Free february 2010 Readings Monthly

your independent book, music and DVD newsletter • events • new releases • reviews by martin amis (jonathan cape) see page 5 cape) see page image from the pregnant widow by martin amis (jonathan

Martin Amis returns with The Pregnant Widow p 5 February book, CD & DVD new releases. More new releases inside.

crime fiction aust fiction natural memoir DVD POp CD CLASSICAL history $32.95 $27.95 $29.95 $44.95 $59.95 $24.95 $29.95 >> p8 >> p7 >> p6 $44.95 >> p9 >> p15 >> p17 >> p19 >> p10

February Event Highlights at Readings. See more events inside. alexander pages to poetry paula constant xue xinran mccall smith At readings At readings At asialink At The capitol carlton port melbourne theatre

All shops except SLV open 7 days. SLV closed Sundays. Carlton 309 Lygon St 9347 6633 Hawthorn 701 Glenferrie Rd 9819 1917 Malvern 185 Glenferrie Rd 9509 1952 Port Melbourne 253 Bay St 9681 9255 St Kilda 112 Acland St 9525 3852 State Library of Victoria 328 Swanston Street 8664 7540 email [email protected] Find information about our shops, check event details and browse or shop online at www.readings.com.au

Opens February From February the Wheeler Centre will be home to talks and debates, lectures and rants, launches and readings. Join the conversation. wheelercentre.com 2 Readings Monthly February 2010

From the Editor Looking ahead: 2010 ThisReadings Australian Month’s the most talked-about News Australian writer Amsterdam, Sleepers, PB, $24.95); A new publishing year is already underway Book Club of 2009, took out top place – though not Look Who’s Morphing (Tom Cho, Giramondo, – and with that comes a brand new ‘to read’ Readings runs three Australian Book Clubs for his controversial zeitgeist-surfing novel PB, $24.99); Unparalleled Sorrow (Barry list. Some titles are from the recognisable big where members read and discuss contempo- The Slap, but for his earlier masterpiece, Dickins, Hardie Grant, PB, $29.99); Sold names; others are new releases from lesser rary Australian fiction and non-fiction. The Dead Europe (Vintage, PB, $24.95). (Brendan Gullifer, Sleepers, PB, $24.95); The Contract (Brett Hoffman, Michael Joseph, known writers I’ve long loved; still others are groups are run at our offices in Carlton on the The runners-up were Alexis from writers I’ve never yet read. first Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of each PB, $32.95); This is How (M.J. Hyland, Text, Wright’s Carpentaria (Gira- PB, $32.95); Cooee (Vivienne Kelly, Scribe, Big names? Freshly arrived on my desk, month. There are a limited number of places mondo, PB, $26.95), and still available for 2010 so if you are interested PB, $32.95); Infiltration (Colin McLaren, there’s the latest Ian McEwan, Solar (Jona- Peter Carey’s The True History MUP, PB, $32.99); Lovesong (Alex Miller, than Cape, March), a satirical novel about in joining please contact Clare McKenzie on of the Kelly Gang (Vintage, 9341 7726 or [email protected]. A&U, HB, Normally $39.95, Our special climate change. I heard McEwan read a PB, $24.95) – all tied in price $33.95); The Lost Mother (Anne Sum- work-in-progress extract from this at Ad- au – but hurry, as there are only 8 precious second place and Tim spaces remaining! mers, MUP, HB, Normally $35, Our special elaide Writers’ Week two years ago and am Winton’s The Turning price $26.95). keen to pick up where he left off. There’s (Picador, PB, $24.95), Christos Tsiolkas’s also a new Don Delillo next month – Point Universal DVD sale The Slap (A&U, PB, $32.95), Richard Festival Season Begins: Omega (Picador) is about a secret war advi- Looking for some summer viewing? Flanagan’s Gould’s Book of Fish (Picador, PB, Perth & Adelaide sor at the end of his tenure and a filmmaker Want to restock your DVD cabinet? $24.95) and Nam Le’s The Boat (Penguin, PB, The bookish festival season who plans to make a documentary about We have some great bargains at Readings this $24.95) all tied in third place. officially begins at the end of him. The early review from Publisher’s Weekly month, with selected Universal titles included this month, with the Perth is overwhelmingly positive. In April, a new in a 2-for-$15 sale. See page 16 for a list of Garner & Lanagan: Writers’ Festival and Adelaide novel from Lionel Shriver, So Much for featured titles. ‘Best Never Read’ Writers’ Week intersecting. That (Fourth Estate), takes a hard look at Late last year, The Guardian Both are the oldest festivals in America’s health care system. Bret Easton Best Music of published a quirky little list Sarah Waters Australia, with Perth estab- Ellis has penned a sequel to his 1980s cult the Noughties among all the ‘best of the lished in the 1950s and classic Less Than Zero (the movie of which Readings is running a poll for all our custom- millennium’ lists. It invited a Adelaide, which kicked off in 1960, was for was rumoured to have fuelled star Rob- ers – one decade in, we want to find out your number of publishing insiders some decades the premier Australasian event ert Downey Jr’s drug problem). Imperial favourite CDs of the century so far. There’s – agents, editors and publish- for arts lovers – though, of course, these days Bedrooms is out in the US in May – and the even a $100 Readings voucher to be won. See ers – to name books that the Melbourne and Sydney festivals give it a first line is, ‘They had made a movie about page 18 for details – and for music division should have hit the big time, serious run for its money. us’. And likely late this year, we’ll see the manager Dave Clarke’s personal list. but somehow never did. Two of them were long-awaited new novel from Jonathan ‘The familiar Australian names – one of those, a The writers who’ll be Corrections’ Franzen. Best Fiction of book that certainly made it big here. Canon- appearing in Adelaide I’ve already read and absolutely loved two the Millennium gate publisher Jamie Byng, who made (28 February – 5 March) forthcoming short-story collections from Culture blog The Millions headlines with his outspoken disbelief at include Sarah Waters, Richard Text (who seem to be making a habit of were among the first to Helen Garner’s The Spare Room (Text, PB, Dawkins, Philip Kerr, publish a ‘best of the $23.95) not making the 2008 Booker Audrey Niffenegger, Jim them) this year: Andrew Porter's The Theory Irvine Welsh of Light and Matter (March) and Maile millennium’ type list, to mark longlist, again wrote passionately about the Crace and Sally Vickers. Meloy’s Both Ways is the Only Way I Want the end of the first decade of a book. ‘This deceptively slight novel is as good Authors in Perth (26 February It (May). I tried to spin out these books as new century. They conducted as anything Canongate has ever published. Or – 1 March) include Marina Endicott, Patrick long as I could, rationing a story at a time. a poll of authors, writers and will publish. It’s deceptive in many ways and I Gale, Elizabeth Kostova and Patrick Ness. I’m also really looking forward to Serena by critics, compiling a list of the think its great subtlety is one of the reasons Irvine Welsh will appear at both. For more Ron Rash (Text, March), a kind of Ameri- top 20 fiction titles of the millennium from that it will only get fully appreciated over information, see www.adelaidefestival.com. can Macbeth set in a North Carolina timber the results. The top 10 were (in order): time. I’ve read it three times now and on each au and www.perthfestival.com.au respec- town. I gave an advance copy to a reviewer occasion my awe at what Garner has achieved tively. And keep an eye on our events pages 1. The Corrections by Jonathan who absolutely raved about it and now I’m increases … I still remain confident that this and website – some of these writers will be Franzen (HarperPerennial, keen to read it for myself. And I can’t wait exceptional book will be come to be widely making Melbourne stops and we’ll be hosting PB, $22.99); 2. for the next reissued Madeleine St John regarded as a modern classic. Because that is events for them. The Known World by Edward novel, A Stairway to Paradise (Text, March). what it is.’ And Gollancz editorial director P. Jones (HarperCollins, Simon Spancz wrote of Margo Lanagan’s Sleepers Almanac Hitch-22 (A&U, June), the memoirs of the PB, $25); 3. Cloud Atlas by Black Juice (A&U, PB, $21.95): ‘Yes, it was a open for business marvellously prickly, provocative and sharply David Mitchell (Sceptre, PB, collection of short stories and yes, the 2009 was a big year for 2666 witted Christopher Hitchens, promises to $24.99); 4. by Roberto industry wisdom is that it’s hellishly difficult fledgling Melbourne What’s Pastoralia be fascinating. Maggie Hamilton’s Bolano (Picador, PB, $25); 5. by to sell short story collections but what a publisher Sleepers. In its Happening To Our Girls? hit a cultural nerve George Saunders (Bloomsbury, PB, $23.95); collection this was. It was like having a new first year of publishing The Road in 2009. As a mother of a boy who would 6. by Cormac McCarthy (Picador, Angela Carter on your list. Margo is an full-length fiction, its first Austerlitz love nothing more than to play video games PB, $22.95); 7. by W.G. Sebald award-winning author of fantasy stories of novel, Steven Amsterdam’s What’s Happening to Out Stealing Horses all day, I’m keen to read (Penguin, PB, $22.95); 8. haunting power and beauty which seemed to Things We Didn’t See Coming Our Boys? (Penguin, June). by Per Petterson (Vintage, PB, $24.95); 9. speak to genre fan and non-genre fan alike (PB, $24.95) won The Age Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, courtesy of strikingly beautiful prose and an Book of the Year and was named one of 10 Malcolm Knox writes wonderfully well Marriage by Alice Munro (Vintage, PB, unflinching eye for truth.’ If you’ve thought Summer Reads recommended by the State about male relationships and insecurities. $24.95); 10. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo His fourth novel, The Life (A&U, August) about reading these books and never gotten Library of Victoria; its second novel, Sold Ishiguro (Faber, PB, $23.95). To see the full around to them – maybe now’s the time to by Brendan Gullifer (PB, $24.95) was also tells the story of a former champion Austra- top 20, visit www.themillions.com. lian surfer, now lost in false accusations and finally do it. named a State Library Summer Read; and mental illness. Fiona McGregor's Indelible third novel, Kalinda Ashton’s The Danger Best Australian State Library of Ink (Scribe, June) is about a 59-year-old st Game (PB, $24.95) was showered with Sydney North Shore divorcee who forges a Fiction of the 21 Victoria Summer Reads critical acclaim. Not bad – though emerg- friendship with her tattoo artist, who intro- Century (so far) The State Library of Victoria ing writers around town have wondered duces her to an alternative side of Sydney. Meanjin's blog, Spike (http:// has once again selected a list when Sleepers will open the doors for It’s being compared to The Corrections and meanjin.com.au/spike-the- of 10 great summer reads by submissions to another edition of the The Slap. I love Maria Tumarkin's writing: it meanjin-blog) took its Australian writers. It’s an long-running Sleepers Almanac. Well, wait takes the reader to places they didn’t expect. inspiration from The excellent place to look for no longer: submissions are now being Otherland (Random, April) is the story Millions to nominate the inspiration, comprising books invited for Sleepers Almanac 6 (which, of her journey to Russia and the Ukraine, best Australian fiction of the published over the past year intriguingly, will also be available as an which she left aged 15, with her daughter. new century so far. Christos or so. The books selected iPhone application), closing 12 February. Tsiolkas, who was certainly Visit www.sleepers.com.au for details. — Jo Case were: Things We Didn’t See Coming (Steven

CINEMA NOVA RECOMMENDS Paula Mo’Nique Mariah Lenny Gabourey Book now, online or at Patton Carey Kravitz Sidibe the cinema box office. A SINGLE MAN C I N E M A Colin Firth and Julianne Moore precious star in the sumptuous and award-winning directorial Based on the novel PUSH by Sapphire, Lee Daniel's 380 LYGON ST CARLTON debut of designer Tom Ford, award-winning drama of a young woman's coming of www.cinemanova.com.au based on the novel by age is an Oscar frontrunner. Christopher Isherwood. Join our e-news for updates on the Met Opera, OPENS FEBRUARY 4 National Theatre and other stage spectaculars. OPENS FEBRUARY 25 Readings Monthly February 2010 3

