ALL THAT I AM Abbey’s Advocate Issue 260 September 2011 Abbey's Abbey’s Choice Our pick of the new releases at Abbey’s special prices Choice $29.95 $ 24.95 $32.99 $27.95 $39.95 $34.95 $24.99 $19.95 $59.95 $49.95 $32.99 $27.95 page 3 page 4 page 4 page 4 page 6 page 17 his month the whole of September is VintAge ClAssiCs TGet Reading! Head to 131 York Street Notes from Eve Abbey... The Magus or abbeys.com.au to see the list of books. If "The Greene family was indeed John Fowles talented and quirky. Several you buy one of the books listed in the free A disillusioned English guide called 50 Books You Can't Put Down, members were spies (are you surprised?), one was Director teacher, Nicholas Urfe, you can choose either a FREE collection of takes up a teaching short stories by some of Australia's leading General of the BBC, another was a mountaineer..." [ read on, page 18 ] job on a remote Greek authors, or a FREE children's book. Craig (Ed.) island. Here he becomes entangled in the psychological games of a certain Maurice Conchis. Fowles creates a philosophical puzzle that has us searching Indigenous Literacy Day for clues and answers in tandem with Urfe. Wednesday 7 September This is one of those books that, if read at the Abbey's Vintage Classic Busk-a-thon appropriate time in your life, has a residue and will feature celebrity readers along poignancy that will last forever. And it's just with Abbey's customers, as well as a the sort of book that demands to be reread... sausage sizzle, so please join us on the and thanks to Google you don’t have to remain day and throw a few dollars towards bewildered by the final Latin quote. Greg the great efforts of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. See our website for more details. early bird SPECIAL One* As last month's Abbey's Advocate went to press, Wild one of our treasured booksellers was accepting the Due in-store 10 October Australian Booksellers Association's Text Publishing A new novel from the Bookseller of the Year Award. Pulitzer Prize-winning, Those who know Lindy were not surprised by the and bestselling, author accolade, with her 16 years of helping customers of Middlesex (Pb $24.95) find just the right book. and The Virgin Suicides (Pb $23.95). While the jury And it won't be a surprise that she reads a lot, may be out on whether always having at least six books on the go, plus Eugenides managed to another ten with bookmarks to 'get back to'! reach the dizzying heights but very approachable Where does she find the time? No TV, for starters... of Middlesex, he has written a well-crafted, * witty book – a 1980s-set update of the Her Father's Daughter Alice Pung classic English marriage novel. Alice Pung’s first book Unpolished Gem (304pp Pb $26.95) won A literary page-turner of love and literary the Australian book industry's Newcomer of the Year Award theory – though you only need a passing and was nominated for the Victorian and New South Wales knowledge of either to appreciate the skill Premier’s Literary Awards. – it certainly kept me engaged. One to read. Adrian 440pp Tp $29.99 Alice’s new book digs deep into her father’s story, embarking on a journey of painful discovery: of memories lost and found, of her own fears for the future, of history and how it echoes Pre-order now. Only $22.99 down the years. 256pp Tp $29.95 Hurry! Offer ends 30 September Abbey’s Bookshop – Independent Booksellers Since 1968 131 York St Sydney abbeys.com.au BOOKSELLER PICKS Gods Without Men Empire Day Hari Kunzru Diane Armstrong Cool Water Beginning in the 18th Told over the course of Dianne Warren century and covering a year spanning 1948 Juliet, Saskatchewan different time periods, and 1949, this warm is a tiny flyspeck of a this novel explores man’s novel recreates post- town on the edge of eternal quest for reason war Sydney through the desert dunes. In the and meaning. We meet eyes of the inhabitants span of an ordinary a Franciscan explorer, of Wattle St, Bondi. The day, the lives of some a burnt-out rock star, a older inhabitants are of the inhabitants are young family who find wary of the new, who revealed: the rebellious themselves entrapped are European migrants. teen whose mother in a media circus after the disappearance There are misunderstandings, friendships is planning the perfect wedding without of their young son, an engineer trying to and heartaches as the refugees learn how to publicly acknowledging her pregnancy and contact Venus