Alice Munro withdraws from canadian literary prize
Book lovers who were hoping for a decisive showdown between the authors Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood in the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the annual Canadian literary award, were disappointed when Ms. Munro said she did not want to be considered for the prize this year. Ms. Munro, whose new short story collection "Too Much Happiness" was seen as a likely nominee for the prize, said she was withdrawing the book from consideration because she has won it twice before, for her collections "The Love of a Good Woman" (in 1998) and "Runaway" (in 2004).
Douglas Gibson, whose Douglas Gibson Books imprint releases Ms. Munro's work in Canada, said: "In my role as greedy publisher I pointed out that the Giller Prize produces so much publicity, that even to be nominated for it is tremendous publicity. But her mind is made up on this."
The Giller Prize, of about $45,000, is awarded annually to a Canadian work of fiction; the longlist of nominees for the 2009 prize will be announced on Oct. 6. "Too Much Happiness" is to be released in October.
The Story Of AC/DC - Let There Be Rock by Susan Masino
Updated Revised Edition includes bonus interview CD
Let There Be Rock is the story of AC/DC written by rock journalist Susan Masino, who met the band during their first American tour in 1977. Over the years, she remained in contact with them, watching AC/DC climb to international stardom.
Since 1977, Susan has interviewed the band many times and their friendship has lasted nearly three decades. Now she tells the true story of AC/DC's illustrious career and how they became one of the true great rock 'n' roll bands in history.
The book traces the band's history, from their beginnings in Sydney, Australia in the early 1970s to trail-blazing the US mainstream to the devastating death of lead singer Bon Scott in 1980. The band pulled together and rebounded to the top of the charts with new front man, Brian Johnson and the watershed album, Back in Black. Through it all, AC/DC continues their quest to build a legion of new fans in the 21st century.
The incredible, previously untold story of Australia's role in the creation of the world-famous Pasteur Institute.
In 1887, the desperate NSW Government of Sir Henry Parkes advertised an international competition for a biological cure for the rabbit plague then ravaging the farms of Australia and New Zealand. The competition, with a prize equivalent to $10 million today, would attract 1500 entries, and would generate a sensational episode in Australasian history that combined science, subterfuge, and scandal.
In Paris, famous microbiologist Dr Louis Pasteur, struggling to raise the funds to open his prestigious Pasteur Institute, saw the Australasian rabbit competition as the answer to his financial prayers. For Pasteur was convinced he had the biological remedy to the rabbit plague.
To Australia came Pasteur's dashing 25-year-old nephew, Adrien Loir, sent to prove Pasteur's remedy and return home within six weeks with the prize money. But Pasteur had not reckoned on sabotage by his greatest scientific rival, or on the self-interest of the competition's Australian and New Zealand judges, or the private agendas of local politicians. Young Loir, determined not to fail his uncle, was in for the fight of his life.
PASTEUR'S GAMBIT, featuring a cast of characters ranging from great names in science to legendary French actress Sarah Bernhardt and a fast-talking Sydney larrikin, is the previously untold true story of an amazing episode in both scientific and national history.
'An improbable and interesting story' by 'a very fine historian'. Phillip Adams, Late Night Live, ABC Radio National
'Frankly, I had no idea that Pasteur had so much trouble raising the money for the Pasteur Institute. The generally held notion is that the crowned heads of Europe fell all over themselves to pay homage and grant funds - clearly far from the truth! And I only had the vaguest knowledge of the early origins of the Pasteur Institute in Sydney and of the potential contributions to the rabbit plague. So from every point of view I am much in your debt and will be sure to highlight your work in appropriate lectures and other talks.'- Sir Gustav Nossal
'Pasteur's Gambit is a fantastic story made better by the fact that it is true. Dando-Collins has uncovered a story very few people knew anything about, gone on to research rich untapped material, and skillfully laid it out. The result is part science, part history, sprinklings of drama and ultimately a real adventure.' Tony Peacock, Feral Thoughts
DIY provides everything you need to know about home maintenance, repair, and improvement, from fixing a dripping tap to putting up a wall to planning and replacing a bathroom.
The book starts with home assessment, showing how to conduct routine maintenance checks inside and outside and how to plan projects, taking you through the tools and materials you'll need for each task. Each section provides an overview of a specific part of the house or area of improvement, while the core of the book consists of step-by-step spreads that lead you through a huge range of DIY tasks - from simple to advanced.
Fully adapted for Australian homes and updated to include advice on how to make your home greener, this is your one-stop DIY bible.
Malla Nunn's A Beautiful Place To Die wins Davitt Award for the best crime novel
A Beautiful Place To Die, the debut novel by Sydney-based filmmaker turned crime writer, Malla Nunn, won Sisters in Crime's Davitt Awards for the best (adult) crime novel by an Australian woman.
Blue Mountains writer Catherine Jinks took out the Davitt, young adult for Genius Squad while Melbourne's Chloe Hooper won the Davitt, true crime for The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island. The Davitt reader's choice as voted by the members of Sisters in Crime went to last's year's Davitt winner, Gold Coast writer Katherine Howell, for her second novel, The Darkest Hour.
This year 39 crime books competed for the Davitt Awards which were set up by Sisters in Crime in 2001 to celebrate the achievements of Australian women crime writers. Justice Betty King presented the awards to a crowd of 140 at the Celtic Club. For the third year running, the awards were sponsored by the Victoria Police Museum.
"A Beautiful Place To Die by Swaziland-born Malla Nunn is a debut novel of considerable power which uses the device of a murder to illuminate the history and politics of South Africa in the fifties. That she does so with such understanding and empathy for those caught up in the ramifications of apartheid, is commendable. This memorable and significant first novel, both disturbing and enlightening, was the unanimous choice of the judges."
Nunn told the Davitts Awards ceremony by phone that she had written the novel part-time, between school hours. "I dreamt it would one day get published. Winning an award was beyond my dreams. The Davitt is an honour that means a great deal to me because it comes from my peers: a group of women who like murder, mayhem, sleaze and a great yarn as much as I do. Your support has made my maiden journey into the world of crime fiction an absolute joy." Her second novel in the series will be published next year.
The judging panel comprised Dr Shelley Robertson (Sisters in Crime member, forensic pathologist), Rosi Tovey (former owner of Chronicles Bookshop in St Kilda), Dr Sue Turnbull (Head of Media Studies, La Trobe University, Sisters in Crime national co-convenor and Sydney Morning Herald crime columnist), Sylvia Loader (Sisters in Crime national co-convenor, and reviewer) Tanya King (reviewer and former Sisters in Crime national co-convenor).
The awards are named after Ellen Davitt (1812-1879) who wrote Australia's first mystery novel, Force and Fraud, in 1865.
Chloe Hooper wins Button Prize for The Tall Man, a story of death in custody
THE Melbourne writer Chloe Hooper has won the inaugural John Button Prize for her book The Tall Man , about the death in custody of Cameron Doomadgee on Palm Island.
The $20,000 award for Australian public policy and political writing was to be announced at the Melbourne Writers Festival last night.
The judges, the former NSW premier Bob Carr, the ABC broadcaster Kerry O'Brien, the political scientist Judith Brett, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist J.M. Coetzee and the Miles Franklin Award judge Morag Fraser, settled on The Tall Man from a long-list of 31 books and essays on public policy and politics.
Coetzee said in a statement: "It is a very good book. Everything she tried to do she did well." After the judging Fraser told the Herald , "We were looking for extremely fine writing which had political impact and breadth."
Of Ms Hooper's book she said: "It was a very brave piece of research that gave a strong sense of what it was like to be inside fractured communities."
O'Brien praised Hooper's use of fictional techniques in a "journalistic exercise".
"She made a subject that a lot of people had given up on as too hard, live again," he said.
The prize commemorates the life of the politician and writer John Button, who died last year. In his retirement he wrote three books on politics and a Premier's Prize-winning Quarterly Essay on the Labor Party.
A former Fairfax journalist, James Button, the son of the late politician, said of his father that "politics and writing were his great passions''. ''We wanted to begin a debate about the quality of writing on politics.'' The Tall Man was short-listed, alongside Marcia Langton's essay The End of 'Big Men' Politics ; Galarrwuy Yunupingu's memoir in The Monthly , Tradition, Truth and Tomorrow ; Margot O'Neill's book Blind Conscience , and Geoffrey Robertson's The Statute of Liberty - How Australians Can Take Back their Rights .
Ted Kennedy worked on this memoir for five years, trying to get it finished before his terminal illness finally caught up with him.
The book was finished in time, and its publication was rushed forward, but sadly Ted Kennedy hasn't lived to see it on the shelves.
Edward M. Kennedy is widely regarded as one of the great Senators in the United States' history.
He was also the patriarch of America's most heralded family. In this landmark autobiography, five years in the making, Senator Kennedy speaks with unprecedented candor about his extraordinary life. He writes movingly of his brothers and their influence on him; his marriage to the woman who changed his life, Victoria Reggie Kennedy; his role in the major events of our time (from the civil rights movement to the election of Barack Obama); and how his recent diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor had given even greater urgency to his long crusade for improved health care for all Americans.
Written with warmth, wit, and grace, True Compass is Edward M. Kennedy's inspiring legacy to readers and to history.
The Mind and Times of Reg Mombassa by Murray Waldren
As colourful, entertaining and boldly original as the man himself, The Mind And Times Of Reg Mombassa is the christmas present everyone will want.
Christopher O'Doherty, aka Reg Mombassa, has infiltrated our culture for more than thirty years with a unique, laconic view of our world ... and of his.
His sense of mischief and larrikin energy resonates in the songs and performances of on of Australia's most beloved bands, Mental As Anything.
His eye for the absurd and his unapologetic idealism captured another generation or three with his irreverent, frequently macabre and always distinctive designs for the original Mambo label.
Yet long before he became a Mental or transformed shirts in collector's items, Mombassa was first and foremost an artist. from his idiosyncratic pop art to the delicately realised fine art landscapes and images that celebrate and elevate the suburban, his artworks are sought by collectors around the world.
But there is much more to reg Mombassa, as fellow New Zealander born writer and painter Murray Waldren shows in this illuminated journey. Illustrated with almost 300 original artworks, photographs, posters and band memorabilia, this is a unique collector's item.
Stephenie Meyer thinks that Breaking Dawn should be made into two movies.
Stephenie says, "If they made all four, I really think they'd have to do five movies because I don't think you could do Breaking Dawn as one movie. They'd have to split it up . I know right where you'd do it too!"
Meyer said that as you read the final book in the series, you should keep your eyes peeled for the spot where Stephenie wants to separate the "Twilight 4" and "Twilight 5" movies.
Sitting down in New York City, Meyer had plenty to say about the pressures of finishing off the series, the immense enthusiasm of Twilighters, and the scenes from the series that she's most eager to see committed to film.
"There's so many things that would be interesting to see," she said of "Twilight" sequel movies. "One of my favorite scenes of the whole series is in the tent in 'Eclipse,' the fire-and-ice chapter. Oh, do I want to see that! There's a lot of things, visually, that are so much cooler than you can do in a book."
