14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Advertiser
Oysters: saltily sublime or the ocean's slimy stomach-turners?
New books sampled this week include the Australian murder mysteries Vanish, by Shelley Burr, and The Empress Murders, by Toby Schmitz.
Andreas Ammer. Greystone Books. $39.99.
Once a cheap staple of the masses, no-longer-so-humble oysters are polarising. To some, they are saltily sublime. Those who don't understand them say unkinder things. And forget cheap. In some restaurants a single oyster can set you back six bucks! This delightful little book is a lyrical celebration of the biology, culture, art and taste of this magnificent mollusc. What it lacks in Antipodean references it makes up for in fascinating facts and oysterly illustrations. As Ammer says, few people now eat oysters solely to satisfy hunger. Consuming them, he writes, "constitutes a magical moment rather than a creaturely necessity".
Find it at Amazon.
Steve Williams and Evin Priest. HarperCollins. $34.99.
Steve Williams caddied for golf legend Tiger Woods for 12 years. They were together through the highs of 13 majors wins and the lows of the spectacular implosion of Woods' marriage. Then, in 2011, their partnership ended abruptly, and messily, after Williams opted to carry Australian golfer Adam Scott's bag while Woods was out injured. The pair would not speak again until 2023. Williams has teamed up with journalist Evin Priest to tell the story of one of golf's best-known duos, covering on-course triumphs such as Woods' victory on a broken leg at the 2008 US Open and behind-the-scenes interactions.
Find it at Angus & Robertson or Amazon.
Alexis Vassiley. Monash University Publishing. $39.99.
Striking Ore tells the story of the rise and fall of union power in the Pilbara's iron ore mines. During the 1970s workers in the Pilbara were among the most bellicose in Australia, winning considerable gains and outdoing even their coalmine comrades with a "strike first, negotiate later" approach. Over time, however, the workforce has become almost completely deunionised. Labour historian and industrial relations scholar Alexis Vassiley explores how a "well-organised and militant movement" was comprehensively defeated, and what the consequences have been. Vassiley describes the Pilbara as an extreme case study of what has happened with unionism in Australia.
Find it at Angus & Robertson or Amazon.
Toby Walsh. Black Inc. $27.99.
Toby Walsh is a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of NSW and chief scientist at its new AI institute, In the latest in the Shortest History series, he opens by introducing us to characters in the journey of AI from idea to transformational reality, beginning with mathematician Alan Turing, who asked: "Can machines think?"; Charles Babbage, inventor of the Analytical Engine, and Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's daughter and the first computer programmer. Walsh distils AI into six concise and accessible ideas designed to equip readers to understand where AI has been and where it is headed.
Find it at Angus & Robertson or Amazon.
Shelley Burr. Hachette. $34.99.
Shelley Burr grew up on Newcastle's beaches, her grandparents' property in Glenrowan and on the road between the two. The Canberra-based author's noir thrillers are steeped in Aussie landscapes and characters. In her follow-up to Wake (2022) and Ripper (2024) her flawed sleuth Lane Holland is out on parole. He can never work again as a private investigator but the unsolved disappearance of Matilda Carver 20 years ago still haunts him. So, he follows a lead to an isolated farm community run by Samuel Karpathy, who promises lost souls the chance to find meaning. Is it a commune or a cult - or something more sinister?
Find it at Amazon, Big W, QBD Books or Target.
Tasma Walton. Bundyi. $34.99.
In 1833 a young woman called Nannertgarrook was abducted by sealers from the shores of Boonwurrung country on what is now Victoria's Port Phillip Bay. Along with other kidnapped girls and women destined to be sold into slavery, she was taken to King Island, north-west of Tasmania, then South Australia's Kangaroo Island and eventually to Bald Island, off the coast of Albany in Western Australia. Tasma Walton, the actress best known for Mystery Road and Blue Heelers, was born in coastal Geraldton in WA and has been researching her ancestor Nannertgarrook for 20 years. The result is this heartfelt story of indigenous pain and survival.
Find it at Big W or Amazon.
Fleur McDonald. HarperCollins. $34.99.
