by NRB | 27 Feb 2018 | Non-fiction |
There It Is Again is an anthology of Don Watson’s sharp-eyed observations on political and social issues in the 21st century. While Australia is the prime focus, the first of these 47 essays, ‘Rabbit Syndrome’ is devoted to American politics, and the United...
by NRB | 15 Feb 2018 | Non-fiction |
In Understory Inga Simpson invites us to be more truly here than we were before. This memoir of a life among trees – and all their attendant and nearby species, from other trees, to geckos, robins, goannas and more – is set on ten acres of forest in the hinterland of...
by NRB | 30 Jan 2018 | Non-fiction |
Ken Hillman gives us a practical, wise and compassionate analysis of the physical and mental challenges of approaching death. Despite the certainty that we will all face it, we live in a death-denying society and most of us are ignorant of the realities of...
by NRB | 23 Jan 2018 | Non-fiction |
One of the pleasures of al-Sharif’s book is the insight it gives into how women negotiate their way through chinks in the wall of oppression. This enthralling autobiography begins, as many books do, with its most dramatic moment: ‘The secret police...
by NRB | 19 Dec 2017 | Fiction, Non-fiction |
For the first time in NRB’s history, Jean and Linda both have the same title on their books-of-the-year lists. What could it be? Read on to find out … Jean’s picks (As I was one of the judges for the Ned Kelly Awards this year, I read a lot of wonderful Australian...
by NRB | 14 Dec 2017 | Non-fiction |
Oliver Sacks continues to enrich our understanding of ourselves and our world. In the first essay of this posthumous collection (Sacks died in 2015), ‘Darwin and the Meaning of Flowers’, Charles Darwin’s son Francis is quoted on his father: ‘[it was] … as though...
by NRB | 7 Dec 2017 | Non-fiction |
This biography of Anthony Powell is a fine examination of the creative process and the time between the two world wars. For those who have read and loved – or, as in my case, wallowed in – the 12 novels of A Dance to the Music of Time, this stunningly impressive...
by NRB | 30 Nov 2017 | Non-fiction |
Shine Like it Does is an empathetic and thoughtful portrait of one of the great performing artists of his generation. There are several books about Michael Hutchence and INXS – so why does the world need another one? Because Toby Creswell, with 40...
by NRB | 14 Nov 2017 | Non-fiction |
Stuart Kells gives us an entertaining and enlightening history of the pursuit, collection and housing of books. Kells, a book-trade historian, begins by looking at the songlines and oral traditions that collected myths and legends long before they were written down....
by NRB | 9 Nov 2017 | Non-fiction |
Tim Flannery sends us an urgent but optimistic message in Sunlight and Seaweed. Out of the ashes of investigative newspaper journalism little books have arisen: non-fiction, novella-length essays on topical subjects. Tim Flannery isn’t a journalist, but he has been...
by NRB | 2 Nov 2017 | Non-fiction |
Bill Wilkie draws us into the heart and soul of the protest movement, revealing the courage, passion and dedication of those who fought to protect Daintree. At first glance this book could be taken for yet another coffee-table tome, printed impressively on paper from...
by NRB | 31 Oct 2017 | Non-fiction |
A rivetingly flawed biography of one of the most talented Australian Rules footballers to ever pull on a boot. Let’s begin with the flaws. This is a book with 55 chapters and books with so many chapters usually see me casting them aside – they’re just too bitty. It...
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