Melissa studies Musicology at the Sydney Con. When she isn't transcribing medieval scores, she neglects her social life through other means, mainly by reading Japanese fiction, music and literary biography, and whatever else strikes her fancy whilst dusting the shelves.
(This is a very old photograph - her feet now reach the pedals...)
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
by Haruki Murakami
2006
PB $32.95
Murakami has established a creative pattern in which he alternates working on novels with a period of short-story writing, enabling him to explore new ideas and techniques in miniature form. One does get the sense that each story in Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman could be expanded into a novel. And indeed some of them have been, revealing the intricate process of evolution behind Murakami's works. My heart soared when I recognised a fragment that was later transformed into Sputnik Sweetheart, and it was with great relish that I discovered this and other passages anew.
Penned and amassed over the last twenty-five years, the short stories in this collection convey a boundless transcendence of the everyday, often in ways we can relate to but could only be so deftly described by Murakami himself. One of my favourite pieces, "A 'Poor Aunt' Story," describes the uncanny phenomenon that occurs when the protagonist, a writer, envisions a concept which then manifests itself in physical form on his back. "A Chance Traveler," too, struck a chord with me as a warm and poignant tale enriched by the author's palpable devotion to jazz and classical music. Imbued with Murakami's inimitable predilection for eclecticism and subtle mystery, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is everything we have come to expect of him.
We Need To Talk About Kevin
by Lionel Shriver
March 2006
PB $23.95
The decision to become a parent is one often made with great trepidation. As Lionel Shriver warns of prospective parenthood, "just about any stranger could turn up nine months later." To middle-aged mother Eva, her teenage son Kevin has indeed seemed like a stranger his entire life. And then, at the tender age of fifteen, he murders several classmates and a teacher in a shooting rampage. Through Eva's letters to her estranged husband Franklin, We Need To Talk About Kevin reveals the grim aftermath and anguished tatters of her life. It charts her son's upbringing through disturbing incidents from his childhood, all the more eerie when considered in hindsight. It documents Eva's visits to Kevin in prison, where she senses in him "an apathy so absolute that it's like a hole you might fall in." And slowly but excruciatingly, it builds to a chilling climax, reconstructing the harrowing and twisted events of the shooting itself.
With her tense and penetrating style, and a dark sense of humour, Shriver has crafted above all a fascinating and complex family portrait: Eva's initial reluctance to have a child and her frustration and resentment in early motherhood; Franklin's desperation to see the best in his son; and Kevin's prodigious penchant for malice. This is a potent and scarily relevant book. It explores the phenomenon of high-school shootings in an intimate, familial context, and raises the classic "nature versus nurture" argument: was Kevin simply born evil, or is Eva at fault for her cold and judgemental approach to parenting? We Need To Talk About Kevin is a challenging read. The characters may not be likable, but their faults are all too human, and the fleeting moments of tenderness between them are what moved me the most.
Winner of The Orange Prize for fiction, 2005.
On Beauty
by Zadie Smith
July 2006
PB $24.95
Zadie Smith presents a motley cast of characters whose strong personalities mesh and collide in unexpected ways, unlocking discourses on race and identity, art and aesthetics, marriage and infidelity.and more. Smith's depth and uncanny insight belie her tender years: she charts the exploits of the Belsey and Kipps families with great wit and genuine warmth. We are transported effortlessly from the cut-throat world of academic rivalry between erudite professors, to the labyrinthine minds of teenagers; all with the same youthful vibrancy and charm that captivated us in White Teeth.
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, 2005
Winner of the Orange Prize, 2006
Never Let Me Go
by Kazuo Ishiguro
May 2006
PB $22.95
Ishiguro's powerfully perceptive new novel raises unsettling ethical questions and laments a world moving too far, too fast. The insular community of Hailsham seems benign at first, but its secrets gradually unravel, through narrator Kathy's reminiscences, to reveal the merciless cost of scientific advancement and society's willingness to look the other way. Heart-warming at times yet profoundly discomforting, Never Let Me Go is a stirring reminder of human frailty, human failings, and the relationships, emotions and dreams that define us as human. Ishiguro deftly portrays coming of age - and loss of innocence - in a society spinning rapidly out of control.
