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TONY BIRCH on FionA MCFARLANE / MARIA TAKOLANDER on diego marani

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Philipp Meyer david malouf with joan london john safran with tony wilson

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CARLTON 309 Lygon St 9347 6633 HAWTHORN 701 Glenferrie Rd 9819 1917 MALVERN 185 Glenferrie Rd 9509 1952 ST KILDA 112 Acland St 9525 3852 READINGS AT THE STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA 328 Swanston St 8664 7540 READINGS AT THE BRAIN CENTRE 30 Royal Parade, Parkville 9347 1749 See shop opening hours, browse and buy online at www.readings.com.au

Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013 3

This month’s news

FABULOUS CLASSICAL ZELMAN SYMPHONY: BOX-SET SALE CELEBRATING 80 YEARS OF Mark’s Extraordinary performances at extraordinary FINE MUSIC prices mean it’s the fabulous classical box- Under Maestro Alberto Zelman Junior’s baton, Say set sale. It features the biggest names from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra gave many the classical world, including Philip Glass, memorable performances, the last of which Schubert, Beethoven, Wagner, Bach and was Messiah on Christmas night in 1926. After News and views from Readings’ Mozart. There’s up to 50% off selected titles Alberto’s death the following year, players formed managing director, Mark Rubbo now available at all Readings shops and their own orchestra in tribute – the Zelman online at www.readings.com.au with free Memorial Symphony Orchestra – and it has been delivery within Australia. The sale is on until This coming season is a major one for Australian titles with five of our most acclaimed writers having giving concerts ever since. To celebrate its 80th 30 September but hurry, only while stock books published in the next few months. They are Richard Flanagan with The Narrow Road to the anniversary, the Zelman Symphony will join forces lasts. See page 19 for more details and further Deep North, Alex Miller with Coal Creek, Christos Tsiolkas with Barracuda, Tim Winton with Eyrie and with many of Melbourne’s well-known community special offers. Germaine Greer with White Beech. At the time of writing I’ve finished three of them bar the Flanagan, choirs and some of Australia’s best opera singers which I’m about to embark on, and the Greer, out in November. The three I have read are exceptionally to present Mahler’s great and iconic Symphony accomplished works, capping off a year of strong Australian writing which began with a terrific debut No. 8, led by guest concertmaster Wilma Smith. novel, Burial Rites, from Adelaide writer Hannah Kent, and Andrea Goldsmith’s wonderful novel The Readings is a proud supporter of the Zelman Memory Trap. I wouldn’t like to be a judge of literary awards this year – making a choice would be Symphony and will be selling CDs at the two pretty hard. The first awards for the season will be the Victorian Premier’s Literary wards,A to be Melbourne performances. The concerts will be announced late January; the shortlist will be released early December in time for summer reading. held at the Melbourne Town Hall (100 Swanston Sadly, this year’s Age Book of the Year Awards is in abeyance; I’ve always thought it very effective in St, Melbourne) on Saturday 21 September, 8pm, acknowledging Australian writing. and Sunday 22 September, 4.30pm. Please visit zelmansymphony.org.au or call Ticketmaster on Miller’s Coal Creek will delight fans of his book Lovesong; a poignant and dramatic love story set in EVENINGS WITH TIM WINTON 136 100 for bookings and more information. outback Australia and narrated by a young stockman, it’s a powerful, beautifully crafted work. I was & CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS amazed when Miller told me that he finished it in 10 weeks. Barracuda is an amazing book. It’s a very angry work that examines ambition and failure and I think it’s Tsiolkas’s best yet. It will be quite Together with the Wheeler Centre, Readings is controversial too – many will find the language and sex scenes confronting, but they are appropriate in delighted to bring you two very special evenings THE EMOTIONAL WORLD the context of the novel. As expected, it’s also a strong attack on wealth and privilege. Eyrie is about with two of Australia’s most-loved writers. OF CHILDREN a journalist whose career is ruined when he exposes government corruption. He has hit rock bottom, CHRISTOS TSIOLKAS The Emotional World of Children showcases but it’s through his relationship with a young boy and two women that he begins to find a way out.Age The acclaimed author of the international a selection of artworks created by children columnist, Nicolle Flint, had a go at Winton recently about his female characters, claiming, among bestseller The Slap, Christos Tsiolkas, will in psychoanalytical psychotherapy sessions other things, that they ‘appear stereotypical’, and inferred Winton is guilty of misogyny and sexism. As discuss his new novel, Barracuda. with renowned child psychotherapist Margaret always, all Winton’s characters have problems, but it’s not limited to the women. Ericksen between the 1940s and 1980s. A variety $40 per person. Admission includes a signed of psychiatric disturbances are surveyed, while Wednesday 4 September is Indigenous Literacy Day, which aims to help raise funds to increase first edition ofBarracuda . the importance of play, family and fairytales are literacy levels and improve the lives and opportunities of Indigenous Australians living in remote and Wednesday 23 October, 7.30pm also examined. The exhibition features artefacts isolated regions. The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) was set up some years ago by authors, Capitol Theatre and a specially commissioned documentary film booksellers and publishers, and we need your support to help raise funds to buy books and provide 113 Swanston St, Melbourne, 3000 on the history of psychotherapy in Australia. To be literacy resources for children in these communities. It’s a wonderful initiative and we will be donating held at the Dax Centre (Kenneth Myer Building, 5% of profits on the day to the ILF – or, you can make your donations directly here if you like: TIM WINTON Genetics Lane off Royal Parade, Melbourne) from www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/indigenous-literacy-day.html. One of Australia’s finest writers, Tim Winton, will 26 September to 21 December. Please visit be speaking at his only Melbourne event about www.daxcentre.org or phone (03) 9035 6258. The his highly anticipated new novel, Eyrie. Readings shop at the Brain Centre on site stocks $50 per person. Admission includes a signed a range of recommended books for children. hardback first edition ofEyrie .

Monday 28 October, 6.30pm Melbourne Town Hall 100 Swanston St, Melbourne, 3000

For both events, please book at www.wheelercentre.com

Readings Monthly is a free independent monthly Graphic Design by The Art Department Collective at newspaper published by Readings Books, Music & Film. www.theartdepartmentau.com Editorial enquiries: Thank you to Readings staff members and contributors Belle Place at [email protected] for your reviews.

Advertising enquiries: Readings donates 10% of its profits each year to Ingrid Josephine at [email protected] The Readings Foundation: or call (03) 9341 7739. www.readings.com.au/the-readings-foundation Oslo Davis www.oslodavis.com

CINEMA NOVA RECOMMENDS Visit the Cinema Nova Bar Cate Blanchett Alec Baldwin Sally Hawkins A high society housewife Woody falls on hard times, Allen’s SALINGER eventually needing to An unprecedented look inside the world of JD Salinger, move in with her 380 LYGON ST CARLTON working class sister the reclusive author of Catcher In The Rye www.cinemanova.com.au “An ambitious thriller assisted “Beyond“An brilliant, ambitious beyond thriller analysis. assisted A film by Shane Salerno Join our e-news for updates on the Met Opera, by excellent performances” EmpireSEPTEMBER 6 National Theatre and other stage spectaculars. This is jaw-droppingby excellent work”performances”San Francisco Chronicle EmpireSEPTEMBER 12 4 Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013 19 Hannah Finlay Lloyd September Events Richell 26 smalls Hannah Richell will read from her new novel, Independent press Finlay Lloyd is launching For more information and updates, please visit the events page at www.readings.com.au. Please The Shadow Year, and explain where her the first five books in its new series, Finlay note bookings do not necessarily guarantee a seat and some events may be standing room only. influences lie. Lloyd Smalls. The first five authors are A.S. Patric and Wayne Strudwick with long stories, Mandy Gold coin donation. Please book on Ord and Natalia Zajaz with graphic stories, and 9819 1917. Tara Mokhtari with a collection of poetry. John Philipp 3 Sullivan 10 Meyer Thursday 19 September, 6.30pm Free, no booking required. Readings Hawthorn

Come to the launch of the novel The Dragon In Melbourne for one night only, Philipp Meyer 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, 3122. u nch Thursday 26 September, 6.30pm

in Spring, a fast-paced romp into the world of will chat with Christine Gordon about his la Readings Carlton u nch nutbag security guards and bent bureaucrats. novels, including American Rust and The Son. 309 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053. Luke la Free, no booking required. $5 per person (redeemable against a purchase 19 Beesley of a book on the night). Bookings essential on Kathy Tuesday 3 September, 6pm 9347 6633 or at the Readings Carlton shop. Join us for the launch of poet, artist and 26 Tsaples Readings Carlton musician Luke Beesley’s new poetry u nch 309 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053. collection, New Works on Paper, a surreal and Come hear Kathy Tsaples discuss recipes and la Tuesday 10 September, 6.30pm Cinema Nova witty experiment with language. foodie delights from her gorgeous cookbook

380 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053. u nch Sweet Greek. This event is supported by Evelyn Free, no booking required. 5 Conlon la Brown Brothers wine. Tim Thursday 19 September, 6.30pm $5 per person (redeemable against a Former deputy CEO of The Age Mike Richards 11 Dunlop Readings Carlton purchase of the book on the night). Please will launch Evelyn Conlon’s elegant historical u nch 309 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053. book on 9819 1917. novel, Not the Same Sky. Political commentator George Megalogenis will la launch Tim Dunlop’s provocative account of the Free, no booking required. Thursday 26 September, 6.30–7.30pm changing face of journalism, The New Front Page. David Malouf & Readings Hawthorn

Thursday 5 September, 6.30pm Free, no booking required. 19 Joan London 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, 3122. u nch

Readings Carlton la

u nch Join us for a thought-provoking discussion 309 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053. Wednesday 11 September, 6.30pm la as David Malouf and Joan London talk about John Safran In Readings Carlton

u nch where books such as Kenneth Mackenzie’s 309 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053. 30 coversation with

Felicity la The Young Desire It fit in the Australian cultural TONY WILSON 5 Volk landscape. Ellie John Safran will discuss his compelling and Rising Australian talent Felicity Volk will read $5 per person (redeemable against a 12 confronting new book, Murder in Mississippi, from her acclaimed debut novel, Lightning, Marney purchase of a Text Classics on the night). Please book on 9347 6633 or at the with writer Tony Wilson. at the Clyde Hotel. Ellie Marney asked what if Sherlock Holmes Readings Carlton shop. was the boy next door. Her answer is Every Free, but please book on 9347 6633. Free, but please book on 9347 6633. Breath, a smart, engaging thriller for teenagers. Thursday 19 September, 6.30pm Monday 30 September, 6.30pm Thursday 5 September, 6.30pm Free, no booking required. Cinema Nova Readings Carlton Clyde Hotel

380 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053. u nch 309 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053. u nch 385 Cardigan St, Carlton, 3053. Thursday 12 September, 6.30pm la la u nch Readings Carlton la u nch 309 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053. Alex Matthew

Andy la 8 Muir 21 Miller 1 Evans Sheila Readings managing director Mark Rubbo The author of Underbelly: Squizzy is coming Join Matthew Evans for a discussion about 17 will launch Coal Creek, a new novel from soils, mulch and his new book, The Dirty in not only to chat about his book and the Fitzpatrick acclaimed literary star Alex Miller. Chef, with the president of the Merri Corner end of the TV series, but also to reveal the A Spy in the Archives is the story of how Community Garden, Ingrid Josephine. This story behind the infamous Glenferrie Road historian Sheila Fitzpatrick was ‘outed’ as a spy Free, no booking required. event is supported by Brown Brothers wine. robberies. by a Russian newspaper in 1968. She’ll be in Saturday 21 September, 4pm Free, but please book on 9819 1917. conversation with historian Stuart Macintyre. $5 per person (redeemable against a Readings Hawthorn purchase of the book on the night). Please Gold coin donation. Please book on 9347 6633. u nch 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, 3122. book on 9819 1917. If you have a plot in a Sunday 8 September, 10.30am la community garden your entrance to the event Readings Hawthorn Tuesday 17 September, 6.30pm is free, but let us know by email only on 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, 3122. u nch Readings Carlton Dr Mammad [email protected]. la 309 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053. u nch 24 Aidani la Philip Dr Tony Birch of the University of Melbourne Tuesday 1 October, 6.30pm 9 Nitschke Wangaratta Jazz will launch ARC Research Fellow in the School Readings Hawthorn

18 of Historical and Philosophical Studies Dr 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, 3122. u nch Damned if I Do is the true story of Philip Nitschke, Festival Mammad Aidani’s Narrative and Violence: Ways la founder of pro-euthanasia organisation Exit Enjoy the music of guitarist Stephen Magnusson of Suffering Amongst Iranian Men in Diaspora. International. and saxophonist Julien Wilson, followed by a Jonathon conversation with festival artistic director Adrian Gold coin donation. Please book on Free, no booking required. 1 Porritt Jackson. Supported by Brown Brothers wine. 9819 1917. Tuesday 24 September, 6.30pm Part history, part personal memoir, The World Free, but please book on 9819 1917. We Made reveals how it is possible to reach Monday 9 September, 6.30pm Readings Carlton u nch 309 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053. a genuinely sustainable world by 2050. Paul

Readings Hawthorn la Wednesday 18 September, 6pm Gilding will be there to introduce the eve.

