Reviewed by Angela Marie “Sucking hard on the filter, I hold the smoke inside my chest, picturing the toxic chemicals and black tar clogging my lungs, causing cancer or emphysema or rotting my teeth. A slow death, I know, but that’s life, isn’t it – a long, drawn-out suicide.” Welcome to Langford Hall, a children’s

Reviewed by Rod McLary It is difficult to categorise this latest book by Stephen Chbosky written some twenty years after his first – The Perks of Being a Wallflower.  On one level, it is a straightforward horror story primarily involving a group of eight-year-old children but, on another, it seems to be a battle between

Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve Unfollow chronicles Megan Phelps-Roper’s difficult struggle to leave the extremist Westboro Baptist Church, Kansas, in order to live in the world beyond. In the process, she provides a starkly honest, uncompromising examination of life in the confines of the small community. From the age of five, she joined the family of

Reviewed by Antonella Townsend I have just swung, Tarzan style, through the gamut of emotions from delight to sadness and anger.  Alfred Fidjestøl’s biography of Julius and his struggle to live a happy life reaffirms the importance of a safe and stimulating environment and a stable social system that provides calm justice.  Julius was lucky

Reviewed by Wendy Lipke How this book came about is just as interesting as the information it contains. When acknowledging his information sources, Derek Rielly says ‘It will come as no surprise to anyone who has spun, even briefly, in David Gulpilil’s orbit that this book only happened via the magic of cosmic coincidence. To

Reviewed by Rod McLary On 15 February 1942, Singapore fell to the invading Japanese Army.  Within days, Japan bombed Darwin and it was believed by many that this threatened a direct threat of attack on Australian soil. On 30 March 1942, the Allied South West Pacific Area command (SWPA) was formed and U.S. General Douglas

Reviewed by Ian Lipke Andrew Lownie is a writer that I have come across before now. Not surprisingly, he has produced a very competent piece of writing based, as always, on wide-ranging and thorough research. As a result, his readers find themselves enjoying a well-balanced viewpoint on history while, incorrectly, retaining the feeling that this

Reviewed by E. B. Heath On Drugs is the title, and the cover image features a beautiful, sultry adolescent staring, spaced-out, at the prospective reader.   So, naturally, themes of Drugs, Sex and Rock ‘n’ Roll spring to mind. However, in this memoir by Chris Fleming, topics are more Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and drugs rocking reality.  This

An interview by Rod McLary on behalf of the Queensland Reviewers Collective To me, Wolfe Island seems set in a world which is uncertain and insecure.  A world which is under threat even from the ocean which appears ready to swallow Wolfe Island at any time.  In fact, water in all its forms – ocean,

Reviewed by Ian Lipke It is always unwise to write Stephen King off as a ‘has been’, as a writer who is ‘long past his best’. I think I might have been one of those who judged prematurely. I did not like Sleeping Beauties. When The Outsider came along, I put it on my shelf

Reviewed by Ian Lipke No matter how dark the clouds, bright the lightning or loud the roar of thunder, don’t be afraid of the trouble ahead, keep walking and face up to it. Eventually the storm will pass, and you will emerge in the sun (269). I suppose it is normal to be sceptical about

Reviewed by Ian Lipke When offered this book to review I came close to rejecting it. That I struggle when dealing with mathematical concepts is beyond debate. But I could not resist the title. A mathematics of life I could comprehend, but of death? Yates grabbed me when he stated that understanding the number systems

Reviewed by Rod McLary The Rich Man’s House is a substantial book – not only in terms of its length as it is just shy of 600 pages – but in terms of its scope and subject matter.  Ostensibly a thriller, it is far more than that.  Using a well-tried technique in the thriller genre,

Reviewed by Ian Lipke I came to Olivier Wieviorka’s history of the famed resistance in Europe during World War II with a great deal of almost-contained enthusiasm. I’d been brought up with stories like Odette and Carve Her Name with Pride; I loved the tales of The White Mouse, although televised versions I found wanting.

Reviewed by Ian Lipke To my constant love, my soulmate, my playmate, MOKHINISO, Spirits of Genghis Khan and Omar Khayyam reincarnated in a moon as lucent as a perfect pearl. This statement introduces Wilbur Smith’s book Ghost Fire. I’m sure that it is intended as a public statement of love for his fourth wife. While