"Bella cliff-diving would be really fun to watch," she grinned. "Poor Kristen, the things I make her do!"
Why You Are Australian - A Letter To My Children by Nikki Gemmell
As a young woman Nikki Gemmell wanted to travel and see the world; adventure lay in running away from Australia. But after twelve wonderful years in London she feels she is starting to lose her sense of identity. And as she grows older the ides of returning 'home' has begun to haunt her. But can you really go home again?
On a trip back to Sydney, Gemmell explores the idea of exile and homecoming, of what makes Australia attractive. - but also a place people feel compelled to leave. She reflects on her youth, and looks back at how that shaped her.
Why you are Australian is part memoir, part observation. With characteristic candour Nikki Gemmell looks at what it means to be Australian - in the past and right now.
Nikki Gemmell is author of the Bride Stripped Bare, Shiver and The Book Of rapture.
Living Large explores Harold Mitchell's remarkable personal journey from son of a sawmiller to the owner of a $100 million business, rubbing shoulders with Australia's most powerful people. It traces Mitchell's philosophies about business and life, and presents guidance for young business executives trying to make it in the corporate jungle.
Part autobiography, part guidebook, Living Large gets into the mind of one of Australia's most intriguing figures. With his willingness to speak candidly to the media on any subject and his piercingly astute newspaper columns, Mitchell is a most unusual and multi-faceted business identity
The first volume of a unique history of Australia where people are always centre stage, from bestselling author Thomas Keneally who brings to life the vast range of characters who have formed our national story.
Thomas Keneally is one of Australia's most renowned novelists and historians. For novels including Bring Larks and Heroes, Gossip from the Forest, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith and Schindler's Ark he has received awards including the Booker Prize, the Miles Franklin Award, the Los Angeles Book Prize and numerous others. His history of Irish convictism The Great Shame was published internationally, and The Commonwealth of Thieves brought our convict origins vividly to life.
About Thomas Keneally Thomas Keneally was born in 1935 and, as well as writing many novels, has shown an increasing interest in producing histories. His history of Irish convictism as a read-out of the problems of Ireland itself was entitled The Great Shame and was published in all the English language markets. The same was true of his later work, The Commonwealth of Thieves, which looked upon the penal origins of Australia in a way which sought to make the reader feel close to the experience of individual Aboriginals, convicts and officials. He has tried to bring the same intimacy and sense of surprise to Australians.
As a novelist, his works include Bring Larks and Heroes, The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, Gossip from the Forest, Schindler's Ark, Woman of the Inner Sea, Towards Asmara, The Widow And Her Hero. He has the won the Miles Franklin Award, the Booker Prize, the Los Angeles Book Prize, the Royal Society of Literature
L J Smith's Vampire Diaries V's Stephenie Meyer's Twilight
You can hear it already. When "The Vampire Diaries" premieres in September, charges of plagiarism, or, at least, copycatting, will be flying.
"The Vampire Diaries" revolves around a teenage girl who lives in a small town. She's strangely attracted to a mysterious boy she meets at the local high school. He, in turn, seems to be attracted to her, as well. But he's fighting that attraction. And it turns out that the mysterious boy is no boy at all. He's a vampire!!!
If you're thinking, that sounds an awful lot like 'Twilight,' you wouldn't find too many people that disagree. Particularly when you consider things such as the vampires in "Diaries" are able to go about in the daylight and their eyes can give them away as 'un-natural'.
But here's a couple of facts you need to know before you start thinking that "Diaries" is some kind "Twilight" rip-off:
Both "The Vampire Diaries" TV show and "Twilight" are based on books with the same titles.
L.J. Smith's "Diaries" was first published in 1991; Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" was first published in 2005. (And Meyer has said that the idea for the book came to her in a dream in 2003.)
So I guess the question for the ever obsessed "Vampire" fans should revolve around who copied whom? and the answer here is nobody. Once you get past the basic premise, teenage girl and vampire fall in love, "Diaries" and "Twilight" aren't all that similar.
They are more similar to one another than either one is to the True Blood series about a woman in love with a vampire. True Blood is based on Charlaine Harris' series of Sookie Stackhouse novels. The first of which was published in 2001 and four in total were published in the years before "Twilight."
"The back story for both Diaries and Twilight is the same, girl meets vampire," executive producer Kevin Williamson ("Scream," "Dawson's Creek") said earlier this month "When you read the first book, I was like, 'No way. This is "Twilight." ' But when I got to the second book, you start to realise, boy, this is a fork in the road. It really does separate.' So we're getting to that fork in the road really quick.
"And we're really sort of telling the story about a small town and all the sort of evil (and) this darkness that sort of lies underneath this town. And how this vampire comes to town and sort of stirs it all up."
(The "Vampire Diaries" books are essentially one story divided into separate volumes. The "fork" Williamson refers to actually comes in the first volume, "The Awakening.")
At this point, it's pretty much impossible to write a vampire story that doesn't in some way echo previous works. And it would be hard to find one that doesn't owe a lot to Bram Stoker's "Dracula", which was published in 1897.
There is, however, one thing that "The Vampire Diaries" clearly owes to "Twilight." The popularity of the latter made it possible for the former to be developed into a television series.
And the people involved with the Diaries series are clearly hoping that the popularity of "Twilight" has left fans of the vampire genre hungering for more and turn to "The Vampire Diaries" to satisfy that hunger.
"What we're really trying to do is find different kinds of programming that appeal to young women," said CW Entertainment President Dawn Ostroff. "When you look at a show like 'Vampire Diaries' ... (it) has a very strong female audience. Don't forget, young women love horror films."
Whether they love "Vampire Diaries" remains to be seen.
Mary Anning, born in a poor family, lived in Lyme Regis and from an early age was fascinated by the fossils, then called snake stones and devil's toenails, that could then be picked up on the beaches. She became far more interested when she realised that these could be sold to the gentry who had grown into avid collectors. She was supported by her family in her enterprise but was often ripped off by the buyers and derided by the scientists.
In early 2008 Barry Dickens, award winning Australian author, artist and playwright, suffered from insomnia. He went to a doctor who cited anxiety and depression as the cause. Here he tells how he found his way back.
If you have ever dreamed of picking fresh salad leaves for the evening meal, gathering vine-ripened tomatoes or pulling up your own sweet carrots, this is the book for you.Follow in the footsteps of one of Australia's best-loved cooks and food writers as she reveals the secrets of rewarding kitchen gardening.
Be encouraged by detailed gardening notes that explain how adults and children alike can plant, grow and harvest 73 different vegetables, herbs and fruit, and try some of the 250 recipes that will transform your fresh produce into delicious meals.Whether you have a large plot in a suburban backyard or a few pots on a balcony, you will find everything you need to get started in this inspiring and eminently useful garden-to-table guide.
The Queen of the Quip is making her fantastic debut with Transworld.
When Lucy's husband of eighteen years runs out on her, she'll do anything to win him back. Including climbing out of her bedroom window at one in the morning wearing her daughter's mini skirt.
Jasper has left Lucy for her best friend, the chic and thin interior decorator Renee. To make matters worse, her teenage daughter Tally, blames her Mum. 'Dad left because you've let yourself go, you're overweight and you nagged him. No wonder he buggered off.'
While Tally is busy trying to find a loophole in her birth certificate so she can put herself up for adoption, Lucy's tries to accept that a child is for life and not just for Christmas.
Although a signed-up member of Underachievers Anonymous, in Lucy's quest to win back her husband she learns to be a surf life saver, loses weight and gets a job. She also falls in lust, finding herself torn between an older and a much younger man.But it's not until Lucy makes the Freudian discovery that her toy boy is also dating her daughter - and that he's been paid to do so by her conniving ex as ammunition for a custody battle, that she finally learns to stand on her own two stilettos.
In a deserted Moscow apartment building four-year-old Romochka waits for Uncle to come home. Outside the snow is falling, but after a few days hunger drives Romochka outside, his mother's voice ringing in his ears. Don't talk to strangers. Overlooked by passers-by, he follows a street dog to her lair in a deserted basement at the edge of the city. There he joins four puppies suckling at their mother's teats.
The story of the child raised by beasts has fascinated through the ages, but Eva Hornung has created such a vivid and original telling, so utterly emotionally convincing, that it becomes not just new but definitive: yes, this is how it would be.
Taking us with Romochka into the world of his dog-family, she shows through his clear, alien eyes the disintegration, and obdurate persistence, of community, of family; the uncertain embrace of society, the consequences of social breakdown and exclusion. And in doing this she shows us our brutal, tender, frightened selves; exploring what our animal nature brings to our humanity.
WHEN Eva Hornung was researching her new book Dog Boy, she spent time in 2006 walking through Moscow with her son.
"I did a lot of walking and my six-year-old son was a terrific dog spotter. He was very involved in the story as it developed, as he could tell me, from a child's perspective, what a child could and couldn't do. He loved it so much he wants to grow his hair and be a wild child," she says.
Avoiding any tendency towards anthropomorphism, Hornung, formerly writing as Eva Sallis, explores what it might be like to be a dog from a human point of view.
She says writing the book was a challenging task because getting the setting, language, dog life and Russian empathy right was so important.
Three children wake up in a basement room. They have been drugged and taken from their beds in the middle of the night. Now they are here. Alone.
Where are their parents? Who can they trust?
The family has been betrayed to the government and Salt Cottage, their home on a cliff top above the ocean, is no longer safe. Their mother's scientific work has put them all in danger. To protect them, she must let them go. She must put her faith in an old family friend - and in her children's own resilience and courage.
The Book of Rapture is the new must-read novel from Nikki Gemmell. Searing, provocative and unputdownable, it's a book of our time that challenges our beliefs about science, about children, about marriage and trust. As passionate as her international bestseller The Bride Stripped Bare, it will compel, seduce and haunt you.
"Rapture" takes as its cue Salman Rushdie's rallying cry for novelists... "A writer's work is to name the unnameable, to point to frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world and stop it from going to sleep."
This isn't a book of place but of the planet. I feel like I'm taking on the world with this one. I like provocative books that force the reader to face uncomfortable truths. I see it as a companion to "Bride Stripped Bare" in many respects. It's the same structure and tense: both use the second person. I imagine the two of them one day standing side by side in a little slipcase. Both books are examining female journeys; what it is to be a woman in this world.
Both books have lessons from other texts framing each chapter, to guide the protagonist on her momentous journey - and the reader. And they both tackle big issues. This new one feels every bit as driven and passionate as "Bride." And just as risky! The key for me as always is honesty. I like going places where other writers don't, provoking as well as enchanting if I can. This one's about a woman softening into accepting - and respecting - difference. Becoming less judgemental, less fierce (don't we all with age?) Motherhood puts you at the coalface of living, and this woman becomes fuller and richer, more compassionate, because of it.
With all my novels - whether it's been Aboriginal Australia, Antarctica, exile or sex or whatever - I write to explore, and to understand. This time I wanted to look at spirituality among other things. It feels of- the-time, post 9/11. I'm fascinated by the pull of it over people.
