What to read this week

A memoir about growing up in New Zealand during WWII, a tribute to the Australian soldiers who volunteered to defend South Korea and a ‘non-academic, non-technical and non-religious’ book about God.

What to read this week

John Burgess was born during World War II and educated at boarding schools in New Zealand. Upon returning home, he soon became disillusioned with life on the family farm. He goes to work first in Liverpool, and then in London, before establishing his own meat trading company in Sydney in 1971, which becomes one of Australia’s largest export businesses. This book distils business and personal lessons; he has made some mistakes, and he’s keen to share wisdom.

Paper, Scissors, Stone by Ron Callendar

Paper, Scissors, Stone is described by the author as a tribute to the Australian soldiers who volunteered to defend South Korea when that fledgling democracy was invaded by communist North Korea in 1950. The story emphasises the “futility of lethal daily fighting for a few kilometres of useless territory while armistice negotiations dragged on for two years”. R.N. (Ron) Callander is an award-winning Queensland author, playwright and freelance journalist.

The God who doesn't exist

The author, a teacher and lay preacher from Adelaide, says his book has been written for a general audience and is “non-academic, non-technical and non-religious, even if it wanders into some pretty deep philosophical, scientific, psychological and theological waters.” He says he’s drawing on “parenting, education, theoretical physics, evolutionary theory, philosophy, psychology, comparative religion, biblical exegesis and political theory” to unfold the story of two gods, “one who doesn’t exist whom we created ourselves, and one who does exist whom we didn’t create”.

Ballara by the Guppy landowners

Ballara is a 10ha property on Australia’s southeast coast, and this book is a tribute not only to the land but to the birds that have made their home there. Michael and Sarah Guppy are a couple (they were married in Nairobi in 1979). Sarah’s father Stephen purchased the property more than 50 years ago, and studied its birdlife for a decade. Michael, a retired associate professor of biochemistry, and Sarah, a retired aerobics teacher, now live there. Their delightful study takes readers from the very formation of the landscape, through to the present day.

Notes From The Stranger’s Corridor By Gillian Kendall

This book came with two subtitles: “a parliamentary reporter’s lament” and “a story of editing, insomnia and minor mental illness”. The author describes herself as “a Californian of English-Australian parentage” who moved to Melbourne for love. She became a Hansard reporter, transcribing political debate as it unfurled in the Victorian parliament. The chapters have titles like “capitals: important people, places and things” and “question marks, question time”. Kendall says: “If you’ve ever silently corrected someone else’s grammar, or wished people would make more sense” this may be the book for you.

The buzz around this one is electric. It’s a supernatural thriller, set in an Australian town called Gattan. It centres on a deeply traumatic event – one that makes me shiver, just thinking about it. A group of under 10s take to the soccer field, on what seems to be a normal day, with parents on the sidelines, cheering and gossiping. Then comes the nightmare, which leaves just one player, who happens to be 10 years old, standing. But this nightmare is not contained to Grattan. One hundred and thirty million nine-year-olds around the world have died in the same instant. The screams are coming from every corner of the globe. What is going on? An unbelievably terrifying idea.

The Oasis by Anne Buist

A new book from my favourite couple! The Oasis is the second novel in the Menzies Mental Health Series, after the smash hit that was The Glass House. Trainee psychiatrist Hannah Wright is working on an acute psychiatric ward at Menzies Hospital when she finds herself under pressure to address her own trauma. Anne Buist comes to this with real insight and wisdom; she’s chair of women’s mental health at the University of Melbourne; and her husband, Graeme, is the author of the wildly popular The Rosie Project.

Out of the Woods By Gretchen Shirm

Gretchen Shirm is a hugely talented literary critic, much loved by our readers here, and I was over the moon to hear that she had completed this novel, and I swooned when I started reading. There’s so much grace in Gretchen’s writing. So much tenderness, too. Set in the year 2000, an Australian woman has travelled to The Hague to assist in a war crimes investigation. She says: “Out of the Woods asks what it means to bear witness to the suffering of people who have experienced real tragedy ... and whether it’s possible, afterwards, to resume a normal life.” Warmest congratulations, Gretchen.