Reading matters

'Night Letters' by Robert Dessaix

Fiction - paperback; Picador; 276 pages; 1999.

Night Letters was published in Australia to critical acclaim in 1996. I had long been aware of its existence but had never got my hands on a copy -- until now.

Picking it up, it's hard to work out if it is a fictional story or a real-life travel memoir. This confusion is aided by its subtitle -- A Journey Through Switzerland and Italy -- and the note which claims it is "edited and annotated by Igor Miazmov". But for those who aren't quite sure, this is a novel and Miazmov is none other than Dessaix under another name. (Quite hilarious, then, to see that Amazon.co.uk lists Miazmov as if he is a real editor.)

The book comprises a series of 20 letters written on consecutive nights by an Australian man staying in a Venice hotel. The man, who is named Robert, has been diagnosed with an incurable illness and while the disease is never named one gets the impression that it is HIV.

These letters, which are not addressed to anyone in particular (but are effectively you, the reader), are filled with Robert's wide-ranging thoughts on travel, love, religion and mortality. But the common theme, which threads in and out of the often meandering narrative, is man's search for paradise and whether, in fact, it exists. This is underpinned by references to Dante's The Divine Comedy, which Robert is reading out of sequence, so that when he finishes Paradise he feels "oddly becalmed [...] if that didn't bring you to a point of absolute stillness, nothing would".

'School's Out' by Christophe Dufosse

Fiction - paperback; Vintage; 400 pages; 2007. (Translated from the French by Shaun Whiteside.)

I'm not sure what it is with modern French novels, because I never really seem to enjoy them despite the fact that the blurb makes them sound fantastic. The cover of School's Out boasted all kinds of glowing reviews from "cool, sexy and sinister" to "forcibly reminds one of Donna Tart's A Secret History". And the note about the author on the first page said it had been translated into 10 languages and was the winner of the Prix Premier Roman, which is a French prize for first novels (I think?), so how could I go wrong?

The story opens with the death of a young teacher at a secondary school. He has killed himself by leaping out of a classroom window and it is largely thought that his class of unruly 13-year-old students are to blame. But when Pierre Hoffman takes over the class for the rest of the school year he finds the students incredibly well-behaved, quiet and submissive. But he soon learns that there is something slightly abnormal about them, as if they are "existing only as a whole, in a group". Cue spooky music here...

'A Thousand Days in Venice: An Unexpected Romance' by Marlena de Blasi

Nonfiction - paperback; Ballentine Books; 272 pages; 2002

I have just discovered that the medication I am currently taking for a chest infection is the same medication given to people with Anthrax, so this might partly explain the snarky review which is to follow. Then again it might not.

A Thousand Days in Venice is one of those lovely-looking personal travel memoirs that promises everything and delivers not very much at all.

There's no doubt that it is well written: the prose is clear, lucid and free from too much 'waffle' and de Blasi definitely knows how to write about food in a wonderfully evocative way.

But the story -- how can I say this without sounding too mean? -- is woefully sappy and overly sentimental, which is fine if you like those things, but terrible if you don't.

'Tatty' by Christine Dwyer Hickey

Fiction - paperback; Vintage; 224 pages; 2006

This has to be one of the most entertaining, if somewhat harrowing, books I have read about childhood in a long time and I quickly devoured it in the space of 24 hours.

Reminiscent of Roddy Doyle's Booker Prize-winning Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, it tells the story of a young girl growing up in Dublin, spanning the years 1964 to 1974.

Tatty, who acquired her name as an abbreviation of "tell-tale-tattler", is a lonely little girl who makes up stories to gain attention. But because she is the apple of her father's eye, this "alliance" incurs the wrath of her quick-tempered and cruel mother.

'The Black Tulip' by Alexandre Dumas

Fiction - paperback; Penguin Books; 288 pages; 2004. (Translated from the French by Robert Buss.)

Set in Holland during the 1670s, this short, cinematic story is essentially a love triangle between two people and a flower - the much sought-after black tulip, tulipa negra.

The opening scenes, bloody and gruesome, put the reader in the thick of the action right at the outset, but this is deceptive: the story is not the ghastly violent one the first chapter may lead you to expect. Instead, it is a gentle, well-plotted romance interwoven with real life events from Dutch history. But on a slightly deeper level it is also a tale about righting wrongs, fighting tyranny and seeking justice.

The opening scenes, bloody and gruesome, put the reader in the thick of the action right at the outset, but this is deceptive: the story is not the ghastly violent one the first chapter may lead you to expect. Instead, it is a gentle, well-plotted romance interwoven with real life events from Dutch history. But on a slightly deeper level it is also a tale about righting wrongs, fighting tyranny and seeking justice.