EventsAll our Readings book and music eventsin are FebruaryAustralia’s best writers come together for an February, 6.30pm, Readings Carlton. Free, free, unless otherwise stated. Bookings do not intimate night of storytelling, each reflecting 25 no need to book. guarantee a seat, but rather indicate to us the on those tales that have been handed down xue Xinran number of people to expect. To see more events to them through the generations, each giving Minister Bronwyn Pike will be launching Together with Asialink we are delighted to or for updates on new events please visit the voice to an inheritance of wisdom, of Jackie Dickenson and Robert Corcoran’s invite you to join us as one of the world’s events page at www.readings.com.au. understanding, of identity. With contribu- comprehensive guide to Australia’s unique most extraordinary activists talks about the A Diction- tions from Chloe Hooper, Paul Kelly, Cate and colourful political language, reality of being a woman in China. Her lat- ary of Australian Politics Kennedy, Judith Lucy, Shane Maloney, (A&U, PB, $29.99). est book Message from an Unknown Chinese David Malouf, John Marsden, Alex Miller, Tuesday 16 February, 6pm, Readings Carl- 3 Mother (Chatto & Windus, PB, $32.95) is John Safran, Christos Tsiolkas, Tara June ton. Free, no need to book. Alexander a heartbreaking collection told by Chinese Winch and Alexis Wright, this will be a McCall Smith women who have had to abandon their Poet Kevin Brophy will launch David Car- literary event like no other. Saturday 13 lin’s memoir Our Father Who Wasn’t There babies – never to see them again. Thursday For one night in Melbourne February at Melbourne Town Hall. (Scribe, PB, $32.95), his investigation into only! Alexander McCall 25 February, 6.30pm, Asialink Centre, Bookings: $15 adult/$5 concession. For Swanston Street, University of Melbourne. the life and death of his father, who commit- Smith is the creator of the bookings go to www.wheelercentre.com. Free, but please book on 9347 6633. ted suicide when David was six months old. No.1 Ladies’ Detective It was the 1960s in isolated Western Austra- Agency series. Join him as he lia, a place in which emotions were discreetly speaks about his life in 15 veiled, women did not attend funerals – and Edinburgh (he lives on the 25 suicide was a sin. Wednesday 17 February, same street as J.K. Rowling John J Wood: Father Bob Maguire Room to Read. 6.30pm, Readings Carlton. Free, no need to and Ian Rankin), the Really Terrible introducing book. Orchestra (he plays shocking oboe) and the Room to Read is an innova- Martin Flanagan latest No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency Adven- tive non-profit organisation Melbourne poet TT.O (Pi Oh) and Over- ture, The Double Comfort Safari Club (Little dedicated to promoting and in conversation with land editor Jeff Sparrow will launch Maxine Brown, HB, Normally $34.95, Our special enabling global education. Father Peter Kennedy Clarke’s Gil Scott Heron is on Parole (Picaro price $29.95). Wednesday 3 February, Founded in 2000, the Based on Peter Kennedy: The Man Who Press, PB), an angry, aggressive, awakening 6.30pm, Capitol Theatre Tickets: $40 per organisation is based on the Threatened Rome (One Day Hill, PB, and long-awaited comment on the trials person. Includes signed first edition copy of belief that education is $29.95), join us for a discussion on where and tribulations of African descendants in The Double Comfort Safari Club.Tickets crucial to breaking the cycle the Catholic Church is today and the impact the ‘new world’. Maxine is a West Indian available at all Readings shops and online of poverty in the developing world. Since of banning Father Kennedy from the church. Australian writer and poetry-slam champi- (www.readings.com.au). then, the organisation has supported over 3 Who is this man who threatens Rome? Is on. Thursday 18 February, 6.30pm, Read- million children by providing increased Christianity dying in Australia, as Kennedy ings Carlton. Free, no need to book. access to higher-quality educational oppor- claims? Thursday 25 February, 6.30pm, Andrew Robb will launch So Greek (Scribe, 8 tunities. Founder John Wood will talk about Readings Carlton. Free, but please book on the organisation and how you can become 9347 6633. PB, $35), Niki Savva’s memoir about life Pages to Poetry Eve as a political insider – and working for involved. Monday 15 February, 6pm, Peter Costello and John Howard, despite Welcome to our first poetry Readings Carlton. Free, but please book on gig of the year – and what a 9347 6633. 27 having Labor sympathies. Niki headed the beauty. We are delighted to Canberra bureaus of both the Melbourne bring you three of Australia’s Precious Music, Herald Sun and The Age, then became Lib- finest. Kevin Brophy was Precious Water eral Treasurer Peter Costello’s press secretary editor of the literary journal 18 concert before moving on to join John Howard’s Going Down Swinging from Precious Music, Precious Music, Precious Water is a concert staff. Sunday 21 February, 2pm, Readings 1980 to 1994. He has had 11 Precious Water in two parts. The first will feature the Hawthorn. Free, but please RSVP to Emma books published including four books of Preview world-premiere live performance of Tarka, Morris: 9349 5955. poetry. He teaches creative writing at the Music performances by Harry Williamson composed by former Genesis guitarist University of Melbourne. Chris Wallace- and Doug de Vries for this in-store ap- Anthony Phillips and Melbourne-based Crabbe is a Melbourne writer and Chair of pearance will promote the Precious Music, Harry Williamson, son of Henry William- the Australian Poetry Centre. His latest book Coming up in March Precious Water concert for the Victorian son, author of the modern literary novel Elizabeth Kostova will talk about her latest is Telling a Hawk from a Handsaw (Carcanet, Women’s Trust, with an introduction by Tarka the Otter. The second part of the event PB, $29.95). Andrew Sant co-founded the novel, The Swan Thieves (Little Brown, PB, Executive Director Mary Crooks. Thursday features highly acclaimed artists including: Normally $32.95, Our special price $27.95). literary magazine, Island, in Tasmania and 18 February, 6pm for 6.30pm, Readings Ruby Hunter (singer/songwriter); Doug Tuesday 2 March, 6.30pm, Cinema Nova. served as an editor for ten years. His most Hawthorn. Free, but please book on 9819 de Vries (solo guitarist); Kavisha Mazzella Free, but please book on 9347 6633. recent poetry collection is Fuel (Black 1917. The concert will be held at Melbourne (singer/songwriter); Michael Johnson (harp- Pepper, PB, $24.95). The wonderful poet Town Hall on Saturday 27 February. ist); Frank Jones (singer/songwriter); Inven- Malcolm Fraser will talk to his co-writer, Luke Beesley will be introducing the eve! tions in Time (marimba and vibraphone); Margaret Simons, about their forthcom- Monday 8 February, 6.30pm, Readings and The Northern Voice Choir.S aturday ing book, Malcolm Fraser: Enduring Liberal Carlton. Free, no need to book. 19 27 February, 2pm and 7.30pm, Melbourne (MUP, HB, $54.95). Wednesday 3 March, Paula Constant Town Hall. Please book on www.greentix. 6.30pm – 7.30pm, Collins Street Baptist com.au. Adults $20, family $50. Church, 174 Collins Street, Melbourne. 11 Paula’s Sahara (Bantam, PB, Tickets $15 or $5 concession. For bookings $34.95) is about her journey go to www.wheelercentre.com. Maria Benardis of love, loss and survival. Six Join us as cookbook writer, weeks into their desert trek, 27 Listen to Richard Dawkins, author of The historian and Greek cookery Paula’s husband, Gary, Krista Bell God Delusion (Black Swan, PB, $27.95). teacher Maria takes us on a returned home, their & Sally Rippin Friday 5 March, 6.30pm, Melbourne Town journey into her family’s food marriage over. A lone Peeking Ducks (Windy Hollow Books, HB, Hall. and history. Her book, My Western woman in a $25.99) is a story of some very curious ducks Kim Humphrey, author of Excess: Anti-Con- Greek Family Table (Lantern, male-dominated land, with dwindling cash and the adventures they have whilst explor- sumerism in the West (Polity, PB, $39.95) in HB, $59.95) is Greek reserves, Paula continued to walk over 2,800 ing their river. This beautiful tale is illustrat- conversation with Christos Tsiolkas. Tuesday cooking and Greek history all kilometres through Morocco and the ed by Sally Rippin and is written by Krista 9 March, 6.30pm. Readings Carlton. Free, in one. There may be ouzo involved! Western Sahara. Friday 19 February, Bell. Saturday 27 February, 2pm, Readings but please book on 9347 6633. Thursday 11 February, 6.30pm, Readings 6.30pm, Readings Port Melbourne. Free, Port Melbourne. Free, no need to book. Hawthorn. $20 per person includes tastes but please book on 9681 9255. Join David Finkel, author of Good Sol- and a glass of wine. Please book on 9819 diers (Scribe, PB, $35). Tuesday 9 March, 1917 or at www.readings.com.au. 6.30pm. Readings Hawthorn. Free, no need 22 Launches to book. Etchings Indigenous (Ilura Press, PB, $24.95), 13 Bob Franklin a publication promoting the work of Indig- Jean Taylor will talk about Brazen Hussies: A A Gala Night with Tony Martin enous writers and artists, will be launched as Herstory of Radical Activism in the Women’s Need a new perspective on part of the Yalukit Willam Ngargee: People Liberation Movement in Victoria 1970–1979 of Storytelling life? Well, here you are – in Place Gathering Festival. Friday 5 February, (Dyke Books, PB, $69.95) to celebrate On the anniversary of the celebration of Bob Franklin’s 6.30pm, Readings St Kilda. Free, no need to International Women’s Day on 8 March. Federal Government’s debut collection of stories, book. Wednesday 10 March, 6.30pm, Readings apology to the Stolen Under Stones (Affirm, PB, Carlton. Free, but please book on 9347 Generations, the Wheeler $24.95), comedian and Melbourne artist Jon Campbell has been 6633. Centre presents a night of author Tony will be rejoicing collecting band setlists since the early 1980s. Setlist World-renowned philosopher A.C. Gray- celebration and reflection, in asking Bob the difficult Join us for the launch of (The Nar- rows, PB, $50), which reproduces a range ling will be in conversation with Russell sharing the common and questions! Monday 22 February, 6.30pm, of original setlists and reworked lists by Neil Blackford onThursday 11 March, 6.30pm, different experiences that Readings Carlton. Free, but please book Cinema Nova. Free, but please book on define our past and our present. Twelve of on 9347 6633. Young, Architecture in Helsinki and more. Olympic Donuts will perform. Friday 12 9347 6633. 4 Readings Monthly February 2010

abandon him. And in this, perhaps, he may share something with newspapers. Many of the successful characters in The Imper- Q&A with Tom Rachman fectionists have lonely or dissatisfying personal Tom Rachman’s debut er’s. Also tricky was ensuring that the tale lives – and one character finds professional suc- novel, The Imperfectionists of the paper itself be captivating, without cess after he no longer wants to think about his (Text, PB, $32.95), is the hook of a single leading protagonist. To home life. Was this a deliberate theme? a sharply observed, manage this, I tried to build a newspaper Yes. The ambitions that churned through beautifully characterised that was not simply an organisation but the journalism – my own included, at certain look at the employees of sum of the unusual characters who pro- times – were not those of contented souls. an international newspaper duced and read it – just as a real newspaper Every scoop, every page-one story, every based in Rome. is. promotion produced a shiver of triumph Jo Case spoke to him for Readings. followed by a gradual return to the previous This is a very funny novel, though it is often state of dissatisfaction. Then ambition rose You have worked at various newspapers, also deeply sad. What appeals to you about again, insatiable. I found this effect fascinat- including as a foreign correspondent in Rome this combination? ing in myself and in others, and hoped to and as an editor at the International Herald I suppose it’s my world-view. Life is so depict it. To be clear, I do not think that Tribune in Paris. How much did you draw often sad and maddening and unjust – and professional aspiration and personal happiness on your own experience for the novel? then it’s over! If we responded to this with are exclusive. Only that ambition risks feeding Using what I’d observed during my years bitterness alone, we would be a uniformly just itself, offering little to its host. in journalism, I sought to invent a realistic grumpy and unproductive species. But paper and to offer a peek into the workings we have humour thankfully. I have always Many of the chapters in the book, which of the international media – the flavour of loved stories that express this – the hu- ‘Small, nervous people also work as self-contained stories, unfold in a newsroom, the ambitions of reporters, mour that arises precisely because life is sad. unexpected ways. I often felt sure I knew where the lives of expatriate editors. That said, Small, nervous people pretending to be tall pretending to be tall a story was heading, only to be surprised when each character and story was invented, and and bold: it is sad and funny at once. it didn’t reach the conclusion I imagined it was the paper does not represent a particular and bold: it is sad leading up to. Was this an effect you worked for, publication. The Imperfectionists is infused with tremen- in writing the book? dous affection for the newspaper and those and funny at once.’ An ending produces a note that is left ring- The book is told in the voices and from the who work there. Do you share that affection The book begins with a 70-year-old foreign ing in the reader’s ear, a tone that resonates perspective of various employees of the paper, for newspapers as a form of media? backward through all that happened in the from foreign correspondents, to sub-editors, correspondent, well past his prime, hopelessly out I do. So many mornings I have spent of touch with new technology and in profes- story. If this final note is the same as that to the editor-in-chief and the chief financial getting my fingers inky, devoting far too which sounded throughout the story, then officer. Was it challenging to capture all those sional freefall. Is he a metaphor for newspapers long to the newspaper pages. This isn’t to themselves? the tale risks blandness – you may think, Why unique voices and bring them together to tell say that I adore everything about papers. did I bother? If it’s wildly dissonant, however, one wider story – the story of the paper itself? Indeed, one of the pleasures of the media is He could be interpreted that way, and it’s that’s worse, since it undermines the credibil- Weaving the strands into a single novel hating it. My father – a devout newspaper certainly true that newspapers are similarly ity of the story. What I sought were endings presented certain challenges: for example, reader – spends much of each day denounc- in freefall. But his problems extend beyond that deepened the reader’s understanding of ensuring that all characters remained ani- ing the publications that he nonetheless technology, including sexuality, his sense of what preceded, illuminating the characters mated in the reader’s mind even after they buys without fail. I’m truly sorry at the usefulness in the world, the cost of his past suddenly and starkly, so that the story ends had stepped from the spotlight of their own decline of newspapers. Life won’t be the egotism, his regrets. His case is more that of not with a full stop but that it reverberates story and into a supporting role in anoth- same without them. an ageing striver who can’t bear to see strength afterward.

Q&A with David Carlin David Carlin’s extraordinary because in almost every case it was the first their own families. Many people seem to memoir, Our Father Who time the family and friends of my father had relate the story to their own families, because Wasn’t There (Scribe, PB, been asked to tell their story of what they I suppose it is relatively common for families $32.95) has already been remembered of him and their impressions of to have these ‘skeletons’ – informal taboos praised by the likes of his character. This gave what they said a vivid around difficult or painful stories of their Christos Tsiolkas and Joan and fresh quality that was very powerful. I own. Shame is a very powerful and complex London. Jo Case spoke to also loved fossicking around in libraries and emotion that, like guilt, sometimes effects him about it for Readings. newspaper archives to discover a feel for the our behaviour in ways we aren’t aware of. I times I was writing about. And the discovery think that shameful stories, which we feel Sensitivity towards your family’s feelings – par- of Brian’s medical records, and everything we need to keep hidden, nevertheless have a ticularly your mother’s – was obviously a factor that flowed from that regarding the insights kind of irresistible force to them that means in writing this investigation into the life and into psychiatric approaches in the 1950s and they will tend to surface eventually. We wish death of your father, who killed himself when 60s, was very absorbing. I felt like a detective the world, and our emotions and actions, you were six months old. How did you deal trying to understand the motive for a crime were less complex and contradictory than with this? in which the victim and perpetrator were they really are – that is why we love stories of The idea that this was something that both known. clear good and evil, they are so much simpler shouldn’t be talked about was obviously Since I myself had no memories at all of my and more comforting! But the real messed-up seared very deeply in my mind, and, I father, I knew that the only truthful way muddling-along world is pretty fascinating, I find. believe, in that of my siblings too. This is to write about it was to acknowledge and attacking us via our body, whereas something discussed in the book. It took me a long time explore how strongly my impressions of like depression can seem to be a part of our to get to the point where I thought I could Running through the book is the question of the story were mixed up with fantasies and very soul. It was very interesting to find out whether your father’s focus on his mental illness write about the story. I talked to the vari- imaginative flights. At the same time, I think how mental illness was treated in Australia in ous members of my immediate family about exacerbated it, or simply made it more obvious it’s important, for the reader’s trust, to signal the middle of the last century – I think there to observers. What are your conclusions? what I was thinking of doing. My mother as clearly as possible the moments where the must have been half a dozen different labels, was the crucial one – if I had sensed that she line is crossed from the episodes of the story apart from depression, applied by doctors This is a very difficult question because it is was against the idea then I would not have that I have been told or have read, to those I trying to describe my father’s affliction. And hard to separate his character from the illness. wanted to go ahead with the project at this have found myself wanting to imaginatively with any chronic case of mental illness, par- I think that some sorts of mental illness, time. But she was remarkably supportive, as embellish. ticularly where the person manages to func- and I think my father’s was like this, have an indeed the whole family has been. I think the tion at a high level of normality in everyday obsessive quality, and to be treated effectively idea of having such a personal story revealed The book seems to double as an investigation life, it is just so hard for others around that there needs to be some way to counteract this has been confronting, but there was also a into depression itself – how it works, how it person to fully comprehend what is going tendency to obsessive thoughts. I do wonder sense in which everyone was actually curious feels, how it effects sufferers and their families, on or what the problem is. It is very hard to whether his search for answers would have to find out what the story was, since for the and how we attempt to treat it. Was this part of empathise. found a better response from treatments most part, people only knew their own little your intention? available these days – I guess we would bit of it. It wasn’t a conscious intention. However, You write: ‘Shame is scattered like a condiment certainly hope that would be the case. But across this story.’ Was it confronting to go public I find that a very poignant element of the Throughout the text, you piece together scenes of I think it inevitably came in as part of the search for the motive for my father’s death. with this family shame? What made you decide story: both that Brian was so clearly striving your father’s life through a combination of facts it was worth it? to ‘cure’ himself, and that, at the same time, gained through research and interviews, and The difficulty with any kind of mental ill- ness is that it is much harder to separate the It is confronting to have the story told so there were hints that this very striving might imaginative reconstruction based on the facts. publicly. But one thing I noticed very early have been part of the problem! What was this process like? illness from one’s own sense of self than it is with a physical illness. Cancer or a virus, for on when, on occasion, I read early sections of Read the long version at www.readings.com.au. I found it absolutely fascinating to do the re- instance, can be imagined as malign invaders the book in public, was the number of people search – the interviews were very interesting who would come up to me with stories of Readings Monthly February 2010 5