701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, 3122. u nch Readings Hawthorn

la Free, no booking required. 701 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, 3122. u nch Antony la Elizabeth 25 Loewenstein Tuesday 1 October, 6pm 9 Taylor Elizabeth Slate Bar 18 Overland editor Jeff Sparrow will chat with MAcFarlane 9 Goldborough Lane, Melbourne, 3000. u nch Professor Patricia Grimshaw of the University of Antony Loewenstein about Profits of Doom, Melbourne will launch Elizabeth Taylor's biography In Reading Coetzee, Elizabeth MacFarlane an investigation into the secretive world of la The Old World and the New: The Marriage and explores J.M. Coetzee’s intense preoccupation privatised detention centres, outsourced aid Colonial Adventures of Lord and Lady Northcote. with the act of writing. and militarised private security. GOLD COIN DONATIONS: We’re now Free, no booking required. Free, no booking required. Gold coin donation. Please book on 9347 6633. asking people who attend our events to please make a small gold coin donation, when possible, Monday 9 September, 6.30pm Wednesday 18 September, 6.30pm Wednesday 25 September, 6.30pm to The Readings Foundation. There will be a tin Readings Carlton Readings Carlton Readings Carlton u nch u nch for donations at each event. All contributions over

309 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053. 309 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053. 309 Lygon St, Carlton, 3053. u nch la la $2 are tax deductible. Thanks for your support. la Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013 5

New Australian Writing Feature

Fiona McFarlane’s spellbinding debut novel, The Night Guest, is set in the present, in a small house by the sea, and also remembers Fiji of the 1950s. Here, McFarlane talks to Tony Birch about foreboding presences, dignity in ageing and the shifting motif of the tiger.

n the first page of this thought- ‘The Night Guest provoking and tender novel, a smelly, noisy and threatening is acutely relevant tiger disrupts the sleep of Ruth, Oan elderly widow at the centre of the story. for a contemporary The large cat turns up in her lounge room in the dead of night: an unusual event in any readership, confronting A Twist circumstances, and quite bizarre considering Ruth lives somewhere on the New South Wales forms of social and coast. Fiona McFarlane, the author of The Night emotional change that Guest, was first drawn to the motif of the tiger when talking to a friend about the presence of affect each of us.’ ‘wild animals – lions, crocodiles and particularly tigers … in children’s stories and rhymes and in the Tail cautionary tales’. McFarlane does a great deal with Tony Birch interviews Fiona McFarlane about her her tiger. It variously scares and intrigues Ruth. It also prods her to question her grasp debut novel, The Night Guest. on reality. While we may initially consider that Ruth is more than a little dotty and the tiger scattered. When her sons do talk with her, it is represents nothing more than pending senility, in a protective but patronising manner, as one as the novel develops it becomes clear that would speak to a child. the tiger stands for something more profound. When researching and writing the For McFarlane, ‘the presence of the tiger, and novel, McFarlane considered both the positives Ruth’s reaction to it, comes to measure her and challenges faced by an ageing population. changing relationship with reality’. It is not While ‘people are staying healthier longer’, she change demeaning of her mental state, but an reflects, the elderly have become increasingly understanding that change – and ageing – is isolated, ‘with younger generations more likely an organic and inevitable process. ‘I think of to move far away from home’ and older people the tiger as a messenger, bringing news about experiencing ‘the invisible loneliness of ageing’ the end of things.’ in a society that worships youth. The intrusion of the tiger is matched An elderly widow, living alone and by the early arrival of Frida, a woman sent by cut off from her family, might be considered ‘the government’ to assist Ruth around the a depressing premise for a novel. The Night house. She provides ‘home-help’: cleaning, Guest is far from it. It is rich with emotional cooking and sticking her nose into Ruth’s life reflection, humour and tenderness. In Ruth, as she sees fit. Frida is a mysterious woman. McFarlane has created a character of great Each time she arrives at Ruth’s home a ‘big dignity. We worry over her welfare, and perhaps yellow taxi’ lurks at the end of the street, driven in an ill-considered manner, like her children, by her brother, George. respond protectively towards her. She returns McFarlane has great affection for our care for her with a display of quiet courage Frida: ‘I so enjoyed writing her moods and and daring. gestures and expressions, and I was interested Following the arrival of the tiger and Frida, who, at the time of Richard’s arrival, and I knew that it should be practical and in the contradictions of her character – the sort Frida, another character of mystery turns up on has entrenched herself in the household. But surprising, and lovely and a little sad, having of fond brutality with which she treats Ruth. I Ruth’s doorstep: Richard, aged in his eighties, Ruth comes into her own on Richard’s arrival. found each other after 50 years.’ wanted her to be both comic and terrible.’ has returned from her past. Fifty years earlier, The years have changed him and he’s now The Night Guest is a story of love The Night Guest is acutely relevant for Ruth enjoyed a somewhat sheltered but exotic life emotionally open and receptive. Ruth, perhaps between people, and a love of places – of both a contemporary readership, confronting forms as a young woman growing up in a missionary with the knowledge that her life is nearing the heart and the dirt and sand under our feet. of social and emotional change that affect each family in colonial Fiji. In his youth, Richard was a its end, responds accordingly and without It is also a story that delves into the complex of us. It would be a rare experience to read this dashing if emotionally distant suitor who courted hesitation. nature of relationships, epitomised, finally, book and not reflect on relationships within Ruth but ultimately (and perhaps inadvertently) It’s not all that difficult to write bad by the drama played out between Ruth and our own families and communities, particularly deceived her. She never forgot him. sex, even when you think you’re doing the Frida, and its consequences. This mature novel between generations. Ruth lives alone in a Reunited with Ruth after half a opposite. McFarlane, who had a clear objective produces a confronting twist in the tail, leaving beach house with remarkable views of the century apart, Richard comes to visit for the in mind when contemplating the couple’s readers with a great deal to contemplate. ocean, and has just her cats and memories for weekend. We may be expecting little more reunion, handles the intimacy between Ruth company. Her late husband, Harry, has been than a genteel afternoon tea and a nod-off in and Richard with grace and beauty. ‘I knew Tony Birch writes short fiction and novels. dead for several years, and her adult children, front of the television, which would have been early on that I wanted my main character, an His books include Shadowboxing (2006), while speaking to her regularly by phone, are more than enough for the increasingly intrusive older woman, to experience sexual pleasure, Father’s Day (2009) and Blood (2011). 6 Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013

