"The Age" on Saturday continues its series on the winners of its short-story competition by printing the second prize winner "Just a Line" by Ross Gray. Nick Economou reviews a couple of books about the recent Australian Federal election: Run, Johnny, Run: The Story of the 2004 Election by Mungo MacCallum (described in the review as "Australia's closest approximation to Hunter S. Thompson's gonzo journalist type (but without the self-indulgence)"), and A Win and a Prayer: Scenes from the 2004 Election edited by Peter Browne and Julian Thomas. I think the MacCallum book will be closer to my political leanings. There are not a lot of other major reviews in "The Age" this week.
The "Age Review" section, which contains the book reviews, starts off with an article about the way the internet is changing the face of politics, and finishes with an article titled "Disastrous Times" which reads more like a catalog than anything else. It gives a nod to this section by listing 6 books which deal with the same topic. Both of these articles appear to me to be in the wrong section. They are more current affairs articles than "reviews" of anything. There is also the piece on the Miles Franklin Award that I wrote about yesterday. The other Australian books mentioned briefly: Sunset: Penguin Australian Summer Stories and The Riddle by Alison Croggon. Neither of these are on the website. I don't have a problem with these short mentions given the limitations of the book review section, my concerns lie with the articles included that should be elsewhere and the lack of larger reviews. One major review of two Australian non-fiction books just isn't enough.
Andrea Stretton leads off "The Weekend Australian's" Review section with an article on children's art books. This is an edited version of an essay previously published in "Art & Australia" magazine, which isn't available on either website. Further books reviewed: Keep the Bastards Honest by Don Chipp; and small mentions of Blood, Sweat and Tears: Australia's World War II Remembered by the Men and Women Who Lived it by Margaret Geddes; A State of Injustice by Robert N. Moles; and Peter Brock: Living with a Legend by Bev Brock. Not what I would call a terribly inspiring bunch.
