Staff holiday reading compiled from OZTL_NET, November 2012.
Amis, Martin.The Pregnant Widow. It is hilarious. It is available as an audio book too. Recommended by Libby Saxby
Barker, Pat. Toby's room.Historical novel set during WWI, this is a story of drama of identity and damage, of intimacy and loss. From the Booker prize winner author of the Regeneration trilogy. Recommended by Teresa Ison/Jill Duffield
Blomain, Karen. A trick of light. Highly readable story of a woman who unfolds her marriage and discovers it is far from what it seems. Recommended by Anne Mackinnon
Bensky, Lola.Lily Brett. Based on the author's time in London in the 60s as a music journalist. Recommended by Teresa Ison/Jill Duffield
Cantwell, John. Exit Wounds. Recommended by Barbara Braxton
Child. Lee. Running blind. I have just finished reading and couldn't put it down. A murder mystery. Recommended by Gerardine Prendergast
Claudel, Philippe. Monsieur Linh and his child. Winner of the Independent Foreign fiction Prize. This poignant novel powerfully conveys the grief and trauma of war, dispossession and refugee assimilation in a new land. It also looks at the lack of empathy of refugees from different countries towards one another and the power of friendship. Great read. Recommended by Dajo Finlayson
Connelly, Michael. The Drop. Recommended by Barbara Braxton
Conte, Steven. The Zookeeper's war. It is 1943 and each night in a bomb shelter beneath the Berlin Zoo an Australian woman, Ver, shelters with her German husband, Axel, the zoo director. A powerful novel of marriage and a city collapsing. Recommended by Teresa Ison/Jill Duffield
Coplin, Amanda.The Orchardist. Beautiful and gentle prose about relationships we interpret as family. Set in the north west of America in 1800's. Recommended by Anne Mackinnon
Cronin, Justin. The twelve. I loved The Passage and am looking forward to the second novel of the promised trilogy. Recommended by Michael Jongen
Dettman, Joy. Wind on the wires. 4th in the series by Joy which began with Pearl in a Cage, Thorn on the Rose, Moth to a Flame. Recommended by Barbara Braxton
de Waal, Edmund. The Hare with Amber Eyes. Recommended by Catherine Hainstock
deWitt, Patrick.The Sisters Brothers. Fabulous and sparsely written western. Heroic, tragic and galloping. Recommended by Anne Mackinnon
Donoghue, Emma. Room. Very original story. Most authentic voice of a young child I've read since Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. Recommended by Jenny King, Pat Pledger
Duncan, Glen.The last werewolf. Recommended by Michael Jongen
Flannery, Tim. The current - Quarterly Essay: After the Future: Australia's new Extinction Crisis. This is a very powerful read and if teachers arelooking for persuasive writing examples, look no further! Recommended by Catherine Hainstock
Funder, Anna .All That I Am. 2012 Miles Franklin winner. First novel of the acclaimed writer of non-fiction Stasiland. Writes beautifully. Recommended by Jenny King, Teresa Ison/Jill Duffield
Gardam, Jane. Crusoe's Daughter. For those who enjoy Gothic novels about orphans stuck in big houses. Nothing seems to happen and everything changes in this novel. The characters are brilliant and writing simply gorgeous and so delectable. Recommended by Maria Papazoglou
Grenville, Kate. Sarah Thornhill. Recommended by Ria Coffey, Teresa Ison/Jill Duffield
Grenville, Kate. The Secret River. Recommended by Ria Coffey
Harrower, Elizabeth. The Watch Tower. Recommended by Michael Jongen
Heiss, Anita. Am I black enough for you?Recommended by Michael Jongen
Johnson, Adam. The Orphan Master's Son. This is a picaresque novel and satire on the North Korean state featuring Jun Doh in a love triangle with Kim Il Jung and his muse Sun Moon. I was entertained and horrified. Recommended by Michael Jongen
Kingsolver, Barbara. Flight behaviour. Ready to take flight from her shotgun marriage, Dellarobia climbs a mountain ready to throw her life away through adultery. However she is stopped in her tracks by a vision. Recommended by Teresa Ison/Jill Duffield
Koch, Herman. The Dinner. What lengths would you go to protect your children? Is the premise of this very dark story. Recommended by Teresa Ison/Jill Duffield, Michael Jongen
Lanagan, Margo. Seahearts. Recommended by Michael Jongen
Liss, David. The coffee trader. Some reviews are at . Recommended by Thelma Harvey
Mankell, Henning. Faceless killers.Recommended by Teresa Ison/Jill Duffield
Mantel, Hilary.Wolf Hall and its sequel Bring Up the Bodies . I love the Tudors, and this is a great saga – long, but easily readable. Recommended by Jenny King, Teresa Ison/Jill Duffield
Marchetta, Melina. Quintana of Charyn. The 3rd in the Lumatere chronicles. An outstanding fantasy series. Recommended by Pat Pledger
