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‘Grant & I: Inside and Outside the Go-Betweens’ by Robert Forster – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Penguin; 352 pages; 2017. We created the most romantic thing two heterosexual men can, a pop group. Between us it was always an exchange (page 126). Robert Forster co-founded the Australian indie band the Go-Betweens with Grant McLennan in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The Forster/McLennan songwriting partnership was one of the most…
‘The Adversary’ by Ronnie Scott – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Penguin; 244 pages; 2020. I don’t know how I feel about Ronnie Scott’s debut novel The Adversary. It’s one of those books that is enjoyable to read, but so little of it sticks afterwards you wonder if you read it at all. But what does stick with me is the “vibe” —…
‘Long Island’ by Colm Tóibín – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Picador; 304 pages; 2024. Long Island is the sequel to Colm Tóibín’s 2009 novel Brooklyn, which was the story of a young Irish émigré moving to the US in the 1950s, torn between two countries and two love interests. Long Island picks up Eilis Lacey’s life 20 years later. Married to Italian-American…
‘Girl on a Bicycle’ by Leland Bardwell – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Liberties Press; 192 pages; 2009. What a great find this wonderful book turned out to be! I purchased it about 15 years ago in a bargain bin at Hodges Figgis in Dublin for €7.99, but it's been languishing in my TBR ever since. I plucked it off the shelf at random last…
‘A Perfect Day to be Alone’ by Nanae Aoyama (translated by Jesse Kirkwood) – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; MacLehose Press; 125 pages; 2024. Translated from the Japanese by Jesse Kirkwood. A Perfect Day to be Alone by Nanae Aoyama won the Akutagawa Prize, Japan's most prestigious literary award, in 2006 when the author was just 24. It was translated into English for the first time last year and has been…
‘Here’s Luck’ by Lennie Lower – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; A&R Classics; 234 pages; 2014. How could I resist buying a book with such a great photograph on its cover? Lennie Lower's Here's Luck is an Australian classic, often considered "Australia's funniest book" — which really sets an expectation, right? First published in 1930, it's set in Sydney during the early Depression…
‘Bad Cop: Peter Dutton’s Strongman Politics’ by Lech Blaine (Quarterly Essay #93) – Reading Matters
Non-fiction - paperback/magazine; Quarterly Essay; 171 pages; March 2024. Peter Dutton, the leader of Australia's (right-wing) Liberal Party and current Leader of the Opposition, needs no introduction to Australian readers. For those abroad, think of him as a less flamboyant version of Donald Trump or the UK's Priti Patel — tough on immigration and national…
‘The Pornographer’ by John McGahern – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Faber and Faber; 260 pages; 2009. Most longtime followers of this blog will know that John McGahern (1934-2006) is my favourite writer. I discovered him not long after he died, promptly went out and bought all his novels (just six; he wasn't prolific) and read them all bar one. I ended up…
‘Highway 13’ by Fiona McFarlane – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Allen & Unwin; 320 pages; 2024. Fiona McFarlane's Highway 13 made my list of favourite books of 2024. It's a themed collection of short stories centred around the crimes of a serial killer, but this book is not what you might think. Contrary to what the blurb and some reviewers suggest, Highway…
‘Dusk’ by Robbie Arnott – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Picador Australia; 264 pages; 2024. Around the world, stories of mysterious "big cats" have captured imaginations, from the UK's Beast of Bodmin Moor to Australia's Blue Mountains panther. These large, panther-like creatures are often spotted in rural or remote areas, though they’re not native to the countries where they’re seen. Some locals…
‘The Deal’ by Alex Miller – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Allen & Unwin; 304 pages; 2024. At 87, award-winning Australian writer Alex Miller could easily be forgiven for stepping away from writing. Yet, he continues to create engaging stories that delve into the complexities of the human experience — The Deal is no exception. Miller's 14th novel revisits themes familiar in his…
‘Open Water’ by Caleb Azumah Nelson – Reading Matters
Fiction - hardcover; Viking; 160 pages; 2021. Do you sometimes pick up a book and get so completely swept away by the story that you lose all sense of time? That happened to me when I read Open Water, by British-Ghanian writer Caleb Azumah Nelson, a novella I had picked up by chance at my…
‘Imminence’ by Mariana Dimópulos (translated by Alice Whitmore) – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Giramondo; 176 pages; 2019. Translated from the Spanish by Alice Whitmore. Imminence, by Mariana Dimópulos, is the story of a first-time mother grappling with her lifelong emotional detachment, a challenge that intensifies when she brings her baby home. It was originally published in 2014 in Argentina as Pendiente and translated from Spanish into…
‘The Season’ by Helen Garner – Reading Matters
Non-fiction - paperback; Text Publishing; 208 pages; 2024. After a decade-long break from full-length books, Helen Garner returns with The Season, her first major work since publishing her diaries and essay collections. Over the years, Garner has focused mainly on true crime, but in this new nonfiction book, she turns her attention to our national…
‘A Woman in Sardinia’ by Valeria Usala (translated by Katherine Gregor) – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Text Publishing; 240 pages; 2024. Translated from the Italian by Katherine Gregor. When I purchased Valeria Usala's A Woman in Sardinia earlier in the year, I mistakenly thought it was a rediscovered Italian classic — akin to Forbidden Notebook by Alba de Céspedes, which everyone was raving about last year — but…
‘Child of All Nations’ by Irmgard Keun (translated by Michael Hofmann) – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Penguin Modern Classics; 208 pages; 2009. Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann. Child of All Nations by Irmgard Keun (1905–1982) is a charming yet haunting story about a young girl travelling across Europe with her parents as they flee political persecution in the 1930s. First published in 1938 under the German…
‘Athena’ by John Banville – Reading Matters
Athena is the final volume in John Banville's Frames trilogy, which comprises The Book of Evidence and Ghosts. It follows the life and times of murderer Freddie Montgomery, who has now become an art expert charged with authenticating a series of Old Masters that are likely to be fake.
