tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6179629300183906542024-03-28T03:55:09.574-07:00Chris Saliba's Book ReviewsThis blog started in 2004 as a diary of my reading habits and contains over 1300 reviews. As of 2018, I’ve combined other blogs I wrote into one.
To see my current reviews, visit northmelbournebooks.com.au. This blog is maintained only intermittently. Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.comBlogger1447125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-56675682793145252812024-02-22T20:28:00.000-08:002024-02-22T20:28:25.964-08:00Oath and Honor, by Liz Cheney<p><b></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIDz-y0us7lesL0HMc_p5SOmpIWDNk6PkBcY8cY7C1ThUpeNrjEulzS1aG8fjH0hoj1YZS-kgmAr6PwJNzGa2-uO3wVNw9BPgRVAWx0FJyMHUpmZaiZwvHumpQwHOg22GpGL-aL8kC0KI_uXc47JOPgTKnWz2GpxHEF2IsHtBQD340UXlJYgBh_P4SjSk/s563/oathandhonor.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="360" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIDz-y0us7lesL0HMc_p5SOmpIWDNk6PkBcY8cY7C1ThUpeNrjEulzS1aG8fjH0hoj1YZS-kgmAr6PwJNzGa2-uO3wVNw9BPgRVAWx0FJyMHUpmZaiZwvHumpQwHOg22GpGL-aL8kC0KI_uXc47JOPgTKnWz2GpxHEF2IsHtBQD340UXlJYgBh_P4SjSk/s320/oathandhonor.jpeg" width="205" /></a></b></div><b><br />The decline and fall of the Republican Party, as told by one of its own</b><p></p><p>I thought I was over reading books about Donald Trump, but apparently not. Liz Cheney's memoir of her time in Congress is a surprisingly good read, a gripping minute-by-minute account of how the Republic Party fell to Donald Trump. It's a story of Republican colleagues Cheney had thought were good and decent, hypocritically supporting a man they in private loathed. Not only that, when it became obvious Trump was dangerous and a threat to American democracy, Republicans continued to trumpet his lies. As Cheney makes clear, Trump didn't do it on his own, he had a legion of enablers in the Republican Party. They should have known better.</p><p>For those non-American readers who've always marveled at how forthright American patriotism is, Cheney also makes you understand why. She discusses the importance of the constitution and how America's freedoms were hard fought for. To be a patriot means putting democracy and the constitution above one's political party.</p><p>An excellent insider's account from someone who has rubbed shoulders with a lot of the main players in the Republican Party, providing a stunning amount of detail, but also some fascinating thumbnail portraits.</p><p><i>Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning</i>, by Liz Cheney. Published by Headline. </p>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-11519126762873431002024-02-16T19:38:00.000-08:002024-02-16T19:38:49.051-08:00The Paper Man, by Billy O'Callaghan<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNe0shy6rVq2Pu5A1lnfDHAtoK362a0CO232PKyo-XYTGcCMf7nu5gBcAYR_qmZW2R11aCFErBb061Kuov8N80rvR3QzK4y1SB5J99Q9-u1oX2CgqYBPFRoVKhUXINoJUBKD1sgIFaVnPQW5enAENnO_OcY2MNMdRftJF8NDRYlTwVLrkTehveMvpGr_0/s322/paperman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNe0shy6rVq2Pu5A1lnfDHAtoK362a0CO232PKyo-XYTGcCMf7nu5gBcAYR_qmZW2R11aCFErBb061Kuov8N80rvR3QzK4y1SB5J99Q9-u1oX2CgqYBPFRoVKhUXINoJUBKD1sgIFaVnPQW5enAENnO_OcY2MNMdRftJF8NDRYlTwVLrkTehveMvpGr_0/s320/paperman.jpg" width="199" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br />A box of letters reveals a tragic past.</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Jack Shine works on the docks in the Irish city of Cork. It's 1980 and Jack is forty-one years old. He's helping clear out his uncle Joe's house, which is up for sale. It is the house he was born and raised in. While cleaning up they find a box of letters and news articles. The letters are addressed to his mother, Rebekah, and are from a famous footballer named Matthias Sindelar. Rebekah had fled Vienna in the late 1930s, in serious danger as a young Jewish woman. The letters and articles reveal the essence of a passionate relationship between Rebekah and the Catholic Matthias.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Eager to find out more, Jack travels with his Jewish (and German speaking) father-in-law, Samuel, to Vienna, trying to piece together more pieces of the puzzle. Rebekah had died when Jack was only 10 years old and had never explained this mysterious part of her past.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">The Paper Man </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">(the title refers to the on-field agility of Matthias Sindelar as a footballer) is apparently based on real people and events. Irish writer Billy O'Callaghan has fashioned a slow moving yet absorbing story of love, desperate times and the tragic effects of war on everyday people. This is not a perfect love story by any chance. Matthias is portrayed as a bit of a womaniser, and Rebekah's parents are none too happy with their relationship, but O'Callaghan shows how war cut like a scythe through society. Those on the Nazis' hit list had to drop everything and run for their lives. We don't know how Rebekah and Matthias's relationship would have panned out had not war interrupted it.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">A poignant war story carefully told. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">The Paper Man</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, by Billy O'Callaghan. Published by Jonathan Cape. $34.99</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">OCT23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-76342077238233582102024-02-16T19:37:00.000-08:002024-02-16T19:37:24.958-08:00Impossible Creatures, by Katherine Rundell<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMau6uF0kzFZ-0rb5Rs8A1ZD7vvuyJ8s140vw7trTLaeaCvHFun-JCV2KBc3ueS6hnLrwWPDMe7z8JbZeTh-ICIUxO3Di69pXkBzQtj0iysBNgpNmwpJRrpTSSpCqhBuRQmXZBJaq16nt3pNJX2i1C99p5XNykf7JcmS3-E-diJeytm3MIhN5_bWi0QI/s322/impossiblecreatures.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisMau6uF0kzFZ-0rb5Rs8A1ZD7vvuyJ8s140vw7trTLaeaCvHFun-JCV2KBc3ueS6hnLrwWPDMe7z8JbZeTh-ICIUxO3Di69pXkBzQtj0iysBNgpNmwpJRrpTSSpCqhBuRQmXZBJaq16nt3pNJX2i1C99p5XNykf7JcmS3-E-diJeytm3MIhN5_bWi0QI/s320/impossiblecreatures.jpg" width="199" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br />Two children unwittingly find themselves in a battle against evil</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">In a secret part of the world, protected by a secure passageway, is a place called the Archipelago. It's a place of wonder, populated with the creatures of ancient myth: unicorns, sphinxes, nereids, mermaids, dragons, hippocamps and centaurs, to name a few. When a young boy named Christopher Forrester comes across a baby griffin in a lake, he finds himself drawn into the archipelago. There he meets Mal Arvorian. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">She tells of how a magical force keeps the archipelago and its wildlife thriving, but its natural sustainability is under threat from malevolent forces<strong>.</strong></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> Mass extinction and ecological disaster looms. Through a series of great adventures and battles, Mal learns she has been enlisted to help save the Archipelago from ruin, with Christopher offering all the help he can.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Children (8+) will eat up this fantasy / adventure story. Katherine Rundell writes in a crisp, well paced prose. There are all the usual set pieces – magic flying coats, floating buildings, strange creatures – creating a fabled world that is never short of surprises. The serious themes of the book (ecological destruction caused by greed) are balanced by Rundell's wit and cheerful style. The bittersweet ending will leave readers emotionally satisfied.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Adventure, the battle between good and evil and a wild cast of characters (the gruff sailor Nighthand is a delight) make</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"> Impossible Creatures</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> a sure delight for young fantasy readers.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Impossible Creatures</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, by Katherine Rundell. Published by Bloomsbury Children's Books. $18.99</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">OCT23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-20014307979059072912024-02-16T19:35:00.000-08:002024-02-16T19:35:57.047-08:00What You Are Looking For is in the Library, by Michiko Aoyama<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9gYf7uFk2BzKhb80o5FPNJDz7kOSN2hLlI93Fy-_zfW4aelBG_2LE93rd99EAT5Vilwtu-3pJGvStUyXwKJPgLlpoYWs67dxO4MpHErVOFkDhTscEc9pbJbHE2_FICFtlt58ZUVm0KQQ8R4tf0YvAmedZd4ZOrMfK-8ueieH2OCxRSCtpWqQimcs9NOc/s292/lookingforlibrary.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="292" data-original-width="200" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9gYf7uFk2BzKhb80o5FPNJDz7kOSN2hLlI93Fy-_zfW4aelBG_2LE93rd99EAT5Vilwtu-3pJGvStUyXwKJPgLlpoYWs67dxO4MpHErVOFkDhTscEc9pbJbHE2_FICFtlt58ZUVm0KQQ8R4tf0YvAmedZd4ZOrMfK-8ueieH2OCxRSCtpWqQimcs9NOc/s1600/lookingforlibrary.jpg" width="200" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br />A small community library run by the eccentric Ms Komachi changes the lives of five people.</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Five stories – five lives – all connected by one place, a community library in the Hatori ward of Tokyo. The library is run by Sayuri Komachi, a large, tall woman with perfect white skin. She sits under a sign that says “Reference” and stabs at felt pieces with a needle, making little toys. Her somewhat goofy assistant is Nozomi Morinaga, a young woman on her library training wheels. When patrons come to Ms Komachi's reference counter she asks, “What are you looking for?” She then prints out a list of suitable titles, but always adds in a book that seems completely off topic. It is these random books that take the library patrons on a new personal journey. