JUNE 2011FrEE

Readings MonthlyFiona Capp on Malcolm Knox • Amitav Ghosh’s River of Smoke

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All shops open 7 days, except State Library shop, which is open Monday - Saturday. Carlton 309 Lygon St 9347 6633 Hawthorn 701 Glenferrie Rd 9819 1917 Malvern 185 Glenferrie Rd 9509 1952 Port Melbourne 253 Bay St 9681 9255 St Kilda 112 Acland St 9525 3852 Readings at the State Library of Victoria 328

Swanston St 8664 7540 email us at readings@readings.com.au Browse and buy online at www.readings.com.au and at ebooks.readings.com.au

Sherborne’s Amateur Science of Love p 5

Highlights of June book, CD & DVD new releases. More inside.

June event highlights : Malcolm Fraser and Margaret Simons at Hawthorn, Jane Clifton on The Address Book; Louise Fulton Keats’s Great Cook-Off.

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Online bookings availableJoin our e-news for updates on the Met Opera,National Theatre and other stage spectaculars.

380 LYGON ST CARLTONwww.cinemanova.com.au

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This Month's News 2 Readings Monthly June 2011

2011 NSW Premier'S Literary aWard WiNNerS

Congratulations to all the winning authors, poets, screenwriters, playwrights and publishers who were announced NSW Premier's Literary Award winners for 2011. Alex Miller was the recipient of the Christina

Stead Prize for Fiction and also the People's Choice Award, which was voted for online, for Lovesong. But the night belonged to former prime minister Malcolm Fraser who, along with journalist Margaret Simons, picked up the Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction and the award for the Book of the Year for Malcolm Fraser: The Political Memoirs. To see the full list of winners in all categories visit www.pla.nsw.gov.au

18th BLoomSday iN meLBourNe FeStivaL Bloomsday is held each year on 16 June to celebrate James Joyce's Ulysses. The Blooms-day Players take the epic novel, and other works by Joyce, to the streets of Melbourne. For more information and bookings please visit www.bloomsdayinmelbourne.org.au

maN Booker iNterNatioNaL Prize

Philip Roth was announced the winner of the fourth Man Booker International Prize at a special event at the Sydney Writers' Festival on 18 May. Awarded bi-annual-ly the prize recognises ‘achievement in fiction on

the world stage’ and has previously been won by Alice Munro, Chinua Achebe and Ismail Kadaré. Roth's most recent novel is Nemesis (Jonathan Cape, HB, $15.95), published last year, while his more famous novels include American Pastoral, The Human Stain and, of course, Portnoy's Complaint.

Oslo Davis www.oslodavis.com

Meet the bookseller

What’s the best book you’ve read lately and why?Burn Bright by Marianne de Pierres. The YA market is

still heavily dominated by paranormal romance, and thankfully Burn Bright is a breath of fresh air. It takes place in the ever-night party world of Ixion, which is where you go when you’re running away from something. It’s a dark, dream-like dystopia with excellent characters and an intriguing plot.

What have you noticed people buying lately?The big YA title at the moment is City of Fallen Angels, the fourth book in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare. Clare creates worlds and charac-ters that fans of all ages really seem to connect with, and you can almost spot the customers coming in to buy her books. They’re the ones with a fevered gleam in their eye.

What’s the strangest experience you’ve had in a bookshop?Probably the little old lady with the covered basket over one arm who came in asking if we sold music. When I told her we did, she pulled back the cover on the basket to reveal a pair of speakers. Basically she wanted to know if some-body could come over to her house and install them for her.

What’s the best experience you’ve had in a bookshop?Getting to meet Patrick Ness, the author of my Favourite Book of All Time (see below). He was very patient while I screeched at him about killing off a certain character. Actually, he seemed to enjoy killing off the character far too much ...

What’s your favourite book of all time and why?The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. This book is absolutely epic, a thrilling chase novel set in a world where everyone can read each other’s thoughts. I’ve read this a few times now and it never fails to have me completely engrossed.

Name a book that has changed the way you think – in ways small or large.The Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman. The vast and complex mythol-ogy he creates across these books and their various spinoffs made me look at the worlds of waking and dreaming in a completely different light.

What was your favourite book as a kid?Tamora Pierce’s books were always my favourites, especially the Song of the Lioness quartet about Alanna, a girl who dresses as a boy and goes to train as a soldier. I always loved Pierce’s strong female characters who didn’t need sparkly vampires to save them.

Mark’s say

I was very excited to learn that Alex Miller’s Lovesong won two prizes in the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards last month. It

was one my favourite novels when it was published in 2009 and Alex and I had a bet about how many Readings could sell, with a slap-up lunch (on Alex) if we reached the target. Thanks to you, dear readers, we reached the target and the lunch was very nice, thank you. Alex has a new book, Autumn Laing, out in October and the word is that it's his best yet. The canny Miller has upped our target by 60 percent to 5000 copies which is pretty ambitious. Another of my favourite authors, Kate Grenville, has a new novel out later this year, which is a sequel to The Secret River.

The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards shortlist was announced in late May by the Minister for the Arts, Simon Crean. The awards have been restructured, with the overall prize money staying the same but the prizes reduced to $80,000. The savings will be redistributed to the shortlisted authors who will get $5000 each – a really welcome innovation. New Victorian Premier, Ted Baillieu, also decided to revamp his literary awards after extensive consultation with writers, publishers and booksellers. The Victorian awards now have Australia’s richest prize totalling $125,000 for a new award, The Victorian Prize for Literature. The winner of this prize will be selected from the winners in five categories – fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama and young adult. Still, for Australian fiction writers it is the Miles Franklin that is the most glitter-ing prize and one that attracts the most attention and prestige but not the most money. The administrators of the Miles Franklin, The Trust Company under new CEO John Atkin, are paying a lot more attention to the awards and this year they will be announced in Melbourne on 22 June (you still have time to enter Read-ings’ Miles Franklin Prize competition at www.readings.com.au.). The announce-ment of a very short shortlist – Bereft by Chris Womersley, That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott, and When Colts Ran by Roger McDonald – surprised many but also aroused some outrage that there were no women writers on the list. This boost-ed an initiative by a group of women in publishing and bookselling to establish a literary prize for Australian women writ-ers. The idea came out of a panel session for International Women’s Day at Read-ings Carlton, and the steering committee includes Readings Monthly editor Jo Case and Readings events coordinator Chris Gordon. The idea has already attracted considerable interest here and overseas with both the Guardian and the New Yorker running stories about it. If the committee can establish this prize, it will be one of the most interesting things to have happened on the Australian literary scene for years.

News and views from Readings’ managing director Mark Rubbo

WiN a Set oF Great Food BookS From PeNGuiN

Buy any Penguin cookbook from Read-ings in June and go into the draw to win a complete set of paperbacks from the Great Food series, valued at $199. To enter, attach your receipt to an entry form available from Readings shops and hand in the completed form at the counter or post to Readings Great Food Competition, PO Box 1238, Carlton 3053. Entries valid for purchases made at Readings shops only, not online. Competition closes 30 June, 2011 and all entries must be received by this date. Only the winner will be notified. Good luck!

meLBourNe iNterNatioNaL Jazz FeStivaL The playful curiosity ever-present in jazz and improvisation – the joy of discovery – is what this year’s Melbourne International Jazz Fes-tival, 4–13 June, is all about. Headlining the rollcall of international guests is the undispu-table living legend, tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins. Making their Festival debuts are the eclectic and outrageous Sun Ra Arkestra and legendary band Faust, arguably the most sig-nificant of all Kraut-rock groups. Performing for the first time in Australia are saxophonist Lee Konitz and Ron Carter, one of the most influential bassists in jazz. Local artists include James Morrison, Tex Perkins, Eddie Perfect, The Raah Project, Jamie Oehlers, Katie Noonan and many more. Readings is proud to be sponsoring the Melbourne International Jazz Festival and will be selling CDs at se-lected gigs. For more information visit www.melbournejazz.com.

This month's bookseller: Holly Harper, Readings Carlton

All our Readings book and music events are entry by gold coin donation to The Readings Foundation, unless otherwise stated. Please note that bookings do not guarantee a seat, but rather indicate to us the number of people to expect. For more events and updates see the events calendar at www.readings.com.au.

2CraiG SherBorNe iN CoNverSatioN With Luke may

From the award-winning author of Hoi Polloi and Muck comes a love story, The Amateur Science of Love (Text, PB, $32.95), told from passionate beginning to spectacular end. It is inti-mate, honest, blackly funny

and emotionally devastating. thursday 2 June, 6.30pm, readings St kilda. Please book on 9525 3852.

4GeraLdiNe BrookSAustralian-born Geraldine Brooks, author of The Year of Wonders, People of the Book and the Pulitzer Prize-winning March, will talk about her work and her new novel, Caleb’s Crossing. Saturday 4 June, 10.30am, readings hawthorn. Tickets $5 per person, redeemable on purchase of Caleb’s Crossing. Please book on 9819 1917.

7maLCoLm FraSerOurSay presents a special event with Malcom Fraser and Margaret Simons. Log on to www.oursay.org to create a question or vote for a question about what our politicians do —or should be doing. On the night, Malcolm Fraser will answer the top three. Tuesday 7 June, 6:30pm, Readings Hawthorn. Free, but please book on 9819 1917.

9toNy mott iN CoNverSatioN With tim roGerSTony Mott arrived in Australia in 1976 and has become Australia’s leading rock pho-tographer. His photos have been published in 20 countries and they have appeared on the covers of 450 CDs and more than 700 magazines. Rock ‘n’ Roll Photography Is The New Trainspotting (Rockpool, PB, $49.99) is a retrospective of his work. thursday 9 June, 6.30pm, readings St kilda. Please book on 9525 3852.

9daNieLLa GermaiNDaniella Germain, Melbourne-based chef and illustrator, has written a beauti-ful Mexican cookbook, My Abuela’s Table (Hardie Grant, HB, $35). This is a lavishly illustrated, whimsical journey to the heart of ‘real’ Mexican food. thursday 9 June, 6.30pm, readings hawthorn. Please book on 9819 1917.

10SeNator BoB BroWNBack in the early 70s a young Bob Brown would try to calm his frustrations or express his affinity with nature by writing poems. The poems were thought lost, but luckily a good friend had kept some copies aside, and they have now been published in a little book called In Balfour Street (PB, $14.99). Friday 10 June, 6.30pm, readings Carlton. Free, bookings on 9347 6633.

13PaGeS to Poetry Our regular event with Australian poets reading their work. Grab a red wine and snuggle in – tonight: poets Andy Jackson (Among the Regulars) and Cameron Lowe (Porch Music). monday 13 June, 6.30pm. readings Carlton. Free, no need to book.

16the FaCe oF the Book iNduStry Together with Kill Your Darlings we invite you to join us for a discussion on the book industry – what’s working, and what’s not. How have consumers changed? Join us as Mark Rubbo, managing director of Read-ings, Michael Heyward, publisher at Text and Matthia Dempsey, editor-in-chief of Bookseller+Publisher and the Weekly Book Newsletter nut it out. Chaired by Rebecca Starford, editor of Kill Your Darlings. thursday 16 June, 6.30pm, Cinema Nova, Lygon Street, Carlton. Free, but please book on 9347 6633.

16JaNe CLiFtoNWe love Jane for so many reasons. Her latest book is really only one of them. Join us for a bit of a belly laugh and some reminiscing as Jane discusses The Address Book (Penguin, PB, $32.95) a memoir of Jane’s homes, all 32 of them. Jane grew up perpetually on the move as the family followed her fa-ther’s army postings all over the world. As an adult, she kept up the family tradition of changing addresses without so much as a backward glance. thursday 16 June, 6.30pm, readings Carlton. Free, but please book on 9347 6633.

17SkiPPiNG GirL viNeGar Up and coming Melbourne indie darlings Skipping Girl Vinegar launch their fabulous second album Keep Calm, Carry the Monkey.Friday 17 June, 6pm, readings Carlton.Free, no need to book.

20PauL GiLdiNGPaul's personal mission is to motivate global action on the transition of society and the economy to sustainability. He has served as CEO of a range of innovative NGOs and believes we are now in a global ecological and economic crisis that will lead to a period of major global economic transformation. Hear him talk about his new book, The Great Disruption (Bloomsbury, PB, $32.95). monday 20 June, 6.30pm, readings Carlton. Free, please book on 9347 6633.

21Fête de La muSique Come and celebrate World Music Day on the eve of winter solstice. Soft French music, red wine, dark sky – what more do you need? tuesday 21 June, 6.30pm, readings St kilda. Free, but please book on 9525 3852.

23the Great Cook-oFF With LouiSe FuLtoN keatSMargaret Fulton is Australia’s best-known and most loved cookery writer and her granddaughter, Louise Fulton Keats, is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu cookery school and has qualifications in children’s nutrition.

They have written the delightful My Grand-ma’s Kitchen (Hardie Grant, HB, $29.95) a picture book and cookbook, featuring a fun rhyming story, whimsical illustrations and 30 of Margaret Fulton’s much-loved recipes. thursday 23 June, 4.30pm – 5.15pm, read-ings hawthorn.Tickets are $35 and include a cooking workshop with Louise and a signed copy of her book. Suitable for children aged 6–11 years old. Bookings essential: 9819 1917.

26meLBourNe Guitar quartet The Melbourne Guitar Quartet (MGQ) is an ensemble dedicated to the development of chamber music repertoire for guitars. Using the guitar family of instruments (classical bass guitar, baritone guitar, standard guitar, treble guitar and octave guitar), the award-winning MGQ are continuously making new arrangements of major works, with a dynamic and theatrical on-stage musical persona. Don't miss them. Sunday 26 June, 2pm, readings Carlton. Free, no need to book.

27What it iS #3Comics have been doing the history thing for a while. In this month’s ‘What It Is?’, Bernard Caleo, who’s made a few comics that pull in Australian historical figures, and Alex McDermott, who’s written a bit of history, go toe-to-toe and present a blasphemous, ab-solutely-frickin’-historically-accurate version of the Australian story. At least, a couple of bits of it. In words and pictures. We will also launch Alex McDermott’s Dummies Guide to Australian History and the kamishibai (Japanese ‘paper theatre’) classic, Barry versus Blandowski: Two Visions of Victoria. monday 27 June, 8pm, readings Carlton. Free, no need to book.

29zoe FoSterZoë was the beauty director of Cosmopolitan and Harper's BAZAAR magazines, started a cult beauty blog fruitybeauty, is editor-at-large for Australia’s best-loved beauty website, primped.com.au, and is the beauty expert for The Circle. She is also the author of Air Kisses, Playing the Field and Textbook Romance (with Hamish Blake). Her latest book, Amaz-ing Face (Viking, PB, $39.95), is the ultimate beauty book. Wednesday 29 June, 6.30pm, readings hawthorn. Free, but please book 9819 1917.

Launcheskim veNSkuNaSKim Venskunas’ inspirational The Cry: A Manifesto for Change (PB, $25) is both a cry of anguish at the state of the world today and a message of hope for the future. It begins by asking us to consider our own complicity in global atrocities and poverty. Wednesday 1 June, 6.30pm, readings Carlton. Free, no need to book.

maya WardDavid Tacey will launch Maya Ward’s The Comfort of Water: A River Pilgrimage (Transit Lounge, PB, $32.95) the joyful yet heart-breaking true story of four friends who make a 21-day pilgrimage from the sea to the source of Melbourne’s Yarra River. The celebration will include Vardos, Frank Jones (Whirling Furphies) and others performing songs about our very own river.thursday 2 June, 6pm for 6.30pm, Bella union, trades hall. Free, no need to book.

SteWart JaCkeLJoin us for a glass of wine and a bickie, remi-niscent of the time in which Jackel’s story is set. Albert’s Wars (Ace Press, PB, $24.95)

will be launched by Clare Renner, Program Director of Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT. tuesday 7 June, 6.30pm, read-ings Carlton. Free, no need to book.

BeNJamiN iSakhaN & StePheN StoCkWeLLJoin us as Kelvin Thomson MP and Professor Joseph A. Camilleri (Centre for Dialogue, La Trobe University) launch The Secret History of Democracy (Palgrave, HB, $138) edited by Benjamin Isakhan and Stephen Stockwell. This book examines democracy’s ‘secret’ history that is often seen as too big, complex and insufficiently ‘Western’ in character to be included in the standard narrative. thursday 9 June, 6.30pm, readings Carlton. Free, no need to book.

aLiStair thomSoNSushi Das – the Age opinion editor, and a British migrant, will launch Moving Stories: An Intimate History of Four Women Across Two Countries (New South, PB, $49.95) by Alistair Thomson. This work is the result of a collaboration between an historian and four ordinary British women who migrated to Australia during the 1960s and 70s. thurs-day 23 June, 6.30pm, readings Carlton. Free, no need to book.

