Xavier Herbert – Capricornia (1937)
“Capricornia has been described as one of Australia’s ‘great comic novels’ – although Herbert’s humor is often as bitter and as harsh as the terrain about which he writes. Above all, however this is a novel of protest, and of compassion – for the Aborigines and half-bloods of Australia’s ‘last frontier’.
“Sprawling, explosive, thronged with characters, plots, and sub-plots, Capricornia is without doubt one of the best known and widely read Australian novels of the last fifty years. When it was first published it was acclaimed as ‘a turning point’, an ‘outstanding work of social protest’. Its message is as penetrating today as it was in the 1930s when Herbert himself was official ‘Protector of Aborigines’ at Darwin.”
Verdict: Not enough interesting characters severely hindered this epic narrative. 2/5
Go to topEnzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver.
Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn’t simply about going fast. On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through.
A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life…as only a dog could tell it.
Verdict: Both funny and deeply moving story of one very special dog and the family he battles to keep together. 5/5
Go to topBrady Udall – The Lonely Polygamist (2010)
Golden Richards, husband to four wives, father to twenty-eight children, is having the mother of all midlife crises. His construction business is failing, his family has grown into an overpopulated mini-dukedom beset with insurrection and rivalry, and he is done in with grief: due to the accidental death of a daughter and the stillbirth of a son, he has come to doubt the capacity of his own heart. Brady Udall, one of our finest American fiction writers, tells a tragicomic story of a deeply faithful man who, crippled by grief and the demands of work and family, becomes entangled in an affair that threatens to destroy his family’s future. Like John Irving and Richard Yates, Udall creates characters that engage us to the fullest as they grapple with the nature of need, love, and belonging.
Beautifully written, keenly observed, and ultimately redemptive, The Lonely Polygamist is an unforgettable story of an American family—with its inevitable dysfunctionality, heartbreak, and comedy—pushed to its outer limits.
Verdict: Some memorable characters but the sometimes stagnant narrative prevent this being a masterpiece. 3/5
Go to topIn 1980, my life as a ‘Goodfella’ came to an end…I traded my Brioni and Armani suits for T-shirts and jeans. I became a normal citizen. I became Joe Schmoe,’ says Henry Hill, author of GANGSTERS AND GOODFELLAS and subject of WISEGUY, which was the inspiration for the blockbuster film GOODFELLAS.After a quarter of a century of silence, Hill can finally tell us the rest of the story, Gangsters and Goodfellas picks up where Wiseguy left off, taking readers on the crazy ride of Henry’s life – hiding out in the Witness Protection Programme, doing prison time for drug charges, testifying in high-profile, heavily guarded mafia trials, leaving his wife and children and eventually ending up in the entertainment business. Including an exclusive selection of photographs from Henry’s personal collection, Gangsters and Goodfellas also reveals Henry’s lifelong struggle with addiction, his ‘business’ relationships that have ranged from mob bosses to movie producers and how, through everything, he survived: ‘ Its been a hell of a journey, and if I hadn’t lived it myself, I would never believe it. I survived the mob. I survived the government, now I’m trying to survive Hollywood.
Verdict: Enhances Hill’s story that became famous as Goodfellas (1990), particularly his life in Witness Protection. 4/5
Go to topEric Metaxas – Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy (2009)
WHO BETTER TO FACE THE GREATEST EVIL OF THE 20TH CENTURY THAN A HUMBLE MAN OF FAITH?
As Adolf Hitler and the Nazis seduced a nation, bullied a continent, and attempted to exterminate the Jews of Europe, a small number of dissidents and saboteurs worked to dismantle the Third Reich from the inside. One of these was Dietrich Bonhoeffer–a pastor and author, known as much for such spiritual classics as “The cost of Discipleship “and “Life Together,” as for his 1945 execution in a concentration camp for his part in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
In the first major biography of Bonhoeffer in forty years, “New York Times” best-selling author Eric Metaxas takes both strands of Bonhoeffer’s life―the theologian and the spy―to tell a searing story of incredible moral courage in the face of monstrous evil. In a deeply moving narrative, Metaxas uses previously unavailable documents―including personal letters, detailed journal entries, and firsthand personal accounts―to reveal dimensions of Bonhoeffer’s life and theology never before seen.
In “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy”―”A Righteous Gentiel vs the Third Reich,” Metaxas presents the fullest accounting of Bonhoeffer’s heart-wrenching 1939 decision to leave the safe haven of America for Hitler’s Germany, and using extended excerpts from love letters and coded messages written to and from Bonhoeffer’s Cell 92, Metaxas tells for the first time the full story of Bonhoeffer’s passionate and tragic romance.
Readers will discover fresh insights and revelations about his life-changing months at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and about his radical position on why Christians are obliged to stand up for the Jews. Metaxas also sheds new light on Bonhoeffer’s reaction to Kristallnacht, his involvement in the famous Valkyrie plot and in “Operation 7,” the effort to smuggle Jews into neutral Switzerland.
“Bonhoeffer” gives witness to one man’s extraordinary faith and to the tortured fate of the nation he sought to deliver from the curse of Nazism. It brings the reader face to face with a man determined to do the will of God radically, courageously, and joyfully―even to the point of death. “Bonhoeffer” is the story of a life framed by a passion for truth and a commitment to justice on behalf of those who face implacable evil.
Verdict: Interesting account of a man that dared to defy Hitler and the Third Reich. 3/5
Go to topHow do we find the courage to always be true to ourselves—even if we are unsure of whom we are?
That is the central question of international bestselling author Paulo Coelho’s profound new work, The Witch of Portobello. It is the story of a mysterious woman named Athena, told by the many who knew her well—or hardly at all.
Verdict: The weakest I’ve read by Coelho but still an okay story. 3/5
Go to topWilliam Golding – Darkness Visible (1979)
A dazzlingly dark novel by the Nobel Laureate.
At the height of the London blitz, a naked child steps out of an all-consuming fire. Miraculously saved yet hideously scarred, tormented at school and at work, Matty becomes a wanderer, a seeker after some unknown redemption. Two more lost children await him: twins as exquisite as they are loveless. Toni dabbles in political violence, Sophy in sexual tyranny. As Golding weaves their destinies together, as he draws them toward a final conflagration, his book lights up both the inner and outer darknesses of our time.
Verdict: The third part was inferior to the first two but still a good read from Golding. 3/5
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