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Each of the five characters in</span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"> What You Are Looking For is in the Library</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> is going through some sort of personal problem. They are all searching for the right path in life, but find work and family getting in the way.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Twenty-one year old Tomoka feels at a loose end in her job as a sales assistant; Ryo, a thirty-five year old accountant, dreams of opening up his own antique store; Natsumi, forty years old, is a magazine editor finding it difficult to get the right work / life balance with her young daughter; Hiroya, a thirty year old, is unemployed and feeling guilty about still living at home; and lastly, there is sixty-five year old Masao, recently retired and finding himself with no social networks.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Through all of these individual stories, people gently find their way onto the right path. It's not necessarily an easy process, and they are all really just at the beginning of their journeys. Surely there will be other struggles to come. But the important thing for the book's characters is that they've had a change in mindset. They've learnt that life's circumstances won't allow them to completely live out their dreams, but with a few compromises, they can work towards honest self-fulfillment.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Japanese writer Michiko Aoyama has written a wonderfully therapeutic novel. It will strike a chord with many readers as it excavates our most private thoughts, fears and ambitions, treating them with compassion and understanding. A feel-good book, to be sure, but one that skilfully examines the human heart and our need for purpose and connection. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">What You Are Looking For is in the Library</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, by Michiko Aoyama. Published by Doubleday. $32.99</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">OCT23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-5533781819583234452024-02-16T19:33:00.000-08:002024-02-16T19:33:41.079-08:00The Lark, by E. Nesbit<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzrZtZSIoBp3wIJSgLQx0yAzLWPK4tYm4i3Q_W8NF8unYy7MUyfMWPQj_bjTGFOWehLV-2WiEfL653zNChsApaDKYL6QRSp9o2QBNYKMKnA6sZEQAI_xU6aeaWLJ0994Yj5Vea8DhYz_DZUyxXhv4R65968Fn_E5tqKqfOsQU8wl5eC5l9hyphenhyphen9NTW9gBU0/s307/thelark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="200" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzrZtZSIoBp3wIJSgLQx0yAzLWPK4tYm4i3Q_W8NF8unYy7MUyfMWPQj_bjTGFOWehLV-2WiEfL653zNChsApaDKYL6QRSp9o2QBNYKMKnA6sZEQAI_xU6aeaWLJ0994Yj5Vea8DhYz_DZUyxXhv4R65968Fn_E5tqKqfOsQU8wl5eC5l9hyphenhyphen9NTW9gBU0/s1600/thelark.jpg" width="200" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br />Some delightful whimsy for adults from much loved children's author Edith Nesbit</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Jane and her cousin Lucilla have received bad news. Their guardian has blown their inheritance and they must now be pulled from school. All that is left to the girls - they are actually young adults - is 500 pounds and a small cottage. It's up to them to show pluck and resolve and thus make something of themselves. Jane and Lucilla are thrilled at the news. They disliked school anyway. Rather than fret over financial catastrophe they imagine the start of a great adventure. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">The First World War has just ended, and there are many people down on their luck. One of them is a Mr. Dix, a war veteran, whom the girls stumble across in a gallery. They take him on as a gardener. When the girls move into a bigger house - again, a good piece of luck - they start a market garden business, selling mostly flowers. Soon they are taking on lodgers, many with dodgy reputations. No matter, even when the girls lose money, it's all really just a lark, nothing to get too worried about. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">The novel ends with marriage and much good cheer all round.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">The Lark</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> was Edith Nesbit's final novel for adults, published in 1922. It's a difficult book to pigeonhole. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">It's neither really adult nor children's fiction, but more of a frolic, aimed at readers with a taste for the absurd and surreal,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> much like Lewis Carroll or Stella Gibbons' </span><em style="background-color: white; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Cold Comfort Farm.</em><em style="background-color: white; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"> </em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Nesbit's exuberant, life affirming prose also reminds of Shakespeare's </span><em style="background-color: white; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Midsummer's Night Dream</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">A magic holiday read that is a tonic and a delight.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">The Lark</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, by E. Nesbit. Published by Penguin. $29.99</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">OCT23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-77871527083276145452024-02-16T19:30:00.000-08:002024-02-16T19:30:34.369-08:00From a Far and Lovely Country, by Alexander McCall Smith<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizCMPzKouP4TQxCwo4VaJp4fvorDxzQoQXRPoM9MMMkfv4ov8opuykNAOzGer-a16NnAPLe9sqQ42cO-Y1ORCZ5D5eFvwlplMZZfB-09yT7UKzfFOx8ufOvO4AKx5Ecq6V9gxThI8Ec8oEmYUqdyEpAmooelZtH48RAMYcHD5KKZGK4yr0E9jVHhzNeJ4/s308/lovelycountry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="200" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizCMPzKouP4TQxCwo4VaJp4fvorDxzQoQXRPoM9MMMkfv4ov8opuykNAOzGer-a16NnAPLe9sqQ42cO-Y1ORCZ5D5eFvwlplMZZfB-09yT7UKzfFOx8ufOvO4AKx5Ecq6V9gxThI8Ec8oEmYUqdyEpAmooelZtH48RAMYcHD5KKZGK4yr0E9jVHhzNeJ4/s1600/lovelycountry.jpg" width="200" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br />Mma Precious Ramotswe is called upon to investigate two cases, one slightly comic, the other more of the heart.</strong><p></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Two cases come to the attention of Precious </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Ramotswe, founder of the No 1. Ladies Detective Agency, and her redoubtable assistant, Grace Makutsi. The first case involves the goings on at a certain Cool Singles Evening Club. It seems that single women are being duped by married men. Mma Ramotswe sends in her husband's assistant mechanic, Charlie, to go undercover and investigate. Although he is quite the amateur, he finds out a considerable amount, but when he follows through with some poorly thought through advice from Grace Makutsi, it leads to an unintended and very undesirable outcome.<br /></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">The second investigation is more serious in nature and involves an American woman. She appears at the agency wanting help finding the relatives of a man who, although not a blood relative, was someone she considered her grandfather. There is a bitter-sweet ending to this story, as the woman doesn't find exactly what she was looking for, but experiences a larger truth that brings her much joy.<br /></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><em style="position: relative;">From a Far and Lovely Country</em> is an utterly enjoyable new installment in the No 1. Ladies Detective series. It can be read as a stand alone novel. Alexander McCall Smith deftly explains his characters' quirks and foibles, and how their dynamics interweave, especially Mma Makutsi's somewhat comic backstory as a top student at her secretarial school. The gentle pace and rich cadences of McCall Smith's prose are a joy to read. On the serious side the novel deals with the more subtle moral problems that we encounter in day to day life, guiding its characters tactfully through the labyrinthine difficulties that are part and parcel of all interpersonal relationships.<br /></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">An aesthetic, emotional and intellectual pleasure.<br /><br /><em style="position: relative;">From a Far and Lovely Country,</em> by Alexander McCall Smith. Published by Abacus. $32.99</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">OCT23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-73257494902001472642024-02-16T19:29:00.000-08:002024-02-16T19:29:07.859-08:00Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, by Yanis Varoufakis<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi12lI-0COdCJx8ET6uKhnLCpqL1yuO0eCWpnWFcQmkTSCisWLnzH3OgbubtTXrtnoG5yagBeXln6Z4jDO1_D-KLkXiLUigcftS8AQMYfr74fJNWAERSL6yz7lNbTy0ur5TNuh_w8j6OsMn1Z8JW-OV-mU0SL05FWPwcipFqli6ugBLKx7_p7DcJYje4ts/s308/technofeudalism.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="200" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi12lI-0COdCJx8ET6uKhnLCpqL1yuO0eCWpnWFcQmkTSCisWLnzH3OgbubtTXrtnoG5yagBeXln6Z4jDO1_D-KLkXiLUigcftS8AQMYfr74fJNWAERSL6yz7lNbTy0ur5TNuh_w8j6OsMn1Z8JW-OV-mU0SL05FWPwcipFqli6ugBLKx7_p7DcJYje4ts/s1600/technofeudalism.jpg" width="200" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br />What has happened to capitalism in the age of the internet?</strong><p></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Yanis Varoufakis is an interesting mix of lived experience and academic theory. He was the Greek Minister for Finance when Greek government debt needed renegotiating with creditors during the country's 2015 fiscal crisis. Since then he has written several books on economics, the latest being </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">. It is written as a letter to his father, who was active in left-wing politics. The book centres around a question his father had asked him during the early days of the internet: will this new technology kill capitalism?