Review | ‘Moonage Daydream’ invites audiences into Bowie’s chaotic mind
Moonage Daydream | Dir: Brett Morgan| ★ ★ ★ ★ ½ I think that this love letter documentary from writer, director, producer and editor Brett Morgen should have been called Montage Daydream as this homage to David Bowie is a collation of photographs, music videos, interviews, concert clips, movie and stage performances. They are interspersed with psychedelic […]
Bibliophile | Edward Enninful reflects on life & beauty in ‘A Visible Man’
A Visible Man by Edward Enninful Bloomsbury This is the story of a Black working class immigrant in Britain where racism and classism was and still is rampant. This is the story of growing up gay in a world that was primed to detest him, particularly when the AIDS crisis was raging. Rejected by his […]
Bibliophile | ‘Nothing to Hide’ shares stories of trans & gender diverse Australia
Nothing to Hide edited by Sam Elkin, Alex Gallagher, Yves Rees & Bobuq Sayed Allen & Unwin Well into the twentieth century in Australia, individuals who engaged in crossdressing or other ‘gender-deviant’ behaviour anywhere public were arrested and charged under state vagrancy laws. As a consequence, most gender-diverse people lived in the shadows, far away […]
Bibliophile | ‘The Stranger’ subverts Western genre with a feminist gaze
The Stranger by Kathryn Hore Allen & Unwin Darkwater, named after the brackish water that came from the wells, was a self-sufficient town with the wall protecting the people from the “frightening outside, full of contagion, deformity and chaos”. Everyone noticed when a stranger rode into town, a town where the borders came up when […]
Bibliophile | ‘Bad Gays’ looks at homosexuality through the ages
Bad Gays: A Homosexual History by Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller Verso Huw Lemmey is a novelist, artist and critic and Ben Miller is a writer and researcher who has taught queer history, literature and visual cultures in Berlin. They have gathered life stories that expand our knowledge of sexual identity and argue that gay […]
Bibliophile | ‘The Measure’ reflects on life, death and the big picture
The Measure by Nikki Erlick Harper Collins On an otherwise ordinary day, people all around the world woke up to find boxes inscribed with their names – millions of small brown boxes in every town, in every country. Inside each box was a piece of string which varied in length for each recipient, and written […]
Bibliophile | ‘Mr Carver’s Whale’: 19th century sailors seek fortune in Albany
Mr Carver’s Whale by Lyn Hughes Fourth Estate This engrossing saga begins in 1850 when the youngest Carvalhos brother receives a sea chest full of books. As Antonio unbuckles the leather strap on the sturdy sea chest on the dock of the small island of Pico, a whole new world opens up for him to […]
Bibliophile | AViVA’s ‘Relentless’ continues the tale of Teddy Veodrum
Relentless by AViVA Pan Macmillan Self/Less left readers suspended on a huge cliff-hanger, but Relentless continues the tale of Teddy Veodrum, who is now eighteen, and introduces yet more complexity. In old bomb shelters beneath Metropolis in a dystopian future, are a growing web of clans who are fighting to survive and to keep their […]
Bibliophile | Self-expression banned in the world of ‘Self/Less’
Self / Less by AViVA Pan Macmillan Set in a dystopian future, seventeen year-old Teddy Veodrum lives in Metropolis City and is about to graduate from high school. She has been brought up to believe that she is one of the chosen people to live in the walled city whose Council members have banished all […]
Bibliophile | ‘The Unbelieved’ is a shocking page-turner full of twists
The Unbelieved by Vikki Petraitis Allen & Unwin Warning: This review contains mentions of sexual assault Senior Detective Antigone Pollard needed to get away from Melbourne after the tragic ramifications of her last case. Gemma Watson had come to her after being sexually assaulted but the “great bloke with the handsome face, condescending lawyers and […]
GET INVOLVED