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, 2005
February House
by Sherrill Tippins
October 2005
PB $15.95
In the early 1940s, with war encroaching on their liberties and livelihoods, several of England and America's finest creative personalities lived together in a dilapidated Brooklyn brownstone. The distinguished tenants, all from disparate backgrounds and artistic fields, included the English poet W.H. Auden, the overnight-success novelist and frail Southern belle Carson McCullers, rival composers Benjamin Britten and Paul Bowles, and Burlesque performer turned mystery-writer Gypsy Rose Lee. The ensuing literary and musical conglomerate generated some of the most striking works from this period, and Sherill Tippins explores in great depth some of the close personal and professional relationships forged by the inhabitants of this artists' haven.
Such a unique experiment in communal living, set against the backdrop of World War II, makes Big Brother seem all the more vapid. But one cannot deny the element of voyeurism involved in reading about these renowned artists' daily routines, their petty skirmishes and chaotic domestic struggles, their debauched parties and the relationships which often emerged from them. Tippins depicts these scenes so vividly that readers are invited to join the fray, absorbed directly into the fascinating cultural milieu. With intriguing cameos from Salvador Dali, Christopher Isherwood, the family of Thomas Mann and others, February House is a thoroughly enjoyable homage to the bonds, collaborations and disputes that arise amongst great minds.
Two Lives
by Vikram Seth
September 2006
PB $26.95
In this his first biography, Vikram Seth explores the remarkable and multi-faceted lives of his great-aunt and uncle, rendering both of his subjects lovingly and accurately. The couple experienced some of the most fascinating historical events of the twentieth century and Two Lives is accordingly broad in its scope, encompassing colonial India, 1920s Berlin, the devastation of Nazi Germany and, above all, a marriage that defies racial barriers and societal conventions. Seth's approach as a novelist does not interfere with the authenticity of the tale he mediates - he allows his subjects to speak for themselves through letters and direct quotations from interviews. Two Lives constitutes an engrossing medium between the romanticism of An Equal Music and the meticulous research and social commentary behind A Suitable Boy. Seth's writing is, as always, impeccably elegant.
My favourite book
I can't commit myself to just one. I'll indulge a little by citing two that I'm particularly fond of:
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
With his usual sparkling wit and perceptive social commentary, Wilde explores his darkest themes: listless decadence, cruel hedonism, opium dens. The chilling demise of a soul. Beauty in its vilest form. What's not to like?
A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
The first novel to really awaken me to extreme social injustices such as the malice and abuse inherent to the Indian caste system. Amidst the turmoil and suffering widespread in 1970s India , Mistry shapes his characters so lovingly and with such attention to detail that I have never forgotten them. There can be no doubt that it is his most accomplished and moving work.
My favourite author
Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth is a Renaissance man who will sing Schubert Lieder, spin a sonnet and appraise the political situation in Palestine with equal skill and relish. His writing exhibits a meticulously crafted grace, enriched by his travels, love of music, and unabashedly romantic sensibility.
The 1500-page epic A Suitable Boy will not disappoint a sensitive and disciplined reader. But I would recommend starting with The Golden Gate, a novel written entirely in clever verse (690 stanzas to be exact), lively and satirical until a profoundly affecting event towards the end. I cried right through the last forty pages of An Equal Music, and while it is essentially a love story, it will be best appreciated by classical music aficionados. For Seth devotees, there is also a work on his travels in China. (From Heaven Lake) and a charming collection of poems about animals (Beastly Tales), illustrated by Ravi Shankar.
The first novel to really awaken me to extreme social injustices such as the malice and abuse inherent to the Indian caste system. Amidst the turmoil and suffering widespread in 1970s India , Mistry shapes his characters so lovingly and with such attention to detail that I have never forgotten them. There can be no doubt that it is his most accomplished and moving work.
What's beside the bed
Strangers by Taichi Yamada
Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy - A subtle Japanese ghost story with a psychological bent.
When You Dream:The Collected Interviews of Tom Waits "Commercials are an unnatural use of my work ... it's like having a cow's udder sewn to the side of my face. Painful and humiliating." Behind the smoky, world-weary growl is an intelligent artist with integrity and a bizarre sense of humour. Over twenty-five years' worth of interviews sheds a great deal of light on Tom Waits' character and career.
Evening in the Palace Reason - James Gaines - Dual biography of JS Bach and Frederick the Great, focusing on the famed encounter which yielded Bach's Musical Offering.