Free november 2010 Readings Monthly

Geordie Williamson on Lloyd Jones • Toni Jordan • Shaun Micallef age 10 COVER IMAGE FROM Life by K ei th R ic h ar ds (O rio n) s ee p

Keith Richards shares his Life p 10 November book, CD & DVD new releases. More new releases inside.

memoir fiction fiction Art&DESIGN YOUNG ADULT DVD POp CD CLASSICAL $49.95 $39.95 $32.95 $32.95 $39.95 $16.99 $79.99 $19.95 $19.95 >> p10 >> p4 >> p5 >> p12 >> p14 >> p16 >> p17 >> p19

November event highlights : Pip Lincolne, Cate Kennedy, Toni Jordan Stephanie Dowrick, Michael Grant, Karen Martini. More events inside.

All shops open 7 days, except State Library shop, which is open Monday - Friday. Carlton 309 Lygon St 9347 6633 Hawthorn 701 Glenferrie Rd 9819 1917 Malvern 185 Glenferrie Rd 9509 1952 Port Melbourne 253 Bay St 9681 9255 St Kilda 112 Acland St 9525 3852 Readings at the State Library of Victoria 328 Swanston St 8664 7540 email [email protected] Check opening hours, find event details, or browse and buy online at www.readings.com.au

historic Officer Lane, CONCERTS GARdEN Garden Tour with Stephen Ryan, MT. MACEDON host of ABC TV’s Gardening Australia. Bob & Malcolm Sedergreen, Open Garden Wednesday 10 November, 11am * Duneira Jazz Explore Duneira’s famous heritage Tickets $20 full / $15 conc ARTS & CULTURE • HEALTH • GARDENS An afternoon of spontaneous invention garden and see the fabulous Dutch elm- * bus from Southern Cross available featuring featuring original compositions, lined driveway with the short, seasonal jazz standards and a sprinkling of well bluebell display. known evergreens from local jazz legends, Sunday 31 October, 10am–4pm BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL Bob and Mal Sedergreen. Sunday 7 November, 10am–4pm Ph: 5426 1490 Saturday 20 November, 2.30 pm Tickets $10 full / $5 conc / children free Tickets $35 full / $25 conc www.duneira.com.au 2 Readings Monthly November 2010

From the Editor Greetings from a jet-lagged editor this month, ThisReadings Working Month’stion award of the News night – the Vance Palmer AAWP Conference in the midst of re-acclimatising to grey Art Project Prize for Fiction worth $30,000 for his Miles The fifteenth annual conference of the Melbourne after a balmy week in Bali at the We’re proud to announce a new range of Franklin Award-winning crime novel Truth Australian Association of Writing Programs Ubud Readers and Writers Festival (which, limited-edition calico Readings bags, designed (Text, PB, $23.95). Brenda Walker won the will be held at RMIT from Thursday 25 I’m proud to say, Readings is a Silver Sponsor by some of Australia’s top illustrators and same amount of prize money by taking out November. Victorian Premier’s Award win- of). If you like bookish fun in the sun, great designers as part of our new Working Art the Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-Fiction with ner Professor Brenda Walker will deliver food, a laid-back atmosphere, and the com- Project that will showcase local artists, poets Reading by Moonlight: How Books Saved a the keynote address. International speakers pany of world-class writers, put next year’s fes- and writers. Twice a year Readings will com- Life (Hamish Hamilton, HB, $29.95). include Dr Andrew Cowan from the Uni- tival date in your diary: 5 to 9 October 2011. mission local artists to design a Readings Also announced at the awards evening was versity of East Anglia’s prestigious writing that each of the three authors shortlisted for It’s a unique festival in so many ways – calico bag and we will only produce 1000 program and Chris Gribble, Director of of each bag. This month, our first two bags the prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by Norwich Writers’ Centre in the UK. The including many cross-cultural events, some an Emerging Victorian Writer would receive featuring Indonesian writers in conversation have been released! One of the bags features three-day conference will offer significant a gorgeous illustration of a one-eyed monster a three-month writing fellowship which insights into the teaching of creative writ- with Western writers, with the assistance of a comprises a workspace at the Wheeler Cen- (very hard-working) translator. One event I reading on a hill by award-winning local artist ing and the role of literature within writing Shaun Tan, author and illustrator of classics tre and $5000 from the Readings Founda- workshops. Readings will be at the confer- was particularly impressed with was the rare tion. The writers for the inaugural fellowship and laudable combination of a well-known like The Arrivaland Sketches from a Nameless ence selling books. For full program details Land (Lothian, Slipcase, Normally $89.95, are Michelle Aung Thin, Peggy Frew and head to http://australianliterarycompen- Palestinian writer, Suad Amiry (Sharon and Andrew Nette. my Mother-in-law, Granta, PB, $24.95) with Our special price $79.95). The other bag is dium.com/aawp_prog.html a popular Israeli writer, Etgar Keret (The by renowned graphic novelist and artist Nicki Here’s the full list of winners from the night: Girl on the Fridge, Henry Holt, PB, $18.95), Greenberg, featuring a striking scene from December/January her new graphic novel, Hamlet (A&U, HB, The winner of the Vance Palmer Prize Readings Monthly who has a bit of a cult following here as a for Fiction ($30,000) was Truth (Text, Normally $49.99, Our special price $39.95). The final edition of Readings Monthly master of the witty, sometimes biting, short PB, $23.95) by Peter Temple; the Nettie These limited-edition collector’s items are for 2010 will be inserted into the Age on story. And it was chaired by Australia’s own Palmer Prize for Non-fiction ($30,000) was available for $5 each at all Readings shops and Tuesday 7 December. Therefore, we will Antony Loewenstein (My Israel Question, Reading by Moonlight (Hamish Hamilton, online at www.readings.com.au. only be mailing out to regional and inter- MUP, PB, $24.95), a secular Jewish writer HB, $29.95) by Brenda Walker; the Young state subscribers by Friday 10 December. highly critical of Israel. What a combination! Adult Fiction Prize ($15,000) was Raw Blue 2010 Nobel Prize Melbourne readers can pick up their copy Official festival blogger Mahler’s Son (actu- (Penguin, PB, $19.95) by Kirsty Eagar; and in Literature in one of our six shops or in the Age on ally Antony’s dad, there in his own capacity the CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry ($15,000) was Tuesday 7 December. Our first edition of as a blogger) wrote of the session, ‘Both au- Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa has been Possession (Five Islands Press, PB, $19.95) by Readings Monthly for the new year will be thors didn’t differ on all that much about the awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature. Anna Kerdijk Nicholson. issues between the presently warring parties.’ Vargas Llosa is one of the South American out in February 2011. writers who played a large role in the Latin The winner of the Louis Esson Prize for Christos Tsiolkas touched on the debate American literary boom of the 1960s and Drama ($15,000) was And No More Shall We Readings Moves at currently raging about the kinds of contem- 1970s, along with Gabriel García Márquez, Part by Tom Holloway; the Alfred Deakin the State Library porary novels that are being written, and the Julio Cortázar and Carlos Fuentes. Vargas Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate In mid November, Readings is moving into prevalence of beautifully written but unen- Llosa’s major works include The Green House ($15,000) was ‘Seeing Truganini’ by David a larger retail space at the State Library of gaging fiction. He talked about wanting to (1965, Harper Perennial, PB, $21.95), Hansen, Australian Book Review; the Prize Victoria. The new shop will be located in find ways to ‘make the realist novel exciting Conversation in the Cathedral (1969, Harper for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Palmer Hall, which is between the library again’ and said the way to do it was ‘not to Perennial, PB, $21.95), The War Of The End Emerging Victorian Writer ($15,000) was foyer and the Mr Tulk cafe. Our new shop spend pages describing a glass of water’, but Of The World (1981, Picador, PB, $23.95) House of Sticks by Peggy Frew; the John Cur- will have a carefully selected range of books, to ‘engage with the way people live, the way and The Feast of the Goat (2000, Faber, PB, tin Prize for Journalism ($15,000) was ‘Who gifts and stationary. It will also stock a people dream, the way people love’. He said $14.99). His most recent novel, The Bad Girl Killed Mr Ward?’ by Janine Cohen and Liz complete range of State Library publications. he’s now reading Patrick White for the first (Henry Holt & Company, HB, Normally Jackson, Four Corners, ABC Television; the Shop manager, Tom Hoskins cut his teeth time, and is realising that ‘there have been $42.95, Our special price $17.95), was Prize for First Book of History ($15,000) running this year's Melbourne Writers' Australian writers in the world for a long published in 2006. was Becoming African Americans: Black Festival shop. Trading hours will be 10am- time trying to make sense of it.’ Public Life in Harlem, 1919–1939 (Harvard 5pm Monday to Saturday. We are all very 2010 Man Booker Prize University Press, HB, $65.95) by Clare Cor- excited about this new space which will Most awe-inspiring: British journalist and bould; and the Prize for Indigenous Writing Into Awarded each year for an enable us to showcase a much greater range. revered foreign correspondent Kate Adie ( ($15,000) was Legacy (UQP, PB, $24.95) by Danger outstanding novel by an We hope to see you there soon. , Hodder, PB, $24.99), who scoffed, Larissa Behrendt. ‘Journalism is not a dangerous job. A journal- author who is a citizen of the ist can go out there and if they think it’s too Commonwealth or the nasty, go home to bed.’ When her interviewer Republic of Ireland, the Man pointed out that she herself had been shot five Booker Prize is one of the times while covering stories, she said, ‘Yes, but world’s most prestigious nothing vital is missing, so I’m lucky.’ literary awards. In 2010 the six shortlisted authors were Peter Carey for Most surprising discovery: I chaired a session Parrot and Olivier in America (Hamish with Marie Munkara, whose novel, Every Hamilton, PB, $32.95), Emma Donoghue Secret Thing (UQP, PB, $24.95), won this for Room (Picador, PB, Normally $32.99, year’s NT Book of the Year. I couldn’t believe Our special price $27.95), Damon Galgut for I hadn’t read this book earlier! Hilarious, poi- In a Strange Room (Atlantic, PB, $29.99), gnant, bittersweet satiric storytelling about an Howard Jacobson for The Finkler Question Indigenous community in the Top End, and (Bloomsbury, PB, $32.95), Andrea Levy for the cultural tug-of-war between the conver- The Long Song (Headline, PB, $29.99), Tom sion-hungry mission mob and the Indigenous McCarthy for C (Jonathan Cape, HB, bush mob. Highly recommended reading. $39.95). The winner of the £50,000 prize for 2010 is Howard Jacobson. Idle gossip: Behind the scenes, Shane Maloney asked Christos Tsiolkas, who used 2010 Victorian to work part-time at a veterinary clinic, Premier’s Literary for advice about his dog, and Christos, on Awards realising he was kinda serious, seriously gave it. A reminder that most writers have to live The winners of the 2010 Victorian Pre- varied professional lives for a long time to mier’s Literary Awards were announced on make ends meet! September 28 at a special awards dinner in Melbourne. Peter Temple won the big fic- —Jo Case Oslo Davis www.oslodavis.com

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the social network 380 LYGON ST CARLTON www.cinemanova.com.au ★★★★ Online bookings available ★★★★ Join our e-news for updates on the Met Opera, OCTOBER 28 Roger Ebert National Theatre and other stage spectaculars. TimeOut New York NOVEMBEROCTOBER 47 Readings Monthly November 2010 3

Readings Port Melbourne. Free, but please book on 9681 9255. BrianLaunches Jones from Copyright Agency Limited 25 will launch the art edition of Australian Book Review, co-edited by Christopher Menz NovemberAll our Readings book and music events are T uesdayEvents 9 November, 6.30pm, Readings Rob Mundle (former director of the Art Gallery of SA free, unless otherwise stated. Bookings do not Carlton. Free, but please book on 9347 6633. In Bligh: A Sailor’s Life (Hodder Headline, and ex-NGV). Thursday 4 November, 6pm, guarantee a seat, but rather indicate to us the HB, $49.99), Rob Mundle – bestselling Readings Hawthorn. Free, no need to book. number of people to expect. To see more events author of Fatal Storm – goes back to the eigh- or for updates on new events please visit the 10 teenth century, the era when brave mariners Join us for the launch of Anne Mangan’s events page at www.readings.com.au. Toni Jordan took their ships beyond the horizon. Thurs- True Blue Santa (HarperCollins, HB, day 25 November, 6.30pm, Readings St $14.99), in which Jack and Hannah give in conversation Christmas an Aussie makeover. Saturday 6 with Jo Case Kilda. Free, but please book on 9525 3852. 4 November, 2.30pm, Readings Port Mel- Join Toni Jordan as she takes us on a bril- bourne. Free, no need to book. Michael Grant liant journey of passion and loyalty, deceit BOOK SIGNING 28 John Tully’s Dark Clouds on the Mountains and integrity with her new novel Fall Girl (Hybrid, PB, $29.95) – intelligent crime We are honoured to have YA Dean Jones (Text, PB, $32.95). Readings fell in love fiction set in wintry Tasmania in the early writer Michael Grant in our Meet award-winning illustrator Dean as with her debut Addition – and it seems the 1990s – will be launched on Thursday 11 shop signing copies of his Wednesday 10 November, he reads from his new book and gives an affair is not over. November, 6.30pm, Readings Carlton. Free, successful Gone series. If 6.30pm, Readings Carlton. illustration demonstration. All Through the Free, but please no need to book. you haven’t read his latest, book on 9347 6633. Night (Black Dog Books, HB, $24.99) tells Lies (Katherine Tegen, PB, the story of a magical journey. Sunday 28 No- Dr Norman Swan will launch The Pen and $19.95), you haven’t lived! 10 vember, 2.30pm, Readings Port Melbourne. the Stethoscope (Scribe, PB, $35) edited Book early. Thursday 4 Stephanie Dowrick Free, but please book on 9681 9255. by Leah Kaminsky, a unique collection of November, 6.30pm, Readings Carlton. fiction and non-fiction by doctors/writers. Free, but please book on 9347 6633. In Reverend Dr Stephanie Thursday 11 November, 6.30pm, Readings Dowrick’s latest book, Seeking 30 Hawthorn. Free, no need to book. the Sacred (A&U, PB, $32.99), she speaks to those Russell Skelton Robyn Arianrhod will launch Lara Fergus’s 5 seeking spiritual meaning and in conversation with My Sister Chaos (Spinifex Press, PB, $24.95), Departure Event addresses urgent social jenny macklin an engaging tale of refugee twins, cartogra- for THE Youth questions. This is an incred- Set with the backdrop of Papunya, a North- phy and grief. Friday 12 November, 6.30pm, Delegation to APEC ible opportunity to hear one ern Territory Aboriginal community whose Readings Carlton. Free, no need to book. Monash University’s Faculty of Arts are of Australia’s most acclaimed speakers on history showed so much promise but whose Join us for the launch of Neil Phillips’s Lost in sponsoring the Australian Youth Delega- social, spiritual and psychological issues. dysfunction is now more prominent than a Mind Field: Schizophrenia and Other Psycho- tion to the Asia Pacific Economic Coopera- Wednesday 10 November, 6.30pm, Balwyn its famous artwork, Russell Skelton’s King ses (Shrink-Rap Press, $27.50), with text and tion (APEC) to be held in Japan this year. Palace Theatre, 231 Whitehorse Rd, Brown Country (A&U, PB, $35) is a book cartoons. Thursday 18 November, 6.30pm, They will join 60 other young people from Balwyn. Free, but please book on 9819 1917. that has to be published – a portrait of a Readings Carlton. Free, no need to book. 21 countries for a week. Please join their community in crisis. Tuesday 30 Novem- Emmett Stinson will launch The Philanthro- professors, friends and family for this special ber, 6.30pm, Readings Carlton. Free, but pist (Sleepers Publishing, PB, $27.95) by departure event, open to the public. The 11 please book on 9347 6633. John Tesarsch. ‘A very fine piece of work’ – event will include a special presentation A Night of Crime John Banville. Thursday 18 November, 6pm from John Denton. Friday 5 November, Come for a ride on the wicked side with for 6.30pm, Bella Union Bar, Trades Hall, 6pm, Readings Carlton. Free, please book Melbourne crime writers: Liam corner Lygon and Victoria Streets, Carlton on 9347 6633. Houlihan (Badlands, MUP, PB, $32.99), and in December South. Free, no need to book. Colin McLaren (Infiltration, MUP, PB, 4 Join us for a celebration of authors and poets $32.99), Susanna Lobez (Gangland Australia, 6 Graeme Base with Leah Kaminsky and her Stitching Things co-written with James Morton, MUP, PB, BOOK SIGNING Together (IP, PB, $25), and The Taste of Apple Anna Pignataro $27.99) and Stephen Sewell (Animal King- The renowned storyteller (IP & IPD, PB & CD, $44.99) authors Anna will read from her gorgeous Princess dom, MUP, PB, $29.99). Proudly brought to and illustrator (Anima- James Laidler and Don Stewart. Olwyn Con- and Fairy: Twinkly Ballerinas (Scholastic, HB, you by MUP. Check our website for more lia, The Sign Of The rau, the IP Picks Winner, with her novel The $19.99). Thanks to Scholastic there will be a information. Thursday 11 November, Seahorse) will be signing Importance of Being Cool (Glass House Books, free pack of giveaways with every book, ‘make 6.30pm, Readings St Kilda. Free, but please copies of his beautiful PB, $32.95) will also be there. Tiger Tames your own tiaras’, colouring-in sheets, and a book on 9525 3852. new book The Legend of the Min Min (IP Kidz, PB, $16.95) by David fabulous door prize. Saturday 6 November, Reiter (Third book in the Project Earth-mend 2pm, Readings Hawthorn & Sunday 21 the Golden Snail (Viking, Saturday Series for kids) will be alongside Mocco November, 2.30pm, Readings Port Mel- HB, $29.95). 12 4 December, 2.30pm, Readings Port Wollert and Glenise Clelland’s books Love bourne. Free, but please book on 9819 1917 Karen Martini Melbourne. Free, please book on 9681 9255. Falls in Love with Love (DPC, HB, $32.95) (Hawthorn) or 9681 9255 (Port Melbourne). For Karen Martini, cooking is and Of Loving and Sensualities (DPC, HB, an opportunity for conversa- $29.95). All in all, there will be something for tion and celebration. Her new everyone. Thursday 18 November, 6.30pm, 8 5 book Feasting (Lantern, HB, Heath McKenzie Readings St Kilda. Free, no need to book. Poetry to Pages $59.95) is the perfect Here’s your chance to meet a much-loved Join us for the launch of Peter Haywood’s Sadly this is our last Poetry to Pages event inspiration – and excuse – to Melbourne-based children’s book illustrator. novel Catch a Falling Star (Sid Harta, PB, for 2010. Come and help us celebrate our get together with your Heath's latest book, The Aussie Nutcracker $24.95): part cautionary tale, part travelogue wonderful year, and enjoy the work of favourite people. Friday 12 (Black Dog Books, HB, $14.99), is filled of a recent bygone era of skinny ties and Bonny Cassidy, Nick Powell and David November, 6.30pm, Readings Hawthorn. with his colourful, sweet and zany illustra- leg-warmers. Friday 19 November, 6.30pm, Prater. Wine will be flowing as easily as Tickets: $20 per person which includes tastes tions. Sunday 5 December, 2.30pm, Read- Readings Carlton. Free, no need to book. the words.Monday 8 November, 6.30pm, from her cookbook and a glass of wine from ings Port Melbourne. Free, but please book Dorothy Scott will launch Gretchen Readings Carlton. Free, no need to book. Scorpo Wines. Book on 9819 1917. on 9681 9255. Thomas’s inspiring and informative book, Walking in Others’ Shoes: Stories from the 16 Early Years of the Partner Church Movement 8 7 (Roots and Wings Press, $28). Monday 22 the Future of the The Long and November, 6.30pm, Readings Carlton. Free, the Short of It Belinda Jeffery Australian Media Belinda Jeffery’s The Country Cookbook no need to book. Cate Kennedy will get to the bottom of To celebrate the release of Man Bites Murdoch (Lantern, PB, $59.95) is a celebration of the Co-authors Associate Professor Rick Kuhn the ‘long short story’ genre while talking (Bruce Guthrie, MUP, HB, $49.99), MUP new life she found after she and her hus- and Tom Bramble will celebrate the release to Long Story Shorts authors Bob Franklin & Readings are pleased to present a panel de- band took off down the highway.T uesday 7 of their book, Labor’s Conflict: Big Business, (Under Stones, Affirm, PB, $24.95), Emmett bate on ‘The Future of the Australian Media’, December, 6.30pm, Readings Hawthorn. Workers and the Politics of Class (CUP, PB, Stinson (Known Unknowns, Affirm, PB, featuring Bruce Guthrie, Eric Beecher, Caro- $20 per person, includes tastes from the $39.95), the record of the formation of $24.95) and Gretchen Shirm (Having Cried line Overington, and others to be revealed cookbook and a glass of festive wine from the Labor Party, through to Julia Gilliard. Wolf, Affirm, PB, $24.95).T uesday 16 No- shortly. Monday 8 November at 6pm for Scorpo Wines. Bookings through Hawthorn Wednesday 24 November, 6.30pm, Read- vember, 6.30pm, Readings Carlton. Free, 6.30pm, BMW Edge, Federation Square, only: 9819 1917. ings Carlton. Free, no need to book. Melbourne. Tickets $10, Bookings on but please book on 9347 6633. 9347 6633 or at readings.com.au. 9 In December 20 James Griffin Joy Damousi will launch clinical psycholo- 9 Andrew Marlton Come hear James sing and recite from his gist and psychoanalytic psychotherapist Pip Lincolne Andrew is a.k.a. First Dog on the Moon book, Songs for a Season at Ghost Town Bridge Dr Christine Hill’s book What do Patients In Sew La Tea Do (Hardie Grant, PB, (Crikey’s daily cartoonist) and his The Story of (HB, $35). This is a yarn that harks back to Want?: Psychoanalytic Perspectives from the $49.95), Pip Lincolne, of Meet Me at Mike’s the Christmas Story (Text, HB, $29.95) takes a a past era. Thursday 9 December, 6.30pm, Couch (Karnac Books, PB, $51.95). fame, shows you how to make 24 gorgeous delightful, silly but essentially serious view on Readings St Kilda. Free, no need to book. Wednesday 1 December, 6.30pm, things that you can wear, use and love. Christmas. Saturday 20 November, 2.30pm, Readings Carlton. Free, no need to book. 4 Readings Monthly November 2010 Special Feature

