BOOK REVIEWS - ADRIAN d'HAGE AND CATHERINE CHANTER

Two more reviews on our website, one from Chris Pritchard and another one from Mary Ellis.  You an see both reviews here.

See if you can guess which reviewer read which book........before you look at the reviews!

HARD CHOICES BY HILARY RODHAM CLINTON

In the aftermath of her 2008 presidential run, Hillary Rodham Clinton expected to return to the United States Senate. To her surprise, newly elected President Barack Obama asked her to serve in his administration as Secretary of State. Hard Choices is a richly detailed and compelling chronicle of Clinton’s role in the foreign initiatives and crises that defined the first term of the Obama administration. Secretary Clinton and President Obama had to decide how to repair fractured alliances, wind down two wars, and address a global financial crisis. By the end of her tenure, Secretary Clinton had gained a truly global perspective on the major trends reshaping today’s landscape. In Hard Choices, Hillary Clinton offers her views on what it will take for the United States to compete and thrive. 

If you are interested in reading about women in politics, regardless of your political affiliation, then you might find this an interesting read.

The book will be out in paperback in late April and we will have copies on the shelf.  If you'd like to be sure you get a copy, then please email and ask to have one put aside for you.
 

STEVE SAILAH - APRIL 23RD BOOK SIGNING

We are very pleased to announce that we will have Steve Sailah here on Thursday, April 23rd at 2.00pm to sign copies of his book The Fatal Tide.   

Steve Sailah is a former ABC foreign correspondent in New Delhi and Washington and the recipient of two prestigious Walkley Awards. He was a friend to several Gallipoli veterans, and returned to the battlefields with a number of them on the 75th anniversary of the first ANZAC landing. His ABC documentary, Stories from Gallipoli, was republished in April 2013. 

After a twenty-six year career with the ABC as foreign correspondent and executive producer of The World Today, A Fatal Tide is Steve Sailah’s debut novel.   

Put this date in your diary and come and make Steve feel welcome.  We will have copies of his book in stock on the day.

SISTERS IN CRIME EVENT APRIL 17

The Sisters in Crime’s next event of interest is Friday, April 17 title Undercover, Under Fire and Under-appreciated takes a look at the realities of modern policing in fact and fiction. 

True crime author Liz Porter interrogates two former police criminal investigators about their different takes on their experiences – one through memoirs, the other through the novel.

Over her 18-year career in the NSW police force, Belinda Neil relished her roles as a homicide investigator and hostage negotiator, but the horrors she saw and the years of broken sleep led her to contemplate suicide by jumping off a cliff.  She wrote Under Siege instead.  Belinda shows us the remarkable job homicide investigators and hostage negotiators perform, and the resilience and courage they show in impossible
circumstances.

  

Pauline Toohey spent nearly 25 years as a member of Victoria Police, working mainly as a crime analyst in Melbourne’s West with stints at the Major Drug Investigation Department and Homicide. She took up writing as a distraction to help her through one of those many ‘curve balls’ that life throws – and hasn’t stopped.  First publishing Pull of the Yew Tree, a novel set in 15th-century Ireland, and My Rickety Metronome, her debut crime novel and first in a series, was released in January by UK publisher, Indigo Dreams Publishing.

The event is being held at The Rising Sun Hotel, cnr Raglan St & Eastern Rd, South Melbourne.  Free on-street parking after 6pm.

 For further information contact

 Carmel Shute: 0412 569 356; cshute@internode.on.net; www.sistersincrime.org.au

FOSTER AND TOORA MEDICAL CENTRE - GARAGE SALE

Did you know the Foster and Toora Medical centres have an Emergency Needs Fund to support members of the community in times of need?  The Practice has provided this service for a long time and they'd like to boost the funds so they can continue to provide this essential service.  On Easter Sunday, April 5, they are holding a garage sale in the pathology car-park opposite the Foster Medical centre from 8.00 am.  If you'd like more information get in touch with Kerryn Mattingley or Carlene Hurst on 5682 2088.

Come along and support the Doctors and staff in their quest for funds.
 

