How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton

Marcel Proust's novel In Search of Lost Time (earlier translated as Remembrance of Things Past) is considered by many to be the best novel ever written. With seven volumes, many claim to have read it but have not quite managed to. Alain de Botton's book is about Proust and his novel, but it is also about all literature. Through extracts from Proust's letters, essays and novel, de Botton paints a picture of the eccentric author and shows the power of literature to change your life. While the theme is very literary, this book is delightfully readable and full of memorable quotes.

You can borrow the book at Wagga City Library (it is found at 843.912 DEB) or reserve it here.

The Various Flavours of Coffee by Anthony Capella

A lovely piece of historical fiction, set in England. This book, beginning in 1895, also takes us to Africa and Brazil. It is about a young dandy named Robert Wallis who wishes to be a poet but manages spend most of his time, and all of his money, drinking and misbehaving. Suffering a terrible lack of funds he accepts a position with Samuel Pinker, categorising the different flavours of coffee. He falls in love with one of Pinker's three daughters and is sent to Africa where he becomes obsessed with a beautiful slave.

The descriptions of the aromas and tastes of coffee are fascinating and the historical and business details are also very interesting. It is easy to forget the hardships women went through to get the right to vote. A book filled with wonderful characters.

You can borrow The Various Flavours of Coffee from Wagga City Library or reserve it here.

The River Baptists by Belinda Castles

The River Baptists was the winner of the 2006 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award.

Set in a small riverside community, The River Baptists tells the story of Rose, bunkered down in a borrowed house overlooking the river, grieving for her dead father and waiting for her baby to be born. It is also the story of Danny, another refugee from life elsewhere, hiding out from his violent father and dreaming of owning a block of land on the river. Then there are the river old-timers, who miss nothing and forget less, and a newcomer who cares nothing for the locals, or the secrets of the past. Set over the course of a long hot tense summer, when sparks constantly threaten to ignite bushfires, the tight-knit riverside community is set alight by confidences betrayed and a renewed age-old grudge.And through it all flows the mysterious pulse of the river, indifferent, deep and calm, offering the possibility of life and death, renewal and rebirth.

I found this novel completely captivating. You can borrow it from Wagga Wagga City Library and reserve it here.

The Horla by Guy de Maupassant

Guy de Maupassant wrote this novella about a man's decent into madness, three ways, all of which are included in the book. They each tell the story of the man's struggle against what should not be and how his mind manages to explain and deal with it.
The book was published shortly before de Maupassant was, himself, institutionalised for insanity so could well be informed by his own experience.
It is a chilling and fascinating read and I appreciated the insight into what it might be like to lose your mind.

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

Set in Rhodesia in the late 60s and early 70s, before it became Zimbabwe, Nervous Conditions is about a clever and ambitious Shona girl called Tamba who leaves her poor parents to stay with an affluent uncle at a mission school. She shares a room with her cousin who spent her early years in England and who struggles to know where or how she fits in. She and Tamba feel the vast differences between European and African culture, particularly for women and try to work out what it is to be an African woman.



This is a lovely coming of age story in a fascinating setting and you can reserve it here. Riverina Regional Library also has the sequel to Nervous Conditions, The Book of Not.

Growing up Asian in Australia

Alice Pung's memoir Unpolished Gem has been short-listed for several awards. In it she shares her experiences of growing up as a child of immigrants, moving between two cultures - experiences shared by many Asian-Australians. Growing up Asian in Australia is a collection of these stories, told by well-known authors and new voices, spanning several generations and from all over Australia.

I found this book funny, sad, poignant and uplifting. I kept reading just one more chapter, unable to put it down.

You can borrow Growing up Asian in Australia from any branch of the Riverina Regional Library or reserve it here.