Australia Books

TAHIR SHAH is without doubt the most original travel writer of his generation... never before have I been so touched by, and become so involved in, a book. I am struck dumb by Shah's genius.

Read this book.

A fast gallop through the Indian sub-continent, Africa and South America, with a cast of eccentric characters perhaps unprecidented in modern travel writing. It put me in mind of Peter Flemming for the sheer pace and sense of adventure. Yet it was a hundred times funnier. Gives Redmond O'Hanlon a run for his money as the Number 1 funny travel writer at work today. Also, I notice it is easy to find in the UK, available in an Orion paperback, not out of print at all!

Tahir Shah devises a get rich quick scheme which brings him to India to seek his fortune. He also has other interests namely the mysterious Gond people who may have walked the earth when the earth was one joined land mass. However this book is so much more than that. India \ Africa \ South America are all experienced and observed from a most interesting angle. The author roughs it al the way. There are many side-splitting moments in this book. There is youth and vivacity in the words that flow. Tahir Shah is clearly in love with life. Incidentally while this book is truly excellent, his latest effort "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" is I believe a masterpiece. You will not be disappointed in either book.

Beyond the Devil's Teeth, by Tahir Shah,is the funniest book of the year. Traces a haphazard route through India, Africa and South America, in search of GONDWANALAND. From sentece one of page one you can't put the thing down! Read it and split your sides with laughing

Kerry Greenwood's BLOOD AND CIRCUSES presents a Phryne Fisher mystery in telling of a bored woman who turns into an undercover detective who must abandon her entire life to investigate strange happenings at a local circus where animals have been poisoned and acts threatened.

First Sentence: Mrs. Witherspoon, widow of uncertain years and theatrical background, was taking tea in her refined house for paying gentlefolk in Brusnwick Street, Fitzroy.

Wealthy private investigator Phryne is bored until she is approached by Samson the strong man, Alan the carousel operator and Doreen the Snake Woman to investigate what started as a series of accidents at the circus. With one of the circus members now dead, Phryne gives up her life of luxury and her friends to go undercover as a trick rider with the circus.

There is a lot more going on between the covers of this book than first appears. Greenwood knows how to take diverse, interesting characters and build a great story around them with the mystery almost being secondary. Here we have the murder of an hermaphrodite who was the love of both a man and a woman. We are introduced to the hierarchy of the circus and Phryne's feelings of vulnerability and loneliness. There is a ex-con who doesn't know whether she has committed murder but who finds a bit of her soul in helping an alcoholic go through withdrawal. There is sex, there is profanity; this is not your average cozy. What it is is a great character-driven story with a unique character.

In Australia a concerned carnival worker Alan Lee asks his former lover Phryne Fisher to determine who is sabotaging Farrell's Circus and Wild Beast Show; Phryne agrees to investigate. The latest incident involved poisoning a horse, which led to the injury of a trick rider. This enables the socialite detective to go undercover as a trick rider since she is excellent with horses though she will need training to perform the act.

At the same time that Phryne joins the big top, a former employee of Farrell's Circus, hermaphrodite Mr. Christopher is found dead in a Melbourne rooming house. The police arrest another former performer Miss Parkes, who was just released from prison. However, Melbourne Constable Tommy Harris and Detective Inspector Robinson believe she did not commit this homicide. As they make further inquiries, Robinson nebulously connects a gangland murder to the circus incidents and the Christopher killing. Now he thinks his friend Phryne is in jeopardy even as she and one of the clowns share a tryst while she risks her life seeking out the culprit.

As in her previous adventures, Phryne continues to defy the dictates of late 1920s Australian society that demand a single women behave in a certain way; this time she has an affair with a clown. Her investigation is made fresh by the circus and its performers and other employees as they bring uniqueness to the tale. The support cast is very well developed, especially at the circus, the socialite's investigation and the police procedural. Series fans will appreciate this delightful historical whodunit.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Kylee J. Yeaman for Reader Views (2/07)

"Blood and Circuses" is set in 1920's Australia. Phryne (pronounced Fry-knee) is asked by some `carnie' friends of hers to help solve some suspicious happenings at Farrell's Circus and Wild Beast Show (the circus that their carnival trails). The final incident that pushes these friends to ask Phryne for her help is when one of the carnival `freaks' is murdered in his boardinghouse.

