NOVEMBER, 2019 -- VARIOUS TITLES BY PETER TEMPLE

PETER TEMPLE was an Australian crime fiction writer, mainly know for his Jack Irish novel series.  He has won many awards.  He was born in South Africa in 1946. He left South Africa because of Apartheid. He moved to Sydney, Australia in 1980 and in 1982 to Melbourne to become the founding editor of Australian Society magazine.  He turned to fiction writing in 1990. He wrote the Jack Irish series and three stand alone novels, An Iron Rose, Shooting Star and In the Evil Day, as well as Broken Shore and it's semi sequel Truth.
It was a very lively and interesting discussion today.

 BAD DEBTS

JUDY J:   This is the first book in the Jack Irish series.  Judy felt it helped to have seen the television series.  The story is set in Melbourne.  It is very Victorian with AFL references and Fitzroy references.  It's a complicated story with lots of things happening.  I probably wouldn't read another one.

ED: She found it quite OK and enjoyed reading this book. 

PRUE:  Once she got into the story, Prue could not put it down. It moved quite seamlessly from one part to the other. It painted Melbourne very well.  It was a bit dark, violent and corrupt but it was how it was at the time.  There were bits of subtle humour.  It was typically Australian.

BLACK TIDE

CLAURENE:  This is the second book in the Jack Irish series. It was interesting.  It gives you information about lots of different things.  The author introduces characters with a few words.  Claurene enjoyed the way he writes.

CHARIS:  She couldn't understand and follow the dialogue and the way he portrayed Melburnians.  When Charis got further in to it she decided to give up.  She didn't enjoy Peter Temple. 

JUDY D:  Judy felt the same as Charis.  She couldn't understand a lot of it but said it was OK.  She normally likes crime thrillers.

DEAD POINT

LESLEY:  This is the third book in the Jack Irish series.  Jack has a messy life and he is unlucky in love.  There are good descriptions of the Melbourne weather and the cafe life.  This story is about a missing person.  It's written in the first person and Lesley found it  hard to follow.  The sentences were complicated.  There are a lot of peripheral characters and Lesley found it confusing and unsatisfactory.

WHITE DOG

ROSEMARY:  She tried but couldn't get into it.

BEV:  Bev said it took a long time to work out who was who.  Half way through a woman got killed in an explosion.  She finished reading it but had no desire to read anymore Peter Temple.

SHEILA:  She loathed it and only read one chapter.

COLLEEN:  She tried a couple of times to get into it but didn't like the the story.

KRIS:  It took a while to get into the story but I had watched a few episodes of Jack Irish and enjoyed it.  The pace was good although some parts were confusing.  I quite enjoyed it until about page 289 when Jack got further into trying to uncover information about two deaths and cover ups and more characters were introduced.  I got fed up with the constant really bad language and I found the exploitation of teenage girls was too depressing so I didn't read anymore.
 

THE BROKEN SHORE (2005)

CONNIE:  Connie said she persevered and read it all.  She thought it would be different.  If there was not so much bad language the book wouldn't have been half as long.  It was set on the south coast of Victoria.  The descriptions were good but she did not like this book.

JOAN:  Joe Cashin, a homicide detective is haunted by his last case.  He has fled Melbourne for the south coast of Victoria while his wounds heal.   In a little country town, a local man is brutally murdered.   Joe has decided to live in this little country town and you get the story of the local man being part of a paedophilia ring.  Joan had nightmares from the story.

JUDY A:  Joe  Cashin's partner was killed in a car accident.  Judy liked the book and said she really likes Peter Temple's writing.

DIANN:  Diann said she really liked it and understood why the detective wanted a new life.  This novel is a whodunit.  It brings in race relations and politics.  It shows a relationship between a man and his dog.  It is an easy flow story. 

TRUTH (2009)
JO:  There were too many different plots and the language was shocking.  The language spoiled it for Jo. She doesn't want to read anymore of Peter Temple books.

PAMELA:   This is the sequel to Broken Shore.  There are unresolved problems in Truth that would have been resolved in the next book.  The setting is Melbourne with a bushfire raging.   The story is about trying to get justice and how difficult it can be and also the elusiveness of trying to find the truth of things. The main character, Steve is a Police Inspector  and a good man who unwittingly gets compromised in a murder and taking money.  It is a difficult book.  There are large groups of people.  The writing is exact, no padding, spare and there is a lot of humour.  Pamela thinks it is a brilliant book but it requires very careful reading.

