Category Archives: Non-Fiction

Review: Lauren Chater – Well Read Cookies

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Well Read Cookies
Lauren Chater

‘Beautiful biscuits inspired by great literature’. Blogger and author Lauren Chater has produced a book full of biscuits based on classic novels that have been her favorites across her life. Her mastery of writing and decorating is a true sight to behold!

The photos in this book are enough to make you drool and then go for a hunt in the freezer for a cookie (jam drop or choc chip? Yes please!). The discussion of the literature is also thoughtful and might introduce you to a couple of little known classics that might take your fancy. I only wish I was part of a book club so that I too could bake some amazing cookies in the theme of the book of the month.

I actually hate icing, because it tends to be overdone and too sweet. Icing also is usually on a biscuit that has no flavour of its own. But these cookies look really attractive with their icing and it almost makes me want to eat one. You never knew that so much detail could be put on a cookie!

Just in time for Christmas, this how-to biscuit book would make the perfect present for either someone who likes decorating, or someone who loves literature. I can see it being an excellent KK gift for someone (ok, probably a lady) who you don’t know very well. Who could turn down cookies, or refuse to admit that they hadn’t at least heard of some of the literature within?

Simon & Schuster | 1st November 2018 | AU$24.99 | hardback

Review: LEGO Star Wars Ideas Book

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LEGO Star Wars Idea Book

Are you fond of Star Wars? Do you love LEGO? If you can answer yes to either of those questions, this book is for you! It is filled with ideas of how to expand your Star Wars universe without buying more boxed sets or collecting yet more ships.

This book is a flip-through book, where you are going to want to just glance at each page until you find something that takes your fancy to build. Come prepared with a box of random LEGO parts to build with, and there will definitely be something there for you. I’m personally fond of the buildings and not so fond of the oversized minifigures.

Did I mention that this has suggestions for a bunch of different games you can play? You can get a random pile of LEGO bricks and try to make a Tauntaun, or create a spinner to help you choose who is going to go first in a game of mechanized robots. The suggestions don’t have to be limited to Star Wars either. For those people who are very knowledgeable about Star Wars, there are some trivia questions as well.

To be honest, I love Star Wars, and I love LEGO, but I’m not keen on Star Wars LEGO, apart from an Ewok village and a Walker that I own… So I’ll be giving this as a Christmas gift to a 7-8 year old boy who isn’t keen on reading, but is keen on building. I can see his face lit up at the sight of some of the monsters and miniature scenes he can build.

This book may reignite your imagination and get you out of your LEGO dark ages!

Penguin Random House | 3rd September 2018 | AU$39.99 | hardback

Review: Christopher Sidwa – Brew a Batch (S)

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Brew of Batch
Christopher Sidwa

This is a complete Beer Book – whether you are a complete beginner who owns no equipment so far, or an advanced brewer who wants a compendium of knowledge.  Bottling and kegging are both covered in detail, so if you are familiar with one but not the other, this book is still going to be useful to you. It is worth keeping and consulting it when you need to fix a problem with your beer or you are ready to try brewing different kinds of beer.

I confess, I’m not a beer drinker, and the closest thing I get to helping with beer is when I turn the hose on to fill the … keg?! (Luckily) my fiancee is a beer maker, so I thought this book would be right up her alley. After her initial reservations of reading a book not about management techniques, she got into this book and willingly read it. She happily chatted to me about it for 10 minutes and explained all the steps to me – she was invigorated by reading this book. Thus this review is written from her perspective.

The author doesn’t want you to rush out and buy new equipment, he gives you the ability to use the things you have already, and gives hints on the practicalities of working with secondhand kegs and so forth. He also wants to make it possible for everyone to brew beer, so he suggests how to make the process more efficient.

The good thing about this book is that it isn’t just a cookbook with the steps and order, it gives little details for when things go awry. That being said, the book walks though through logical steps from types of beer and ingredients through to the actual method part. This way, when you get to brewing you actually know the principles behind the processes.

The author gives a basic, rewarding beer recipe that will still taste ok if you do something wrong. But after that, there are an infinite number of beers that are brewable! The timing at every step can be crucial, and 1 minute at one step and 5 at another can make a significant change to your beer’s flavour. Then the author gets into discussions about fresh yeast vs liquid yeast vs dry yeast. He suggests that you change just one thing at a time, and you will eventually get the perfect beer.

The book gave all the little details on how to fill a keg and put the lid on – don’t worry when the lid doesn’t seal, just wiggle it until it seals! The author’s sense of humour made the non-fiction reading enjoyable, and the deal was sealed with the gorgeous cover. There are lots of pictures inside of beer, and the author looking happy and having fun making beer. Some of the most useful pictures are those that show the different colours of grains and hops – so you know what kinds of ingredients to buy.