When a professional scandal forces investigative reporter Zara Ellison to retreat to the wild west mining town of Kalgoorlie in search of a fresh start, her questions for the local newspaper, The Prospector, about a horror highway accident involving a pair of grey nomads reveal dark and dangerous secrets buried deep under the swirling red dust. As her ex-detective partner Jack tries to find his feet back in uniform policing this new lawless beat, Zara begins digging for her own kind of gold. But will she find redemption or trouble? This is the 25th outback crime novel by Esperance author Fleur McDonald. You can read Chapter One here.
Find it at Amazon, QBD Books or Big W.
Tony Schmitz. Allen & Unwin. $32.99.
The debut novel by stage and screen actor Toby Schmitz (last seen in Boy Swallows Universe) is based on a 2013 stage play he wrote. Described as witty and tense, it's an ocean-going whodunnit set in 1925 aboard the luxury liner Empress of Australia on its regular Atlantic crossing to New York. When a Bengali deckhand is found brutally murdered, Inspector Archie Daniels resolves to reveal the killer. But as more and more bodies pile up, from the filthy rich and mostly vile first-class passengers as well as the lower classes below deck, no one is safe and no one can escape.
Find it at QBD Books, Amazon or Big W.
You can also find these and other great books at Apple Books and on Kobo.
Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease.
New books sampled this week include the Australian murder mysteries Vanish, by Shelley Burr, and The Empress Murders, by Toby Schmitz.
Andreas Ammer. Greystone Books. $39.99.
Once a cheap staple of the masses, no-longer-so-humble oysters are polarising. To some, they are saltily sublime. Those who don't understand them say unkinder things. And forget cheap. In some restaurants a single oyster can set you back six bucks! This delightful little book is a lyrical celebration of the biology, culture, art and taste of this magnificent mollusc. What it lacks in Antipodean references it makes up for in fascinating facts and oysterly illustrations. As Ammer says, few people now eat oysters solely to satisfy hunger. Consuming them, he writes, "constitutes a magical moment rather than a creaturely necessity".
Find it at Amazon.
Steve Williams and Evin Priest. HarperCollins. $34.99.
Steve Williams caddied for golf legend Tiger Woods for 12 years. They were together through the highs of 13 majors wins and the lows of the spectacular implosion of Woods' marriage. Then, in 2011, their partnership ended abruptly, and messily, after Williams opted to carry Australian golfer Adam Scott's bag while Woods was out injured. The pair would not speak again until 2023. Williams has teamed up with journalist Evin Priest to tell the story of one of golf's best-known duos, covering on-course triumphs such as Woods' victory on a broken leg at the 2008 US Open and behind-the-scenes interactions.
Find it at Angus & Robertson or Amazon.
Alexis Vassiley. Monash University Publishing. $39.99.
Striking Ore tells the story of the rise and fall of union power in the Pilbara's iron ore mines. During the 1970s workers in the Pilbara were among the most bellicose in Australia, winning considerable gains and outdoing even their coalmine comrades with a "strike first, negotiate later" approach. Over time, however, the workforce has become almost completely deunionised. Labour historian and industrial relations scholar Alexis Vassiley explores how a "well-organised and militant movement" was comprehensively defeated, and what the consequences have been. Vassiley describes the Pilbara as an extreme case study of what has happened with unionism in Australia.
Find it at Angus & Robertson or Amazon.
Toby Walsh. Black Inc. $27.99.
Toby Walsh is a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of NSW and chief scientist at its new AI institute, In the latest in the Shortest History series, he opens by introducing us to characters in the journey of AI from idea to transformational reality, beginning with mathematician Alan Turing, who asked: "Can machines think?"; Charles Babbage, inventor of the Analytical Engine, and Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's daughter and the first computer programmer. Walsh distils AI into six concise and accessible ideas designed to equip readers to understand where AI has been and where it is headed.
Find it at Angus & Robertson or Amazon.
Shelley Burr. Hachette. $34.99.
Shelley Burr grew up on Newcastle's beaches, her grandparents' property in Glenrowan and on the road between the two. The Canberra-based author's noir thrillers are steeped in Aussie landscapes and characters. In her follow-up to Wake (2022) and Ripper (2024) her flawed sleuth Lane Holland is out on parole. He can never work again as a private investigator but the unsolved disappearance of Matilda Carver 20 years ago still haunts him. So, he follows a lead to an isolated farm community run by Samuel Karpathy, who promises lost souls the chance to find meaning. Is it a commune or a cult - or something more sinister?
