The Land Before Avocado, Book Review

THE LAND BEFORE AVOCADO BY RICHARD GLOVER

A funny and frank look at the way Australia used to be – and just how far we have come.

‘It was simpler time’. We had more fun back then’. ‘Everyone could afford a house’.

There’s plenty of nostalgia right now for the Australia of the past, but what was it really like?

In The Land Before Avocado, Richard Glover takes a journey to an almost unrecognisable Australia. It’s a vivid portrait of a quite peculiar land: a place that is scary and weird, dangerous and incomprehensible, and, now and then, surprisingly appealing.

It’s the Australia of his childhood. The Australia of the late ’60s and early ’70s.

Let’s break the news now: they didn’t have avocado.

It’s a place of funny clothing and food that was appalling, but amusingly so. It is also the land of staggeringly awful attitudes – often enshrined in law – towards anybody who didn’t fit in.

The Land Before Avocado will make you laugh and cry, feel angry and inspired. And leave you wondering how bizarre things were, not so long ago.

Most of all, it will make you realise how far we’ve come – and how much further we can go.

COMMENTS

Continue reading

Parra Pods, Identity

Episode 24 – Identity

Mass human migration in modern history has made identity such an interesting and complex thing, at least we think so!

In this episode join Katherine and Nisa as they discuss two Australian books that focus on ‘Identity’, with a sideways dip into the ‘On’ series of books published by Melbourne University Press.

Some of the books discussed include:

On Identity by Stan Grant, Melbourne University Press, May 2019.

Arab, Australian, Other: Stories on Race and Identity – Randa Abdel-Fattah and Sarah Saleh (eds), Picador, May 2019.

On Freedom by Tory Shepherd, Melbourne University Press, June 2019.

On Artists by Ashleigh Wilson, Melbourne University Press, May 2019.

HAPPY LISTENING!

Nisa & Katherine

Book Review – Big Little Lies

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

ABOUT THE BOOK

A murder… A tragic accident… Or just parents behaving badly? What is indisputable is that someone is dead.

Big Little Lies will take you on a roller coaster ride with the secrets of the three women.  

Madeline is a force to be reckoned with. She is funny, biting, and passionate; she remembers everything and forgives no one. Celeste is the kind of beautiful woman who makes the world stop and stare but she is paying a price for the illusion of perfection. New to town, single mum Jane is so young that another mother mistakes her for a nanny. She comes with a mysterious past and a sadness beyond her years. These three women are at different crossroads, but they will all wind up in the same shocking place.

Big Little Lies is a brilliant take on ex-husbands and second wives, mothers and daughters, schoolyard scandal, and the little lies that can turn lethal.

Continue reading

Out of the Box – October 2019

A small snapshot of a selection of new titles that arrived in October.

Happy Reading!

NON FICTION

FOR THE KIDS

Look What I See by Judi Barrett (Board Book)

Window of Hope by Robert Vescio (Picture Book)

Sleep, My Bunny by Rosemary Wells (Picture Book)

Colours, Chatterbox Baby (Picture Book)

Spots and Dots: First Patterns Playbook (Board Book)

Vognox the Viking and the Island of Skeletons by Nick Falk (EJ FALK)

Cloud Boy by Marcia Williams (Junior Fiction)

YOUNG ADULT

Parra Pods – The Booker Prize 2019

In Episode 22 of Parra Pods, Katherine & Nisa discuss some of the great books that had made it on to the 2019 shortlist for the Booker Prize.

Join them as they discuss the books they liked, the books they loved and some they had mixed feelings about…

Click on the covers below to reserve your copy!

HAPPY LISTENING!

Nisa & Katherine