A readers’ guide to the novels of Richard Flanagan – Reading Matters
This week, Richard Flanagan won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, becoming the first writer to win both the Booker Prize (for fiction) and the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. This guide gives an overview of the eight novels he has written during his 30-year career
‘Theory & Practice’ by Michelle de Kretser – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Text Publishing; 183 pages; 2024. Michelle de Kretser’s new book, Theory & Practice, includes a revealing quote that sheds light on its structure and style: An artist once told me that she no longer wanted to make art that looked like art. I was discovering that I no longer wanted to write…
‘Boxes’ by Pascal Garnier (translated by Melanie Florence) – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Gallic; 169 pages; 2015. Translated from the French by Melanie Florence. This is the fourth Pascal Garnier book I have read this year, and while enjoyable, it is probably my least favourite so far. This novella is less noir and more psychological, and the author's trademark dark humour is not as apparent.…
‘Alone’ by Beverley Farmer – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Giramondo; 126 pages; 2024. Harrowing would be an excellent word to describe Beverley Farmer's debut novel, Alone. Yet it is also brave, audacious and intense, and I reckon it will be on my best of list at the end of the year. But be warned: it contains writing of a sexual nature…
‘Adrift on the Nile’ by Naguib Mahfouz (translated by Frances Liardet) – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Anchor Books; 176 pages; 1994. Translated from the Arabic by Frances Liardet. First published in 1966, Adrift on the Nile is by Egyptian writer and Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006). It’s a story about a group of disillusioned intellectuals in 1960s Cairo who gather on a houseboat to smoke, drink and party…
‘The Front Seat Passenger’ by Pascal Garnier (translated by Jane Aitken) – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Gallic; 140 pages; 2014. Translated from the French by Jane Aitken. The trope of discovering a partner's affair after their death has a long history in fiction, but in the hands of French writer Pascal Garnier (1949-2010), it becomes something wholly original — and slightly frightening. Fatal accidentIn The Front Seat Passenger, first…
‘Mourning a Breast’ by Xi Xi (translated by Jennifer Feeley) – Reading Matters
Non-fiction - paperback; Giramondo; 368 pages; 2024. Translated from the Chinese by Jennifer Feeley. Mourning a Breast is an astonishing and compelling memoir by Hong Kong writer Xi Xi (1937-2022) about her journey with breast cancer. Despite its serious subject, the book is uplifting, as Xi Xi (real name Cheung Yin) not only survives but…
‘Sandwich’ by Catherine Newman – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Doubleday; 232 pages; 2024. Sometimes you pick up a book that perfectly matches your mood, even when you’re unsure if it’s right for you. I devoured Catherine Newman's Sandwich while recovering from surgery a few weeks back, and it couldn’t have been more perfect. It's really easy to read (I mean that…
‘Swallowing the Sun’ by David Park – Reading Matters
Fiction - Kindle edition; Bloomsbury; 246 pages; 2012. I've been enjoying exploring some older novels lately, ones that have been lingering in my TBR for years, which is how I came to read Swallowing the Sun by Northern Irish writer David Park. Originally published in 2004, the story follows a husband and father struggling to cope…
‘Held’ by Anne Michaels – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Bloomsbury; 226 pages; 2023. I loved Anne Michaels' 1996 novel Fugitive Pieces, a poignant story of a young Polish boy orphaned during the Second World War who must begin his life afresh but is haunted by events of the past. The Canadian writer's latest novel, Held, published last year, shares similar themes.…
‘Badenheim 1939’ by Aharon Appelfeld (translated by Dalya Bilu) – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Penguin Classics; 148 pages; 2005. Translated from the Hebrew by Dalya Bilu. Aharon Appelfeld's Badenheim 1939, first published in 1980, is regarded as a classic of Holocaust fiction. It's written in a simple allegorical style, which relies on the reader knowing the historical context and recognising the growing signs of impending disaster,…
‘My Friends’ by Hisham Matar – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Penguin; 461 pages; 2024. I was disappointed that Hisham Matar's My Friends didn't make the shortlist for the 2024 Book Prize for which it had been longlisted. I loved this deeply immersive novel. It is a beautiful ode to friendship and literature and a compelling examination of what it is to be…
‘Seize the Day’ by Saul Bellow – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Penguin Modern Classics; 128 pages; 2011. Saul Bellow's Seize the Day, first published in 1956, centres on a failed actor trapped by his life choices but unwilling to take the necessary action to get himself out of a hole. It's the story of a mediocre man who blames everyone but himself for his…
‘The Women Behind the Door’ by Roddy Doyle – Reading Matters
Fiction - paperback; Jonathan Cape; 272 pages; 2024. Roddy Doyle is the master of authentic dialogue, as his latest novel, The Women Behind the Door, firmly attests. He is also very perceptive about what makes women tick — and what they talk about. The story crackles with sharp, often witty and heartbreaking conversations — frank,…