It's almost Winter!

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 …

It looks like Kate Grenville's "The Secret River" won the poll. Is this what you are reading now Rowena? I read this when it first came out but I feel due for a re-read as there is so much depth to the book.

I'm looking forward to reading Kate Grenville's "Searching for the Secret River" - the story behind the novel.

Finally, I'm contemplating being really brave and delving into Robert Hughes' "The Fatal Shore".

Hi Caroline

Yes, I've just started 'The Secret River'. I did try to read it when it first came out but just couldn't get into it so put it down. So I was very interested to see it was one of the suggestions! Second time round I'm very much enjoying it. It all depends on what mood you're in doesn't it? Sometimes it's just not the right book at the right time. So I'm really pleased that it won.

If you do decide to be brave and read 'The Fatal Shore' let me know how you go!

Rowena

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