Category Archives: Fiction

Our Shelf

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June was the perfect month for grabbing a hot drink and curling up with a good book.     So that’s what a few of us did last month and these are the books we enjoyed.

 

Jody
I finished one book this month, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and have nearly finished Daughters of the Storm by Kim Wilkins.

 

Little Women – Louisa May Alcott

I could not put Little Women down. I started off listening to the audio book which was so soothing and enjoyable. But because I couldn’t listen to it all the time I decided I had to read it as well. Needless to say Little Women was all I thought about for two weeks. I savoured every moment I spent reading and listening. The language and story are beautiful. I read it when I was young but I know I never enjoyed it as much as I have this time. I am spoilt now and want my next book to consume me as much as Little Women did.
A classic beautiful, beautiful, book that I will definitely be reading again and again. If you haven’t read it, treat yourself to a great read. Sit back relax and enjoy the language, story and loveable characters.

5/5 stars.

 

Amanda

Stay With Me – Maureen McCarthy
I have read and loved Maureen McCarthy’s books since I was a teenager and this one was no different. The main character Tess is running from a violent partner and Maureen’s writing really draws you in so you feel as though you are taking that journey right beside her. I only wish the ending hadn’t wrapped up quite so quickly, it felt like it was all over before you had a chance to take a breath!

4/5 stars

 

The Bellwether Revivals – Benjamin Wood

This book has been compared to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisted and I’d say that’s a fair comparison. Oscar is a quiet, bookish character who is drawn into a group of wealthy, privileged students from King’s College when he falls in love with Iris, a medical student. Iris’s brother, Eden, is a charismatic musical prodigy who believes that music, and his music in particular, has the power to heal. The book really captures you from the first moment and it is gently suspenseful right to the end. Benjamin Wood’s writing is quite beautiful, descriptive without being overbearing. He makes you question the relationship between genius and madness and whether they always go hand in hand. I have had this one on my to-read pile for so long, and I’m so glad I picked it up this time!

5/5 stars

 

Jenny

I just finished reading two books, both of which could probably be called romance novels, not the usual sort of book I would read, so I was surprised to find that I really enjoyed them both.

 

The country practice by Meredith Appleyard

Recommended to me by a friend who lives in rural South Australia. This is the first book published by this Australian author. An enjoyable read, set in rural South Australia, tells the story of Meghan, who returns to Australia from London after breaking up with her fiance. She takes up a job as a locum doctor in Magpie Creek and grows to love this little town and it’s community. Wonderful depiction of life in rural Australia. Great setting and likeable characters. I would recommend it to any rural romance readers.

3/5 stars

 

I picked up Lovesong by Alex Miller from our book sale table after remembering a recommendation  from a reader at our Constitution Hill Branch. Her enthusiasm for the book encouraged me to give it a go. What an enthralling read. On a rainy summer afternoon in Paris, John an Australian  takes shelter in the cafe run by Houria and her niece Sabiha, and so begins the story of John and the exotic and mysterious Sabiha. The story is told by a writer who regularly meets up with John and becomes this friend later in his life. I really loved this book, great characters, great story, great settling and quiet moving. Highly recommended.

5/5 stars

 

If you would like to reserve your copy of our picks for June, click on the images below.

little-womenstay-with-methe-bellwether-revivalsthe-country-practicecontent.chilifresh.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully July will be an even better month for reading some great books.

Jody

Big Little Lies

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big little lies

Big Little Lies – Liane Moriarty

Summary

Pirriwee Publics annual school Trivia Night has ended in a shocking riot. One parent is dead. The school principal is horrified. As police investigate what appears to have been a tragic accident, signs begin to indicate that this devastating death might have been cold-blooded murder. This book deftly explores the reality of parenting and playground politics, ex-husbands and ex-wives, and fractured families. This book also shows us the truth about what really goes on behind closed suburban doors.

