Reviewed by Ian Lipke Emma Viskic does not wait to make an impact. On the first page a street bum gives handicapped Caleb Zelic a brief note, and the action is underway. The murder of a young woman follows and Caleb investigates. Deaf since childhood, and struggling with life’s challenges, Caleb is upset by the

Reviewed by Wendy Lipke When I look back I am utterly appalled at what I did, at who I was. Yes, I was insecure, yes, I was worried about losing my precarious place in the social pecking order, but everyone had to exist in that hierarchy, didn’t they? But not everyone did what I did.

Reviewed by Pauline Seath A confessed “bookaholic” my preference lies in non-fiction. I was delighted by my latest read, A Paris Year, by Janice MacLeod. I chose this book mainly because I have never been to Paris and was interested in the author’s quote on the cover “My day to day adventures in the most

Reviewed by Dr Kath Huxley Words on Screen is a fascinating and scholarly oeuvre by Michel Chion that has been admirably translated into English by Claudia Gorbman. It concentrates entirely on a little thought of, but highly appreciated aspect of cinema and film, the written word.  Chion, well known for his originality of thought and

Reviewed by Antonella Townsend Detox diets, in my mind, are associated with friends that bounce around in flashing, upholstered roller-skate type footwear with weird names like Under Armour.  They pop in to say hello, after a ten-kilometre run, to advocate the latest fad ‘detox’ that, apparently, will change my life.  Seriously?  Last year’s holiday was

Reviewed by Gretchen Winters I admired the blistering honesty of the new book by Ariel Levy, a critically acclaimed New Yorker journalist and the author of Female Chauvinist Pigs. Frustrated with her lowly and low-paying position entering other journalists’ stories for New York magazine into the computer, as well as inputting crossword puzzles designed by

Reviewed by Clare W. Brook Given the current examples of national leadership bordering on the bizarre it is arguably time for us all to attempt a deeper analysis of the political, and hopeful, earn the politicians we deserve.   In this Stuart Hall can be recommended as a guide.  Although his study is specific to British

Reviewed by E.B. Heath “ … a chess playing machine has been a holy grail since long before it was possible  … I just happened to be the human holding the grail when it was finally in science’s grasp.” Every leap forward in Artificial Intelligence technology (AI) is accompanied by alarm and despondency; dire warnings

Reviewed by Dr Tracey Churchill Initially flicking through this book, I became so excited that finally our beautiful spider fauna has been exposed for its true nature: incredibly diverse, often colourful and always uniquely adapted to their special part of the world! I am personally indebted to the authors who have achieved in one wonderful

Reviewed by Gretchen Winters Pamela Hart has written a very engaging love story, loosely based on Louise Mack, an Australian, and one of the few women correspondents to report from the frontline during WW1. The author has described the privations and danger of wartime conditions in WW1 very convincingly. Pamela Hart is an award-winning author

Reviewed by Ian Lipke It is still largely true that if you want a carefully-contrived, slow-moving but inexorable crime story you look among the British writers. Largely true, because there are plenty of ‘duds’ there too. Peter Robinson is among the good ones. Sleeping in the Ground is a cracker. Peter Robinson is a Yorkshire

Reviewed by Ian Lipke Michael McGuire’s first novel Never a True Word tells the story of the day by day life of a political adviser to a senior Cabinet Minister. McGuire’s knowledge of the relationship between politics and the media is encyclopaedic. He writes about toxic personalities and underhand schemes designed to keep the information

  Reviewed by Wendy Lipke Every now and again, a novel comes along that is so different, so affecting and so unforgettable, that you simply must tell everyone you know to read it…you will never forget this one – for all the right reasons. — Heat magazine The novel Together by Julie Cohen is one

    Reviewed by Norrie Sanders January 1942 and the Americans are in retreat – just one month after the devastating Japanese attack on the American base at Pearl Harbour, that forced the United States into World War II. General Macarthur’s headquarters in the Philippines is under siege and 76,000 Americans are eventually captured.  Some

  Reviewed by E.B. Heath Dystopian fiction often responds to a current reality, expanding its boundaries, illustrating what might happen.  Orwell’s 1984 brought the horror of a totalitarian state, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaiden’s Tale depicted totalitarianism via a Christian theocracy, John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids depicts a world that refused to tolerate any behaviour outside of