McEwan, Ian. Sweet tooth. Crime story set during the cold war. Recommended by Teresa Ison/Jill Duffield
McGahan , Andrew. The Ship Kings series. (YA fiction). Recommended by Catherine Hainstock
McGeachin, Geoffrey. The Digger’s Rest Hotel. An Australian mystery set in Albury after World War 2. Very good read. Recommended by Pat Pledger
MacKenzie, Gordon. Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool's Guide to Surviving with Grace . Sounds crazy but has many words of wisdom on being creative and innovative within a large organisation from a man who worked for Hallmark cards. Corporate but also highly relevant for teaching. Recommended by Catherine Hainstock
Meers, Gillian.Foal's Bread. Deeply touching, raw and confrontingly familiar, especially the mother/daughter dichotomy. A stunning description of our recent rural past. Recommended by Anne Mackinnon
Murnane, Gerald. A history of books. Recommended by Michael Jongen
Nesbo, Jo.The bat. Before Detective Harry Hole comes across the likes of the Snowman and The Leopard, he has to fly to Australia to investigate The Bat. Recommended by Teresa Ison/Jill Duffield
Norman, Charity.Second Chances. Recommended by Barbara Braxton
Pamuk, Orhan. Silent house. Moving insight into the political and social tensions of Turkey in the lead up to the military coup of 1980. Teresa Ison/Jill Duffield
Perlman, Elliot. The Street Sweeper. Can't put this one down. It is a sweeping novel that draws on the Civil Rights Movement and deals with the fallout from Nazism and World War II
but takes in the angst of present day. A complex and dynamically written book. It is long and not for the fainthearted. There is a Dickensian feel with characters you cannot stop caring for. Recommended by Maria Papazoglou, Barbara Malcolm
Reece, Gordon. Mice. Recommended by Ria Coffey
Rowling, J.K. The Casual Vacancy. I enjoyed the small town politics and the witty dark humour. It's written with an energy and style that keeps you turning the page. Perhaps not the most elevating but certainly interesting social commentary. Recommended by Maria Papazoglou, Barbara Braxton
Schwartz, Jenny. Courting Trouble. My twitter pal @jenny_schwartz has just published her #steampunk alternative history of the Swan River colony. Recommended by Michael Jongen
See, Lisa. Snowflower and the secret fan. A great view into the lives of women in China around the time of the Taiping revolution, clearly evoking the gruelling and painful process of footbinding, the lifelong friendship of 'lootings',the class system, the hardships and cruelty of life in general but especially for the women. Recommended by Dajo Finlayson
Ruiz Zafon, Carlos. The Midnight Palace. Recommended by Michael Jongen
Simons, Paulina. Children of liberty. Turn of the century ill-fated love story. Recommended by Teresa Ison/Jill Duffield
Stedman, M.L. A Light Between Oceans Lovely to see a great Australian writer emerging. Great examination of a moral quandary. Recommended by Jenny King, Barbara Braxton
Stefan Mani. The ship. Recommended by Michael Jongen
Theroux, Paul. Hotel Honolulu. It is a novel, but each chapter is like a short story focussing on different characters and it is pretty easy going, but deceptively so, because I realised once finished reading that I had learnt a lot, and the book and its characters and settings kept returning to my mind. Recommended by Libby Saxby
Tulba, Majok. Beneath the Darkening Sky. It is brilliant. It is a fictitious account of the life of a child soldier in Africa. It is extremely graphic and ‘edge of your seat’ stuff. Recommended by Catherine Duffett
Verghese, Abraham. Cutting for stone. I think it is the best book I read this year. Set in Ethiopia, about an unlikely union between an Indian nun and a British doctor, both working at a hospital in Addis Ababa. Twins are born and the book tells of their amazing lives. Great cast of characters, beautifully written. Recommended by Louise Cluff
Waugh, Evelyn. Sword of Honour. Recommended by Michael Jongen
Whitehead, Colson. Zone One. Recommended by Michael Jongen
Winterson, Jeanette. Why be happy when you could be normal?. Sharon McGuinness
Worth, Jennifer. Call the Midwife. A memoir. Recommended by Sharon McGuinness
Reading and writing blog from Fran Penfold
Try my reading and writing blog, on which I have created page for adult reading, and going by feedback, our staff have found useful. I update it all the time and found it a great way to promote reading to staff. The response has been very positive:
In my keenness to promote it, and as such, our services to the school staff, I email new updates all the time to all staff, Admin and Educational.