Great Escape Books Newsletter: October 09 Edition
Great Escape Books Newsletter: Winning Reads over the Melbourne Cup Weekend
Local News from the Coast…
Upcoming Robert Ingpen Book Launch over Melbourne Cup weekend…almost booked out!
You may see lights sparkling & hear champagne glasses twinkling at the bookshop Saturday October 31st from 6pm for the Australian launch of Robert Ingpen’s new edition of Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland. Robert will be speaking about his work, and magnificent original illustrations from Alice will be on on display for the launch. We will have extensive editions of all of Robert’s magnificent books available for signings, from Storm Boy to The Magic Crystal and of course his classic editions of Jungle Book, Peter Pan, Wind in the Willows and many more. We are almost booked out, so if you have been thinking of coming, please RSVP over the next few days to: Nicole at the bookshop or nicole@greatescapebooks.com.au / ph. 5289 7052
Anglesea Performing Arts presents ‘Phillipa’s Song’ from’ All Souls’ by Daniel Keen.
Saturday 21st of November at 8pm at Aireys Inlet Community Hall
… Listen. It’s night. Of all souls. Here live those not yet in heaven nor sent to hell. All souls they are. And this night’s named for them….” Phillipa, an ageing homeless visionary, hovers between the living and the dead petitioning for the souls of her father, her mother and her lover. This will be a stunning performance by Iris Walshe –Howling and Kristin Honey. Program brochures are available now at Great Escape Books. For ticket bookings contact kirsten@honey.net.au or ph. 0416045745.
Recommended New Releases
Top ten bestsellers at Great Escape Books
- The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest - Steig Larsson
- Truth – Peter Temple
- Remarkable Creatures – Tracy Chevalier
- The Elegance of the Hedgehog – Muriel Barbery
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society – Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows
- A La Grecque - Pam Talimanidis. Signed copies available at Great Escape Books
- Bendable Learning’s: The Wisdom Of Modern Management — Don Watson
- Parrot and Oliver – Peter Carey
- Who Wants To Be A Billionaire? The James Packer Story - Paul Barry
- Corduroy Mansions – Alexander McCall Smith
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Winner of the 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction
Written in a thoroughly engaging modern style, Hilary Mantel has brought the turbulent and brutal times of King Henry VIII, a passionate and murderous king, to life by centring the book around Thomas Cromwell. Cromwell, son of an abusive blacksmith, rises to prominence on his own wits and conveys a real sense of the knife’s edge that all those close to the king live on. You don’t have to be a fan of historical novels to love this latest Booker prize winning novel. It’s as far more about the people and their motivations behind their actions and makes for fascinating reading. RRP: $32.99
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets’ Nest by Stieg Larsson
This is a most compulsive series. In the last book in the trilogy (you must read them in order) Lisbeth Salander is plotting her revenge – against all the people who have attempted to kill her, and against the government institutions that have systematically destroyed her life. She lives by her own set of rules and has her own moral code. Her one champion is journalist Mikael Blomkvist, but she is currently under close supervision in Intensive Care – after taking bullets to the head, hip and shoulder, and is set to face trial for three murders and one attempted murder on her eventual release. However, never a victim for long, Salander is ready to fight back. A ripper read, not for the faint hearted!. RRP: $32.95
Newly arrived…Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving
I’ve always been a fan of John Irving, ever since reading Cider House Rules as a young girl. We have only just unpacked this book, so our apologies we haven’t read it as yet, but felt we simply had to include it, he’s such a warm, compassionate writer. Here’s the basic plot… ‘In 1954, in the cookhouse of a sawmill settlement in northern New Hampshire, an anxious, gun-carrying, twelve-year-old boy mistakes the local constable’s girlfriend for a bear. Both the boy and his father become fugitives… their lone protector is a fiercely libertarian logger, once a river driver, who befriends them. In a story spanning five decades, Last Night in Twisted River, depicts the recent half-century in the United States as ‘a living replica of Coos County, where lethal hatreds were generally permitted to run their course’.’ ( Source: Allen & Unwin website). Should be a fabulous read. RRP: $29.95
Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier
This is an extraordinary novel. Based on the true character of Mary Anning, who from an early age was fascinated by the fossils, then called ‘snake stones’ and ‘devil’s toenails’, that could then by picked up on the beaches. Ripped off by buyers and scientists her family lives in poverty, until Elizabeth Philpot, daughter of a wealthy family settles in the seaside village. Becoming close allies through their mutual fascination with fossils their life seems simple and harmless enough, until Mary Anning finds the world’s first complete plesiosaur – and life for a simple village girl and a her quiet patron will never be the same again. Highly recommended as a beautiful novel, all the more remarkable as it is true. RRP: $27.99
The Complaints by Ian Rankin
. You have got to love a good Scottish novel, especially one written by Ian Rankin. His characters have always got one foot on either side of the law, even if they are in ‘The Complaints’ department. They usually have a shady past or at least a substantial alcohol problem. Like all Rankin’s novels, the tension slowly builds as the murders and mysteries pile up. A great read for a lazy weekend. RRP: $32.95′Nobody likes The Complaints – they’re the cops who investigate other cops. Malcolm Fox works for The Complaints
Wonders Of A Godless World by Andrew McGahan
This novel is utterly unlike anything I have read before. Written through the internal monologue of a child who cannot communicate, we meet ‘the witch’, ‘the virgin’, ‘the archangel’, ‘the duke’ and herself ‘the orphan’. Set within an mysterious mental hospital under the shadow of a volcano, into their lives comes a beautiful malevolent foreigner who also remains silent and motionless. Yet around him bizarre events occur and the lines between reality and madness merge. A most disturbing, yet exhilarating read. RRP: $32.95
Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro
Such a great title from one of the worlds best writers. Alice Munro this year won the 2009 Man Booker International Prize for lifetime achievement. Within this collection of beautifully crafted short stories, there is an underlying edgy tone of darkness and menace; the husband who slays his children in order to teach his wife a lesson, who herself is bizarrely drawn to him still in prison or a young girl who is humiliated in a failed seduction friend a most unusual way of obtaining justice and redemption. Alice Munro has a legion of fans, being short stories, this would be a great book to dip into if you are new to her, she’s a complex, brilliant writer. RRP: $45.00 hardback.
A Nest of Occasionals by Tony Martin
I read a review of this book that was so apt, ‘Reading him is like hanging out with a great friend … that is, if your great friend happens to be a highly entertaining yet self-effacing wordsmith with an acute sense of the absurdity of being human. It’s huge fun.’ (Olivia Mayer, freelance reviewer for Readings.) Hang out with Tony Martin of D-Generation and Thank God You’re Here fame and be amused and appalled at his exceptionally good ability for getting into very deep water rather quickly. RRP: $29.99
The Third Man Factor: The Secret To Survival In Extreme Conditions by John Geiger
This is a book with a most fascinating premise. From adventurer Sir Ernest Shackleton on South Georgia Island, to commodities trader Ron DiFrancesco in the South Tower of the World Trade Centre, to diver Stephanie Schwabe, all have experienced a ‘third man’. Geiger recounts numerous anecdotes of people in life-threatening situations have shared an experience that an unseen being—now known as the Third Man—saved them in situation that were by hopeless.
