tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49817839440176742522026-10-10T20:06:02.406+11:00Cread is about reading, writing, books, ebooks and authors and the ideas, faith, creeds, beliefs and stories they perpetuate.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger121125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-47795817213311959722018-10-08T17:50:00.001+11:002018-10-08T17:50:37.321+11:00

One of the characters I most enjoyed in Michelle de Krester's The life to come is Sydney's inner west. I arrived in Newtown on a yellowy January morning in the early 1980s and lived above King St near the start of Erskinville Rd for six months before a succession of terrace houses across Newtown, Emmore and Macdonaldtown. Coming from the country to study 'Communications' I could easily have

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-71903328873329957212018-09-28T08:33:00.000+10:002018-09-28T08:33:23.072+10:00

Little Sammy Went is gone, and while The Nowhere Child tells us where fairly quickly - who, how, why and at what cost takes the rest of this fast-paced book to uncover. I use the cliche 'fast-paced' on purpose because like most genre books, except for the exceptional few, the 'fast-pace' does rely on cliches to a fair degree. Which is not to say The Nowhere Child is a poor novel. Rather

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-70388407191665738502018-08-27T07:11:00.001+10:002018-08-27T07:13:10.788+10:00

The Choke tells the story of a young girl raised by her war-ravaged grandfather in a beat-up house near the fictional Victorian town of Nullabri on the banks of the Murray River. Nullabri may well be located across the water from fictional Bellington and Riversend from Chris Hammer's Scrubland as we find ourselves in another rendition of dystopian rural Australia where the river (or lack of) is

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-83525201743412524972018-08-09T08:20:00.001+10:002018-08-09T08:20:08.205+10:00

There's a rhythm to Chris Hammer's Scrublands that could easily have become monotonous in the same way driving to and from the small parched town of Riversend to the larger river town of Bellington again and again could be monotonous. Except that both rhythms are edged with beauty and tragedy and cornered by the possibility of salvation or damnation which is why we are often addicted to the

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-86135677341967395982018-08-07T08:01:00.000+10:002018-08-07T08:01:21.316+10:00

Fifteen-year-old Jaxie urgently flees his motherless home and what is left of his abusive father, taking his chances on foot in the vast and desolate West Australian desert, hoping for the solace of an unlikely reunion with the girl he loves.   With the undaunted, brutalised but majestic voice of a teenager on a desperate journey and the dust-in-your-eyes realism of Tim Winton's landscapes

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-78357074474629721222018-08-06T13:08:00.002+10:002018-08-06T13:11:02.945+10:00

When my father died at the age of 98 he had largely divested himself of possessions. Among what little remained was an old desk in which he had collected various writings precious to him over the years: poems, sayings, quotes, a few pieces he had written, some correspondence.  Photo: From Garma Festival 2017 Among them my elder sister found a letter written by one of my father’s cousins

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-34396716991003924892015-06-10T17:26:00.001+10:002018-08-02T23:15:56.638+10:00

This is one of the saddest books I've read in a long time although most popular literary books I've read of late make a good effort at being reasonably depressing. Which is not to say Everything I Never Told You is a poor read. On the whole it is eminently readable but I found myself constantly trying to peel back my own experience of family to see if secrets, silent shame and unspoken

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-78374143879833878502015-01-14T22:11:00.000+11:002018-08-03T05:00:04.585+10:00

Leigh Hatcher’s book about his years suffering with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome nearly had a completely different name. But all along he’d felt the Matchbox 20 lyric I’m Not Crazy, I’m Just a Little Unwell seemed to resonate with his experience and so he went with his heart and it became the title of his best selling book. And that’s something Leigh is good at, going with his heart, and he bares

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-4941112244933450222015-01-11T22:07:00.000+11:002018-08-03T05:08:18.876+10:00

The comparisons for The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl are coming thick and fast and will do sales of the former no harm as it is published in Australia this month. And there are plenty of similarities - the gradual denuding of all of the main characters in The Girl on the Train, so that their worst (and perhaps for some, their best) is gradually and in some cases terrifyingly revealed

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-11304482576431955492014-10-27T22:15:00.000+11:002018-08-03T21:01:36.517+10:00

When Matthew and Caroline Barnetts' story first broke into Christian consciousness across the globe, it inspired many pastors and leaders to finally acknowledge the part of themselves they had been often taught to ignore. It was unusual to hear of a large, popular, American, Pentecostal church that centralised radical engagement with the poor. Most church experts would teach us that you can't

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-88865725659589351022014-10-07T19:55:00.001+11:002018-08-03T04:26:49.056+10:00

Theo Decker, a 'god of layers' perhaps, and that is what he is, surviving a bomb blast that kills his mother, comforting a dying antique trader and following his delirious urging to take hold of a treasure that takes hold of him in so many layered ways. There are times this book infuriates when characters fail to do what 99 per cent of people would do - what you the reader are urging them to do

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-60000342930918397162014-09-21T21:36:00.001+10:002018-08-03T21:15:02.641+10:00

The Rosie Project's lead character, Don Tillman, would be satisfied that I read on the Kindle platform of his project to find a wife. While reading I was informed of what percentage of the book had been completed and also was given the estimated time in the current chapter so I could adjust my optimal reading speed. Despite these and other efficiencies I found my reading broke into my

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-62030733048687013562014-07-19T14:05:00.001+10:002018-08-03T21:17:34.595+10:00

