Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Ho hum, sometimes it seems every book you pick up is about some really depressing subject matter.  Still Alice is no exception as it is a story about Alice, who becomes diagnosed with Alzhiemers Disease.  This is a big deal as she is a 50-year old Harvard professor who prides herself on her ability to amazingly recall all kinds of facts and details collected over her career.  The disease therefore forces her to look beyond her career at life itself.

There are a number of things that make this book different to the other books you may pick up.  Firstly it is told from the point of view of the sufferer - her frustrations and difficulty coming to terms with her diagnosis.  Secondly it is not a depressing book.  I really liked the easy style of writing and of course it is emotional at times, but you don't finish feeling deflated.

The Home Filez rating - 4 stars!

The Shadow in the Wind By Carlos Ruiz Zafon

From the minute you pick up this book you know you are reading something special.  It is an intriguing story of mystery and adventure, love and murder, and evolves at a truly satisfying pace.

The story is set in Barcelona, Spain, which seems as entwined in the adventure as New York is to Sex and the City.  Daniel Sempere is a 10 year old boy, still grieving for his deceased mother, who takes us on his coming of age tale over the course of a decade.  At first light one morning, his widowed father takes Daniel to a secret library of unowned books.  Here Daniel finds a magical book that prompts him to find other works by the author, only to discover a web of destruction and tragedy.

I read each page of this book with relish!  It was a wonderful story and a celebration of books and reading!  It comes highly recommended by me.

The Home Filez rating:  5 stars!

Steve Jobs bio

I really enjoyed this read, although must admit I wasn't expecting too.  I'm not a techy-head nor am I a big Apple fan, well at least I wasn't.  After reading it I do admire each device with a new found appreciation for its life changing ingenuity and design beauty!

Jobs is such a character; I guess you have to be to make such a mark on the world.  He was certainly not always the nicest of people but it seems he liked those who stood up to him and didn't pander.  He loved the idea of being renegades of corporate culture and built his teams up with this mentality.

The book is written warts and all; it appears to be quite unbias.  Apparently his wife requested that the author not make him appear some super hero and insisted the negative be included along with the positive.  He loved telling people they were idiots and wasting him time... you wonder how those people feel about being named in the book!


The Home Filez rating.... 4 stars

The Paris Wife

I loved this book so much!  It is a terrific story that transports you to the fashionable life of Paris in the 20's.  It is based around the marriage of Ernest Hemmingway and Hadley Richardson, Hemmingway's first wife.  Hadley is portrayed as such a beautifully decent person and staunchly solid wife that it is joy to accompany her for the ride through the partying and fast-living life of the Roaring 20's in Paris.  Hadley describes herself as stocky and unfashionable, yet Hemmingway insists thats what he loves about her.  Nonetheless beautiful women insist upon competing for his affections, and since family values and monogamy were not the order of the day, Hadley struggles to maintain a calm security about her marriage.

Apparently Hemmingway wrote that he would rather have died than fallen in love with anyone but Hadley.  Heartbreaking in light of the story.

The Home Filez rating - 5 stars!!  Woo hoo!

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

I really enjoyed this book. It is an easy, quick read and very well written.

It tells the story of Esme and Kitty Lennox who are born in colonial India. Esme has always been the more spirited child while Kitty conforms to her mother's conservative wishes. When typhoid fever claims their young brother's life the family return to Edinburgh. Esme becomes more rebellious and refuses to conform to polite society much to her family's dismay. She regularly confides in her sister, Kitty, about how stifled she is by rules and conformity. When an incident at a party upsets Esme, Kitty tells a doctor that Esme has hallucinations and they send her to mental asylum. She is 16 years old.

For some 60 years, Esme is left at the asylum forgotten by her family. It is only when the asylum is closing that her niece, Iris, is called on to collect her. Iris didn't know she had an aunt, yet finds her surprisingly sane when they meet. Once Esme finds out Kitty is still alive and living in a nursing home with Alzheimer's, she requests to visit her. The family secrets are at risk of being finally exposed.

The Home Filez rating.... 4 stars!

Caleb's crossing

I really enjoyed this book. The writing is brilliant in that it transports you to that place in time and makes you feel you are there witnessing all.

The story is about Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, a member of the Wopanaak tribe of Martha's Vineyard, born around 1646 and the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Although Caleb was a real person Brooks has taken what few facts are known of Caleb's life and created a fictional account of his story. The story is narrated by Bethia Mayfield, the daughter of a minister in a strict English puritan settlement on Martha's Vineyard, and is an entirely fictional character. Much of the story focuses on Bethia and her frustration at being denied an education due to her gender.

