STAFF PICKS 2011

OSCAR & FRIENDS 
BOOK OF THE YEAR

THE SISTERS BROTHERS 
BY PATRICK DEWITT

The winner of the prestigious Oscar & Friends Book of the Year for 2011 is the fun, witty, dark humoured, gun slinging instant classic The Sisters Brothers by Patrick Dewitt. Loved by all the staff, and every attendee of our super busy November book club. Regardless of where you're spending your Christmas break this year, The Sisters Brothers should be the first item in the suitcase.
Read Bianca's review

Charlotte's picks for 2011

Natalie's picks for 2011

Cam's picks for 2011

Ben's picks for 2011

Toby's picks for 2011

Barbara's picks for 2011

William's picks for 2011

SPECIAL GUEST STAR: Chris's picks for 2011

Bianca's picks for 2011 - with mini reviews! (employee of the week)

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt

So deserving of its Man Booker nomination, The Sisters Brothers is described as the Western reimagined for the 21st century. We follow two assassin brothers on their journey from Oregon to San Francisco as they carry out orders to find and kill a man. We laugh at their awkward encounters, we sit on the edge of our seats as their guns fire, we lament the injury and loss of friends, and we discover just how complicated their relationship is. Book of the year for me, by a long shot.

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

An impossibly cool & beautiful book about largely unsympathetic characters! AVFTGS is a novel about people's lives intersecting, about the influence of one's actions over another. With surprising elegance, Egan uses each chapter to intimately involve us in a new individual's life, and we witness how those individuals' lives are shaped by each other, for better or for worse.

There but for the by Ali Smith

When you begin reading this novel it's immediately apparent why Ali Smith is considered an author's author. With her unique and intelligent style, Ali paints such a vivid portrait of her characters and their settings. While each chapter comes from the point of view of a different character, at the centre of TBFT is the story of a man who comes to dinner and never leaves. This is a novel about us, about life and death, and the impermanence of our existence.

Mr Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt

A curiously hilarious novel about a usually melancholic subject matter. Depression takes on a physical form in a big black dog named Mr Chartwell. The chapters alternate between two stories: a fictionalised account of Winston Churchill's battle with the black dog, and the story of a young librarian named Esther who reluctantly rents her spare room to the oppressive Mr Chartwell.

Nerd Do Well by Simon Pegg

Being a diehard Simon Pegg fan, I couldn't resist reading his biography. Perfect for diehard Simon Pegg fans, but also a great read for anyone familiar with his work. And the photos of Pegg as a child are almost worth the price of the book!