The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion - ABIA Award Winner

Congratulations to Graeme Simsion for winning Book of the Year 2014 at the Australian Book Industry Awards (ABIAs) this year. The Rosie Project was my favourite book last year and one I recommended to many many people - and still do. 

If you haven't read The Rosie Project yet now is the time to pick it up and join Professor Don Tillman on his hilarious and poignant quest to find the most compatible partner he can.

The publishers, Text Publishing, have provided some excellent book club notes and questions.

For a bit of fun you can also take part in a couple of quizzes - find out what character you are, and if you dare, your compatibility with Don Tillman. I am 48% compatible with Don myself!

If you can't get enough of Don after finishing the book you can also follow him on Twitter via @ProfDonTillman.

Congratulations also to the following authors who won in other categories:

Literary Fiction Book of the Year: BURIAL RITES by Hannah Kent (Macmillan)

General Non-fiction Book of the Year: THE STALKING OF JULIA GILLARD by Kerry-Anne Walsh (Allen & Unwin)

Illustrated Book of the Year: I QUIT SUGAR by Sarah Wilson (Macmillan)

Biography of the Year: THE CROSSROAD by Mark Donaldson, VC (Macmillan)

Book of the Year for Younger Children (age range 0 to 8 years): THE 39-STOREY TREEHOUSE by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton (Macmillan)

Book of the Year for Older Children (age range 8 to 14 years): WEIRDOby Anh Do (Scholastic Press)

International Book of the Year: THE LUMINARIES by Eleanor Catton (Allen & Unwin)

 Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Delicacy

Author: David Foenkinos, translated from the French by Bruce Benderson.

Publication Date: 2009 in France as "La Delicatesse", 2011 in English

Category: Adult fiction

Who'll want to read it? Anyone looking for an intelligent, funny and uplifting story about overcoming loss and finding love a second time.

Point of no return: I wanted to read this because I love this author's style.

Classic line: "For him, she represented a certain kind of inaccessible woman, doubled by the fantasy that some people develop toward all superiors, or anyone in a position to hold sway over them." pg 78

What's it all about?  Natalie is beautiful, happily married and has a succesful career. She loses her husband  Francoise in a tragic accident and is faced with rebuilding her life. Her journey is long, but suddenly her angst disappears and she impulsively kisses a colleague. Natalie's act in the middle of a daydream creates a moment that Markus describes as "the realest of my life." pg 95. The office politics that result are both damning and hilarious.

The novel is full of funny little observations, with more than one person lamenting the invention of wall-to-wall carpet in the office environment and it's dampening affect on sensuality - after all no-one can hear spike heels clicking on carpet. I also loved the situations people created, particularly co-incidences:

"Markus couldn't concentrate. He wanted his explanation. There was only one way to get it: create a fake coincidence. Keep going back and forth in front of Natalie's office - all day if he had to. There'd have to be a moment when she came out and ... bam ... he'd be there, by pure coincidence, walking in front of her office." pg 86.


"... as Natalie arrived at the office, she ran into Chloe. Let's admit it on the spot: the latter was also well versed in phony coincidences. Therefore, she just happened to be walking back and forth in the hallway when she encountered her superior.*"

Footnote: "* We may finally ask ourselves whether coincidence really does exist. Maybe everybody we run into is walking around near us with the underlying hope of meeting us? To think of it, it's a fact that they often seem out of breath." pg 141

Delicacy is an enjoyable book and more uplifting than the beginning makes it seem. Readers will enjoy seeing the "delicacy" in both Natalie and Markus and the unlikely relationship that evolves for them. I can't wait to see the film!

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

Working IX to V

Author: Vicki Leon

Publication Date: 2007

Category: Ancient History, Humour

Who'll want to read it? Anyone looking for a quirky & readable view of Ancient Greece and Rome.

Point of no return: The sub-title: Orgy planners, funeral clowns and other prized professions of the Ancient World.