The takeaway from this book was: You don’t make beer, you make conditions that the beer is happy to grow in – Just have a good habitat and keep it clean to make delicious beer.

Murdoch | 30th July 2018 | AU$39.99 | hardback

Review: Tim Watson-Munro – A Shrink in the Clink

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A Shrink in the Clink
Tim Watson-Munro

Tim Watson-Munro was one of the first psychologists to enter Australian prisons and offer insights into prisoner minds and motivations. Drawn into the dark criminal world, Tim himself fell into cocaine addition before finding his way back out. This non-fiction work provides another exposé of bad minds.

Well, I started off reading this book with avid fascination, and ended up not finishing it due to a sense of reading about exactly the same wrongdoings over and over again. The chapters are titled by the offenses detailed within them, yet the ‘characters’ have so much in common. I feel as if Tim tries to make them appear different, yet so many offenders have the same personality types (psychopath / narcissus) and the same upbringing (low socioeconomic status / abuse).

The writing style of this book is engaging, and an effort has been made to include different formats of text. For example, the Hoddle Street killer started to write poetry that conveyed his feelings while he was performing mass murder. I wonder what the Copyright is on these sort of things! For some reason, reading about some of these murders makes me wish the death penalty was still in place.

I first reviewed Dancing with Demons a year ago, and I haven’t revisited it. I think I’m going to pass these books onto another reader, and see what they make of them. I just feel like these two books do not really offer anything different – read one, but perhaps not both.

Macmillan | 31st July 2018 | AU$32.99 | paperback

Review: Christopher Clearfield & Andras Tilcsi – Meltdown

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Meltdown
Christopher Clearfield & Andras Tilcsi

Why do failures happen in huge industrial and nuclear plants? How do we avoid aeroplane crashes with thousands of planes landing in LAX each day? These ideas are extensively explored in this non-fiction novel that provides a base for you to apply these principles to your own business.

I freely admit that business management and so forth is not usually in my personal interest area. However this book caught my fancy because I knew the stories would interest me. I’ve always enjoyed the Hudson River plane landing, and I knew this book would explore why that actually happened and how it coud be prevented. Some of the case studies here are actually talking about how large businesses can hide ilegal practices under legal looking paperwork.

My partner (who does have the business management background and a piece of paper to prove it) hasn’t read this book yet but is planning on doing so. I was going to wait to review until she had read it… but it’s been a month. Let’s just say I think it’s appropriate for a range of experience levels. The authors don’t dumb it down, but they do explain the terms that they use so even a novice like me can understand. It’s sensibly laid out with helpful chapter headings that aren’t obtuse.

I’d recommend this novel for anyone who runs a business or has an interest in how big ones work. I enjoyed it and would read it again, which is high praise from me for a non-fiction. It’s traveled with me overseas and it is going to travel back home with me.

Allen & Unwin | 23rd May 2018 | AU$32.99 | paperback

Review: Oliver Sacks – The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat

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The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat
Oliver Sacks

Oliver Sacks was “one of the great clinical writers of the twentieth century” (The New York Times) who in this novel “recounts the case histories of patients lost in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders”.

I found this novel interesting but very outdated. The contents is almost 30 years old! I skipped over most of the scientific parts, discounting them as outdated, but some of the observations by Oliver Sacks

In my typical fashion, I mainly enjoyed the stories of the abnormal brains and chemicals that created interesting humans. I never knew so many interesting things could be created by brain abnormalities.

This for me highlighted the importance of music and math intertwined. The man who could no longer identify basic things, not even his wife (who he thought was his hat!), could make it through life by singing songs to remind him what to do. The men who couldn’t remember anything within the space of 2 minutes found solace in music and prayer.

I picked this as I was at a relative’s house and I wanted something different to read. Was it the right choice? I still benefited from reading it, even if it was just to perk my interest in neurological disorders once more.

Review: Petrea King – Up Until Now

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Up Until Now
Petrea King

Petrea grew up in a household with a father suffering from PTSD and a demanding, yet fragile older brother who eventually killed himself alone overseas. Petrea herself is diagnosed with cancer and given a limited time left with her two children and her estranged partner. Unsatisfied and unhappy with her life, Petrea finds herself able to help others so that she can help herself.

Lyrically written and with beautiful prose, you will find yourself travelling deeply into Petrea’s consciousness throughout her life. This memoir is one of the more enjoyable ones I have read, although at times I found myself having to hold onto my disbelief at how things worked out so conveniently. I AM a scientist by trade after all.

