Kate

Staff Review: Kate writes: Questions of Travel charts two very different lives. Laura travels the world before returning to Sydney, where she works for a publisher of travel guides. Ravi dreams of being a tourist until he is driven from Sri Lanka by devastating events. Around these two superbly drawn characters, a double narrative assembles an enthralling array of people, places and stories - from Theo, whose life plays out in the long shadow of the past, to Hana, an Ethiopian woman determined to reinvent herself in Australia. De Kretser's thoughtful and evocative prose perfectly conjures place and time as we follow the dual narratives of Laura and Ravi. Laura is a tourist of the world who returns to Sydney for work in travel publishing, while Ravi longs for his own travels until life cruelly intervenes. Life-affirming and surprisingly funny, Questions of Travel is a superb novel which, like all memorable travel, generates meaning through its tangents and accidents. Questions of Travel is an extraordinary novel from a writer at the top of her game.

Staff Review: Kate writes: Our March Book of the Month is a debut novel set in the Welsh valleys in the mid-eighties. We meet Judith, whose father is a member of a feundamentalist sect. Judith is the only member of the family who embraces his religious fanaticism with equal fervor. In anticipation of Armageddon, Judith makes models of the promised 'Land of Decoration'. The models she makes are an escape from reality where she is faced not only with a vicious school bully; but also the consequences of her father's decision to keep working when the union at his factory goes on strike. This a delightfully eccentric and truly wonderful novel about faith & childhood imagination.  

Staff Review: Kate writes: It's a huge call but Andrew McGahan's first young adult book is probably in my list of top five books of all time and I can't wait to read more of Dow's adventure. I have no interest whatsoever in sailing or ships, yet McGahan's simple style held my interest throughout the book. The Coming of the Whirlpool reads like an instant classic. Its gentle pace, long chapters and beautiful descriptions may make it a slightly challenging read for some teens at first, but they are sure to find themselves sucked in to Dow's world and the path that McGahan is creating for him.

Staff Review: Kate writes: Winter is probably my favourite time of year, and what better way than to celebrate a brisk day than with a bowl of Cardamom-scented rice pudding with baked rhubarb. I'm a sucker for a comfort food cookbook and following on the success of The Real Food Companion comes the delicious Winter on the Farm. Easy to navigate, with its' country inspired graphics, and full of soups and stews and delightfully warming dishes, such as the easy to make Roasted onions and goat's cheese baked custard that lingers in the mouth, we can see this book finding a home in on many foodie's kitchen counter.

Staff Review: Kate writes: I had the very rare experience of wanting to reread this book almost immediately. Thoroughly enjoyable and compelling, the Western Plains town and its inhabitants come alive. The flashbacks to war and London are fresh and rich. This book is simple but effective, with a delightful layer of gothic magic realism, and has just won 2011 the 2011 Indie Book Award for Best Novel, as judged by Australian independent booksellers.

Staff Review: Kate writes: Zeitoun is a moving and eye-opening journalistic account of a much-loved and respected Syrian-born small business owner and resident of New Orleans in the days before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. Eggers worked closely with Abdulrahman Zeitoun (known simply as "Zeitoun") and his wife Kathy to faithfully represent Zeitoun's experiences when he remained in New Orleans to supervise his residential properties and business sites following the hurricane. Eggers explores faith and optimism of ordinary people, US politics and the human service response to tragedy. This is Eggers at his best - the type of writer who can weave real events and social injustices into compelling personal narratives that keep you up all night reading and encourage further interest in the subject matter.

Staff Review: Kate writes: David Levithan always manages to pull all of my terrible secrets and wonderful memories into words. Whenever I read his work I feel like I'm always asking 'How on earth did you manage to get inside my head'? I really enjoyed reading this book. The format was poetic, almost like a string of short stories kept together by the motif of dictionary definitions. I enjoyed the uncertainty of the characters relationship and the non linear structure of the novel. It's definitely quirky, a little gimmicky and perfect for an anniversary or Valentine's Day gift.

Staff Review: Kate writes: This fascinating story of a European family and their experiences is illuminated through the collection of art. History becomes personal as De Waal writes of the nature of collecting, a person's relationship to the places we call home and how easily life can change. If anything I've now become completely obsessed with 'netsuke' thanks to this book!

Staff Review: Kate writes: Great House is an engrossing and much darker tale than Nicole Kraus's previous novel 'The History of Love'. Spanning across generations and continents, the narrators are tenuously connected by a legacy of a desk and war. Kraus addresses loss and loneliness, the nature of love and the difficulty of relationships through the confessions of her characters. The charismatic pull of a stranger, a father's struggle to express his feelings for his son, siblings who share an intense bond, a young couple passionately in love, and an older husband and wife who have secrets between them - each story is about love, longing and loss - how do we live with it and how it forever alters our lives and souls.

Staff Review: Kate writes: This is an amazing re-creation of 1970's New York. As a man tightrope walks between the Twin Towers, the story of various characters who stand in the shadow of the walker emerge McCann brings a subtle vitality to every moment in each character's story, creating a unity in an otherwise isolated world. With an amazing ability to make moments stand still, McCann's style brings out the inexplicable nature of beauty and tragedy.

Staff Review: Kate writes: Li is a magnificent writer with the brilliant ability to show the beauty of humanity when it is veiled by misery and oppression. The prose is sparse and powerful, her characters varied and strong. A beautiful novel about fear, dissent and freedom.

Staff Review: Kate writes: This book sat on my reading pile for ages before I got around to reading it. While the upcoming release of the film has seemed to place itself within the romance genre, it has so much more going for it. The crazed, dramatic and bizarre world of the circus during the depression era is fascinating and completely engrossing. Gruen spent years researching and living circus life. Combined with her radar for the period and the mysteries of human nature, her characters lives are intimately revealed. I'd recommend this book to anyone! Gruen has also recently displayed her passion for writing and research with 'Ape House.