Read It 2011 Online Discussion

Tonight there will be real time Twitter discussion for #readit2011.

At 8pm (AEST) come online to talk about this month's #goreads. What titles did you enjoy reading for this category?

To participate you will need a twitter account. Don't forget to use #goreads in your tweet.

If you don't have a twitter account you can still watch the discussion by going to Twitter search and searching on #goreads.

For more information about #readit2011 go to the Read It 2011 blog

702 ABC Sydney Knit In 2011

Can you knit?
Can you sew?
We need you!

Blue Mountains Libraries are taking part again in the 702 ABC Sydney Knit In creating knitted rugs for the charity Wrap with Love who send the rugs to communities in need all over the world.

Get knitting and drop off your squares or completed wraps by Friday 5th August.

Various Library branches are having Knit In mornings:
Springwood Library on Friday 5th August from 10am
In anticipation of the big day Springwood Library will be holding Knit Ins each Monday in July from 10am

*****
Lawson Library on Wednesday 17th August from 10am

There is a regular Knitting Group which meets in the Meeting Room of the Lawson Library building on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 10am. Newcomers welcome

All Library branches except Blackheath are collection points for the Knit In and your completed squares or donations of wool can be left at a branch.

In Blackheath the Neighbourhood Centre is the collection point this year.

You can get knitting instructions and more information from any Library branch or go to the 702 ABC Sydney Knit In website.

Oh for a world of books like this

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.

What Library staff are reading . . .

• Once, Then and Now – three titles by Morris Gleitzman which tell the story of a holocaust survivor from childhood to old age. These children’s books are just beautifully written and I can’t wait to share them with my daughter



• A Few Right Thinking Men and A Decline in Prophets by Sulari Gentill – Australian mystery series featuring Rowland Sinclair in 1930s Sydney. Great fun



• The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson – finally made it to the end of the Millenium trilogy



• Summer Without Men by Suri Hustvedt – enjoyable read about a woman learning to survive after her husband calls for a ‘pause’ in their marriage. The ‘Pause’ is French . . .



• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith. Unusual and would appeal to those who love Jane Austen’s classic novel but with a new twist . . .



• Monsieur Linh and His Child by Philippe Claudel. This review on the Internet says it all : "An old man is standing on the after-deck of a ship. In his arms he clasps a flimsy suitcase and a newborn baby, even lighter than the suitcase. The old man's name is Monseiur Linh. He is the only person who knows this is his name because all those who once knew it are dead." (p.1). So begins Monsieur Linh and His Child: bitter and sweet and wistful - the very notes on which the curtain closes, come the occasion - it is a Kafka-esque elegy of friendship which handily sustains the sense of uncomplicated beauty evidenced above over its abbreviated course. A 2005 novella, lately translated from the French by Euan Cameron, from Philippe Claudel, author of Brodeck's Report and erstwhile director of the sublime foreign-language film I've Loved You So Long, at 100 small-format pages of oversized font, Monseiur Linh and His Child is in stature hardly more than a short story, but it has all the emotional impact of a gut-punch to the soul." - I am telling everyone to read it. I can’t tell you too much as it would spoil the story



• A Vision of Loveliness by Louise Levene - Great little snapshot of Sixties London, how girls may have thought at the time and the lengths people will go to for nice clothes and a lifestyle – not much has changed . . .



• The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer – One that I had been resisting reading because everyone who read it loved it. Plus because it was written in the style of letters, I didn’t think I would enjoy the format. It took me about 50 pages to get into the rhythm of the novel but so glad I persevered. Really a rewarding, lovely story. I am sure most of you would have read it but for those who haven’t, the characters are great and I learnt about what happened to the Channel Islands during WWII



• The Holy City by Patrick McCabe – Interesting read that helped me understand my Irish friends a little bit more . . . Good insight to a confused mind



• I am re-reading my tattered copy of Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco - I think I bought this book with my first paycheck during my “gap year”, along with a mini Chupa Chup tree and silk singlet that is still going strong. I no longer have a craving for Chupa Chups, but so far I am enjoying the book all over again



• The Dress Lodger by Sheri Holman – I’m on an 18th and 19th century London kick, so I thought I’d follow Librarything’s recommendation and try this book. And . . . I adore it. Part Emma Donoghue (‘Slammerkin’), part Patrick Suskind and something new altogether. Featuring body snatching, the cholera morbus and richly-painted characters, I can’t wait to get my hands on another title by this author!



