SMSA (Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts)
AUSTRALIANA
Garner, Helen | Everywhere I look | AUS 823.92 GARN |
Grant, Stan | Talking to my country | AUS 305.89915 GRAN |
Hill, Anthony | For love of country | AUS 929.20994 HILL |
Landers, Rachel | Who bombed the Hilton? | AUS 345.94407 LAND |
Lowe, Ian Nanni, Giordano | The lucky country? Coranderrk | AUS 994 LOWE AUS 994.50049915 NANN |
Wotherspoon, Garry | Gay Sydney | AUS 306.7662 WOTH |
Everywher
e I look / Helen Garner
Everywhere I Look is a diverse set of short essays on topics as varied as kitchen tables, Tim Winton, Anzac services and fragments of conversations spun into stories. Garner’s deceptively simple tone is free from jumbles of adjectives and overwrought metaphors. Her narration moves through stories saturated in sorrow as a guide might through precious national parklands does, drawing our attention to elements of the human experience while taking care to leave only the lightest trace of the hard work spent writing them: of the hours of arduous writing and rewriting that stories as moving as these demand. Similar to a hike, the book is best enjoyed without straining to finish it. It’s full of moments to pause and reflect. More importantly, it stirs up that addictive, expansive feeling only the best books can achieve: that you have reached the final page changed, perhaps even a better and more thoughtful person from having travelled alongside Garner’s observations for a time. Everywhere I Look is one of those books you read knowing you will most likely never put down or place on your shelf. Instead you will pass it on to a friend or family member as soon as you have finished it, and hope they do the same.
(http://dailyreview.com.au/book-review-helen-garners-everywhere-i-look/39630)
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BIOGRAPHY
Done, Ken | Ken Done |
Hart, Aminah | How I Met Your Father |
Marshall, Debi Murnane, Gerald | The House of Hancock Something for the Pain |
Popham, Peter | The lady and the Generals |
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COOKING
Lomas, Jess | Diabetes Recipes |
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CRAFT
Ishii, Sachiyo | Mini Knitted Toys |
Mini Knitted Toys / Sachiyo Ishii
Let your imagination run wild with the latest title from innovative knitter, Sachiyo Ishii. This charming book contains over 30 fun, simple knitting patterns for a range of cute and cuddly toys. Create simple playthings such as animals, cars, trains, fairies and cupcakes, and then try your hand at larger toy sets, including a castle under siege, an alien invasion, a prehistoric play-scene and a fairytale cottage complete with magical characters! The book is suitable for knitters of all skill levels, and all the patterns require only small amounts of readily available yarn. The book also contains a useful techniques section containing step-by-step instructions for the necessary techniques, including stuffing and sewing up figures, creating knitted eyes and i-cords, and all the embroidery stitches needed to create the facial features and details.
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GARDENING
Barrett, Margaret | Australian Gardening Calendar |
Naidoo, Indira | The Edible Balcony |
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GENERAL FICTION
Barreau, Nicolas | Paris is Always a Good Idea |
Barrett, J. D. | The Secret Recipe for Second Chances |
Bateman, Colin | Papercuts |
Beatty, Paul | The Sellout |
Berenson, Alex | The Wolves |
Berry, Steve | The 14th Colony |
Blain, Georgia | Between a Wolf and a Dog |
Blain, Georgia | Special |
Bourne, J. L. | Tomorrow War |
Brundage, Elizabeth | All Things Cease to Appear |
Buist, Anne | Dangerous to Know |
Carey, M. R. | Fellside |
Dawson, Lucy | You Sent Me a Letter |
Elton, Ben | Time and Time Again |
Flournoy, Angela | The Turner House |
Hanington, Peter | A Dying Breed |
Holland, Patrick | One |
Imrie, Celia | Nice Work (If You Can Get It) |
Johnson, Julie Christine | In Another Life |
Joseph, Anjali | The Living |
Kristof, Agota | The Notebook Trilogy |
Maguire, Emily | An Isolated Incident |
McGinnis, Kerry | Out of Alice |
McHale, Celeste Fletcher | The Secret to Hummingbird Cake |
Moon, Josephine | The Beekeeper’s Secret |
NDiaye, Marie | Ladivine |
Parker, Harry | Anatomy of a Soldier |
Pavone, Chris | The Travelers |
Pellegrino, Nicky | Under Italian Skies |
Robards, Karen | Darkness |
Roberts, Nora | The Obsession |
Roberts, Nora | The Risk |
Rodriguez, Deborah | Return to the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul |
Simpson, Inga | Where the Trees Were |
Smith, Wilbur | Predator |