Phryne is a terrific character. She's witty, down to earth; unlike some of the other characters in the book. Lizard Elsie is a crack up! There are 20's era gangsters, a strongman, trick riders, a magician, acrobats, clowns, so many fabulous people to meet in the circus and the carnival.

Kerry Greenwood's writing is wonderful. I was transported to 1920's Australia through her words. It really remind me of the feeling I get while reading an Agatha Christie mystery, but being that the crime solver is a woman, it brought Miss Jane Marple to mind more so than Hercule Poirot. "Phryne looked around her dining room, which hung with pale damask. ... On the wall, opposite the big windows which opened onto her pocket-handkerchief sized front garden, hung seven oil sketched of dancing acrobats. ... Usually they refreshed her spirit. Today they looked as animated as dolls."

One of my very favorite scenes is about three-fourths of the way the way through "Blood and Circuses." It is a scene between Lizard Elsie and Miss Parkes (formerly of the circus) in their shared jail cell. Miss Parkes had been in a deep depression; not knowing whether or not you killed someone will do that to you. When Elsie gets sick and Miss Parkes takes care of her for several hours, Miss Parkes seems to realize that there are people who need/care for her and she comes around. We all need to be needed.

This book is for anyone who enjoys a nice mystery. It's just the right length (208 pages) for a weekend spent indoors or at the beach. There are one or two semi-racy scenes and some mild violence so I wouldn't recommend this for anyone under 13. I'm already planning on loaning this book to my mother for her to enjoy.

I hope that you pick up "Blood and Circuses" by Kerry Greenwood and enjoy it as much as I did.

This is simply the most beautiful collection of male nude art photography I have seen! the lighting, the compositions, the special beauty of the men which the photographer draws out, the fine balance between eroticism sensuality..and i haven't seen Paul Freeman's other books yet! Move over Bruce Weber"

The photo on the cover should tell a potential reader/buyer what he can expect between the covers, so to speak. What you will discover is a plethora of handsome men who will send your mind into a fantasy world that must, by its very nature, remain yours. The book is great.

In the January 2004 issue of "Blue", the Australian magazine where Paul Freeman is decribed as the magazine's "most featured" photographer, the artist says that he has always wanted to keep some link with classical art. "Sort of like a meat pie inside the Sistine Chapel." Most of these models Michelangelo would have loved, and they to a man are meat pies. There is not a wimp or effeminate-- and it's okay if one is-- man in this collection of over 200 photographs. These men are rugged, hairy, beefy, muscular, tattooed, pierced, sweaty, wet and muddy. Some of them are a bit stylized and wearing gladiator garb. Many of them are at the beach-- Bondi perhaps--there are some beautiful portraits here. And no model has his genitalia airbrushed.

In his brief introduction Mr. Freeman says that as a youngster he was taken by the image of the suffering Saint Sebastian (check out the portrait on page 174 of Garth Elliot 2) and that present day influences are Bruce Weber and Herb Ritts (speaking of airbrushing photographs). I think many of his models look more like some of the work of Jim French as well as Caravaggio-- whom he acknowledges as an inspiration-- and Michelangelo.

Many of these men are photographed as many as 6, 7 or 8 times so you will probably get to see a lot of your favorites. Where to begin-- the man on page 11 (beautiful shadows), the outrageous Grant Perry (page 24 and 7 more photos), the hairy barrel chested Igor Praporshchikov on page 55, Black Angel No. 4 on page 73, Mat Obelisk on pages 76 and 77-- perfect exposure and lighting--the Gladiator on page 103 that, thank goodness, shows up again and again-- Gladiator 4 on page 126-- this is an unusal and most flattering pose-- the portrait of Ryan Kwanten on page 154, Kane 1 and 1 (pages 158 and 159-- the list goes on and on. The only photographs I don't care for are the ones with a snake wrapped around the model. Perhaps it's the Garden of Eden story that turns most of us off to these kinds of photographs. Richard Avedon did the snake photographs better years ago anyway.