The devastation of a disaster like the shooting down of MH17 is indiscriminate and ruthless - with people of all walks of life cut off in an instance in the most horrific of circumstances. Australia's literary community is particular mindful of the loss of novelist Liam Davison, who with his his wife Frankie, a much-loved teacher, were passengers on the doomed flight. Mr Davison published

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-37170194496315694892014-07-13T21:45:00.000+10:002018-08-03T21:23:49.097+10:00

For an Australian author like Richard Flanagan, there is material enough for a great novel just telling of the lives and suffering of Australian prisoners of war during World War 2.  Even more so considering his father was just such a prisoner on the Burma railway, something Flanagan speaks of 'imbibing' while growing up. Instead he settles for a broader and more difficult panorama.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-53721495919265962432014-07-12T20:51:00.002+10:002018-08-05T05:54:49.702+10:00

Reading is as easy as pointing your finger at the text with the prototype FingerReader being developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Unlike other readers available for visually impaired people, which first need to process and translate text, the MIT finger reader reads in real time, and uses remarkable technology to assist the reader follow line after line

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-25067068027106507702014-07-11T23:04:00.000+10:002014-10-11T22:27:06.153+11:00

The obvious attraction of I Am Malala is the inside story of this young women's violent struggle with the Taliban but there are even greater, quieter wonders on offer for the patient reader. Malala Yousafzai tells her story with a refreshing lack of self-consciousness so that we are given not only a deeply personal insight into her own soul, but into the intricacies of her family and her

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-16354546256167743202014-03-15T11:26:00.001+11:002018-08-05T06:07:57.865+10:00

Australian publisher Hardie Grant has moved forward the release of The Undesirables which is a whistle-blower's account from inside the asylum-seeker camp on Nauru. Available from March 17, 2014 the rushed release is in response to the recent violence and death of one asylum-seeker at Manus Island. Author Mark Isaacs was just 24 when, as the Sydney Morning Herald reports, he was hired as a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-32466343042137304942014-03-13T22:32:00.003+11:002018-08-05T06:15:40.221+10:00

Probably the most interesting thing about The Tournament is how I received my copy. Which is not to say Reilly's departure into historical fiction is bland or boring, but that fact is often stranger then fiction, even when the fiction is by one of Australia's leading action authors. Returning from my favourite Sydney CBD coffee shop, Vella Nero on Clarence St, I saw relaxing in the sunshine on

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-88711892389417525312014-03-06T23:01:00.000+11:002018-08-05T06:27:49.099+10:00

A patent-pending reading application included with two new Samsung products streams single words with an optimal recognition point and claims to increase reading speeds dramatically. Spritz was launched at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 23 after three years of 'stealth mode' research and development. Using a display called a 'Redicle', Spritz displays a single word at a

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-17336332384664684782014-01-24T08:14:00.001+11:002018-08-05T06:36:18.608+10:00

Amazon Publishing today (January 24, 2014) announced the launch of Waterfall Press, a new Christian imprint that will specialize in faith-based non-fiction and fiction.  An Amazon media release says, 'Waterfall Press non-fiction will aim to provide spiritual refreshment and inspiration to today's Christian reader, while fiction will include stories in the romance, mystery, and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-25364574696218046712013-11-07T22:36:00.000+11:002013-11-08T07:01:17.155+11:00

Australia's latest trade data suggests Australians may have curbed their overseas spending on items such as books and toys. According to Business Insider Australia, the Australian Bureau of Statistics' latest trade data shows a narrowing in the deficit on the Balance of Goods and Services to a seasonally adjusted $284 million from $693 million last month. A key to this was a fall in imports

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-61464761056344076322013-11-03T23:19:00.003+11:002013-11-04T19:34:26.607+11:00

In Luke 19, a rich man climbs a Sycamore tree to get a closer look at Jesus who is passing through the city of Jericho. Inspired to acts of justice after Jesus visits him for lunch, the man, Zaccheus, gives away much of his wealth to those he has previously robbed as a tax collector. In John Grisham's latest legal thriller, Sycamore Row, a rich man climbs a Sycamore tree and hangs himself, and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-88594432462738782292013-10-26T21:32:00.002+11:002018-08-05T07:01:50.824+10:00

The Christian devotional, Jesus Calling, which is one the best-selling books in the world today, out-selling Fifty Shades of Grey in the first half 2013, has a strong Australian connection. Author Sarah Young, who first released Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence in 2004, has been a missionary in Australia since 1977 with her husband Stephen and most recently they moved to Perth in

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-27941828046118036752013-10-15T21:59:00.001+11:002013-11-04T20:32:10.366+11:00

Learning from the lives of others is one of the great opportunities we have for personal growth, as we see ourselves reflected in their stories. Just such an opportunity, multiplied 30 times, is presented to readers of Open House - Conversations with Leigh Hatcher launched this week. Open House is the popular Sunday night radio interview program hosted by well-known media personality and

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4981783944017674252.post-50425201111410701352013-08-20T14:15:00.001+10:002013-11-04T20:34:24.003+11:00

Although Jane Austen may be known as a writer who cut through the veil of manners that surrounded English landed gentry, she was still a woman of her time and is unlikely to have ever imagined a book such as Jo Baker has written. Longbourn covers the same set of events as Pride and Prejudice but from a firmly 'downstairs' perspective - although we should also include the attic where the servants

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0