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">The answer to that question is complicated, as you'd imagine. In essence, Varoufakis says that the internet has created a group of mega rent seekers. For example, Google Play and the Apple Store use third party creators to create products to put on their platforms. Google and Apple merely hoover up the rents from these poor workers – proles, as Varoufakis calls them – for allowing them to use their digital shop front. Worse still is the situation for the “serfs”, everyday users like you and me who give our data free to the big tech companies to monetise. In short, we've all made a Faustian pact with the internet. We've garnered all these digital free goodies, but we've had to sell our souls in the process.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Technofeudalism </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">is the story of concentrated power on steroids. The big tech companies offer the notion of “choice” - but there is none, really. It's either use their products or go without life's basic necessities such as banking, shopping, government and health services etc. Many authors have now tackled this subject, most notably Jaron Lanier and Shoshana Zuboff. Varoufakis offers an idiosyncratic history of capitalism, using Greek myths to get his point across. The result is a highly original yet contentious treatise on the state of the world's finances (much time is devoted to American debt and Chinese surpluses), written from an almost radical left-wing point of view. Many will find much to argue and wrestle with here, but also a range of thought provoking ideas to consider, coming from an original and unorthodox thinker.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, by Yanis Varoufakis. Published by Jonathan Cape. $36.99.</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">OCT23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-30048476593878438712024-02-14T20:25:00.000-08:002024-02-14T20:25:32.082-08:00God Forgets About the Poor, by Peter Polites<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLh4ffmfMtVra0WPOWtRatKuR_1gDxGlkUC9yV7CZJviUTGJ0VUMF8AR-1tEZkucn-_aj9xUc1GYQpigeCQObwZp6K2lWes6whXTCltz2nSjWIAHHkZk8qwE51_nzsutQpUC9QOQIhx9ZmZinMMWvRaLROx1ZyD2LnjoxAIuUz5d-Y8I6MuAJKfAe9RJA/s306/godforgetspoor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="200" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLh4ffmfMtVra0WPOWtRatKuR_1gDxGlkUC9yV7CZJviUTGJ0VUMF8AR-1tEZkucn-_aj9xUc1GYQpigeCQObwZp6K2lWes6whXTCltz2nSjWIAHHkZk8qwE51_nzsutQpUC9QOQIhx9ZmZinMMWvRaLROx1ZyD2LnjoxAIuUz5d-Y8I6MuAJKfAe9RJA/s1600/godforgetspoor.jpg" width="200" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br />A son turns his mother's migrant story into first class literary fiction.</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">In the prelude to Peter Polites third novel, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">God Forgets About the Poor</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, a sassy, wise-cracking mother gives her adult son some tips on how to write her story. “You don't know the first thing about me,” she admonishes her gay son, warning him off entwining his personal story too much with hers. Through the course of the novel we learn about Honoured's (the mother's name) growing up on the Greek island of Lefkada. It's the post-war period, and Greece is in the midst of a civil war. Honoured and her sisters are peasants, and being girls, they're not prized. In fact, their very female existence is a source of shame. It was a boy, highly valued by agrarian Greek culture, that their parents really wanted.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Honoured will eventually make her way to Sydney, Australia, marry and have two children. She carries with her the scars from a serious leg infection she contracted in Greece as a child, which left her hospitalised for a year. She remains ambivalent about her life, torn between two cultures, and is resigned, though not happy, about her second class status as a woman of migrant origin. An aura of dissatisfaction surrounds her.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Polites could easily have fallen into the trap of writing a straight, fictionalised biography of his mother in this deeply resonant novel. Instead he's opted to write a long prose-poem, a rich and evocative portrait of peasant life in Greece during the post-war period and an homage to the migrant experience. There are profound layers of meaning to be gleaned from Polites' fine, textured prose as he explores identity, being, gender and one's place in the world. This is an absorbing, formally innovative book that demands careful reading and will most likely appeal to fans of Rachel Cusk and Deborah Levy. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">A triumph of skilled storytelling.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">God Forgets About the Poor</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, by Peter Polites. Published by Ultimo Press. $34.99</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">SEP23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-86052823058348100362024-02-14T20:24:00.000-08:002024-02-14T20:24:04.076-08:00Restless Dolly Maunder, by Kate Grenville<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgen_erBZxM2acv28QFN75GbzW0ZEE5zweGL_4xtrjYuenzDN19NGobMnty3nxOzekDUpUgb7ILahXnRYIsXGgTdte-Kby7yibybITiEzSgMsxV1636_x_nG8EEGdW1on1i-ibIYqUZuPgFoB7p_eXYmQKhowv3zNBbWkP09j4K-NSI0l__IMvUdWG_eRE/s302/dollymaunder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="302" data-original-width="200" height="302" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgen_erBZxM2acv28QFN75GbzW0ZEE5zweGL_4xtrjYuenzDN19NGobMnty3nxOzekDUpUgb7ILahXnRYIsXGgTdte-Kby7yibybITiEzSgMsxV1636_x_nG8EEGdW1on1i-ibIYqUZuPgFoB7p_eXYmQKhowv3zNBbWkP09j4K-NSI0l__IMvUdWG_eRE/s1600/dollymaunder.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;"><strong>A novelised account of Kate Grenville's grandmother's life.</strong></span></span><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">Born in the early 1880s in rural New South Wales, Sarah Catherine (Dolly) Maunder was never going to have many career options. In those days </span><span style="color: black;">when women married, their fate depended on the quality of their husbands</span><span style="color: #222222;"> . Dolly wants to teach, one of the few pathways to independence for a woman, but her stern, cheerless father forbids it. Instead Dolly marries Bert Russell, a friend of the family from childhood. It's a loveless match, even though Bert is handsome and a decent enough chap. The couple have three children, but Dolly isn't really suited to motherhood. And she loathes farming. She spurs Bert to set up various businesses – shops and pubs – that turn into roaring successes. Despite Dolly having all the get-go to take risks and get ahead, being a woman means she has no money in her own name.</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">Celebrated Australian author Kate Grenville has turned the life of her grandmother into a novelised account of what it is to be a woman in late 19</span><span style="color: #222222;">th </span><span style="color: #222222;">and early 20</span><span style="color: #222222;">th </span><span style="color: #222222;">century Australia. It's a tough life, with hard won successes and much heartbreak. A gritty portrait of early Australia, with subtly woven in feminist themes.<br /><br /><em style="position: relative;">Restless Dolly Maunder</em>, by Kate Grenville. Published by Text. $45</span></span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">SEP23</span></span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-80324267011240126992024-02-14T20:22:00.000-08:002024-02-14T20:22:25.853-08:00Everything You Need to Know About the Voice, by Megan Davis and George Williams<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh43jh0GBFFEKo1VgCcbSo_DzaH3NMi3bjITt8-sCnwjjwy0QIbCefn-DqhTeFPoV9T0PZS4_Vgm_HhhgdBq_R2FN9sNpLm5FjTlDRmwhTcUSFDf63u1swqvXf6Pr7QIsLT-cXxojbi39uWwbk5ixdOC_kTSnQQpmRsfPn6-SfD1Jd9Cv4fdu-nDbLNsS8/s311/everythingvoice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="200" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh43jh0GBFFEKo1VgCcbSo_DzaH3NMi3bjITt8-sCnwjjwy0QIbCefn-DqhTeFPoV9T0PZS4_Vgm_HhhgdBq_R2FN9sNpLm5FjTlDRmwhTcUSFDf63u1swqvXf6Pr7QIsLT-cXxojbi39uWwbk5ixdOC_kTSnQQpmRsfPn6-SfD1Jd9Cv4fdu-nDbLNsS8/s1600/everythingvoice.jpg" width="200" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br />Megan Davis and George Williams take an historical perspective on the Voice in this instructive and useful guide. </strong><p></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;">Constitutional experts Megan Davis (a Cobble Cobble woman from south-west Queensland) and George Williams AO have put together a neat, easy-to-read history of the Indigenous struggle for recognition in Australia's founding document, with useful timelines and appendices. Starting with an explanation of how the constitution came to be, </span><em style="position: relative;"><span style="color: black;">Everything You Need to Know About the Voice</span></em><span style="color: black;"> then moves onto the 1967 referendum, which proposed changes that would allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to be counted as part of the population and provide the Commonwealth with the power to make laws for them. This referendum was carried with an overwhelming majority and the authors spend much time dissecting the reasons for its success and the misunderstandings as to what was being proposed.</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;">The rest of the book describes the democratic process that led to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and some of its key goals, namely Voice, Treaty and Truth-Telling. Davis and Williams put the Voice referendum in historical perspective, highlighting its challenges and clearing away the fog of misinformation. A vital contribution to the upcoming referendum that will help citizens to make an informed decision.