AUGUST 2022 -- BOOKS BY GRAHAM GREENE

 

GRAHAM GREENE was the choice of author for our August meeting. Twice listed for the Nobel Prize for Literature, and with a prolific amount of written work published, Greene is regarded as one of the major novelists of the 20th century. A number of the group admitted to having never read a novel by Graham Greene, and so by belonging to our book club our knowledge has been expanded.

CONNIE - The Heart of the Matter. 1948. Set in a small town on the west coast of Africa during the early days of  WW2, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, in a loveless marriage and annoyed at his failure to be promoted, borrows money. From here his world starts to unwind as he is faced with many ethical and moral choices, with blackmail and adultery just 2 of his problems. Connie didn't like any of the characters nor the treatment of the natives and the snobbery of the white settlers. However the writing was perfect and the descriptions of the village vivid.

JUDY A - The End of the Affair. 1951. The end of WW2, and for Maurice, his obsession with his married lover Sarah and intense jealousy of her husband has filled him with turmoil.  A dramatic accident befalls Maurice during an air raid. Sarah finds him under rubble, thinks he's dead (or nearly) and makes a promise that if he survives she'll end the affair.  He survives, Sarah sees this as a miracle and immediately finishes the affair which confuses Maurice as he doesn't know why it happened. Both characters become deeply unhappy and very troubled. Many complications and strange relationships follow.

ROSEMARY - Gun for Sale. 1936. Many film adaptations of this novel. Raven is an assassin on the run with a hostage. He's looking for who framed him. By strange co-incidence his hostage, Bev, likes him and initially helps him. Then she turns against him - is she an unwilling accomplice? The story swaps around the main 6 characters. Rosemary didn't mind the novel.

JULIA - A Sense of Reality. 1963. Four short stories which Julia quite enjoyed.

LESLEY -  The Third Man. 1950. Written originally as a film script then rewritten as a novella. The movie became very well known with Orson Welles, Jason Cotten and Trevor Howard. A mystery/thriller, it is face paced and a quick read. Harry Lime, living in post WW2 Vienna ( city ravaged by the war) invites his long time friend Rollo Martins to visit. Upon Rollo's arrival, he discovers Harry has been killed in a car accident. Events lead Rollo to discover Harry's death was not an accident. A number of characters are introduced, each a possible suspect. As the story continues, Martins learns some very disturbing facts about Harry's life and his criminal dealings.

JUDY D - The Confidential Agent. 1951.  Beautifully written, a thriller. 1939 and nations are in turmoil with war beginning. Storyline is exhausting as hero doesn't have an easy time, many plot twists occur. "D", formerly a professor, is sent by his government on a secret assignment, supposedly to buy coal. He becomes a man on the run, there's murders, doubts, threats.

KRIS - The Power and the Glory. 1940. Set in southern Mexico during 1930's the story is about a priest who is believed to be the last practising priest in Mexico. Known as the Whiskey Priest, he struggles with his own sense of unworthiness and sin. The country is trying to rid itself of the influence of the Catholic Church and the Priest is hunted through villages and plantations. An excellent writer and story teller but a dismal and bleak novel of poverty, desperation and fear. Kris was pleased to persevere with the story and found it interesting.

PAMELA - Our Man in Havana. 1948. Pamela thought the epigraph meant - the serious man will win in the end. Satirical novel about espionage. James, a vacuum cleaner salesman living in Havana is asked by British Intelligence to be a spy for them. James 'invents' agents (he's paid to recruit them), draws 'diagrams' (really just the inside workings of the cleaners) and says they're plans of hidden buildings in the mountains.  People start to get killed, life becomes more serious. Well written and funny to the end.

VAL - Our Man in Havana. 1948. MI6 satire, James is seen as a great man in Havana for all his secret spying. Eventually he's found out to be a fraud, but is given an OBE to cover his tracks.

SHEILA. Didn't read much of her Graham Greene book, she couldn't continue but made the point that she loves Book Club. It offers a variety of  reading material, good conversation and the opportunity to choose to read - or not - the author, topic etc of the month.

JOAN - Battlefield. 1934 . About the politics of death row appeal. Characters miserable so not recommended. Read 'The Quiet American' 1955. Set in Saigon a British correspondent - Fowler - views the breaking down of the  colonised French and the increasing presence of American involvement in the country prior to Vietnam War. Love interests ever present. Characters were authentic with films made.

JO - Brighton Rock. 1938. Set in an attractive seaside town, behind the facade lurks a nest of criminal activity - gangs, corruption, poverty. The gang leader is a psychopath, other characters weird but Jo found it interesting.