MeetingGeordie Williamson interviews Lloyd Mister Jones about Hand Me Down Jones World (Text, PB, $32.95)

In that case, what self can a young African perspective on earlier accounts is radically woman without family, friends, colleagues altered. Some whose testimony suggested or partner be said to have? As one kind an intimacy with or special knowledge of soul observes, having invited the homeless the woman are found to be clueless; once- woman back to a warm and comfortable marginal figures become important, even apartment, hers ‘was a different kind of heroic. It is an especially rich and surprising presence. She wasn’t someone who con- upsetting of our expectations, and a partial stantly demands your attention. She didn’t resolution of ambiguity that clears the stage for that most crucial of encounters – that between the woman and her son. ‘ What to say about Like his elegant and strong-willed creation, Jones is someone for whom geography is her stealing and not destiny. When I ask him about what a New Zealand author is doing writing cheating, her about Africans in Berlin, he is quick to decry the label. ‘I always think it’s a clumsy manipulation category. Does it mean just a writer born in New Zealand, or does that mean you are of others, her sentenced for the rest of your days to write about corn or dairy farming. I go where my

prostitution? Jones imagination goes – and my imagination just doesn’t sit tightly inside those boundar- does not back away ies.’

from his creation’s Instead, Jones has travelled widely and kept his eyes open: in newly-open Albania at toughness.’ the end of the Cold War, for example, and most famously on the island of Bougain- ville after the terrible civil strife that killed talk. She was inwardly focussed. All her thousands there. ‘Writers are in the habit of attention went into not occupying space.’ collecting landscapes’ says Jones, ‘places we Lloyd Jones has been a evidence of the largest diaspora in history, It is a tribute to Jones’s careful thinking big name in his native file away in the subconsciousness for future that of the Third World to the First. that, instead of falsifying her interiority, use.’ New Zealand for over a he should have found a way to honour the decade, but he became The novel that grew from his stay tells the unknowable aspects of her nature. Still, this latest work seems less about phys- internationally renowned story of a beautiful young African woman ical landscape than a metaphysical state. with the Booker who undertakes the arduous, twenty-first But as readers follow her every move – from And while Hand Me Down World is finally shortlisted Mister Pip century Odyssey across the Mediterranean the Sicilian beach she washes up on after a more hopeful book than either Biografi or (Text, PB, $23.95) in and Europe in search of her son, who has being abandoned at sea by people smug- Mr Pip, the two major works that preceded 2008. His latest novel, been stolen by her lover, a violent and creepy glers, along endless motorways and B-roads, it, there is something about its subject the confronting and charmer from Berlin who seduced and through dense forests and isolated moun- matter that makes this new fiction sadder affecting Hand Me Down World (Text, PB, impregnated the young hotel worker at a tain passes, and on into the city of three and more muted still: a sense, perhaps, that $32.95) looks set to repeat his success. The resort on the Arabian Sea. and a half million souls where she knows behind the one happy story Jones tells there

Australian's Geordie Williamson spoke to no one, has nothing, and is ignorant of the are countless others that are not. Lloyd Jones for Readings. Although Hand Me Down World shares with whereabouts of her former lover and child Jones’s previous fictions a fascination with the – our sympathy for her plight is tested by This feeling is borne out by Jones when he politics of identity, that complex and fluid her actions. describes the real-world inspiration for the collection of impulses he described in a recent novel: a newspaper account, read while the lecture as the ‘republic of the self’, the form What to say about her stealing and cheat- author was in Berlin, about an incident in orgive me if I’m particularly he uses to pursue these interests is unique. ing, her manipulation of others, her prosti- which 26 Africans were dragged to Spain, dozy,’ says Lloyd Jones when I The novel’s narrative is constructed from the tution? Jones does not back away from his clinging to a tuna net. The trawler which reach him by phone in London, testimonies of those people whose lives cross creation’s toughness. ‘She’s pretty hard, isn’t brought them to land was refused entry and before resting his receiver long that of the young woman during her journey she? And very single minded.’ He suggests obliged to turn around, its occupants still enough to drop a sash against – a chorus of voices, each of whom recounts that, while you can’t help but be sympa- hanging on, to head back out to sea. the morning noise. It is 8am, UK time, only a fragment of her tale. thetic towards her circumstances, you don’t and the author has spent a restless night. have to necessarily like her. ‘You can admire Although they were eventually rescued and FIt seems the accommodation above Soho’s I wonder at the difficulties this approach her – but you know it’s that singular mind- taken to a detention camp on Sicily’s island Groucho Club exposes guests to the 24/7 presents to the author. Jones explains that edness that’s going to get her to Berlin, to of Lampedusa, Jones’s voice vibrates with bustle of bohemian, multi-racial Dean ‘long before the novel had even started to her son. And that kind of singular mind outrage at his recollection of the ‘breathtak- Street below. take shape’ he began writing about an African probably has an edge to it.’ ing lack of common humanity displayed woman who swims ashore in Sicily. ‘But I by Fortress Europe. I was struck by two I can imagine the scene: crowds of social knew even then I didn’t want to inhabit that The reader’s appreciation of her character is things here. The problem of illegal migra- drinkers and hardcore clubbers thronging one voice, that one point of view. I think the further complicated by the manner of its ar- tion – and it is not an easy problem to solve the narrow, cobbled street until the small title, Hand Me Down World, almost created rival, filtered through the testimony of men – but also the almost sort of magic realist hours, along with the minicab touts, prosti- the form. She’s the link between all these and women who are themselves unreliable: quality of that moment for those Africans. tutes, rough sleepers and low-wage migrant people who would have nothing in common each shaped by individual need, vanity and Some of these people would have never workers who follow in their wake. It strikes if not for her passing through their lives.’ self-delusion. Jones agrees that the African even seen the sea and then there they are,