SteveN oGdeNBarney Zwartz, Religion Editor for the Age will launch Love Upside Down (O Books, PB, $24.95). Here, author Steven Ogden stirs up, amid the messiness of life, the ‘exquisite mo-ments of love’ that change our perceptions and our behaviors. Friday 24 June, 6.30pm, readings Carlton. Free, no need to book.

katie hoLmeSBetween the Leaves (UWAP, PB, $34.95) is an intimate exploration into the lives of nine twentieth-century women – including Judith Wright, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Win-ifred Stephensen and Jean Galbraith – who wrote about their gardens in their letters and diaries. To be launched by Morag Fraser AM.tuesday 28 June, 6.30pm. readings hawthorn. Free, no need to book

raPhaeL BrouSAn exciting Australian debut novel with the energy of Steve Toltz and the roving intel-ligence of Jonathan Safran Foer, I am Max Lamm (UQP, PB, $27.95) is a darkly humor-ous exploration of family loyalty, disgrace and collective hysteria in the age of terror. Wednesday 29 June, 7.30pm, kelvin Club in melbourne Place (off Russell St, near the Corner of Bourke St in the CBD). Free, but please RSVP to events@readings.com.au.

JameS duNBar, PraSuNa reddy & StePheN may Deadly Healthcare (New South, PB, $34.95) examines the story of Australia’s own ‘Dr Death’, Jayant Patel. In this absorbing book, the authors have ploughed through a mass of public inquiry data, interviewing key figures to reveal in gripping detail how it hap-pened, who was to blame, and how it can be avoided. thursday 30 June, 6.30pm, readings hawthorn. Free, no need to book.

And in JulyreadiNG 'quarterLy eSSay' diSCuSSioN PaNeLJoin us for the first in what will be a series series of panel discussions on the new Quarterly Essay. Joining us each quarter will be Margaret Simons, Anna Krien and Tim Soutphommasane. Read their blog at www.readings.com.au, read the latest essay, Judith Brett's Fair Share: Country and City in Australia (Black Inc., PB, $19.95), and come prepared for a lively discussion. thursday 7 July, 6.30pm, readings hawthorn. Free, but please book on 9819 1917.

Events in JuneReadings Monthly June 2011 3

person to be passionately contradictory. ‘He’s a total believer in the violence and ag-gression of competition and a total rejecter of the violence of competition as well.’

But you can’t be insanely competitive – he is a compulsive, at times an almost homi-cidal, hassler and saboteur of his opponents in the water – and expect that there won’t be consequences. Nor can you escape the idolising, the scrutiny and the hero-worship that goes with fame. At the height of his success, everything starts to spiral out of control. He gets into drugs, his girlfriend is murdered, and he disappears from the surfing circuit and into the paranoid world of his head. In this era of celebrity culture, Dennis’s fate is a cautionary tale for our times. ‘Updike said fame is a mask that eats into the face. We all know that, but it doesn’t stop most of us chasing it. I see DK as one of a gen-eration that was discovering that fame is all cost, no benefit,’ says Knox. ‘I don’t know if he has an exceptional insight into it, but I like that DK is ironic about it; he certainly

isn’t chasing it. Yet his talent made adula-tion impossible to avoid.’

Knox well understands the contradictions inherent in DK’s competitive spirit. ‘One thing I guess I have in common with him is in being extremely competitive when it comes to a ritual with set rules and bound-aries. I am a crap tennis player, for example, but on the court I will still do everything in my power to destroy you, while also detesting competitiveness in the wider sense of people comparing where they are “at” in their lives, what they own, and so on. DK’s problem is that his excellence in the former kind of competitiveness means the world will foist the latter kind on to him: turn him into a hero when the idea of a hero, being compared with others, and owned by others, is his idea of hell.’

Knox set the novel in the 1960s and 70s in order to explore surf culture at a key moment when it was morphing from a laid-back pastime into an organised, commer-cialised, professional sport. This transfor-mation is mirrored in the transformation

Malcolm Knox is the author of three novels, Summerland, A Private Man and Jamaica. He is also a Walkley Award-winning journalist and the author of one non-fiction book, Secrets of the Jury Room, an account of his experience

as a juror, and a history of the jury system. He spoke to Fiona Capp about his latest, much-anticipated novel, The Life (A&U, PB, Was $33.99, our special price $27.95, ebook $19.79).

he first thing that hits you when you open Malcolm Knox’s The Life is the nar-rative voice. Half demotic poetry, half twitchy stream-of-

consciousness, it plunges the reader into the head of the tormented, delusional Dennis Keith, a mercurial champion surfer-turned-recluse who now lives with his mother in a retirement unit in Coolangatta. Full of sly wordplay and ironic edgy bravado, it’s a voice that perfectly captures the eternally adolescent energy of surfing culture: a voice distilled from the conversations that Knox, himself a surfer, hears around him when he’s out in the water. ‘It’s not the Tim Winton voice that you hear in Breath – I think that Breath is beautifully written but these men don’t speak in a beautiful way. They speak in a rough, attenuated way with a limited vocabulary. It has its own rhythm and that’s what I wanted to trap,’ Knox says.

Ghostwriting sports biographies, as Knox does when he isn’t writing novels or journalism, has given him an ear for the idiosyncrasies of speech and a habit of play-ing ventriloquist. As a ghostwriter, however, he is not permitted to put the real voice of the subject on the page. ‘It’s got to be a conventional written voice. The constraints I was breaking free of were the constraints on voice. Here, I was able to put in all the

T

4 Readings Monthly June 2011

of Coolangatta from a modest coastal town of fibro shacks into the concrete jungle of the Gold Coast. While his satirical target is the dark side of surf culture – the aggres-sion, competitiveness, tribal mentality, territoriality and drugs (the sexism doesn’t get much of a look in) – The Life can also be read more generally as a satire on the competitiveness of modern life, a competi-tiveness which he believes we do our best to mask. He sees this competitiveness in everything from driving in traffic to corpo-rate life to the way we raise our children. ‘I know I’m generalising, but I do see a big change having happened in my lifetime. Eastern cities are more affluent, more des-perate places. The mass cultural competi-tiveness which took a breather in the 60s and early 70s was beginning to cough itself back to life in DK’s time, until you get to the stage now where a cultural phenome-non like Mad Men rings such a bell because people recognise the hyper-competitiveness of the 50s as part of the way we live now.’

Just as Knox shares aspects of DK’s com-petitiveness, so too does he understand the impulse to idolise one’s heroes. Writing in The Monthly about the American cult au-thor David Foster Wallace, who committed suicide in 2008, he frankly admits to being a ‘howling fantod’ – a Wallacism devotees use to describe themselves – and to regard-ing Wallace as a towering genius. Asked about Wallace’s influence on The Life, he says, ‘For me, when I read David Foster Wallace, every time I look up from the page I feel sharpened and more receptive. I feel like I want to write. Not necessarily that I want to write like him, or could write like him. I feel that writing is important.’ He also admires Wallace’s humour, the mix of high and low cultural references. ‘While he is brainier than me or anybody I can imag-ine, he’s not a high-falutin’ kind of speaker, there’s no effort to rise above the ordinary vernacular.’

Which brings us back to the defining qual-ity of The Life: DK’s distinctive voice. At first glance, the way the narrative appears on the page – the truncated, disjointed, often single-line sentences set out like prose poetry – gives the impression that this is going to be a demanding or difficult read. And yet, such is the pull of this voice, like a rip traveling out through the surf, that the reader is quickly drawn into DK’s world with all its outrageous, treacherous and bewildering undercurrents. We watch with appalled fascination as Dennis, who has been living in a state of pathological denial, starts to grapple ‘in fear and trembling’ with the dark truths of his past.

Fiona Capp is a novelist and a surfer — author of the captivating memoir That Oceanic Feeling. Her latest book is My Blood's Country (A&U, PB, $27.95).

grunts and non-sequiturs and repetitions, an essentially incoherent person’s voice. We’re not allowed to do that as a ghost-writer.’

There is a strong sense, in The Life, of the novelist letting rip, and of the exhilaration that goes with this abandon, particularly in the humour of the book which is some-times manic, sometimes deadpan, and sometimes satirical. When surf magazines and filmmakers come looking for Dennis years after his breakdown, his mother, Mo, sends them packing. ‘I wasn’t available to say no. I was “incapacitated”, she meant to say, except what she said was, I was “decapi-tated”. When they come knocking – them magazines, biographers, movie scouts, so-called TV producers – Mo tell them “speak to our solicitors”. Then she give them a solicitor which don’t exist. That sent the right message sent it real well.’ This narrative risk-taking is fitting for a story about a character who is himself a risk-taker: a surfer of extreme daring and freakish talent who lives ‘The Life’ and then lives to regret it. For the surfers at Dennis’s local break, The Life is the dream of being free to do nothing but surf all day, every day, and implicitly, about buying into the myth of the hotshot surfer as a larger-than-life hero or ‘legend’. It’s a myth in which everyone from the surf media and surf industry to Dennis’s family and the general public is complicit.

Dennis Keith becomes that legend, known as the enigmatic DK, his signature line: ‘Well yeah ... but no!’ The fact that he’s riven with contradictions only adds to his aura. He’s desperate to prove he’s the best but can’t handle all the attention. (He is at his happiest inside the barrel of a wave where no one else can see him.) He wants the benefits of fame but longs to be left alone. He’s intensely territorial in the surf but despises the pack mentality; a surfer who hates other surfers. In other words, he has the freedom, says Knox, of the unhinged

Fiona Capp interviews Malcolm Knox about The Life (PB. $33.99 $27.95. Ebook $19.79)

New Australian Writing Feature

This Crazy Life

‘These men don’t speak in a beautiful way. They speak in a rough, attenuated way with a limited vocabulary. It has its own rhythm and that’s what I wanted to trap.’

Craig Sherborne is an extraordinary Australian writer – one who burst onto the local literary scene with an impressive splash with his childhood memoir, Hoi Polloi, in 2005, followed by its adolescent-based sequel, Muck (2007). His many

fans include J.M. Coetzee, Clive James and Hilary Mantel, while Australia’s most famous literary critic, Peter Craven, called him ‘one of nature’s writers’. His much-awaited debut novel, The Amateur Science of Love, continues to be as ‘gruesomely honest’ (Hilary Mantel) as his memoirs, and is written with the same irresistible blend of darkly poignant humour and moral courage. Helen Garner has already called Sherborne’s first foray into fiction a ‘fast-moving, sharply focused, fantasy-shatter-ing little thunderclap of a book’. Now, Jon Bauer, award-winning author of Rocks in the Belly, adds his name to the long and distin-guished roll-call of Sherborne admirers, as he interviews him for Readings’ New Australian Writing series, and introduces us to The Amateur Science of Love (Text, PB, $32.95, ebook $14.96).

ove, let’s face it, is the topic. Love is at the heart of generations of literature, film, oral tradition. If our love of love isn’t instilled

through our mother’s milk, it’s promptly spoon-fed to us through fairytales. And we continue to happily devour it, ever after. Most commonly though, love stories are about a struggle against external forces: class, family divisions, war, issues of race or colour. The majority are merely extensions of the trajectory typical to fairytales.

How refreshing then to read a love story that’s generated by internal struggles. A story where the impediments to love are the characters themselves. A story that acknowledges the inherent human need to destroy intimacy,

L

airbrushed hyperbole of romance. Colin and Tilda’s story is as suffused with love’s gritty realism as it is with its beguiling charm. There’s also the solidity of characters with good and bad sides, rather than good or bad characters. In this way, Sherborne’s pro-tagonists are a convincing blend of light and shadow.

Over the years, as their relationship deepens and heady romance is replaced with everyday life, love exposes Tilda and Colin’s vulnerabil-ity, their deceit, spite and occasional heartless-ness. All of it reinforces the idea that it is our blinkered search for our own happiness that makes us hurt one another, not inherent cru-elty. Love, after all, is often mentioned in the same breath as blindness. ‘Tilda and Colin fall in love in that typically fierce and unprepared way we do. It blindsides them, and as their relationship develops, the blindsiding contin-ues. Fate tests them. It probes deep into their very natures. How many of us would ever pass the serious test of fate on our natures? The more dependent on each other, the more unreliable to each other they become.’

The Amateur Science of Love is about how we destroy our own love, as well as how relation-ships are pushed and probed at from outside. It shows that the very equilibrium of loving someone over many years can unbalance love’s charm. Colin is gradually deterred by his very closeness to Tilda. The more familiar she is, the more real (flawed), so the less romantic his image of her becomes. Love is one of the few ways a person’s true self is expressed. De-pending on the kind of person we are it may ennoble us, crush us, derange us, and redeem us. As Colin puts it, ‘Love is not simply sensa-tions of the skin. More is demanded of you than sensations.’ That goes to the heart of the novel: falling in love is so viscerally experi-enced it is not even an experience, it is an act of nature – like its twin force, grief, which also comes into play over the years spanned by the novel, particularly as it gallops towards its inevitably dramatic climax.

Thankfully, this story is big enough to include the light and the dark, love and its twin, staying with Tilda and Colin long after the initial beguiling force of love has passed. This reminded me, as I read, that most stories – especially films – end with the wedding, as if that’s the summit of love, rather than just the first day of a marriage.

This may be Sherborne’s first work of fiction but unsurprisingly for a memoirist, it’s a work that rings pretty true. ‘There is surely a duty,’ he says, ‘if you are serious about your art, to show convincingly what it is to be a particu-lar person in a particular time in particular circumstances.’

The Amateur Science of Love is enchanting without being saccharine, real without being brutal. Sherborne has delivered a narrative that expresses what we should mean when we talk about true love.

Jon Bauer is the author of Rocks in the Belly (Scribe. PB. $32.95, ebook $18.99).

ebook Special Prices The Amateur Science of Love ebook $14.96; Hoi Polloi ebook $7.50; Muck ebook $7.50.

call it. Sex was too impersonal a word for our activities. Making love was too ordinary, a term everybody used. Whereas congressing made us sound like a two-person nation. A parliament of us, all to ourselves.

As charming as fiction is, few readers can resist the lure of unpicking it to find out how it works, peeping through the venetian blinds of a writer’s sentences in search of the artist behind. This is especially true when the artist in question is a notable memoirist. ‘I think of fiction as imagining a different truth. One that is true for the novel being written,’ says Sherborne. ‘Lying, dishonesty and bad faith don’t apply. I certainly didn’t lie in my memoirs. They were my past world rebuilt on the page; portraiture using the paint of words and dramatic scenes.’ He confirms that those earlier books were ‘a great help’ when it came to writing his first novel, with many mastered techniques coming in handy: ‘the handling of first-person tone, rhythm, pace and structure, all that’. Sherborne, like his narrator, lived in the Victorian wheatbelt for a number of years and worked as a reporter for an agricul-tural newspaper. He’s not a fan of researched

novels, saying ‘they come up second best to a novel that spills out of actual experience’.Colin has more trouble telling the truth than his creator does. While not easily described as ‘likeable’, the flawed Colin feels roundly real, even as he hides from the truth – about the growing lump in Tilda’s breast and the viability of his relationship. Eventually, he begins to strain against the everydayness of their love, finding himself drawn to a sultry and less blandly-familiar woman from the community. ‘Here we have a man who in the end is 30 years old, has been tested, failed, but has enough self reflection to know his failure and not be ignorant,’ reflects Sherborne on his fictional alter-ego. ‘He wants to do better than that failure. He wants redemption. He has lived enough to have gleaned a bit of wisdom and know that he wants to embrace life and be happy. He’s a better man than I was at his age.’

Sherborne has not dispensed with truth then, rather embellished and altered it by fold-ing it into fiction. But his is not the kind of storytelling that softens hard reality into the

even as we long for and nurture it.Craig Sherborne has achieved all this with The Amateur Science of Love, both his first novel and his third book. With two extremely well-received memoirs – Muck and Hoi Polloi – behind him, his debut novel will be scrutinised, as well as welcomed, for standing at an interesting confluence between memoir and fiction. The two genres often have more in common than we think.

‘The path Tilda and Colin follow, the fate they endure, many aspects have come from my own life,’ says Sherborne. ‘The sort of fiction that has always interested me is where there is clearly an author’s lived experience driving the book. You can tell by the details. Real events have been joined up with imag-ined events, imagined people.’

Narrator Colin, a sheltered country boy from New Zealand, is almost a decade younger than the cosmopolitan Tilda, who he meets while working at a London backpacker’s hos-tel. She’s already been married, and has sworn herself off men in order to focus on her paint-ing career. Colin is new to adulthood – less steering towards his own future than swerving away from the pressure to step into his father’s farming boots. No surprise, then, that he’s so easily swept up in Tilda’s tornado personality.

After an alternately charming and wrenching meander through the early days of falling in love, Sherborne transports the story to the wheatbelt of Australia, the lovers living off Tilda’s meagre savings and the few paintings she can sell, while Colin finds his way into agricultural journalism. From the start, their relationship is richly seeded with obvious incompatibilities, buried under the initial deluge of their love.

