Below are the answers to our previous Literary Quiz – who are the authors of the books with a person’s name as the title? David Copperfield Charles Dickens Emma Jane Austen Rebecca Daphne de Maurier Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte Tom Jones Henry Fielding Oliver Twist Charles Dickens Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy Madame Bovary Gustav Flaubert
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke This is not the first book that I have read with a similar plot. A small group of people finds themselves in an out-of-the-way place, isolated when something unexpected happens. It is what happens to them that makes this story different. For me this story was overly seasoned with sexual innuendo,
Reviewed by Gail McDonald This is a great story for young children of two to five, of a mother and child who visit a beach on a windy day. The story focuses on the child and her dog exploring the deserted beach finding strands of seaweed and a tiny pink heart shaped shell. On each
Reviewed by Rod McLary Even though this is the author’s second book [his debut novel was Twelve Secrets] I had not previously heard of him. As the novel’s title is Eleven Liars and the previous one is called Twelve Secrets, there is more than a suggestion that we are at the beginning of a series
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Stephanie Bishop is a well-known writer according to the critiques I’ve read. The critics, to a woman, are fulsome in their praise, yet when I review her latest book The Anniversary, I’m thrown into doubt. She begins by telling us that novelist JB Blackwood has taken a holiday with her husband
The shortlist for the $60,000 Stella Prize for women and non-binary writers has been announced. The shortlisted books are: We Come With This Place (Debra Dank, Echo) big beautiful female theory (Eloise Grills, Affirm) The Jaguar (Sarah Holland-Batt, UQP) Hydra (Adriane Howell, Transit Lounge) Indelible City (Louisa Lim, Text) Bad Art Mother (Edwina Preston, Wakefield). This year’s shortlist comprises one graphic
Australian author Michelle de Kretser has won in the fiction category of the Rathbones Folio Prize, for her novel Scary Monsters (A&U). In the award’s first year under a new prize structure, winners were named in three categories, fiction, poetry and nonfiction. Each category winner receives £2000 (A$3500) and the overall prize winner receives £30,000 (A$52,500). Judges
The shortlist for the 2023 Dublin Literary Award, worth €100,000 (A$162,360), has been announced. The shortlisted titles are: Cloud Cuckoo Land (Anthony Doerr, Scribner) Em (Kim Thuy, trans by Sheila Fischman, Seven Stories Press) Love Novel (Ivana Sajko, trans by Mima Simic, V&Q Books) Marzahn, Mon Amour (Katja Oskamp, trans by Jo Heinrich, Peirene Press) Paradais (Fernanda Melchor, trans by
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Michael Meehan has set his tale in the early 1700s in France during the long reign of King Louis XIV. The lad Antoine Forqueray and later his son Jean-Baptiste had the unenviable reputations of being the only musicians in France capable of performing at a highly sophisticated level on the viola
Reviewed by Tricia Simms-Reeve When our lives are battered by interest rate hikes, cost of living pressures and the environmental devastation of floods or fire, it is a very welcome relief to read Toni Jordan’s latest novel. She handles a family’s dramas with clever humour and delightful descriptions. Her characters’ everyday lives, although ordinary, are
Reviewed by Ian Lipke Simply Lies is an uncomplicated title that describes more than adequately the latest yarn by David Baldacci. The characters create a mindset in which to tell a lie and then maintain it with the simplicity of truth. One chapter begins with a character introduced as Arlene Robinson. She is most plausible
Reviewed by Wendy Lipke The 21st Century has seen a marked change in attitudes. Many traditional beliefs have been questioned and people are more prepared to speak out to support their ideas. The children’s book, Jamie, by L. D. Lapinski highlights some of these changes. The main character and narrator is 11 year old Jamie
QRC Literary Quiz In our recent newsletters, we have included a Literary Quiz. Until now, only subscribers have been able to see it and answer the questions. Now the Quiz will be put on the website for general viewing. Below is one of the first of the Quizzes. This Quiz asks for the authors of
Winner of the Indie Book of the Year – Craig Silvey Our congratulations to Craig Silvey for his winning the Indie Book of the Year – and the Children’s Book of the Year category – with Runt. Craig Silvey says of his win: ‘Thirteen years after Jasper Jones was awarded Book Of The Year, it bears reiterating
Indie Book Award Winners Thirteen years after Jasper Jones was awarded Book Of The Year (in 2009), Australian independent booksellers are thrilled to announce RUNT by Craig Silvey (Allen & Unwin) as their favourite book from last year, and the winner of The Indie Book Awards 2023 Book of the Year. This is Craig’s second