Steiner, Peter | The Capitalist |
Sweeney, Cynthia D’Aprix | The Nest |
Thorne, David | Promises of Blood |
Welsh, Irvine | The Blade Artist |
Between a wolf and a dog / Georgia Blain
Between a Wolf and a Dog takes its title from a French term for dusk, that liminal hour between day and night when the grey light makes seeing clearly difficult — so much so that a dog may be mistaken for a wolf. Misapprehension and liminality are themes that run through the book, in the relationships between the family it revolves around, whose members are pulled between destruction and conciliation, pain and love, and in characters who are all, somehow, standing on the cusp of change. The novel centres on Ester, a recently divorced therapist who sees clients in a room of her house, talking “to their shadows”, as she puts it, while hiding her own away. The scenes where Ester is working are interwoven with her domestic life, her memories and imaginings across one seemingly ordinary day, and they work beautifully to bring a kind of counterpointing chorus, of voices of the hurting and broken, into contact with Ester’s world. Between a Wolf and Dog is a work of delicately detailed emotion and beautiful balanced, and it is so well paced that its narrative is utterly compelling. It is a remarkable portrayal of family relationships, and the complex and often competing desires and sensitivities that drive them, but it is mostly a book about love and forgiveness, and holding on to our good fortune and our loved ones, even and especially in the face of loss.
(http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/georgia-blains-between-a-wolf-and-a-dog-forgiveness-at-end-of-a-day/news-story/4dfc9ea7bf0f556890d5dfeb88ead2c5)
The nest / Cynthia Sweeney
Dysfunctional siblings in New York wig out when the eldest blows their shared inheritance. In an arresting prologue to this generous, absorbing novel, Leo Plumb leaves his cousin’s wedding early, drunk and high, with one of the waitresses and has a car accident. To make his troubles go away, Leo pillages a $2 million account known as “The Nest,” left by his father for the four children to share after the youngest of them turns 40. Leo’s siblings have been counting heavily on this money to resolve their financial troubles and are horrified to learn that their mother has let Leo burn almost all of it. A meeting is called at Grand Central Oyster Bar to discuss Leo’s plans to pay them back. Will Leo even show? Sweeney’s endearing characters are quirky New Yorkers: Bea Plumb is a widowed writer who tanked after three stories that made her briefly one of “New York’s Newest Voices: Who You Should Be Reading.” Jack Plumb, is a gay antiques dealer married to a lawyer; truly desperate for cash, he becomes involved in a shady deal involving a work of art stolen from the ruins of the World Trade Center. Melody, the youngest, lives in the suburbs in a house she’s about to lose and is obsessed with tracking her teenage twins using an app called Stalkerville. A fetching debut from an author who knows her city, its people, and their hearts.
(https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cynthia-daprix-sweeney/the-nest-sweeney/)
An isolated incident / Emily Maguire
Emily Maguire’s An Isolated Incident is about victims. It ignores the archetypal murder mystery template and focuses on the impact of the crime rather than its investigation. It is nuanced, respectful and impactful as it shines a necessary spotlight on male violence against women. That said, it is far more than a fictionalised dissertation on the endemic violence plaguing society; it’s a gripping, compelling narrative brimming with true-to-life characters. When Bella Michaels is murdered in the small Australian town of Strathdee, her older sister Chris is thrust into the centre of a media storm as she struggles to cope with impossible cruelty and meaningless of the crime. Desperate for answers, for some kind of explanation, Chris’s own life comes under scrutiny by journalists desperate for fresh angles on the story – and while she’s never been ashamed by some of the choices she’s made, certain revelations are painted in a harsh light. As time goes on, the media’s reporting becomes less about determining the perpetrator and more about using Bella’s murder as a soapbox for various, until eventually, enough time passes when the public interest fades, and Chris is left to stew in her own pot of anger, grief and suspicion. Elegantly crafted, thought-provoking and impactful, An Isolated Incident brilliantly intertwines the traditional intrigue of the whodunit with searing insight into a crime’s impact on a personal level, and a societal one.
