 Acclaimed author and journalist Stan Grant writes very personally about faith and Aboriginality.
After decades spent roaming the globe as a journalist, covering wars and disasters, Wiradjuri man Stan Grant has turned his back on politics and media to search for peace through faith. Murriyang (meaning “Skyworld” - home of the creator spirit, Baiyaame, or God) fuses Christianity with Indigenous beliefs. In Grant’s telling, Baiyaame-God existed before, or outside, the power structure that is the Christian Church. Indigenous people have always known God. “When I hear stories of Jesus, I hear our story. Jesus was a dark-skinned man in a land of empires - oppressed and colonised: a tribal man. I hear the story of someone speaking back to power. I hear the words of an ancestor.” There is a rather Hamlet-esque tone to Murriyang - Grant sounds world weary. Sick of politics, sick of the media. And like Hamlet, sick of words: “I am tired of words of certainty, tired of polled words, words with dollar signs in front of them, funded words. Reconciliation is not a word. Not anymore…What once were words are now antiseptic.” While Murriyang is a book that seeks personal peace and emancipation from perpetual turmoil by aligning oneself with the universe and Baiyaame-God, the polemics of Grant’s previous books still come through. There is an underlying tone of anger with the world, with the injustices done to Australia’s First Nations. The book is hence a bit of a mix, travelling from rage to spiritual transformation. It feels like Grant has one leg stepping towards the light, with one leg still left behind in the gross material world of petty politics and naked self-interest. He most definitely wants out. Interspersed among all of these philosophical and spiritual ruminations, are chapters titled “Babiin” (father), devoted to Grant’s ailing father, Stan Grant Sr. These are touching sketches of his father’s life and struggles, his wisdom and generosity of spirit. Murriyang will appeal to the religious and non-religious alike. It is sometimes a bitter book, but overwhelmingly it fulfills its brief of guiding the reader to a place of oneness and forgiveness. Stan Grant is one of the nation’s best writers, tackling a difficult subject with maturity and erudition. Murriyang: Song of Time, by Stan Grant. Published by S & S Bundyi. $39.99 Review by Chris Saliba  When a woman finds a kitten, it begins the start of an enduring friendship.
Mayumi Inaba (1950-2014) was a Japanese poet and writer of fiction. Her 1999 fictionalised memoir, Mornings With My Cat Mii, describes her twenty-year relationship with her cat, Mii. She found the cat - then a kitten - stuck in a fence. The year was 1977, and Mayumi Inaba was living in a rental property with her husband. The house she leased had plenty of access to garden spaces, and little Mii would roam and return with her paws dirty, leaving traces on the floor. While her marriage was not entirely loveless, nor was it overwhelmingly passionate and Inaba and her husband found themselves growing apart. A split was made easier by the fact that her husband was more often than not working away from home. The couple seperated and Inaba bought a small fifth floor apartment. This meant that Mii would have to adapt to having no green spaces to play in. Life continued on, with Mii finding new places to play and even making friends with the neighbours. Inevitably, Mii grew old and became sick. A long final portion of the book describes in harrowing detail Mii’s last years, spent mostly incontinent and in need of devoted care. Mornings With My Cat Mii, long hailed a Japanese classic, now appears in English for the first time, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori. It’s a sensitive and melancholic story about a single woman living alone, trying to connect to the world around her, and finding solace and emotional anchoring with her pet cat. The book is unusual in how it confronts the death of a pet in such an unsparing manner. The lengths that Inaba goes to looking after Mii (constant cleaning and putting up with bad odours) highlights the powerful emotional connection many people have with their pets. An intimate portrait of grief and solitariness. Mornings With My Cat Mii, by Mayumi Inaba. Published by Harvill/Secker. $32.99 Review by Chris Saliba  Two award winning journalists follow Trump's topsy-turvy money trail.
Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig are journalists at The New York Times. Since 2016, when Trump came to power, they have been closely investigating the former president’s finances. Both journalists won a Pulitzer Prize for their work on Trump’s income tax returns which were anonymously mailed to Susanne Craig. Lucky Loser is the result of their years of reporting, plus additional new interview material. There were perhaps two pivotal people that helped create Trump. Firstly and most importantly, his father Fred Trump, a property developer that used depression era government programs to access attractive financing deals. A lack of government oversight allowed Fred Trump to skim off extra profits by inflating building costs. Fred became a multi-millionaire. When his go-getter son wanted to enter the family business, Fred overlooked many of Donald’s faults, such as his impetuousness and failure to perform due diligence. Trump junior would rack up reckless debts, leaving a financial mess in his wake, only to have his father come in and mop things up. The mystery is why Fred, a mild mannered man who avoided the limelight, enabled his blowhard son, often referring to him as “the smartest person I know”. The second person instrumental in giving the world Donald Trump was British television producer, Mark Burnett, creator of The Apprentice. At a time when Trump's finances were in more disarray than usual, the flashy, media hungry businessman was seen as a logical host for the game show. Trump had a reputation among media insiders at the time, and some saw him as a bit of a joke. The show’s producers were shocked when they were shown the Trump Organisation offices at Trump Tower, where filming was to begin. The offices had an overpowering smell of mold, from the carpets, and a lot of the wooden furniture was chipped and in need of repair. It was soon obvious that a set would need to be built. There was spare office space on another floor, which would become home to The Apprentice. Trump had a habit of firing contestants that were good performers on the show, so the editors would have to go back and re-edit to make them look less competent and more worthy of being kicked off the show. In large part it was the show’s editors that made Trump look good. There were many other enablers along the way, most notably financial journalists who should have called out Trump’s boasts and falsehoods much earlier. But Trump got free pass after free pass, until the illusion of Trump’s success became so big that no amount of truth telling could kill the lies. Even Bill and Hillary Clinton attended Trump’s marriage to Melania. Is it any wonder that so many Americans came to believe Trump really was their political saviour? Lucky Loser also shows consistent behavioural patterns - a recurring victim mentality, a penchant for impulsive decision making, a delusional self-belief - that highlights a character that has not changed one bit over the decades. An exhaustively researched book that will last as a damning document. Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered his Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success, by Russ Buettner & Susanne Craig. Published by Jonathan Cape. $36.99 Review by Chris Saliba  Acclaimed actress Judi Dench talks all things Shakespeare
What started out as a series of conversations destined for the archives at Shakespeare's Globe have turned into a book. It was actor and director Brendan O'Hea's idea to capture Judi Dench's musings on her career, specifically as a Shakespearean actress, but when the recordings were heard by a third party it was suggested they be turned into a book. The Man Who Pays the Rent was Dench and husband Michael Williams' nickname for Shakespeare. The playwright's expansive oeuvre kept them in work. For a book based on a series of conversations, you'd expect something light and frothy. Indeed, it is that. But so much more besides. Dench shows an impressive knowledge and incredible recall of lines, passages, dialogue, poetry and plot lines from the plays. There is also a detailed consideration of character, psychology and motive. Often Dench celebrates the mystery and subtlety of Shakespeare, advising that meaning is ultimately in the eye of the beholder. A broad range of the plays are discussed – tragedies, comedies, histories and the so-called problem plays. Mini in between chapters discuss stagecraft, language and the role of critics. Dench peppers her commentary with amusing stories from her acting career – falls, stumbles, forgotten lines, wardrobe malfunctions. Like all wonderful books on Shakespeare, The Man Who Pays the Rent inspires the reader to return to the plays. A companionable book that mixes serious analysis with jolly, break-a-leg stories from the stage. Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, by Judi Dench. Published by Michael Joseph. $36.99 Review by Chris Saliba  A new biography of Rupert Murdoch concentrates on his early years.
