Robbie Egan
Robbie Egan is the former group operations manager for Readings.
Reviews
Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
Jennifer Egan’s wonderful new novel Manhattan Beach begins in Brooklyn during the Great Depression, where smooth union bagman Eddie Kerrigan is struggling to keep his family above water. Eddie moves …
Dr Knox by Peter Spiegelman
Adam Knox is a man of contradictions. Altruistic by day, he runs a clinic for the poor, the drug addicted, the prostitutes and homeless of downtown Los Angeles. Mercenary by night, Knox makes home vi…
We. Are. Family. by Paul Mitchell
Paul Mitchell’s first novel is an exploration of Australian masculinity and the suffocating limitations we place on our boys and men. The first page is a family tree, but not a sprawling tangle that …
Zero K by Don DeLillo
Don DeLillo has enthralled readers over the years with his distinctive brand of hyper-realism. His characters speak in DeLillo-speak, challenging ideas in a unique tone that is at once ponderously ea…
From the Outer edited by Nicole Hayes and Alicia Sometimes
I approach writing about football with a degree of trepidation. The game is rich in vernacular and this often seems to result in an exercise in extreme verisimilitude that underwhelms in charm and ov…
Ghost River by Tony Birch
Ren is a bit of loner in his early teens. Not lonely, but a boy who makes the time go past without the help of others. Ren’s outlook for summer takes a turn for the better when the new kid at school,…
Guidelines for Mountain Lion Safety by Poe Ballantine
Poe Ballantine is building fine body of work, in particular his tragicomic nonfiction in which he explores and chronicles his own and America’s frailties, absurdities and shortcomings. Guidelines for…
The Book of Aron by Jim Shepard
I’ve been waiting for a Jim Shepard novel since Project X, his searing portrait of misfit boys and their ultimately violent reaction to their isolation. The Book of Aron continues with the misfit boy…
Game Day by Miriam Sved
Miriam Sved’s debut novel strips back the corporate persona of an AFL club by weaving together a series of individual perspectives of our indigenous game. Players, scouts, coaches, groupies: none are…
Love & Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere by Poe Ballantine
Poe Ballantine’s new memoir is a fascinating book on many levels. At its bare bones it is a story about failure – personal and professional – and the myriad ways people adapt to this very human condi…
Live By Night Dennis Lehane
Denis Lehane has been producing quality crime fiction for many years now. He won me over with the hard-bitten Boston of Mystic River, surprised me with the underrated psychological torment of Shutter…
American Stories: Tales of Hope and Anger by Michael Brissenden
ABC TV’s Michael Brissenden has written a sharply observed and hugely entertaining collection of essays on contemporary American life.
He covers the expected turf – healthcare, the war on drugs, as…
News
Q&A with Michael Brissenden, author of American Stories
ABC North America correspondent Michael Brissenden has written a new book called American Stories: Tales of Hope and Anger, profiling the United States through an array of stories set in the lead-up to this year’s presidential election. Our Carlton shop manager Robbie Egan chatted to Michael about the book and the America of 2012.
The US is experiencing its most protracted economic slump si…