If the test for a book of photographs is whether or not you return to it again and again, then BONDI CLASSIC gets an A+. In its own way this book is just as hot as Tom Bianchi's ON THE COUCH series. If you can only buy one book of this kind this year, this one's the one. Oh, go ahead; treat yourself and buy Bianchi's also.

For those looking for the best of the books of male photography, this portfolio by Paul Freeman deserves a place high on the list. Different photographers approach the male nude with different agendas: some try for classic poses, some go for spontaneous moods, some keep the 'privates' in the shadows while others place the focus there, some costume, some try for natural effects. Freeman searches (and definitely finds!) subjects who are quintessentially masculine Men. And this collection should equally engage the interest of women as of the ready-made male population.

Freeman uses his fellow countrymen (Australia) to show us the virile attitude of the untamed. These 'models' are buff, have body decor from piercing or ink, know how to make the partially clothed form even more sensuous that the fully nude form (although there is a lot of that, too), and in general creates photographs that are well conceived and executed and presented in a superb format. There are portraits solo and in tandem. This is a collection that will find a wide audience. Recommended for the novice and the connoisseur collector alike! Grady Harp, December 05

A 132-year dominance in anything isn't likely to go quietly and the 1982 America's cup was no different. The American tradition of cut-throat-competitive yacht racing regularly produced America's cup defenders of the highest caliber and it was a major step to even grasp the magnitude of what really needed to be done in order to have a fighting chance at winning the race, let alone to actually carry it out. However, one man accomplished exactly that, he did it in style, and we are most fortunate to have this tome "printed in lightning bolts" as the foreword author, Richard Bach, puts it.

At the heart of it, the book is about much more than winning a boat race (although, to be fair, a very large portion of the book covers exactly that). It is the story of a man and his single-minded pursuit of his dream. The story grips the reader and draws you into the life of Bertrand. It puts you right there, standing right beside him at the helm through every mishap and expertly executed maneuver. It also takes tells the story away from the water, the stories of the exceptional men with whom he sailed, as well as his family. You will discover, along with Bertrand, what it takes to do what nobody has ever done before and, when all is said and done, you will feel privileged to have sailed with him.

I also wish to correct a gross injustice in the review written by Art Tirrel. It is clear that, at the time that he wrote his review, he had not read the book in its entirety. Had he done so, he would have known that Bertrand's boat, Australia II, was not in fact faster than Liberty, Dennis Conner's. He would have also noticed that the "charismatic Aussies" were not poorly organized and had to deliver the performance of their lives in order to win. To have suggested facts "from the reading" which are clearly contrary to what is written is bordering on insulting, and I can only guess at his motives for writing an inaccurate review.

A true underdog story, a magnificent recollection of one of the great sporting achievements of the 20th century, an endearing personal account of a man's journey - however you want to look at it, a riveting read. One of those rare books which will both entertain and educate the reader.

Fantastic book. It is an instructive lesson in how to prepare for what you overwhelmingly want to achieve. Being set in the context of one of the most famous sporting events in history, the attempt to wrest the America's Cup from the US after 132 years, makes it that much more exciting. Sailors will love it, but anyone interested in the psychology of winning will gain from this book.

This book is fabulous! For sailors, the story alone is worth the read, but it is much more than just a story about sailing. Bertrand's description of the final race against "the red boat" (Dennis Connor) is so powerful that I felt what he and his crew felt, even before I had read what they felt! Any reader interested in the nature of sport and competition will find this book valuable.