</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Everything You Need to Know About the Voice</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, by Megan Davis and George Williams. Published by New South Publishing. $27.99</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">SEP23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-15994656865264781932024-02-14T20:20:00.000-08:002024-02-14T20:25:41.855-08:00The Wren, The Wren, by Anne Enright<p><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700; text-align: justify;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixJcZAK4Jx7D7QbWHLkNVz2K1CCPyY1LUn-KK4njb_thSLiP8eWc_trBNFutRnNLJriKMgzUPMFxlmZgofEI9eaFvhk3RPdRCDZRwWDjfwThBlK0v7TVPZ_xQQC3kcwhjL25JRS8k-Fz4lDnqdoVewp8nJrO8j5e8OjqideIhyB591h_Ihn_Gpaqu-reE/s314/thewrenthewren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="200" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixJcZAK4Jx7D7QbWHLkNVz2K1CCPyY1LUn-KK4njb_thSLiP8eWc_trBNFutRnNLJriKMgzUPMFxlmZgofEI9eaFvhk3RPdRCDZRwWDjfwThBlK0v7TVPZ_xQQC3kcwhjL25JRS8k-Fz4lDnqdoVewp8nJrO8j5e8OjqideIhyB591h_Ihn_Gpaqu-reE/s1600/thewrenthewren.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />An Irish poet's legacy is generational trauma for daughter and granddaughter alike.<p></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">Nell is a twenty-something freelance writer, knocking out dodgy travel pieces for online publications. She's in a sort-of relationship with Felim, a strapping lad of farming stock. Things are less than ideal, as Felim is borderline abusive. The sex is often rough and unsatisfying, but Nell is a bit of a masochist, prone to self-harm, and employs a wry sense of humour to try and rationalise her experiences. She has moved away from home, and her mother Carmel, to try and begin living an independent life, and hopefully forge a more independent identity.<br /></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">The two women, mother and daughter, have a complicated relationship, full of love, but also frustration and exasperation. Carmel is a no-nonsense woman, with a realistic yet also ironic outlook. She raised Nell without a father, conceiving her daughter randomly, seeing single motherhood as less complicated than a traditional nuclear family. Carmel's attitude to men is perhaps coloured by her father, Phil McDanagh, a famous Irish poet (as far as poet's can be famous)<br /></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">Phil McDanagh is a mildly comic figure, the proverbial Irish poet. Neither daughter nor granddaughter take him too seriously, although he is a major presence in their lives, despite the fact that he has passed away. The poetic Phil, in touch with the beauty of language and expression, dumped his wife Terry when she was suffering with cancer and quickly took up with other women. Old television interviews of Phil are available online, which are a focus of Nell and Carmel's attention, as they try to figure out what his relationship with them meant, and how it continues to shape them.<br /></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">Anne Enright has a great skill for describing life as it really is, with a focus on motherhood and its complex, often divided emotions. Nell and Carmel are undoubtedly close, and would do anything for each other, but there are fights and resentments. Enright also writes about the body in an almost Chaucerian way, with emphasis on menstrual blood and sperm, stark realities of life's cycle. All these elements put together – the natural insistence of the body, the challenges of mother-daughter relationships, a steady stream of bad or boring sex, a gnome-like poet father – create an emotionally messy yet compelling page-turner of a novel. Enright weaves much humour through her well observed prose, creating well rounded characters that readers will feel close to.<br /></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">A skilful portrait of intergenerational relationships, executed with wit and understanding.<br /><br /><em style="position: relative;">The Wren, The Wren</em>, by Anne Enright. Published by Jonathan Cape. $32.99<br /></span></span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #222222;">SEP23</span></span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-56871009738576807842024-02-14T20:19:00.000-08:002024-02-14T20:26:01.379-08:00A Clear Flowing Yarra, by Harry Saddler<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjivA21bN_MEvm0iZ6bBEvPrCmm3zX7EV1IwMIQUzJDxQfgQXor2O03JVe5U37wfTDgu-dc4YGC-3SttDCy325Z_J5dSjaFMuwNRjEtgrLw-EL2HLRv_6ZVt_hSDhM8b1zjFaSz_YZcBt-KgAgP3VTZbR478d0zi2xjkwxic_9KuXhyphenhyphenUplXb9dwhCmUq6U/s308/clearflowingyarra.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="200" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjivA21bN_MEvm0iZ6bBEvPrCmm3zX7EV1IwMIQUzJDxQfgQXor2O03JVe5U37wfTDgu-dc4YGC-3SttDCy325Z_J5dSjaFMuwNRjEtgrLw-EL2HLRv_6ZVt_hSDhM8b1zjFaSz_YZcBt-KgAgP3VTZbR478d0zi2xjkwxic_9KuXhyphenhyphenUplXb9dwhCmUq6U/s1600/clearflowingyarra.jpg" width="200" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br />An uplifting journey along Melbourne's Yarra River.</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Harry Saddler is a Melbourne writer (he moved from Canberra 20 years ago) whose work concentrates on the natural environment. In his new book, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">A Clear Flowing Yarra</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, he devotes himself heart and soul to Melbourne's defining river. It should be noted at the outset that the name Yarra is a misnomer, a misunderstanding by the Surveyor-General John Helder Wedge in 1835, who misinterpreted the words of two Kulin nation people. Yarra actually means flowing water. The river's real name is </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Birrarung, meaning river of mists.<br /></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><em style="position: relative;">A Clear Flowing Yarra</em> is an immersive, companionable book, a love letter to the Yarra River. It's also inspiring in its enthusiasm and eagerness to experience the Yarra first hand. Readers will want to start their own journey of rediscovery after finishing the book. Saddler interviews a range of people – environmentalists, activists, scientists – who work towards keeping the river in a sustainable position. The story of a woman who voluntarily organises rubbish clean ups shows how it is the work of quiet, unsung heroes that make a huge difference to the river's health.<br /></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Saddler is also a keen watcher of animals, and he devotes much time to describing the wildlife that lives along and in the river – birds, snakes, bats, birds, possums. He infuses every page with his own sense of wonder and awe at nature's marvels.<br /></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">An easy-to-read series of riffs on Melbourne's main river system that will delight and enchant. <br /><br /><em style="position: relative;">A Clear Flowing Yarra</em>, by Harry Saddler. Published by Affirm. $29.99</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">AUG23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-5387635780374928502024-02-01T20:20:00.000-08:002024-02-01T20:20:50.039-08:00Perfume, by Patrick Suskind<p><b><span style="font-family: times;"></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: times;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGZgD6WZAuDQFNHxOORnBDYRQU6kv4ypy-tL0Sj8u1IvLRiUfTkA9X0wNxeNhrSKp2CxMcbWaImveavuDP7oKr7AUlwIUTwMLL9k52D6wFsZFEdpyGrnn7S893_POicy1lPuqPXMXCBPVGOtxK6G4l4g_FMN78Hk4lmnZFiNsI4qW0sbITcZGl6t9s2eA/s4682/perfumesuskind.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4682" data-original-width="3052" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGZgD6WZAuDQFNHxOORnBDYRQU6kv4ypy-tL0Sj8u1IvLRiUfTkA9X0wNxeNhrSKp2CxMcbWaImveavuDP7oKr7AUlwIUTwMLL9k52D6wFsZFEdpyGrnn7S893_POicy1lPuqPXMXCBPVGOtxK6G4l4g_FMN78Hk4lmnZFiNsI4qW0sbITcZGl6t9s2eA/s320/perfumesuskind.jpg" width="209" /></a></span></b></div><b><span style="font-family: times;"><br />An 18th-century perfumer searches for the perfect scent - that of young virgin girl.</span></b><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: times;">Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born unloved and unwanted into 18th-century France. His mother is executed and he is forced into dangerous and pitiless child labour. Disease almost kills him off, but he's a scrappy youth and manages to survive. The child has one skill: he is possessed of the most sensitive olfactory nerves. His ability to distinguish a wide variety of smells - from the disgusting to the delightful - puts him on track to enter the perfumer's trade. This he does with considerable success. There is one smell that obsesses him, however. The scent of young virgin girls. Early in the novel, he clobbers one unsuspecting victim, killing her in the process. This is the beginning of a quest to distill the unique smell of pubescent virgin girls. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: times;">One wonders what sort of public greeting <i>Perfume </i>would get today, considering its perverse subject matter (it has sold 20 million copies worldwide.) While reading this novel, other decadent writers came to mind: the Marquis de Sade, Oscar Wilde, Joris-Karl Huysmans's <i>Against Nature</i> and Matthew Lewis's <i>The Monk</i>. Patrick Suskind's writing is often witty and funny. The plotting is clever and the filthy Paris of the 18th-century is brilliantly imagined (the novel should really be called "putrescence". It's hard to figure out what the novel's theme is, however. Is it about sexual obsession? Disgust at nature's inevitable decay? Perhaps the latter. </span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: times;">An enjoyable enough read, one that left me a little queasy, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it to others.