• Last Chance to See by Mark Carwardine and Stephen Fry



• Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov – beautifully written



• Lessons in Letting Go by Corrine Grant



• The Inner World of Farm Animals by Amy Hatkoff – Yes, laugh all you like, but it has been proven that sheep can recognise at least 50 of their woolly friends, and that turkeys give great hugs! This book was surprisingly easy to read; not overloaded with technical explanations and the like, and filled with lovely pictures of contented farm animals (the smiling piggies were my favourite!)



• The Elephant Whisperer : learning about life, loyalty and freedom from a remarkable herd of elephants by Lawrence Anthony - Does anything beat a story about a “troublesome” herd of South African elephants?



• The Secret History by Donna Tartt – I’ve just started this for the second time. After reading it at school and having to extract every possible motif, I’m looking forward to some casual reading . . .



• Indelible Ink by Fiona McGregor - an engaging novel set in Sydney, about a 59-year-old woman who suddenly falls in love with tattoos, after wandering into a tattoo parlour in the Cross. I loved this book and have reviewed it for Readers in the Mist.



• The Female Brain by Lovann Brizendine - I found this discussion of what bio-chemical inputs influence female and male brains really interesting, until my feminist daughter said scathingly “That’s all been disproved, Mum, read this other one instead!” Oh, okay.



• Murder on the Ballarat Train by Kerry Greenwood - Yes, another one of hers set in Victoria early in the 20th century



• The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith by Thomas Keneally. I heard Keneally speak at Katoomba’s Writers Week – terrific speaker – and decided to read this book of his. Liking it a lot.



• Blackbird House by Alice Hoffman: a collection of beautifully-written short stories focusing on the inhabitants of a farmhouse in Massachussetts.



• Dead Europe by Christos Tsiolkas - on an iPad, my first that way. Not the Europe I know; lots of rent boys and drugs. Tsiolkas doesn't give you an easy read but by gum he's enthralling!



• Lovesong by Alex Miller - no one else in my book group liked this but I did!



• Batavia's Graveyard by Mike Dash. This story of mutiny and murder off the West Australian coast in the 1600s has just been re-told by Peter FitzSimons.
  

July School Holidays 2011

Johnny Balance is an energetic young performer who loves to amaze his audiences with comedy, magic, juggling, incredible balancing acts and plenty of FUN!

The Good The Bad The Ugly : Reviewed by You

The Fabrication of Aboriginal History, Vol. 3 : The Stolen Generations 1881-2008 by Keith Windschuttle.

Review : This scholarly, objective and thoroughly researched study proves that, far from being 'stolen' and abused, needy Aboriginal children were offered legitimate welfare, education and a start in life. The agents of this welfare were social workers who did the best they could with very limited funds.

If you do not want to read all 600 pages, read the Preface and Introduction (40 pages) provide a sufficient overview.


This review was written by an anonymous Library user in one of our review journals, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly : Reviewed by You.

Look out for a copy of The Good, The Bad, The Ugly : Reviewed by You in your local branch and add your own review.

It's never too late to bring them back!

Camden Library has had a first edition copy of Charles Darwin's Insectivorous Plants returned 122 years after it was borrowed on the 30th January 1889.

Apparently the book (which presumably is pretty valuable now) had been in the private collection for 50 years before being donated to the University of Sydney whose employees returned it to Camden Library.

Linda Campbell of Camden Library said it was wonderful to have the book back but it will not be lent again. Further says Miss Campbell, the book would not attract a fine because it was the library's "fine amnesty month" when borrowers could bring back late books in exchange for a donation to charity.

LUCKY!! - Camden Library has estimated that the late fees for the book were about $35,000.

Miles Franklin Literary Award Winner

That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott was announced as the 2011 winner of the Miles Franklin literary award last night. The award is worth $50,000 in prize money.

That Deadman Dance is a historical novel telling the story of early contact between British colonisers, American whalers and the indigenous Noongar people on the south coast of Western Australia.

