POSTED: 05 SEP 09

REVIEW: Michael Duffy's The Tower ... What was this? Life imitating fiction or did Duffy know more? MORE

POSTED: 02 SEP 09

REVIEW: Sarah Hall's How to Paint a Dead Man ... four tales, tenuously linked, combine into a beautiful and unusual work. MORE

POSTED: 23 AUG 09

REVIEW: Alaa Al Aswany's Friendly Fire ... Wonderful works of imagination, well written, and permeated with a sense of wry humour. MORE

POSTED: 02 SEP 09

NEWS: Diane Armstrong, author of Nocturne, is to be honoured by the Polish Embassy with two functions in Canberra. MORE

POSTED: 10 AUG 09

REVIEW: Tommy Dades & Mike Vecchione's Friends of the Family ... horrifying to find such a detailed account of real life cops selling out to the criminal underbelly. MORE

POSTED: 23 AUG 09

REVIEW: Gary Crew's The Children's Writer ... Is this staying a bit too close to home? Who cares. The Children’s Writer is a good read. MORE

POSTED: 25 JUL 09

REVIEW: Robert Wilson's The Ignorance of Blood ... believable characters, credible plots, satisfying resolution ... what more can you want? MORE

POSTED: 10 AUG 09

REVIEW: Joseph Cummins' The War Chronicles: From Flintlocks to Machine Guns ... set apart by a structure that allows a multi-level approach to military history. MORE

POSTED: 25 JUL 09

REVIEW: Stuart MacBride's Blind Eye ... a gripping tale in need of some tighter editing of sub-plots. MORE

POSTED: 25 JUL 09

REVIEW: Salley Vickers' Dancing Backwards ... a bright and easy read ... her insight, although not exactly revelatory, is wise and comforting. MORE

POSTED: 06 JUL 09

REVIEW: Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall ... an excellent attempt at fleshing our life's realities in Tudor England. MORE

POSTED: 25 JUL 09

REVIEW: Joyce Hinnefeld's In Hovering Flight ... a deceptively powerful tale, gently and lovingly told. MORE

POSTED: 06 JUL 09

REVIEW: Patrick Gale's The Whole Day Through ... a simple love tale emerges as a fine book about the niceties of human behaviour. MORE

POSTED: 29 JUN 09

REVIEW: Mark Mills' The Information Officer ... well written, with tension heightened by the desperate days of the siege. MORE

POSTED: 23 JUN 09

REVIEW: Elizabeth Knox's The Angel's Cut ... an entrancing and stimulating read from an unconventional imagination. MORE

POSTED: 05 JUN 09

REVIEW: Paulo Coelho's The Winner Stands Alone ... a vaguely dissatisfying addition to a catalog of wonderful tales. MORE

POSTED: 07 JUN 09

REVIEW: Andrew Gross's Don't Look Twice ... A likeable and believable character provides bases for an intriguing and satisfying read. MORE

POSTED: 31 MAY 09

REVIEW: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's The Thing Around Your Neck ... each story tells us something of the human condition and leaves us wanting more. MORE

POSTED: 31 MAY 09

REVIEW: Robert M Kaplan's Medical Murder ... a worthy but somewhat flawed look at doctors who kill and the psychology driving them. MORE

POSTED: 31 MAY 09

REVIEW: Anne Berry's The Hungry Ghosts ... lyrical, luscious, and evocative ... an engrossing debut novel for both auther and Blue Door. MORE

POSTED: 13 MAY 09

REVIEW: Captain Bullen's War ... A highly recommended alternative perspective to the usual writing about the Vietnam War. MORE

POSTED: 09 MAY 09

REVIEW: Michael Connelly's The Scarecrow ... intriguing, fast-paced, touching on real fears and the real world. MORE

POSTED: 25 APR 09

REVIEW: Janet Hutchinson's Grandma Magic ... sharing the wonderment of motherhood once-removed. MORE

POSTED: 02 MAY 09

REVIEW: Tash Aw's Map of the Invisible World ... dramatic and exciting events, plus real insight and authenticity in the lives of his characters. MORE

POSTED: 24 APR 09

REVIEW: T.C. Boyle's The Women ... It is the story we read so often about “great men”. They may be bastards, but they are so in such an intoxicating way ... MORE

POSTED: 14 APR 09

REVIEW: Bill Tancer's Click ... an intriguing look at what we do online and why it matters. MORE

POSTED: 08 MAR 09

REVIEW: Barbara O'Neal's The Lost Recipe for Happiness ... a sensuous, sensual and voluptuous feast of experiences. MORE

POSTED: 06 APR 09

REVIEW: Cathy Kelly's Once in a Lifetime ... a light and fluffy read about strong, smart women. MORE

POSTED: 08 MAR 09

REVIEW: Kylie Ladd's After the Fall ... an interesting insight into how little we might really know about our nearest and dearest. MORE

POSTED: 25 FEB 09

REVIEW: Ernest Brough's Dangerous Days ... a story of love and redemption as much as a memoir of a great wartime escape. MORE

POSTED: 11 FEB 09

REVIEW: Peter Grose's A Awkward Truth ... a revealing account of a pivotal Australian moment: the bombing of Darwin in 1942. MORE

POSTED: 22 FEB 09

REVIEW: Austin Clarke's More ... to be savoured slowly, in small bites, so as to fully appreciate its complexity and avoid being overwhelmed by its richness. MORE

POSTED: 08 FEB 09

REVIEW: Gaynor Arnold's Girl in a Blue Dress ... Charles Dickens' life provides the backdrop for a charming read. MORE

POSTED: 17 JAN 09

REVIEW: Lawrence Hill's Someone Knows My Name ... skilfully combines historical fact and some actual people with fictional characters. MORE

POSTED: 17 JAN 2009

NEWS: Tasmania Book Prizes shortlists. MORE

POSTED: 17 JAN 09

REVIEW: Janice Y.K. Lee's The Piano Teacher ... well researched and well written, with sustained suspense and interest to the end. MORE

POSTED: 16 JAN 09

REVIEW: Geraldine Brooks' People of the Book ... convincing, enlightening and fascinating. MORE

POSTED: 09 JAN 09

REVIEW: Margaret Atwood's Payback ... certainly no dry economic tome. MORE