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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Threads of Life: A History of the World through the Eye of a Needle

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Claire Hunter,
Threads of Life: A History of the World through the Eye of a Needle
$32.99

I chose this book because there are so many people in the Triangle area who love all forms of needlework, and also because I know absolutely nothing about any of this. What a revelation this fantastic piece of research was for someone as ignorant as me!

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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 … 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 Seventies: The personal, the political and the making of modern Australia

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Reviewed by Heather O’Connor

Michelle Arrow
The Seventies: The personal, the political
and the making of modern Australia
$34.99

The oldest amongst us remember the seventies as the decade that shaped the remainder of the twentieth century, whether we were actively involved in social movements or not. For the activists, it’s the decade that brings to the fore all our nostalgia, for the drama, … 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, … Read more »

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