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>Perfume</i>, by Patrick Suskind. Penguin Modern Classics. ISBN: </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #181b21; font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", "Liberation Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px;">9780241420294</span></p>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-54479805928202694842024-01-19T19:40:00.000-08:002024-01-19T19:40:36.689-08:00Young Rupert: The Making of the Murdoch Empire, by Walter Marsh<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPTg4pg_NNZNOoAja6_EYwqiSaUoTva4b9hnWHpNEdGvgRrIaPOglbmWMfVszs-VOd_gRKg-5AeYhQpvoQ9wv9gh0-GY7nz2DkVITVdZ3Ue44KMjudm0yuixP26MghYB8ZdJ7xY70o1Dkw-xQ_q10ckW_sWj7jkXAOm-_U9A1sS-EJFVmIz3yNXqeUbDY/s306/youngrupert.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="200" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPTg4pg_NNZNOoAja6_EYwqiSaUoTva4b9hnWHpNEdGvgRrIaPOglbmWMfVszs-VOd_gRKg-5AeYhQpvoQ9wv9gh0-GY7nz2DkVITVdZ3Ue44KMjudm0yuixP26MghYB8ZdJ7xY70o1Dkw-xQ_q10ckW_sWj7jkXAOm-_U9A1sS-EJFVmIz3yNXqeUbDY/s1600/youngrupert.jpg" width="200" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;"><br />A new biography of Rupert Murdoch concentrates on his early years.</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">Rupert Murdoch’s influence is ubiquitous, yet the man himself remains oddly opaque. Contradictions abound. During his university days, he toyed with left-wing politics, but soon moved to the right. He painted himself the outsider, but quickly became the establishment. As Murdoch once said candidly: “Monopoly is a terrible thing, until you have it.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">Journalist Walter Marsh’s new biography of Murdoch concentrates on the mogul’s formative years in Adelaide at the helm of </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative;">The News</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">, especially its controversial coverage of the 1959 Stuart royal commission, which brought Rupert and his editor, Rohan Rivett, close to a jail term for seditious libel. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">The book also works as a dual biography of his father, Keith. Murdoch senior started as the editor of the Melbourne Herald and was soon engineering a series of ambitious business deals that sowed the seeds of the Murdoch empire, but left him overdrawn and overstretched. Rupert clearly inherited his father’s penchant for high stakes and risk taking. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative;">Young Rupert </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">is a scrupulously well-researched history that examines the power of the press in the twentieth century, and its influence on politics. Rupert Murdoch remains largely elusive, yet new research shows glimpses of a man under pressure and unable to enjoy his success. Readers interested in Australian politics and publishing will find much to satisfy here.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative;">Young Rupert: The Making of the Murdoch Empire</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">, by Walter Marsh. Published by Scribe. $34.99</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">JULY23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-62788540153099650612024-01-19T19:39:00.000-08:002024-01-19T19:39:13.934-08:00Termush, by Sven Holm<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJQjFQuw4N9vUduJGPg4fmjR_YPuvIWfYPCKgk9Fs2RE7o1QgtgY_OHXWaemV-Z4RwiU8fWKh6CbPCem4XiaIQsOPATbOB_vEONxWy1EVPeG2cAQX4zZ1QivHr3PG_eY_P_8aH6WYUSi8hGg9USt7PDsRvIIibbeLlzcQ_2WW5okWjpHKyImMJeqdUkLE/s307/termush.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="200" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJQjFQuw4N9vUduJGPg4fmjR_YPuvIWfYPCKgk9Fs2RE7o1QgtgY_OHXWaemV-Z4RwiU8fWKh6CbPCem4XiaIQsOPATbOB_vEONxWy1EVPeG2cAQX4zZ1QivHr3PG_eY_P_8aH6WYUSi8hGg9USt7PDsRvIIibbeLlzcQ_2WW5okWjpHKyImMJeqdUkLE/s1600/termush.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">A luxury hotel becomes a place of menace and fear.</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">A group of rich guests have booked places at the Termush hotel, a comfortable resort. The only difference is that they are not hoping to enjoy a relaxing holiday. They have reserved places in the hope of surviving a nuclear Armageddon. The story opens after the “disaster” has happened, with a brief description of what atmospheric changes a nuclear explosion can wreak. The hotel guests try to believe that life can return to some sort of normalcy – but everyone knows they are lying to themselves. The hotel's management endeavours to create a veneer of polite civilisation, but tough decisions are being made, primarily, whether survivors of the explosion that try to enter the hotel should be allowed in. Should there be a cap on how many survivors can be accommodated? Who gets to make these decisions? What are the ethical implications? Can there even be ethical questions in such an environment?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">A mounting tension builds as it becomes obvious that there are forces outside the hotel that want to break in. No matter how much the management tries to pretend that everything is under control, it's clear that the hotel provides a flimsy bulwark against the reality of the outside world. The guests' safe haven is crumbling before their eyes.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Danish author Sven Holm published </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Termush </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">in 1967, and it was translated into English in 1969 by Sylvia Clayton. It's a short, terse novel with clipped, pared back prose. Every character in the story remains unnamed, except for Maria, whose emotional outbursts are deemed the only rational response to the unfolding horror of the guests' situation. </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Termush</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> brilliantly examines the psychology of survival at any cost, creating a novel of unremitting despair.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Termush</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, by Sven Holm. Published by Faber $22.99. </span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">JULY23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-73689517088353227822024-01-19T19:33:00.000-08:002024-01-19T19:33:10.102-08:00Greek Lessons, by Han Kang<p><strong style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj21-oOchpZWtUFTUqRfej4eF6Oz5Yilrde2O09sJr7F2-npGUjrYYOBmLs-LuqJ4Qm-BfBwYDZ6BaGEYsHD4bM5wZ5_PkhAtu4QtMsi7MHFPd1I3WONRiOYVeWrqqQxRJRTSqs8PSvTX9fsGAKg1i_clG5d1gm8sm75YovnU_I7I7Ht8czK5mRn38pQBI/s322/greeklessons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj21-oOchpZWtUFTUqRfej4eF6Oz5Yilrde2O09sJr7F2-npGUjrYYOBmLs-LuqJ4Qm-BfBwYDZ6BaGEYsHD4bM5wZ5_PkhAtu4QtMsi7MHFPd1I3WONRiOYVeWrqqQxRJRTSqs8PSvTX9fsGAKg1i_clG5d1gm8sm75YovnU_I7I7Ht8czK5mRn38pQBI/s320/greeklessons.jpg" width="199" /></a></strong></div><strong style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br />A sensitive story about two damaged souls.</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">A woman has become mute after a series of traumatic personal events. Her mother has recently died, and she has lost a custody battle for her son. The woman (who remains unnamed) takes up a course in classical Greek, exploring how language is used in philosophical works by Plato and Socrates. The Greek teacher (also unnamed) is experiencing trauma of his own. He is slowly losing his sight and is sure to go blind. In a series of flashbacks, he ruminates on past relationships, especially one with an ill woman with whom he has become seriously involved. As the Greek lessons progress, the teacher wonders about his silent student, until an accident in a stairwell brings them together.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Han Kang is a South Korean writer, best known to English readers for her 2016 Man Booker International Prize winning novel, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">The Vegetarian</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Greek Lessons</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> (translated by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won) is a 2011 novel by Hang, appearing for the first time in English. It is a compelling story, written in a subtle and introspective voice, examining love, death and trauma. An unforgettable novel that is both melancholic and poetic, one that is rewarded by close reading.<br /><br /><em style="position: relative;">Greek Lessons</em>, by Han Kang. Published by Hamish Hamilton. $35</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">JUNE23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-46951665466929830572024-01-19T19:31:00.000-08:002024-01-19T19:31:48.338-08:00Pirate Enlightenment, or The Real Libertalia, by David Graeber<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkhGEhCPDS1t8b7VAb0Nk55Buw0LoeXFcX8bNooMgf26XBtsL2Jbt-jYLB1sOqxpoBcG_00A7kQbEVkHp-T8xICZBnX8bn-VQZdByifzMzCnkuwEHN2nrRcRspSuqAllTFGFVLMl2-IY175Lwb9nIF5d9UCIxxMWGhPJXbNzZz0-n2kx1eKDra0j-ufKQ/s323/pirategraeber.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="323" data-original-width="200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkhGEhCPDS1t8b7VAb0Nk55Buw0LoeXFcX8bNooMgf26XBtsL2Jbt-jYLB1sOqxpoBcG_00A7kQbEVkHp-T8xICZBnX8bn-VQZdByifzMzCnkuwEHN2nrRcRspSuqAllTFGFVLMl2-IY175Lwb9nIF5d9UCIxxMWGhPJXbNzZz0-n2kx1eKDra0j-ufKQ/s320/pirategraeber.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><strong style="font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Anthropolgist David Graeber argues pirate culture laid the foundation stones of The Enlightenment.</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></span><p></p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">In this posthumous work, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: black;">Pirate Enlightenment, or The Real Libertalia</span></em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, anthropologist and activist David Graeber (1961 - 2020) makes the case that when rogue English pirates in the late 17th and early 18th centuries sought refuge in northern Madagascar, it led to a cultural and political fusion with the Malagasy people that was a forerunner to the Enlightenment. There was much fascination with pirate lore at the time and in 1724 </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #121212;">A General History of the Pyrates</span></em><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> was published in London (its rumored author was Daniel Defoe). It included a description of an egalitarian Madagascan pirate state called Libertalia. Libertalia was pure fiction, but another Madagascan state, the Betsimisaraka confederation, established in 1712 by </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">the son of a British pirate and Malagasy queen, maintained an egalitarian government for close to 40 years.