There's a saying in sailboat racing: nothing makes you look smarter than a fast boat. Yet John Bertrand and the crew of Australia II, despite having the demonstrably superior yacht, nearly failed to win the 1983 regatta that ended the longest winning streak in the history of sport.
Bertrand begins at the low point. Down three races to one in the best of seven series, Australia II is on her way out for the fifth race. One more loss and it's over.
What follows makes blow by blow, hold-your-breath reading. Bertrand opens with a major blunder. Australia II is over early - on the course before the starting signal - and has to go back and start correctly, thus handing the Americans and Dennis Conner a one minute advantage.
In match racing, such an error is almost always fatal. Once again, however, when you have the fast boat, mistakes tend not to be as costly. Eventually, Australia II makes up the lost time and sails to a wide margin of victory to remain alive in the series.
So, if they had the faster boat, how did Bertrand and crew manage to lose those three races? From the reading, I see two answers; in the "slow" boat, the American team sailed a series of unsurpassed magnificence, and the Australian team committed mistake after mistake. Race one - steering failure; race two - mainsail headboard broke; race five the major blunder described above. Fact is, from Bertrand's telling the charismatic Aussies were poorly organized in general. To complicate matters, syndicate owner Alan Bond's hatchet man Warren Jones seemed to enjoy putting the screws to Bertrand at every opportunity. Given these pressures, it's a miracle Bertrand could function on the water at all.
Born to Win stands out for its wonderful race descriptions and inside knowledge but sags when the author delves into the underlying personal issues - where maybe he sounds a little too self-serving. But what would you expect, it is his side of things he's telling.
Art Tirrell - author of The Secret Ever Keeps, Spring 2007 ISBN 978-1-60164-004-8.

Jimmie Blacksmith is a halfbreed, if you will. One white and one aboriginal parent. This gives him access to more opportunity at the time, than the fullbloods.

His exposure to this society and their treatment and attitude towards him and his people leads him to snap. Very violently.

One would hope a book written about race relations thirty years ago would be irrelevant and possibly dated today. Unfortunately, Keneally's stunning indictment of turn-of-the-century racism, in this case that of Anglo settlers towards Australia's native aborigines, remains vibrant and powerful, even after these many years. Literally timeless in its message and articulate and graceful in its execution, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith could have been written about many minorities subjugated during many periods in many different countries.

The basic story is not unique. Half aborigine and half Anglo, Jimmie Blacksmith grows up in aborigine culture. Because he is light-skinned, however, he is able to obtain jobs on white landholdings more readily than other aborigines, and there he is exposed to Anglo culture--with all its stated, good intentions, but its sometimes patronizing attitudes and selfish goals. After being worked hard and cheated from his earnings repeatedly, Jimmie snaps, visiting on his former employers the kind of fatal "justice" which has so often been dealt to the aborigines. As vigilantes and police join forces to apprehend Jimmie, we see all the conflicting attitudes toward life and justice which undermine the creation of a unified, fair society.

The throbbing drumbeat of Jimmie's chants and Keneally's insistent narrative pace combine with our revulsion toward Jimmie's actions, to catch us up in the emotions of both the pursuers and the pursued. Our understanding of Jimmie and our empathy with him make us long for his redemption at the same time that we are anxious for justice to take place. Keneally's resolution is brilliant, fittingly combining the best elements of both of Jimmie's worlds. This is a wonderful novel which deals with a complex and sensitive subject without polemics or convenient, easy solutions, and it's as relevant today as it was when it was written. Mary Whipple

One would hope a book written about race relations thirty years ago would be irrelevant and possibly dated today. Unfortunately, Keneally's stunning indictment of turn-of-the-century racism, in this case that of Anglo settlers towards Australia's native aborigines, remains vibrant and powerful, even after these many years. Literally timeless in its message and articulate and graceful in its execution, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith could have been written about many minorities subjugated during many periods in many different countries.

The basic story is not unique. Half aborigine and half Anglo, Jimmie Blacksmith grows up in aborigine culture. Because he is light-skinned, however, he is able to obtain jobs on white landholdings more readily than other aborigines, and there he is exposed to Anglo culture--with all its stated, good intentions, but its sometimes patronizing attitudes and selfish goals. After being worked hard and cheated from his earnings repeatedly, Jimmie snaps, visiting on his former employers the kind of fatal "justice" which has so often been dealt to the aborigines. As vigilantes and police join forces to apprehend Jimmie, we see all the conflicting attitudes toward life and justice which undermine the creation of a unified, fair society.

