Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse 5
Kurt Vonnegut
Vintage

Slaughterhouse 5 tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, a 44 year old optometrist time traveler. On the night his daughter marries Billy abducted by aliens from Tralfamadore, is put on display in their zoo, where he is a great attraction for the locals. So it goes.

A POW in WWII, Billy held in Dresden works as free labour during the day and locked up in the slaughterhouse at night. When Dresden is bombed by the allies, Billy and his inmates survive the assault whilst above them firestorms destroy the city, killing 135,000 people.

My favourite passage is the movie Billy watches documenting ‘The gallant American pilots’. Watching the movie backwards, the bloodied and battered gallant pilots fly backwards. The German bombers help them by sucking the bullets out of their battered American planes. In return the Americans open the big belies of their planes and take back all the bombs they have dropped. The pilots climb out of their planes, the deadly chemicals are shipped back to the factories and buried in the ground where they cannot hurt anyone. So it goes.

Slaughterhouse 5 reads a cross between a science fiction and a meditation on the futility of war. The story of Billy Pilgrim told with wry humour echoes Douglas Adam’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy. A dark poignant undertone running through the book throws the spotlight on the human cost of war. At times moving, at times nonsensical and times laugh outloud funny, Slaughterhouse 5 is one of the most surprising and original novels I have read on WWII. It is no surprise it has remained a timeless classic for over 4 decades.
Poo-tee-weet. 4stars

Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert

Eat Pray Love
Elizabeth Gilbert

I did not choose this book voluntarily, it was forced upon me by my bookclub. The girl who recommended it did so knowing I’d object to it.A messy divorce followed immediately by a breakdown of a short yet intense love affair, caused a spiral in Liz Gilbert that ended in a meltdown. In order to recover she decides to go abroad for a year spending up to four months in three different countries: Italy (purely to indulge in pleasure), India (to live in a small Ashram devoting herself to reaching divinity) and finally Bali (to live close to an old medicine man who once read her palm). So far a clichéd formulae guaranteed to get her on Oprah – Oh wait Liz Gilbert was on Oprah!
I really thought it was going to be a torturous read with enough spiritual mumbo jumbo to irritate my skeptical mind. My irritation was further inflamed when I found out there was going to be a month’s wait at my local library to get a copy. Thankfully they had the audio Cds, unabridged and read by the author. From that day on I listened to Liz read me her story, one single prayer bead at a time. She climbed into the passenger seat every morning for our long drive to work and waited patiently for me to return in the evening picking up where she left off. She tells her story with clarity and stripped-bare honesty and happily, repeated passages I did not understand. She is gracious and respectful towards the countries and the people who are hosting her; thankful for the part each one of them plays in her long healing process. In each country, she takes care in sharing their folklore, myths and customs, revealing to her readers the heartbeat that is unique to each country.
I love this book. I am touched by Gilbert’s sincerity and willingness to bare all. Even though our life experiences are vastly different, I find myself agreeing and identifying with many things Gilbert writes about. My one criticism was with how much bigger simple experiences were described. I have travelled through both Italy and Bali and never thought the food or the locals were as amazing as they were in this book. I guess that’s why I love books, it allows me an entry into another person’s world, lets me walk in their shoes and see their world through their paradigm. I am still going to be skeptical about books trumpeted by Oprah, but in this case I am willing to admit I made a mistake.

Fear The Worst - Linwood Barclay

Fear The Worst
Linwood Barclay
Orion

How would you feel showing up to where you thought your daughter had been working all summer only to be told she never worked there. Worst still how would you feel if your daughter was now missing? This is the nightmare Tim Blake, a Toyota car salesman, faces when his 17-year-old daughter Sydney who was staying with him for the summer, goes to work one day and fails to come home. So begins a mystery with more high speed twists and turns than the wildest rollercoaster. At every turn, there are new complications and more question marks all of which conspire to keep Tim away from finding his daughter.

At the heart of the story is Tim’s overwhelming love for his daughter and his guilt at not having been the best possible father to her. As he delves deeper into his daughter’s disappearance, he finds out Syd and her friends may have been involved in some shady business lead by very dangerous people. These people, Tim soon finds out are just as determined as he is to find Syd.
Fear the Worst is a rollicking page-turner that sticks to the reader’s fingers like superglue and refuse to let go till the very last page.

