In It to Win It: The Australian Cricket Supremacy by Peter Roebuck
Roebuck's examination of the rise of Australian cricket post-1987. Some flashes of wonderful insight interspersed with long documentary reportage.
Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam
2009 Age Book of the Year. A post-apocalyptic vision of a country (Australia?) in decline, as seen through the eyes of one man. Told in a series of semi-connected short stories.
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis
Lewis's intriguing look into what makes a good baseball team. It's essentially about sport but should also be read from a people/project management perspective. Fascinating stuff.
Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob by Lee Siegel
Reads like a polemic against the dangers of the internet, but with little in the way of guidance towards the second part of the title.
Blood Moon by Garry Disher
The fifth of Garry Disher's Challis and Destry series set on the Mornington peninsular. A brutal bashing turns political. But is it related to the murder of a local environment protection officer?
Replay by Ken Grimwood
World Fantasy Award winner from 1988. Grimwood's intriguing novel about a man who relives his life over and over. A modern fantasy classic which most readers would not recognise as such.
The Tango Briefing by Adam Hall
The fifth of Adam Hall's Quiller series from 1973 and probably about his best. More physical than McCarry.
The Tears of Autumn by Charles McCarry
McCarry's masterful spy thriller from 1974. Paul Christopher investigates the asssassination of John F Kennedy.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K Rowling
The seventh and last book in the series. You get this far and you have to finish it off.
Why She Loves Him by Wendy James
Short stories from the author of
Out of the Silence and
The Steele Diaries.
Blind Eye by Stuart MacBride
Macbride's fifth DS McRae novel - hard to see it getting more gruesome than this.
State of Emergency by Sam Fisher
Cinematic, high-tech, futuristic rescue fiction. This might have started its own genre.
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
A coming-of-age novel set in a small WA mining town in the 1960s. Ticks all the relevant boxes.
Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon
Chabon's homage to the adventure novel. Reminiscent of Moorcock and Leiber.
Headlong by Susan Varga
When is life still worth living, or is it better to die with dignity?
The Pages by Murray Bail
Bail's first novel since
Eucalyptus, about an Outback genius philosopher - or is he?
[Shortlisted for the 2009 Miles Franklin Award.]
Oh, don't get me started! My father (a distinguished scientist) was nominated for a gong but missed out to hordes of sportsmen, entertainers and country ladies who have spent a lifetime supporting the bowls club. The Australian awards industry is bizarre.
Part of the problem is the nominations process. Firstly, you have to provide all kinds of personal information, my father's colleagues had to surreptitiously contact me for some of it. Secondly, writers - and probably most potential recipients in the arts - who you'd think ought to be acknowledged for their contribution to the arts in this country don't do the sort of things that the awards committee are impressed by. If, for example, one had wanted to nominate Patrick White (pre Nobel) all one could say in the application that he wrote terrific books. I don't imagine he was ever on a committee and I suspect he would have snorted at the very idea of team work.
It is deeply depressing.