Readings.com.au: Reviews

Bugs in a Blanket: Beatrice Alemagna

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Kathy Kozlowski, Readings Carlton

A story told in wool embroidery and collage, this is the rather endearing tale of Fat Little Bug’s party. The bugs have always lived in the same old blanket at the bottom of the garden, each in their own hole, never seeing each other till the party brings them together. They find how different each looks from the other quite unexpected and are initially judgemental of each other.

But they soon begin to discover they are different, well ... just because they are. Which doesn’t matter. So let’s party. Quirky, homespun, crafty; this is a delightful picture story with a contemporary look and an ageless message.

Peek-a-Poo: What's In Your Nappy: Guido van Genechten

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Kathy Kozlowski, Readings Carlton

Yes, this is all about animals and their poo, and as one who has a slight aversion to the plethora of bum and fart books around, I sighed inwardly when I first saw it. Aaah, but this is a poo book with a purpose. Mouse, who is full of curiosity, wants to know what all his animal friends have in their nappies. Lift the flap and see – horse’s three round droppings, doggie’s poo with a pointy end, rabbit’s seven pellets etc. But when they all want to see what is in mouse’s nappy, they are in for a big surprise. It’s empty. Because mouse uses the potty for his little pellets. Now everyone wants to sit on the potty. It’s fun, silly and eminently useful!

Wildflower: Mark Seal

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Michael Awasoga-Samuel, Readings Carlton

Wildflower is the story of Joan Root, one half of a great wildlife film-making partnership, with her husband Allan. They produced some of our best-loved documentary films and changed the way we view nature – especially the wildlife inhabitants of Africa.

But this is Joan’s story. She was born in Nairobi to a British father and South African mother and lived much of her life in Lake Naivasha, on a beautiful 80-acre property. She was brought up to be self-reliant and was an only child. Her idyllic life and film-making partnership changed after 20 years, when Allan met Jennie Hammond, whom he would later marry. Joan had to find her own voice – which she did thorough conservation work, especially the safe guarding of Lake Naivasha’s fish habitats.

Mark Seal captures the essence of a shy and introverted girl, for a time obscured by her flamboyant husband, who remains a strong and resolute woman, until her untimely death. This book is enriched by a cast of real life wildlife personalities, such as David Attenborough, Dian Fossey, Jane Goodall, and Joy and George Adamson. This engaging read truly illuminates your sense of wonderment at wildlife – and at this determined woman.

Armageddon in Retrospect: Kurt Vonnegut

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Mark Azzopardi, Readings Hawthorn

There are those of us for whom the name Kurt Vonnegut will always evoke a sense of magic. Vonnegut was one of those timeless writers, a man who spoke both for the times in which he lived, and beyond, into the future.

Since Vonnegut's passing, in April 2007, a few new books have appeared. This handsome volume, a collection of previously unpublished short stories and speeches, is a must for all fans of Vonnegut and great writing. Exploring the twin themes of war and peace, these pieces sparkle with Vonnegut's typical wit, wisdom, and humanity, and they also reveal the growth of Vonnegut, as both a writer and as a human being.

Opening with a loving introduction from Vonnegut's son Mark, the book also contains a letter sent by Vonnegut to his parents when the author was a prisoner of war. Illustrated throughout with Vonnegut's own art, this book is as beautiful as it is valuable.

Perfection: Julie Metz

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Jason Cotter, Readings Carlton

Metz and her writer husband, renowned for his extravagant dinner parties and charismatic charm, live with their young daughter in picket-fence splendour an hour outside New York City. She runs a successful design business and enjoys a coterie of friends, and Henry has just begun work on a food book about umami, the Japanese idea of perfection. When he suddenly drops dead from an embolism, Metz’s life is thrown into chaos. She is stricken with grief, then humiliation, bewilderment and rage, when she discovers Henry had been engaged in multiple affairs, one for three years with a presumed friend, who at the time of discovery is babysitting her daughter.

So begins her dig beneath the deceptive surface of her life. In a deeply honest, intelligent and unputdownable memoir, Metz trawls through Henry’s emails, notes, books, psychoanalysis and her own life, and confronts the five women he was involved with. Seeing Metz deal with such loss and betrayal is painful yet somehow captivating, as is the way she dismantles her lost husband without vengeance, while seeking to understand him. A top read.

