The good man Jesus and the scoundrel Christ
Philip Pullman
Text 2011
ISBN: 9781921758096
$23.95
245 pp
“Each of us can interpret a story in a different way, depending on our own unique life experiences. We may disagree with a story, agree with it, or learn something new from it. An author usually has a purpose for the story, and there are always some sort of underlying values behind the text he writes.”1
Black Glass
Meg Mundell
Scribe 2011
ISBN: 9781921640933
$32.95
288 pp
Black Glass is gripping, frightening, clever and thought-provoking. It is written in an unusual style with an unusual structure and I resented every interruption that prevented me from reading it in one sitting.
Fall Girl
Toni Jordan
Text Publishing 2010
ISBN: 9781921656668
$32.95
240 pp
Following a successful debut novel with a second one can be daunting for a writer. With Fall Girl, Toni Jordan has come up with a worthy, well-crafted follow-up to Addition, showing that she has it in her to keep on entertaining us. (more…)
The Force: living safely in a world of electromagnetic pollution
Lyn McLean
Scribe 2011
ISBN: 9781921640292
$35
400 pp
As Hamlet told Horatio: “There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy”1. This could be a slogan for much of what affects our lives today. We live almost constantly immersed in an electromagnetic ‘soup’, but most of us are unaware of it. In The Force, Lyn McLean renders this soup visible and exposes much of the misinformation and obfuscation perpetrated by those with vested interests. She compares the current state of denial of adverse health impacts to the situation that for so long surrounded asbestos and tobacco.
what the world will look like when all the water leaves us
Laura van den Berg
Scribe 2011
ISBN: 9781921640896
$25.95
192 pp
Never judge a book by its cover; I now this but judge it I did – by its cover and by its title. The title (taken from the closing story) misled me, as this is not a book about environmental issues although issues of species survival come up in a few instances. The stories in this collection are about the internal environments of a number of women. A better title may have been taken from the opening story: ‘where we must be’.
The Pen and the Stethoscope
Ed: Leah Kaminsky
Scribe Publishing 2010
ISBN: 9781921640735
$32.95
240 pp
This is a strange collection – an anthology of stories and essays linked only by the fact that all the writers are, or once were, doctors. The nine non-fiction pieces hang together through their subject matter; however, only a few of the six fictional short stories obviously owe something to the medical training of their authors. Nevertheless, every piece entertains or informs or both and I enjoyed them all.
New Australian Stories 2
Ed: Aviva Tuffield
Scribe Publishing 2010
ISBN: 9781921640865
$29.95
346 pp
With this second, large offering of short stories (36 examples of the art), Scribe is indicating a commitment as a publisher to add to the regular anthologies now available to Australian readers. Among the many writers I had not previously come across, there are also a number of familiar names.
War Dances
Sherman Alexie
Scribe 2010
ISBN: 9781921640803
$26.95
224 pp
Sherman Alexie is a native American and many of his stories and poems in this collection make this obvious. Other pieces ignore it completely. He sometimes refers to himself as a “part-time Indian”. He treats his ancestry with humour and lightness, while also exposing the mistreatment of natives by others and the pain this brings. (more…)
Speaking Volumes: Conversations with remarkable writers
Ramona Koval
ISBN: 9781921640612
$35 417 pp
Scribe 2010
The name and voice of Ramona Koval are well known to many Australians as the presenter of the long-running ABC Radio National program The Book Show, where she interviews many writers and talks about their work and about writing generally. She is passionate about what she does and adds to this an intelligence and compassion that makes listening to her and her guests a pleasure. She is so good at what she does that she is frequently invited to moderate discussions and conduct interviews with writers around the world. (more…)
The Vitamin D Solution
Michael F Holick
Scribe 2010
ISBN: 9781921640520
$35
336 pp including bibliography and index
At the outset I need to declare a possible conflict of interest: I work part-time for a company in Melbourne that manufactures vitamin D supplements in oral and injectable form. However, that, and my sixteen years working for the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, gives me the knowledge and insight to read this book intelligently and review it. (more…)