me that Jones is perched above the same woman’s character is often misread, but de- clinging to a tuna net, dragged along. Some But it isn’t just the love of a technical chal- hard and melancholy realm his latest fiction fends the process. ‘All of us see people from said it was terrifying at night – they would lenge that decided the novel’s structure. At describes. different angles; we never see them in their see the fish, the eyes darting towards them.’ one point in the narrative, three characters entirety. If you relied on one account alone, While Hand Me Down World was recollect- pass the tomb of philosopher Gottfried Fichte they’d offer up a minor piece in her life, but ‘I think it was the surreal aspect of that ed in the relative tranquillity of his native in a Berlin Cemetery. Fichte was a thinker the truth lies elsewhere. So, many of those moment that gave birth to my African New Zealand, Jones acknowledges that his who argued that self-consciousness is a testimonies are self-regarding or evasive – woman,’ says Jones. ‘The world is woven twelfth book in 25 years was inspired by a social phenomenon; one requiring, as the that’s why you need her account to set the from these extraordinary narratives. And particular urban space: Berlin. A city where author puts it, ‘another who sets the limita- record straight.’ all of us are living inside the story.’ he recently spent the better part of a year tions of self’. courtesy of an NZ government writers’ resi- And it’s true: when the African woman Geordie Williamson is chief literary critic dency, and in which he witnessed plentiful finally has her turn to speak, the reader’s of The Australian. Readings Monthly November 2010 5 Q&A with Toni Jordan Jo Case interviews Toni Jordan about Fall Girl (Text, PB, $32.95) Book of I’ve thought a lot about this. For me, it’s impossible to start to write a novel. They’re the Month 75,000 words, for heaven’s sake. That’s just ridiculous. It’s like stepping out of your The Empty Family front door and saying, ‘I’m going to climb Colm Tóibín Mt Everest, be right back.’ But what I can Picador. PB. $29.99 do is write a good 1000 words today. For me, funny bits and sexy bits are little treats Collections of short to get me through the marathon that is stories, poems and essays writing a novel. sit on my shelves happily; but not often Della employs a number of psychological tricks read from cover to and strategies based on her father’s set of ‘rules’ cover. Like a rich, for a successful con. Taken together, they’re a Book Talk satisfying Christmas canny and intimate study of human behav- with Shaun Micallef cake, lovingly prepared iour. How did you come up with these ‘rules’? and respectfully and moderately Shaun Micallef, whose latest incarna- consumed, such collections are best When I was a child, my parents had quite a tion is as the eccentric host of Channel commenced and enjoyed in small few nefarious friends and I also read a lot of Ten’s Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Genera- doses. reference books on crooks and conmen. Ab- tion, just may be Australia’s favourite Colm Tóibín’s new collection of nine solutely fascinating. I hope I use what I’ve comedian. And now he’s on the quest to short stories, The Empty Family, is, like What made you decide to learned for good, not for evil. Mwahahaha. become Australia’s favourite writer (or, its title, quietly evocative and emotion- write about a family of at least, a writer we quite like), with Romantic storytelling often gets its frisson ally charged. In the opening story of his charismatic con artists? his debut novel, Preincarnate (Hardie previous collected stories (Mothers and And was it a challenge from the unattainable or taboo relationship. Grant, HB, $29.95). Dani Solomon Sons, 2003) ‘The Use of Reason’, Tóibín making your heroine Della says, ‘It is fatal to sleep with a mark reviews the book on p6. Micallef joined employs the word ‘empty’ 14 times in – whose aim is to ... this is perhaps the only unbreakable rule.’ Readings for a bookish chat on the eve the first three paragraphs. Frankly, I hoodwink her love How important is that kind of obstacle to the of its publication. have no real idea why, other than to interest – sympathetic? central relationship when you’re plotting your hammer home hard an intense sense novels? The last book I read was ... Ha! I love this ques- of isolation or this bloody emptiness tion. It makes me sound like I know what See, that’s the problem with writing roman- An old one: Thomas Wolfe’s Bonfire of he feels, an existential haiku of sorts. I’m doing. I’d actually sat down to write tic comedies set in the present day. What the Vanities Colm Tóibín is too good a writer for a very serious novel that said extremely stops your protagonists from just getting it us not to ignore this clue. Nine stories, on in chapter one, and then not phoning insightful things about the human condi- The author who inspires me most is ... nine Christmas cakes. tion couched in lyrical prose. This took one each other again because they both have Tóibín’s literary landscape floats around year of eyeball-bleeding effort. And it was a fear of commitment? It’s not difficult S. J. Perelman his home in Ireland, and Enniscorthy awful; pompous, overwrought nonsense. So to write people who are attracted to each in particular, which he has returned to I threw it in the bin, forgot about writing other, but how to make an obstacle to their Growing up, my favourite book was ... again and again in his novels and sto- for publication and just started writing a relationship that takes a bit of energy to The Incredible Adventures of Professor ries. His Ireland is populated with often story that would entertain me, the same circumvent? It’s vital. Branestawm by Norman Hunter lonely and complex characters coming way as I wrote Addition. The biggest chal- Della says, ‘If I can intrigue myself, it’s also to terms with the past and the repercus- lenge I have in writing is just getting out of possible to intrigue a mark’. Does that reflect sions of decisions. Spain is a my own way. And Della is a product of her The last book I didn’t finish was ... the way you approach your writing? place of sexual freedom, dark politics; a conditioning, like the rest of us. She thinks The Mystery of Edwin Drood (mind country haunted, offering the outsider she’s completely in the right. I’m continual- Absolutely. I’m just a normal reader. If I’m you, Dickens didn’t finish it either) a certain anonymity. ly amazed by the ability of people to justify interested in what I’m writing, the odds almost anything. I hope readers can see the are that someone else will be interested If I could invite three fictional charac- Three of the nine stories are set in world from her point of view. as well. I love nothing more than writing ters to a dinner party, they’d be ... Spain, the rest are in Ireland. Charac- something amusing. Julius, Della’s cousin, ters and narrators return to, or move Della says, ‘Memory is the most important had me in stitches the whole time. I just Very surprised to receive an invitation. about, the cities and country. In ‘One tool of the trade’. Is this also the case for a thought he was hilarious. Iganatius Reilly (from A Confederacy Minus One’, the man comes home to writer? Do you draw on the remembered, of Dunces), Mr Pooter (from Diary his dying mother and her quiet death. or the observed, in your writing? Or is it all ‘Every family is like a country ... With its own of a Nobody) and Lord Marchmain Upon returning to America, he realises imagined? leadership and language and customs, just (from Brideshead Revisted) ‘that it was too late now ... I would like a country has.’ Was it fun creating this not be given a second chance ... I have I have a rubbish imagination, but I’m very particular family, with its very particular code to tell you this struck me almost with observant and have a very good memory. A book that always cheers me up is ... and dynamics? How integral is that ‘country’ relief.’ In ‘The Empty Family’, another I think it’s a matter of noticing a few dif- and its customs to the book? My Name Escapes Me by Alec Guin- exile moves back to a home he has been ferent things and then combining them in ness sending books and paintings to for interesting ways. That was the greatest fun. I loved the idea years, also from America. He returns of this family of ten, all living in this run- My favourite place to read is ... for a visit, uncertain of whether he’ll Fall Girl, with its dusty glamour, sharp down mansion, just interacting with each one-liners and nutty capers, seems to echo the On the train stay. Tóibín’s writing is always infused other. I could have written scene after scene with a melancholy, its basis no doubt wonderful romantic comedies of an earlier – of them just doing stuff cooking or arguing being, as he commented in a recent cinematic age, with stars like Cary Grant, – or playing Scrabble except it would have The last book I gave as a gift was ... interview, a result of suffering ‘cer- and Katherine or Audrey Hepburn. Did you had nothing to do with the story. And yes, have these movies in mind as an influence at Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen tain hurts in childhood’. Paul in ‘The the family was vital to the story. They all Colour of Shadows’ is a young gay man all? have the ability to take on almost any iden- The books on my bedside table are ... who lovingly attends to the final days, Actually I did have exactly those films tity they want. Almost everyone changes in a nursing home, of his aunt (a close in mind as a model. I love them. Today’s their name over the course of the book. So Automatic Vaudeville by John Lahr friend of Rose Lacey, a character from romantic comedy films give the genre a bad if you’re not defined by your name, or your and Dickens by Peter Akroyd his novel Brooklyn). Tóibín also returns name, I think. A proper romantic comedy job, then what defines you? Your family? to that larger-than-life figure of Lady And then what happens if you lose that? I has witty and intelligent dialogue and fasci- My favourite bookish quote is ... Augusta Gregory, of whom he has writ- nating characters, and also says something think that identity is more tenuous than we ten a brief memoir. broader about the world. All the time I was think. ‘in the room itself there was no sound writing Fall Girl, I tried to imagine Cary except the insect voice of the clock ...’ The Empty Family is a sad, poignant, Your first novel,Addition , had mathematics Grant as Daniel and Audrey Hepburn as (From George Orwell’s 1984) melancholic and at times challenging as a running thread. Science plays a crucial Della. Bringing up baby inspired the chasing collection of stories. I’ve always enjoyed role in Fall Girl. Both are unconventional of the wild animal bit and Charade inspired Tóibín’s clear, open writing, inviting ingredients for romantic comedy. What’s the the false identity bit. (Della even chooses us into his world, laying open his head attraction, for you? Canfield as her surname, which was one of and heart. As Heather Ingman com- mented in her review in the Irish Times, Cary Grant’s.) And the glamour came from What do you mean ‘unconventional ‘for Tóibín’s protagonists, happiness To Catch a Thief. ingredients for romantic comedy’? Are remains fragile, even elusive ... savour you implying that science isn’t sexy and/or the silences between the words, there Your books use humour beautifully to tell a funny? Both mathematics and evolutionary are rich rewards in this collection’. story. What draws you to humorous writing? biology are incredibly amusing and sexy as Is it a conscious stylistic decision, or is that hell, thank you very much. Or maybe that’s Dan Carroll is from Readings simply the way you naturally tell a story? just me. Port Melbourne 6 Readings Monthly November 2010 New Fiction reviews HAND ME DOWN WORLD the general gist. With Fall Girl, you also get Lloyd Jones a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud story, all set in The pAper greek pilgriMAge* Text. PB. $32.95 a Victoria that we know and love. gArden* John carroll Thirty-eight pages into Lloyd Fall Girl is a fun read written by one of Molly peacock A meditation on Jones’s new work, Hand Me Melbourne's most accessible writers. I will A beautifully classical Greece, and Down World, the snail be surprised if Fall Girl does not become the illustrated biography a travel book in the collector describes the shells grand sense, Greek book to take to the beach, pool, or park over of an extraordinary of snails as being unique in eighteenth-century Pilgrimage explores summer. Sometimes we all need a little es- woman, and horizons of land, sea, their ordinariness. It is a cape from our own mundane lives and with a fascinating and mind. striking line because as the Toni Jordan, one is in very safe hands. meditation on late- book unfolds, we meet many Chris Gordon is events coordinator at Readings life creativity. types of ‘ordinariness’ contained within a completely unique book. Moonlight Mile Hand Me Down World is a thing of beauty, Dennis Lehane The counTesses The pen And The with the story of Ines (not her real name), an Little, Brown. PB. Normally $32.99 of cAsTello* sTeThoscope African refugee who travels to Berlin looking Our special price $27.95 Milena Agus leah kaminsky (ed.) for her son, becoming a modern-day parable Patrick Kenzie and wife This enchanting A unique collection of of betrayal, love, dignity and courage in the Angela Gennaro shared a modern fairytale fiction and non-fiction face of unimaginable obstacles. long and eventful history of from the author of by doctor–writers that criminal investigations and The House in Via gives us a fascinating Jones’s craft shines through in both the de- detective work before Manno will delight, look behind the ceptively simple language and the structure becoming lovers and settling intrigue, and doctor’s mask. of the book as a whole. We don’t hear from surprise. down as parents. These days, Ines herself until the fourth part and by she battles boredom as a then we have heard all about other people’s stay-at-home housewife and he takes on impressions and memories of (and guilt safe and soulless cases in the hopes of connected with) Ines. We know this silent, landing job security and a half-decent Ah-choo!* The Age of AuTisM* dignified woman, who has always known paycheque. Jennifer Ackerman dan olmsted & intimately what survival is, has had to deal The sixth in the series (but the first for this An entertaining Mark Blaxill with both humane and inhumane responses look at the common A groundbreaking book to her circumstances. What we don’t know, reviewer), it’s clear that there’s a lot of history, cold from one of examining the link until Ines speaks herself, is how the world regret and exhaustion, particularly in Kenzie. America’s most between mercury and appears from her perspective. And what she He’s jaded and ageing faster than he’d like: acclaimed science a range of disorders, tells us may not be what we were expecting. tracking down embezzlers, cheaters and writers, the author including autism, that insurance fraud has left him feeling trapped of Sex, Sleep, Eat, points the way to a Jones has created a thoroughly modern sto- and disgusted. In their glory days 13 years Drink, Dream. safer future. ry of people-smuggling, illegal immigrants, earlier, Kenzie and Gennaro were on the racism, dispossession, discontent and case of missing four-year-old Amanda Mc- honour while seamlessly weaving beauty, Cready, risking everything to track her down. breath, love and landscape throughout his Amanda was found and returned home to www.scribepublications.com.au *Also available as eBooks pages. We hear from ordinary men (and it her addicted and neglectful mother. 13 years is mostly men) who turn against Ines, and later, brilliant student Amanda has a Harvard the ordinary men and women who support scholarship waiting but has disappeared again. and assist the black African woman washed Her aunt accosts Kenzie and insists that he is A journey through the history, up on the coast of Italy. obligated to find her and do things right this And then, there is the fifth part. I won’t spoil time. Re-opening old wounds raises all kinds culture and mean streets of Naples the read but Hand Me Down World packs of questions about the morality of returning a fierce emotional punch. It is rare to find children to birth parents who are incapable by the acclaimed bestselling author a writer who can take very contemporary of looking after themselves properly and how complex and divisive issues such as interna- the dry machinations of the law don’t always ooff MMidnightidnight in SSicilyicily aandnd M tional adoptions, privilege, tourism, border result in justice. security, nationalism and gender politics and Regrets aside, Kenzie and Gennaro have turn them into a compelling, breathtaking, more to risk now, with car chases, shooting heartbreaking read. Hand Me Down World is and threats made not just against their safety a truly remarkable book. but also their young daughter’s. As they Pip Newling is from Readings Port Melbourne. delve deeper, it seems clear that Amanda Her memoir is Knockabout Girl. doesn’t want to be found and has bigger se- crets of her own to hide. Written in a gritty, Fall Girl modern gum-shoe style, Lehane clearly has a Toni Jordan cinematic eye as the story unfolds with a few Text. PB. $32.95 red herrings in amongst the bloody murder Look, to be honest, Toni scenes. Some of the scenarios seem highly Jordan is funny. Her writing unlikely but, as with a movie, it’s all done can make you laugh out to entertain and keep the reader (or cinema loud. Her style has a certain goer) on the edge of their seat. seductive lightness. We, dear Kath Lockett is a freelance reviewer readers, found this out in Toni’s first madly successful Preincarnate novel, Addition. Here, in her Shaun Micallef second, Fall Girl, we get a little more of her Hardie Grant. PB. $29.95 wacky characters that do seem to live in our If Preincarnate had a world in the sense that they buy coffee, soundtrack, Danny Elfman clothes and have trouble with their friends would have composed it, and parents, but yet are amusing in that with lyrics provided by Barry eccentric Four Weddings and Funeral fashion. Humphries and the film clip In the end, Toni writes about unconven- made by the boys behind The tional people falling in love. Peter Robb’s Street Fight in Naples ranges across nearly League of Gentlemen. This book sees Shaun Micallef three thousand years of Neapolitan life and art, from the Fall Girl centres on Ella Canfield, bril- liant biologist (or is she?) and ‘surpris- swing a sledgehammer through the fourth fi rst Greek landings in Italy to his own less auspicious ingly’ attractive, meeting Daniel Metcalf, (and fifth) wall in order to take his readers arrival thirty-something years ago. millionaire, ‘surprisingly’ attractive – and on an impossible journey through time. dishevelled. So far, one can see the end Suspend your disbelief (no, seriously ... line. Girl meets boy and they fall in love. suspend it) as you delve into a world only a Well, not so fast – this is, after all, writ- mind like Micallef’s could create. ten by Toni Jordan, who is funny. There Using the least-traditional form of time are twists in this story – think of the BBC travel available, Dan Brownesque ‘Catholic show Hustle and then combine that with Mason’-style secrets and a narrator narrating any film with Hugh Grant in it and you get a book that was never written, Shaun has Readings Monthly November 2010 7 put his artistic license to good use. I won’t Mary Ann in Autumn lie, I was a fan of Shaun’s long before I read Armistead Maupin it. (What’s not to love about the guy who, Doubleday. PB. Normally $32.95 while hosting Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Genera- Our special price $27.95 tion, will come out with this gem, ‘We’re a It’s been 25 years since Mary Channel Ten show, do you really think the Ann left for New York, answers would be Andy Warhol or Lichten- swapping a rocky marriage stein?’) This is one really funny book. Mi- and an adopted daughter for callef has managed to transfer his irreverent a career in television. Now sense of humour beautifully onto paper, pro- Spotlight On: at the age of 57 she returns, ducing a book that is as interesting, clever, hat in hand, to San Fran- funny and distinguished as the Silver Fox cisco after her second himself. All of this makes Preincarnate sim- marriage has gone awry and a cancer has Things Bogans Like ply a really enjoyable book to read. Although been found in her uterus. So begins this Jo Case interviews the authors of Things Bogans Like (Hachette, PB, $24.99) hard at first, I found once I’d succumbed, it latest instalment of the glorious Tales of the was very refreshing to read a mystery novel City chronicles. What’s the difference between the ‘harmless’ The bogan loves Underbelly because, much without the pressure of trying to work out bogan and the aspirational bogan? like Big Brother, the bogan can see itself on what was going on. Indeed, I can confidently Rabid fans of this series (of which I am un- Underbelly. Despite its own criminal activity state that the story and events are so original ashamedly one) will be overjoyed to catch up Fundamentally, the ‘harmless’ bogan is being mostly petty, and distinctly disorgan- and unique, you will not be able to pick in with Tales regulars Michael ‘Mouse’ Tolliver, self-actualised. It is comfortable in the ised in nature, the bogan likes to think of advance a single occurrence or happening. DeDe Halcyon-Wilson and the irrepress- knowledge that it likes cheap beer, pub itself as being pretty gangster. But a steady All you will be assured of, by an argument ible Mrs Madrigal, who is now well into rock and machismo. It does not need the diet of US crime films, television series and with the editor early on in the book through her eighties, as well as some new characters validation of its peers, strangers or celeb- rap music has left the bogan bereft of suit- footnotes,* is that there will be no badger introduced in the seventh book Michael Toll- rities. It does not hold Harvey Norman ably celeb Australian gangster role models. stories. Expect the unexpected. And perhaps iver Lives. As with the last book, we envision in as high a regard, will not be caught Underbelly provides the bogan with ample even then don’t expect that. these characters’ lives once the dust of the dead in a brightly coloured t-shirt with role models – amped-up criminals with 1980s has settled. After being cajoled into a picture of an aborted dragon, and does ocker accents, behaving at their absolute *Not since Terry Pratchett have footnotes joining Facebook, Mary Ann is contacted not want to smell like Usher. It does been used in such an amusing and enter- bogan worst. Underbelly also contains Matt by a stranger from the past claiming to have not aspire to be something it is not. We Newton, who the bogan forgave for bashing taining way. knowledge of events that only she is privy like it. Dani Solomon is from Readings Carlton his partner, but has now bashed to. Meanwhile, her now-adult daughter, another partner, giving the bogan yet an- Shawna, befriends a mysterious homeless How do you spot a bogan in the wild? What Sunset Park might we see a typical bogan wearing, doing other chance to forgive him at a later date. woman and Michael’s husband Ben keeps The bogan likes this. Paul Auster encountering an elderly man at the park who or driving? A&U. PB. $32.99 confides in him. It is nearly impossible not to spot a You observe that the female bogan has adopted Paul Auster’s fiction has a lot bogan in the wild. Typically, the bogan is the Playboy brand as an expression of femi- in common with life in the As with all of his soap-operatic gems, Mau- known to emit a radioactive hue created nism. How does this work? United States, post 2001. pin’s craft with dialogue, wit and the weaving by its garish clothing combined with the Baseball functions better as a of these disparate threads of plot and sub-plot Interpretations of femininity vary from pungent stench of its celebrity-endorsed myth than as an exciting is masterful and Mary Ann in Autumn is no person to person, but for the female bogan, perfume. Its eyes are rarely ever seen as spectator sport. Compelling exception. The only criticism I have is that the it generally relates to showing as much cleav- they are obscured behind loudly branded stories coexist with fuzzy pay-off in this novel is somewhat reliant on age as possible. Female bogans believe that D&G or Christian Dior sunglasses. It is morality. White people and characters and situations that were conceived they can attract suitable breeding partners likely to be yelling into its mobile phone, men get most of the attention. Everyone in the first Tales of the City and readers of this by making their sexuality as visible and whilst simultaneously listening to very seems to be having problematic sex. Happy chapter would benefit from reading it. But confronting as possible, the result being loud ‘beats’ in its fluorescent Australian- endings are increasingly unlikely. Thanks to really, I’d use any excuse possible to re-read that they attract the bogan male, who also made automobile. Looking directly at a Auster’s considerable work ethic, his new any of these novels. As with the others, as has little appreciation for subtlety and good bogan in the wild for more than five min- novel Sunset Park is as contemporary as an much as I wanted to savour Mary Ann in Au- taste. Playboy is a natural fit for this system. utes is likely to result in maximum retinal abandoned house and a shuttered business. tumn in bite-sized pieces, I guiltily consumed The female bogan knows that the Playboy scorching. Caution is advised. Like the new America, Auster’s standing it in chunks. Mansion has awesome parties, champagne, Jason Austin is from Readings Carlton may owe more to reputation than recent ‘The bogan’s love of free money lies at the luxury cars and heaps of money. The female history, but his latest coherently evokes the heart of all our economic woes.’ Why? bogan wants these things, and will display messes made of a decade, a country and a The Philanthropist its pornographically branded G-string and family. John Tesarsch The bogan’s love for free money lies at car-seat covers with pride. This, to the bogan Sleepers. PB. $27.95 the core of what we call ‘Boganomics’. female, is feminism. Miles Heller, the protagonist, first appears The Philanthropist is the first The twenty-first-century bogan is gifted while trashing out homes that have been novel by Melbourne barrister with the attention span of a blowfly, What is the role of the letter ‘x’ for the bogan? foreclosed in the wake of the financial John Tesarsch. Charles which means it must act immediately, How are some of the ways it is employed, and crisis. He has responded to the death of his Bradshaw, a high-flying without giving the time to consider the what does it signify? stepbrother by renouncing his privileged businessman, is in his late consequences. For the bogan, it is more The most important symbol in the bogan life for blue-collar exile. Money is tight, sixties when he has a heart important to get a 50” plasma screen alphabet, the letter ‘x’ signifies extremeness, but Miles lives an austere and invisible life. attack while swimming at NOW, than to consider the attendant maximumness, and, most of all, maxtreme- When he falls in love with a high school Brighton beach. He is rescued financial culpability that it will have to ness. In a nutshell, the letter ‘x’ is used to girl reading F. Scott Fitzgerald, however, from death’s clutches and awakes in a hospital grapple with 18 months down the track. make things awesome. For example, a kid Miles sets the plot in motion – toward New room, weakened and scared. Slow to recover, Of course, skyrocketing consumer debt named Jackson would undoubtedly be York and his past. Charles fears that his time on earth is limited. can have dramatic consequences, but the small, weedy and wear glasses, whereas a But there is something else he is afraid of. He After more than 30 prolific years, Auster bogan has learnt nothing from the global Jaxxon would be the toughest kid in the is visited in his dreams by a familiar face from has an impressive bag of writerly tricks and financial malaise which it helped create. playground and captain of the footy team. many years ago. The book explores Charles’s a willingness to use them. He has been It continues Marketers have long known the mystical relationships: with his son and daughter, his plotting good stories since his days writ- to add to its Elvis Presley-esque col- bogan hypnotising powers of ‘x’, and have wife, his estranged lover from many years ago ing detective novels, and it shows. Sunset lection of TVs, and amass jet skis and used it to stoke the bogan’s desire for prod- and with his own father. It portrays family Park also owes a lot to Auster’s relationship McMansions with an unabated appetite. ucts such as Lynx, the manly diet cola Pepsi dysfunction that is as easily inherited as the with his own family, especially an insight- Resultantly, the entire global economic Max, Xtreme triple-blade action disposable family’s business and wealth. Charles, despite ful take on fatherhood that carries much system teeters on the edge of a knife shavers, and The X-Factor. of the book. The atmosphere is convincing his money, is unhappy, feels alone and is still which is jointly wielded by the bogan and, as Auster writes it, New York is almost struggling to come to grips with terrible and its international brethren. The bo- ‘The bogan is living a constant audition to be a post-apocalyptic. Even so, much of the con- mistakes made in his past. gan cares not. contestant on Big Brother.’ How does this play tent feels familiar, even conservative, like Guilt, justice and retribution are examined out? And now that Big Brother has been axed, a classic car with the chrome stripped off. You write that sex addiction is ‘the bogan’s where does the bogan redirect its ambitions? here, not only through Charles’s character favourite fake addiction’. Why? The central male characters are stormy, with but through the rest of the book’s cast, and good but damaged hearts. Secondary female The primary boganic appeal of Big Brother Tesarsch is clearly familiar with the corridors Sex addiction provides a convenient is the illusion it created that anyone can be characters suffer emotional breakdowns and of the courthouse. Yet as a character novel, scapegoat on which the bogan can blame find redemption through men. Persistence famous; nay, that everyone deserves to be The Philanthropist lacks the depth and touch its sexual proclivities. More importantly, famous. Just for being them. This tickles and genius are to be admired. Impulse is of comparable books in the genre. Colm celebrities are commonly known to be dangerous. Sunset Park, somewhat ap- the bogan in a particularly special place. Big Tóibín’s The Heather Blazing is a controlled ‘sex addicts’, which only serves to increase Brother has since been axed. But the dream propriately, is as flawed as its characters. It and moving study of an ageing man that also its allure. Thus, when the bogan finds requires some history and tolerance for po- of being famous with very little effort is still uses the law as a vehicle for examining the itself in a spot of infidelity, it reassures alive in the bogan’s mind. The bogan is now litical symbols and self-conscious narration. protagonist. But whereas Tóibín captures his itself that it simply suffers from the same Like the US, Sunset Park is not everything hastily signing up for multiple short courses character with deft prose and restrained writ- disease that allowed Tiger Woods to cheat in order to develop world-class skills in we would like it to be, but it is difficult to ing, Tesarsch’s Charles Bradshaw is simply on his wife. dismiss. cookery, singing, dancing and/or survival not as well-formed. in extreme wilderness environments by Luke Meinzen is an intern at Sleepers Underbelly is ‘the televisual equivalent of Publishing and a freelance reviewer whose It is difficult to write an unlikeable character bogan heaven’. Why? extracting the nutrient-rich fluid found in employers have included Salon.com and can be even harder to read about one, elephant poo. but when it’s done well it can be a master- 8 Readings Monthly November 2010 piece. The Philanthropist is ambitious in ness to the edition, and sophistication. It is While insisting that any similarities between and in and out of the lives and affections of its premise but doesn’t quite achieve what refreshingly non-parochial; we do, entertain- himself and his troubled protagonist are ex- the citizens of ‘The Isabel’, a slice of Australia it sets out to do. However, the ideas here ingly, learn more about the world. clusively geographical, Cowell has provided scattered with prospectors, artists, no-hopers are strong. Read it for familiar glimpses of an engaging recollection of youth in the and visionaries. The standouts for me were Marie Darrie- Melbourne, an insight into the law and an country’s early 1990s, chronicling the songs ussecq’s ‘My Fall in Calcutta’ – a very funny Good Weekend’s tongue-in-cheek fashion col- exploration of guilt and conscience. and the recreational drugs of the era with tale about a writer’s decadent holidaying umnist Maggie Alderson has a very different Virginia Millen is an editor and a freelance precision and a contagious, yet melancholy, in India, ‘pasteurising her conscience’ by readership from McDonald’s, but it’s just as reviewer nostalgia. His treatment of youth unemploy- visiting a leprosarium, and then falling into large and enthusiastic. Shall We Dance (Mi- ment and suicide, an almost forgotten yet an open-air sewage channel. Krissy Kneen’s chael Joseph, PB, $32.95) is a deliciously fun ubiquitous feature of Australia’s last period War Dances ‘Steeplechase’ is an excellent addition, too – novel about life, love, fashion and their vari- of economic austerity, is forceful without Sherman Alexie a disturbing narrative from a young girl on ous pitfalls. London’s vintage fashion queen being didactic, and his portrait of Cronulla, Scribe. PB. $26.95 the cusp of fully realised sexuality, exploring Loulou Landers is resisting the temptation to a place that has become an unfortunate Early this year, I stumbled on the complexities (and occasional brutality) of ‘go cougar’ for a younger man who resembles byword for xenophobia, acknowledges its a story in The New Yorker sibling power relations. It’s a riveting story. George Clooney; dealing with a headstrong nativist outlook while still evoking sympathy that blew me away. It made This edition also features new poetry, an daughter who wears chain-store clothes, won’t for the suburb’s intense communal instincts me laugh. It intrigued me. It essay, and memoir pieces from Luke Davies move out and won’t get a job; and on the and natural beauty. made me think, it made me and Kate Holden, who styles an absorb- brink of an unsuitable affair. question. And it got me, ing piece about living in Shanghai for four The portrayal of the protagonist’s fleeting en- Another book that’s been deep down, at my emotional months, cleverly integrating Don Quixote counters with his aloof father sets the tone for much talked about within core, in a way that no short into her story. Neil’s strained friendships and the emotional Readings is Chloe Aridjis’s story has before. It was ‘War Dances’, the Rebecca Starford is associate publisher at immaturity of the male characters. There are Book of Clouds (Vintage, PB, titular story of this collection. What’s so Affirm Press and editor of Kill Your Darlings times where Cowell appears on the cusp of $24.95), which books special about ‘War Dances’? It’s a strikingly probing the minds of other men in the story, division manager Martin original story about a liberal middle-class only to use Neil’s egotism to absolve himself The Distant Hours Shaw is a huge fan of. And Indian American man reflecting on his own Kate Morton of the responsibility, but this does not hamper mysterious illness (which begins with he’s not alone – the New York A&U. HB. $39.99 a remarkably absorbing first novel. hearing loss and escalates to a possible brain Times had this to say: ‘First novels by young Our special price $34.95 Sean Gleeson is a freelance reviewer tumour) and on the death of his father, ‘an writers who see the world with a fresh, Only those who have lived alcoholic, diabetic Indian with terminally original vision and write about it with clarity under a rock for the last four Somebody to Love damaged kidneys’. It’s told in several parts: and restraint are rare enough to begin with. years can be forgiven for Steve Holden shifting from a scene in the hospital ward When you add in the fact that Chloe Aridjis’ having not heard of the UQP. PB. $24.95 with his father after his feet are amputated, Book of Clouds is also a stunningly accurate publishing behemoth that is searching for an Indian family to cadge a Three bodies lie in the rooms portrait of Berlin, as well as a thoughtful Australian author Kate warm blanket from (‘You’re stereotyping of a funeral home in a portrayal of a young Mexican Jew drifting Morton. The Distant Hours your own damn people,’ says a visitor, who Tasmanian town, waiting to through her life abroad, this novel becomes follows the huge interna- then hands him a blanket); to a stark, be prepared for burial. During required reading of the most pleasurable sort.’ tional successes of The Shifting Fog and The blackly humorous ‘Exit Interview With My her careful reconstruction of Forgotten Garden, and it’s another absorbing Douglas Coupland (Generation X) has long Father’; to joking on the phone with his the remains, the home’s romantic thriller that will delight Morton’s been fascinated by the idea of the apoca- wife, who is visiting her mother in Rome, millions of fans. mortician reflects upon her lypse, and how it might play out. In Player ‘maybe you can plant an eagle feather and transition from male to One (Heinemann, PB, $29.95), he imagines claim that you just discovered Catholicism’. Evacuated from London as a 13-year-old female, on her life, and the love she feels for the end as a result of peak oil. Four strangers In the first story, ‘Breaking and Entering’, a girl, Edie Burchill’s mother was chosen by one of the men before her. are in an airport bar when news emerges that middle-class Indian man hits a black the mysterious Juniper Blythe. She was taken oil has hit $250 a barrel, prompting chemi- intruder (a teenager) with a baseball bat and to live at the grand Milderhurst Castle, also Steve Holden’s second book rings with elegant prose, fastidious attention to every cal clouds in the sky, a sniper and more – accidentally kills him – and is caught up in a home to Juniper’s twin sisters and their trapping them inside. media storm. In another, lighter story, ‘The father, Raymond, the author of children’s detail of a mortician’s trade (and other trades Ballad of Paul Nonetheless’, a middle-aged book The True History of the Mud Man. involving cadavers you’d prefer to never have Andreï Makine draws on his experience of hipster tries and fails to connect with the Fifty years on, Edie is chasing answers to a known about), and the struggle the main growing up in Soviet Russia in The Life of people around him in all the wrong ways – mysterious, long-lost letter that arrives at her character goes through being a transsexual in an Unknown Man (Headline, PB, $32.99), notably, using pop culture and witticisms. door, postmarked Milderhurst Castle. Edie’s a small town. As she tends to the drowned about a long-exiled, disillusioned writer who Alexie masterfully blends humour, storytell- inexplicably drawn to her mother’s former Esterhazen girl, the Kremmer boy’s desecrat- returns to St Petersburg hoping to reconnect ing, politics and humanity, creating gripping home and encounters for herself its now ed remains, and Mr Phillips, beguiling even with his youth and the woman he once loved characters in the process. His stories decaying insides, and the Sisters Blythe who in death, the violent world she inhabits – – but finds neither she nor the brash new confront issues of race and class in America still live together within its walls. both in the funeral home and outside it – is Russia are what he expected at all. Makine from a nuanced, knowingly complex and discussed so gently as to be almost tender. explores the idea that perhaps, for all its hor- necessarily contradictory, standpoint. Buy What follows is a tale of dark secrets, family rors, life under Communism was richer than histories, and what it is to discover the joys The writing style of Somebody To Love is more this book – it’s amazing. for those who like to invest a leisurely amount it is now. Jo Case is editor of Readings Monthly of books and reading (all common themes in Morton’s work). But what I found so of their afternoons in reading than those who, Austenmaniacs and literary lovers alike will be like me, read in patchy increments on the GRIFFITH REVIEW 30: THE clever about The Distant Hours is that it’s drawn to this gorgeous new annotated edition entirely devoid of cliché; the characters are train and in the lunchroom and prefer their of Pride and Prejudice (Harvard University ANNUAL FICTION EDITION likeable but entirely believable, and the nar- books to be clear enough to pick up and put Press, HB, $54.95), lushly furnished with Julianne Schultz (ed.) rative is unexpected but always satisfying. down without needing much time to reflect. full-colour illustrations. Scholar Patricia Text. PB. $24.95 This is old-fashioned storytelling at its best The book has a main character whose thought Meyer Spacks considers Jane Austen’s life and Julianne Schultz’s editorial and it gets my vote as one of the best books and speech patterns tend to the mannered career, the continuing appeal of Austen’s most highlights the difficulty of of the year so far. and meandering, and I found myself reread- popular novel, and its power as a stimulus for reading a cohesive narrative Steph Little is a publicist at Hardie Grant and ing sentences a few times and feeling, occa- fantasy, as well as notes on literary and histori- from the recent federal a freelance reviewer sionally, a little lost within the text. It would cal context that provide the opportunity for election, bombarded as we be best to avoid this book if you have suffered new meaning and fresh readings of this liter- were with newspaper, How it Feels a recent bereavement, as the gritty truth of ary classic and old favourite. television, radio and internet Brendan Cowell death is there on display and is fairly unpleas- stories, each superseding the ant. Our protagonist is unreliable in her Picador. PB. $32.99 other in the static of campaigning. ‘Journal- narration of events, a technique that remains Neil Cronk, precocious ism,’ she writes, ‘may provide the first draft of very interesting but occasionally frustrating. thespian and Sutherland history, but it is increasingly ill-suited to Somebody To Love requires effort, but for the Poetry Shire native, has graduated Here (Houghton Mifflin, making sense of the big story [...] of making right reader, it will be worth it. from high school and HB, $33) is the exciting new sense of the full complexity.’ Reading great Fiona Hardy is from Readings Carlton outgrown the cloistered collection from beloved fiction, she continues, can also be ‘a way of community of Sydney’s Polish poet Wislawa Szymbo- learning about the world’. This annual fiction southern beaches. Spurning rska. On its publication, edition is a compilation of stories from the devoted Gordon, teenage Polish reviewers marvelled, Australian as well as French, Chinese and soulmate Courtney and the brutish and ‘How is it she keeps getting New Zealand writers. And it has an impres- Round-up of more drug-addled Stuart, Neil relocates to London better?’ Booklist said, ‘No sive list of contributors: 2010 Miles Franklin via Bathurst, insulating himself from his past reader, not even poetry-phobes, should miss winner Peter Temple, Janet Turner Hospital, new fiction while gliding into theatrical success and Major Australian writer Roger McDonald the bright revelations of Nobel laureate Eva Hornung and Marion Halligan, along sexual debauchery. An act of violence forces is back with When Colts Ran (Vintage, PB, Szymborska. [She] is sharply ironic and with some of Australia’s most promising new Neil to confront the cost of his self-absorp- $32.95), his first novel since his 2006 Miles lithely philosophical, pondering the phe- talents, such as Alice Pung and Patrick tion, as he returns home to contend with Franklin win with The Ballad of Desmond nomenal precision of dreams and the Allington. drug addiction, suicide and the impending Kale, described as ‘a rollicking extrava- elusiveness of meaning. The neat, prancing There is a subtle political thread to most of marriage of his first love. ganza that tells a ripping yarn’ by the Sydney lyrics collected in this slender, piercing book the stories – but that’s hardly unexpected Morning Herald. The new novel, alternately are delectable and profound.’Human Chain Brendan Cowell’s literary debut relies heavily when many of them are set in the Asia-Pacif- humorous and hard-bitten, is flavoured by (Faber, PB, $29.99) is the new collection on autobiography – like Cronk, the star of ic region. But these settings and their preoc- McDonald’s trademark love of language and from one of the world’s most renowned Love My Way and Beneath Hill 60 was raised cupations – cultural ignorance, the barriers intimacy with the Australian landscape. It fol- living poets, Seamus Heaney. A major event in Cronulla and studied theatre at Charles of language, individual isolation in thriving lows the story of Kingsley Colts as he chases in the poetry world. Sturt University before a sojourn in London. metropolises – lend a great deal of truthful- the ghost of himself through the decades, Readings Monthly November 2010 9

