Ocean at the end of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. Could not let a chance pass to
spread the word. Loved it, and so did everyone here that I gave it to. Heidi
Gringas.
Staff holiday reading list 2013 compiled by Pat Pledger from suggestions from OZTL_NET members Black Mountain by Venero Armanno http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/Book.aspx/1205/Black%20Mountain (Kerry Neary) Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (Sharon McGuinness) Longhorn by Jo Baker (Alison Conliffe) Lexicon by Max Barry. (Nic Martin) The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (Josephine Ryan) Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt (Alison Conliffe) The Broken Man by Josephine Cox (Chantal Hochstrasser) Kitty Blue by Claude Crowe (Michael Jorgen) The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson (Chantal Hochstrasser) Little Exiles by Robert Dinsdale (Chantal Hochstrasser) The circle by David Eggars (Michael Jorgen) Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn It caused a big rift in our group. It was a bit of a love or hate title. I quite enjoyed the structure of the book and found it a light but easy read. (Jo Schenkel)(Alison Conliffe) Ocean at the end of the Lane by Neil Gaiman. Could not let a chance pass to spread the word. Loved it, and so did everyone here that I gave it to. Heidi Gringas The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (really J. K. Rowling). A well-written (OK, no surprises there) murder mystery. (Peter Macinnis) Gentlemen Formerly Dressed (bk5) - Sulari Gentill (Alison Conliffe) The last Banquet by Jonathan Grimwood http://newtownreviewofbooks.com/2013/09/05/jonathan-grimwood-the-last-banquet-reviewedby-michael-jongen/(Michael Jorgen) The Camel BookMobile by Masha Hamilton (Sue Warren) Perfect by Rachel Joyce (Sharon McGuinness) The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. I started reading this while abandoned in a hospital ward, waiting for throat surgery. Browned off, the old man's escape method appealed to me, and I seriously considered using it. Instead, I stayed, reading and giggling until they came to wheel me into the theatre. Just as well, considering what they found and fixed. Thanks, Jonas! Best read of the year. (Peter Macinnis) The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce . I read this in parallel with rereading 'The Good Companions'. Travelling in England can be strange, at times. (Peter Macinnis) Also recommended by Sharon McGuinness. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent was one which was enjoyed by virtually everyone. It’s certainly been a most highly discussed novel! (Jo Schenkel)
Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver, a bit preachy and an environmental issues book but I enjoyed it anyway(Jo Schenkel). It makes a great summer read as it's quite lengthy. (Tania Maley) The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri http://newtownreviewofbooks.com/2013/11/07/jhumpa-lahirithe-lowland-reviewed-by-michael-jongen/ (Michael Jorgen) Thirst by LA Larkin (Chantal Hochstrasser) The two Hotel Francforts: A novel by David Leavitt (Michael Jorgen) Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project by Jack Mayer (Maria Bennett) Fat Fifty and F***ed by Geoffrey McGeachin (Sue Warren) Foal’s Bread by Gillian Mears (Jo Schenkel) Prochownik’s Dream by Alex Miller. Again, an oldie but one I’d not read about. The life of an artist who is on the rise. (Jo Schenkel) What Alice forgot by Liane Moriarty, just noticed it's 2009, maybe too old. Definitely light reading but well done. (Angela Soutar) The crane wife by Patrick Ness (Kerry Neary) (Chantal Hochstrasser) (Michael Jorgen) Snow White must die by Nele Neuhaus (Chantal Hochstrasser) The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell (Alison Conliffe) The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell was a great yarn about a young lady who is asked to take responsibility for an aged relative whom she has never met. A few twists and turns although a bit predictable. (Jo Schenkel) How I live now (film released) by Meg Rosoff (Josephine Ryan Flora's War by Pamela Rushby (Barbara Braxton) All that is by James Salter (Michael Jorgen) Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple (Alison Conliffe) Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield (Pat Pledger) The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon (Alison Conliffe) Game by Trevor Shearston – http://newtownreviewofbooks.com/2013/08/13/trevor-shearstongame-reviewed-by-michael-jongen/(Michael Jorgen) The Lives of Stella Bain by Anita Shreve (Sharon McGuinness) Big Brother by Lionel Shriver (Alison Conliffe) The English Girl by Daniel Silva. It is a Gabriel Allon thriller but apparently you don't have to have read the others. (Jackie McCormick) The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion Hilarious voice, light and entertaining!! LOVED it. (Jo Schenkel) (Chantal Hochstrasser) (Pat Pledger) (Margaret Simkin) (Nic Martin)
The light between oceans by M L Stedman. (Craig Edgman) The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout (Alison Conliffe) Mimus by Lilli Thal, John Brownjohn (Translator) (Maria Bennett) One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper (Alison Conliffe) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, the best piece of literature ever written in my humble opinion. (Tania Maley) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Jackie Hawkes)
*Non-fiction* Empress Dowager Cixi: the concubine who launched modern China by Jung Chang (Josephine Ryan) The Riddle of the Labyrinth by Margalit Fox, a loving tale of the woman who did most of the hard work behind decoding Linear B, an unknown script in an unknown language, which we can now read. Peter Macinnis The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida, K.A. Yoshida (Translator), David Mitchell(Translator). Short segments of meaningful insight into an autistic life. Wonderful. (Margaret Simkin). An insight into what it feels like to be autistic from the child's point of view. May feel like work but it is fairly short and easy to digest. It covers advice you may already know intellectually but provides insight in a more emotionally direct way which has stuck with me. (Angela Soutar) Howard's End is on the Landing by Susan Hill. She writes highly competent mysteries, and other stuff, but this is human and gentle literary criticism in the mould of 'Q' (Arthur QuillerCouch). Peter Macinnis Ugly: my memoir by Robert Hoge (Mary Anne Cartwright) Stuff I've been reading by Nick Hornby, which I'd like to keep all year to prompt me on differing tracks to follow, although not the football sections! (Angela Soutar) Argo by Antonio J Mendez (Barbara Braxton) The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller (Barbara Braxton) No Easy Day: the firsthand account of the mission that killed Osama Bin Laden by Mark Owen (Barbara Braxton) Love versus Goliath by Robyn Oyeniyi http://newtownreviewofbooks.com/2013/10/17/robyn-oyeniyi-love-versus-goliath-two-peopleagainst-the-weight-of-bureaucracy-reviewed-by-michael-jongen/(Michael Jorgen) January First: A Child's Descent into Madness and Her Father's Struggle to Save her by Michael Schofield (Barbara Braxton) Installing Linux on a Dead Badger by Lucy Snyder. This is the funniest e-book I have read this year. It probably helps if you are a geek, but it is not essential. Peter Macinnis Planet Narnia by Michael Ward (Jo Shearer)
