They can be "books that I physically own, be it arc, bought, paperback or ebook. It could have been there for months or just acquired it yesterday."
My little twist is to highlight one new release and one classic each week.
Over the next few weeks I will also focus on the Australian books lurking in my TBR in preparation for AusReadingMonth in November.
Magda Szubanski's Reckoning: A Memoir is a very new book on my TBR pile, but it has had such rave reviews that I'm chomping at the bit to get into it. In fact one recent review from Peter Craven suggested this book was "riveting and overwhelmingly poignant" and written by a "woman of genius". He finished with "every library should have it, every school should teach it."
Heartbreaking, joyous, traumatic, intimate and revelatory, Reckoning is the book where Magda Szubanski, one of Australia’s most beloved performers, tells her story.
In this extraordinary memoir, Magda describes her journey of self-discovery from a suburban childhood, haunted by the demons of her father’s espionage activities in wartime Poland and by her secret awareness of her sexuality, to the complex dramas of adulthood and her need to find out the truth about herself and her family. With courage and compassion she addresses her own frailties and fears, and asks the big questions about life, about the shadows we inherit and the gifts we pass on.
Honest, poignant, utterly captivating, Reckoning announces the arrival of a fearless writer and natural storyteller. It will touch the lives of its readers.
The Essence of the Thing by Madeleine St John has been on my TBR pile ever since I read and loved The Women in Black a few years ago.
Nicola only went to buy cigarettes and upon returning finds a stranger in her apartment. He looks like her live-in boyfriend, Jonathan, but he can't actually be the dependable known quantity whom Nicola loves that goes by the name of Jonathan. Can he? Before Nicola stands a man who is strong and adorable just like the old Jonathan, only this one is no longer hers!
This sad tale of love gone south still has its funny side. You have either to laugh or cry when you see, as acutely and elegantly as St John captures it here, the things women will do to hold on to love, and the things men will do to escape it.
Reviews for this book fall into the love it or hate it category.
I wonder how I will go?
I always enjoy reading your themed selctions! The Essence of the Thing sounds like a really fun read, I hope you get around to reading one (if not both of them) this week.
ReplyDeleteI am totally sold on Reckoning. I read Peter Craven's review too. I know that if I buy it I won't get it read. So I've already asked for the audio book (read by Magda) for Christmas. I'll get through that easily driving around in January. I am also totally sold on AusReading Month, I'm going to do much better than my one post I managed last year, I'm trying to get a few posts ready to roll.
ReplyDeleteI thought I'd read The Essence of the Thing, but I think I was thinking of The Ladies in Black, because the blurb for this one doesn't sound familiar.
An audio of Reckoning would be a wonderful way to absorb Magda's book.
DeleteThe Women in Black is set in a David Jones type store in the 1950's in Sydney - it's wonderful.