Reid all about it

Mid-year reading 2023 part one: fiction.

This Bird Has Flown

Susanna Hoffs

Based on the author’s favourite novel –Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre – this is a charming, (very) spicy-sweet, gently funny, joyful debut. Featuring Jane Smart, a 33 year-old, single, one-hit wonder musician, sent by her manager from California to London, to rediscover her musical muse after a decade-long hiatus.

She also finds a life-changing relationship with elegant, handsome Tom Hardy, an Oxford professor of literature. This pitch-perfect novel is no surprise. As co-founder and lead singer of 1980s pop group the Bangles, we already knew Susanna Hoffs could write.

PS. The title comes from The Beatles’ Norwegian Wood. The chapter headings are some of her favourite song titles. See how many you know.

The Good Soldier Svejk

Jaroslav Hasek (1883-1923)

“And so, they’ve killed our Ferdinand,” said the charwoman to Mr. Svejk who had left military service … and now lived by selling dogs – ugly mongrel monstrosities whose pedigrees he forged. “Which Ferdinand, Mrs. Muller? I know two Ferdinands. One is a messenger at Prusa’s chemist and once by mistake drank a bottle of hair oil. The other is Ferdinand Kokoska who collects dog manure. Neither is any loss.”

“Oh no, sir, it’s His Imperial Highness, the Archduke Ferdinand, from Konopiste, the fat, churchy one.’”

After recently binge watching 1917, the latest version of All Quiet on the Western Front and Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, I thought it was also time to revisit – after three decades – Jaroslav Hasek’s unfinished (and probably unfinishable) comic, anti-war masterpiece The recounting of the enthusiastic, simple soldier Svejks’ military escapades broadens into a satire on the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire. Published between 1921-23, the author planned six volumes with three completed.

As proof that one literary masterpiece may inspire another, Joseph Heller said that reading Hasek led him to write Catch-22

The Cthulhu Casebooks

James Lovegrove

Prolific author Lovegrove crafts three enjoyable Holmesian pastiches covering the years 1880 to 1910.

Including Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows, Sherlock Holmes and the Miskatonic Monstrosities, and Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea Devils, these see Conan Doyle’s famous detective –aided by the faithful Watson – confront H.P. Lovecraft’s Old Ones: ancient, pitiless beings from a universe of eldritch horror, who wreak havoc on hapless humans.

And lastly, I re-read two contenders for the title of The Great American Novel:

“Call me Ishmael. Some years ago – never mind how long precisely – having little or no money in my purse, and nothing in particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.”

– Herman Melville (1819-1891)

– Moby Dick or, The Whale (1851) And:

“You don’t know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain’t no matter.”

– Mark Twain (1835-1910) – The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)

After several readings of both over the decades, I still can’t decide which one wins the laurel. You decide.

Next Month: Non-Fiction.

– Stephen Reid

Essays Food And Drink

A Very Easy Death

Simone

de Beauvoir

This profoundly moving, day-by-day recounting of her mother’s death from cancer has long been considered one of Simone de Beauvoir’s masterpieces. She writes of her mother’s final weeks and reflects on their complex relationship. Powerful, touching, and sometimes shocking, this is an end-of-life account that no reader is likely to forget.

Fitzcarraldo, $27.99

Quietly Hostile

Samantha Irby

After fleeing Chicago to quarantine at home in Michigan, Irby finds herself bleaching groceries and wondering if her upper lip hairs are visible on Zoom. Her career reaches new heights: she gets to work with the iconic ladies of Sex and the City but behind the newfound glam, Irby is just trying to keep her life together. Our friend in print is back, on point, and ready to take us with her, from adopting Abe (her scrawny, wateryeyed firstborn dog) to her favourite, extremely specific porn searches (including two old nuns).

Faber, $23.99

Griffith review 81: The Leisure Principle

Edited by Carody Culver

In 1930, John Maynard Keynes said work will become a thing of the past: man’s greatest challenge would be “how to occupy the leisure which science ... will have won for him”. So where did this vision go? Griffith Review 81 sets out to scrutinise how we came to cede so much just to amuse ourselves to death.

NewSouth, $34.99

5 Ingredients: Mediterranean

Jamie

Oliver

Oliver goes Mediterranean in this mouth-watering follow-up to 5 Ingredients: Quick & Easy Food

With more than 125 easy-to-follow recipes, 5

Penguin $55.00

Ingredients: Mediterranean is about making everyday cooking super-exciting, with minimal fuss – all while transporting you to sunnier climes. You’ll find recipes that empower you to make delicious food, but without copious amounts of ingredients, long shopping lists or loads of washing up. Most of the recipes are meat-free or meat-reduced, and all offer big, bold flavour.

