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Book Reviews


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The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

I finally picked up this handsome volume when I realised it was the basis for the new film Hugo, direct by the venerable Martin Scorsese. What a treat was in store! Set in a time between the world wars, the story describes Hugo Cabret's life hidden in the bowels of the Montparnasse railway stati... (continued)
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Autumn Liang by Alex Miller

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

It's 1938 and Pat Donlon is filled with the conviction that he can paint in a wholly new and Australian way. He is contemptuous of local art schools, newly married, extremely poor and ready to risk rejection he asks an art patron for money. Humiliated he finds himself in the office of Arthur Lain... (continued)
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Cold Light by Frank Moorhouse

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books Mona Vale

I know of no other character in Australian fiction who has come so completely and plausibly into our lives as Edith Campbell Berry - the heroine of three Moorhouse novels written in the last 25 years. Journalist Annabel Crabb launched the third instalment in Edith's story dressed as Berry. In hi... (continued)
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Dark Palace

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Winner of the 2001 Miles Franklin Award this book was published seven years after Grand Days. Dark Palace takes us back to Geneva, pre-World War II where Edith’s marriage to the journalist Robert Dole is slowly unravelling. Edith is despondent that the League’s efforts to bring about ... (continued)
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Grand Days

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books Mona Vale

Edith Campbell Berry heading from Paris to Geneva by train meets Englishman Ambrose Westwood. She is an Australian on her way to take up a position with The League of Nations. Major Ambrose Westwood is a doctor who served in World War I, a former British Foreign Office executive he also works at ... (continued)
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The Flight Attendant's Shoe by Prudence Black

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books Mona Vale

Did you know that there was such a great demand from the sex industry in Japan for authentic JAL flight attendant uniforms that the company issued numbered uniforms which had to be returned for destruction at the end of their useful life?   The introduction of quirky snippets of informatio... (continued)
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The Keepers - City of Lies

Reviewed by Sarah, Berkelouw Books Mona Vale

“You were born to be Fifth Keeper.  It is your Destiny”   Goldie Roth has returned home to  the City of Jewel with her best friend Toadspit.  As a thief and a liar, Goldie was able to use her skills to overcome the brizzlehound and save the Museum of Dunt from t... (continued)
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The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

Reviewed by Taegan, Berkelouw Books Mona Vale

This much anticipated new novel from the acclaimed author of ‘The English Patient’, takes us aboard a cruise liner, making the long journey from Sri Lanka to London.   Our protagonist is Michael, an eleven-year-old boy who has found himself travelling alone, presumably to be re... (continued)
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Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Mona Vale

Cloud Atlas is a sextet performed by one virtuoso –author David Mitchell. Five sections of the sextet are enacted in two parts which frame a sixth central episode.   The novel begins and ends with The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing,  a diary written by a mid-nineteenth century t... (continued)
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George and the Big Bang by Lucy and Stephen Hawking

Reviewed by Sarah, Berkelouw Mona Vale

Following on from the success of George’s Secret Key to the Universe and George’s Cosmic Treasure Hunt, George and the Big Bang is the third in a series of books written by Professor Stephen Hawking, the most famous scientist in the world,and his daughter, Lucy.  This scientific ... (continued)
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Red Dog by Louis de Bernieres

Reviewed by Sarah, Berkelouw Mona Vale

The book Red Dog is a collection of stories about a real dog who lived in the 1970s in outback Western Australia.  There is even a bronze statue of Red Dog in the town of Dampier which became the inspiration behind de Bernieres’ book.  Red Dog is an adventurous, energetic, cheeky ... (continued)
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A Place of Greater Safety

Reviewed by Gillian Berkelouw Books Mona Vale

We are all more or less familiar with the events of the French Revolution. The King and the royal court are decimated and a revolutionary government installed. With the prime enemy destroyed the revolutionary leaders turn on each other. As readers we know this will happen when we begin the book&n... (continued)
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Museum of Thieves: The Keepers 1 by Lian Tanner

Move over Harry Potter! The Keepers have arrived and they are more than your equal. Goldie lives in the City of Jewel, where children are kept ‘safe’ at all costs by the Guardians. ‘Safe’ from kidnappers, deadly diseases and animals, but most of all, the children are prev... (continued)
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Kings in Grass Castles by Mary Durack

Without going into the many details that this book provides, it can be summed up as a remarkable account of pioneering spirit in Australia in the 19th century not unlike the episode in North America’s history when the West was won. In the space of about 45 years, Patrick Durack developed t... (continued)
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Ox Travels: Meetings with Remarkable Travel Writers, introduced by Michael Palin

So many stories and no two the same, yet all linked by the theme of encounters in far flung lands. Colin Thubron writes poetically of "Mandalay" describing the city of thirty-five years ago and of Tun the rick-shaw driver who has a sobering and powerful story to tell. Paul Theroux who always ma... (continued)
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State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett is best known for her award-winning novel Bel Canto and will no doubt attract further accolades for her stunning new novel set in the Amazon. The story begins in Minnesota when Marina Singh, an employee of a large pharmaceutical company, is dispatched by her boss to the wilds of Bra... (continued)
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Calebs Crossing by Geraldine Brooks and Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell

Review Gillian, Berkelouw Mona Vale I've been spending a lot of time in the past lately - not literally of course but in the past as conjured by two remarkable authors - David Mitchell and Geraldine Brooks. Between them they have transported me to Dejima in Japan in the late 18th century and to ... (continued)
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Leo the Snow Leopard Isabella and Craig Hatkoff

Review Tineke, Berkelouw Mona Vale From the authors of Owen and Mzee, a new heartwarming true story comes in the form of Leo the Snow Leopard. This is a beautifully photographed book and well written story beginning at Leo's rescue as an orphan by a Pakistani shepherd and ending with him leading... (continued)
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100 Cupboards ND Wilson

Review  Sarah, Berkelouw Mona Vale Henry is 12 years old.  After his parents are kidnapped, he goes to live with his Aunt Dotty, Uncle Frank and three cousins.  One night Henry wakes to the noise of his bedroom walls being scraped and after brushing the flaking plaster away, two h... (continued)
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Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Review by James, Berkelouw Mona Vale. This is the first part of a six volume series chronicling the life of Scott Pilgrim. The Canadian writer and cartoonist O'Malley has created a quirky, humorous and refreshing graphic novel.   23 year old slacker, Scott Pilgrim has just met the girl of... (continued)