New Fiction From the It seemed to me a bold move to book cast your lead character, Ruth, as an elderly Books woman without scandal, quietly living out her of winter years alone in a house by the sea. But Desk then Frida arrives, appearing at the top of the weathered garden path with a suitcase and the the pronouncement that she’s here to assist Ruth. Frida, with her primped, nice-smelling hair and —Martin Shaw, month efficient outfits, is certainly not what she seems, Readings Books Division Manager and the pace of the unveiling of her true character The Double (And Other and motivations is masterful. As readers we hold tight, cautious that a very real foreboding Discovering that special book out of a mountain of submissions is both the great challenge, and surely Stories) presence is now lapping at Ruth’s feet. the great kick, in any fiction publisher’s role. This month we are blessed with some really wonderful Maria Takolander There are well-crafted changes in pace Australian debut novels (from publishing houses both large and small, which is always nice), and we Text. PB. $29.99 in The Night Guest: the plot accelerates like a also have some welcome returns from a few of our more established authors. Review: This debut short-story collection thriller in parts, and slows in others to wander But let’s start by noting the internationals. And if we want to get all ANZAC about it, claiming for from Maria Takolander, a Melbourne-born and through Ruth’s memories of a childhood in Fiji ourselves the first one off the rank: Eleanor Catton from New Zealand. I cursed the other day – not Geelong-based author and academic, is eerily with her missionary parents, threading together because she got onto the Booker longlist (and pre-publication at that) with her new novel – of course, beautiful and not for the faint of heart. The Double the lives of Ruth and Richard, a man she has huge congrats! But she’s only 27, for god’s sake, and this is already her second novel (after the takes its title and epigraph from Dostoyevsky’s known, and adored, since her teens. By the lauded The Rehearsal). A wunderkind, perhaps? Her epic book The Luminaries (coming in at a hefty tale of a timid man plagued by his extroverted novel’s end, McFarlane has constructed a richly 832 pages) is simply described as ‘masterly’ by our reviewer, so perhaps indeed. doppelgänger – and, like that classic novella, it’s formed portrait of Ruth: she’s sensible, placing There’s great excitement, too, for a new book from Cormac McCarthy: The Counselor. It’s a the kind of book that will unnerve you and keep well-timed phone calls to her dutiful but distant screenplay, set to be released as a feature film towards the end of the year, and it appears to be in the you up at night. adult sons, but surprises with flicks of wicked No Country for Old Men vein and then some – think Mexico, drugs, beautiful women, and a whole lot The Double begins with eight pitch- humour. Ruth’s husband, who died two years of frontier theology and philosophy. The fans will lap it up, I’m sure. dark stories in which emotional and physical before the time when the book is set, is still crisply desolation are often linked. A man trudges along present in the landscape, but the picture of him Throw in a new Thomas Pynchon with Bleeding Edge; the third volume in Margaret Atwood’s an ice-slicked street to find loneliness in a bar and ebbs away slowly and melodically. Sand blown in dystopian trilogy (after Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood), MaddAddam; and the long- his own home. Three ageing sisters subsist in from the hedging dunes encroaches on the lawn awaited Night Film, the second novel from Marisha Pessl, and it’s a feast of a month. marshlands ‘sinking into nothing’. A man hides out like the fog that is clouding Ruth’s memory. But closer to home there are, as I’ve suggested, some particular treasures. Sydneysider Fiona McFarlane on an isolated farm: ‘the red earth stretched further McFarlane effortlessly treads the line is an enormous talent and transfixes with her debut The Night Guest; acclaimed non-fiction writer Maria than he would have thought possible’. These are between the imagined and the real. The paw Takolander jumps across to fiction with a short-story collection, The Double; and Eleanor Limprecht has also stories rich and vivid with unsettling sensory nudging through the door emerges with a poetic produced What Was Left, which our reviewer declares ‘one of the best debut novels I have read in a long details, particularly of the human body. There are slowness; the tiger is at first a shimmering figure time’. And finally Chris Womersley, author of the much-admired The Low Road and Bereft, treats us with a devastating, gut-wrenching moments. Mirrors on the edge of Ruth’s mind before stretching highly enjoyable tale of a country boy learning some big life lessons in his richly imagined Cairo. and reflections are drawn in with subtlety and to itself into a looming beast. As readers, we move great effect. In particular, the black mirror-lake that easily between what we know as real and what I’m afraid non-fiction now comes off rather poorly in this month’s wrap, for reasons of space. May I just appears in the collection’s eponymous story is Ruth thinks she knows. Ruth herself traverses mention, then, Lloyd Jones’s (of Mr Pip fame) extraordinary memoir A History of Silence? Written partly rendered unforgettable. this wobbling of her world with a dignity that in response to the psychic jolt the Christchurch earthquakes of 2011 and 2012 induced in him, this The last of the eight individual stories, is, like the novel itself, quietly restrained and is a powerful tale of coming into knowledge about a great swathe of family history that had scarcely ‘The War of the Worlds’, is my favourite – a bold superbly heartbreaking. been mentioned in his household as he grew up. It’s a fascinating and deeply affecting book which literary sci-fi tale that focuses on the women Belle Place is editor of the Readings Monthly moves towards a riveting climax. and children left behind in a resources-stripped city during an interplanetary war. I was also What Was Left impressed by Takolander’s deft use of diverse As in many books, the travel As the story progresses, it dawns that this is a literary allusions throughout the collection – to Eleanor Limprecht narrative mirrors Rachel’s internal journey. tale of depravation and terror, and finely balanced Chekhov, William Carlos Williams, Stephen Sleepers. PB. $24.95 The search for her father is aided by a man with Adelaide’s humour is an understated King, Freud and others, with many brought to Review: This is one of the she meets in a backpacker hostel, moving the masterpiece: it is the best short story I have read immediate attention by the stories’ titles. best debut novels I have read story into another interesting and unexpected this year. The Double concludes with a blackly in a long time. It tells the story subplot about the nature of love and the cost of Adelaide is the author of several humorous, absurdist series of four stories of Rachel, who is feeling alone telling the truth. Limprecht’s book is not over- novels, including the bestselling The Household involving a mysterious and dangerous figure in the sleeplessness, worry populated with characters, and each is multi- Guide to Dying, and her collection here is a called Zed Roānkin (the first of these, ‘A Roānkin and physical pain of new dimensional and credible. treat. Take one story with each glass of wine Philosophy of Poetry’, won the Australian Book motherhood. She finds it difficult What Was Left is a riveting novel that before bed, but there is a warning: your dreams Review short-story competition in 2010). Roānkin to reconnect with her husband after a complicated examines ideas of motherhood, identity and the will have a twist in them. is perhaps a tormentor, perhaps a saviour – lies people tell to protect each other. pregnancy and traumatic birth. More importantly, Chris Gordon is the events coordinator there’s a delicious twist. Torment, as Dostoyevsky she finds it impossible to connect to her baby, Annie Condon is from Readings Hawthorn for Readings and Takolander have found, can be entertaining Lola, and is increasingly frightened by the and deeply rewarding. intrusive thoughts she has about hurting her. Letter to George Floodline Kate Goldsworthy is a freelance reviewer Everyone she meets – including the all-knowing maternal and child-health nurse who, warning of Clooney Kathryn Heyman the evils of formula, proclaims that her mothers’ Debra Adelaide A&U. PB. Was $29.99 group is only for breastfeeding mothers – are Picador. PB. $24.99 Special price $25.95 only willing to discuss socially acceptable Review: Debra Adelaide’s Review: After reading the feelings around motherhood. Australian new collection of short stories, blurb for Floodline, I was Often when a main character is Letter to George Clooney, is worried I was in for something a besieged by doubt and insecurity she can wonderfully dark and humorous, little more lightweight than Fiction seem ‘whiny’, but Limprecht avoids this making wicked fun at the familiar you’d expect from Kathryn pitfall by moving the plot along at a decent typecasts of poets, internet Heyman: ‘The feisty, sexy and The Night Guest pace. Abruptly, Rachel leaves Lola with her dating, government warnings, dynamic host of a Christian Fiona McFarlane husband and travels overseas to find her own signage and the tax department. I particularly shopping channel’ sets out on a grand mercy Hamish Hamilton. PB. $29.99 father, Gunther, who left her when she was enjoyed her portrait of British poet Bill, in the mission to save the town of Horneville from ‘the six. Interspersed with Rachel’s story is that Review: The title of Fiona story ‘Glory in the Flower’, which sees him travel gays’ after a terrible flood has destroyed the city. of her mother, Judy, and Judy’s relationship McFarlane’s debut novel is an to a literary festival with expectations as hopeful But this book has real depth and soul. with Gunther. Judy is a strong and determined intriguing one and, when paired as a teenage boy. Adelaide portrays recognisable While the characters are diverse – and could woman who completed her medical training with the cover illustration of a people in her work, but her most successful skill have become chaotic in the hands of a less- while Gunther was a stay-at-home father to tiger’s paw pushing through a as a writer is her ability to balance detail with skilled writer – under Heyman’s guidance they Rachel. This time makes for Rachel’s most slightly ajar door, suggests at restraint. This style allows the message of each are full of heart, utterly three-dimensional and pleasant memories, and she is bereft at the both a menacing presence and, story to slowly envelope the reader in a wider played completely straight. idea that Gunther would have left without a simply, that things are not quite right. There’s a context of humanity. The final story, ‘Letter to Floodline uses a split narrative to pick second thought. tiger in the living room, after all. George Clooney’, is breathtaking for this reason. through the wreckage wrought by epic disaster Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013 7 on ordinary lives. One disaster is smaller, more Charles Fox are simply crafted in terms of plot everyday, but is of course huge in the lives of and structure (this is a coming-of-age story, set the people it involves. A marriage betrayal – in an all-male boarding school in 1920s rural slowly teased out and laid bare to the reader as Western Australia) – but Kenneth Mackenzie’s we get further into the book – laps at the feet apprenticeship novel is astonishing in terms of of the family involved, threatening to drag them characterisation, language, its depiction of the under unless they release the floodgates and let natural world and, especially, in terms of a felt forgiveness and truth flow. or lived narrative. A parallel storyline examines the The third-person narrator’s voice impact of a treacherous flood. Inspired by the has – for the most part – been assimilated into real-life aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the Charles’s viewpoint. As he has lived his first 14 Queensland floods a couple of years back, this years in the sole company of his mother, free to story is seen from the perspective of a nurse roam the property, Charles has developed into involved in caring for patients at the major a sensitive young man attune to the caprices of Horneville hospital. Generators have broken the natural landscape. This voice, then, with its The Night Guest is a mesmerising novel about A funny and moving story about the down; water has run out; medical supplies are deeply interior perspective, leads us, poetically love, dependence, and the fear that the things clash of generations, Mr Lynch’s Holiday you know best can become the things you’re is about how families fracture and heal dwindling; the heat is stifling; no one has slept and astoundingly, deeper into the experience: of least certain about. It introduces a writer who themselves, and explores how living for days; evacuation of particular patients seems growing up, of sexual awakening, of the natural comes to us fully formed, working wonders ‘abroad’ can feel less like a holiday and impossible; and horrific decisions are made. world, of fear and of knowledge. with language, renewing our faith in the power more like a life sentence. of fiction to tap the mysterious workings of our But in the end, this book is not just The language throughout is minds, and keeping us spellbound. about struggling to keep your head above extraordinary. It’s not an entirely easy read: water: it’s also about hope and cleansing – and the tone and pace is unmodulated, with no it’s a cracking good read. markers to identify perspective changes or highlight plot points. But the result is a Gabrielle Williams is from Readings Malvern rolling swell of remarkable turns of phrase, odd constructions, unusual language, and a narrative that builds upon itself until the prose Cairo experience engulfs you. Chris Womersley The Young Desire It will ask you Scribe. PB. $29.95 – many times – to pause in your reading. Innumerable passages stand out and ask Review: Languishing in something (a step sideways, an interior a country town in the 1980s, movement, another read). My personal 17-year-old Tom Button yearns favourite: ‘And the gates swallowed them, like for escape. When his favourite the blind open jaws of a dead shark, sinister and aunt passes away, he seizes the Some of Australia’s finest thinkers More than 100 delicious recipes for every smally cathedraline.’ opportunity to move into her old analysing the key issues that have occasion – from feeding a family to hosting an If words, cadence and language are had a major impact on Australia over elegant dinner party. You may even be surprised apartment in a run-down Fitzroy your thing, read this book – Mackenzie has the last turbulent decade, collated by to find things on the menu you thought you’d complex named Cairo. Here he meets an our most influential think tank. never eat again – from smoothies and French rendered it an astonishing experience. eccentric group of artists and bohemians, toast to panna cotta and parfait, from roast dinners to curries and pasta dishes. including the enigmatic musician Max Cheever Ed Moreno is from Readings Carlton and his beautiful wife, Sally. Enthralled by their charisma, Tom is introduced to a vibrant world of The Following penguin.com.aupenguin.com.au carefree hedonism, all-night parties and illicit sex. Roger McDonald But as guards are let down and motives are Vintage. PB. $32.95 revealed, Tom finds himself part of something much more sinister – fraud, heroin addicts and From the multi-award-winning the infamous theft of Picasso’s Weeping author of When Colts Ran and 1866. On the coast of New Zealand a prostitute, Anna Wetherell, Woman from the National Gallery of Victoria. Mr Darwin’s Shooter comes an Chris Womersley’s third novel, the epic tale about the insistent is arrested. On the same day a luckless drunk dies, a wealthy man follow-up to the hugely successful Bereft, presence of the past. Years ago vanishes, and a ship’s captain weighs anchor, as if making an brilliantly captures that unique blend of a young boy met a stranger with escape. Anna is connected to all three men. a secret and a talent for knots, a excitement and terror that comes with stepping A secret council of powerful townsmen gathers to investigate. out into adulthood for the first time. Tom is meeting that forever shaped Marcus Friendly’s But they are interrupted by the arrival of a stranger: naïve yet reckless, devoted to his friends and ideals as he rose to become Australia’s sixteenth desperate for their approval: ‘to me they were prime minister. Now, politician Max Petersen finds young Walter Moody, who has a secret of his own … fabulous, magical beings, capable of anything. himself the inheritor of Marcus’s tradition in more They could do no wrong.’ Womersley’s ways than one. characters are complex, charming and mysterious – every one of them is keeping secrets, from each other and themselves. International Womersley quite deliberately places Tom and his friends in a very recognisable Melbourne – their haunts (and the Cairo Fiction apartments) are real parts of the city’s geography, and the Picasso theft is a very real The Luminaries part of history. The warmth of Womersley’s Eleanor Catton writing allows for such interplay between Granta. PB. $29.99 fiction and reality: real-world references do not Review: Last year we feel contrived; rather, they’re satisfying and survived another tick of the authentic, bringing the reader in closer to Tom’s zodiac, closing the Age of close-knit cohort. Cairo is smart, thrilling and Pisces, and with it the reign of extremely well written – a fantastic read. twinship, mirrors and hidden Alan Vaarwerk is a freelance reviewer things. But for those caught in a nineteenth-century The Young Desire It: firmament, such as Eleanor Catton’sThe Text Classics Luminaries, one might judge fate a better hand than luck. It’s 1866 in one of the farthest Kenneth Mackenzie corners of the globe – Hokitika – a gold-rush Text. PB. $24.95 town on the west coast of New Zealand. Twelve An intricately crafted feat of storytelling. Review: The Young Desire It men have sought secret council in the parlour was awarded the ALS Gold of a decrepit hotel to discuss a coincidence: a A simply extraordinary piece of fiction. Medal in 1937, when the author whore has been found half-dead in the road, a Longlisted for the 2013 Man Booker Award. was only 24. This extraordinary drunken hermit has died on a fortune, and the book, like many first novels, is wealthiest man in town has vanished. Honesty largely autobiographical – the and loyalties are played off against one another defining years of protagonist as each man discovers how connected and 8 Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013 implicated he is, while an outsider stumbles in humans) and here the story unfolds in the kind Night Film Harding has a powerful sense of the texture in his to adjudicate, eventually leading a courtroom of exciting mash-up of modes you’d expect from Marisha Pessl language, and describes Charlie’s experiences drama that will have the most rabid readers of Atwood, with storytelling and myth-making at through clear and unusual prose. It is not always Hutchinson. PB. $32.95 detective fiction salivating. the centre. flawlessly executed: the infrequent dialogue is Part One ticks over 360 pages in Much of the novel is narrated by Review: In 2006 I read and at times clunky and clichéd, and some of his a bar-room sea of words. Unwashed men Toby, a recurring character, who now finds loved Marisha Pessl’s first metaphors don’t quite hit their mark. But fans of drink, smoke and regale, setting in motion herself acting as a leader of sorts to a small novel, Special Topics in Tinkers, and lovers of deeply thoughtful writing, the remaining eleven parts like spinning group of survivors including MaddAddamites, Calamity Physics, a 500-page will certainly find much to appreciate here. cogs of fortune. Each chapter has its own God’s Gardeners and Crakers. (If you’re coming-of-age story bursting Charlotte Colwill is from Readings St Kilda astrological position within a complex narrative, confused, now’s a good time to recommend with literary and pop-culture meticulously plotted with an occasional aside you read the rest of the series first.) Also references. It was an ambitious, by an unknown narrator. We are never sure following in the trend of the previous two fascinating book that left me eager to read more Crazy Rich Asians who is telling the story, but it doesn’t matter books, we’re treated to the action-fuelled of Pessl’s work. Seven years later, she has finally Kevin Kwan because Catton's characters talk, and talk and history of Zeb, complete with dead bodies, a released her highly anticipated second novel. A&U. PB. $24.99 talk, breathing fire, lament and lust into this lost brother and a bear. All the while, Atwood Night Film follows journalist Scott Review: Mostly set in frontier idiom. Diggers, Chinese and Maori, tucks additional layers into the world she’s McGrath as he works to uncover the truth about present-day Singapore, Crazy traverse themes of home, exile and fortune, but constructed over the past years, applying new reclusive cult film director Stanislas Cordova. Rich Asians follows three it’s Coleridge’s albatross that haunts this ship – colours, shapes and lines, and the result is Cordova hasn’t been seen in public since 1971 incredibly wealthy, inter-married luck is a burden to fate, perhaps how love is to immensely satisfying. While MaddAddam feels and his films have evolved from Oscar-winning Chinese families, and let me tragedy – and this is where readers should be less immediate than the previous books – it’s thrillers to bleak, disturbing horror movies. When assure you, crazy rich is an prepared for their soul to be anatomised on an more experimental in its structure – Atwood’s Cordova’s 24-year-old daughter Ashley commits understatement. The story epic voyage that is nothing less than masterly. prose is as wry and accomplished as ever, and suicide, McGrath is determined to prove that focuses on Rachel Chu, an accomplished ABC very funny; I particularly loved the interactions Cordova is hiding some very dark secrets. Luke May is a freelance reviewer (American Born Chinese) economics professor between Toby and the Crakers. Night Film is a slow-burning, elaborately plotted who agrees to spend the summer holidays with In some ways, this is my favourite mystery. The text is accompanied by visual aids, her boyfriend, Nick Young, a handsome and book in the series. Unlike the first two, which including screenshots of websites, reproductions Maddaddam affable history professor, who is returning home largely deal with the immediate repercussions of newspaper articles, photographs and Margaret Atwood to Singapore for his best friend’s nuptials. of the apocalypse, MaddAddam offers a tiny handwritten notes, all of which add depth and Bloomsbury. HB. Was $35 Rachel has no clue of Nick’s family background, glimpse of what this ‘brave new world’ will be novelty to the unfolding investigation. Special price $27.95 and after she departs New York in a first-class like. Living in a time where it’s now possible Pessl’s greatest achievement in Night lounger, it’s a very wild ride indeed. Review: Ten years after the to download and print a gun, it was all too Film is the creation of Cordova, who looms over There are more designer and couture release of Oryx and Crake, the easy to picture Atwood’s imagination turned the narrative at every turn. With a dead wife, a references than you can shake a manicured final instalment of Margaret outwards. Her vision, which stems from existing dead daughter, an obsessive fan following and hand at, and the privilege of the characters Atwood’s dystopian trilogy is science, is believable and chilling, but there is rumours about his odd behaviour, everything is dizzying. It may seem like a farce, or an here, a slow-burning and wholly also hope, and what’s wonderful is that this is about Cordova is deliciously eerie and enigmatic. exaggeration of how the other side lives, immersive, chilling delight. believable too. The sheer level of detail Pessl provides for but there is truth in Kevin Kwan’s depiction: Once again we’re thrown into Cordova’s filmography is extraordinary – at times Bronte Coates is the online and Readings according to Forbes, the number of China’s the wreckage of the world post-‘flood’ (please I found myself forgetting that Cordova is a fictional Monthly assistant billionaires in the last decade has grown to be read: plague that destroys the majority of character and his movies don’t really exist. second to the United States. Crazy Rich Asians Night Film is a gripping, strange and offers a fascinating insight into this changing often creepy read. Pessl’s writing style won’t be Chinese culture, Westernisation, the globalisation to everyone’s taste but the novel contains some of wealth and the representation of old versus What utterly thrilling sequences worth the price of the new money in the tax haven of Singapore. book alone. The myriad characters tell their stories I Nina Kenwood is the online manager in alternating chapters – these shifts were a for Readings little distracting at times but overall provided a Loved hilarious, gossipy tapestry for the ‘average girl Steve Bidwell-Brown Enon meets ludicrously rich eligible bachelor’ story, Readings Online Fulfilment Manager and matched the frenetic pace set in the lead-up Paul Harding to the grand society wedding. William Heinemann. PB. $29.95 The book has already been picked up suspect she’s being strung along in one giant The CRYING for a film adaptation by Nina Jacobson, producer and fantastical conspiracy. Review: Following the of The Hunger Games, which gives an indication OF LOT 49 What I loved about The Crying enormous success of Paul of the story’s entertainment factor. Grab a Thomas Pynchon of Lot 49 is Thomas Pynchon’s intricate Harding’s debut novel, Tinkers takeaway laksa and be transported: Crazy Rich Vintage. PB. $12.95 and multidimensional portrayal of Oedipa’s (which won him a Pulitzer Prize Asians presents a unique view of Singaporean life marvellous ascent – or descent – towards in 2009), the literary world, and in the form of a delicious society comedy. Review: It’s the early revelation. As a first-time reader, you’re the many fans of Tinkers, have 1960s and life is aglow on guaranteed to feel as confused and paranoid understandably been waiting Ingrid Josephine is the Readings marketing the American east coast. as Oedipa does about what is actually going with bated breath to see what he and events assistant Amateur musicians are on in this chaotic novelette. Pynchon seeks does next. His second novel, Enon, is similar to composing Beatles-inspired pop music, local to deliberately synchronise the paranoid his first in many ways. It shares the same The Bone Season shrinks are starting to prescribe medicinal LSD, reader-experience with the paranoid character- small-town, New England setting, its main Samantha Shannon and words like ‘feminism’ are sprouting in the experience in a way that is not all that dissimilar character is Charles Crosby, who is the grandson Bloomsbury. PB. $24.99 minds of the young. Somewhere in this budding to that of Franz Kafka’s classic novel of of Tinkers’ protagonist George Crosby, and it psychedelic mix is Oedipa Maas, a 28-year-old nightmarish bureaucracy, The Trial. But unlike is concerned with themes of death, history Review: The Bone Season is homemaker who has just been informed that her and landscape. set in 2059 and follows Paige millionaire ex-lover is dead and that she has But Enon is a far more personal, ‘You’re guaranteed to feel as Mahoney, a clairvoyant who been named executrix over his will and assets. insular story than Tinkers, and has a more can break into people’s minds. Such an appointment is a momentous confused and paranoid as Oedipa intense focus: while the narrative scope of the Since clairvoyance is punishable event for Oedipa. As the housewife of a used-car does about what is actually going book is narrower, the writing is no less ambitious by death in Scion, the salesmen, she could do with a change from and poetic. on in this chaotic novelette.’ high-powered political and her current life of kitchen chores and Tupperware We meet Charlie Crosby in the security establishment that controls London, parties. Her lover was Californian real estate immediate aftermath of losing his 13-year-old Paige makes her living as part of an underground mogul Pierce Inverarity, a quirky, scattered fellow the bleakness in Kafka, Pynchon’s settings are daughter, Kate, in a road accident. The book crime syndicate. One day, Paige is drugged and who has left behind enough obscure investments full of sunshine, vaudeville and slapstick. You opens with a jarringly insistent pathos and we kidnapped. She awakes in the long-lost city of to make Oedipa paranoid about all sorts of wacky never go too long without someone busting are thrust, without warning, into the presence Oxford, where she discovers that the Rephaim, a and dangerous underground movements. out a kazoo, or tuning out to listen to just- of his shock and hysterical grief. In the opening cruel, psychic race from another world, are Among these is the Trystero, a secret discovered timbres in hallway muzak. This is the chapters, Harding’s assured writing captures actually controlling Scion. Paige spends the novel postal network with origins stemming from the tale of a housewife-turned-sleuth, caught in a both the frenetic splutter of thoughts had during fighting against the Rephaim and trying to once-thriving and very real Thurn and Taxis covert and madcap labyrinth. unfathomable pain and the anchorless nature of determine who her captors really are, and why postal system of fifteenth-century Europe. As Reading Pynchon is a kaleidoscopic a person’s behaviour in the wake of tragedy. The they have come to earth. Oedipa finds herself chasing clues up and leap into the most obscure corners of the story then follows Charlie as he sinks further into The Bone Season is one of the most down the coast of California in an attempt to past. His prose is so commanding that the himself, and tries to make sense of his new reality. gripping books I have read in months. Its plot verify an increasingly difficult-to-believe reality most absurd historical anecdotes seem not There are many facets to Charlie’s turns left me breathless, and often terrified. I really – contending with various zany and often goofy only plausible but crucial to understanding the grief, from his struggles with memories and cared for Paige and her friends and became male advances on the way – she begins to present – a literary comedy of the trippiest order. hallucinations to his evolving relationship with invested in Paige’s unnerving relationship with the landscape that he once shared with Kate. her Rephaim keeper. Continued on page 10. Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013 9 Words Like Padlocks

