its stable of They identify the dramatic changes Dothraki warriors. Readers can unravel monthly fashion authors included Peter Carey, David looming on the horizon and outline creative each mini-chapter, wrestling with riddles feature, ‘On the Street’. Malouf, Kate Grenville, and Murray Bail. It ideas for tackling them. from Wonderland or Zanzibar, Oedipus Rex The column’s mission was to document the published Peter Carey’s Oscar and Lucinda or Harry Potter. city’s most adventurous trendsetters as and True History of the Kelly Gang, both of they lived their lives. AM Homes writes in which went on to win the Booker Prize. For Environment Studies PENGUIN AND THE LANE her introduction to the book, ‘the most of that time Craig Munro was the BROTHERS photographs … document a fiercely creative editor behind those works. THE HANDBOOK Stuart Kells and vibrant time when people were determined to succeed in the arts.’ As a young journalist, Munro was Jane Rawson & James Whitmore Black Inc. HB. $39.99 offered a job by the flamboyant head Transit Lounge. PB. $29.95 Drawing on unprecedented of UQP, the American academic Frank access to Lane family THE MONOCLE GUIDE TO Thompson. Munro’s first encounter with Climate change has COSY HOMES arrived, and it’s not sources, Penguin and the Peter Carey was at the advertising agency Monacle Editors going away. The Lane Brothers is a portrait where Carey worked. Over many bottles of a remarkable family and Monocle. HB. $105 of beer, Carey declaimed loudly about Handbook is not another a publishing powerhouse, Both a practical guide writing and advertising: ‘I don’t want to book about climate exploring the intimate and a great source of be a full-time writer because writing’s a change science or partnership of three inspiration, the latest boring f**king insular silly occupation. I politics. Rather it is an brothers – Allen, Richard and John Lane – book from Monocle can earn a huge amount from advertising.’ intelligent and practical that lay at the heart of Penguin Books. An presents the interiors, But, as Munro shows, despite Carey’s guide to what we can do unconventional upstart that seemed furniture, and locations apparent condescension, he took writing now. The Handbook will help you prepare unstoppable, Penguin brought literary giants you need to know about very seriously and was determined to for increased droughts, floods, fires and such as Agatha Christie, George Bernard along with portraits of master the craft. heatwaves, provide stories and advice from Shaw, Virginia Woolf and Graham Greene to the people who can make it happen. Most It was strange that this small press in individuals already quietly doing amazing vast new audiences. architecture and interior books show houses Australia’s most conservative city should things, and look at how, for both individual polished to perfection, manicured to the become one of the beacons in publishing and common good, we might positively extent that it is hard to imagine anybody contemporary Australian poetry and change the way we live. Politics & Economics actually lives there: they seem to miss the fiction. When Thompson left to join point that homes are meant to be inhabited. another publisher, the board appointed ATMOSPHERE OF HOPE This book celebrates the durable and the the charming and energetic Laurie Muller Tim Flannery A BANQUET OF meaningful through a collection of homes to run the press. Muller came from a Text. PB. $29.99 CONSEQUENCES that tell a story, from Chicago skyscrapers to commercial publishing background and Ten years after his Satyajit Das houses on the Sunshine Coast. was shocked by UQP’s poor fiscal state, internationally Penguin. PB. $34.99 but he was fiercely committed to the bestselling The Weather Since the Great Recession, POSTDIGITAL ARTISANS idea of promoting Australian writing. Makers, acclaimed for ordinary individuals Jonathon Openshaw He appointed Munro as the publishing author and scientist the goal of a steady job, a manager. This was at a time when The Frame. HB. $70 Tim Flannery argues home or one’s own, a Australian’s Greg Sheridan wondered why Inescapably influenced by that Earth’s climate comfortable retirement anyone would bother reading Australian the digital world, today’s system is approaching and a good life for our literature and described his attempts at artisans nonetheless reject a crisis. Catastrophe is children is receding. reading Carey’s work as ‘fruitless’. It was strictly screen-based not inevitable, but time Satyajit Das links past, a fascinating time in Australia’s cultural design and total reliance on is fast running out. Outlining an array of present and future to history and Munro’s account is a warm automated production. innovative technologies that give cause for