Holiday Reading, and a bit each side

Firstly, I must 'fess up that these books were not all, strictly, read during the school holiday period but they did all overlap. Unusually, all books are going to get a good wrap, but for different reasons.

Carpentaria by Alexis Wright

A Gulf-country story of the intersection between Aboriginal and European Australia. Written, but not narrated, in the 'voice' of a male aboriginal elder. First 250 pages were excruciating to read. The Last 270 were amazing. I then returned and re-read most of the first 250 pages and declare this to be one of the most incredible books I've read for a long time. Its major fault is that it is not an accessible read for many due to its structure which verges on a magic realism-type style and YET it had to be written in this style to command the effect it does. Predict this to become a standard University-level English text (only because it is too long for an HSC text, I think).

9/10

March by Geraldine Brooks

A well thought through spin-off to the Little Women story. Tells the story of Captain March the father of Jo, Beth & Co and what he did during the Civil War. Geraldine's husband is a Civil War expert which is evident in its well-researched "feel".

7.5/10

Theft by Peter Carey

Brilliant account of the tension between creativity and commercialism played out in the art world. Narrated in turn by the artist and the artist's idiot-savant brother, who is able to provide the view of the silent observer.

8/10

Antony & Cleopatra by Colleen McCullough

The eighth, and possibly last, in the Masters of Rome series about the last years of the Roman Republic. Colleen is one of the world's great experts on the Roman Republic and her theories are always worth reading. The fact that she presents her theories in a fictionalised narrative makes them all the more palatable. With Colleen you know the story but still mourn the fate of your favourite characters.

8/10 for her extraordinarily in depth approach.

Sunnyside by Joanna Murray-Smith

A playwright by profession, this book reads like it should be showing at the The Ensemble Theatre. Tells the tale of families living in a fictionalised upper-middle class suburb of Melbourne (a barely disguised Mt Eliza). An excruciatingly accurate mirror to our lives that is written in a way that it can't be pigeon-holed with the likes of The Nanny Diaries, Gucci Mamas or any other Chick Lit. Read it if you dare.

7.5/10

How you can tell if I REALLY like a book. I mark my favourite passages.

Yep, way scary.