by NRB | 23 Nov 2012 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
Back when my series characters Ray Crawley, Luke Dunlop and Richard Browning were losing favour with readers and publishers, a few people suggested I should have published the books under pseudonyms. It was well-meaning advice but it wouldn’t have worked. Pseudonyms...
by NRB | 21 Nov 2012 | Fiction, Non-fiction, SFF |
This book of essays and stories adds new perspective to Stephenson’s interests and plot devices. Reviewing a collection of essays is a tricky task at the best of times, since they have often been written over a long period, with differing levels of experience,...
by NRB | 19 Nov 2012 | Fiction, SFF |
China Miéville continues to give a poetic and intelligent edge to the fantasy genre. This new book is an absolute joy. Miéville’s writing in Railsea is full of clever allusions, sly glances at popular culture and the work of other writers, wit, and warmth. As well,...
by NRB | 16 Nov 2012 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
I’ve been translated into six languages, seven if you count American* – French, German, Swedish, Japanese, Russian and Serbian. This is the kind of information some writers and publishers put on their websites. It sounds impressive in this globalised age, but is it?...
by NRB | 12 Nov 2012 | Non-fiction |
This memoir is a passionate account of a conductor’s lifetime enthusiasm for music. Give Me Excess of It is an immensely enjoyable book. Richard Gill and I are much of an age, both NSW Conservatorium students (though we never met there), and so many of his...
by NRB | 9 Nov 2012 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
Memory is a fragile thing. If anyone had asked, ‘Did you and Jean Bedford ever write to Al Grassby, Minister for Immigration in the Whitlam government, in protest against a move to prevent the Rolling Stones from touring Australia?’ I would have denied it. But I’d...
by NRB | 7 Nov 2012 | Non-fiction |
According to Germaine Greer, the revolution for women’s equality hasn’t even begun. Whether you agree with Greer or not, The Unfinished Revolution: Voices from the Global Fight for Women’s Rights makes it abundantly clear that the revolution is nowhere near finished....
by NRB | 5 Nov 2012 | Crime Scene, Fiction |
This book is among the best of Lehane’s novels. With books like Mystic River and Shutter Island to his credit, Dennis Lehane has a very good track record, and Live by Night is up there with his best work. Talk about grabbing the reader’s attention: this is how...
by NRB | 2 Nov 2012 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
Getting titles right is important. I remember a stand-up comic speculating on how novels with titles like Mister Zhivago or The Sun also Sets would have fared. How about Lucky James? The working title I had for the first Cliff Hardy book was so bad it could have...
by NRB | 30 Oct 2012 | Non-fiction |
In this memoir, Lucy Neville finds love in a city of kidnappers. Mexico City has a population of almost nine million people and boasts the second highest rate of kidnappings in the world. On the other hand, Blackheath, a sleepy town in the Blue Mountains of New South...
by NRB | 26 Oct 2012 | The Godfather: Peter Corris |
Like many, perhaps most, scribblers who’ve been at it a long time, I have written books that will never be published. Generally speaking, this is a good thing for the writer and readers. Nothing of Hemingway’s published posthumously enhanced his reputation and the...
by NRB | 24 Oct 2012 | Non-fiction |
The champion who won our hearts – and every race she entered. Black Caviar. Even the name is special, isn’t it? It rolls around your tongue, like caviar itself – rich, exotic, luxurious. It reminds me of a vodka and caviar bar that was once all the rage in London,...
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