show that it’s not just unrealistic and engrossing one. If you have the They advocate a return to hope, Flannery provides both a snapshot of expectations, but the poor performance of slightest interest in writing and publishing craft, with objects made from clay, metal, the trouble we are in and an up-to-the- those governing us that are to blame. A you’ll love this book – just as I did. glass and wood. They neither turn their backs minute analysis of some of the new Banquet of Consequences explains why the on technology nor glorify nostalgia. They see Mark Rubbo is the managing director of possibilities for mitigating climate change ultimate adjustment, whether stretched out materials as the heart of art, design, fashion Readings that are emerging now. over time or in the form of another sudden and architecture. This fascinating new book crash, will be life-changing. TAKEOVER profiles sixty contemporary artists and designers, accompanied by rich illustrations David Uren Cultural Studies THE ECONOMICS OF of their work. Black Inc. PB. $29.99 INEQUALITY Takeover is an ON WRITING Thomas Piketty SUPERLUX authoritative, Charles Bukowski Harvard University Press. PB. 39.95 Davina Jackson engaging history of Canongate. HB. $32.99 Thomas Piketty, whose T&H. HB. $65 foreign investment in On Writing collects Capital in the Twenty- In recent years, new Australia – both the Charles Bukowski’s First Century pushed lighting technologies economics and the reflections and inequality to the have been used to politics. It explores ruminations on the forefront of public illuminate cities and the strange coalitions craft to which he debate, explains how towns in creative, of left and right that dedicated his life. In inequality evolves and energy-efficient ways. have sought to insulate these previously how economists measure ‘Smart Light’ is now a us from the world economy, and the unpublished letters to it. With characteristic widely used term for the new technologies equally unpredictable forces that have editors, friends and precision, he introduces key ideas about the and ecological ideas that are transforming embraced it. It is a story of protectionists fellow writers collected relationship between labour and capital, the night-time atmospheres, and spectacular and free traders, of our relationships with here, Bukowski is brutally frank, and often effects of different taxation systems, and Smart Light festivals are awing audiences the US, Britain, Japan and China, and of hilarious, about the drudgery of work, and apparent tensions between efficiency and around the world. Featuring more than 120 the rise of Google and Uber. Where does uncompromising when it comes to the fairness. This is the ideal place to start for public artworks, design installations, and the national interest lie, and what issues absurdities of life and of art. those who want to understand the architectural elements, SuperLux is a visual are at stake? fundamental issues at the heart of celebration of the ingenuity and artistry of contemporary economics and politics. the latest lighting technology. READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015 17

Food & Gardening cookbook too. I’ll be choosing Persian Love Rice for a late supper plan. with Chris Gordon THE EDIBLE CITY THE COOK AND BAKER Indira Naidoo Cherie Bevan and Tass Tauroa Lantern. PB. $45 Murdoch. HB. $49.99 Indira Naidoo’s first Do you remember book, The Edible when you were Balcony, documented younger reading about her adventures the food in an Enid growing a veggie Blyton book? There patch on her balcony were lashings of cream, and started a national and the smell of the craze. The Edible City farmer’s wife’s bread, is about other and on it all went, a long delicious list of people’s endeavours in rooftop farming and food that should be eaten every day but can inner-city gardening. Naidoo visits local only be dreamt of. That is, until this book landmarks, such as the Fitzroy Community came along. Here they all are: red velvet Garden, and shares the stories of the cake, cheese scones, lamingtons and more. gardens and gardeners alike. While it is The recipes are accessible, traditional even, filled with delicious recipes and practical gardening advice, it is also a delicious slice and a complete joy. n Australian Women War of narrative history. IReporters, Jeannine Baker provides APPLE BLOSSOM PIE a much-needed account of the Kate McGhie A MODERN WAY TO COOK pioneering women who reported from Murdoch. HB. $49.99 Anna Jones the biggest conflicts of the twentieth With chapter titles HarperCollins. HB. $49.99 century. Two women covered the such as ‘The Potato Anna Jones did what all South African War at the turn of the century, and Louise Mack witnessed Patch’ or ‘Birds and those