Lesley

 SEPTEMBER:  We will be reading biographies and autobiographies of our own choice

JULY BOOKS : Written by a New Zealand author or about New Zealand

 

Connie: New Zealand Inheritance by Essie Summers

 

This author has been described as ‘New Zealand’s Queen of Romance’ having written over 50 novels and sold 19 million books in 105 countries. The book follows the Mills and Boon format where her heroines are strong characters and many continue to work after marriage to the love of their life. If there are problems, these are overcome, and life goes on staring into the beautiful sunset.

While an easy read, Connie thought the book was more suitable for a younger audience.

 

Judy J:   The Nursing Home Murder by Ngaio Marsh

 

Ngaio Marsh is often described as one of the “Great Ladies” of the English mystery’s golden age and wrote 32 classic English detective stories. They all feature Detective Inspector Alleyn.

When the British Home Secretary dies after an emergency operation, the police are called in to investigate. After interviewing all who were present, many had a motive or opportunity to commit the murder. Through quiet, methodical police work, Alleyn solves the crime.

Police procedures in 1935 are much simpler than today, but the story is an easy, quaint read.

 

 

Lyn: Māori Markings by Tá Moko

 

Lyn chose to read and talk about the history of the settlement in New Zealand, the Maori traditions, song, dance, customs and craft.

 

Jo: Fire by Deborah Challinor

 

An historical romance based on the Ballantynes Department Store Fire in 1947 that killed 41 people, most of them store employees trapped in controversial circumstances. Set in an unnamed NZ city in 1953, Fire tells the story of four working class friends, all employed at Dawsons, one of the country's most glamorous and sophisticated department stores. 

The story takes place when the city is preparing for a visit by the young Queen Elizabeth. When a fire starts in the basement many are trapped.

Jo thought it was a great read.

 

Val: Money in the Morgue by Ngaio Marsh and Stella Duffy

 

Stella Duffy has published many books herself but was asked to complete a novel begun by Ngaio Marsh during World War 11 but abandoned. There was only the title, three chapters and some notes, but no plot outline.

She set the story in the South Island and featured Inspector Alleyn who was there following up on a secret war mission.  But when two murders happen and a large amount of money is stolen, Alleyn leaves his original position to help solve the mystery.

Val enjoyed the book and thought it was very true to the style of Ngaio Marsh.

 

 

Pamela: The Bones Remember by Sara Johnson

 

The story is set on Stewart Island, 30 km off the South Island of New Zealand. A visiting pathologist is asked to examine the skeletal remains of a body and very soon another body is discovered. While it is first thought to have been a shark attack, it soon seems that both deaths are related.

Pamela was interested to read of the controversy between those in the tourist industry who promoted ‘cage diving’ among the sharks, and the locals who were not in favour.

Apart from this, Pamela found that many the elements in the plot were too incredible, and much information was irrelevant.

 

 

Prue: The Cloud Leopard’s Daughter by Deborah Challinor

 

This book is the fourth in a series but can be read as a stand-alone.  The genre is historical fiction/romance and moves between the Opium Wars in China and the Gold Rushes in both Australia and New Zealand. Her books are always very well researched and  moves along quickly with never a slow part. She is a good storyteller. The characters have depth and feel familiar. 

Her books are educational and enjoyable.

 

Kris: See You in September by Charity Norman

 

Cassy is having a short break with her boyfriend in New Zealand before she begins her law course and being bridesmaid at her best friend’s wedding.

She is unsure about her boyfriend, so after an argument she accepts a lift from a group of people from an idyllic farming collective, planning to meet up with him later. Before long she is under the spell of the charismatic leader, Justin.

The story goes back and forth between her life in New Zealand and her parents in England frantically trying to get her back.

Kris thought it was a really good read, but at over 400 pages, could have been trimmed down a little.

 

Pat: Kitty by Deborah Challinor

 

This is the first book in ‘The Smuggler’s Wife ‘series. 

When Kitty’s father dies, her mother is left impoverished, and her only hope is for her daughter to marry well. When she is found in a compromising position with an unscrupulous adventurer, she is banished to New Zealand. Much happens in the story, but it is so enjoyable and easy to read.

 

Gulf Between by Maxine Alterio

A young man is unconscious in hospital after a car accident. His mother learns that he is there, even though they haven’t seen each other in more than forty years. As he recovers family conflict, relationships and manipulation within the family bring back so many sad memories.

 

Julia: The Stranding by Kate Sawyer

 

A dystopian novel, told in the first person, focuses on two complete strangers who meet moments before the end of the world. They miraculously survive by climbing into the mouth of the whale.

Julia gave up reading it as it became too horrible to read what they were doing to the whale.

 

Judy 3: The Secret of Strangers by Charity Norman

 

The author, born in Uganda, lived in England but has now moved to New Zealand and has written seven suspense thrillers featuring crime and family drama.