Bethia is 12 year old when she first meets Caleb and begins to form a friendship with him - each learning of the other's culture and language. Bethia's father is intent on educating and reforming the Native Indians to the English way of life - including it's strict faith and ways of worship - and Caleb becomes one of his pupils much to the disgust of his uncle who is a leader in his tribe.

A really interesting read. I am going to hunt down more books by Geraldine Brooks'.

The Home Filz rating - 4 stars!

The Spare Room by Helen Garner

I really enjoy Helen Garner's writing, hence the second review of one of her books. I read a review of hers that said she was "good company, good in a book", and I think that describes her writing perfectly.

The Spare Room is about a woman in her 60's named Helen who has her friend Nicola coming to stay with her in Melbourne. Nicola is fun, playful and has liver and bone cancer. She is staying with Helen to try her latest discovery in alternate medicine that will rid her of the cancer. During the 3 weeks of her stay, Helen works slavishly to look after her dying friend and grits her teeth to the weird treatments until she no longer can.

It is a wonderfully honest story as Helen deals with both the workload and stressload of a friend in denial of dying. She is very human in her frustration and anger. What sounds like a depressing subject matter becomes an enjoyable fictional read through Garner's great writing.

It fascinated me that an author would use her own name for the lead character; it certainly does seem like a story close to her own heart. The Helen in the book is also a writer, who lives in Melbourne, next door to her daughter. Is the story more true than fiction?

The Home Filez rating.... 4/5!*

* I know that most reviews have been rated 4/5!! I have made a point of only including the good reads, so somehow these become etched in my mind (although I still can never think of a single book when someone says what have you read that's good lately?!)

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This book has been made into a movie and at the time of writing is about to be released. It will be interesting to see Hollywood's take; I'm sure they will have added plenty of cheese on top!

The story is set in the early 1960's in the southern states of America when white households employed black domestic servants. It is told predominantly from the black servant perspective, or at least that is certainly where the author's empathy lies. The white lady bosses prove to be vain, racist and not interested in raising their own children. Miss Hilly, the leader of the white housewives, campaigns heavily to have all households in their town install extra outdoor toilets so the coloured help do not have to utilise the family bathroom.

The black maids by comparison are diligent and hardworking; the main character is the lovely Aibileen who has a special fondness for the white children she raises and personally feels the heartbreak of them growing up and away from her, ultimately losing their innocent blindness to colour. Minny is the other main character who is keen to stand up to her white bosses and has a few tricks up her sleeve for dealing with those who disrespect her!

The hero of the story however is a white woman named Skeeter, a friend of Miss Hilly's, who has an interest in writing a tell-all book that reveals the experiences of the maids. It requires a brave and tenacious effort, and one that will surely create trouble for all involved if it were to ever see the light of day.

I really enjoyed the book, it moves at a good pace and seems to capture the essence of the black characters through their dialect. The author is a well-to-do white woman living in New York City. She herself was raised in Jackson, Mississippi by the black housemaid employed by her household and ultimately lost track of her. The book is her attempt to fill the void from not knowing any personal details of the person who played such an instrumental part in her upbringing.

Stockett seems to have attracted a lot of criticism for writing from the black perspective when she grew up on the other side of the story. Many question whether she has the right to take on the story from any other perspective than one she experienced herself. Interesting... she seemed convincing to me, but what would I know about slave labour in the deep south in the Sixties!

Scene taken from the upcoming movie

A Distant Fog by Kate Morton

This is the first book written by Kate Morton. According to the Sydney Morning Herald it has been sold in 11 countries, produced a deal worth close to $1 million and sparked movie interest with one of the makers of the Da Vinci Code. Quite an achievement for a 29 year old Queenslander!


I really loved this story; it is so totally engrossing. It is set in the 1920's and was remincient of Gatsby to me! It is told from the persepective of Grace Bradley who became a housemaid at Riverton Manor at the age of 14. She is both intrigued by and in awe of the 3 children of the Manor, Hannah, Emmeline and their older brother David Hartford, and is eventually taken into their inner circle. It is told in retrospect as Grace is now 98 years old, and has been harbouring a terrible secret for so many years.

As well as the storyline, I really liked the historical component of the book and all the period charm - it is obviously well researched and the author captures it beautifully. It addresses all the unrest of WWI and the social changes of the 1920's, as well as including much glamour and decadence that seemed relevant to this era.