cheap horoscopes the fall of Antwerp in 1914. Others Bunnies’, you too can tell you to do: she quit such Anne Matheson, Lorraine cook like your her day job and followed Stumm and Kate Webb wrote about gumboots are just at her passion. Lucky her, momentous events including the the back door. The she ended up in Jamie rise of Nazism, the liberation of the Oliver’s restaurant and recipes are timeless concentration camps, the aftermath of the atomic then Ottolenghi’s. She is beauties with delightful family stories bombing of Hiroshima and the Cold War conflicts an enthusiastic and quite brilliant cook interjected here and there. Apple Blossom in Korea and Southeast Asia. These women carved who creates practical and joyful vegetarian Pie has recipes for salads, soups, pies, meats a path for new generations of female foreign food. The book itself is beautiful (she and cakes. Consider it a whole year of correspondents who have built upon their legacy. Australian country cooking in one works as a food stylist) and full of beautifully presented book. delicious vegetable-based dishes. And here is an idea I wish more chefs would www.newsouthpublishing.com EVERYDAY SUPER FOOD embrace: she divides the chapters into Jamie Oliver preparation time. Brilliant idea! Michael Joseph. HB. Was $55 DAVID HERBERT’S BEST $45 HOME COOKING Cards on the table, Jamie Oliver was David Herbert starting to show the Lantern. PB. $39.99 signs of enjoying the David Herbert has made good life. Well, banish a wonderful life out of that image because doing everything he everyone’s favourite loves: he cooks, he chef has started to collects, he writes and grain it up. Oliver’s he gardens. Honestly, latest collection, destined for bestseller lists I’m not sure life could all over, is all about eating veggies and get better and that grains, and keeping the spice of life real. Of wonderful sense of contentment is evident course the recipes are foolproof, and, of in this collection of no-nonsense recipes course, they are delicious. Think pancakes, taken from his column in the Weekend smoothies and tacos, but all with reducing Australian. Beautifully presented, with calories in mind. practical tips and accessible ingredients, this cookbook is a family pleaser. NOPI Yotam Ottolenghi and FAIR FOOD Ramael Scully Nick Rose Ebury. HB. Available 16 September. UQP. PB. $29.95 Was $59.99 As you settle down to $49.99 your meal, take a Relax everyone, just moment to consider when you thought you how broken our food had achieved every system is here in single recipe in his last Australia. Better still, book, here are 120 read this book. Drawing brand spanking new on the experiences of recipes from the several of the leading agitator of the Great figures in Australia’s Fair Food movement, Hummus War. All the this book tells stories of personal change, ‘A hugely important book for those living in the dishes are taken from his very famous courage, innovation and food activism, and data-saturated 21st century.’ TIM FLANNERY London based Nopi restaurant and include moves from local food hubs and backyard food forests to the GE-free movement, ideas for late nights, early starts and drinks ‘Lucid and entertaining.’ BOOKS + P UBLISHING in‑between. We all know Ottolenghi dishes urban farming, radical homemaking and are colourful, delicious and easy if you have regenerative agriculture. This collection of the right ingredients to hand. This latest stories is not advocating a particular diet, collection, written together with Ramael but it is certainly encouraging a certain Scully, Nopi head chef, ticks all these boxes. sensibility. This is essential reading for AVAILABLE NOW I love that there is romance in this anyone who eats – oh, that means all of us. 18 READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015

New Young Adult Fiction Young Adult Book of the Month CLOUDWISH Fiona Wood Macmillan. PB. $19.99 For 16-year-old scholarship student Van U’oc Phan, magic has never been part of the plan. She is all work and no play; responsible, reliable, rational; quiet on the outside, the noise of her tumbling private thoughts kept neatly within. So when she makes a wish and it seems to come true, her sense of rationality as well as her sense of self is thrown into a state of flux. Star athlete Billy Gardiner, who has ignored her for the whole of high school, is suddenly interested. Van U’oc can’t believe he’d be drawn to her without a magic spell – she must have wished the romance into existence. But when she realises that she can’t press CTRL-ALT-DEL on irrationality, she starts to see the beauty in her everyday life. This story keeps the reader guessing as to whether Billy is genuine or not, and the more we care about Van U’oc the more desperate we are to know if she’s