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Travel Writing

Jerusalem Without God: Portrait of a Cruel City by Paola Caridi ($45, PB)

There is no escaping the Jerusalem of the religious imagination. Not once but 3 times holy, its overwhelming spiritual significance looms large over the city’s complex urban landscape & the diurnal rhythms & struggles that make up its earthbound existence. However, says Paola Caridi, it is possible to close one’s eyes & discern the conflict & plurality of belonging that mark out the city’s secular character. She leads the reader through the streets, malls, suburbs, traffic jams & squares of Jerusalem’s present moment showing a city riven by the harsh asymmetry of power & control embodied in its lines, limits, walls & borders—a city memorable for its ancient stones & shimmering sunsets but dotted with Israeli checkpoints, ‘postmodern drawbridges’, that control the movement of people, ideas & potential attackers. Describing Jerusalem through the lenses of urban planners & politicians, anthropologists & archaeologists, advertisers & scholars, Caridi reveals a city that is as diverse as it is complex, and ultimately, one whose destiny cannot be tied to any single religious faith, tradition, or political ideology.

Shackled by Chris Turney ($35, PB)

In 2013, Australian earth scientist Chris Turney led an ambitious expedition to Antarctica. It promised discovery, history, adventure—but came with great risk. When Turney’s ship, the Shokalskiy, became trapped on Christmas Eve, the hull of the ship pierced by a tower of ice, the plight of the 71 people on board was broadcast around the world. Efforts to rescue them were thwarted by fierce blizzards & roaming icebergs. In Shackled the ghosts of explorers like Shackleton, Mawson & Ross look on, as Chris Turney offers firsthand the latest scientific findings from the frozen continent & details of the fates of the many intrepid explorers in whose footsteps he and his team walked.

Nevada Days by Bernardo Atxaga ($30, PB) A seductive blend of fiction and autobiography, this is a fictionalised account of Atxaga’s 9 months’ stay as writer-in-residence at the Centre for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada. He is accompanied by his wife, Angela, who is also doing research there, and by their two daughters. During their first few weeks, the family encounter a strange mapache (racoon), which is always staring at them from the garden, a flight of helicopters immediately overhead, a black widow spider, a warning about bears, a party of prisoners in the desert, a lake that is somehow far too calm and too blue, and, not long into their stay, the kidnap and murder of a young girl living in the house right next door. Atxaga tells us about all these strange encounters, and about his colleagues at the university, about the trips the family make to California and across the Sierra Nevada and to Lake Tahoe, all interspersed with accounts of his dreams, with stories from his past.

August To-Read List

From the author of Marching Powder. Blending fact and fiction, Colombiano takes us on a heart-thumping journey into the violent and unpredictable world of post-Escobar Colombia.

An exploration of love and uncertainty when a long-married couple take a midwinter break in Amsterdam. Bernard MacLaverty reminds us why he is regarded as one of the greatest living Irish writers.

A triumphant return to Miss Smilla territory – a story about sincerity, and a pacey thriller with a strongwilled female scientist like Smilla or Saga from The Bridge.

Sport in Australia is a national obsession. In this book David Hill recalls his encounters with the great and the good in Australian sport, as well as some of its darker moments.

One of our finest communicators and most successful businesswomen shares what she’s learned about leadership, the culture of the workplace and the vital importance of living a whole life.

Comic, topical, honest, sharply intelligent, and, above all, sympathetic, Robert Drewe’s exhilarating new novel tells a classic Australian family saga as it has never been told before.

When Australian-based scientist Chris Turney’s expedition got stuck in the Antarctic ice in 2013, it brought global attention to the dangers of the world’s least-known continent – and its fragility.

A gripping, atmospheric novel from the acclaimed author of What Came Before that asks: how much should you do to help a stranger’s child?

The Bucket List: 1000 Adventures Big and Small

This is a collection of 1,000 adventures to be had across every continent, from seeing the northern lights from an igloo in Finland to panning for gold in California, from cruising the Galapagos Islands to ninja training in Japan. Some experiences are unique outdoor pursuits in incredible locations around the world—such as climbing an active volcano in Italy or ice diving in Antarctica—but others are smaller ambitions including trying a local cuisine, milking a cow, brewing your own beer, or mastering a foreign language. The Bucket List is the perfect gift for the passionate traveller: an around-the-world, continent-by-continent listing of beaches, museums, monuments, islands, inns, restaurants, mountains, and more. ($40, PB)

The Last Great Australian Adventurer by Gordon Bass ($35, PB)

In 1948, Australian army major, Ben Carlin, set out from NYC with an audacious, lunatic plan to circumnavigate the world in an army surplus amphibious jeep called Half-Safe. Fuelled by cigarettes a& adrenaline, he pushed his fragile, claustrophobic vehicle through fierce Atlantic hurricanes, across uncharted North African desert, into dense South-East Asian jungle & over the icy dark swells of the North Pacific. It was a 50,000 mile roll of the dice that by all rights should have killed him. When he finally pulled into Times Square a decade later, he found himself alone & forgotten, his legacy little more than a wake of women & empty whiskey bottles. Was it all a fool’s errand? Or a pure manifestation of spirit? Where does a dream end & an obsession begin? What’s an acceptable cost to pay, and to what lengths will a person go not to be left with the haunting question: what if? Gordon Bass gives a compelling account of Carlin’s attempt to make an enduring mark on the world at the twilight of the Golden Age of Adventure.

Neon Pilgrim by Lisa Dempster ($33, PB) During a culture-shocked exchange year in Japan, 15 year-old Lisa Dempster’s imagination was ignited by the story of the henro michi, an arduous 1200 kilometre Buddhist pilgrimage through the mountains of Japan—and she promised herself to return to Japan & walk the henro michi. Fast-forward 13 years, and Lisa is severely depressed, socially withdrawn, overweight, on the dole & living with her mum, she is 28 and miserable. And then a book at her local library reminds her of the henro michi, and she decided to return to Japan and walk herself back to health. Brushing aside the barriers that other people might find daunting—the 1200km of mountainous terrain, the sweltering Japanese summer, the fact she had no money and had never done a multi-day hike before—Lisa was determined to walk the pilgrimage, or die trying.