Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Reviewed by Sarah, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Thirteen year old Conor is woken every night at seven minutes past midnight by a monster outside his bedroom window. Conor has been having the same nightmare every night since his mother started her treatments, but there's a twist - this monster is ancient and wild and has become a part of Conor'... (continued)

The Paddock by Lilith Norman

Reviewed by Sarah, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

This is a book about Australia and how the land was formed. It describes the land's transformation as animals and humans inhabit and adapt it to suit their needs and like Window by Jeannie Baker there is the same environmental message that there is a cost to development. In this book though the l... (continued)

Little Mouse's Big Secret by Eric Battut

Reviewed by Sarah, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Little Mouse finds a delicious apple and decides to keep it a secret from his friends by burying it in the ground. A beautifully illustrated story aimed at 3-5 year olds, this book teaches us that it's far better to share amongst friends than keep things all to oneself. (continued)

The Chemistry of Tears

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Opposite the title page of The Chemistry of Tears there is a list of 17 books under the heading "Also by Peter Carey". I've read 15 of them, usually falling on them greedily on the day of publication. In my opinion Carey writers two types of books - great ones and good ones. Parrot and Olivier in... (continued)

52 Suburbs by Louise Hawson

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Louise Hawson is an inspiring person who, in 2009-2010, produced a blog, that grew into an exhibition and finally blossomed into a beautiful book. Her project was to visit a new Sydney suburb every week for a year and to photograph the people, places and objects that interested her. Her particul... (continued)

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

I finally picked up this handsome volume when I realised it was the basis for the new film Hugo, direct by the venerable Martin Scorsese. What a treat was in store! Set in a time between the world wars, the story describes Hugo Cabret's life hidden in the bowels of the Montparnasse railway stati... (continued)

Autumn Liang by Alex Miller

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

It's 1938 and Pat Donlon is filled with the conviction that he can paint in a wholly new and Australian way. He is contemptuous of local art schools, newly married, extremely poor and ready to risk rejection he asks an art patron for money. Humiliated he finds himself in the office of Arthur Lain... (continued)

Cold Light by Frank Moorhouse

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books Mona Vale

I know of no other character in Australian fiction who has come so completely and plausibly into our lives as Edith Campbell Berry - the heroine of three Moorhouse novels written in the last 25 years. Journalist Annabel Crabb launched the third instalment in Edith's story dressed as Berry. In hi... (continued)

Dark Palace

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books, Mona Vale

Winner of the 2001 Miles Franklin Award this book was published seven years after Grand Days. Dark Palace takes us back to Geneva, pre-World War II where Edith’s marriage to the journalist Robert Dole is slowly unravelling. Edith is despondent that the League’s efforts to bring about ... (continued)

Grand Days

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books Mona Vale

Edith Campbell Berry heading from Paris to Geneva by train meets Englishman Ambrose Westwood. She is an Australian on her way to take up a position with The League of Nations. Major Ambrose Westwood is a doctor who served in World War I, a former British Foreign Office executive he also works at ... (continued)

The Flight Attendant's Shoe by Prudence Black

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Books Mona Vale

Did you know that there was such a great demand from the sex industry in Japan for authentic JAL flight attendant uniforms that the company issued numbered uniforms which had to be returned for destruction at the end of their useful life?   The introduction of quirky snippets of informatio... (continued)

The Keepers - City of Lies

Reviewed by Sarah, Berkelouw Books Mona Vale

“You were born to be Fifth Keeper.  It is your Destiny”   Goldie Roth has returned home to  the City of Jewel with her best friend Toadspit.  As a thief and a liar, Goldie was able to use her skills to overcome the brizzlehound and save the Museum of Dunt from t... (continued)

The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje

Reviewed by Taegan, Berkelouw Books Mona Vale

This much anticipated new novel from the acclaimed author of ‘The English Patient’, takes us aboard a cruise liner, making the long journey from Sri Lanka to London.   Our protagonist is Michael, an eleven-year-old boy who has found himself travelling alone, presumably to be re... (continued)

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Reviewed by Gillian, Berkelouw Mona Vale

Cloud Atlas is a sextet performed by one virtuoso –author David Mitchell. Five sections of the sextet are enacted in two parts which frame a sixth central episode.   The novel begins and ends with The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing,  a diary written by a mid-nineteenth century t... (continued)

George and the Big Bang by Lucy and Stephen Hawking

Reviewed by Sarah, Berkelouw Mona Vale

Following on from the success of George’s Secret Key to the Universe and George’s Cosmic Treasure Hunt, George and the Big Bang is the third in a series of books written by Professor Stephen Hawking, the most famous scientist in the world,and his daughter, Lucy.  This scientific ... (continued)

Red Dog by Louis de Bernieres

Reviewed by Sarah, Berkelouw Mona Vale

The book Red Dog is a collection of stories about a real dog who lived in the 1970s in outback Western Australia.  There is even a bronze statue of Red Dog in the town of Dampier which became the inspiration behind de Bernieres’ book.  Red Dog is an adventurous, energetic, cheeky ... (continued)

A Place of Greater Safety

Reviewed by Gillian Berkelouw Books Mona Vale

We are all more or less familiar with the events of the French Revolution. The King and the royal court are decimated and a revolutionary government installed. With the prime enemy destroyed the revolutionary leaders turn on each other. As readers we know this will happen when we begin the book&n... (continued)

Museum of Thieves: The Keepers 1 by Lian Tanner

Move over Harry Potter! The Keepers have arrived and they are more than your equal. Goldie lives in the City of Jewel, where children are kept ‘safe’ at all costs by the Guardians. ‘Safe’ from kidnappers, deadly diseases and animals, but most of all, the children are prev... (continued)

Kings in Grass Castles by Mary Durack

Without going into the many details that this book provides, it can be summed up as a remarkable account of pioneering spirit in Australia in the 19th century not unlike the episode in North America’s history when the West was won. In the space of about 45 years, Patrick Durack developed t... (continued)

Ox Travels: Meetings with Remarkable Travel Writers, introduced by Michael Palin

So many stories and no two the same, yet all linked by the theme of encounters in far flung lands. Colin Thubron writes poetically of "Mandalay" describing the city of thirty-five years ago and of Tun the rick-shaw driver who has a sobering and powerful story to tell. Paul Theroux who always ma... (continued)