Bunny Munro sells beauty products and the scent of adventure to the lonely housewives of England's south coast. Set adrift by his wife's death he hits the road one last time, with his young son in tow.
As Bunny swaggers from door-to-door hawking his wares and feeding his libido, nine-year-old Bunny Junior waits in the car seeking the comfort of his mother's ghost and watching his father self-destruct.
Haunted by his appetites, jealous husbands and a serial killer in a devil suit, Bunny Munro is a desperate man.
And he's going to die.
Stylish, angry and engrossing, The Death of Bunny Munro is at once blackly comic, raw with heartache and bursting with Nick Cave's hallmark wit and lyricism.
'Put Cormac McCarthy, Franz Kafka and Benny Hill together in a Brighton seaside guesthouse and they might just come up with Bunny Munro. A compulsive read possessing all Nick Cave's trademark horror and humanity, often thinly disguised in a galloping, playful romp
We do. Which is why, as part of this year's Books Alive campaign, we've put together below a FREE Guide to 50 books you can't put down.
Readers who purchase any of the 50 books you can't put down from The Book Abyss Online Bookshop will receive a free copy of the specially commissioned '10 Short Stories You Must Read This Year' written by some of Australia's leading authors in Robert Drew, Anita Heiss, Toni Jordan, Tom Keneally, Kathy Lette, Monica McInerney, William McInnes, Melina Marchetta, Jack Marx and Peter Temple. Alternatively buyers may choose to receive a free new children's book from the popular GRUG series, Grug Learns To read, also especially commissioned for Books Alive 2009.
Buy any of these titles between August 26 and September 30, 2009 and receive your choice of either 10 Short Stories You Must Read OR Grug Learns To Read FREE!
Simple nominate your choice of Free book in the 'Additional Information' section at the secure checkout.
We Are Soldiers Still by Joseph L Galloway and Harold G Moore - A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam
In their stunning follow-up to the classic bestseller We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young, Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway return to Vietnam and reflect on how the war changed them, their men, their enemies, and both countries, often with surprising results.
More than fifteen years since its original publication, the number one New York Times bestseller We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young is still required reading in all branches of the military. Now Moore and Galloway revisit their relationships with ten American veterans of the battle, men such as Sgt. Maj. Basil Plumley and helicopter pilot Bruce "Old Snake" Crandall" as well as Lt. Gen. Nguyen Hu An, who commanded the North Vietnamese Army troops on the other side, and two of his old company commanders. These men and their countries have all changed dramatically since the first head-on collision between the two great armies back in November 1965.
Traveling back to the red-dirt battlefields, commanders and veterans from both sides make the long and difficult journey from old enemies to new friends. After a trip in a Russian-made helicopter to the Ia Drang Valley in the Central Highlands, with the Vietnamese pilots using Moore's vintage U.S. Army maps and Galloway's Boy Scout compass to guide them, they reach the hallowed ground where so many died. All the men are astonished at how nature has reclaimed the land once scarred by bullets, napalm, and blood. As darkness falls, the unthinkable happens, the authors and many of their old comrades are stranded overnight, alone, left to confront the ghosts of the departed among the termite hills and creek bed.
Moore and Galloway combine gritty and vivid detail with reverence and respect for their comrades. Their ability to capture man's sense of heroism and brotherhood, their love for their men and their former enemies, and their fascination with the history of this enigmatic country make for riveting reading. With sixteen pages of photos, tributes to departed friends and loved ones, and General Moore's reflections on lessons learned throughout his military career, We Are Soldiers Still puts a human face on warfare in a way that will not soon be forgotten.
Under the Influence by Ross Fitzgerald and Trevor Jordan - A History of Alcohol in Australia
In reading UNDER THE INFLUENCE, I have not only discovered that alcohol has been integral to major events in Australian history, I have also found - as will many other readers - that it has also been integral to major events in the history of my own family. It's intoxicating to read the story of our country through the bottom of a glass. (from the Foreword by Mandy Sayer)
UNDER THE INFLUENCE is a unique look at Australian history as seen through the perspective of the influence of alcohol. Extremely readable and well researched, this book shows how the patterns for alcohol use (and abuse) can be traced back to the very early days of white settlement in Australia, taking us all the way up to the present day and our ongoing concerns about teenage drinking and alcohol-fuelled violence, as well as the role of the industry players in the promotion and packaging of an increasingly dizzying array of alcoholic products.
Along the way we learn of the social, political and cultural facets of alcohol and it makes fascinating reading discovering what our attitude to alcohol says about who we are, who we care about, and what we care about.
The Uncensored Bible by John Kaltner and Steven Mckenzie - The Bawdy and Naughty Bits of the Good Book
We all know the story of how Eve was created from Adam's rib. But what if, perhaps, "rib" was a mistranslation.... and the body part she was "really" created from was Adam's penis-bone? It would certainly explain why human males don't have one, wouldn't it?
In THE UNCENSORED BIBLE, readers will learn, along with Adam's "bone", Cain wasn't a murderer, just depressed and needed Prozac, God hits below the belt (at least when it comes to Jacob), and other fun Biblical twists. Kaltner, McKenzie and Kilpatrick bring some of the most outrageous and legitimate speculations from the academic Scripture community to the general trade market.
Strange but True Bible Facts
Did you know:
that King David swore like a sailor?
that the Book of Ecclesiastes encourages drinking, especially beer?
that mandrakes were the biblical equivalent of Viagra®?
that the law of Moses prescribes bikini waxing?
that Joseph's "coat of many colors" might have actually been a dress?
THE UNCENSORED BIBLE will expose readers to the stranger, lighter, bawdier side of the biblical tradition.
The Menopause Thyroid Solution by Mary J Shomon - Overcome Menopause By Solving Your Hidden Thyroid Problems
From New York Times bestselling author and nationally recognized patient advocate Mary J. Shomon comes a groundbreaking guide to safely managing menopause through a better understanding of and better care for your thyroid.
If you're one of the forty million American women struggling through menopause, you probably know all about the symptoms of fatigue, weight gain, and depression. But what you may not know is that the drop in reproductive hormones frequently triggers a thyroid slowdown, a "thyropause", that can be the main cause for those troublesome symptoms. In fact, you may not even need hormone therapy, wild yam and progesterone creams, or herbs like black cohosh for a symptom-free menopause. What you really need is to begin to pay attention to your thyroid.
In The Menopause Thyroid Solution, Mary J. Shomon will help you:
Recognize the symptoms of a thyroid problem versus those of menopause
Learn how to get your problems diagnosed and treated
Find out what and how to eat, what medications to consider, what supplements to take, and what lifestyle changes to make
Killer Company by Matt Peacock - James Hardie Exposed
James Hardie, the name, like the company, is a lie. The real James Hardie died a long time ago and had almost no connection to the Australian asbestos empire that grew under his partner Andrew Reid. The Reid family amassed a huge fortune as its asbestos company expanded, killing in its wake thousands of unwitting workers and customers.
Today, Reid's grandson John Reid is an honoured multi-millionaire, revered for his patronage and philanthropy. He chaired the company for 23 years, and oversaw a strategy that ignored the dangers of asbestos and silenced Australia's largest asbestos union and government health authorities, concealing Australia's largest peacetime disaster. Reid mentored his eventual successor, Meredith Hellicar, who defended Hardie's move offshore until public campaigning by asbestos disease sufferers like Bernie Banton forced the company to adequately provide for its victims.
ABC journalist Matt Peacock rips the cloak of secrecy from one of the greatest corporate scandals in Australia's history. His painstaking research, involving newly discovered documents and interviews with over a hundred former Hardie employees and other key figures, reveals in stark detail how the company subverted the institutions designed to protect ordinary citizens, and how a dedicated group of unionists, lawyers and activists finally exposed Hardie's subterfuge.
Peacock first warned the public about the dangers of Hardie's asbestos empire in an award-winning radio series in 1977. He has followed the tragic trail for more than 30 years: from the company's factories where workers had asbestos 'snowball' fights, to the mine where Aboriginal children played in the tailings, and into thousands of houses where Hardie's asbestos now threatens home renovators, not just from their fibro walls and ceilings, but from the dust that still lurks under their carpets.
Between 2003 and 2008, Richard Evans published a three-volume history of the Third Reich. Drawing on years of experience as a leading scholar of German history, Evans wove together the most extensive and comprehensive history of the rise and fall of Hitler's regime ever produced by a single scholar.
Volume One: The Coming of the Third Reich, published in 2003, shows how a country torn apart by the First World War, Versailles, hyperinflation and the Great Depression moved towards an increasingly authoritarian solution and explains how Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor in January 1933 and how swiftly he transformed Germany into a one party dictatorship. The first volume featured highly favorable words of praise from Evans's friend, Ian Kershaw on its cover
Volume Two: The Third Reich in Power: How the Nazis Won Over the Hearts and Minds of a Nation, published in 2005 covers the peacetime years of Nazi rule between 1933 and 1939. The final chapter examines the road to the Second World War, but the real focus of Volume Two is on life inside Nazi Germany. One of the great strengths of Volume Two is the way Evans allows small stories of key individuals to illustrate many of the key events in the social, economic and culture of the period. The leading historian of the Third Reich, Professor Richard Overy, in a review in the Literary Review, described Volume Two as 'magisterial'.
Volume 3: The Third Reich At War, 1919-1945: How the Nazis Led Germany from Conquest to Disaster, published by in 2008, looks at major developments from 1939 to 1945, including the key battles of the Second World War, a vivid, moving and detailed account of the mass murder enacted during the Holocaust and Hitler's dramatic ?downfall' in Berlin in 1945. The best selling historian Anthony Beevor, in a review in the Times in November 2008 on Volume 3 writes: 'With the third volume, Richard Evans has accomplished a masterpiece of historical scholarship. He has produced the latest and most up to date synthesis of the huge work on the subject over the past decades.'
After three years in retirement following his record-setting 7th Tour de France win -- which he accomplished after successfully battling the testicular cancer that almost killed him -- Lance Armstrong announced to the world on September 24, 2008 at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, that he would return to professional cycling to help promote a Global Cancer Campaign. Comeback 2.0: Up Close and Personal is Lance Armstrong's first-person photo-journal of his 2009 comeback season with the goal to take the LIVESTRONG message around the world. Heavily illustrated with color photos and text, Lance will take readers on a thrilling ride through his dramatic comeback year.
Comeback 2.0 includes an introduction by Lance that frames his decision to return to competitive cycling followed by journal-like entries written through the course of his comeback season beginning with the Tour Down Under, followed by the Tour of California, his spectacular crash in the first stage of the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon race in Spain that resulted in a broken collar bone, the Giro d'Italia, culminating in the Tour de France. The journal entries will accompany spectacular four-color photos, that offer breathtaking views of the race stages as well as intimate, behind-the-scenes shots. Renowned sports photographer and photojournalist Elizabeth Kreutz has been granted unparalleled access to Lance's day-to-day world in this, his most triumphant season.
In the free market we trust. Look where that's got us.
