No comments about School Days.

No comments about Six Months Off: An American Family's Australian Adventure.

No comments about The Migrant.

5 comments about Serpentine.

1. I picked this up soon after it came out and I was in Kathmandu, Nepal at the time. It was one of the locales of the book and had me looking over my shoulder with queasy fear. Why is this deliciously readable? THE WRITING. The writing. The writing. Thomas Thompson is a superb writer with a marvelous ear, he builds suspense into a paragraph or even a single sentence by the arrangement of words.
   
   There is an underlying uneasiness we all feel flying around the world, totally uprooted from the familiar, surrounded by people who don't speak our language. The world of jets, international hotel, hired drivers and touts, and sometimes vice, smuggling and even murder. Thompson has captured that world better than anyone has before or since The world of Charles Subraj.



2. An oldie but a goodie.If you are into adventure travel writing and have a strong stomach, this is a read for you. This tale of international intrigue and gruesome deviancy reads like a novel and you'll wish it were. The story of a true sociopath who preys upon college students out to see the world will make make your hair stand on end.My mother made this mandatory reading when my brothers and I were setting out on our world travels. A cautionary tale indeed.



3. I read this book when it first came out and it was scary because Charles Sobraj could manipulate his way into anything and he was extremely dangerous and still fairly young. The book is difficult to put down as the reader is sucked into Sobraj's world in the ultimate study of a cunning mind. After you read the book you will never trust anybody again!



4. By far my favorite true crime book. I have read it several times and it is one of my favorite gifts for fans of true crime writing. Mr. Thompson delivers every nuance with exactitude, revealing a cunning, evil creature who almost got away with it all.



5. "Even as the Air France jet travels towards the Istanbul terminal, Andrea Darreau saw his half brother through the window. There was no mistaking Charles, dressed as he was in the sleekest navy blazer, a celebrity's dark glass; he looked like a Greek tycoon."
   
   This book captured me. It actually got under my skin allowing me to do or think nothing else but Serpentine. The character Charles Sobhraj is a man who comes up in a world that does not welcome him. As a child he remains unloved and unwanted, due to his illigetimacy, and his mother Song's marriage to another man. Charles' paternal father on the other hand wants nothing to do with him and marries again starting a new family. Poor Charles refuses to accept his father's dismissal, and keeps forever after him, baggering him, pleading his attention and love, all to no avail. His mother Song on the other hand is more concerned with her new life, and could not care less.
   Without any support coming from either of his parents Charles embarks on a life on his own, educating himself, and familiarizing himself with crime and how it works. He starts out with small crimes and then everything swells out in enormous proportions to the point where he is hiring staff to work with him. He gets incarcerated more times than he can count, as his criminal activity reaches across two continents; parts of Turkey, Iran, Paris, Delhi, Pakistan, and all the way to Hong Kong. Words cannot sufficiently describe the dangerous man Charles has become, but with his good looks, fine clothes, quick charisma and easy manner bit by bit, strangers who do not know him trust him and are lured into his web of dark murky waters.
   This is a true story and one can learn a lot from it, in protection oneself when traveling alone and otherwise.
   I highly recommended this work of non-fiction.
   Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar ( SUGAR-CANE 08/05/07)

No comments about 4000 Bowls of Rice: A Prisoner of War Comes Home.

No comments about King of the Australian Coast: The Work of Phillip Parker King in the Mermaid and Bathurst 1817-1822.

2 comments about Dear Mem Fox, I Have Read All Your Books Even the Pathetic Ones: And Other Incidents in the Life of a Children's Book Author.

1. I enjoyed this quick read. Mem is such a clear and concise writer. It provides a entertaining overview of Mem's life experiences. Contrary to the other review on Amazon this book BARELY covers the process of getting a children's book published. I would estimate that 5 pages MAX of the over 200 pages is devoted to this so don't buy this book for this reason. Otherwise a worthwhile read if you wanted to know more about what goes on behind the scenes of writing a children's book.



2. Having never read a Mem Fox book, it was the title of this book that caught my eye. For anyone who has fancied writing children's books, this is a must-read. It covers the writing and editing processes and provides insight into obtaining publishers and illustrators. Great book, as are all of Ms. Fox's books.

No comments about Commandant of Solitude: The Journals of Captain Collet Barker 1828-1831.

1 comments about Kathleen Petyarre: Genius of Place.

1. This award winning art book is perhaps the best book I've found for explaining quickly and clearly the deep issues involved in interpreting Aboriginal art.

   The essay by Christine Nicholls deals with Petyarre's personal history and the cultural detail and Ian North's contribution focuses more on a personal viewpoint that contextualises the artist and her cultural productivity.

   Kathleen Petyarre is one of the very best contemporary practioners: her art uses current materials but is really traditional in the indigenous Australian sense.

   The book features many colour reproductions of her paintings, diagrams explaining motifs used in her work, and photographs of the artist working in her desert community and engaging at high professional levels around the globe.

No comments about Memoirs from the Corner Country: The Story of May Hunt.