Book of the Month Q&A with Kirsten Tranter the pregnant widow Kirsten Tranter’s post-9/11 Martin Amis mystery The Legacy(Harp - ‘I love the way literature Jonathan Cape. PB. Normally $32.95 erCollins, PB, Normally is made from bits and Our special price $27.95 $32.99, Our special price Martin Amis used to be $29.95) is among the most pieces of other literature, known as the author of eagerly anticipated debuts coruscatingly clever of 2009. Jo Case spoke to always in conversation satirical novels. Lately, her for Readings. he's been better known with what has gone for his controversial The structure, characters and situations in before.’ views on Islam. And his The Legacy borrow heavily from Henry one novel in the last 12 James’s Portrait of a Lady. What made you Classics department) and various nods to de- years was widely reviled. Literary decide to write a contemporary twist on that tective noir and nineteenth-century romance. observers couldn’t help but ask: was one novel? How much of this was conscious? And what of Britain’s most celebrated and admired I’ve always been drawn to literature that were your literary influences when writing practitioners of the form finally spent as responds to other works of art, other lit- this, apart from Henry James? a novelist? The Pregnant Widow answers erature; that reshapes stories or tells them that question with a resounding no. from different perspectives. I have been Donna Tartt and Evelyn Waugh were ma- fascinated by Portrait ever since I read it jor influences, yes – Donna Tartt especially Here, Amis returns to the satirical, possibility that it just doesn’t have to be as an undergraduate at Sydney Uni. It was for the way she writes a mystery that kind semi-autobiographical territory he covers that way … but it always is the same old presented to me by my eccentric and bril- of transcends the genre and manages to so well. The Pregnant Widowlooks at horrible thing! I suppose that desire seemed liant tutor at the time as a cruel revision of be both literary and really accessible; and the effects of the sexual revolution of to me to have some affinities with that George Eliot’s Middlemarch, a perspective I was also reading a lot of Edith Wharton the 1960s and 70s on men, women and desire on the part of people after 9/11 – a that I’ve never been able to really shake and Raymond Chandler. Chandler’s The relations between the sexes. In particular, desire for a different ending. What was in- off. I think it was seeing the book in these Big Sleep is the other major intertext apart he looks at the effects on a small group teresting to me was not so much the actual terms that drew me to thinking about from Portrait – I just love its dizzying, sur- of young people holidaying together in fate that Ingrid meets, but rather to explore making my own version of the story, seeing real twists, and the very minor character of an Italian castle in the summer of 1970, the desire for her to have escaped that par- it as a version of a manipulable narrative the clever bookshop assistant was the inspi- at a time when ‘girls acting like boys ticular fate, the meaning of that desire. idea. A long time passed before I found ration for my narrator Julia. A lot of it was was in the air’. conscious and came from, as I mentioned what seemed like the right way to go about A strong sense of inevitability underlies the Twenty-year-old Keith Nearing, a clever above, an immersion in Renaissance litera- it. novel. These characters – Ingrid, Ralph, Julia English graduate with ambitions to be a ture and its habits of compulsive allusion. In the meantime, I became completely – engineer their own fates, often driven by critic, is spending the summer with ‘two immersed in the literature of the Renais- I love the way literature is made from bits pride and perversity. How important was this blondes’, Lily and Scheherezade, and an sance, while I was working on my PhD at and pieces of other literature, always in sense of inevitability to you when writing the extended cast of seemingly peripheral Rutgers, and of course in the Renaissance, conversation with what has gone before, novel? characters. Lily, his on–off girlfriend, literature is all about revisiting and recy- and I’m happy to play with that in a fairly It was very important. Julia has to make is a Possible; Scheherezade, her best cling the classics and other stories. Shake- self-conscious way – but it was important a decisive break at the end of the story, to friend, has recently blossomed from a speare does it, Spenser does it; everyone to me that the story always remain acces- stop being so passive in the face of her fate, serious young activist into a glorious does it. It’s a habit of mind pretty alien to sible, that the reader doesn’t need to have and instead take her destiny into her own Vision. Nightly, Lily glumly predicts how we mostly now think about original- read Henry James or Raymond Chandler hands, even though it means giving up a that Keith – who, contrary to the spirit ity and creativity that I became somehow in order to enjoy or understand my novel. friendship with someone she loves very of the times, is helplessly prone to falling comfortable to the point where re-writing much. Pride and perversity are definitely in love – will fall for Scheherezade. Portrait of a Lady didn’t seem quite as crazy The Legacy is, among other things, a post- Meanwhile, Scheherezade becomes 9/11 mystery novel, with the central charac- the things that make for Ingrid’s downfall, or hubristic as it had done before. her tragedy. The story plays with ideas increasingly desperate to ‘try out’ her ter’s disappearance at the World Trade Centre newly awakened sexuality. It is such a compelling, and yet a horren- on the day the towers collapsed at the core of about whether our fate is fixed; whether we dous story. I hate what happens to Isabel, the novel. It explores ‘the secret cherished hope can know the future, or know ourselves – Itinerant guests at the house include even though she’s not my favourite char- of everyone who lost someone on that day, af- whether our handwriting reveals the truth four-foot tall local Adonis, Adriano, acter in all literature. Like many readers, I ter all – that she was not dead, but missing’. about our characters, or whether tea leaves Scheherezade’s ardent suitor; seemingly wanted it to end differently – but I wanted What drew you to this as a theme? can predict the course of our lives. prim Gloria, whose ‘arse like a prize to find a way of revising it that wouldn’t The interplay between what is determined tomato’ is almost as spectacular as be simplistic, that wouldn’t simply give the It was hard to go through 9/11 as a resi- dent of New York, as I was at the time, and for us – by the unconscious, by social forc- Scheherezade’s breasts; Keith’s acerbic Isabel character an easy way out or cheesy es, by fate, by character, by the machina- homosexual friend Whittaker, his happy ending. Instead, I wanted to find a not to be profoundly affected by that very desire and hope, which was everywhere, tions of others, by whatever external forces sculpted Arab boyfriend, Amen, and way of retelling the story that investigated – and what we determine for ourselves, as Amen’s veiled sister. And Keith’s visit is that very feeling, that very desire (ambiva- written up in all the hundreds of ‘missing’ posters that stayed up for months after- knowing, intelligent, imaginative individu- punctuated by missives from London, lent and complicated as it is) to rescue her, als, is endlessly interesting to me. updating him on his dangerously to make a different ending for her. wards. In the aftermath I started think- ing about building a story around that promiscuous sister, Violet, ‘who acts like Your central characters all seem to be in love a very bad boy’. The Legacy is rich in intertextual references idea – that kind of hopeless hope. It came with the idea of love, but unsuccessful at its together with my thoughts about Portrait and nods to various literary genres. There are practice. They’re all attracted to the unattain- Keith suffers a ‘sexual trauma’ during in a way that just seemed right. echoes of Brideshead Revisited (the univer- able in different ways. Why do you think that this fateful summer that colours the sity student infatuated with the glamourous The ending of Portrait is ambiguous is? And does this reflect a wider truth about rest of his life – but all of the characters family of a classmate); The Secret History enough that I go back to it every now and the nature of attraction, or is it particular to are marked to some extent by this new (intrigue within an East Coast university again, looking for some kind of clue or your characters? social order. And Keith’s transformation The darker side of love – unrequited love, from a man apt to fall in love into a man perverse and impossible desire, the inter- in tune with his age, ‘when sex divorced play of power and subjection – has a lot itself from feeling’ is as much of a going for it in terms of dramatic material. disaster as anything else that happens There’s always an element of mystery in at- to him. Keith reflects that: ‘the English traction, a sense of unconscious emotional novel, at least in its first two or three forces at work that we can’t understand, centuries, asked only one question. which makes it always fascinating. I think Will she fall? Will she fall, this woman?’ the mix of pride and perversity that you The Pregnant Widow, in the spirit of mention above has something to do with the revolution it mines for material, it, in terms of why love plays out so disas- asks one core question: not ‘will he fall?’, trously for these particular characters. But but ‘how will he fall?’ I’m not trying to say that this is a wider There’s plenty to enjoy in The Pregnant truth; in fact at the end, the story tries to Widow: cleverly drawn characters, open onto a more optimistic possibility of lashings of social satire, unexpected authentic emotional connection, for one plot twists, intriguing ruminations on major character at least. politics, very funny riffings on literature Read the extended version of this (including a long discussion of why interview at www.readings.com.au. ‘Elizabeth Bennett is a cock’) and much to think about when the final page has been turned. And yes, Amis the novelist is well and truly back. Jo Case is editor of Readings Monthly Oslo Davis www.oslodavis.com 6 Readings Monthly February 2010 New Fiction legal proceedings will see Naomi margina- lised and the boys awarded to their mother. Australian Fiction The three will move into the colourless Child of the Twilight surroundings of a housing commission flat Carmel Bird on the wrong side of town – a change which HarperCollins. PB. $27.99 will expose the boys to the crime and I am a huge fan of Carmel vulnerability that comes with destitution. Bird’s novels. I’ve spent a lot Love, however, conquers all. Old wounds are of time hunting down her healed and bonds are renewed. A very out-of-print titles, so a new pertinent novel about tolerance and novel is very exciting for me. forgiveness. Moving and beautifully written. Child of the Twilight deals Dimitri Gonis is a freelance reviewer with themes of family and religion, as does much of her Love Machine writing. The novel is narrated by Sydney Clinton Caward Peony Kent, who weaves her own story of Hamish Hamilton. PB. $29.95 being an IVF baby into the narrative of the Spencer’s grand plan is to Bambinello, a bejewelled statue of the infant make a film. Not just any Jesus, believed to have miraculous powers, kind of film, but a film which went missing from its church in starring blow-up dolls of all Rome. Sydney’s mother had prayed to the shapes and sizes. You see, Bambinello for a child, as had Father Roland Spencer’s skewed reality is Bruccoli’s mother in Melbourne. Father planted firmly in the bowels Bruccoli was present in the church the of an underground sex shop evening the Bambinello was stolen, and is in Kings Cross that caters for all walks of later the priest at the Catholic school life, from petty criminals, drunks and Corazon Mean attends, unknowingly sleaze-bags to … the love of his life. The pregnant. In her unique style, Bird deftly minute he sets eyes on Livia, everything brings these seemingly disparate narrative makes sense. The only problem is that he has threads together into a novel of life, death, to share her with the rest of the Cross. He miracles and religion. needs to save her from her life on the streets Edwina Kaye is from Readings Carlton and yet, deep down, he thinks that perhaps she’s the one that can save him. This is a The Legacy pacy, quirky, yet unnerving romp through Kirsten Tranter the sleazy streets of sex and love. Fourth Estate. PB. Normally $32.99 Emily Harms is marketing manager Our special price $29.95 of Readings Some novels are cracking good reads – they’ll have you Where Have You Been? reading late into the night as Wendy James you tell yourself ‘just one UWA. PB. $32.95 more chapter ...’ Other Wendy James’s third novel is novels are more ideas-based an intriguing suburban – they're the kind that leave suspense story, with a you ruminating long after question of identity at its you've finished reading. But the best novels core. In 1975, 18-year-old – like The Legacy – are a compelling Karen leaves for a high mixture of the two. The prologue is voiced school formal; her mother by Ingrid, but the rest of the novel is and stepsister, Susan, wave narrated by best friend Julia as she attempts from the front verandah. It’s the last time OUR FATHER WHO TOKYO VICE to unravel the mysteries behind her disap- they see her. Twenty years later, following WASN’T THERE Jake Adelstein pearance. Did Ingrid really die on 9/11? And her mother’s death, Karen – now known as if so, how? As one character points out, 9/11 David Carlin ‘Sacred, ferocious and Carly – reappears to claim her half of their AUTHOR TOUR businesslike. This is would have provided the ‘perfect cover’ to inheritance, and quickly insinuates herself commit murder. Or has Ingrid managed to ‘Carlin’s memoir … the Japanese mafia into the comfortable North Shore life of has both a toughness that Adelstein describes devise some completely different fate for Susan, husband Ed, and her two children. and a deeply resonant like nobody else.’ herself? And what would it mean for her Susan is thrilled to finally have a sister again; — Roberto Saviano eloquence … a punch friends if she had? So absorbing are these Ed is unexpectedly charmed by his free- in the gut and a questions that the insights this novel offers spirited new sister-in-law. But, though she tender caress.’ – on friendship and its impact on identity, — Christos Tsiolkas knows crucial details that no one else could, for example – sneak up on you and it’s not something is not quite right about Carly. Is until the very end that you realise quite how she who she says she is? If not, who is she? If much was at stake for Julia. Captivating and so, where has she been – and why did she THE BLACK INTIMACY & DESIRE thought-provoking, The Legacy will have you leave? And what effect will this hard-bitten RUSSIAN Dr David Schnarch turning the pages and then thinking about it former prostitute and drug addict have on Lenny Bartulin From the author of – long after you've finished reading. the lives of her new family? This absorbing AUTHOR TOUR the bestselling and Olivia Mayer is a freelance reviewer novel is infused with a palpable sense of ground-breaking book disquiet underlying this recognisably ‘An entertaining crime Passionate Marriage. thriller … with lots of Once on a Road ordinary suburban family. Sydney local colour … Mary Ellen Mullane Jo Case is editor of Readings Monthly Highly recommended Vintage. PB. $24.95 to all crime fans.’ — Bookseller & Publisher For Zoe Zalum, a has-been Under Stones artist and reformed drug Bob Franklin addict, it’s been an eight-year Affirm. PB. $24.95 sabbatical from motherhood. This short-story collection SO GREEK BEHIND THE But she returns on the day of will introduce readers to a Niki Savva EXCLUSIVE her father-in-law’s funeral whole new side to off-beat and she wants her boys. AUTHOR TOUR BRETHREN television comedian Bob Chris and Max, however, BOB FRANKLIN Franklin. These stories are ‘A rivetting insider’s Michael Bachelard have only known two parents: grandparents UNDER STONES account of how certainly off-beat, but they’re A new-format Noel and Naomi. They’re the ones who’ve politicians, minders, edition of the most funny as in unsettling and and journalists comprehensive book loved and nurtured them over the years. strange, not the funny (as in really operate.’ ever written about Now widowed and alone, Naomi is con- ‘ha-ha’) we’re used to from him. It’s a great — Laurie Oakes the Exclusive Brethren. fronted with the reality of losing everything. way to kick off Affirm Press’s ambitious new There’s already a huge rift between the two Long Story Short series – a series of single- women. Naomi resents Zoe for the death of author short-story collections to be pub- her own sons, Ben and Jesse, in a car lished throughout 2010. And these stories accident. She’s not prepared to relinquish the come with a literary stamp of approval from www.scribepublications.com.au only living link to her children. A period of Sonya Hartnett, who says: ‘What a bruising Readings Monthly February 2010 7 collection this is ... Franklin turns a coolly in Rome, each chapter telling the story of a increasingly impossible lives. ‘The Unnamed amused and beautifully composed eye on the different employee on the paper, from ambi- ... unfold[s] in a hushed, shadowed dimen- darkest, saddest, oddest and most ordinary tious workaholic editor-in-chief Kathleen sion located somewhere between myth and a Journals corners of the world.’ Solson to obituary writer Arthur Gopal, the David Mamet play.’ – Salon.com Griffith Review 27: son of a world-famous journalist whose over- Food Chain Keeping Faith riding ambition is to do as little work as pos- The Wife’s Tale Julianne Schultz (ed.) Roger Averill sible and rush home to his beloved daughter, Lori Lansens Text. PB. $24.95 Transit Lounge. PB. $29.95 Peanut. Author Tom Rachman has worked Little Brown. PB. $29.99 The latest issue of Griffith Josh and Gracie grow up in a working in newspapers for many years, including a Lori Lansens made a name Review looks at an issue that class world centred on the values of faith stint as a foreign correspondent in Rome and for herself in popular fiction is ever close to the heart of and family. Both cherish their father, a lay another as editor of the International Herald with her novel The Girls, our culture – food. We are preacher, and their mother, but for Josh the Tribune in Paris. It’s obvious that he knows about conjoined twins Rose what we eat, and in an era of complex secrets, doubts and subtleties of the his subject backwards – he brilliantly renders and Ruby Darlen. Lansens climate change, the discon- world do not allow for certainty. In adult- the politics of the newsroom, and the gripes has again chosen an unusual nect between food produc- hood he works as a labour ward attendant, and obsessions of the journalists, such as protagonist. Mary Gooch, at tion and consumption is a his younger sister Gracie as a nurse on a re- corrections editor Herman Cohen’s 18,000- 43, is morbidly obese and has matter of global anxiety. Margaret Simons mote mission station in Papua New Guinea. plus entries in his personal ‘Bible’ – aka the always lived in the rural Canadian town of looks at the Murray–Darling Basin and the While Josh’s conviction falters, the unfailing paper’s style guide – which he frequently up- Leaford. She has the same job as a pharmacy likely impact of water shortages on the faith of his sister leads to tragic consequenc- dates with great relish. The novel is equally assistant that she had at high school; she security of Australia’s food bowl in the lead es. As events move between 1975 and 1994, compelling on both the work and personal doesn’t read the newspaper or use a compu- essay. Red Lantern chef Pauline Nguyen between a family drama in outer suburban lives of its characters, taking us inside the life ter or a mobile phone. She has always been reinterprets family traditions, Brendan Melbourne and a tribal rebellion in Melane- of the paper as an organism and the indi- known as a ‘fat girl’ and endured the scorn Gleeson explores the untapped potential of sia, faith and doubt become entwined. vidual lives of those who work there. Highly of others and the resultant self-hatred. backyard gardens and there is fiction from recommended for news buffs, writers and Another staple of her life has been her Nick Earls and others. editors, and anyone who enjoys a good read husband, Jimmy Gooch. We meet Mary on set against the backdrop of current events. the eve of her twenty-fifth (silver) wedding Jo Case is editor of Readings Monthly anniversary. However, Jimmy does not International return home. Without her constant compan- The Other Family ion, Mary must negotiate a world that has ParisLiterature Review CFictionounterpoint Joanna Trollope moved beyond her. Lansens tells Mary’s story Interviews: Volume 4 Anna Enquist Doubleday. PB. Normally $32.95 with humour and empathy, and both Mary Philip Gourevitch (ed.) Our special price $27.95 and the reader take a journey that becomes UWA. PB with Bach CD. Normally $32.95 Joanna Trollope’s fifteenth not so much about finding Jimmy Gooch, Canongate. PB. $34.95 Our special price $27.95 novel explores the tangled but finding Mary beyond the accumulated The Paris Review interviews This exquisite, masterfully realm of the contemporary layers of fat and fear. are legendary for providing restrained novel witnesses family, in a world where one Annie Condon is a freelance reviewer intelligent, thoughtful and one woman’s grief over the life partner is no longer the surprising insights into the death of her daughter, and rule, but the exception. The Group minds and craft of some of her escape into Bach’s Chrissie’s happiness with the world’s best writers. And Goldberg Variations – a piece Mary McCarthy this series of collected husband Richie and her three Virago. PB. $22.99 he composed following the daughters has always been compromised by interviews is becoming an death of his son. As ‘the This 1960s classic has been eagerly anticipated annual event. This fourth the knowledge of his ‘other family’ – wife on my ‘to-read’ list for ages – woman’ immerses herself in the music and Margaret and son Scott, who he left behind volume includes interviews with Maya its rich emotional architecture, she reflects and the appearance of this Angelou, Haruki Murakami, V.S. Naipaul, 23 years ago. Following Richie’s death, their new Virago edition, with an on its relation to suffering and on her own invisible presence becomes impossible to Marilynne Robinson, Philip Roth and more. loss of her daughter, who as a child once introduction from Candace ignore, especially because they are involved Bushnell and a rave from exclaimed during a performance of the piece in Richie’s will ... Telling Tales in Amsterdam, ‘Mama, that’s our song!’ Sarah Waters, was the Melissa Katsoulis Enquist, a classically trained pianist and a impetus for me to finally The Rare Bird of Truth strike it off. And I’m so glad I did! A recent Hardie Grant. PB. $24.95 practicing psychoanalyst, is a major literary For the first fascinating time, name in her native Netherlands. Here, she Neal Drinnan review in The Independent declared this as S&S. PB. Normally $29.99 ‘the precursor of the women’s novel’ and that the complete history of attempts to exorcise her personal grief literary hoaxes is revealed. (which mirrors that of the book’s) – and in Our special price $24.95 ‘without this, there would be no Sex in the Neal Drinnan was once City’. This seems apt. But by no means is this Suitable for bookworms the process, creates a deeply felt, psychologi- of all ages and persuasions, cally pitch-perfect novel. labelled ‘the gay Kathy Lette’ early chick-lit (and incidentally, it's more and even a quick dip into biting and cerebral than STC; no fairytale this is true crime for people this gloriously funny, endings or earnest shoe obsessions here). It’s who don’t like true crime The Long Song and literary history for the Andrea Levy delicately barbed romp savagely funny, sharply observant, beautifully proves the truth of it. drawn and completely absorbing, telling the historically illiterate. Headline. PB. $27.95 London-based Australian edi- stories of eight female college graduates in Ah. At long last we have the tor Virgil Mann has an 1930s New York, set against the backdrop of new novel by Orange unexpected brush with fate while on a the Depression; the building and onset of Award-winning author hedonistic Ibiza holiday – and unexpectedly World War II; the suffragettes movement and Andrea Levy (Small Island). Literary Crime finds himself promoted to publisher, rather the new rights and debates it has brought; the Wings of This is the story of Miss July, than being fired for indolence, as he’d been and the politics of the time, including the the child of a field slave in the Sphinx vaguely expecting. Meanwhile, he’s on the schisms within socialism and Communism; Andrea Camilleri Jamaica and her mistress, periphery of a swirl of events: his boss facing and the shifting sands of social class. All this is Mrs. Mortimer, a newly nasty unforseen challenges, his boss’s wife, a expertly woven into the fabric of the charac- Penguin. PB. $22.95 arrived pompous English widow. Together popular mumsy television presenter, is ters’ lives. But the themes at the core of the Food, love and murder – Si- they survive the chaotic end to slavery, but attracting unwanted attention, and a novel are universal and as relevant today as cilian style – in the gripping indeed Miss July remains to near the end a gold-digging beauty and a retail heir are they were in the 1930s and at the time of eleventh instalment of the victim of racism. I savoured Levy’s ability to about to bring the party season to a shocking publication: juggling careers and relation- New York Times bestselling observe and record the language and end. It’s all great fun. ships, the intricacies of friendship, the Montalbano mystery series. movement of her characters. Her ability, for paradoxes of attraction, the lure and heart- Things are not going well for example, to record an array of interpreta- The Unnamed break of love. I didn’t want this book to end, Inspector Salvo Montalbano. tions of English is masterful, and at times but couldn’t help tearing through it. Highly His relationship with Livia is very humorous. The Long Songis a tribute to Joshua Ferris once again on the rocks and, acutely aware Penguin. PB. $32.95 recommended. the resilience of those under the rule of the Jo Case is editor of Readings Monthly of his age, he is beginning to grow weary of barbarous and unethical shallow English Joshua Ferris attracted a the endless violence he encounters. Then a migrants. At times The Long Song is a stream of accolades for his young woman is found dead, her face half shocking record of Jamaican and English celebrated debut novel, And shot off and only a tattoo of a sphinx moth history, but it is in the end a story of a strong Then We Came to the End. giving any hint of her identity. The tattoo His second novel is less Poetry woman and of the respect she deserves. This Out of the Box: links her to three similarly marked girls (all is a brilliant addition to an already impres- obviously comic than his victims of the underworld sex trade) who sive collection of work. This is a book for first, but equally engrossing, Contemporary have been rescued from the Mafia night-club past fans of Levy’s work but also for anyone beautifully combining Australian Gay circuit by a prominent Catholic charity. The that enjoys Atwood, Morrison and Lessing. tenderness and wit to create an original & Lesbian Poets problem is, Montalbano's enquiries elicit an Chris Gordon is events coordinator at Readings portrait of a successful man suddenly and Michael Farrell outcry from the Church and the three other mysteriously at war with his body. Tim & Jill Jones (eds) girls are all missing. The Imperfectionists Farnsworth is a handsome, healthy man who Puncher & Wattman. PB. $30 Tom Rachman loves his work, his family and his home. One This, the first contemporary anthology of day, he develops an unnamed and undiag- gay and lesbian poetry, is packed with some Text. PB. $32.95 nosable condition that involves him The Imperfectionists is an absolutely winning of the Australian poetry scene’s most recog- spontaneously, compulsively walking to the nised and respected names. Includes David novel – funny, sad, affecting and sharply point of exhaustion – and suddenly struggles observational. It’s set in the office of an Malouf, Dorothy Porter, Peter Rose, joanne to hold onto all that he has. It is, of course, a burns, Bel Schenk, and many more. English-language international paper, based clever metaphor for our times and our 8 Readings Monthly February 2010

