Holiday+Reading+2014+2015


 * HOLIDAY READING 2014/2015**

Use this page to upload info about any books that you read over the summer that you would like to share with the rest of us. If you could A) name the book and author B) provide a brief summary of the story (without giving the plot away) and, C) give it a rating out of 10 and why - that would be great!



Mel: When the Night Comes by Favel Parrett

5/10 I want to tell you that I loved this book and that you should immediately go out and buy it. I want to tell you this because my darling Dad is listed in the acknowledgments and because in bringing my Dad together with Favel, I was in touch with her a number of times and she is just lovely. And my Dad thinks she is wonderful. Her book is essentially about the scuttling of the Nella Dan - the old Australian Antarctic ice-breaker in the 1980's. My Dad was chief engineer on the tug boat that tried to save 'the Nella' and ended up being responsible for the scuttling. The study of my parents house is adorned with photos of the Nella going down and my Dad surrounded with Emperor penguins etc... The book is based on these events with a fictional story weaved around it. It had some nice, soft moments to it but on the whole was a bit of a walk in the park for me. It didn't feel like a writer stretching themselves, which is interesting as I know that Favel traveled to Antarctica and Denmark to research the book and spoke to many crew members from the ship (and to my good old Dad for at least 3 hours as they poured over photos etc together). The book has just been nominated for the Australian Independent Writing Awards so we will see what comes of that. I would love it to do well, but if I was on the panel I wouldn't be voting for it!

LYNNE On day 1 of my summer holiday I went (with my family) to a Rotary Club book fair and bought a bag full of gems for $10, including the following:

Death of Salesman, Arthur Miller: 8/10. It was great to read a play again and construct the set in my head from cues in the foreword. I loved the story - the disintegration of a hard working man in Brooklyn. Makes me want to go back to my Year 11 literature class and re-read The Crucible.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald: another solid 8/10 and this was my second time. Having seen Baz Luhrman's version at the cinema 2 years ago I had some great party scenes in my head while reading this and was again drawn into the mystery of Gatsby, the man. Loved it.

Perfume, Patrick Suskind: 6/10. I found the descriptions of perfume making pretty fascinating, and I loved the down-and-dirty descriptions of Paris, but the plot was a bit wacked out. The part in the middle where he lives in a cave for years... Anyway, I read this in a week, while sitting on the small verandah of my Pool-side villa (read: cabin in noisy location) in the Big 4 Caravan Park in Tathra (NSW), a constant 27 degrees, while my children scooted around the joint freely  and was in heaven.

It's Not About the Bike, Lance Armstrong: 4/10. This book was written in 2000 (a year after his first Tour de France win) and I bought it just to see how delusional he was - and it does not disappoint on that front. It is largely about being a cancer survivor, so in that respect it was an interesting read for somebody who is blessed to have not encountered cancer at close range through either friends or family. But the guy is difficult to like, even more so when you reflect on the cheating and bullying he fostered in his team for successive years. Anyway, don't bother buying this book unless it comes in a huge bag of other fabulous books from a book fair. And even then, don't read it unless you have nothing else next to your bed.

Burial Rites, Hannah Kent: 8/10 a debut from a writer from Adelaide about the last female to be condemned to death in Iceland in 1829. This was harsh and brutal and touching and enlightening and all the things a good book should be. Would recommend to all of you.

The Sea, John Banville - just started last night. Top Price, Matt Price - articles by journalist for The Australian who died of a brain tumour in 2007. Will be my next read.