This book is set in London and a group of strangers are caught in a hostage situation in a café. The shooter rushes in and kills the owner. You learn the backstory of the hostages, the gunman and the negotiator. 

Judy thought it was worth reading and hard to put down.

 

Bev: Alex in Winter by Tessa Duder

 

Alex is a teenage girl, a swimmer in training hopefully for the 1960 Olympics. She is also coping with the death of her boyfriend in a hit and run accident.

Her main rival is a young girl, an only child with rich parents and a bossy mother.

Many obstacles and challenges are put in her way as she tries to reach her goal.

 

Rosemary: Blood Men by Paul Cleave

 

The protagonist is Edward Hunter, a family man with a beautiful wife and daughter, a secure job as an accountant and a bright future ahead. But he has a very dark past, his father being a convicted serial murderer of eleven prostitutes having been in prison for the past 20 years. He has struggled with this nightmare all his life.

However, while waiting in the bank with his wife, a hold up occurs, his wife is taken hostage and eventually killed. 

Thus begins the hunt for the killers.

Rosemary said she was conflicted with this book, not being sure whether she was enjoying it but knew she had to finish it. It certainly held her interest with many twists.

 

Joan: The Silent Frontier by Peter Watt

 

The story begins on the gold fields of Ballarat as the Eureka Stockade is under attack.

A man is killed, his siblings survive but are separated.

The story follows them through their lives until they are finally reunited.

Joan thought it a terrific story, fiction based on history, and she is absolutely hooked on it. A total escape.

Her next read is ‘Papua’ by Peter Watt.

AUGUST BOOK CLUB:  The English writer Graham Greene

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUNE 2022: Books by Thomas Keneally

 Thomas Keneally, born in 1935, is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist and actor.  He is best know for his non fiction Schindler's Ark.  In later years, in partnership with his eldest daughter Meg, he wrote the Monsarrat series, a crime series with an historical background. Meg is a former journalist turned crime writer.

BEV:  THE WIDOW AND HER HERO (published 2008)

 The story is set in Braidwood during World War 11.  It's the story of a woman who meets a fellow who joined the army. They marry and he is sent on a mission to Japanese held Singapore.  He is killed and she becomes a widow after a very short marriage.  The story is told from the perspective of the widow who is now in her 80's.  Bev found it went on and on and on.  She said it was very slow moving and she did not enjoy the read.

JOAN:  NAPOLEON'S LAST ISLAND (published 2015)

In 1815 Napoleon landed under exile on the rocky island of St Helena in the mid Atlantic.  As his accommodation  wasn't ready he stayed in part of the homestead of the Balcombe family, an English family.  The father was the superintendent of the East India stores.  A great friendship develops with the family, especially with the young daughter Betsy.  We see this all through Betsy's eyes.  A new Governor said they were too friendly to Napoleon and took away some of their privileges. The father eventually dies and the rest of the family go to Australia. Joan said it draws in the history very effectively.  She said it was a worthwhile read and she enjoyed it, although it was a little bit too long.

JO:  NAPOLEON'S LAST ISLAND

 Jo read this book as well but gave up after 130 pages.  The story is about Napoleon Bonaparte and his exile to the island of St Helena where he befriends the locals.  Jo found it dull in most parts.

JUDY D:  CORPORAL HITLER'S PISTOL (published 2021)

How did Corporal Hitler's Luger from the First World War end up being the weapon that killed an IRA turncoat in Kempsey, N.S.W in 1933. When a woman sees an Aboriginal child in a Kempsey street, she recognizes the child looks like her husband.  She realises it must be her husband's son. There are several stories going on at once. There is a man who is taken to a psychiatric ward in Sydney, his Irish farmhand is murdered, and a gay piano playing veteran is implicated. Rural communities are prepared to accept a diverse population as long as they don't overstep the mark.  Judy enjoyed it and said things went well.

VAL:   CORPORAL HITLER'S PISTOL

Val enjoyed this book as well, although it is not a happy story.  The community has it's problems.  You get to know the people you are dealing with in 1933 Kempsey. One of the residents has post traumatic stress after the war.  The homosexual in town is taunted and when a murder occurs and money stolen the finger is pointed at Dalton as he is homosexual.  Val said what comes through are the moral standards of the time.  

ED:  FLYING HERO CLASS (published 1991)

This is the fictional story of the Australian Aboriginal Barramatjara Dance Troupe on a world tour.  They are on a plane from New York to Frankfurt when a Palestinian terrorist organization come on board.  There are two Jewish people on board who have two passports in different names. The terrorists put them in the hull of the plane.  Ed said by page 200 she still didn't know why the plane was hijacked or what were their demands.  It seemed to go on another path and she got a bit fed up with the book.