The expatriate Finnish doctor who saved Karjalainen, for instance, describes the Finnish language of his childhood as ‘the object of some long-lost love’ and himself as being ‘in thrall to those chipped sounds, those words eaten Maria Takolander writes on the anxiety of away by ice and silence’. Those distinctive sounds belonging and the trappings of language in of Finnish, a language I spoke until the age of five Diego Marani’s New Finnish Grammar. and then lost, are ones to which I also remain in thrall. It was the language of my childhood home, Loneliness, by definition an intimate condition, the language I heard at Lutheran services in a strikes me as being intimately associated with homely church that smelled of fresh coffee and literature. Perhaps this has something to do with pulla (a Finnish sweet bread). There were no harsh the solitary act of reading: a reader communing sounds, but there were hard lessons. with a book is undergoing a profoundly We see such hard lessons in Marani’s rom Sao Paolo to Melbourne, individual and private experience. novel when a nurse, who offers a brief promise New York to Tokyo, these Or perhaps it’s because of the of companionship to the lonely Karjalainen, F artists exhibit their work in the literary representations of loneliness that have writes him a letter: ‘even when we believe that world’s most accessible museum been seared into my consciousness. There’s we are the bearers of immense suffering, in – the street – sharing their vision reality we are like ants carrying crumbs.’ Such the obscene figure of Gregor Samsa in Franz with a public unable to avoid was the ethos passed on to me by my Finnish Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, enduring his their work, like it or not. At its alienation alone in his room, or the orphan Jane mother, whose family suffered under Stalin’s best, street art is not simply about in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, always yearning purges in Karelia, before they were exiled from slogans or personal promotion to belong. However, isn’t it true that we also their homes during the so-called Winter War but is playful, creative and often use literature to provide us with a salve for our between Finland and the Soviet Union. beautiful, drawing on the energy loneliness, or a reprieve from our loneliness? of its surroundings. We look for someone – a character, an author – who is like us, someone who will provide us with ‘Sampo Karjalainen cannot break a sense of recognition or understanding. into the Finnish language, and any It was in such a spirit that I peered into Diego Marani’s New Finnish Grammar (Text, flashes of memory fail to ignite.’ $27.99), a contemporary portrait of loneliness to which I have been powerfully drawn. Marani’s novel concerns a character, There is also the rousing speech beaten almost to death, discovered in the quay about Finnish identity delivered by a Lutheran www.newsouthbooks.com.au of Trieste during World War II. Suffering from pastor, obsessed with the ancient Finnish saga severe amnesia and aphasia, he has entirely known as The Kalevala: forgotten his identity and his language. The man’s Finnish doctor recognises the name ‘Finland is what remains of something else: sewn inside the man’s sailor’s jacket – Sampo take away the Slavs, the Scandinavians, the Karjalainen – as a distinctively Finnish one Orthodox, the Catholics, the sea salt, the birch and sends the man to Helsinki to rediscover forests, scrape off a few hundred thousand tons SEPTEMBER RELEASES himself among his people. What follows is an of granite and what you are left with is Finland. extraordinary depiction of a man’s loneliness, If you were once Finnish, at some point or other as he attempts to learn the notoriously difficult you will find all this with you, because all this is Finnish language and to fit into a society stored in your memory, it cannot be mislaid. It is traumatised by the ongoing losses of wars. in your blood, your guts.’ Finnish words are like ‘padlocks’; the laughter of a woman is ‘a match struck in the It is a speech that exemplifies the dark room of my memory’. However, Sampo Finnish quality of sisu – stoicism and strength – Karjalainen cannot break into the Finnish attributed with enabling Finland to resist the Soviet language, and any flashes of memory fail to Union during World War II, despite being vastly ignite. He is tyrannised by his solitude. This is outnumbered. Indeed, the Finns painted the word ultimately a story about a failed quest to belong. sisu on their tanks. As Marani suggests in both ‘One of the A provocative, timely ‘A devastating portrait As the child of Finnish migrants New Finnish Grammar and the equally wonderful unrepentantly daring account of the changing of a first-term foreign to Australia, I felt a peculiar resonance with The Last of the Vostyachs, the second book of a and original talents face of journalism, and policy that shunned the the lonely and anonymous state of Sampo trilogy focused on Finnish nationalism, words are in the landscape of an essential guide to tough choices of real Karjalainen. In the ‘no-man’s land’ of the near-magical or shamanic instruments. Australian fiction.’ understanding it, from diplomacy.’ SYDNEY MORNING a pioneer of the new- THE NEW YORK character’s life, as it is described in Marani’s If the magic of New Finnish Grammar HERALD media revolution. TIMES novel, I recognised the no-man’s land of my aroused my nostalgia for a lost state of belonging, experience. Like Karjalainen, I had been cast it also prompted me to consider the progressive adrift in a new world – although in my case it was aspects of an unaffiliated status. I am, after all, Australia rather than Finland. Like Karjalainen, free to invent myself – advice that the desperate I had been compelled to learn a new language Sampo Karjalainen fails to accept. In interviews, and fit into a new culture. My nostalgic parents Marani, who lives outside or between cultures had bestowed on me a sense of having lost a in his professional role as a translator, refers to homeland that was integral to my identity. Like the ‘loneliness of the cosmopolitan’, but he also Karjalainen, I too had been inspired to recapture embraces the opportunity that this status affords a lost source of identity bound up with Finland. him of belonging to ‘something bigger’. I think this In interviews Marani has suggested too is where literature comes in. that he wanted to draw attention to the constructed nature of national identities – Maria Takolander’s collection of short stories, something he argues is particularly apparent The Double, is published by Text this month. ‘A work of such A lively, passionate ‘A brilliant, serendipitous in Finland, which declared its independence in She is also the author of two books of poems, importance that it defence of reasoned book about East Timor 1917. Marani is suspicious of nationalism for Ghostly Subjects (Salt) and the forthcoming should be compulsory debate that is the best work reading at every level in ‘Calm, clever, and lucid on the subject in recent The End of the World (Giramondo); and a good reason: his novel, set in the World War the military’ ... deserves the widest times.’ II, shows how we live and die by our ‘invented’ book of literary criticism, Catching Butterflies: TIMES LITERARY readership.’ JILL JOLLIFFE, author differences. Nevertheless, Marani’s glorious Bringing Magical Realism to Ground (Peter SUPPLEMENT GIDEON HAIGH of BALIBO descriptions of the Finnish language, character Lang). She is a Senior Lecturer in Literary and myths aroused in me the acute patriotism felt Studies and Professional and Creative Writing by the outcast and those anxious to belong. at Deakin University in Geelong. Continued on page 10. 10 Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013

The world of The Bone Season Taipei is incredibly complex: Samantha Shannon Tao Lin describes in detail the different types of Dead Write Canongate. PB. $19.99 New Crime clairvoyants and their powers, the governance with Fiona Hardy mechanisms of Scion and the crime syndicate, From one of this generation’s as well as Paige’s personal history. Shannon most talked about writers, weaves the intricate details of this world Taipei is an ode, or lament, to his doubts over the circumstances of her smoothly into the story (only a few times do life today. As we follow Paul death to private investigator and all-round the descriptions feel like exposition), and there from New York, where he book entertaining and enormous protagonist are multiple maps, descriptions of clairvoyant comically navigates Cormoran Strike. With Strike down on his luck powers, and a glossary of Scion slang Manhattan’s art and literary of (‘Business has doubled lately,’ he tells his sister included to aid readers in piecing together scenes, to Taiwan, where he confronts his when he takes on a second client), it’s a job Shannon’s universe. family’s roots, one relationship fails, while the that means he can afford pot noodles and new The plot races by very quickly, and another is born on the internet and blooms accommodation (read: a camp bed on his a couple of times I felt its development was a into an unexpected wedding in Las Vegas. month office floor). Along with the case comes an little stiff. Mostly, though, Shannon sustains unexpected new temp named Robin whom convincing action scenes, running from one Bertie’s Guide to he can’t afford but whose stay you will be outrageous situation to another, with a strong The Cuckoo’s CallinG Life and Mothers: A desperate to extend: she’s tenacious, and as a female protagonist at the centre. Robert Galbraith team they are as rich a crime-fighting duo as If you want a fun, fast read that Scotland Street Novel Little, Brown. PB. Was $29.99 you could hope for. Initially investigating Lula’s promises exciting sequels, read The Bone Alexander McCall Smith Special price $24.95 death just for the money, Strike finds more Season. Shannon is only 21 years old, and New South. PB. Was $29.99 Review: I’m reluctant to admit that this flew leads than the unenthusiastic police, realising I look forward to the writer she will become, Special price $25.95 under my radar when it was quietly released that those around the model hold secrets even considering her current talent. Domestic unrest and romantic earlier in the year, but since the news that The phone tapping can’t uncover. Julia Tulloh is a freelance reviewer misadventures are rife among Cuckoo’s Calling, with its underwhelming This book was still on my mind when the inhabitants at 44 Scotland cover, is actually disguising the new J. K. I wasn’t reading it: who did it, could I figure it The Counselor Street with everything from an Rowling, I picked it up with interest – and boy out, and why can’t more authors realise, as Elvis impersonator to a Cormac McCarthy howdy am I glad I did. Once I’d shaken off my Rowling has, you don’t have to include sexual wannabe nun in the mix, and expectations, I found myself very, very invested assault in a crime novel to make it interesting? Picador. PB. $19.99 Bertie is feeling blue. Having in the story: model Lula Landry throws herself Hopefully her unveiling as the author won’t Cormac McCarthy’s first original had enough of his neurotic hot-housing mother, onto a snowy sidewalk from her balcony, but discourage a sequel – we’re better off for this screenplay is a work of he puts himself up for adoption on eBay. Will he three months later, her adopted brother takes kind of crime writing. extraordinary imagination that go to the highest bidder or will he take matters brings together the descriptive into his own hands? With customary charm, passages of his prose writing Alexander McCall Smith gives us the ninth with his talent for fast, scripted instalment of his Scotland Street series. Inspector Singh My Island Homicide dialogue. Exploring themes Investigates: A Catherine Titasey characteristic of McCarthy’s earlier works, The Let The Games Begin Counselor is the story of a lawyer, a man so Calamitous Chinese UQP. PB. $29.95 Niccolò Ammaniti seduced by the desire to get rich that he Senior Sergeant Thea Text. PB. $29.99 Killing becomes involved in a drug-smuggling venture. Shamini Flint Dari-Jones arrives at her new As the action crosses the Mexican border, A nouveau riche real estate desk on Thursday Island Piatkus. PB. $19.99 things become darker and more violent than magnate has planned a lavish hoping it’ll be a laid-back the Counselor could have imagined. spectacle of a weekend and Inspector Singh, an overly distraction from her old life, anyone who’s anyone has been indulgent Singaporean and a way to connect to her Bleeding Edge invited, including a neurotically investigator who is repeatedly mother’s Islander culture. A charming author hoping to sent to do his investigations Thomas Pynchon two-day seminar doesn’t prepare her for the rejuvenate his reputation. anywhere but in Singapore job – but an investigation into a missing woman Jonathan Cape. PB. $32.95 Instead he crosses paths with the Wilde Beasts itself, is now in China, looking offers an unintended way to connect her to life Living in New York during the of Abaddon, a satanic sect planning to ruin the into the case of a young man in the tropics. early days of the internet, festivities and become celebrated as a world- beaten to death in a Beijing alley. Consensus Maxine Tarnow is just your famous cult, sending the evening tumbling into is that it was a robbery gone awry, but in times Never Go Back: Jack average working mother with disarray in riotously absurd fashion. of doubt, the always entertaining Singh is two boys in school, a sort-of- your man. Reacher 18 ex-husband and a nice little Lee Child fraud investigation business on Science Fiction The Kill List Bantam. PB. Was $32.95 the Upper West Side. Business is business as Frederick Forsyth Special price $27.95 usual until she starts looking into the finances Shaman: A Novel of the Bantam. PB. $32.95 Jack Reacher – he’s six-foot- of a computer-security firm and finds herself something and as badass as Ice Age The kind of terrorist-chasing, mixed up with a neoliberal enforcer, elements they come, a machine of swift Kim Stanley Robinson high-tech, espionage thriller of the Russian mob, and a host of bloggers, moves and smarts with Orbit. PB. $29.99 that you’ll want to power hackers and more. connections to everyone and through over a rainy weekend, In Shaman, Kim Stanley no one. Hitchhiking to his old Forsyth’s newest pits an agency The Man with the Robinson turns away from the base to go on a date, he is of government-sanctioned futuristic settings of his previous summarily reinstated into the army he’d left Compound Eyes assassins against a radical works to present a vision of how years ago and accused of a homicide. Trying Wu Ming-Yi terrorist called The Preacher, who has his own we lived thirty thousand years to lasso Reacher is never a clever idea, but Harvill Secker. PB. $32.95 list of people to kill. ago, an extraordinary moment in reading about it sure as hell is.

On the island of Wayo Wayo, humanity’s development. Within every second son must leave the clan, change is coming and Loon is The Second Deadly Sin Strange Shores on the day he turns 15 as a determined to find his own path. Åsa Larsson Arnaldur Indridason sacrifice to the Sea God. Atile’i MacLehose. PB. $29.99 is one such boy, but he is Harvill Secker. PB. $24.95 DUST (Wool Trilogy 3) Named Best Swedish Crime determined to defy destiny For decades, two Hugh Howey Novel of 2012, The Second and become the first to disappearances have played Random House. PB. Was 29.95 Deadly Sin follows prosecutor survive. Alice Shih, who has lost her husband on Detective Erlendur’s mind: Special Price $26.95 Rebecka Martinsson, pulled and son in a climbing accident, is quietly Matthildur, vanished in a frozen from a case involving the preparing to commit suicide in her house by In the aftermath of the uprising, fjord; and his own brother, lost gruesome murder of a woman the sea. But her plan is interrupted when a the people of Silo 18 are coming in a snowstorm when they when doubts over her mental vast trash vortex comes crashing onto the to terms with a new order. Some were young. Ostensibly on health linger. In a nearby forest, a thumb is shore of Taiwan, bringing Atile’i with it. In the embrace the change, others fear holiday (where all the best crimes are found, found in the stomach of a hunted bear. The aftermath of the catastrophe, the pair retrace the unknown; none have control apparently) and conducting his search from the victim’s family is beset by constant tragedy and Alice’s late husband’s footsteps into the of their fate. The Silo is still in battered remains of his childhood home, the murdered woman’s grandson acts like a wild mountains, uncovering a dark secret that will danger and there are those set Erlendur seeks information from those holding dog to deal with trauma. It’s a novel as ferocious force Alice to question everything she thought on its destruction. In this much-anticipated final onto the past, but who may not want to let go. in storyline as Martinsson’s determination to she knew. instalment of the Wool trilogy, the battle has been An introspective, disarming read. catch a killer. won, but the war is just beginning. Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013 11

New Young Adult Fiction Take a moment... See books for kids, junior and middle readers on page 16. to learn French

dies after being dramatically pummelled against in St Kilda & book rocks in the ocean. I couldn’t imagine where it State Library of Victoria would take the reader from there, and the story certainly delivered numerous surprises. Seth of wakes up in a completely different but somehow familiar place that is deserted. The first few the chapters in this strange new world are creepy and disconcerting as the reader, along with month Seth, tries to figure out exactly what is going on. Is he dead? In hell? Or is this all just a dream? More Than This The journey of discovery never lets up, right until the final moments of this Patrick Ness thrilling work. Beautifully written, with flashback Walker. HB. $27.95 scenes to Seth’s life before, this is a novel that Special price $24.95 imaginatively gives voice to the thought that Review: A new young adult novel by every teenager has had: ‘There must be more Carnegie Medal-winning writer Patrick Ness is to life than this.’ The only downside of reading grounds for great excitement. When Ness was this novel was my devastation once it was over. I recently in Melbourne, he read the first wait with bated breath for a sequel. term 4 devastating pages where the protagonist, Seth, Angela Crocombe is from Readings St Kilda french Every Breath The Pull of Gravity Ellie Marney Gae Polisner courses A&U. PB. $18.99 St Martin’s. PB. $14.99

