Page Text: Jennifer Ann McDonell , University of New England
In his latest book, David Brooks questions human exceptionalism, drawing on the work of a wide range of thinkers and writers.
Orestes Pursued by the Furies - William Adolphe Bouguereau (1862) Public domain
March 31, 2022
Natalie Kon-yu , Victoria University
The Furies is a devastating book, but one that hints at the possibility of redemption and reckoning.
Franz Marc - Caliban: Figurine für Der Sturm von William Shakespeare (1914) Wikimedia commons
March 28, 2022
Jessica White , University of South Australia
The Fish is a novel about a writer’s growth to maturity, but it is also a strange story about family breakdown, difference and shame.
Uluru by night with Milky Way, stars and galaxies. Taken at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in Northern Territory, Central Australia.
March 29, 2022
Mirani Litster , James Cook University
The First Astronomers shares the extensive star knowledge of First Peoples worldwide, stretching back millennia to reclaim so-called Western discoveries and highlight the strength of oral traditions.
Macierzynstwo (Motherhood) - Stanisław Wyspiański (1905) Wikimedia commons
March 22, 2022
How one woman’s traumatic experience drove her investigation into pregnancy and mental health
Camilla Nelson , University of Notre Dame Australia
In her brave new book The Cost of Labour, Natalie Kon-yu examines the mental stresses women face in pregnancy and childbirth.
Pot-bellied pigs in Lisbon Zoo. Wikimedia commons
April 6, 2022
Siobhan O'Sullivan , UNSW Sydney
Explicitly intended for a broad, educated audience, Guilty Pigs is an accessible work that reveals there is almost no aspect of the law that does not touch on the lives of nonhuman animals.
Aboriginal Tent Embassy 50th anniversary, Old Parliament House, Canberra, 26 January 2022. Mick Tsikas/AAP
March 20, 2022
Timothy Michael Rowse , Western Sydney University
Anna Clark’s latest work scrutinises the role History has played in nation building and the shaping of Australian culture, but her book has an absent philosophical centre.
Terry Trewin/AAP
March 7, 2022
John Woinarski , Charles Darwin University
John Woinarksi’s copy of this 1935 classic of environmental writing is older than him, mostly broken, much read and priceless.
Steven Carroll. Tracey Nearmy/AAP
March 16, 2022
The tug of the tale: Steven Carroll reimagines the life and times of T.S. Eliot and his first wife, Vivienne
Kieran Dolin , The University of Western Australia
The intimate connections between life and art are explored in the deeply satisfying conclusion to a quartet of novels about one of the greatest poets of the 20th century.
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March 21, 2022
Per Henningsgaard , Curtin University
The sophomore effort of a writer whose debut novel was widely acclaimed is gorgeously realised, but more commercial in tone.
Illustration detail from the cover of Andy Griffiths’ international bestseller, The Day My Bum Went Psycho (Pan Macmillan).
March 15, 2022
Simon Ryan , Australian Catholic University
A teacher was fired this month for reading his favourite picture book, I Need a New Butt, to kids. It’s an example of how US conservatives are focusing on school boards as weapons in the culture wars.
The death of Jacob Frank. Wikimedia commons
March 16, 2022
Isabelle Hesse , University of Sydney
The Nobel Laureate’s new experimental epic is a masterful account of the life of a self-proclaimed Messiah.
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