Latest Reviews

History

Queensland Reviewers Collective (QRC) is the new name for an initiative that began eighteen years ago. Up until November 2016 it was known as M/C Reviews. In December 2015, the M/C Reviews website had a major security breach that took it down, and the editor of the book reviews section and some of the reviewers responded by starting a blog as a temporary site for book reviews until the website could be repaired. Unfortunately, it eventually became apparent that the website was not able to be restored, thus ending its long and illustrious presence as a place for the lively engagement with books and film through reviewing.

Once again, the editor and a small group of book reviewers decided they valued M/C Reviews enough to enable its rebirth as the Queensland Reviewers Collective. It no longer has an association with the Queensland University of Technology.

The website that M/C Reviews was initially a part of was M/C – Media and Culture, founded in 1998 as, according to the History section, ‘a place of public intellectualism, analysing and critiquing the meeting of media and culture’. It was meant as a place where the popular and the academic could meet, and ‘debates may have some resonance with wider political and cultural interests’.

The website was initiated and developed at the University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia; since 2004, it has been hosted by the Creative Industries Faculty at the Queensland University of Technology in Kelvin Grove. The first publication was the M/C Journal, still thriving today, followed by M/C Reviews, and then M/Cyclopedia of New Media.

Acknowledgement of Country

In the spirit of reconciliation Queensland Reviewers Collective acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

Other Reviews

Memoir/Biography

Unbothered by Margarita Nazarenko

Reviewed by Gayle Williams Margarita Nazarenko’s Unbothered is not a manifesto for indifference. Rather, it is a guide to developing personal standards and living by them with confidence, free from the weight of other people’s opinions. At its core, the book encourages readers to cultivate enough self‑trust that external approval no longer dictates their emotional

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General Fiction

Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer

Reviewed by Ian Hamilton This novel-memoir has smatterings of cultural references but the one that comes to mind, but not mentioned, is Frost’s poet “The Road Not Taken” because our protagonist’s story centres on his choices deliberate and choices fateful. I don’t think Frost ever wrote the complementary poem “The Road Taken” but the two

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History

Alexander: God, King, Man by Edmund Richardson

Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Whether wishing to learn of the vivid life of one of history’s greatest figures or appreciating the brilliant scholarship involved in bringing this to the reader, Edmund Richardson’s biography of the legendary Macedonian/Greek is enormously satisfying and thrilling to read. Thousands of versions of Alexander have been scattered around the world.

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Memoir/Biography

True Crime by Patricia Cornwell

Reviewed by Rod McLary Patricia Cornwell is a best-selling author of over forty books – most of which feature her much-loved character Dr Kay Scarpetta a forensic pathologist.  Her first novel Postmortem won the Creasey, the Edgar, the Anthony and Macavity Awards – the first book ever to win these major awards in one year. 

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Young Adult

The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue by Zoulfa Katouh

Reviewed by Clare Brook Reality and magical realism blended to create a nail biter plot concerning life for a Muslim girl in a private and very conservative American College.  This sums up The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue by Zoulfa Katouh.  It connects stereotypical attitudes with the lived experience of those from another culture.  It

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Memoir/Biography

I Am the Daughter They Stole by Eileen Cummings

Reviewed by Gayle Williams Eileen Cummings’ I Am the Daughter They Stole is a first‑person account of an extraordinarily brave and resilient woman. As the title suggests, Aunty Eileen is a member of the Stolen Generations. Born in 1943 on a cattle station in Arnhem Land, where her mother worked as a domestic servant, she

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Literary Fiction

Every Wild Soul by Katherine Johnson

Reviewed by Ian Lipke Readers with more than the slightest interest in Nature will love this book. On one level it is an excerpt from the life of Min Drysdale who lives a solitary life on an island with her father and deputy ranger Werner. Because of her largely separate existence, Min has become an

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Crime/Mystery

Murder at Thornwood Park by Joan Sauers

Reviewed by Ian Lipke Few readers would turn away from a gripping murder and the mystery that accompanies it. Imagine a yarn, fiercely told of a murderer in your community and the excited buzz of police carrying out their investigations. The belief that this is what I could expect is sold clearly to new readers

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General Fiction

LIT by Anna Woods

Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Architecture provides an interesting and informative backdrop to this gripping novel of obsession and paranoia. Together they add a suspense which at times is twisted and can be frustrating to the reader. Design is the most obvious element of architecture but is, Woods states, about ‘constraints: budget, boundaries, building envelopes.’ The

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If you would like to contact the coordinator of the Queensland Reviewers Collective, either to enquire about becoming a reviewer, to offer a book to review, or to make a comment on the blog generally, please use the form.

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