cread | read & see

Just in time for late night shopping, Cread is entering the books for Father's Day fray with its very own list of top gift ideas. Tall tales at number 8: every dad secretly wants to be a bushranger, at least for a few minutes while queueing for the bus in the morning. So what better book to read than Wild Colonial Boys by Geoff Hocking from The Five Mile Press.  Promising a bold and exciting look at Australian bushrangers, dads will not only release their inner bushranger but learn a bit of Australian history, all for under $30. Buy here. Number 7 with a touch of heaven: It might seem a bit grim for Father's Day but actually Jim Stynes' My Journey is a celebration of making the most of every moment of life. Including Jim's touching revelations of how much he loved the simple moments playing with his kids, it will do every dad's heart good - and remind them how lucky they are. There's a fair bit of footy going on as well, so that's a bonus. My Journ...

Creview is a weekly feature on Cread that will provide a quick summary of what literary and book sections from leading mastheads around the globe are reviewing each week – a collative exercise in reviewing the reviewer. This week it's The Sydney Morning Herald , The Guardian and The New York Times . Love Shy by Lili Wilkinson, published April 1, was reviewed by Aleesah Darlison of the SMH with the review little more than a synopsis of the protagonist's journey of self-discovery and a thumbs up from the reviewer. Also from the SMH , novelist Paul Auster's autobiography Winter Journal was reviewed by Thornton McCamish, who tells us that, “exactly who Auster is turns out to have very little to do with his career as a celebrated novelist and nothing to do with nostalgia.” Interesting to note: while this book got the attention of SMH on the weekend, where it was painted in a positive light, J Robert Lennon of The Guardian reviewed it last Wednesday and considered it...

You would not be surprised to find Catcher in the Rye , Gone with the Wind , Huckleberry Finn or even Catch 22 on a definitive list of books that shaped America but the "Big Book" of Alcoholic's Anonymous would probably not have easily come to mind. The Books that Shaped America list was developed by the US Library of Congress for an on-site exhibition it is holding as part of its multi-year "Celebration of the Book". Alcoholics Anonymous, on reflection a very apt choice considering the devastation of addiction in US (and human) existence, was written by co-founders Bill Wilson and Dr Bob Smith to help people recover from alcoholism. It has spawned many other 12-step programs but they all can be traced to the original inspiration for Wilson and Smith - the Beatitudes of Jesus Christ recorded in Matthew 5 . Other interesting inclusions Christopher Colles' A Survey of the Roads of the United States of America (1789) and Amelia Simmons' American C...

Five Mile Press, an Australian publisher now owned by Swedish media company, Bonnier AB, is making the most of Father's Day with some well targeted titles in Australia Post stores. A range of newly released books such as Wild Colonial Boys and Off The Track and other anthologies are carefully positioned (in some POs at least) next to the counter queue. As men are notoriously hard to buy for and it is their book-loving wives or mother's most likely scratching their heads as to what to get for the bloke in their lives, more than a few of these 'blokey' but beaut books are likely to walk out the door. Meanwhile, Five Mile Press's Top 10 selling titles right now are: Running Pink   - Deborah DeWilliams and Megan Norris   Australian Crime File 3   - Paul B. Kidd Woolsheds   - Andrew Chapman Wild Colonial Boys - Geoff Hocking  Blackened Tanner: The Dennis Tanner Story  - Ron Irwin The Things I Love About Pets  -...