Classic line: "Early librarians were full of derring-do.When the Romans overran Greece in 168 B.C., the head librarian of neutral Pergamum led a diplomatic embassy to Rome to keep his library from destruction - and sow the seeds of literacy while he was at it.
It worked - with unintended consequences. After 500 years without a library, Rome now encouraged its generals to bring back libraries as booty. (The most despicable book thief? Dictator-general Sulla, who ripped off Aristotle's library after capturing Athens, along with thousands of art pieces and other glitter.)" pg 287

What's it all about? This book provides an overview of dozens of professions from the Ancient World. Some of the professions still exist including farmers, beekeepers, cooks, physicians and labourers - although the job descriptions have changed just a bit. I just love the black humour in some of the job descriptions: "Winemaker. Make mine unleaded", "Mercenary. The fine art of freelancing - with real lances", "Plumber. Into heavy metal", "Dental Specialist. Open wide". Other jobs will also keep you entertained, such as Sycophant, Anointer, Gladiatrix, Seller of Purple, Armpit Plucker and Dream Incubator. All in all the book provided an interesting way to discover things I didn't even know that I wanted to know!

Publisher: Walker & Company, New York

Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

And the Pursuit of Happiness

Author & Illustrator: Maira Kalman

Publication Date: 2010

Category: Whimsical, artistic, creative and poetic non-fiction

Who'll want to read it? Anyone who thinks Abraham Lincoln would have made a great boyfriend.

Point of no return: If you are like me, you will be hooked from the very first page. I saw the Maira Kalman interviewed on "The Colbert Report" and had to read it. View the interview and I think you will be charmed into reading it also.

Classic line: "All of this history makes me want to embrace Lincoln and bring him into my world. I imagine us walking around New York. We would go straight to the Museum of Modern Art. Maybe we would look at self-portraits by Frida Kahlo. Would he be fascinated by a female artist with a unibrow and mustache flaunting her sexuality and visions? I think so." pg 83-85

What's it all about? It's an illustrated history lesson and love letter to all that is good in the USA. It doesn't skip over the bad bits, but makes you think about things without being confronted or horribly depressed. You don't even need to read this book to enjoy it, the illustrations and photos are so delicious. If you would like to borrow a copy contact the lovely staff at Newcastle Region Library - 02 4974 5344.

Publisher: The Penguin Press

Visit Newcastle Region Library's Catalogue and Website.

The life and opinions of Maf the dog, and of his friend Marilyn Monroe

Author: Andrew O'Hagan

Publication Date: 2010

Category: Very funny literary fiction narrated by a dog.

Who'll want to read it? Dog lovers, Marilyn Monroe fans and anyone needing both a good laugh and an education in how dogs know the things they know.

Point of no return: From the very first page I knew I would be finishing this book: "It was warm that summer and the mornings went far into the afternoon, when the best of the garden would come into the house.." and then "I was lucky to have my two painters, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, a pair who, for all their differences, shared a determination to dream the world they lived in and fashion it into permanence. And what a blessing it was to paddle about on those Sussex flagstones and chase the yellow wasps, turning slowly into lovely me, the sort of dog who is set for foreign adventures and ordained to tell the story."


What's it all about? The last two years of Marilyn Monroe's life from the perspective of Mafia Honey, a Maltese terrier given to her by Frank Sinatra in 1960. It is a tender portrait of both Marilyn and Maf as well as "who's who" and "what's what" of the early 1960's in the USA.  As Maf explains, a dog's biggest talent "is for absorbing everything of interest - we absorb the best of what is known to our owners and we retain the thoughts of those we meet. We are retentive enough and we have none of that fatal human weakness for making distinctions between what is real and what is imagined. It is all the same, more or less."
Maf's "puphood" is therefore spent absorbing the knowledge of his various companions, from breeder, housekeepers, buyers and visitors. He has a great knowledge of  psychotherapy, history, art, world literature, Communism and his beloved Trotsky.

One of my favourite conversations occurs while Marilyn is at the Columbia-Presbyterian hospital: "There were bedbugs. I saw them and immediately assumed they were little Karamazovs... the bedbugs had a perfectly Russian attitude, seeming to doubt the reliability of everything. 'We admit it is our time,' said one of the bugs in a mournful way. 'Russian values, if we may speak of anything so nebulous and bourgeois as values, are understood, in America, as elsewhere, to be a central feature in what we might call the great duality and contradiction of the age.' He meant the Cold War. 'The Americans envy us. They are fascinated by Russian Literature.'
'And what has that to do with you?' (Sorry to have been so rational, but on these visits I'd spent a lot of time around very rational young doctors. And the times were paranoid: I thought they might be spies.)
'We are weaned in hospitals. In flop houses. In asylums. In cheap hotels and in housing projects. Our soul is Russian.'
'But your are Americans, right?'
'No,' said a tiny voice. 'We are bedbugs.'

