Books

Book Review: Andrew Miller’s Now We Shall Be Entirely Free is a well-researched piece of literary historical fiction that, sadly, just misses the mark

On a stormy night in 1809, Captain John Lacroix returns home from a disastrous campaign on the Continent. Shaken by the events he witnessed in a little Spanish village while his army retreated, he cannot bring himself to report back to his regiment when the call comes. Instead, he deserts, making his way to the…

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Book Review: Philip Norman’s Slowhand celebrates Eric Clapton’s life as a bluesbreaker

To some people, Eric Clapton is god. But for author and journalist, Philip Norman, the Slowhand guitarist is unquestionably human. A talented star sure, but also a fallible guy. Slowhand: The Life & Music of Eric Clapton is a detailed biography covering Clapton’s extraordinary career. Clapton’s life has been chronicled before. The legendary artist has…

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Book Review: In Minette Walters’ The Turn of Midnight plague and political intrigue collide

Crime writer Minette Walters once again turns her hand to historical fiction, picking up where last year’s The Last Hours left off. As the Black Death continues its march across Europe, the small demesne of Develish owes its survival to the policies of cleanliness and isolation, put in place by Lady Anne and her closest…

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Book Review: Toni Jordan’s latest novel The Fragments is a delight for bibliophiles

Standing in line for an exhibit on the life of novelist, Inga Karlsson, Caddie Walker meets a mysterious woman who appears to know more about Karlsson and her famous lost work than anyone could possibly know. Caddie, a Karlsson devotee, becomes obsessed with finding out who this woman is, and if it’s possible that she…

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Book Review: Rachel Cassidy’s Stalked shows some of the human costs associated with this heinous crime

Rachel Cassidy has inadvertently become an authority on stalking. The CEO of the Anti-bullying Council and charity worker was once stalked. So she decided to write a book to shine a light on these issues to ensure that victims might not feel alone. Cassidy thus proves that the victims of this crime are not always…

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Book Review: Matt Noffs and Kieran Palmer’s Addicted? highlights how addiction affects every one of us

What springs to your mind when you hear someone has an addiction? Drugs, gambling, porn, coffee or even smart phones? Maybe none of those, some of those and maybe even all of those. It has got you thinking though hasn’t it? In Addicted?, authors Matt Noffs and Kieran Palmer examine the ways in which addiction…

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Book Review: Alice Pung’s evocative set of essays Close To Home invites you into her Australian wonderland

Alice Pung reckons she grew up not always understanding where she fit in. But, things have changed and she now has a distinctive voice in her writing. The Chinese-Australian author has published her memoirs, several books of young adult fiction, and has had pieces feature regularly in The Monthly. And that’s all when she’s not…

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It’s not just Peking Duk: 5 musicians you didn’t know wrote children’s books

Musicians seem to be a pretty multi-talented bunch. Some of them find themselves in television and movies el la Cher and others find themselves walking the runway like Young Thug. What you might not expect however, is the amount of musicians who have delved into a different sort of profession. Writing children’s books! Rockstars expanding…

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Five Books You Need To Read This Month: November

Another month. Another five books. We might be getting closer to Christmas, but there’s nothing particularly “festive” about this month’s five titles. Though they’d all make wonderful gifts for the book lover in your life. It is a particularly fiction heavy list this month, with a debut short story collection, a highly anticipated second novel,…

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Book Review: Jameson Ketchum’s Echo Boom reveals a story behind the story

Inaugural novella, Echo Boom, by Jameson Ketchum has landed, with music journalist, publicist and Hopecore Magazine columnist Ketchum taking us on a diarised journey through the words and mind of fictional “writer” Edward Caspian. An over thinker to the end, Caspian, guides the reader through his twenty-nine year friendship with his friend, Giles Green, who has…

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Book Review: Sohaila Abdulali’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape is an uncomfortable yet vital discourse on sexual assault and its aftermath

Combining memoir, social science, and collected stories, author Sohaila Abdulali provides readers with a well-researched exploration of the many discursive threads surrounding rape and sexual assault. It is, quite simply, a vital piece of literature for the post #MeToo world and beyond. All around the world, definitions differ, and coping mechanisms vary, making the topic both…

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Book Review: Di Morrissey’s Arcadia is a modern mystery in a timeless Tasmanian forest

Australia’s favourite storyteller, Di Morrissey, returns with her Twenty-sixth book, Arcadia, a modern mystery born in a timeless Tasmanian forest. Set in the 1930’s, Arcadia tells the story of a young new wife, Stella, as she arrives at her husbands isolated property in Tasmania, where she finds love and beauty nestled amongst the nearby untouched forest. The…

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Review: Personal narratives take centre stage at the Feminist Writer’s Festival in Sydney

Established in 2016, the Feminist Writer’s Festival aims to support and promote feminist writers in Australia. For the first time this biennial festival came to Sydney, and over the course of two and a half days this writer attended a total of ten talks. Topics of the talks ranged from Writing and Speaking Indigenous Lives…

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Book Review: Alice Nelson’s The Children’s House is a moving and poetic meditation on grief and motherhood

New York, 1997. Marina, an academic who has been working on a book about members of the Hasidic community meets Constance, a young Rwandan woman who has come to America after the genocide. Marina watches as Constance walks away from her young son as he has a tantrum in the street and is struck by…

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Book Review: Queerstories sees Australia’s finest queer writers become an open book

Queerstories is a popular event where Australia’s best LGBTQI+ writers gather for some good, old-fashioned storytelling. The show began at the Late Night Library in Kings Cross, Sydney and has gone on to tour other states and towns. It makes sense that, because this all began in a library that people should be able to…