Find it at Amazon, Big W, QBD Books or Target.
Tasma Walton. Bundyi. $34.99.
In 1833 a young woman called Nannertgarrook was abducted by sealers from the shores of Boonwurrung country on what is now Victoria's Port Phillip Bay. Along with other kidnapped girls and women destined to be sold into slavery, she was taken to King Island, north-west of Tasmania, then South Australia's Kangaroo Island and eventually to Bald Island, off the coast of Albany in Western Australia. Tasma Walton, the actress best known for Mystery Road and Blue Heelers, was born in coastal Geraldton in WA and has been researching her ancestor Nannertgarrook for 20 years. The result is this heartfelt story of indigenous pain and survival.
Find it at Big W or Amazon.
Fleur McDonald. HarperCollins. $34.99.
When a professional scandal forces investigative reporter Zara Ellison to retreat to the wild west mining town of Kalgoorlie in search of a fresh start, her questions for the local newspaper, The Prospector, about a horror highway accident involving a pair of grey nomads reveal dark and dangerous secrets buried deep under the swirling red dust. As her ex-detective partner Jack tries to find his feet back in uniform policing this new lawless beat, Zara begins digging for her own kind of gold. But will she find redemption or trouble? This is the 25th outback crime novel by Esperance author Fleur McDonald. You can read Chapter One here.
Find it at Amazon, QBD Books or Big W.
Tony Schmitz. Allen & Unwin. $32.99.
The debut novel by stage and screen actor Toby Schmitz (last seen in Boy Swallows Universe) is based on a 2013 stage play he wrote. Described as witty and tense, it's an ocean-going whodunnit set in 1925 aboard the luxury liner Empress of Australia on its regular Atlantic crossing to New York. When a Bengali deckhand is found brutally murdered, Inspector Archie Daniels resolves to reveal the killer. But as more and more bodies pile up, from the filthy rich and mostly vile first-class passengers as well as the lower classes below deck, no one is safe and no one can escape.
Find it at QBD Books, Amazon or Big W.
You can also find these and other great books at Apple Books and on Kobo.
Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease.
New books sampled this week include the Australian murder mysteries Vanish, by Shelley Burr, and The Empress Murders, by Toby Schmitz.
Andreas Ammer. Greystone Books. $39.99.
Once a cheap staple of the masses, no-longer-so-humble oysters are polarising. To some, they are saltily sublime. Those who don't understand them say unkinder things. And forget cheap. In some restaurants a single oyster can set you back six bucks! This delightful little book is a lyrical celebration of the biology, culture, art and taste of this magnificent mollusc. What it lacks in Antipodean references it makes up for in fascinating facts and oysterly illustrations. As Ammer says, few people now eat oysters solely to satisfy hunger. Consuming them, he writes, "constitutes a magical moment rather than a creaturely necessity".
Find it at Amazon.
Steve Williams and Evin Priest. HarperCollins. $34.99.
Steve Williams caddied for golf legend Tiger Woods for 12 years. They were together through the highs of 13 majors wins and the lows of the spectacular implosion of Woods' marriage. Then, in 2011, their partnership ended abruptly, and messily, after Williams opted to carry Australian golfer Adam Scott's bag while Woods was out injured. The pair would not speak again until 2023. Williams has teamed up with journalist Evin Priest to tell the story of one of golf's best-known duos, covering on-course triumphs such as Woods' victory on a broken leg at the 2008 US Open and behind-the-scenes interactions.
Find it at Angus & Robertson or Amazon.
Alexis Vassiley. Monash University Publishing. $39.99.
Striking Ore tells the story of the rise and fall of union power in the Pilbara's iron ore mines. During the 1970s workers in the Pilbara were among the most bellicose in Australia, winning considerable gains and outdoing even their coalmine comrades with a "strike first, negotiate later" approach. Over time, however, the workforce has become almost completely deunionised. Labour historian and industrial relations scholar Alexis Vassiley explores how a "well-organised and militant movement" was comprehensively defeated, and what the consequences have been. Vassiley describes the Pilbara as an extreme case study of what has happened with unionism in Australia.
Find it at Angus & Robertson or Amazon.
Toby Walsh. Black Inc. $27.99.