The book is near perfect and deserves any prizes coming it's way - it is intelligent, poetic and captivating. For all of the book's laugh out loud humour it conveys a wonderful appreciation of Marilyn Monroe and of how hard she worked towards her goal of being taken seriously. Anyone who doesn't love Marilyn now will be in love with her at the end of the book.

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Listen to Andrew O'Hagan on the ABC Radio National's The Book Show.

Watch the book trailer on You Tube.

PS Andrew O'Hagan will be in Sydney for an Out of Season Sydney Writers' Festival Event in March 2011. I've already bought my tickets!

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

Author: Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters Publication Date: 2009 Category: Fiction Who'll want to read it? Anyone who loved "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", any Austen fans with a sense of humour. Point of no return: For me, it was the title. Classic line: Willoughby, on Colonel Brandon (page 56):"Who, though he may have a thinking mind, has also a fish's face, and should perhaps be more comfortable out of his gentlemen's coats and submerged in the tank in my parlour." What's it all about? The classic "Sense and Sensibility" story, set after "the Alteration, when the waters of the world grew cold and hateful to the sons of man, and darkness moved on the face of the deep." (page 7) After the death of their father, and the subsequent forced move to Pestilent Isle, in the Middleton Archipelago, the Dashwood sisters' lives take a completely new direction. Marianne falls in love with the handsome Willoughby (who appears to best advantage in full diving costume and helmet), Margaret becomes increasingly aware of the unusual nature of their island, and Elinor tries to maintain and instill a semblance of sense and decorum in her family. I thoroughly enjoyed this "Quirk Classic", and cannot wait for the next one! Publisher: Quirk Books

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Author: Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith Publication Date: 2009 Category: Fiction Who'll want to read it? Any Austen fan with a sense of humour or a love a zombies. Point of no return: The first line: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. Never was this truth more plain than in the recent attacks at Netherfield Park, in which a household of eighteen was slaughtered and consumed by a horde of the living dead." Classic line: There are so many!
Page 14: "She meant to follow this proud Mr. Darcy outside and open his throat."
Page 80: "' I don't suppose,' said Darcy, 'that you would give me the honour of dispensing of this unhappy business alone. I should never forgive myself if your gown were soiled.'"
Page 204: "'It is impossible that he should still love me, unless, by kicking him into the mantelpiece during our battle at Hunsford, I affected some severe change in his countenance.'"
What's it all about? It is the classic "Pride and Prejudice" story, with the extra added bonus of zombies! Elizabeth and her sisters are "servants of His Majesty, protectors of Hertfordshire, beholders of the secrets of Shaolin, and brides of death" (page 317), and as such, are responsible for sending the hordes of unmentionables back to hell, where they belong. They still manage to find time to attend balls, detest people's manners, fall in love, and there may be a marriage or four. Die hard Austen fans will notice a few quirky sentences that perhaps should have been included in the original. Not to be read without a sense of humour.
Publisher: Quirk Books
If you like zombies, see our Mammoth Book of Zombies review.
If you liked this book, see also Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

The Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics

Author: Edited by David Kendall 

Publication Date: 2008 

Category: Comics, horror, humour 

Who'll want to read it? Zombie lovers

Point of no return: The front cover of course

Classic line: Pg 9, Introduction - The Rise of the Foot Soldier - "The dead rise, rot, and eat. It's the rotting bit that sets the zombie apart from other horror monsters. Vampires are dead too but generally look pretty good on it. Zombies by contrast inspire awe and delight in their lack of beauty and their complete disregard for the safety of their flesh."