CONNIE:  JACKO: THE GREAT INTRUDER (published in 1971)

Connie said this novel sounded so Australian.  Jacko was born on a cattle station in the Northern Territory. He had two brothers and one sister.  He was educated at university and thought the cattle station was not for him.  He got a job with a television company on the morning show. Jacko's friend is telling the story and it starts with Jacko up a cherry picker in New York.  He knocks on the window of a fellow who had a daughter who had gone missing.  Jacko decides they are going to find the girl.  He includes the public.  That story is then put aside and there is another interesting story but you don't find out what happens.  Connie liked the way he wrote but would have preferred there weren't so many side stories.  She found it a bit heavy going and too long at over 400 pages but she still found it satisfying.

PAT:  SOLDIER'S CURSE by MEG and TOM  KENEALLY (published in 2016)

This Book 1 in the Monsarrat series. It's an historical novel set in the Port Macquarie penal settlement in 1895.   The main character is Monsarrat  who had been pretending to be a barrister.  He was very successful but got caught and sent away to Port Macquarie.  He forms a relationship with Mrs. Mulrooney, the cook who takes care of the commandant.  While the commandant is away his wife dies.  They can't work out why she died.  Monsarrat, Mrs Mulrooney and the doctor worked out she was poisoned.

KRIS:  THE POWER GAME by MEG and TOM KENEALLY (published 2018)

This is Book 3 in the Monsarrat series.   Monsarrat and Mrs Mulrooney are sent to Maria Island to investigate the murder of Harefield, the bosun who brings supplies to the island from Van Diemen's Land.  The main suspect is Thomas Power, an Irish baronet convicted for treason and sent to Van Diemen's Land.  Monsarrat and Mulrooney have convict pasts but this has not been revealed to the commandant.  This was a fast paced and very enjoyable read. 

SHEILA:  SHAME and the CAPTIVES  (published 2013)

  It is based on the true story set in Cowra but this country town has a different name. There is an outbreak of Japanese prisoners at the World War 11 prisoner camp. Some of the prisoners held there are Italian, who are mostly accepted but the people are terrified of the Japanese.  There is a big break out which is kept under wraps for years.  The town started to bring them out to work on the roads. A woman observing a work gang took cool drinks as it was a very hot day.  She felt by doing this it might be reciprocated as her husband was also a prisoner of war in Europe.  Sheila did not read it all and she could not battle through the book. Too dry.

PAMELA:  THE PLAYMAKER  (published 1987)

Pamela said it is an interesting concept but she doesn't really like restoration drama. The setting is Sydney Cove in 1789. It is the story of a group of convicts and their captors who unite to stage a play.  It is one of the first plays put on in the colony.  They put on a comedy.  Pamela said she is up to page 54 and has found it difficult.  There are too many characters and too hard to follow.  She couldn't always work out whether it was the convict talking or the part he was playing. 

TAM:  TWO OLD MEN DYING  (published 2018)

Learned Man is known as the child of humankind.  The story explores the journey of modern Australians alongside the imagined story of ancient Learned Man whose remains were discovered in Western NSW some decades ago. The two Old Men in the story are Learned Man and Shelby. Shelby is an acclaimed documentary maker. He sees the world through the lens of a camera.  There is also a parallel story with aboriginal culture struggles. Tam said it was an exquisite exploration of community, country, love and mortality.  She found the Aboriginal part interesting and thinks she would read another book by Tom Keneally.

JULIA:  GOSSIP FROM THE FOREST (published 1975)

The setting is a railway carriage in 1918 in a forest near Paris.  It deals with the negotiations to end World War 1.  It's a combination of history, speculation and rumour.  He recreates the personalities and ideals and arguments that resulted in the Armistice which would shape the future in Europe.

Kris

In the month of July we will be reading books about New Zealand or by New Zealand authors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAY 2022: VARIOUS BOOKS BY ANN PATCHETT

Ann Patchett is an American author born in 1963.  She has written 7 novels and is the recipients of numerous awards and fellowships.

THE DUTCH HOUSE

The Dutch House is a 2019 novel that tells the story of a brother and sister who grow up in a mansion known as the Dutch House.  It spans five decades of their lives and has been described as a dark fairy tale.

VAL:  The sentences were convoluted.  The characters were unpleasant and always wanting revenge.  Val read it all but didn't really enjoy it.  It wasn't her sort of novel.

JULIA:  She agreed with Val.  She started to read it but didn't enjoy it.

JO:  At first she thought it was boring but then she said she couldn't put it down.  Some characters seem awful.  Jo said "what sort of mother leaves her kids to go to India".  Eventually she was drawn in and couldn't put the book down.

