The Rosie Project

Local author Graeme Simsion has produced a gem of a first novel with The Rosie Project.  This warm and engaging tale centres on the charming yet awkward narrator, Don Tillman, and his quest to find a perfectly-suited partner.  He calls this his Wife Project, and he has created a 16-page questionnaire to help him narrow the field to select the ultimate life partner.  Surely a professor of genetics has the skills to create a logical template for finding the most elusive and illogical element of all- love!

The very scientific and slightly Asperger’s Don thinks he has it all planned, till he meets the erratic, whimsical and feisty Rosie.  She is not Don’s type and clearly doesn’t fit his Wife Project-criteria, so why indeed do their lives and stories become intertwined and determined?!  Like a screwball 1930s comedy on the page, Don and Rosie’s ‘opposites attract’ schtick and their slowly learning, adapting and changing to discover true love is available to us all is a winner.

Even though this is a genuinely hilarious and laugh-out-loud story, at its core it explores and questions the very nature of human companionship and our longing to find that certain someone.  Finally, an intelligent, clever and romantic novel for adults.

In store now, enjoy!

$30 in large paperback

Malthouse: A Football Life

Malthouse: A Football Life

by Christi Malthouse, HB $50.00

Mick Malthouse is one of the great football people of the modern era. After playing 174 tough games for St Kilda and Richmond, Mick went on to become a brilliant coach, taking both West Coast and Collingwood from the bottom of the ladder to premiership glory.

His daughter, Christi, has written a great biography which looks at his entire public and private life. She provides great insight into the man behind the scenes and aspects of his life and personality that would be unknown to most.

There can be no doubt that Mick Malthouse has had a fascinating career and changed the lives of hundreds of young footballers. This book is funny, insightful and warm; a great gift for any football fan!

 

 

The new Jack Reacher thriller…A Wanted Man

A Wanted Man by Lee Child, TP $32.95

 

Super cool and daring Jack Reacher is back to catch the bad guys in Lee Child’s newest book, A Wanted Man.

Jack is hitch hiking to Virginia to deal with some unfinished business when he is picked up  by three strangers. In true Reacher style, he find himself in the middle of an FBI murder case full of twist and turns and conspiracies!

As usual, Lee Child writes a gripping tale that is very fast paced and packs a real punch. Reacher is a fantastic hero with his lone ranger style of living and tough looks.  A Wanted Man is a great read and makes a perfect gift for Dad or a fan of quality crime/thrillers.

 

Batavia by Peter FitzSimons

Peter FitzSimons is one of Australia’s most popular historians, and it’s easy to see why – he has a knack for choosing fascinating moments in our history, and really bringing them to life. His latest, Batavia, is no exception. It tells the story of the Dutch East India Company ship Batavia, and it’s unfortunate occupants. In 1629, on it’s maiden voyage, Batavia was shipwrecked on a small island off the coast of Western Australia. As the commander of the ship sets out in a longboat to search for help, his second in command Jeronimus Cornelisz takes control, deciding that most of the 220 survivors should be killed to conserve their meagre supplies. His only opponent is Wiebbe Hayes, who tries to gather a force to stop the slaughter. An incredible true story full of rich historical detail that reads like a thriller. Batavia has just been released in trade paperback, so if you missed the hardback, it’s not too late! $34.95

Antarctica by David Day

The subtitle for David Day’s large tome on Antarctica is “A Biography”, and that’s exactly what this is – the first comprehensive history of that coldest, most distant and forbidding of continents. The book is set out in chronological time periods, from the 1770s when Captain Cook sailed further south than any of his contemporaries in search of a continent that was suspected to be at the bottom of the world but still failed to find it,  right up to the present day. In between are all the dramatic stories that have fuelled our imaginations for decades; the eventual discovery of Antarctica in 1820, the race by British, American and French expeditions to claim the new land as their own, the extraordinary stories of explorers Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton. Truly an incredible series of events, making this remarkable book a must for anyone interested in history. For a limited time, the book comes with a map of Antarctica. Hardback, $45

Olympic Gold: Our Greatest Individual Olympians Since 1896

Olympic Gold

by Robin Poke & Kevin Berry, HB $50.00

 

Take a good look back at our Summer and Winter Olympics history with this beautiful hardback book. 74 individual gold medalists are honoured in over 350 pages of photos and stories.