With our economy based upon money as illusory as God's love, Bob Ellis calls time on free market fundamentalism.
We put our faith in a system that awards do-nothing CEOs with millions as their companies collapse and provoke a global crisis. We judge corporate success on the number of sackings, fund the privatisation of essential services with public money and favour cheap goods discounted by the loss of our jobs. We sign up for wars in which capitalism makes a killing.
Continuing from his classic dissection of economic rationalism, First Abolish the Customer, Ellis presents 345 arguments challenging the free market orthodoxy with ferocious intelligence and wit. His free-flowing meditation on the gross inequalities in our society contends that we are irresponsibly fixated on the sale of goods, instead of on delivering jobs that put money into people's hands. Skewering the legacies of Thatcherism, he proposes some radically simple remedies, including restoring tariffs, investing in country towns and restricting corporate salaries.
The Capitalism Delusion is vintage Ellis: exasperated, impolite and inspiring.
1960: A stranger in a sports car offers a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl a lift. She accepts.
This was the beginning of the two most bizarre years of Lynn Barber's life. For the stranger charmed his way into her family, and turned all their lives upside down.
Drawing from archaeology, anthropology and evolutionary psychology, the author (a qualified palaeoanthropologist) confirms the awful truth: every man in history, back to the dawn of the species, did everything better, faster, stronger and smarter than any man today
With our economy based upon money as illusory as God's love, Bob Ellis calls time on free market fundamentalism. We put our faith in a system that awards do-nothing CEOs with millions as their companies collapse and provoke a global crisis.
Completely updated, with a fresh and user-friendly design, and all new images. Other great, new features include selected food and accommodation listings for almost every major town across Australia in a more practical flexi-bound cover.
The first volume of a unique history of Australia where people are always centre stage, from bestselling author Thomas Keneally who brings to life the vast range of characters who have formed our national story.
This collection features 100 Australian rock classics and contemporary Australian songs, many of which have not appeared in print before! All the songs have been arranged in the original key from the actual hit recordings. Complete with full lyrics, guitar symbols and pull-out chord chart.
I have never known two people to be more surprised by their success than David McGuinness and Paul Allam, the owners of the Bourke Street Bakery. Sitting on milk crates outside what used to be a fruit shop, they describe how their first day of trading 5 years ago exceeded all expectations - and it hasn't let up since.
It's lunchtime and there are queues for the tiny tables inside, the makeshift seating outside, the coffee and sandwiches, the pastries, muffins and bread. Chef Kylie Kwong reads a paper in the corner, actor Richard Roxburgh get his order in a paper bag and restaurateur Basil Daniel waves as he heads to his car.
The window is piled high with offerings that emerge in stages from the three-deck, two-tray oven every morning. Croissants arrive first at 7am and pies and sausage rolls last, by 10.30am. These aren't your ordinary rolls, but pork and fennel or lamb and harissa. The pies are beef cheek, chicken and eggplant, and pumpkin and cauliflower.
Between those times, a multitude of different sourdoughs emerge, such as hazelnut and raisin, walnut, and soybean and linseed wholemeal. There is a grape schiacciata, an olive-oil bread topped with crushed red grapes and cooked with rosemary, and another with cherry tomato, roast garlic and basil.
All the sourdough is made on site, shaped by hand and proved in linen-lined baskets. Most of the pastries are now baked at the Broadway branch which opened in September. The croissants are formed and frozen there, then delivered with the cooked pastries to Bourke Street.
All the pastry is "baked dark", as McGuinness calls it. In other words, the bases for the seven filled tarts and the five pastries are more caramelised, more rustic than others you'll find around town.
"We don't want them to be pretty," he says. "There are no glazes, no icing, no eclairs - not that there's anything wrong with a good eclair and we may do them one day - but we want them to look enticing, not over-garnished."
Broadly speaking, McGuinness is the pastry man, Allam is the bread man. Both blokes had backgrounds in catering and restaurants before moving to full-time baking. McGuinness did a short stint with Myriam Cordelier at Victoire in Balmain while Allam spent two years at Brasserie Bread in Rosebery - where they met when McGuinness also took a job there for a year.
They left independently and discovered they harboured the same dream of an artisanal bakery that spilled the warm contents of its trays into a cafe where people could eat them fresh that day.
It's good theatre watching a baker pulling a croissant out of the oven and putting it into a window, they say. Presumably, that's why there's often standing room only.
This book's beautiful and inviting photography captures the mouthwatering detail of the buttery, crumbly fare as well as the infectious vibe of the bakery itself.
Boo Boo Stewart, the actor who has been tapped to play Seth Clearwater in 'The Twilight Saga's Eclipse', suggests that there will be another movie in the 'Twilight Saga' series after 'Breaking Dawn'.
The "Twilight Saga" series supposedly will not stop with "The Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn" since words are flying that there will be a fifth film coming. During an interview with Access Hollywood, the newest member of the "Twilight Saga" cast, Boo Boo Stewart, hints on the possibility.
Having been tapped to portray Seth Clearwater in "The Twilight Saga's Eclipse", Stewart told Access' Laura Saltman, "I heard there's going to be three more movies. Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, and there should be one more." The 15-year-old additionally shed a little light on his character explaining, "In the first movie he's introduced, and the part gets bigger as the movies go on. Jacob's the biggest [werewolf], and then he's right there."
When Stewart's casting was announced to Access, his representative has also teased on the possible additional film. In a statement, the rep noted, "Boo Boo Stewart will play the character Seth Clearwater in the next three installments of the wildly popular 'Twilight' film franchise based on the best-selling novels by Stephenie Meyer."
So far, only three feature films from the "Twilight Saga" series have been confirmed by Summit Entertainment. Speculations on the fourth and last book are still swirling around. Should the fifth film is made, it is still unclear whether it would take on a new story or come from the splitting of "Breaking Dawn". The studio did not return calls when contacted in relation to the fifth film rumor.
Despite Stewart's revelation on the possible fifth film, Radar Online came up with a report to the contrary. Slamming the idea of another movie after "Breaking Dawn", the site quoted sources as saying "It is absolutely not true" that the fourth book from the Stephenie Meyer's popular series will be split into two movies.
The next "Twilight Saga" movie to be seen in theaters is "The Twilight Saga's New Moon". Awaiting its November 20 U.S. release, it centers on the personal conflict Bella experiences following Edward Cullen's abrupt departure. Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart return to reprise their roles as Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. Meanwhile, the third film, "Eclipse", has recently moved on with the production.
The new and improved look for Ashley Greene as Alice Cullen from 'Twilight' to 'New Moon'
Of course, Twilight star Ashley Greene is incredibly gorgeous. The twenty-two year old actress could easily traipse around town in a paper sack and still be a thing of significant beauty.
Her character, Alice Cullen, is quite the same, according to the books. Graceful, sweet, beautiful, and charming, Alice is a character that embodies the Shakespearian notion of life as a stage.
Another important feature about Alice Cullen is the fact that she has an impeccable sense of style and glamour. Throughout the novels, her interest in fashion becomes more and more explored, and we get to know Alice Cullen as the fashionista that she is by the time Breaking Dawn rolls around.
In Stephenie Meyer's original Chapter 20 for Twilight entitled "Flight," an outtaken sequence involving Alice and Bella would have revealed, early on, that aspect of her character. Said Meyer about the deletion, "This chapter slowed down the page of the "hunt" part of the story, but I feel like I cut out a lot of Alice's personality when I sacrificed it."
In later books, to be sure, that part of her personality was clearly revealed, even to the extent of Edward explaining that his entire family's wardrobe is compliments of Alice's handiwork.
In Twilight, though, Alice's style might've been a little underplayed. The Twilight Saga: New Moon, on the other hand, seems to be vamping up that presentation.
Trimmed with all of the accessories and extras known to be regarded by Greene's character, it is clear from this photo that the spotlight on Alice's clothing prowess is coinciding nicely with the development of that factor in the book series.
The Prodigal God, is the latest book by New York Times best selling author and New York pastor Timothy Keller. Keller, of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, has been called a "C. S. Lewis for the 21st century" by Newsday as his books are for thinking people, Christian and irreligious alike. Keller's previous book, The Reason for God, was named book of the year by World magazine.
Exploring the familiar New Testament story of the son who asks for his inheritance and then proceeds to squander it on wine, women and song (well, mostly wine and women), The Prodigal God uses historical and cultural realities to bring out nuances in the story that the modern reader might easily overlook. Moving the emphasis of the story from the rebellious younger son to the "obedient" elder brother, Keller demonstrates that the true focus of the parable is not on the "prodigal" at all, but that both brothers had, in their own way, rejected the love of the father. And it is the love of the father toward each brother, offering each the redemption that they need, that reveals the true Father of the story, God.
The lostness of both sons equates to the people who were in and around Jesus' ministry. The younger, rebellious son with the drunkards, prostitutes and thieves that were entering the kingdom of God, and the prideful, older son with the Pharisees and religious hypocrites who refused to enter God's kingdom and who made up the actual audience for the parable in Luke 15.
After exploring the family dynamic in its cultural sense and it's relation to the kingdom of God, the story turns to a person who is missing from the narrative, but would have been expected to be there if the story was fully joyful: a true older brother--an older brother who would have left home to find his life-wasting sibling and spared no expense to return him to his father. This true older brother, who was absent from the story, is present for every believer. He is Jesus Christ and His message is the gospel.
Writes Keller,
Jesus' message, which is 'the gospel,' is a completely different spirituality. The gospel of Jesus is not religion or irreligion, morality or immorality, moralism or relativism, conservatism or liberalism. Nor is it something halfway along a spectrum between two poles--it is something else altogether.
It is Jesus' saving work available to the younger and the elder, pictured by the Father's lavish party, that is the ultimate focus of the story and of the book. The Prodigal God is an amazing, thought provoking, illuminating work that demands beneficial self examination from the reader.
What's next for the conservative side of politics? Where are new battlelines to be drawn?
Parliamentary pugilist and senior Liberal party figure Tony Abbott offers a lively and frank examination of the way forward for the Liberal party. Here he reveals insider moments and draws lessons from the dying days of the Howard Government, and offers colourful insights about his contemporaries on both sides of politics.
In Battlelines, Abbott looks at the values and instincts that drive the Liberal Party and maps in detail key policy directions that the party might adopt. This is also the often-humorous story of his own political development. How a would-be priest fathered an unknown son; the truth about politicians' lives; his "days from hell"; and his personal dispatches from the halls of power.
Battlelines outlines a state of play for the Liberal Party, cementing Tony Abbott's reputation as one of the firmament's most interesting thinkers.
Dr Sue Shepherd is an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian who specialises in providing dietary advice for people with food intolerances. Having been diagnosed with coeliac disease herself, Sue is recognised internationally as a leading expert dietitian in the area of coeliac disease and irritable bowel syndrome. Sue has written four cookbooks, including Gluten-free Cooking, which won the Gourmand (Cordon Bleu) Cookbook Award for 'Best Health and Nutrition Cookbook in Australia'.