(http://www.pagesandpages.com.au/_blog/cover-to-cover/post/review-an-isolated-incident-by-emily-maguire)
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HISTORICAL FICTION
Berry, Julie | The Passion of Dolssa |
Kane, Ben | Hunting the Eagles |
Lawhon, Ariel | Flight of Dreams |
Taylor, Andrew | The Ashes of London |
Todd, Janet | A Man of Genius |
Weldon, Fay | Before the War |
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MYSTERY
Anderson, Lin | The Special Dead |
Arlidge, M. J. | Little Boy Blue |
Barclay, Linwood | Far from True |
Benson, E. F. Box, C. J. | The Blotting Book Off the Grid |
Casey, Donis | Hornswoggled |
Connolly, John | A Time of Torment |
Craig, James | Acts of Violence |
Davis, Lindsey | The Graveyard of the Hesperides |
Deaver, Jeffery | The Steel Kiss |
Faye, Lyndsay | Jane Steele |
Fox, Candice | Fall |
Graham, Heather | Flawless |
Hammer, Lotte | Vanished |
Harris, Joanne | Different Class |
Higashino, Keigo | A Midsummer’s Equation |
Kaaberbole, Lene | Death of a Nightingale |
Kent, Christobel | The Loving Husband |
Kerr, Philip | The Other Side of Silence |
Leon, Donna | The Waters of Eternal Youth |
MacBride, Stuart | Close to the Bone |
McGowan, Claire | A Savage Hunger |
Muddiman, Rebecca | Tell Me Lies |
Ould, Chris | The Blood Strand |
Patterson, James Persson, Leif G. W. | Private Paris The Sword of Justice |
Raabe, Melanie | The Trap |
Siciliano, Sam | The White Worm |
Simpson, Janice | Murder in Mt Martha |
Song, Ying | Apricot’s Revenge |
Whitehouse, Lucie | Keep You Close |
Wood, Tom | A Time to Die |
The trap / Melanie Raabe
The Trap is a gripping psychological thriller where fact and fiction blur as we race towards the dramatic conclusion, never quite sure what to expect next. Linda Conrads caught a glimpse of the man who murdered her sister and got away with it. Although it’s been twelve years, she has never been able to get his face out of her head. It haunts her, leading Linda to retreat from everyday life and stay in locked in her home where she writes bestselling literary novels. Until one day Linda sees that face again – on her TV. He’s now a respected journalist, and Linda doesn’t have a scrap of evidence to link him to the crime. So she concocts a plan. The tragic loss of her sister becomes the foundation for her next novel, and for the first time ever, Linda is going to allow herself to be interviewed. With her book and fame as bait, Linda is pulling him into a trap. Since the book is told in first person, we spend much of The Trap inside Linda’s head and as she stumbles towards the truth, so do we. Readers will be engrossed every step of the way, ferociously turning the pages and second guessing who to trust, all the while getting caught up in a ‘novel within a novel.’ Can Linda really rely on what she saw that day? Was her murdered sister Anna truly as pure and perfect as she remembers? Is there more to the crime than meets the eye? You may just have to take the bait and find out.
