Spring Booklist 2005

	Spring Booklist
	Captain Alatriste Arturo Perez-Reverte Step aside D'Artagnan... Perez-Reverte wrote the Captain Alatriste series as a homage to the adventure books that had been his own initiation into the world of reading as a boy - books such as Dumas's The Three Musketeersor The Mask of Zorro. Captain Alatriste is a swordsman for hire in Spain in the 1620s - a time when Court intrigue was high and the decadent young king had dragged the country into a series of disastrous wars. As a hired 'blade', Alatriste becomes involved in many political plots and must live by his wits. He comes face to face with hired assassins, court players, political moles, smugglers, pirates and of course, the infamous Spanish Inquisition... All the stories are told by Inigo Balboa, Alatriste's young page. The cast of characters also includes Quevedo, an irrepressible subversive poet who likes to start fights in the local tavern, the kind-hearted innkeeper and ex-prostitute who shares Alatriste's bed, the elegant Count of Guadalmedina, the beautiful but deadly Angelica de Alquezar, and a whole host of underworld figures. paperback $29.95
	Cooking With Fernet Branca James Hamilton-Paterson Gerald Samper, an effete Englishman, lives on a hilltop in Tuscany. He is a ghostwriter for celebrities, and a foodie, whose weird tastes include 'Mussels in Chocolate and Garlic' and 'Fernet Branca Ice Cream'. His idyll is shattered by the arrival of Marta, a vulgar woman from a former Soviet republic now run by gangsters, notably male members of her family. She is a composer in a neo-folk style who claims to be writing a score for a trendy Italian film director. The neighbours' lives disastrously intertwine. The entourages of the rock star and the director come and go; mysterious black helicopters bring news of mayhem in Voynova, Marta's homeland; and along the way the English obsession with Tuscany is satirized mercilessly. paperback $22.95
	Slow Man J.M. Coetzee Paul Rayment is on the threshold of a comfortable old age when a calamitous cycling accident results in the amputation of a leg. Humiliated, his body truncated, his life circumscribed, he turns away from his friends. He hires a nurse named Marijana, with whom he has a European childhood in common: hers in Croatia, his in France. Tactfully and efficiently she ministers to his needs. But his feelings for her, and for her handsome teenage son, are complicated by the sudden arrival on his doorstep of the celebrated Australian novelist Elizabeth Costello, who threatens to take over the direction of his life and the affairs of his heart. Unflinching in its vision of suffering and generous in its portrayal of the spirit of care, Slow Man is a masterful work of fiction by one of the worlds greatest writers. hardback $45.00
	The Ages of Lulu Grandes Almundena This classic erotic novel burst on to the literary scene in the early 1990s. Set in Madrid, The Ages of Lulu is an international sensation selling over one million copies. It has been translated into twenty-one languages. paperback $23.00
	Human Traces Sebastian Faulks Jacques and Thomasr, both sixteen when the story starts in 1876, come from different countries and contrasting families. They are united by an ambition to understand how the mind works and whether madness is the price we pay for being human. As psychiatrists, their quest takes them from the squalor of the Victorian lunatic asylum to the crowded lecture halls of the renowned Professor Charcot in Paris; from the heights of the Sierra Madre in California to the plains of unexplored Africa. Their search is made urgent by the case of Jacques's brother Olivier, for whose severe illness no name has yet been found. Thomas's sister Sonia becomes the pivotal figure in the volatile relationship between the two men, which threatens to explode with the arrival in their Austrian sanatorium of an enigmatic patient, Frulein Katharina von A, whose illness epitomises all that divides them. As the concerns of the old century fade and the First World War divides Europe, the novel rises to a climax in which the value of what it means to be alive seems to hang in the balance. paperback $32.95
	Mimi & Toutou Go Forth: The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika Giles Foden 'It's the duty of the Royal Navy to engage the enemy wherever she is afloat' is the order of the day, but their lordships would never have imagined what they would be letting themselves into when they sent Lt. Spicer Simson and his ragtag expedition to sink three German Steamers on Lake Tanganyika in central Africa. Spicer Simon, when he wasn't AWOL, would perform ritual baths for his African bearers, who quickly christened him Lord Belly Cloth. paperback $19.95
	Making It Up Penelope Lively In this fascinating piece of new fiction, Penelope Lively takes moments from her own life and asks what if some outcomes had been otherwise. What if her family's flight from Egypt in 1942 had taken a different route? What would her life have been like if she had become pregnant when she was eighteen? If she had married someone else? If she had become an archaeologist? If she had lived her life in America? hardback $35.00
	The Greatest Man in Cedar Hole Stephanie Doyon Cedar Hole is a small and foggy town where only the grass is able to blossom - its inhabitants are a hopeless and lethargic bunch. Enter Robert J. Cutler, an enigmatic, confident and relentlessly cheerful young boy. Robert seems to be heading for great things - more than this town can offer him, certainly. However, he is dedicated to his beloved Cedar Hole and determined to become its school's best student. Now meet Francis 'Spud' Pinkham who is trying to stay as invisible as Robert is trying to shine. Spud's nine terrifying elder sisters make his life a daily battle of torment and he slips easily and willingly into the role of the school bully. It seems that these trends will continue indefinitely. Robert grows to be a model citizen for whom the town is his hobby, interest and life, always overshadowing Spud whose only achievement is to marry his first girlfriend and whose existence is meagre. But destiny has other plans, and the colourful residents of Cedar Hole will be forced to acknowledge that a good man can come in many guises. Richly comic and tender, The Greatest Man in Cedar Hole is a dazzling novel about small-town life, growing up, and, above all, what it takes to be great. paperback $29.95