The throbbing drumbeat of Jimmie's chants and Keneally's insistent narrative pace combine with our revulsion toward Jimmie's actions, to catch us up in the emotions of both the pursuers and the pursued. Our understanding of Jimmie and our empathy with him make us long for his redemption at the same time that we are anxious for justice to take place. Keneally's resolution is brilliant, fittingly combining the best elements of both of Jimmie's worlds. This is a wonderful novel which deals with a complex and sensitive subject without polemics or convenient, easy solutions, and it's as relevant today as it was when it was written. Mary Whipple

One would hope a book written more than thirty years ago about race relations at the end of the nineteenth century would be irrelevant and possibly dated today. Though a novel like The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith could have been written about many minorities subjugated during many periods in many different countries, Keneally concentrates here on Anglo settlers and their attitudes towards Australia's native aborigines. Timeless, articulate in its presentation, and graceful in its execution, the novel remains vibrant and powerful in its universal message, even after these many years.

The basic story is not unique. Half aborigine and half Anglo, Jimmie Blacksmith grows up in aborigine culture. Because he is light-skinned, however, he is able to obtain jobs on white landholdings more readily than other aborigines, and there he is exposed to Anglo culture--with all its stated, good intentions, but its sometimes patronizing attitudes and selfish goals.

After being worked hard and cheated from his earnings repeatedly, Jimmie snaps, visiting on his former employers the kind of permanent punishment which he has seen so often being dealt to the aborigines. As vigilantes and police join forces to apprehend Jimmie, we see all the conflicting attitudes toward life and justice which undermine the creation of a unified, fair society.

The throbbing drumbeat of Jimmie's chants and Keneally's insistent narrative pace combine with our revulsion toward Jimmie's actions, to catch us up in the emotions of both the pursuers and the pursued. Our understanding of Jimmie and our empathy with him make us long for his redemption at the same time that we are anxious for justice to take place.

Keneally's resolution is brilliant, fittingly combining the best elements of both of Jimmie's worlds. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1972, the novel deals with a complex and sensitive subject without polemics or convenient, easy solutions, and it is as relevant today as it was when it was written. Mary Whipple

This book tackles the tricky area of inter-racial violence bravely and with great skill. It paints a shocking picture of the Australia of 100 years ago, and particularly the plight of the aboriginal community. Keneally's economical style is perfectly suited to this dense narative; he makes every word count. One of the best books I've read this year.

To Mr Karl Berger, reviewer below.
I found it very interesting that you have written another book on Clipperton. Can you provide me with any more details of your book eg is it non-fiction, will it cover similar ground to this book or does it have a different slant?

Thank you,

When I saw the book Clipperton in the display window of a New York book store I had already been planning to write a novel about this strange island. With the additional information the book provided my plans became more concrete then. After a decade and many many rejection letters I finally found a publisher in Harbor House, Augusta, Georgia. The novel will be published in the fall of 2006. Thanks to Jimmy Skaggs; his book is interesting and well documented. A find for island lovers.

Karl Berger M. D.

When I first saw Clipperton on a map of the world and I googled it for more information, I was floored to find snippets of abandonment, starvation, rape and murder, and FDR's personal interest in this tiny atoll in the eastern Pacific, and eventually led to me reading this exhaustively researched book.

From many obscure sources, the author did a great job tracking the chronology of discovery, early encounters, attempted development, military history and FDR's interest in the island, and overview of fauna and flora. To me, the most striking chapter was when a group of Mexicans were abandoned on the island; the men perished trying to row for help, and the women remaining on the island were left to starve and deal with the one remaining man on the island who proclaimed himself "king" and raped several of the women.

Unbelievable history for such a small, isolated rock in the middle of nowhere.