Sometimes I felt like Petrea’s introspection was too much for me, and was too self-absorbed compared to what a normal person could achieve (although of course I would not wish her life circumstances on anyone). I think this is because I feel like only people who can go and meditate in a cave for months in peace could reach that level of enlightenment and contentedness. *If only* I think to myself, if I too could meditate for hours I would also reach that same level of being ok with the world. This is my envy speaking.

It’s important to remember that this is one woman’s story, and that she has written it to inform people about her life, and her opinions, not a life-path that everyone can follow. For people who feel inspired by her story of healing herself both physiologically and psychologically, Petrea has written a range of other novels. I would expect that those are equally well-written and enjoyable, and I will read any that wander my way.

This is a superior novel to Standing on my Brother’s Shoulders in terms of a sister dealing with her brother’s suicide. The writing style of this novel is lovely and consistent, despite Petrea’s insistence that she is not naturally good at writing (given that she didn’t have much formal schooling). You will likely enjoy this novel if you like thoughtful novels that prompt contemplation and want to balance a discussion of how Western and other Traditional practices can work together. I am overseas, and so this novel will likely not come home with me due to baggage limits, but if I was at home it would remain on my shelf.

Allen & Unwin | 23rd August 2018 | AU$32.99 | paperback

Review: Frank Ostaseski – The Five Invitations

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The Five Invitations
Frank Ostaseski

“Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully” – a non-fiction offering from a renowned teacher of compassionate care-giving and the cofounder of the Zen Hospice Project. This novel gives the Five Invitations to guide you in the right direction in your life so that you can die with your life better fulfilled.

Although I might flippantly reply to a question of “What is the meaning of life?” with “There isn’t one.” this novel provides a better answer, or at least contemplation of the answer. People often have regrets about what they could have / should have done differently. There are the typical lists of ‘The Top 5 Things People Regret’, but this novel actually offers readers a gentle guide to how to go about improving things now.

I read this novel such a very long time ago that I barely remember it. I dipped into it to review it now which was very relevant as my fiance’s (I got engaged!!!) grandfather died. This is a novel I would dip into more than once, as an inspiration for when things aren’t going so well in life (like right now!!!). Reevaluating your life is something powerful and painful and sometimes necessary.

A very respectable piece of non-fiction that offers lots of insights and comfort into Death, and how thinking about the inevitability of Death can help us live the life we actually want.

Pan Macmillan | 28th March 2017 | AU$29.99 | paperback

Review: Anita Selzer – I Am Sasha

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I Am Sasha
Anita Selzer

This is a fiction novel based on the true story of the author’s grandfather. He was safe during the Nazi occupation of Poland because his mother hid him in plain sight by turning him into a girl.

I was really looking forward to this novel, but then I couldn’t get into it. I expected that most of the novel would be during the time that Sala was pretending to be a girl, but instead it was split into about half-half. I honestly never felt like he was in danger. He was never with a group of people who were ordered to drop their pants and half the time they were in hiding where he wasn’t even in contact with people. As far as I could tell, the worst risk was the people who had known his mother and that his mother was Jewish.

I wanted more of a narrative and less reliance on Sala’s internal (boring) monologue. I much would have preferred it if I could see the outside world more. Although the concept certainly holds up, and this novel was based on the author’s family history, I felt like I wasn’t firmly enough into Nazi Poland to understand what was going on. I felt myself having to draw on my reading from Nazi Germany and I feel that that was a let down from this novel. It could have been used to really educate people about the differences between Poland and Germany during the war. Also, the fact that I understood the concept of the ‘gentiles’ was taken for granted by the author (I didn’t really know). Were they just wealthy people who weren’t Jewish? Were they people who had planted the right bribes?

Anyway, I didn’t end up finishing this novel. At this point in time I have so many novels demanding my attention that unless I am caught up in it, it is unlikely that I will come back. I don’t think it’s necessarily the novel’s personal fault, I think that it and I just didn’t get along. Others may enjoy it, so I’ll give it a generous 3 stars.

Penguin Random House | 2nd April 2018 | AU $17.99 | paperback

Review: Roxane Gay – Hunger (A Memoir of (My) Body)

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Hunger (A Memoir of (My) Body)
Roxane Gay

After a horrific gang rape, the only way Roxanne knows how to cope is to make herself fat and undesirable to men. This novel is a story of how she tried to come to terms with the rape by herself, and also how she mostly recovered from her eating disorder(s) that occurred as a result of her traumatic experience.

Please keep in mind that I am not discounting or demeaning the author’s experiences at all. This is a review of the writing style, and I just couldn’t get into it. For example it is kind of present tense, and also past tense.

I know I am going to be ripped into for saying this, but this wasn’t a good memoir and I didn’t enjoy it at all. In fact, I didn’t finish it. I at least finished Patient 71, the last novel that generated contentious comments now. It’s non-fiction, but I’d give it 1 star.