New Crime Dead Write with Fiona Hardy If you’ve made the frighten- Some of crime’s bestselling when it is discovered not only that the man out of his window to see a slaughtered horse ing discovery that a friend writers have new releases out may not have been dead when he was put lying on the beach. But by the time he has you previously thought was this month, ready to whip into the Center’s cooler, but that the internal called it in to police, the carcass has gone. savvy hasn’t actually read you into a frenzy. John injuries he has suffered indicate something This case will involve Montalbano with the anything by Stieg Larsson, Grisham tackles an interesting much bigger, and unleash a conspiracy that Mafia, the glamour of the racetrack and the now is the perfect time to subject in The Confession could ruin Scarpetta completely. comic writing Camilleri is known for. The sigh and point dramatically (Century, HB, Normally atmospheric, fog-shrouded valleys of North- at this page. With the recent $49.95, Our special price Dennis Lehane follows up his ern Italy are the setting of Valerio Varesi’s release of the second film, a bunch of new $39.95), where football star Donté Drumm is bestselling Gone, Baby, Gone River of Shadows (Maclehose Press, PB, editions – and older editions with great new about to be executed for a murder he did not (also a film directed by Casey $32.95), where an empty barge floats down prices – are flooding the market. This commit. For every innocent person in jail, the Affleck) with its sequel, the river, and the boatman’s brother appar- month, you can pick up three of the film guilty party is gratefully free, but what Moonlight Mile (Little, ently commits suicide the same night. With tie-in editions of the Millennium Trilogy for happens in this case if that person – diag- Brown, PB, Normally $32.99, the brothers serving in the fascist militia half a the price of two! To start the series, there’s nosed with a fatal disease – wants to confess, Our special price $27.95). See century earlier, echoes of the war are found as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Film Tie-In and those proud folk who prosecuted our Readings review on p6. Commissario Soneri fights the weather as well (Maclehose Press, PB, $24.95), the introduc- Drumm don’t want to hear it? Boris Akunin’s He Lover of Death (Weidenfeld as those trying to hide the truth. tion into the enthralling world of computer and Nicolson, PB, $29.99) is a standalone Jeffery Deaver’s Edge (Hodder Headline, PB, Garry Disher’s newest Wyatt hacker Lisbeth Salander and investigative book that can also be read as the companion $32.99) sees protection officer Corte assigned book, the aptly named Wyatt journalist Mikael Blomkvist, two people book to Akunin’s She Lover of Death, and to police detective Ryan Kessler’s family, (Text, PB, $23.95), is now in who are drawn together to find a girl missing follows orphan Senka Skorikov as he lays eyes who have been targeted by Henry Loving, a a smaller and cheaper format, for 40 years. But, as with all of the Millen- upon the most beautiful woman he has ever ‘lifter’ – someone who will stop at nothing so if you’ve been dithering nium Trilogy, that’s only part of a layered seen (named Death for the life expectancy to extract the information he needs to get. about whether to read the and thought-provoking tale. Following that, of those who woo her) and joins the gang When the opportunity arises for Corte – who reserved anti-hero’s thieving we have The Girl Who Played With Fire Film headed by Death’s lover to be near her. He has a personal reason to hate Loving – to exploits, now’s the time. Tie-In (Maclehose Press, PB, $24.95), which succeeds in his new lifestyle, which makes cer- take his revenge, will he do so, and endanger sees Salander framed for a double murder, tain folk unhappy – and can Erast Fandorin those he has sworn to protect? And Mum, if and Blomkvist doing his best to solve the uncover who is after Senka? crime and try to help Lisbeth, all the while you’re reading this, can you cut out the fol- Special Offers trying to predict her plans when he has no lowing book’s details and hide it from Dad? Leif Persson’s Between Summer’s Longing and Millenium Trilogy way to contact her. The Girl who Kicked the It’s just that I’m going to buy this for him Winter’s End (Doubleday, PB, $32.95) is the Boxed Set Hornet’s Nest Film Tie-In (Maclehose Press, for Christmas. Dad, if you’re reading this, first book in the newest trilogy to capture Maclehose Press. HB. Normally $99.95 PB, $24.95) will be out in November, can you pretend to be surprised when you the Swedish imagination, and a fictionalised Our special price $79.95 though unfortunately the movie looks like it open a rectangular parcel containing Patricia account of the events that led to the notorious This gorgeous boxed set includes the three won’t be released until March 2011. With Cornwell’s newest, Port Mortuary (Little, death of Swedish president Olof Palme. books in hardcover, along with a fourth vol- Brown, HB, Normally $49.99, Our special Salander recovering in hospital after the Mediterranean crime is at the ume that includes essays by those who knew events of The Girl Who Played With Fire, and price $39.95)? Thanks. It’s a novel that harks Stieg and a whole host of other information. back to Scarpetta’s roots, in both its writing fore this month with Andrea faced with some tricky questions when (and Camilleri’s newest Inspector if) she gets better, the political and the style and content, as her military past sees Millenium Trilogy her at an air force base involved in a training Montalbano book, The Track personal come to a head in a book that of Sand (Penguin USA, PB, 3 for 2 Offer encompasses Sweden’s highest-ranking program. When a young man dies and is sent The film tie-in editions are now $24.95 each to the Cambridge Forensic Center, of which $25), a tale that has Sicilian officials and will hold you in thrall. inspector Montalbano looking or all three for the price of two. Hurry, while Scarpetta is chief, events take a horrible turn stocks last!

NEW FROM ONE OF True stories of the 1930s Great Depression – AUSTRALIA’S and the generosity of a man FINEST WRITERS who understood hardship

Inspired by the bountiful produce at her Karen Martini welcomes us to her table. local farmers’ markets, Belinda Jeffery Here are 130 new recipes, organised into chronicles the changing seasons and shares twenty menus – all easy to prepare and full the recipes that punctuate her days. In of flavour. Karen invites us to choose just The Country Cookbook Belinda Jeffery one delicious dish, put together an entire will bring a taste of the country into your menu, or create our own unique feasts kitchen – and into your life. using recipes from different menus. Keep in touch with great book news by visiting Keep in touchwww.randomhouse.com.au with great book news by visiting www.randomhouse.com.au

MEMOIR, MEDITATION AND MYTH ‘Readers who enjoyed Drewe’s How do you cope with a daughter who’s Orlando Figes’ major new book re-imagines The Shark Net will find some delightful new off the rails and a man who won’t take the Crimean war. The iconic moments are all pieces to enjoy here too ... and [Kinsella’s] no for an answer? A novel about growing here – the Charge of the Light Brigade, the evocative, often autobiographical poems older, growing up, and what happens to the Siege of Sebastopol, the impact of Florence complement Drewe’s pieces neatly precious relationship between a mother Nightingale – but there is also a rich sense ... excellent summer beach reading ...’ and daughter when romantic love is of the Crimea itself and the culture that was — Bookseller+Publisher complicated by family ties. destroyed by the fighting.

ISBN: 9781 921 361 883

penguin.com.au 10 Readings Monthly November 2010

In All That’s Left: What Labor Should Stand complex, involving religious and political con- ALL YOU NEED For (edited by Nick Dyrenfurth & Tim cerns, widespread Russophobia (which would Biography Soutphommasane, New South, PB, $29.95), reverberate through the twentieth century) and FOR A LIFE FILLED Feature titles a collection of progressive thinkers and writ- fear of Ottoman dominance. Once fighting ers, including Lindsay Tanner and Larrisa began, in battles such as Alma, Balaclava and WITH WORDS Life Behrendt explore the post-election question Inkerman, casualty rates were shockingly high, Keith Richards on everyone’s mind, some of them in new and compounded by the use of inappropriate equip- Orion. HB. Normally $49.95 surprising ways. ment, poor medical treatment and outdated military tactics. Detailed descriptions of strategy Our special price $39.95 From Moree to Mabo: The Mick Jagger might have and warfare are illuminated and humanised by Biography of Mary Gaudron generous excerpts from a wide range of archival been the frontman for the (Pamela Burton, UWA, PB, Rolling Stones, but Keith material. Reports from Queen Victoria and Tsar $49.95) tells the story of the Nicholas, for example, along with accounts by Richards has always been its first female justice of Austra- hard-living, hard-rocking Leo Tolstoy (stationed at Sevastopol with the lia’s High Court. She exposed Russian army during the siege), and by British soul – his name a byword inequality in the workforce, for the quintessential and French soldiers and observers, are among campaigned vigorously for the many woven effectively into the narrative. rock’n’roll life. Here, the equal rights and equal pay for women, and man himself finally tells the story of four Through them, Figes demonstrates that there Sophie Cunningham, Ed. $24.95 Ed. Sophie Cunningham, went on to become one of the justices who was far more to the Crimean War than St Kilda big decades: taking chances, speaking his ruled on the landmark Mabo land rights case.