Sherborne’s prose is what you fall for first. The enlivened, playful language (echoed in short, clipped chapters) propels the reader easily through the enchanting sections, as well as sweetening the more tumultuous or bitter scenes, echoing the bittersweet tone of his much-loved memoirs:

‘Congressing’ was what Tilda preferred to

True Romance

‘I think of fiction as imagining a differ-ent truth. One that is true for the novel being written. Lying, dishonesty and bad faith don’t apply. I certainly didn’t lie in my memoirs.’

New Australian Writing Feature

Readings Monthly June 2011 5

Jon Bauer talks to Craig Sherborne about The Amateur Science of Love (PB. $32.95 $27.95. Ebook $14.96)

Australian FictioniNdeLiBLe iNkFiona McGregorScribe. PB. $24.95. Ebook $14.99.

At 59, Marie King’s conven-tional, comfortable life is overturned. On a whim, she gets a tattoo, and sets in motion a series of changes that will confront her family and surprise herself. Indelible Ink garnered rave reviews

nationwide when it was first published. Described as truly a novel for our times, it is a perceptive portrait of contemporary family life and of our changing society.

ShootiNG the FoxMarion Halligan A&U. PB. $29.99. Ebook $19.49.

A new collection of short stories from one of Australia’s favourite writers. In her inimitable style, Marion Halligan explores life and all it has to offer: love and loss, sex and death, and the pleasures of food, wine,

gardening and reading. With a wonderful cast of surprising characters, these are ultimately stories about happiness: its circuitous route, its surprising outcomes, and the sad conse-quences when we fail in its pursuit.

that deadmaN daNCeKim ScottPicador. PB. $22.99

Recently shortlisted for the Miles Franklin award, That Deadman Dance brings to life a moment of early colonial contact from the perspectives of all the players – the Noongar people, the early settlers and the whalers.

A powerful and visionary novel.

you LoSe theSe & other StorieSGoldie GoldbloomFreemantle Press. PB. $27.95

Goldie Goldbloom seems to be an author of extremes and contradictions. After reading the first two stories in her new collection, You Lose These and Other Stories, I had to flip to the front and read both her biography and her list of

achievements. However I didn’t find enough for me to understand how she could bring such insight to characters as varied as a small girl in outback Australia and an Orthodox Jewish mother struggling with her lesbianism. So I googled her. She grew up in Western Australia, but has been living as a Chassidic Jew in Chicago for the past 18 years. Cur-rently working as a mentor for queer and transgender youth, she has also studied botany and midwifery. With such diverse talents as these I can appreciate how her stories encompass all walks of life, and why they most particularly look at those in need and at the bottom of the social ladder.In many of the stories it’s as if we have a glimpse for a few pages into the very heart of the characters’ conscious thoughts. Yet what shows through are their subconscious motiva-tions. Every story is about someone lost; no one quite fits in, or is missing something that they feel they need to fit in. It doesn’t matter whether the character is a mother desperately trying to make her daughter’s wedding, a high school student falling in love with her host father or a cancer survivor meeting her pro-spective groom – every story comes down to innocence and that moment of losing it. The

stories show, sometimes brutally, that it doesn’t matter how old we are, in some way we are always innocent in our view of the world until one day something comes along to shatter our rose-coloured glasses. Whether this is a good or a bad thing is left up to the reader. Kate Rockstrom is from Readings Carlton

InternationalaLiCe BLiSS Laura HarringtonMacmillan. PB. $$32.99

Alice Bliss is a great kid. She is 15 years old and lives with her loving parents, Angie and Matt, high school sweethearts who still hold hands, and her precocious eight-year-old sister Ella who says things like ‘I’m reaching my limit with

you, Alice. Just so you know.’ They live in a small town where people still care about each other and are ‘good at doing things that really matter’. Her Gram has reinvented herself after the death of her husband and runs a cafe lifted straight from the pages of Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes where Alice delivers bread every morning on her bicycle. She helps her father in their vegetable garden and walks her little sister to school every morning with her best friend Henry, whom she has known her whole life. All of this is more than a little too saccharine for my liking but Alice Bliss does develop into a compelling coming-of-age story.Alice’s father Matt decides to go to Iraq be-cause he wants to contribute – ‘I don’t think we should just send our kids to this war’ – and he does his best to prepare Angie and Alice for his departure: insurance policies, lists of phone numbers and cash reserves. Alice bears the brunt of his absence and steps up to keep the household running while her mother throws herself into her job. Alice’s behaviour is somehow too mature and not of this age, so it is something of a relief when she finally confronts the loss of her father. This is Har-rington’s debut novel and she tries to address an overwhelming range of issues but her prose is easy to read and you can’t help but love Alice Bliss. Justine Douglas is manager of Readings Port Melbourne

the Book oF LieSMary HorlockText. PB. $32.95. Ebook $19.95.

To survive in occupied Guernsey during WWII, altering the truth became the pastime of many. Forty years later, Guernsey has become a tourist destination for those wanting to see the remnants of the occupation on the

small island – mostly unappealing concrete buildings – and history has not quite let go of it yet, with lies and secrets still being knitted and unpicked.In 1965, Charles Rozier dictates the story of what happened to him as a teenager during the occupation to his younger brother, Emile. In 1985, Emile’s 15-year-old daughter, Cathy, has gotten away with the murder of her ex-best friend, Nicolette, and is trying to piece together what brought her to that point. Both reflect on their troubled youth, stripping away the layers of truth, revealing and misinter-preting things as humans so often do. The unreliability of their narrative is what makes The Book of Lies so engaging: you know the real story is under there somewhere, beyond what they can see. Cathy has a broad knowledge of the island’s history, thanks to her now deceased historian father, forever printing his own books trying

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LITERARY REVIEW

6 Readings Monthly June 2011

Readings Monthly June 2011 7

river oF Smoke Amitav GhoshHodder. PB. Normally $33Our special price $27.95

River of Smoke is the second book in Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis trilogy. In the first, Sea of Poppies, we were introduced to a cast of characters who had all, for one reason or another, ended up on

the Ibis, a ‘blackbirder’ (a ship carrying indentured Indians and British prisoners) bound for Mauritius. The characters were brilliantly drawn and the book was an exquisite, completely engrossing read, especially for those with an interest in the evolution of language, and Asian history.

In River of Smoke we follow the fortunes of some of these characters. Most of the action is set in Canton, on the eve of the outbreak of the First Opium War. Bahram Moddie is a Parsi merchant from Bombay. Widely respected amongst the Western and Chinese traders in Canton, he is making an important trip from Bombay to Canton with the largest load of opium he has ever carried. He loses some to a storm, but there is a bigger problem looming; the Chinese have decided they no longer want opium on their shores and have stopped ships carrying opium from entering their ports.

The Western traders (and Moddie) are outraged. But the Chinese authorities are adamant; opium has become the plague of their country, while the West bans it from their shores precisely because of its dangers. What follows is a battle of wills that exposes the hypocrisy of the merchants, their evident lack of regard for the welfare of the Chinese people fracturing longstanding friendships between East and West.

Of course, there is much more to the story. As it unfolds, we also learn about the horticultural exchange between China and the West, and about the origins of the opium trade itself, but all this information, based on historical fact, is seamlessly woven into an epic narrative about the colonial history of the East.

Ghosh manages to recreate place and eras with what seems like no effort at all and his depiction of Canton is mesmerising; you can almost hear the noise and bustle of the place.

Ghosh’s tremendous eye for detail is most evident in the creation of his characters. We are reintroduced to Neel, the dispossessed Raja we met in the first book, who is now Moddie’s secretary, and to Paulette, the adventurous French orphan, also first introduced in Sea of Poppies, who is searching for Chinese horticultural specimens. Ghosh’s depiction of them and their journeys adds incredible richness to his account, and offers us different perspectives on Canton and this particular time in history.

I reviewed Sea of Poppies back in 2008 and wrote that I was most upset to have to wait for the next instalment. Once again, I find myself in thrall to Ghosh’s storytelling and eager to know what happens next. I hope the wait for the final book in the trilogy won’t be as long!

—Kabita Dhara, is the acting editor of Readings Monthly.

Book of the Monthto out the truth. Her willingness to share her knowledge makes her an outcast at her school – until Nicolette comes along. Charles, full of vengeful anger, remembers the friendship with the charismatic and violent Ray Le Poidevoin that ruined his family. In their tirades against old friends, both are in turns unlikeable, pitiable and hilarious; you will feel empathy and want to occasionally not turn the page when they do something you know will end badly. The Book of Lies is fascinating, intelligent, full of character and paints the island as clear as a photograph. While you might not want to take your next holiday there after reading it, the book itself is definitely worth a visit.Fiona Hardy is from Readings Carlton

Comedy iN a miNor keyHans KeilsonScribe. PB. $22.95. Ebook $13.99.

First published in 1947, this is the first English translation of Hans Keilson’s classic novella about a Dutch couple who hide a Jewish merchant in their home during WWII, and then have to dispose of his body when he dies of

pneumonia. ‘Beautifully nuanced and moving, Keilson’s tale probes the more concealed, subtle forces that annihilate the human spirit.’ – Publishers Weekly

FaCeS iN the CLoudSMatt NablePenguin. PB. $29.95

In his second novel Matt Nable tackles issues of loss, loyalty and difference through a disarmingly fresh and confidently written narrative that is a pleasure to read. Stephen and Lawrence Kennedy are twins; children

of a career sergeant, living on the barracks. It’s a closed, safe world where everything is clearly defined but there are hints that behind closed doors some people don’t cope all that well. Stephen’s family has other issues to cope with; Lawrence, born with some chromosomal deficiency, is different. A sweet and loving child, he is devoted to Stephen but for the young Stephen that devotion and Lawrence’s backwardness and lack of inhibition can be profoundly embarrassing. Their world comes apart when the family is involved in a severe car accident, their parents are killed and Stephen suffers severe injuries. Without their parents, Stephen feels an even greater obligation to Lawrence, especially when they are sent to another town to live with a friend of their mother’s and her strange husband. Stephen is torn between his responsibility towards Lawrence and his need to escape his own traumas. Nable’s characterisation of Lawrence and his world is particularly affecting and at times gently and truly funny. He and his equally disabled friend, Henry, take a trip to the city, which becomes a wonderful and outrageous adventure for both of them. Nable vividly brings to life the issues that families must face when confronted with disability – especially the conflict between satisfying one’s own ideas and passions without betraying the felt responsibility to the disabled loved one – there aren’t that many choices and often those lives end in tragedy. Faces in the Clouds is a very satisfying book.Mark Rubbo is managing director of Readings

Far to GoAlison PickHeadline. PB. $29.99

The book starts with a warning; we are told that the outcome for the characters in this account is death. The story is known even before one begins, but do not let that deter you from reading this novel. Far to Go is a

wonderfully written history of an ordinary family trying to come to terms with their prospects. The narrative centres on a secular

Jewish Czech couple and their beloved six-year-old boy Pepik who, in the months preceding WWII, is sent to safety on the Kindertransport.This story is inspired by Pick’s own life. Her Jewish grandparents escaped Czechoslovakia, although it wasn’t until the death of Pick’s grandmother in 2000 that her family realised they were Jewish. Pick’s father began to research their family history and she acknowl-edges his research throughout the novel. Captivatingly, an ageing historian character is beautifully intertwined throughout the story. It is this historian who introduces the book, cites letters for each section and later becomes a character in the story.Far to Go is an emotional story because one knows the outcome. The family’s domestic lives are described in detail, with the rising anguish of the adults agonising to read. This book, which recently won the Jewish Canadi-an Book of the Year, is a testament to horrific times. Far to Go is a captivating, precise novel that illustrates that the past is always present in the future.Chris Gordon is Readings’ events co-ordinator

the GirL iN the PoLka dot dreSSBeryl BainbridgeLittle, Brown. PB. Normally $30Our special price $27.95

Rose arrives in America with three weeks to find Dr Wheeler. She is broke and has been sponsored by Washing-ton Harold, who has an equally absorbing need to find Dr Wheeler, which is lost on Rose. Harold has a plan and

Rose is a concomitant accessory to his obsessive pursuit of the man who has ruined his life. He has purchased a camper for their trip and muses that Rose will be ‘knocked out by the whole thing’ in the hope that he will in some way get a leg over Rose and something over Dr Wheeler. But he hasn’t factored in Rose: her pubescent mentality and banal observations, or the demands of life on the road with her – her surreptitious smoking and unwillingness to bathe. She stubbornly wears the same creased blouse and raincoat because she is saving her polka dot dress for Dr Wheeler. And yet they somehow forge an unlikely friendship in spite of the secrets they keep from each other.One cannot help but feel that Bainbridge’s final novel is an ode to Nabokov’s Lolita. The campgrounds and motels they stop in are peopled with oddballs and hysterics. Harold is a repulsive, sweaty, neurotic who is constantly defining his relationship with Rose to others, while trying to determine the exact nature of Rose’s relationship with the enigmatic Dr Wheeler. As they visit Harold’s friends along the way there is a growing concern for his state of mind that parallels the escalating violence in the news – the assassination of Martin Luther King and JFK. Sadly, Bainbridge died before completing The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress and although her manuscript was prepared for publication by her long-time editor and friend, Brendan King, the ending is confused. Justine Douglas is manager of Readings Port Melbourne

the Good muSLimTahmima AnamText. PB. $32.95. Ebook $19.95.

Set in Bangladesh in the 1970s and 80s, The Good Muslim is Tahmima Anam’s second book in a trilogy; the first novel A Golden Age won the 2008 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book. However this book

easily stands alone. Against the backdrop of post-war Dhaka the personal and the political entwine, and then draw apart the lives of Maya and her brother Sohail. In March this year, Bangladesh celebrated the fortieth

anniversary of liberation and Anam draws on her personal history to tell a story that is not so well known in the West yet.Sohail, fighting in a guerrilla regiment returns with the indelible mark of what he has seen. He turns to faith to make sense of life after the war, to undo that which perhaps can never be undone. Maya, in contrast, is con-nected to people, travelling through villages as a crusading doctor for women, and returns nearly a decade after the end of the war. It is through Maya’s eyes that Anam uncovers the moral choices made in the aftermath of war and how the past sculpts the future. The ques-tion of who or what makes a good Muslim is left to interpretation and it is the test of living in peacetime that has the strongest resonance in this story. Although the narrative’s movement between two decades can distract, it mirrors important experiences in Maya and Sohail’s lives, reveal-ing the distance between their post-war selves and how their actions, borne of fundamental-ism and humanism, result in an overwhelm-ing tragedy. The Good Muslim is at times bleak – there is torture, child abuse and illness – but Anam’s elegant prose counteracts the most distressing events with a lightness that does not lessen the realities of war and peace, and the challenge inherent in putting things right. Ingrid Josephine is Readings’ marketing assistant

the LakeBanana YoshimotoRandom. PB. $30.95

A young woman moves to Tokyo after her mother’s death. Trying to overcome her grief, even as she hopes to start a career as a graphic artist in the big city, she finds herself spending a lot of time staring out her window.

Eventually she realises that she has also been staring at a young man across the street who seems to stare out his window a lot too. Thus begins a hesitant romance. But what is the secret of his troubled past? As the young woman begins to piece together a series of clues she discovers a bizarre religious cult might have something to do with the young man’s sorrow. A powerful novel from one of Japan’s most distinguished writers.