THE SOUL OF DISCRETION BY SUSAN HILL

Diana Zlatic has done us proud with a great review on this book. 

This is the eighth crime novel featuring detective Simon Serrailler.

In this book, Simon is asked to go undercover to help break a pedophile ring. To follow one particular suspect, Will Fernley, he has to pose as a sex offender and be admitted to a special prison. There he will undergo rigorous therapy with the real offenders. Any crack in his cover could expose him to great danger.

Meanwhile, there are complications in the lives of Simon’s family and friends, who are not allowed to know where he is, or to have any means of contact. His girlfriend, Rachel, is unsure of his commitment to her. His sister Cat and his stepmother Judith also have their problems. Worst of all, his father is accused of rape.

Some readers may be put off by the subject matter, but this is dealt with sensitively and without undue horrific detail. The interwoven stories of the other characters are equally compelling. Not having read any of the previous books, I now want to read some of them to learn more about their lives and relationships. And, of course I look forward to another book to find out what will happen next!

Thanks Diana, you can do reviews whenever you like.  For more reviews by our customers take a look here.

FAVELL PARRETT - BOOKSELLERS CHOICE AWARD

We are very pleased to announce that Favel Parrett is shortlisted for the Booksellers Choice Award 2015 for her title When the Night Comes.  It would be wonderful to see her take out this award, she was shortlisted last year for a number of awards for Past the Shallows.  Bonne chance Favel.

 

RADIOTHON 24 HOURS LIVE WITH 3MFM

This coming weekend from Friday 27th to Saturday 28th, 3mFM are running a membership drive and they will be live on air from Friday 6pm to Saturday 6pm.


I'll be on air with Wendy Williams from 8.30am and we'll be 'talking books' as always.  Tune in and listen, or come to the studio and say hello.  More information here.

THOMAS KENEALLY - LIFE TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

The Australian Council has announced it will award the novelist Thomas Keneally for his lifetime achievement in literature. Keneally is one of ten Australians to be recognised by the council for outstanding contributions to the arts landscape in 2015.  The Australian author of The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, The Widow and her Hero and Schindler’s Ark for which he won the Man Booker prize in 1982, will be presented with the award at a ceremony in Sydney on March 19^th. (from The Guardian)

In an interview on Radio National the 79 year old described his craft as an ‘ageless activity’ and although he doesn’t know of anyone over 80 to have written a work of significance, he said…….:I’m going to do my best to be the first, I’ll at least shake the three”.

AWARDS - AUSTRALIAN ROMANCE READERS AWARDS 2014

Some of you may remember Helene Young an author who flew from Brisbane to Melbourne and took the long drive to Foster just to present at one of our final Twilight Talks series a couple of years ago.  Helene keeps wining awards for her books.  The most recent is The Favourite Romantic Suspense 2014 for Safe Harbour.  We say, well done and congratulations Helene.  And thank you again for taking the long trip to tell us what you do and how you do it.

OUTSIDE THE LINES BY AMY HATVANY - Review No. 2

You'll notice there is a recent review of this title earlier in the blog with a challenge to take the free copy and do a review.......well Mary Ellis took up the challenge and here is her take on this book......

Outside the Lines by Amy Hatvany

Mental illness – don’t be put off –is a difficult subject. It’s difficult for the sufferer, relatives and friends, medical practitioners, social workers and all of us who witness unusual behaviour.  Would you choose to write a novel whose characters deal with mental illness?

Amy Hatvany has produced a very human story with characters who ring true – flawed, brave, hard-working, misguided and attractive.  Perhaps she has sugar-coated the pill by making it a love story with a beautiful heroine, giving her a pet dog, a successful career and charity, but the depiction of the mental illness of her father is heartbreaking, given his artistic creativity, drunkenness and inability to live within the lines according to society.

Like so many recent novels, there are a lot of time and narrator changes, but each chapter is headed with a date and character, so it isn’t confusing.

This is a book worth reading, about a difficult subject rendered sympathetically and with understanding.  The heroine’s quest maintains the suspense so that you want to keep reading and the ending is realistically satisfactory.  I think Amy Hatvany has pulled off a difficult challenge.