In this superb recipe collection, Sue Shepherd proves that having a dietary condition, such as dairy, gluten or lactose intolerance, coeliac disease, fructose malabsorption or irritable bowel syndrome, does not mean having to miss out on the delights and adventures of a good food life.
Sue, a dietician with gourmet tastes and the skills to match, shows her readers how to use the correct ingredients to create food that is complex, diverse and deliciously tasty, without compromising on specific dietary requirements. Sue provides expert information on the various conditions and their symptoms, notes on suitable ingredients and where to get them, and plenty of fast, fun food ideas for busy families.
Fuelled by her absolute belief that a dietary condition is an invitation rather than an obstacle to good eating, Sue encourages her readers to search for the healthiest produce, cook creatively and eat with an appreciation of the enduring pleasures of the table.
The Gluten-free Kitchen is a collection of 100 new recipes from renowned dietitian Sue Shepard, author of the popular Gluten-free Cooking.In every recipe, Sue's passion for flavour and her commitment to good nutrition shine through.Home cooks will love her hearty soups and casseroles, spicy stir-fries, comforting side dishes and fabulous array of desserts and baked goods, and benefit from her straightforward advice on how to source and use specialist ingredients.
Written for people with a range of dietary conditions, including dairy, gluten and lactose intolerance, coeliac disease, fructose malabsorption and irritable bowel syndrome, The Gluten-free Kitchen invites us all to enjoy with confidence the pleasures of a good food life.
IT IS not often Helen Garner admits to being flabbergasted but when she heard that the British actor Eileen Atkins wanted to adapt her latest novel, The Spare Room, for the stage, that was her reaction.
According to reports from Britain, Atkins is adapting the book for a West End production this year or early next and plans to star in it with her friend, Vanessa Redgrave.
Atkins wants the production to get Redgrave back to work after the death of her daughter, Natasha Richardson, in a skiing accident in March.
The Spare Room is narrated by Helen whose terminally ill friend Nicola descends from Sydney on her Melbourne home in search of treatment at a dodgy cancer clinic. The book chronicles the effect of illness and death on the best of friendships and shatters the wafer-thin membrane between laughter and tears.
Flabbergasted . Helen Garner, left, wrote of her friend, Nicola, who will be played by Vanessa Redgrave, right.
Garner said she had been approached about six months ago and immediately got hold of every DVD featuring Atkins that she could find: ''She is a wonderful and serious actor.''
Then Atkins rang her. ''She turned out to be absolutely hilarious. We spoke for about an hour and laughed and laughed. She said she was looking for a two-hander and looking for a part for her friend Vanessa.''
Garner did not mind that Atkins had said the stage version would have to be set in England, nor that the two actors were about 10 years older.
''But everything she does is marvellous; she can really act. I'm happy to hand it over. As far as I am concerned, she could do it on the moon if she wanted to.''
Mak Vanderwall - beautiful, street-wise daughter of a cop, graduate in forensic psychology, and now PI - is hired by a widowed mother to track down her missing nineteen-year-old son. Has he come to harm? Or has he run off with a bizarre troupe of shady French cabaret artists sweeping through Australia?
Has the dark beauty of the burlesque, the magic, the mind-bending contortion, beguiled him? Or has he been seduced by the mysterious and amoral older woman who has a terrifying starring role in the troupes modern performances of the Grand Guignol Theatre of Fear, famous in Paris in the early 1900s?
And what of the rumours of violence and tragedy that have plagued the troupe for the past decade? Is their horrifying past fact or fiction?
Meanwhile, Mak is increasingly obsessed with the powerful Cavanagh family, one of Australias richest and most ruthless families, whom she believes has got away with murder. And it seems their security advisor Mr White, and his hit man, Luther Hand, may not have forgotten about Mak either ...
Our favorite vampire loving author, Stephenie Meyer, updated her website today with some of her favorite books and music of the summer. She highly recommends a two-part fantasy book series Dreamhunter and Dreamquake by Elizabeth Knox.
Two cousins, Laura and Rose live in a world where dreams only come to Dreamhunters. The Dreamhunters have the ability to enter a magical world known as "The Place" and experience dreams. They then perform the dreams for everyone else, and when the spectators go to bed that night they experience the dreams for themselves. When Laura's father goes missing, the girls go on a mission to find him. They also must test themselves on becoming Dreamhunters and entering "The Place".
These books are great reads and you can check them out below.
The fiery science/religion debate continues as Dawkins takes on the Creationists.
150 years ago the momentous findings in Charles Darwin's controversial masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, shook the scientific and religious world to its core. Perhaps more astonishing, the creation-evolution debate sparked by his seminal work of 1859 continues unabated in the 21st century. Now, Richard Dawkins, world renowned evolutionary biologist and famous atheist, takes on the Creationists with a brilliant and uncompromising look at the incontrovertible evidence for Darwin's theory of evolution.
The panoply of data that proves the theory is vast, with scientific fingerprints massively numerous and varied. The logic Dawkins employs to explain it is the same throughout the book: the evidence that we see is exactly what we should expect to see if evolution had happened. He examines the facts from the point of view of domestication, from cabbages to Great Danes. Anatomy yields a raft of clues whether from the common mouse or fish, and molecules underscore the message even more convincingly. With answers to a miscellany of common questions, and detailed descriptions of what our ancestors would have looked like at various landmark dates, Dawkins leaves us with no room for doubt.
The Greatest Show on Earth comes at a critical time; systematic opposition to the truth of evolution is now flourishing as never before in America, while in Britain, pockets of intelligent design are entering our schooling system at an alarming pace. Following the storm upon publication of The God Delusion, Dawkins continues the heated debate about science and religion whilst furthering the public education that he feels passionately is his responsibility. His new book is a thrilling tribute to science, the wonders of nature and his ultimate hero, Charles Darwin.
Krissy Kneen was raised by a very protective, quite eccentric family who avoided any mention of sexuality: perhaps it was no coincidence that she became obsessed by the very idea of sex. After leaving home she plunged into a world of voracious exploration, revelling in any variation of sex play she could find.
Part noir, part psychedelic romp, all Thomas Pynchon - private eye Doc Sportello comes, occasionally, out of a marijuana haze to watch the end of an era as free love slips away and paranoia creeps in with the L.A. fog.
An essential book for our times: Karen Armstrong answers bestselling atheists Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens and argues that faith still has a fundamental role in the modern world. The enormous popularity of books by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and others shows that despite the religious revival that is under way in many parts of the world.
Harry Broome dreams of being a famous painter. And when a sophisticated French beauty buys all the paintings at his first exhibition, he knows he's on his way. But in the art world nothing is as it seems.
For over two hundred years we have lived in a western-made world, one where the very notion of being modern was synonymous with being western. This original and ground-breaking new book argues that the twenty-first century will be different.
'With the possible exception of God, Civilization is the grandest, most ambitious idea that humanity has devised.If we could get to the heart of civilization and uncover its secret meaning, we would understand something deep and important about ourselves and the human condition of urgent present relevance.'
Katerina arrives in Sydney by ship as a six-year-old in the 1950s, a bewildered newcomer met by her father, whom she barely remembers, and abandoned by her impulsive and flighty mother.She faces a strange and often hostile new country as she and her father struggle to be accepted
NEW YORK -- Motown founder Berry Gordy will write the introduction to a reissue of Michael Jackson's memoir, "Moonwalk."
A statement released by publisher Harmony Books says Gordy, whose label also featured superstars such as Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye, will offer memories of Jackson as a child star and of the group formed with his brothers, the Jackson 5.
The Jackson 5 broke through 40 years ago with the No. 1 smash "I Want You Back," and had several other hits before fading in the mid-1970s. Michael Jackson, who died June 25, eventually left Motown and made his record-breaking "Thriller" album for Sony.
Jackson's memoir, originally published in 1988, comes out again in October.
Terry Goodkind's latest novel veers away from fantasy and toward mainstream
For Terry Goodkind, the upcoming release of his new novel, "The Law of Nines," is a journey into new territory inhabited by some pretty scary people. James Patterson. Dan Brown. John Grisham, even.
That's because, after having achieved worldwide best-sellerdom with his 11-volume, fantasy-flavored, epic "Sword of Truth" series, Goodkind's new book is, by his own description, a mainstream thriller.
And if the Southern Nevada author is nervous about his impending genre-hop, he's not revealing it.
Rather, all Goodkind is revealing is an almost obscene degree of enthusiasm and excitement.
"The Law of Nines" hits bookshelves in September, and Goodkind says the novel represents nothing less than "the relaunching of my career in a new direction."
Goodkind's own plot synopsis: "This guy meets this woman and isn't quite sure if she really exists. He has his own issues because his mother went insane when she was the same age he is now. And, he's met this woman who keeps telling him weird things and turns up missing, and he isn't sure if she exists."
For Goodkind, the shift from fantasy to thriller isn't as whiplash-inducing as it might appear. That's because Goodkind never saw his "Sword of Truth" series as fantasy, even if booksellers and reviewers -- and maybe even a few readers -- insisted on categorizing it as such.
"My books have always been aimed at mainstream readers," Goodkind says, and the fantasy-related elements found in them were merely products of "the way I told that story."
"The story I was telling needed a broad landscape. It needed to be a grand epic. It needed to be that background to tell the story," Goodkind explains. "It was a sweeping epic that needed a sweeping, grand landscape, and it fit very well into the world I wrote it in."
Now, with "The Law of Nines," Goodkind says, "I'm writing stories about our world."
He laughs. "I've had enough of scaring people in another world. Now I want to scare people in this world."
Goodkind isn't worried that longtime readers may be apprehensive about what is, to him, "a natural transition." When Goodkind told his longtime agent of his desire to write a thriller, even the agent countered that many fantasy authors wish to write mainstream books don't quite know how to do it.
"He said, 'If anyone can do it, you can, but I won't believe you until you can prove it. I wrote him the beginning of two books. He said, 'Why did you write two books?' I said, 'I wanted to prove it to you.' "
Long story short: "He was really impressed. After he read the final manuscript, after we sold the book, he said to the publisher, 'You got a bargain.' "
It's "a cool book, an unusual book," Goodkind says. "It isn't the typical police story, it isn't the typical detective story. This is a very unusual story. It's very different. It really is an exciting ride."
For Goodkind, venturing into new literary territory made for a pretty exciting ride, too.
"It was like the fun of writing the first book all over again," he says, having "this bright, shiny new thing I got to create.
"It's the first time we get to meet these characters, and it's our first introduction to the dilemma they face, and it's the first time to tell the reader this entirely new story they've never heard before."
Actually, and genre switch notwithstanding, longtime fans will recognize Goodkind's voice -- as well as, in what just may be a nod to longtime readers, the protagonist's surname -- in "The Law of Nines."
"When I was writing 'The Sword of Truth,' I wasn't writing fantasy. I was writing a story about characters in great trouble and characters sharing the same kinds of problems we all have," he says.
Choosing good. Opposing evil. Making choices and living with the consequences. Overcoming obstacles. All are themes of any good story, regardless of genre, setting or, even, the medium through which they're told.