(http://www.betterreading.com.au/news/book-of-the-week-the-trap-by-melanie-raabe/)
A loving husband / Christobel Kent
Christobel Kent’s Italian sleuth Sandro Cellini is a fixture on the current crime scene, but her new book takes us from sun-kissed Florence to the slate-grey skies of the Fens. The Loving Husband is firmly in the currently fashionable ‘domestic noir’ genre, but this is no catchpenny trend-chasing; Kent effortlessly rises above other entries in the field. Her protagonist, Fran Hall, is awakened one night by the crying of her baby and discovers that she is alone in the bed; her husband David has gone. As she begins searching for him, Fran uncovers dark secrets that suggest everything she believed to be true about her marriage may be a sham. Familiar stuff, admittedly, but Kent makes us forget that this is much-traversed territory. However, comparisons are invidious here; the familiar is confronted and inverted, and Kent’s ace in the hole is her keen penetration of the characters’ psychology, particularly that of beleaguered heroine Fran, her life in a downward spiral.
(http://www.crimetime.co.uk/mag/index.php/showarticle/4539)
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NON FICTION
Beard, Mary | SPQR | 937 BEAR |
Cavendish, Lucy | Witches and Wizards | 133.4 CAVE |
Edwards, Martin | The Golden Age of Murder | 823.087 EDWA |
Frankopan, Peter | The Silk Roads | 909 FRAN |
Hart, John | The Brain Book | 612.82 HART |
Joel, Alexandra | Rosetta | 920.72 JOEL |
Sebag Montefiore, Simon | The Romanovs 1613-1918 | 947.0460922 SEBA |
Vigna, Paul | Cryptocurrency | 332.42 VIGN |
Zanjani, Sohila | Scattered Pearls | 955.0542092 ZANJ |
Rosetta / Alexandra Joel
Headstrong and beautiful, in 1905 Rosetta escaped her safe Melbourne life, deserting her respectable husband and five-year-old daughter to run away with Zeno the Magnificent, a half-Chinese fortune teller and seducer of souls. The pair reinvented themselves in London, where they beguiled European society and risked everything for a life of glamour and desire. Rosetta said she was American; Zeno claimed to be a brilliant Japanese professor. Together they attracted the patronage of famous writers, inventors and scientists, lords and ladies, dukes and duchesses. Empress Eugenie, the widow of Napoleon III, and Princess Charlotte, sister of Germany’s last Kaiser, were among their greatest devotees. Rosetta revelled in a life few women of her time would have dared to embrace, yet all the while she hid her secret shame: the daughter she had left behind. This is the compelling story of Alexandra Joel’s quest to uncover the truth about her scandalous great-grandmother, and the shocking century-old secret she would discover at the heart of her family.
(http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29621811-rosetta)
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PET STORIES
Morgan, Jason | A Dog Called Hope |
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ROMANCE
Macomber, Debbie | Adam’s Image |
Milburne, Melanie | Engaged to her Ravensdale Enemy |
Nunn, Kayte | Rose’s Vintage |
Ryder, Lucy | Caught in a Storm of Passion |
Shepherd, Kandy | Forever Romance Duo |
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SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY
Aryan, Stephen | Bloodmage |
De Castell, Sebastien | Saint’s Blood |
Sanderson, Brandon | The Hero of Ages |
Staveley, Brian | The Last Mortal Bond |
Treadwell, James | Arcadia |
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TRAVEL
Noe, Barbara | Provence & the Cote d’Azur | 914.49048412 NATGEO |
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New additions to eBooks at SMSA
EBOOKS
Bouser, Steve | Death of a Pinehurst Princess | Mystery |
Buchanan, Brenda | Cover Story | Mystery |
Dreiser, Theodore | An American Tragedy | General Novels |
Ferrante, Elena | The Story of a New Name | General Novels |
Harrington, Jean | The Design is Murder | Mystery |
Jakobsen, Mette | What the Light Hides | General Novels |
Moffett, Julie | No One to Trust | General Novels |
Polisi, Sal | The Sinatra Club | Biography |
Wells, Shirley | Silent Witness | Mystery |
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AUDIOBOOKS
Novak, Kathleen | Do Not Find Me | General Novels |
Sloan, Robin | Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore | General Novels |
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New Book — May 2016
The new books for May 2016 are now available to borrow, with new ebooks and audiobooks.
We hope you enjoy them!
- New books may be borrowed for a period of two weeks only and may not be renewed.
- Books remain listed as “New Books” for three months.
Search the Library Catalogue
New Books by Genre
Australiana
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General Fiction
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