The judges described the book as historical and magical as it drifts between the settler world and the Aboriginal world.

"That Deadman Dance is alive in the spaces between these two worlds as they collide and collaborate," they said.

"We see and feel the hardship, tragedies and aspirations of the settlement, and at the same time we are transported into the mystical and spiritual life worlds of Wabalanginy and his people."

In 2000 Kim Scott was the first Aboriginal writer to win the Miles Franklin with his book Benang : from the heart. That year he tied with writer Thea Astley with her novel Drylands.

There were just three novels on the shortlist this year. Scott's rivals were Chris Womersley with Bereft and When Colts Ran by Roger McDonald. Read the Miles Franklin shortlist here and the longlist here.

International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award Winner

The International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award is the largest (€100,000 = approx. AUD$138,400) and most international prize of its kind; it is open to books written in any language and the nominations came from public libraries in 126 cities and 43 countries.
Three Australians, David Malouf (Ransom), Evie Wyld (After the Fire, a Still, Small Voice) and Craig Silvey (Jasper Jones) were on the shortlist but the winner was Colum McCann with

Let the Great World Spin.

You can read about each of the nominated novels in Fiction Matters, the newsletter of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award February 2011.

The cover above is certainly one of the more arresting ones I've seen in the past 12 months, makes me dizzy to look at it.

Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction

I love History, fiction and non-fiction, and I love Andrea Levy so it's great to read that she's won the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for her latest novel, The Long Song.

The judging paneldescribed The Long Song, the 'memoir' of an elderly Jamaican former slave woman in the early 19th-century, as "quite simply a celebration of the triumphant human spirit in times of great adversity".

The Walter Scott Prize is sponsored by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch (distant descendants of Sir Walter Scott) with support from EventScotland and was launched only last year. The prize's definition of historical is where the events described take place at least 60 years before publication, and so stand outside the personal experience of the author. The definition comes from Scott's subtitle for his novel Waverley: "Tis Sixty Years Since."

Last year's prize was won by Hilary Mantel, for her story of the life of Thomas Cromwell, Wolf Hall. (I've been meaning to re-read that one in anticipation of the sequel which has been delayed by illness.)

I've owned The Long Song for many months and read many rave reviews but have been saving it for August when I'll be reading it for book group. Oooooh, I may have to dip in early . . .

Alisons Picks - June 2011

Bill Bryson
At Home: a short history of private life

Gregory Day
The Grand Hotel

Jason Webster
Duende: a journey in search of flamenco

Delia Falconer
Sydney

Joanna Trollope
Daughters-in-law

Indelible Ink

AUTHOR: Fiona McGregor
PUBLICATION DATE: 2010
No PAGES: 452 pp
TIME PERIOD: Contemporary
GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION: Sydney, Australia
CATEGORY: Australian fiction
PLOT SUMMARY:
The grownup children – Clark, Blanche and Leon – have gathered at the ritzy harbourside family home to celebrate their mother’s fifty-ninth birthday. Marie lives alone there now since her husband left, and has been hitting the bottle with single-minded dedication. Leon shares her passion for gardening and has bought her a plant, even though she’s talking about selling up and buying something smaller. The children aren’t yet aware that Marie has been spending what money she has like water. Her cheques are beginning to bounce. Her best friend is a vacuous, materialistic North Shore bimbo. Her garden and her cats are all that sustain her. Her life is unraveling.
Then she discovers a tattoo parlour in Kings Cross.
COMMENTS: This is a sharply contemporary story, taking us to Sydney places we recognize - Sirius Cove, Mosman, Kings Cross, Moore Park – and rendering their precise flavour with wry accuracy. McGregor’s storytelling is rich in talk, much of the action being freighted by conversations between the characters. Each of the people here is flawed, vulnerable, all pulled by tides they fear they can’t control. Marie’s refusal to toe the party line threatens to unravel the social fabric around her.
Christos Tsiolkas speaks highly of this novel and you’ll see the same keen, unsentimental eye here for human detail as you saw in his The Slap.
REVIEWER: Alison

SYNC = YA Literature into Your Earphones

Teens and other readers of Young Adult Literature will have the opportunity to listen to bestselling titles and required reading classics for the next few months. Each week from June 23rd until August 17th 2011 SYNC will offer TWO FREE audiobook downloads.