and an Iraqi refugee who live in a culture so alien to theirs, and the whose father is the local bank manager plays the role of an 'Iraqi' in a military Australians learn to accept that superficial struggling with the bad news of his job. simulation exercise. The common link with differences hide common humanity. The Then there is the inarticulate drive-in these characters is the Californian desert wealth of historical details may bring on a owner who once kept a camel as a tourist and a mysterious rock formation known wave of nostalgia to older readers, as the attraction and is in love with his widowed as The Pinnacles. While reading this I was period is so lovingly brought back to life. sister-in-law; the foundling who finds a reminded of Tom Robbins, and there are Lindy Pb $32.99 horse and inadvertently recreates the one touches of Carlos Castenda and a healthy exciting thing that ever happened in Juliet dose of Chariots of the Gods? Kunzru has (a 100-mile race through the dunes); and the a wonderful ability to capture the zeitgeist struggling family on the edge of insolvency. of each time period, leaving the reader A warm and beautifully written novel. intrigued and mystified. Lindy Pb $27.99 Greg Tp $29.95 Penguin is releasing a new hardback library of 24 Evelyn Waugh books. Being published in chronological EVELYN WAUGH order throughout the year, the books feature an revisited elegant new jacket and text design. Quite striking! Reviewed by Lindy Jones 2011 ABA Bookseller of the Year Ishmael and the Hoops of Steel Barry Nanberry: Black Brother White Michael Gerard Bauer Colin Thompson Jackie French 327pp Pb $19.99 32pp Hb $24.95 309pp Pb $16.99 Ishmael Leseur, nice-guy Barry might look small Told from the perspective but foot-in-mouth hero of and insignificant, but of different characters, Don't Call Me Ishmael and size isn't everything. He this is the sort of well- Ishmael and the Return is small, but his brain researched novel Jackie of the Dugongs (pb is not only massive, it French does so well. $19.99) is back, this time controls the world. He Nanberry is a young in senior school. Along came to Earth in 1952, boy from the Cadigal with his great friends, but fell down the back of a sofa where he got people, at the time of the the fearless Scobie, geek stuck; not that it mattered, he was still able arrival of the white-ghost extraordinaire Ignatius, to do his work. It is only when he is retrieved strangers. Within months quiet Bill and of course the irrepressible, that he realises some of the messages got his family and other clan members have died wonderful Razz, Ishmael has to navigate the scrambled, so he implements his emergency from some unknown disease and the white- tricky world of adolescence, girls, Hamlet and mode… Another sophisticated and subversive ghosts have taken him in. His protective competitive point scoring. Not to mention picture book from the master of the unusual foster father is Surgeon White of the First a friend's surprising admission, the pitfalls image and seemingly simple text. Boys Fleet, who is a good man amongst villains. of playing volleyball and talent quests. I'm from age 6 upwards (and plenty of adults) With the viewpoints of two young convict pleased I was reading this in private, as it particularly enjoy his books! women, the Surgeon, Nanberry and Andrew, would have been too embarrassing to laugh White's natural son, this is a fine tale of so loudly in public! An absolute delight. treading between cultures, both black and white. Ages 10-14 A Sick Day for Amos McGee The Golden Door Philip & Erin Stead 32pp Hb $19.99 Emily Rodda 272pp Pb $16.99 Amos is a zookeeper, with set routines and The first in theThree Doors trilogy, this is one the plenty to fill his workday, but he always fans will love! Weld is a walled town where rules are makes time for his good friends. One day paramount for good order. It is under attack by nocturnal he wakes up with a cold and doesn't go creatures which wreak destruction and cause chaos, so to work. His friends – the elephant, the the Warden calls for volunteers to venture out past the rhinoceros, the tortoise, the penguin and the walls to put an end to the enemy's actions. Rye is too owl – catch the bus and visit him, to repay young to go himself, but both of his brothers answer the his many kind acts. A sweet little story with call, and then fail to return. He knows they're in danger delicate and expressive illustrations.