Dear Reader, November 2021
Observers of literary trends will know that poetry has been having a significant popular renaissance in recent years, and it has been fascinating to watch the growing appetite for newly published works. Close readers of the Readings Monthly will have also noticed the introduction of a regular poetry review, thanks largely to the enthusiasm of our staff reviewer, Clare Millar. This month, Clare reviews two new collections: How Decent Folk Behave from the multi-talented writer that is Maxine Beneba Clarke (also November’s Melbourne City Reads pick); and White Clouds Blue Rain by Oliver Driscoll, who happens to be another of Readings’ multi-talented staff. Clare says of Oliver’s style that it reminds her of Gerald Murnane: high praise indeed!
Hannah Kent’s Devotion is our Fiction Book of the Month. Kent’s writing skill is undeniable, and, as our reviewer observes, this book confirms her as one of the country’s leading literary lights. As I write, the book has been out only a few days, and is already generating a lot of discussion about its ‘twist’, which, in true bookish solidarity, no one who knows it is revealing. Christos Tsiolkas’ 2019 novel Damascus was an incredible and daring work of historical imagination; this month we find out how the brilliant writer follows up such a feat, with the release of his new work, Seven and a Half, and our reviewer is thankful for its ‘exultant bloom of life’. We also recommend books from Inga Simpson, Robyn Mundy, and a heap of crime reads, including Book of the Month, Canticle Creek by Adrian Hyland. There are rich offerings in international fiction, including a book from the winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Louise Erdrich, as well as books from Per Petterson, Sarah Moss, Hilma Wolitzer (with the title of the year!), Dave Eggers, Rose Tremain, Neal Stephenson, plus two Nobel Prize winners, Wole Soyinka (his first novel in almost 50 years), and Olga Tokarczuk (The Books of Jacob is described as her ‘magnum opus’ and took seven years to translate into English).
Unless you live within 5kms of the CBD, you will have missed walking in the city during lockdown, and what better way to reconnect with that act than with historian Robyn Annear’s lovely Adrift in Melbourne: Seven Walks. It’s our Nonfiction Book of the Month, hitting shelves at the beginning of December. Until then, there is plenty of nonfiction to keep you occupied, including Chelsea Watego’s ‘sharply written [and] fiercely intelligent’ Another Day in the Colony; Helen Garner’s third instalment of her diaries, How to End a Story; political historian Judith Brett’s career-spanning Doing Politics; Clementine Ford’s memoir, How We Love; Ann Patchett’s essays, These Precious Days; Rebecca Solnit’s tribute to George Orwell and his love of gardening; Evelyn Juers’ literary biography of dancer Philippa Cullen; and a memoir of the bookshop life lived in a very different context, Nadia Wassef ’s Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller. I’d also point out Black Inc.’s fundraising book for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, Seeking Asylum; the pictorial history of the Wangaratta Jazz and Blues Festival; Bill Gammage and Bruce Pascoe’s Country; Trent Dalton’s Love Stories; Bain Attwood’s biography of William Cooper; Thomas Piketty’s Time for Socialism; books from Jane Goodall, Tarana Burke, Bobby Gillespie, Adam Liaw; the whopping-great double-volume slipcased completist’s delight, Lyrics: 1956 to the Present from Sir Paul McCartney; and THE gift for anyone with the best kind of taste in TV (or any other thing), Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt’s Creek (which is worth having for the spread cataloguing David’s sweaters alone).
And finally, dear Reader, my heartfelt congratulations to Andrew Pippos on winning this year’s Readings Prize for his outstanding debut, Lucky’s. I fell hard for this book whenI read it in 2020, so I’m not at all surprised it won the judges over as well. Yay, Andrew! Plus, we’re collating our staff ’s favourite books of 2021 as I type, so look out for the announcement online in mid-November.
