Berkelouw Mona Vale - Book Reviews

The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin

Reviewed by Sarah, Mona Vale

Stepping aside from crime, I picked up The Last Romantics and found myself immersed in the lives of the Skinner siblings Renee, Joe, Caroline and Fiona. Spanning five decades, The Last Romantics opens in the year 2079. Fiona Skinner, the narrator, is a famous poet, aged 102, and is in the mids... (continued)

The Binding by Bridget Collins

Reviewed by Jo, Mona Vale

Bridget Collins’s first adult novel is so good when I finished it I went hunting for a signed hardback first edition because this is going to be a classic. In a Victorian-esque England, young Emmett Farmer is forced to become an apprentice bookbinder instead of taking over the family far... (continued)

Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien

Reviewed by James, Mona Vale

Do Not Say We Have Nothing is a modern masterpiece. Very little I have ever read has stayed with me like this book has.  Spanning the course of decades and generations, this epic of modern Chinese history tracks the lives and loves of a musical family, who live for their art, as they ... (continued)

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Reviewed by James, Mona Vale

There is simply no book like Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. It has something for everyone; a fan of Jane Austen? This is the book for you. How about Raymond E Feist or Tolkien? This is the book for you. Set in a Britain prior to the Napoleonic Wars where practical magic has long since fade... (continued)

The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey

Reviewed by James, Mona Vale

The Expanse is a truly masterful SF series of epic proportions. Two hundred years from now, Earth and Mars are opposing military superpowers with their boots firmly on the throats of the solar system's 'Belter' population - the teeming blue collar inhabitants of asteroids and space... (continued)

The Three Body Trilogy by Cixin Liu

Reviewed by James, Mona Vale

The Three Body trilogy is without a doubt one of the best and most imaginative series I have ever read. Liu's work encompasses the math and philosophy of our world, technology and space in a story of truly epic proportions that begins during China's cultural revolution and finishes at ... (continued)

Dregs by Jorn Lier Horst

Reviewed by Shirley Corley, Berkelouw Crime Book Club

For fans of Scandi Noir  a new star is born.  He is Norwegian crime writer Jorn Lier Horst. His sixth crime novel, brilliantly translated into English, has now been published in Australia.  Due to the success of Dregs, two more novels will follow later this year. This beautifull... (continued)

Coast: A History of the New South Wales Edge by Ian Hoskins

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

I can't surf.  I'm not the greatest swimmer and I certainly can't sit all day on the beach. Like Woody Allen, "I don't tan, I stroke." Yet I feel keenly connected to the coast and enjoy living near the beach.  I can look at a map and see the nearest beach an... (continued)

Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith

Reviewed by Geraldine Ash, Berkelouw Books Customer

  The investigative journalist, Tatiana Petrovna, falls to her death from a sixth floor apartment. Is this suicide or murder? After the death of the fabulously wealthy criminal, Grisha Grigorenko, cynical investigator Arkady Renko and his vodka-swilling partner, detective-sargeant... (continued)

Eyrie by Tim Winton

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

To read Tim Winton's new novel Eyrie is to be reminded of the author's sublime ability with language and insight into human hearts. It also reminded me that Winton is a storyteller who does not tie things up neatly but requires your engagement to distil the story. Tom Kee... (continued)

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books Mona Vale

Perhaps nothing epitomises the paranoia prevalent in this book better than the family of the interrogator - he is not sure whether his parents are actually both blind (as they insist they are) or simply pretending to be blind because it is safer, in some way it allows them to see more clearly ... (continued)

TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Colum McCann's new novel is intricate and ambitious. Mining the 19th and 20th century connections between Ireland and America, he animates the historical  context that embraces four generations of women whose stories are at the heart of the novel. The novel comprises three books. ... (continued)

The Good Life by Hugh Mackay

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Hugh Mackay's latest book, The Good Life, is unusual in that it is not a report back on the state of mind of the Australian community distilled from his social research. It is much more an appeal to that community to fundamentally reconsider the way they live, the aspirations they nurse an... (continued)

The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness

Reviewed by Sarah, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Patrick Ness, known for his Chaos Walking series as well as his beautiful graphic novel, A Monster Calls, has reworked the famous Japanese folklore tale, The Crane Wife to beautiful effect in this his latest novel.  One evening a crane falls into George Duncan’s garden with an arrow... (continued)

The Women in Black by Madeleine St John

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

I am just catching up with the delightfully acerbic writing of Madeleine St John. The Women in Black although first published in 1993 is a portrait of an earlier Sydney where women remain at work until they marry and have children, where husbands  drink after work with their mates (but on... (continued)

High Sobriety by Jill Stark

Reviewed by Kate, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

When February came around this year and I decided to give my body a break from the alcohol,  I was looking for some inspiration or encouragement and saw this book. Jill Stark is a senior journalist for The Age (Melbourne). Her specialty is health issues. She has won a journalistic awa... (continued)

Silent House by Orhan Pamuk

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

In Silent House, Orhan Pamuk, gives us a portrait of family whose complicated affairs mesh tragically with Turkey's history. Gathered in the house of Fatma (Grandmother), they come to enjoy a summer holiday by the sea.  Pamuk tells his story through five rotating first person narrativ... (continued)

Speechless by James Button

Reviewed by Jake, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Journalist and son of a former Federal Labor Minister, James Button reflects upon his time spent as Kevin Rudd’s speechwriter in the period leading up to his downfall from the height of Australian politics. More than an insight into the world of Australian politics, Button delves in... (continued)

Confront and Conceal by David E. Sanger

Reviewed by Jake, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

New York Time’s journalist and author of The Inheritance, David E. Sanger delves into the covert world of cyber warfare, US Special Forces and espionage. Having written extensively for The Times on US National Security and Nuclear Proliferation, Sanger uses a career’s worth of cont... (continued)

Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver

Reviewed by Sarah, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

This book made me look at the future of our world and the consequences of climate change, how it combines with us and what choices we can decide to make to change our ways.   Dellarobia is a young girl who married her childhood sweetheart and had two children. She is bored and ... (continued)