BRYAN BROWN 

A popular Aussie actor also writes well indeed. 

He wrote and narrated the audiobook  SWEET JIMMY which I borrowed  through Libby.  

His quiet style and steady Aussie voice made one feel at home. 

Four short stories, roughly an hour each, with strong story lines, gave a good hearing/reading time, long enough though with some of the explicit violence and ‘boy’s own’ colourful swearing.  Finally a good cop appeared and satisfactorily closed the mystery.  In it’s own way it was a good thriller and no doubt realistic.

Recommending a read. 

On becoming an influencer.  Well, with friends and family.

Words spread.  I recommended the following and my husband, family and friends shared my pleasure by reading my recommendations.

Chequered Lives by Iola Mathews.  Australian History.

 

The author wrote her family history from 1837 and  we have a riveting read on Quaker great great grandfather John Barton Hack and brother Stephen.  In the early days of South Australia these busy, enterprising brothers saw an opportunity and chased it, built homes whilst developing farms, roads, anything needed.  They lost all in 1843 but went on to recover, their fortunes made and lost but ever positive as they worked hard, travelling up and down with wonderful wives, stoic in a strange land.

THEN husband came home with a different book from his men’s book club.  

 

Tom Keneally’s THE DICKENS BOY.  Colonial Australia again. 1868. 

Back and forth to England, again.  

JUST A FEW OF MY EARLY RECOMMENDATIONS AND MUCH LOVED BOOKS.

 

Sputniks Guide to Life On Earth.  (Frank Cottrell-Boyce). 

This is Happiness. History of the Rain. (Niall Williams)

The Art of Racing in the Rain. (Garth Stein)

Klara and the Sun. (Kazuo Ishiguro)

Across the Plains. (Roert Louis Stevenson)

The Queen's Gambit. (Walter Tevis)

 

PACHINKO by Min Jin Lee 

A moving family history set in Korea and Japan.  C. 1911 - 1989