LaSt maN iN toWer Aravind AdigaAtlantic Books. PB. Normally $32.95Our special price $27.95

The much anticipated second novel from the Man Booker Prize-winning author of The White Tiger is as thought-provoking as his first. Set in an old apartment block in twenty-first century Mumbai, this is the story of its resi-

dents, a delightfully vivid cast of characters who, for the most part, get along. The occupants of Tower A of the Vishram Co-operative Housing Society are a diverse lot, but they pride themselves on their good character and are the envy of other housing societies in Mumbai.But Mumbai is changing. A boom in prop-erty development is turning the city into a mecca for well-heeled Indians returning from the West and, with increased demand for flashy new condominiums, property and land prices are going through the roof.Notorious property developer Dharmen Shah is one of the big players on the scene, and when he sets his sights on the Vishram Soci-ety, he agrees to pay the residents handsomely if they move out. At first, some are reluctant. The bonds they have built with one another compel them to stay. Some of the older resi-dents are worried about moving out of their comfortably familiar surroundings and into potentially inhospitable surrounds. But as the allure of big money becomes irresistible, one by one they succumb, either of their own ac-cord or through their neighbours’ persuasion.Only one man stands apart. Masterji, a retired

8 Readings Monthly June 2011

schoolteacher, is adamant that he will not leave. Memories of his recently deceased wife and long-dead daughter fill his tiny apartment, and no amount of money will make him leave. And if he doesn’t agree to leave, the developer can’t have the building. As Masterji rejects all the developer’s advances, his previously respect-ful, now frustrated, neighbours decide to take matters into their own hands. But how far will they go to persuade Masterji to agree?Kabita Dhara is acting editor of Readings Monthly

Smut: tWo uNSeemLy StorieSAlan BennettFaber. HB. Normally $24.99Our special price $19.95

From the ever-popular Alan Bennett comes a collection made up of two stories – ‘The Greening of Mrs Donaldson’ and ‘The Shielding of Mrs Forbes’. With his trademark humour, Bennett writes about how people pretend to adopt

socially acceptable virtues in order to be accepted by society. ‘Smut is a curious mix of the Alan Bennett we know of old, whose clucking, mid-life Northern treasures … divulge their secrets in gently subversive sotto voce, and the Alan Bennett we are coming to know, post-cancer scare, who might one day be seen as late, uncloseted Bennett, with sex increasingly on the brain.’ –The Independent

the aBSoLutiStJohn BoyneDoubleday. PB. $32.95

The bestselling author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas brings us another dazzling novel about confused friendships. It is 1919 and Tristan Sadler is making the journey from London to Norwich to meet Marian

Bancroft, the sister of his friend Will. Tristan and Will fought together in 1917, in the Great War, before Will declared himself a conscientious objector on the field of war and was shot as a traitor. Now Tristan must see Marian and deliver some letters. But there is more to Tristan’s visit. What is the secret he must unburden himself of, and will he find the courage to do so?

iSLaNd oF WiNGSKarin AltenbergQuercus. PB. $32.99

Set in 1830, on the island of St Kilda, west of the Hebri-des, Island of Wings is the story of Neil MacKenzie (a historical figure) who arrives on the island as the new minister along with his beautiful wife, Lizzie. Lizzie

struggles with being pregnant on an island where four out of five babies die in the first eight days of their lives and people live in squalid huts. Neil is the only person she can talk to, and the social isolation starts to put a strain on their marriage. Meanwhile, Neil wrestles with his faith and the juxtaposition of being both a husband and a man of the cloth. A beautiful novel about two people struggling to hold their marriage together in the most inhospitable of locations.

a CoNSPiraCy oF FrieNdSAlexander McCall Smith Polygon Press. HB. Normally $24.95 Our special price $24.95

In the third of the Corduroy Mansions series, we reac-quaint ourselves with the Snark household: the Ragg Porter Literary Agency and mild-mannered merchant William and his Pimlico terrier Freddie de la Hey.

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Easy to use ebooks.readings.com.au ebook only $14 . 96

The memoirs as ebooks only $7.50 ea.

JournalsmeaNJiN voLume 70, NumBer 2Sally Heath (ed.)MUP. PB. $24.99

This is the first issue of Meanjin from new editor Sally Heath. It features Ben Pobjie on controversial comedy, Peter Timms on Tasmania’s MONA, and Annie Proulx and Tim Flannery discussing the

increasingly difficult distinction between science and art with Stephen Romei. Also look out for new writing from Maria Tumarkin, John Kinsella and Colleen Brabender among others.

Pip Newling from Readings Hawthorn interviews Jane Clifton about The Address Book

(Penguin. PB. $32.95)

What do you never leave home without?iPhone, glasses, pencil and a down-loaded Guardian cryptic crossword to work on.

Was the instigation for your journey to make peace with your childhood ghosts, your mother, yourself or all three?I wanted to know if all the houses were still there and what they looked like now. I wanted to exam-ine the effect revisiting each house would have on me. So, yes, all three aspects of your question, but so much more.

Which house, after all your re-visiting, means the most to you now?17 Liebermann Straße, Braunsch-weig – of the overseas houses – the house where all my conscious memories begin. Leonard Street, Burwood – of the Australian houses – the last house I shared with my parents.

Which childhood place held the most emotion for you when you re-visited it? Why?The woods at the end of the street at both German houses – in Braunsch-weig and Mönchengladbach – and the ruins of the Grand Shaft Bar-racks atop the cliffs of Dover. Kids of my generation spent all their time outdoors: running, playing, having adventures. Being in those wild woods and on the clifftop heights was extraordinarily moving and evocative.

What does the idea of ‘home’ mean to you now?It is a movable, fluid state of con-sciousness, not necessarily confined to one location.

Will you ever move again?More than likely.

What does Melbourne mean to you?I’ve lived three quarters of my life in Melbourne: long enough to un-derstand that unless you were born here, you’re not really allowed to call it ‘home’.

Q&A withJane Clifton

Readings Monthly June 2011 9

penguin.com.au

Performer Jane Clifton had a classic army upbringing, constantly on the move. As an adult

she kept up the family tradition of moving but when her father and mother died tragically young Jane

was left with unanswered questions. One day, Jane decided to visit all 32 houses she’d lived in to see if

she could piece together the jigsaw of her life.

It’s 1986 and Halley’s Comet is hurtling towards Earth. When Andrew is asked to write down his greatest wish for the Comet Box, he can think of only one thing – that his runaway sister will

finally come home. But when she is captured and brought home she reveals a shocking secret that

makes Andrew’s once safe world begin to unravel.

Kids call him Con-nerd – half Connor and all nerd. His mum wants him to be a doctor but Connor wants to be a cartoonist. When his

comics start getting noticed he is sure that will impress the girl he’s keen on, and it might be his chance to show the world his true destiny. He’s just not sure that his mum will see it that way…

When Stephen and Lawrence’s parents are killed in a car accident how the boys live with their

grief defines the rest of their lives. As they move into adulthood somewhere deeply buried within

them both is the question of how one deals with the past in order to live in the present and

embrace the future.

Crime Book of the MonthWhere the BodieS are Buried Chris Brookmyre Little, Brown. PB. $32.99

Filled with Scottish accents thicker than the book itself, Chris Brookmyre’s newest novel, and the first in what will apparently (and hope-fully) become a series, proves exactly why he continually sells so well. As ‘authentically

local as haggis suppers and lung cancer’, it begins when a dealer is found dead behind his not entirely reputable tanning salon. Detec-tive Superintendent Catherine McLeod is put on the case behind the back of the new organised crime taskforce and is determined to stop this one death ending in bloodshed all over the city. Elsewhere in Glasgow, lonely actress Jasmine Sharp has joined her uncle’s private detective company, despite her skill at messing things up, and is finally proving herself worthy when he vanishes partway through a case. With no one interested in tracking down a capable adult and ex-cop, she looks into his past cases herself, and finds, as Catherine does, that the police force can be as corrupt and secretive as the organised crime syndicates it is claiming to combat. There is not a single page where the pace drags, and Catherine and Jasmine, along with their cohorts, are smart, determined and entertain-ing. If underground Glasgow didn’t seem so damn terrifying you’d want to go there and meet all these whip-smart locals yourself.

the BouNdary Nicole Watson UQP. PB. $24.95

As a lawyer herself, Nicole Watson, winner of the 2009 David Unaipon Award for an Unpublished Indigenous Writer, knows what she’s talking about. Justice Bruce Brosnan is murdered hours after denying a claim by the

Corrowa, the land’s traditional owners, to save Brisbane’s Meston Park from development. As the park was originally used as the boundary for a curfew back when Indigenous Austra-lians were not allowed to enter the city after dark, Ethel Cobb, matriarch of the Corrowa, says the killer is an ancient assassin deter-mined to reclaim the land. From traditional law to the courtroom, the Dreaming to politics, this is a complex and amazing read.

WoNder oF SeLdom SeeN J.D. Cregan UWA. PB. $32.95. Ebook $12.95.

J.D. Cregan has set his new book in Victoria’s High Country. In the town of Seldom Seen, writer Miles Jordon is camping with his dog and pondering his lack of ideas when he witnesses the dumping of a corpse. Before

too long, he is being watched by enough people to start his own cult: police tracking him as a suspect, a hard-living and demoted ASIO operative interested in a discovery Miles has made, and a man whose wife Miles can’t help but covet.

Carte BLaNChe Jeffrey Deaver Hodder. PB. Normally $33Our special price $27.95

With Ian Fleming unfortu-nately passed on and the James Bond movies so beloved that the idea of remaking them would surely lead to some kind of snappily-dressed riot, it’s not too surprising that the Bond

brand has continued since Fleming’s death. Bone Collector author Jeffrey Deaver has written the latest instalment. In it, Bond has been shifted to a modern setting, and is in the United Arab Emirates having dinner with a beautiful woman (you’re shocked, I’m sure) when he gets word that an attack is planned that could kill thousands. Bond is given carte blanche to stop it, but can he be trusted to know where to draw the line?

uNCertaiN PLaCe Fred Vargas Harvill. PB. Normally $32.95Our special price $27.95Fred Vargas has long been a favourite of Read-ings’ Kate O’Mara, previously at the helm of Dead Write. Vargas continues to write myth-heavy, beloved crime books, this time taking off when a pair of shoes turn up. The notion arises that it was done to stop a corpse from becoming a vampire, as they are unable to walk without feet (in case being dead wasn’t enough). Commissaire Adamsberg and his team of colleagues must traverse from a conference in London to a massacre in their home city of Paris, and then to Siberia where the chill of vampire mythology won’t let go.

death oN a GaLiCiaN Shore Domingo Villar Little, Brown. PB. $32.99

Domingo Villar’s Death on a Galician Shore is a story as engaging in its descriptions of the surroundings as it is in the complex criminal plot. It follows Spanish Detective Inspector Leo Caldas as he investigates

what originally appears to be a suicide, but is a death entwined with the history of the fishing village Caldas finds himself in. Envi-ronmental concerns disrupt the rhythms of everyday life in the region, but it remains an evocative rendition of the area, from fish auctions to the town’s characters, and to the draw of the sea itself.

theodore BooNe aNd the aBduCtioN John Grisham Hodder Headline. Normally $32.95Our special price $27.95

John Grisham’s books are almost impossible to dislike. He’s started writing crime books for younger readers now, and this is his second crossover foray. Theo is getting his life back into shape when his best friend,

April, is abducted from her unhappy home. Despite their search for a relative just out of prison, Theo is aware that the police are missing some important facts, and the hopeful young lawyer uses his investigative skills to search for his missing friend.

New Crime Dead Write with Fiona Hardy

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SeduCed By LoGiC Robyn ArianrhodUQP. PB. $34.95

Seduced by Logic is an impres-sively far-reaching book. At its heart is a double biography of Emilie du Chatelet (‘wonder-fully outrageous’) and Mary Somerville (‘charmingly subversive’) who were both brilliant autodidacts and

mathematicians. In her introduction, Robyn Arianrhod, herself a mathematician at Monash University, explains that ‘the very existence of these women was enough to encourage me to believe that I too could succeed.’ Both women were, specifically, authorities on Newtonian mathematical physics, and, more generally, very original thinkers: du Chatelet in France in the eighteenth century, and Somerville in Scotland at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Unsurprisingly, both encountered difficulty as women, in being recognised for their brilliance and hard work, although they did not go unnoticed. Du Chatelet was an aristocrat who took Voltaire as her lover. She mixed enlighten-ment philosophy with mathematics. Ac-cording to Arianrhod, ‘she was as scandalous in her sex life as she was extravagant in her manner of dressing’. Her relentless desire for knowledge culminated in her being the first person to translate Newton’s Principia into French shortly before her death. Somerville was a more sober character, but no less of a polymath. She became genuinely famous in her lifetime for her clearheaded mathematical writings.A comparison between the two women’s lives provides the book with its structure, but does not limit its content. Arianrhod takes the wide scope of her book as an opportunity to discuss Newtonian mathematics, the history of the Enlightenment, and women’s education, to name just a few of her subjects. And no matter what the topic, her prose is natural, graceful and lucid. In the final chapter, she suggests that, ‘in a sense theoretical physics is ultimately about language, especially mathematical language, rather than about “reality” itself.’ If this is the case, judging by her control of language, Ari-anrhod must be a particularly good theoretical physicist. William Heyward is from Readings St Kilda

Australian Studiesthe BoGaN deLuSioNDavid NicholsAffirm. PB. $22.95. Ebook $9.95.

Nothing defies cultured Australia’s sense of itself more than the bogan – that boorish, racist, drunken, sexist, bethonged, Barnesy-loving embarrassment out there in the back blocks. Part travelogue, part social

critique, The Bogan Delusion explores the cultural and social landscape of Australia in 2011. It reveals, with searing analysis and sharp wit, that the bogan so widely feared is nothing more than a bogey: a convenient excuse for many to never venture beyond the cafe-lined cocoon of the inner city.

diCk Smith’S PoPuLatioN CriSiSDick SmithA&U. PB. $19.99. Ebook $14.99.In 2011 the world’s population exceeded seven billion. Each year we add nearly 80

Biography & Memoirthe addreSS Book Jane CliftonPenguin. PB. $32.95

Jane Clifton, Melbourne-based actress, singer and ex-Prisoner star, has written a vibrant and conversational memoir retracing her visits to all the houses she has ever lived in. Born in 1949 on the Rock of Gibraltar, Clifton was

an ‘army brat’ and, with her parents and three sisters, moved often around Europe and Asia, becoming well-travelled long before she was 16 years old. Born into an eccentric family prone to embel-lishments and forsaking truth for fun, Clif-ton’s parents also died relatively young, before she was of an age to ask about the finer details of her childhood. Her journey is an attempt to find the truth, to find herself, in amongst her memories of ‘home’. Her first orgasm, her first childhood sweetheart, her love for her father and lurking uncertainty about her mother, her delight and despair at continu-ally working to fit in with new countries, new houses, new schools, new rules – we marvel as she resiliently keeps going. Arriving in Perth in 1961, the young Jane had no idea of the permanence of her father’s retirement from the Army and their migration to Australia.In conducting this trek, Clifton also charts the social history of the post-World War II pe-riod. By detailing the homes she lived in from memory, and then re-visiting the addresses as they are now, architectural, cultural, political and economic changes are conveyed in the ever-hopeful and irrepressible voice of a tour guide. And Clifton as tour guide is engaging and lively company. For lovers of Melbourne, this book holds a particular pleasure, as Clifton hits Melbourne in 1965. This later section forms a wonder-fully idiosyncratic look at the city’s develop-ment over the last 45 years. From university to motherhood to imagining her final resting place, Melbourne forms Clifton’s final, much-loved ‘home’.Pip Newling is a freelance writer and works at Readings Hawthorn

iNSide PiNe GaP: the SPy Who Came iN From the deSertDavid RosenbergHardie Grant. PB. $35

In 1966, Australia and the US signed a treaty to establish a jointly run satellite tracking station at Pine Gap, just south of Alice Springs. Although it has played a major role in military surveillance for over

40 years, it has also been the subject of public and political controversy. David Rosenberg, a US high-tech spy, worked at Pine Gap for 18 years and he gives us an insider’s account of what happens in this top-secret world.

LiFeKeith RichardsOrion. PB. $22.99

Keith Richards tells stories of his amazing life behind the legend. ‘Mr Richards’s prose is like his guitar play-ing: intense, elemental, utterly distinctive and ach-ingly, emotionally direct.’ – New York Times

10 Readings Monthly June 2011

million people and by mid-century we will require twice as much food and double the energy we use today. Dick Smith looks at the effects of these statistics on Australia – we have the fastest growing population of any developed nation – and calls on our political parties to address the risks and dangers created by this population trend.

the FirSt FLeetAlan FrostBlack Inc. PB. $29.95. Ebook $16.95.

In Botany Bay: The Real Story, published in early 2011, Alan Frost drew on previously neglected archives to delve into the true beginnings of modern Australia. In his follow-up to that groundbreaking work,

Frost uses forgotten records to debunk the myths surrounding the First Fleet. Most historical accounts of this momentous journey depict it as poorly planned and shambolic, but Frost’s research shows that the voyage was in fact meticulously planned and considered extremely important for Britain’s imperial ambitions.

radiCaL hoPe: eduCatioN aNd equaLity iN auStraLiaNoel PearsonBlack Inc. PB. $19.95. Ebook $9.95.

How to ensure the survival of a people, their culture and way of life? And can education transform the lives of the disadvantaged many, or will it at best raise up a fortunate few? Noel Pearson looks at how

educational policy has repeatedly failed underclass students, many of whom are Aboriginal and, using findings from new research and practice, searches for the radical centre – a way forward that will raise up the many, preserve culture, and ensure no child is left behind.

Historya moSt daNGerouS BookChristopher B. KrebsWW Norton. HB. $32.95

The Roman historian Tacitus wrote the Germania at the height of the Roman Empire. Appropriated endlessly by various move-ments and scholars, it went on to become a ‘bible’ to the Nazis, with even Heinrich

Himmler drawing on it for inspiration. Christopher B. Krebs traces the history of this controversial yet inspiring book over 500 years, from its rediscovery to its eventual manipulation in the hands of the Nazis.

oN ChiNaHenry KissingerAllen Lane. HB. $45

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger draws on conversations with Chinese leaders over the last 40 years, as well as historical records, to give us a unique perspective on Chinese foreign policy. Analysing

China’s approach to diplomacy, strategy and negotiation throughout its history, and the legacy of two of its most influential figures, Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, Kissinger reflects on the consequences of China’s past for the twenty-first century world.