	Home from the Vinyl Cafe: A Year of Stories Stuart McLean Welcome to the Vinyl Cafe. Motto: We May Not Be Big, But We re Small Introducing Dave, owner of a downtown Toronto record store and his wife, Morley, and chronicling their valiant attempts to rise to the challenges of modern life, these are tales of everyday struggles and triumphs, rich in compassion and good-natured humour. In these hymns to common foibles and absurdities, nothing ever quite goes according to plan. A sleepover for ten small boys ends abruptly after an inadvertent screening of The Night of the Zombies ; a family holiday is interrupted by a surprising feline discovery under the bonnet of the car; a balding guinea pig runs up a vet s bill for $563.30; preparations for Christmas dinner unexpectedly involve an electric blanket, a hair dryer, a bottle of scotch and a hotel bill. Along the way, Dave and Morley battle to maintain perspective on the idiosyncrasies of elderly parents, teenage children, friends, neighbours and unannounced guests. paperback $29.95
Crime Fiction
	The Flood Ian Rankin Ian Rankin's first ever novel - unavailable for nearly twenty years and now published with a brand-new introduction... In 1986, a small Scottish publishing firm released a first novel by a talented young writer. Only a few hundred copies were printed but it was a literary milestone nonetheless. The book was The Flood. The author was Ian Rankin... Mary Miller had always been an outcast. As a young girl she had fallen into the hot burn - a torrent of warm chemical run-off from the local coal mine. Fished out white-haired and half-dead, sympathy for her quickly faded when the young man who pushed her in died in a mining accident just two days later. From then on she was regarded with a mixture of suspicion and fascination by her God-fearing community. Now, years later she is hardly less alone. She is the mother of a bastard son, Sandy, and caught up in a faltering affair with a local teacher. Sandy, meanwhile, has fallen in love with a strange homeless girl. The search for happiness isn't easy. Both mother and son must face a dark secret from their past, in the growing knowledge that their small dramas are being played out against a much larger canvas, glimpsed only in symbols and flickering images - of decay and regrowth, of fire and water - of the flood. The Floodis both a coming-of-age novel and an amazing portrait of a time and place. Proto-Rankin as it is, it's dark, atmospheric and powerful - a remarkable debut from a remarkable author. paperback $25.00
	The Man Who Smiled Henning Mankell Kurt Wallander investigates the mysterious death of his father which may jeopardise the safety of his own life. Crestfallen, dejected and spiralling into an alcohol-fuelled depression after killing a man in the line of duty, Inspector Kurt Wallander has made up his mind to quit the force for good. When an old acquaintance, a solicitor, seeks Wallander's help to investigate the suspicious circumstances in which his father has dies, Kurt doesn't want to know. But when the solicitor also turns up dead, shot three times, Wallander realises that he was wrong not to listen. Against his better judgment, he returns to work to head what may now have become a double murder case. A rookie female detective has joined the force in his absence and he adopts the role of mentor to her as they fight to unravel the mystery. An enigmatic business tycoon, who hides behind an entourage of brusque secretaries and tight security, seems to be the common denominator in the two deaths. But while Wallander is on the trail of the killer, somebody is on the trail of Wallander, and closing in fast. paperback $32.95
	The Art of Murder Jose Carlos Somoza Murder is not a science. It's an artform. Welcome to an art scene where realism has gone one step further, where each painting is literally alive, where the model for each masterpiece is the canvas itself. And for the beautiful men and women queuing up for the privilege - to be painted and posed, bought and rented by collectors - there is one artist they are all drawn to: the mysterious Dutch master, Bruno Van Tysch. Then a young female model, Annek Hollek, is abducted and killed, viciously murdered in a most gruesome fashion. The detectives assigned to the case, April Wood and Lothar Bosch, may have little interest in modern art, but they are going to have to acquire an appreciation extremely quickly. Because Van Tysch is about to launch a major exhibition in Amsterdam - the imitation of thirteen of Rembrandt's masterpieces - and the rumours are that the killer is about to strike again. paperback $24.95
Non Fiction
	SHAM: How the Gurus of the Self-help Movement Make Us Helpless Steve Salerno SHAM - Self-Help and Actualisation Movement - To many, it's a godsend. To others a joke. Journalist Steve Salerno, who has worked for over 24 years in lifestyle journalism knows from the inside the quirks and tricks of the self-help industry.In SHAMhe exposes the hucksters at the heart of the self-help industry. Even those suspicious or critical of the self-help industry tend to think it's relatively benign, Salerno argues that the idea of 'Victimization' peddled by the self-help gurus has blurred notions of personal responsibility of right and wrong, while the idea of Empowerment teaches that simply believing we can do something is more important than developing the skills we need to succeed.Going deep inside the self-help movement to expose the most famous gurus-from Anthony Robbins to John Gray, from Dr. Laura to Dr. Phil, from Zig Ziglar to Oprah -Salerno reveals the costs the self-help phenomenon is exacting from the world and why we Westerners spend literally billions every year to get the latest book/video/seminar/diet program from SHAM artists, most of whom have only the most dubious qualifications and who provide little real help. paperback $26.95
