Thursday 27 March 2014

Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol by Ann Dowsett Johnston


Drink is a tale of Ann Dowsett Johnston’s battle with the bottle, interspersed with her enlightening investigation into a growing social problem. Now that women are gaining equality with men in many areas of life, there seems to have been a change of mindset when it comes to alcohol consumption. Women are drinking like men. Unfortunately, women just don’t have the metabolism that men do and they are, increasingly, suffering the consequences.

Having grown up with an alcoholic mother, Johnston thought she had been warned off alcohol abuse for life. But alcohol managed to use its charismatic charm to sneak under her defences and slowly seduce her into a pattern of consumption that culminated in serious dependency. 

In Drink, she explores the modern woman’s lifestyle and how it relates to an explosion of female binge drinking and the rise of an ‘I deserve this drink’ mentality. The new respectability of female drinking has resulted in the ubiquitous presence of alcohol at increasing social events and settings. Partly, this is a result of the alcohol industries’ targeted marketing to women, with alcopops to seduce the young, moving on to wines called “Mommy’s Little Helper”, and the sophistication of the boutique vineyard/restaurant scene. And, partly, it’s a result of alcohol’s immediate and highly effective ability to sluice off the stress of a busy day carrying out too many jobs and being too many different roles.

If you or someone you know has a developed a pattern like the all too common trio of: one glass  while preparing dinner, a second to unwind with dinner, and then a third before bed, then this book will unsettle you with the consequences. Drink is not a definitive account of women’s alcohol use and abuse, but it is a compelling argument that the cost of those nightly drinks will be served to you whether you think you deserve it or not.

Reviewed by Spot


Catalogue Link:  Drink

Wednesday 26 March 2014

The Good House by Ann Leary


Initially I found the chatty style of this book off-putting, but once I decided to treat the narrator – the main character Hildy Good: a divorced mother of two grown-up daughters, grandmother of one, a real-estate agent in her small home town in New England, USA - as a new friend telling me her story, the story of her town: the old-timers and the new-comers, and of her family it fair flew along. I wanted to know more. I wanted to know how and why her marriage had failed. I wanted to know why a grown woman of sixty blushed when she met Frank – the town’s garbage-collector and Mr Fixit. I wanted the back story and I wasn’t let down.

The story follows her friendship with Rebecca a newcomer to town, to whom she sold a house. There is enough of the story centred around animals to engage the animal lover, enough detail around her relationship with alcohol to satisfy the reader who has more than a passing interest in this, and perhaps make those who didn’t think they did have a re-think, and not enough to overwhelm those who truly don’t. There is: the extra-marital affair, the suicide, the child with a disability and his worn-out parents, the old money come-down hard character(s) even a lobster fisherman! There is the family get-together for Thanksgiving, a touch of fortune-telling………

A funny, moving novel from an author I will read again. There is also a transcript from an author interview in the back of the book which makes for good background reading for those interested.


Posted by Catherine

Catalogue Link: The Good House

Thursday 20 March 2014

Murder at Deviation Junction by Andrew Martin

Murder at Deviation Junction continues Andrew Martin's railway murder series with a rip-roaring and atmospheric mystery loaded with fire, steam and snow. It is 1908 when railway detective, Jim Stringer, is sent to arrest a steelworker but stumbles across a body when his train is delayed by a snow drift. It belongs to a young photographer who disappeared a year before, so this is a cold case in more ways than one.

Jim soon discovers that the deceased was interested in the Cleveland Travelling Club - a group of prosperous businessmen who travelled to work together in their own luxury carriage. But when Jim sets out to talk to its members, he discovers that a number of them have died in mysterious circumstances.

The novel steams along with plenty of action, as Jim travels the length of Britain, including the furthest reaches of the railways in Scotland, with some close calls with a violent adversary. There's also a fair dollop of humour in the Yorkshire banter Jim enjoys with his quirky co-worers, though not with peevish Sergeant Shillito who wants to take Jim down a peg or two.

