Just So Stories

Random Reviews and Ramblings from Redcliffe

  • Heads up on these two

    To conclude this week of NAIDOC posts, I want to bring your attention to these two titles for adults. Contrary to my usual practice of only reviewing what I’ve read, I’ve just not had time to get to these [though I certainly intend to!]. But for your benefit, I’m giving them a plug now. Deep…

  • A Different Kind of Power: a memoir – Jacinda Ardern

    Penguin Australia First up, I’m going to say a big thank you to Penguin, especially the indefatigable Dot Tonkin, for giving me the opportunity to read and review this. As someone who admired this young woman as a trailblazer, it has been interesting to see her in close-up, so to speak. I think for many…

  • Bodypedia: a brief compendiium of human anatomical curiosities – Adam Taor

    Princeton University Press Adam Taor 9780691256788 / June 2025 / AUD$29.99, NZD$34.99 Ok, so I’m bending my own rule here and reviewing this before I’ve completely finished reading it, because this delicious little volume is absolutely worth savouring at leisure. I’m underlining ‘little’ because this little jewel of a book is only about as big as my hand…

  • Inconvenient Women: Australian radical writers 1900–1970 – Jacqueline Kent

    UNSW Press 9781742237503 / May 2025 / RRP $34.99 You might guess that long extended adult reads do not happen all that often for me. I’m generally so snowed under reading kids lit that squeezing in the adult books is a mission – and usually reserved for the days at the beach while The Kid surfs or my occasional…

  • The Gift of a Good Death Our palliative dementia story – Lisa Twigg

    November 2024 I had great pleasure in reviewing Lisa’s first book 80 Years Without Dementia last year, not only because she is one of our friends from Redcliffe SLS but also because her story touches so many lives. This is particularly so for those of us who are older and have had the heartache of…

  • Blak ANZAC Day

    You are correct. I did say the blog was having a break until after ANZAC Day but when Big Sky Publishing sent me these which arrived today (16th) how could I not read and review them to mark ANZAC 2025. You might already have them or not but be well advised to do so, if…

  • Young Dark Emu: a Truer History – Bruce Pascoe

    Imprint: Magabala Books Hachette Books February 2025 ISBN: 9781922777508 RRP: $29.99 Eleven years ago this month, I had the great pleasure of reading and reviewing Dark Emu – Blackseeds: Accident or Agriculture? for Magabala and in that review, I commented on how much new information I gleaned from this detailed and knowledge-based account from a…

  • Marramarra: Indigenous Artists Making History Visible – a collaboration by Brook Garru Andrew and Jessica Neath.

    UNSW 9781742237039 / November 2024/ $49.99 marramarra (a Wiradjuri word meaning to create, make or do) explores how contemporary Indigenous artists and their communities are revealing hidden histories and finding pathways to healing. I don’t even pretend to be an artist though I do like ‘messing’ around with creative bits and pieces, so not only did this book…

  • Into the Ice: Reflections on Antarctica – Alison Lester & Coral Tulloch.

    Allen & Unwin October 2024 ISBN:9781760526061 Publisher:A&U Children’s Imprint:A & U Children RRP: $35.00 Honestly, it is a little hard for me to define this sumptuous book, but I am putting in here as a picture book – although, it is patently so much more than that. Really, it is an illustrated journal with these…

  • A Flock of Beautiful Bird Books

    Woodslane Publishing So this parcel of absolutely stunning bird books arrived just as I’d finished this years Bird Count, but that certainly doesn’t mean that they are any less appreciated. These are all not only sensationally and vibrantly beautiful but packed with pithy facts and information about our most iconic birds. Your kiddos who are…