ALAN SAMPSON Schools of Fish. Reviewed by Ashley Kalagian Blunt
Alan Sampson’s memoir explores parenting, education, and the dangers of pursuing a narrow concept of success. This heartfelt winner of the 2015 Finch Memoir Prize is a well-paced story of parenting and career challenges, and the crisis that drove Alan Sampson to...
GERALD MURNANE Something for the Pain: A memoir of the turf. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
Horse racing provides an enthralling key to Gerald Murnane’s world. Whenever I try to explain Murnane’s literary work I begin by saying that while he sometimes writes about families, religion and racing, a lot is to do with grassy plains with a double-storey mansion...
ADRIAN SIMON Milk-Blood. Reviewed by Ashley Kalagian Blunt
Adrian Simon’s Milk-Blood is a character study in grit. This dramatic memoir provides another perspective on the infamous true crime story of Warren Fellows, an Australian drug trafficker sentenced to life imprisonment in Thailand – and Simon’s father. Reading...
ANDREW P STREET The Short and Excruciatingly Embarrassing Reign of Captain Abbott. Reviewed by Chris Maher
This unashamedly partisan account of Australia’s recent political history is part comedy, part reality check. It’s been said that on the night Tony Abbott lost power, you could hear the sound of a thousand comedians crying. And not only in Australia – tears were shed...
KATE BOLICK Spinster: Making a life of one’s own. Reviewed by Shelley McInnis
This dignified and lyrical memoir depicts the struggle for a convention-free spinster’s lifestyle. The anomalous spinster adorning the cover of this memoir shows Kate Bolick, looking gorgeous enough to be cast in Sex and the City, sitting alone on a lush settee,...
PETER SINGER The Most Good You Can Do: How effective altruism is changing the world. Reviewed by Suzanne Marks
Peter Singer’s recent book is an optimistic and persuasive look at how carefully planned giving can change the world. In a world that is getting ever wealthier and more unequal, yet where opportunities seem almost unlimited, Peter Singer’s book on...
ZOË NORTON LODGE Almost Sincerely. Reviewed by Ashley Kalagian Blunt
Almost Sincerely is a hilarious and playful memoir of growing up and other random events in Sydney’s Annandale, offering a sophisticated depth that makes repeated readings joyful. Appearing at the recent Creative Non-Fiction Festival in Sydney, Zoë Norton Lodge said,...
NRB Editors nominate their favourite books of 2015
Over 2015 Jean’s penchant for dark and complex crime has once again been to the fore, while Linda has found a lot to like among the year’s debut fiction from Australian authors. As usual, the editors have failed to see eye to eye on...
JAMES FRY That Fry Boy. Reviewed by Ashley Kalagian Blunt
This memoir of a shattered childhood and teenage alcoholism reveals how any child might end up on the same self-destructive path. That Fry Boy opens in the mid-1990s in the Sydney suburb of Epping as 13-year-old James Fry sneaks into his parents’ bedroom to...
DRUSILLA MODJESKA Second Half First. Reviewed by Shelley McInnis
Interiority and double vision make Drusilla Modjeska’s memoir compelling reading. How wonderful it must have been, living in the house on the corner that features in Second Half First. In that house at an undisclosed location in Enmore, Sydney, there were,...
DAVE NADEL AND GRAEME RYAN (Eds) Sport in Victoria: A history. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
An encyclopaedic history of sport, this book should have wide appeal in Victoria and beyond. In his 1873 travel memoir Australia and New Zealand, English novelist Anthony Trollope described Australians as boastful. He called this practice ‘blowing’ and accused the...
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