New Crime Fiction Dead Write with Kate O'Mara Just when we thought Promoted with the simple, If true crime is your cup of Due to his being a gun- Henning Mankell had yet effective tagline ‘Wyatt’s tea also take a peek at Jake toting ex-marine, disgraced forsaken the crime novels been away. Now he’s back’, Adelstein’s Yakuza exposé ex-copper and all round that made him famous and Garry Disher’s first Wyatt Tokyo Vice (Scribe, PB, $35), humourless bastard, Joe Pike disappeared into a world of novel in 13 years – called, a book that earned him a is probably not a chap you’d meditative literature and funnily enough, Wyatt – re- price on his head for exposing like to hang with. This is quiet human drama, he acquaints us with the a senior organised crime especially true if you’re comes back with a ven- taciturn thief, returned to figure who traded informa- involved in wiping out the geance in The Man from Beijing (Harvill Melbourne and in dire need of a few quid tion about his fellow gangsters in order to entire family of an old friend and he’s out for Secker, PB, Normally $34.95, Our special (Text, PB, $32.95). Apparent salvation jump the liver transplant queue in the US. violent revenge, as happens in Robert Crais’ price $29.95). A complex and satisfying comes in the form of an acquaintance Compelling stuff. The First Rule (Orion, PB, $32.99). Crais, a story beginning with a grisly mass murder offering him a major role in a jewel heist. master of slick, airport-friendly machismo- in rural Sweden, it spans 150 years and Inevitably, it all goes pear-shaped and our Barbara Nadel, who is rather fests, will not disappoint anyone who likes several continents, and proves that post- anti-hero finds himself in a mess that he may popular in her native UK, has that kind of thing – and I include myself in Wallander, he can still deliver the goods. not be able to clean up. slowly built up a following their number. I’ve sometimes felt Mankell didn’t write here with her Istanbul-based Jilliane Hoffman also seeks particularly strong female characters. Staying in Australia, Lenny Bartulin’s Black Cetin Ikmen series, of which a share of the lucrative However, the main protagonists of Beijing, Russian (Scribe, PB, $27.95), the sec- Death by Design (Headline, commercial thriller pie with a sharp-minded investigating police officer ond book featuring hapless second-hand PB, $32.99) is the twelfth. Pretty Little Things (Harper- and a judge struggling with an intense bookseller Jack Susko, finds the struggling After being injured by a sui- Collins, PB, $32.99), a career and an indifferent marriage, are well businessman caught up in an art theft and cide bomber, Ikmen goes undercover in Lon- probable blockbuster drawn and interesting. plunged into the shady Sydney underworld. don in an attempt to glean information about an impending terrorist attack in Britain. featuring a missing girl Like the endless cups of bush JOHN SILVESTER AND ANDREW RULE There are also plenty of New Zealand author Paul Cleave’s Blood and a special agent on a

The stories that inspired the mission. Her successful novel from a tea guzzled by Precious Screentime series for Sydney shenanigans, real Men (Bantam, PB, $29.95) concerns the Ramotswe, there is some- the Nine network ones, to be had in John outwardly successful yet inwardly tormented few years back, Retribution, is apparently thing familiar and comfort- Silvester and Andrew Rule’s son of a convicted serial killer, who fears that to be made into a film. ing about a new instalment Underbelly: The Golden Mile the propensity to extreme violence may be And see page 7 for the in the No.1 Ladies Detective (Floradale, PB, $24.99). inher-ited. lowdown on the latest from Agency series. The Double Focusing on the late eighties one of Readings' very Comfort Safari Club (Little, King’s Cross underworld, Spencer Quinn follows up favourite crime writers, Brown, Normally $34.99, Our special price and tied into the forthcoming TV series of last year’s quiet achiever, Andrea Camilleri, and the $29.95) may not break any new ground the same name, the book details the Dog On It, with Thereby latest adventures of Siciliy's – Mma Makutsi is still impatient for her nefarious goings-on that culminated in the Hangs a Tail (A&U, PB, Inspector Montalbano in wedding to actually happen, Mma Ra- Wood Royal Commission of the mid-nine- $23.99), another charming The Wings of the Sphinx motswe still solves all the world’s problems ties. Since we’re on the subject of corrupt story narrated by inquisitive (Penguin, PB, $22.95). with sedate and reasoned deduction – but Sydneysiders, I must give a brief shout-out canine Chet as he follows who cares when the formula is so endearing to Roger Rogerson’s self-serving yet his sleuthing master Bernie. and successful? Readings is proudly present- charming autobiography The Dark Side Talking dogs may be a bit hard to swallow as ing Alexander McCall Smith at the Capitol (Kerr Publishing, PB, $24.95) – it came a plot device, but these books have received Theatre on 3 February – check the event out late last year but for some reason was strong reviews and if you’re what they call a page for details. overlooked in these pages. ‘dog person’, you might just dig them.

