Our latest reviews
Stay Positive: The Hold Steady
Having given us the rock record of 2006 in Boys and Girls in America, the Hold Steady is back with a vengeance. For those not familiar with their work, these Brooklyn boys produce epic, almost cinematic rock music that…
White Noise - The Living End
From frontman guitar wizard Chris Cheney’s killer opening riff and the rock-stomp driven by the excellent rhythm section of drummer Andy Strachan and upright bass player Scott Owen on the instant classic album opener How Do We Know?, two things…
The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part-Time Indian: Sherman Alexie
Sometimes the most unpromising circumstances can yield amazing results. Take Junior, an American Indian living on a reservation, add a jaded, clapped-out teacher, who in a moment of clarity and repentance gives Junior some unexpected advice, and the result is…
The Foggy Foggy Forest: Nick Sharratt
Ah, this book had me at ‘Foggy’ and then I found the see-through pages! This book is unique; it combines translucent pages with black shadows, fairy tale characters and guessing game text and it’s brilliant. Black isn’t a colour you…
Home and Away: John Marsden & Matt Ottley
Imagine if we, everyday Australians, became refugees? Hard to conceive of here, in our safe, cocooned, distant land. We may have to worry about droughts and rising petrol prices, but being displaced – our lives threatened and our dreams shattered…
Ghost Train To The Eastern Star: Paul Theroux
Paul Theroux writes about travel with an approach that sets standards for the genre. The locations which attract him are attractive in ambivalent ways – politically troubled, socially dysfunctional, or economically idiosyncratic – locations of geopolitical simmering enlivened by his…
China Witness: Xinran
Xinran Xue was born into a wealthy family subsequently undone by the Cultural Revolution; she has since carved out a prolific career documenting the experiences of ordinary people in China. Twenty people, near the end of their life expectancy, are…
I Was Told There'd Be Cake: Sloane Crosley
Comparisons can be so tiresome. You know, ‘the female David Sedaris’. That sort of thing. Only, they’re kind of irresistible, too. And when Jonathan Lethem makes the Sedaris comparison, too, then at least it’s got a literary pedigree. Sloane Crosley…
The Great Feminist Denial: Monica Dux & Zora Simic
This book is about a journey that is shared by many women. The trip of a lifetime! The Great Feminist Denial takes us on a scenic view from past years where women embraced feminism, created their own social consciousness, but…
The Racket: Gideon Haigh
Gideon Haigh is quite simply one of the best – and most intriguing – writers working in Australia today. He is amazingly prolific on a variety of subjects, but entirely consistent in delivering elegant prose that engages thoughtfully with his…
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