Clipperton Island is little more than one big rock, some hundreds of miles west of the Pacific coast of Mexico. During the early twentieth century there was a delightfully obscure arbitration by the King of Italy over who owned the rock: France or Mexico. France won, but not before the King had procrastinated for over twenty years. The island is named for a pirate; it has long been a stopping point for British and American interests, and various attempts have been made to extract value from it, either as a naval base or a mining stop. Jimmy Skaggs brings Clipperton's eccentric history to life - and also persuasively argues that Clipperton had been visited during Magellan's circumnavigation. What an interesting story about an obscure Pacific rock.

This book introduces the new-ish discipline of Ontological Coaching, which might be described as the fascinating and grey area where Coaching begins to interact with Therapy. In other words, it is about coaching the 'Way of Being' as a route to the traditional coaching goals of improved performance and behaviour.

Sieler characterises the Way of Being as the interaction between Language, Emotions and Body, with the 'Soul' residing at the deep interface where all three meet together.

This book is the first of a trilogy (others yet to be published?), and it focuses in particular on Language. The importance of language to our way of being, the basic linguistic tools, and the hidden power of conversations are covered in some depth.

Clearly written, with much use of 'ontological coaching in action' narrative examples/case studies, the book is easy to read even if the concepts are harder to grasp! I would recommend it to anyone who is involved in coaching at any level and who wants to think about 'going deeper' in order to affect meaningful change.

As I reflect on my life (I am 50), I see that I have been blessed with some of the most talented teachers of the century. Almost every day I find myself thinking about what I learned twenty years ago from Dr. Fernando Flores. This book is based on the thinking that was introduced by Dr. Flores and is a new way of understanding the nature of being human. This learning has helped me to more effectively communicate, generate action in others, suffer less and open new possibilities. I never had an interest in philosophy and had no idea what ontology meant when I took my first course. I certainly did not have a clue as to the extent it would help me in my life. Alan's book is an excellent introduction and explanation of what we learned from Dr. Flores. While I am not a professional coach, I use what I have learned in my conversations with employees, co-workers, friends, and family on a daily basis.

To give you an idea of what the book and ontology is about, I quote Alan:

"As a discipline it is rigorously grounded in recent developments in existential philosophy, the philosophy of language, and biology of cognition.

While in Chile, Flores had many conversations with the biologist Humberto Maturana, whose novel, yet biologically grounded ideas on perception, cognition, language and communication greatly influenced him. These conversations were a key inspiration for his research, in which he particularly focused on the existential philosophy of Martin Heidegger and John Searle's Theory of Speech Acts. Flores was able to integrate the ideas of language and communication, and the formation of a new discipline.

It was Flores who invented the term Ontological Coaching. He wanted to produce more than a theoretical discipline. He was keen to ensure that the knowledge of a new discipline would be relevant and applicable to everyday living. In short, Flores developed a powerful and practical new approach to living, learning and working.

Creating his own company, Flores pursued the commercial applications of this new understanding of language and communication in organizational settings. As his company expanded he took on course developers, writers and facilitators, including two other Chileans, Julio Olalla and Rafael Echeverrria. While Flores' ideas were central to their program, they also added their own interpretations and extended the discipline, predominantly in the ontological domains of emotions and body."

Over the years, I have found many other excellent teachers that have used and benefited from the work of Dr. Flores. In addition to Julio, some of those teachers include Werner Erhard, Dr. Fred Kofman, James Flagherty, Dr. Matthew Budd, Tom Hanson & Birgit Zacher Hanson, Chalmers Brothers, and more. If you have read any of their books or taken one of their courses, you can see the imprint that Dr. Flores has had on their work.

Alan Seiler introduces us to this work in an easy to understand way that provides a foundation for learning from this master teacher. I applaud Alan on his outstanding job of putting into words these great teachings.

This book is my coaching bible. It is by far the best coaching book I've ever read. Interesting enough, it is about `being' not about `doing'. So many coaches these days believe coaching is about doing something to their clients; getting them to be more productive, motivated, etc. The focus on behavior or `first order change' as Seiler calls it, is the temporary fix of continuous process improvement. This approach to coaching is from an old paradigm, alive and well in many companies today. What often happens is that organizations and/or clients revert back to old familiar ways of being once the newness has worn off. Laying the groundwork for lasting change has to go deeper than behavior and into the way of being. A shift in the way of being creates a new foundation; there is no going back, except by conscious choice.