So, Goodkind says, writing "The Sword of Truth" -- in which, he says, "the magic was incidental" -- wasn't different from writing "The Law of Nines" because both, at their core, are about "intriguing characters who are in trouble."
In the meantime, fans who still crave a "Sword of Truth" fix will be happy to know that "Legend of the Seeker," the syndicated TV series based on the books, has been renewed for a second season.
Goodkind says that while he's proud of the way "Confessor," the final book in the "Sword of Truth" saga, brought that series to an end, he hasn't terribly missed writing for those characters.
Actually, he says, "I was so excited about the new characters and the new book, and I was having so much fun, I never really thought about it.
"It was so satisfying to be able to conclude that series in the way I had been envisioning it for over a decade. There's a sense of completion that gives you satisfaction, and you're ready to move on to something else.
"For me, as a writer, to be able to create new characters and be able to tell a new story is a thrill," Goodkind says. "It's the most fun in the world."
Louis Masur Has A Lifelong Love Of Bruce Springsteen
To say that Louis P. Masur is a fan of Bruce Springsteen is just about the epitome of understatement.
Masur, the William R. Kenan Jr. professor of American institutions and values at Trinity College, is so taken with Springsteen's work that he has merged his academic research with his favorite artist. The result is Masur's latest book, "Runaway Dream: 'Born to Run' and Bruce Springsteen's American Vision".
It's an exceedingly detailed analysis of the singer's breakthrough album: how it was created, its cultural context and what it means today.
"Writing it was just an absolute labor of love for me," Masur says from New Jersey during a conversation about his research, before returning to Hartford to see Springsteen perform Wednesday at Comcast Theatre.
Q. How long did it take to research and write the book?
A. It's an interesting question, because I've been a Springsteen fan ever since I was 16 years old, and I'm 52 now. So in one sense, the book is a kind of accumulation of being a lifelong fan of Springsteen and his music. I finally started to think seriously about writing about Springsteen about 2005, around the 30th anniversary of "Born to Run." I wrote a couple of essays and had the chance at Trinity College to teach a course on Presley, Dylan and Springsteen, and that sort of got me going. Once I started to do that, the full research and writing only took a couple of years.
Q. You mention the 30th anniversary. There was a lot written about "Born to Run" then, in 2005. What does your book add to the conversation?
A. Springsteen actually brought out an anniversary edition with a terrific documentary in which they interviewed a lot of the band members today looking back. What I do is a little bit different. While some of the information about the making of "Born to Run" and the agonies the band went through was revealed in 2005, I go into great detail about that.
I also talk at great length, and I think this is the most original part of it, about Springsteen's American vision. It's an analysis of that album and it situates that album both in the context of its times and in the longer, historical trajectory of understanding why it is that Springsteen is not just a great rock 'n' roll musician, he's really one of the most important cultural figures in American history. I offer a reading of the album, an analysis of the songs. Springsteen himself has said that that is the album where he first identified the themes and the issues that he would continue to address throughout his career. The last part of the book picks up on that challenge and basically traces out the ways in which the lyrical and musical themes of "Born to Run" have continued to shape and influence his music.
Q. Rock 'n' roll comes with a certain mystique. What effect does such close analysis have on that mystique?
A. I don't think it takes it apart, in the sense of ruining it. I think it adds to it. What I'm trying to understand is, what does it mean to say that a song or an album changed your life? What does it mean to say that music, that a particular song or artist, is the defining music of your life. I really just wanted to look at it for myself, but I also want to look at it for the legions of fans who have identified so deeply with this music, and that gets us into the work I do as a cultural historian, as a student of American studies. What are these themes, this runaway dream of escape, the idea of hitting the road, at some point needing to come back, to build community? These are just classic archetypal themes, and not just American themes, but universal themes, that I think explain why Springsteen has an international fan base. Almost anyone who's human can identify that basic search. "Born to Run" says, "I want to know if love is wild, I want to know if love is real," and in many ways, we've all been on that journey in one way or another throughout our lives.
Q. How did you go about quantifying the mystique of such a seminal album?
A. I'd say it's less quantifying than adding a qualitative element. It's analyzing, it's unpacking, it's taking those lyrics and really probing them and exploring them and connecting them up to other things. Springsteen is not operating in a vacuum, he's operating in a cultural context, he's operating in a historical context. He understands, and that's part of the power of his music, bringing sounds and voices from '50s and the '60s into his music in the '70s, which help to explain his kind of explosion. He understands he's working in a trajectory that goes back to Walt Whitman, to Woody Guthrie, and he's taking some of these things and making them relevant again, but in a different way in our own time. So what I try to do is a deep analysis. It's kind of like the world in a grain of sand. You just have this moment, this album, and this iconic record, and photograph, the cover of that album is one of the great photographs in the world when people bought albums and people listened to them in their entirety and studied the album. Analyzing that photograph allows us to understand something more deeply. It doesn't demystify it. What it does is add layers to the mystery.
Q. What was your initial reaction to first hearing the title track from "Born to Run?"
A. I first heard "Born to Run" the radio and it literally just came over me like a wave. I had never heard anything that majestic, that soaring, that glorious. I couldn't wait to hear it again. I eventually got the album, and the thing about albums back then, they were designed to be listened to straight through. It's very important: there's a story being told here, and the story carries you through, so to hear these epics on that album, the fact that I was 18 years old, I was a sophomore in college, young, confused, not certain of the future, involved in a complicated relationship with a girl, the songs seemed to capture exactly what I was feeling and what I was going through in music that made you want to move, to dance, to go faster.
November '09 New Release. Pre-Order now to be one of the first in Australian to get your hands on this wonderful Twilight Saga paperback set.
Stephenie Meyer's legions of fans will devour this gorgeous complete Paperback set.
TWILIGHT, NEW MOON, ECLIPSE and BREAKING DAWN capture the struggle between defying our instincts and satisfying our desires. This stunning set, complete with all four Paperback books makes the perfect gift for fans of the bestselling vampire love story.
Twilight:In spite of her awkward manner and low expectations, she finds that her new classmates are drawn to this pale, dark-haired new girl in town. But not, it seems, the Cullen family. These five adopted brothers and sisters obviously prefer their own company and will make no exception for Bella.
New Moon:A single drop of blood oozed from the tiny cut. It all happened very quickly then. 'No!' Edward roared... Dazed and disorientated, I looked up from the bright red blood pulsing out of my arm - and into the fevered eyes of the six suddenly ravenous vampires.
Eclipse:As Seattle is ravaged by a string of mysterious killings and a malicious vampire continues her quest for revenge, Bella once again finds herself surrounded by danger. In the midst of it all, she is forced to choose between her love for Edward and her friendship with Jacob.
Breaking Dawn: Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating and unfathomable consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life.
Please Note: This is the Twilight Saga Paperback Box Set. You can view the Hardback Box Set here.
The Twilight Saga Official Guide by Stephenie Meyer is finally coming!
Finally The wait is over! an 'Indicative' Australian release date for the long awaited Twilight Saga Official Guide is here!
January 2010 Release.Pre-Order now to be one of the first in Australia to get your hands on this wonderful Twilight Saga Official Guide. (Oldest orders will be shipped first).
This must-have edition is the definitive encyclopedic reference to the Twilight Saga and provides readers with everything they need to further explore the unforgettable world Stephenie Meyer created in Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. With exclusive new material, character profiles, genealogical charts, maps, extensive cross-references, and much more, this comprehensive handbook is essential for every Twilight Saga fan.
Have Australian Aboriginal communities become places of increased suffering because of the progressive policies of the 1970s-2000s?
"Dr Sutton's book, if read and understood, will enhance life, and by a simple moral measure, this makes it essential reading." (Marcia Langton)
In this provocative book, Australia's leading anthropologist, Peter Sutton, looks at these decades of optimism and grief and argues that there has not been a better quality of life for Indigenous Australians.
For a significant number, the last 30 years has been a period of decline in safety, in health, in literacy and numeracy, in employment, and in hope. How can this be so? Peter Sutton points to the failures of the past and looks forward to the hopeful rise of a new era.
Below is a 4 minute extract from the longer video here. The format is an interview/discussion between Marcia Langton and Peter Sutton.
Kristen Stewart was content working in the indie scene until she landed the role of Bella in the "Twilight" franchise. Her life has not been the saqme since. Always ferociously private, the actress clearly would rather be working than answering more questions at Comic Con, but answer she did. She spoke to Paul Fischer.
Question: Can you talk about how you see yourself in the next chapter of this saga? And how important is it for you in particular to insure that Bella grows, and has grown, and that you can bring more to it this time around?
Stewart: I think she grows up light years in this one; there's something to be said about the way she behaved herself in the first. It takes an extremely assured - more than that - really, a strong presence of a person, to throw yourself into a world that you have no - absolutely no sense of, like, what it might be like. But to just trust whatever gut feeling pushed you into that. But what I really liked about the second one is that - I was saying this before. I feel stupid repeating myself. But, to know yourself for real - I think you probably would have to go through more of a range of emotion than she had gone through at that point in her life. So, to commit to someone like that - to have it taken away, and then have to snap back - I mean, now I actually think that it's not - I'm not looking at a kid who's sort of immaturely but impressively going for something. Now you're like, "Okay, this young lady, this woman, might be actually getting to know herself, and doing the right thing." She definitely grows. I mean, she definitely matures.
Question: Does having a male director give this particular chapter of the saga a very different stylistic or thematic sensibility?
Stewart: I don't think so. Like, whenever I compare - it's so common. People always want to know the differences between directors. It's like, every single person is different, just like any human being would approach a different project. I don't think - I mean, it's not like Catherine was like, "All right, I'm in it to make a feminist film." And it's not like Chris is trying to, like, balance out the girl power. You know what I mean? It's like - I think what he brought to it was - like, contemplation. He didn't feel any sense - like, he didn't rush. He gave us all time to really actually go through the dark things that we had to go through. And made us all feel really safe to do it. And you can't work for someone unless you think they care. And I feel like he would have done anything for either of us on the movie.
Question: Everyone talks about Edward and Robert. Can you speak to what makes Taylor so interesting?
Stewart: Yeah. He's very honest. I don't know, he's just very open. I mean Edward and Bella is just so tense all the time, and Jacob and Bella is just so open and free, and they can talk to each other about anything, you know? And I would definitely say that we have a relationship similar to that. And I'm not like that with everyone, either. Like, it's so rare for me to be able to do that. I don't know what it says, but it definitely says something about him. He puts people at ease, you know?
Question: Are you guys looking forward to working with David Slade, who's on to the next one? Have you met David already?
Stewart: Briefly, yeah.
Question: What was the dialogue like? He's a cool guy.
Stewart: He's funny, yeah. He's a weirdo. But they're different films.
Question: How so?
Stewart: They're different movies. I mean, literally - they're broken up into four different parts. I mean, if we had been able to shoot in sequence - like, if we had shot one, two, three, four one now, it would be really weird to switch up directors. But considering we all walk away, and leave it alone and stop thinking about it, to step back with other people is not a difficult thing.