ANNE:  Inspector Steve Villani is the head of Homicide.  The setting is the Black Saturday Fires in 2009.  Steve has three main cases.  One is a murdered young woman in a penthouse apartment, three men savagely murdered and tortured and a drug dealer corrupting his daughter.  The writing is really good and Anne described it as taut.  There is a lot of sardonic humour.  It is one of her favourite books.

 IRON ROSE

 WENDY:  The story is about an ex Federal cop in a regional community.  Wendy really enjoyed it.  She said it was really well paced with short and pared down dialogue.  It has dry humour. and the author has a sharp eye for detail.  It kept you reading.

 THE RED HAND

PAT B:  This is a book of short stories.  Pat didn't really enjoy his writing but found it interesting that he didn't start writing until he was 50 years old.



Our book for December is the best book we have read this year, excluding any from this year's Bookclub list.

Our book for January will be one we have read over the festive season.

 
 Don't forget our Bookclub meeting will be on the 12th December.  Please bring a wrapped gift of a book you don't want anymore.
Also, please bring your own morning tea as we will be having our celebratory lunch after the meeting at Cornerstone Cafe.
It's your chance to wear something festive.



 Kris






 

OCTOBER ~ Books with the theme of Seafaring

Pamela: The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor by Gabriel García Márquez

In 1955 a destroyer left Alabama (USA) heading for Cartagena (Columbia). During a storm 8 sailors were washed overboard. Only 1 survived by floating on a small raft, but without food and water, and eventually swimming 2 km to shore. It was an amazing story of survival, but clouded in controversy regarding the purpose of the ship’s journey, and whether there really was a storm.

Judy De La: Odessa Sea by Clive Cussler

While looking for the wreck of a lost Ottoman Empire ship, Dirk Pitt finds himself in many other emergencies and incidents and dangerous situations.

Described by Judy as a good adventure story, a typical Clive Cussler book.

Jo: The Scavengers by Bill Knox (Webb Carrick Murder Mystery)

When the body of a missing diver is found caught up in fishing nets, The Scottish Coast Guard is called in. Complications occur when his death is linked to the local nuclear power station.

A good story, in fact Jo has read the whole series!

Claurene: Sharks, the Sea and Me by Rodney Fox

This was a terrific book. In the summer of 1963, Rodney Fox survived a brutal shark attack off the coast of South Australia. He was not expected to live.

He returned to the sea making a living as an abalone fisherman, he built the first shark cage, and became involved in films including Jaws.

Claurene really enjoyed the book, there were so many stories!

Connie: Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Connie read a modern edition of the story as she hadn’t read it before.

Written in 1851, it is the story of Ahab, who is now captain of the whaling ship Pequod. He is seeking revenge on the giant white sperm whale named Moby Dick, that on a previous voyage had bitten his leg off. There are storms, fights and plenty of exciting adventures.

Joan: The Catalpa Rescue by Peter FitzSimmons

Joan described this as a fabulous and true story of a daring plan, in 1869, to free six Irish political prisoners from the Fremantle Prison in Western Australia. It not only told of the escape of the prisoners on a boat disguised as a whaler, but included much information about Irish struggles and the back stories of those involved in the rescue. A great story, Joan loved the topic.

Judy J: The Batavia by Peter FitzSimmons

The Batavia was the flag ship of the Dutch East Indies Company built to trade in the very lucrative spice trade. In 1629 on its maiden voyage it ran aground on a reef off the coast of Western Australia.

While the captain and a number of crew set out in the longboat seeking help, the survivors were left on nearby islands with no enough supplies for all of them survive. A reign of terror began, murder, rape, mayhem and mutiny, and mixed in with incredible tales of survival and bravery.

He is a great story teller!

Val I: Lands Beyond the Sea by Tamara McKinley (Ocean Trilogy #1)

The book tells the story of of the early days of the first settlement. Those who survived the dreadful conditions on the boats were then faced with the harsh reality and rough conditions of life in the colonies. Val found it spell-binding and couldn’t put it down. The descriptions of the development of Parramatta and the Hawkesbury were of particular interest.

