The Godfather: Peter Corris on trivia nights
Jean and I recently attended a trivia night – a fundraiser for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. There were about 300 participants, many of them book people, giving us a chance to catch up with the likes of head of the Australian Booksellers Association and fellow...SARA MAITLAND Gossip from the Forest: The Tangled Roots of our Forests and Fairytales. Reviewed by Folly Gleeson
The forests of Britain entwine with retellings of Grimms’ fairytales in Sara Maitland’s imaginative investigation. This book is definitely for the bedside or the beach, perhaps for life. It offers a long leisurely exploration under the guidance of a sort...KRISTEL THORNELL Night Street. Reviewed by James Tierney
Artist Clarice Beckett inspires this award-winning debut novel. Kristel Thornell’s Dobbie and Vogel Award-winning novel Night Street takes the apparently narrow life of interwar Australian artist Clarice Beckett and imaginatively deepens her life’s hue, working with...The Godfather: Peter Corris on talking books
I wonder if there are any authors who listen to their own work when it appears in the form of a talking book? Possibly the real egoists do. About twenty of my books have had the treatment, mostly Cliff Hardys, but at least one each in the Crawley and the Browning...NEIL YOUNG Waging Heavy Peace; PETE TOWNSHEND Who I Am. Reviewed by Toby Creswell
Neil Young reveals and Pete Townshend conceals in these contrasting rock & roll memoirs. The rock & roll confidential has occupied one of the least edifying shelves in the bookstore. The hazy memories of too many girls and too many drugs were shaped by...Peter Corris nominates his best books of 2012
The NRB editors have invited me to nominate the best books I’ve read in 2012. As I explained in a Godfather column earlier this year (NRB 31 June), I keep a list of books I’ve read, with a brief assessment, and I assign each book a mark out of ten. This...The Godfather: Peter Corris on discovering Maugham (and others)
In an idle moment, of which I have many these days, I found myself trying to remember who had introduced me to certain books and writers. I was unsurprised to find how many I’d forgotten, but surprised to find how many I could remember. My sister introduced me to...ROSE TREMAIN Merivel: A Man of His Time. Reviewed by Peter Corris
This sequel to Restoration is a hectic, witty adventure set in seventeenth-century England and Europe. When, in my constant search for a readable historical novel, I encountered Rose Tremain’s Restoration in 1980, my day was made (several days actually). It...The Godfather: Peter Corris on pseudonyms
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...NEAL STEPHENSON Some Remarks: Essays and Other Writing. Reviewed by Matthias Schreck
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...CHINA MIÉVILLE Railsea. Reviewed by Folly Gleeson
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...
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