FREE AUGUST 2010 Readings Monthly Cate Kennedy on Jon Bauer • Emma Donoghue • Leanne Hall (SEE OUR REVIEW P5) ROOM IMAGE FROM COVER OF EMMA DONOGHUE'S NEW NOVEL p 5 Emma Donoghue casts a dark spell with Room Highlights of August book, CD & DVD new releases. More inside. FICTION AUS FICTION CRIME AUS FICTION YOUNG ADULT DVD POP CD CLASSICAL $32.99 $27.95 $32.95 $27.95 $32.99 $27.95 $32.95 $19.95 $49.99 $27.95 $19.95 $33.95 $19.95 >> p5 >> p4 >> p8 >> p10 >> p14 >> p16 >> p17 >> p19 August event highlights : James Halliday on wine ; Megan Washington at Readings Carlton ; Jessica Watson at Port ; Jon Faine. 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 Wednesday 11 August Saturday 21 August Friday 27 August 7:30PM - 9:30pm +LVWRULFDUNEIRA 10am and 2:15pm 11am - 12noon Saturday 28 August 10am - 12noon 2SHQGD\([SORUH'XQHLUD¶V *XLGHGDUWWRXURIWKH656WRQHPDQ 6WLOOQHVV0HGLWDWLRQ:RUNVKRSVZLWK3DXOLQH0F.LQQRQ PDJQL¿FHQWKRPHVWHDGLQWKLV DUW FROOHFWLRQ ZLWK 3HWHU 3HUU\ Arts & Culture . Health . Gardens WRXUJXLGHGE\'LUHFWRU 'LUHFWRURIWKH&DVWOHPDLQH$UW*DOOHU\ Saturday 28 August 2:30pm - 3:30pm 'U-DFTXHOLQH2JHLO :RUNV RQ GLVSOD\ E\ 5HPEUDQGW 2QWKH&RXFKZLWK$%&79 V*DUGHQLQJ$XVWUDOLD 6WHSKHQ 5\DQ IHDWXUHV DW 'XQHLUD 5RGLQ 0F&XEELQ :DUKRO 'DYLG 6WHSKHQ5\DQ,QWHUYLHZHGE\'XQHLUD¶V'LUHFWRU LQ WKH FRPLQJ PRQWKV YLHZ RXU %R\G0HOGUXP PXFKPRUH 'U-DFTXHOLQH2JHLO ZZZGXQHLUDFRPDX *XLGHG*DUGHQWRXUVZLWK$%&79¶V ZHEVLWH IRU IXUWKHU LQIRUPDWLRQ *DUGHQLQJ$XVWUDOLDSTEPHEN RYAN %RRNLQJVHVVHQWLDOIRUDOOHYHQWV Ph 5426 1490 2 Readings Monthly August 2010 From the Editor The biggest event of the year for booklovers ThisPETER TEMPLE wiNS Month’sthe Horses, by Alison News Lester (Viking, HB, Gordon on [email protected] has to be the Melbourne Writers' Festival. MILES FRANKLIN $29.95); Star Jumps, by Lorraine Marwood by 31 August. I will be travelling with you And it’s festival season late this month (27 It’s old news now, of course, (Walker, PB, $14.95); Mannie and the Long and will be able to give you more information August – 5 September). So, what to go to? but we can’t let it pass Brave Day, by Martine Murray and illustra- closer to the time. My bag is already packed! The speaker who has Melbourne abuzz with without a mention. Peter tor Sally Rippin (A&U, HB, $22.99); Tensy Is yours? excitement is Buffy creator Joss Whedon, Temple made headlines last Farlow and the Home for Mislaid Children, who’ll be delivering the second keynote ad- month when he won the by Jen Storer (Viking, HB, $19.95); and INDEPENDENT dress. Warning though: tickets will likely be Miles Franklin for Truth Harry and Hopper, by Margaret Wild and BOOKSELLER OF THE YEAR sold out by the time we go to print. If not – (Text, PB, $32.95), the illustrator Freya Blackwood (Scholastic, PB, The 2010 winner of the Independent let your fingers run, not walk, to the MWF long-awaited sequel-of-sorts $15.99). Bookseller of the Year is (drum roll please)… website and book your spot. The runner-up to his much-loved The Broken Shore. It’s the Readings Carlton! We are thrilled to have in terms of buzz is the 13 August pre-festival first time the Miles has been awarded to a INDIGENOUS been named Independent Bookseller of event, (hosted by MWF, already sold out) crime writer – and Temple seemed accord- LITERACY DAY the Year 2010 for our Carlton shop at the with Bret Easton Ellis, talking about his ingly stunned by his win, even dropping the Everyone is invited to participate in the Australian Book Industry Awards. It’s the return to the world of the novel (Less Than ‘f’ word in his charming, self-deprecating fourth Indigenous Literacy Day (ILD), second year running that this shop has Zero) that made him a star, in the sequel, acceptance speech – as tech-savvy Australian Wednesday 1 September 2010. Indigenous won the award, so it must be pretty special. Imperial Bedrooms (Picador, PB, Normally Literary Review editor Stephen Romei Literacy Day aims to help raise funds to Congratulations to our Carlton shop staff, $32.95, Our special price $27.95). reported via Twitter. Text publisher Michael increase literacy levels and improve the lives and a special thank you to all our wonderful The first keynote address looks to be a Heyward said Truth has ‘changed the and opportunities of Indigenous Australians customers who also contribute to its success. cracker, too. Eight major writers will talk possibility of the crime novel’. living in remote and isolated regions. We about eight ways to be human, with readings need your support to help raise funds to buy CAL SCRIBE FICTION from their work. The chosen eight range PRIME MINIster’s books and literacy resources for these commu- PRIZE ON AGAIN across