While not exactly an Australian book, in that it is published in the UK and written by a leading British film reviewer, Nicole Kidman by David Thompson does at least have an Australian subject. Lynne Barber in "The Telegraph", however, wonders whether the subject of the book is more Thompson's obsession for an ideal rather than the actress herself. She certainly makes the book out to be a strange little piece of work.
You can read the first chapter of this book over at "The New York Times".
Also in "The Telegraph" the paperback editions of Kate Grenville's The Secret River and J.M. Coetzee's The Slow Man are reviewed briefly.
Joel Rickett, in "The Guardian", reports that Peter Temple's novel The Broken Shore, is the best-selling work for UK publisher Quercus. Which isn't a strictly a review, but let's not quibble about it.
David Weaver also looks at David Thompson's Nicole Kidman over at "The Globe and Mail", and maybe he nails it perfectly: "So with the greatest respect for David Thomson's considerable abilities as a writer, it's my suggestion that his secret ambition is to direct a film, a film that would quite obviously have to star Nicole Kidman. This book is sometimes a poor substitute for that ambition."
Les Murray's poetry collection, The Biplane Houses, is reviewed in "The Scotsman" by Richard Price: "Murray is a public poet, unabashed at producing a kind of teacherly polemic and determined to tell Australians (and others) his versions of their history. He is more garrulous than his cautious contemporary, Seamus Heaney, though similar in drawing morals from agricultural sources."
