Sandra
Major Pettigrew’s last stand - Helen Simonson. Charming, gentle, very readable. Highly rcommended.
Helen L.
The devil in the White City Erik Larson. A serial killer and an architect at the peak of his career. Two very different men make their mark on the world. True events that occurred during the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893. Gripping.
Plato and a platypus walk into a bar;understanding philosophy through jokes – Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein (www.platoandaplatypus.com). An excellent and amusing introduction to philosophical concepts. Recommended.
Pam
The hare with amber eyes – Edmund de Waal. The author inherited a valuable collection of 264 Nesuke, handed down through the family for several generations. He explores the life and times of some of the earliest owners of the carvings.
City of falling angels John Berendt
The author lived in Venice for some months after the fire that destroyed La Fenice. The book contains interviews with various local residents who had witnessed the fire, and with others who remembered the famous expatriate authors and artists who had lived there last century. An interesting account of the workings of a fascinating city.
Kay
Bronte Parsonage Museum Guide. Haworth (pron. Horth) is well worth visiting.
The Brontes at Haworth – Ann Dinsdale
Thomas Hardy, the time-torn man – Claire Tomalin. This author also wrote
Jane Austen; a life. Her books are well-indexed and well-researched, but a perhaps bit too academic for the general reader.
Rachel
Lovesong – Elizabeth Jolley. Published in 1997. People on the sidelines looking after each other. Jolley published her first novel at the age of 56.
Eleanor
Batavia – FitzSimons The story of the violent aftermath of a shipwreck. A Dutch East India Company ship is wrecked off the coast of Western Australia during a spice voyage. The author received a Queen’s Birthday Honour (AM) this year for outstanding contributions to sport and literature.
Vicki
Mia culpa: confessions from the watercooler of life – Mia Freedman
Mama mia; a memoir of mistakes, magazines and motherhoood – Mia Freedman
The author is a well-known contributor to the Sunday Age. Mama mia is an account of her life in journalism. It is reminiscent of Sushi for Beginners, by Keyes, with descriptions of working in a fashion magazine. Social media – blog Mama mia, with Virginia Trioli. www.mamamia.com.au. This has a good section on books.
Ref. Vicki’s own blog vickisc.blogspot.com. (Note: Vicki writes excellent book reviews on her blog. PM)
Diggers and Greeks – Maria Hill. Events of 1941 in Crete. Exhibition at the Shrine of Remembrance until Sept or Oct.
Ruth
Blood, bones and butter – Gabrielle Hamilton. She was a rebellious child, but eventually fiinds her true calling in running a restaurant, The Prune Restaurant, NY.
Room – Emma Donoghue. A chilling scenario - a five-year-old boy who has never experienced the outside world, and knows only the room he and his mother are trapped in.
Our woman in Kabul – Irris Macklin. ABC journalist. Clever, articulate, observant.
Pauline
Lily alone – Jacqueline Wilson. A gritty, realistic novel intended for upper-primary children. The oldest child Lily, aged 11, attempts to care for her three younger siblings when their mother departs on a holiday to Spain with her new boyfriend. Lily shows integrity, courage and responsibility, and after many vicissitudes and some quite harrowing moments there is a good outcome for all.
A load of old bones – Suzette A. Hill. A “caper” mystery set in 1950s Surrey. Our bumbling hero is the local vicar, victim of predatory parishioners and a chain of awkward circumstances triggered by an inadvertent murder. This is the first in a very entertaining series.
The children of Green Knowe – Lucy Boston. A child staying in a large old English manor house finds himself transported back to the past, and befriends the children who lived in the house during earlier times.
The Green Knowe books have been adapted into a film, From Time to Time, starring Maggie Smith. Although some events are different, the film captures the essence of the books very well.
