Rolling with the Punchlines by Urzila Carlson Allen & Unwin Comedian Urzila Carlson has made a big splash in Australia and New Zealand where she lives with her wife and two children. Originally from South Africa, she did her first stand-up gig did as a dare from her workmates in 2008. She now has regular […]
Without A Doubt by Fleur McDonald Allen & Unwin Esperance farmer and writer Fleur McDonald has written a succession of books that allow her readers to get to know rural Australia much better. In Without A Doubt, she continues the adventures of Detective Dave Burrows, who has been posted to the remote country town of […]
Thirty Thousand Bottles of Wine and a Pig Called Helga By Todd Alexander Simon & Schuster Australia Todd and Jeff had had enough of the city. Todd was a high-flying marketing executive “living the classic city lifestyle of hard work and even harder play”. He lived with Jeff, who worked for a cancer charity, in […]
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon Bloomsbury Publishing Taking her inspiration from stories of old, Samantha Shannon has built an intricate fantasy world that is populated by a huge array of characters (there are 15 pages of character descriptions), wyverns (wyverns are much smaller than dragons, have limited powers and only 2 […]
Painting in the Shadows by Katherine Kovacic Bonnier Echo Formerly a veterinarian, Katherine Kovacic is now an art historian who works in a wide range of galleries, museums and private houses. Living in Melbourne with a Scottish Deerhound, she has created art dealer Alex Clayton who finds herself at the centre of a murder mystery […]
Turned On: Science, Sex and Robots by Kate Devlin Bloomsbury Sigma This book that connects intimacy and technology is about being human in a world of machines, now that robots and artificial intelligence that have become integrated into many aspects of our lives. Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana (all female) can do all […]
A Beer in the Loire by Tommy Barnes Muswell Press This is the record of a brave man, the author Tommy Barnes, who left his office job in London to settle in rural France and tries to establish a boutique brewing business. Unfortunately he had a couple of obstacles to overcome – he had never […]
Brutally Honest by Melanie Brown with Louise Gannon Quadrille Responding to a 1994 advertisement for a girl band, Melanie Brown became one of five wannabe nobodies screaming and yelling for girl-power. Mel B was Scary Spice, the cheeky, loud, fearless one who soared to fame and fortune with the Spice Girls. Unfortunately this did not […]
Never Grow Up by Jackie Chan with Zhu Mo HarperCollins Publishers After 200 films in 56 years, Jackie Chan received an honorary Academy Award in 2016. From a junior stuntman on Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon to the voice of Kung Fu Panda, generations of moviegoers know him for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing […]
Life on the Leash by Victoria Schade Allen & Unwin Cora Bellemy gave up a fast-track corporate job run Top Dog, her own dog training business. The 28 year old thrives on organization and has a knack for predicting doggy behaviour. Recovering from a recent break-up, her skills at predicting human behavior are not as […]
