Winter warming and reading bliss

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Winter warming and reading bliss

Canberra in Winter can be glorious or dismal. This last week we encountered more than we needed of its dismalness (a word? Doesn’t look quite right but spellcheck seems to like it. Regardless, you get the general idea). Bitterly cold days, fog that would not lift, washing on the line two days and still not dry. But things are looking up. The Hyatt has introduced a hot chocolate menu to its tea lounge and a curry fiesta for the next two weeks, and we have had our first few nights of wood fires. Winter warming bliss.

One of our local journalists recently asked me a bunch of questions for a future article which may or may not appear. Just one of those brief ‘get to know’ things. One of the questions was what is on your bedside table right now. Well, on the off chance you are interested, I will reveal all. The sort-of antique table with green silk scarf throw is pretty cluttered there at the moment. What with the long sought and finally found Laura Ashley lamp and the ubiquitous clock radio, not to mention the ever present cup of tea, there is hardly room for books, but a pile still manages to teeter on the edge, threatening to fall in a heap on the pile on the floor next to it. I usually have a few on the go at any given time so, depending on my mood, I can have something just right. I am just finishing Julie Summers’ Strangers in the House. Women's stories of men returning from the Second World War and, following the theme back to the end of the First World War, about to start Marina Larsson’s Shattered Anzacs. Living with the Scars of War. I have flipped through and am very looking forward to getting stuck into it. It is on the list today so let me know if you want a copy too. I am well into Catherine Aird’s recently reprinted The Religious Body, the first Inspector Sloan mystery (you will always find a crime novel on my bedside table) and should find out who-dunnit tonight. I am also working my way through Peter Fitzsimon’s Charles Kingsford Smith and those Magnificent Men. A long term commitment at 600+ pages. And for dipping into, Audrey Tennyson’s Vice Regal Days, loaned to me by my friend Jill’s mother who knows I love history, women’s experiences and letters and this has all three. David is less ambitious than I. He just has one on the go at the moment. He is working his way through the recent reprints of the Martin Beck crime books, and is on ‘T’ at the moment. We always have our noses in books in the Alexander Fax household. Except for when we haven’t, that is.

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What I'm reading right now (well, not RIGHT now, but when I'm reading)

Anything and everything about the Battle of Britain. My library is getting bigger everyweek. Any suggestions? My favourite, tho' is Fighter Boys by Patrick Bishop. A remarkable, intimate portrait of the young men of Fighter Command, whose skill, temperament and morale determined the fate of Britain and arguably the free worldThe Battle of Britain, fought in the skies over Britain during the sweltering summer of 1940, was one of the most crucial battles ever fought: without the Luftwaffe's control of the skies it was unlikely that Nazi Germany would mount an invasion across the Channel. For most of the 3000 young British airmen involved this was their first real experience of combat. The pressure on the pilots, groundcrew and their controllers was unimaginable at certain points in the Battle a single blunder or failure of nerve could have been enough to tip the balance of the contest and give victory to the enemy. Patrick Bishop creates a new and surprising portrait of the Battle drawing on previously unseen source material and testimonies from survivors on both sides. Against the background of wider strategic considerations, he focuses on the lives and thoughts of the combatants, their attitudes towards 'the enemy' and their aircraft, the fear, horror and exhilaration of flight and battle, attempts by each side to gain the upper hand through.
Down Under by Bill Bryson. I have always loved Bill Bryson’s writing and especially his travel accounts. I usually have the radio on at night to lull me to sleep and recently the ABC repeated a literary luncheon for Bryson’s memoir The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. Despite my tiredness, I could not help cracking up. I recalled how much I had enjoyed the Kid and thought if it still makes me laugh I had better reread it. So I did, and decided it was time to work my way through Bryson’s other books. A friend and I had recently been talking about Down Under and Bryson’s sad experiences in Canberra so I thought I had better reread it first. (Memo to Mr Bryson: Canberra has its moments, but it is dead in the post-Christmas period as half the populace have headed for the coast. Which would partially explain the dismal time in the national capital!) Down Under improves on a second reading! I have not stopped laughing. I enjoy the travel genre but none more so than when the writer shows a genuine affection for the place he or she is visiting. Bryson enjoys Australia and, because of his obvious affection, you do not mind it when he highlights our little idiosyncrasies. I usually have a few books on the go at a time, and usually do not mix my genres. But at the moment, The Valley came to me at about the same time as I picked up Down Under. Different genres maybe, but both highlight aspects of Australia and our history. I say below how Michael McKernan’s style makes me think of Uncle Michael setting you down to tell as story but Bryson makes me think of big brother Bill, leading you by the hand, to teach you of his experiences and share his greater knowledge and learning about his favourite subjects. Just like any big brother, you never quite know when he is pulling your leg with his wonderful gift of exaggeration, until the leg has been flung far away! And then you burst out laughing so loud and can’t wait until your dear brother tells you another tall tale! A wonderful book and I can’t wait to move on to the next Bryson in bedside my pile.
The Valley by Michael McKernan. This beautifully and sensitively tells the story of rural Australia in the years of white settlement from the earliest days to the present, but from the perspective of one valley in NSW, Australia, which is but a short drive from Canberra. It is a story of great wealth and hard work, of struggle and achievement. It is a story of the love of the land; of the creation of community; of the love of country. Michael McKernan has listened to the stories of the people of the valley of Jugiong in southern NSW, and in telling their stories reflects our national story. The voices of The Valley are of workers and land owners, of soldiers and politicians, of men and women, of rabbiters and shearers. Of honest country folk who made sacrifices for both the land and their country. This book is not my usual literary fare but I turned to it with great excitement when it arrived from the publisher the other day. I enjoy Michael McKernan’s style. He is a natural story teller and his expertise is social history, which is what I prefer. As I read his books, it is almost like sitting on Uncle Michael’s lap as he patiently and eloquently spins a yarn. But unlike most yarns, his stories are true and unembroidered, and more powerful because of it.