	Nowhere People Henry Reynolds In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, people of mixed Aboriginal and European ancestry - half-castes - were commonly assumed to be morally and physically defective, unstable and degenerate. They bore the brunt of society's contempt, and the removal of their children created Australia's stolen generations. Nowhere People is a history of beliefs about people of mixed race, both in Australia and overseas. It explores the concept of racial purity, eugenics, and the threat posed by miscegenation. Award-winning author Henry Reynolds also talks for the first time of his own family's search for the truth about his father's ancestry, and gives a poignant account of the contemporary predicament facing people of mixed heritage. Highly personal and moving, Nowhere People is essential reading from one of Australia's most influential and respected historians. paperback $29.95
	Perfect Balance Paul Wilson Won't life be perfect when . . . * you feel you have all the time in the world - for work, for family and friends, for your own needs and development * you're motivated and inspired to perform at your best * you make sound decisions and quickly recover from setbacks * your world is simple and uncluttered * your life has meaning and purpose * you discover real peace and contentment. All this is possible. In Perfect Balance Paul Wilson - businessman and international bestselling author - reveals the techniques and strategies for finding balance between all the different parts of your busy life. You can do this without working harder or longer. By taking this more relaxed approach - the Calm Way - you'll bring all of your resources into play at once to achieve perfect balance in your life. paperback $29.95
	Merde Actually Stephen Clarke French women may not get fat, the Euro may be soaring but that shouldn't stop you from enjoying the perils and pleasures of Parisian life found in the follow-up to the best-selling A Year in the Merde! 11,000 copies of A Year in the Merde have sold since last October. A year after arriving in France, Englishman Paul West is still struggling with some fundamental questions: What is the best way to scare a gendarme? Why do French job applicants put sexually transmitted diseases on their CVs? Why are there no public health warnings on French nudist beaches? And how do you cope with a plague of courgettes? Paul also mutates (temporarily) into a Parisian waiter; samples the pleasures of typically French hotel-room afternoons; and, on a return visit to the UK, sees the full horror of a British office party through Parisian eyes. Meanwhile, he continues his search for the perfect French mademoiselle. But will Paul find l'amour ternel, or will it all end in merde? paperback $23.95
	Evertything and More: A Compact History of Infinity David Foster Wallace One of the outstanding voices of his generation, David Foster Wallace has won a large and devoted following for the intellectual ambition and bravura style of his fiction and essays. Now he brings his considerable talents to the history of one of math's most enduring puzzles: the seemingly paradoxical nature of infinity. Is infinity a valid mathematical property or a meaningless abstraction? The nineteenth-century mathematical genius Georg Cantor's answer to this question not only surprised him but also shook the very foundations upon which math had been built. Cantor's counterintuitive discovery of a progression of larger and larger infinities created controversy in his time and may have hastened his mental breakdown, but it also helped lead to the development of set theory, analytic philosophy, and even computer technology. paperback $24.95
	Beyond Right and Left New politics and the culture wars In Australian politics today a new free market Right holds the ascendancy in ideas, while Labor and the Left struggle with a crisis of belief. David McKnight makes a compelling argument that the new Right has a radical agenda, not a conservative one. He shows how this drives some of the most vexed issues of our time: overconsumption, work-family balance, immigration and the environment. paperback $24.95
	1759: The Year Britain Became Master Of The World Frank McLynn Although 1759 is not a date as well known in British history as 1215, 1588, or 1688, there is a strong case to be made that it is the most significant year since 1066. In 1759 - the fourth year of the Seven Years War - the British defeated the French in arduous campaigns in India and the West Indies, in Germany and Canada, and also achieved absolute mastery of the seas. As Thackeray famously remarked in Barry Lyndon, it would take a theologian, rather than an historian, to unravel the true causes of the Seven Years War in Europe, but the spine of the wider conflict was the struggle for global hegemony between Britain and France. Drawing on a mass of primary materials - from texts in the Vatican archives to oral histories of the North American Indians - Frank McLynn shows how the conflict between those two countries triggered the first 'world war', raging from Europe to Africa; the Caribbean to the Pacific; the plains of the Ganges to the Great Lakes of North America. It also brought about the War of Independence, the acquisition by Britain of the Falkland Islands and, ultimately, the French Revolution. paperback $30.00

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