Books
The World Repair Video Game review: The return of David Ireland, genius
MALCOLM KNOX 12:15am Did David Ireland go off the unreadable deep end? Hardly. The World Repair Video Game is a magnificent novel of ideas in the purest, simplest language.
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos review: Dominic Smith's brilliant art novel
Louise Swinn 12:15am Dominic Smith is a great writer, particularly adept at atmospheric detail, and this book is reminiscent of Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch in its familiarity with the art world.
Better Living Through Criticism review: A.O. Scott on why criticism is an art
Tom Ryan 12:15am A.O. Scott submits that criticism ought to be understood as an art because the works it contemplates are always themselves a form of criticism.
What Happened to the Car Industry? review: How a manufacturing sector collapsed
Fiona Capp 12:15am The car industry was thriving 20 years ago, but then it stalled.
Richard Flanagan, Tom Keneally tussling with paper tigers
PETER MARTIN 4:38am Leading authors concerned about cuts to copyright don't seem to have done their homework.
Book industry unites against Productivity Commission changes to copyright rules
LINDA MORRIS Writers, printers, literary agents, publishers and booksellers unite for war on proposed copyright provisions.
Speed-dating your own literary creation: Hazel Edwards meets her famous cake-eating hippopotamus
Hazel Edwards It's not easy being a hippo - even one who lives on the roof of most kids born after 1980, eats cake and gets to do anything it wants all day long.
Australia's new literary publishers reveal their first books
SUSAN WYNDHAM NEW BLOOD IN LITERARY PUBLISHING
Bestsellers: David Baldacci stays at the top
It's not the last mile yet for David Baldacci, who stays at No. 1 spot in the Australian bestseller list.
Book review: Land of Paper Gods, That Devil's Madness, Book of Memory
Anna Creer Fiction. Three for a Sunday.
Miles Franklin shortlist: Four Melbourne novelists join Charlotte Wood
JASON STEGER Four women are on the shortlist for this year's Miles Franklin Literary Award - and four of the listed writers are new to this stage of the award..
Oliver of the Levant review: Debra Jopson's coming-of-age story a fine debut
Eleanor Limprecht Debra Jopson is very familiar with Lebanon and sets her memorable first novel, a coming-of-age story featuring 15-year-old Oliver, in Beirut.
Turning Pages: Why mothers who write face more obstacles than most
Jane Sullivan Women writers who are parents often struggle to find the time and space to concentrate on their craft. If they are also sole parents things are even worse.
Our Vietnam Nurses review: Annabelle Brayley tells the forgotten stories
Steven Carroll Australian women nurses in Vietnam confronted hard work, death, trauma and great sadness. Some, though, found love.
LaRose review: Louise Erdrich's drama of a dead child and community conflict
Cameron Woodhead A Native American father kills his friend's son while hunting and gives his own child to be raised by the grieving family. A recipe for drama and redemption.
The Wicked Boy: the 13 year old who murders his mother then turns into a hero
NICK GALVIN Can a child murder his mother then be redeemed? Kate Summerscale uncovered the answer to this question in a remarkable true story spanning decades and continents.
Book review: A Foreign Affair, by Pamela Burton
Alison Broinowski The whole national capital could become a movie set if an enterprising director picks up this eminently filmable novel.
Book review: Georgiana Molloy: the mind that shines, by Bernice Barry
Ian Fraser Georgiana Molloy; the mind that shines
Jane Abbott's Watershed describes a mean, waterless world
LINDA MORRIS Debut writer Jane Abbott has created one of the meanest characters in Australian contemporary dystopian fiction.
Xeniality: David Astle's welcome to far-fetched strangers
David Astle Mary was watching Antiques Roadshow when her eye was caught by a wooden bowl. Burnished, elegant, the vessel had once carried cloves and juniper shavings, tulip leaves and dried lemon peel. In a word, potpourri.
The Abundance review: Natural wisdom from Annie Dillard in her 40-year career
John Freeman A new collection of essays brings together the best of Annie Dillard, the modern Thoreau.
State librarian of NSW Alex Byrne to retire
SUSAN WYNDHAM The State Library of NSW is advertising for a new state librarian and chief executive following Alex Byrne's decision to retire at the end of his five-year term in September.
Patrick Holland tells rousing tale of Australia's last bushrangers, the Kenniffs
LINDA MORRIS Patrick Holland shines a powerful light on Australia's last bushrangers.
The Pier Falls review: Mark Haddon's powerful short stories
Daniel Herborn Mark Haddon proves a heady stylist alive to moments of beauty even in the midst of despair in his new collection of short stories.