Raising My Voice: Malalai Joya

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Pip Newling, Readings Port Melbourne

We often hear about Afghan women. We don’t often hear from them. Here, Malalai Joya, who at 25 years old was the youngest woman ever elected to the Afghan parliament, passionately reveals the complexity of contemporary Afghan politics through her own extraordinary experience.

In her first address to the parliament, she denounced many of her fellow parliamentarians for crimes against humanity committed throughout the jihadi and Taliban eras. Many perpetrators of atrocities (from rape to torture to mutilation and massacres) now sit in parliament. Joya believes that without justice for these war crimes, the country will always be unsafe and corrupt. She was suspended from parliament, has received many death threats and travels with bodyguards, but she continues to speak of her hope that the trauma Afghans live with will be acknowledged, and that the men who authorised and committed these crimes will meet justice.

Her bravery is breathtaking and inspirational. She is proud of her country and her history, but she is unafraid to highlight its black spots of despair and violence. Joya has raised her voice: the least we can do is listen.

Pip Newling volunteers for Mahboba's Promise, an Australian-Afghan organisation that assists destitute widows and orphans in Afghanistan. Find out more at www.mahbobaspromise.org.

Cooking with Baz: Sean Dooley

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Kath Lockett, freelance reviewer

Sean Dooley’s father Baz is your typical Aussie larrikin who loves his pub, his mates, his meat and, when he finally returns home many hours later to a cold meal, his family. Part autobiography, part memoir, this book is an amusing look back at Australian suburban life in the seventies and eighties with an artistic mother married to a loud-mouthed bookmaker from the wrong side of the tracks. Sean works with his father as a bookie to pay his way through university but chooses bird-watching and literature over interminable drinking and yarn sessions at the bar.

Among the smiles this memoir evokes is the unconditional love shown by Baz towards Di when she is dying from her second bout of cancer. Emaciated, bedridden, in pain and having no appetite, Baz goes to extraordinary lengths to tempt her palate with an array of his deliciously home-cooked meals. It is during these heart-wrenching times that Baz and Sean reconnect and discover the glories in the common ground they thought they’d lost.

Sean Dooley was a Readings Glenfern Fellow.

In The Sanctuary of Outcasts: Neil White

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Annie Condon, freelance reviewer

In the Sanctuary of Outcasts is a most unusual story. Neil White was a magazine editor who’d been focussed on success and its trappings his whole life. Rather than let his investors know the true financial state of his magazine, he began ‘kiting’ – illegally depositing and drawing cheques between two accounts at separate banks. When he was discovered, he was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment at Carville, Louisiana. Carville turns out to be the USA’s national leprosarium.

White is horrified to find the facility still contains 130 sufferers of the disease, in addition to 500 prison inmates. At first he is reluctant to even draw breath in proximity to the victims of the disease, afraid he will catch it. But over time, his work duties in the cafeteria bring him into contact with these enigmatic people who have overcome adversity and enjoy Carville as their home. White is then able to look beyond their disfigurement, which in turns forces him to question the values and beliefs that have led to this point in his life and separated him from his beloved family.

Shelley's Heart: Charles McCarry

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Kate O'Mara, Readings Carlton

First published in 1995, McCarry’s gargantuan political thriller finally gets an Australian release. Franklin Mallory, former conservative US president, has just been defeated at the polls – but has proof of vote-tampering, and believes himself the rightful winner. He’s also heard rumours that President ‘Frosty’ Lockwood, a laconic liberal about to enter his second term, ordered the assassination of an Arabic terrorist. What follows is a dazzling array of life or death power plays and uneasy strategic alliances that propel this believable book to its nerve-wracking conclusion.

Black Ice: Leah Giarratano

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Dani Solomon, Readings Carlton

Giarratano’s third novel sees Detective Jill Jackson working undercover in one of Sydney’s less desirable suburbs, dealing with her high-class addict sister and equally high-class dealer/lawyer boyfriend who, incidentally, has a recently paroled mother-of-one after him, hell-bent on revenge. It’s a lot to take in, but there’s never a dull moment!