Meanjin, Volume 69 Number 4, 2010 69 Number 4, Volume Meanjin, street names, Tennyson’s ‘Charge of the Light mind and making it all work, while Early admirers of this book – and this co-creating the lyrics, riffs and songs that Brigade’ and Florence Nightingale. It’s well remarkable life – include Bob Hawke and worth discovering. make the Stones one of the world’s biggest Michael Kirby. (and longest-lasting) rock bands. Whatever Ann Standish is a historian based at Melbourne University The 70th birthday edition of Meanjin consid- else it might be, Life, Keith Richards-style, And Margaret Simons’s ers how big change can come of small things promises not to be boring ... masterful cooperative – republishing old favourites by Tim Winton, biography, Malcolm Fraser Round-up Helen Garner, Christos Tsiolkas and more. Guantanamo: (MUP, PB, $44.99), is now Timothy Parsons delivers a politically charged My Journey available in paperback history of empires, written from the perspec- David Hicks format. tive of the common people rather than the Random. HB. Normally $49.95 ruling class, in The Rule of Empires (Oxford, Our special price $39.95 PB, $54.95). It serves as a historically ground- Reams of words have been ed cautionary tale, showing how – again and written and argued about again – subjugated peoples throw off the yoke David Hicks, the young of their rulers, and drawing on examples that Adelaide man caught up in History range from ancient Rome to Britain’s ‘new’ the aftermath of September Feature title imperialism in Kenya. 11 and imprisoned in Street Fight in Naples The Sleepers Almanac No. 6 Almanac No. The Sleepers Guantanamo, perhaps the world’s most notorious Peter Robb military prison. For five and a half years he A&U. HB. $49.99 Peter Robb burst onto the suffered torture, horror and abuse, while ScienceLovers of the written word politicians, the media and the government Australian literary scene with Zoe Dattner & Louise Swinn, Eds. $24.95 Eds. Zoe Dattner & Louise Swinn, Midnight in Sicily, his will be fascinated by Reading clamoured for supremacy in telling in the Brain: The Science and Australians who he was and how he got thrilling, superbly evoked story of the contemporary Evolution of a Human there – and just how deep he’d gotten Invention (Penguin, PB, Read some of the best new and emerging himself in with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Mafia’s dominance in Sicily. short story writers here, from an outstand- His next book, M, was a $24.95). French cognitive Now, we finally hear his story, straight from scientist Stanislas Dehaene ing collection with a formidable reputation. the source. controversial, provocative biography of the painter Caravaggio that was explains how the brain a hit in Britain as well as Australia, and once performs the act of reading, how our brains again displayed Robb’s now trademark blend developed this ability, and what neuroscience of engrossing storytelling, steep erudition has to teach us about how we read – includ- Australian Studies and fine writing. The many fans of the first ing key insights into learning to read and two books will relish Robb’s return to the learning difficulties. Readings sold a lot of Italy that so fascinates him in Street Fight in copies of this book in hardback – now it’s in & Politics eminently affordable paperback, it’s, er, well

extempore Issue 5 extempore The wonderfully titled Naples, a heady journey through the history, worth the read. Miriam Zolin, Ed. $30 Ed. Miriam Zolin, Confessions of a Faceless Man culture and mean streets of the beautiful, (MUP, PB, $24.99) is the squalid Naples, and life and art in the city In Self Comes to Mind: campaign diary of union over the last 3000 years, from the first Greek Constructing the Conscious boss Paul Howes, one of the landing to his own arrival 30 years ago. Brain (William Heinemann, most controversial figures to HB, $59.95), Antonio emerge from the Gillard Review Demasio debunks the idea leadership coup and the that consciousness is some- recent federal election. He chronicles the Crimea: how separate from the body, highs and lows of a campaign dogged by The Last Crusade presenting astounding new leaks, and overshadowed by bizarre Orlando Figes More interviews, essays, fiction, poetry evidence that the ‘self’ is in fact a biological wranglings from former ALP leaders and Allen Lane. HB. $59.95 and photographs inspired by jazz and process created by the brain. Demasio has the soap opera of internal ALP politics. It’s In April this year Orlando improvised music plus a bonus CD of 12 been acclaimed for his originality, and his also a look at what drives the infamous Figes, a well-respected original, swinging tunes. melding of the scientific and the humanistic. ‘faceless men’ behind Rudd’s execution. professor at Birkbeck College, This groundbreaking book adds an evolution- London, became more noted Barrie Cassidy was one of ary perspective to the three traditional for a reviewing scandal than those political commenta- perspectives used (the personal, the behav- for his insights into Russian tors who helped make sense ioural and the neurological). $49.95 history. Damning reviews of of an often nonsensical 2010 books by rival Russian campaign, from his position Neuroscientific approaches historians appeared on Amazon, along with at the helm of ABC TV’s to wisdom are big right now, others lauding Figes’s own work. All were Sunday morning political becoming as popular as traced to Figes, who first denied any knowl- chat show Insiders (unmissa- similar approaches to edge of the reviews and then claimed his wife ble election viewing). The Party Thieves happiness. In Wisdom: From had written them, before finally confessing (MUP, PB, $34.99) is more than just a Philosophy to Neuroscience that he was indeed the author. Among the campaign diary – it’s also a work of savvy (UQP, PB, $34.95), Stephen questions raised by these events are ‘What was analysis from the former Hawke adviser S. Hall looks at the history of he thinking?’ and ‘Are his books such that wisdom, its prevalence within philosophy The Australian Writer’s Marketplace Writer’s Australian The and long-time political journo. Cassidy only he can praise them?’ contends that recent leaders Kevin Rudd and religion, its role as a catalyst for social and Malcolm Turnbull stole their parties So let’s get it straight: I am not Orlando Figes. change, and the neural mechanisms for wise away – Turnbull with his unpopular Nor am I married to him. Despite this, I decision-making. A. C. Grayling, assessing The new edition contains 2,300+ writing the book for Salon, wrote, ‘Hall is a science contacts and publication opportunities, climate-change policy, and Rudd with his recommend Crimea. It provides a scholarly authoritarian rule and disregard for his own yet highly readable account of the war waged journalist with an attractively fluent, plus new online courses for writers at ebullient style and great enthusiasm for what www.awmonlinelearn.com.au MPs – and that their deposals were the between Russia and an alliance of Britain, parties stealing their parties back. He also France and the Ottoman Empire from 1854 he writes about ... he has tackled a highly argues that Rudd’s execution ranks as one to 1856, and a convincing argument about its interesting but difficult topic with gusto.’ of the four big stories in Australian politics lasting significance as both ‘the last crusade’ Holmes Rolston III examines the creation SPUNC over the past 50 years. and the first modern war. of life in a way that respects both scientific spunc.com.au As Figes explores, the origins of the conflict were discovery and the potential presence of an Readings Monthly November 2010 11 underlying intelligence in Three Big Bangs: gardens, including the bestseller Remembered existential ethics, and what Battlestar Matter-Energy, Life, Mind (Columbia Uni- Gardens: Eight Women and Their Visions of Galactica has to offer on the existence of versity Press, HB, $39.95). the Australian Landscape. In her new book, God. Great new titles Seasons in My House and Garden (MUP, PB, $49.99), she invites readers into her home, A New History of Western Philosophy (Ox- from Hachette season by season, sharing gardening se- ford, HB, Normally $79.95, Our special crets, recipes for transforming produce into price $69.95) is a comprehensive overview HumourAmy Sedaris might be the delicious meals, and even skills like flower of Western philosophy from one of the sister of David, but she’s arranging. world’s most renowned scholarly publishers. It tells the story of philosophy from ancient also very much a comedian Landscape designers Greece through the Middle Ages and the in her own right. (It must Neil and Jenny Enlightenment into the modern world, be said, however, that Delmage have been introducing us to the great thinkers and quirky, accessible humour setting the standard their ideas. It’s the new landmark text in a seems to run in the for beautiful, water- field that had recently been dominated by family.) In Simple Times: wise, low-maintenance two one-man histories: Bertrand Russell’s Crafts for Poor People (Hachette, HB, $45), gardens for decades. one-volume Brief History and a ten-volume she follows the massive success of her offbeat From Coast to Country: history by the Jesuit Father Copelston. At guide to home entertaining, I Like You, by Waterwise Gardening for Australian Living the book’s launch, Kenny said, ‘I could not offering a bizarre spread of suggestions and (FACP, PB, $49.95) is a visual celebration of match the exhaustive scholarship of Co- projects, from tinfoil balls and crepe-paper some of their favourite success stories – and pleston, nor could I imitate the incompara- moccasins to tips on avoiding common an inspiring how-to guide, revealing the BliGH: Master Mariner ble style of Russell ... I settled on a modest crafting accidents like sawdust fires. sustainable philosophy behind their work. goal: to be more accurate than Russell and Rob Mundle Things Bogans Like (E. Chas more entertaining than Copleston.’ Discover the beauty and menace of McSween et al., Hachette, the sea in this masterly biography of PB, $24.99) is another spin- a man once thought to be a villain. off with loads of potential There’s a lot more to Captain Bligh Sport than mutiny, rum and convicts… – but this time, it’s a very Barassi (Peter Lalor, A&U, Aussie spin on someone Normally $49.99, Our Cultural Studies else’s idea. This hilarious special price $39.95) is the Review anthropological fieldguide personal story of an AFL to the Australian bogan is written in the style Big Girls Don’t Cry legend, the definitive ruck Rebecca Traister and spirit of the smash-hit Stuff White People rover from the bush who Like (and was similarly spawned from a later became a super coach Free Press. HB. $35 popular blog), only this time you really don’t – and one of the game’s most This smart, entertaining want to identify with the traits and habits revered and loved figures. A must-buy for book is a reflective account within! You’ll be stamping your ugg boots footy tragics, and a no-brainer Christmas of the 2008 presidential with laughter as you read it between ad breaks gift. Archie Thompson is a legend in the election, following an for Two and a Half Men or while listening to other football code – what we used to call on-the-road narrative of Delta Goodrem. See p7 for our interview soccer. In What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You events as experienced by with the authors. Stronger (MUP, PB, $29.99), the ten-year Salon’s Rebecca Traister, who Socceroos veteran and marquee player for writes for the website’s Melbourne Victory delivers a collection of feminist-flavoured Broadsheet section. She life inspirational anecdotes that cover mateship, looks at what it means for a changing Keith Richards loyalty, discipline, confidence and America that the two frontrunners for the Food, Wine & Democratic nomination were a white An international publishing overcoming life’s lows. This will appeal to event – one of the very few soccer (sorry, football) lovers young and old. woman and a black man, and the respective rock memoirs ever to have been Lifestyle impacts of gender and race on the national published by a living legend. Poh Ling Yeow first stole Gideon Haigh is one of conversation and its undercurrents. The the nation’s hearts as a Australia’s most versatile interplay of personality, policy issues and Masterchef contestant; writers – always engaging and presentation are all examined, including the now she’s a foodie celeb in interesting whether he’s way the media shaped, as well as covered, her own right, with her writing about business, the unfolding events. She includes analysis own show, and her own literary culture or indeed of the arguments about whether Hillary book, Poh’s Kitchen (ABC, anything. But his primary was ‘feminist enough’, and whether Obama HB, Normally $39.99, passion – and the subject he’s was ‘black enough’, and the conflict Our special price $34.95), both sharing the best known and loved for – is cricket, which between idealism and political pragmatism. same name. In this charming, cuisine-smart he’s covered for The Guardian. His latest book, Poh shares her tips and recipes for Traister also considers the impact of Mi- cricket book, Spheres of Influence (MUP, PB, cooking everything from lamb shank chelle Obama – a strong woman forced to $34.99), looks at the transformation of casserole to beetroot soup, to a Malaysian tone down her credentials and emphasise cricket over the past three decades, sticky rice and custard dessert. An accessible, her maternal and wifely qualities, and, revolutionised by a racy new format, practical guide for the home cook. like Hillary, considered by many to be the Twenty20, and a glamorous new competition, intellectual superior of her spouse. And of DarK Matter On the other hand, Dee the Indian Premier League – and the role of course there’s the curious juggernaut of vice Nolan’s A Food Lover’s money and the media in shaping the way the presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who Michelle Paver Pilgrimage to Santiago game is played on the world stage. represents ‘feminism without the feminists’ A terrifying 1930s ghost story (Lantern, HB, $100) is set in the haunting wilderness and whose appointment Traister describes of the far north. one for the dedicated as ‘tokenism of the basest variety’ by a Mc- foodie. A seductive blend Cain campaign hoping to hijack the hunger of travel, photography and for a woman president created by Clinton’s food writing, it includes Philosophy candidacy. considered reflections on why we should care Round-up One fascinating (and hopeful) element is about what we eat and how it’s produced. Mind Games: 31 Days to Nolan records her journey along the Traister’s observation of the way the pres- Rediscover Your Brain ence of Clinton, Obama, and even Palin 1000-year-old route through the rich farming (Martin Cohen, Wiley, PB, lands of southern France and northern Spain, in the presidential race altered the media $19.95) is an exploration of landscape, giving voices to new commen- and through food traditions that have lasted the mysteries of conscious- ‘forever'. tators. ‘To some small extent, the media ness by the author of had to mirror the figures and stories it was Wittgenstein’s Beetle, con- covering. For generations politics had been In Tender, Volume II: A Cook’s ducted through a one- Guide to the Fruit Garden male and white, and in turn the political month course of practical and stimulating media had been male and white.’ Political (HarperCollins, HB, $49.99), brain exercises. If you prefer a more Nigel Slater shows us how to junkies, feminists and close watchers of our MOOnliGHt Mile idiosyncratic approach to philosophy, you’ll ever-changing cultural landscape will all use seasonal fruits in meals be intrigued by Introducing Philosophy Dennis Lehane and desserts – and shares his be intrigued and engrossed by this punchy, Through Pop Culture: From Socrates to South Dennis Lehane’s much-loved reminiscences and observa- engrossing book. Park, Hume to House (edited by William characters Patrick Kenzie and tions from a lifetime’s work in Jo Case is editor of Readings Monthly Irwin & Kyle Johnson, Wiley, PB, $37.95). Angie Gennaro are back in this the garden and with food. Slater writes There’s been a big trend towards blending Cultural Studies Round-up beautifully – his book is a practical pleasure. thrilling sequel to Gone, Baby Gone. the latest in pop culture with philosophy Verso is one of the world’s lately, encompassing everything from The Holly Kerr Forsyth is another writer who most noted leftwing Simpsons to True Blood. This engaging book publishers, with authors like combines erudition, advice and a passion- illustrates important philosophical concepts ate engagement with her subject. She’s been Tariq Ali, John Pilger and and the work of the major philosophers, others as cornerstones of its The Weekend Australian gardening columnist including parallels with The Office and for years, and has written nine books on list. So, The Verso Book of 12 Readings Monthly November 2010

Dissent (Verso, PB, $29.95) has a solid activist riches, given the amazing year in politics this OUTSTANDING NEW pedigree – this is a publisher that takes its has been. subject seriously. The anthology presents the FICTION FROM OUR most inspiring dissent throughout the ages: And Penguin have an poems, songs, pamphlets, plays and occasional series of antholo- BEST SMALL PRESSES manifestos. gies going at this time of year BEHIND – last year was The Australian The deluxe edition of the Long Short Story (edited by PARTY LINES international bestseller Mandy Sayer) and the year Freakonomics, Illustrated before was The Penguin Book Superfreakonomics (Steven of the Road (edited by Delia D. Levitt & Stephen J. Falconer). James Bradley continues the Dubner, Allen Lane, HB, prestigious trend this year, as editor of The $39.95) discovers even Penguin Book of the Ocean (Penguin, PB, more hidden truths about $35), which gathers Australian luminaries our world, and backs it all up with illustrated like Nam Le, Tim Winton and David evidence. Find the answers for which cancer is Malouf with overseas writers like Herman best cured by chemotherapy, why saving the Melville, John Steinbeck and Rachel Carson. planet is easier than we think, and more. The prevalence of doctors/ Former New York creative writers has emerged recently director James P. Othmer, My Sister Chaos, Lara Fergus $24.95 Lara Fergus My Sister Chaos, as an intriguing trend, with a visiting Australia to talk dedicated session at the 2009 about his memoir Adland, Melbourne Writers’ Festival. bemusedly told audiences Leah Kaminsky, who chaired that ‘all anyone wants to this session, has edited a “Thought-provoking ... themes of invasion, talk about here is The collection of some of the science and loss, all handled deftly and Gruen Transfer’. Of world’s best doctor-writers, The Pen and the without pretension.”—The Age course. For most of us, the popular ABC TV Stethoscope (Scribe, PB, $35), blending show is the natural association to make when fiction and non-fiction and featuring Peter you think advertising – well, that and Mad Goldsworthy, Ethan Canin, Atul Gawande, Men. Its many fans can get their off-season Oliver Sacks, Nick Earls and others. Gruen fix with the print edition. The Gruen Transfer (edited by Jon Casimir, ABC, PB, $39.99) examines how advertising works, with loads of amusing anecdotes and pertinent facts. (For instance, did you know Music Pizza Hut once spent millions trying to burn Feature title Barrie Cassidy’s rip- its logo onto the face of the moon?) Listen to This roaring, incisive analysis of Alex Ross a tumultuous nine months HarperCollins US. HB. $37.95 in politics. A must read Alex Ross (The Rest is Noise) for anyone interested in Anthologies is one of the world’s greatest Australian politics of any – and most pleasurable to persuasion. read – music critics. His The Convalescent, Jessica Anthony, $24.95 Anthony, Jessica The Convalescent, & Journals OUT NOW The annual publication of eclectic new collection Black Inc.’s ‘Best Australian’ gathers a decade of his best “A captivating, super-smart, darkly funny treat.” series is a much-anticipated writing from The New Yorker, — Martin Shaw, Readings event in the November with several of the pieces “A blissfully nutty, brainy, ribald, brilliantly literary calendar. The Best substantially revised. He uses the twenty-first imaginative ode to human loneliness, oddity, Australian Essays (edited by -century device of the ‘shuffle’ to present and persistence.”— Francisco Goldman Robert Drewe, Black Inc., these pieces – a device by which he says PB, $29.95), The Best ‘music is freed from all fatuous self-defini- Australian Stories (edited by Cate Kennedy, tions and delusions of significance’. In Black Inc., PB, $29.95), and The Best practice, this means Radiohead is freed from Australian Poems (edited by Robert the dumbed-down category of ‘rock’ and Adamson, Black Inc., PB, $24.95) are Brahms from a remote classicism. The Seattle traditionally a showcase of the best Times says, ‘Running through every piece is Australian writing of the year, from a spirit of adventure, common sense, joy established names to the unknowns to and, ultimately, engagement.’ watch. This is the first year as editor for both Drewe and Kennedy, so it will be interesting to see what the selections from these major Australian writers look like. The series is also available as a collectible boxed set ($69.95). CuratedArt by& Margaret Design Snowdon The American version of the Review ‘Best’ series is also well worth