New Non-FictionMore ebooksat special prices *

ebooks.readings.com.au

QE 42: Fair Share: Country and

City in Australia Judith Brett

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ebook $9.95

Dick Smith’s Population Crisis

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ebook $14.99 *

Five Weeks at Humanitas

Manfred Jurgensen Hardback $45.00

ebook $9.99

The LifeMalcolm Knox  Paperback $27.95

ebook $19.79 *

The Bogan Delusion David NicholsPaperback $22.95

ebook $9.95

The Wonder of Seldom Seen J.D. Cregan Paperback $32.95

ebook $12.95

* These special ebook prices only until 30.06.11

Readings Monthly June 2011 11

iN the GardeN oF BeaStSErik LarsonScribe. PB. $35. Ebook $19.99.

In 1933 William E. Dodd, America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany, arrived in Berlin with his family. At first they were entranced by the obvious excitement in the ‘New Germany’. However, as Jewish persecution escalated,

and press censorship became rife, Dodd and his family could no longer ignore the violence around them, and the truth about Hitler’s murderous regime.

LoNdoN uNder Peter AckroydChatto & Windus. HB. $29.95

Ackroyd takes the reader on an atmospheric journey under London and into an often hidden world. Springs and streams; Roman amphitheatres and Victorian sewers; gang hideouts and, of course, modern Tube

stations. A poetic history of what lies beneath.

aN emPire oF iCe: SCott, ShaCkLetoN, aNd the heroiC aGe oF aNtarCtiC SCieNCeEdward J. LarsonYale. HB. $36.95

Edward J. Larson offers a new perspective on the British Antarctic expeditions of the early twentieth century in this fascinating book, published to coincide with the centenary of the first expeditions to reach the

South Pole. Focusing on the scientific curiosity and enterprises of the time – the Heroic Age of Antarctic discovery – rather than the race to reach the South Pole, this is the first book to place the voyages of Norwegian Roald Amundsen and his British rivals Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton, as well as others, in a larger scientific, social and geopolitical context.

the PoPeS: a hiStoryJohn Julius NorwichChatto & Windus. HB. Normally $60Our special price $49.95

Acclaimed historian John Julius Norwich turns his attention to the stories and intrigue behind the oldest continuing institution in the world – the papacy. Tracing the papal line from St Peter through the centuries to the

present Benedict XVI, Norwich gives us an irresistible account of the 280-odd saintly – and not so saintly – holders of this supreme office and their engagement with world history.

Philosophythe exPaNdiNG CirCLe: ethiCS, evoLutioN, aNd moraL ProGreSSPeter SingerPrinceton. PB. $27.95

What are ethics and how do we set moral standards? What role does biology play in our understanding of right and wrong? How do we reconcile our instinct to survive with our ability to be altruistic? First published in

1981, The Expanding Circle was hailed as an insightful study of the relationship between evolution and ethics. Now with a new afterword from the author, this classic work remains essential reading. www.mup.com.au

‘I knew as soon as I looked into the pages ... that it would become my constant companion, immediately and always.’

(GOVERNOR-GENERAL QUENTIN BRYCE) In this gorgeously illustrated book, join Betty Churcher on a personal tour of her most beloved artworks. AVAILABLE NOW

A WAY TO

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Angela Di Sciascio’s father can no longer describe his past, lost in a world ravaged by Alzheimer’s disease. Deciding not to let his story fade, Angela embarks on a voyage that takes her through four seasons in her father’s Italy.

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ScienceiNCoGNito: the SeCret LiveS oF the BraiNDavid EaglemanText. PB. $34.95. Ebook $19.95.

In this highly accessible exploration of the non-conscious brain, neuroscien-tist David Eagleman uses case studies, pop culture, literary references and historic examples to illuminate the workings of

the parts of your brain to which you have no access. Why can your foot jump halfway to the brake pedal before you become aware of danger ahead? Why are people whose names begin with J more likely to marry other people whose names begin with J? And why is it so difficult to keep a secret?

BraiN ruLeS: 12 PriNCiPLeS For SurviviNG aNd thriviNG at Work, home, aNd SChooLJohn Medina.Scribe. PB. $24.95. Ebook $14.99.

How do we learn? What exactly do sleep and stress do to our brains? Why is multi-tasking a myth? Is it true that men and women have different brains? In this New York Times-bestselling book, molecular biologist

Dr John Medina describes 12 brain rules – what scientists know for sure about how our brains work – and how we can use them to our best advantage everyday.

Sex, GeNeS aNd roCk ‘N’ roLL: hoW evoLutioN haS ShaPed the moderN WorLdRob BrooksNew South. PB. $34.95

Evolutionary biologist Rob Brooks explores the origins of twenty-first century problems to show us how evolution stands alongside economics, anthropology, psychology and political science in shaping our

world. Covering a diversity of topics – fall-ing in love, our obsession with rock’n’roll, fertility, obesity, consumerism and ageing to name just a few – Brooks illustrates what happens when evolution collides with modern culture.

SuPerCooPeratorS: aLtruiSm, evoLutioN aNd mathematiCSMartin Nowak & Roger HighfieldText. PB. $34.95. Ebook $19.95.

Evolutionary biologist Martin Nowak and New Scientist editor Roger Highfield set out to explain one of the oldest questions in evolutionary science: why, when life is all about the survival of the fittest, do

human beings still choose to cooperate? Using Nowak’s research and his five laws of cooperation, they explain how this very human characteristic is fundamental to human life. Nowak is already a controver-sial figure in the evolutionary biology community and this book is sure to spark more debate.

EssaysquarterLy eSSay 42: Fair ShareJudith BrettBlack Inc. PB. $19.95. Ebook $9.95.

Australia has gone from being the country that rode on the sheep’s back, to a country of mining and services. What does this mean for the city and the country in our politics and culture? Judith Brett

examines the relationship between urban and country Australia and asks: in an era of economic rationalisation, water cutbacks, climate change, droughts and flooding rain, what will be the fate of rural and regional Australia?

PoliticsWhy marx WaS riGht Terry EagletonYale. HB. $32.95

Terry Eagleton takes ten of the most common objec-tions to Marxism and shows how, in each case, Marx’s thinking has been misunder-stood or misrepresented. This is a spirited, combative defence of Marx, in Eagle-

ton’s lively style, as well as a timely remind-er of the relevance of Marxism in today’s financially unstable world.

Cultural Studiesthe Next deCadeGeorge FriedmanScribe. PB. $32.95. Ebook $18.99.

Bestselling author George Friedman turns his attention to the next ten years as he focuses on the geopolitical changes and transitions he foresees for the world. Among the topics he covers are the changing face of the

Islamic world, China’s impending crisis, and our approach to terrorism. Using Machiavelli’s The Prince as a model, Friedman also analyses the machinations of the world’s leaders and the challenges they will face into the next decade.

the PSyChoPath teSt Jon RonsonPicador. PB. $32.99

Jon Ronson, who penned the popular The Men Who Stare at Goats, covers similar terrain in his new book The Psychopath Test. However, rather than investigating madness at the heart of the US military's programs, he

searches for madness in the form of psychopathic personality disorder as located in various maximum-security psychiatric hospitals and private homes throughout the UK and US. Armed with the diagnostic criteria devised by renowned criminal psychologist Dr Robert Hare, Ronson sets out to ascertain whether certain notorious individuals are likely to be psychopaths.

While highly readable, early on in the book I found myself sceptical as to the merit of Ronson's ‘investigation’. This is largely owing to his conversational writing style, the anecdotal material he relies on and the sensational aspects of the subject matter. However, this book is not intended to be a rigorously researched sociological text. Instead it is the work of a populist journal-ist attempting to ignite the curiosity of the layreader as to the nature of psychopathic personality disorder and the potentially

12 Readings Monthly June 2011

BOOKS THAT CHANGE YOUR MIND.

www.unswpress.com.au

Why are people getting fatter?

Why do so many rock stars end up dead at 27?

Is there any hope of curbing population growth, rampant consumerism and the environmental devastation they wreak?

Rob Brooks explores a tasting platter of topics, from the frivolous to the tragic – falling in love, making music, our obsession with rock ’n’ roll, sexual conflict, fertility, obesity, consumption, ageing and more – illustrating how evolution stands alongside economics, anthropology, psychology and political science in shaping our world.

ISBN 9781742582887 $32.95

ISBN 9781742582634 $34.95

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The language of hope can be hugely powerful as it draws on resources that are uniquely

human and universal.What is hope and what role does it play in

our lives?$24.95 Pb, ISBN 9781844652600

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How To Be An Agnostic explores the wonder of science, the ups and downs of being

‘spiritual but not religious’, the insights of ancient philosophy, and God the biggest

question.$24.95 Pb, ISBN 9780230293212

Palgrave Macmillan

detrimental effects such individuals (who lack empathy and a conscience) may have on society when given free reign in posi-tions of power and influence. Further into the book Ronson is careful to admit that it is all too easy to attach erroneous labels to people and that some of the diagnos-tic criteria are so general that they could apply to almost anyone. For example, a ‘grandiose sense of self-worth’, ‘shallow affect’, and a ‘failure to accept responsibil-ity for own actions’ are deemed to be a few of the traits of the psychopath. Yet, in the absence of other more dangerous traits such as ‘poor behavioural controls’ for example, they could equally be used to identify the narcissistic personality which I imagine is much more prevalent in society. Worth a read.Luisa Childs is from Readings Carlton

BeNto’S SketChBookJohn BergerVerso. HB. $36

Inspired by an imaginative reconstruction of seventeenth century philosopher Spinoza’s sketchbook, John Berger’s new book is an exploration of the practice of drawing and a meditation on how

art guides our gaze to the world: to flowers, to the human body, to the pitilessness of the new world order and the forms of resistance to it.Margaret Snowdon is art & design buyer at Readings Carlton

iPhiGeNia iNForeSt hiLLSJanet MalcolmYale. HB. $31.95

In 2009, Janet Malcolm attended the joint trial of Dr Mazoltuv Borukhova and her cousin by marriage, Mikhail Mallayev. It was alleged that Borukhova had hired Mallayev to shoot her

estranged husband, Daniel Malakov. Malcolm’s reportage of the trial for the New Yorker was gripping, and here she further analyses the key players and what she sees as the failings of the justice system in this case. Includes never-before-published interviews with the victim’s father and brothers, and defence and prosecution attorneys.

the aNatomy oF iNFLueNCe Harold Bloom Yale. HB. $45.95

‘Literary criticism, as I attempt to practice it, is in the first place literary, that is to say, personal and passionate.’ So writes Harold Bloom in his latest work, a study of the writ-ers and critics who have

influenced him throughout his life. With meditations on poets including Shake-speare and Whitman, Yeats and Ashbery, The Anatomy of Influence is Bloom’s per-sonal exploration of what great literature is, how it comes to be, and why it matters.

yuCk! the Nature aNd moraL SiGNiFiCaNCe oF diSGuStDaniel Kelly. MIT. HB. $44.95

People are disgusted by all sorts of things, sometimes concrete, like an object, and sometimes abstract, like an ideology. Of course, different things disgust different people, but what does your

disgust say about you? In Yuck! Daniel Kelly investigates the character and evolution of disgust, with an emphasis on understanding the role this emotion has come to play in our social and moral lives. Kelly offers a new account of the evolution of disgust, and cautions against invoking disgust in the service of moral justification.

quotaBLe hitCheNS: From aLCohoL to zioNiSmChristopher HitchensDa Capo. PB. $23.95

‘I am, I hope, never offensive by accident.’ So wrote the inimitable Christopher Hitchens in The Nation in 1995. And this is just a little taste of what to expect from this fantastic compendium of quotes from Hitchens. Using

material drawn from his many TV appearances, lectures and writing, most of the material here has never before been collected in book form. From Atheism to Alcoholism, Mother Teresa to George Orwell, Islamofacism to Iraq, Smoking to Sex – Hitchens has never been lost for words.

Humourmy Name iS mooSeMartin UsborneAnova. HB. $24.99

What is it like to be a dog in a recession? This is the story of a dog named Moose and the highs and low of his life as a photographer’s pet in East London. Through the lens of his human, photog-rapher Martin Usborne, we

meet Moose’s friends, as Moose shares with us his thoughts on the modern world and his favourite smells.

BusinessmoNey aNd PoWerWilliam D. CohanAllen Lane. HB. $32.95

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Goldman Sachs was the only Wall Street institution to not only survive relatively unscathed, but to grow and prosper. William D. Cohan, a contributing editor for

Bloomberg Television, managed to gain access to every living former chief executive of Goldman Sachs, as well as its current chairman and CEO. The result is a pen-etrating study of the characters behind this powerful company, and their secretive world.

Food & WineFood From a LoviNG homeLauren BurnsPB. $29.95

This beautiful cookbook from Olympic gold medal-winning Taekwondo champion Lauren Burns is a treat for vegetarians as well as anyone interested in healthy eating. A qualified naturopath, nutritionist and herbalist, Burns presents 100

recipes covering everything from breakfast to dessert, as well as soups, salads and small treats. Also included is a chapter called ‘Home Apothecary’ where Burns provides simple home remedies for common ailments as well as instructions on how to make your own lip balm and moisturiser.

Readings Monthly June 2011 13

Food & WineBy Justine Douglas, manager Readings Port Melbourne

BLood, BoNeS & Butter: the iNadverteNt eduCatioN oF a reLuCtaNt CheF Gabrielle HamiltonChatto & Windus. HB. $35

I am somewhat reluctant to review this memoir because I would rather keep it all to myself. I want to metamor-phose into Gabrielle’s French mother who attends to a legion of simmering Le Creuset pots in a good skirt

and heels and forages for chanterelles in the New Jersey countryside. I want to host a grand party every year with pigeon pies and lambs roasted over wood fires with bottles of champagne chilled in a nearby stream. But this is only the beginning of the story and Gabrielle’s idyllic family table disinte-grates when her parents divorce. Left to fend for herself one summer and having completely run out of shampoo (a dire situation for any self-respecting 12-year old) she wanders into town and gets a job in a kitchen. Apart from the breathtaking realisation that if you pay your own way, you go your own way, Gabrielle Hamilton discovers her vocation. There are many false starts, including a narrow escape from a juvenile diversion program ‘that would turn me irrevocably into the character that I was now only rehearsing to be’. After several half-hearted attempts at college and more than a decade working in catering she opens a restaurant of her own in New York.

Unfortunately, the pressures of running a restaurant and raising two small children in a flawed marriage take their toll on Hamil-ton in the final part of Blood, Bones & But-ter. The romance of annual holidays at her husband’s family estate in Puglia is rather cruelly offset by copious descriptions of his shortcomings. Hamilton’s prose is wonder-ful (there was a fierce bidding war for this book) and worth reading even if you aren’t remotely interested in food and, if you are, it will make you realise that you have only been playing in the sandpit up until now.

Love iN a diSh aNd other PieCeS M.F.K. FisherPenguin. PB. $9.95

This is one of 20 volumes in a new series by Penguin called Great Food. Like the Great Ideas series, they are exquisitely designed and provide an easily digestible introduction to an impres-sive range of food writers,

from Brillat-Savarin to Claudia Roden. You might wonder with the ‘modernist’ revolution that is occurring in food at the moment what relevance these pieces might have, but what is so striking and refreshing about M.F.K. Fisher’s prose is its simplicity and directness. I can think of no better time for simplicity and directness than in the cooking of an egg.

In ‘How Not to Cook an Egg’ I learnt that scrambled eggs should take 30 minutes to cook; that the best way to fry an egg is to turn the heat off as soon as you crack the egg into the pan, and to cover it immedi-ately – this is revolutionary stuff. ‘I was Re-ally Very Hungry’ is a delightful account of a gargantuan lunch in north Burgundy but the essential description is not of the truite au bleu or the Chablis but of the waitress – ‘She’s a funny one.’ While reading ‘Love was the Pearl’ on the tram on my way to my first meeting of the day, I inexplicably found myself heading directly to the market for half a dozen oysters.

