OUR FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH

The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

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Egan proved with Goon Squad that she was at the vanguard of the future of fiction. The Candy House shows she isn’t ready to give up that position any time soon.

The Candy House opens in New York City with Bix Bouton, a character we only glimpsed briefly in Goon Squad. Inspired by a professor at Columbia University who is toying with the concept of ‘downloading’ memories, Bix creates the ‘Own Your Unconscious’ technology, allowing users to access their every memory and share and exchange them with others. Paralleling the tech giants we all know and love (or love to hate), Bix’s technology has its adherents as well as its detractors. The consequences of this technology on family, society, culture, privacy, love and human connection are played out across the novel.

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OUR CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH

Daughters of Eve by Nina D. Campbell

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Not only is this a sensational thriller with a riveting plot, it’s also a highly intelligent, thought-provoking read.

In Sydney one bright clear day, a high-profile barrister is publicly gunned down on the courthouse steps. Not long after, another bloke in Melbourne suffers the same fate, and then another in Sydney. Before long, the violence escalates across Australia and more blokes are dead. Yeah, that’s right, the victims are all men. Empathetic yet steely detective Emilia Hart, a seasoned investigator of family and gendered violence, witnesses the first death, and is quick to find the link between all the victims: all are perpetrators of domestic and sexual violence. The culprits dishing out this natural justice (or feminist revenge) is the elusive group Daughters of Eve, but with so many victims, panic ensues, and the police commissioners are quick to turn to the army for help. The irony is not lost on our intelligent protagonist: the army isn’t brought in to combat domestic violence despite there being substantially more victims.

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OUR NON-FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH

Childless: A Story of Freedom and Longing by Sian Prior

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When I think about this book, I am overwhelmed by the courage that it must have taken to write it, and then set it free into the world.

The question of whether or not to have children was never one that held any ambivalence for Sian Prior: she always wanted to have children of her own. She had many concerns about the future of the planet and its impending environmental catastrophe and what that might mean for generations to come – informed by a personal history of research and activism – but hope was there, and with it, an acute and irrepressible desire to become a mother and leave a genetic legacy for the future. But in spite of Prior’s thoughtful approach to the issue of reproduction, she found, through a series of painful events, that her life’s trajectory would not include giving birth to a baby of her own. In this carefully crafted and emotionally rich memoir, Prior moves the reader back and forth across the years of attempt and failure, reflecting on the many events that coalesced to lead her to a state of childlessness in her fifties.

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OUR KIDS BOOK OF THE MONTH

Maku by Meyne Wyatt, illustrated by Randa Abdel-Fattah

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Award-winning performer, writer and director Meyne Wyatt’s thoughtful and tender debut book for young readers is a wonderful opportunity for discussion with parents and teachers.

The first day at yet another new school is hard for the inherently shy Maku, but this brave young boy never stops trying to make new friends. A teacher encourages him to explore his passion for filmmaking, and when his Nan and Pop take him camping, Maku is inspired by the native wildlife, the night skies and his Pop’s stories about the Stolen Generation to tell his own story.

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CLASSIC OF THE MONTH

Deltora Quest: Series 1 by Emily Rodda

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When asked which author sparked my love of reading, without hesitation, my answer is always Emily Rodda.

[Returning] to the world of Deltora for our classic of the month, I instantly felt the way I did when I first read these books, eagerly turning each page, gasping at the twists, scrunching my brows in concentration as I tried to solve the puzzles along with the characters. Each book in the Deltora Quest series has a satisfying ending with just enough mystery to make young readers desperately reach for the next one. Rodda has created a vivid fantasy world; from the Forbidden Forest to the Valley of the Lost, Deltora is a dangerously magical place that I want to return to over and over.

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OUR YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE MONTH

Sugar by Carly Nugent

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Beautifully written, heartfelt and with a forward momentum that keeps you turning the page, this novel about loss, guilt and anger is ultimately hopeful and an absolute triumph.

Sugar focuses on a 16-year-old girl, Persephone, and her experience of living with diabetes, while struggling with grief and a sense of emptiness. She was diagnosed with diabetes not long after her father died in a car accident, and grief for her father’s death is tied up in her belief that she deserves diabetes as punishment for her treatment of him. She lives in a small town with her mother and her mother’s best friend and son, who have left an abusive household, and this unusual family provides an important dynamic in the story. When Persephone finds a dead girl in the woods, she becomes obsessed with why the girl died and feels a connection with her.

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OUR CLASSICAL ALBUM OF THE MONTH

Ross Edwards: Frog and Star Cycle & Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3

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Ross Edwards holds a special place in the hearts and minds of Australian classical music lovers. For myself, I relish any opportunity to play his music, and listening to this album was such an enjoyable experience. Every time I hear his angular rhythms settle into his ‘Maninya’ style (also known as the ‘dance-chant’) I feel shivers up my spine. What is particularly interesting about this new release is that it’s not a new interpretation but the original world-premiere recordings of his Symphonies Nos 2 and 3 and his Frog and Star Cycle.

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