#11. The Irresitible Inheritance of Wilberforce – Paul Torday

This book follows Wilberforce, a software developer who has built and sold a multi-million dollar company, before insinuating himself into a clique of aristocratic friends, including the eccentric wine merchant Francis Black. The story in fact begins at the end of Wilberforce's life, as he has become an alcoholic and is speedily drinking himself to death, and in subsequent sections, steps back in time two years until the root of his current dilemma is revealed. For this reason, the book is at its most depressing at the beginning, and gradually becomes lighter as you see what his life once was. So while the character of Wilberforce seems quite repulsive at first, you become more sympathetic to his fall from grace - especially as his growing addiction to (he would say love for) wine under Black's tutelage leads to the loss of his friends, the breakdown of his marriage, the death of his wife Catherine, and eventually a catastrophic financial decision clouded by delusion. Torday's writing, and in particular, his characterisation, reminds me of Mark Haddon's work in A Spot of Bother - strange little people stuck in odd situations, usually of their own making. Despite the dark spots, an enjoyable read.

#10. The Young Widow's Book of Home Improvements: a true story of love and renovation – Virginia Lloyd

I had started to become a little dissatisfied with my reading so far this year - yes, there were some pleasant diversions, but nothing really blew me away, until Virginia Lloyd's memoir of her all-too-brief relationship with her husband John, his battle with cancer and her subsequent struggle with her life after his death as well as the mammoth task of restoring an old Sydney terrace, riddled by rising damp, to its former glory.
Lloyd's story is utterly tragic - when at 32, she meets the 'man of her dreams', he is already terminally ill with cancer and has suffered through seven years worth of increasingly futile treatment for a rare type of bone cancer. They start a relationship anyway, and marry, although his disease progresses quickly, and he dies one month shy of their first wedding anniversary, leaving Lloyd a widow at just 34.
The narrative blends an account of their time together, as their lives were increasingly impacted by John's growing pain and immobility, and how Lloyd tries to pick up the pieces and move forward with her life after his death. The house's advanced state of decomposition and the huge amount of restoration it requires provides an apt metaphor for the process Lloyd must also undergo to recover from her emotional trauma.
While it is in no way overwritten or overly sentimental, Lloyd conveys the power of the love between her and her husband. It is perhaps a testament to this love that although the outcome was pretty clear from the beginning of their relationship, she not only seemed to have no hesitation about what she was getting into, and afterwards expressed no regret - rather gratitude - that they had met and fallen in love at all, only that it was over too soon. Sometimes it is horribly raw; but for a book with such a sad story, it is... well I wouldn't call it anything so twee as uplifting... but it certainly is as beautiful as it is moving and heart-wrenching.

#9. Making Waves: 10 years of the Byron Bay Writers Festival - edited by Marele Day, Susan Bradley Smith and Fay Knight

I picked up this book because I like writers' festivals - well, actually, that's not true... I like the IDEA of writers' festivals, but when I actually get there I get frustrated by the crowds of middle-aged women who are just certain there is a novel within them, just waiting to get out. Anyway so this book was a kind of compromise - get the writers' festival vibe without actually being there. And sadly my experience of the book was much like my experience at writers' festivals - slightly bewildering and disappointing. The editors of this book seem to have compiled the anthology with some very loose rules - it appears all the authors must have been a guest at the Byron Bay Writers' Festival at some point, but there the connection ends. Some of the pieces were keynotes or presentations made at the festival, some were pieces about the experience of the festival, and some were pieces snatched from other sources, with the only relationship to the Writers' Festival that they turned up once. The ordering of the chapters was odd too – a longish essay by Christopher Kremmer on 'American Empire: Politics and Culture in the 21st Century' butts up against a piece of fiction by Roger McDonald. It's a bit jarring, and I would have preferred some sort of thematic organisation.
There were some gems, though, that made me glad to have picked this up. Among them, Kate Grenville's Thea Astley lecture from 2005, called 'Saying the Unsayable', which showed off both her incredible eye for historical research and her ability to bring a scene from the distant past into full colour - which, from what I have read, makes The Lieutenant such fascinating reading. Hilary McPhee, who I have always enjoyed reading, gave a speech at the opening dinner of the festival in 2002 on the state of writing and publishing in Australia, which was of course of interest. There were some, by turns, touching and funny anecdotal pieces by Ruth Ostrow and Nick Earls, a chapter by Larry Buttrose on capital-t literary Theory which brought back fond memories of my tussle with Postmodernism at uni, and a wonderful round-up of writings by Aboriginal authors on their sense of place and their connection to coutnry by Anita Heiss.
But perhaps reflecting my initial attraction to this book, my favourite pieces were about the experience of being a writer at the festival - Mungo MacCallum's nightmare experience at the Melbourne Writers' Festival, and his joy at the contrast with the Byron version; Robyn Williams recounting how he had to be dragged out of bed by the organisers as his forgotten session was already underway; and Di Morrissey, a Byron native, about doing the rounds as a popular author and the scandals that inevitably surround such an event.
Looking back, there were actually many more 'highlights' in this book than I remembered - but I'll attribute my lukewarm response to a lack of editorial flow.