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">The historical pirate record is thin on the ground, and Graeber uses the verbs “seems” and “appears” a lot when trying to flesh out his arguments. Even though </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #121212;">Pirate Enlightenment</span></em><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> is more wish fulfillment than anything else, Graeber’s intellectual energy and curiosity can never be in doubt. A fascinating thought experiment that will have readers scrambling to do additional research of their own. <br /><br /><em style="position: relative;">Pirate Enlightenment, or The Real Libertalia</em>, by David Graeber. Published by Allen Lane. $35</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #121212; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">JUNE23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-414321408923092902024-01-19T19:29:00.000-08:002024-01-19T19:29:46.564-08:00Pathogenesis, Jonathan Kennedy<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm3sbMzVggOPXhOOSW6GrwG9SDGQV2vuwNM8MR-INZQ5lcJivcoqVRBKXdvnfwYXsM3riph1-4nuOmIbqoBDLqHKuL5PA50rTnlba0Wn8nRvr4sT1hXcOnMW87k8KBJlr2bgmEp7Ob56e3y6kddGE17RLD-CURgUbVz7h_cZ4ziyYcsJ4JkU9c2FhEafk/s308/patho.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="308" data-original-width="200" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm3sbMzVggOPXhOOSW6GrwG9SDGQV2vuwNM8MR-INZQ5lcJivcoqVRBKXdvnfwYXsM3riph1-4nuOmIbqoBDLqHKuL5PA50rTnlba0Wn8nRvr4sT1hXcOnMW87k8KBJlr2bgmEp7Ob56e3y6kddGE17RLD-CURgUbVz7h_cZ4ziyYcsJ4JkU9c2FhEafk/s1600/patho.jpg" width="200" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br />How tiny germs made the world as we know it</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">According to Jonathan Kennedy, a teacher in global health, pathogens have played a bigger role in historical events than we give credit for. History's narrative arc is usually described as one of great men and superior civilisations, the world mere putty awaiting the hands of god. But what if it was pathogens – smallpox and malaria for example – that have really given conquering armies their competitive edge? Jonathan Kennedy argues that this is very much the case. From the fate of Neanderthals to the American Civil War, pathogens have played a major role in aiding one side against the other. Societies with no immunity to introduced diseases didn't have a hope. The most famous historical example is the Spanish conquest of the Mexica and Inka Empires. The population was brutally swathed by smallpox, allowing the Spanish victory with only a few hundred soldiers. The mosquito-borne virus yellow fever allowed immune Haitian rebels to win independence from Napoleon's France. French soldiers didn't stand a chance against the virus.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Pathogenesis</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> provides example after example of killer diseases changing the course of history. Kennedy even argues the Medieval plague helped kick start the capitalist revolution. By drastically reducing the number of farmers, it gave them more bargaining power and the incentive to maximise profits.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Written in lively and engaging prose, and weaving in amusing literary allusions from Genesis to Tolkein, this is a compelling history that will appeal to readers of </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Sapiens</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> and </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Guns, Germs and Steel.<br /><br />Pathogenesis, </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Jonathan Kennedy. Published by Random House. $35</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">JUNE23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-54105789675429349532024-01-19T19:27:00.000-08:002024-01-19T19:27:28.648-08:00The Voice to Parliament Handbook, by Thomas Mayo and Kerry O'Brien<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQB0egkrzX4fRriy5qQYdNfD8rZ91vGD05T4PDQFqn_EqeqF-uL4f4VzKUXETv58MBgiXVVSYqzjQ8zbGDJMDqhKi_6F_Rx6vqOL5HNgnGdoBufo-F-Q36kVuuwpQWdNqvPaa9LJokvnolBIvUfvQO3eEwgJaSOzGC7fMm0tKOAovQhZ73SvSEhMSJi78/s311/voicetoparlieament.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="200" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQB0egkrzX4fRriy5qQYdNfD8rZ91vGD05T4PDQFqn_EqeqF-uL4f4VzKUXETv58MBgiXVVSYqzjQ8zbGDJMDqhKi_6F_Rx6vqOL5HNgnGdoBufo-F-Q36kVuuwpQWdNqvPaa9LJokvnolBIvUfvQO3eEwgJaSOzGC7fMm0tKOAovQhZ73SvSEhMSJi78/s1600/voicetoparlieament.jpg" width="200" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br />Two experts explain what the Voice to Parliament will and won't do. With cartoons by Cathy Wilcox.</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Indigenous leader Thomas Mayo and former ABC journalist Kerry O'Brien have come together to write this short “handbook” to the Voice to Parliament. They have kept its length short, the idea being to make it easily posted or shared.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">What do you get inside? It's a mix of personal stories, some history of previous referendums, a calling out of the misrepresentations about the Voice (it won't be a third chamber of parliament) and a section devoted to FAQs. A closing essay from Marcia Langton and Fiona Stanley explains how the Voice will help close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage. The final section provides some good tips for spreading the Yes message.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">What do we learn? The Voice will be a representative body loosely similar to ATSIC (The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission) set up by the Labor Hawke government in 1990, and dismantled by the Liberal Howard government in 2005. The world “loosely” should be stressed. If the Yes vote is successful, then the model could take any form, and change over time, according to legislation. The vexed issue of the Voice's form is really more of a procedural one. The key point is that if the Yes vote is successful, the Voice will be enshrined in the constitution. No government will be able to dismantle the Voice, ensuring continued representation from First Nations people.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">An accessible explainer and impassioned call to vote Yes.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">The Voice to Parliament Handbook</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, by Thomas Mayo and Kerry O'Brien. Published by Hardie Grant. $16.99</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">JUNE23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-37704844000828964672024-01-19T19:25:00.000-08:002024-01-19T19:25:26.563-08:00The Enchanted April, by Elizabeth von Arnim<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6GJAEziF9bPB_XN1vf_A8syjUSreUxl6Gzdae7HI00kVd5d4baFmsb6G4kQHBtUg6OtMNy17jhE_sZ1Nr_jwMqSspnRc7g-wJcW2F99BWiQb0E6dji2U7n2xlTk6YF04jpc0r3Sg2vcH8lMGE4vqZHLLHpiBxQqG-E7Lok_aARc_vFk-ztltNWbOzIPU/s311/enchantedapril.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="311" data-original-width="200" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6GJAEziF9bPB_XN1vf_A8syjUSreUxl6Gzdae7HI00kVd5d4baFmsb6G4kQHBtUg6OtMNy17jhE_sZ1Nr_jwMqSspnRc7g-wJcW2F99BWiQb0E6dji2U7n2xlTk6YF04jpc0r3Sg2vcH8lMGE4vqZHLLHpiBxQqG-E7Lok_aARc_vFk-ztltNWbOzIPU/s1600/enchantedapril.jpg" width="200" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;"><br />Two unhappy wives lease an exotic Italian castle for the month of April, with happy results.</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">Mrs Lotty Wilkins is stuck in a rut, dissatisfied with her marriage to Mellersh, a narrow minded solicitor only interested in money. When she runs into Rose </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">Arbuthnot</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;"> at her ladies' club, she notices she is reading an advertisement for a place to be let, an exotic castle in rural Italy. The furnished castle is on offer for the month of April, its owner the Englishman Thomas Briggs. The two ladies, who are shy of each other, boldly decide to lease the castle and leave their husbands behind (the devout Mrs </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">Arbuthnot</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;"> is married to Frederick, who to her displeasure writes racey biographies for quick bucks.) They both feel they need a break from their emotionally exhausting work as devoted wives.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">To minimise expenses, the women decide to advertise for two more ladies to join their group. Lady Caroline, a twenty-eight year old heiress with zero interest in men, or anything in particular, signs on for the April holiday. And lastly there is Mrs Fisher, an older, imperious woman, whose claim to fame is a long list of important literary connections.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">Upon arrival, all goes to plan. Lotty and Rose find themselves transformed, just as they'd wished, by the beauty of the castle, with its fragrant gardens and sensuously warm weather. The disinterested Lady Caroline mostly keeps to herself, observing the company from afar and making ironic observations. Mrs Fisher remains a hard nut to crack, reserved and difficult, until nearing the end of her stay when events cause her to drop her stony exterior.