Book Reviews

Hammered G.N. Braun Legume Man Books, $19.95Local author Geoff Brown (a.k.a. G.N. Braun) is the president of the Australian Horror Writers Association, so you can imagine most of his books are pretty scary stuff. His latest book, entitled Hammered, doesn’t quite fit into the categ..

Kate Grenville’S Sarah Thornhill picks up the story of The Secret River family who settle on the banks of the Hawkesbury River with vision to prosper and make themselves respectable. But, as readers of The Secret River know, along the way these settlers did things they wo..

Movie Maker: Everything You Need to Know to Create Films on Your Mobile Phone or Digital Camera! Tim Grabham Walker Books, $34.95 Amazing Pop-Up Big Machines Robert Crowther Walker Books, $25.95 Legendary Journeys: Trains (The Slide-Out, Lift Up, See Through Story of Wo..

The Roving Party Rohan Wilson Allen & Unwin, $27.99 IT has been a fair while since something as memorable as Kate Grenville’s Lilian’s Story (1984) or Andrew McGahan’s Praise (1991) came out of the Vogel’s Award. It’s almost as if The Hand That Signed t..

Marmaduke Duck and the Marmalade Jam Juliette MacIver, Illustrator: Sarah Davis Scholastic,$15.99 Then down to the river came a cat and a rat - and a sleepy-eyed bat, and a leapy-eyed gnat - and a ram named Sam, and a lamb named Pam . . . in haste for a taste of th..

The Very Itchy Bear Author / Illustrator: Nick Bland Scholastic, $15.99 Presented by Nick Bland and Scholastic Australia, The Very Itchy Bear is a genuine reading treat. Driven by lilting rhyme and comical theme, the text is one that engages the reader immediately. Star charact..

Frommer's France 2011 Prince & Porter Frommer, $32.99 Reviewed by Jacqueline Perryman Frommer's publishing is renowned for quality travel advice. Guides are updated annually – and the company's inclusive approach to customer care is unrivalled. France 2011 is amongst Fromme..

A Decline in Prophets Sulari Gentill Pantera Press, $29.99 Reviewed by Brenda Stevens-Chambers I have lost count of the recent publications of around 350 pages where I have wanted to do some serious pruning. However, it was with some relief that I zoomed through A Decline in Prophets, ..

Star Jumps Lorraine Marwood Walker Books, $15.95 Lorraine Marwood’s award-winning narrative poem, Star Jumps, was born out of her own experience on a dairy farm north of Bendigo; a family’s response to debilitating drought. The story starts with Keely, Ruby (the narrator) and..

Courage is a good thing for a writer, so long as it’s matched with skill. It’s courage that characterises the writing of Cate Kennedy, and she definitely matches it with the necessary skill. In her new collection of poems, beautifully presented by Melbourne-based Scribe pub..

Other People’s Money Justin Cartwright Bloomsbury, $32.99 Why a new novel by Justin Cartwright is not heralded with the same fanfare as happens when Martin Amis or Joanna Trollope, say, release a new one is puzzling. His books are funny, sharp, incredibly entertaining and ruthlessl..

Caleb's Crossing, by Geraldine Brooks (HarperCollins) Geraldine Brooks has long been interested in fleshing out the bones of history. Moving from reporting to a kind of reportage, her first books were about the lives of the people she interviewed in her role as a foreign correspondent, and ..

Pozieres Scott Bennett Scribe, $36.95 While the experience of first-time author Scott Bennett is crucially important to the way this book was written, what is also wonderful is that the man can write. So often, someone’s interest in history is not enough to create a good book, but in ..

The Arrival Shaun Tan Lothian, $39.99 In his gentle way, Shaun Tan has slowly but surely pushed out the boundary of what's possible in picture books. While his work is brilliant for children, it also delights grown-ups. He neither patronises young readers nor limits older readers. Tan wo..

A NEW booklet about Chinese ancestral shrines sheds light on the rituals of people who played a vital role in Bendigo’s history. Chinese Ancestral Shrines in Victoria Carol Holsworth Published by the Friends of the Bendigo Cemeteries Inc. Printed by the Bendigo Uniting Care Print S..

Chasing Odysseus S.D. Gentill Pantera Press, $19.95 “So much depends on which side of the wall you stand,” S.D. Gentill (aka Sulari Gentill) says about her first young adult novel, Chasing Odysseus. It’s a slightly different take on the idea of “point of view&rdqu..

1. Sing You Home Jodi Picoult 2. Batavia Peter Fitzsimons 3. Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals Jamie Oliver 4. Wise Man’s Fear Bk 2 Kingkiller Chronicle Patrick Rothfuss 5. Letters & Numbers 2 SBS 6. Letters & Numbers 1 SBS 7. Letters & Numbers 3 SBS 8. Only T..

Those Who Come After Elisabeth Holdsworth Picador Elisabeth Holdsworth came to Australia as a child, and worked most of her life in the public service. In 2007, her essay, “For Those Who Come After”, won the ABR-Calibre Prize. In that essay, she described the difficulty she had ..

I couldn’t be prouder right now of our great friend Crikey – you can call him Chris Kennett – as this weekend his very first children’s story Alpha Monsters is being launched. Chris is actually a great poet but only those of us who are lucky enough to be on his Christmas c..