Review: Contemporary Review: It starts with a fever, a mon sun re-imaginings of Arthur Conan water tower and a can of cherry to Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes have cola. I know, what on earth! But 07 15 proved successful of late. This when Nick Gardner, king of high oct dec debut Australian novel offers fevers, hallucinates while sick and another worthwhile believes he is being chased by a French language school interpretation, with a uniquely YA big can of cherry cola, he makes his way up a & cultural centre since approach. “Watts” is teenage Rachel, whose water tower and then falls. It’s from here that 1890 - Not-for-profit AllianceFrançaise family has given up their farm and moved to everything starts to change. His best friend, the de Melbourne Australian association Melbourne following money troubles. Scoot, has a rare illness that will take his life way We teach French Refreshingly, she’s not happy about living in the too early, and Nick’s morbidly obese father has tel: 9525 3463 city, being a roll-up-your-flannel-shirtsleeves kind decided to do the ‘fat man walk’, walking all the www.afmelbourne.com.au of girl. But one giant attraction in Melbourne, way to New York in a bid to change his ways. though she wouldn’t admit it, is her neighbour With his family falling apart and the Scoot getting James Mycroft. He can't look after himself (Watts worse, Nick and Jaycee, a quirky girl from brings him dinner every night) and is constantly in school, go on a road trip to try and fulfil the trouble, but also happens to be a genius-detective Scoot’s dying wish – to find his dad. Laced with in the making. The two stumble on a murder and Star Wars references and entwined with the novel as the case heats up their relationship progresses Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (note, read with plenty of tension and lost moments. Of Mice and Men first!), The Pull of Gravity is a Watts is extremely likeable – responsible heartwarming story that will appeal to good but not square – while Mycroft is irresistibly readers wanting something a little different. rebellious but deep-down wounded. Their Katherine Dretzke is from Readings Hawthorn chemistry makes for great reading. We’re kept guessing about the crime but the author also weaves in interesting dynamics between Watts Two Boys Kissing and her family, and her new city friends, making David Levithan this a very thorough story with plenty of heart as Text. PB. $19.99 well as mystery. Review: As the omnipresent Emily Gale is from Readings Carlton narrator explains, Two Boys Kissing is about the power of The Vanishing Moment possibility. It’s not about sex, it’s Margaret Wild about the power of seeing two boys who love each other being A&U. PB. $17.99 able to display that love: ‘Every time two boys kiss, Review: In The Vanishing it opens up the world a little bit more.’ Craig and Moment, Margaret Wild introduces Harry are attempting a world record for the longest us to two young women, both of kiss. In the 32 hours, 12 minutes and 10 seconds it whom have experienced major will take to break the current record, we follow two trauma and sadness. Arrow other gay couples with families that are both witnessed a terrible tragedy when accepting and not. There are belligerent bullies she was just a small child and Marika has been who are angry and scared by homosexuality, living in a nightmare since her family was torn friends that support each other, and one sad and apart. The two girls meet in a small coastal town lonely boy who feels that no one cares about him. where they each attempt to make sense of their Overseeing this all is a generation of men who lost situations. They also meet Bob, a strange and their battle to live free and sexual lives when AIDS troubled magician with an amazing memory, who stepped in and silenced their dreams. These may hold the key that would enable the girls to voices offer to today’s youth the wisdom of escape from their personal hell. experience and the nurturing and soothing With a hat-tip to Jorge Luis Borges’ perspective of what is relevant and truly important. The Garden of Forking Paths, this book explores Two Boys Kissing is wise, respectful and honest, the possibility of alternate realities and the and David Levithan writes with integrity and pitfalls of running from your problems. The sensitivity about young love without titillation or Vanishing Moment is an eerie, mysterious sensationalism. I wholeheartedly recommend this novel for teenagers, richly textured with vivid, extraordinary book. memorable scenes and cleverly painted details. Alexa Dretzke is from Readings Hawthorn Kim Gruschow is from Readings Hawthorn 12 Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013 Shelter from the Storm New Non-Fiction

noble quality, and decorum will always have its Australian place. But when respect comes at the cost of honest criticism, it’s time for us to think again.

Non-Fiction Beloved Land: stories, Boom struggles, and secrets Alice Gage writes on Jeff Nichols’ Take best, his extravagant (to Samantha, paranoid) Malcolm Knox from Timor-Leste Shelter, Mud and Shotgun Stories. storm shelter gets a use when one night a Viking. PB. $34.99 Gordon Peake tornado siren sounds. For him, the pressure is Scribe. PB. $29.95 atmospheric and real – in one scene we see Review: Just as I finished Curtis clutching his daughter in the corner of the reading Malcolm Knox’s At the stroke of midnight on 20 ‘Is anyone seeing this?’ asks Curtis (Michael living room as the furniture levitates as though comprehensive history of May 2002, the Democratic Shannon) in Jeff Nichols’ second film,Take in an airlock, his face popping with redness, mining in Australia, the High Republic of Timor-Leste became Shelter (2011). Curtis has pulled his car over to before everything suddenly drops. Court dismissed a challenge the first new nation of the the side of the road to watch a dry lightning storm by Fortescue Metals Group to In Mud (2012), the 14-year-old twenty-first century. From that approaching ominously from the fields beyond. protagonist suffers a similar state of anguish. the validity of the mining tax. moment, those who fought for His wife and daughter are asleep in the back This is a Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Despite the facts that Fortescue has not paid independence in the jungle and seat and, indeed, no one sees it but him. Curtis’s Finn redux – two modern boys living on the any of the tax thus far and Australian mineral from the soapbox have faced a challenge even portentous visions are leaking from his dreams Mississippi who, meeting a criminal on the rights belong to the Commonwealth, the iron bigger than shaking off Indonesian occupation: into his days. Is he going crazy, or is he the lone run and in need of their help, see their ideas ore company launched the case because they running a country of their own. Blending narrative receiver of apparitions of the Apocalypse? And if of love dashed and remade. Ellis (played by believed the tax to be ‘unfair, discriminatory history, travelogue and personal reminiscences so, how do you save your family from a gathering the astonishing Tye Sheridan) is watching his and complex’. Knox writes in Boom that ‘the based on four years of living in the country, storm that appears only to you? parents’ marriage fall to pieces through chinks argument over mining taxes is a lightning rod Beloved Land shows the daunting hurdles that the Missteps of dignity and looseness in the living-room doorway. He’s a romantic, for deeper conceptions of Australian values’, people of Timor-Leste must overcome to build a of pride are hallmarks of Nichols’ work, albeit a tough one, and he wants to believe in and his book traces the history and nation from scratch. exceptionally executed against a background of the tenants of wedlock. ‘Y’all are married, y’all development of these values from the the American South by working-class boys and are meant to love each other,’ he begs. So individual prospectors of the nineteenth- men. They are the rough-hewn sort who believes when Mud – a wizened crim played by Matthew century to the multinational corporations of that ‘a man should take care of his affairs’ –­ a Biography McConaughey – shows up and claims to be today, detailing the fraught relationship mining line repeated throughout his three films, one that on a mission to save the woman he loves, Ellis has had with Aboriginal people, immigration means a man’s one vital responsibility is for the A History of Silence: and his pal Neckbone don’t need any more and the environment. Knox suggests that world of his family. These are men of few words information. Of course, nothing is as simple as mining industry workers, throughout history, A Memoir who wear their grief, anger and humiliation on that, and Ellis has to let something die in him have seen themselves as individual capitalists. Lloyd Jones their brows and show it seldom otherwise. But before he can begin anew, as a man. This explains why, when compared to other Text. PB. $32.99 there is vulnerability behind the glassy stares, industries, miners’ unions are more Review: Lloyd Jones had and it’s this struggle that makes Nichols’ films so sympathetic to their employers, and why never really interrogated his damn pleasurable to watch. ‘At one point during the chaos, so many workers sided with their bosses family history very much, until Nichols is a young auteur at 34. He has to oppose the mining tax. his wife looks dumbfounded the major Christchurch already produced three exquisite movies, all set Knox goes into a lot of eye-opening earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 in the South, where he was born and raised and at nothing in particular, raises detail regarding the technicalities of mining; began to rock his world. Like so refuses to leave. He’s a unique case, rejecting the a description of a train at an iron ore mine her palms and exclaims, “Why many of us, he sat transfixed in pull of LA or New York, preferring to write and film includes precise numerical information about front of his television in Wellington as the what he knows. is this happening?” To her, this its length, horsepower, fuel requirements, southern city was brought to its knees, and His first film,S hotgun Stories (2007), carrying capacity and length of journey. It is is men’s bullshit gone too far.’ within weeks of the second earthquake he felt is the tale of three Arkansas brothers. They’re clear he has inherited his love of big machinery compelled to visit in person. But the most meanly named Son, Boy and Kid by a drunk from his father, an engineer who once took the dad who leaves them before going clean and powerful outcome of his visit is not some idea A word must be said about Michael family to a copper mine as a holiday activity. Christian and starting a new family in the same that might become a future fiction of his, but Shannon. Nichols’ movies are about character Knox writes that ‘the majesty of the physical small town, begetting four more sons but this rather an unsettling of what he terms ‘the first, plot second, and he often writes for specific operation has an opiate effect’ but warns that time with names like Steve and Mark. At this sediment within him’. Events from Jones’s past, actors – McConaughey included, but primarily complicated historical values are being used man’s funeral the half-brothers finally blow up at and scraps of his family history, suddenly start Shannon. The actor seems to be a kind of muse ‘as a weapon against dissent’. each other after years of building animosity, and to enter his consciousness through previously to Nichols; I would even go further and say he Critically acclaimed for his fiction, spend the rest of the film trying to both kill each unknown fissures. Had the rather grim, joyless is the magic in the alchemy of these films, so Knox demonstrates a skilful ability in Boom other and find peace – often simultaneously. Son, suburban existence of his childhood simply innately right are his portrayals. Mud suffers for to weave together detail, history and narrative, another role played by Shannon, is also trying belied an unacknowledged past? Jones is his diminished role. upholding his reputation as a masterful to save his marriage. At one point during the jolted into an awareness of the psychic disaster The character of the South itself also storyteller. chaos, his wife looks dumbfounded at nothing in his family environment had been, and the deserves a mention, with an abundance of particular, raises her palms and exclaims, ‘Why Kara Nicholson is from Readings Carlton physical devastation of Christchurch mirrors locked-off shots of cotton fields, endless skies, is this happening?’ To her, this is men’s bullshit this. He becomes determined to uncover the and broad, brown rivers. These landscapes say gone too far. On Offence: facts of the matter. more about their occupants than words can The women of Nichols’ films are The revelations he makes – which devise, and indeed Nichols’ dialogue is sparse. the politics of often at odds with the men, as they watch them emerge from both a journey to Wales and It’s here that the director is often compared with indignation atrophying and are forced to pick up the slack. searches of local public records – are Terrence Malick, with their mutual obsession In Take Shelter, my favourite of the three, Curtis Richard King extraordinary, and allow Jones, his world now with nature, but he refutes it politely. Where appeals to his exasperated wife, Samantha Scribe. PB. $27.95 suddenly rent, to finally peer in and start to Malick is an Impressionist, he says, he is a understand the emotional stunting of his parents. (Jessica Chastain), ‘It’s hard to explain because Everyone has taken and given classic linear storyteller. And where Malick uses A History of Silence quickly establishes it’s not just a dream, it’s a feeling.’ Intuition, the offence; anyone who claims an overture of voiceovers in his more recent itself as a captivating memoir. That is not to say traditional realm of the female, has no place they haven’t is either lying or films, Nichols relies on the mumbled eloquence there aren’t moments when Jones’s thought here. In this part of the world it’s meant to be uniquely tolerant. On Offence of country men. processes are a tad confusing, or the narrative the Dorothys who are at risk of supernatural highlights how offence is now Jeff Nichols shows us this world rambles in myriad directions, but this is, after tornados, not the Curtises. a form of political currency: without the least bit of affectation – an all, an account of what he brands a ‘personal The deaf sign for father, we learn politicians and religious honourable quality in an industry that feels the earthquake’. It is a record of the uplift of all in Curtis’s daughter’s class, is a hand held leaders have mastered the art of indignation to need to make The Great Gatsby 3D. ‘You can use manner of recollection, some of it inchoate; adjacently to the forehead, fingers outstretched, motivate their supporters or deflect unwanted my VCR if you bring round some Doritos,’ says other parts are a veritable ‘personal catalogue of like the gesture you might use for the crest of attention, and the news cycle has become Son to his brother. And that really is all that needs horror’, with an understandable accompanying a rooster but against the brow. The silliness of increasingly dominated by reports on these to be said. sense of vertigo. the sign and its undermining of the paternal tiny tempests. The book ends with the silence at office cause a ripple of snickers as the children Richard King explores how the politics Alice Gage is an editor, writer and producer last dispelled. Jones has written a brave and and parents practise it together. And we see of offence is poisoning public debate, and with based in Melbourne. She is the founding remarkable tribute to his forbears. Curtis’s dignity assailed and restored, again hurt feelings being paraded like union banners, editor of Ampersand Magazine: and again, as he does his best to ‘take care www.ampersandmagazine.com.au. we’ve ushered in a new mood of censoriousness, Martin Shaw is Readings’ Books of his affairs’. At worst, he wets the bed. At self-pity and self-righteousness. Politeness is a Division manager Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013 13