Art & DesignBy Margaret Snowdon, art & design buyer, Readings Carlton

PariSiaN ChiCInes de la FressangeFlammarion Flexi. PB. Normally $49.95Our special price $39.95

‘Golden Rule #1: Never follow convention, never be bland, never neglect your-self.’ Former Chanel model Inès de la Fressange shares the well-kept secrets of how Parisian women maintain effortless glamour and a

timeless allure. Offering personal tips for living with style and charm – gleaned from decades in the fashion industry – specific pointers on how to dress like a Parisian, how to mix affordable basics with high-fashion touches, and how to accessorise, this is a charming guide that encourages individuality.

aLexaNder mCqueeN: SavaGe Beauty Andrew Bolton Yale. HB. Normally $64.95Our special price $54.95

Published to coincide with an exhibition at The Met, this book examines the full breadth of the designer’s career, from the start of his fledgling label to the triumphs of his own world-renowned London

house. It features his most iconic and radical designs, revealing how McQueen adapted and combined the fundamentals of Savile Row tailoring, the specialised techniques of haute couture, and technological innovation to achieve his distinctive aesthetic.

the SteamPuNk BiBLe Jeff VanderMeer with S.J. ChambersAbrams. HB. $45

Steampunk – a grafting of Victorian aesthetic and punk rock attitude onto various forms of science-fiction culture – is a phenomenon that has come to influence film, literature, art, music, fashion and more. The first

compendium about the movement, tracing its roots in the works of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells through its most recent expres-sion in movies such as Sherlock Holmes.

ruBy: otherWorLdLiNeSS Irana Douer Die Gestalten. HB. $73.50

Ruby collects current work by 65 talented young artists with one thing in common: whether working in fantastical illustration, hyper-real pho-tography, figurative painting or sculpture, these artists all depict or conjure up surreal

otherworldliness. The examples in this book document current trends at the place where art meets contemporary visual culture.

art & aGeNda Robert Klanten Die Gestalten Verlag. HB. $105

Art & Agenda explores the impact of political activism on contemporary art. Introducing a variety of artists who are advocating political and social reform on a local or a global scale. Some are influenced by the traditions

of Agitprop and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and work with posters, urban interventions or graphic design, while others prefer established art forms such as painting, sculpture or performance.

Great new titles from Hachette

LifeKeith Richards

In a voice that is uniquely and intimately his own, with the disarming honesty that

has always been his trademark, Keith Richards brings us the essential life story

of our times.

RiVeR Of SMOKe Amitav Ghosh

The second in the Ibis trilogy, this sweeping historical saga follows characters both

old and new as they journey through storm-tossed waters to China. All struggle

to cope with their losses - and for some, unimaginable freedoms - in the alleys and crowded waterways of 19th century Canton.

faR tO GO Alison Pick

A profoundly moving novel about one family’s epic journey to flee the Nazi

occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, and through Kindertransport save the life of

their six-year-old boy.

tHe GiRL iN tHe POLKa DOt DReSSBeryl Bainbridge

Set in 1968 America, the latest and last Beryl Bainbridge is a double murder

mystery and a bittersweet masterpiece of the kind with which she has made

her reputation.

Cake dayS: reCiPeS to make every day SPeCiaL Tarek MaloufHarper Collins.HB. $49.99

The Hummingbird Bakery opened on Portobello Road in London seven years ago to satiate a growing appetite for traditional American baked goods including cupcakes, pies and, eventually, whoopies. It would seem that

the whoopie pie is the new cupcake, given the rash of cookbooks recently published on this Amish invention of dense sponge sandwiched together with vanilla marshmallow fluff.

There are many variations on the whoopie pie, from Hummingbird’s inaugural chocolate version right through to pumpkin or pistachio. This latest recipe collection from Hummingbird also contains dozens of recipes for their trademark cupcakes as well as an impressive selection of celebration cakes. I prefer the more homely recipes: the walnut and honey loaf and apple and currant crumble bars but there is something in here for every baker.

veGetariaN Alice HartMurdoch Books. PB. $39.99

I adored Alice’s Cookbook, which was published late last year as part of the New Voices in Food series. To my mind Alice’s recipes represent the best in contemporary British food writing. She cooks seasonally using

healthy ingredients, including wholegrains and pulses, with an eclectic range of influences from classic French to macrobiotic. Alice’s latest offering Vegetarian is every bit as good as her debut. All of the recipes may be vegetarian but this cookbook deserves to have a broader appeal like Yotam Ottolenghi’s vegetarian cookbook Plenty.

The opening chapter focuses on the first meal of the day and each of the recipes could be used everyday. The almond milk and maple porridge would be perfect for this time of year and there are instructions for making your own nut milk. Some of the salad recipes are wonderful, like the winter salad made with faro, roasted carrots, walnuts, prunes and chevre.

orieNt exPreSS Silvena Rowe. Hutchinson. HB. $49.95

Silvena Rowe’s previous cookbooks Feasts and Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume are both glorious incantations on the cuisines of the Eastern Mediterranean. She was brought up in Plovdiv on a diet of One Thousand and

One Nights and Ottoman delicacies. Although Rowe is now based in London as chef-patron of Quince, the inspiration for Orient Express came from the street foods of Istanbul, Ankara and Gaziantep, Beirut, Damascus and Aleppo.

Each chapter is based on a coalescence of flavours: Emerald Spice & Gold Dust is a celebration of za’atar and saffron and Sweet Eucalyptus & Liquid Gold explores cardamom and honey. This structure enables one to combine a selection of diversely spiced dishes into an impressive banquet. One could start with pumpkin skordalia and dukkah then move on to cardamom duck with orange and sumac-infused sauce served with a lentil, orzo and pinenut pilaf. Alternatively you could also serve a selection of one or two dishes with drinks. Either way Rowe’s recipes are brilliant for entertaining family and friends.

14 Readings Monthly June 2011

Book oF the moNthLiGhtS, Camera, aCtioN hero! Star LeaGue Book oNe H.J. Harper Random. PB. $9.95 each

This is the first book in a series lots of boys are going to love. Though that’s being a bit sexist really. Better to say a lot of young readers who prefer a slimmish novel, well illustrated, action packed and whose main

characters are contemporary superhero types will love this series. What eight to ten-year-old does not dream of being a Jay Casey type, leader of a group of kids, a movie and TV superstar, idolised by the media and one whose presence in an advertisement ensures the product’s success? Enter Professor Pestilence who is deter-mined to use Jay to sell his wicked ideas. In the battle against him, Jay is joined by five brave and amazing kids: three boys (a werewolf, a zombie and a robot) and two girls (a ninja and an animancer). It is all the stuff of popular culture, computer games, anime and movies, but unlike much of the usual spin-off merchandise this has a strong narrative and deliciously unexpected plot. One of the strengths of the writing is its thrilling high-powered action, which is always going off in an unexpected direc-tion. Such fun. Zac Power readers, here’s a great new series to try. The other titles are Curse of the Werewolf (Book Two), Raising the Dead (Book Three) and The Ninja Code (Book Four).Kathy Kozlowski is from Readings Carlton

PiCture BookSSPot it aGaiN Delphine ChedruAbrams Books. HB. $24.95

Can you find the caterpillar? Tricky…hmm…yes! Lift a flap, search through clover, peer at an icicle, there are discoveries to be made. Spot It Again, like its entertaining predecessor Spot It is a stylistic delight and a fun

activity picture book to share with your child. I love the patterns, colours, vibrancy and presentation of these books and guess what, I found the penguin! For readers aged three and up. Alexa Dretzke is from Readings Hawthorn

PiP aNd PoSy: the LittLe PuddLe &PiP aNd PoSy: the SuPer SCooter Axel Scheffler Nosy Crow. HB. $19.99 each

In these satisfyingly robust, colourful books Axel Scheffler, of Gruffalo fame, has created the wholly desirable preschool world of Pip and Posy. One hopes there are

more to come! Pip and Posy are best friends who enjoy playdates full of exciting games at each other’s houses or busy times in the park and playground. When Pip is so busy playing he forgets to use the potty, Posy is comforting and practical. She mops ups and lends him some dry clothes. And when Posy takes Pip’s scooter and has a bad fall, it is Pip who comforts with a plaster and a hug. These simple stories are simultaneously cosy and reassuring while celebrating the growing independence of the young. Perfect for one to three year olds. KK

Brother SuN, SiSter mooNKatherine Paterson & Pamela DaltonHardie Grant. HB. $22.95

Award-winning author Katherine Paterson, of Bridge to Terabitha fame, reimagines the beautiful 'Canticle of the Sun,' the poem originally written by St Francis of Assisi in 1224. The stunning paper cut-out

artwork by Pamela Dalton perfectly matches the tone of the poem, a balance of almost stark simplicity with a richly coloured celebration of the diversity of the natural world. A really special book that will appeal to all ages. KK

me … JaNe? Patrick McDonaldHachette. HB. $28.99

The inspirational Jane Goodall turned a love of nature into a lifetime’s work with chimpanzees in Tanzania. From hiding in the chicken coop so she could

understand the miracle of an egg to leading a club called ‘The Alligator Society’, her drawings, puzzles and observations of the natural world showed her passion from an early age. Me … Jane’s charm is in its simplicity and sweet portrayal of Jane’s life and her respect for the environment and the animals. As she says in her afterword, ‘Each one of us can make a difference, the life of each one of us matters in the scheme of things’. A delightful introduction to the life of an amazing woman. For readers aged three and up. AD

PLayGrouNdNadia Wheatley A&U. HB. $39.99

The Australian outback was the indigenous kids’ playground. They listened and learned about country, they lived in a big home without walls and

they had the most amazing extended family for warmth, protection and nurture; that’s if they weren’t removed from their families to the world of white detention! Playground contains truly wonderful stories of growing up in Australia that opens your heart and mind to the joys of being Aboriginal. The photos and artwork highlight their connection with the land and their tradi-tions, which embrace community and ceremony. For readers aged six and up. AD

JuNior & middLe FiCtioNBiLLie B. BroWN aNd the LittLe LieSally Rippin Hardie Grant. PB. $7.95

Another great tale in Sally Rippin’s popular series of junior fiction books about the feisty tomboy Billie B. Brown. This time Billie has broken her arm! It’s going to be the best story ever for Show and Tell. Especially

if she adds a crocodile ... Billie B. Brown and the Little Lie will make a refreshing change for girls (and parents) tired of stories about princesses and fairies.

youNG aduLtSiLvermayJames MoloneyHarper. PB. $24.99

Sixteen-year-old Silvermay Hawker is drawn to the newcomer in her village, the good-looking Tamlyn. But he is committed to Nerigold and her baby, Lucien. Tamlyn learns that Coyle Strongbow and his men are

searching for Nerigold and her child and prepares to flee. Silvermay reluctantly agrees to accompany them to help care for mother and son. On this journey, she discovers why she is drawn to Tamlyn and what Lucien shall become if Strongbow succeeds. Silvermay is the first book in a new fantasy adventure series by Australian author James Moloney. It is a thrilling read that outlines the importance of friendship and the fight between good and evil. Daniela Perinac is from Readings Malvern

red GLove Holly Black Orion. PB. $22.99

Red Glove finds 17-year-old Cassel Sharpe on the floor of a hotel room in Atlantic City in the middle of a con run by his mother. This funhouse mirror of contemporary America, in which mobsters are all curse workers, is the

world of Holly Black’s urban fantasy/noir-ish thriller trilogy, which began with White Cat (Orion, PB, $16.99) and continues with Red Glove. If you haven’t read White Cat do so, then come back for Red Glove because the stakes are climbing for Cassel, born into a family of curse workers but trying to go straight. Once you delve into Cassel’s morally ambiguous world you won’t be able to leave it. A wonderfully dark, twisty, subtle coming-of-age story.Marie Matteson is from Readings Port Melbourne

the midNiGht PaLaCeCarlos Ruiz Zafon Text. PB. $22.95

The latest novel by the author of the international bestseller The Shadow of the Wind is pitched at a young adult audience, but will also be enjoyed by adults. Set in the streets of Calcutta, it is a fast-paced tale of tragic

family secrets and the supernatural. The protagonists are a tightly bonded group of 16-year-olds who meet regularly at an abandoned house they call the Midnight Palace. By the time Ben discovers he is actually a twin who was separated at birth, the group have only a few days to uncover his past before it chases him down.Angela Crocombe is from Readings St Kilda

ForGotteNCat PatrickHardie Grant. PB. $22.95

London has an unusual condition where she can’t remember the past but can see events from the future. She knows she and her best friend Jamie will make up from their current argument because she can see them

hanging out together for years to come. She knows that someone in her family will die because she can see the funeral. When she meets new boy Luke she can’t quite figure it out. There is definitely a mutual attraction, but he doesn’t seem to exist in her future. As she falls in love anew with Luke each day, London begins to uncover a great deal more about her past and present. An engaging read for girls aged 13 and up. Angela Crocombe is from Readings St Kilda

Beauty queeNSLibba Bray A&U. PB. $22.99

What do you get when you cross America’s Next Top Model with Lost? A hilarious novel by the queen of teen satire, Libba Bray. Teen beauty queens. A lost island. Mysteries and dangers. No access to email. And the

spirit of fierce, feral competition that lives deep in the heart of every girl, a savage brutality that can only be revealed by a journey into the heart of non-exfoliated darkness. A wicked satire of beauty pag-eants, reality TV and teen pop culture.

NoveLtyLeGo harry Potter viSuaL diCtioNary Penguin. HB. $39.95

Harry Potter has spawned an empire of merchandise, from games to lollies to the flying ‘Harrycopter’ helicopter. But the best has to be Harry Potter LEGO, and what better way to keep track of all your sets than with the

LEGO Harry Potter Visual Dictionary? The large photographic spreads provide lots of fun facts about the LEGO process and details of the various generations of Harry Potter LEGO (did you know that the pumpkins outside the model of Hagrid’s Shack are actually orange, mini figure heads?). This encyclopedia is perfect for collectors, or those who just want a really big wishlist, and it comes with its own exclusive mystery mini figure! Holly Harper is from Readings Malvern

eNCyCLoPedia oF my immaturityKlutz Scholastic. PB. $19.95

All you ever hear these days is that kids grow up too fast. Well, the Klutz Encyclopedia of My Immaturity is working hard to combat this problem. Ever get sick of the question ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’

Just take their easy quiz to find out which path best matches your interests. For instance, if you like dangerous explosions, you will probably become a dentist. And if you’re trying to get back in the good books, there are pre-written diary pages about how your parents are always right – that ought to fool 'em. It even comes with its own pen so you don’t have to borrow one that has been up somebody’s nose! HH

a moNth For SequeLSJune is proving to be a good month for sequels, with new additions to great series like Sally Rippin’s Billie B. Brown and Red Glove, the second in Holly Black’s Curse Workers series. One book that a lot of fans have

been waiting for is Passion by Lauren Kate (Random House, PB, $24.95) the third book in her Fallen series. So far we’ve only seen a glimpse of it, but it promises to be every bit as fantastic as Fallen and Torment, with an equally beautiful cover to match.Speaking of covers, Cherub 12: Shadow Wave by Robert Muchamore (Hachette, PB, $17.99) is new into paperback this month, so the wait is over for any fans who passed it up in hardcover. Now’s the time to get out your diaries too, because Robert Mucham-ore will be having a live online interview in August to celebrate the release of Cherub 13: People’s Republic. Hurry and book your place at www.meetview.com/cherub20110804. 

Kids’ Books

aNCieNt WorLdS: the SearCh For the oriGiNS oF humaN CiviLizatioNRichard MilesAllen Lane. HB. Was $59.95. Now $19.95

Awe-inspiring ruins are scattered across the Middle East, the Mediterranean and the Nile Delta. This beauti-fully illustrated book is a pleasure to read and chal-lenges us to think about our past and the present.

GLoBiSh: hoW the eNGLiSh LaNGuaGe BeCame the WorLd’S LaNGuaGeRobert McCrum Viking. PB. Was $32.95. Now $12.95

McCrum believes that the English language is becoming the world’s lingua franca and asks why this is so. He argues that English is becoming globalised because of its unique flexibility and inventiveness.

the GoLdeN aGe: the SPaNiSh emPire oF CharLeS vHugh ThomasAllen Lane. HB. Was $59.95. Now $19.95

The magisterial and enig-matic Charles V, Emperor of Europe and the New World, is the central figure in the second volume of Hugh Thomas’s great history of the Spanish Empire.

iLLuStrated SuPerFreakoNomiCSSteven D. Levitt & Stephen J. DubnerAllen Lane. PB. Was $39.95. Now $10.95

The New York Times bestsell-ing Freakonomics was a worldwide sensation. Now, Levitt and Dubner return with SuperFreakonomics. Fans and newcomers will find it even funnier, and more surprising than the first.

iN SearCh oF CiviLizatioN: remakiNG a tarNiShed ideaJohn ArmstrongPenguin. PB. Was $35. Now $10.95

To Armstrong civilisation is many things: the culture and mores that give people their identity; a material prosperity that underwrites the ‘spiritual prosperity’ of creativity put to noble ends; a heroic mission of taming barbarism; ‘a carrier

of meaning’ that gives purpose to our lives.

the maN From BeiJiNG Henning Mankell Harvill. PB. Was $35. Now $15.95

From the author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries comes an electrifying thriller. In the Swedish hamlet of Hesjoval-len, 19 people have been massacred – the only clue is a red ribbon found at the scene.

you are Not a GadGetJaron LanierAllen Lane. PB. Was $32.95. Now $12.95

Computer scientist and internet guru Lanier’s fascinating, provocative exploration of the Internet’s problems and potential is a must-read for critics and advocates of online-based technology and culture.

zero hiStoryWilliam GibsonViking. PB. Was $32.95. Now $12.95

Hollis Henry has reluctantly agreed to work for Belgian finance genius Hubertus Bigend, only to find herself entangled in a mesh of postmodern marketing, corrupt military contractors, and belated romance.