Rupert Murdoch’s influence is ubiquitous, yet the man himself remains oddly opaque. Contradictions abound. During his university days, he toyed with left-wing politics, but soon moved to the right. He painted himself the outsider, but quickly became the establishment. As Murdoch once said candidly: “Monopoly is a terrible thing, until you have it.” Journalist Walter Marsh’s new biography of Murdoch concentrates on the mogul’s formative years in Adelaide at the helm of The News, especially its controversial coverage of the 1959 Stuart royal commission, which brought Rupert and his editor, Rohan Rivett, close to a jail term for seditious libel. The book also works as a dual biography of his father, Keith. Murdoch senior started as the editor of the Melbourne Herald and was soon engineering a series of ambitious business deals that sowed the seeds of the Murdoch empire, but left him overdrawn and overstretched. Rupert clearly inherited his father’s penchant for high stakes and risk taking. Young Rupert is a scrupulously well-researched history that examines the power of the press in the twentieth century, and its influence on politics. Rupert Murdoch remains largely elusive, yet new research shows glimpses of a man under pressure and unable to enjoy his success. Readers interested in Australian politics and publishing will find much to satisfy here. Young Rupert: The Making of the Murdoch Empire, by Walter Marsh. Published by Scribe. $34.99 Release date 1st August. Review by Chris Saliba This review first published at Books + Publishing.  Ruby Langford Ginibi's classic memoir is a no holds barred story of pain, joy and survival
As part of its new series of First Nations Classics, University of Queensland Press is re-publishing Ruby Langford Ginibi's acclaimed memoir Don't Take Your Love to Town (1988). Langford Ginibi, a Bundjalong woman, was born in 1934 and raised in the small New South Wales town of Bonalbo. Her mother left the family when she was six, to marry another man. By age 16 Ruby was pregnant and she would go on to have nine children by several fathers. These relationships started out good, but would eventually turn sour, ending in either neglect or abuse. Langford Ginibi, in wiser old age, would swear off men, hence the book's title. Tragically, three of her children died, causing her years of grief – and a drinking problem that she finally kicked. It's hard to understate how extraordinary a memoir this is. Langford Ginibi, viewed as a character on the page, is a mix of Chaucer's Wife of Bath and Brecht's Mother Courage, a woman of irrepressible life force and a tough survivor. She is a workhorse providing for her brood, living rough in outback tents and killing her own food. She brawls and drinks, would give you the shirt off her back if asked and raises a glass to life despite its endless hardships, especially for First Nations people. At 400 pages long, there is never a dull moment in Don't Take Your Love to Town, as it chronicles a life lived to the fullest. Despite the vein of pain and suffering that runs through the book, Langford Ginibi is also very funny. She has an ironic turn of phrase and delightfully blunt sense of humour that gives her story heart and humanity. An incredible memoir, an incredible life lived. Indeed, a classic. Don't Take Your Love to Town, by Ruby Langford Ginibi. Published by Queensland University Press. $19.99 Released May 30, 2023  The former Baywatch star and Playboy pin-up tells her story.
Pamela Anderson has always been perceived as a two-dimensional figure – a pin up girl and Baywatch star, more famous for her red swimsuit than any acting ability. She married drummer Tommy Lee in a bikini on the beach and found her life dragged through the gutter when some private videos were stolen from her house and edited into a sordid “sex tape”. In later years a different side to Anderson emerged. There was her animal welfare work for PETA and advocacy for Julian Assange. Now middle-aged and with two adult sons, Pamela Anderson has decided to write her own story. An avid reader (everyone from Anais Nin to Noam Chomsky is referenced) and diary keeper since childhood, Love, Pamela seamlessly blends poetry and prose and has a brisk, almost chatty tone. She discusses growing up in Canada, her parents' turbulent relationship and childhood traumas such as when she was molested by a female babysitter. There are entertaining chapters on working for Playboy Magazine, her passionate and often extravagant lifestyle with Tommy Lee and the more settled years of activism and farming on her Canadian property, where she lives with her parents. Love, Pamela could be best described as a book of forgiveness and healing. Anderson is candid about the many mistakes she has made in life, but seems to shrug them off as all par for the course. No one's perfect and nor should they expect to be. Where others have done her wrong, she holds no grudges or bitterness. Indeed, this is a sweet and hopeful book that strives to see the best in people. An inspiring memoir, written in Pamela Anderson's unique authorial voice. The blonde pin-up now speaks, her words wise and compassionate. Love, Pamela, by Pamela Anderson. Published by Headline. $34.99 Review by Chris Saliba  Maggie Haberman's exhaustive biography of Donald Trump
It feels like we reached Trump saturation point many years ago. Who would want to read another book on the polarising president? Maggie Haberman is a journalist who has covered Trump for decades. Like Trump, she's a born and bred New Yorker. Unlike other memoirs and biographies that paint Trump as a cartoonish ogre, Haberman has drawn a nuanced, fully fleshed portrait. Confidence Man argues that if you want to understand the Trump of today, it's imperative to look at his past – his years as a 1980s property tycoon and his relationship with his father. We learn that Trump senior was controlling and brutal. As a property developer in a violent and corrupt 1980s New York, Trump was more bruiser than businessman, intimidating his way to success and using his father's money. The second half of the book covers Trump's presidency, culminating in the January 6 insurrection. With superb research and detail, Haberman describes a slow motion train wreck. Trump's personality grew even more erratic and domineering with unchecked power. In the book's epilogue, Haberman neatly sums Trump up: “...a narcissistic drama-seeker who covered a fragile ego with a bullying impulse...” A tour de force. Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, by Maggie Haberman. Published by HarperCollins. $34.99 Review by Chris Saliba  Whistleblower Chelsea Manning has written a compelling and insightful memoir.
