AUSTRALIANA

JUDY G:  "EUCALYPTUS" BY MURRAY BAIL

Judy found the book a bit boring at first but later found some humorous events.  It is the story of a wealthy Australian landowner whose wife dies in childbirth.  She had twins. The baby boy dies and the girl lives.  When his daughter is 19 he decides that the person who can marry her has to meet certain criteria. In the meantime his daughter meets a man floating around the property.  He tells her stories.  After page 50, Judy wanted to know what happened and in the end, enjoyed it.

WENDY  "MR STUART'S TRACK" BY JOHN BAILEY

This book is an account of the life of  John McDouall Stuart who was descended from the Royal Line of Stuarts.  He migrated to South Australia at 23.  He was a surveyor who did seven expeditions, including one with Sturt.  He got a backer to do an expedition to reach the centre of Australia, south to north.  Wendy felt sorry for the explorers, aborigines and the horses.  Wendy said it was an easy book to read and would recommend it.

PAMELA  "WILD MEN OF SYDNEY" BY CYRIL PEARL

This is non fiction.  Pamela had read it before and thought she would like it but she didn't like the fact the author does not back up what he writes.  There is no referencing.  Because of a serious error in the book she doubts the veracity of some of the book.  It is the story of some of the men in the New South Wales parliament in the early 1900's. Two of  these men were John Norton, editor of the "Truth" and Patrick Crick.  It is a story of corruption, the terrible brawls and the bad behaviour in parliament. The speaker's Mace went missing in a brothel! After a while their bad behaviour starts to pall.

SHEILA  "DEAR COUSIN:THE REIBY LETTERS"

This book is an account of Mary Reiby's life through letters written by Mary to her family.  Mary Reiby was born in 1777.  She was brought up by her grandmother after her parents died.  She was schooled which was unusual.  Mary was difficult to handle.  When she was fourteen she dressed as a boy and stole a horse.  She was tried and the verdict was death by hanging.  It was commuted to seven years in Australia.  She married a free settler at 16 and had seven children.  Sheila said she was a fascinating, heroic woman who prospered in Australia. She was a very clever woman and was the founding member of the Bank of N.S.W.

ROSEMARIE  "TIN TICKET" BY DEBORAH J SWISS

The author, was hiking in Tasmania in 2004 when an artist she met, a descendant from convict women, told her she had a story for her.  The American author spent six years researching 19th century diaries.The story is about two convict women from Glasgow who are sent to Newgate prison in London for a trivial incident of stealing one spoon.  They are transported to Van Diemens land. She describes the horrors on board the ship taking them to Van Diemens land.  Rosemarie is enjoying it and likes the author's ability to tell facts in a readable story.  She also quotes from the diaries but keeps the flow of the book. The tin ticket is their identity no.

PAT  "100 STORIES BY 100 WOMEN"

This is not a book about Australia as Pat was in Malta, where she borrowed this particular book from the library.  She enjoyed reading it.  The women in the book are between 77 and 100 and it is about their lives in Malta during the 2nd World War. They had hordes of children, one woman had twenty two. Their husbands died young, they had no food coming into the country so they were hungry and poor.  Malta was the most bombed island during the war.  Pat particularly liked the stories as they were so similar to stories she heard from her mother.

ANNE "THE LIEUTENANT" BY KATE GRENVILLE

The book is based on the life of William Dawes but Anne says it is fictional.  He was an astronomer who came out from England in the hope of sighting Haley's comet. The young Aboriginals visited him and he tried to learn the language.  The Governor ordered him to capture or kill six Aboriginals.  Dawes was sent back as he didn't approve.  Anne found it a bit boring and didn't enjoy it as she is not interested in astronomy.

LAURA  "THE HARP IN THE SOUTH" BY RUTH PARK

The book is set in an inner city suburb of Sydney and it is written and set in the 1940's.  It is about a poor family of  Irish immigrants, the parents and their two daughters.  The father drinks away any money.  They have boarders in various rooms as well as bedbugs!  There are moments of joy and they seem to be quite happy with very little.  It is a story of ordinary lives.  Laura really enjoyed it, found it very readable and would recommend this book.

CONNIE "SCAPEGALLOWS" BY CAROL BIRCH

This is a novel about the people who escaped the gallows and whose punishment was commuted to transportation.  Connie enjoyed the book but would have preferred more about the time in Australia.  It didn't get to Australia until the end.  It is a story about Margaret Catchpole who was born in 1792 to an unmarried mother.  She is given to the 16yr old sister to look after. The book is based on what might have happened.  Mary became a competent horsewoman.  She taught herself to read and write, never married and acted as a midwife (not trained). She was sentenced to death twice and the second time it was changed to life imprisonment in Australia.  She was well known by the time she got to Australia.  She moved to the Hawkesbury later.  There is a ward in Hawkesbury Hospital named after Mary.

