Bestsellers for February 2010
1 Jasper Jones Craig Silvey Allen & Unwin $29.99
Late on a hot summer night in the tail end of 1965, Charlie Bucktin, a precocious and bookish boy of thirteen, is startled by an urgent knock on the window of his sleep-out. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in the regional mining town of Corrigan. Rebellious, mixed-race and solitary, Jasper is a distant figure of danger and intrigue for Charlie. So when Jasper begs for his help, Charlie eagerly steals into the night by his side, terribly afraid but desperate to impress.
Jasper takes him through town and to his secret glade in the bush, and it's here that Charlie bears witness to Jasper's horrible discovery. With his secret like a brick in his belly, Charlie is pushed and pulled by a town closing in on itself in fear and suspicion as he locks horns with his tempestuous mother; falls nervously in love and battles to keep a lid on his zealous best friend, Jeffrey Lu. In the simmering summer where everything changes, Charlie learns why the truth of things is so hard to know, and even harder to hold in his heart.
2 Lacuna The Barbara Kingsolver Penguin $35.00
At last the long awaited new novel from Barbara Kingsolver!! Barbara tells the story of Harrison Shepherd, born in 1916 in America of a Mexican mother and American father. Harrison is a delightful character – he always seems to live on the edge of someone elses more eventful and exciting life – firstly becoming the cook and then secretary for Frida Kahlo and her husband, Diego Rivera and ultimately secretary to the exiled Tolstoy. By the time he is thirty and the Second World War has just finished he has become a well respected novelist, writing adventure stories about Mexican and Mayan history. But then anti-red fanaticism sets in and Harrison becomes a target. Kingsolver does not shirk from revealing aspects of American history that Americans can be least proud of. In Spanish “lacuna” means hole or gap and she uses this as a metaphor for the gap between historical truth and fiction. An epic story that can be enjoyed on many levels – note that we also have a newly re-released biography of Frida Kahlo, if you want to continue some background reading!
3 Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel Fourth Estate $32.99
England, the 1520s. Henry VIII is on the throne, but has no heir. Cardinal Wolsey is his chief advisor, charged with securing the divorce the pope refuses to grant. Into this atmosphere of distrust and need comes Thomas Cromwell, first as Wolseys clerk, and later his successor. Cromwell is a wholly original man: the son of a brutal blacksmith, a political genius, a briber, a charmer, a bully, a man with a delicate and deadly expertise in manipulating people and events. Ruthless in pursuit of his own interests, he is as ambitious in his wider politics as he is for himself. His reforming agenda is carried out in the grip of a self-interested parliament and a king who fluctuates between romantic passions and murderous rages.
From one of our finest living writers, WOLF HALL that very rare thing: a truly great English novel, one that explores the intersection of individual psychology and wider politics. With a vast array of characters, and richly overflowing with incident, it peels back history to show us Tudor England as a half-made society, moulding itself with great passion and suffering and courage.
4 A Week in December Sebastian Faulks Random House $32.95
Seven characters are followed for seven days in the week before Christmas, 2007, in London.
5 Her Fearful Symmetry Audrey Niffeneger Random House Australia $32.95
Audrey Niffeneger sets her new novel in Highgate Cemetery in London. It is a fascinating place, full of the remains of the famous and infamous and as full of stories as a library. Tours are run through the cemetery and a tour guide, Robert, is one of the main characters in the novel. His lover, Elspeth, has just been buried in a family tomb within Highgate and he lives in a house of apartments, which has access through a gate in the wall to the cemetery. He is also writing a thesis on the history of Highgate. His dead lover has left her flat to the twin daughters of her twin sister and they come and live there with interesting consequences, as Elspeth has not completely departed to the next world. A host of interesting characters and a Gothic plot full of twists and turns make this a book that you will want to discuss with a friend and dwell on for some time! Enjoy the pun of “Symmetry” and “Cemetery” ( try saying both in a plummy British accent!).
6 Lovesong Alex Miller Allen & Unwin $33.95
A deceptively simple love story set in Paris, Tunisia and Melbourne. Beautifully written, with subtle twists.
7 Good to a Fault Marina Endicott Allen & Unwin $27.99
Marina Endicott won the Canadian and Caribbean section of the Commonwealth Writers Prize for 2009 for this clever and insightful novel. Clara Purdy, a middle-aged middle class lady is popping out to the bank in her lunch-hour, when she accidentally hits another car. The family in the other car are taken to hospital and it is discovered that the young mother has a serious illness and needs to be kept in for treatment. As the rest of the family are homeless (they have been living in their car), Clara is riddled with guilt and decides to help them. She decides on the extreme remedy of letting them stay at her home. What ensues is a roller-coaster ride of emotions - guilt, blame, revulsion, love and ultimately we are left wondering about the motives behind trying to “be good”.
8 Meltdown Ben Eltonr Random House $32.95
Ben Elton at his best - this time examining what happens when money comes too easy and then disappears overnight. Lovely descriptions of parenting three kids after being used to having a gorgeous Australian live-in nanny!
9 Too Much Happiness Alice Munro Chatto & Winduss $39.95
The Man Booker Prize winner cannot fail to delight with this collection of short stories.Special price was $49.95 now $39.95 HB.
10 Paperbark Shoe Goldie Goldbloom Fremantle Press $32.95
A quirky tale of unexpected love between an Australian farmer's wife and an Italian Prisoner of War during WW2. Based on true events and with fabulous characterisation.
Previous Bestsellers Lists
View the previous bestsellers lists by selecting the date of the list you'd like to view
3 September 2010
3 August 2010
4 July 2010
3 June 2010
5 May 2010
6 April 2010
3 March 2010
2 February 2010
28 October 2009
29 September 2009
3 September 2009
30 July 2009
Book of the Month
September 2010
Freedom
by
Jonathan Franzen