COMMONWEALTH 

JOAN:  She didn't like the Dutch House very much but decided to give Ann Patchett another try and read Commonwealth.  Joan didn't like it and felt the same as Val felt about The Dutch House.  Joan didn't like the characters.  There was a bad husband, a good husband, a floozy wife, divorces and six children.  She found it morbid.

SHEILA:  After the first page Sheila decided she didn't like it but read the whole first chapter.  She found it awful.  Everything degenerated.  The characters were awful drunken people.

JUDY D:  She didn't like  the story going back and forth.  You are in one place one minute and then back in the past.  Judy agrees with all the other comments and she didn't like the characters.

CONNIE:  The novel was set in Virginia.  Connie was glad she read it because she learnt why Virginia was a Commonwealth. During the American Revolution, the title "Commonwealth of Virginia was used in the new state's constitution.  Unlike the word "state" which can also mean a country, democratic or not, the term "commonwealth" emphasized that Virginia was founded to serve the common good of it's people.

BEV:   She felt the same as Sheila.  She didn't like it.  She only read the first and last chapter and found it awful.

JUDY J:  This family saga spans five decades.   It's about divorces, neglected kids and blended families.  The people are awful. Judy agrees with all that has been said before.

THESE PRECIOUS DAYS

JUDY A:   She had read four Ann Patchett novels so decided to read two of her books of essays.  This is the Story of a Happy Marriage published in 2013 and These Precious Days published last year.  She thoroughly enjoyed both these books, especially the one from last year.  They cover a huge range of topics from her life and you feel like you are actually having a conversation with her.   These Precious Days starts with an essay called Three Fathers.  Her mother was married three times and divorced twice and Patchett explores the virtues and failures of her relationship with each of the men.  

The title essay These Precious Days is about her friendship with Tom Hanks' personal assistant.  Her name was Sooki Raphael.  She had pancreatic cancer at the beginning of Covid and came to stay with Ann and her husband to have a new chemo treatment.  It was about their time together in lockdown. She has such an easy way of writing.  Judy really enjoyed it and gave it  4/5.

LESLEY:  She also loved the essays.  The author, Ann Patchett didn't feel she could write a novel during covid so instead wrote essays.  She is passionate about what she does.  She is deeply reflective, observant of human nature.  The essays are very well written.

 BEL CANTO:

KRIS:  The story begins in a third world South American country's vice president's house in honour of Katsumi Hosokawa, the chairman of a large Japanese company.   Mr Hosokawa loves opera and is an avid fan of the opera diva, Roxane Coss who is a beautiful soprano.  It is hoped that her attendance at the party will encourage him to invest in their country.   People from various  parts of the world come together for this occasion.  Near the end of the party a group of terrorists break into the house to take the president hostage but the president fails to attend and they are forced to reassess the situation.  The gun wielding terrorists are made up of a group of men, all generals and a group of young people, two of which are young women.   Initially they all live in fear but as the weeks pass, they all settle into a comfortable routine. I found it difficult to get started but once I got a bit further into the story, I had to keep reading.  The lines between captor and captive become blurred as friendships and romance develop.  It's well worth a read.

DIANN:  She tried to page 30 but really didn't like it. 

PAMELA:   The theme is Opera.  The terrorists are actually a bit incompetent.  Initially everyone is terrified thinking they will get shot but then people relax.  The Generals eventually let the people go outside.  Everyone gets along.  One of the generals has shingles and is in a lot of pain.  They're all friendly and the characters are quite interesting.  There is a young male interpreter who travels with Mr. Hosokawa.  As so many languages are spoken, he becomes very important to the household.  All the characters are very interesting.

Bel Canto is Italian for beautiful singing, a style of operatic singing that demands acrobatic vocal flourishes especially from sopranos. The epigraph couldn't be more perfect.  The statement by Tamino from Mozart's "The Magic Flute" is that he wants friendship and love even if it costs him his life.  This is very relevant to what happens in the book.

STATE OF WONDER

LYN: This is the first book by Ann Patchett Lyn has read. She thoroughly enjoyed it.   It was a real page turner and she enjoyed the medical themes. The very complex characters were all interwoven and there was only one romance.  Marina Singh is a 42 yr old medical scientist and researcher working in a pharmaceutical lab in Minnesota.  She is romantically involved with her boss, Mr. Fox, 18 years her senior. They have kept the relationship quiet from the other employees.

 Dr Swenson a research scientist who has been funded by the pharmaceutical company, has been working deep in the Amazon forest. A telegram is received from Dr Swenson reporting the death of Dr Eckman, her laboratory colleague, but his wife and family are convinced he isn't dead. Mr. Fox sends Marina out to Brazil to locate Dr Swenson and ascertain more about Dr Eckman's death, but when the plane loses Marina's luggage and special phone, the situation becomes very difficult and complex.  Lynn felt she just had to keep reading.

