FREE DECEMBER 2013 – JANUARY 2014 SAM TWYFORD-MOORE ON PHOTOGRAPHY BOOKS / MARK RUBBO’S FAVOURITE READS Best of 2013 Lift-out READINGS STAFF SHARE THE BEST BOOKS, MUSIC, FILMS & TV OF 2013 BOOKS MUSIC FILM EVENTS DECEMBER & JANUARY NEW RELEASES PER PETTERSON $19.95 p3 WOLFGANG HERRNDORF $19.99 p4 DAN CROWE (ED.) $24.99 p6 BEHIND THE CANDELABRA $39.95 p17 COVER ILLUSTRATION BY BRAD HOWE (JACKY WINTER GROUP) COVER ILLUSTRATION JAMES VINCENT THE TOP 10 FICTION BOOKS WE LOVED THIS YEAR McMORROW $21.95 THE BOOK THIEF p18 Sunday, 12 January 2014 MORE INSIDE... Readings, in partnership with Classic Cinema and Cinema Nova, present two special and exclusive lm events with Markus Zusak to celebrate the release of The Book Thief, adapted from the bestselling novel. Tickets $35, available from classiccinemas.com.au / cinemanova.com.au. More details p2. CARLTON 309 Lygon St 9347 6633 HAWTHORN 701 Glenferrie Rd 9819 1917 MALVERN 185 Glenferrie Rd 9509 1952 ST KILDA 112 Acland St 9525 3852 READINGS AT THE STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA 328 Swanston St 8664 7540 READINGS AT THE BRAIN CENTRE 30 Royal Parade, Parkville 9347 1749 See shop opening hours, browse and buy online at www.readings.com.au 2 READINGS MONTHLY DECEMBER 2013 – JANUARY 2014 This month’s news BRAIN CENTRE SALE held at Readings St Kilda (112 Acland Street, St Readings at the Melbourne Brain Centre Kilda) on Tuesday 14 January, 6.30pm. This is a Mark’s opened in May 2011 at one of the largest free event, but please book on (03) 9525 3852. neuroscience facilities in the world and features Best books on neuroscience, psychology and HUMANITIES 21: PUTTING psychotherapy, as well as Readings’ trademark HUMANITIES BACK ON Books range of general fiction, non-fiction, gifts and THE AGENDA stationery. After over two years of trade, the Established in 2012, Humanities 21 – an of 2013 Brain Centre shop will close on Thursday 19 independent, not-for-profit advocacy December. Until then, there will be a sale on Mark Rubbo, organisation – champions the benefits a psychology and neuroscience titles, with up to Readings Managing Director humanities education can bring to all aspects 30% off while stocks last. of contemporary life, especially business, and aims to help the humanities receive a better THE BOOK THIEF hearing from educational funders, granting SPECIAL EVENTS bodies and philanthropists. Humanities 21 runs public and corporate seminars in the The Book Thief, the highly anticipated film humanities; links humanities students and based on the bestselling novel of the same business via internships and mentoring; name by Markus Zusak, will be released in promotes humanities events around Melbourne January 2014. Readings, in partnership with in a free monthly newsletter; and provides an Classic Cinema Elsternwick and Cinema Nova online space to bring interesting people and Carlton, will present two special film screenings The Memory Trap thoughts together. with Markus Zusak on Sunday 12 January. See Andrea Goldsmith Readings and Humanities 21 have the film, hear Markus speak aboutThe Book HarperCollins. PB. $29.99 recently partnered to celebrate the humanities Thief and receive a signed copy of the new This is a lovely, thoughtful novel. The protagonist, Nina Goldsmith, is a middle-aged advisor on memorial in various ways. Keep an eye out in 2014 for a paperback edition with each ticket. Tickets projects. After spending most of her adult life overseas, she returns to Australia after her marriage fails. range of events, offers and perhaps even some are $35 per person and available from Classic There she finds her sister and her partner caught in a spiral of self destruction and deception, haunted book reviews from Humanities 21 enthusiasts. Cinema classiccinemas.com.au and Cinema by their past. Critic Peter Pierce wrote in the Age, ‘It is an adult entertainment – passionate, thoughtful, Please visit humanities21.com.au for more Nova cinemanova.com.au. disconcerting – and altogether to be welcomed.’ information, to make a donation or to become a member of Humanities 21. The Narrow Road to the Deep North SO FRENCHY SO CHIC Richard Flanagan IN THE PARK INTERNATIONAL AIDS RHA. HB. Was $40 Special price $32.95 So Frenchy So Chic in the Park takes over the CONFERENCE grounds of Werribee Park on Sunday 12 January This is an extremely powerful and, at times, confronting novel about the brutality of war and the nature of for a day of fine French music, food and wine. The convening of the 20th International AIDS heroism. Set mainly in a POW camp on the Thai Burma Railway, the central character is a young doctor, This family-friendly boutique party features folk- Conference (AIDS 2014) in Melbourne in July Dorrigo Evans. By virtue of his rank, Evans is pushed into a role as leader of the POWs and comes to be pop chanteuse and daughter of Jane Birkin, Lou next year is a first for Australia. The biennial