A retired schoolteacher is found in the Atlantic Ocean with twenty deflated balloons. Professor William Waterman Sherman is a retired school teacher. He decides to take a leisurely balloon trip, departing from the city of San Francisco. His balloon is somewhat of a luxury one, as it carries a basket the size of a small house, fitted out with the basic necessities for comfortable living. The trip goes well, with the Professor flying over the Pacific Ocean, until some seagulls start pecking at his balloon. He crashes to earth and finds himself on the volcanic island of Krakatoa. It is there he meets a certain Mr F, who introduces him to the unusual inhabitants of the island. Twenty families reside there, living on what they term a “restaurant economy”, equally sharing cooking responsibilities and making sure the cuisine is always varied and delicious. The most extraordinary aspect of the island is the revelation that it contains a diamond mine, with enough diamonds to make all the island's residents multi-millionaires. However, there is a sting in the tail of this apparent good fortune. The full diamond value can't be realised because if they were all sold on the world market it would chronically depreciate their value. The residents spend their days in pleasant pursuits, and have invented some interesting technologies of their own. One charming novelty they have created is a merry-go-round which is suspended with balloons. Another invention involves a huge suspended platform – again with balloons, twenty in all – that is to be used in case of a volcanic eruption, when a speedy getaway for Krakatoa's residents would be required. When the Professor is later found mysteriously floating in the Atlantic Ocean, he is rescued and presents a talk at the Western American Explorers' Club about his experiences. William Pene du Bois published The Twenty-One Balloons in 1947, with illustrations by himself. The book soon went on to win an award, the Newbery Medal. It's an exciting and innovative adventure story, with plenty of amusing contraptions described in minute detail – think TV's Gilligan's Island, but technologically more sophisticated. The novel is well paced and lively (the early scenes describing the gathering excitement as the Professor travels to deliver his speech, from a specially prepared bed to accommodate his fatigue, is especially amusing). A thoroughly enjoyable children's classic full of energy, invention and good cheer. The Twenty-One Balloons, by William Pene du Bois. Published by Puffin. A famous pianist travels Europe and finds herself drawn to memories of her troubled and confused childhood. Elsa M. Anderson is a gifted classical pianist, trained by her mentor / father figure Arthur Goldstein. An orphan, she never knew her parents, and was taken into foster care. At the age of six she was discovered by Goldstein, who adopted the girl. The two have an unusual relationship – musically close, but emotionally ambivalent. Elsa can't quite figure out if Arthur is really a father to her. When he becomes ill, she has feelings of guilt for neglecting him. When in an Athens flea market, Elsa is drawn to a woman buying two mechanical horses. Pull the tail up and it sets the horse in motion, pull down and it stops. Elsa becomes obsessed with the woman, and when the stranger drops her hat – a stylish fedora – she picks it up and starts wearing it. As Elsa travels across Europe – England, France, Sardinia, Greece – and meets up with friends and lovers, the mysterious woman keeps appearing. More than that, the woman has entered Elsa's head, conducting short, clipped conversations with her, questions really, about her identity, her essence as a human being. While Elsa entertains this alien consciousness, memories and surreal images from her childhood keep coming back. She especially recalls an image of two horses dragging a piano to her across a paddock, the piano representing her mother. Strange images, evocative descriptions and uncanny happenings fill this engagingly surreal novel. Levy is a master storyteller, seducing the reader with her simple, sometimes droll language. There's humour to balance out the book's essential mystery, its brooding questions about identity and our place in the world. Deborah Levy is also a poet and playwright, and these linguistic qualities come out in the text. She has the ability to create a special language all of her own, to command the reader's attention and trust in her unique style of storytelling. A wonderfully absorbing, dream-like book that will leave you stunned yet satisfied. August Blue, by Deborah Levy. Published by Hamish Hamilton. $35 Published 9th May Review by Chris Saliba Two teenage girls type up lurid transcripts for Andy Warhol during the 1960s, and are transformed in the process Seventeen-year-old Mae likes to ride the escalators in New York's department stores, especially Macy's. Life's possibilities seem to open up for her there. She feels less alone and more connected to the world. It's riding the escalators she meets Daniel, almost