Love & Terror on the the publication of his first major work. While despite flagging British sentiment towards the Times non-fiction bestseller list. With the pulse of a he discusses at length the inspirations and influx of Jewish refugees. fast-paced novel, Zealot balances the Jesus of the Howling Plains of revelations that led to The Selfish Gene, anyone Rudolf Höss was a soldier in the Gospels against historical sources to create a Nowhere who is eager to learn what encouraged other German Army in World War I: at only 14 years thought-provoking biography and portrait of a Poe Ballantine works, such as The God Delusion, will have to old he found safety in exactingly obeying orders complex figure. Transit Lounge. PB. $29.95 settle for the odd allusion scattered throughout and putting to one side his reservations, fears this book, at least until volume two of Dawkins’ and feelings in general. These formative years Review: Poe Ballantine’s memoir is released. were devoted to pledges of loyalty and, of most new memoir is a fascinating Politics An Appetite for Wonder is eminently significance, ignoring his human sentiments in book on many levels. At its bare readable, insightful and at times surprisingly the face of what ordinary people would consider bones it is a story about failure candid. It is the product of a unique imagination, inhuman brutality. The Auschwitz Kommandant, War from the Ground – personal and professional one that has given so much to the science whoever he was going to be, had to have Up: twenty-first – and the myriad ways people of evolutionary biology – much like Dawkins’ the psychological prejudices and qualities of adapt to this very human century combat as scientific hero, Charles Darwin, before him. someone just like Höss. condition. Ballantine’s marriage to a beautiful politics Harding is fairly forgiving when it Mexican woman is fraught with Dexter Gillman is a freelance reviewer Emile Simpson comes to reading Höss’s memoirs, which miscommunication and attendant conflicts. Scribe. PB. $29.95 to my mind disclose very little in the way of Their delightfully curious son is allegedly autistic, A Spy in the Archives repentance or reflection. Likewise, he makes As a British infantry officer in the money is in seriously short supply, and the Sheila Fitzpatrick no comment on Alexander’s questionable Royal Gurkha Rifles, Emile author is struggling with a new book he does not MUP. PB. $32.99 interrogation tactics in tracking down Höss. Simpson completed three tours quite believe in. The setting is Chadron, a small But the material is there for readers to assess of southern Afghanistan. town on the High Plains of Nebraska, a spectral Review: A Spy in the for themselves. For me, Hanns and Rudolf was Drawing on that experience, landscape hewn by brutal winters and summer Archives, which began life as an an alarming reminder that personal histories and on a range of revealing wildfires. It’s a place where everyone knows essay in the London Review of and motivations play an enormous role in often case studies ranging from everyone, somewhere people go to disappear Books in 2010, is a memoir rich devastating historical outcomes. Nepal to Borneo, War from the Ground Up offers – and sometimes disappear from. in history as much as detail. a distinctive perspective on contemporary So when a local physics professor Reading this book made me Andrew Carter is from Readings Carlton armed conflict. goes missing, conventional wisdom has the realise my own knowledge of slightly odd academic simply going off the grid. Soviet history, particularly concerning the fate of Zibaldone: The The professor turns up 95 days later, bound the arts under Stalin, is woefully inadequate and Notebooks of Leopardi to a tree and burnt beyond recognition, and general. There were several points where I Travel Writing Ballantine finds the book he is searching for. stopped reading and turned to Google for Giacomo Leopardi As America’s media find sudden delight in background on some of the people and Penguin. HB. $75 Changing Gears: a nowhere Nebraska, Ballantine becomes the episodes Fitzpatrick writes about. Giacomo Leopardi is pedal-powered detour natural repository for a story in which no one is This book explores Australian-born recognised by readers from spared – police, friends, colleagues, psychics, historian Sheila Fitzpatrick’s experience in from the rat race Nietzsche to Beckett as one of Greg Foyster ghost-hunters – not least the author, whose Soviet Russia in the late 1960s. She was there the towering literary figures in Affirm Press. PB. $24.95 lowly economic status is so irreconcilable with undertaking research for her doctoral thesis Italian history. For most of his his wife’s expectations of life in America that on Anatoly Lunacharsky, the journalist and writing career, he kept an Review: Greg Foyster had a his work as a writer stands as no more than the critic who was appointed as the People’s immense notebook known as high-flying job in advertising feckless trifling of an inveterate layabout. Commissar of Enlightenment – essentially the Zibaldone, or ‘hodgepodge’, as Harold Bloom and a steady income, worked in This is a wonderful book: funny, the minister responsible for the Arts and has called it, in which he put down his original, a fancy office and lived in a nice evocative, with absorbing quotidian details Education in the first Soviet government after wide-ranging, radically modern responses to his house. Then one day he and wry asides on the nature of existence. It is the 1917 October revolution. Later disgraced reading. Having never been fully translated into realised none of that was not a book full of answers, rather it asks and by Stalin in the late 1920s, Lunacharsky was English until now, this book, stretching to more making him happy. He quit his ponders the most fundamental of questions: associated with the founding of the Bolshoi than 2000 pages, is recognised as one of the job and began working as a journalist, writing What the hell are we doing? Poe Ballantine is and was supportive of artists and writers foundational books of modern culture. mainly about sustainability and social issues. not presently well known in Australia, but with including Malevich and Mayakovsky. The more he wrote, the more interested he Love & Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere, A real strength of Fitzpatrick’s Salinger became in sustainable living and an alternate I have no doubt that will change. book, extensively researched using diaries David Shields & Shane Salerno lifestyle that could articulate his beliefs. So Greg, and correspondence to and from her mother along with his partner, Sophie, embarked on a Robbie Egan is from Readings Carlton S&S. PB. $32.99 and a myriad of others, is its reflexiveness. journey, travelling in the most environmental way Fitzpatrick not only revisits the social and cultural For more than 50 years, J.D. An Appetite For they could: by bike. landscape of the time (and writes much about Salinger, the ever elusive author Their trip spanned 6500 kilometres Wonder Lunacharsky’s legacy and familial connections of The Catcher in the Rye, has up the east coast of Australia, beginning in Richard Dawkins to Novy Mir, a dissident literary magazine) but remained an enigma. This Melbourne, down around Tasmania and then all Bantam. PB. Was $34.95 also places her 25-year-old self under the lens, project, an oral biography, is the way up to Cairns. The idea was to stop as they examining her own attitudes and thoughts of Special price $29.95 based on eight years of travelled and meet like-minded people, learning the time. As a student of Oxford University in exhaustive research and new options to make the way they lived more Review: Richard Dawkins is the heady days of espionage and defection, interviews, illuminating a period of Salinger’s life sustainable. perhaps one of the foremost Fitzpatrick’s wariness worked in her favour, but that until now had remained dark to biographers. Using the theory that people are contributors to the expansion of that didn’t stop a high-profile Russian newspaper generally happier when consuming less, the scientific knowledge and ideas in branding her as a British spy. After finishing this, Damned If I Do couple’s journey brings to light myriad ways our time, making his memoir I think of it less as biography and more as a work to be more sustainable in daily life. Of course, greatly anticipated. Philip Nitschke with Peter Corris of highly-readable phenomenology. they find some extreme cases – for example, a An Appetite for Wonder MUP. PB. $29.99 Julia Jackson is from Readings Carlton family that produces absolutely everything they details Dawkins’ life from his birth in the British This is the story of the man use on their farm, right down to their own soap. colony of Kenya to the publication of his first behind the controversial Or a community that trades with services – like work, The Selfish Gene. In between we follow the Hanns and Rudolf pro-euthanasia movement, Philip manual labour – instead of cash. But there are journey of a young Dawkins, from his upbringing Nitschke. Covering the Thomas Harding also smaller-scale actions, like attending clothes in Nyasaland and British boarding schools to the controversy surrounding his life William Heinemann. PB. $34.95 swaps and buying local produce. Greg looks at prestigious Balliol College at Oxford University. work, including the banning in Review: Thomas Harding’s every situation logically, weighing up the pros Rich with anecdotes from childhood, Australia of his international Hanns and Rudolf tells the story and cons and why each way of living may or adolescence and young adulthood, this memoir bestselling book The Peaceful Pill Handbook, this of Hanns Alexander, a German- may not be suitable for a particular lifestyle. is fast moving and often thorough. Balancing book presents Nitschke’s ultimate belief that the Jewish refugee who became one Narrating their journey in a lighthearted way, the cultivation of Dawkins’ scientific intellect by right to control one’s own death is as fundamental of the first Nazi hunters after the the reams of information Greg relays are nicely those who challenged and inspired him with the as the right to control one’s own life. war. Alexander’s biggest scalp, balanced by the eccentric characters the couple more trivial tales of his early life, the result is a Rudolf Höss, Kommandant of meet. The pair’s relationship is also a source of fascinating insight into the factors that contributed Auschwitz, was tried, found guilty and hanged in Zealot entertainment: Sophie is logical and quite good at to both Dawkins’ character and his science. Poland in 1947. Reza Aslan camping, while Greg is consistent at being a klutz. For the benefit of those who are not Alexander’s father, Alfred, a recipient Greg presents an informative biologists themselves, Dawkins describes his A&U. PB. $24.99 of the Iron Cross (first class), was adamant that text that’s an accessible read – the stories research into animal behaviour without delving Scholar and writer Reza Aslan's the camaraderie of German veterans, Jew and throughout the journey are inspiring, and never too deeply into complex analysis and scientific interview with Lauren Green on Gentile, would surpass the Nazis. He was wrong overwhelming for those who are perhaps not jargon. Instead, he offers a comprehensive and Fox News went viral around the and his family very nearly ran out of time to so well versed in all things sustainable and just often conversational recollection of his work. world, and within days of get out of Germany. On relocation to England, wish to live more simply. I was disappointed that Dawkins publication, Zealot had reached Alexander and his brother enlisted to fight for chose to close this memoir having only reached number one on the New York Ella Mittas is a freelance reviewer Britain out of a mixture of gratitude and duty and 14 Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013

Meet Popular Science Art & Design Food & Gardening with Kate O’Mara from with Margaret Snowdon from with Christine Gordon from the Readings at the Brain Centre Readings Carlton Readings Carlton Bookseller OIL AND HONEY: THE Nature Morte The Blue Ducks EDUCATION OF AN Michael Petry Darren Roberston and Mark LaBrooy Deborah Crabtree T&H. HB. $70 Plum. PB. $39.99 Readings Carlton UNLIKELY ACTIVIST Bill McKibben This visually stunning and This is a beautifully produced Black Inc. PB. $24.99 timely book reveals how book, singing with all the good leading artists of the life possibilities. Professional Why do you work in books? Bill McKibben is not a person twenty-first century are chefs and all-round good blokes you’d expect to find handcuffed I’m told I’m a machine when it comes to reinvigorating the still life, a Darren and Mark tell the story in the city jail, but that’s where he reading: working in books allows me to feed genre previously about how they, as small- spent three days in the summer the machine. Books are my addiction, and synonymous with the business owners, became involved in of 2011 after leading the largest while I’d ideally love to be spending my days sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Old sustainability, community and creating a work/life civil disobedience in 30 years to writing and reading books, bookselling keeps Masters. This exciting revamp celebrates balance. From their Bronte-based café, Three Blue protest the Keystone XL pipeline. me plugged into the literary world and allows works by both emerging and established Ducks, the pair, with the help of their mates and A few months later, President Obama agreed to me to talk about books ad infinitum. artists from all over the globe, including John family, create delicious and easy food. All of the put the project on hold but McKibben realised that Currin, Elmgreen & Dragset, Renata Hegyi, recipes, including things like pork ribs, jams and Which book would you happily spend a this small and temporary victory was at best a Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Jeff Koons, orange pancakes, are simple, fresh and suitable weekend indoors with? stepping stone – the need for much deeper Beatriz Milhazes, Gabriel Orozco, Elizabeth for both family time and impressive times. solutions was obvious. Some of those would Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, Anna Peyton, Marc Quinn and Ai Weiwei. Karenina, Nights at the Circus, Middlesex, Just come at the local level, and McKibben recounts a Kids, The Road, A Visit from the Goon Squad … year he spends in the company of a beekeeper Salt Grill should I stop now? raising his hives. Oil and Honey is the account of Derek Jarman’s Luke Mangan these two necessary and mutually reinforcing Sketchbooks Murdoch. HB. Was $59.95 Your job entails recommending good sides of the global climate fight. Stephen Farthing Special price $49.95 reads: how do you balance personal T&H. HB. $55 Luke Mangan is one of taste with customer nous? THE SECRET WORLD There are few more Australia’s celebrity chefs, and I try to make suggestions based on OF SLEEP complete examples of an also one of those busy people customers’ tastes but if I’m really passionate Penelope A. Lewis artist’s record of their own who manage restaurants, do about a book I’ve just read I’ll want to share television appearances, write Palgrave. HB. $39.95 life than the intimately that with everyone. I’ve bought books based detailed and beautifully best-selling cookbooks, and on others’ enthusiasms, and even if I haven’t In recent years neuroscientists produced handmade books have their own produce range. felt the same as they have I’ve never regretted have uncovered the countless that Derek Jarman created I’m not sure how he finds the time to eat, let alone reading a book. ways our brain trips us up in thoughout his career. create such an interesting collection of recipes. day-to-day life, from its Given to the British Film Institute shortly The book is billed as one for the whole family, How would you describe your own taste propensity toward irrational before his death, they reveal the story of how and certainly the orange lamingtons will be a in books? thought to how our intuitions he gathered, shaped and made concrete his clear favourite, as will the lobster thermidor … Eclectic, but with a lean towards the gothic, deceive us. Today scientists are ideas. Containing poetry, drawings, pressed This is a book for all the home chefs who poetic and strange. discovering how the busy brain radically improves flowers, photographs, scripts and notes, dream large. Go forth! our minds through sleep and dreams. In The the sketchbooks are part autobiography Name a book that has changed the way Secret World of Sleep, neuroscientist Penelope and part social history, bursting with the you think, in ways small or large. A. Lewis explores the latest research into the Hamburger Gourmet creativity not only of this groundbreaking David Japy, Élodie Rambaud & I don’t know if it changed the way I think, night-time brain to understand the real benefits of filmmaker and artist but also of London in but Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami sleep. She shows how, while our body rests, the Victor Garnier the 1970s and ’80s. certainly messed with my head. It entered my brain practises tasks it learned during the day, Murdoch. HB. $35 replays traumatic events to mollify them, and dreams and tugged at my subconscious in a So Australia is not the only forges connections between distant concepts. very David Lynch-like manner. I’m not exactly The Age of Collage: country that has gone crazy for sure how, but I love that it did. It still haunts Contemporary Collage the slider or, the bigger version, me years later. That’s not happened since FREUD ON THE COUCH in Modern Art the burger: so, it seems, has Alice in Wonderland turned me inside-out as Beverley Clack Dennis Busch, Robert Klanten & Paris. Here, recipes are taken a kid. Oneworld. PB. $29.95 Hendrik Hellige from the authors’ chain of chic burger bars, Blend, located in Almost 75 years since his death, Die Gestalten Verlag. HB. $87.95 What’s something new you’ve said city. There are recipes for your basic burger, Freud remains as influential and observed in bookselling? A striking documentation your basic bun, your basic sauce and your divisive as ever. This major new I started in bookselling before computers and of today’s continued American-inspired desserts (whoopee cakes), but introduction asserts that clichés book databases were around, so a lot has appetite for destructive also some surprise twists and turns. Duck burgers, and misconceptions surround his changed since then. Customers are more clued construction, this book quinoa burgers and seafood-inspired burgers are reception. Author Beverley Clack in to authors, publishing and literature news showcases outstanding all here. I’d be giving this book to any Melbourne- argues that Freud was as these days, although I have noticed a growing current artwork and artists. loving foodie because we are, after all, more concerned with ‘the death drive’ as the ‘sex drive’ trend of people wanting Kindle assistance! It takes an insightful, fashionable than the French. and that his fierce critique of religion masked a behind-the-scenes look at fascination with spiritual, existential and What’s the best book you’ve read lately those working with this interdisciplinary and Save with Jamie: Shop and why? philosophical questions. Exploring how cross-media approach: illustration, painting, philosophers like Schopenhauer and Nietzsche smart, cook clever, I’ve been researching historical-based fiction photography, abstraction, constructivism, influenced his thought, Clack updates all of lately and, despite the hype, Burial Rites by surrealism, dada, scientific images and pop waste less Freud’s key ideas and case studies and highlights Hannah Kent deserves a mention. It’s such culture – a reflection of humanity’s collective Jamie Oliver why his work remains relevant. a grim gift of a story for a novelist to uncover, visual memory and context. Michael Joseph. HB. Was $49.99 and Kent’s ten-year obsession with Agnes Special price $39.95 and Iceland has resulted in a deftly poetic, MISSING OUT: IN PRAISE El Croquis N. 167: Look, anyone who can actually claustrophobic yet absorbing tale. While OF THE UNLIVED LIFE Smiljan Radic make McDonald’s change their historical fiction is not for everyone, I’m Adam Phillips PB. $110 burger recipe is a hero. Of intrigued with how the novelist straddles Penguin. PB. $22.99 course, Mr Oliver is a champion the line between history and fiction to tell Chilean architect Smiljan We all have two lives – the life for many other reasons as well. a story. Radic is the focus of this What is there not to like about we live and the life of our issue, which reports on the this extraordinary chef? His new fantasies. But it is the life last ten years of his work and Who has the best book cover? book is designed to make eating on the cheap a unlived – the person we have includes a special interview I was drawn to Evie Wyld’s All the Birds, pleasure for everyone, and as Jamie says: ‘This failed to be – that can trouble by Enrique Walker, plus an Singing, solely because of the classy year, I’ve got the message loud and clear that as and even haunt us. In Missing analysis by Alejandro G. hardcover design. The new street-art everyone comes under bigger and bigger financial Out, acclaimed psychoanalyst Crispiani. A diverse selection re-jacketed And the Ass Saw the Angel by Nick pressure, they want help to cook tasty, nutritious Adam Phillips delves into the gap between who of more than 20 notable projects is covered in Cave is pleasingly grotesque and gorgeous – food on a budget.’ Expect all the usual grilled we are and who we are not, to discover detail, among them the Copper House, Mestizo I’m tempted to buy it again just to have a copy meats and delicious easy recipes – he is, after all, whether not getting what we want may be the Restaurant and Chilean House 1 & 2. with that cover on my shelf. unlikely key to the fully lived life. one of the few chefs deserving of the hype. Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013 15

