Winter has certainly set in where I live. The trees are bare and I am having to rug myself up with a scarf and beanie on my walk to work. I’m very lucky to be able to walk to work, and although I get to talk to neighbours as I walk through the park, saying hello to their dogs and kids, it does mean that I miss out on the wonderful reading time that public transport travellers manage (providing they get a seat that is!). Mostly my reading is done in bed, driving my husband mad as he buries his head under the pillow trying to block the light out. Not that he doesn’t read in bed too mind you. But his eyes become sleepy mostly before mine. He’s enjoying Sherlock Holmes at the moment, in between his model railway magazines. In fact he has quite a substantial library of magazines and books on trains which he’s collected over the last 20 years. But Australian trains only please! He uses them for reference to source pictures of model trains that he wants to build, often from scratch. It’s wonderful to see someone’s passion coming out in their library of books (not to mention the ever growing train layout in our attic).

Do you have a particular collection that stands out in your library or know of someone who does? Maybe it’s a collection of authors from a particular country. I know of one reader who collects any books by Somerset Maugham. And another who has a fascination for gardening books of all sorts. We’d love to hear about it if you have such a collection focusing on one area in your library or if you know of someone who does. We might even feature you in the magazine!

I’m sure you’ll find more books to add to your collections with this month’s issue as it’s a treasure trove of good reading. For those who like thrillers you’ll be interested to read our article on Australian David Rollins, who features on our front cover. For those who enjoy a more literary read then you’ll be turning to page 16 to read Alan Gold’s profile of Amitav Ghosh. Our extract from a new book from the CSIRO called Climate Change might have you running around the house switching off appliances and we focus on classics again this month with A Fortunate Life. I had just joined the book industry when this book was published in the early 1980s and it has been one of my favourites ever since. Travel writer Marc Llewellyn shares with us some of his adventures from his time spent on an Italian island with his wife and baby, plus their faithful dog which culminated in his new book Finding Nino. We have many well reviewed books this issue with Murray Bailey’s new book The Pages featuring at the top of the list.

This month I’m well into reading The Secret River which you voted for as my next book to read. Thank you so much to all the readers who voted. I’ll let you know how I go! Kate Grenville has a new book out later this year so those who enjoyed The Secret River will be looking forward to that.

I hope you enjoy this month’s issue and from it comes much good reading to tuck yourself up in bed with on a cold winters night.

Rowena

So now you’ve met Kaala, who owns the piecing blue eyes on our front cover. She’s the main character from The Promise of Wolves by Dorothy Hearst, which features as our cover story this month. This book reminds me of the release of The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel, which raced up the bestseller lists in the 80s and went on to be a much sought after series.

Inside gr this month we have included an Australian feature. You’ll find an interview with Debra Adelaide about her much talked about new book, The Household Guide to Dying, we chat with author Tony Park whose life is split between Australia and Africa, and rediscover a treasured favourite, Henry Handel Richardson. This month we also head overseas to Prague, one of my most favourite cities in the world. Rachael Weiss spent a year living the life of a Czech and wrote a book about it, Me Myself and Prague. She discovered that what she planned to write wasn’t quite what eventuated. I met Bob Carr recently when Alan Gold interviewed him about his new book, My Reading Life. I read his book and found myself a little taken aback at the amount of books he recommends that I haven’t read. But then again I’m sure he might find the same if we compared my list of books I’d recommend. But it made me make yet another confession. After all my years in the book industry I’ve never read a book by Patrick White. There, it’s out! So with encouragement from Bob Carr I have leapt into The Eye of the Storm. I’ve discovered it’s not a book to read when tired in bed (after rereading the same pages 3 nights in a row!). White’s wonderful descriptions feed your imagination. You have to read them carefully to appreciate them and sometimes I like to read them aloud. I am enjoying the book mostly for these.

Since last issue I have also finished reading Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. It was a great read. It’s ironic that I can say it was a great read, as although it was part love story, it was also a tragic story of war, which saddened me. The sending of men to their death again and again, with orders often coming down the line to charge the enemy, even though it was suicide to do so was criminal. And the idea that if any soldier, even though he lived in a constant exhausted state, fell asleep at his post he would be taken away and shot makes me wonder how we ever thought of ourselves as civilised. But a great read it is and I can heartily recommend it, no matter who you are.

I’m very excited, as by the time you read this I’ll be reading a book of your choosing. Thank you so much to all the readers who gave me their suggestions. We placed a list of ten of the books that you suggested I read on our website and the one with the most votes is the one I will be reading. You can find out what that was by visiting our website. If you haven’t read the winning book why not read it with me? Then we can all chat about it. Sort of like our own reading group blog!

Good reading to everyone …

Food is a wonderful thing isn’t it? It brings us together and provides tastes, smells and experiences that stay firmly in our memories for all our lives. Mary Moody’s new book The Long Table certainly brought memories back to me. My mother’s love of cooking for the family centred our lives around the family dining table. It still does, with new generations being added to the table all the time, and this is something that I really treasure. The Long Table is a beautifully designed book, and one to pore over while in bed! You can get a taste of it on page 14.
This month we also profile A L Kennedy (page 18), who recently won the Costa Award; chat with our own Helen Garner (page 12) whose highly anticipated novel, The Spare Room, is taking Australia by storm; while Robert Hillman tells us about writing his latest book, The Rugmaker of Mazar-e-Sharif on page 16. And don’t miss our review of the latest book by Australian icon, Tim Winton nor the book by first time author, Simon Cleary (page 16). These are books you might be adding to your reading list. But that’s just a little of what you’ll find inside.
Last month I told you about my new mission of reading all those books I’ve always meant to read. Well, I must say I did enjoy To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Once finished, I had such a strong clear sense of the characters, the world in which they lived and the prejudices that went along with it. Sadly, I fear these same prejudices still survive in our society today. I wonder if we will ever be rid of them? Of course I couldn’t help but have the delicious Gregory Peck in my mind as Atticus Finch! The film has to be one of the best adaptations of a novel. Certainly it’s a book that will stay with me and has an assured place on ‘my favourites’ bookshelf.
 But on to the next book – there’s never time to be idle while there’s something to read. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks arrived on my doorstep as a gift from a fellow book lover. It is one of his favourite books. I wonder if it will be one of mine? Have you read it? Let me know your thoughts if you have. 
 I have started receiving your suggestions of books for me to read. Thank you for these. Fountainhead by Ayn Rand is one I particularly have wanted to read since my time as a bookseller. But with so many good ones, how can I choose? So I need your help! From the 1 May for 2 weeks there will be a poll on our website where you can vote for what I should read next. It will be a shortlist of your suggestions that I’ve received. Whatever receives the most votes I’ll read with pleasure.
 We also have placed this foreword on the blog on our site. You can easily chat to me there. I look forward to hearing from you.
As you’re reading this we are putting the finishing touches to the June issue. If only we could be like Douglas Adams who made me laugh when he said, ‘I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.’