Overall this is a fairly light read, but you can't  help but admire the way Martin recreates the steam age, as well as the social conditions of the time. Jim's wife is a feisty character with interests in women's rights and there are hints that an overhaul of the class system is not far off. Of course we know that World War One is just a few years away, but we will have to wait for later in the series to discover how it will affect our intrepid detective.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue Link: Murder at Deviation Junction

Sunday 16 March 2014

Eyrie by Tim Winton

Tom Keely is an environmental lobbyist who has fallen on hard times. Unemployed, he has cut himself off from others and is living alone in a soulless tower block. A chance meeting with an old family friend and her unusual child sees him reluctantly becoming involved in the problems of others and, in the process, examines his own past.

This novel is gritty, but beautiful.  Tim Winton has a great ability to describe, which give his books a wonderful sense of place and makes his male characters really resonate.  His portrayal of contemporary Western Australia is brilliant, and he gets the Aussie bloke just right.

Reviewed by Katrina H

 



Catalogue Link:  Eyrie

Eyrie Book Trailer (You Tube)

More about the Author: Tim Winton has published twenty-five books for adults and children, and his work has been translated into twenty-eight languages. Since his first novel, An Open Swimmer, won the Australian Vogel Award in 1981, he has won the Miles Franklin Award four times (for Shallows,Cloudstreet, Dirt Music and Breath) and twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize (for The Riders and Dirt Music). He lives in Western Australia.

Thursday 13 March 2014

Wool by Hugh Howey

Hugh Howey’s dystopian story, Wool, was a self-publishing hit, first appearing as a sixty-page instalment through Amazon Kindle. It became so popular it quickly grew into a novel and before long a trilogy.

The setting is a world destroyed, so toxic that successive generations have lived in an underground silo consisting of over a hundred storeys and which caters for people’s every need. The silo is strictly regulated with everyone understanding their role. Engineers work in the ‘down deep’, ensuring power generation, drainage and water supply; there’s the hospital level, schools and even farms, while mysterious IT have their own agenda.

Thrown into this are the characters of Houlston - the sheriff who misses his wife and wants to ‘go outside’- and Juliette, the can-do engineer who is asked to take his place. When Juliette asks too many questions, she is ‘sent to cleaning’ which is a form of capital punishment. Her old engineering colleagues start a rebellion, while Juliette’s new love interest, also from IT, makes some astonishing discoveries.

The story is full of nail-biting action, as Juliette battles for survival, and the revolt throws the silo into turmoil. Juliette is a brilliant character - she’s sensitive but with all that engineering know-how, she’s also a fixer. The world Howey has created is a masterpiece of invention, so well detailed it creates a vivid picture in the reader’s imagination.

The good news is we don’t have to wait for the rest of the trilogy – Shift and Dust were also published in 2013 and you can find them all in the library.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue Link: Wool

About the Author

Friday 7 March 2014

Identically Different: Why you can change your genes by Tim Spector

Why should you read a book on epigenetics? Well, if you read magazines, newspapers, or watch the news, you’ve probably been exposed to hundreds of headlines proclaiming things like ‘Fat Gene Found!’ or ‘Humour is Heritable’. But let’s be realistic, headlines sell newspapers and they can often have a rather slippery relationship with the truth.

Tim Spector is a gentleman who knows his genes. However, he also has a startling confession to make – as a Professor who made his name by discovering the heritability of our most pressing problems, from obesity to cancer and paranoia to crime, he is now throwing a note of caution into the mix.

Yes, scientists have made great progress spotting delinquent DNA. But that, it appears, is only half the story. What they are now discovering is that certain chemical processes interfere with gene expression. This means our genes are not our destiny – or our children’s. You may be surprised to hear that the environment you experience can alter your genetic material, which then can be passed on to your offspring.

So science is re-writing the textbooks and attempting to re-educate the public; a public who have just got to grips with chromosomes and the double helix.  Not an easy task when the subject matter is complex, vast, only partially understood, and often contradictory.

Identically Different is edutainment - it gives you a satisfying mix of personal stories from a range of identical twins (nature's clones make fantastic research fodder) and manages to explain a few issues for the average non-scientist.  Spector keeps the pace lively and the subject matter interesting – who doesn’t want to find out why some of us are more likely to be fatter than others, have more orgasms, believe in God, or stray from the path of fidelity? But there’s the more serious stuff in here, too, and it’s far from being black and white. Nature and nurture have never been more intertwined.