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">British writer Elizabeth von Arnim (she was born in Sydney, Australia, moving to England aged three) wrote </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative;">The Enchanted April</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;"> (1922) while staying at Castello Brown, a medieval castle located in northern Italy. The book is rich with atmospheric descriptions, of flowers in bloom and delicious, balmy warm weather. Indeed, the castle works like a spell – on the women and reader alike. One longs to stay at the castle, to be also transformed, and feels envious of von Arnim's characters. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">Despite the text's light, hazy, hallucinatory quality, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative;">The Enchanted April </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">is essentially a comedy. It pokes gentle fun at the unfulfilled women, Rose and Lotty, who are divorced from reality, but also gives them a sort of feminist triumph as they manage to subordinate their husbands to their wishes. The impenetrable Lady Caroline and Mrs Fisher, who seem determined to remain unaffected by their surroundings, eventually succumb to the castle's magic too. If there's a writer that comes close to being Jane Austen “light” it's von Arnim. She creates a hypnotically feminine place in the castle and traps everyone within it, passing gentle commentary on her characters with a light, yet sly humour. And like all Jane Austen novels, it ends with happy romantic couplings.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;"></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">A strange yet satisfying mix of comedy and escapism.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative;">The Enchanted April</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px;">, by Elizabeth von Arnim. Published by Penguin. $22.99</span><div><br /></div><div>JUNE23</div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-40513512860771521432024-01-19T19:17:00.000-08:002024-01-19T19:17:30.159-08:00<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><em style="position: relative;"></em></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><em style="position: relative;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1yjEVb_P3CfJ6zsg9RoUMx_tP8ZJebqfCfsaCxqC44bxvXCHaSzjsAki7vprKDRUvEsHK7Z3Mw6y3YPlIos_DkmZ4-1HTopCIhRdVJ_3qXGOvJeCdMxVFlPUsQONuddSP3I5x1rglaV6mlPj4E5UBPcMgnZRGgUuRaBqcFO2j2y2L3s0LUFN68d1LIek/s307/bloodbirch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="200" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1yjEVb_P3CfJ6zsg9RoUMx_tP8ZJebqfCfsaCxqC44bxvXCHaSzjsAki7vprKDRUvEsHK7Z3Mw6y3YPlIos_DkmZ4-1HTopCIhRdVJ_3qXGOvJeCdMxVFlPUsQONuddSP3I5x1rglaV6mlPj4E5UBPcMgnZRGgUuRaBqcFO2j2y2L3s0LUFN68d1LIek/s1600/bloodbirch.jpg" width="200" /></a></em></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><em style="position: relative;"><br />Blood</em> was Tony Birch's debut novel, published in 2011 and shortlisted for the Miles Franklin award. It appears now as part of the University of Queensland's First Nations series.</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Thirteen-year-old Jesse and his younger sister, eight-year-old Rachel live an itinerant life with their mother, Gwen. Gwen is a terrible mother- there's no other way to put it. She's banned Jesse and Rachel from calling her “Mum” - a word she can't stand. She has no money, lives on the occasional job and a bit of drug running. Her boyfriends are generally pretty bad – ex convicts and worse. Things get so dire at one stage that she dumps Jesse and Rachel with her father, an ex-alcoholic who has found the Bible. The children like their grandfather and wish they could stay with him. He has his rules, but also provides stability and regular meals. They are soon disappointed when Gwen turns up again, with a new boyfriend, the borderline psychopath Ray Crow.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Gwen takes Jesse and Rachel from Melbourne to Adelaide, with the creepy Ray in tow. They meet up with Ray's mate, the equally scary "Limbo", so named because his criminal court cases were always in limbo. When Jesse finds a stash of cash and a gun, he knows the two men are up to something dangerous and illegal. The children decide to make a run for it and try to make it back to their grandfather in Melbourne.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Tony Birch's sparse, clipped prose (think James M. Cain and Cormac McCarthy) is a page-turning delight. Instantly the reader is hooked on this nail biting story as Jesse and Rachel live by their wits, trying to evade Ray and Limbo who are out looking for them with evil intent. The scenes and situations seem so real that you feel certain the book is some thinly disguised autobiography. The descriptions of outback roads, greasy diners and dingy suburban shopping malls are all easily recognisable, giving the book an attractive realism.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">A First Nations perspective is added by the fact that Jesse's father is Indigenous (his sister, Rachel, was fathered by a white man). Jesse is yet to fully realise his heritage, but witnesses the racism of white people around him. A brief encounter with an otherworldly Indigenous man, Magic, opens his eyes to other life possibilities – of identity and destiny.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">An edge-of-your seat story told with consummate skill.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Blood</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, by Tony Birch. Published by University of Queensland Press. $19.99</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #2a2a2a; font-family: Droid Serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px;">JUNE23</span></span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-49378888970069003162024-01-19T18:57:00.000-08:002024-01-19T18:57:17.340-08:00The Twenty-One Balloons, by William Pene du Bois<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Mzp-tf_mDObjqXGmov3xK1BYFArJU41R_pipOhkr5h_SJtfk31YndeaovNPnZvrPtK44mLXiYFY8erqkNXID5PhFi2IYECWn-mgDy0ty7xO0xvBAsjduD7OxlxDk-KMSFCMFlaXIHWjTV9murIVJdoti8Mrdzk74pshAuPGHC9ktcpERPrP1yXD6jZo/s280/baloons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="200" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Mzp-tf_mDObjqXGmov3xK1BYFArJU41R_pipOhkr5h_SJtfk31YndeaovNPnZvrPtK44mLXiYFY8erqkNXID5PhFi2IYECWn-mgDy0ty7xO0xvBAsjduD7OxlxDk-KMSFCMFlaXIHWjTV9murIVJdoti8Mrdzk74pshAuPGHC9ktcpERPrP1yXD6jZo/s1600/baloons.jpg" width="200" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br />A retired schoolteacher is found in the Atlantic Ocean with twenty deflated balloons.</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Professor William Waterman Sherman</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> is a retired school teacher. He decides to take a leisurely balloon trip, departing from the city of San Francisco. His balloon is somewhat of a luxury one, as it carries a basket the size of a small house, fitted out with the basic necessities for comfortable living. The trip goes well, with the Professor flying over the Pacific Ocean, until some seagulls start pecking at his balloon. He crashes to earth and finds himself on the volcanic island of Krakatoa. It is there he meets a certain Mr F, who introduces him to the unusual inhabitants of the island. Twenty families reside there, living on what they term a “restaurant economy”, equally sharing cooking responsibilities and making sure the cuisine is always varied and delicious. The most extraordinary aspect of the island is the revelation that it contains a diamond mine, with enough diamonds to make all the island's residents multi-millionaires. However, there is a sting in the tail of this apparent good fortune. The full diamond value can't be realised because if they were all sold on the world market it would chronically depreciate their value.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">The residents spend their days in pleasant pursuits, and have invented some interesting technologies of their own. One charming novelty they have created is a merry-go-round which is suspended with balloons. Another invention involves a huge suspended platform – again with balloons, twenty in all – that is to be used in case of a volcanic eruption, when a speedy getaway for Krakatoa's residents would be required.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">When the Professor is later found mysteriously floating in the Atlantic Ocean, he is rescued and presents a talk at the Western American Explorers' Club about his experiences.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">William Pene du Bois published </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">The Twenty-One Balloons</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> in 1947, with illustrations by himself. The book soon went on to win an award, the Newbery Medal. It's an exciting and innovative adventure story, with plenty of amusing contraptions described in minute detail – think TV's Gilligan's Island, but technologically more sophisticated. The novel is well paced and lively (the early scenes describing the gathering excitement as the Professor travels to deliver his speech, from a specially prepared bed to accommodate his fatigue, is especially amusing).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">A thoroughly enjoyable children's classic full of energy, invention and good cheer. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">The Twenty-One Balloons</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, by </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">William Pene du Bois. Published by Puffin.