BeNediCtuS: a Book oF BLeSSiNGSJohn O’DonohueBantam. HB. Was $39.95. Now $16.95

Today we have no rituals to protect, encourage and guide us as we cross over into the unknown. This book reaches into the tenuous territory of change, offering blessings to shelter and comfort us on our journey through life.

the adveNture oF eNGLiShMelvin BraggArcade. HB. Was $36.95. Now $14.95

This is the story of the English language, from its beginnings as a regional dialect to a language spoken by more than two billion people. A magnificent adventure, full of jealousy, intrigue and war against invaders.

thameS: the BioGraPhyPeter Ackroyd Nan Talese. HB. Was $52. Now $17.95

Ackroyd explores connections between the Thames and historical figures and offers portraits of the men and women who depended on the river for their livelihoods. Illustrated with maps and photographs.

the atLaNtiC aNd itS eNemieSNorman StoneBasic. HB. Was $49.95. Now $16.95

Stone builds on his expertise in this very successful overview of the Cold War whose end, he says, was a complete surprise. Marxism-Leninism in the West was more of a vital belief system than in the East.

LoSt iN a Good BookJasper FfordeViking. PB. Was $32. Now $13.95

In this follow-up to The Eyre Affair, Thursday Next must retrieve a supposedly van-quished enemy from the pages of Poe’s The Raven in order to rescue her love.

the GoLdiLoCkS eNiGma: Why iS the uNiverSe JuSt riGht For LiFe? Paul DaviesHarcourt. PB. Was $21.95. Now $9.95

In the successor to his provocative bestseller The Mind of God, cosmologist Davies tackles another big question: why does the universe seem so well suited for life?

LaNGeNSCheidt StaNdard FreNCh diCtioNaryKenneth UrwinLangenscheidt. PB. Was $27.95. Now $12.95

New Standard Dictionary French–English English–French. More than 80,000 references. Wide range of vocabulary with a wealth of idiomatic expressions. Full pronunciation of French Entries. Grammatical

information on French nouns and verbs. Specialist terms from many different fields.

ShadeS oF GreyJasper FfordeViking. HB. Was $35.00. Now $13.95

Welcome to Chromatacia, where for as long as anyone can remember society has been ruled by a Colortocracy where social hierarchy is based upon one’s limited colour perception. In this world, you are what you can

see, and Eddie Russett, a better-than-average red perception, wants to move up.

the tiN drumGunther Grass (Breon Mitchell trans.)Houghton. HB. Was $39.95. Now $15.95

The Tin Drum is the story of Oskar Matzerath, who has lived through the Nazi nightmare and is being held in a mental institution. He provides a profound yet hilarious perspective on history and the

human condition.

aNimaLS make uS humaN Temple GrandinHarcourt. HB. Was $35. Now $16.95

Grandin is famed for her decades-long commitment to treating livestock as humane-ly as possible on its way to slaughter. Working from the premise that an animal is a conscious being that has feelings, Grandin assesses

animals based on a core emotion system.

the PeNGuiN Book oF mythS aNd LeGeNdS oF aNCieNt eGyPtJoyce TyldesleyAllen Lane. HB. Was $55. Now $16.95

Egyptologist Joyce Tyldesley guides us through 3000 years of changing stories gathered from pyramid friezes, archaeological finds and current documents, showing us what they mean.

Bargains on the web: New books are regularly added to our website. Click on the Bargains tab at www.readings.com.au.

Readings Bargain TableReadings Monthly June 2011 15

Need a new tote bag?Readings has a new range of superior quality SEW bags, handmade in Tanzania from recycled materials, each one unique! Only $39.95 ea.

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Enter the ABR

ELIZABETH JOLLEY SHORT

STORY PRIZE1st place: $5000

Due date: 30 June 2011

australianbookreview.com.au

16 Readings Monthly June 2011

dvd oF the moNthWiNter’S BoNe $34.95

In the unforgiving Ozark mountains, 17-year-old Ree must track down her missing father so that their house is not repossessed. Amphet-amines are the local industry, and Ree’s father is entrenched in the scene. Her search leads

her on a disturbing journey through America’s underbelly, where everyone she encounters is some form of family, and violence is the ultimate outcome of any push against the grain. Ree’s task is impossible, but she has a younger brother and a catatonic mother to care for, and her drive to protect pushes her to extraordinary lengths. Winter’s Bone is brilliant and harrowing, and the performances are outstanding.Robbie Egan is manager of Readings Carlton

aNother year $39.95

Mike Leigh’s latest comedy drama should really come with a warning, ‘Avoid if unhappily single’, as there is no denying the future looks grim for the lead character Mary (Lesley Manville). Mary is a lonely 50-something who

overindulges in white wine while bemoaning her lack of a love life. She is one of the needy hangers-on, clinging to the life of happily-married couple Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Jerri (Ruth Sheen), who seem to have life sorted with their sensible 30-year-old son, beautiful rambling North London home, and abundant allotment. The film follows these characters through the seasons of one year. While on paper this sounds unremarkable, the film is completely captivating. It left me wanting to know what happens in the following years, in much the same way many a novel does. Mike Leigh’s method of allowing each actor to build up back-stories brings forth acutely observed humanity, which with such a superb acting ensemble makes the film. Touching, brave and funny.Scott Noble is manager of Readings St Kilda

metroPoLiS reCoN-StruCted & reStoredReleased 15 June. $34.95. Blu-ray $39.95

The world’s first science fiction blockbuster, Metropo-lis bankrupted its studio when audiences stayed away from its dystopian vision of a future where the leisurely rich repress the working poor. Recut again and again,

Fritz Lang’s original director’s cut was long believed lost until its discovery in Buenos Aires in 2008. Now with an additional 25 minutes and a new 2010 soundtrack recording in 5.1.

FortuNeS oF War$34.95

A British professor arrives in Romania with his new bride and becomes enmeshed in the politics of anti-fascism. It is not long before the British Secret Service enlists him in a number of danger-ous assignments that will

truly test his resolve. Available for the first time in Australia.

the BraiN that ChaNGeS itSeLF$29.95

For the past 400 years we have thought of the human brain as a machine: a hard-wired instrument incapable of fundamental change. You’re stuck with what you’re born with. Well, we’ve been wrong. The brain

can change its own structure and function through thought and activity. From his very popular book, Dr Norman Doidge intro-duces us to the brilliant scientists champi-oning this frontier science and the astonish-ing progress of people whose lives have been transformed because of it. Special Feature Changing Your Mind – the sequel to The Brain That Changes Itself – exclusive to this DVD.

new release dvdshoWL$34.95

Hollywood it-guy James Franco delivers a knockout performance as beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg – poet and counter-culture icon – recounts the road trips, love affairs and search for fulfillment that led to his

trademark, X-rated poem Howl. Prosecuted for its obscenity in a 1957 trial, Howl is at once a portrait of the poet, a snapshot of the Beat Generation and a wildly psyche-delic journey into Ginsberg’s mind.

PaPer GiaNtS$29.95

In early 1972 Ita Buttrose and Kerry Packer got together to create a maga-zine that became one of the most dramatic sensations in Australian publishing history. The result was a publication that led the way

in articulating for women a new way of thinking about themselves and their place in Australia’s culture. Filled with intelli-gence, wit and a go-for-it attitude, the fledgling Cleo took off on its first issue taking Kerry, Ita and a hand-picked bunch of iconoclastic staff along for the ride.

BLaCk SWaN$39.95. Blu-ray $44.95

A twitchy and anxious Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) lands the lead role in the New York Ballet’s produc-tion of Swan Lake, throwing her unstable mind into a world of mirrors, sex and fear. This is a sharp flick

with catfights and grit. Hallucinations abound, Mila Kunis as the Black Swan is dangerously alluring, and Vincent Cassell as the pugnacious ballet director who drives his art with a thrust of his hips is brilliant. A dark psychological tale that won’t lose its grip. Terrific!Luke May is from Readings St Kilda

aNNa kareNiNa$14.95

Tolstoy’s definitive nine-teenth century romantic tragedy comes to life onscreen with deft direction by Julien Duvivier and a haunting performance by Vivien Leigh in the title role. Beautiful Anna

Karenina is comfortably married to a distinguished Czarist statesman, until she meets a dashing young soldier and noble-man. When she runs off with the officer she is ostracised by society, denied a divorce by her husband and forbidden to see her son.

haNdFuL oF duSt$24.95

One of the great English novels of the twentieth century now turned into a great English film. Brenda Last has everything that other women would envy: a loving aristocratic husband, an adorable son, and a huge

stately home in the country. But for a bit of fun, she starts an affair with a social-climb-ing young scrounger from London. It is the beginning of an inexorable slide into disaster.

muSiC doCumeNtarymuruNdak – SoNGS oF Freedom Released 15 June. $29.95

This moving documentary takes us inside the first touring production of the Black Arm Band featuring an impressive cast of indigenous musicians as they tour cities and remote communities. Live perfor-

mances are spliced with archival footage of the Aboriginal protest and self-determina-tion movement as well as performances by seminal band No Fixed Address. The band’s anthemic We Have Survived became a touchstone for many who realised they were not alone and could tell their stories through song and music. Bart Willoughby, Joe Geia, Archie Roach, Ruby Hunter, Steven Pigram, Lou Bennett, Emma Donovan, Mark Atkins and Dan Sultan are amongst the performers and storytellers. Essential viewing.Paul Barr is from Readings Carlton

Readings Monthly June 2011 17

New Release CDsCD of the MonthBoN iver Bon Iver Released June 17. Normally $24.95Our special price $19.95. Vinyl also available.

Bon Iver’s long-awaited second album is finally upon us. The self-titled result is a more complex recording and band-orien-tated album than the

debut For Emma Forever Ago. Each of the ten tracks holds an inspiration to the band from places around the world. The beauti-ful opening track Perth is named after the place where the album started. The album is a progression from Vernon’s earlier ‘locked up in a cabin’ work to a vast open landscape of sounds: silky electric guitars, intricate keys, subtle horn, string sections and ghostly choirs. Vernon’s vocals remain as haunting as ever, mixing between his filtered vocoder and warm falsetto. A must have for old and new fans alike!Nathan Fitzpatrick is a friend of Readings

Pop/RockSmokiNG iN heaveNKitty, Daisy and Lewis$24.95

This wonderful sibling trio of rock’n’roll return, with an absolute jewel to add to the crown that was their first album. That self-titled debut was pure pleasure

and never failed to grab peoples’ attention (plus feet tapping) when played in-store. They return with a touch of jazz, ska and r ‘n’ b with loads of twangy rhythm and swaying vocals. Once again it’s an analogue recording with ribbon microphones produced in their home studio. No computers, no intrusive over-production, just pure and simple joy.Alice Bisits is from Readings Malvern

rumBLe, Shake & tumBLeWagons$22.95

The wild and wonderful Wagons roll on. These local purveyors of outlaw country rock are somewhat of a live institution these days and anyone who has

seen them live will testify that their reputa-tion as supreme entertainers is well deserved. Much of this can be attributed to the charisma and laconic humor of frontman Henry Wagons whose darkly witty lyrics and onstage banter have become the stuff of legend. Album number five sees the band plough new sonic territory while never sacrificing the elements that have endeared them to so many. Producer Cornel Wilczek has added new layers to their sound, most evident on closing track Marylou, which is awash with instrumentation and effects. Giddy up!Declan Murphy is from Readings St Kilda

deStroyedMobyNormally $26.95Our special price $21.95

Moby has not yet relin-quished his talent for building up his mostly instrumental songs from small sounds into glorious

set-pieces, sending you to strobe-filled clubs with Sevastopol’s brightly insistent melody, or to an evening cityscape in the moodier Victoria Lucas. When he does sing, his deep, simmering voice counteracts the brighter aspects of the tunes. The darker edges around Destroyed will probably prevent this album from making it into poppier radio stations’ Top 40 lists, but Moby’s zappy, glittering synth-heavy electronica, while almost relentlessly intense, can be incredibly cathartic.Fiona Hardy is from Readings Carlton

Give tiLL it’S GoNeBen HarperNormally $24.95 Our special price $14.95

This, Ben Harper’s first solo album since 2006, is inspired by events over the last year and a half of his life. He regards it as a timeline for that period.

The album’s message is one of finding meaning and a place in the world, of never giving up and always moving forward. His trademark Weissenborn guitar is not front and centre but his evocative vocals fill every song with emotion and power. Jackson Browne and Ringo Starr appear on the album and Starr actually co-wrote two of the tracks. The first single, Rock’n’Roll Is Free was written after opening for Neil Young’s London concert last year and pays tribute to Young’s Rockin’ In The Free World, looking at the world in new ways and using music to challenge the status quo. Ben Harper has always been a conscientious and mindful mu-sician and this release shows that his message is still one of hope for the world we live in.Lou Fulco is a friend of Readings

hot SauCe Committee Part iiBeastie BoysNormally $26.95 Our special price $21.95

Originally intended for release in 2009 but postponed and retitled Part II due to MCA’s successful battle with cancer, Hot Sauce represents in many

ways a summation of everything the Beasties are about, and that ain’t a bad thing. It’s a trip back to their distinctive early sound, the heavy low end, the combination of live instrumentation with liberal use of samples and of course, lyrics about macaroni and cheese! With guests such as Nas and Santigold along for the ride, Hot Sauce is not their most essential record but it’s certainly a lot of fun and, for a groundbreaking band that so brilliantly captured so many elements of popular culture and are now entering their middle age, it’s as fitting a statement as any. DM

iN your dreamSStevie NicksNormally $27.95Our special price $21.95

From Fleetwood Mac in the 70s, to a very successful solo career in the 80s and 90s, Stevie has ended a ten-year hiatus with a very enjoy-able album. Her voice

is still so youthful and her songwriting still produces the goods, with a very romantic overtone. She has co-written most tracks with Dave Stewart, which works well, and the production has added a high-gloss quality to the whole project. Stevie fans will be very satisfied. Alice Bisits is from Readings Malvern

rake: ComPLete FirSt SerieS $49.95

Fine Australian series starring Richard Roxburgh as Cleaver Greene, a Sydney barrister well and truly capable of ‘lowering the bar’. Friend to drug dealers and sex workers; Unreliable; Disorganised; Absent father;

Sleeps with his best friend’s wife … there’s a lot to dislike. Roxburgh’s great skill is turning Greene into a lovable rogue. Supported by a terrific cast and a host of guest stars including Rachel Griffiths and Sam Neill.

SPookS: SeaSoN NiNe$59.95

The ninth series of the critically acclaimed Spooks, is filled with dramatic rev-elations and a host of new characters – Sophia Myles (Underworld, Doctor Who), Max Brown (Mistresses, The Tudors), Iain Glen (The Blue

Room, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider), Simon Russell Beale (Much Ado About Nothing, Uncle Vanya) and Laila Rouass (Primeval, Footballers’ Wives). The depth of deceit will lead to an unprecedented game of cat and mouse that will have viewers enthralled.

true BLood: SeaSoN 3$59.95

The Maenadian reign of terror may be over, but Sookie Stackhouse and the townspeople of Bon Temps face a new calamity that makes the bacchanalian evils of Maryanne Forrester seem tame by comparison. In

WHITESSEASON ONE

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THE BAFTA AWARD-WINNING SPY DRAMA IS BACK

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WHITES © BBC 2010. BBC and the BBC Logo are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under license. BBC Logo © BBC 1996. SPOOKS © 2010 Kudos Film & Television Limited. All Rights Reserved. Artwork © 2011 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Season 3, Sookie desperately tries to locate her fiancé, ending up in a netherworld of human and undead interlopers, among them the powerful Vampire King of Mississippi, Russell Edgington.

toPP tWiNS: ComPLete SerieS$34.95

New Zealand’s darlings of musical comedy and champions of camp, The Topp Twins, are a dynamic duo gifted with the ability to create comedy and song from awkward and spontaneous situations. With over 25

years of experience in making people laugh, their unique skills have been honed for this award-winning comedy TV series. Included is a ridiculously inspired collection of skits presented in three volumes of side-splitting jocularity, featuring popular characters Ken & Ken, The Camps, The Bowling Ladies, Prue & Dilly and the rest of the gang in a series of hi-jinks, slapstick, original songs, ‘Kiwi kultcha’ and sensationally observed humour.

true GritReleased 9 June. $39.95

In turn of the century Texas, after her father is killed by an outlaw, 14-year-old Mat-tie (Hailee Steinfeld) enlists the help of rackety old State Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and Texas Marshal La Boeuf (Matt

Damon). From the pitch-perfect opening scene, as Mattie narrates the tale of her father’s murder while we watch snow fall on his dead body, the Coen brothers have made this a Western done with extra style. One of the best releases so far this year.