#8. Real You Incorporated: 8 Essentials for Women Entrepreneurs – Kaira Sturdivant Rouda

As a guide to developing your own 'real' brand as an entrepreneur, this was very practical and would be really handy if you were just starting out in business. As you work through the eight 'essentials', you build up a chart summing up you, your passions, your brand, positioning, culture and customers, which gives a comprehensive picture of how you see yourself and your business. There was much more to this book though, with 25 other 'life lessons', as well as stories from other female entrepreneurs, other books to read, questions to think about and action steps - and I think if you were going to get the most from it, you would really have to spend quite a bit of time working through all these questions.
It did come from that very American corporate marketing perspective, which grated on me a bit, and sometimes it didn't seem clear whether it was targeted at smaller businesses or women starting out, or women leading large corporate entities - in particular, the chapter on designing your premises really wouldn't be relevant for most new businesses! But generally, I found the message of following your own passions and being authentic in the way you run your business to be quite inspiring.

#7. Alfie – Bill Naughton

Now having not seen the film (either the Michael Caine or the Jude Law version), I didn't really know what I was expecting, but this certainly wasn't it. I thought it would be a bit light, a bit cheeky, and it was in places – but underneath Alfie's cocky swagger and the women on high-rotation, there was something a bit sad as he deals with TB, loses his son because of his inability to grow up and stop being such a cad, and deals with the consequences of getting his mate's wife into 'trouble'. Despite the fact that he referred to every woman he was with as 'bird', or worse, 'it', I liked him enough to feel sorry for him. And thankfully, there was no convenient redemption at the end - he was still the same shameless, selfish Lothario as he was in the beginning.
Still, I can't imagine how slimy Jude Law was picked for the part in the remake of the movie – he would have been nowhere near rough enough.

#6. Three of the Best: the Modern Woman's Guide to Everything – Candace Lewis and Margaret O'Sullivan

This book is more a reference guide than a straight read – and seems to be the latest brainchild of those clever people at ABC Books, probably hoping to repeat the runaway success of their Spotless and Speedcleaning books.
When they wrote in the blurb on the back, "Now there is no need to rip all those useful articles from newspapers and magazine (which you can never find when you need them)", they must have been talking about me - especially as I have folders, files, and boxes full of useful articles, most of which I never refer to. And really, one little book which covers ways to keep your relationship passionate and what to do if you get arrested has to be handy.
Although the concept seems fairly simple - three of the best things to do/buy/make/think in a whole range of categories loosely grouped under headings such as Fit, Beautiful, Peace, Fuel, Survival, Downtime, and Stand Up – I think they have been a little cheeky sometimes, adding in some extra points when obviously there were more than three 'best' options to cover.
The best way to read this is obviously to dip into the chapters depending on what you need to know, but in the spirit of this blog (and because I'm a bit odd like that), I read it from cover to cover. So here are some of my 'Three of the Best's:

Three of the Best Bits of Useful Information
1. 3 Car Tricks – including how to jump-start a car, how to recover from a skid, and what to do if your brakes fail.
2. 3 Bra Fittings – this should be a god-send for anyone else who is terrified of those ladies in the underwear department of David Jones but would still like to wear the right sized bra.
3. Nail Fix-Its – as my dear husband reminded me when I was cursing a smudged nail, this section has some handy tips so you don't have to start all over again.

Three of the Best Entries Least Likely to be Read
1. 3 Ways to Make New Friends – apparently the keys are work, entertain (who? strangers?) and get involved. But would someone really look this up??
2. Most of the recipes – really, if you need to look at a book like this to work out what to cook, then the chances of you inviting your 8 closest friends over for a three-course dinner party are surely pretty slim.
3. 3 Cosmetic Tattoos. At least I hope so. Because as far as I have seen, this is rarely a good idea.

Three of the Best Bizarre Bits
1. In the section on Survival, helpful bits of info like how to stop someone from choking and emergency phone numbers sit alongside 'apostrophe survival' – how to correctly use apostrophes. While I applaud the effort to try to get people to use them correctly, hardly a matter of life or death.
2. 3 Car Colours You Wouldn't Be Seen Dead In – so next time you're trying to choose the colour of your new car, apparently white, light and bright are the safest options. Good to know.
3. 3 Undies – while I totally concur with Target and La Perla as good options for buying underwear (or I would with the latter if I was on a six-figure salary), sex shops as top of the list?