Colleen: Titanic

On April 14^th 1912, after 4 days at sea, the Titanic sank having hit an iceberg drifting in the south Atlantic. There were lifeboats for less than half the passengers and crew, and no ship responded to their distress signals. Eventually at 7am the next morning the first rescue boats arrived. 705 people survived, while 1523 were lost making it the greatest maritime disaster.

Pat B: Under Full Sail by Rob Mundle

This book tells the story of how the majestic clipper ships shaped Australia by bringing thousands of migrants to our shores. Pat described these stories as fascinating, quirky and very interesting.

Judy A: In the Kingdom of the Ice by Hampton Sides

At the end of the 18^th century, people were obsessed with getting to the North Pole. Some believed there could be a passage through the Pacific and into the Barring Straits. A journey was financed by the wealthy owner of the New York Herald. Two years into the voyage the ship was trapped in ice and eventually sank. The men found themselves a thousand miles north of Siberia with only the barest supplies

Judy described it as a really engrossing read.

Charis: Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brien (20 novels in the Aubrey-Maturin series)

Jack Aubrey takes control of a ship as the new master. He not only has to deal with the battles in the Napoleonic Wars but his relationship with others on board.

Claris enjoyed the great descriptions of life on board; it was an engaging book but the detail was overwhelming at times.

Wendy also read it, loved it and couldn’t put it down. She thought the characters were very well drawn. “Jane Austen on a warship.”

She also read The Secret Life of James Cook by Graham Ley. This she found very dry in comparison.

Diann: Captain Courageous by Rudyard Kipling

Published in 1897, it is the story of a spoilt young boy, who having been kicked out of school is taken to America by his father. When he falls overboard and is picked up by the crew of a fishing boat, his many adventures teach him what life is really about.

Diann thought it a good mentor story for young people.

Pat: Hell Ship by Michael Veitch

The author is the great-great-grandson of the surgeon on the Ticonderoga, a clipper ship which sailed for Australia from Liverpool in 1852. The conditions on board were hellish, with poor ventilation and overcrowding.

By the time the ship reached Port Philip, a quarter of the passengers were dead, many more were ill and the ship was placed in quarantine because a deadly typhus had broken out.

Pat described it as interesting, but not a good read.

Val: Treasure Island by Robert L Stevenson

The book evolved from a treasure map the author had drawn for his son. It has all the ingredients of a good book for boys: a boy hero, pirates, and one incident after another.

She thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tam: The Jason Voyage by Tim Severin

According to Greek mythology, in the 13^th century Jason and his Argonauts set out to find the golden fleece.

In 1985 the author and a specially picked crew set out to row the route and prove that it was possible to do it. While it wasn’t an easy read, following the map was very good and interesting.

Bev: The Devil Flotilla by Edwyn Gray (Nick Hamilton series #2)

During World War 2, the submarine captain is chosen to take on a very dangerous rescue of allied soldiers from the beaches.

He continues on many more of these missions with great success.

Lesley: Adrift: A True Story of Love, Loss and Survival at Sea by Tami Oldham Ashcraft

A young couple are sailing a luxury yacht from Tahiti to San Diego. Two weeks into the voyage they are unable to avoid a huge hurricane. When it finally passes, the woman finds herself alone on the boat and in a terrible circumstance. It takes her 41 days to sail back to Hawaii, alone on the boat and with no motor or mast.

The inner strength she showed was quite remarkable. A true story!

Rosemary: Bailey Boat Cat

Bailey lives on board a yacht and observes how humans do what they should do on board. Very amusing.

Kris: A Voyage for Madmen by Peter Nichols

In 1968, nine sailors set off in a race to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe, non-stop. This had never been done before.

Ten months later, only one man would cross the finish line and find fame and fortune.

For the others, it was death, madness and failure.

Kris described the book as riveting: the characters were so interesting, a combination of braveness and madness. But they all had one thing in common, the need to win. It was a great read!

Julia: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel DeFoe

It was an amazing story, especially when you remember that is a true story and the characters are real.

DECEMBER ~ The best book you've read this year (but not from Book Club)