JONATHAN PEARLMAN (Ed) Trump in Asia: The new world disorder. Australian Foreign Affairs 2. Reviewed by Mathilde Montpetit
Trump in Asia is recommended reading for anyone interested in the machinations of Asia-Pacific politics. The brand-new Australian Foreign Affairs journal, now on its second issue, has much to offer for those seeking a wonkish view of how Australia’s foreign...
IAIN MCINTYRE and ANDREW NETTE (Eds) Girl Gangs, Biker Boys, and Real Cool Cats: Pulp fiction and youth culture 1950 to 1980. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
Iain McIntyre and Andrew Nette have created a loving homage to pulp fiction with its lurid covers and taglines. This book, lavishly illustrated with pulp covers, is itself a beautiful thing. Its own lurid green cover features a number of pulp...
DON WATSON There It Is Again: Collected writings. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
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...
INGA SIMPSON Understory: A life with trees. Reviewed by Tracy Sorensen
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...
KEN HILLMAN A Good Life to the End: Taking control of our inevitable journey through ageing and death. Reviewed by Suzanne Marks
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...
MANAL AL-SHARIF Daring to Drive: The young Saudi woman who stood up to a kingdom of men. Reviewed by Kathy Gollan
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...
NRB Editors on their favourite books of 2017
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...
OLIVER SACKS The River of Consciousness. Reviewed by Jean Bedford
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...
HILARY SPURLING Anthony Powell: Dancing to the music of time. Reviewed by Folly Gleeson
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...
TOBY CRESWELL Shine Like it Does: The life of Michael Hutchence. Reviewed by Annette Hughes
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...
STUART KELLS The Library: A catalogue of wonders. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
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...
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