The Road Behind, Jonathan Griffiths, $24.95 Griffiths, Jonathan The Road Behind, a read – and can be the source Shack: In Praise of of discovery for major new talent and writers to watch an Australian Icon A dark comedic journey of a self-destruc- out for. Best American Short Simon Griffiths tive young man running from his past into Stories (Houghton Mifflin, Lantern. HB. $39.95 his future. Lust, loss and redemption collide PB, $22.95) is edited by The moment I saw the title in an unusual love story. Richard Russo this year and includes a new of this book, I was hit by a Wells Tower story among its many gems. Best wave of nostalgia for the Union boss Paul Howes American Essays (Houghton Mifflin, PB, many wonderful times I’ve chronicles the highs and $21.95) is edited by famous contrarian – and spent in shacks – shacks that famously superb essayist – Christopher are sadly no longer part of lows, the stuff-ups, the leaks my life. So how envious I and the nuts and bolts of Hitchens, and includes Ian McEwan, Zadie Smith and David Sedaris. And Best American am of the shack owners in what makes a modern Labor Non-Required Reading (Houghton Mifflin, this delightful book, and simultaneously campaign tick. PB, $21.95) is edited by Dave Eggers, with an grateful to the author and contributors for AVAILABLE 8 NOVEMBER introduction by David Sedaris and cover art reminding me of this wonderful section of by Maurice Sendak. (Kinda sounds like society, and sharing their shackdom with us. required reading to me ...) Shacks are the quintessential expression of how good life can be with the simple, the Another regular discarded, the collected, the re-used, the uncomplicated, the small and the quiet All Through the Night, Dean Jones, $24.99 Dean Jones, the Night, Through All November publication is A charmingly nostalgic picture book to cartoon aficionado Russ (ideally away from roads and electricity) share before sleep. Sure to become a Radcliffe’s annual melding into an unique aesthetic that is bedtime favourite. From the award-winning selection. Best Australian charming and poetic. illustrator Dean Jones. Political Cartoons 2010 Lucky author and photographer Simon (Scribe, PB, $29.95) is Griffiths has traveled Australia meeting shack www.mup.com.au spunc.com.au sure to be packed with owners, beautifully photographing their Readings Monthly November 2010 13 shacks and documenting a unique way of film credits over the course of a 50-year career. life. Quite a few owners have opted to make Never before have the Edith Head Archives of New from their shacks into permanent homes, creat- the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sci- ing domestic simplicity and self-sufficiency ences been tapped. This unprecedented access Join the in the bush. It’s an architectural style far allows this book to be a one-of-a-kind survey, removed from the glamorous retreats of the bringing together a spectacular collection of Victorian well-heeled, but this truly vernacular style has rare and never-before-seen sketches, costume influenced some of our best architects, such as test shots, behind-the-scenes photos, and Writers' Glenn Murcutt and Troppo Architects. ephemera. Swoon. From the abandoned (‘our equivalent of Another iconic fashion Centre Europe’s classical ruins are our deserted figure gets her own book in shacks – reminders of times past and British Isabella Blow (Martina Rink settlement’s short history’), to the very lived- & Philip Treacy, Thames & Benefits include: in, from the tropical north to Tasmania, the Hudson, HB, $75). This »» Discounts»to»our»masterclasses,» shacks have been divvied up into six sections: marvellously illustrated courses,»seminars»and»workshops Shelter, Business, Ruins, Shops and Shacks, book surveys the work of Fidel Castro, one of the chief protagonists of »» Discounted»manuscript»assessments» Retreats and Affinity. Some shacks are truly this central figure in the the Cold War and Washington’s traditional and»mentorships very basic structures, where climate allows contemporary fashion world. From her early foe, casts a critical eye over the significance of »» Access»to»our»writers’»studios President Obama’s election and his performance and the beach beckons; some are quirkily days bringing legendary artists such as Michel »» Subscription»to»our»magazine,» during his first term of office. He asks what inspired, like the old boathouse perched high Basquiat into the offices of American Vogue, is different about President Obama and his Victorian»Writer above the ground in a sea of trees, not a river to the twenty-first-century drama of her administration and what reflects continuity with »» Weekly»eBulletin his predecessors’ policies. or lake in sight; and some are very glamorous, televised attempted takeover of the Indian »» Use»of»our»lending»library wrought by artisans of obvious skill. and Middle-Eastern fashion industries, the $24.95 Pb, ISBN 9780980429268 Ocean Press »» Discounts»at»various»retail»outlets» Margaret Snowdon is Art & Design buyer at awesome Isabella Blow pushed boundaries in and»associated»organisations Readings Carlton the fashion world, using her personality as her most offensive weapon. Famous for discover- VWC also provides advice, information Paper Garden: Mrs ing talents such as Alexander McQueen, and referrals via our dedicated staff. Delany Begins Her Sophie Dahl and Hussein Chalayan, she Come and visit the Life’s Work at 72 nurtured and inspired artists and designers Victorian Writers’ Centre at: Molly Peacock across the industry, as well as serving as muse Level 3, The Wheeler Centre Scribe. HB. $45 to the well-known milliner Philip Treacy. She 176 Little Lonsdale Street Our special price $39.95 was also a unique stylist, collaborating with Melbourne major photographers such as Sean Ellis and The known facts of Mary Robert Astley Sparke on infamous shoots that Annual»memberships»start»at»» Delany’s life (1700–1788) are combined the gothic and the erotic. $65»Full»and»$48»Concession.» the intriguing structure on which Molly Peacock And moving right along, The 2011 course program launches in constructs her book. Witty, ‘The most wonderful natural feature I have ever December. For full details, visit the VWC from sublime classicism website or call the centre to have a copy talented and beautiful, Mary seen.’ With these words the explorer William to edgy contemporary Gosse expressed the awe he and many others mailed to you. Ph. 03 9094 7855. was the daughter of a minor chic to practical fashion, have felt at the natural phenomenon of Uluru. branch of a powerful English Wardrobe 101: Creating The first white person to reach the central www.vwc.org.au family. Married off at 17 to a drunken Your Perfect Core Australian monolith, he gave it the name ‘Ayers 61-year-old squire (who one is somewhat Wardrobe Rock’. But who was Henry Ayers, the man whose (Dijanna name is forever associated with Australia’s most relieved to hear may have been impotent) to Mulhearn, Thames, PB, recognisable natural icon? improve the family fortunes, and widowed at $34.95) attempts to answer that eternal $59.95 Hb, ISBN 9781848855632 25 with a small annual income, Mary began question, familiar to women of all ages, of I.B.Tauris to experiment with a life of independence. what on earth to wear. Top style guru Dijanna Mulhearn offers a range of practical solutions She was an excellent correspondent, especially in this indispensable handbook. Instead of to her sister Anne, and many of her letters generalising according to body type, Wardrobe have survived, to give us a glimpse of how a 101 addresses questions about body shape by woman of her times and independent inclina- targeting specific problem areas. Fool-proof tions lived. She knew Jonathon Swift and colour combinations for teaming separates for Handel (she was an excellent musician) and weekday, weekend, workwear and evening are generally socialised with all the right people, revealed, and industry insiders and tastemak- frequented court occasions and often danced ers impart their wisdom on how to create until two-ish in the morning. She fell in love your own signature style. Armed with a in her forties, married again, and then at checklist of essential items and after a the age of 72 after her second husband died, wardrobe workshop, you’ll instantly graduate produced an astounding body of work of over from fashion victim to serious style maven! 985 botanically correct cut-out paper flower Trinny and Susannah, eat your hearts out! illustrations. Molly Peacock has been deeply inspired by The Circus 1870–1950 Mary’s life and late blossoming – the way she (Jando Dominique et. al, explores parallels with her own life is both Taschen, HB, $130) brings personal, and a kind of everywoman examina- to life the grit and glamour tion of creativity, love, friendship and the ev- of the circus phenomenon. eryday – socialising, clothing, daily routines. From the mid-1800s to The author is also a poet and so finds the mid-1900s, traveling delicate detail and passion in Mrs D’s oeuvre, American circuses performed resonating with the sensuality of Georgia for audiences of up to 14,000 per show and O’Keefe’s sensual watercolours of flowers, crisscrossed the country on 20,000 miles of a resonance that flows through the book railroad in one season alone. The spectacle of as a subtext of female sexuality and desire, death-defying daredevils and strapping intertwined with the creativity underlying the super-heroes gripped the American imagina- narratives of layered lives. Sometimes this lay- tion, outshining theater, comedy and ering is curiously dislocating – the eighteenth minstrel shows of the day, offering young century is a long way from the twenty-first, Americans the dream of adventure and but ultimately it’s disarming. MS reinvention. Images here include photo- graphic gems by early circus photographers Round-up Frederick Whitman Glasier and Edward Kelty, many of the earliest colour photo- Edith Head: The Fifty-Year Career of Hol- graphs ever taken of the circus from the lywood’s Greatest Costume Designer (Jay Jor- 1940s and 1950s, iconic circus photographs gensen, Running Press, HB, $95) showcases by Mathew Brady or Cornell Capa, and the extraordinary life’s work of the woman little-known circus images by Charles and behind some of our most iconic fashion Ray Eames and Stanley Kubrick. images from the silver screen. Grace Kelly in Rear Window: the very image of the cool Hitchcock blonde, the height of sophistica- tion. Audrey Hepburn as bohemian gamine in Funny Face and Sabrina. Sunset Boulevard, All About Eve, A Place in the Sun. Edith Head (1897–1981) was the costume designer of all these classic twentieth-century films, racking up an unprecedented 35 Oscar nods and 400 14 Readings Monthly November 2010

BOOKKids’ OF THE reviewsMONTH NOVELTY JUNIOR FICTION picture book Noah's law The Secret Lives Castle of the Zombies the orchard book Randa Abdel-Fattah of Princesses (The Fixers, Book One) of hans christian Macmillan. PB. $16.99 Phillipe Lechermeier & Sean Williams & andersen's fairy tales Randa Abdel-Fattah is one Rébecca Dautremer (illus.) Nial O’Connor (illus.) Martin Waddell & Emma of the most impressive Hodder Headline. HB. $39.99 Omnibus. PB. $12.99 Chichester Clark (illus.) Australian YA authors ‘Have you spotted Ollie Jolson knows there’s Orchard. HB. $34.99 around. She writes with princess Anne Phibian? something wrong with his We’ve seen some passion and understanding, Chatted with princess new street, but he can’t quite amazing author/ and doesn’t shy away from Babble Brooke? Or put his finger on what. Maybe illustrator combinations difficult topics. Her latest, stumbled upon the Night it’s the way the internet keeps in the world of children’s Noah’s Law, is somewhat Princess?’ Well if you crashing, or perhaps it’s the books, but now two of lighter fare – a legal thriller set in Sydney’s have, then you’re a space outside old Mrs Dibkin’s our absolute favourites summer. seasoned princess expert house that drains away all come together and make and you may not need this book (although a Noah is too smart for his own good and sound. And when Ollie wakes in the middle magic. Martin Waddell, true lover must have a full collection), and if of the night to find a mysterious silver-suited probably best known for the classic Owl despite his school pranks being witty and you haven’t then you MUST have this book! funny, they land him in all sorts of trouble. ‘fixer’ on his doorstep, he definitely knows Babies, and Emma Chichester Clark, prolific Not least with his QC father, who holds The Secret Lives Of Princesses is really too something is amiss. author and illustrator, take on the challenge of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales. family hearings at home and sentences lovely for words. While going through When he confronts the intruder, Ollie is Noah to six weeks of hard labour at his princesses – from Princess Tangra-la who thrown into a parallel world: a mysterious Waddell has rewritten nine of the classic sto- aunt’s law firm. Despite his desire to bunk lives to dance and dresses wildly without a castle populated by zombie-like slaves who ries in an engaging and witty way. He makes it off to watch DVDs and go surfing, Noah care, to Princess Quartermoon who wears a blindly follow the orders of the evil Lord them his own, while retaining their tradi- gets intrigued by a compensation case and regal cloak made from thousands of beads Wight. With the help of new friend Niff, can tional narrative structures. ‘The Princess and soon starts questioning whether winning and makes smoke signals to her friends – Ollie uncover the castle’s strange secrets and the Pea’ becomes ‘A Very Princessy Princess’ and justice ever go hand in hand. each princess is accompanied by beautiful get back home? and cheekily questions, quite rightly, how the illustrations. princess got into the bed with 20 mattresses. This is such a smart, funny book and you As a fan of Sean Williams’s YA trilogy The ‘The Ugly Duckling’ has transformed into can’t help but get sucked in completely. The text is humorous and creative, bring- Broken Land, I was excited to see what he ‘An Eggs-Traordinary Egg’ and starts with Written with such empathy, Noah makes ing your imagination to life through words, had to offer younger readers, and Castle of the the opening lines, ‘There once was a duck … you feel better about a literary world filled while the illustrations are colourful and Zombies did not disappoint. It’s a thrilling, Now that’s a good way to start a duck story!’ with Edward Cullens; he’s smart, cheeky exotic, capturing the princesses perfectly but imaginative read, perfect for ages seven and and a little bit lost. The real success of this not distracting from your own imagination. up. Paired with comic-book-style illustrations Emma Chichester Clark’s always-beautiful novel lies in its ability to make the law rel- Both work as a perfect collaboration. This from the brilliant Nial O’Connor, this first illustrations take on such an air of engaging evant. Its characterisation is so familiar and book is full of fun (my particular favourite book in the Fixers series is sure to be a hit whimsy, with figures dancing in the margins Noah reminds you so strongly of someone being ‘The Garden’ page) with which I could with younger readers who like their adven- and gardens growing up the sides of the page. you could know, you can’t help but be car- really not find fault. Perfect to be read to- tures with a bit of a fantastic bent. She also draws the most beautiful, sulky giant ried along with the tide of the story. More gether with your princess lover, or for older dog for ‘The Three-Dog Tale’, a rewriting of please! readers to try themselves. For ages six plus. Be sure to keep an eye out for the rest of the ‘The Tinderbox’. The combination of author Callie Martin is from Readings St Kilda Katherine Dretzke is from Readings Hawthorn series – book two, Planet of the Cyborgs is out and illustrator is one that delights and wraps this month, with Curse of the Vampire and you in a warm hug of loveliness. Hans Chris- Invasion of the Freaks soon to follow. tian Andersen never looked so good! Holly Harper is from Readings Malvern Callie Martin is from Readings St Kilda

