All in all, Lewis and O’Sullivan have done a very clever job of distilling just about everything you need to know about life into seven key areas, and then providing three things that you need to know on that topic. If you need more than that, well you probably are too serious a person anyway.
Category: Book Reviews
Book Reviews
A review of The Rasner Effect by Mark Rosendorf
The Rasner Effect is a multifaceted psychological thriller peopled with convincing characters, packed with gritty, pithy discourse all set against a backdrop of trickery, maneuvering and danger.
A review of Magellenica by Justin Lowe
There’s a freshness to this form of novel, and Lowe handles it well, but I still feel like I’ve been left with a snapshot rather than a story. Nevertheless, as a portrait of both a post-WWI veteran, an image of cricket at its most exciting period in Australia, and a portrayal of Sydney in the 20s, this is a lovely, evocative book, full of rich imagery and sensual moments.
A review of One Pot French: More than 100 Easy, Authentic Recipes by By Jean-Pierre Challet
All in all, this is a nice offering for the beginning or intermediate cook looking to take on the world of French cuisine in a non-pretentious, easy to learn form. You might need more than one pot, but not many more, and the overall results will certainly be worth it.
A review of Wanting by Richard Flanagan
As with Gould’s Book of Fish, Wanting undermines history, recreating it in a magical realism form that tells a greater truth. Like Adrienne Eberhart’s Jane, Lady Franklin, what drives the story is not what happened but what was felt. Unlike Eberhart’s Lady Franklin, Flanagan’s heroine is as guilty as she is tragic. She destroys what she loves by denying herself.
A review of My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer
Of My 60 Memorable Games one can say that it will live and be read as long as chess is played. As a product of the human mind, it should be placed alongside Euclid’s Elements and the sonnets of Shakespeare. It is an engaging, analytical, above all veridical work of genius.
A review of Rewired: Friendly Street Poets’ 32nd Annual Reader
Editors Maggie Emmett and Gaetano Aiello considered 777 poems read at Australia’s longest-running open-mike poetry reading to select 111 for this edition. The standard is high and the collection lives up to the promise on the back cover that it “demonstrates the vibrant diversity and depth of South Australia’s thriving poetry scene.”
A review of Courage of Fear By Barbara Boyer
Courage of Fear is a fascinating offering from a writer with an already individual voice. Read it to be in there on the ground floor, for it is a sure harbinger of much good work to follow.
A review of Nigella Christmas by Nigella Lawson
This is an exquisite book, which manages to combine the most outrageous frivolity (it’s kind of like the Manolo Blahnik of cookbooks with its green ribbon, sumptuous pictures, and the big hardcover red and greenness of it) with absolute practicality in terms of the useability of its recipes, the practicality of its suggestions, and the tempting nature of the items chosen.
A review of Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
Christopher Paolini has the uncanny knack of leaving a chapter hanging just at a crucial point before lifting off to some other character – and leaving that hanging as well! It creates nail biting suspense as well as urging you to keep on going.