The Case Against Fragrance

I found The Case Against Fragrance by Kate Grenville very interesting.  Grenville, one of Australia's great novelists, has written a non-fiction book about fragrances or perfumes.  She was compelled to do so as she learned that her migraines were attributed to the chemicals in perfumes and a myriad of other products which add "fragrances" to show consumers that the products really are clean because they have a pleasant smell.  Some of the material Grenville has shown in the book is quite confronting and shows these products are not as "innocent" as they appear.  In confined spaces people cannot avoid being affected by someone's perfume or after-shave.  A must read. 4/5

The Fortune Seekers - Dan and Charlotte

I very much enjoyed The Fortune Seekers - Dan and Charlotte by Glennis Browne.  I will first declare - I have a personal interest in this book.  A couple of weeks ago, I met the author through Ancestry.  Dan and Charlotte are her great-great grandparents, and also mine.  The books is well-researched and the writing is very good.  I particularly liked the descriptions of where the characters lived, especially their life on board the ship as they migrated to Australia.  This is a work of fiction loosely built on the facts as the author knows them to be.  I read the Kindle version. Recommended to anyone who has ancestors who undertook a similar journey around that time. 4/5

Wimmera

I very much enjoyed Wimmera by Mark Brandi.  This is his debut novel.  It is a dark story is set in a small town somewhere in Victoria, Australia, initially in the late 1980s.  Two boys, Ben and Fab are close friends who stick together and stand up to the bullies at school.  A new neighbour moves in to a house close to Ben's place.  This changes the boys' friendship.  Twenty years later Fab is still in the town trying to see a way out of his dead-end existence.  This is great writing.  Beware, there is graphic material as well as some parts which are only alluded to.  There is a lot of jumping between different time periods.  It is a haunting story, one of those stories, for me at least, that you continue to think about after reading the last pages.  I hope to see more of this author. 41/2/5

Saga Land

I enjoyed Saga Land by Richard Fidler & Kári Gíslason which documents some of the sagas of Iceland. Gíslason was born in Iceland and has a connection to the sagas which are the written stories of the history of Iceland.  Some of the sagas are quite grisly with "revenge" killings.  There is also a story about the major chess tournament there with Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky which was very interesting.  These stories are Icelandic national treasures.  Through the centuries some have been lost but enough have survived to tell the story of their country.  Gíslason's personal story was very interesting, so we understand his love for the country.  I did struggle with the Icelandic names and place names but enjoyed the stories. 4/5

Music and Freedom

I very much enjoyed Music and Freedom by Zoë Morrison, a debut Australian author.  Born in Australia, Alice Haywood has lived at Oxford from an early age.  A gifted pianist, she travelled there in the 1930s to further her piano studies.  She was due to return home but the War intervened.  Alice is looking back on her life in 2006.  The story is told with "flashbacks" to earlier times.  She has decided what to do next but something intervenes to change everything.  Alice narrates this story so the reader understands what she's dealing with.  This is beautiful writing, confronting at times and also informed.  The author knows the themes she's depicted in this story.  She knows her music so her descriptions are very real.  Very impressive. 41/2/5.

After the Fire

I enjoyed After the Fire by Henning Mankell which was his last book before he died from cancer.  Fredrik Welin, a retired doctor lives on a small island inherited from his grandfather.  Fredrik's home is burnt down and he barely escapes the flames before the house is consumed.  Investigators believe the fire was deliberately lit and suspicion falls on Fredrik.  He "escapes" with a trip to Paris when his daughter, Louise, is in trouble.  After the fire, Fredrik meets a younger woman, Lisa, and would like to have a relationship with her.  When the arsonist strikes again, Fredrik is no longer under suspicion and he speculates about who might be responsible.  The story has a feeling of melancholy as Fredrik, aged 70, contemplates his mortality as the author might well have been doing.  It is very sad for his reading audience that he's gone. 4/5

Wednesdays with Bob

I very much enjoyed Wednesdays with Bob by Bob Hawke and Derek Rielly.  Rielly (brings a cigar) spends Wednesday afternoons interviewing Bob about his life and the people associated with him.  Rielly also interviews these people to talk about their relationship with Bob Hawke.  These include wife Blanche, John Howard, John Singleton, Kim Beazley, Gareth Evans, to name a few.  The reader gets an insight in to the life of the great man.  There a lot of expletives, so avoid if that offends.  I'm a huge fan of Hawke and Keating so found it very interesting. 41/2/5

The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye

I very much enjoyed The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz which continues Stieg Larsson's Millennium Series with a host of familiar characters such as Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist.  There is lots of intrigue and suspense as Lisbeth and Mikael discover more information about a social experiment involving the separation of identical twins and placing them in different foster families.  I had not intended to read this book because it was not written by Stieg Larsson (I had very much enjoyed his books) but I was persuaded and I did like it very much. 41/2/5