going to have her heart broken. Not because she loves Billy, but because she’s vulnerable and it’s public. It doesn’t matter whether you believe in magic, or in the possibility of a cocky rich boy recognising the TODD ALEXANDER beauty of a girl who has never been on his radar before. Because above all you’ll believe in Van U’oc, an extremely well-drawn character who articulates her issues of identity (being the daughter of migrant parents, and the poor scholarship student) with grace and truth. What she learns about her mother’s journey to Australia eventually becomes her most important discovery. Cloudwish is part wishful thinking, part insanity, and part how-to-survive-year-12. It is about what it means to have a plan and what happens when life gets in the way. While Cloudwish is full of charm, Wood also deftly explores the effects of emigration on mental health and identity, and the complex relationship between migrants and their Australian-born children. Whatever a regular teenager is, Van U’oc has never felt like one or thought herself worthy of seeking out a balance between being driven and responsible versus her personal happiness. Maybe magic comes from a mysterious glass vial or an irrational wish. But maybe it comes from believing in possibility and in yourself. To watch Van U’oc grapple with this makes for a wonderful, moving story. Highly recommended for ages 13 and up. Savannah Indigo is from Readings Malvern

GOODBYE STRANGER ‘A’ falls in love with. Although this is Rebecca Stead essentially a retelling of the same story, the perspective change is key. For ‘A’ , every day is Text. PB. $16.99 different. For Rhiannon, every day is the same, The journey from until one day it’s not. Levithan is fearless in his childhood to writing and absolutely assumes that the young adulthood is teenagers he writes for can comprehend, never an easy path, even enjoy and relate to complicated, full and for those blessed with enveloping emotions, and this unflinching loving families and faith in his readership has once again led him friends to help them OUR FIRST CHILDREN’S to write another contemporary classic. navigate the perils of transit. Isobel Moore is from Readings St Kilda BOOK IS HERE! When steadfast friends Bridge, Em and Tab leave the relative safety of primary school THE REST OF US JUST for the challenges of year 7 and high school LIVE HERE they encounter a world where the rules of Patrick Ness engagement are often unknown. Not only Walker. PB. $24.95 has the ‘geography’ changed but their bodies If you were to ask are transforming, each at a different rate, me to name forcing them to discover both the difficulty another book like The and importance of being true to oneself. Rest Of Us Just Live Here, Rebecca Stead is a multi-award winning I don’t think I could. In author with a profound appreciation for the what appears to be a young people she writes for, so when she novel trying to show explores the bonds (and limits) of female teens that life is really friendships – especially where boys are not like most of the involved – she creates the kind of situations books they read, Ness has created a one-off. that would shatter a vulnerable thirteen-year- Mickey isn’t interested in the fact that old girl but somehow manages to do so with a the end of the world might be coming, he deft, light touch full of empathy and humour. just wants to hang out with friends, go Rebecca Stead’s wonderful books, Liar to prom and graduate. Even though indie and Spy, When You Reach Me and First Light kids are dying and weird blue lights are are loved by many and Goodbye Stranger will appearing in people’s eyes, Mickey has other be no exception! I loved it and so will you! things to think about. Like the fact that his The stunningly illustrated true story Highly recommended for ages 11 and over. OCD is back, that his dad is an alcoholic and Athina Clarke is from Readings Malvern that he will be leaving his little sister behind of the Phasmid and its remarkable once he goes to college. Really, life can be ANOTHER DAY pretty ordinary. journey back from extinction David Levithan It feels like Patrick Ness may be having Text. PB. $19.99 a dig at the state of YA fiction, where they’re all about ‘chosen ones’ and ‘one true Another Day is the loves’. His tongue-in-cheek descriptions companion novel of the impending apocalypse at the start to the widely acclaimed of each chapter had me giggling away and and revolutionary Every the overall theme, that life isn’t always Day, which followed ‘A’ explosions and romance, is much needed who wakes up every day in today’s YA fiction. Bravo Patrick Ness, I possessing a new body. adore you. Ages 14 and up. Another Day follows Rhiannon, the girl who Katherine Dretzke is from Readings Hawthorn READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015 19