'The Joy of Letting Women Down' by Natalie D'Arbeloff

Humour - hardcover; Robson Books; 160 pages; 2000. REVIEW COPY.

If you've ever wondered why stunningly ugly men, usually old and quite rich, end up with devastatingly gorgeous super models on their arms, then The Joy of Letting Women Down will reveal all. You see these stunningly ugly men might be rich and they might be old but they are pure specimens of the "Worshipped Male" and they know every trick in the book to attract - and keep - those devastatingly gorgeous super models we admire from afar.

And that's what this book does best: illuminate all the games Worshipped Males (read womanisers) play to seduce and trap members of the opposite sex, and, in doing so, exposes the (staggering) differences between the genders.

'Beds Are Burning: Midnight Oil: The Journey' by Mark Dodshon

Nonfiction - paperback; Penguin Viking; 408 pages; 2004

As far as publicity is concerned, Midnight Oil has always been a closed shop. So to find a book that charts the band's climb from the Australian pub rock circuit to worldwide critical acclaim is a rare treat.

Midnight Oil are an unusual act, not least because they have always played their cards close to their chest, but because they have been synonymous with so many causes - aboriginal land rights and conservation, to name but a few - while achieving commercial and critical success at the same time.

In Australia, their homeland, they have been elevated to iconic status. In fact I know of no other band anywhere that has tapped into the Australian psyche and culture so well. Listen to their ground-breaking 1987 album Diesel and Dust and I swear you can smell the desert, see the heat shimmering in the distance and feel the sand sticking to your skin.

Their lyrics, rich with descriptions of the Australian lifestyle and landscape, were often attributed to the politically outspoken and charismatic lead singer Peter Garrett, but as this book explains, it was the softly spoken Jim Moginie and the "world's best drummer" (who mirrored himself on The Who's Keith Moon) Rob Hirst who wrote the bulk of the words.

This book examines the band's rise from the suburbs of Sydney to their brief but memorable success in the United States and their subsequent slide into obscurity. It looks at the individual members (but not their home lives - this is not an expose of their life outside of music) and how they worked (or did not work) together to create the songs and the albums of their long and varied career.

I thought it was an enlightening read, although there is quite a bit of repetition in the book (I expect so that each chapter can be read as a stand alone), but on the whole this is an excellent history of my favourite Australian band. There's also some great photographs in it, particularly some previously unpublished ones of Garrett with long, flowing locks which are worth the cover price alone!

Interestingly the epilogue entitled As Big as U2 is a thought-provoking analysis of why the band never hit the same dizzy heights as the Irish rockstars, despite the fact Midnight Oil were often compared to them. In light of U2's current "commercialisation" I know whose shoes I'd rather be standing in right now. Integrity and passion were always Midnight Oil's stronger points, although not many people "got" that at the time.

'Transgressions' by Sarah Dunant

Fiction - paperback; Time Warner Paperbacks; 375 pages; 1998

This was a spur-of-the-moment purchase thanks to Amazon's "Your Recommendations" which, I have to say, can be slightly dodgy at the best of times (I wish I'd never bought books on PhotoShop or Adobe InDesign for the office because I am constantly BOMBARDED with recommendations to buy more of the same, even though I've ticked all the right boxes to say "Please don't use this purchase as a basis for a recommendation").

But I digress . . .

This book is a thriller (recommended by Amazon, I am sure, due to my previous purchase of the odd Nicci French novel or two) but it's unlike any thriller I've read before. Yes, there are some VERY scary moments and some edge-of-the-seat scenes that had me wanting to read late into the night. But - and it's a BIG but - the story was slightly weird, in places the writing seemed contrived and in others the line between sex and porn became blurred. I can't say I enjoyed the book, but it was a pacey and sometimes terrifying read, so I guess I couldn't ask for too much more.

'The Shark Net' by Robert Drewe

Non-Fiction - paperback; Penguin; 358 pages; 2000

Robert Drewe is one of Australia's most critically acclaimed writers. In this book he switches his focus from fiction to memoir, with mixed results.

Born in Melbourne, Drewe moved to Perth with his family when he was a young boy. In the most isolated city on earth, he lived a comfortable and carefree middle-class existence by the beach. But then a man Drewe knew murdered a boy he also knew. Before long, a murderer was on the rampage, randomly killing eight strangers. Suddenly life took on a darker twist.