with Callie Martin Kids’November, dear reader, round-up almost Christmas, al- Invisible (Orchard, HB, $29.99) is only four of her gorgeous tales. Because of Winn- To celebrate the second novel in James most summer, almost time to spend all your Lauren Child’s fourth book in the series. It’s Dixie, The Tiger Rising, The Miraculous Journey Roy’s Edsel Grizzler series, Edsel Grizzler: days reading, and what a delicious selection as quirky as you would expect, full of Lola- of Edward Tulane, and the most enchanting Rescue Mission (UQP, PB, $16.95), we have we have! esque mischief and my favourite character, Tale of Despereaux. a free copy of the number one book in the Lola’s imaginary friend Soren Lorenson. Just series when you purchase number two. Continuing the 2010 trend of amazing, about as perfect as it gets. Teen folk may have heard of that little-known Not bad, hey? Come on the adventure to a funny picture books we’d all like to keep, No- Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness, and parallel universe where there are no parents vember has a tasty selection. Bruce Ingman, So you’ve heard the rumours? this month sees the final book, Monsters and no rules, and kids run free. author of the fantastic The Pencil, offers us A new Diary of a Wimpy Kid of Men (Walker, PB, $24.95), released in When Martha’s Away (Walker, PB, $16.95), novel, The Ugly Truth (Jeff paperback. If your eyes haven’t been privy to Now even though we a very splendid book about what cats really Kinney, Puffin, PB, $14.95), this amazing series that really shows us what love all the November get up to when we leave them alone for the is coming out in November! great fiction can be, you should apologise to releases we have to day. What fancy, naughty kitties we have. We’re hyperventilating, too. yourself and get to a Readings store immedi- admit we might love Pamela Allen’s Hetty’s Day Out (Viking, HB, But what to read after you’ve ately. Beautiful, scary, thrilling, perfect books the I Love Ollie Activity $24.95) tells the other side of the story: what finished that – how about like these don’t happen too often. Book (Scholastic, PB, cats get up to when they go out alone for the Lincoln Peirce’s Big Nate series. Based on a $9.99) the mostest. day – and, surprise, it mostly involves eating. hilarious US comic strip, this month we have If Victorian girl-spy series are more your thing, then Oh My Anna Walker’s creation This is a gorgeous counting book filled to the the second in this series, Big Nate Strikes has won a large, zebra-shaped place in our brim with one very naughty kitty. Again (HarperCollins, PB, $14.99). Perfect Gosh, have you discovered Y. S. Lee’s The Agency books? hearts. We’re very excited to find him up to for reluctant readers and fans of awesome all sorts of active mischief. And what about Cats not your thing? Readings-approved books, such as Oog and Last years A Spy in the House Perhaps a more goaty introduced Mary Quinn, kids who love to make things with their Gluk: Kung-fu Cavemen from the Future and Movie counting book is an orphaned and convicted hands? You’re going to love these. Captain Underpants. Maker more your style. Let’s thief at 12, daringly rescued (Walker, HB, $34.95) by Tim Count Goats! For those who like their worlds a little more at the gallows and trained as a spy/detective. Grabham, illustrated by Gary Parsons, is a (Viking, HB, fantastical, from Tony DiTerlitzi – author This year, The Body at the Tower (Walker, PB, one-of-a-kind treat. In a clapperboard- $19.95) is just that, a of The Spiderwick Chronicles – comes a new $16.95) sees Mary going undercover as a shaped box, this kit is filled with stickers, counting book all series full of scary possibilities. The Search for boy to discover the truth of a body left in the cut-outs, special effects, storyboard books, about goats from the infallible Mem Fox and WondLa (Simon & Schuster, PB, $24.99) is clock tower at the British Houses of Parlia- and best of all, a sound-effects CD. A illustrator Jan Thomas. Pint-sized people will the story of curious Eva Nine who is being ment. So much action, so much sass. perfect gift for the budding auteur in your love the bold and striking illustrations, and raised underground by her caring robot lives. Or perhaps paper engineering is more Pop-Up: A Paper Engineering practicing their skills counting goats with Muhr. Her greatest desire is to experience life It’s the land of sequels this November and the thing? Masterclass different hobbies, goats of different ages and aboveground, and when forced to leave her those waiting for the follow up to Becca (Walker, HB, $39.95) by Ruth even goats of different professions. sanctuary, Eva will find it’s nothing like she Fitzpatrick’s Hush Hush will not be disap- Wickings is a make-your-own pop-up expects. pointed with Crescendo (Simon & Schuster, book. Filled with everything you need to Finally, perhaps the most excitement- PB, $24.99). Nora, involved in a relation- build your own pop-up creation, it starts inducing book of the year, a brand new, all In case there’s anyone left in the world who ship with guardian angel Patch, has become with simple designs, culminating in a very original, absolutely authentic Charlie and hasn’t been enchanted by Kate DiCamillo’s obsessed with finding out what happened to awesome, very difficult final pop-up. Lola book! Even though it seems like Charlie adventure stories full of warmth and trust, her disappeared father. For Twilight fans, this Whew, what a fabulous November it’s and Lola have taken over the world, Slightly here is the most wonderful slipcase gift edi- is a dark, sexy read full of forbidden romance going to be! tion (Candlewick Press, $34.95) featuring and supernatural danger. Readings Monthly November 2010 15 Landmarks of Science Peter Whitfield PB. Was $39.95. Now $13.95 Examining important ReadingsBargains on the web: New books are Bargai regularly added to our nwebsite. Table Click on the Bargains tab at www.readings.com.au. advances by such luminar- ies as Copernicus, Vesalius, Newton, Darwin and Marx’s Das Kapital The Letters of The Several Lives of Freud, historian Peter Francis Wheen Noël Coward Joseph Conrad Whitfield discusses their HB. Was $29.95. Now $12.95 Noël Coward John Stape context and impact, and In this brilliant book, ‘as HB. Was $49.95. Now $19.95 HB. Was $39.95. Now $16.95 charts their progress from gripping and as readable as a The first and definitive John Stape’ s biography – an heresy to orthodoxy. 110 illustrations, 20 in first-rate thriller’, Francis collection of letters (most of intimate portrait, including colour. Wheen, author of the most them previously unpub- previously unpublished successful biography of Karl lished) both from and to the photographs – offers a Voyages of Discovery: Marx, tells the story of Das incomparable Noël Coward. Conrad for our times, a man A Visual Celebration Kapital and Marx’s 20-year A unique, fascinating and with a deep sense of other- of Ten of the Greatest struggle to complete his irresistible portrait of a ness, of multiple cultural Natural History unfinished masterpiece. society and age from the Blitz identities and, writing in his Expeditions to the Ritz, and beyond. third language, a working writer, whose THE TRIUMPH OF MUSIC: Tony Rice novels and stories are a cornerstone of HB. Was $80. Now $29.95 literary modernism and, indeed, of moder- COMPOSERS, MUSICIANS The Museum of Superb artwork from nity itself. AND THEIR AUDIENCES, Innocence London’s Natural History 1700 TO THE PRESENT Orhan Pamuk Museum document the Tim Blanning PB. Was $35. Now $13.95 Bryson’s Dictionary achievements of ten HB. Was $55. Now $24.95 Set in Istanbul between 1975 for Writers and major natural history From lowly beginnings as and today, The Museum of Editors expeditions and bring to fireside entertainers to Innocence tells the story of Bill Bryson life the fascinating stories starstudded performers Kemal, the son of one of HB. Was $29.95. Now $14.95 behind them. courted by governments and Istanbul’s richest families, and Covering spelling, punctua- world leaders, Tim Blanning’s of his obsessive love for a tion, abbreviations, and US, Reappraisals inspired new book looks at poor and distant relation, the UK and foreign names and Tony Judt the rise and rise of music and beautiful Fusun, who is a phrases, this reference offers a HB. Was $39.95. Now $16.95 musicians. shopgirl in a small boutique. readable and often humorous From Tony Judt, one of our guide to the problems of greatest historians and public Freud: Inventor of Absolute War: Soviet English spelling and usage intellectuals, here are the Modern Mind Russia in the Second most commonly encountered reflections on a twentieth Peter Kramer World War by editors and writers. century that is turning into HB. Was $29.95. Now $12.95 Chris Bellamy ancient history–when it’s not Taking a position in the HB. Was $49.95. Now $19.95 The Science of being displaced by myth or no-man’s land between the The battle on the Eastern Leonardo forgotten entirely–with irreconcilable pro- and Front between 1941 and Fritjof Capra unprecedented speed and at great cost. anti-Freud camps, Peter 1945 was arguably the single HB. Was $39.95. Now $17.95 Kramer approaches Freud most decisive factor of Leonardo’s pioneering Matterhorn both critically and sympa- World War II, fixing the scientific work was virtually Karl Marlantes thetically. Kramer, a course of world history over unknown during his lifetime. HB. Was $39.95. Now $16.95 practicing psychiatrist, the next half century. Now, Acclaimed scientist and Thirty years in the making, asserts that, although much of Freud’s drawing on sources newly bestselling author Fritjof Karl Marlantes’s epic debut is thought is now archaic, the discipline he available since the collapse of the Soviet Capra reveals that Leonardo a dense, vivid narrative invented has become an inescapable part of Union and the reunification of Germany, was in many ways the spanning many months in our culture. Kramer sees Freud as a historian and journalist Chris Bellamy unacknowledged ‘father of the lives of American troops myth-maker, a storyteller and a writer presents the first full account of this deadly modern science’. in Vietnam as they trudge whose books will survive among the classics conflict. across enemy lines, encoun- of literature. The Botany of Desire tering danger from opposing A Thousand Michael Pollan forces as well as on their home turf. The Thief at the End Splendid Suns PB. Was $25.95. Now $11.95 of the World Khaled Hosseini In The Botany of Desire, THE TIMES UNIVERSAL Joe Jackson PB. Was $32.95. Now $12.95 Michael Pollan makes a ATLAS OF THE WORLD HB. Was $39.95. Now $16.95 Propelled by the same superb persuasive case that the HB. Was $99. Now $29.95 In 1876, Henry Wickham instinct for storytelling that plants we might be tempted This completely new smuggled 70,000 rubber tree made The Kite Runner a to see as having been most edition of the most presti- seeds out of the rainforests beloved classic, A Thousand domesticated by humanity gious atlas range in the of Brazil and delivered them Splendid Suns is at once an are in fact also those that world features 170 pages to Victorian England. In this incredible chronicle of 30 have been most effective in of mapping, providing an utterly engaging account of years of Afghan history and a domesticating us. It is a stunning insight, amazingly detailed view obsession, greed and deeply moving story of and no one will come away from this book of the world. Detailed betrayal, Joe Jackson brings family, friendship, faith and the salvation to without having their ideas of nature geographical information to life a classic fortune hunter and the be found in love. stretched and challenged. beside each map gives the reader a greater empire that fueled, then abandoned, him. understanding of each area.

The Gruen Tender Volume II: Transfer A Cook’s Guide to JON CASIMIR the Fruit Garden 9780733327872 $39.99 NIGEL SLATER 9780007325214 | $49.99

With its compelling With over 200 recipe insights into the ideas and many advertising that wonderful stories from the fruit garden, surrounds us, The Gruen Transfer will Tender Volume II is the definitive forever change the way you see guide to cooking with fruit from the world around you and the Britain’s finest food writer. products that you buy. 16 Readings Monthly November 2010 IDENTITY $34.99 This new six-part crime series about identity theft, false New Release DVDs personas and digital fraud is a fresh and sometimes unsettling drama. Its DVD of the Month GLORIOUS 39 INGMAR BERGMAN’S strength, though, is not just THE PACIFIC Released 10 November. $29.99 PASSION OF ANNA / in its true-crime revelations Released 3 November. $79.99. Blu-ray $99.99 Acclaimed writer/director SKAMMEN and gritty production. Writer From the producers of Band Stephen Poliakoff brings Released 10 November. $29.99 each Ed Whitmore, who admits to being jolted into creating the series from researching real of Brothers, The Pacific tracks together a sterling ensemble Two beautiful yet disturb- identity crimes, has created a powerful and the real-life journeys of three cast in this tense psychological ingly dramatic titles from the thriller set against the idyllic confronting series. US Marines across the vast great Swedish director which British countryside during the canvas of the Pacific Theatre star Liv Ullmann and Max glorious summer of 1939, just Von Sydow. Both films are DEXTER, SEASON 4 during World War II. The before the outbreak of World situated on remote islands Released 4 November. $59.99. Blu-ray $66.99 miniseries follows these men War II. Bill Nighy, Julie Christie, Romola and deal with characters Dexter’s back and now he’s and their fellow Marines Garai and Jeremy Northam star in this having to endure outside one killer dad! The Fourth from their first battle with the Japanese on edge-of-your-seat period thriller. influences while their idyllic lifestyles are Season brings not just one, Guadalcanal, through the rainforests of Cape invaded. but two new arrivals – a Gloucester and the strongholds of Peleliu, I, DON GIOVANNI baby, and The Trinity Killer! across the bloody sands of Iwo Jima and Released 10 November. $34.99 MODERN FAMILY, America’s favourite serial through the horror of Okinawa, and finally I, Don Giovanni is a luscious SEASON 1 killer has gone from free- wheeling bachelor to to their triumphant but uneasy return home. and engaging glimpse into Released 3 November. $59.99 responsible husband and doting dad. the decadent life of Lorenzo Who better to document the Maintaining an average-guy facade while da Ponte, Mozart’s librettist twenty-first-century satisfying his need to kill has never been easy. on The Marriage Of Figaro American family than a I AM LOVE But now, with wife and kids in tow, Dexter’s and Don Giovanni. Including Dutch film crew capturing Released 10 November. $34.99 got more to lose then ever, as he gets drawn arias from Mozart’s glorious the clan’s antics for a reality I Am Love tells the story of into a deadly game with a killer every bit as opera, I, Don Giovanni is a show in the Netherlands? the wealthy Recchi family, dangerous – and conflicted – as he is. bold, sumptuous and infinitely entertaining That’s the concept of this whose lives are undergoing example of the way art often imitates life. sweeping changes. Eduardo mockumentary comedy ALFRESCO, SERIES 1 & 2 Sr has decided to name a series. Ed O’Neill, Julie Bowen, Sofia THE NOSTRADAMUS KID Vergara and Ty Burrell star as members of Released 4 November. $39.99 successor to the rein of his Released 3 November. $14.99 In the tradition of Monty company, surprising every- the multinational, multi-sexual and Ken Elkin is a randy young exceedingly complicated Pritchett-Delgado- Python’s Flying Circus and one by splitting power man who is told that the Saturday Night Live, Alfresco between his son Tancredi and grandson Edo. Dunphy tribe. world is about to end. In a brought hilariously inventive But Edo dreams of opening a restaurant with race against time, there’s only comedy to 1980s British TV. his friend Antonio. At the heart of the family SOUL KITCHEN one goal he wants to accom- Released 10 November. $34.99 It also introduced an entire is Tancredi’s wife, Emma. An adoring and troupe of bright young talents plish – bedding the love of his From Fatih Akin comes a attentive mother, her existence is rocked – Emma Thompson, Hugh life, who just happens to be comedy about family and when she falls in love with Antonio, and Laurie, Robbie Coltrane, Ben Elton, Stephen the local pastor’s daughter. friends, love, trust, loyalty and embarks on a passionate love affair that will Fry, and others – who went on to stardom. catering. Zino’s restaurant, change her family forever. THE TESTAMENT Soul Kitchen, has seen better OF ORPHEUS days. With its currywurst and ANNA PIHL, SEASON 2 CLASSIC MATINEE Released 10 November. $39.99 TRIPLE BILL Released 10 November. $34.99 schnitzel, it’s not exactly The third and concluding buzzing. When his girlfriend Join Anna in her second Released 3 November. $14.99 each episode of surrealist Jean Nadine accepts a job in Shanghai, Zino series as a relatively new cop Relive the magic of the Cocteau’s renowned Orphic decides that perhaps it’s time to sell up and on the beat in Copenhagen. matinee era with quality, trilogy is a panegyric to life as join her. But the Health Department has a While she is still fresh and style and sophistication. Five an artist. Returning to the different idea. The Soul Kitchen will have to energised, she has learned a new collections including ancient Greek myth of pass their inspections. Enter a psychotic artist/ lot through practice and Classic Peter Sellers, Classic Orpheus and Eurydice, chef, an ancient Greek mariner, a menacing training that make her more Peter Finch, Classic Crime Cocteau looks back over his property developer and staff so hip it hurts, experienced this season – but Thriller, Classic Ladies and career as a poet, painter, playwright, novelist, and you have a recipe for Hamburg’s coolest she has many lessons to learn in work, life, Classic Horror. designer and filmmaker, and at the people new nightspot. Or do you? friendship and motherhood. who helped him to live la vie artistique. A CINEMATIC FEAST

available 01/12/10

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Influential Cinema from Around the Globe

DIRECTORSSUITE.COm.aU Readings Monthly November 2010 17 SHERLOCK HOLMES with Jeremy Brett, Limited Box Set Released 10 November. $179.99 Jeremy Brett’s performance New CDs delivers the most accurate portrayal ever of the legendary detective. Adapted from Glimjack novelist Sir Arthur Conan CD of the Month Glenn Richards Doyle’s original stories and YOU AM I Normally $26.95 novels, this collection has You Am I Our special price $21.95 been honoured with awards The eagerly awaited solo Normally $24.95 from the Mystery Writers of America and has album from Augie March Our special price $19.95 received accolades from all over the world. front-man Glenn Richards After the trials and hits the shelves this month. 30 ROCK, SEASON 4 tribulations of many years Having shacked up in a Released 3 November. $39.99 and even more albums on Fairfield warehouse Revisit all the hilarity and major labels, it seems accompanied by brother Chris, Richards none of the commercial fitting that after moving to recorded 19 songs over a month then stripped breaks of the complete fourth home-grown indie label it back to 15. Also along for the ride are the season of 30 Rock. Japanese Other Tongues, You Am I should release a Drones’s Mike Noga and Dan Luscombe, body-pillow three-ways, self-titled album. But is it any good? Well, who may have had some time up their sleeves monogamy scandals, sick yes actually, it’s really rather good and a given the recent release of Gareth Liddiard’s stunning solo effort. It would seem something peacocks, Verdukianism, and welcome return to form. It’s the quieter yelling at the moon with Buzz is in the water when two of the country’s moments on this lush, melodic record that absolute finest songwriting talents take Aldrin. The fun continues behind the scenes shine. Tracks like We Hardly Knew You and with lots of exclusive content. temporary reprieve of their much-loved bands Kicking the Balustrade soar, and feature to make very personal statements, and like SPOOKS, SEASON 8 some stellar guitar work from the ever- Liddiard, Richards has produced a wonderful Released 3 November. $59.99 brilliant Davey Lane. Elsewhere Megan piece of work. With all of his melodic and Harry Pearce (head of MI5’s Washington guests on Lie & Face the Sun to lyrical gifts, should anyone be surprised? DM Section D) has been kid- lovely effect, and Let’s Not Get Famous napped and the team are rounds out the record beautifully, Tumbling into racing to solve the mystery of cementing Tim Rogers’s place as one of our the Dawn his disappearance. They very finest songwriters. Take a bow. Lior discover that he thwarted a Declan Murphy is from Readings St Kilda $24.95 clandestine operation to On listening to a Lior smuggle weapons-grade record, I feel like I’m in the uranium into Iraq to justify the war. Now the presence of an old friend. rogue officers who masterminded the Pop/Rock He’s an exceptional lyricist operation want their uranium back ... And the Pioneer and live performer. Songs Saboteurs like This Old Love and LAST CHANCE TO SEE Micah P. Hinson Sonja still have the power to send a shiver down my spine. The latest release starts with Released 10 November. $39.99. Blu-ray $49.99 $24.95 a chirpy 1970s Wings-sounding track called Join Britain’s best-loved wit When I first put on Micah Shadow Man and I thought I could sing on and raconteur, Stephen Fry, as P. Hinson’s new album, it my own. The record is split into two parts he follows in his late friend started to rain. This is good – a rockier first half and a more introspective Douglas Adams’s footsteps, rain music and a welcome second. This arrangement works well, with zoologist Mark Carwar- return for Hinson after his allowing you to settle into the rhythm of the dine, in search of some of the unimaginative covers piece. Again, Lior has not disappointed, and rarest and most threatened album from last year, All Dressed Up and his many fans will approve. animals on earth. Last Chance Smelling of Strangers. It’s a decidedly less Michael Awosoga-Samuel is from to See is a unique insight into the disappearing melodious offering than you might expect, Readings Carlton world around us, and a hilarious, entertaining prone to extended bouts of noisy ambience, and thought-provoking adventure. but also to gentle, orchestral arrangements, a Write about Love cello and a violin providing a beautiful coun- LOST GARDENS terpoint to Hinson’s distinctive, warbling Belle & Sebastian Released 4 November. $29.99 and melancholy bass. A voice, which Hinson $25.95 Featuring two seasons of Lost seems to forget about for long periods.When It’s been seven years since Gardens with Monty Don, he does remember to sing, there are echoes Dear Catastrophe Waitress this collection shows how he of Jim Morrison here, while at other times was the soundtrack to and his team track down old, we might be listening to a soundtrack to the Readings Carlton on a dilapidated and practically final scene of a film that involves a wounded Friday night. Much has vanished stately gardens from man staggering through a junkyard in a changed in the intervening some of Britain’s oldest desert. All in all it’s an unusual, frustrating years of side projects, such as the wonderful established manors. and beautiful album, one that feels like a God Help the Girl record from last year. We ship with the captain drifting in and out of may no longer have the same jaunty and A HISTORY OF sleep: wry, seductive, raging against himself, literate Belle & Sebastian from their early CHRISTIANITY steering in a dream. work. A track featuring Norah Jones may Released 4 November. $39.99 Miles Allinson is from Readings St Kilda not have been on the radar for some fans, This six-episode series traces but there is much to like on this new the roots of Christianity. Come Around record, especially I Didn’t See it Coming, I’m Spanning four continents, Sundown Not Living in the Real World and the last academic and theologian Kings of Leon two tracks. I think this could well be a Diarmaid MacCulloch grower, as we get used to this new sound. Normally $26.95 MAS follows the route of the Our special price $21.95 fledgling religion, arguing The Followill family that its origins reflected a MEMORY MACHINE juggernaut shows no sign Julia Stone more eastern bias than previously thought. of slowing. Arguably the biggest band in the world Normally $26.95 DISCOVERING at this point, it’s been an Our special price $21.95 TCHAIKOVSKY interesting journey from The debut album of one Released 10 November. $24.99 such unassuming roots to intergalactic half of the phenomenally Conductor Charles Hazel- supremacy. Continuing to experiment with successful brother/sister wood and the BBC Philhar- their sound on Come Around Sundown, they duo, Angus & Julia Stone, monic Orchestra explore make full use of studio trickery, with is here. Unlike her brother Tchaikovsky’s music through disparate guitar elements, oddball riffs and Angus’s solo project, which two of his most famous general sonic weirdness that they somehow was a bit of a rocky affair, this is far more in works. The Romeo & Juliet manage to make work. First single Radioac- keeping with the style we’ve come to expect Fantasy Overture was com- tive is currently bombarding the airwaves from the siblings Stone. A dark and pleted when Tchaikovsky was and no doubt the rest of this record is haunting affair, it comes complete with sin- only 29, while he conducted the first destined to become equally ubiquitous over ister ‘movie’-themed images for each song performance of his sixth symphony, the the coming months. Be warned. DM in the booklet. Pathetique, nine days before his death. Dave Clarke is from Readings Carlton 18 Readings Monthly November 2010