There are so many twists and turns, you’ll find yourself wondering how the author will tie it all up – but she does, and the reader is rewarded with one of the most satisfying conclusions of any book I’ve read.

The Ignorance of Blood: Robert Wilson

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Kate O'Mara, Readings Carlton

Wilson has been turning out wonderful novels for years, and won the CWA Gold Dagger in 1999 for A Small Death in Lisbon. Yet, for whatever reason, he’s always flown just under the radar in Australia. Hopefully this sprawling, yet tightly plotted thriller – the last in his excellent Javier Falcon quartet – will finally be the breakthrough.

Starting with a freak car accident on a Seville Highway involving a turncoat Russian mafia heavy and a suitcase full of Euros, this book has it all – terrorism, kidnapping, drug dealing, prostitution, human trafficking and explosive violence. It’s a fitting finale to Falcon, and if you enjoy this you really must explore the others – all top notch indeed.

Fear The Worst; Linwood Barclay

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Dani Solomon, Readings Carlton

What do you do when you go to pick your teenage daughter up from her summer job only to find that, not only is she missing, but no one there will admit to even seeing her? Then, after you've reported her missing, the police seem more intent on pinning her murder on you than actually looking for her? You look yourself. You fall for scams, fly through three states on the premise of a blurry photo, uncover some interesting ‘facts’ about your daughter’s new step-family, and risk the life of yourself and anyone around you to desperately make sure she doesn't become a statistic. I didn’t have one dull train ride to work while I was reading this.

The Dark Vineyard: Martin Walker

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Kate O'Mara, Readings Carlton

A few months ago, when Walker’s crime debut Bruno, Chief of Police was reviewed, I hoped the formerly sleepy St Denis would become a hotbed of death and intrigue so we could hear more from the charming Bruno. Well, the food-loving hamlet now finds itself in the sights of a multinational wine conglomerate wanting to buy up residents’ land for a shiny, modern vineyard.

The mayor thinks it will bring more jobs and tourism, but Bruno smells a rat – and following a vicious arson attack, unwanted attention from a radical environmental group and the tragic and mysterious deaths of two much-loved local residents, he sadly realises he may be right.

Dark Mirror: Barry Maitland

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Kate O'Mara, Readings Carlton

Despite its contemporary setting, the premise of Maitland’s latest sounds thoroughly Victorian – a beautiful, learned young woman succumbs painfully to arsenic in the London Library, leaving behind several friends, relatives and acquaintances, all with something to possibly gain from her death. The victim led a complicated, secretive life, and DI Kolla and DCI Brock find themselves chasing up all manner of strange leads. Not the least of them is the question of how one procures a fatal quantity of arsenic in twenty-first-century London.

A complex and satisfying tale with enough scarlet herrings and intriguing bit players to keep the pages turning well into the night.

The Corner: David Simon and Ed Burns

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Jo Case, editor of Readings Monthly

Before The Wire, there was The Corner. David Simon and Ed Burns’ cult hit HBO series is lauded by many critics as the best television show ever made. In fact, one literary critic has infamously asked why The Wire is so much better than most contemporary novels. It’s Dickens does twentieth century Baltimore, dissecting a failed city – one of America’s notorious crime capitals – layer by layer, from the perspectives of police, the drug denizens, ordinary citizens, the political system, the media and the school system.

Underpinning the show – and explaining the intricate accuracy of its portraits and the knifepoint savviness of its social analysis – are two monumental works of reportage that display all the brilliant characterisation of The Wire. The first was Homicide, Simons’ impressive first book (lauded by Norman Mailer), based on his year embedded in Baltimore’s homicide unit. There, he met Burns, a homicide detective and former schoolteacher who first teamed with him for this follow-up, which explores the other side of the equation – life in the heart of the ghetto, on the drug corners, viewed from the inside over the course of a year, focusing on one block and a handful of families. Gripping, heartbreaking, unmissable.

Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets: David Simon

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Jo Case, editor of Readings Monthly

First published in 1991, this true crime classic has just been released in Australia for the first time. It’s significant for a number of reasons – but most of all, because it launched the career of David Simon, creator of the much-praised (now defunct) HBO series The Wire. Simon, a police reporter on the Baltimore Sun, took a year’s leave to hang out in the Baltimore homicide department as a ‘police intern’, writing down everything he saw and heard. The result is a masterful work of reportage. It’s no coincidence that one of the many notables who’ve raved about Homicide is Norman Mailer: Simon’s writing is part of the novelistic tradition of journalism-as-storytelling that Mailer helped to pioneer.

