IN THIS ISSUE

• BOOK OF THE MONTH:  The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey
• OUR FICTION PICKS
• OUR NON-FICTION PICKS
• OUR CHILDREN'S PICKS

BOOK OF THE MONTH

The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey

When her lover dies suddenly, all Catherine has left is her work at London's Swinburne Museum.  Then she is given a very particular project: a box of intricate clockwork parts that appear to be the remains of a nineteenth-century automaton.  The parts make up a beautiful mechanical bird.

Once she discovers that the box also contains the diary of the man who commissioned the mechanical bird, one obsession merges into another.  Who was Henry Brandling?  Who was the mysterious, visionary clockmaker he hired to make this gift for his ailing son? 

The Chemistry of Tears is a portrait of love and loss that is both wildly entertaining and profoundly moving, simultaneously delicate and anarchic.  Click here to read an extract.

OUR FICTION PICK NO. 1

Phantom by Jo Nesbo

Former police inspector Harry Hole returns to Oslo after three years abroad. He seeks out his old boss at Police Headquarters to request permission to investigate a homicide. But the case is already closed: the young junkie was in all likelihood shot dead by a fellow addict.

Yet Harry is granted permission to visit the boy's alleged killer in jail. There, he comes face to face with his own history. What follows is the solitary investigation of what appears to be the first impossible case in Harry Hole's career!

OUR FICTION PICK NO. 2

Currawalli Street by Christopher Morgan

A beguiling celebration of the extraordinary in ordinary people's lives, this beautifully written novel tells the stories of the people of Currawalli Street across three generations - from early 1914 to the Vietnam War.  And always there is the boy up in the tree, watching the residents and keeping note.

Deep, rich and satisfying, Currawalli Street links families and neighbours, their lovers and friends, in a powerful and moving dance through time.  It is a modern classic in the making that will stay with you long after the last page is turned.

Click here to read an extract.

OUR FICTION PICK NO. 3

The Cartographer by Peter Twohig

Melbourne, 1959.  An 11-year-old boy witnesses a murder as he spies through the window of a strange house. He is seen by the angry murderer and now he is on the run. With only a shady grandfather, a professional standover man and an incongruous local couple as adult mentors, he takes refuge in the dark drains and grimy tunnels beneath the city.

This is a captivating and outrageously funny novel about a boy who refuses to give in. It is an astounding, fresh and unforgettably poignant novel.

Click here to read an extract.

OUR NON-FICTION PICK NO. 1

Religion for Atheists by Alain de Botton. 

The debate between fundamentalist believers and non-believers is moved on in this inspiring new book, which boldly argues that the supernatural claims of religion are false - and yet that religions still have some very important things to teach the secular world.

Religion for Atheists suggests that rather than mocking religions, agnostics and atheists should instead steal from them - because they're packed with good ideas on how we might live and arrange our societies. Blending deep respect with total impiety, de Botton (a non-believer) proposes that we should look to religions for insights into art, architecture, relationships and many other aspects of our lives.

Click here to read an extract.

OUR NON-FICTION PICK NO. 2

Rupert Murdoch by David McKnight

Rupert Murdoch's commercial success is obvious, but less well understood is his successful pursuit of political goals, using News Corporation as his vehicle.

David McKnight tracks Murdoch's influence, from his support for Reagan and Thatcher, to his attacks on Barack Obama and the Rudd and Gillard governments. He examines the secretive corporate culture of News Corporation: its private political seminars for editors, its sponsorship of think tanks and its recurring editorial campaigns around the world.

"A study of dangerous media abuse of power and of abject government weakness in regard to it. This is a disturbing book." - From the foreword by Robert Manne

Click here to read the first chapter.

OUR CHILDREN'S PICK NO. 1

Pure by Julianna Baggott

Pressia Belze has lived outside of the Dome ever since the detonations. Struggling for survival she dreams of life inside the safety of the Dome with the "Pure" beings.  Partridge, himself a "Pure", knows that life inside the Dome, under the strict control of the leaders' regime, isn't as perfect as others may think.

Bound by a history that neither can clearly remember, Pressia and Partridge are destined to forge a new world.  This is a stunning coming of age novel, set in a richly imagined post-apocalyptic world, and it will be loved by fans of The Passage and The Hunger Games.

OUR CHILDREN'S PICK NO. 2

Alice-Miranda In New York by Jacqueline Harvey

Alice-Miranda is in New York City. It's a blur of skyscrapers, hot dog carts, zoo animals and classes at Mrs Kimmel's School for Girls.

Her family's glamorous department store, Highton's on Fifth, has just been renovated but plans for the fabulous re-opening party are going wrong. Is that why Alice-Miranda's father Hugh seems so worried? And why is her new friend Lucinda so shy about inviting Alice-Miranda home?