Coaching on way of being is not therapy. For those not skilled in psychology or therapy, it can appear that ontological coaching is therapy. Therapy however is focused on healing old wounds. Ontological coaching is focused in the present and how a shift in language (beliefs), emotions or somatic responses can create a new way of being and potentially a brighter and more fulfilling future.

This book is for coaches who want to be better coaches. It doesn't give you a fish, it teaches you how to fish. It is theoretical in its approach yet provides good practical examples.

This is an excellent book for learning how to take your listening and your coaching to deep and profound levels. I find that the insights I've gained through reading this book have greatly enhanced my own level of presence with clients, enabling me to assist clients to make lasting and transformational changes that I feel honored to witness.

This book shines with an exquisite simplicity and straightforwardness. The authors' knowledge in using colors will enhance and bring passion to any relationship. Gloria Van Dam, R.N., BSCN.

This book shines with an exquisite simplicity and straightforwardness. The authors' knowledge in using colors will enhance and bring passion to any relationship. Gloria Van Dam, R.N., BSCN.

This book made me take a critical look at my underwear! I became aware that the colour of your undies has an effect on the mood you exude! Gone were the white comfy cotton knickers and sensible sports bra if I wanted to send out a beckoning message to the opposite sex! Not only that, what you wear is what you feel. If you want to feel sexy, this book is a must read before you do anything else!

This book really opened my eyes and my awareness for betterromantic strategies. I loved the "MASTER STROKES" chapterwhich gives the reader great new ideas for color, sex and clothing toset the scene for a successful romance.

This edition of "Company K," by William March (a native of Mobile, graduate of The University of Alabama's law school, and WW I veteran), is one in a series called The Library of Alabama Classics, and it warrants its status as a classic. It's a beautiful little book, nicely typeset in a somewhat nostalgic manner, and deserves to be better known than it is--as does its author. Kudos to Alabama's UP for making this book available in paperback for a wide audience.

The book, first published in 1933, is a collection of short first-person narratives by the members of a company caught in the frontline in the first World War. Remarkable is March's ability to place himself (and the reader) in the positions of a great many very different characters--the company is a cross section of American society. This, his first novel, shows that March is an intelligent and sensitive storyteller.

More remarkable, perhaps, is how easily this book might be hypertexted--since all the narratives intersect, and various characters appear in various guises in other's narratives, it would lend itself easily to an HTML version in which a reader could click their way through the book without having to follow the book's order. Surely March must have seen this as a possible way of reading, since the chapter headings are the characters' names, allowing a reader of the book to easily flip from one character to another. The book, which seems to be suitable more for a spatial than a chronological way of reading, disrupts the boundaries of its printed format. I don't mean to call March a post-structuralist avant la lettre, but it is a feature that enhances, in my opinion, one of the themes of the book: the horror of war recognizes no hierarchy; war disrupts the human order.

As for horror, there is plenty of that. The point of view March has chosen is excellent in that it allows for multiple readings of the same event (for instance, the unnecessary and criminal shelling of a recon party); some of the voices come from beyond the grave and are particularly chilling.

One final note on the edition: it is introduced (not designed, as the Amazon heading states erroneously) by Phil Beidler, a professor of American lit at U of A. Beidler has shown a great interest in and loyalty to the literature of Alabama (see, for instance, his anthologies "The Art of Fiction in the Heart of Dixie" and "Many Voices, Many Rooms"), and his introduction to this book is insightful and touching. Beidler obviously knows his stuff; he knows both war and Alabama.

I believe that this book, as has been noted by others, is of the rank of Remarque's "All Quiet," and it is a wonderful and chilling read. Like most good war novels, it says "don't let this happen again," while realizing that it probably will, knowing human nature.