The audiobook pairings will include a popular YA title and a classic that connects with the YA title's theme and is likely to show up on a student's summer reading lists. For example, Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, the first book in a popular series with strong allusions to Romeo & Juliet, will be paired with Shakespeare's classic.

To find out when you can download titles to listen to on the run this summer, visit http://www.audiobooksync.com/

SYNC Titles coming up:

23rd to 29 June - Shiver By Maggie Stiefvater and Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare

30th June to 6th July - Little Brother by Cory Doctorow and The Trial by Franz Kafka

7th July to 13th July - Where the Streets Had a Name by Randa Abdel-Fattah and A Passage to India by E. M. Forster

14th to 20th July - The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney and Beowulf by Francis B. Gummere [Trans.]

21st to 27th July - Chanda's Secrets by Allan Stratton and Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

28th July to 3rd August - Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari and Rescue: Stories of Survival From Land and Sea by Dorcas S. Miller [Ed.]

4th to 10th August - Immortal by Gillian Shields and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

11th to 17th August - Storm Runners by Roland Smith and The Cay by Theodore Taylor

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

Every life has a soundtrack. All you have to do is listen.

Music has set the tone for most of Zoe Baxter's life. There's the melody that reminds her of the summer she spent rubbing baby oil on her stomach in pursuit of the perfect tan. A dance beat that makes her think of using a fake ID to slip into a nightclub. A dirge that marked the years she spent trying to get pregnant.
For better or for worse, music is the language of memory. It is also the language of love.
In the aftermath of a series of personal tragedies, Zoe throws herself into her career as a music therapist. When an unexpected friendship slowly blossoms into love, she makes plans for a new life, but to her shock and inevitable rage, some people - even those she loves and trusts most - don't want that to happen.
Sing You Home is about identity, love, marriage, and parenthood. It's about people wanting to do the right thing for the greater good, even as they work to fulfill their own personal desires and dreams. And it's about what happens when the outside world brutally calls into question the very thing closest to our hearts: family. (Source Fantastic Fiction)

Review : Sing You Home is an honest and moving story of contemporary relationships and the consequences when love and desire collide with science and the law. From tragedy, to self-discovery and joy, Zoe, Vanessa and Max will realise the undeniable truth-that you can't choose whom you love.

As always, Picoult deals with the big issues. and as she usually does, Picoult tells the story in voices: in this case, Zoe, who has spent ten years trying to have a baby; Max, her husband, who has finally had enough, divorces her and finds God; and Vanessa, a guidance counsellor who becomes Zoe's friend and eventually, more.

Sing You Home is Jodi Picoults 18th novel and as with all of Picoults novels, this one is thought-provoking and well written but I did not enjoy it as much as some of her other novels.

Reviewed by : Carolyn

2011 Speech Pathology Australia Book of the Year Awards Shortlists

The shortlists for the 2011 Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) Book of the Year awards have been announced. The award will be presented in Darwin on 18 October.

The SPA book of the year awards aim to 'promote literacy and the need for good literacy skills, while building a library of resources that speech pathologists, teachers and parents can use to help promote literacy and reading'.

So, here are the shortlisted titles in each category :


Young Children

• Can We Lick the Spoon Now? by Carol Goess, illustrated by Tamsin Ainslie
• The Flying Orchestra by Clare McFadden
• The ABC Book of Cars, Trains, Boats and Planes by Helen Martin, Judith Simpson & Cheryl Orsini
• One Funky Monkey by Stacey McCleary, illustrated by Sue Degennaro
• The Truth About Penguins by Meg McKinlay, illustrated by Mark Jackson
• A Giraffe in the Bath by Mem Fox & Olivia Rawson, illustrated by Kerry Argent
• JoJo Goes to Playgroup by Christina Miesen
• It's Bedtime, William! by Deborah Niland
• I Found a Friend by Beth Norling
• Leo, the Littlest Seahorse by Margaret Wild, illustrated by Terry Denton
• Love from Grandma by Jane Tanner
• The Little Drummer Boy by Bruce Whatley