Book of the Month KIDGLOVZ THE CAT WITH THE COLOURED TAIL Julie Hunt Gillian Mears & Dinale Dabarera A&U. HB. $24.99 Walker. HB. $19.95 Julie Hunt won the inaugural Readings Children’s Book Prize last Mr Hooper has an ice-cream truck that looks like a full moon. His special companion year for her novel Song for a Scarlet is The Cat with the Coloured Tail, a silver cat with a face in the shape of a heart and Runner and she has crafted another vivid a tail that changes colours. Together Mr Hooper and The Cat with the Coloured Tail fantasy adventure, this time in the form of dispense ice creams to suit every mood and specialise in helping people who are sad. a graphic novel. Kidglovz is a child They look for heart shapes in the world and discover many hearts every day to fill prodigy with astounding piano-playing their lives with joy and wonder. But one day the cat realises that the heart of the talent and an irrepressible passion for music. He is trapped world is sick and sad. She guides Mr Hooper and the ice-cream truck to the location and exploited by a cruel guardian, but things begin to of the heart in order to rescue it. change for him when Shoestring, a tightrope walker and This is a beautiful parable about kindness and love and how these virtues can thief, shows up in his room one night. restore the world. Award-winning author Gillian Mears has created a story It’s a magical fable and Dale Newman’s soft yet dark as sweet and delicious as ice cream on a warm summer’s day. Utterly pencil drawings give Kidglovz a similar aesthetic to The gorgeous illustrations by Dinalie Dabarera complete the package. Invention of Hugo Cabret. This book looks great and is a Suitable for readers aged 7 and up, or for parents and younger fantastic read for children aged 9 and up. children to read together, it is truly a delectable delight! Kim Gruschow is from Readings St Kilda Angela Crocombe is from Readings Carlton THE THING ABOUT JELLYFISH Ali Benjamin Macmillan. PB. $16.99 Grief is a topic that is often explored Picture Books in young adult fiction, where some of the most traumatic experiences can be THE DAY THE CRAYONS CAME examined in full detail. However, when it HOME comes to tackling such an issue in middle- Drew Daywalt & Oliver Jeffers fiction novels it has to be done in a gentle HarperCollins. HB. $24.99 way due to the age of the reader. The Thing It’s been over a year since the About Jellyfish walks this line precisely. crayons quit (The Day the When Suzy finds out that her best friend has drowned Crayons Quit) and postcards are she is not only wracked with grief – and heartbroken that starting to arrive for the neglectful New their last encounter was awful – but she is also in disbelief Duncan. As we know, the crayons that such a good swimmer could die by drowning. When were living sad and disgruntled she visits the aquarium on a school excursion, Suzy existences as Duncan’s colouring encounters a jellyfish native to Australia but that may be buddies, but as we also know, the migrating towards the north due to climate change. This grass seems greener on the other side … until we get there. highly deadly jellyfish gets Suzy thinking and, in turn, Kids’ researching the possibility that her friend may have died Now the crayons want to come home and in a series of hilarious postcards they explain their predicaments. What from a jellyfish sting. will Duncan do? How can he help his old friends? Well, he The Thing About Jellyfish shows the impact grief comes up with a marvellously inventive solution that every can have on a person, even young people. The disbelief, child will be inspired by. Hooray for Duncan. Colourful fun inability to accept and constant guilt for things passed are for ages two and up. Books all explored in this beautifully written novel. Writing on such a topic for middle readers can be hard to get right, Alexa Dretzke is from Readings Hawthorn is an absolute delight and a joy to read. Great fun for a first but Ali Benjamin has done it perfectly. Ages 11 and up. KD reader or as a read-aloud to younger children, this story Activity Books feels similar to an Elephant and Piggie book but with the unique humour and drawings of the effervescent Bob Shea. PIERRE THE MAZE DETECTIVE Angela Classic of the Month Chihiro Maruyama, Hiro Kamigaki & IC4Design Laurence King. HB. $29.99 THE LETTER FOR THE KING Middle Fiction Tonke Dragt & Laura Watkinson (trans.) Oh man, my eyeballs nearly popped Pushkin. PB. $19.99 out and my brain almost exploded, so THE FOURTEENTH SUMMER OF I found a friend and together we tried to ANGUS JACK Sometimes I encounter a book so completely enthralling I lose all solve the mind-blowingly detailed mazes in Jen