a male ingenue version of herself, which soon turns into an unsatisfactory one night stand. The morning after, she falls into a discussion with Daniel's mother, who suggests she see a doctor. At the doctor's appointment, things take an unusual turn when she gets a job referral, typing, as it turns out, at Andy Warhol's factory. It's 1966. Mae feels she has an awkward personality and decides to drop out of school. Her home life is seedy and alienating, living with an alcoholic mother and Mikey, her mother's on-again, off-again boyfriend. At Warhol's factory she meets Shelley, a girl of similar age and background. The two are charged with typing up tape recordings of conversations between Ondine, a self-dramatising Factory habitue and “Drella”, Warhol's nickname (a mixture of Cinderella and Dracula). These conversations, along with contributions from other Factory “superstars”, will form a novel called "a". Mae and Shelley soon get caught up in the Factory lifestyle – parties and performances – until it all gets a bit jaded. Too much experience turns excitement and novelty into nausea. Their deep involvement with the tapes – listening to hours of the mad ravings of Ondine – makes them feel that they are indeed the true authors of "a". What a shock then to see it published without their name on it. Nothing Special is the debut novel from Irish writer Nicole Flattery, following on from her short story collection, Give Them What They Want. It's a strange yet absorbing book, written in an unsettling yet unique authorial voice. Mae's world is full of dinginess, morally limited behaviour, low expectations, bad sex and petty rivalry. She and her friend Shelly feel trapped in an existential funk – think Kafka in New York, stuck in a maze of frustrating dead ends. Or the damned souls of Sarte's No Exit, locked in a drab room for all eternity. Nor do they have a road map to get out – there are no ideas about education, marriage or career that might shine a light to salvation. They are imprisoned in an uninspiring eternal present. The ironic, almost nihilistic tone of Nothing Special feels like it was almost written by Warhol himself. The clipped, detached dialogue echoes Warhol's laconic wit and love of the banal, exhibited in his best book, From A to Be and Back Again: The Philosophy of Andy Warhol. A strikingly original novel examining the limits of experience, perhaps an acquired taste for some, but an author to watch nonetheless. Nothing Special, by Nicole Flattery. Published by Bloomsbury. $29.99 Review by Chris Saliba Laughs abound in this witty new satire from Robert Gott. Gregory Buchanan is a state politician and minister with a healthy dose of self-regard. A blithe spirit, he commissions career artist Sophie White to capture his portrait. The sitting takes an unusual turn when Gregory decides to pose nude. He unveils the painting, executed in photo realist style, in his dining room. His wife, Phoebe, is gobsmacked. The painting has to go – otherwise his career will be destroyed. But Gregory has other ideas: he wants to submit it for the Archibald Prize. The plot thickens when a host of friends and colleagues turn up and inadvertently see the portrait. There is Gregory's gin-swilling mother, Margaret, his fundamentalist Christian mother-in-law, Joyce, and lycra-wearing lesbian sister, Sally. Half way through the novel, a surprise visit is made by the state premier, Louisa Wetherly. This mix of forceful females ensures that a stand off is inevitable, but who will win? Blackmail, threats, theft and heated arguments over Christian theology ensue. Most of Naked Ambition takes place in Gregory and Phoebe's living room and reads somewhat like a closed circle mystery. When a theft occurs, only the people present are suspects. Most of the story is dialogue driven, giving it a campy, stagey feel, with characters often facing off against one another. Witty and full of laughs, readers looking for an offbeat entertainment will find it here. Naked Ambition, by Robert Gott. Published by Scribe. $29.99 This review first published at Books + Publishing. Review by Chris Saliba Meet Parsley the Lion and his friends from the herb garden. Parsley the Lion and his friend Dill the dog live in a herb garden. The garden is watched over by Constable Knapweed, who always has a notebook at the ready to jot down any behaviour that seems out of order. Other characters include Mr Bayleaf, Sage the owl, Aunt Mint, the school teacher Mr Onion and his students, the Chives. The 18 stories in The Adventures of Parsley the Lion centre mostly around Parsley and Dill, with other characters making appearances. In one story Dill tries to sell his amateur paintings, which he passes off as masterpieces; in another Dill has an open day for his kennel, insisting it is one of England's stately homes. When Parsley buys a car, it is with disastrous results; and an important telegram is misinterpreted by the over confident Dill, leading the two friends to miss a fun barbeque. Parsley the Lion first appeared in 1968 in a children's