Halliday Wine Companion 2024

James Halliday

A best-selling annual, the Halliday Wine Companion 2024 has been completely revised to bring readers the latest wine ratings, regions, best varietals, winery reviews and a curated selection of the best wines in Australia. The Halliday Tasting Team, now led by Campbell Mattinson in the role of chief editor, shares their extensive knowledge of wine through detailed tasting notes with points, price, value, and advice on best-by drinking. The book provides information about wineries and winemakers, including opening times, contact details and advice on family and dogfriendly vineyards.

How to Drink Australian

Jane Lopes and Jonathan Ross

Centuries of innovation and determination have led to an era of exceptional achievement in Australia, yet it is a country whose output is not matched by its scholarship. How to Drink Australian brings together global experts to offer insight into all aspects of Australian wine, including exhaustive analysis of every significant region, stunning and detailed maps, bespoke illustrations and artwork, individual wine recommendations, hundreds of producer profiles, a fold-out region-by-region grape table and more, all curated with a reverence for Australia’s first custodians.

The Food Fix

Yumi Stynes and Simon Davis

Since its launch, the 5 Minute Food Fix has consistently been among the most downloaded food podcasts in the country, and has spawned a vast collection of fans who tune in religiously for dinner inspiration. This book pulls together the best hits from the pod and some never-before-seen recipes, all of which have been tested – and re-tested – on the world’s most unforgiving critics, and cooked under the most trying circumstances (during life or whatever). Every recipe has been developed to be quick, fussfree and most importantly, delicious.

SELF-HELP, PSYCHOLOGY AND HEALTH

The Attention Fix

Anders Hansen

In the always-on age of notifications, emails and the news cycle, it’s easy to waste the majority of our days mindlessly scrolling. But according to psychiatric specialist and mental health guru Dr Anders Hansen, being tethered to our devices 24/7 is taking its toll on our mental wellbeing. Sleeplessness, anxiety, depression and burnout are just some of the consequences of feeling digitally overloaded. In The Attention Fix, Hansen shares an informative guide to what unrestricted social media use is actually doing to our brains, and the practical steps we can take to break the addiction cycle.

Penguin, $35

Your Name Is Not Anxious

Stephanie Dowrick

With consummate insight and compassion, Stephanie Dowrick offers a new way to look at anxiety (and yourself) that is accessible, supportive and immediately effective. Drawing on decades of professional experience, her own story, plus the latest in mindbody-brain insights, she puts workable knowledge into your hands.

Allen & Unwin, $29.99

How to Hangover

Stephen Wildish

Headache? Confusion? Waves of nausea and regret? Luckily, thanks to this handy book, a hangover no longer has to mean a ruined day. Use infographics and flowcharts to diagnose which hangover type you are suffering from and find the best treatments to help you on the road back to full health. With simple hangover cures and advice on how to tackle the cleanup (social and physical) this book is the perfect remedy for all your “morning after” regrets.

Random House, $29.99

Back up

Liam Mannix

One in 10 people will develop chronic back pain and there is a multi-billion dollar industry that claims there is a cure – by shrinking discs, melting nerves, cutting spines up and putting them back together. Liam Mannix is one of the many who experiences back pain, and he takes this as a starting point for this compelling and urgent work of investigative journalism. A theory has emerged, born from cutting-edge neuroscience, that claims back pain is all about the brain. This new science offers new solutions – including evidence that by teaching people this theory of pain we can reduce it.

NewSouth, $34.99

Better than Happiness

Gregory P. Smith

Fake Love

Nova Gibson

Nova Gibson has helped thousands of people in their struggle to understand, extricate themselves and heal from toxic relationships and narcissistic abuse. In this life-changing book, she brings unparalleled insight into the lived experience of victims and helps identify the behaviours of narcissistic abusers, such as coercive control and gaslighting, pathological lying, and more. Gibson offers comfort, knowledge and powerful strategies to help you identify, navigate and survive this extremely covert, confusing and dangerous form of abuse.

HarperCollins, $34.99

Sleepless: a memoir of insomnia

Marie Darrieussecq

What is it like to live with chronic insomnia? For Marie Darrieussecq, not sleeping began after the birth of her first child and continues more than 20 years later. In Sleepless, she recounts her own experiences alongside those of fellow insomniacs, some of whom claim a connection between not sleeping and creativity. With her inimitable humour, she describes her countless attempts to find a remedy, including consulting a somnologist.

Text, $34.99

When Gregory Smith stumbled out of a New South Wales rainforest in 2000 he was close to death after living as a hermit in the wild. Today, he has overcome a life of homelessness and despair to become one of society’s great teachers. He is a senior lecturer in the social sciences at university, a government policy advisor and an advocate for the dispossessed and downtrodden the world over. And yet he doesn’t consider himself to be happy. “It is far more attainable, satisfying and fulfilling,” says Gregory, “to simply be contented.”

Penguin, $35