Kris 

   Our book for the month of JUNE will be any book by the author Thomas Keneally 

AUSSIE APRIL

 A wide variety of authors were read during Aussie April. They come from many different times in Australia’s literary history.

 

Lesley:   Candice Fox

Candice Fox is a successful and internationally recognized author from Sydney. She has collaborated with James Patterson, won many awards including a “Ned Kelly” and her 2017 novel Crimson Lake has recently been made into a television series. 

The story is set around Cairns with the wetlands, crocodile infested rivers and the heat of the tropics being the perfect place for a couple of misfits to try and hide.

Ted Conkaffey moves there thinking he can escape the past. He meets Amanda Pharrell, recently released from jail. They team up to solve a local crime as well as investigating each other’s ‘crimes’ to prove each innocent.

A gritty story showing the seedier side of life.

 

Judy A: Elizabeth Harrower

Elizabeth Harrower died in 2020 aged 92. She wrote 4 novels in the fifties and sixties that were critically acclaimed and then one written in the early 70s had a lukewarm reception from her publisher. She decided not to publish that one and gave up writing altogether and her novels languished and went out of print.

Her best-known book The Watch Tower was republished around 2011 and so she’s had a resurgence of popularity.

The Long Prospect is the story of a young girl, Emily who comes to live with her awful grandmother in Newcastle after her parents have abandoned her.

Down in the City is about Esther Prescott, a wealthy but naïve woman living in Double Bay,who suddenly marries Stan Peterson, whom she soon finds to be moody, manipulative, cruel and resentful of her privileged background.

Not happy books, but her writing is amazing.

 

Prue: Cat Sparks

Cat Sparks is a multi-award-winning author, artist and editor. She is also well known for her photography, graphic design and as a literary speaker!

Her debut novel, Lotus Blue, is set in the far future after a world-wide apocalyptic war. A 13-caravan train of nomadic travellers navigate their way along the Sand Road through the Dead Red Heart, a war ravaged landscape plagued by surviving rogue weaponry and semi sentient machinery of the war that are still ‘alive’.

When a relic-Angel satellite unexpectedly crashes to Earth all their futures are endangered.

The first 100 pages set the scene, the devastation, the characters, human and machine and then the real story begins.

 

Judy: J  Trent Dalton

Trent Dalton has spent most of his working life as a very successful journalist. He published his first novel Boy Swallows Universe in 2018 winning many awards, followed by All Our Shimmering Skies in 2020.

His first non-fiction book, Love Stories, was published in 2021.

In late 2020 he inherited an old Olivetti typewriter from his best friend’s mother. To honour her, he wanted to use it for something special. This book of short stories came from asking people on the streets of Brisbane ‘Can you please tell me a love story?’ The result is a collection of funny, moving, poignant and macabre stories of people falling in love, out of love, reminiscing about lost or missed love and so much more. A beautiful collection of stories.

 

Rosemary: Adrian Hyland

Adrian Hyland spent many years in the Northern Territory living and working among indigenous people, but he now lives back in Melbourne. He is a writer of non-fiction and crime fiction.

His first 2 novels featured an indigenous woman who is an amateur detective but moves on to become an Aboriginal community police officer.

In 2011 he wrote Kinglake 350, an account of the experiences of a local police officer during the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009.

His next novel, Canticle Creek was not published until 2021!

The genre is the popular rural crime and is shaped by his experiences as a rural firefighter in the NT and from living in a small town.

During the long hot summer in country Victoria, 2 bodies are found. Jesse Redpath, a police officer who previously worked the NT becomes involved. As she investigates, many in the town have secrets to hide.  

The soaring temperatures, baked ground and the threat of fire add to the tension and suspense and provide a rather unexpected final twist.

 

Kris: Julie Janson

Julie Jansen is a Burruberongal woman of the Darug people.

Her book, Benevolent, is historical fiction based on oral histories of the Darug elders and archival snippets of the author’s own great, great grandmother.

Muraging, the protagonist, is abandoned by her father and handed over to the Native Institution. This benevolent institution tries to provide a Christian education to Aboriginal children. Muraging, who becomes known as Mary, was born in the 1800s in the Hawkesbury River area of NSW. She spends her formative years in the Institution and then as a young adult she leaves to search for her father.

Her travels take her from Parramatta to Penrith, to the mountains and all around the Hawkesbury.

It’s a very hard life but she needed to reconnect with her land and culture.

A very interesting read.

 

Pamela: Elizabeth Jolly

Elizabeth Jolly was an English-born Australian writer who settled in Western Australia in the late 1950s. She was 53 when her first book was published, and she went on to publish fifteen novels, four short story collections and three non-fiction books, publishing well into her 70s and achieving significant critical acclaim.

The Newspaper of Claremont Street. 