What's it all about? It's a collection of comics, long and short, exploring themes of existential crisis within zombie afflicted societies. It includes many grim situations - from the despair of making that final decision when you husband or wife turns into a zombie (In Sickness by Jon Ayre & Stephen Hill) to coping with the necessity of eating live humans in an effort to "fit in" with the zombie crowd to avoid being eaten yourself. There is even a poignant reflection on the importance of toothpaste in one's life when the zombies come ("Zombies" by Kieron Gillen & Andy Bloor). It's a fun book with fabulous illustrations and is bound to make you feel safe and cozy once you've read it! Publisher: Robinson

A Fraction of the Whole

Author: Steve Toltz Publication Date: 2008 Category: Australian Fiction, Literary Fiction Who'll want to read it? Adults willing to commit to a 710 page book. Point of no return: First page: "There's a female guard whose stare of indifference is alluring, but I've never been good at chasing women - I always take no for an answer." Classic line: I could quote you the first 50 pages of this book, each line better than the last, but I'll give you an episode from page 8 where Jasper talks about being raised by his eccentric father: "He taught me if I had to meet someone for an appointment, I must refuse to follow the 'stupid human habit' of arbitrarily choosing a time based on fifteen minute intervals. 'Never meet people at 7:45 or 6:30, Jasper, but pick times like 7:12 and 8:03!' If the phone rang he'd pick it up and not say anything - then, when the other person said hello, he would put on a wobbly high-pitched voice and say, 'Dad not home'. Even as a child I knew that a grown man impersonating his six year old son to hide from the world was grotesque..." What's it all about? Set in Australia, France and Thailand, it's the story of Martin, Terry and Jasper Dean and, if not the Human Condition, then certainly the Australian Condition. It's tragic, it's funny and it's captivating. It even has a Sizzler restaurant in it. Martin and Terry are brothers growing up in a town near a prison. Martin is intelligent, but weird. Terry is great at sports, and obsessive about it too, until a stab wound to his thigh changes all of that. Watch the circumstances leading to young Terry chanelling his obsession in a destructive manner instead. Watch as he influences his brother's and his nephew's lives for years to come. I'm not ignoring Jasper on purpose, it's just that I think I'd give too much away. It really is Jasper's story and he tells it well. If he existed I'd like to meet him, preferably when he sorts himself and his heritage out. This is a fascinating story of cause and effect - seemingly innocent choices made by the characters' wreak monstrous results one after another. I'm so glad I read this book. Publisher: Penguin Books

The Erotic Potential of My Wife

Author: David Foenkinos, translated from the French by Yasmine Gaspard

Publication Date: 2004 in France, 2008 for English translation

Category: Adult fiction, quirky

Who'll want to read it? People who like something different and funny.

Point of no return: First 2 lines: "Hector had the face of a hero. One felt he was always ready to act, to face the dangers of our vast humanity, to ignite the feminine masses, to organise family holidays, to hold conversations in lifts with his neighbours, and, if truly feeling in good shape, to understand a film by David Lynch." pg 10.

Classic line: Pg 19 On Hector's compulsion to collect: "...each collection stirred different emotions in him. Some, such as the pages of a book, were more sensual. Some collections, sensitive ones, of great purity, once gone, became fabulous sources of nostalgia. And other more carnal collections, one-night collections, so to speak, touched on more brutal and physical spheres. That's what it was like with the cocktail sticks. One cannot make a life with a cocktail stick."

What's it all about? I feel I can't do this book justice. Reading it was a very interesting experience in which I felt as though I was reading a book from the same mini-universe as the film Amelie. I am sure that if you loved Amelie, you will love this book.

I'll try to tell you about it. As a result of his apathetic upbringing, Hector is a very sad man. Although he has the "face of a hero", he attempts suicide on the very first page. Maybe the problem is his "chubby calves"? Never mind, he has always been a compulsive collector. Persist through Hector's turmoils and you will see him progress from collecting electoral campaign badges to collecting and storing moments watching his wife - who does not have chubby calves .... (I won't tell you what she is doing. It isn't risque, but this is something you must discover for yourself).

Read it and escape for a little while.

Publisher: Telegram

Lord Vishnu's Love Handles: A Spy Novel (sort of)

Author: Will Clarke Publication Date: 2005 Category: Humour Who'll want to read it? Anyone with a sense of humour and sense of the absurd. Point of no return: I rather liked the title to begin with, but page 1 definitely dragged me in. Classic line: "A therapist once told me I might be crazy. Well, he didn't exactly say that, but I knew what he meant. That's when I stopped talking about what "I know". And I stopped seeing that asshole. Now, I keep what goes on inside my head in my head." Pg 4 What's it all about? Dallas yuppie Travis Anderson thinks he's psychic, but is he? The resulting pages are hilarious as Travis's upper-middle-class lifestyle crumbles around him. It's a fast paced 'spy novel, sort of' in which the IRS, the CIA, Lord Vishnu and Disneyland bring the whole story to a sort of happy ending. Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Overheard in New York : Conversations from the Streets, Stores, and Subways