TV series called The Herbs, created and written by Michael Bond (Paddington Bear). The stories collected here are from published books that tied in with the TV series, with gorgeous new illustrations from Rob Biddulph. Funny, endearing, whimsical and very British, the world of the herb garden is beautifully evoked in Michael Bond's superb storytelling. This is quality children's literature, with nothing dumbed down or made gross. The Herb Garden and its denizens have much to teach us, all in a good, fun way. Ages 5 + The Adventures of Parsley the Lion, by Michael Bond. Illustrations by Rob Biddulph. Published by HarperCollins. $19.99 Review by Chris Saliba An impassioned manifesto calling for fairness and equality for all. Bernie Sanders has the distinction of being the longest serving independent senator in US congressional history. Being an independent politician clearly gives him the freedom to call it as he sees it. His grievances are fairly simple: American capitalism is off the charts, creating obscene inequalities in wealth. Large swathes of the country live in utter economic desperation – without healthcare and existing on starvation wages that have been stagnant for the last fifty years – while a miniscule section of the population have more money than they can ever hope to spend. By any standards, this is a societal bonfire awaiting a match. It's Okay to be Angry About Capitalism is more impassioned manifesto than economic critique. Readers worried about getting bogged down in statistics, data and national budgets, can relax. Sanders gives the meat and potatoes of vital issues confronting Americans. He tackles the inequities and inefficiencies of the healthcare system, the poorly performing education sector, the concentration of media ownership and the reasons why billionaires should not exist. Sanders examines the failures of the Democratic party, which has not done a good enough job of defending the rights of working class Americans. The Democrats have sided with the rich, rather than the poor. Furious working class Americans have deserted them in droves, and parked their votes with Republicans. Gross inequalities in wealth, according to Sanders, can go some way to explaining the success of the Republican Party, especially under Trump. Americans are fed up, but have nowhere to turn. The answers to these problems are all simple: tax the mega rich and stop giving tax breaks to behemoth corporations. And fix up campaign donation laws so American democracy can no longer be bought and traded. Should Australians read this book? If you want to see how bad things can get when wealth is concentrated and greed lauded. Reading this book will make you thankful for living in a country with free healthcare, compulsory voting, a well funded public broadcaster and fair elections, overseen by the independent Australian Electoral Commission. It's Okay to be Angry About Capitalism is a fiery, gutsy, passionate book that holds no punches. It's a reminder that the price of democracy, economic security and freedom is eternal vigilance. It's Okay to be Angry About Capitalism, by Bernie Sanders. Published by Allen Lane. $35 A debut collection full of biting satire. Evana Belich is a New Zealand author who has won several awards for her short stories. She's held various jobs, as a trade union official and employment relations officer, roles which have clearly informed her fiction. How to Get Fired, Belich's first published collection, comprises 16 stories, many linked by reappearing characters. The main focus of Evana Belich's fiction is on workplace relations – crappy jobs, ambitious bosses, dubious productivity gains, vacuous motivational mantras etc. etc. She also writes about strained friendships and difficult families. The tone is acerbically comic and ruthlessly observational. No one escapes this author's steely gaze. Belich writes about modern life as it really is – crowded with so much cognitive junk. There are sales targets for useless products to be met, the emotional labour involved in keeping bosses happy, and explosive Christmases where years of repressed stress come to the fore. If you have enjoyed quirky workplace fiction such as Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura, There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job, by Kikuko Tsumura and Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi, then you will love How to Get Fired. How to Get Fired, by Elana Belich. Published by Penguin. $32.99 Review by Chris Saliba A dual history of Australia's prime ministers, and the men and women who wrote about them. Political journalist and biographer Chris Wallace started writing a biography of Julia Gillard when she was deputy prime minister in the Rudd Labor government. By the time the book was ready to roll, Gillard was PM and the victim of vicious media and opposition treatment. Wallace's bio was balanced, showing the light and dark of Gillard's character. Considering the toxic atmosphere, Wallace feared her book could be used against Gillard. She pulled