Vibrant feats of fiction

Some of this year's novels were a joy to read, writes Rosemary Sorensen, although they may not appeal to all December 06, 2008

Loved this article from: The Australian

IN a bookshop where the new releases were stacked up in large piles on the most accessible tables, I bumped into a friend who was treating herself to a couple of books for her summer reading. She had decided on one title already and, when she told me what it was, I did a terrible thing. I winced.

The look on my friend's face -- surprise, then uncertainty, then a kind of settling acceptance -- chastened me. A better person would have learned from the experience and vowed never to interfere in any person's choice of novel, even if that choice happened to be a dodgy book much praised by its publishers who had put wads of dough behind its promotion.

But it was just so easily done, turning this smart and deserving reader away from a novel she had heard much about and towards ones less well promoted but infinitely better, in my opinion, at least. And it would not have been attempted if it were not for my sincere, almost pathological, desire to share my pleasure. When a book makes you happy, you want nothing more than to see that happiness multiply.

The danger is that you are recommending not assured joy and pleasure but potential happiness only. Your beloved book may be another's pile of turgid rubbish.

David Malouf's The Complete Stories are a treat and he has a new novel in the offing.

Read Rosemary Sorensen's full story here and read what her friend chose, and what Sorensen thinks of the choice.