Berkelouw Book Barn - Book Reviews

Folio Society sets

Reviewed by Book Barn, Berrima

At the Book Barn we celebrate every generation of reader.  Our rustic shelves are filled with the beauty of new; second hand with vintage titles; or subjects that are rarely found, for those who enjoy to fossick and discover the unknown and the unpredictable.  We believe every b... (continued)

The Penguin Story MCMXXXV-MCMLVI

Reviewed by Book Barn, Berrima

Be you a lover of the orange, blue, green, red, cerise, grey, yellow or purple covered Penguin Books, this is a fascinating account of its development published to mark its twenty-first birthday in July 1956, written by Sir William Emrys Williams, C.B.E., - associated with the firm for twenty ... (continued)

THE MAGICAN / TOIBIN

Reviewed by Book Barn Berrima

The Magician is first and foremost a portrait of the writer as a family man; there is comparatively little in it about Mann’s development as a writer or about his status in the literary world. Rather, it places him at the centre of a panoramic vision of the early 20th-century German... (continued)

THE PLAGUE Albert Camus

Reviewed by BOOKBARN, BERRIMA

Revived interest in Albert Camus’s novel The Plague (1947).  A thinker for our age of pandemic and polarization. He sought to transcend the divides of his own epoch by warning against dogmatic ideologies on both the left and right, all while earnestly defending democracy a... (continued)

The Truth About China

Reviewed by Book Barn Berrima

A journalist’s perspective on this rising global power has never been more important, as Australia’s relationship with China undergoes an extraordinary change that’s seen the detention of a journalist Cheng Lei, Canberra’s criticism of Beijing’s efforts to crush H... (continued)

WITH THE FALLING OF THE DUSK

Reviewed by Book Barn Berrima

Don’t be fooled by the title of Stan Grant’s latest offering. With the Falling of the Dusk may sound gentle and poetic but the book is about nothing less than the challenges facing the world and how to avert crisis. From geopolitical shifts, global pandemics and... (continued)

DESIGN LIVES HERE Penny Craswell

Reviewed by BOOKBARN BERRIMA

A compelling snapshot of contemporary Australian design through the lens of materials, utility, site and place. It showcases the best of Australian residential architecture and interiors, paying homage to local designers and makers of furniture and lighting. Exceptional. (continued)

TROY

Reviewed by BOOKBARN BERRIMA

Following his bestselling books on Greek mythology, Mythos and Heros, Fry returns with an inimitable retelling of the siege of Troy. The pillars of the story are well known - the beauty of Helen, Aphrodite's bribing of Paris, the wooden horse ... but Fry's narrative, artfully humorous ... (continued)

THE LIVING SEA OF WAKING DREAMS

Reviewed by BOOKBARN BERRIMA

The pandemic has had a strange distorting effect on time and perspective. The modern condition - simultaneous connection and isolation through our devices - feels particulary acute. Flanagan hasn't just written about the space between living and dying; in writing about the things that are ... (continued)

PANDEMICS/WALTNER-TOEWS

Reviewed by BOOKBARN BERRIMA

David Waltner-Toews is a renowned Canadian epidemiologist, veterinarian and specialist in food and waterborne diseases, zoonoses and ecosystem health. On Pandemics: Deadly Diseases from Bubonic Plague to Coronavirus examines the increasing impact of animal-borne diseases on our world and e... (continued)

STALINGRAD/GROSSMAN

Reviewed by BOOKBARN BERRIMA

Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman  – the prequel to Life and Fate Stalingrad is a strange and complicated book. It is undoubtedly an amazing achievement of translation and scholarship. It’s lucid and readable, with moments of wonderfully evocative prose... (continued)