Searching for a Heart

By Perry Middlemiss on July 27, 2012 2:13 PM | No TrackBacks

In the past couple of days we've learned that the Australian Federal Government will not attempt to stop David Hicks from obtaining royalties from his memoir of his time in Gitmo. John Birmingham reckons Hicks is a "disgraceful tool", but thinks the government is even worse for wasting time, money and effort to stop the author from receiving his dues. He's right, as usual.

At any one time there's always someone in the Australian literary blogging community who appears to be in the ascendant - maybe they are just about to have a major work published or appear to have their finger on the pulse of what is going on. A few years back it was Angela Meyer who ran the Literary Minded weblog for Crikey and who has now pretty much become established everywhere. We now only await the first novel. Currently I have my eye on Estelle Tang, proprietor of the 3000 Books weblog and an editor at Oxford University Press. She answers a few questions for the Wheeler Centre which will give you some idea of what she is up to.

Justine Larbalestier describes her recent visit to a Sydney high school to talk about her latest book, Team Human, and, in the process, remembers a visit to her high school back when she was in year 10 by a very, very scarey author.

Chris Womersley has been nominated for a CWA (Crime Writers' Association) Gold Dagger Award in the UK for his novel Bereft.

Ailsa Piper's new book details her "sin-walk" of 1300 kilometres across Spain. Her essay on the Meanjin blog about her bookshop pilgrimage around Australia seems to have been no less enlightening.

I reckon if Kim Wilkins worked as a dominatrix she'd make a fortune. She offers advice to writers: basically, shut up and get on it with. As she says: "And all this is true, I know, because I am a fucking expert and I am always right."

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The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Greene's famous novel about the French War in Vietnam in the 1950s and the beginnings of American involvement. Such power behind such a delicate touch.

The Marvellous Boy by Peter Corris
The third Cliff Hardy novel from 1982. Corris writes in the classic Private Investigator tradition, mixing a complicated plot with memorable characters and solid locale descriptions. Terrific stuff.

A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
Book Three in Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" saga. Many, many story-threads come to a head and then open back out again to maintain a stunning series.

Killing Floor by Lee Child
The first Jack Reacher novel, in which he investigates the death of his brother and a major crime ring in a small country town. A little rough around the edges but you can see where the later novels sprung from.

The Eerie Silence: Are we Alone in the Universe? by Paul Davies
Davies contemplates the subtitle, examining all the evidence and possibilities.

The Diggers Rest Hotel by Geoffrey McGeachin
The 2011 Ned Kelly Award winner - the first Charlie Berlin novel. A Melbourne detective investigates a series of robberies and a murder in Albury-Wondonga in the 1950s.

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
The second volume of Martin's monumental Song of Fire and Ice sequence. Not as good as the first volume and acts more as a stage-setting set of exercises, but you can tell it's building up to something big.

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes
The 2011 Man Booker Prize winner. Not Barnes's best book but highly readable and echoes some of his very early work.

Hook's Mountain by James McQueen
McQueen's sadly neglected novel from the early eighties. A WW II returned serviceman dives headfirst into environmental confrontation. This may be Australia's first "eco-terrorism" novel.

The Troubled Man by Henning Menkell
Menkell's last "Kurt Wallander" novel. As the detective investigates the disappearance of his daughter's future parents-in-law he encounters dark clouds everywhere, including his own life, past and future.

Shatter by Michael Robotham
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Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
Gaiman's coming-of-age story about a crippled boy and his attempt to save Asgard from the Frost Giants.

The Goldilocks Enigma by Paul Davies
Davies's investigation into why the universe is like it is - "weak", "strong" and "final" anthropic theories all get a going over.

The Devil and Sherlock Holmes by David Grann
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Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell's investigation of why some people are more successful than others. Interesting but not up to his previous work.

The Impossible Dead by Ian Rankin
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