For our first round of reviews for May's theme of "Sport and Recreation" in our 2019 Reading Challenge, we have another guest review from the well-read Theresa Petray, a foray into the 1920s college cricket scene for some murder and mayhem, and a series of games within a game.
How many books can you read that match the theme (in some way, shape or form)?
Theresa Petray read My Longest Round, by Wally Carr and Gaele Sobott.
In My Longest Round, champion boxer Wally Carr tells the story of his life. It’s a story full of fighting: in the boxing rings, in the pubs and streets, and for any kind of recognition. I admit I’m not a boxing fan, but I had never heard of Wally Carr before reading this book even though he held twelve titles in his career.
Carr’s story of fighting is interspersed with Australia’s history. He grew up on an Aboriginal mission but managed to avoid being taken away by the Welfare agencies because he stayed with different family members. He moved to Redfern in the 1960s, protested at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in the 1970s, and partied his way through the Cocaine ‘80s. There are undertones of some of the racism that Carr and his Aboriginal family and friends experienced, most notably police harassment and violence.
My Longest Round is full on - Carr doesn’t make himself out to be a likeable guy per say, he doesn’t overdo his story of redemption, and even his recounting of boxing championship matches are told in an everyday way, interspersed with stories of street fights as if it’s all the same. There is obviously lots of violence, some discussion of self-harm, and lots of drugs. But he kept me turning the pages. Carr’s book feels like sitting down and hearing about someone’s life in person, written conversationally and accessibly.
Non-fiction, Australian authors, new-to-me authors, check your local library for copies.
This is the tenth book in the Phryne Fisher series, which I highly recommend if you enjoy mysteries with a saucy socialite.
Until very recently, this was my Favourite Australian Children's Book of All Time. I'll be reviewing the book that knocked it off that top spot next week.
How many books can you read that match the theme (in some way, shape or form)?
Theresa Petray read My Longest Round, by Wally Carr and Gaele Sobott.
Carr’s story of fighting is interspersed with Australia’s history. He grew up on an Aboriginal mission but managed to avoid being taken away by the Welfare agencies because he stayed with different family members. He moved to Redfern in the 1960s, protested at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in the 1970s, and partied his way through the Cocaine ‘80s. There are undertones of some of the racism that Carr and his Aboriginal family and friends experienced, most notably police harassment and violence.
My Longest Round is full on - Carr doesn’t make himself out to be a likeable guy per say, he doesn’t overdo his story of redemption, and even his recounting of boxing championship matches are told in an everyday way, interspersed with stories of street fights as if it’s all the same. There is obviously lots of violence, some discussion of self-harm, and lots of drugs. But he kept me turning the pages. Carr’s book feels like sitting down and hearing about someone’s life in person, written conversationally and accessibly.
Non-fiction, Australian authors, new-to-me authors, check your local library for copies.
Samantha Baxter read Death Before Wicket: A Phryne Fisher Mystery, by Kerry Greenwood.
Death before wicket sees The Honourable Miss Fisher, take a break from her Melbourne adventures and head to Sydney, where she intends to take in some test cricket and an Artists Ball.
Instead she finds two new mysteries, Dot’s (her ladies maid) sister has gone missing in Sydney’s seedy underbelly, and two lovely young gentlemen (Phryne’s favourite kind) need help proving their friend innocent of theft. There’s blackmail, murder, politics, and even some mysticism thrown in.
This book focuses a lot on the love of cricket as a major pastime, and describes many matches in detail. It also expounds on the politics of the game and the lengths some people will go to win.
Fiction, Australian author, 820A GREE 1C DEA/PHR
Sharon Bryan read The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery, by Graeme Base.
The Eleventh Hour is a story about a fancy dress birthday party in which many games are played. The guests to this party (held in a very grand house by a birthday boy/elephant with what would appear to be a bottomless budget) play cards, snakes and ladders, chess, hide and seek, cricket, tennis, pool, tug of war... There are so many games and sports going on in this book it fills the brief for this month's theme ten times over.
Additionally, the book itself is a game. There is a mystery to be solved (who ate the feast while everyone was out playing games?) and each page (as well as being an awesome work of art) holds clues to the mystery and riddles to solve. Some of these riddles are so darn clever that I still have to work on them, even though I've read the book before (I read it roughly once every four or five years).
It's still very close to being my Favourite Australian Children's Book of All Time, and I can't recommend it enough.
Fiction, Australian author, c820.94 BAS
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