There is a particular walk I get when I leave a shop with a newly purchased book I can’t wait to read…..it’s part jaunt, part quickstep with an occasional sashay – and it must look very odd to passersby I grant you. But when I picked up acclaimed author Deborah Adelaide’s new offering, my ‘new-book walk’ […]
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The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida
posted by Ms K
Like a pig that can sniff out a truffle, I reckon we, Ms A and Ms K, can sniff out a book that is ripe to be made into a movie. Big call I know but we do have a track record, Readheads. Lots of those book-to-movie titles that pop up at your local Hoyts, yep, we sniffed those […]
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
posted by Ms A
Who’d have thought Barak Obama’s favourite book of 2015 would start with a sex scene? I’m talking about a green bikini, sand dunes and a couple of newlyweds – literally first page. Beyond the beach, Fates and Furies is contemporary literature at its best with language that is original, multi-layered and downright clever. Add characters that are strong, […]
Never Mind by Edward St Aubyn
posted by Ms A
I’m suspicious of the word “masterpiece” on the cover of a book. Just like the word miracle on a moisturiser, I should know better by now. In this case I was persuaded by a trusted and highly enthusiastic assistant at one of my favourite bookshops. I don’t want to name names but I am pretty sure […]
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
posted by Ms K
If you have been wanting to read Go Set a Watchman but have hesitated because you have not read To Kill A Mockingbird, please don’t panic. It doesn’t matter. I confess to being one of a handful of people on the planet who hasn’t read To Kill a Mockingbird (I’m a fool I know and not […]
One Life (My Mother’s Story) by Kate Grenville
posted by Ms A
This is the story of Nance Russell – Kate Grenville’s much adored mother who died in 2002. Grenville wrote this memoir of Nance’s life based on notes, diary entries and letters she found years after her death. She writes “My mother wasn’t the sort of person biographies are usually written about….Just the same, I think […]
A Guide to Berlin by Gail Jones
posted by Ms K
Fact is, I read this book a couple of months ago now. It has taken me a while to review it because I could argue December happens, Christmas happens, life takes over. You know. But if I am honest, I didn’t know where to start with it. This book has haunted me since I finished it. It’s good, […]
The Dust that Falls from Dreams by Louis de Bernieres
posted by Ms A
I still remember reading Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and the way it swept my young and sentimental heart away. Poor Louis de Bernieres must feel under so much pressure to match it and people like me are probably not helping. Lucky for him, he is a beautiful storyteller, detailed researcher and a lot of people will adore this book. The […]
Brave Enough by Cheryl Strayed
posted by Ms K
And how did it become 2016 exactly? I don’t know about you, but I feel like there I was just minding my own business in July 2015 and somehow, in the blink of an eye, I end up here! 2.0.freakin’1.6! So what do you do when you feel life is travelling at the speed of […]
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
posted by Ms A
This is the first book I have ever read with its own Instagram account. I stumbled on it after I’d finished all 800 pages and got a glimpse into the cult status the novel now has, particularly in the USA. A Little Life is bleak, emotionally demanding fiction but it is also a page turning […]