The uncommon reader - Alan Bennett

The uncommon reader
Alan Bennett

This whimsical and heartwarmingly original story set in England, is about the queen’s passion for reading.
When the queen stumbles across a traveling library visiting the palace, she feels compelled to borrow a book more out of a sense of duty than any particular interest. Had she anticipated how this simple task would change her life she may have reconsidered her choice. She falls in love with reading, taking every opportunity to immerse herself into characters, far off places and lives far different to her own. To her surprise not only do her staff not share her passion but disapprove of it. For HRH to have a hobby is to be exclusive, she is told, because it made her appear to be preferential towards certain groups of people. Undeterred the queen becomes ever more eager to race through her official duties and get back to her books leaving her subjects, staff and dogs at a loss.
In his quirky and very British style, Bennett questions our passion for reading. ‘Just like a writer finds it impossible to stop writing, a lover of books finds it impossible to not be passionate about reading.’ The ending of the book with its sharp and witty twist carries a surprising punch.
A truly delightful tale that is sure to anchor itself into many book lovers hearts.

The Australian Long Story - Mandy Sayer

The Australian Long Story
Mandy Sayer (editor)
Hamish Hamilton

Mandy Sayer describes a long story as one between 10-50000 words and long enough to have subplots but not long enough to be a standalone book. In this collection, Sayer has assembled the heavy weights of the Australian literate for a compellation that is eclectic in both storyline and execution of its plots.
Sayer has chosen seven Australian authors who have written long stories set in Australia. The collection begins with David Malouf, one of the elders in Australian authors and concludes with one of the new rising stars, Nam Le. Her aim in choosing this collection is to present the reader a sample of Australian literature; introduce and sample a voice they had not read; and to celebrate the emergence and growth of storytelling that is uniquely our own.
Aside from Le, Winton and Goldsworthy, I had not read any of the other authors. Lyrical and Surreal, Peter Carey’s ‘The Chance’ set in a futuristic world was probably the most surprising. Daunted by Carey’s literary supremacy, I had till now shied away from his work. His confidence and great assurance in his writing, for me at least, set him apart and certified his ascendancy. As for my favourite, if pressed to choose I would pick two: the whimsical and funny ‘Ten Anecdotes About Lord Howe Island’ by Louise Nowra and Peter Goldsworthy’s haunting yet lovingly told story of parents faced with the terminal illness of their child in ‘Jesus wants me for a sunbeam’.
If looking for a tightly constructed collection of Australian literature, then it would be hard pressed to go past The Australian Long Story.

Town - James Roy

Town
James Roy
UQP

Set in a fictional town, Town is a string of thirteen linked stories revolving around the lives of the young adults who live there. Each character is diverse in their background, personality, gender and age thus illustrating the characteristics of the town and the individual struggles, wants and desires of its residents.
Town is also an illustration of no matter what our background, we all share the common need for love, security, acceptance and a sense of belonging. Many of the stories revolved around family ties that bind or drive us apart. Amongst the thirteen stories, there is at least one character that the reader will recognize or identify with which proves that despite our outward appearances, deep down we are not all that different from one another.

The Story Of Tom Brennan - JC Burke

The Story of Tom Brennan
JC Burke
Random

Tom Brennan and his family are forced to leave their home in the small town of Mumbilli, and move in with their grandmother in the nearby town of Coghill. Their move follows a tragedy involving Tom’s brother Daniel after a night of celebration. Feeling trapped and claustrophobic Tom is haunted daily by the memory of the tragedy. Throughout the story each member of the Brennan family struggles to come to terms with their new situation. At the same time Burke slowly reveals the dark side of Daniel’s character that had lead to the tragedy.
The Story of Tom Brennan is both a coming of age book and an illustration of how quickly the trajectory of our lives can change over a single incident. Tom and his family must come to terms with the new course their lives have taken and learn to tap into their inner strength to help them survive it.
This book is also a meditation on our innate need to belong, to love and find acceptance. It is an ode to the human spirit and its ability to rise under the most trying circumstances.