Australia Books

I would highly recommend this book to anybody who likes original and imaginative food. The recipes come from Australia's leading chefs many of whom are world famous. Cheong Liew (his recipes in the book include Four Dances of the Sea; and Veal Cutlets with Shrimps and Green Tea)is perhaps best known for inventing much of Australia's fusion cuisine. His restaurant, The Grange at the Adelaide Hilton certainly bears his name as much as the restaurant name itself. Just reading the recipes in itself is a temptation to visit Adelaide and make a booking at The Grange.

Easy to follow instructions and wonderful color photographs of the dishes certainly make this one of the better cookbooks. For the adventurous cook, try substituting ingredients, if it is not available in your hometown.

If you are intrigued by the name of the dish, Four Dances of the Sea, I'd recommend taking a look at the book.

What an excellent find. I highly recommend it, both for Australia and Western Australia. It's new, different and has information that other guide books just don't have.

After utilising the Lonely Planet books through various countries, I became increasingly frustrated with the format, inaccuracies and out of date information. Above all, I was sick of being one of the crowd, following other LP readers from place to place, having the same conversations.

A few years ago in South America, and using the LP SA, I had the lucky nature to photocopy a few pages from the Footprint SA handbook. Wow. Bible thin paper and stacked full of quality information. Yes it took a small while to get used to the format, but from then on there was no turning back. So when I [ad]ventured to Australia, and discovered that a brand new [i.e. not a 'revision'] Footprint Australia Handbook had been released, I jumped at the chance. I was not disappointed.

In Western Australia, for example, I'm fairly sure the tips are not in any other guide book, and on visiting some of the guesthouses and recommendations one sometimes gets the feeling that these places are rarely visited. And some of the locations give you the distinct impression of what it was like for the first [white] explorers.

I enjoyed the refreshing editorial style, layout, enthusiasm, funny comments, quality and quantity of information.

I suppose one would never know, but if I had stumped for the LP, I would not have known what I would have missed, but now that I do know, I really should keep it a secret, but that wouldn't be fair would it?

The only real downside is having to choose what to complete in the time available, oh well, another holiday then! Thankyou Andrew, Katrina and Darroch.

I was not familiar with this British travelguide series until I used this edition for my recent trip to New Zealand. The book is very easy to use, with pleasing layouts, and up-to-date and reliable restaurant recommendations of sites to see, hotels, restaurants, etc. The writer really showed his familiarity with NZ, and the writing was crisp and energetic. I had researched several guides to NZ (Fodors, Frommers, Lonely Planet, Rough Guide) before I left and found this one to be the best. I also looked into the Footprints guide to Australia and found it to be equally first-rate. I will definitely consider a Footprints guide again the next time I travel.

Don't let the cover art of this book fool you into thinking it's just a fluffy, inconsequential, melodramatic, romantic novel. This is actually one of the finest, best written, most substantial books I've ever read. This book spans centuries of one family's existence and evolution, from their arrival in Australia during the days of squatters and convicts through to almost the present day, to the days of the Vietnam war.

I read this novel as a teen (although it is not a teen book!) and until this day, I still love it. It's not just a great story, it also really opened my eyes to a whole lot of facts about Australian history I didn't know about until then, facts that are often not even taught in schools, probably because they're so shameful. For instance, I learned that in the past, the north of Australia was a lot like the deep south of America...they kidnapped black slaves from the Pacific Islands and forced them to labour against their will on sugar plantations. These slaves were treated horrendously, and often didn't survive their captivity. And native Australian Aborigines were forced to live in 'reservations', where they had no rights and no freedoms. In fact, Australian Aborigines didn't even legally 'exist' until a few decades ago...before that they could not vote and were not even counted as people in the census. The only right they really had was to join the army and die for their country...but when they came back from the war as heroes, they were still treated just as poorly.

Don't get me wrong, this book isn't just about the struggles that peoples of colour faced in Australia's past. It's also about the struggles EVERYONE who settled in this harsh yet beautiful land went through, whether they were black or white or any colour in between...the convicts from the UK, the beaten rebels from Canada, the gold prospectors, the wealthy squatters, the poor and downtrodden looking for a new and better life, and so on. And yet, in spite of its powerful, confronting storylines, this isn't a bleak book, but rather a wonderful celebration of the triumph of the human spirit. At all times it's poignant, beautiful, exciting and moving, and is penned with such astounding scope and detail that it proves this writer to be one of the literary greats.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Even if you have no interest whatsoever in Australian history, you'll still enjoy this, because it's not just about the history of the country, it's also about the people who made it what it is today...and those people, good or bad, are absolutely astounding.

Sleep deprivation has a considerable impact on our society. This book is the first of its kind, I understand, to look at the legal implications of this fascinating subject. It is extremely well-written and is quite accessible to the lay reader. A remarkable book.

The book (correct title is Forensic Science and the Expert Witness) was researched and written by two of Australia's leading legal practitioners. Their knowledge has been translated into a simple to read guide, that is an excellent reference for lawyers and people interested in the role of forensic science in legal proceedings.

