Happy’s Best New Books (4th October – 10th October)
Updated weekly by the fine folk at Happy Mag, these are the best new books that this week has to offer from Australia and around the world!
Emily Bitto – Wild Abandon
Emily Bitto — the Stella Prize-winning author of The Strays — has returned with a new novel that comes from an entirely different place. In Wild Abandon, the decadence of a new era of capitalism is the background to the story of Will, a heartbroken millennial who embarks on a cocktail-soaked quest to lose himself in New York. But it’s only when he falls under the spell of an exotic animal collector living in the American midwest that the story meets its exhilarating climax.
9.6
BUY HERE
EMILY BITTO
WILD ABANDON
Alec MacGillis – Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America
In Fulfillment, award-winning journalist Alec MacGillis presents a broad view of Amazon and the way it is shifting the grounds of capitalism in America. Echoing the 1937 book on the Ford Motor Company by Upton Sinclair, MacGillis’ investigation of this now trillion-dollar behemoth illustrates how a single company exacerbates the gap between rich and poor and has the power to reshape a nation.
9.3
BUY HERE
FULFILLMENT
ALEC MACGILLIS
Delia Falconer – Signs and Wonders
In the hands Delia Falconer, readers were able to see Sydney in a new light. Little wonder that when she turned her attention to climate change, it would be from a fresh perspective. This collection of essays examines the cultural shifts that are occurring as we contemplate irrevocable transformation in our natural world. As always with Falconer, it’s a scintillating and challenging experience.
9.4
BUY HERE
DELIA FALCONER
SIGNS AND WONDERS
SJ Norman – Permafrost
In this original suite of short stories, SJ Norman — winner of the Kill Your Darlings Manuscript Award — presents multiple interpretations on the concept of haunting. It’s an unsettling journey that takes readers from rural Australia to a tour of Auschwitz, into the snowdrifts of Hokkaido, and beyond. An unnerving blend of the every day with the vividly dreamlike, it’s a debut collection that will live long in your mind.
9.3
BUY HERE
SJ NORMAN
PERMAFROST
Evelyn Juers – The Dancer
Master biographer Evelyn Juers takes on an intriguing and mysterious subject in her latest book. The Dancer traces the short life of the pioneering Australian artist, Philippa Cullen. A dancer whose approach was unabashedly original, Cullen was a pioneering force in electronic music, an adventurous avant-garde artist. Juers’ intricate, moving, and dazzling book is equal in artistry to the subject she depicts.
9.4
BUY HERE
THE DANCER
EVELYN JUERS
Dave Grohl – The Storyteller
Dave Grohl has quite the tale to tell. In the Storyteller, he takes an episodic approach to his musical development — his adolescence in the suburban sprawl and its musical awakenings, his first taste of the touring life, Nirvana and the tragedy that came all-too-soon, and the considerable energy that he pours into Foo Fighters. In many eyes, he’s ascended to a kind of mythical status — the world’s biggest rock star in an age where the label itself seems hopelessly anachronistic. Refreshingly though — as you’ll discover in the book — he doesn’t believe in that myth for a second.
9.0
BUY HERE