Q&A with Garry Disher Garry Disher is one of new technology has outstripped his expertise. Is ‘ Australia’s most popular there a certain appeal in writing an ‘old-style’ Putting the boot in must crime writers, most notably criminal like him? Does this add an extra always come second to over the past several years challenge for you when deciding which situa- with his Challis and Destry tions he’ll be embroiled in, and how he’ll deal the storytelling.’ series, set on the Morning- with them? Wyatt is a fast-paced crime novel, peopled ton Peninsula. In Wyatt It’s probably beyond my skills to create a with a web of criminals and cops all seeking to (Text, PB, $32.95), he loveable drug dealer. The face of crime has outwit – and ultimately trump – one another. returns to ‘old-style hold-up man’ Wyatt, changed with drugs. There’s a greater chance How do you plot a novel like this? Do you plan last revisited 13 years ago, in response to of viciousness and unpredictability when all your twists in advance, or do some of them popular demand – and it’s a beauty. greed, addiction and huge profit potential are come to you as you write? Jo Case spoke to him for Readings. involved. Besides, it’s more fun, and somehow Although there’s a common pattern to the The Wyatt series is told from the point of view more worthy, to show Wyatt holding up a payroll van rather than ripping off an addict Wyatt novels (as there is with the Chal- of a criminal who the reader can’t help but lis and Destry novels), I use subplots and root for. This type of book seems to be increas- or a dealer. The problem for me (and him) is finding ways to get the cash without having minor characters to mask it. The story arc ingly popular at the moment, with the success is simple: Wyatt identifies a job, is betrayed of the ‘Dexter’ series, for instance. What ap- to hire a dozen guys with specialist techni- cal know-how and gadgetry, not to mention before or during the robbery, and gets his peals about writing from the criminal point revenge (and the gear back) at the end. of view? showing the reader how it all works. One of crime fiction’s great strengths is Sounds simple, but I can spend months telling us about the world we live in. It’s a Your books – both the Wyatt and Challis and Crime-from-the-inside films and novels planning these novels, balancing personal- barometer of prevailing social tensions. It Destry series – are often very Melbourne in might be growing in popularity now, but ity traits with plot demands, and carefully casts an unimpressed eye over the powerful. tone. Wyatt evokes a range of city locations, they’re not a new form. I wrote the first placing the sudden reversals and partial Most ‘literary’ novels let us down in that re- from Frankston’s teenage mothers, to dodgy Wyatt novel 20 years ago, drawing on an resolutions. And all this so the whole thing gard. Nevertheless, putting the boot in must stallholders at the Queen Vic markets, archi- American hard-core tradition of 50 and feels organic rather than contrived before always come second to the storytelling. 60 years ago. I think Wyatt and Dexter are tectural monstrosities in Mount Eliza and I start. But when I write, I always listen to popular because they appeal to our darker young yuppies in Southbank. How important the niggling voice that takes me away from This is the seventh Wyatt novel, coming after sides. Obviously most of us won’t pull the is place to your writing? the plan. a long hiatus. What made you decide to bring perfect robbery or kill those who’ve done us Setting should be a vital element of all fic- Wyatt back – and are you planning an eighth? Your crime novels are engrossing reads that are wrong, but we need to be able to imagine tion and it’s crucial in crime fiction. From pretty faithful to the genre, but are notable for I think writers need to keep refresh- doing it. Most of us are hemmed in by a writing craft point of view, I can’t see the being interwoven with sly, often very funny, ing themselves. After writing the first six doubts and scruples, our lives seem subject characters until I see the ground they walk political and social observations. In Wyatt, Wyatts, I needed a break. But Wyatt was to random forces, and so it’s liberating to on, and vice versa. Setting is useful in all there are references to the war in Iraq, a dis- always alive in the back of my head, and I follow characters like Wyatt and Dexter as kinds of ways: adding to our sense of the dain for the very rich and backhanders about was always being asked what had happened they impose a kind of order and, without characters, creating an appropriate mood an unspecified Prime Minister and The Footy to him, and another novel was needed for guilt, do the things we wish we could do. (e.g., distress), appealing to our senses Show. Is this element something you enjoy the German market, where Wyatt is very (we’ve all had a bus belch on us), and, more Wyatt is ‘an old-style hold-up man: cash, jew- writing into your books? popular. els, paintings’. He avoids the drug scene and broadly, showing the social as well as the is restricted in what he does by the fact that topographical diversity of a region. Readings Monthly February 2010 9 New Non-fiction Take a trip The Age. After a family tragedy forced her to reassess her career, she became Peter Biography Costello’s press secretary, then a member Our Father Who of John Howard’s staff – despite her own on the wild side! Wasn’t There Labor convictions. This her unconventional David Carlin story – and an intriguing insider look at the Scribe. PB. $32.95 behind-the-scenes workings of Australian In the tiny town of politics. SexSex secrets of the suburbs Bridgetown, Western Lunch in Paris FromFrom bondage parties and peeping toms, Australia in the 1960s, David ttoo plushiesp and foot worshippers ... join Carlin was only six months Elizabeth Bard one woman’s mind-boggling, hilarious, old when Brian, his father, HarperCollins. PB. $35 mysteriously died. In a time New York girl Elizabeth Bard sosometimesm creepy and always fascinating and place when suicide was opens this enticing blend of iinvestigationnve into the sexual fetishes taboo, Brian’s story began to love story, recipes and wit ooff ouro suburbs. fade in the memory of the Carlin family. with an account of how she Determined to complete the picture of his slept with her French father, David pieces together the memories husband half-way through of old friends and relatives with Brian’s vast their first date. She met array of medical records. From his journeys Gwendal at an academic con- through the harsh wheat belt landscape ference in London, and soon after concocted during the Depression, training at the a reason to be in Paris. Soon, she was living Love, death and HMAS Cerberus navel base at Crib Point there, enthusiastically immersing herself in before being sent on active duty, to the French culture and French cuisine – learning microwave popcorn bohemian university days in late 1940s to live, love and cook like a true Parisienne, When Cameron fi nds out he’s going to Perth, married life and eventually to the amid a heady mix of blood sausage and die, he embarks on the mother of all road gradual unravelling of his sanity after irregular verbs. initially being diagnosed with a ‘nervous trips through a twisted America to fi nd condition’ after returning from war. David Without Warning out how to live and what matters most. Carlin's memoir is a sensitive insight into Jane O’Connor For anyone who adored The Hitchhiker’s human fragility, love and loss. Hardie Grant. PB. $29.95 Guide to the Galaxy. Emily Harms is marketing manager of Read- This is one family’s experience ings of the Black Saturday firestorm. Jane O’Connor and The Letters of her husband were drawn to Sylvia Beach Kinglake by the lush native Sylvia Beach bush and tight-knit commu- Columbia UP. PB. $52.95 nity. On Saturday 7 February Sylvia Beach is a bookselling and publish- 2009, they had lived there for ing legend. Her claims to fame include the 16 years. Without Warning details the horrify- founding of Paris’s renowned Shakespeare & ing events of that day as Jane and her family Company bookshop in 1919 and being the fought for their lives in the face Australia's Readings_FEB10.indd 1 15/1/10 9:46:55 AM first publisher of James Joyce’sUlysses (1922). worst natural disaster. It details how they This lively and erudite collection of letters survived the day and the immediate aftermath, th Estate will enthral any lover of the literary scene, living in a landscape of death before emergency as we witness her day-to-day travails as a crews could reach them. Lucky to be alive, bookseller and publisher to expatriate Paris they then had to grapple with the grief and The Legacy: Tranter, Kirsten destruction of their community, and find a and her interactions with famous friends and 9780732290801 | $32.99 clients such as Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude way to survive the even longer journey of Stein, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald and recovery and rebuilding. Beautiful Ingrid inherits a fortune and leaves Australia, James Joyce. and her friends, to marry Gil Grey and set up home amid the New York art world. There she studies Must You Go: My Life ancient curse scrolls at Columbia University. with Harold Pinter Politics But at 9am on September 11, 2001, she has an Stripping Bare appointment downtown. And is never seen again. Antonia Fraser Weidenfeld & Nicolson. HB. Normally $55 the Body Or is she? Our special price $44.95 Mark Danner Who better to write a Black Inc. PB. $39.95 Both an unputdownable mystery and a compelling meditation on the nature of art, truth, friendship and love, memoir than a professional Mark Danner is one of the world’s best foreign The Legacy announces the arrival of a major new talent. biographer? Still better, this is a professional biographer correspondents – in my with a juicy private life, mind, a peer of Robert Fisk. Watch The Legacy book trailer at harpercollins.com.au marked by very public His reportage combines scandal, who hob-nobbed sharp, formidably well with Britain’s literary elite. informed analysis and Here, Lady Antonia Fraser tells the story of background knowledge her long love affair and marriage to legend- with a clear, direct, intensely human way ary playwright Harold Pinter, from their of communicating what he has seen and meeting as two married people across a uncovered to a general readership. His Readings Special Bargain crowded room (during which he asked her writing has been published in The New ‘must you go?’, sparking their affair). Warm, Yorker, New York Review of Books and a Greame Robb’s witty, gossipy and observant, this is a simply series of books that have gathered together marvellous read. his superlative reportage. The governing metaphor of this book is that violence strips The Discovery So Greek bare the political body and enables us ‘to Niki Savvas place the stethoscope against the naked skin and listen to the reality beneath’. Scribe. PB. $35 of France These post-Cold War stories follow Haiti’s So Greek could, it seems, election day massacre of 1987 and its have equally been titled ‘So Norton Hardback edition aftermath; genocidal conflict in the Balkans; Political Insider’. Slightly Was $59.95. Now $19.95 America’s failed attempt to bring its brand of more apt, a lot less catchy. democracy to Iraq; and the post-9/11 ‘black Niki Savvas was born in a ‘Altogether a book to savour.’ – Independent sites’ and torture policies of the American small Cyprus village and government. ‘The stories come together to Available at all Readings shops and online at grew up in working-class tell a larger one, a moral history of America as www.readings.com.au. See more bargain books Melbourne, where Greek a world power over the last quarter-century.’ on page 15 of this Readings Monthly, and view kids spoke ‘Gringlish’ to their parents. A few Highly recommended – particularly for its over 400 more bargains at www.readings.com.au. decades later, she had risen through the very timely content on Haiti. political journalism ranks to head the Canberra bureaus of the Herald Sun and Jo Case is editor of Readings Monthly 10 Readings Monthly February 2010 Them and Us the best of a literary culture. This marvel- development of modern science. Members Will Hutton lous anthology has succeeded wonderfully of the Royal Society’s Fellowship have Little Brown. PB. $35 on both accounts, dominating literary included Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton The author of The State We’re debate in the months since it was published and Albert Einstein. Today, its fellows are 6/)#%3&2/- In sets out to provide a new – and deservedly flying off the shelves. And the most influential contemporary scien- working model for capital- now that it’s available in paperback, that tists, many of whom have contributed to ism, in the wake of the world discussion will spread still wider. this book. ‘The discovery of the electron, 4(%&2/.4,).% financial crisis. He argues the splitting of the atom, the computer, the that fairness must be placed double helix and the world wide web were at the heart of the new all the works of fellows of the Society.’ – capitalism if our society is Food & Wine David Attenborough to recover its values. This rousing book of- Cuisine Du Temps fers convincing arguments that range across Jacques Reymond The Life and political boundaries, and will win favour on New Holland. HB. $60 Love of Trees the right and left. One of Melbourne’s most Lewis Blackwell renowned chefs, Jacques Headline. HB. $80 A Wall in Palestine Reymond, makes his first A gorgeous celebration of Rene Backmann venture into publishing with trees, lushly illustrated with Picador. PB. $27.95 this stunning, much-awaited images from some of the The West Bank Barrier – de- book. Greatly influenced by world’s leading nature clared illegal by the United the produce of Brazil and photographers. Through Nations International Court Spain, Jacques combines breathtaking photographs of Justice – is expected to be these with Asian and Pacific ingredients, and stories we are taken on completed in 2010. To Israel using French techniques to create dishes of a journey from the boreal the ‘security fence’ is brilliance and sophistication. Named after forest at the edge of the Arctic to the intended to keep Palestinian his innovative Prahran restaurant, Cuisine rainforests girdling the planet; from terrorists from entering its Du Temps presents more than 90 delectable ancient bristlecones to fresh-leaved territory. But to Palestinians the ‘apartheid (and often daring) modern French recipes. seedlings; from the charming and familiar wall’ that sliced through orchards and to the scary and rare; and from giant, houses, and cuts off family members from unseen, underground life forms to the one another, is a land grab. In this compre- possibility of life-saving unknown trea- hensive book, praised by John Le Carre, sures in the high canopies. Howard Zinn and others, Backmann not TCulturalhe Wayfinders: Studies only addresses the barrier’s impact on Why Ancient Wisdom ordinary citizens, but how it will shape the Matters in the future of the Middle East. Along the way, he Modern World TSciencehe Master and His interviews Israeli policy makers, politicians, Wade Davis ! &UTURE IN &LAMES IS A PERSONAL and military personnel, as well as Palestin- Emissary: The Divided UWA Press. PB. $29.95 JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY THAT LOOKS ians living throughout the West Bank. Brain and the Making AT WHAT WE HAVE LEARNT FROM THE The Wayfinders takes readers on a journey through time on a discovery of ancient of the Western World LESSONSOFTHEPASTANDATTEMPTSTO Iain McGilchrist UNDERSTANDWHY AFTERSOMANYYEARS wisdoms, languages and cultures. Some PEOPLE ARE STILL DYING IN BUSHlRES are already extinct, others are quickly on Yale UP. HB. $64.95 Australian Studies their way out. It is estimated that 50% of This fascinating book takes a !6!),!",%&%"25!29 The Future in Flames the languages spoken today will disappear new look at the inner Danielle Clode in our lifetime. An enlightening, awe- workings of the brain – MUP. PB. $34.99 inspiring and cautionary look at vanishing surely one of the most Award-winning natural history cultures and languages from one of the popular topics of the writer Danielle Clode explores world’s most celebrated and distinguished moment. Iain McGilchrist, what it is about Australia that anthropologists. an experienced psychiatrist makes us so prone to fires and a canny philosopher, – and whether it is possible for warns of the negative consequences of us to live in the Australian western culture’s elevation of the left-hand bush, but be safe from fire. She side of the brain (the hemisphere that looks at the lessons of the past TEnvironmenthe Big Picture: focuses on precision, detail and mechanics) and attempts to understand why, despite Reflections on over the right, which has greater breadth, repeated disasters over the last two centuries, a Changing Planet flexibility and generosity – and a better we seem to be no better at surviving bushfires grasp of overarching reality. McGilchrist today than were the first European settlers. David Suzuki takes the reader on a journey through Kevin O'Loughlin, former CEO of Bushfire & Dave Robert Taylor Western culture, illustrating the tension Cooperative Research Centre, has reviewed this A&U. PB. $29.95 between these two worlds – and the book for our website. See www.readings.com.au An important and provoca- growing dominance of self-interested left from 1 February. tive book that tackles the brain characteristics, taking us up to today. many environmental ‘This is a very remarkable book ... clear, The Worst of Days challenges we face head-on penetrating, lively, thorough and fascinat- Karen Kissane – and examines the forces ing.’ – Guardian that are preventing real Hachette. PB. $35 change. Suzuki discusses Respected journalist Karen Natural Experiments how to reconcile economy Kissane takes readers inside of History with ecology, why Britney Spears gets more the 2009 Black Saturday Jared Diamond Google hits than global warming, and why bushfires, showing the very we might need to start eating jellyfish. This & James A. Robinson (eds) best and worst of what we do book not only looks at the major issues – Harvard UP. PB. $49.95 under threat: one man who’s like suburban sprawl, sustainable transpor- Controlled laboratory just heard his family has been tation, food shortages and biodiversity experiments are considered killed goes on to save the – but offers solid, science-based solutions. to be the hallmark of the lives of others and another man refuses to scientific method – but 4HE2IVERLOOKSPASTTHEDAILYNEWS cover the face of someone who has died some central questions in REPORTS AND THEIR STERILE STATISTICS because ‘it’s not my job, mate’. This is a the natural and social REVEALING THE TRUE IMPACT OF THE gripping behind-the-scenes tale of officials sciences can’t be answered -URRAY $ARLING "ASINS DECLINE ON and their bungles, towns and their heroes, with this method. A fruitful THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE ALONG ITS RIVERS of survivors, saviours and lost souls. SNaturaleeing Further: History 350 alternative in the historical sciences has SHORES ANDONTHECOUNTRYASAWHOLE Years of the Royal been the use of natural experiments or the !6!),!",%-!2#( The Macquarie PEN Society and Scientific comparative method – as Diamond has Anthology of Endeavour done to great effect in his popular science Australian Literature Bill Bryson (ed.) classics Guns, Germs and Steel and Collapse. Nicholas Jose (ed.) HarperCollins. HB. Normally $49.99 This book consists of eight comparative A&U. PB. $49.99 Our special price $44.95 studies drawn from a range of disciplines, Major literary anthologies This copiously illustrated centering on a range of contemporary, past of this kind usually aim to volume, published to mark literate and pre-literate societies. spark debate and discussion the anniversary of the oldest about what constitutes a scientific academy in national literature, as well as existence, celebrates its vast offering a selection of what achievements so far – and its WWWMUPCOMAU the editors consider to be huge contribution to the Readings Monthly February 2010 11