18 Readings Monthly June 2011

tex PerkiNS & the dark horSeSTex PerkinsNormally $24.95Our special price $21.95

Tex Perkins’ voice has long made me a bit weak in the knees, so to be honest, he could just record himself reading Turkmenistan’s copyright laws and I’d still

pay for it. Here, he’s joined by Charlie Owen, Joel Silbersher, Steve Hadley and Gus Agars and has produced another album full of fond sentimentality and dark yet upbeat beauty, in a familiar blues/folk/country style. A wonder-ful album, and able to lift the sourest mood.Fiona Hardy is from Readings Carlton

mad BaStardS SouNdtraCk $29.95

Brendan Fletcher’s new film Mad Bastards, set in the Kimberley region, is creating a lot of interest at the moment and the soundtrack is a beauty.

Fletcher has an impressive body of work behind him, with involvement in musical documentary work with the Pigram Brothers, Mark Atkins and the Kev Car-mody project Cannot Buy My Soul. Certainly the earthy folk and country rock sounds of the Pigram Brothers are the perfect cinemat-ic accompaniment to the wide open spaces of the far north-west. Mad Bastards features songs from their back catalogue, collabora-tions with Alex Lloyd, atmospheric instru-mentals and powerful acoustic tunes from Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson. This rootsy soundtrack flows beautifully and succeeds totally as a standalone work.Paul Barr is from Readings Carlton

Seeker Lover keePerSeeker Lover KeeperNormally $26.95Our special price $21.95

Individually, they’re three of Australia’s most innova-tive songwriters. Sally Seltmann specialises in narcotic, dreamy, sweeping pop, aided by layers of

cotton-soft vocals, pianos and synths. Holly Throsby is known for summoning melodies that sound beautifully crumpled, worn and decades-old, and matching them with cutting lyrics that read like a Carver short story. Sarah Blasko writes haunting songs that veer from intimate ballads to orchestral showstoppers, and sings with one of the most recognisable voices in Australian music. Put the three good friends together and you’ve got a new band: Seeker Lover Keeper. Their beautiful self-titled debut album is reminiscent of all three artists, but with an exciting new dimension.

JazzSiGN oF LiFeBill Frisell$23.95

This is the second effort by Bill Frisell’s unique string quartet, which comprises his guitar with Jenny Scheinman’s violin, Eyvind Kang’s viola and Hank

Roberts’ cello. It’s a treat to hear Frisell compose for strings without a rhythm

section. This is joyous music from the opening tune: It’s a Long Story Part 1 sounds like People get Ready via Aaron Copland. The pieces vary from jazz minimalism like the hypnotic Wonderland with its rising strings against a cascading guitar arpeggio, to pieces with the same jaunty swagger that informed Frisell’s defining recordings, like Gone, Just Like a Train and Have a Little Faith. Richard Mohr is a friend of Readings

a momeNtS PeaCeJohn Scofield$26.95

A bona fide guitar hero and masterful improviser, John Scofield has covered a wide spectrum of musical styles with rare authority over the last four decades

of his celebrated career. From funk and fusion to swinging jazz standards, rock fuelled jams, lush orchestral collaborations, earthy blues and old-time gospel music, Scofield has imbued each style with his distinctive six-string voice, earning acco-lades for his triumphs along the way. In A Moments Peace, Scofield luxuriates in ballads associated with legendary interpret-ers of song such as Billie Holiday, Abbey Lincoln, Nina Simone and John Coltrane.

JoShua redmaNJames Farm$27.95

James Farm is really a band, comprising Red-man, rising piano star Aaron Parks, bassist Matt Penman and the phenom-enal drummer Eric

Harland. It’s great to see Redman reject the jazz celebrity thrust upon him in the 90s, collaborating equally with younger players who push him: everyone here composes, and the feel is free, fun and irresistibly funky in between meditative moments of real beauty. Example: Redman’s own Polliwog features an uncanny piano vamp, awesome organic blowing from Joshua, and the madcap polyrhythmic showmanship of Harland unleashed. This is, hopefully, the beginning of a band with many albums to come. RM

Live at BirdLaNdLee Konitz, Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden, Paul MotianNormally $34.95Our special price $24.95

Document of a 2009 residency at the fabled New York club where three elder statesmen teamed up with the young(ish – how time flies!) Brad Mehldau,

the heir apparent to Keith Jarrett’s ‘lyrical piano’ throne. Lee Konitz is often elusive, only hinting at the melodies of tunes he’s played for sixty years while Mehldau shadows him eerily and Paul Motian keeps the pulse magically elastic. Like much of Konitz’s work, this album can take work on the listener’s part but, on each play, more of the hidden melodic motifs emerge. Konitz, Bird’s most idiosyncratic (and last surviv-ing?) acolyte plays the Melbourne Jazz Festival soon. Don’t miss him. RM

the head aNd the heartThe Head and the HeartNormally $24.95Our special price $14.95

Formed in Seattle in 2009, The Head and the Heart are an indie folk band who initially self-released this debut album and, based on word-of-mouth alone,

managed to sell 10,000 copies after a tour of the Pacific Northwest. After supporting Vampire Weekend and Dave Matthews, the band were snapped up by Sup Pop who have re-released this remastered edition of the album with an additional track. For those who enjoy the tunes of Mumford & Sons and The Avett Brothers, this is definitely worth adding to the collection.Miranda La Fleur is from Readings St Kilda

roCk & roLL SuBmariNe Urge Overkill$24.95

It’s been a while between drinks – 16 years to be precise – for this Chicago outfit that produced one of the seminal rock records of the 90s, the near perfect

Saturation, an album that should have made them huge. It’s very much back to basics then for Urge Overkill who have delivered a sparkling return to form with Rock & Roll Submarine. Crunchy hooks and swagger aplenty is what this band was always about, and they’ve lost none of their ability in their absence. Opener Mason / Dixie and first single Effigy are both classic, proving them a band still determined to get their kicks in a world full of rock bands who don’t rock.Declan Murphy is from Readings St Kilda

i am very FarOkkervil River$24.95

Having produced a body of work that could largely be described as concept albums, I Am Very Far repre-sents this Austin band’s first collection of truly stand-

alone songs. While frontman Will Sheff’s world-weary themes are still in place, so too are the highly literate lyrics, which make him one of rock music’s most ambitious figures. Thunderous opener The Valley sets the tone for a dense wall-of-sound feel, with heavy use of layering and doubling of instruments. It’s a technique that borders on being impenetrable at times but is continuously countered with killer songs to devastating effect.

keeP CaLm, Carry the moNkeySkipping Girl Vinegar$29.95

Keep Calm, Carry The Monkey is the second offering from these up-and-coming indie darlings. A beautifully diverse album, rich with

sonic landscapes, melodies and lyrical turns, every listen unravels the long-player layers. If you take the time to explore the cover art you will see that SGV have a scrupulous creative eye for detail and an understanding of human connection, the artwork is like a whisper that draws you close to see and hear layers of hidden detail. SGV will be performing at our Carlton shop at 6pm on Friday June 17.

World/FolkBehoLd the SPiritWilliam Tyler$29.95

This fingerpicked acoustic guitar album is a thing of beauty and has become one of my favourites. William Tyler recalls the feel of classic 70s guitar music like

John Fahey (without the darkness) and Leo Kottke (without the speed). Tyler has added extremely subtle touches of pedal steel and brass with sound effects and snippets of dialogue just beneath his memorable compositions, to remind us his picking hand is firmly in the present and not a slave to nostalgia. PB

hiGhLaNder’S FareWeLL Alisdair Fraser & Natalie Haas$24.95

Not another album of jigs and reels you say? Well, have a listen to the barnstorming seven-and-a-half-minute opener Highlander’s Lament. This

piece opens with a strathspey, moves into an Irish reel, a Scottish jig and finally an Appalachian breakdown, all the while gathering momentum with Martin Hayes (fiddle), Dennis Cahill (guitar) and fiddler Bruce Molsy (fiddle) picking up the pace. Haas does amazing work, providing melodic and rhythmic counterpoint (normally the preserve of guitar and bouzouki players), and is the perfect foil for fiddle master Fraser. PB

Stem the tide Paul McKenna Band $24.95

This second album from these Scottish lads builds on their promising debut a couple of years back. The band recalls the sound of the legendary Tannahill

Weavers with strong rhythm guitar, bouzouki, flute, fiddle and bodhran. Paul McKenna is a great new traditional singer with an ear for good songs old and new. Standouts here include the wonderful Tim O’Brien/Guy Clark composition John Riley, telling the story of rebel Irishmen who defected from the US army to fight for Mexico, and the infrequent-ly heard Ewan McColl classic song about the Travelling People, The Terror Time. PB

CountryroSeS at the eNd oF time Eliza Gilkyson $24.95

Eliza Gilkyson releases her umpteenth solo record containing ten original songs produced by her son Cisco Ryder. Her songs are always well crafted; she sings

from a personal and political viewpoint, not unlike her contemporary Lucinda Williams. This is a lovely mix of styles but is never disjointed. The seasoned musicians backing her are accomplished and her sometimes breathy voice shines through on the title track. Gilkyson is deserving of wider recogni-tion. Hopefully this record will give her that. Michael Awosoga-Samuel is from Readings Carlton

VINYL AT CARLTON, HAWTHORN & ST KILDA.

The Velvet Underground, The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Tom Waits, and more !

Readings Monthly June 2011 19

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Classical CD of the Monthmozart: vioLiN CoNCertoS 1, 2 & 4Richard Tognetti/ACO BIS. BISSACD1755. $29.95Limited stock at this price

The Australian Chamber Orchestra is here to serenade us again. The next installment in their Mozart series of violin concertos through BIS has arrived,

and what a joy it is! With real bite and texture to his sound, Tognetti leads the orchestra through concertos 1, 2 and 4, interlaced with the Rondo in C and Adagio in E. I know most music lovers will already have Mozart’s violin concertos, but can you really go past the intense musicianship and sheer excitement of an ACO recording? I think not.Kate Rockstrom is from Readings Carlton.

Classical Specials of the MonthmiChaeL NymaN: CoLLeCtioNS Cd/dvd/BookMichael Nyman Nyman Records. MNRCD204. $49.95 Our special price $19.95.Limited stock at this price

The Michael Nyman Collections showcases the mature composer, film-maker and photographer. If you are a Nyman devotee, this collection will

reaffirm what you already know about him – that he occupies a unique place in the artistic world. This evocative and inspiring set is also a perfect jumping-off point for the Michael Nyman novice.

the art oF the vioLiN Andrew ManzeHarmonia Mundi. HMX290754145. $66.95 Our special price $46.95Limited stock at this price

Our next special features the talents of violinist Andrew Manze. This 5-CD set packages together the works of Mozart, Vivaldi, Rebel and Corelli. When

these discs were released individually they all received excellent reviews. What is evident here is that no matter what Manze plays, his understanding and interpretation

of the pieces before him are second to none. As one critic wrote: ‘Can Manze make a less-than-ideal recording? Apparently not.’

rameau: SuiteS d’orCheStraJordi Savall/L’Orchestre de Louis XV/Les Concerts Des NationsAlia Vox. AVSA9882. Our special price $19.95 - 2 CDS for the price of 1

Jean-Philippe Rameau said: ‘A good musician must abandon himself to all the characters he sets out to depict…but the music must speak to the soul.’ This is a

perfect description of this new recording from Jordi Savall. The pieces here are taken from Rameau’s most important works for the stage, Les Indes Galantes, Les Boreades, Nais and Zoroastre. The playing from all the musicians is as close to perfect as one can get, and this reviewer never tires of the authentic baroque sound. This is Rameau played perfectly and beautifully. Savall lets the music speak to your soul. Phil Richards is from Readings Carlton

BruCh: vioLiN CoNCerto & romaNCeVadim GluzmanBIS. BISSACD1852. $34.95 Our special price $29.95Limited stock at this price

I heard Vadim Gluzman perform with the TSO last year and was inspired by the vitality and joy in his performance. So when I saw this new release from

BIS I got excited. Gluzman’s vibrant musicality is apparent from the very first bars of the Bruch violin concerto and even though this is one of the most frequently recorded works, it doesn’t sound tired under his fingers but fresh, romantic and lush. Also including Bruch’s Romance and String Quintet, this recording affirms the power and beauty of Gluzman’s playing. KR

PoÈmeJulia FischerDecca. 4782684 $26.95 Our special price $21.95Limited stock at this price

Lush orchestrations with moments of clarity is the best way to describe this new offering from esteemed violinist Julia Fischer. Poème features four works, all from

a similar late-Romantic tradition. Respighi’s Poema Autunnale opens the recording followed by Suk Fantasy in D minor, the Chausson Poeme, which gives the album its title, and finishing with the favourite Lark

Classical CDs Ascending by Vaughan Williams. With the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo and Yakov Kreizberg at the helm, this is a beautiful recording to wrap yourself in for those cold winter days ahead. KR

FaNtaSieS & imPromPtuSLavinia MeijerChannel Classics. CCSSA31711. $34.95

For those who are not familiar with Lavinia Meijer, she is a rising star in the world of classical music. This is her third recording for Channel Classics and

she continues to raise the bar for all harpists. This collection of Fantasies and Impromptus are beautifully played. Featuring two world premieres – the 2nd Impromptu from G. Verdalle and J. Snoer’s demanding Fantasie. There are also works from Pierne, Spohr, Saint-Saens, Faure, Roussel and Gliere. Her touch throughout is delicate and assured. Highly recommended. PR

tChaikovSky/kiSSiNe: PiaNo trioSGidon Kremer/Giedre Dirvanauskaite/Khatia BuniatishviliECM New Series. ECM2202. $24.95

Gidon Kremer’s new recording is a dazzling example of the old and new in Russian chamber music. It starts with Victor Kissine’s Zerkalo (The

Mirror), a work that begins with a series of delicate notes on the piano and then slowly the violin and cello work their way into the piece. From here it builds beautifully and, like a lot of modern works, is not always an easy listen, but if you persevere you will be rewarded with something extraordinary. After that comes Tchaikovsky’s piano trio. Again this is music that will resonate long after you have finished listening. Kremer, Dirvanauskaite and Buniatishvili play both works beautifully and you wouldn’t expect anything less from a Kremer recording. The ECM sound is perfect. PR

muSiC oF doN kayVarious artistsMove Records. MD 3345. $29.95

This may come as a shock to classical music lovers, but Don Kay is still alive and composing in Hobart, Tasmania. This new release features a number of his

recently written chamber works, highly suited to his sparse compositional style. With his Piano Sonatas 2–4 as the centre point of the recording, they are interspersed with Hastings Triptych for Flute and Piano and a Sonata for Cello and Piano. Originally recorded in 2007, this is a real boon for lovers of modern, simple, easy listening music. KR

CoNCertoS For tWo PiaNoSLong DuoDorian. DSL92129. $30.95

What, you may ask yourself, is better than a piano concerto? Well, a two piano-piano concerto! This new offering from the Long Sisters, Beatrice and

Christina, features three oft-neglected works. Although all three works were written in the twentieth century, they are each melodic and complemented with rich harmonies more associated with Romantic repertoire. The composers – Dana Suesse, Harl McDonald and Ralph Vaughan-Wil-liams – have fascinating histories, which are reflected by the depth of feeling in their work. KR FaNdaNGoKarin Schaupp & Flinders QuartetABC Classics. 4764435. Normally $26.95 Our special price $21.95Limited stock at this price

Karin Schaupp is one of Australia’s finest musicians and the Flinders Quartet is one of our best chamber ensembles. So whoever had the great idea to combine

the two, take a bow. This new recording of guitar quintets featuring works by Pujol, Boccherini, Haydn and Houghton is of the highest calibre. Three of the pieces were written as guitar quintets while the Haydn is an arrangement of one of his string quartets. Pujol’s Tangata de Agosto is a tango-styled piece that gets the CD off to a magnificent start and from there it only gets better. Compositions this strong require the musicians to really understand the music and to have a great rapport with each other and this they have in spades. Highly recommended. PR

Very Special Classical Offer

For the month of June we have a very limited classical music offer. The first 25 customers to purchase the 56 CD DG 111 Collectors Edition Vol. 2, (4779142, $149.95) will also receive the Decca 50 CD Piano Masterworks box set, valued at $149.95. Both sets are excellent,

with some of the finest artists in the classical world featured. Remember, this is a very limited offer, so be quick!

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Introducing Rowland Sinclair