Storer track of time; day becomes night and day this fantastic book. As well as finding your HarperCollins. PB. $16.99 way through the mazes, there are hidden again. The Letter for the King is one of Angus and Martha live in a small clues and extra challenges, lots of them! those books: a must-read epic adventure beach town where nothing much The illustrations will a-maze you and you for children and adults everywhere. happens – until a mysterious will have lots of colourful, cross-eyed fun. So ditch the A classic saga in the style of King Arthur second‑hand shop materialises electronic devices, grab a friend and fry your brains. You will and The Hobbit, The Letter for the King overnight. Before they know it, Angus love it. Move over Wally, here comes Pierre. For ages 3–300. AD has it all: an epic odyssey through and Martha find themselves caught up treacherous lands, exciting battles with deadly enemies in an ancient conflict and a web of and a courageous young knight who answers a cry for intrigue between Vikings and goblins of help and risks all in the quest to save a kingdom. Tiuri is Junior Fiction the Old Realm. The Fourteenth Summer an endearing hero, vulnerable yet strong, and incredibly of Angus Jack is a classic adventure BALLET CAT: THE TOTALLY courageous given he’s unable to reveal his true identity or mystery which skilfully weaves Norse myth into a tale that is mission to anyone. And yet, in the face of adversity, he finds SECRET SECRET fresh and utterly compelling. It’s a great mix of nail-biting friends in the most unlikely places. Bob Shea suspense and laugh-out-loud humour that lightens the Published in the Netherlands in 1962, this amazing Hyperion. HB. $16.99 story’s more sinister moments! book won the Children’s Book of the Year and became Jen Storer’s trademark wit, rich language, depiction Ballet Cat and Sparkles the Pony an international best-seller that has been translated into of colourful larger-than-life characters and outlandish are the very best of friends. They sixteen languages. This is an incredible experience, perfect villains, and her empathy for her protagonists’ dilemmas are trying to decide what to play today for independent readers aged 9 and up, a fantastic read- are all in fine form here. Peppered with line drawings and but each idea they have is not quite right. aloud for the whole family – adults will enjoy it as much as wonderful full-page images, this is a book children are They just don’t match well with children. Look out for the sequel, The Secrets of the Wild sure to love. With lots of short chapters and a satisfying irrepressible Ballet Cat’s need for Wood, which will be available in English later this year. constant movement. Sometimes even ending, it’s perfect for independent readers 8 years and up Athina best friends don’t want to play exactly and definitely one to share with the whole family. Highly the same games. How they negotiate this common dilemma recommended. Athina 20 READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015

New Film & TV New Music

with Lou Fulco TV Film Pop & Rock YOURS, DREAMILY The Arcs THE KNICK: SERIES 1 BOYCHOIR TWELVEFOUR Available 4 September $21.95 $39.95 $39.95 The Paper Kites The Arcs’ 13-track ‘The medical drama set in ‘Glorious singing … a sublime $14.95 collaborative debut album, 1900 … is unusual and very score, a craftily mixed cast of Written entirely between Yours, Dreamily sees The good, yet another ambitious new faces and big names, along midnight and four in Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach teaming examination of an important with a setting that provides the morning, twelvefour up with a variety of musicians including but often overlooked epoch in room for the occasional burst of explores the theory Mariachi Flor de Toloache. history.’ – The New York Times originality.’ – Sydney Morning Herald that an artist’s creative peak lies within these hours. The sophomore album by JONATHAN STRANGE & FELL the Melbourne five-piece is lush and Country MR NORRELL $29.95 intimate: think drum machines and dirty Available 2 September. $39.95 ‘An elemental story that takes guitars mixed with soulful, smooth synth ‘Skilfully directed, impeccably unexpected turns, a quietly moments. KILL IT YOURSELF designed, and brilliantly cast, unpredictable vision of Jess Ribeiro Jonathan Strange & Mr transformation.’ – The Age STAR WARS $21.95 Norrell is as charming, and as Wilco Following up on her dark, as it could ever hope to $21.95 award-winning 2012 be.’ – The AV Club WELCOME TO ME Star Wars is Grammy- debut, Melbourne singer- $34.95 award winning Wilco’s songwriter Jess Ribeiro’s SUSPECTS: SERIES 1 ‘Take-no-prisoners, dare-you- ninth studio album and new album contrasts her remarkable voice Available 2 September. $19.95 to-keep-looking dark comedy … its first since 2011’s The Whole Love. The and melodies with features from collaborators ‘Refreshing and innovative, Kristen Wiig [makes] us laugh new album was recorded at the band’s including Rob Law and Mick Harvey. stealing fly-on-the-wall-style but feel deeply unsettled Chicago loft and features eleven new filming back from spoof reality about doing so.’ – Associated Wilco-penned tunes, including first television to thrilling dramatic Press single ‘Random Name Generator.’ Jazz effect... [in] its portrayal of BEAUTIFUL YOU policing in London.’ – The Telegraph (UK) MAD MAX: FURY ROAD FREEDOM & SURRENDER The Waifs Available 2 September. $39.95 Lizz Wright ‘Diesel and dust, blood and $24.95 Available 4 September Documentary fire: Mad Max: Fury Road Beautiful You boasts $21.95 runs on all of it, flooding its abundant choruses, Five years after the fuel tanks to stay in perpetual intoxicating instrumental BANKSY DOES NEW YORK release of the critically motion … What a movie.’ exchanges and joyful $24.95 acclaimed, gospel-laden – The AV Club harmonies, combined with that easy ‘Filmmaker [Chris Moukarbel] Fellowship (Verve), singer–songwriter Lizz musical energy and intuition spawned from wittily, cleverly and thoroughly Wright, renowned for her earthy alto voice years of touring Australia and the world. covers that residency, thus Foreign Film and emotive yet straightforward vocal providing [us] the chance to BLOOD TO BONE serenading, delivers a sexy, sensual album of experience just what a major and originals and covers. wondrous artistic event it was.’ – ABC Radio LEVIATHAN Gin Wigmore $21.95 $29.95 Award-winning New DIOR AND I ‘If anyone is curious what life Coming soon $29.95 Zealand artist Gin is like for the average battler in NO NO NO, Beirut Wigmore’s highly ‘There’s eye candy to spare, Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the anticipated third studio album, Blood to LOST TIME, Dave & Phil Alvin especially for fashion fiends … But masterly new film from Bone, showcases many firsts: she sits behind CROSSEYED HEART, Keith Richards what’s best about Dior and I is the director Andrey Zvyagintsev the piano, sings falsetto and all the backing RUB, Peaches gentle humor and tensions that offers some revealing and disturbing vocals, and co-produced the album. EVERY OPEN EYE, Chvrches arise.’ – Washington Post answers.’ – The Australian

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PRESENTING PARTNERS Philip and Caroline Cornish READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015 21

Fabulous Classical Box Set Sale

WAGNER: DER RING DES VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Readings Fabulous NIBELUNGEN THE COMPLETE EMI Sir Georg Solti RECORDINGS Classical Box Set Sale Decca. 4783702. Sir Adrian Boult 16CDs + 1DVD. EMI. 9035672. 13CDs. Was $329.95 $129.95 Was $76.95 $32.95 ‘It sounds like the original UP TO ‘This was Boult’s second LPs ... and by that I mean it is warmer and complete symphonic cycle more enormous than any of the previous on disc, and the benefits of his career-long CD releases ... The sound is glorious – live, 60% OFF immersion in these scores is audible ... His warm, theatrical, present ... If you haven’t account of Job is [also] extraordinary, as are previously owned this set, now you must.’ the performances of the Tallis Fantasia, the JS BACH – Classics Today 16-voice version of the Serenade to Music and In the Fen Country; the list could go on KARAJAN 1970s and on.’ – The Guardian MOZART Herbert Von Karajan DG. 4791577. 82CDs. RACHMANINOV: THE HAYDN Was $269.95 $103.95 COMPLETE WORKS Between 1970 and 1979, Various BEETHOVEN Herbert von Karajan Decca. 4786765. 32CDs. recorded an incredible 82 CDs worth of Was $79.95 $34.95 SHOSTAKOVICH orchestral and choral music for DG. This ‘Incredibly good value for was the period that saw Karajan delve money and – above all – the deeply into important repertoire that he PHILIP GLASS performances are of the highest quality never really tackled before or after – from from beginning to end. 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It is Mozart, Schumann, Tchaikovsky in Complete Songs splendidly listenable and, in the capable superb performances by the Berliner hands of pianist–composer Jeroen Van Elisabeth Söderström and Tom Krause’s award-winning Philharmoniker under the master conductor recordings of Sibelius’s complete songs, released for Veen, is dispatched with kind grace and of our age. the composer’s anniversary. 4-CD set including texts intelligent consideration.’ – C. Michael and translations. Bailey, All About Jazz 22 READINGS MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2015

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