Category Archives: Book Reviews

ABC National Radio Presenters – Best Reads of 2016

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abc-nr-2016Ever wondered what the ABC National Radio presenters love to read? Why not check out their favourite reads of the year.

For the full review of the book from each presenter click here.

Click on the title below to reserve your copy to read over Summer.

Book Review: The Dressmaker

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The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham

the-dressmaker

The Dressmaker is a modern Australian classic, much loved for its bittersweet humour. Set in the 1950s, its subjects include haute couture, love and hate, and a cast of engagingly eccentric characters. It is now a major motion picture, starring Kate Winslet and fine Australian actors including Judy Davis, Hugo Weaving, Liam Hemsworth and extras from the author’s hometown of Jerilderie.

Comments

What a great read!  We thought this book was going to be a story of true love and redemption. Instead it was a pleasant surprise to find it was more about revenge with a little dark humour.  A very enjoyable read that was extremely well written.  Linguistically the book was beautiful. Allowing us to feel like the characters were real people and that the town of Dungatar was a real place.

While some of us found the start was a little slow and complicated with lots of characters to keep track off, the book soon found an easy rhythm.    We all loved the book’s heroine and the cleverness with which she sort revenge her fellow townsfolk.

Rating 9/10

Read by – Cultcha Club Book Club

 

 

 

 

Book review – The monogram murders by Sophie Hannah

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9780007547425The mongram murders – Sophie Hannah

Book Summary
A new Hercule Poirot authorised by the family of Agatha Christie.
Poirot plunges into a mystery set in 1920s London, a diabolically clever puzzle that can only be solved by the talented Belgian detective and his little grey cells. Hercule Poirot’s quiet supper in a London coffee house is interrupted when a young woman confides to him that she is about to be murdered. She is terrified, but begs Poirot not to find and punish her killer. Once she is dead, she insists, justice will have been done. Later that night, Poirot learns that three guests at a fashionable London hotel have been murdered, and a cufflink has been placed in each one’s mouth. Could there be a connection with the frightened woman? While Poirot struggles to put together the bizarre pieces of the puzzle, the murderer prepares another hotel bedroom for a fourth victim.

Comments
Our group struggled with this book.  The majority of our readers found this a very difficult read, with many not able to finish the book.  Those who had read Agatha Christie before, and in particular, Hercule Poirot were disappointed.

Poirot was patronising and condescending towards his fellow detective, Catchpool.  And Catchpool bordered on incompetent.  We felt as though they had underestimated the intelligence of the reader with the plot of the story getting lost in all the theories and detours.  That, instead of throwing us off course, only seemed to frustrate them more.  Many of us felt we knew “who did it” long before the story ended, causing the story to drag a little towards the end

Rating – 5/10
Read by – Cultcha Club Book Club

Book Review: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Fowler

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9781846689666We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Fowler

 

Book Summary

Rosemary’s young, just at college, and she’s decided not to tell anyone a thing about her family. So we’re not going to tell you too much either: you’ll have to find out for yourselves what it is that makes her unhappy family unlike any other. Rosemary is now an only child, but she used to have a sister the same age as her, and an older brother. Both are now gone – vanished from her life.

There’s something unique about Rosemary’s sister, Fern. So now she’s telling her story; a looping narrative that begins towards the end, and then goes back to the beginning. Twice.

It’s funny, clever, intimate, honest, analytical and swirling with ideas that will come back to bite you. We hope you enjoy it, and if, when you’re telling a friend about it, you do decide to spill the beans about Fern, don’t feel bad. It’s pretty hard to resist.

WARNING COMMENTS CONTAIN SPOILERS

Comments Continue reading →

NEW Good Reading Resource Hub is launched!

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Good readingThe Good Reading Magazine has launched a new Resource Hub for book lovers to make reading the ‘Good Reading’ magazine easier and includes exciting interactive features. Access to the new resource is free to Library members, click here to access the Hub. When you click you will be taken to the homepage of the Resource Hub instead of the digital version of the magazine, you then sign up for a free membership with your email and chosen password. Once you sign up you will have access to:

 

 

 

  • Set up your own profile
    • Create a list of books you want to read
    • Create a list of books in your personal library that you’ve read
    • Recommend books to other readers
    • Write your own reviews and share them with other readers
  • Have access to the articles and reviews in all the magazines in a website format.  You will also have access to bonus exclusive interviews and stories just for online subscribers.
  • View the print magazine in a digital format. This is the same format as you have been viewing before.
  • Purchase books. For the convenience of readers they have connected their website with Booktopia, so you can purchase books.