From salacious and savage to escapist and evocative, here are the page-turners Guardian Australia writers are whipping through on break
Fiction, Bloomsbury
Any Human Heart is the cradle-to-grave story of William Boyd’s fictional Logan Mountstuart, whose life spans every decade of the 20century and some of its momentous events. Mountstuart – novelist, art dealer, husband, friend to a band of eccentrics from schooldays, lover and elderly pauper – takes flight through first-person journals superbly imagined by Boyd.
Evocatively translated into English by Ann Goldstein, you might find yourself awake at 4am on a hot January night having accidentally pushed through to the final chapter in one sitting. Not to worry – there are three more entries, and decades of Lenù and Lila, to see you through February.Why this effervescent, wildly original novel hasn’t yet been transformed into a kitsch slice of Australian cinema à la Priscilla or The Dish is beyond me.
Charles Dickens mixed with Flannery O’Connor, it’s long, atmospheric, funny, scary and utterly hypnotic. –Escapist and loaded with salacious detail, reading Sultry Climates will make you the smuttiest smarty-pants at the dinner party. Drawing on letters and private diaries, Littlewood’s alternative history lays out the hot and heavy but rarely explored relationship between travel and sex, from the Grand Tour through to the 20th century.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Guardian tech reviews in 2022: better to repair and longer-lasting devicesMore devices contain recycled materials and are supported for longer, but there is much more to do
Read more »
Putin slaps oil ban on Australia, G7 in payback for price capRussia’s president has given his long-awaited response to the most dramatic step taken so far to limit Moscow’s ability to raise funds for its war in Ukraine.
Read more »
Tennis boss' plea to fans as Djokovic arrives in Australia almost one year after deportationNovak Djokovic - who was sensationally kicked out of Australia almost one year ago due to his COVID-19 vaccine status - has arrived into the country for the summer of tennis, with fans given one message ahead of his first match.
Read more »
Putin delivers major blow to AustraliaVladimir Putin has placed a ban on the sale of oil to countries, including Australia, that implemented price caps on Russia in an attempt to put a dent in its war chest.
Read more »
Novak Djokovic lands in Australia quietly 12 months after deportationAlmost a year after his high-profile visa ban, the 35-year-old has managed to slip under the radar on arrival in Adelaide
Read more »