                                                          AMY HATVANY

 

VALE SIR TERRY PRATCHETT

Colour Of Magic, The: Discworld Novel #1

Twoflower was a tourist, the first ever seen on the Discworld. Tourist, Rincwind decided, meant idiot. Somewhere on the frontier between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a parallel time and place which might sound and smell very much like our own, but which looks completely different. Certainly it refuses to succumb to the quaint notion that universes are ruled by pure logic and the harmony of numbers. But just because the Disc is different doesn't mean that some things don't stay the same. Its very existence is about to be threatened by a strange new blight: the arrival of the first tourist, upon whose survival rests the peace and prosperity of the land. But if the person charged with maintaining that survival in the face of robbers, mercenaries and, well, Death, is a spectacularly inept wizard, a little logic might turn out to be a very good idea...

And so began the story of Discworld that went on for 40 books and ended in 2013.  In December 2007, Terry Pratchett announced he was suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.  He later made a substantial public donation to the Alzheimer’s Research Trust and filmed a television program chronicling his experiences with the disease for the BBC.  Sir Terry Pratchett died on 12 March 2015, aged 66.

BOOK REVIEW: HADES BY CANDICE FOX

When someone takes a book to read and review we are asked often "what if I don't like the book" and we ask that they write a review anyway; not everyone likes the same books and it's good to have a mix of reviews.  So, here's one of the "I didn't like it......." reviews.

In some ways Hades is typical of a first novel, the author is trying to put all her ideas about crime, police and medical malpractice into one hotchpotch of a novel.

The police are tough, the victims are vulnerable for multitudes of reasons, there is only one likeable character.  It is a crime noir book, horrifying and nasty.  On occasion Fox excuses the reactions of her characters to ugly events by putting it down to their continual exposure to such events. How could they retain normal human responses when dealing daily with drug addicts, psychopaths and criminals.

The writing is irritating with several words used incorrectly and some phrases repeated that are inappropriate, for example Frank smirks, an unusual facial expression for a seasoned cop, and he does is often.

I didn’t like the book from beginning to end.  However, for those of you who like to read about dissected bodies, psychopaths, and mean cops it might be a treat.  

Thanks to Mary Ellis for an honest review.

 

BEATRIX POTTER

I'm sure more than 100 years ago Beatrix Potter didn't imagine her comforting little images of bunnies, frogs and field mice would one day be exhibited on this side of the world.  For the month of March original watercolour drawings for The Tale of Peter Rabbit will be on show at the State Library, along with more than 100 books and works on paper from London's Victoria and Albert Museum.

 

BOOK REVIEW: USEFUL

Useful by Debra Oswald is a very strange story.  What does someone do when they've tried to commit suicide and failed and that's the ultimate failure for them? Waking up in hospital after falling the wrong way on a rooftop, Sully comes to a decision.  He shouldn't waste perfectly good organs just because they're attached to his head.  After a life of regrets, Sully wants to do one useful thing: he wants to donate a kidney to a stranger.  Sounds easy.........simple.......?  This is certainly worth a read and there's a free copy here if you're prepared to do a review for us.

  

BOOK REVIEW: OUTSIDE THE LINES

Outside the Lines by Amy Hatvany was released a little while ago and I've just had the chance to read it.  This is the author's third book and it looks like she's getting a much better handle on character development if this latest is any indication.  The basis of the story centres around Eden who, when we meet her, is thirty and running a successful catering company, she hears from her father only rarely and finds out that he is now living on the streets and struggling with a mental illness.  There is of course back story to flesh out Eden's relationship with her father, suffice to say she decides to search for him and in doing so learns what it is like for people who live on the streets.  Of course there is a love interest in the plot and he helps her in the search.

What I liked most about the story is the detail in the search for the father and the description of the conditions for the homeless and most importantly, how putting our own expectations on someone is bound to fail.  It's a story worth spending time with and you may get cross with the main character around the same time in the plot as I did.  There's a free copy here at the bookshop if you'd like to do a review.