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Five Arts events not to miss around Australia this November

Summer is closing in, and you know exactly what that means. Australia is home to some of the biggest and brightest selections of entertainment and there is no doubt that coming up there will be something for everybody. From Jazz Festivals to Comedy shows, November is jam-packed with ah-mazing events and we aren’t going to…

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Book Review: Jessica Townsend throws open the doors to the Wundrous Society in Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow

After escaping Jackalfax for good, and discovering her powers as a Wundersmith, twelve-year-old Morrigan Crow is excited to finally be starting her training at the elite Wundrous Society. But, others within the Society are convinced Morrigan is dangerous, and with Wunsoc members going missing, her patron Jupiter North doesn’t have time to help her navigate…

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Book Review: In Melissa Fagan’s What Will Be Worn: A McWhirters Story family history meets a Fortitude Valley icon

McWhirters, a heritage listed building sitting on the corner of Brunswick and Wickham, is a Brisbane landmark, these days operating as a shopping centre, an apartment block, and a very obvious map marker for those lost in the depths of the Valley. But, in What Will Be Worn: A McWhirters Story, the name emblazoned on…

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Book Review: David Cohen’s The Hunter and Other Stories of Men is an offbeat look into the minds of men

Brisbane author David Cohen has put together a much anticipated collection of short stories in the form of his new book The Hunter and Other Stories of Men. The collection contains eighteen stories, most around the ten page mark, whilst some of which were published in various publications between 2004 and 2017. With some of the stories…

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Book Review: In Sarah Perry’s hauntingly beautiful Melmoth, thought provoking contemporary fiction meets Gothic horror

Twenty years ago, Helen Franklin did a terrible thing. Unable to forgive herself, she lives a life of self-imposed penance, scraping together a living as a translator in Prague and denying herself the simplest of pleasures. But when her friend Karel hands her a strange manuscript, detailing sightings of a tall woman in black haunting…

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Book Review: Eric Idle’s Always Look on the Bright Side of Life is a surprisingly moving memoir from one of comedy’s best known stars

Best known as one sixth of legendary comedy troupe Monty Python, Eric Idle never rested on his laurels – though he was quite happy to make a bit of cash from them when the opportunity arose. Covering it all, from his working class childhood and the rise of the Pythons, to the creation of the…

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Anna Burns wins the Man Booker Prize for her novel Milkman

Milkman by Anna Burns has been announced as the winner of the 2018 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. The 56 year old author is the sixteenth woman, and remarkably the first Northern Irish writer to win the prestigious award. Burns drew upon the experiences of her home country to write her third full length novel….

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The 2018 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards shortlists have been announced

The shortlists for the 2018 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards have been announced today, bringing together some of Australia’s most prominent and decorated writers. The Fiction shortlist, for example, features two former Man Booker winners, and two Miles Franklin winners.  The Awards recognise Australia’s literary talent across six different categories: fiction, non-fiction, Australian history, young adult…

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Interview: Festival Director Nikki Anderson talks ahead of the Feminist Writers Festival in Sydney

Next month, some of Australia’s leading feminist writers and thinkers will be heading to Sydney for the Feminist Writers Festival. Held in conjunction with the UTS Centre for Social Justice and Incusion, it will be the first time the festival has been held in Sydney. Over three days, thirteen sessions, and featuring over forty speakers,…

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Five Books You Need To Read This Month: October

If you’ve stepped into any store over the last couple of weeks you’d probably have noticed that the countdown for Christmas is well and truly on. This also means there are no shortage of new books being released into the world. Earlier this month, on the so-called “Super Thursday” there were 544 new books released…

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Book Review: Bobby Duffy’s The Perils of Perception is a fascinating study into general ignorance

We are wrong about most things. That may be a bitter pill to swallow but as The Perils of Perception proves, it’s true. This non-fiction book is an intriguing study into just how ignorant our society is. It draws on 100,000 interviews from forty countries. The take home message? We should be afraid. Very afraid….

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Book Review: Explore the dark wynds of Victorian Edinburgh in Ambrose Parry’s medical mystery The Way of All Flesh

Edinburgh 1847. Evie, a prostitute visited by apprentice doctor Will Raven, is dead. Raven is shaken by the discovery of her twisted corpse, and, as other victims began to appear across the city’s Old Town, he sets out to get to the bottom of the gruesome deaths. Teaming up with the fiercely determined Sarah Fisher,…

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Interview: Stuart Coupe on recording 200+ hours of interviews with Roadies for his book’s ultimate, AAA pass

Stuart Coupe is part of the (black t-shirt) fabric of Australia’s music industry. In a career spanning four decades, he has worked as an author, journalist, promoter, artist manager, publicist and broadcaster. Coupe has written several books about Australian music. His latest one, Roadies, features stories from the hard-working men and women who toil behind-the-scenes…

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Book Review: Nell Stevens’ Mrs Gaskell and Me is a meditation on longing and a balm for the soul

I don’t normally read non-fiction or memoir, but something about the premise of Nell Stevens’ second book, Mrs Gaskell and Me (also known as The Victorian and the Romantic) appealed to me when I first started hearing about it on social media a few months back. On the surface, it has a simple premise; it is a literary memoir…

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Book Review: Clementine Ford’s Boys Will Be Boys is a blazing exploration of the frightening damage the patriarchy does to us all

Clementine Ford is back with her trademark brand of no holds barred feminism, brandishing an outstandingly fierce follow-up to 2016’s Fight Like A Girl as her weapon of choice. Boys Will Be Boys sees the Aussie writer take on toxic masculinity, patriarchal power, and the harrowing effects they have on us and our society, regardless…

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