it from publication and returned her advance. This experience led Wallace to consider the effect of biography on Australia's prime ministers. Political Lives provides accounts of the biographical treatment of Australia's 20th century prime ministers, from Edmund Barton to John Howard. Australia's first six prime ministers had no biographies written about them while they held office. Things took a radical turn in the 1970s with the election of Labor's Gough Whitlam, who was the subject of several contemporaneous biographies and arguably hit its peak with Blanche d'Alpuget's Robert J. Hawke. (Wallace's chapter on the writing of the Hawke biography is a tour de force and shouldn't be missed.) A brisk short history of Australia's prime ministers, and the men and women who wrote about them. Political Lives: Australian Prime Ministers and Their Biographers, by Chris Wallace. Published by UNSW. $39.99 Review by Chris Saliba A cast of troubled souls throng the pages of Alexander McCall Smith's The Enigma of Garlic, the latest in the 44 Scotland Street series. Big Lou and Fat Bob are about to be married, but the bride has much on her mind. Her coffee bar business keeps her busier than she'd like and rumours are that Fat Bob is seeing another woman. Could it be true? Bruce Anderson has been struck by lighting, apparently resulting in a personality change – for the better. Gone is his vanity and replacing it a sense of purpose. He flirts with joining a monastery. And finally, Stuart Pollock is trying to assert himself when his pushy, estranged wife, Irene, makes an unwelcome return. Stuart's mother tries to dispatch Irene, but events take an unexpected turn. Most of the novel's plot turns on the resolving of several moral quandaries. Comic relief is offered in the guise of Sister Maria-Fiore dei Fiori di Montagna, an intrepid nun who has received training from the Vatican's secret service. She successfully trails Fat Bob to find out what his secret is. A sympathetic, realistic portrait of everyday lives engaged in life's central struggles. The Enigma of Garlic, by Alexander McCall Smith. Published by Polygon. $34.99 Review by Chris Saliba An eco-activist group bites off more than it can chew when it accepts funding from a billionaire. Birnam Wood is an eco-activist group, guerilla gardeners who descend on vacant plots of land and plant small food crops. The grass roots collective is run along non-hierarchical lines, yet real power in the group resides with its founder, the emotionally and philosophically complex Mira Bunting. Mira is your proverbial angry left wing activist, ready to make revolution and bring down the whole corrupt capitalist system. Despite Birnam Wood's egalitarian aims, with its eschewing of vertical power structures, the membership is revolting. Shelley, second in command in all but name, has a long list of private grievances against Mira. She secretly wants to leave. Ideologically pure Tony has returned from exile to confront the hypocrisy he sees in the group, making an uncomfortable scene. Enter Robert Lemoine, billionaire drone manufacturer and tech wizard. He's about to seal a purchase for a cattle station and surrounding land with owners Owen and Jill Darvish. Owen, now Sir Owen, has just received a knighthood for his contributions to the environment – a ridiculous honour, considering his past as a pest controller. Sir Owen has set up a business with Robert Lemoine's drone company, Autonomo, to monitor at-risk species, hence the knighthood. All of this makes Mira's very blood boil. She investigates the Darvish property, with ideas of doing some planting. It is here she runs into Lemoine. The canny Mira has soon met her match when she tries to conceal her intentions and Lemoine checkmates her. Nonetheless, a deal is soon hammered out. Funding for Birnam Wood, in exchange for the environmental gloss the partnership will give to Lemoine's drone business. But Robert Lemoine is not to be trusted, not even at this level. He's up to his eyeballs in some of the most evil business practices imaginable. Eleanor Catton won the Booker in 2013 for The Luminaries. Birnam Wood is her follow up. It's been worth the wait. Part eco-thriller, part satire on left wing politics, Birnam Wood is expertly plotted and has the suspense of a ticking time bomb. The cast of characters is superbly drawn, especially the self-satisfied middle class, middle aged couple, Sir Owen and Lady Jill Darvish. The dialogue is refreshingly real and tone perfect, capturing speech heard regularly in everyday life. Catton has a sharp eye and is an astute observer of life, of our vanities and frailties, which she conveys with peerless skill on the page. A classic page-turning thriller, with a rogue's gallery of do-gooders, baddies and the plain indifferent, whose indifference allows the worst to happen. The shock ending will leave the reader reeling for days. Don't miss it! Birnam Wood, by Eleanor Catton. Published by Granta. $32.99 Review by Chris Saliba |
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