JULIA  "MARY BRYANT, HER LIFE AND ESCAPE FROM BOTANY BAY" BY JONATHON KING

The author has written twenty books, a lot about the convict era and television dramas about early Australia.  It is called an historical biography.  Mary robbed a wealthy woman of a silk bonnet and was given a death sentence but instead was transported to Botany Bay.  She escaped by boat and ended up at Timor.  Julia said it was a good read!

LESLEY  "STORM BAY" BY PATRICIA SHAW

This book is historical fiction.  It is the story of a ship full of convicts who were sent to Port Arthur in Van Diemens land.  It describes the terrible cruelty inflicted on each other and by their superiors, although some of the soldiers try to improve the situation. The author repeats herself in yet another brutal situation and Lesley felt the book could have been 200 pages less.   The main character is a fairly decent man who eventually gets a ticket of leave.  The story follows the hardships he endures.  Lesley said the book was alright.

JO  "THE SECRET RIVER" BY KATE GRENFELL

The story is about a riverboat man who was caught stealing.  He was sentenced to death by hanging but this was commuted and he was sent to the colonies. He starts up as a river man again and then comes to the Hawkesbury.  He gets 100 acres and learns how to be a farmer.  He has problems with the Aborigines.  Jo said it was a fantastic book and very well written.

TAM "STRENGTH TO STRENGTH" BY SARA HENDERSON

Tam read this book after reading Sara Henderson's daughter's book.  She wanted to get the other side of the story. It is autobiographical. Tam had no trouble reading it. Tam said Sara is a very good writer as well a being a clever and tough woman.  She runs a cattle station with two daughters.  Her American husband who is an ace pilot dumps her in a tin shed in the Northern Territory and expects her to do everything.  She hangs in and hangs in due to her iron will.  She is obsessed with the property.  There are some amazing stories and Tam wonders if it was a bit exaggerated.

ROSEMARIE O  "REMEMBERING BABYLON" BY DAVID MALOUF

Rosemarie read half of the book but said it was a bit boring and not a lot of story.  There was a lot of psychoanalysing.  It is about a group of Scottish immigrants who come to North Queensland.  They all come for different reasons and it spends a lot of time telling you the reasons.  Into the story comes a white boy who was brought up by the Aboriginals.  He is not well received by the the Scottish people.  She will finish it but felt there was no real story content.

KRIS "ISOBEL ON THE WAY TO THE CORNER SHOP" BY AMY WITTING

This book is set in the 20th century.  The story is about Isobel, a 21yr old woman who is working in a job translating German into English.  Too much is expected of her and she walks out one day after losing her temper. Isobel has grown up with little love in her life. Her dream is to write a novel.  She lives in an attic room of a boarding house and with no job and no food, she soon becomes sick. She wonders "how in this world full of people, did one get to be quite alone?  She had been working at it for some time, it seemed, shutting doors behind her, one after another".  She drags herself out to get some food but collapses in the street.  She is put into a sanatorium when it is discovered she has tuberculosis. The rest of the book is about the different people she shares her life with in the sanatorium.  Isobel has quite a sense of humour making the situation less grim.  The book is well written and worth a read.




                                               

SEPTEMBER:- Fathers

Jo:    Fonduing Fathers by Julie Hyzy
Set in the White House, the chef is murdered by an undercover agent. Through the book there is murder, romance, mayhem and recipes. The book looks at the daily life of the First Family of America and is part of the series "A White House Chef Mystery". Jo thought it was a good read, and it didn't contain any swear words.

Rosemary:   Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Cutting for Stone is a novel written by Ethiopian-born medical doctor and author Abraham Verghese. It is a saga of twin brothers, orphaned by their mother's death at their births and forsaken by their father. The pair are raised in the household of two physicians and so are exposed to much medical information. Much of this also appears in the book.

Rosemary thought there were a lot of coincidences regarding people coming back into the story, but it did lead to a good conclusion. 

Judy:   Jonestown: The Power and Myth of Alan Jones by Chris Masters   

Chris Masters was a journalist for the TV programme, Four Corners and he has written this unauthorized biography of the radio broadcaster, Alan Jones. Judy thought there was some concern that he could write so much that was unsubstantiated. On the 'father theme', Chris masters wishes he'd spent less time being a journalist and more time as a father!