effective; how it can enhance relationships, work and health; and how to calculate your Psychology current positivity ratio, track it and Eight Keys to improve it. SafeTrauma Recovery Babette Rothschild Norton. PB. $29.95 Trauma recovery is tricky – but there are several key EReligionternal Life: principles that can make the A New Vision Beyond process safe and effective. This book gives general Religion, Beyond readers and therapists the Theism, Beyond skills to understand and Heaven and Hell implement eight keys to John Shelby Spong successful trauma healing. This is not HarperCollins. PB. $32.99 another book promoting a new method or Bishop Spong is known for type of treatment – rather, it is a necessary his controversial ideas and adjunct to self-help and professional fighting for minority rights recovery programs, giving readers the tools – and he has long been a to put themselves in the driver’s seat on the Readings favourite. Here, road to recovery. the author of Why Christian- ity Must Change or Die Reading in the Brain: shares his life-long struggle The Science and with questions of God and death and how Evolution of a he came to believe in eternal life. God is one and each of us are part of that oneness, Human Invention he says – and this is how we live on after Stanislas Dehaene death; as part of the eternity that continues Viking. HB. $44.95 beyond barriers of time or space. The transparent and auto- matic feat of reading comprehension disguises an intricate biological effort, ably analysed in this fascinat- WhooFinanceps!: Why Every- ing study. Drawing on brain-imaging studies, case one Owes Everyone histories of stroke victims and No One Can Pay and ingenious cognitive psychology experi- John Lanchester ments, cognitive neuroscientist Dehaene Allen Lane. PB. $32.95 diagrams the neural machinery that trans- Given the fact personal debt lates marks on paper into language, sound has just eclipsed the nation’s and meaning. This lively, lucid treatise GDP, it seems appropriate proves once again that Dehaene is one of our authors try and ‘cash in’ on most gifted expositors of science; he makes the financial crisis still the workings of the mind less mysterious, causing ripples in our but no less miraculous. economy. John Lanchester’s eye opening book, Whoops!: Play: How it Shapes Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One the Brain, Opens the Can Pay is a good starting point for anyone Imagination and left scratching their heads over the whole GFC debacle. That said, this is no ‘dum- Invigorates the Soul mies’ guide so be prepared to flex your Stuart Brown numerical muscles. Lanchester clearly has a & Christopher Vaughan lot of experience analysing the world’s Compelling true stories Avery Publications. PB. $26.95 markets and it’s refreshing to see someone This groundbreaking, attempt to add a sense of humour to this New in store this month intensely insightful book is field of study. In fact, don’t be surprised if also a fascinating read, you drop this book in shock once you pitched at the general reader realise just how close Australia came to and backed up by the latest ‘In this powerful memoir, Donna Mulhearn’s teetering on the edge of financial bankrupt- courage and principles stand in damning con- Ordinary Courage research. Play feels like a trast to the lies told in our name. I salute her.’ cy. While Lanchester mainly focuses on the JOHN PILGER Trade paperback, $32.95 guilty pleasure once we devastation caused in the northern hemi- become adults – but Dr sphere, it pays (literally) to understand the One woman’s account of nding Stuart Brown illustrates here that play is a bio- dangers of running up excessive amounts of the ordinary courage to ful l her logical drive as integral as sleep or nutrition. debt. Lanchester’s book is one purchase you purpose, no matter what the odds Our ability to play throughout life is the shouldn’t feel guilty about putting on the single most important factor in determining plastic. ‘In this powerful memoir, Donna Mulhearn’s our success and happiness. Beyond play’s role Emily Laidlaw is a freelance reviewer courage and principles stand in damning in our personal fulfilment, its benefits have Epoob!Nvmifbso profound implications for child development psejobsz contrast to the lies told in our name. I salute and the way we parent, education and social her’. JOHN PILGER policy, business innovation, productivity, and My journey to Baghdad as a human shield even the future of our society. Spirituality ( NB: this title available in April 2010.) The Art of Meditation Matthieu Ricard Atlantic. PB. $29.95 In the Sanctuary of Outcasts in the Buddhist monk Matthieu sanctuaryof Ricard explains what Paperback, $24.95 outcasts Personal meditation is, how it is done ‘A witty, well-rendered narrative a memoir and what it can achieve. He Development talks us through the theory, of redemption and enlightenment. Positivity: Top-Notch spirituality and practical Readers who enjoy clever, o-beat Research Reveals the aspects of meditation, memoirs will devour this in one 3:1 Ratio that Will illustrating each stage of his sitting’ — Library Journal Change Your Life teaching with examples and pictures. The Barbara Fredrickson Art of Meditation demonstrates that by ‘astonishing and, when all is said Three Rivers. PB. $23.95 practicing meditation on a daily basis, we and done, deeply moving’ Neil White ‘a remarkable story of a young man’s loss of This practical guide provides can change our understanding of ourselves everything he deemed important’ john grisham JOHN BERENDT ‘astonishing and, when all is said and done, deeply moving’ a scientifically based set of and the world around us. john berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil tools for creating a healthier, more vibrant life, through a process called ‘the upward spiral’. Positivity explains what positivity is and why it needs to be heartfelt to be 12 Readings Monthly February 2010 Francis bacon: A Terrible Beauty 8AJ7 New York rock scene ... upon its walls, scattered 6aZmVcYZg Dorothy Parker of Max’s across its floors in a sea of BX8VaaHb^i] Kansas City’. David Malouf paint pots, brushes, discarded >H7C.,-&)%-,%&%*- said she ‘represented Sydney’. canvases and much-abused source and ()#.. Helen Reddy said she reference materials, all of which seemed to I]ZZaZkZci]cdkZa wouldn’t have written a song bespeak Bacon’s chaotically rigorous ^ci]ZbjX]"adkZY! without her; Germaine Greer dedicated The 0@7::7/David Bowie. b^hh^dcdcWZ]Va[d[V[dgbZg\jZhi# through which Bacon arrived at his paint- It draws on her personal papers and inter- ings. Drawing on the Hugh Lane Gallery's views with those who knew her and contains (Dublin) vast archive of materials, this is a BJHINDJ;:L>I= book as intriguing as Roxon herself. =6GDA9E>CI:G scholars alike. 6cidc^V;gVhZg >H7C.,-%'.,-*.,&% Sathal Creatures **#%% Fred Sathal 6bVgkZaadjhan Art & Design Images en Manoeuvres Editions. HB. $55 ^ch^\]i[jaiZhi^bdcn Prada Fred Sathal’s clothing looks a idbdYZgca^iZgVijgZÉhbdhiXZaZWgViZY Miuccia Prada little like someone took a 0==9A bVgg^V\Z!WZilZZci]Z\gZViZhi Lacroix frock to the op shop eaVnlg^\]id[i]ZV\ZVcYVWZVji^[ja & Patrizio Bertelli VcY[Vbdjheg^oZ"l^cc^c\W^d\gVe]Zg# Abrams. Slipcase. $150 and organically refabricated The first ever book on the it – there’s a glorious fashion house Prada will be abandon at work. Choosing B6G>:6CID>C:II: released in February at a absolute freedom as a 6cidc^V;gVhZg one-off pre-publication RRP requisite for her activities, >H7C.,-%,*(-&(%*-',#.. of $150. Prada documents Sathal’s experimental approach challenges 6cjcjhVaanhnbeVi]Zi^X three decades of ground- the skills of the craftsman through the eyes edgigV^id[i]^hWZVji^[ja! breaking fashion, architec- of an artist, leading to original and techni- h]VaadlVcYigV\^XFjZZc# ture, film and art, including cally demanding clothing designs and the work of the design studio and the accessories. Released to accompany two workshop, extensive creative partnerships different exhibitions in France, this book with photographers, designers, architects and provides both a survey of the original history film directors; and large-scale architectural of the designer and an insight into her commissions, the Fondazione Prada, and the research through a generous chronological 4@=; development of a new museum. Included are survey of the artist’s designs and creations. a photo-essay by renowned photographer New from Palgrave Macmillan Brigitte Lacombe, stills taken from short A Village Lost films documenting the craftsmanship of the and Found The D-Word factory, thumbnail pictures of 3,885 Brian May and Elena Vidal Talking about Dying different ‘looks’, photographs of the final Frances Lincoln. HB Slipcase. $90 Sue Brayne product on the runway, celebrated store This book portrays the idyll The D-Word is a designs, a film collaboration with director practical guide to of life in an 1850s village, support relatives, Ridley Scott, Koolhaas’s radical ‘Prada lovingly documented by friends and carers who Transformer’ pavilion in Seoul, costume master pioneering stereogra- are coping with the designs for a Japanese manga heroine, Prada pher T.R. Williams. The distress and anxiety of someone nearing found on the street and celebrities photo- identity of the village was lost the end of life, or who graphed on the red carpet, and blogs express- to the world for 150 years, has suddenly died. ing the almost fanatical devotion of lovers of and only by a miracle does Today, life-extending the brand. Don’t miss out. treatments have over- this magical set of stereoscopic views survive, ridden care for the soul. brought together for the very first time by Death is regarded as Tim Rollins & KOS: Brian May (Queen) and his co-author, B3FB a medical failure, and A History photo-historian Elena Vidal. Their research usually hidden away in hospitals, hospices, Ian Berry is amazingly in-depth, but the book is nursing homes and mortuaries. We have lost the MIT Press. HB. $59.95 utterly readable, and the pictures leap into ability to talk openly about the end of life. In August 1981, artist and glorious 3-D, viewed in the new, focusing $25.00 Pb, ISBN 9781441186799 Publish February 2010, 192 pages activist Tim Rollins was stereoscope which May has designed and Continuum recruited by the principal of produced to bring the stereos to life, and Intermediate School 52 in then folded neatly into the slip-case. An This Borrowed Earth the South Bronx to develop a extraordinary insight into everyday village Lessons from the Fifteen Worst curriculum that combined life at the time. Environmental Disasters around the World. Robert Emmet Hernan, Bill McKibben & Graham Nash. art-making with lessons in Humanity has the potential to preserve the earth reading and writing for Comic Art Propaganda for future generations or cause irreparable harm. students classified as ‘at risk’. On the first Fredrik Stromberg For the first time here, environmental lawyer day of school, Rollins told his students, Ilex Press. HB. $49.95 and activist Robert Emmet Hernan provides a comprehensive, up-to-date treatment of what ‘Today we are going to make art, but we are This book examines every happened at fifteen environmental disasters in also going to make history’. This book kind of propaganda, and ten countries across the globe. These poignant unfolds that history, offering the first looks at how positive or and inspirational stories provide a moving tribute B3FB>C0:7A67<51=;/C to the courage and comprehensive catalogue of work created pernicious messages have persistence of ordinary collaboratively by Rollins and several been conveyed in the pages people who struggled generations of students, now known as the of comic books over the last to understand what was happening to ‘Kids of Survival’. Rollins and his students 100 years. Subject areas them. The events developed a way of working that combined include racism and xenopho- narrated here show art-making with reading literature and bia, anti-drugs comics, pro-drugs comics and how individuals writing personal narratives: Rollins or a religious comics. Plus, there is a look at can counterbalance the negligence and student would read aloud from classic social programming, how gender roles were criminality of narrow literary texts by such authors as Shakespeare re-enforced in comic book stereotyping, and economic interests that and Orwell while the rest of the class drew how comics broke free to produce a whole threaten our planet. or wrote on the pages being read, connecting slew of gay superheroes, no matter how $29.95 Pb, ISBN 9780230619838 the stories to their own experiences. This ham-fistedly written. A fascinating global, Publish February 2010, book is an excellent and powerful testament visual history of some of the most conten- 256 pages to KOS, Tim Rollins and art. tious, outrageous, unbelievably unusual and Palgrave Macmillan politically charged comics ever published. Readings Monthly February 2010 13 Percy Jackson whereabouts are never glossed over; but and the Last Olympian Crow is always an inspiration to the three Rick Riordan English girls. Threads shows that fashion, far from always being a superficial or capitalist Puffin. PB. $16.95 pursuit, can be a form of necessary self- Kids’ Bookswith another lovely cat called Sock. But he Percy Jackson, son of expression, and a vehicle for social change. Picture Books Poseidon, god of the sea, is misses his old busking friend and one day Leanne Hall is from Readings Carlton Jasper and Abby and sets out to find him. The reunion is joyful about to turn sixteen and all the Great Australia but now Tabby McTat is torn between his hell is prophesised to break February: Conspiracy Day Kerfuffle two lives. The solution is unexpected, but loose. Kronos, Lord of the Titans, is beginning his 365 Book 2 Kevin Rudd & Rhys Muldoon, just right. A delight for 3–6 year olds and Gabrielle Lord Carla Zapel (illus.) anyone who loves cats! attack on New York City and the dreaded monster Typhon Scholastic. PB. $14.99 A&U. HB. $24.99 Kathy Kozlowski is from Readings Carlton is also heading his way. The film version of On New Year’s Eve Cal’s Look out for this picture Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth father was killed and now book by Prime Minister Younger Readers will be in Australian cinemas February 11. the killers are after him. Kevin Rudd and Play Hot and Cold: Hunted by the law and ruth- School's Rhys Muldoon. EJ12 Girl Hero Book 1 Contact: The Phoenix less criminals, Cal must Lemonfizz Media. PB. $6.50 Files Book 2 somehow survive the year New series alert! The rather Chris Morphew and uncover the truth about his father’s mysterious death, My Country good team behind the Go Egmont. PB. $16.95 but who can he trust? He has 334 days left Dorothea MacKellar & Andrew Girls junior readers series has There are only 88 days left … A new episode will be released each McLean (illus.) brought us another excellent until the end of the world, month of 2010. Omnibus. HB. $26.99 series for girls aged 7–10. unless Peter and his new One of Australia’s best-loved Emma Jacks is just your friends in Phoenix can stop poems is brought to life average primary schooler the Shackleton Co-operative Secret Army: with evocative and haunting trying to juggle bullies, gym and their secret weapon, the Henderson’s Boys watercolours. McLean’s squad and her family who knows her a little mysterious Tabitha. Book 3 pictures capture our hugely too well. But Emma’s got a not-so-average Robert Muchamore contrasting seasons and secret. After hours she’s EJ12, super secret Hodder. PB. $17.99 landscapes just as magically as Mackellar’s agent for Shine. Compared to dealing with Young Adult The government is building the mean girls at school, saving the world is words do. Every Australian child should Lord Sunday: Keys to a secret army of intelligence know this poem and this lovely picture a piece of cake. Book one is at a special agents to work undercover, book is the perfect place to start. Ages 4+ introductory price of $6.50. the Kingdom Book 7 gathering information and Alexa Dretzke is from Readings Hawthorn Callie Martin is from Readings St Kilda Garth Nix planning sabotage opera- A&U. PB. $15.99 tions. Henderson's boys are There Was an Jump Start: EJ12 Girl In the thrilling conclusion to part of that network: kids Old Sailor Hero Book 2 the Keys to the Kingdom cut adrift by the war, Clare Saxby Lemonfizz Media. PB. $12.99 series, Arthur Penhaligon is training for the fight of their lives. Charles & Cassandra Allen (illus.) EJ12 must crack the code of pitted against the fierce Lord Henderson is back home in Britain, but the evil Shadow agency to Sunday. Will he be able to will the military establishment allow him to Walker. HB. $27.95 hold back the fear of There was an old sailor who thwart their dastardly plans, enact a plan to train teenagers as spies? while alter-ego, Emma, is Nothing and save the House swallows a krill, which makes and Secondary Realms in him ill … think ‘there was an struggling with her prepara- When You Reach Me tion for the state gymnastics time? Is his own family still alive and can he Rebecca Stead old lady who swallowed a fly’ make it safely home? and you get the idea behind competition. Text. PB. $16.95 this delightful picture book. Miranda’s best friend Sal is Heist Society punched by another kid and Middle Readers Ally Carter refuses to see her again. Then Running Wild Lothian. PB. $16.99 Miranda starts receiving How to Heal Michael Morpurgo Are you in or out? Katarina Bishop wants mysterious letters that reveal to leave the family business, but that’s not things about her past and, a Broken Wing Harper. PB. $19.99 easy when your family is a gang of exclusive, Bob Graham Will's father has died and to intriguingly, her future, as world-class thieves. However, when a par- well as an offer of help for Sal. Walker. PB. $15.95 help forget the pain of the ticularly nasty mobster threatens her father, Now in paperback, this is event Will and his mother Kat and her young genius friends have no Non-Fiction the heart-warming story of head to Indonesia for a choice but to take matters into their own Will who takes home a small holiday. While Will takes an hands. From the author of The Gallagher And Picasso Painted injured bird and helps him elephant ride on the Girls comes another wittily written adven- Guernica heal so he can soar over the beautiful Oona, his mother ture. Lots of fun. Ages 13+ Alain Serres city again. Bob Graham is is swimming when the Julia Gorman is from Readings Carlton A&U. HB. $35 one of our most loved and tsunami hits. Saved by Oona who charges And Picasso Painted Guernica critically acclaimed picture away from the ocean, Will finds himself Threads is a fascinating account of book creators – and this book is evidence of living in the jungle with only Oona as his Sophia Bennett Picasso’s life and career, with much needed companion. This absolutely why. Endorsed by Amnesty International Scholastic. PB. $16.99 a particular focus on the UK. brilliant story is perfect for kids who love painting of Guernica, animals and are interested in current events. Threads is one of those rare books that balances fun and Picasso’s response to the The Tomorrow Book I can’t recommend this enough. bombing of the Basque town Katherine Dretzke is from Readings Hawthorn current affairs in equal Jackie French amounts! Narrator Nonie is during the Spanish Civil & Sue de Gennaro (illus.) a 14-year-old London girl War. Author Alain Serres skilfully tells the Harper. HB. $24.99 Halo who is completely obsessed story of Picasso’s life and career using clean A timely picture book Zizou Corder with fashion, a passion that and simple text, while managing to convey about a young prince who Puffin. PB. $19.95 isn’t shared by her two best complex political events and a deep is determined to rule over a Washed ashore as a baby and buds: Edie, an academic high-achiever who appreciation of Picasso’s work. The text is country where the future is rescued by centaurs, Halo is wants to work for the UN, and Jenny, an accompanied by colour reproductions of filled with environmental raised in an idyllic world accidental and ambivalent film celebrity. Picasso’s paintings, introducing the reader hope – and practical until the day she is fished When Edie introduces her friends to Crow, to the development of Picasso’s style and a solutions, such as common usage of solar from the sea by fisherman a 12-year-old Ugandan refugee who she wide variety of his work. Guernica shows and wind power. Produced on recycled paper and sold into slavery. Thrust tutors in English, Nonie is keen to take the the tragedy of war and the suffering of the to reflect the message within, this is a into the brutal human world younger girl under her wing. Crow is a civilians who were unjustly injured or beautiful book. of 500 BC Ancient Greece talented artist who designs and sews all her perished in the attack. Serres takes the where centaurs are believed to be mythical own flamboyant outfits, but who doesn’t reader through every stage of the painting, Tabby McTat creatures Halo determines to protect her have access to materials and a place to from early drawings and studies, to selected Julia Donaldson family from discovery. She soon finds that a work. With the three girls’ help, Crow’s star and poignant highlights from the final (and & Axel Scheffler (illus.) girl with no family and no city is no one in begins to rise in London’s fashion scene, very large) mural. I can’t recommend this this new world of warring city states. On the Scholastic UK. HB. $27.99 culminating in a solo show in London book highly enough. It is sensitive, detailed, run Halo decides to become a boy as she Ah, the creators of the Fashion Week. Author Sophia Bennett has and beautiful to look at. Readers from ten doggedly sets out to find her way back to her created an engaging, easy-to-read, and years to adults will find much to contem- Gruffalo books have done it centaur family. This is a thrilling, nail-biting again! Tabby McTat is a thought-provoking tale. The teen characters plate in its pages, whether they are inter- journey through Ancient Greece that brings are realistically and lovingly drawn, and ested in art, history or simply one man’s busker’s cat that joins in the to life vividly all that dry classical history we singing with a miaow that is their interactions and dialogue ring true. peaceful ideals. LH learn in school as you hope against all the Crow is a fantastic character: uncompro- loud and strong. Then one odds that Halo can make it home. day they become separated mising, gifted and tough. Her troubled past Marie Matteson is from Readings in war-torn Uganda, and indeed the and Tabby McTat finds Port Melbourne himself in new domestic bliss in a real home ongoing uncertainty of her brother’s 14 Readings Monthly February 2010 Alexander the Great Norman F. Cantor Harper. HB. Was $44.95. Now $16.95 In this succinct portrait ReadingsBargains on the web: New books are Bargai regularly added to our nwebsite. Table Click on the Bargains tab at www.readings.com.au. of Alexander the Great, distinguished scholar and historian Norman Cantor Beastly Tales Italian Tales Human: The Science illuminates his personal life Vikram Seth Massimo Riva (ed.) Behind What Makes Us and military conquests. Orion. HB. Was $27. Now $12.95 Yale. PB. Was $40.80. Now $13.95 Human Ten witty and enchanting This anthology serves as a Michael Gazzaniga animal fables in verse – in a literary map to guide readers Ecco. HB. Was $41.25. Now $17.95 beautifully illustrated new through the varied geography One of the world’s leading Fire in the Blood format. The ten tales told of contemporary Italian neuroscientists explores how Irene Nemirovsky here come from India, fiction. Massimo Riva has best to understand the Knopf. HB. Was $29.95. Now $14.95 China, Greece, the Ukraine gathered translations of short human condition: examining Written in 1941, Fire in the and the Land of Gup. stories and excerpts from the biological, psychological, Blood – only now assembled novels that were originally and highly social nature of in its entirety – teems with published in Italian between 1975 and 2001. our species within the social the intertwined lives of an Welcome to context of our lives. insular French village in the Your Brain What Philosophers years before the war, when Aandra Aamodt & Sam Wang Think The Naming of Names: ‘peace’ was less important as Bloomsbury. HB. Was $39.95. Now $19.95 Julian Baggini In Search of Order in a political state than as a The owner’s manual for the Continuum. PB. Was $24.95. Now $12.95 the World of Plants coveted personal condition. brain: an expert, comprehen- What does evolution mean Anna Pavord sive and lively guide that today? Do we have free will? Frida Kahlo: Bloomsbury. PB. Was $27. Now $12.95 The Still Lifes makes sense of all the latest How is technology changing For centuries, some of the scientific findings about how the way we understand life? most brilliant minds in Salomon Grimberg your brain really works. Where is God? Does art have Europe searched for the rules Merrilll. HB. Was $69.95. Now $19.95 a value? Is science the new of nature’s game. In a world Frida Kahlo is best known philosophy? What are the full of plagues and poisons, for her striking self-portraits. Animal Vegetable ethics of making war? How many medicines were made Art historian and psychia- does language hold meaning? Is freedom from plant extracts and there trist, Saloman Grimberg, Miracle: Our Year possible? These are only some of the explores in detail all of the of Seasonal Eating was a practical need to questions addressed in What Philosophers differentiate between one plant and another. artist’s documented still lifes. Barbara Kingsolver Think, a collection of interviews with some Alongside this was an overwhelming desire Faber. HB. Was $49.95. Now $16.95 of the world’s leading philosophers and to make sense of the natural world. Barbara Kingsolver, author of intellectuals. The Illustrated the internationally bestselling Terror and Consent: The Poisonwood Bible, opens Leonard Woolf Longitude The Wars for the 21st Daval Sobel her home to us, as she and Victoria Glendinning Century her family embark on a year McCelland & Stewart. HB. & William Andrewes of eating locally, and mainly Was $39.95. Now $16.95 Philip Bobbitt Walker. PB. Was $49.95. Now $15.95 from their own back garden. ‘Exemplary ... This lucid Knopf. HB. Was $59.95. Now $19.95 This book recounts in words biography is enhanced by Philip Bobbitt brings and images the epic quest to Glendinning’s humane and together historical, legal and solve the greatest scientific Break, Blow, Burn strategic analyses to under- problem of the eighteenth Camille Paglia perceptive insight into Woolf’s conflicted personal- stand the idea of a ‘war on century – determining how a Pantheon. HB. Was $39.95. Now $14.95 ity as well as by her assess- terror’. Does it make sense? ship’s captain could deter- Camille Paglia loves poetry ment of his signal role in the What are its historical mine his location at sea. and she wants to rescue the literary flowering and antecedents? How would poetry she loves from stifling political issues of the early 20th century.’ such a war be ‘won’? academic pedantry and – Publishers Weekly ‘A brilliant book’ – New York Times HITLER’S EMPIRE: jargon-ridden theory. Break, NAZI RULE IN Blow, Burn is Paglia’s master The Ruin of The everyday drinking OCCUPIED EUROPE class in how to read – and Kingsley Amis love – poetry. Roman Empire Mark Mazower James O’Donnell Bloomsbury. HB. Was $29.95. Now $14.95 Allen Lane. HB. Was $69.95. Now $14.95 Kingsley Amis's guides to Esquire’s Book Ecco. HB. Was $52.95. Now $19.95 After their early battlefield drinking are full of refresh- triumphs, the sheer bank- of Fiction A ‘vigorous’ (Kirkus Reviews) ingly direct and very funny Adrienne Miller and ‘richly layered’ (Publish- ruptcy of the Nazis’ political writing – some of it is as vision for Europe became all Context. HB. Was $29.95. Now $13.95 ers Weekly) history of Rome’s funny as the best parts of too clear: their allies bailed Beginning with its first issue fall. Renowned historian and Lucky Jim. And Everyday out, their New Order in 1933, Esquire has been author of Augustine, Drinking gives you a chance collapsed in military failure, intent on showcasing literary O’Donnell revisits this to think more critically and they left behind a talent. This brick of a book ancient tale in a fresh way, about what you drink, and how you could, continent corrupted by collaboration, – 816 pages – is all the bringing home its sometimes without pretension, do it better. This impoverished by looting and exploitation, evidence one needs that the painful relevance to today’s political issues. edition includes a shrewd and amusing and grieving the victims of total war and magazine has made a introduction by another committed drinker genocide. ‘A first-class account’ – Literary difference. – Christopher Hitchens. Review