Switched On review: John Elder Robison and the treatment to stir his emotions
Paul Biegler The treatment for his Asperger's unlocks the hidden language of emotion and gives John Elder Robison his first taste of previously cryptic social rituals. But the awakening has a dark side.
Gay & Lesbian, Then and Now review: How gay life has changed since the 1950s
Steven Carroll This survey of gay and lesbian life in Australia since the 1950s is something of a social history.
Hillary Rising review: James D. Boys on the irresistible rise of Hillary Clinton
Steven Carroll Where did Hillary Clinton, the favourite for the Democratic nomination for the US presidency, come from?
The Lubetkin Legacy review: Marina Lewycka's zany two-pronged comic novel
Cameron Woodhead Marina Lewycka's latest novel is bursting with wacky ingredients.
The Sacred Combe review: Thomas Maloney's atmospheric novel of literary delights
Cameron Woodhead There are literary allusions and a satisfying puzzle in this atmospheric novel.
Michael Palin's diaries record laughs, deaths and the colour of the carpet
Gaby Wood "I think it's information that becomes more fascinating as the years go by," says Michael Palin about his bestselling diaries. "The way the country's changed, the city's changed, attitudes change. You think: did we really do that? Could we park outside John Lewis and just go in?"
Chronicles review: Thomas Piketty and the solutions to Europe's troubled state
Richard Ferguson Thomas Piketty has solutions to suggest for Europe's troubles and he does so in his characteristically stylish fashion.
The Wicked Boy review: Kate Summerscale's story of murder and atonement
Lucy Sussex In The Wicked Boy Kate Summerscale tells a story of true crime and brings a genuine moral appeal to it.
What Belongs to You review: Garth Greenwell's fine novel about erotic obsession
Owen Richardson What Belongs to You may be a novel of consciousness and erotic solipsism, but it also has a very material sense of the environment.
The Music that Maton Made review: How Australian guitars played the right chord
Steven Carroll Maton guitars delighted musicians around the world
Nightmare in Berlin review: Hans Fallada's post-war novel in English at last
Cameron Woodhead Hans Fallada's moral thriller of life in post-war Berlin.
Bookmarks: News and views from the book world
JASON STEGER Has arts minister Mitch Fifield killed off the controversial copyright proposals?
Feminist, shepherd, children's author top book sales at Sydney Writer's Festival
SUSAN WYNDHAM Book sales at Sydney Writers' festival reflected the diversity of topics covered by some of the guests.
Sydney Writers' Festival 'on fire' with superstars and record crowds
SUSAN WYNDHAM All the gods smiled on Sydney Writers' Festival, from the climate-change god that blessed last week with warm, sunny weather to the feminist goddess Gloria Steinem, who twice filled Sydney Town Hall with 2000 people, and cast a calm, optimistic aura across the record crowds.
Book review: The Killing of Osama bin Laden, by Seymour Hersh
Alison Broinowski The Killing of Osama bin Laden, by Seymour M. Hersh. Verso. $27.99.
Hollywood films drive Australian library book tastes
LINDA MORRIS Hollywood blockbusters have dominated a new list of the country's most borrowed books.
Bestsellers: Helen Garner stays on top in independent bookshops
Helen Garner's new collection of her non-fiction stays on top in independent bookshops.
Jennifer Byrne defends 60 Minutes journalists
ANDREW TAYLOR The host of ABC TV's The Book Club says the beleaguered current affairs team has been shockingly maligned.
Readers don't want to be 'babied', says A Little Life author Hanya Yanagihara
LINDA MORRIS Fiction writers have a duty to look at the "putrefying ugliness" of what humans can be, says American writer Hanya Yanagihara.
Louise Erdrich's LaRose is a page-turner that reflects her experience
Laurie Hertzel Louise Erdrich's novel, LaRose, entwines such weighty themes as war, family, adoption, death, grief, reservation boarding schools, Indian culture and myth, and justice.
Dog Moon Run review: Callan Wink's stories of exterior and interior landscapes
Dominic Amerena In the hard-bit tradition of masters of the form such as Richard Ford and Joy Williams, Callan Wink's short stories introduce us to a panoply of lonely, damaged protagonists, who are all running from something.
Use Your Words review: Catherine Deveny's no-frills advice on writing
Fiona Capp Catherine Deveny has steered clear of the well-worn rules on writing technique and opted for a highly personal approach.
South Pole review: Elizabeth Leane's enticing cultural and natural history
Fiona Capp In film and literature, journeys to the pole often symbolise a journey into the unconscious.
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