Our latest reviews
Stories From the Billabong: James Vance Marshall & Francis Firebrace
James Vance Marshall, best known for the novel Walkabout, and subsequent film, has collected together 10 Dreamtime stories originally told by storytellers from the Yorta Yorta people. It is a wonderful collection, surely designed to be read aloud, and…
Big Kicks: Bob Kolar
Biggie Bear is a loner, a jazz playing, stamp-collecting, giant loner of a bear. Then one day he gets a knock on the door to come and play for the local soccer team. Biggie, being a loner (see above), has…
Special Kev: Chris McKimmie
Special Kev has red hair and freckles, just like a strawberry according to his Aunty Pav. Meet a whole menagerie of characters: some kind, some mean, including eleventy-million cousins (of which Fatty Boombah is his favourite) and Nicky Bathgate, who…
Here Comes Frankie: Tim Hopgood
Can you smell music? Can you see notes and do they have a colour? Aah yes, you have synaesthesia, but don’t be alarmed because Here Comes Frankie to show you the fun.
From the front endpapers of quiet pastel hues…
Með Suð í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust: Sigur Rós
When I saw the cover of Sigur Rós’s new album, my first thought was ‘I hope it’s summer’. Featuring various members of the band running stark naked across an Icelandic highway, the cover is a drastic and colourful departure from…
Invocation A La Nuit: Jordi Savall
This generously filled 2CD set has been released to mark the tenth anniversary of Jordi Savall’s wonderful Alia Vox label. The title, Invocation A la Nuit, is a tribute to the special qualities of silence that night creates. Most of…
Audivi Vocem: The Hilliard Ensemble
For more than 30 years, the Hilliard Ensemble has been Britain’s pre-eminent vocal group. With a repertoire ranging from Perotin to Errki-Sven Tüür, from Guillaume de Machaut to German composer Heiner Goebbels, this outstanding group has been the benchmark in…
Her Father's Daughter: John Clanchy
After reading this collection, I’m regretful that I haven’t read Canberra-based John Clanchy’s stories before, and I’ll be steadily making my way through his backlist. Having a themed collection means that this book will appeal to those who are perhaps…
Lamarck's Evolution: Ross Honeywill
Australian scientist Ted Steele chanced on nineteenth-century French scientist, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, on a long plane flight in 1978. Reading Arthur Koestler’s Janus, he was particularly struck by the chapter ‘Lamarck Revisited’.
In 1809, Lamarck had published Philosophie Zoologique, a…
That'd Be Right: William McInnes
William McInnes’s writing is a lot like my favourite of his characters: the grizzled journalist, Max Connors, from Sea Change. It’s laconic, unapologetically blokey; a dry wit spiked with lightly worn intelligence and offset by the occasional detour into…
Browse our reviews by category