Toby Walsh is a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of NSW and chief scientist at its new AI institute, In the latest in the Shortest History series, he opens by introducing us to characters in the journey of AI from idea to transformational reality, beginning with mathematician Alan Turing, who asked: "Can machines think?"; Charles Babbage, inventor of the Analytical Engine, and Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's daughter and the first computer programmer. Walsh distils AI into six concise and accessible ideas designed to equip readers to understand where AI has been and where it is headed.
Find it at Angus & Robertson or Amazon.
Shelley Burr. Hachette. $34.99.
Shelley Burr grew up on Newcastle's beaches, her grandparents' property in Glenrowan and on the road between the two. The Canberra-based author's noir thrillers are steeped in Aussie landscapes and characters. In her follow-up to Wake (2022) and Ripper (2024) her flawed sleuth Lane Holland is out on parole. He can never work again as a private investigator but the unsolved disappearance of Matilda Carver 20 years ago still haunts him. So, he follows a lead to an isolated farm community run by Samuel Karpathy, who promises lost souls the chance to find meaning. Is it a commune or a cult - or something more sinister?
Find it at Amazon, Big W, QBD Books or Target.
Tasma Walton. Bundyi. $34.99.
In 1833 a young woman called Nannertgarrook was abducted by sealers from the shores of Boonwurrung country on what is now Victoria's Port Phillip Bay. Along with other kidnapped girls and women destined to be sold into slavery, she was taken to King Island, north-west of Tasmania, then South Australia's Kangaroo Island and eventually to Bald Island, off the coast of Albany in Western Australia. Tasma Walton, the actress best known for Mystery Road and Blue Heelers, was born in coastal Geraldton in WA and has been researching her ancestor Nannertgarrook for 20 years. The result is this heartfelt story of indigenous pain and survival.
Find it at Big W or Amazon.
Fleur McDonald. HarperCollins. $34.99.
When a professional scandal forces investigative reporter Zara Ellison to retreat to the wild west mining town of Kalgoorlie in search of a fresh start, her questions for the local newspaper, The Prospector, about a horror highway accident involving a pair of grey nomads reveal dark and dangerous secrets buried deep under the swirling red dust. As her ex-detective partner Jack tries to find his feet back in uniform policing this new lawless beat, Zara begins digging for her own kind of gold. But will she find redemption or trouble? This is the 25th outback crime novel by Esperance author Fleur McDonald. You can read Chapter One here.
Find it at Amazon, QBD Books or Big W.
Tony Schmitz. Allen & Unwin. $32.99.
The debut novel by stage and screen actor Toby Schmitz (last seen in Boy Swallows Universe) is based on a 2013 stage play he wrote. Described as witty and tense, it's an ocean-going whodunnit set in 1925 aboard the luxury liner Empress of Australia on its regular Atlantic crossing to New York. When a Bengali deckhand is found brutally murdered, Inspector Archie Daniels resolves to reveal the killer. But as more and more bodies pile up, from the filthy rich and mostly vile first-class passengers as well as the lower classes below deck, no one is safe and no one can escape.
Find it at QBD Books, Amazon or Big W.
You can also find these and other great books at Apple Books and on Kobo.
Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease.
New books sampled this week include the Australian murder mysteries Vanish, by Shelley Burr, and The Empress Murders, by Toby Schmitz.
Andreas Ammer. Greystone Books. $39.99.
Once a cheap staple of the masses, no-longer-so-humble oysters are polarising. To some, they are saltily sublime. Those who don't understand them say unkinder things. And forget cheap. In some restaurants a single oyster can set you back six bucks! This delightful little book is a lyrical celebration of the biology, culture, art and taste of this magnificent mollusc. What it lacks in Antipodean references it makes up for in fascinating facts and oysterly illustrations. As Ammer says, few people now eat oysters solely to satisfy hunger. Consuming them, he writes, "constitutes a magical moment rather than a creaturely necessity".
Find it at Amazon.
Steve Williams and Evin Priest. HarperCollins. $34.99.
Steve Williams caddied for golf legend Tiger Woods for 12 years. They were together through the highs of 13 majors wins and the lows of the spectacular implosion of Woods' marriage. Then, in 2011, their partnership ended abruptly, and messily, after Williams opted to carry Australian golfer Adam Scott's bag while Woods was out injured. The pair would not speak again until 2023. Williams has teamed up with journalist Evin Priest to tell the story of one of golf's best-known duos, covering on-course triumphs such as Woods' victory on a broken leg at the 2008 US Open and behind-the-scenes interactions.