</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">MAY23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-71726041548577351252024-01-19T18:55:00.000-08:002024-01-19T18:55:45.115-08:00Don't Take Your Love to Town, by Ruby Langford Ginibi<p><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></strong></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidopzUZFBbzlCr80RLwRv2k1CKt0OtC7YLwmDOk6bELqb4GqvrrF_Au6IdEWvg3wjaJ9lXkxNW40vUfIIah_H0C3c5QR8PtP_O_XNDj-IUHioRNSNIfqFlLttlLNxCmyh8MjStjmZrF4izGhJ0Xzua_mVjjB23Emtwnh2nKt4hMYBiJYYeBlWBd0Et4tI/s307/lovetotown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="200" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidopzUZFBbzlCr80RLwRv2k1CKt0OtC7YLwmDOk6bELqb4GqvrrF_Au6IdEWvg3wjaJ9lXkxNW40vUfIIah_H0C3c5QR8PtP_O_XNDj-IUHioRNSNIfqFlLttlLNxCmyh8MjStjmZrF4izGhJ0Xzua_mVjjB23Emtwnh2nKt4hMYBiJYYeBlWBd0Et4tI/s1600/lovetotown.jpg" width="200" /></a></strong></div><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br />Ruby Langford Ginibi's classic memoir is a no holds barred story of pain, joy and survival</strong><p></p><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">As part of its new series of First Nations Classics, University of Queensland Press is re-publishing Ruby Langford Ginibi's acclaimed memoir </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Don't Take Your Love to Town</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> (1988).</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Langford Ginibi, a Bundjalong woman, was born in 1934 and raised in the small New South Wales town of Bonalbo. Her mother left the family when she was six, to marry another man. By age 16 Ruby was pregnant and she would go on to have nine children by several fathers. These relationships started out good, but would eventually turn sour, ending in either neglect or abuse. Langford Ginibi, in wiser old age, would swear off men, hence the book's title. Tragically, three of her children died, causing her years of grief – and a drinking problem that she finally kicked.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">It's hard to understate how extraordinary a memoir this is. Langford Ginibi, viewed as a character on the page, is a mix of Chaucer's Wife of Bath and Brecht's Mother Courage, a woman of irrepressible life force and a tough survivor. She is a workhorse providing for her brood, living rough in outback tents and killing her own food. She brawls and drinks, would give you the shirt off her back if asked and raises a glass to life despite its endless hardships, especially for First Nations people.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">At 400 pages long, there is never a dull moment in </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Don't Take Your Love to Town</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, as it chronicles a life lived to the fullest. Despite the vein of pain and suffering that runs through the book, Langford Ginibi is also very funny. She has an ironic turn of phrase and delightfully blunt sense of humour that gives her story heart and humanity.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">An incredible memoir, an incredible life lived. Indeed, a classic.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Don't Take Your Love to Town</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, by Ruby Langford Ginibi. Published by Queensland University Press. $19.99</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">MAY23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-11233203380491819122024-01-19T18:53:00.000-08:002024-01-19T18:53:58.252-08:00The Window Seat, by Archie Weller<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdq4TwOxZgmdUqvi38GW9irdVPCv2uWJ2zP35AUqxdNiZNiMkIaJDjYPqf4WmI_BjYN_a5JcYZonFlKLao-qglZHXVEbNzKTUoGsh1Vgcz9GTR6jtvsSWqTj4tS-Xklaiqhkwi4Cj44zysVX3Zb2rzmQGVUKIopZVUbuxutwcHE6-frw0rgcjKNvOvEOw/s307/windowseat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="200" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdq4TwOxZgmdUqvi38GW9irdVPCv2uWJ2zP35AUqxdNiZNiMkIaJDjYPqf4WmI_BjYN_a5JcYZonFlKLao-qglZHXVEbNzKTUoGsh1Vgcz9GTR6jtvsSWqTj4tS-Xklaiqhkwi4Cj44zysVX3Zb2rzmQGVUKIopZVUbuxutwcHE6-frw0rgcjKNvOvEOw/s1600/windowseat.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"></span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Nineteen intricate and nuanced stories about the experiences of First Nations Australians.</strong><p></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Western Australian writer Archie Weller has published novels, poetry and short stories. His novel </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">The Day of the Dog</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> was made into the film </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Blackfellas</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">. His 2009 short story collection, </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">The Window Seat</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, is here republished as part of the First Nations Classics series.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Weller is a versatile writer and the 19 stories presented here cover many styles and genres, from mystery and crime to dystopian, futuristic themes. For the most part, Weller's fiction examines the difficulties of growing up mixed-race and Aboriginal: the prejudice, low expectations and bullying by police. There are also stories that explore Indigenous culture and spirituality.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">While Weller often describes the brutal facts of life for First Nations people – violence, stints in jail, wrongful arrest, racism – his evocations of land, wildlife and country are beautiful and ornate. Weller also has a good ear for dialogue which brings his characters vividly to life. These are stories firmly rooted in personal experience, providing a unique perspective on Australian life.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">A special mention must go to the collection's title story "The Window Seat", which rivals Guy de Maupassant's "Boule de Suif" for its brilliance at exposing hypocrisy and moral vacuity. An elderly Aboriginal woman is taking a final bus ride home, but the white man who must sit next to her is full of resentment and racist thoughts. When he later discovers something about the woman, his smug moral universe is turned upside down.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">A fine collection that explores a side of Australia rarely seen.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">The Window Seat</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, by Archie Weller. Published by Queensland University Press. $19.99</span><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">MAY23</span></div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-617962930018390654.post-23080251401790458302024-01-19T18:52:00.000-08:002024-01-19T18:52:32.116-08:00Trump's Australia: How Trumpism Changed Australia and the Shocking Consequences for Us of a Second Term, by Bruce Wolpe<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivi17rwOLMXSJgDRcAfTeUcsKbZwMyIpLF6-__6JjCClnkAvNbI0Kd51IVAeZrMul7Ua7IhTRa966oeIN_XmurNDKbctZqXZoWFn9yvkTpFzDTC_NIQFENRVNkIf5KEorXVlGlQORfRIhV2mZ5ND9N1ERlSCLKgXnH_GcgZUfH8AQLNfbimD3lGDa5amg/s306/wolpetrump.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="306" data-original-width="200" height="306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivi17rwOLMXSJgDRcAfTeUcsKbZwMyIpLF6-__6JjCClnkAvNbI0Kd51IVAeZrMul7Ua7IhTRa966oeIN_XmurNDKbctZqXZoWFn9yvkTpFzDTC_NIQFENRVNkIf5KEorXVlGlQORfRIhV2mZ5ND9N1ERlSCLKgXnH_GcgZUfH8AQLNfbimD3lGDa5amg/s1600/wolpetrump.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><strong style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">An expert on American politics entertains the possibility of a second Trump term.</strong><p></p><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">What would happen to Australia should Donald Trump win a second term as president of the United States? Such a situation seems an impossibility, yet the same was said for Trump’s 2016 election win. As author and political adviser Bruce Wolpe states, US politics is so volatile and divisive, anything is possible.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Trump’s Australia </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">suggests a triumphant second Trump term could embolden extreme right-wing elements at home, but ultimately pulls back from this argument. Instead, Wolpe asserts that Australia's democratic institutions—such as mandatory voting, the independence of the Australian Electoral Commission—ensure our politics doesn't become polarised. A further bulwark against radicalism is the prominence of the national broadcaster, the ABC, ensuring a trusted outlet for quality news reporting.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">For the most part, Trump’s Australia provides a recap of Trump's time in office and his attitude to policy areas such as China, North Korea, climate, health, race, free trade and abortion rights. It features extensive interviews with former government officials, insiders and experts, giving the text a breadth of interesting opinion. In essence, Wolpe (a former adviser to the Gillard government) contrasts US and Australian democracy, and finds our system to be much more resilient.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">This book is a stark reminder of how catastrophic a second Trump term would be, questioning how Australia would respond on a range of policy fronts. Politicians and engaged citizens should take note.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><em style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; position: relative; text-align: justify;">Trump's Australia: How Trumpism Changed Australia and the Shocking Consequences for Us of a Second Term</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">, by Bruce Wolpe. Allen & Unwin. $34.99 Release date 20th June, 2023.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">Review by Chris Saliba</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #2a2a2a; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;">This review first appeared at</span><a href="https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/" style="background-color: white; color: rgb(218, 68, 68) !important; font-family: "Droid Serif"; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.2s ease-in-out 0s;" target="_blank"> Books + Publishing</a><div><br /></div><div>MAY23</div>Chris Salibahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15621759996128638357noreply@blogger.com0