Mamamia Book Club

It outsold Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code and has been sitting at the top of the charts since its release. A page turner for sure; a female psychological thriller that's easy, trashy, with a decent twist at the end.  But the question we ask is: if you hate the books characters, and detest the way it's written, does that neccessarily make it a bad book?&n...

Do you want to live a more creative life? Elizabeth Gilbert, of Eat, Pray, Love fame says you can. And you MUST. But before you run out and enrol in life-drawing 101, stop right there.  It's not neccessary.  This is a no-bullshit guide on how to make space for more creativity in your life. She argues that anyone can be creative, at anything, and her advice on how to stop g...

In my opinion, there is no greater discovery in 2015 than this book.  Despite its heavy themes, The Eye Of The Sheep is an eminently readable and joyous tale. Told through the eyes of young Jimmy Flick, it's a story about family dysfunction, social disadvantage and a mother's love.  It’s the most beautiful and skillful depiction of Australian domestic life since Tim Winto...

Would a man really stage an accident to murder his three children and get back at his estranged wife? That’s the question Helen Garner concerns herself with in this intimately observed court-house novel. The book follows the case of Robert Farquharson, accused of deliberately driving his car into a dam near Geelong. While the case captured, angered and horrified the nation, th...

The Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction this year sounds more like something from a Mills and Boon novel. Orphaned children, a priceless magical diamond, a blind French girl and a German wunderkind who fall in love via a radio transmission? But Anthony Doerr's war time tome, ten years in the making, is masterful. Written from the child's perspective, the themes of light, love, and how against a...