Chelsea Manning, a former US soldier and intelligence analyst, leaked some 700,000 classified documents pertaining to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. She felt an increasing cognitive dissonance at how both wars were portrayed at home, compared to the reality on the ground. At first she tried to get what she knew published through mainstream media channels, anonymously approaching journalists and editors. Little interest was shown, so she decided on the bold plan of simply releasing all the documents online. Wikileaks soon made a name for itself in publishing the leaked documents. Much has been written about Manning's motives. To set the record straight, she has decided to write her own story. Too many times, Manning writes, she has been held up as a figure head for certain political movements. As the pages of Readme.txt reveal, she sees herself more as a transparency activist, someone striving to put the truth before the public. Born Bradley Manning in Oklahoma, she experienced a tough upbringing with a violent father and alcoholic mother. As a teenager she spent a period homeless, living on the streets and hustling for food and board. Desperately poor, with no prospects and trying to gain acceptance from her father, she decided to join the army. Since childhood Manning had been grappling with gender dysphoria and she hoped the army would somehow resolve these issues. Despite this, the dysphoria remained, with the need for secrecy influencing career decisions that would see her eventually stationed in Iraq. Readme.txt is written in crisp, concise prose, neatly putting Manning's endlessly fascinating story into a satisfyingly digestible form. She claims to have always been a voracious and wide reader, and a sharp intelligence comes through in the text. Her story is one of surviving extreme psychological duress during seven years of prison, especially her early years of incarceration, where it was clear the authorities wanted to mete out the toughest possible punishment. Despite this, she managed to advocate for herself as a trans woman and receive appropriate gender treatment. Manning is a complex and fascinating character. She comes across as both incredibly vulnerable and resolutely strong. A gifted computer technician and analyst, she's also a passionate activist, someone ready to face jail for her beliefs. A trans woman who has had to fight for her identity. Chelsea Manning is certainly a polarising figure, but one who can't be ignored. Readme.txt deserves a wide readership. Readme.txt: A Memoir, by Chelsea Manning. Published by Jonathan Cape. $35 Review by Chris Saliba  A selection of Behrouz Boochani's writing from his time detained on Manus Island.
Behrouz Boochani fled his native Iran in 2013, his work as a journalist having brought him the unwelcome attention of the authorities. He was on his way to Australia via Indonesia when the boat he was travelling on was intercepted by the Royal Australian Navy. He was detained on Manus Island from 2013 until 2019, when he managed to travel to New Zealand for a literary event and was subsequently granted refugee status. Freedom, Only Freedom is a collection of Boochani's prison writings, translated and edited by Omid Tofighian and Moones Mansoubi. The book is divided into ten parts, covering key events of Boochani's time in detention and also addressing philosophical and political questions regarding Australia's asylum seeker policies. Each part finishes with two pieces by different writers – academics, activists, journalists and supporters. These pieces aim to give context and perspective to Boochani's writing. While these contributions are interesting, they tend to be densely academic in tone. Boochani wrote the majority of the work presented here on his phone – an amazing feat of determination and commitment. He covers all aspects of detention – the constant humiliation, the hunger, dirt, filth, squalor, poor health of detainees and lack of appropriate services. The aim of detention, it seems, is to psychologically break down detainees until they are mere shells. One man whose only pleasure was playing his guitar had it confiscated. The official reason was the strings were considered a suicide risk. Despite so much misery and indignity, Boochani strives to show the humanity and hopes of his fellow detainees. If prison life offers only sadness and desperation, there are still the beauties of nature: birds, sea, sunshine. When all promise and dignity is stripped from the individual, nature allows detainees to still feel themselves as human. Another aspect of detention the book addresses is the political. Boochani asks why Australia has chosen such a cruel and merciless system. Does it have roots in our colonial past, our former White Australia policy? Manus and Naru are like a gulag, where people are disappeared. Boochani sees his writing as a history project, a secret history that Australians don't want to confront. “This writing that comes out of Manus is the unoffical history of Australia, a history that will never be authorised by the government.” Freedom, Only Freedom proves to be a unique and critical document chronicling Australia's detention policy. It will surely only grow in status and relevance in the years to come. Freedom, Only Freedom: The Prison Writings of Behrouz Boochani, by Behrouz Boochani. Published by Bloomsbury. $32.99 Review by Chris Saliba |
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