Question: In fact, you are shooting something else at the moment, are you not?
Stewart: Yeah.
Question: It accounts for this interesting look you have here.
Stewart: Yeah. That's right. I'm playing Joan Jett in a movie called The Runaways.
Question: And you sing, right?
Stewart: Yeah. Yeah. And Dakota does, too. She plays the lead singer.
Question: Has Joan been giving you a lot of input into how to play the part? Has she been on the set a lot, and really guiding you through this, or is she more hands off?
Stewart: I'm always with her. Thank God. I would feel like - if she wasn't there every day - and it's not about seeking, like, approval. It's just having her energy, and - making sure everything's not - making sure she's not crying in a corner. This was the most important time of her life. I mean, this was like - she says the most ridiculous things to me. She's like, "Yeah, well, that's what it feels like to peak at 16." It's like, "You think you peaked at 16?" It's like - but in her mind - and so that just tells me, like, how important this part of her life was. And how important the band was. I mean, they really said a lot.
Question: Are you coping better with this craziness, or are you still finding this intense?
Stewart: I'm getting better at, like, the craziness that everybody thinks that would be the difficult part to deal with, which is like, loads of people and stuff like that. But that's not what I've ever had a problem with, but the self-evaluation in interviews, and self-definition. I don't know myself very well. You know what I mean? It's like, I always take it very seriously. And I'm doing that less and less, which is maybe not such a good thing. But no it's fine.
Taylor Lautner Reveals 'New Moon' Scene That Was Not in the Book
Claiming it to be his favorite one, the Jacob Black of 'The Twilight Saga's New Moon' reveals that the scene deals with Tyson Houseman's Quil Ateara and the character's smoothness with the ladies.
Taylor Lautner has just dished on "The Twilight Saga's New Moon", which will hit U.S. theaters on November 20. Being interviewed by MTV while attending 2009 Teen Choice Awards on Sunday, August 9, the 17-year-old actor revealed a scene which did not occur in the Stephenie Meyer's second novel of the "Twilight" series.
The scene apparently revolves around Quil Ateara and his smoothness with the ladies. "Me and Bella - I'm sorry, Bella and I - are working on the bikes, and Embry and Quil come in," Lautner detailed. He continued explaining, "Quil's checking out Bella [and trying to be smooth] and is like, 'Hey, I'm Quil. Quil Ateara.' It's a really funny scene, and the two were really great in it."
Claiming the scene as his favorite one, Lautner recalled the time he shot it and revealed what made it a fun one to shoot. "I loved shooting the scenes with Embry and Quil," he shared. "Tyson [Houseman] plays Quil, and he's just kind of a funny character."
Beside speaking about the scene during the interview, the Sharkboy in "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D" also described his wolf pack. The Jacob Black's depicter began introducing his werewolf gang, saying "We've got Sam Uley, who leads the pack. We all follow him. He's the alpha."
"And then we've got Jared and Paul - Jared is a funny guy, a real jokester - and Bronson [Pelletier], who plays him, in real life is the same way, so he does that well," he went on explaining his other werewolf pals. "Paul is the hothead. He goes out with my girl, and I tear him to shreds. And then there's Kiowa [Gordon] who plays Embry - he's my best friend."
In "The Twilight Saga's New Moon", Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart return to reprise their roles as Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. The story centers on Bella, who is devastated by the abrupt departure of her vampire lover Edward Cullen but her spirit is rekindled by her growing friendship with the irresistible Jacob Black. Suddenly she finds herself drawn into the world of the werewolves, ancestral enemies of the vampires, and finds her loyalties tested.
When author George Dawes Green penned back-to-back successful novels in the '90s, readers couldn't wait for his next offering. After all, "The Caveman's Valentine" and "The Juror" both were unusual thrillers that were a bit more out there than the usual run-of-the-mill novels in the genre.
Unfortunately, the wait was a long one. But after 14 years, Green has finally released a new novel titled Ravens. "I have been spending a lot of time doing things that I really enjoyed. I like to look at sunsets and drink bourbon and I've done a bit of that, and diving off the Galapagos and traveling," he smiles. "I've done lots of reading and thinking and time just sort of slipped away."
In his new novel, two friends traveling to Florida stop at a convenience store to fix a leaky tire and learn that a local family has won a $318 million dollar lottery jackpot and they intend to squeeze the family for half the prize. The result is a psychological thriller that explores the situation from each of the characters' points of view.
"The idea came from a dream I had one night. I was in Brunswick, Georgia, where I grew up, and a family had won the lottery. I was at their house and I had to persuade them to give away all their winnings and the dream just carried on when I woke up and it gave me the germ of this novel," he says. "I wrote it pretty quickly, it just came out of me."
Although Green has been inspired to write poetry by his dreams, this was the first time they have ever come out in a novel, although he admits that from the time he was 7, his mind was always filled with thoughts of stories.
"I used to sit on a swing outside in my backyard and composed novels in my head," Green says. "It wasn't until I was 10 that I tried to write anything, but I always knew I wanted to be a writer."
A high school dropout, Green owned a clothing company when he was younger, but felt the weight of the business was crushing his creative spirit. He sold the business and used the money to write his first novel, based on a story he read in the paper about a man living in a cave in the park. After lots of persistence, he got an agent and the book became a success.
Green is also the founder of the not-for-profit storytelling organization "The Moth." Now in its 11th year, "The Moth" is a mix of the famous and not-so-famous people telling true, captivating stories about one particular theme. The likes of Ethan Hawke, Moby, Rosie O'Donnell, George Plimpton, and Julia Stiles have all taken part in Moth events.
As for his new book, Green hopes that the people who are fans of his first two novels will give this one a try as well.
"I hope they will like it. I write thrillers with strange challenges to the people in them and I try to create and tend to put my characters through a lot of terrible situations and reward them with some gentleness," Green says. "I love creating very urgent situations and I love talking about the surprisingness of God's grace. You never know where it will land and how it will land."
Luckily, readers won't have that long a wait for his next book. Green says he's already writing and expects it to be finished within the year.
"It's set in Savannah, beneath the catacombs," he previews. "It's another strange thriller and it's about the subject of slavery but it's very contemporary. It should be done soon."
Well-Known Authors, Researchers and Experts Convene to Discuss Latest Dan Brown Book
LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - August 11, 2009) - Fans and enthusiasts of Dan Brown will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on November 8 when speakers from around the world gather in Los Angeles for a symposium focusing on Dan Brown's latest book, "The Lost Symbol" which hits bookstores on September 15.
The event will be hosted by New York Times bestselling author Simon Cox ("Cracking The Da Vinci Code") and feature speakers from around the world for a day-long exploration of Dan Brown's new book and other related topics including the meaning of signs and symbols, alternative history and unsolved mysteries through the ages. The conference will also include a special live music performance by John Payne and Eric Norlander of ASIA featuring John Payne.
The event will be held on Sunday, November 8 in Los Angeles, CA. A variety of ticket options are available, including a VIP reception and dinner with the speakers.
Conference speakers include:
Simon Cox: a New York Times bestselling author and internationally renowned expert on alternative history and ancient mysteries. His "Cracking The Da Vinci Code" sold more than 2 million copies and was translated into approximately two-dozen languages. Cox is acknowledged as the foremost authority on author Dan Brown's Robert Langdon series of novels, having also authored "Illuminating Angels & Demons" and "The Dan Brown Companion." Cox's latest book, "Decoding The Lost Symbol," a companion to Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol," is due to be published in November 2009 by Simon & Schuster.
Michael Cremo: with a PhD in science and theology, he has presented papers at meetings of the World Archeological Congress, European Association of Archeologists, and the International Congress for History of Science. He has lectured at the Royal Institution in London, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and at other scientific institutions around the world. Cremo is the author of the book "Forbidden Archeology."
William Henry: an internationally known investigative mythologist and specialist in the field of ancient, traditional science. He is host of the radio program "Revelations" and the author of more than 12 books.
John Major Jenkins: the world's leading authority on the traditions of the Maya and how the Maya employed symbolism to encode both astronomy and spiritual teachings. His books "Maya Cosmogenesis 2012," "Galactic Alignment" and "The 2012 Story" are considered bibles of the field.
Jon Rappoport: a Pulitzer Prize-nominated political journalist who has covered a variety of topics during his 25 years as a reporter and author including the covert influence of secret societies; medical research fraud; and the Oklahoma City bombing. His classic book, "The Secret Behind Secret Societies," continues to inspire and stimulate readers all over the world.
PETITION AGAINST THE PARALLEL IMPORTATION OF BOOKS
The threatened lifting of the Restrictions against Parallel Imports of books into Australia will affect all writers in the long run, both published and unpublished.
Please lend your voice in this campaign.
We must persuade the Federal Government to reject the Productivity Commission's recommendation to abolish the current Restrictions.
Little Brown Books has revealed the cover art for the New Moon: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion.
So here it is! The cover for New Moon: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion which is to be published by Little, Brown on October 6th. The book is packed with exclusive full-color photos of the cast, sets and locations and is the ultimate companion to your soon-to-be favorite movie!
What do you think???
The movie companion is scheduled to be published on October 6th. You can pre-order it here.
Twilight took a bite out of the 2009 Teen Choice Awards
Edward and Bella continue to make their fans' hearts racing, as Twilight vamped out at this year's Teen Choice Awards yesterday with 11 surfboards -- including Choice Movie Drama, Choice Actor (Drama) for Robert Pattinson, and Choice Actress (Drama) for Kristen Stewart. The movie, released late last year with critical raves and enormous box office, is based on the book from author Stephenie Meyer, following the gothic yet sensitive romance of the newest, supernatural supercouple since Buffy & Angel.
Twilight is the first in a series of four books from Meyer, with New Moon as the follow-up, with Edward deciding to leave his soulmate to protect her, as Bella struggles to adjust to life without him but can't stop thinking about the vampire due to the dreams she has about him. Adding to that is friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner), who's a werewolf developing feelings for Bella, whose heart still years for Edward.
Neil Gaiman's 'The graveyard Book' Wins best novel at the Hugo Awards.
This is an excellent example of YA fiction, in that it appeals to quite a few different ages. It was also awarded a Newbery, and Gaiman even remembered not to swear when they told him.
When a baby escapes a murderer intent on killing the entire family, who would have thought it would find safety and security in the local graveyard?
Brought up by the resident ghosts, ghouls and spectres, Bod has an eccentric childhood learning about life from the dead. But there is also the danger of the murderer still looking for him - after all, he is the last remaining member of the family.
This edition is the Bloomsbury adult edition, with Dave McKean illustrations, slipcased and signed by both Gaiman and McKean
The Australian Light Horse was a unique force, first raised during the Boer War, and then reformed for World War I. Most of the men were from the outback, had a special bond with their horses (which were all brought from Australia) - and they knew how to survive and fight in the desert.
While investigating the drug overdose of a teenage girl, pathologist and forensic physician, Dr Anya Crichton, discovers striking similarities between the case and a number of apparent suicides. All of the victims disappeared for a period of time before taking their lives in desperate circumstances.