memoir, science, fiction and philoso- LiTERARY AwARD nities. On the day, Readings will be donating The inaugural CAL Scribe Fiction Prize, phy: Cate Kennedy, Jostein Gaarder, Barry SHORTLISTS ANNOUNCED 5% of sales in our shops and online at www. open to writers aged 35 and over and worth Dickins, Norman Doidge, Fiona McGregor, The shortlists have been announced for readings.com.au. The Indigenous Literacy $10,000 in prize money, was a roaring success Alex Miller, Nadifa Mohamed and Brenda Australia’s richest and newest literary prize Project (ILP) aims to raise literacy levels in its first year, receiving over 500 entries. Not Walker. – with added categories for children’s and and improve the lives and opportunities of only were the judges thrilled with the calibre YA books this year. The fiction shortlist is: Indigenous Australians living in remote and of the winner, Maris Morton (whose book, Narrative history aficionados will be de- isolated regions. To find out more, visit www. A Darker Music, will be released this Octo- lighted to hear that Simon Winchester is Summertime by J.M. Coetzee (Knopf, HB, Normally $39.95, Limited stock at the indigenousliteracyproject.org.au. ber), but they also signed up both shortlisted returning to the festival, talking about his manuscripts. Meg Mundell’s Black Glass and The Atlantic: special price of $16.95); The Book of Emmett new, typically lively, history, SEPTEMBER Jane Sullivan’s Little People will be published Biography of an Ocean (HarperCollins, PB, by Deborah Forster (Vintage, PB, $23.95); The Lakewoman by Alan Gould (ASP, PB, READINGS MONTHLY by Scribe in 2011. Sounds like a great op- $35, September). Political commentator portunity? Well, as those television steak knife Peter Beinart describes Washington's arro- $29.95); Dog Boy by Eva Hornung (Text, The September issue of Readings Monthly PB, $32.95); Lovesong by Alex Miller (A&U, will be inserted into The AgeTuesday 31 salesmen say: wait, there’s more. This year, the gance on the eve of three wars – World War prize money has been increased to a whop- I, Vietnam and Iraq – in The Icarus Syndrome PB, Normally $39.95, Our special price August, in the Epicure section. Therefore, $33.95); As the Earth Turns Silver by Alison we will only be mailing out to regional and ping $15,000. Winners will also receive a (MUP, HB, $39.99). And the ever-popular book contract from Scribe. Submissions open The Brain Wong (Picador, PB, $32.99). interstate subscribers. Melbourne readers can Dr Norman Doidge, author of 1 August. So, get that almost-there novel that Changes Itself pick up their copy in one of our six shops or (Scribe, PB, $29.95) is The non-fiction shortlist is: polished up and send it in. Entry forms and also back. in The Age on Tuesday 31 August. We will The Water Dreamers: The also be inserting Readings Monthly in The information available at www.scribepublica- What am I personally looking forward to? Remarkable History of Our Age in December. Mark your calendars! tions.com.au/prize. I’ve said this on these pages before, but Bar- Dry Continent, by Michael bara Trapido is one of my top five favourite Cathcart (Text, PB, $34.95); UBUD WRITERS' MWF AND READINGS authors – her novels are smart, darkly funny, Strange Places: A Memoir of SHOP AT THE FESTIVAL Mental Illness, by Will Elliott AND READERS' FESTIVAL: beautifully crafted and compulsively read- A SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY Melbourne Writers’ Festival is on from 27 able – and I can’t wait to hear her talk about (ABC Books, PB, $24.99); August to 5 September. Peruse the program The Colony: A History of Early Sydney I know it’s cold and windy and a tad miser- her latest novel, Sex and Stravinsky (Blooms- , by and purchase tickets online at www.mwf. The Life able in Melbourne presently. I would like bury, PB, $32.99). Grace Karskens (A&U, PB, $45); com.au. Readings is the official festival and Death of Democracy you to imagine the warmth of Bali. Blue , by John Keane bookseller and once again we will be setting I was excited to note the involvement of The Blue skies above, gentle sweet-smelling breeze (Simon & Schuster, HB, $49.99); up shop in the Atrium at Federation Square. James P. Othmer, whose book Adland Plateau: A Landscape Memoir, by Mark and palm trees waving in the air, as you (UWA, PB, $24.95, reviewed p12) I had head towards a full program of intellectual Drop by and spend $50 in the Readings Tredinnick (UQP, PB, $26.95); and The MWF shop and you’ll receive a $10 Readings reluctantly put down to browse the MWF Ghost at the Wedding, by Shirley Walker vigour and fun at the Ubud Writers’ and gift cardand go in the draw to win a return program.