‘The Weekly Newspaper‘ is the nickname of Margot Morris, an uneducated, elderly woman  who is the cleaner of most of the houses in the street. After a long day working, the café at the end of the street is the place is where people come to share and swap the gossip. Although she knows things about everyone, she is a very private person herself. She lives frugally and has grand plans to buy a small piece of land. When she achieves this, things don’t work out as she had planned. 

Easy to read, a funny, sad and ambiguous black comedy with a very unusual ending.

 

Sheila: Ethel Turner

Born in England in 1870, Ethel Turner came to Australia with her mother and sisters when she was 10 years old. Her first book, Seven Little Australians was published in 1894. Since then it has sold over 2 million copies in the English language, been translated into ten other languages, made into a stage play, a film and more recently a television production. 

The seven children of an Army Captain and their 20-year-old stepmother live in Sydney. The children are mischievous, unruly and wreak havoc where possible with the pranks they play.

Not an in-depth story, but a delight to read.

 

Judy De la T: David Hunt

David Hunt is an unusually tall and handsome man who likes writing his own bios for all the books he has written.

Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia and True Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia, Vol 2

Hilarious history of Australia. A fun way to write about the characters, the colonies and much, much more.

 

Pat: Sally Morgan

Sally Morgan is an Australian Aboriginal author, dramatist and artist who lives in Perth.

My Place is her autobiography written in 1987. Growing up, her family had denied their aboriginality. Instead, the children were told they were of Indian descent. Her grandmother and mother had been so badly mistreated that they had refused to talk about the past.

Through interviews with members of her family, Sally discovers they were part of the Stolen Generation.

 

Claurene: Gerald Stone

Gerald Stone was an American-born Australian television and radio journalist and producer. He later returned to his career as an author and in 2003 wrote Singo: The John Singleton Story.

John Singleton has had a successful career in advertising, counts the rich and famous among his close friends, married six times and has a colourful and charismatic personality. 

A fascinating read.

 

Diann: Garry Linnell

Garry Linnell is a well-known and successful journalist, editor of several publications and news networks, radio host and author of four sport’s themed books. He currently lives in Victoria.

Raelene: sometimes beaten, never conquered was written by Raelene Boyle and Garry Linnell and published in 2004.

Raelene was a former Olympic sprinter who although coming from a working-class background, through her determination, she became an elite athlete. She also suffered and survived several bouts of cancer.

The book was her way of thanking those who supported her through difficult times.

 

Connie: Ruth Park

Born in New Zealand, Ruth Park came to Australia in 1942 to continue her career as a journalist. She married the writer D’Arcy Niland and travelled with him through the north-west of New South Wales before settling in Sydney to become a full-time writer.

Her first novel, The Harp in the South, was published in 1948 and tells the story of Catholic Irish family living in Surry Hills, which in that time was an inner-city slum. It was a hard life; the father drank too much and spent all their money. But despite this, their lives were filled with love.

 

Julia: Mary Grant Bruce

Linton family on Billabong Station in Victoria and in England and Ireland during World War 1.

Mary Grant Bruce (1878-1958) was an Australian author and journalist. While all her thirty-seven books enjoyed popular success not only in Australia but overseas as well, she was most famous for the Billabong series. These focussed on the adventures of the Linton family on Billabong Station in Victoria.

The Mates at Billabong, published in 1913, was the 2^nd of 15 books in the series.

Nora, Jim and Wally are mates and do their best to put up with Cecil, 19, a cousin who stays for the holidays.

 

Jo: Judy Nunn

Judy Nunn has been an actor and a writer all her life. She has appeared in and written scripts for many television series and published books for children but is best known for her historically based fiction.

Sanctuary, published in 2017 tells the story of a small boat load of refugees from the Middle East who are wrecked on a small island off the coast of Western Australia and struggle to survive. When they are discovered by fishermen from a small town on the coast, they are unsure whether they will help them.

                                  May Book Club ~ Ann Patchett

BOOKS BY THE AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR GARRY DISHER

Garry Disher is an Australian author of crime fiction and children's literature.  He was born in 1949 and grew up on his parents' farm in South Australia. He gained post graduate degrees from Adelaide and Melbourne universities. He travelled widely overseas and became a full time writer in 1988 after he had returned to Australia.  He has published over fifty tiles across multiple genres.  He has also won many awards and has a growing international reputation for his best selling crime novels.

BLOOD MOON 

CONNIE said "as a detective story it was okay but it didn't really get me as involved as I would have liked."  She found it too bitty - too many lesser crimes going on amongst the teenagers.  She didn't warm to the characters and didn't like some of the language.  There was too much emphasis on the detective's sex life.  In her estimation it didn't live up to the praises of the press.