Author: Morgan S. Friedman and Michael Malice Publication Date: 2006 Category: Non-fiction, Humour Who'll want to read it? People who need a good laugh Point of no return: Any page Classic line: "Little tourist boy in line to see Bodies Exhibition: "Will there be rides?" pg 283
Or perhaps:
"Professor: Does anyone know the significance of Plato?
Girl 1: Wasn't he a writer?
Girl 2: No, that was Plateau" pg 96
Or:
"Man: If I punch SpongeBob in the face, it would be because he is living at a higher moral standard than me"
What's it all about? Snatches of surreal, stupid, funny, sometimes offensive real-life conversations overheard in New York. Read the book or take a look at the web-site where it all started. After you've read this, try "Overheard in the Office". Publisher: Penguin

The Pig Did It

Author: Joseph Caldwell

Publication Date: 2008

Category: Humour, Parody

Who'll want to read it? Anyone

Point of no return: "Aaron McCloud had come to Ireland, to County Kerry, to the shores of the Western Sea, so he could, in solitary majesty, feel sorry for himself." 1st line.

Classic line: There isn't just one. Every line builds up to something in the next line, like a great epic poem: "Lolly McKeever stood on the far side of the bed and looked down at the skeleton that lay stretched out before her. After a pleased guffaw, she slapped her hands onto her chest. "For the sake of Jesus and Mary too!" Then she laughed and put one hand on the shoulder of the skeleton's coat and let it rest there." p65-66.

What's it all about? This story revolves around the main character - the skeleton of Declan Tovey. The more he the more he falls apart, the more we appear to know him. What should be macabre, somehow isn't. It's probably an unclassifiable read, but it is very funny, intriguing and mischievous. From the soliloquies of Kitty McLoud, Lolly McKeever and Kieran Sweeney, to the descriptions of Aunt Kitty's (a novelist) "corrections" of the classics there is much to keep the reader amused. Of course the whole book appears to be a "correction" of classic Irish tales, but I don't know much about them. Add a comment if you recognise any of them.


Publisher: Delphinium Books

The Dastardly Book for Dogs

Author: Rex and Sparky

Publication Date: 2007

Category: Humour, Parody

Who'll want to read it? Dog Lovers

Point of no return: pg vii "we seem to have lost touch with the greatest joys of canine existence... finding the nastiest odours to roll in, savoring the subtle earthy flavours of a Jimmy Choo slingback - and, of course, mounting bitches."

Classic line: From "Training a New Human" - "Eventually he will learn that he is only in your bed because you - generously - let him stay", pg 181

What's it all about? It's a parody of "The Dangerous Book for Boys". If you are the owner of a dog, especially a naughty, irresistibly gorgeous one you will recognise many of the behaviours and attitudes in this book. You may even find yourself asking did my dog (in my case Lili Marlene the Apricot Terror) merely read this book, or secretly undertake a pseudonym and actually write most of this book. Except the bits that boy dogs obviously wrote. Eerie.

Publisher: HarperCollins UK

My Little Blue Dress

Author: Bruno Maddox Publication Date: 2001 Category: Fiction, Satire, Humour Who'll want to read it? 25-40's, anyone out for humour with a difference Point of no return: "But the arrival of puberty changed all that. All of a sudden I was something, something people understood, a teenage girl, and as long as everyone was staring glazedly at my chest, I realized, the chances of their catching a glimpse into my soul and rejecting me for what they saw there were thrillingly remote." Classic line: "The fact that I delivered a letter today... Does that make me a postman?" You'll have to read the book to see why it's a classic. What's it all about? It's not about an old woman writing the memoirs of her life since her birth on 1 January 1900, but you'd be forgiven for thinking that. What starts off as a whimsy story of an old woman reliving her past twists and turns into a classic metanarrative tale. It would be easy to get a story like this wrong. But Maddox uses the right combination of self-effacement and urban alienation. He couples this combination with hilarious situations to create a delightful read. Especially likeable is his description of New York nightclubs: It's worth reading for them alone. Publisher: Abacus