The Home Filez rating - 4 stars!

The Other Hand by Chris Cleave

Read the back of this book and it is clouded in mystery... it begs the reader to keep the plot a secret! Who knows why? Doesn't everyone know you don't give away the punchline to books and movies?! Nonetheless it is a thought-provoking book and well worth a read.

The story brings together a 16 year old Nigerian girl named Little Bee running from a life of constant misfortune, and an English magazine editor who has embarked on an unsatisfying affair. The two first meet on an African beach where Sarah O'Rourke has ventured with her husband, Andrew, in an effort to save their marriage. The events that take place on the beach are life-changing for all of them, and when Little Bee manages to escape to England she feels connected enough by the events to contact the O'Rourkes. It is Andrew O'Rourke who is most distraught to hear from her.

The unfolding of events makes this book so interesting. It also highlights the vast differences between the two lives of Little Bee, who has suffered a life-and-death struggle most of her life, and Sarah O'Rourke, whose life in Kingston-on-Thames can only appear superficial in comparison. The humour Cleave uses lightens the horrifying events and makes the book a great read.

The Home Filez rating.... 4 stars!

Joe Cinque's Consolation by Helen Garner

Wow, this is such a riveting read as you try to comprehend the events that took place and read with disbelief the judge's verdict. What is so amazing is the story is true!

Joe Cinque is murdered in 1997 by his 25 year old girlfriend, Australian National University law student Anu Singh, in their Canberra apartment. It is part of a plan hatched by Singh to kill both herself and Cinque after a farewell dinner party in their home. The majority of the dinner party guests are aware of the plan, everyone except Cinque. Singh feeds Cinque a lethal dose of Rohypnol and heroin but it takes him 36 hours to die - while Singh watches on.

To add to the bizarre scenario, Singh has discussed her plans with friends, and at length with her best friend. A friend teaches her how to inject and another purchases the drugs for her. Others are at the dinner parties held prior, two parties as she didn't proceed after the first one. No one tries to stop her, no one warns Cinque.

The judge rules not guilty based on diminished responsibility. The verdict is delivered by a single judge, no jury, after the trial of Singh and her best friend for murder is aborted in 1999.

Helen Garner's book is a personal account of her following the legal proceedings and interviews with the Joe Cinque's grief-stricken parents. It is such a provocative read, and so incredibly interesting in the issues it raises around ethics, the legal system, and all the gaps in between.

The Home Filez rating - 5 stars!

A Fraction of the Whole

I really enjoyed this novel - it is so quirky, unique and very funny! What an interesting mind Steve Toltz has to come up with such an outrageous plot and such eccentric characters!

A Fraction of the Whole tells the story of Jasper Dean, a young man trying to make sense of his life. His upbringing is very non-conventional to say the least, being raised by his father, Martin Dean, who wavers between thinking Jasper should be home schooled by himself and being educated in public schools in order to challenge the system. Martin has a brilliant philosophical mind yet is tortured by constant indecision and over-analysis which sends him to the brink of crazy more than once.

Martin's upbringing was also highly unconventional and he lives in the shadow of his younger brother, Terry Dean. Terry is somewhat of an Australian hero, whose legend lives on beyond his life, leaving Jasper to wonder who his famous uncle was and his father's relationship with him.

As wonderful as this book is by the end I was exhausted by all the bizarre twists and turns and felt ready to leave their eccentric world behind; a little too long perhaps, or a just few too many outrageous scenarios? Still a great piece of Australian literature. It was shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize.

The Home Filez rating: 4 stars!

Jasper Jones is a must read!

This is a fabulous Australian story that will have you hooked from the first page!

It is a coming of age tale narrated by 13 year old Charlie Bucktin who is an awkward teen trying to fit in with his peers. The story unfolds when Jasper Jones, the town's tough outcast, comes knocking on Charlie's window one night asking for his help. Charlie is both intrigued and delighted but soon wishes he wasn't involved in what subsequently occurs.

Set in a ficticious mining town in remote Western Australia in the 1960's, the author includes references to current events such as the drafting for the Vietnam War, and Charlie's incomprehension of the small town racial hatred toward his Vietnamese friend, Jeffrey Lu, and his family.

Add into this a story of first love, and revelations of old family secrets, and it sums to an interesting, thought provoking read.

The imagery and characters are so wonderfully done with Jeffery Lu taking the prize! I found Charlie and Jeffrey's banter hilarious! This book is destined to become an Australian classic.

The Home Filez rating: 5 stars!