SOMETIMES THE STARS Starting with Oh Mercy doing I Feel Possessed, Weighing in at close to 50 tracks and the 1950s. An extremely invigorating listen The Audreys we have Paul Kelly, Angus Stone, Glenn spanning two discs, it sees Dylan accompa- that most modern American blues bands Normally $26.95 Richards (Augie March), Sleepy Jackson, Paul nied by acoustic guitar, harmonica and a little would struggle to match for feel and energy. Our special price $21.95 Dempsey (Something for Kate) and Dan Sul- piano. Essential stuff for Dylan fans! On their first two albums, tan, all giving their interpretations of classic Melissa Whebell is from Readings Hawthorn The Audreys sat in the Split Enz and Crowded House songs. DC alt-country/roots section of TANGIER our music racks. They had That's WHAT I’M THINKIN Billy Thorpe Folk & World gold albums, won ARIA Badly Drawn Boy Normally $26.95 BUSBY MAROU awards and pretty much $24.95 Our special price $21.95 Busby Marou became one of the most successful acts Lancashire-born Damon Billy Thorpe’s unmistakable vocals swim $24.95 touring the country. They have thrown all Gough, a.k.a. Badly Drawn through what has now become his final re- This CD has been out for a little while, but that out the window and moved into a more Boy, returns with his first lease. When he died of a heart attack in 2007, after picking up a 2010 Deadly Award for adult contemporary sound. They have also non-soundtrack related it was feared this ambitious project wouldn’t most-promising new talent, this duo from shed a few members and are now basically a album since 2006. This see the light of day, but friends and family Rockhampton should get more attention. duo with special guest musicians helping album, subtitled Photo- – including industry icon Michael Chugg – They use lots of acoustic and electric gui- out. About the only constant is producer, graphing Snowflakes, is his first in an ambi- entered the scene, and what we have now is a tars with shades of pedal steel, combined engineer and friend Shane O’Mara, who tious three-album series. After last year’s rock opera inspired by Billy Thorpe’s travels with catchy tunes, melodic solos and vocal once again steered the wheel. Well worth soundtrack to The Fattest Man in Britain, through Morocco. Lush panoramas with a harmonies, to give this album a distinctly coming along for the ride. DC Gough found himself in a rich vein of cinematic sensibility fill the room and we can soft country/rock. It reminds me of the early creativity and has songs to cover the three only thank the musicians like Mick Fleet- 1970s with a light and breezy tropical north- TROPHY albums. If this release is anything to go by, wood who helped finish the album, and wish ern slant. An impressive debut, perfect for Tobias Cummings then look forward to his next two entries. that Billy was still here shredding our hearing summer listening. Listeners not familiar with $24.95 Beautiful, multi-textured arrangements, with his huge voice and chainsaw vocals. LF the 2010 winner of two Deadly awards, Dan Back in 2006, Tobias Cummings released wrapped in hypnotic, relaxed vocals filled Sultan’s latest CD Get Out While You Can, one of my favourite albums of the year in with everyday stories, make for a fantastic NATIONAL RANSOM should get acquainted with this talented and Join The Dots. It received a lot of critical ac- listening experience. In Safe Hands and What Elvis Costello fast-rising singer and actor. Previous Deadly claim, but sadly pretty much sunk without Tomorrow Brings leave you wanting more. Normally $26.95 winner Frank Yamma also has a new release a trace. I fear the same may happen here. Lou Fulco is from Readings Carlton Our special price $21.95 out – Countryman. It’s another corker of an album, he’s a great Elvis Costello is back with members of Paul Barr is from Readings Carlton songwriter and creates great soundscapes. GOOD FORTUNE the Imposters and Sugarcanes to present ‘But there ain’t no single’, I can hear the 78 Saab us with a bit of bluegrass meets rock’n’roll. AKAVE record company saying. Frankly, who cares? $24.95 His album harks back to the US financial George Telek This is great – give it a listen! DC I am an unabashed 78 Saab crisis of the 1930s, a bit of history repeating $29.95 fan and have waited with itself, Costello says. Blast from the past Leon After a six-year break, PNG’s best-known HE WILL HAVE HIS WAY: baited breath for their Russell, the session musician for just about musician has emerged with a great new world THE SONGS OF releases ever since hearing everyone from the mid-1960s through to the music release, combining up-to-the-minute TIM & NEIL FINN 2000’s Picture A Hum, 1990s, plays the punchy keyboards here; T full-band tracks, atmospheric tunes, and Can’t Hear A Sound. Again Bone Burnett is producer. Probably for seri- songs drawing from the PNG string-band Various I listen intently to intelligent lyrics, great ous Costello fans only. tradition. Listeners familiar with Telek’s Normally $26.95 pop sensibilities and distinctive, soaring Alice Bitsis is from Readings Malvern previous albums and the Tabaran album from Our special price $21.95 vocals by Ben Nash. Again I sit here feeling Not Drowning Waving will be right at home. In 2005 the female version – She Will Have both greatly satisfied and mildly disappoint- OLYMPIA NDW members Tim Cole and David Bridie Her Way – was released. It was both brilliant ed that the boys take so long between drinks. share production and instrumental duties. and huge, so this has much to live up to. At Bryan Ferry In an age where music is churned out so Normally $27.95 the time of writing, I haven’t been able to hear quickly that it all starts to sound the same, I it, but the list of contributors has me excited. Our special price $22.95 repeat … I sit here loving these songs and From the opening bars on Return of the Acoustic feel excited that in a few years time we will Olympia, that familiar image no doubt have another great batch of songs Guitar Album of Bryan Ferry in the impec- Solo acoustic guitar albums seem to be hav- to look forward to. Wrap your ears around cable suit with crisp white Both Sides, Warm Jets and Chasing the Light, ing a real resurgence of late. Here are five of shirt comes straight at you. the best: and tell me you feel it too. LF With the glamorous photo of a bejeweled Kate Moss on the cover, one Return of the senses that this album is as much about a look THE AGE OF ADZ as a sound. And that sound is pure Roxy Traveling Fingerpicker Sufjan Stevens Music, no surprise really as three of the Nick Charles $19.95 original band members are here to support $29.95 I said to a good friend the voice that could only be Bryan. AB This local guitarist has put out a series of today, while we were both extremely good acoustic guitar albums, listening intently to this VARIOUS SMALL FIRES and here’s the latest with a mix of originals album, that it wouldn’t be Paris Wells and a few covers. Nick Charles picks up his wrong to place Sufjan $24.95 12-string and Dobro as well. Stevens in the classical Super-cute Melbourne section of our store. Of course, that won’t songstress Paris Wells is Beyond Berkeley Browse and happen within this millennium, but we were back with her sophomore Guitar both amazed at the layers upon layers of release Various Small Fires, Various buy online instrumentation that accompanied the layers a fun, playful record with $29.95 upon layers of vocals. A few hours later, I beautiful, soulful mo- Excellent compilation showing the current listened again and was captivated by the ments. After listening to her first album crop of Californian pickers, the ghosts of beautiful, yet all-too-short, Futile Devices, the Keep It, then playing through her latest 1970s Tacoma school Fahey and Basho are Free freight within typically Stevens Vesuvius and the 25-minute album, I realised just how much this lady here, as well as some interesting new Australia for web orders closing track Impossible Soul. Phew! There’s a has matured in her music since her debut in directions. bit of everything on this album, more so than 2008. Playing around with all sorts of of $50 or more his other releases, and on first listen they genres, Wells has produced a truly eclectic Imaginational Anthem seemed more together than this … but it’s album. Let’s Get It Started does exactly what Various Spend $50 or more online only my second listen and Sufjan has proven it says and instills the true party mode into $29.95 at www.readings.com.au, that he’s a stayer. So stick with it, as I will, and the listener (also reminding me of Lily Like the previous CD, this comes from the allow yourself to enter his world. LF Allen) while the very cute acapella track Let always interesting Tompkins Square label. It and you’ll receive free freight It Out Jacob is perfect to sing around a fire features Tyler Ramsey from Band of Horses. to anywhere in Australia. Bootleg Series, with your mates. Wells has a killer voice Volume 9 We also offer complimentary and a clever writing style. Great fun. Luck in the Valley Bob Dylan Katherine Dretzke is from Readings Hawthorn gift wrapping and a gift tag Jack Rose Normally $34.95 $29.95 with your personal message. Our special price $29.95 The last installment from the late great Jack Subtitled ‘The Witmark Rose sees him moving away from guitar Order before Wednesday 15 Demos’, this latest install- Blues ragas, and more into ragtime and old-time December to ensure delivery ment of the much-loved JUKE JOINT BOOGIE Americana. Bootleg Series covers the within Australia before Collard Greens and Gravy period 1962–64. Of course, $29.95 Rainy Day Raga Christmas. many Dylan fans regard this In album number five, Melbourne blues Peter Walker as a fascinating period in his career; it trio Collard Greens and Gravy is a blast of $30.95 showcases the formative years of his songwrit- raw, powerful rocking blues that takes its The final CD release for Peter Walker’s long- ing at a mere 24 years of age, and is the first inspiration from the primal blues recordings lost 1967 album: extremely good guitar ragas official release of much of this material. produced by the legendary Sun Studios in played on a nylon-string guitar. Readings Monthly November 2010 19 the pieces for cello and orchestra. The closest Arvo Pärt: Tabula Rasa one to home is the arrangement of the Ravel (CD & book) Deux mélodies hébraïques done by Australia’s Keith Jarrett & Gidon Kremer Richard Tognetti for Isserlis’s tour with the ECM. ECM1275DELUXE. $74.95 Classical CDs Australian Chamber Orchestra. Also including works by Debussy and Prokofiev, Over the last couple of decades, the solitary ments of famous works that are well-suited to this is simply a great collection of satisfying Estonian mystic composer Arvo Pärt has Collins’s virtuosity and musical ability. This repertoire paired with great musicality. KR laboured away, quietly producing some of Classical CD will suit fans of the clarinet, as the intimate the most starkly beautiful music in modern chamber aspect of every track really gives the Mozart: Requiem – well, to be honest – any times. By way of a of the Month instrument the shining centre stage. With a Antony Walker & Cantillation seventy-fifth birthday celebration, his record lovely, clear clarinet sound, Collins seems to label and music publisher have collaborated Rachmaninov: Piano ABC Classics. 4764064. $26.95 on this gorgeous edition of Tabula Rasa, the Concertos 3 & 4 bounce through each track with immense ABC Classics does it again, enjoyment and love for the work he performs. disc that made his name in 1984. All the Leif Ove Andsnes & taking standard repertoire works are widely loved these days: Cantus Kate Rockstrom is from Readings Carlton and making it shine. Antonio Pappano in Memory of Benjamin Britten, Tabula Rasa EMI. 6405162. Was $29.95 Lovingly recorded by and Fratres, the latter in versions for piano Karen Geoghegan Antony Walker, conducting Our special price for November $19.95 plays Mozart, Rossini, and violin with Gidon Kremer and Keith (while stocks last) the Orchestra of the Jarrett, and for 12 cellists. The disc comes in Leif Ove Andsnes and Kreutzer, Crusell Antipodes, he has the choir Cantillation a 208-page, full-size hardback book, with Antonio Pappano team up Bassoon Works lending their beautiful blended tone to violin and piano scores, and facsimiles of once again on this new Karen Geoghegan Mozart’s Requiem. Also included are Pärt’s original manuscripts, essays, photos recording of Rachmaninov’s Chandos. CHAN10613. Was $34.95 Mozart’s Ave, verum Corpus and his Sancta and discography. Whether you read music or third and fourth piano Our special price $19.95 (while stocks last) Maria, mater Dei, with his Exsultate, jubilate not, this is truly a desirable object. concertos. This completes Karen Geoghegan seems to be the next big originally for castrato, here by Sara Macliver. Richard Mohr is a guest reviewer the cycle for Andsnes and Pappano which thing in the bassoon, or in fact the classical Featuring only Australasian musicians with began back in 2005 with the first two world. Discovered on BBC Two’s Classi- period instruments, this recording shows HUSH collection concertos. The third concerto is a magnifi- cal Star, she’s gone on to record three solo that Australian musicians are capable of volume 10: Songs cent work that commands great respect and albums, which, let’s face it, is unheard of for competing with the best in the world. KR with Strings technique from the performer, which a bassoonist! Now onto her fourth recording, Slava & Leonard Grigoryan Andsnes has in spades, and the support from she is showing what she’s made of, perform- Round M: Monteverdi HUSH010. $24.95 the London Symphony Orchestra under ing with the BBC Philharmonic conducted meets Jazz Songs with Strings is the Pappano’s assured direction is exemplary. by Gianandra Noseda. Featuring Mozart’s Roberta Mameli latest addition to the Hush The fourth concerto has never garnered the well-loved Bassoon Concerto, as well as a & La Venexiana series – which features same attention as the others, but it really is a concerto by Rossini and a set of variations Glossa. GCDP30917. $34.95 renowned Australian beautiful piece and in the hands of an by Keutzer, this CD will please anyone who For the most part, it’s more Monteverdi than musicians giving freely of inspired soloist such as Leif Ove, its true likes the standard repertoire but is on the jazz. A collection of seventeenth-century bal- their art to produce albums beauty is revealed. lookout for something a little different from lads is given a contemporary treatment and of gentle music, with proceeds supporting Phil Richards is from Readings Carlton the usual violin and piano. KR the balance is delicately achieved. I generally children’s hospitals throughout Australia. For

fear the hybridisation of disparate genres, volume ten, the Grigoryan brothers once Ravel: Piano but here the elements are amalgamated with Ikon II more assemble their extraordinary guitar duo, Concertos & Miroirs cleverness and subtlety such that the result and are joined by an ensemble of string Stephen Layton Pierre-Laurent Aimard & is utterly convincing – dark and beautiful. players to perform original compositions by & The Holst Singers Pierre Boulez Mameli’s voice is compelling – remaining Leonard Grigoryan and a number of other Hyperion. CDA67756. Normally $33.95 DG. 4778770. $26.95 grounded in the world of Monteverdi to contemporary Australian composers, as well Our special price $19.95 (while stocks last) Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G which it’s normally attuned, but taking on as arrangements by Tchaikovsky and Mom- In 1997, The Holst Singers major is loved and hated by new sensual qualities that draw it into excit- pou. It’s a gorgeous collection and the guitar and Stephen Layton all musicians – let’s just put ing and mysterious territory. The result here is playing is stunning. EM produced a disc that that out there. One of the beauty, never novelty. immediately became a cult most stunning piano Evan Meagher is from Readings Hawthorn classic and bestseller. Ikon concertos ever written, it’s (CDA66928), a selection also one of the hardest, both for the soloist Peace of Utrecht of great Russian choral music from the and the orchestra. This new recording with Jos van Veldhoven & Classical Specials nineteenth century, dazzled with its grand, Pierre Boulez conducting makes it sound The Netherlands Bach Society opulent beauty. Now, 13 years later, the easy! Pierre-Laurent Aimard is our esteemed Channel Classics. CCSSA29610. $34.95 same forces return with Ikon II. Many of the of the Month soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, This beautifully packaged BRILLIANT LABEL TITLES works recorded here are by composers linked showing what they’re made of. Also includ- disc brings together works to the Moscow Synodal School of Church ing the Piano Concerto in D major (for the For the month of November by Handel and William at Readings we’ll be Singing, famous for its choir (comprising left hand), and five Miroirs for solo piano. Croft, commissioned to men and boys) at the beginning of the Ravel is a composer who you can never tire featuring the fantastic celebrate the Treaty of range of $9.95 CDs from twentieth century. Some composers on this of, and this recording proves it. KR Utrecht. In 1713, this treaty recording won’t be familiar to most people, the Brilliant label. There helped to end the Spanish War of Succession are over 240 titles in this but you’ll be instantly entranced by the reVisions and brought about the first peace achieved quality of music and the extraordinary Steven Isserlis range, covering most composers and styles through diplomacy. The Te Deum and Jubilate from the world of classical music. Some of the singing from The Holst Singers. Highly BIS. BISSACD1782. $29.95 by Handel are an enduring part of his oeuvre, titles available include: Piano Sonatas (Charles recommended. PR Steven Isserlis is becoming while the music of William Croft is less well Ives, BRILL9135); Orchestral Songs with increasingly known as one known and truly worthy of acquaintance. The Janet Baker (Respighi, BRILL9141); Evensong Virtuoso Clarinet of the world’s greatest Netherlands Bach Society, under the direction & Vespers at King’s (King’s College Choir, Michael Collins & Piers Lane cellists currently alive. In of Jos van Veldhoven, gives performances of BRILL8896); Slavonic Dances (Dvorvak, Chandos. CHAN10615. Was $34.95 this new CD he takes great clarity that burst with warmth and BRILL93847); Mandolin & Lute Concerti Our special price $19.95 (while stocks last) works originally for cello energy. This is their third release on Channel (Vivaldi, BRILL93810); Guitar Works This new recording from London-based clari- and piano, and handpicks his arrangers – he Classics to be featured in Gramophone (Albeniz, BRILL94047). For a complete nettist Michael Collins comprises arrange- asks his friends and colleagues to rearrange Magazine as an Editor’s Choice. EM list of titles, visit readings.com.au.

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M Restaurants Diary 2011 Now available at all Readings Shops Readings have been fortunate enough to secure stock of the exquisite M Restaurants Diary for 2011. The M Restaurants in Shanghai and Beijing were established by the Australian expatriate Michelle Garnaut. The M Restaurants Diary is a beautiful tribute to the tastes, colours, literature and music of China. $49.95. Hurry! Limited stock available. Includes 2 CDs of Shanghai and Beijing Chamber music. Find out more at www.readings.com.au.