When the genteely impoverished and rebellious Evelyn marries the charming Emil, scion of a privileged Sinhalese family, she thinks that her dream of a life in England can now at last come true. So the family travel, with their young son, Milton from Ceylon to Tilbury Docks.
Micah Wilkins is a liar. But when her boyfriend, Zach, dies under brutal circumstances, the shock might be enough to set her straight. Or maybe not. Especially when lying comes as naturally to her as breathing. Was Micah dating Zach? Did they kiss? Did she see him the night he died? And is she really hiding a family secret?
Marcus Valerius Aquila has scarcely landed in Britannia when he has to run for his life - condemned to dishonorable death by power-crazed emperor Commodus. The plan is to take a new name, serve in an obscure regiment on Hadrian's Wall and lie low until he can hope for justice.
The long-lost 1971 feature film adaption of Kenneth Cook's Wake in Fright, starring Chips Rafferty in his last role and Jack Thompson in his first, has just screened at Cannes as part of a series called Cannes Classics. We have reissued the book with a tie-in jacket, an introduction from Peter Temple and a brand new afterword from acclaimed film critic David Stratton.
THE drive by big booksellers to open up Australia's market to cheaper foreign imports is facing an uphill battle inside the Federal Government after a senior minister yesterday dismissed the claimed benefits of reform.
In what could be a blow to the push by Dymocks, Coles and Woolworths, the Industry Minister, Kim Carr, said there was little evidence the price of books would fall if import restrictions were removed.
Speaking to the printing industry yesterday, Senator Carr listed a number of reasons why the Government would not want to adopt the position of the Productivity Commission, which has suggested making it easier for booksellers to import books.
"What will this mean for employment - not just in printing, but in publishing and distribution?'' Senator Carr said. "Can we afford to lose capacity in industries which are critical to the dissemination of ideas?''
The Industry Minister, known to advocate policies that help local manufacturing, said the commission did not assert that prices would fall significantly if parallel import restrictions were lifted.
"Against this, we would have to consider the costs,'' Senator Carr said in a speech to the Printing Industries Association of Australia in Sydney.
"Publishers - even academic publishers - rely on the money they make from popular titles to fund the publication of books that may add in critical ways to our understanding of the world, but which will never be best-sellers.
"If margins are squeezed - for example, by competition from remaindered foreign books - where will the money come from to support this kind of publishing?
"These are just some of the questions raised by the Productivity Commission's report - in my mind, at least.''
Senior government sources believe there will be strong resistance to the Productivity Commission's proposals inside cabinet as well as in the wider Labor Party following last week's ALP national conference debate.
Labor's national executive has moved quickly to establish a working party on parallel imports in line with the national conference resolution.
The Treasury and Finance departments are expected to back the reforms.
But cabinet's consideration of the issue will be complicated by the involvement of at least five ministers in developing the Government's response.
In addition to the Treasurer, Wayne Swan, and the Finance Minister, Lindsay Tanner, ministers involved are Senator Carr, the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, whose department is responsible for copyright law, and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett.
The Productivity Commission has recommended removing parallel import restrictions after three years, to give the industry some time to adjust.
The present arrangements give Australian publishers 30 days to publish a local version of any book published in the world. If they do, bookshops must sell the Australian version and are not allowed to stock cheaper imports.
Large booksellers, led by Dymocks and the Coalition for Cheaper Books, have argued that the restrictions are a restraint on the market, and keep book prices higher.
But small bookshops, the publishing industry and authors argue they are an effective and low-cost way of supporting Australian writing.
The stunning Twilight Journal set features cover art and decorative two-colour quotes from Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn throughout, and is packaged in a collectible tin.
The Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn' Potentially Developed as Trilogy
Rumor has it, the fourth 'Twilight' novel to be adapted to big screen is likely to be split up into 3 movies, instead of being made into two-part film.
After Summit Entertainment set record straight on the faux "The Twilight Saga's New Moon" nude scene report, the vampire drama series has been hit with another rumor which suggests that "The Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn" may be made into a trilogy. Acting 411 sparked the speculation, writing "Sources say that Breaking Dawn will be filmed and released in a new trilogy - 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I', 'Part II' and 'Part III'."
Noting that the studio is yet to officially confirm the possibility, the site backed up its story with author Stephenie Meyer's statement on StephenieMeyer.com. "If Breaking Dawn were ever made into a movie, it's hard to imagine it fitting into ninety minutes," so she wrote. "The book is just so long! I can't imagine how to distill it - if I could, the book would be shorter. But maybe a screenwriter can see a way to do it and still cover the crucial plot points."
Previously "Twilight" actress Ashley Greene has shared the scoop for the fourth installment of the "Twilight" series. Talking to E! Online, the Alice Cullen's depicter stated that "Breaking Dawn" will happen right after the third film, "The Twilight Saga's Eclipse". "We're going to start right after Eclipse," so she revealed.
On the "New Moon" clarification, Summit Entertainment, director Chris Weitz, and actor Jamie Campbell Bower have each explained that there won't be a nude scene like what has been suggested by Bower earlier. The faux story was claimed to be intended as a joke. Weitz wrote in an e-mail statement, "I would like to put everyone's mind at rest and let them know that the Volturi are not naked!"
"The Twilight Saga's Breaking Dawn" will be the adaptation of the fourth book written by Stephenie Meyer in her "Twilight" series. Like the two other "Twilight" saga movies, "New Moon" and "Eclipse", this book follows the romantic story between mortal girl Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen. There is a say that Meyer believes this fourth film should be two movies.
The victory actually belongs to Stephenie Meyer, the mastermind behind the Twilight series and the person who can take pride of beating out Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling.
While Rowling can boast she sold more books (143 million vs 40 million), Stephenie's epic vampire love tale has held its own on the USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list longer than any other author, including Rowling.
As of this week, the four books making up the Twilight Saga are numbers 4, 5, 6 and 7 on the list. They've held the first four spots a total of 13 weeks in the past year and have remained in the Top Ten for 52 consecutive weeks. That beats Rowling by a long shot, as her first four novels were top 10 for only 13 consecutive weeks!
Furthermore, with the second novel, New Moon, premiering in November and the holiday season rapidly approaching, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight for the Twilight Saga's popularity.
Of course, Stephenie could help her numbers along if she wrote another book in the series. Rowling wrote seven.
Thomas Pynchon's "Inherent Vice" is a big, clunky time machine of a novel that transports us back to the early 1970s, back to a California of surfers and surf bunnies, bikers and biker chicks, hippies, freaks and righteous potheads. It was a time when people lived for Acapulco gold and Panama red and lived on pizza and Hostess Twinkies, a time when girls wore their hair long and their skirts short, guys wore paisley and velour and suede, and people were constantly monitoring their paranoia levels and worrying about narcs and cops and the feds.
"Inherent Vice" not only reminds us how rooted Mr. Pynchon's authorial vision is in the '60s and '70s, but it also demystifies his work, underscoring the similarities that his narratives ? which mix high and low cultural allusions, silly pranks and gnomic historical references, mischievous puns, surreal dreamlike sequences and a playful sense of the absurd ? share with the work of artists like Bob Dylan, Ken Kesey, Jack Kerouac and even Richard Brautigan.
It is one of the most ambitious publishing projects ever attempted in Australia.
And now, after more than six years in the making, the Anthology of Australian Literature is about to see the light of day.
More than 300 writers have made it into the 1,500-page book, which includes novels, speeches, poems, essays and even petitions penned over more than 200 years.
But the editors are preparing themselves for a backlash about who is in and who is out.
Paul Keating is in; Gough Whitlam is out. Robert Menzies in; John Howard out. And that is just the politicians.
The inclusions and exclusions will have all book lovers arguing the toss about the worthiness or otherwise of the 300 who have made the final cut.
Nicholas Jose has overseen the editing of the book that covers two centuries of Australian writing and cost $1.5 million.
"Every reader will have a favourite author who is not there, but I hope every reader has at least one favourite who is there and maybe they discover a new favourite from some of the others," he said.
Many of the greats are included: from Banjo Patterson to Tim Winton; Patrick White to Germaine Greer; Miles Franklin to Thea Astley and David Malouf.
Those looking for names like Ruth Park, Ion Idriess and Colleen McCulloch will have no luck.
Mr Jose says readers may be surprised to find humorists John Clarke and Michael Leunig instead.
"Humour is one of the strengths of Australian writing throughout, and if you ask, 'Well who are the great humorists of now using language?' John Clarke and Leunig are two that come pretty near the top of the list," he said.
While there might be doubts about some of the choices, there is certainty that this anthology is a publishing landmark.
Governor-General Quentin Bryce opened the doors of Admiralty House to usher in the anthology.
"This is extraordinarily important. We couldn't possibly overstate its significance and its role in telling us what it means to be Australian," Ms Bryce said.
"Our history, our ideas, the characters, the landscape, our spirituality; every aspect of our lives."
Ms Bryce says instead of putting noses out of joint, the anthology will expose readers to some lesser-known Australian authors.
"I think what it will do will be to stimulate a new interest in Australian literature for those of us who are familiar with a lot of it. It will get us reading again," she said.
"I've certainly learnt about many authors that I haven't read before.
"But I hope too that it will make an enormous difference to reading in our communities, our universities, our schools and bring to people that richness and enjoyment and enhancement of our lives that comes through those stories. The beauty of the words, and the description of us as Australians."
Ms Bryce also says the presence of Indigenous writers is important in the anthology, shining a light on the so-called 'black armband' view of history that polarised Australia.
"I think that's one of the great contributions; bringing this new understandings, awareness and knowledge and voices from right across Australia," she said.
A 17-year-old from Michigan has filed a lawsuit against e-commerce powerhouse Amazon after it deleted a book he had purchased for his Kindle device.
The high school student, Justin D. Gawronski, filed suit in a Seattle court along with California resident Antoine J. Bruguier, and they are seeking class action status.
Amazon forcibly (and ironically) recalled copies of George Orwell's "1984" and "Animal Farm" earlier this month after it was revealed that they were unauthorized. Justin Gawronski's complaint alleges that he was reading "1984" as summer reading for an advanced-placement class and had to turn in "reflections" on each hundred pages. With the loss of the digital book, Gawronski claims his page count was thrown off and his notes were "rendered useless because they no longer referenced the relevant parts of the book."
Amazon has declined to comment on the lawsuit, which appears was first reported late Thursday by The Wall Street Journal's Digits blog.
While buyers received refunds for the recalled copies of the Orwell books, the fact that no advance notice was given threw many customers off and created an uproar against Amazon. The lawsuit, for one, alleges that Amazon did not make it clear enough to customers that remote book deletions were a possibility. It also alleges, as do critics, that the company violated its own terms of use.
"The power to delete your books, movies, and music remotely is a power no one should have," the lawsuit quoted Slate's Farhad Manjoo as saying in an opinion piece following the book deletions.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos put out a public apology shortly after the fiasco unfolded, but it's not clear how the company's policies will (or won't) change in the future.
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and Dreamquake