Tam:  Her Father's Daughter..The Bonnie Henderson Story by Debi Marshall

Most people know the story of Sara Henderson who saved her outback property from a crippling debt. She had 3 daughters, Bonnie being the youngest. She had an incredible relationship with her father, idolizing him, even though he was arrogant, a womanizer, a daredevil and a loudmouth.
She didn't get on with her mother so her father fostered particular skills in her, including flying, saddle making and working on the property.
Tam thought it was amazing that one person could have achieved so much, she had amazing energy levels.
To balance her view of Bonnie and her father, Tam also read Sarah Henderson's book, giving the mother's point of view.
Both books were very readable! 

Pamela:  Absolem Absolem  by William Faulkner 

William Faulkner won the Nobel  Prize for Literature in 1949.
Pamela said it was a very complicated story, and so it was difficult to explain the story. It is not written in chronological order, it has at least 5 narrators. Pamela thought it was a study of how difficult it is to understand the past.

Connie:  Romulus my Father by Raimond Gaita  

The book outlines the life of his father who came to Australia, with his wife and child, as an assisted migrant after World War 2. Romulus and his family were sent out to the country where labour was required building a major dam.
The family suffered many hardships but the book details the never dwindling love of Romulus for his son Raimond, in spite of the challenges of being abandoned by his wife and the confusion caused by his mental illness. He was hard on his son, but only wanted him to succeed.
Connie enjoyed it but didn't get a lot of joy from it. She thought she had probably got too involved with the family.

Kris:    Her Father's Daughter by Alice Pung 

This book tells the story of Alice Pung and her father, a survivor of the killing fields of Cambodia. Kris found the description of these killing fields very harrowing to read and she was amazed at the resilience of the people. 
The author's father loved Australia and the chances it gave to his family. He had great determination to make a better life for them.

Anne:   The Road by Cormac McCarthy 

This is the story of a post apocalyptic journey by a father and son as they wander across the desolate landscape trying to get to the coast. Everything is burnt and cold as they push their cart containing their few possessions.
Anne found the story very depressing but thought that the relationship between the father and son was quite beautiful. The writing was magnificent, the words sparse but everyone of them counted for something. Despite it being harrowing and sad, she felt it was worth reading.

  Judy:   To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 

 While reading this favourite book, Judy noted how the children, Jem and Scout, saw their father, Atticus. Some of their comments were:
He was a single parent, and much older than all the other parents.
He read to them nightly, from his court papers as well as local newspapers.
He was approachable, a good listener and 'practised what he preached'.
He tried to instill in his children his sense of morality and justice.
He never held a grudge and always looked for the good in people.
He loved his children and always put their welfare first.

These are certainly all very honourable attributes for any father to have.

Julia:  Only Dad by Alan Titchmarsh 

Alan Titshmarsh is a well known BBC personality and garden expert. In his first novel he writes about the Drummond family who seem to live an idyllic and very happy life. All this changes when on a family holiday in Tuscany, disaster strikes them.
Julia really enjoyed this lighthearted and funny story. It had a nice feel to it and was a good read.

Laura:   Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom

Morrie is the archetypical father figure giving advice from his deathbed. He knows he's dying and takes this opportunity to share his life's wisdom. But much of what he relates we already know: eg people over things and money over family.
There are no new great revelations. Julia thought it a good book but didn't change her life.


Claurine:  Short History of Tractors in the Ukraine by Marina Lewycha

The author was born in a refugee camp and so much of the story is about her life in the Ukraine.
The front story begins when the elderly mother dies and her husband who is 84 years old, plans to marry a voluptous blonde Ukrainian woman who is 36 years old.
The 2 daughters, who are not on speaking terms, must overcome their differences, to try to stop this woman.
Within this plot is the writing of the book by the old man, about the history of tractors.
Claurine found parts of it amusing but towards the end of the book, the story was getting a bit silly.

Rosemary: A Twist of Lemmon by Chris Lemmon

It must always be difficult being the child of famous parents and it was no different for Chris Lemmon. He grew up feeling very bitter towards his father for divorcing his mother when he was quite young. In this book he talks about their relationship which he describes as being that of a 'best friend' rather than a father. There was no real home life just recreational time with him.
He also shared many funny anecdotes about his dad which added to it being a good read, a heart warming memoir.

Other recommendations:

Maree:   The Storyteller by Jodie Picoult
               The Light between oceans by M L Stedman

Pamela:  How to be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman  ...well written but with a very ambiguous ending
               The Fishing Fleet - Husband Hunting in the Raj by Ann De Courcy ...factual account of women who went out to India to work

Anne:  A Fine Balance by Rohan Mistry ... despair and hope of the very poor in India