If it were just a handful of people, it might be dismissed as an unusual delusion shared by a few overstressed minds but it apparently has occurred to hundreds of people; mountaineers, prisoners of war, solo sailors, shipwreck survivors, aviators and astronauts. ‘So who is the Third Man? An angel, a hallucination or a second self? The Third Man Factor will be enjoyed by everyone from adventurers to armchair psychologists. RRP: $34.95
Kids and Young Adults Books
Baby Wombat’s Week by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley 
The star of the international bestseller Diary of a Wombat is back – with a new mouth to feed! Setting out to dig a new, bigger hole with room for them both, Shaggy Gully’s newest resident gets some help from a friend, causes more mayhem than her mother ever did, and sorts things out in hilarious style. I big hit with my daughter, you kids will love it, Charming for ages 3-6 years. RRP: $24.95
The Dragons One Camelot by Colin Thompson
Lots of fun for ages 8 plus. RRP: $14.95
In the days when dragons roamed the earth turning people into toast, a mighty King ruled the world. This King lived in the great castle of Camelot in the beautiful island of Avalon. Guided by the great wizard Merlin, this King became a legend and his name was Arthur.
The trouble with legends is that every time their stories are told they become more and more fabulous, so useless twits are often turned into superheroes. This is the true story of King Arthur, who was not a superhero. He was a nasty little spoilt brat who was totally up himself. Or was he . . .? Macmillan.
The Devil And His Boy by Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horotwitz is the master of both the dangerous sometimes macabre storytelling. In his latest book London is a dangerous place for an orphan to be headed . Tom Falconer has got a legion of malicious criminals hot on his heels. Together with Moll Cutpurse, a thirteen-year-old pickpocket, they find themselves chased across the city by the murderous Ratsey. But as a new play unfolds, The Devil and the Boy- that Tom realizes that bigger things are afoot and that the future of the Queen and rests with him. Great for readers 8 plus. Some of his other books suitable for teens only. RRP: $14.95
Chinese Cinderella: The Mystery Of The Song Dynasty Painting by Adeline Yen Mah
From the internationally bestselling author of Chinese Cinderella and the Secret Dragon Society, this is a gripping historical fantasy set in the Song Dynasty.
Is she dreaming, or has Chinese Cinderella lived a previous life? Following a fall at the river town of Feng Jie, Chinese Cinderella is whisked away to hospital. There she sees a copy of an ancient painting, ‘Along the River at Qing Ming’. As she lapses in and out of consciousness, she is haunted by vivid dreams that seem strange, yet somehow familiar. A tale emerges, of friendship, wealth and poverty, eunuchs and an Emperor who loved art, as Chinese Cinderella recalls a life lived eight hundred years ago during the Song Dynasty. But is it real, or all in her imagination…The third in the beautiful trilogy. Good for readers 10 plus. RRP: $15.99
Brigands M.C : Cherub Book Eleven, by Robert Muchamore
Every CHERUB agent comes from somewhere. Agent Dante Scott still has nightmares about the death of his family, brutally killed by a biker gang.
When Dante joins James Adams on a mission to infiltrate the Brigands Motorcycle Club, he’s ready to use everything he’s learned to get revenge on the people who killed his family … This si book 11 in the Cherub series. A a great spy series for boys and girls alike. RRP: $34.95 hardcover
The Magician’s Elephant by Kate DiCamillo and Yoko Tanaka
Peter made a promise to his mother as she lays dying to care for his sister, a promise that he is unable to keep. Rather than buying bread he spends his last penny on a fortune-teller’s to discover the question that has been consuming him… Is his sister still alive? The fortune-teller’s mysterious answer …An elephant will lead him there!, sets off a chain of a remarkable magical journey. A glorious haunting tale of the power of love and hope. For ages 9 plus. $24.95 Hardcover
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
This was a bestseller in the Us but I recommend it with caution. Clay Jensen finds a box on his veranda with his name on it. Inside are 13 tapes recorded by the beautiful loner Hannah Baker, his classmate who has committed suicide two weeks earlier.
On the tapes, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out how he made the list. This is a haunting timely novel of the cumulative effects bullying, back-stabbing and peer pressure can have on a fragile teenage soul. Often painful to read, it made me think about the importance of keeping open channels of communication during those tough teen years. Great for ages 15 plus to adult. RRP: $17.95
Enjoy the Melbourne Cup weekend. Lets hope the sun shines and may your horse win!
