Book

IMPROby Keith Johnstone, Bloomsbury Publishing, $29.95 The improvisation training I did in my 20s has made me the performer I am today. It taught me to be open, to listen, to act with spontaneity. The book that literally changed my life in this domain was, and still is,IMPROby Keith Johnstone. He’s a teacher with great […]

The Vault by Ruth Rendell, Random House, $32.95. Ruth Rendell’s latest outing sees the return of her much-loved detective Inspector Wexford. Now retired, Wexford is enjoying the quiet life with his wife and his books, until a chance meeting with an old acquaintance on a London street sees him drawn into a case involving the […]

The Language Of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, Picador Australia, $32.99. This debut novel by an American foster mum and art teacher sparked a bidding war last year, with Picador winning the coveted title. It’s now set to be published in more than 30 countries, with a heavy-handed drum roll that is in danger of putting […]

When young Arwa imagined the man she would spend her life with, a rugby league player was not top of her thoughts, she tells Michael Sheather. Then she met Hazem. Love sometimes appears in the most unexpected places. For Arwa El Masri, wife of rugby league star Hazem El Masri, it arrived with a jolt […]

Elizabethby J. Randy Taraborrelli, Pan Macmillan, $24.95. The obituary writers were probably right when they claimed Elizabeth Taylor was the last Hollywood icon, but she was also the first celebrity to live every moment of her life publicly. Operations, romances, tragedies, break-ups, rehab, never before had a star shared everything with the world. Yet Taraborrelli […]

Life can change in a heartbeat Four minutes and eight seconds. That’s how long my husband, Michael Dunhill, was dead. Four minutes and eight seconds. That’s how long it took for my husband to become a complete stranger to me. To read the first chapter of Skipping a Beat click here. Win our Book of […]

On Canaan’s Side, Faber and Faber, $29.99. Sebastian Barry woos with words. His lyrical prose carries you off on a warm and engrossing journey conjuring incredibly special characters, gently etched at first then skilfully coloured in as the story deepens. On Canaan’s Side is told through narrator 89-year-old Lilly Bere, who as the novel opens […]

Bossypants by Tina Fey, Sphere, $32.99. Before she perfected her Sarah Palin impersonation, Tina created and played the sparky, sharp-tongued Liz Lemon on TV’s 30 Rock. Before that, she was first female head writer in the legendary boys’ club of Saturday Night Live. Now she’s queen of American comedy and this memoir shows you why […]

The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan, Text, $32.95. You think I’m joking? A book on werewolves? Oh, but such an elegant, tongue-in-hairy-cheek take on the genre it makes you wonder why anyone wastes their time on those dreary and insipid vamps, eternal enemies of the lycanthrope tribe. Our hero (so to speak) is Jake Marlowe, […]

The Roving Party by Rohan Wilson, Allen & Unwin, $27.99. The Vogel literary award has been recognising and rewarding young writers for 30 years now, and this year’s winner is an absolute stand-out. Yes, it is dark and it tells a brutal story of a party of “rovers” (read thugs and killers) roaming the harsh […]