A gripping and compelling novel exploring the traumas of war by a talent to rival Ian McEwan or Sebastian Faulks

The captivating new novel from the Paperback | $26.99 award winning author of Small Island Available now where all good books are sold. Instore now ReadingsReadings MonthlyUPV ad 1/3pg:Readings February 2010 UPV 15 ad 1/3 Goya’s Ghosts Available 10 Feb. $19.95 New DVDs Natalie Portman and Javier Bardem star in this epic drama from director Milos Van Diemen’s Land Forman (Amadeus). Goya’s DVD of the Month $34.95 Ghosts is set against the The true story of Australia’s backdrop of the Spanish The Wire: Season 5 Inquisition and features Available 3 Feb. $59.95 most notorious convict, Alexander Pearce and his Stellan Skarsgård as the In the projects. On the famous Spanish artist Francisco Goya. docks. In City Hall. In the infamous escape into the schools. And now, in the beautiful yet brutal Tasma- Local Hero media. The places and faces nian wilderness. In 1822, eight convicts escaped Available 10 Feb. $19.95 have changed, but the game Oil billionaire Happer (Burt remains the same. 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DIRECTORSSUITE.COM.AU Readings Monthly February 2010 17 New Release CDs I AND LOVE AND YOU Tunde Adebimpe. Horace Andy, who has simultaneously on his own, using one-of-a- Avett Brothers appeared on every Massive Attack album to kind software programs and solenoid CD of the Month $24.95 date, also returns to the mike, joining switches to control each of them via his The Courage Of Others ‘One of the biggest founding members Robert Del Naja and guitar and an array of pedals. DC Midlake grass-roots success stories of Grant Marshall. Splitting the Atom, released $24.95. Vinyl available $29.95 the decade,’ says Pitchfork. as an EP late last year, garnered rave reviews. Chioaroscuro In 2006 Midlake reinvent- The Avett Brothers look set Get set for more gushing with Heligoland. Ralph Towner & Paolo Fresu ed themselves, shifting to take off in Australia in a $32.95 their playing focus from big way. Coming across as WOLFGRAMM SISTERS A unique and wonderful jazz roots to that of an an Americana (roots) band with a touch of Wolfgramm Sisters duos disc: Towner is the edgy indie rock band. Ben Folds (lots of piano here), they sure $22.95 acoustic jazz guitarist, an What transpired was one know how to write a tune and their harmo- Australia's Sisters of Soul, ECM icon for four decades of my favourite albums of the year, the nies are beautiful. The title track is one of Kelly, Talei and Eliza with an output span- brilliant The Trials Of Van Occupanther. my favourite songs of last year. Touring in Wolfgramm, have spent a ning classical-tinged solo That album set a tone that was steeped in March, they are set for a big 2010. lifetime singing and recitals and adventurous collaborations with the 70s sound. Think the classic albums of Dave Clarke is from Readings Carlton performing together and everyone from Jan Garbarek to Slava Jackson Browne, America, Fleetwood Mac. alongside many of the Grigoryan. He’s the listener’s listener among The Courage of Others is not a huge depar- YEAR IN THE KINGDOM world's finest artists. Their long-awaited musicians – and nowhere is this more ture from their last album, but it is J Tillman debut album is the culmination of their apparent than here with trumpeter Paolo understandably more mature, with themes $25.95 amazing talent and experience. Inspired by Fresu, here making his ECM debut. A player that offer darker subject matter. Fortunate- One of the best albums of and including the songs the girls grew up of rare delicacy, he’s a true inheritor of the ly, the songwriting and arranging is still 2009 eluded me initially. singing together, this is a classic collection of Miles/Chet legacy, beautifully demonstrated top class and those vocals and harmonies I discovered it accidentally Woodstock era country-soul and rock’n’roll, with Blue and Green, among new composi- are brilliantly haunting ... but in a nice way! in December and it’s been recorded with Melbourne’s finest musicians tions. Sublime. RM A great way to start the year!! on high rotation ever since. and produced by Barry Palmer of Hunters & Lou Fulco is from Readings Carlton Tillman is a member of Collectors fame. Restored, Returned The Fleet Foxes and with a number of solo Tord Gustavsen Ensemble albums to his name, it is hard to believe he BALM IN GILEAD $32.95 doesn’t have a sizeable following. Fans of Rickie Lee Jones Tord Gustavsen’s piano Mark Kozelek and Ray Lamontagne take $29.95 trio trilogy of recent CD Special note! This is a stunningly beautiful album, Now in her fourth decade years comprises one of the quiet folk-rock at its finest. DC as a recording artist, most beautiful – and of the Month Rickie Lee Jones has popular – artistic state- Come Away With Me DOWNTOWN CHURCH always followed her muse ments of recent years. & Not Too Late Patty Griffin and refused to be pigeon- Restored, Returned is a graceful step into $27.95 holed into a particular uncharted territory, adding questing tenor/ Norah Jones music genre. She has delivered one of the soprano sax and the mesmerising, ethe- Normally $26.95 each Regular readers of our newsletter would know of finest albums of her career with Balm In real voice of Kristin Asbjørnsen, who Our very special price 2 CD set $14.95 Gilead, released last year. Old Enough, her interprets the words of W.H. Auden as well This amazing special offer my deep love of all things Patty Griffin – my favourite duet with Ben Harper, is probably her most as performing wordless incantations on three will not last long. Norah’s radio-friendly song in years. The album radically different takes of Leftover Lullaby. first two mega-selling female artist of the last 15 years or so. She generally also features Vic Chesnutt and Victoria albums are now available Williams. The songs are instantly likeable combined from Readings includes a gospel song or two on every album – and on Downtown Church, she has and accessible; a big recommendation at the very special price from me. DC of $14.95. Come Away With Me sold gone further. The album is a collection of millions, won Grammys and made Ms Jones gospel-infused songs produced by long-time a massive superstar. friend, band mate and acclaimed producer Buddy Miller. A songwriter’s songwriter, Contra Patty has always drawn other musicians to Booker’sBlues Guitar Vampire Weekend her; on this album are some of her usual collaborators in Emmylou Harris, and $24.95 Eric Bibb Buddy & Julie Miller. Another great album The eagerly anticipated $29.95. Released 8 February from a great artist. DC One of the pre-eminent PHOTO: C follow-up to their 2008 1 – 8 MAY 2010 self-titled debut sees this modern interpreters of the IRM traditional country blues FES 2009 HADEN H ARLIE Brooklyn band forge new Tickets on sale territory while remaining Charlotte Gainsbourg tradition, Eric Bibb here very much true to their CD/DVD limited edition. $29.95 presents a suite of songs Friday 26 February unique and much-loved ‘World meets For her new album, inspired by, and in part indie-pop’ sound. What’s so impressive Charlotte Gainsbourg has performed on, a steel National Resophonic enlisted the producing guitar that belonged to Delta blues great about this record is the band’s ability to T IVAL inject new ideas and sounds, yet keep the talents of singer/songwriter Booker/Bukka White in the 1930s. With no overall tone familiar. Positively brimming Beck, resulting in an accompaniment bar a dash of harmonica, with energy and rhythmic inventiveness, it’s unusual and very affecting the set comprises original songs that sit a tight but breezy collection of tunes that is set of songs. The sound here is quite comfortably alongside the great Nobody’s sure to please their many fans and convert different from her previous effort, 5.55, Fault But Mine and Wayfaring Stranger, some new ones. which seemed at times a little derivative of without becoming pastiche. As always, Declan Murphy is from Readings St Kilda her father Serge’s music. In contrast, on Bibb’s in fine voice in this soothing and IRM, a darker tone is conveyed. Directly stirring album. Transference influenced by Gainsbourg’s recent medical Richard Mohr is a friend of Readings Spoon experiences, the title track generates an urgent and slightly sinister mood, as $24.95 Gainsbourg’s vocals compete with some When it comes to super- highly percussive drumming. Gainsbourg’s cool, economical pop breathless vocal delivery is well comple- Jazz nobody does it better than ORCHESTRION mented by Beck’s edgy production, and the this Austin, Texas outfit. Pat Metheny album reveals a maturity in Gainsbourg’s On the heels of Ga Ga Ga $29.95 writing and singing skills. Ga Ga, one of 2007’s A leap into new territory Mark Azzopardi is from Readings Hawthorn Visit our website absolute best, the band are back to their for Metheny, this project to join our free ever-consistent best with Transference. First Massive Attack merges a musical idea from e-newsletter for latest single Written in Reverse has a slightly the late nineteenth and news and offers unhinged vibe – but don’t be fooled, this is Heligoland early twentieth centuries – what Spoon do best. Much like their Available 5 Feb. Normally $27.95 a large mechanical multi- www. French counterparts Phoenix, Spoon are a Our special price $22.95 instrument device that imitates the sound of melbourne band who have been knocking on the door Massive Attack’s Heligoland an orchestra, called an ‘orchestrion’ – with jazz.com for a long time and seem on the verge of features guest vocals from the technologies of today. ‘Orchestrionics’ is achieving the plaudits they so richly Damon Albarn, Hope the term that Metheny uses to describe his deserve. Slick, shiny and utterly, utterly Sandoval, Martina Topley- method of performing a roomful of roboti- brilliant. DM Bird, Elbow’s Guy Garvey cally-controlled musical instruments and TV On The Radio’s 18 Readings Monthly February 2010