Find it at Angus & Robertson or Amazon.
Alexis Vassiley. Monash University Publishing. $39.99.
Striking Ore tells the story of the rise and fall of union power in the Pilbara's iron ore mines. During the 1970s workers in the Pilbara were among the most bellicose in Australia, winning considerable gains and outdoing even their coalmine comrades with a "strike first, negotiate later" approach. Over time, however, the workforce has become almost completely deunionised. Labour historian and industrial relations scholar Alexis Vassiley explores how a "well-organised and militant movement" was comprehensively defeated, and what the consequences have been. Vassiley describes the Pilbara as an extreme case study of what has happened with unionism in Australia.
Find it at Angus & Robertson or Amazon.
Toby Walsh. Black Inc. $27.99.
Toby Walsh is a professor of artificial intelligence at the University of NSW and chief scientist at its new AI institute, In the latest in the Shortest History series, he opens by introducing us to characters in the journey of AI from idea to transformational reality, beginning with mathematician Alan Turing, who asked: "Can machines think?"; Charles Babbage, inventor of the Analytical Engine, and Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron's daughter and the first computer programmer. Walsh distils AI into six concise and accessible ideas designed to equip readers to understand where AI has been and where it is headed.
Find it at Angus & Robertson or Amazon.
Shelley Burr. Hachette. $34.99.
Shelley Burr grew up on Newcastle's beaches, her grandparents' property in Glenrowan and on the road between the two. The Canberra-based author's noir thrillers are steeped in Aussie landscapes and characters. In her follow-up to Wake (2022) and Ripper (2024) her flawed sleuth Lane Holland is out on parole. He can never work again as a private investigator but the unsolved disappearance of Matilda Carver 20 years ago still haunts him. So, he follows a lead to an isolated farm community run by Samuel Karpathy, who promises lost souls the chance to find meaning. Is it a commune or a cult - or something more sinister?
Find it at Amazon, Big W, QBD Books or Target.
Tasma Walton. Bundyi. $34.99.
In 1833 a young woman called Nannertgarrook was abducted by sealers from the shores of Boonwurrung country on what is now Victoria's Port Phillip Bay. Along with other kidnapped girls and women destined to be sold into slavery, she was taken to King Island, north-west of Tasmania, then South Australia's Kangaroo Island and eventually to Bald Island, off the coast of Albany in Western Australia. Tasma Walton, the actress best known for Mystery Road and Blue Heelers, was born in coastal Geraldton in WA and has been researching her ancestor Nannertgarrook for 20 years. The result is this heartfelt story of indigenous pain and survival.
Find it at Big W or Amazon.
Fleur McDonald. HarperCollins. $34.99.
When a professional scandal forces investigative reporter Zara Ellison to retreat to the wild west mining town of Kalgoorlie in search of a fresh start, her questions for the local newspaper, The Prospector, about a horror highway accident involving a pair of grey nomads reveal dark and dangerous secrets buried deep under the swirling red dust. As her ex-detective partner Jack tries to find his feet back in uniform policing this new lawless beat, Zara begins digging for her own kind of gold. But will she find redemption or trouble? This is the 25th outback crime novel by Esperance author Fleur McDonald. You can read Chapter One here.
Find it at Amazon, QBD Books or Big W.
Tony Schmitz. Allen & Unwin. $32.99.
The debut novel by stage and screen actor Toby Schmitz (last seen in Boy Swallows Universe) is based on a 2013 stage play he wrote. Described as witty and tense, it's an ocean-going whodunnit set in 1925 aboard the luxury liner Empress of Australia on its regular Atlantic crossing to New York. When a Bengali deckhand is found brutally murdered, Inspector Archie Daniels resolves to reveal the killer. But as more and more bodies pile up, from the filthy rich and mostly vile first-class passengers as well as the lower classes below deck, no one is safe and no one can escape.
Find it at QBD Books, Amazon or Big W.
You can also find these and other great books at Apple Books and on Kobo.
Love books? Us too! Looking for more reads and recommendations? Browse our books page and bookmark the page so you can find our latest books content with ease.