Reviewed by Spot

Catalogue Link: Identically Different

Thursday 6 March 2014

A Little Murder by Suzette A Hill

Suzette A Hill enlivens the whodunit genre with a quirky tale set in 1950s London, peppered with eccentric characters and witty dialogue. A Little Murder sets off when aging party girl Marcia Beasley is found dead in her home, naked and with a coal scuttle rammed on her head. Her sensible niece, Rosy Gilchrist is shocked but with bumbling police unable to make much headway, it looks like Rosy could be left to solve the crime.

It is not a task Rosy is keen to take up but in no time at all, characters from Marcia’s past want to talk to Rosy. Marcia’s ex-husband and a surprise visit from a wartime spy calling himself Dick Whittington bring to Rosy’s attention Marcia’s career as an undercover agent during World War 2. Her Mata-Hari exploits revealed plenty of enemy secrets but falling for one of her pillow-talkers resulted in the sabotage of an operation with terrible results. Could Marcia’s murderer still be harbouring a grudge? Add some missing incriminating documents and there are even more possibilities.

Against this tale of skulduggery are a myriad of colourful characters, all friends and acquaintances of Marcia and all, one way or another, with reasons for murder. While several are obviously hiding something, others can’t seem to stop talking, particularly Felix, a florist to royalty and his pal, the supercilious Cedric, who create plenty of lively banter.

It’s all very light, but the writing is brisk and good fun, and as the body count beings to rise, there’s enough tension to keep the avid whodunit reader interested. A second Rosy Gilchrist novel is in the pipeline.

Posted by JAM

Catalogue Link: A Little Murder

Wednesday 5 March 2014

The Boy who Fell to Earth by Kate Lette

This book opens to a Prologue with a gripping first paragraph, which, because the rest of the book is so good I completely forgot about until it re-appeared almost at the end of the story!

It is a laugh-out-loud book: funny, witty and completely unputdownable!

I have no personal experience of living with a family member with Aspergers (high functioning Autism) but if what this book describes is anywhere near accurate it must be exhausting, exhilarating, heart-breaking and hilarious all rolled into one. One example, a quote from Merlin: “It’s delightful to have my grandma here, even though my mother and my grandma haven’t the ideal relationship. In fact I’m rather surprised they’re in the same room. Mum says you’re two-faced Grandma, but if so, why would you be wearing that one?” he asked without a trace of irony.” You get the picture I’m sure.

It tells the life of a mother, Lucy and her son Merlin. The boy’s father, Jeremy - a very good-looking, highly successful business-man from an extremely wealthy family - leaves his wife and son soon after the boy’s diagnosis, successfully hiding his assets so the divorce leaves her with little but bitter thoughts. So Lucy battles on: with the difficult task of looking after Merlin (including constantly having to seek new schooling for him as he is expelled from one school after another), their home (DIY not her strong point) and her own necessary full-time paid employment. Unhelpful offers from Jeremy’s mother to have the boy put away in a private care home are declined. Lucy’s own mother and sister have their own interesting lives to pursue but appear often enough in the picture to provide support, amusement and offer advice such as “ Speaking of Merlin, he needs a male influence in his life.” After which the “Pursuit of the Potential Father” begins with much mishap, madness and hilarity. After eventually giving up on that idea, and when it seems to the reader that nothing else could possibly be added to further complicate the life they lead, Lucy’s mother emails from The Great Barrier Reef, where she is cruising on a wealthy widow friend’s retirement home boat called “HMS Panty Liner”, counting tiger sharks for scientific research saying in part “Sweet pea, sorry to let you down but I just can’t make it home for summer………… but I’m sending you a replacement – your cousin Kimmy’s husband Archibald. He needs a place to stay in London for a few weeks and has offered to do all your DIY, burglar-bashing and Merlin chauffeuring in exchange for your spare room.” Archibald turns out to be an Australian, aging, hippy, rock musician and the fun ramps up (or down depending on your point of view) a notch or two.

Posted by Catherine

Catalogue Link: Boy who Fell to Earth