What Am I Reading?
Unsheltered – Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara Kingsolver writes masterful, sweeping, epic dramas that canvas big themes and an immersive sense of place while still connecting the reader to individual characters on an intimate level. Her latest novel Unsheltered (Faber & Faber Books 2018) is no...
Australia’s First Naturalists: Indigenous Peoples’ Contribution to Early Zoology – Penny Olsen and Lynette Russell
Despite the well-documented legacies of colonial naturalists, in recent years there has finally been increased and well-deserved recognition of the role of Australia’s Indigenous people in collecting, naming, cataloguing and sharing their understanding of this...
Little Stones – Elizabeth Kuiper
Little Stones (UQP 2019), the debut fiction novel by Elizabeth Kuiper, is a coming of age story that has such a strong sense of authenticity that it feels more memoir than novel. The author, like the narrator of the story, Hannah, comes from Zimbabwe and immigrated to...
This Taste for Silence – Amanda O’Callaghan
This Taste for Silence (UQP 2019) is an extraordinary debut collection of short stories by author Amanda O'Callaghan. Some of the stories are extremely short, less than a page, and some are much longer, but what they all have in common is beautiful, descriptive...
The Erratics – Vicki Laveau-Harvie
It’s the kind of fantastical story that captures the imaginations of writers everywhere, because – well, because it is so fantastic: a first-time author, in her mid-seventies, writes a book that wins a small prize (the Finch Memoir Prize) which then goes out of print...
Frankissstein: a love story – Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson’s latest novel Frankissstein: a love story (Jonathan Cape Penguin Random House 2019) is a wild ride, a fantastical hybrid that combines historical fiction with futuristic speculative fiction to address some big issues. Philosophy, feminism,...
Bridge of Clay – Markus Zusak
When a novel is promoted as ‘the most anticipated book of the decade’, and when that book is written by the same author that wrote The Book Thief, which sold over 16 million copies world-wide, then there is certainly a heightened sense of anticipation and, I would...
Wedding Puzzle – Sallie Muirden
Wedding Puzzle (Transit Lounge Publishing 2019) is the new novel by author Sallie Muirden, a sort of blend between a romantic comedy and a YA coming of age story. Over the course of one very important day – her wedding day – 24-year-old Beth Shaw contemplates her life...
The Department of Sensitive Crimes – Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander McCall Smith introduces us to a new detective series with the Swedish-set novel The Department of Sensitive Crimes (Little, Brown and Company 2019). This prolific writer, with over 80 books and counting to his name, is famous for his gentle and meandering...
Boy Swallows Universe – Trent Dalton
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past year, you will surely be aware of Trent Dalton’s debut novel Boy Swallows Universe (HarperCollins2018). The eye-catching hot pink and orange cover (with the legendary blue wren) and the intriguing title have graced...
Raising Readers: How to nurture a child’s love of books – Megan Daley
This book review is a little different. I have in front of me a copy of the newly released Raising Readers – How to Nurture a Child’s Love of Books (UQP 2019) by Megan Daley. Not only have I read this book, but I have now covered the text with highlighted passages and...
Star-crossed – Minnie Darke
Literary author Danielle Wood assumed the pen name Minnie Darke to write the commercial fiction novel Star-crossed (Penguin Random House 2019), which has already sold into 20 territories and garnered attention from movie production houses. So it seems she has already...