Lower Primary

• The Miracle of the Little Wooden Duck by Margaret Wild, illustrated by Dee Huxley
• Magpie by Luke Davies, illustrated by Inari Kiuru


• Duck for a Day by Meg McKinlay
• Miracle on Separation Street by Bob Graham
• The Boy and the Toy by Sonya Hartnett, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo
• Boris Gets a Lizard by Andrew Joyner
• Hairy Nose, Itchy Butt by Elizabeth Frankel, illustrated by Garry Duncan
• Shake a Leg by Boori Pryor
• The Snake and the Boy by Azmen Sebastien
• Scaly-tailed Possum and Echidna by Cathy Goonack
• The Important Things by Peter Carnavas

Upper Primary

• Mosquito Advertising: The Parfizz Pitch by Kate Hunter
• Red Dirt Diary by Katrina Nannestad
• The Song of the Winns by Frances Watts
• Arnie Avery by Sue Walker
• Harriet Bright: The Star You Are by Claire Craig
• Now by Morris Gleitzman
• Nanny Piggins and the Runaway Lion by R.A. Spratt
• Grimsdon by Deborah Abela
• Raven's Mountain by Wendy Orr
• Head Spinners by Thalia Kalkipsakis
• Museum of Thieves: The Keepers 1 by Lian Tanner
• Battle Boy: White War by Charlie Carter

Indigenous Children (a new category this year)

• Guulaangga the Green Tree Frog by Gloria Whalan
• Sissy's Secret by Althea McKeown
• Walkabout with our Mates by Esther Fischer
• The Little Moo Cow by John Delacour
• Sam's Fishing Adventure by Monique Russell
• Beautiful Colours by Tina Raveneau
• Jakobi & Nan by Esther Fischer
• Our World: Bardi Jaawi life at Ardiyooloon by One Arm Point Remote Community School
• Fair Skin Black Fella by Renee Fogorty
• Stolen Girl by Trina Saffioti
• The Snake and the Boy by Azmen Sebastien
• Scaly-tailed Possum and Echidna by Cathy Goonack
• Look See, Look at Me by Leonie Norrington
• Shake a Leg by Boori Pryor
• The Devil You Know by Leonie Norrington
• Peka-Boo, the smallest bird in the world by Eliza Feely

Orange Prize Winner

Newcomer Téa Obreht has won this year's Orange Prize for Fiction for The Tiger's Wife.

Set in the Balkans, The Tiger's Wife tells the story of a young doctor who traces the life of her grandfather. The book was written as part of a creative writing course at Cornell University.


Obreht is the youngest-ever author to win the £30,000 (approximately AUD$46,000) prize.

Orange Prize chair of judges, Bettany Hughes, described The Tiger's Wife as 'an exceptional book' and Obreht as 'a truly exciting new talent'.

'Obreht's powers of observation and her understanding of the world are remarkable,' said Hughes. 'By skillfully spinning a series of magical tales she has managed to bring the tragedy of chronic Balkan conflict thumping into our front rooms with a bittersweet vivacity.'

Poetry Slam 2011

The Katoomba Heat of the Australian Poetry Slam 2011,

hosted by Blue Mountains City Library,

will be held at the

Carrington Hotel on Thursday 16th June at 7pm.

All welcome.

The theme for 2011 : Write a Revolution

Carolyn's Books of the Month - June 2011

Best read : Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
Thriller : Secrets to the Grave by Tami Hoag
General Fiction : A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay
Saga/Romance : Domestic Affairs by Eileen Goudge and The Outcast by Sadie Jones
Australian Author : Glory Girl by Peter Yeldham
Crime : Live Wire by Harlan Coben

New Book Club on Twitter

1book140 is a new Twitter reading club launched on 1 June. It is based on the One Book, One City programmes which have been successful in many parts of the world in bringing readers together.

The ins and outs of 1book140 are all explained here. The first book up for discussion is Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin and Ms Atwood herself is participating.

Sound intriguing? Get along to Twitter and use the hashtag #1book140.

Addicted to Romance?

Unbalanced? Dissatisfied with your relationship?

You may need to ease off on the Romance novels front.

