22 November 2011

What book do you want to represent the ACT?

| johnboy
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ABC Arts are asking for votes in their National Year of Reading competition.

The Canberra books are:

    — Hit List, by Jack Heath

    — Smoke and Mirrors, by Kel Robertson

    — Fog Garden, by Marion Halligan

    — The Lake Woman, by Alan Gould

    — The White Tower, by Dorothy Johnston

    — Vincenzo’s Garden, John Clanchy

There are more details on the books and authors on this month’s Libraries newsletter.

Voting closes on 6 January 2012.

We’d love to know if you’ve read one of the entries what you thought about it.

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Yogie said :

Postalgeek said :

EvanJames said :

The Monster Who Ate Canberra should be the book of Canberra in perpetuity.

+1

But the original not the updated one.

Featuring Jon Stanhope as the monster?

I-filed said :

tedtillio said :

Why isn’t Joe Cinque’s Consolation on the list? That got Canberra down pat.

+1
Ditto JB’s Style Guide suggestion!

And the Canberra Gardener should be included!

Style guide was skidbladnir’s idea, I merely translated from nerd.

tedtillio said :

Why isn’t Joe Cinque’s Consolation on the list? That got Canberra down pat.

+1
Ditto JB’s Style Guide suggestion!

And the Canberra Gardener should be included!

I haven’t read Smoke & Mirrors, but I have read one of Kel’s other books: Dead Set, which has the same lead character, Brad Chen. I enjoyed it and recognised a lot of the Canberra locations he used. Unlike the Gabrielle Lord book which was set in Canberra… could not figure out where the places she was talking about were most of the time.

Kel has actually got three books now. Used to work with him – great bloke. Writes a very good story too – highly recommended for anyone who likes clever Aussie crime fiction

Kel Robertson’s Smoke and Mirrors is a great read! Robertson self-publiched the first print then Pan Macmillan picked it up and reprinted it.

BTW – he’s just launched another book called ‘Rip Off’. I haven’t read it yet but I believe it’s set in Canberra, Sydney and Adelaide and it’s about rip off artists and the “peculiar willingness of their victims to leave vengeance to our profoundly flawed system of criminal justice”.

Marion Halligan’s ‘The Fog Garden’ is the only one of those I’ve read. Thought it was pretty good, but maybe the only bit of fiction set in Canberra that I’ve read. Might have to track down some more.

johnboy said :

Skidbladnir said :

9780701636470

The Style Manual?

lol It is definitely the reference book I use most at work and could be representative of the public service. But I’ve had it on my desk for over a year now and no one in my office has noticed it’s not on the shelf!

Gungahlin Al2:35 pm 22 Nov 11

johnboy said :

Skidbladnir said :

9780701636470

The Style Manual?

Mine ends …487 not 470. 6th edition. I hear you though – clever.

Postalgeek said :

EvanJames said :

The Monster Who Ate Canberra should be the book of Canberra in perpetuity.

+1

+1. Makes even more sense when the author told me that the monster is a metaphor for the public service…

Postalgeek said :

EvanJames said :

The Monster Who Ate Canberra should be the book of Canberra in perpetuity.

+1

But the original not the updated one.

Skidbladnir said :

9780701636470

The Style Manual?

Why isn’t Joe Cinque’s Consolation on the list? That got Canberra down pat.

9780701636470

EvanJames said :

The Monster Who Ate Canberra should be the book of Canberra in perpetuity.

+1

The Monster Who Ate Canberra should be the book of Canberra in perpetuity.

The Lake Woman by Alan Gould is intensely beautiful, as you’d expect from a writer who is also a poet; set in the war (WW2) and afterwards, and dealing with the life of a man in Canberra whose few intense meetings with a woman are the most significant moments of his life. Gould has a talent for depicting loss, I think.

Smoke and Mirrors is a private detective story with a lot of action, and very detailed descriptions of Canberra.

These are the only two I’ve read. Both were originally published by independent small presses, although Smoke and Mirrors was picked up by Pan Macmillan after its success, I believe.

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