The Iliad: A New skill as a writer. Her sharp and funny stories with sacred grounds, from the prehistoric befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow explore the last half of the twentieth century with megaliths of Carnac in Brittany to the Shrine into young men skilled in the arts of war and Translation tales of marriage and female friendships, the of Imam Reza in Mashhad, Iran, to the giant medicine, their bond deepens. But when Achilles Homer (translated by tourist abroad and love affairs with houses, peace medicine wheel at Big Horn, Wyoming. must go to war in distant Troy, Patroclus goes Stephen Mitchell) demonstrations and G&Ts. with him, little knowing that the years to follow HB. Was $59.99 The Secret will test everything they hold dear. NOW $16.95 The Tao of History Of Mi6 The thrilling ancient saga now bursts vividly Travel Keith Jeffery The Enchanted into new life with Stephen Mitchell’s soaring Paul Theroux HB. Was $58 World of use of language. His translation of The Illiad HB. Was $39.95 magically recreates the energy and simplicity, NOW $16.95 Winnie-the- the speed, grace and pulsing rhythm of NOW $15.95 Britain’s Secret Intelligence Pooh Homer’s original poetry. The Tao of Travel brings Service was born a century ago amid fears of the A. A. Milne & E.H. together a collection of writings from Paul rising power of other countries and, over the next Shepard (illus.) Theroux’s fifty years of travel, alongside 40 years, would have an increasingly important To End All HB. Was $29.95 selections from other writerly travellers role in shaping the world’s history. This revelatory NOW $17.95 Wars including Charles Dickens, Eudora Welty, account draws on a wealth of archival materials This collection of Winnie-the-Pooh tales Adam Hochschild Anton Chekhov, Ernest Hemingway, Samuel never before seen by any outsider. bursts at the seams with playful surprises and HB. Was $47.95 Johnson, Paul Bowles and more. interactive features including an exquisite full- NOW $16.95 Help! For colour map of Christopher Robin’s Hundred World War I is one of our most The Artist of Writers: 210 Acre Wood with hide-and-seek flaps. Here is senseless spasms of carnage in recorded history Disappearance a deluxe and padded treasury that will delight and here, Adam Hochschild focuses on the conflict Solutions to Anita Desai both established fans and new readers of the between the critics and the supporters of the the Problems HB. Was $38.95 enchanted world of Pooh. war with a riveting, suspenseful narrative that is Every Writer hauntingly reminiscent of our own time. NOW $14.95 Faces Set in India The Times Roy Peter Clark Wool in the not-too-distant Complete past, this collection HB. Was $37.95 History of the Hugh Howey of three beautifully NOW $15.95 PB. Was $29.95 crafted novellas is In his trademark World NOW $13 quietly devastating. Readings engaging and Richard Overy Hugh Howey’s tightly wound Throughout the entertaining style, Roy HB. Was $185 prose and knack for fast-paced stories, award- Peter Clark presents NOW $59.95 plotting ensure a tense, exhilarating reading Bargain winning author Anita an ‘owner’s manual’ Here is the most comprehensive, authoritative experience with Wool, the first in a new series of Desai ruminates for writers, outlining and accessible work on world history science-fiction novellas. Film rights to the story on art and memory, the seven steps of available today. From cavemen to the Cold have already been sold with director Ridley illusion and disillusion, Table the writing process. War, from Alexander the Great to global Scott and Steve Zaillian expressing interest in recreating the dramas Clark addresses what he warming, from warfare through the ages to the adaptation. of everyday life that expose considers the 21 most urgent the great voyages of exploration, The Times ways in which Indian culture can problems that writers face and Complete History of the World is an excellent Florence nourish or suffocate individuals. offers ten short solutions to each problem. resource for all ages. Broadhurst: Her Secret & Zombie Rome Tales Feasting Extraordinary Economics: How Helen Constantine Karen Martini Lives Dead Ideas Still (ed.) (translated by HB. Was $59.95 Hugh Shankland) NOW $19.95 Helen O’Neill Walk among Us PB. Was $27.95 Inspiring and instructive, HB. Was $39.95 John Quiggin NOW $12.95 Feasting reminds us that NOW $16.95 HB. Was $39.95 Rome Tales invites readers to discover and cooking is not just about preparing good food, Helen O’Neill explores the life and work of NOW $16.95 explore one of the world’s most unique but also about celebrating connections with legendary Australian designer Florence In the graveyard of economic ideology, dead cities through a series of fascinating lenses. family and friends. In these pages, TV Chef Karen Broadhurst – her ever-changing persona of starlet, ideas still thrive and even while the recent Comprising a vivid mosaic of the comic and Martini guides cooks of all abilities to design meal couturier, painter; her unsolved murder. The book financial crisis laid bare many of the assumptions tragic, these are 20 tales by Italian authors plans for any gathering, whatever the size. includes stunning full-page prints of Broadhurst’s behind market liberalism, their advocates ranging from Boccaccio who lived in the Middle fabric and wallpaper designs together with continue to dominate mainstream economics. Ages, to contemporary new writers such as The Secrets photographs of exclusive interiors from around the John Quiggin investigates how these dead ideas Melania Mazzucco and Igiaba Scego. world inspired by her patterns. still walk among us, and why we must find a way of Paris to kill them once and for all if we are to avoid an Michael Kerrigan Through the even bigger financial crisis in the future. Monty Python’s HB. Was $29.95 Language Flying Circus: NOW $19.95 The Social Complete and In The Secrets of Paris, Michael Kerrigan Glass reveals the quirks and peculiarities of the Guy Deutscher Animal Annotated … David Brooks City of Light. With stunning photography and HB. Was $39.95 All The Bits fascinating insights into Paris’ rich history and HB. Was $39.95 NOW $16.95 Luke Dempsey contemporary life, this book is perfect for the NOW $16.95 With a daring and evident delight, Israeli linguist HB. Was $65 armchair traveller, transporting them from the Drawing on a wealth of current Guy Deutscher presents Through the Language NOW $29.95 Louvre and Champs-Élysées, via Les Halles, Le research from numerous disciplines, David Brooks Glass: Why the World Looks Different in Other Every single script and episode of the innovative Marais and Bastille, to Montmartre and beyond. Languages, an exciting piece of linguistics illustrates a fundamental new understanding of and absurd Monty Python’s Flying Circus is scholarship that confronts the thorny question human nature by putting forth the argument that included here, plus hundreds of annotations, the unconscious mind is not a dark, vestigial Zero Degrees of how culture shapes language and language behind-the-scenes stories, interviews, and more, of Empathy shapes culture. place, but a creative one, where most of the as well as photographs, drawings and Terry brain’s work gets done. Following the stories of Gilliam’s iconic artwork. A must-have for any fan! Simon Baron-Cohen A Day in the Harold and Erica from infancy to old age, The HB. Was $39.95 Social Animal is a moving intellectual adventure. Life of a the song of NOW $16.95 achilles Simon Baron-Cohen takes a Smiling Woman 100 Journeys fascinating look at what makes a person ‘bad’ Margaret Drabble For The Spirit Madeline Miller and, in doing so, proposes a radical shift, HB. Was $49.99 HB. Was $39.95 Foreword by Pico Iyer turning the focus away from evil and on to NOW $13.95 NOW $14.95 what he argues is the central factor: empathy. HB. Was $49.95 This collection of 14 stories spans four decades Greece in the age of heroes. Full of original research, Zero Degrees of NOW $19.95 of Margaret Drabble’s career, from 1966 to 2000, Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been Empathy challenges all of us to consider The writings collected in Journeys for the Spirit displaying a panorama shot of her remarkable exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect replacing the idea of evil with the idea of explore and unpack the mysticism associated son Achilles. Despite their differences, Achilles empathy-erosion.

New books are regularly added to our website – visit the bargains page at www.readings.com.au for more. 16 Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013

Middle Fiction Book of the Month The Last Thirteen: 13 The Boy on the Wooden Box Book 1 Leon Leyson with Marilyn J. Harran & Elisabeth B. Leyson James Phelan S&S. HB. $19.99 Scholastic. PB. Was $10

Review: Only occasionally does a book come along that I can recommend to everyone I Special price $7.50 meet. This is one of those books. Possibly one of the last Holocaust memoirs to be published, it Thirteen books. 13 nightmares. was written by the youngest person on Oskar Schindler’s famous list. Leon was only nine years old One destiny. Kidnapped from in 1939 when the Nazis invaded Poland. His family endured numerous hardships, including forced school and discovering that his removal from their home and near starvation, before a chance errand led his father to a job in parents aren't who he thinks Schindler’s factory. Although Leon was initially terrified of Schindler, the man gave jobs to the whole they are, Sam is running from family (Leon was so small he had to stand on a wooden box to perform his work), rescuing them from experience but when her great, great Aunt danger at every turn. His certain death in concentration camps. Rose comes to visit she is inspired to create a salvation tied to an ancient machine for her to fly in. Does it work? Briefly! prophecy, Sam battles to save the world from Written from the perspective of Leon as a child, the story perfectly captures the innocence Horrified when it crashes, Rosie wants to give an enemy hell-bent on annihilation. He alone of this small boy and his terrible circumstances with simple, heartfelt prose. But this is not up, but G. G. Aunt Rose tells her: ‘Life might just a children’s book. Like The Diary of Anne Frank, it is a profound story suitable for a can find the last 13. have its failures, but this was not it. The only family or students to read and discuss together. It is an important memoir that is both true failure can come if you quit.’ Then Rosie is heartbreaking and inspiring, one I feel certain you will never forget. handed a history book about women who were Jodie: The Book of You Angela Crocombe is from involved in aeronautics and their successful Book 1 Readings St Kilda endeavors. Rosie tries again! Randa Abdel-Fattah This is a charming book. The Scholastic. PB. $16.99 rhyme is fun, the illustrations are quirky and Three best friends find a sometimes dolls can be part of a marvellous mysterious book in the school invention. Dream on, girls! AD library – it writes itself, just for Starting School them. Jodie’s life is difficult – Picture Books her father is in a new New Jane Godwin & Anna Walker (illus.) relationship and she’s trying to The Dance Teacher Viking. HB. $24.99 get used to having a step-sister – and the advice the book is giving her is so Review: Jane Godwin Simon Milne & Chantal Stewart confusing. Who is the ghostly writer? (illus.) and Anna Walker have formed a very successful A&U. HB. $24.99 Kids’ partnership with their two Review: This picture previous picture books, book provides a refreshing All Through the Year and angle on little girls’ love for Today We Have No Plans. Their new book looks Classic of the ballet by celebrating the at five children starting school. As relationship between a they prepare for their first day we see these Month young dancer and her teacher. When Isabelle Books five very different personalities excited and arrives at Miss Sylvie’s dance studio eager to apprehensive. The big day arrives and five Mrs Frisby and the become a ballerina, she is told she must be I Got This Hat become 21 plus Miss Quick their teacher – so Rats of Nimh prepared to work hard. And she does. As the Jol Temple, Kate Temple & Jon much to discover, so many people to get to Robert C. O’Brien other young dancers switch to hip hop or drop know. The book shows the stages in the school Foye (illus.) Puffin. PB. $16.99 out altogether, Isabelle continues to practise, day and the myriad things that the young HarperCollins. HB. $24.99 Review: Mrs Frisby is forgoing many treats for ballet. Miss Sylvie is students will more than likely experience. It a recently widowed field incredibly proud when, after years of hard work, Review: It all seems also empathises with the strengths and mouse, whose son, Isabelle finally becomes a prima ballerina. After pretty simple – a picture book vulnerabilities of young children making their Timothy, has caught touring the world, Isabelle returns to Miss about hats – and as we know, way in a new and unfamiliar environment. With pneumonia. Spring is Sylvie’s dance studio to take on the role hats are fun but then again their trademark sensitivity and real approaching and soon of teacher – ‘the best job in the world’. This they can be serious. So the understanding of the business of childhood, the plough will destroy is a realistic and delightful story for writers and illustrator are Godwin and Walker have created a charming their home. But Timothy budding ballerinas. sneakily pretending their simple book is just work of text and pictures that fit together like a is much too sick to leave. about different hats and headwear. We weren’t hand in a glove. Highly recommended for Angela Crocombe is from Readings To save him, the Frisbys’ fooled! There are hats, but really it’s about ages 3 and up. AD St Kilda cement-block home must countries and different jobs people do. The Join us for the launch of Starting School! be moved to a safer location. headwear model teasingly never reveals his full Free, no booking required. Mrs Frisby enlists the help of the Electrical Wizard: How face until the end, then just mysteriously pokes Sunday 15 September, 3pm local rats. These are sophisticated rats – they Nikola Tesla Lit Up the his head up from the bottom of the page while Readings Hawthorn can read, write and use electricity, all because on the opposite side the big, bold red type World 701 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn, 3122. of their mysterious past in a place called NIMH. shouts out the title: ‘I Got This Hat…’ Elizabeth Rusch & Oliver In her quest to save her son, Mrs This is a delightfully unpretentious Dominguez (illus.) Frisby seeks counsel from a wise old owl and picture book for young children, and there Candlewick. HB. $27.95 escapes the clutches of the farmer’s nasty will be lots of loud joining in as you read this Junior Fiction cat, Dragon. It’s a thrilling tale, gorgeously Review: Successfully together. For ages 2 and up. told. Mrs Frisby’s experiences force us to distilling an incredible life’s Accidental Alexa Dretzke is from Readings Hawthorn see the importance of not judging based on work into an informative and Adventurer: Ava Anne stereotypes: she may only be a small mouse inspiring picture book is no Appleton Book 1 but she proves to be incredibly brave, and mean feat. Yet this biography Rosie Revere, Engineer Wendy Harmer & Andrea Edmonds instead of disease-spreading scavengers, of revolutionary thinker and Andrea Beaty & David Roberts here the rats are thoughtful and proud. inventor Nikola Tesla does just that. We learn that (illus.) (illus.) I first read Robert C. O’Brien’s book as a boy Tesla was entranced by the awesome Scholastic. PB. $9.99 T&H. HB. $19.95 because I loved the film version. The movie power of nature and dreamt of harnessing it to Everything is A-OK in the world Review: From the team is great fun, but instead of relying solely on build a better world: in pursuit of his dreams he of Ava Anne Appleton. She lives that created the wonderful science, the rats are given magical powers. transformed the twentieth century. with her parents and her dog Iggy Peck, Architect comes The book is far more powerful for keeping Electical Wizard is a book to excite Angus at number 3a Australia another gem. Rosie dreams their story grounded in its own reality. inquiring minds with an inspiring message – that Avenue and life is perfectly of being an engineer. She what we dream today may power the world orderly – just how she likes it. But tinkers away with the bits and Daniella Robertson is from tomorrow. Highly recommended for ages 8 years meeting the wild and zippy pieces she has collected, Readings Malvern and up. Zander and a grand adventure change Ava’s mind inventing machines and gadgets. Sadly she about how life should be. Athina Clarke is from Readings Malvern hides her creations after a humiliating Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013 17