regarded as a selfless hero, a description that sits uneasily with him. Richard Flanagan’s description of Doillon, charismatic duo Lilly Wood & The Prick, International AIDS Conference is the premier the conditions in the camp is brilliantly executed and I found the narrative totally compelling. the effervescent Féfé, and 10-piece ska, reggae gathering for those working in the field of My Promised Land and rock band Babylon Circus. Please visit HIV, as well as policy makers, people living Ari Shavit cartellmusic.com.au/sfsc or with HIV and others committed to ending the Random House. HB. $45 sofrenchysochic.com.au for more information epidemic. It will be a tremendous opportunity Israel seemed a land of promise and hope. It was a powerful statement against the holocaust, and and tickets. Join us from noon for fun in the sun! for researchers from around the world to share the latest scientific advances in the the socialist ideals of the early Zionists heralded a grand social experiment. But Israel was founded on contradictions that still haunt it today; the legacy of the massive, and often violent, displacement of FÉFÉ IN-STORE field, learn from one another’s expertise, and develop strategies for advancing all facets of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remains unresolved. Journalist Ari Shavit has written a powerful, Fresh from So Frenchy So Chic in the Park, My Promised Land our collective efforts to treat and prevent HIV. uplifting, sad and very personal book about this enigmatic society. will change the way soulful troubadour Féfé joins us for a night of you think of the Middle East and Israel – it’s a beautifully written book that will stay with you for a long time. Please visit aids2014.org for more information wicked French hip-hop, blues, reggae and R’n’B and to get involved. Readings is a supporter Coal Creek stylin’, playing songs from his new album Le of AIDS 2014. Alex Miller Charme des Premiers Jours. The evening will be A&U. PB. Was $30 Special price $26.95 I have always been a great fan of Alex Miller’s work. His career has been marked by numerous awards, including two Miles Franklin Literary Awards, the Melbourne Prize and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Coal Creek is an extraordinary and tough story of love set against the harsh Australian landscape. The narrator is a stockman, Bobby Blue, who works for the local police constable. With no formal education, Bobby Blue’s story is told without pretension. An astoundingly beautiful novel. Eyrie Tim Winton Penguin. HB. Was $45 Special price $36.95 There’s something very unique about Tim Winton’s writing. He writes with a powerful voice that’s hard to be Readings Monthly is a free independent monthly Graphic Design by The Art Department Collective at newspaper published by Readings Books, Music & Film. www.theartdepartmentau.com ambivalent about. Winton’s characters are often fighting their own inner demons and grappling with moral choices. In Eyrie, former TV presenter and environmental advocate, Tom Keely, has hit rock bottom after Editorial enquiries: Thank you to Readings staff members and contributors Belle Place at [email protected] for your reviews. a political misjudgement sees his job, reputation and marriage in tatters. As our reviewer wrote: ‘Eyrie is a complex, exhilarating work that provides valuable insight into contemporary life in a compromised Australia. Advertising enquiries: Readings donates 10% of its profits each year to Ingrid Josephine at [email protected] The Readings Foundation: It’s also a ripping good read.’ or call (03) 9341 7739. www.readings.com.au/the-readings-foundation CINEMA NOVA RECOMMENDS Keri Russell Bret McKenzie Jennifer Coolidge Visit the Cinema Nova Bar Daniel Radcliffe stars as Allen Ginsberg in John Krokidas’ drama based on the birth of the Beat Generation KILL YOUR A young woman obsessed with Mr Darcy hopes to 380 LYGON ST CARLTON find love at a resort devoted to Jane Austen in www.cinemanova.com.au DARLINGS Jerusha Hess' comic adaptation of Shannon Hale's novel “A dark“An beauty ambitious of a film thriller that gets assisted inside Join our e-news for updates on the Met Opera, NOVEMBER 28, EXCLUSIVE National Theatre and other stage spectaculars. yourby excellenthead and stays performances” there” Rolling Stone EmpireDECEMBER 5 READINGS MONTHLY DECEMBER 2013 – JANUARY 2014 3 New Fiction From the also translated by Judith Landry and won the International Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize in 2012, you Books can trust that you’re in good hands. Fiction After surviving the 2010 Haiti Desk earthquake as a child, Marani’s protagonist Domingo Salazar grew up in Italy within ASHES IN MY MOUTH, Catholic institutions. He’s now a policeman SAND IN MY SHOES who upholds the ‘laws of our Holy Mother Martin Shaw, Per Petterson Church’: Italy is a theocracy and Salazar Readings Books Division Manager is ‘God’s dog’.