Forever Shores : The Phoenix - Isobelle Carmody
Forever Shores : Players in the Game of Worlds - Damien Broderick
Forever Shores : Rain Season - Leanne Frahm
Forever Shores : Glimmer-by-Dark - Marianne de Pierres
Forever Shores : The Sword of God - Russell Blackford
Forever Shores : The Gate of Heaven - Rosaleen Love
Forever Shores : The Boy Who Didn't Yearn - Margo Lanagan
Forever Shores : A Spell at the End of the World - Alexander James
Forever Shores : The Isolation of the Deciding Factor - Carmel Bird
Forever Shores : Queue Jumping - Tim RichardsForever Shores : Dr. Who? (or The Day I Learnt to Love Tom Baker) - Ben Peek
Forever Shores : Frozen Charlottes - Lucy Sussex
Forever Shores : The Gorilla Becomes a Jeep - Edward Burger
Forever Shores : Rynemonn - Terry Dowling
Forever Shores : Stone Gift - Robert N. Stephenson
Forever Shores : A Room for Improvement - Trudi Canavan
Forever Shores : Waste - Michael Pryor


This got me another big chunk of Tom Rynosseros, so I'd be inclined to give it a 5 just for that, although that might be going a bit far. However, the Rynemonn chunk is fabulous. Leanne Frahm's creepy Rain Season has stuck with me for a long time, as well. Plenty of other good stuff. Don't get too many magician in the Australian past stories either, to speak of another one. Two introductions, and an afterword by Foyster.


Loopy blokes take their fantasy funereally too far.

4 out of 5


A young man's aunt keeps finding bodies in the bathroom. It is all part of something much bigger.

4 out of 5


A man running a small company in Queensland is struggling with everything, and then the rain comes, and the female part of his family adapts.

5 out of 5


Beach transmogrification deception.

3.5 out of 5


The Queen of Palmyra's domain is being slowly strangled by Aurelian, Imperator of Rome and his sun god priests. She hires the blood-fueled mage Simeon Africanus to help her turn the tide.

4 out of 5


Space station paradise.


3 out of 5


Bland helper.

2.5 out of 5


Anti-nuke sorcerer in Melbourne.

4 out of 5


Witchy vegie's kitty baby.

3.5 out of 5


Flying saucer detective's time travel discovery.

3.5 out of 5


Two-D Tom's a Talking Terror.

4 out of 5


Wicked widow's death dolls.

3.5 out of 5


Transformers, roar then picks off fly.

3 out of 5


A compilation of the last four parts of the upcoming fourth book in the Rynosseros Cycle, Rynemonn.

Rynemonn : Doing the Line Nine - Terry Dowling
Rynemonn : Coyote Struck by Lightning - Terry Dowling
Rynemonn : Coming Down - Terry Dowling
Rynemonn : Sewing Whole Cloth - Terry Dowling


Tom goes to talk to Khoumy the Belltree about who and what he is, and what happened at the end.

5 out of 5


A rebel faction cell arranges to get information to Tom under cover of a different indigenous project.

5 out of 5


Old fashioned travel forms, as a Princess' subterfuge gets Tom to yet more unexpected help from another famous Captain, as the world watches.

5 out of 5


The Coloured Captains gather, called to the air to battle, outnumbered over 140/1, as they do what they can to save the Rogue, Rynemonn. However, the tree has a protector still at work, and Tom's enemies make a flaming serious mistake with Rynemonn alive.

5 out of 5

5 out of 5


Rocky situation.

2.5 out of 5


Artist's architecture at a standstill.

3 out of 5


Magical rubbish detail squad.

3.5 out of 5

I love history but most historical books are pretty dry and boring but this one was alot different, quite interesting. Great read if you love history!

I will be honest up front - this book is about my Grandfather Wallace and his brother Harold, their uncle Bill and a mate of theirs Arthur. However until last year I never knew this book existed - in fact because of family issues I never knew my Grandfather Wallace. My Father's cousin has edited this book and it is skillfully blended.

The book is really a whole bunch of letters from the boys from Argyle (the 1200 acre Campbell property near Wellington NSW). It provides a brief overview of the family as well as updates at the end and is a chronological acount of there experiences during WWI - at Gallipoli, in France, on leave, their experiences of authority and the subtle way that things changed for them. The letters are written from the boys to the rest of the Campbell family and friends - so you get to see what was on everyones mind during this terrible time

I would recommend spending a whole day to read this book in one go because it is too dis-jointed if you break in up over a period of few days or weeks. The editors have provided commentary where it is needed and as they say it is not their book but the book belongs to the boys from Argyle of which 3 returned alive.

I found it strange to read letters addressed by my kith and kin whom I never had the chance to meet - but a work such as this has keep the memory of 4 very ordinary Australians alive. There are photographs through the book of various characters family friends and the like which makes it a very personal book for any one that reads it.

IT IS A SHAME THAT IT IS CLASSED AS A REMAINDERED BOOK BY THE NEW OWNERS OF KANGAROO PRESS AS A REPRINT WILL MOST LIKLEY NOT BE FORTHCOMING.

This book is making the rounds of my family.
A good read, especially as we know one on the
champions, Tim Shaw.