interspersed throughout. As ever, Gustavsen is as concerned with silence as sound, here exploring every possible relationship of Best Albums various duos, trios and quartets drawn from within the quintet format. This may take a of the Noughties couple of listens for some of Tord’s fans – it by Dave Clarke hooked me instantly. RM Coming up with lists of favourite music is always frought. Anyone who has read or seen the movie High Fidelity would be aware of the (mostly) male need to list and rank Soundtrack things. Sadly I am no different. The past The Road Soundtrack decade has been rather amazing – from 9/11 Nick Cave & Warren Ellis to the tsunami. YouTube, iPods and iPhones, $24.95 MySpace, Facebook, Twitter: we have be- Adapted from the Pulitzer come completely enthralled and captive to prize-winning novel by technology. Cormac McCarthy, The As I compiled this list I was left with the Road is a post-apocalyptic nagging thought that I was forgetting drama directed by John something, so by the time you read this I’m Hillcoat (released in sure this will have changed. Anyway, have a Australian cinemas in late January 2010). look. Think about what turned you on and The soundtrack to the film is a wonderful let us know your favourites. So here, in no collection of 17 songs composed by Nick particular order, are my personal faves of the Cave and Warren Ellis, some of which past decade: appear on their White Lunar album released in September 2009. The duo also composed Till The Sun Turns Back. the soundtracks to John Hillcoat’s earlier Ray Lamontagne. $19.95 feature The Proposition (which Cave also If I had to chose one album of the past de- wrote) and The Assassination of Jesse James by cade, I dare say this would be it. Great songs; the Coward Robert Ford. Featuring simple absolutely beautiful singer-songwriter. and delicate violin and piano arrangements, Illinoise. Sufjan Stevens. $24.95 with wind instruments and sound loops, Stevens has reinvented what ‘pop’ music is. this is a haunting, touching and extremely Ambitious orchestral arrangements. Only beautiful score. complaint – where is the next album? Miranda La Fleur is from Readings St Kilda Funeral. Arcade Fire. $24.95 So Frenchy So Chic 2010 The definitive album about death. 2 CD set. $34.95 Heartbreaker. Ryan Adams. $26.95 The sixth unofficial Hard to believe how young and fresh he soundtrack to the French sounds here. Film Festival, like all those Let It Die. Feist. $19.95 before it, is a superb, A new indie princess made her wonderful high-spirited collection of debut. the latest musical gems from a diverse range of French musical And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out. genres. Featuring 34 irresistible new tracks Yo La Tengo. $19.95 over two discs from artists including Released at the perfect time for me: I was Nouvelle Vague, Charlotte Gainsbourg, unemployed and planning a year away – Emmanuelle Seigner (actress and wife of indulgent. director Roman Polanski) and ‘M’ (who Our Endless Numbered Days. The sound featured on the soundtrack to the animated Iron & Wine. $26.95 French film The Triplets of Belleville). So Sam Beam’s beautiful, quiet folk classic. of paradise ! Frenchy So Chic 2010 is a must-have for fans Shaker Road. Domenico De Clario. $24.95 of the collections or for those who are yet to Multi-talented Melbourne artist De Clario’s discover it’s enchantment! MLF hypnotic solo piano album – I should note BRAN NUE DAY this is extremely hard to buy now!! soundtrack Children Running Through. Various Patty Griffin. $26.95 What a singer ... and she finally toured. $24.95 Bali Bike The classic Australian Sakura. Susumu Yokota. $20.95 musical Bran Nue Day is Brian Eno reincarnated. A perfect ambient resurrected in 2010 as a album. movie starring Geoffrey Agaetis Byrjun. Sigur Ros. $24.95 Rush, Magda Szubanski, When I first saw/heard them I was immedi- Deborah Mailman and ately enraptured. singers Missy Higgins, Dan Sultan and Time the Revelator. Gillian Welch. $26.95 Jessica Mauboy. The soundtrack is produced To me this is her masterpiece, but all four Bell by David Bridie and it features a score by albums are essential. Cezary Skubiszewski. Essence. Lucinda Williams. $19.95 only Her raw take on country/blues is always worth listening to, but this is her best of the Top Ten CDs past 10 years. $ ea. 8.95 of 2009 at all Readings shops 1. Live in London. Leonard Cohen. Your Best Music CD & DVD available separately $26.95 ea. 2. Gurrumul. G.G. Yunupingu. $29.95 Shaped like a miniature 3. I Dreamed a Dream. Susan Boyle. $24.95 of the Noughties Hindu stupa, the Bali Bike 4. Essential. Leonard Cohen. 2 CD set. $19.95 Bell gives off a sonorous and 5. As Day Follows Night. Sarah Blasko. Special price $21.95 distinctive sound. Ride more 6. Together Through Life. Bob Dylan. $26.95 7. My One and Only Thrill. Melody Gardot. Tell us your your favourite CDs of the happily and safely with the Special price $22.95 century so far and you could WIN a $100 8. Quiet Nights. Diana Krall. $29.95 Readings gift card. Simply email your list delightful Bali Bike Bell. 9. So Frenchy So Chic 2009. Various. 2 CD through to [email protected] set. Special Price $29.95 by 28 February 2010 for your chance to win! 10. The Crying Light. Antony & the Johnsons. Special price $21.95 Readings Monthly February 2010 19

New ClassicalShimmering CDs Light: Cyril Scott: Chopin Complete Film Music of Chamber Music Waltzes Classical CD Nigel Westlake Mia Cooper, David Adams, Ingrid Fliter Various Robert Plane, Gould Piano Trio EMI. 6983512. $30.95 of the Month ABC Classics. 4763658. $29.95 Chandos. CHAN10575. $34.95 2010 is the bicentenary J.C. Bach: This collection has been For most people, the music year of Chopin’s birth and La Dolce Fiamma, lovingly put together by of Cyril Scott is probably no doubt many discs and Forgotten Castrato Westlake to commemorate an unknown quantity – but compilations will be issued Arias, Deluxe Edition the sudden death of his son in his day he was champi- to mark the occasion, but if Philippe Jaroussky, Eli in 2008. Spanning oned by such luminaries as they are all as good as this Jeremie Rhorer almost 20 years of work in Henry Wood and Thomas recording of the complete waltzes, then & Le Cercle De L’Harmonie the film industry, there are excerpts from Beecham. On this new recording, the Chopin devotees will be happy indeed. Fliter breathes new life and vibrancy into Virgin Classics. 6857260. $29.95 well-known movies like Babe: Pig in the City performances from Mia Cooper, David these popular gems – the melodic line is Philippe Jaroussky, the and Antarctica, and one of his most well Adams, Robert Plane and the Gould Piano keenly observed and the rubato effects are outstanding French known orchestral works, The Glass Soldier. Trio are excellent, embracing all the nuance discreet. This recording of waltzes, while not countertenor, is about to Powerful and beautifully recorded, this is a and beauty of Scott’s compositions. This is replacing the great ones of Lipatti, Rubin- set foot on Australian stunning collection of music to sit and think never more evident than in the Intermezzo stein and Ashkenazy, it is able to sit along- shores for a keenly antici- to, with soaring melodies to allow your mind from the Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano. side them comfortably. pated concert series with to wander freely. With the exception of the Clarinet Quintet, Maurice Smith is classical music buyer for Paul Dyer’s Australian Brandenburg Kate Rockstrom is from Readings Carlton this selection receives its premiere recording. Boorondara Libraries Orchestra. In this timely CD release, As usual, the Chandos sound is beautiful. Carnival of the PR Jaroussky sings rarely performed arias of J.C. Verismo Bach from six of his operas. With great ease Animals: A Parade of virtuosity, Jaroussky showcases the music of Kids Classics Renée Fleming of the younger Bach. Jaroussky plays the role Various Decca. 4781533. $21.95 of musicologist as well as artist by single- ABC Classics. 4763686. $24.95 Classical Specials For this disc of Verismo handedly bringing these forgotten arias by What a relief to hear these Beethoven: arias, Fleming has chosen J.C. Bach out of the shadows of his great classic kids’ musical stories Cello Sonatas Op. 5 arias, for the most part, father and that of Mozart. This is the special with an Australian accent! Nos. 1 & 2, Op. 69 from lesser-known operas edition, available exclusively to Readings in With expert accompani- of the period. They show Daniel Müller-Schott the beautiful dark, full Australia. It comprises a case-bound deluxe ment from the Adelaide & Angela Hewitt CD book which tells the story of J.C. Bach quality of Fleming’s voice and how she is Symphony Orchestra and Hyperion. CDA67633. Was $33.95. and includes many rare illustrations. able to use this quality effectively to capture the Tasmania Symphony Orchestra, they are Now $19.95. Catherine Koerner is from Readings Hawthorn the Verismo essence and with subtlety, rather narrated by favourite Play School presenters In their first Hyperion CD Justine Clarke, Jay Laga’aia and Georgie than with histrionics. Sample the aria from Walton: together, Daniel Müller- the alternative La Bohème by Leoncavallo Parker. Includes Dreyfus’s Sebastian the Fox, Schott and Angela Hewitt Cello Concerto plus Babar the Elephant and Peter and the Wolf, and the poignant Liu scene from Turandot present Volume 1 of and Fleming’s artistry is immediately works for solo cello with the original Carnival itself being given Beethoven’s complete cello an Aussie flavour, with words from Nick discernable. This disc is a must for all opera By Bloch, Ligeti, sonatas. Beethoven’s first lovers. MS Walton & Britten Enright. Lots of fun for everyone! KR three cello sonatas astonished his contempo- Pieter Wispelwey, Sydney raries with their dramatically innovative Pirates of the Baroque qualities. These are extraordinary works. Symphony & Jeffrey Tate Red Priest ONYX. ONYX4042. Was $30.95. Writing of the Sonata in A major Op. 69, the Now $21.95 (for February only) Red Priest. RP004. $34.95 two artists explain that ‘the dialogue between Classical Top 10 I saw Red Priest live almost For this new recording, the two instruments reaches perfection, and ten years ago and I have Wispelwey has put together demands the highest level of communication 2009 never forgotten them. This a fascinating collection of and expressiveness’. This is surely achieved in new recording has remind- post-war works for cello. this splendid recording. (Volume 2 is due for ed me that they truly are The disc opens with release in February/March 2010.) some of the most amazing Walton’s Cello Concerto musicians I have ever heard. This is recorder accompanied by Jeffrey Tate and the Sydney Part: Spiegel im Spiegel playing unlike anything you have ever heard Symphony, and follows it with four works Various 1. Essential. Yo Yo Ma. 2 CD Set. before! The virtuosity, exuberance and for solo cello: Bloch’s First Suite, Ligeti’s BIS. BISCD1434. Was $34.95. Special price $19.95 obvious enjoyment of their music will Sonata, Walton’s Passacaglia and the con- Now $19.95 2. In Monte Carlo. Emma Matthews. $29.95 capture your heart from the very first track. cluding Ciaccona from Britten’s Second Suite. The second of our Classical 3. Istanbul. Jordi Savall. $29.95 Featuring works from their idol Vivaldi In the hands of a lesser musician, this CD specials is an excellent 4. Schubert Collector's Edition. (hence the name, Red Priest), as well as program would be less than convincing, but CD of the great Estonian 50 CD Set. Special price $69.95. Tartini, Couperin and Simonetti, you will be Wispelwey’s incredible technique and composer Arvo Part. BIS Limited stock at this price. astounded by the realisation that these obvious love of the music make these have done a fine job in 5. Complete Published EMI Recordings. arrangements are almost all done by performances remarkable for the intensity he assembling a collection of Pablo Casals. 9 CD set. $52.95 members of the group. KR brings to these works. Part’s compositions featuring such pieces as 6. Sacrificium. Cecilia Bartoli. Phil Richards is from Readings Carlton Fratres, Spiegel im Spiegel and Cantus in Special price $22.95 Memory of Benjamin Britten. The real 7. Celtic Viol. Jordi Savall. $34.95 positive of this disc is that it features all 8. In Principio. Arvo Part. $32.95 of Part’s different compositional styles. 9. My First Ballet. DVD $25.95 N.B. These discs are in limited supply at these 10. Complete EMI Recordings. prices. Jacqueline Du Pre. 17 CD Set. $52.95

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POSTAGE RATES: Australia: BOOKS: Melb. Metro: 1-6 books $6.50; Other VIC: 1–6 books $7.50; Anywhere else in Aust: 1-6 books: $7.95 ~ Order 7 or more books and we will pay the surface freight to anywhere in Australia. ~ CDs, DVDs: flat rate: $4.80. Order 6 or more and we’ll pay the surface freight to anywhere in Australia. ~ WEBSITE: Spend $50 or more online and get free freight within Australia. Freight for orders less than $50 is $6.50 within Australia. NEW ZEALAND: Freight for 1-3 items: $7.95; 4 or more items: $10. NOTE: Prices correct at time of printing but subject to change. ~ READINGS ABN : 45 005 153 533. ~ www.readings.com.au. Bestsellers from Christmas 2009 australian FICTION 8. The Museum of Innocence. CHILDREN’S BOOKS POPular music 1. Lovesong. Alex Miller. Orhan Pamuk. Faber. PB. $35 1. Where the Wild Things Are. 1. I Dreamed a Dream. Susan Boyle. A&U. HB. Special price $33.95 9. The Year of the Flood. Margaret Maurice Sendak. Special price $24.95 2. Truth. Peter Temple. Atwood. Bloomsbury. Red Fox. PB. $19.95 2. Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, Paris. Text. PB. $32.95 HB. Special price $37.95 2. Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. Martha Wainwright. $29.95 3. Things We Didn’t See Coming. 10. Oscar Wilde’s Stories for all Ages. T.S. Eliot. Faber. HB. $27.99 3. Glitter & Doom. Tom Waits. Steven Amsterdam. Stephen Fry (ed.). Harper Collins. 3. Running with the Horses. Alison 2 CD set. $29.95 Sleepers. PB. $24.95 HB. $39.95 Lester. Viking. HB. $29.95 4. The Astounding Eyes of Rita. 4. The Boat. Nam Le. 4. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Anouar Brahem. $32.95 Penguin. PB. $24.95 NON-FICTION Toes. Mem Fox. Puffin. Board. 5. Gurrumul. G.G. Yunupingu. 5. Brothers and Sisters. Charlotte 1. Free to a Good Home. Catherine $16.95 $29.95 Wood (ed.). A&U. PB. $32.99 Deveny. Black Inc. PB. $24.95 5. Amazing Tashi. Anna Fienberg. 6. Live at the Isle Of Wight. CD/ 6. The Slap. Christos Tsiolkas. 2. Quarterly Essay 36: Australian A&U. PB. $19.95 DVD. Leonard Cohen. $24.95 A&U. PB. $32.95 Story: Kevin Rudd and the Lucky 6. Dog Days: Diary of a Wimpy Kid. 7. The List. Roseanne Cash. $27.95 7. Parrot and Olivier in America. Country. Mungo MacCallum. Jeff Kinney. Puffin. PB. $14.95 8. Friend of a Friend. Dave Rawlings. Peter Carey. Hamish Hamilton. Black Inc. PB. $16.95 7. Waddle. Rufus Butler Seder. Special price $21.95 HB. Special price $39.95 3. Piano Lessons. Anna Goldsworthy. Workman. HB. $24.95 9. Fall. Norah Jones. 8. Breath. Tim Winton. Black Inc. PB. $27.95 8. Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Jeff Kinney. Special price $21.95 Penguin. PB. $24.95 4. Cello Suites. Eric Siblin. Puffin. PB. $14.95 10. Where the Wild Things Are. 9. The Best Australian Stories 2009. A&U. PB. $29.99 9. The Magician’s Elephant. Kate Di- Soundtrack. Karen O & the Kids. Delia Falconer (ed.). 5. Parlour Games for Modern Fami- Camillo. Candlewick. HB. $24.95 Special price $21.95 Black Inc. PB $29.95 lies. Myfanwy Jones. Scribe. PB. $35 10. Silver Spoon for Children. Aman- 10. The World Beneath. 6. Twitterature. Alexander Aciman. da Grant. Phaidon. HB. $29.95 CLASSICAL music Cate Kennedy. Scribe. PB. $32.95 Penguin. PB. $16.95 1. Istanbul. Jordi Savall. $29.95 7. Nine Lives. William Dalrymple. DVDs 2. Schubert Collector's Edition. Vari- GENERAL FICTION Bloomsbury. PB. 1. The Wire: Season .1 $29.95 ous 50 CD set. Special price $69.95 1. The Girl with the Dragon Special price $29.95 2. Babette’s Feast. $19.95 3. My First Ballet. DVD. $25.95 Tattoo. Stieg Larsson. 8. Mindsight. Daniel Siegel. 3. The Wire: Seasons 1–4. 4. Complete Published EMI Record- Maclehose. PB. $24.95 Scribe. PB. $35 Sale Pack $99.95 ings. Pablo Casals. 9 CD Set. $43.95 2. The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s 9. Enigma One. Fabrice Mazza. 4. Mad Men: Season 1. $39.95 5. Famous Composers Box Set. Nest. Stieg Larsson. Quercus. HB. $39.95 5. Samson and Delilah. $39.95 Various Artists. 40 CD set. Maclehose. PB $27.95 10. Stephanie Alexander’s Kitchen 6. Wake in Fright. $34.95 Special price $39.95 3. The Lacuna. Barbara Kingsolver. Garden Companion. 7. Balibo. $39.95 6. Sacrificium.Cecilia Bartoli. A&U. PB. Special price $29.95 Penguin. HB. $125 8. Mad Men: Season 2. $39.95 Special price $22.95 4. Wolf Hall. Hilary Mantel. 9. North by Northwest. $19.95 7. Verismo. Renee Fleming. HarperCollins. PB. $32.99 10. The Persuaders. $34.95 Special price $21.95 5. The Girl who Played with Fire. 8. 111 Years of Deutsche Maclehose. PB. $24.95 Grammophon. 55 CD Collector's 6. Too Much Happiness. Edition. Special price $139.95 Alice Munro. Chatto & Windus. 9. Le Royaume Oublie. Jordi Savall. HB. Special price $39.95 3 CD set & book. $74.95 7. Brooklyn. Colm Toibin. 10. Adio Espana Romances. Picador. PB. $32.99 Baltimore Consort. $30.95

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