Inspector Alec Hardy (David Tennant), Ellie’s THE HUNT WONDERS OF LIFE newly appointed boss. By circumstance $29.95 $29.95 they are partnered to solve the murder NewDVDs Released 4 September Released 4 September with Lou Fulco and keep the newspapers from derailing the investigation. This first series achieved The Hunt is a powerful and This definitive series reveals overwhelming ratings for ITV, winning critical disturbing depiction of how how, 3.7 billion years ago, a acclaim and generating huge publicity around quickly a lie can become the few fundamental laws gave DVD the ‘whodunnit’ mystery. truth when gossip, doubt and birth to the most complex, malice are allowed to flourish. diverse and unique force in the KON-TIKI Following a tough divorce, universe – life. Light, gravity, of 40-year-old Lucas (Mads time, matter and energy are the $39.95 Mikkelsen) is starting to pull his life back building blocks of everything, from the smallest the On 28 April 1947, Thor together again. He has a new girlfriend and a microbe to the biggest galaxy. Today, there are Heyerdahl leaves his wife and new job, and he is in the process of thought to be as many as 100 million different month children behind to cross the re-establishing his relationship with his teenage species on Earth. Be astonished Pacific Ocean on a balsa wood son, Marcus. However, one passing remark by the inventiveness of nature, and discover raft called ‘Kon-Tiki’ with five threatens Lucas’s newfound stability when one the epic journey from the origin of life to our TOP OF THE LAKE inexperienced crew members. of the children he looks after at the nursery own existence. $39.95 The Norwegian anthropologist where he works, a little girl with a vivid When pregnant, 12-year-old Tui tries to kill and adventurer travels on the raft from Peru to imagination, tells a random lie that is SHAKESPEARE herself in a freezing New Zealand lake, Detective Polynesia to prove that people from South impossible to ignore. UNCOVERED Robin Griffin (played by the wonderful Elisabeth America settled in Polynesia instead of people $34.95 Moss of Mad Men fame) has plenty of questions from Asia, as was believed at the time. Armed FIRST POSITION with only a simple radio, the crew take on Released 4 September for the girl. But when Tui suddenly disappears, $39.95 Griffin finds herself knee-deep in small-town thunderstorms, sharks and the dangers of the Behind every Shakespeare Every year, thousands of secrets. Least of her problems is that Tui is the wide open sea. play there is a story: for aspiring dancers enter one of daughter of the local drug lord. instance, how he dismantled the world’s most prestigious This beautifully produced miniseries THE PLACE BEYOND his company’s theatre and ballet competitions, the Youth is created and written by Jane Campion. While rowed it across the river THE PINES America Grand Prix, where absolutely striking to watch, the scenery is Thames when their landlord $39.95 lifelong dreams are at stake. In juxtaposed with a cast of depraved and corrupt cancelled their lease – then Released 11 September the final round, with hundreds characters, both morally and professionally. staged Henry V for the first time. A unique competing for only a handful of elite Most of the women are in need of direction Luke (Ryan Gosling) is a series of six films,Shakespeare Uncovered scholarships and contracts, nothing short of (especially those living in Paradise, a half-way high-wire motorcycle stunt combines history, biography, iconic perfection is acceptable. This award-winning refuge overseen by a curious, guru-like character performer who travels with the performances, new analysis and the personal documentary follows six extraordinary dancers played by Holly Hunter), while the men are carnival from town to town. passions of its celebrated hosts – Ethan as they prepare for the chance to enter the shown as tough, redneck bullies led by the While passing through Hawke, Jeremy Irons, Derek Jacobi, Trevor world of professional ballet. A moving portrait intriguing Matt Mitcham (Peter Mullan). Bound Schenectady in upstate New Nunn, Joely Richardson and David Tennant of the most gifted ballet stars of tomorrow. to this insular community while visiting her ill York, he tries to reconnect with – to tell the stories behind the stories of mother, Griffin spends most of her time torn a former lover, Romina (Eva Mendes), only to Shakespeare’s greatest plays. between finding the truth and escaping her past. learn that they have a son together. Luke HOMELAND: SEASON 2 In the company of a strong narrative decides to give up life on the road to try and $54.95 DETECTIVE DE LUCA and stunning imagery, Campion has captured provide for his new-found family by taking a job Released 12 September $34.95 both the best and worst of the human condition. as a car mechanic. His employer, Robin (Ben Marine Sergeant Nicholas Released 4 September Mendelsohn), proposes to partner with Luke in Brody (Damian Lewis) is both a a string of spectacular bank robberies – which Set in Italy between 1938 and decorated hero and a serious BROADCHURCH: SERIES 1 will place Luke on the radar of ambitious rookie 1948, this is a vintage-style threat. CIA officer Carrie $39.95 cop Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper). Avery, who detective series. Detective De Mathison (Claire Danes) is tops has to navigate a local police department ruled Luca’s beat is Bologna and the Broadchurch centres on the in her field despite being by a menacing and corrupt detective, is also Adriatic coastline. He’s a investigation into the murder of bipolar, and continues her hunt struggling to balance his professional life with hard-bitten cop working in an a young boy in a British seaside for Abu Nazir in this second season. The his family life, which includes his infant son AJ. extremely insecure time in town. Leading the investigation delicate dance these two complex characters The consequences of Avery’s confrontation Italian history. He has little time for those battling are two detectives – the strong perform, built on lies, suspicion and desire, is at with Luke will reverberate into the next in power, and instead sets his sights firmly yet compassionate local the heart of this gripping thriller in which nothing generation, and it’s then that the two sons must on the truth. Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller short of the fate of the United States is at stake. face their fateful, shared legacy. (Olivia Colman), and the by-the-book Detective

EXHIBITION — 16 July 2013 – 19 January 2014 Discover how Shaun Tan’s intriguing ACMI, Federation Square picture book was transformed into Free exhibition open daily 10am–5pm an Oscar®-winning short animation. acmi.net.au/shauntan

Shaun Tan’s The Lost Thing From book to film Images: © Passion Pictures Australia and courtesy Lothian Books / Hachette 18 Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013

appreciation of the great Alice Coltrane, wife Kensal Road The Worse Things Get, of jazz icon John Coltrane. Kate Ceberano the Harder I Fight, CDs Michael Awosoga-Samuel is from Was $22.95 the Harder I Fight, New Readings Carlton Special price $19.95 The More I Love You The first album of original Tales of Us Neko Case songs in ten years from Kate Was $24.95 Goldfrapp Ceberano is quite a change in cd Special price $21.95 Was $26.95 style. On first listen you are Released 6 September Special price $21.95 reminded of Leslie Feist, with of the Review: Sometimes Released 6 September those unusual floating vocals, but Ceberano goes much further with her lyrics. These are the songs singer with the New Review: Innovative but month she has wanted to get out of her system for some Pornographers and with a very distinct sound, time now – passionate personal tributes to those collaborator with the Sadies, Goldfrapp have hit the mark she loves. The hit song ‘Magnet’ is a good taste Neko Case straddles many BOOGIE! PRESENTS SILVER again with Tales of Us. Each of where she is at, but take the time to hear the genres. Blacklisted, her 2002 release, left no ROADS: AUSTRALIAN song is titled with a person’s whole package: it’s worth it. doubt of her strong, ballsy personality, and it’s COUNTRY-ROCK & name: pre-release samples included links to been four years since the brilliant Middle Cyclone. SINGER-SONGWRITERS OF the black-and-white mini-film for ‘Drew’ – a Right Thoughts, Right This new release continues to explore her love for sumptuous, mesmerising affair full of arty naked the traditions of her forbearers in the country THE ’70S bottoms, gently hypnotic piano and guitar, and Words, Right Action Various scene, and confirms this as another great ANTI- a string section for extra oomph. Finding out Franz Ferdinand record label release. MAS Was $24.95 much more before our deadline wasn’t Was $26.95 Special price $21.95 possible, but initial tastes indicate this is Special price $21.95 something special … MK Review: Looking for some tunes for Daddy Review: It feels like a Soundtrack Cool? This fantastic follow-up to last year’s long time between drinks for extremely popular compilation, Boogie! Harlequin Dream fans of Franz Ferdinand and Inside Llewyn Davis Australian Blues, R&B and Heavy Rock from Boy & Bear when I checked, it has been: T Bone Burnett, Joel Coen & Ethan the ’70s, is a cracking two-disc set of lost Was $26.95 their last offering was in 2009 Coen treasures, sure to get the old man rockin’. Special price $21.95 with Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. With their fourth $21.95 It features, among others, Aztecs, Meteors, studio album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Review: Sydney-based Dingoes, Chisel, a pre-AC/DC Bon Scott Right Action, Franz Ferdinand continue with The soundtrack to the Boy & Bear’s debut album and, of course, some Cool Daddys! their fuzzy guitar sounds and catchy hooks that forthcoming Coen Brothers’ Moonfire was released to Enthusiasts should be sure to check out the make you want to get up and boogie. This film,Inside Llewyn Davis, critical acclaim in 2011, a Heavy Soul and Cosmic Country compilations record is the essence of Franz Ferdinand, so if sees the pair again team up time when the quiet, in this series, also out now from these primo you’re a fan already, you’ll love it. with legendary producer atmospheric folk sounds of artists such as Bon crate-diggers. T-Bone Burnett. The film, set in 1961, tells the Iver and Fleet Foxes were prominent – Moonfire Katherine Dretzke is from story of a week in the life of a struggling young Declan Murphy is from Readings St Kilda held its own in such company. Two years on Readings Hawthorne folk singer living in Greenwich Village. Perhaps and Harlequin Dream sees the band continuing of particular interest to Bob Dylan fans is the to forge a pioneering sound. If the single Pura Vida Conspiracy inclusion of the track ‘Farewell’, originally ‘Southern Sun’ is anything to go by, they’ll recorded during the sessions for his album The carry on garnering critical and commercial Gogol Bordello Times They are a-Changin’ and available Pop/Rock success. MAS $21.95 exclusively on this soundtrack. It also features Review: Back with their 12 new recordings of folk covers performed by Dream Cave sixth studio album, the crazy Tookah the cast, as well as a track by Dave Van Ronk, characters of Gogol Bordello Cloud Control Emiliana Torrini upon whom the film is loosely based. have once again brought a Was $26.95 Was $21.95 unique onslaught of insane Special price $21.95 Special price $19.95 tunes with Pura Vida Conspiracy. The album Review: Australian Review: Emiliana Torrini kickstarts with a bang on ‘Lost Innocent World’: Jazz indie-rock at its absolute has a voice that makes you quiet chants from charismatic frontman Eugene finest, Dream Cave is the listen; there’s just something Hütz quickly escalate into a full-blown sing- Uberjam Deux same thrill as Cloud entrancing about it. Tookah along. Gypsy-punk music is still their signature John Scofield Control’s first album, start to was conceived over a style, as listeners would expect, making this $27.95 finish. ‘Moonrabbit’ supplies the kind of killer, three-year period that included the birth of her album feel like a berserk party that the whole sing-along vocal hook that feels created to child and what seems to be a bit of writer’s world is invited to. KD Review: John Scofield is shout happily at a party, and ‘Ice Age block (I’d say it’s called being a new parent, one of the jazz guitar greats Heatwave’ is an ode to the past as darkly but that’s just me). After ‘hanging out in the and Uberjam Deux adds to bright as the Times Square it plaintively studio and having a bit of fun’, the folky FOLK/COUNTRY this reputation – though it was mourns, the kettle drums cutting through bass Icelandic spaciousness of her previous work is already safe 20-plus years ago like neon lights at night. Hey guys, the past still present – she talks about huge frozen after his work with Miles Davis and Jaco isn’t so great: this album wasn’t in it, for one. lakes and blinding snow – but a new-found Vagrant Stanzas Pastorius. Instrumental guitar albums like this are Martin Simpson rare: the soul, rock and funk grooves are Fiona Hardy is from Readings Carlton love of ’80s synthesisers can be found on several tracks, especially on the gloriously $24.95 hypnotic and feature deft playing from two funky ‘Speed of Dark’. MK drummers; there’s very solid bass from Andy Review: Martin Simpson Warp & Weft Hess (The Black Crowes); and the keyboard is one of the finest examples Laura Veirs colours come from John Medeski on organ and Edward Sharpe and of the connection between Was $26.95 mellotron. Over the top of this rock-solid rhythm Celtic folk of the UK and the Magnetic Zeros section is the consistently inventive playing of Special price $21.95 American country and blues Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Scofield and his telepathic interplay with rhythm Review: American music, as well as one of the most technically Zeros guitar player Avi Bortnick, whose electronics and singer-songwriter Laura gifted guitarists of our time. His new release, Was $26.95 samples give this a very contemporary edge. My Veirs grew up in Colorado Vagrant Stanzas, is an intimate solo record, and Special price $21.95 favourite track is the beautifully rendered ‘Dub listening to folk, classical a fantastic collection of Scottish ballads, Dub’, which references a late ’70s Bob Marley and pop music, but only Review: A maze of American traditional songs, contemporary and the Wailers groove and the soulful Al Green. became serious about music after graduating genres linked by the same pieces, guitar improvisations and original from her studies in geology and Mandarin audio landscape planted by material. The finest tracks on the album are his Paul Barr is from Readings Carlton Chinese. The release of her ninth album, Warp frontman Alex Ebert, this is a own compositions: ‘Jackie and Murphy’, written & Weft, follows her 2011 children’s folk album reinvention of decades of about Anzac hero Jack Simpson Kirkpatrick, Tumble Bee, and the excellent July Flame from music: a Woodstock of an and ‘Delta Dreams’, a song reminiscing about a Also Available 2010. Producer and husband Tucker Martine album in 12 seamlessly eclectic tracks. There road trip he and friend Henry Gray took together (Beth Orton, R.E.M., Mudhoney and Bill are songs on this album not out of place on a through Mississippi. Also look out for his AM Arctic Monkeys, released 6 September Frisell) continues to infuse Veirs’ sound with a shelf next to David Bowie’s psychedelia, interpretations of the well-known ballads ‘Waly Made Up Mind Tedeschi Trucks Band peaceful, whimsical feel: though her style has Leonard Cohen’s sultry moodiness, Bob Waly’, ‘Lady Gay’ and Bob Dylan’s ‘North Sleep in the Water Snakadaktal always been thoughtful and melodic. Jim Dylan’s folksy fireside tunes, Paul Simon’s pop Country Blues’. Standards Lloyd Cole James (My Morning Jacket) and Neko Case – even ABBA’s glitzy cheer. Unexpected – and Vandemonian Lags Mick Thomas are guests, and the track ‘That Alice’ is an enjoyable – at every turn. FH Miranda La Fleur is from Readings St Kilda Readings MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2013 19

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