Slaughterhouse-five, and Catch-22 both borrowed from a powerful predecessor. Company-k is a simple read, short chapters each one a character of many narratives. Each one an insightful and heart-rending tale. It would be easy to ignore Company-K and most don't know it - except that it's written by a man who was there. Hemingway glorified war made it seem almost fun - March tells it as it was. Only Johnny Got His Gun, and All Quite On the Western Front come close to this passionate and shocking book.

Do not take it from me, Graham Greene, one of the most respected names in Twentieth Century Fiction hails March's "Company K" as the greatest of all anti-war novels, while Hemingway thought it superior to almost all other WWI novels. This novel is not an almost-classic, it is a classic, borrowing the format made popular by Edgar Lee Masters, March expounds on the concept of individual soldier stories encompassing the full breath of the war. This novel is as appropriate now as it ever was in the post-WWI era. This novel is a must read for anyone remotely concerned with WWI and the impact war has on the survivors.

March makes a compelling case in this text that he should be well entrenched in the second tier of American authors, if not the first. His WWI recollections do a fine job of bringing out the terrors and guilts of a war long forgotton and little remembered, except for the short period of the Twenties. If there is any shortcoming in this fine work, it is that it draws far too much from Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthologies. My guess is that March, who was trained as a lawyer like Masters (a former partner of the unethical (...) Clarence Darrow) grasped onto Masters' then-current work . It's not a heroic idea, but one that's occurred to me. In any event, Company K is a work that ought to be read far more than it is a century later. WWI [is] seldom remembered as the great trauma that it was in the US. Here's a book that tells how bad it was, and more importantly, why.

A children's story, of course, this is the adventures or a mischievous koala. Definitely fun.

Bill gets up to the usual sort of things that kids get up to around the parents, but he takes it a bit further, in a Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn kind of level of mucking around.

10 years or so ago, I bought a copy of the Blinky Bill kids stories during a trip to Australia. I basically walked into a bookshop with a reasonably good children's section and asked them to steer me in the direction of the most popular kids book for 3 to 5 year olds. Blinky Bill was the answer. I bought it as a present for a nephew. He loved it, so did his sisters and so do my kids when they get a chance to have my brother read them a story.

The tale of a baby Koala (Blinky Bill) separated from his mother due to his curiosity and naughtiness. We join Blinky as he encounters various Australian bush creatures (Angelina Wallaby, Mrs Snake and others) and his inevitable run-in with humans.

The illustrations are delightful, the characterisations are superb and the story is really good fun for 2 - 6 year olds. Older readers will enjoy reading this story to someone younger!

The issues of habitat destruction, hunting and extinction are dealt with seriously but in a way that children can relate to. It should be noted that this story was first published in 1939 - long before there was public awareness of these problems.

This is always in print in Australia and just about every child has a copy bought for them. Clearly the relevance for American children would not be as great, however it is well worth reading to them anyway if you're after something different.

Blinky Bill was first introduced to Australian children in the 1930s. Dorothy Wall wrote a series of books about Blinky and his friends and his irresistible appeal as a likeable, witty and rebellious child hero quickly endeared him to children and adults alike.

He has certainly been a perennial favourite for at least three generations in my own family.

Blinky Bill is a true Australian larrikin: fiercely independent, eternally mischievous and extraordinarily brave. His capacity to get into (and out of scrapes) is unparalled. Blinky Bill's friends include an assortment of Australian animals: who generally interact as children would like to but usually within some recognisable boundaries of their own species.

The Adventures of Blinky Bill have never been out of print, and were adapted for television in the 1980s.

I recommend this book to all readers. Those with small children can read the stories with them, older children will enjoy exploring the adventures of Blinky Bill for themselves and adults can discover (or rediscover) a wonderful childhood experience.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Blinky is just like most children, sometimes naughty, sometimes sweet, and always up to something. I picked up a copy in Australia a long time ago, and thoroughly enjoyed it as an adult. I have read it time and again to my daughter (age 5), and she never tires of hearing of the adventures of Blinky, Snubby, Nutsy and all the others. I think this is a book that, even though about Australian creatures and the bush, transcends that to appeal to all children about the kinds of escapades children experience. I highly recommend it.