Julia Jackson
Julia Jackson is the assistant shop manager at Readings Carlton.
Reviews
Doing Politics: Writing on Public Life by Judith Brett
In recent years, avid readers have been rewarded with collections of writings by Don Watson, David Marr and Robert Manne. Now, it’s Judith Brett’s turn, with this excellent collection that brings tog…
The Women of Little Lon by Barbara Minchinton
If I asked if you knew about Madame Brussels, I’d forgive you for responding: ‘oh, the rooftop bar at the Spring Street end of Bourke Street, where the staff used to get around in tennis whites?’. Us…
Sabriel: 25th Anniversary Edition by Garth Nix
As a bookseller you know you’re getting old when your childhood favourites reach major milestones. 2021 marks 25 years since the release of Garth Nix’s Sabriel, the first in his Old Kingdom series. T…
The Orchard Murders by Robert Gott
For our Crime Book of the Month we return to 1944 and gloomy, wartime Melbourne in Robert Gott’s The Orchard Murders, the fourth instalment in his Holiday Murders series. I’ve long been a fan of Gott…
Unsheltered by Clare Moleta
In a landscape rent by an undefined climate catastrophe, societal breakdown and possible armed conflict, a network of refugee camps, settlements and supply stations house what remains of humankind. T…
Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz
This stunning debut is one of the best books I’ve read this year (so far). Melbourne-based author Jacqueline Bublitz has crafted a haunting story about grief, limbo, transition and friendship that’s …
Sex, Lies and Question Time by Kate Ellis
Well, this book could not have come at a better time, could it? Sex, Lies and Question Time came to me for review hot on the heels of International Women’s Day, allegations of horrific sexual assault…
A Net For Small Fishes by Lucy Jago
Last year’s big historical fiction release was Hilary Mantel’s hefty conclusion to her brilliant Tudor-era trilogy The Mirror and the Light. This year’s could well be historian Lucy Jago’s A Net for …
The Imitator by Rebecca Starford
In writing this review I simply can’t ignore the fact that 2021 will mark the 70th anniversary of the defections of Soviet agents Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean across the Iron Curtain. Both were hig…
The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix
All southpaws can attest to our brilliance: take Albert Einstein or Marie Curie – both brilliant lefties. See also, Leonardo da Vinci. I might be biased here, but combine that left-handed brilliance …
The Morbids by Ewa Ramsey
About a month or so ago, our head book buyer Alison Huber flagged this book with me, saying that it was something I might like. Oh yeah, I thought at the time, this sounds interesting, I’ll give it a…
The Ratline by Philippe Sands
The good news for 2020 is that Philippe Sands has finally written a follow-up to his enormously successful Baillie Gifford Prizewinning book, East West Street! Didn’t read that one? No problem. This …
Body Count by Paddy Manning
As I write this review, I’m conscious of that we’re about to clock twelve months since the onset of the fires in New South Wales that would get out of control and eventually devastate the landscape, …
We Were Never Friends by Margaret Bearman
I approached this book curiously, thinking, ‘Why George Coates?’ The George Coates I know of was a distinguished war artist, who worked in London and Paris, where he met, and married, fellow art stud…
The Salt Madonna by Catherine Noske
On the tiny fictional island of Chesil, something is not right. The presence of Mulvey, the overbearing magnate at the top of the hill, looms over the dwindling community, increasingly troubled by th…
The Anarchy by William Dalrymple
Given the dastardly activities of some of our massive corporations of today, the antics contained within William Dalrymple’s latest offering shouldn’t really come as a huge shock to readers. I say th…
Nobber by Oisín Fagan
The year is 1348, and it’s a deadly one. Quite literally. As with pretty much everywhere else, the Plague (or Black Death) has ravaged the Irish landscape, decimating the population. The survivors an…
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
In this unusual, yet confidently written debut, Elizabeth Macneal transports the reader to London, 1851. The London of Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray and Wilkie Collins, where the finis…
From Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage by Judith Brett
Judith Brett’s latest offering, hot on the heels of her bestselling (and award-winning) biography of Alfred Deakin, is a tightly written history of Australia’s electoral system. Moreover, it reads li…
The Dinosaur Artist by Paige Williams
Adapted and greatly expanded from her 2013 New Yorker article ‘Bones of Contention’, Paige Williams delves again, more deeply, into the heady and complex world of ‘commercial palaeontology’ and its i…
A Spy in the Archives by Sheila Fitzpatrick
A Spy in the Archives, which began life as an essay in the London Review of Books in 2010, is a memoir rich in history as much as detail. Reading this book made me realise my own knowledge of Soviet …
Skagboys by Irvine Welsh
1993 was the year in which Irvine Welsh was flung into the bestseller/cult realm with his debut, Trainspotting. Since then, he has continued to riff on ideas of masculinity, and other, bleaker, aspec…
The Red House by Mark Haddon
Five red cars in a row or not, I knew it was a good day when I picked up the proof copy for The Red House, Mark Haddon’s third adult fiction book. I loved The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night…
News
The best new crime reads in August
This month’s crime new releases are a veritable smorgasbord for lovers of the genre. Truly, it’s a feast of veterans and old favourites. Once again I’m stepping into Fiona’s big shoes, and I must say, choosing the books to review in this column was really tough. Sadly, time and editorial demands meant exciting new books …
The best new crime reads in May
This stunning debut is one of the best books I’ve read this year (so far). Melbourne-based author Jacqueline Bublitz has crafted a haunting story about grief, limbo, transition and friendship that’…