Simon was the first reporter ever to gain unlimited access to a homicide department. However, despite the wealth of information he gathered in his year as an embedded journalist, it’s the telling observational details and shrewd interpretations of what he’s seen that make this book special. A hardened homicide detective covers the exposed chest and shoulder of an overdosed addict as her husband approaches. In a cramped rowhouse whose inhabitants piss into communal buckets and pile plates in layers that chart the week’s meals, a ten-year-old boy politely asks police if he can retrieve his spelling homework. Again and again, despair and disgust marry with a deep compassion for the beleaguered citizens of Baltimore (one of America’s top ten crime capitals). The camaraderie and tensions between the detectives lies at the heart of the book: the opening pages plunge the reader into the “diseased” humour of two detectives trading banter at a murder scene.

Underpinning the book is a sophisticated understanding of the social, political and historical context informing contemporary Baltimore (and America). Race is always an issue, whether it’s about a jury verdict or negotiating a career. And the resources poured into specific cases depend on media attention and political pressure as much as the particulars of the cases themselves.

Ironically for a book that launched a television career, Homicide makes a point of bemoaning the deleterious effect of television on crime investigation. (The too-perfect cases in shows like CSI make it increasingly hard to convince a jury to convict on much messier real-life evidence.) Fortunately, there is nothing neat or perfect about Homicide. Like life in the city it depicts, it is a sprawling, intriguing, surprising and endlessly fascinating read, with no easy answers, but plenty of open-ended questions to explore.

This review was originally published in The Big Issue.

Siggy and Amber: Doug MacLeod

2009-07-01T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Ethan McDonald, Elwood, Age 10

Siggy and Amber is about a boy called Siggy. He meets a girl called Amber at a disco who wears pentacles (Siggy thinks tentacles.) He suddenly likes her but does something horrible. Can Siggy make up for it and hopefully (for him) get a date and a girlfriend? How is he going to manage the relationship with its ups and downs?

I enjoyed the flow, use of words and the fact that it’s not very long. The book has a good build-up and I liked the way the story sorted itself out. It was better than I thought because I thought a book about a relationship would be boring.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group: Catherine Jinks

2009-07-01T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Paige Mercer, Elwood, Age 14

The Reformed Vampire Support Group is about vampires who are living in modern day society, and when Cashmire dies they must find out who killed him before that person or thing kills them all.

This book is aimed for younger people age 9-12 and I would recommend this for kids who are looking for a vampire book and are not yet ready for Twilight. This book has words good for enriching vocabulary and themes for a younger reader.

Sacred Hearts: Sarah Dunant

2009-07-01T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Judith Loriente, freelance reviewer

The convent of Santa Caterina, in sixteenth-century Ferrara, is more than a place for women with a religious vocation; it is a convenient repository for noblewomen whose families cannot afford to provide them with a dowry and a husband. When Seraphina, a 16-year-old girl from a noble family in Milan, arrives at the convent, her protests could not be more vehement. The abbess has been assured by her family that they consider Ferrara a better place for their daughter than Milan.

The reason for this belief soon emerges: a thwarted love affair with a singer whom Seraphina’s parents considered beneath her. But far from being subdued and distracted from her loss, from within the confines of the convent, Seraphina begins dreaming of rebellion and escape.

The Tricking of Freya: Christina Sunley

2009-07-01T00:00:00Z

Reviewed by Samarra Hyde, Program Manager of CAE Book Groups

Freya Morris journeys back into the dramatic events of her childhood as she unravels a family secret and tells her cousin her family’s story. Freya grows up in suburban America. Each summer she escapes to Gimli, a small village on Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. Gimli or ‘New Iceland’ is home to Freya’s extended family, including her troubled Aunt Birdie who wants Freya to learn the language and mythology of Iceland.

The landscape, language, history, and mythology of Iceland are woven throughout this debut novel. The Tricking of Freya tells a compelling story that touches on mental illness, being caught between old and new worlds, and how the past, our own and our ancestors, shapes the present.