PLAY ABANDONED

DIANN found this book gave no direction and did not give her the interest to pursue it further.  She didn't like the characters and the story line went nowhere.

THE HEAT

 JULIA read this book in two days.  She enjoyed it.  Wyatt is a clever man in what he does.  The double cross is supposed to end with him getting killed but you'll have to read the book to find out if he was killed.

JUDY D also enjoyed reading The Heat.

ROSEMARIE also read this book.  She had already read 6 of his novels which included books from both the Challis collection and Hirsch collection where the main characters and plot revolve around the local constabulary solving crimes and dealing with their own personal issues.  

This was very different.  It is the 9th from the Wyatt series and it is an unusual scenario, basing the plot around the criminal, but it most definitely works.  The tension is high and the pace is fast.  The protagonist is a criminal and his quest is to steal a painting and supposedly return it to it's rightful owner.  The plot is original and there are enough twists and turns.  Rosemary thoroughly enjoyed the read.

PEACE

BEV really enjoyed this book.   Constable Paul Hirsch runs a one man police station in the dry farming country south of the Flinders Ranges, South Australia.  He is new to the town but participating in community activities and it is starting to pay off.  It's Christmas.  There's a grass fire, two boys steal a ute and Brenda drives her car into the front bar of the pub.  Life has been peaceful before this and now Hirsch is asked to check out a family living in an isolated spot where he discovers a murder.  Life is not so peaceful after that.

JOAN also read this book.  It is the 2nd in the Hirsch Detective series, published in 2019.  Constable Hirsch is sent to the Flinders Ranges, South Australia as a demotion for whistle blowing on his crook cop colleagues.  

Tensions mount when a crazy drunk drives into the Pub, wayward teenagers start stealing cars and there is a case of animal cruelty but the plot thickens when a child is released from a hot, locked car.  The one cop town becomes front and centre of a deeper complicated plot.  Character definition is realistic but plot tension is rather exhausting and overall too complicated and long. You may find it an absorbing read if you have been following Constable Hirsch and wish to stay with him for the 3rd in this series.

THE WAY IT IS NOW

JUDY A said this is a stand alone crime novel.  Detective Charlie Deravin is on suspension from his job at the sex crimes unit in Melbourne.  He's staying at the family's beach shack.  Charlie is using the time to look further into the disappearance of his mother from there 20 years ago.  His father has long been one of the main suspects in her disappearance - they were going through a divorce at the time.  The narrative swings between the past and the present and explores issues of toxic masculinity, homophobia, police old boys' culture and the abuse of power.

THE SUNKEN ROAD

PAMELA said "I didn't like the book since I couldn't relate to the characters and I found the style somewhat irritating.  I didn't read past page 61."

The setting is in wheat and sheep country in the mid north of South Australia.  It's the story of an area, a town, the people and also the story of Anna nee Tolley (D.O.B. 1949). The story starts during the depression when a young mother is taken by a shark at Henley Beach,  The widower, with his young son, goes north to the South Australian town of Pandowie. That son's daughter is Anna.  It is written in the 3rd person with no paragraphs.  It's not in chronological order and there are shifting time references, even in mid sentence.  It forms a sort of impressionistic tapestry.

THE DRAGON MAN

LYN said this is the first in the Hal Challis series.  He is the detective for the Mornington Peninsula police force in  Victoria.   A serial killer is on the loose in a small coastal town near Melbourne.  Challis must apprehend him before he strikes again.  He also has to contend with the local newspaper undermining his investigation and his wife's constant phone calls from the sanatorium she was committed to eight years ago. Of course, the murderer strikes again.  The murders are eventually solved and the murderer caught.  Lyn was expecting to enjoy this book but sadly she did not, although she did enjoy the descriptions of the Mornington Peninsula, having been there before.

BITTER WASH ROAD (HELL TO PAY)

PRUE: This is  the first in the trilogy known as the Paul Hirschhausen novels.  It was published in the US as "Hell to Pay".  It is described as a modern western.  Hirsch, a whistleblower who reported on corrupt colleagues has been demoted and exiled to Tiverton, a small South Australian town in wheat country. It's very Australian. The author is considered a master wordsmith.

In the opening chapter , when he's called out to investigate gunshots on the isolated Bitter Wash Road, Hirsch realises he's completely exposed.  If anyone is going to kill hm, this is the perfect place to set up an ambush.  Could it be his colleagues or the pair of fugitive killers heading for Longreach in a distinctive black Chrysler. He discovers the body of a teenage girl in a ditch by the side of the road. A hit and run?  Getting answers proves difficult. Hirsch is a good, honest police officer who had a promising career.  The book was called Hell to Pay because he won't back down and it will cause problems for many people.

 Kris

 

APRIL:       We will be reading a book by any Australian author