The Cockroach

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Ian McEwan
The Cockroach
$16.99

A novella of only 100 pages, this book manages to pack in all the fury, despair, disgust and frustration of the writer as he views the disaster that is present-day UK. Referencing Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”, the opening lines describe how the Prime Minister is transformed into a cockroach, which does nothing to stop him implementing policies which are obviously flawed, not to mention, ridiculous. Does Brexit come to mind? The President of the US is backing him with an equal measure of ignorance … Read more »

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Mullumbimby

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Melissa Lucashenko – a celebration

Something a bit different this month—not an individual book, but a tribute to the latest winner of the Miles Franklin Award: Melissa Lucashenko. The winning book was Too Much Lip (reviewed last year in The Triangle and now in the Bega Valley library.) It was my favourite book for 2018. I also loved her first novel, Mullumbimby, also reviewed earlier and in the library. She is one … Read more »

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Machines Like Me

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Ian McEwan,
Machines Like Me,
$32.99

This is Ian McEwan’s fifteenth novel and must rate as one of the most challenging, but well worth the effort. Set in Britain in the 1980s at the time of Thatcher’s Falklands war, it is also the time when research into artificial intelligence and human interface with it accelerated. Enter into the novel, Alan Turing—the brilliant mind who led the Bletchley Park code-breaking during World War ll.

The main character, Charlie Friend, a huge … Read more »

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The Scholar

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Reviewed by Heather O’Connor

Dervla McTiernan,
The Scholar
$32.99

If you know anyone who has no taste for mysteries, you could suggest this one as a terrific introduction to the world of crime. The writer was born in Ireland but now lives in Australia, so we can claim her as our own. The Scholar is her second novel, following on a sensational debut with The Ruin, so … Read more »

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Exploded View

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Carrie Tiffany
Exploded View
$29.99

I really enjoyed two earlier novels by Carrie Tiffany, particularly Mateship with Birds, which won the Stella Prize. Exploded View is another thing altogether, and as one reviewer warned, not for the faint-hearted.The narrator is a young girl whose mother has a new partner, referred to as ‘father man’. He sets up an illegal car repair workshop in the backyard. His abusive behaviour leads the girl to resist him through … Read more »

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The Year of the Beast

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Steven Carroll
The Year of the Beast
$29.99

This is the sixth and final novel of Steven Carroll’s Glenroy series, Glenroy being a suburb of Melbourne known to few, and which grew after the Second World War to accommodate the explosion of home ownership. The six novels can be read in any order, and this one actually goes right back to the beginning of the family saga in 1917. The main character is Maryanne, a 40 year old … Read more »

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