New Books

Peter Stanley: Men of Mont St Quentin. Scribe Publications. At exactly 1.30 p.m. on 1 September 1918, the dozen men of Nine Platoon, 21st Australian Infantry Battalion, rose from Elsa Trench and walked across a weedy beet-field toward the German defenders of Mont St Quentin. Within hours, three were dead and five more were wounded, one of whom died six weeks later. The survivors returned from war, more-or-less intact, to live through the next sixty-odd years in the shadow of that traumatic event. Men of Mont St Quentin tells the story of the men of Nine Platoon and their families. This is the first time that the story of such a group of Australians has been told - only made possible because Garry Roberts, the father of one of the dead, was so grieved by his son Frank's death that he obsessively collected accounts of what happened that afternoon. The Roberts' family papers, used here in this way for the first time, reveal the lives of Frank's comrades and their families as they came to terms with loss and life after war. In the hands of Peter Stanley, one of Australia's leading military historians, a famous battlefield in France becomes unforgettably connected with Australian men and their families in the long aftermath of the Great War. Social military history at its best.
Kristen Alexander: Jack Davenport Beaufighter Leader. Flying Hampdens and Beaufighters, Wing Commander Jack Davenport AC DSO DFC* GM served two tours with 455 Squadron RAAF. Perceptive, sympathetic, and with Alexander's hallmark blend of sound research and enlightening anecdote, Jack Davenport, Beaufighter Leader charts Jack's development from his Depression-era childhood, to the green pilot who had difficulties locating the target on his first Bomber Command operations, through to the superb pilot who led 455 Squadron on successful strikes against German shipping and the cool and resourceful planner of Coastal Command operations in the latter months of the war. Jack Davenport, Beaufighter Leader recounts the life of an Australian hero. Jack saved the lives of his crew from a near-fatal spin and rescued a pilot from a blazing aircraft; he flew close to well-armed enemy vessels to drop his torpedoes; and led large formations in the narrow confines of the Norwegian fjords to successfully attack enemy shipping. But there is more to heroism than just courage and brave deeds; Jack's career also encompassed the heroism of conviction, duty, responsibility and dedication to service.
Bill Billett: Mont St Quentin. A Soldier's Battle
Paul Daley: Beersheba. A Journey through Australia's forgotten war
H Lewis Wicking: Gunners of the Sixteenth. An Illustrated History of the 16th Australian Field Regiment AIF 1941-2001. (First Australian Armoured Division 1942, Jungle Division 1945)
Phil Davenport: Hurrah for the Next Man
Max Emery: They Rode into History. The History of the 8th Light Horse Regiment AIF, 1916-19

Alexander Fax Booksellers - Australian military history specialists

Tuesday, June 16, 2009