Each medalist has a career highlights and fast facts section along with brilliant photos of the event and victory. The story of their journey to Gold are wonderfully written by a variety of authors ranging from journalists to family members to the athletes themselves.

From our first modern Olympic Gold Medal in track in 1896 to Steve Hooker’s inspirational win in the High Jump to Lydia Lassila’s Winter Gold in 2010 this book cover it all. A must have for sports fans as we gear up for more Gold Medals in London this year!

The Emperor series by Conn Iggulden: Book #1 ONLY $10!

Emperor: The Gates of Rome by Conn Iggulden, PB $10.00

Get started on this fantastic historical fiction series about the life of Julius Caesar. Follow his journey from a young boy thrown into the turmoil of war to a young man quelling a Spartacus rebellion to ultimately becoming one of the greatest and most famous Romans in history.

Iggulden has a clear passion for Roman history and weaves a wonderful story full of well known characters and events while allowing readers an intimate look at their lives and insight into their decisions that changed the course of the world.

Action packed with sword fights, senate intrigue and betrayals, The Gates of Rome is a great read and at only $10.00 is well worth a try!

There are four books in the Emperor series and Iggulden has another series, that follows the life of Genghis Khan (The Conqueror series).

*The Emperor series books 2, 3 & 4 are $20.00 each.

 

Angels of Vengeance

$32.95

When an inexplicable wave of energy killed most people in the USA and parts of Canada, wars erupted, borders vanished, and the powerful lost their grip on power.  The reluctant, new U.S. president struggles to make momentous decisions in Seattle and a madman encourages rebellion in Texas while three women are fighting their own battles for survival, justice, and revenge.

Echelon assassin Caitlin Monroe moves quietly through a South American jungle. Her target: a prisoner of a lawless dictator in Uruguay. To free the prisoner, Caitlin will kill anyone who gets in her way. And then she will get the truth about how Al Banna, her target for years, escaped a secret detention center in French Guadeloupe to strike a fatal blow in New York City.

Sofia Peiraro is a teenage girl who witnessed firsthand the murder of her family and the mayhem of Texas under the rule of General Mad Jack Blackstone. Sofia might have  built a new life with her father if a vicious murder hadn’t set her on another course altogether: back to Texas, even to Blackstone himself.

Lady Julianne Balwyn is a British-born aristocrat turned smuggler. Shopping in the most fashionable neighborhood of Darwin, Australia, now a fantastic neo-urban frontier, Jules has a pistol holstered in the small of her lovely back. She is playing the most dangerous game of all: waiting for the person who is hunting her to show his face-so she can kill him first.

Three women in three corners of a world plunged into electrifying chaos. Nation-states struggling for their survival. Immigrants struggling for new lives. John Birmingham’s astounding new novel-the conclusion to the series begun in Without Warning and After America is an intense adventure that races from the halls of power to shattered streets to gleaming new cities, as the world tries to regain control.

Highly recommended

Sound of Gravity

$32.95

Joe Simpson is well known in book circles for his epic true story of adventure, disaster, mateship and survival; Touching the Void, which was made into a thrilling movie.

Now he’s turned his hand to fiction but has stayed with what he knows best.

The Sound of Gravity is an atmospheric story, similar in some ways to the true life story of Touching the Void. The book opens with the main character climbing in cold places with his girlfried, fighting gravity all the way.

The author describes the cold, the ice, the storms, the dangers and the loneliness of mountain climbing. He’s obviously writing from first hand experience.  The main character, Patrick suffers terribly for his passion.  He suffers loss, hardship, storms, torment and pain.  As the story unfolds we’re introduced to some of the many kinds of people you find in high places!

The book is written in parts, separated in time but connected throughout.

Highly recommended

The Ox is slow but the earth is patient – Mick Malthouse

The Ox is slow but the earth is patient by Mick Malthouse & David Buttifant

HB, $30.00

Premiership coach Mick Malthouse and his longtime friend and conditioning coach David Buttifant have brought us a brilliant book that can inspire us all to success.

They tell the story of the past decade they have spent at the Collingwood Football Club and provide some fascinating insight into the inner workings of successful professional sporting organisations.The book covers achievements in both their personal and professional lives and includes comments from a variety of players, coaches, poets and politicians.

You do not need to be a mad football supporter to enjoy this book filled with fascinating anecdotes and sound advice from two men who clearly have the utmost respect for each other and have achieved great things.