This is apparently doing the rounds on the interwebs and I found out via The Guardian. It's war in the romance world after Kimberly Sayer-Giles in KSL.com, a news website owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wrote that "Romance novels can be as addictive as pornography " - for men, viewing pornography produces a euphoric drug in the body which causes viewing pornography becomes addictive. "When the natural high wears off, a man will crash and feel depressed (as happens with any drug) and crave another hit. Women are more stimulated by romance than sex, so when they read romantic stories (and they don’t have to be explicit to work) they can experience the same addicting chemical release as men do."

Sayer-Giles goes on to say reading romance novels can lead to dissatisfaction with real life relationships, "women may find their standard for intimacy begins to change over time because may not be able to get as satisfied with their partners as they can reading a book."

The interwebs has gone wild refuting such statements but I love the satirical responses best:

Crime writer Jason Pinter started the satirical hashtag #romancekills on Twitter. There Pinter suggests "the destruction of Alderaan was due to Darth Vader reading too many romance novels and that "King George VI only developed a speech impediment because he kept thinking about scandalously illicit romance novels".

Romance writer Rachel Grant wrote : "Fleas carrying black death were imported into Europe in romance novels," contributed romance novelist Rachel Grant.

And my favourite from literary agent Amy Boggs : "The Titanic hit that iceberg because the lookouts were too busy reading romance novels."

After a heated discussion about the standard of books chosen for my book group one weekend where several popular authors works were trashed as "airport novels" and a request was made to only choose literary fiction - something we agreed was very subjective, I found myself explaining to my book group gals the Readers' Advisory mantra that we do not judge other people's choice in reading; we assist people to find what THEY want to read, not what other people think is good for them. And said that if people want to read Mills and Boon for example that is a valid choice. Wickedly (?) I said perhaps I would choose a M&B for my choice of read next year.

Then I felt I had to put up or shut up and perused the library shelves for a M&B to try. It was not my cup of tea and perusing my LibraryThing account I find I haven't even mentioned it there - it is best forgotten. But I've read lots of books in book groups that I haven't enjoyed. We all like different stuff to read. Books I've loved have absolutely bombed at book group. Books I thought I'd hate, I've enjoyed. Books that have had rave reviews have left me cold.

I don't like Romance on the whole (Andrew Greig's That Summer is an exception) but then there's all sorts of genres I don't like - I just don't get Fantasy, SciFi bores me, Religious reading just gives me the hump. And perhaps you don't what I enjoy - crime fiction, historical fiction, Scottish fiction. I don't mind. It doesn't affect me. If you love Romance, go for it! Just as long as you are enjoying what you're reading.

Katoomba Library

Katoomba Library will resume normal open hours today.

10am-5:30pm (doors close at 5:20pm).

Thank you for your patience while the library has been closed.

Katoomba Library still closed

Katoomba Library remains closed today.

At this stage we will reassess the situation tomorrow morning before determining if we will be able to reopen on Thursday 2nd June.

Katoomba Storytime for today has also been cancelled.

Blackheath and Wentworth Falls branches will be open today from 10am-5pm.

Our apologies for the inconvenience.

Goodreading in the Library and Online

The June edition of the wonderful Goodreading magazine is now available online here as well as in library branches - all you have to do is enter your Blue Mountains Library card number and you're in.

In the June magazine, author Michael Robotham talks about his fascination with liars. And we take a look at the fiction inspired by the American Civil War.

For history buffs or nautical aficionados turn to our behind the scenes look at the building of the Titanic.

Bella Vendramini shares the chaos which led to her new book Naked in Public and much loved children's author Andy Griffiths shares some writing tips!

This month you can read reviews of over 60 books! Some of the titles are:

The Absolutist by John Boyne
Water Under Water by Peter Rix
The Afrika Reich by Guy Saville
Please Look After Mother by Kyung-sook Shin
A History of the World Since 9/11 by Dominic Streatfeild
Tobias Blow by Zacharey Jane
Swashbuckler by James Maloney




Don't forget to check out the dozens of reviews packed into this issue!

And then there are the regular features: Your Say, Books of the Month (The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and Gallipoli by David Cameron), Book Trivia as well as Word of Mouth (reviews) and competitions.

The 'hardcopy' is available at Springwood, Blaxland and Wentworth Falls Libraries. If you haven't already dipped into this magazine, make this the month you do.