Comments

A hugely enjoyable and easy read. The characters are well developed, believable and likeable. Although it was an easy read, it showcased some serious and confronting issues. It reminded us that although we all appear fine on the surface, a number of us are secretly fighting our own battles. The book also demonstrated the playground politics often found in schools and we all admitted to comparing the characters to some of the parents at our schools! The book at times felt like a screenplay and we questioned whether that was necessary. There is a great, unexpected twist at the end which had us all talking. Overall a fantastic book and a must read for kindergarten parents!

Rating – an impressive 9.5/10

Read By Cultcha Club

Miles Franklin Winner 2015

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Congratulations Sofie Laguna WINNER of the 2015 Miles Franklin Award!

 

the-eye-of-the-sheep‘Ned was beside me, his messages running easily through him, with space between each one, coming through him like water. He was the go-between, going between the animal kingdom and this one. I watched the waves as they rolled and crashed towards us, one after another, never stopping, always changing. I knew what was making them come, I had been there and I would always know.’ Meet Jimmy Flick. He’s not like other kids – he’s both too fast and too slow. He sees too much, and too little. Jimmy’s mother Paula is the only one who can manage him. She teaches him how to count sheep so that he can fall asleep. She holds him tight enough to stop his cells spinning. It is only Paula who can keep Jimmy out of his father’s way. But when Jimmy’s world falls apart, he has to navigate the unfathomable world on his own, and make things right.

 

Sofie’s winning book is The eye of the sheep, is a great read. Do yourself a favour and read it today.

If you would like more information on the Miles Franklin Award why not visit the website http://www.milesfranklin.com.au/

 

 

 

 

The Narrow Road to the Deep North

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The Narrow Road to the Deep North : Winner of the 2014 Man Booker Prize - Richard FlanaganThe Narrow Road to the Deep North

Richard Flanagan

Summary

A novel of the cruelty of war, and tenuousness of life and the impossibility of love.

August, 1943. In the despair of a Japanese POW camp on the Thai-Burma death railway, Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans is haunted by his love affair with his uncle’s young wife two years earlier. Struggling to save the men under his command from starvation, from cholera, from beatings, he receives a letter that will change his life forever.

This savagely beautiful novel is a story about the many forms of love and death, of war and truth, as one man comes of age, prospers, only to discover all that he has lost.

Comments

This is a stunning book. It is moving and horrific without being sentimental and lingered in my mind well after I finished the last page.

Told in three parts, primarily around the character of Dorrigo Evans, before, during and after his time as a P.O.W. on the Thai/Burma railway during World War II. Dorrigo is a surgeon who finds himself as the commanding officer in charge of hundreds of Australian P.O.W.s as they are starved and brutalised by the Japanese military.  Every character is fleshed out brilliantly. The secondary characters that do not survive linger throughout the book, and the survivors continue on with an understated stain that marks the rest of their days. Flanagan even manages to humanise the Japanese war criminals who view their actions as an honourable duty, even well into their old age.

It brilliantly subverts the idea of love, heroism and virtue. Dorrigo is not your typical hero protagonist. He is never comfortable with the admiration of his men, or the praise that he receives after the war. He is an adulterer who can never reconcile his feelings towards a lost, forbidden love and feels like a passenger within his loveless marriage.

I really can’t do this book justice in a short review. A must read.

Read by Dean

The Rosie Effect – a Book Club review

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9781925095104The Rosie Effect – Graeme Simsion

Summary

Don Tillman and Rosie Jarman are now married and living in New York. Don has been teaching while Rosie completes her second year at Columbia Medical School. Just as Don is about to announce that Gene, his philandering best friend from Australia, is coming to stay, Rosie drops a bombshell: she’s pregnant. In true Tillman style, Don instantly becomes an expert on all things obstetric. But in between immersing himself in a new research study on parenting and implementing the Standardised Meal System (pregnancy version), Don’s old weaknesses resurface. And while he strives to get the technicalities right, he gets the emotions all wrong, and risks losing Rosie when she needs him most.

Comments

We all loved The Rosie Project and decided to pick The Rosie Effect for our next book. Continue reading →