Reaching One Thousand by Rachel Robertson

As part of the Glass of Wine and a Good Book series, WritingWA and Crow Books invite you to hear Rachel Robertson discuss her book and sample some Myattsfield wines.

Tuesday 22nd May, 7pm

All welcome

Rachel Robertson, author of the book, Reaching One Thousand: A Story of Love, Motherhood & Autism, will be in store at Crow Books to talk about her recent book. Reaching One Thousand is a mother’s moving and often amusing story of raising a child with autism.

Liz Byrski – glass of wine & a good book

Part of the continuing series by WritingWA, Crow Books is hosting Liz Byrski Wednesday 7pm to talk about her new book, Last Chance Cafe.

Wine supplied by Arimia. All welcome!

Kris Kuksi: Divination and Delusion

From further back Kuksi’s sculptures look serene, classically balanced gothic vistas. When you get up close, the detail and precision reveal unbelievable scenes, tense with action and passion. Made from detritus and waste, Kuksi’s work at first seems dark in a way similar to H R Giger, but the more you look the more it reminds you of Renaissance art, or Hieronymous Bosch, or Hindu temple art. Amazing.

Taking Punk to the Masses

Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind by Jacob McMurray

Taking Punk to the Masses documents the rise of punk from the 70s to mid-90s, particularly in the US. Using the extensive collection of photos, posters, playing bills from the Experience Music Project collection in Seattle, Jacob McMurray illustrates punk’s emergence out of the UK, to its breaking out in the Pacific Northwest with the release of Nevermind in late 1991. Read More

Skull Orchard Revisited: Art, Words & Music

May sees the release of Jon Langford’sbook,  Skull Orchard Revisited. More known for his music, this book of Langford’s art, layered text & images, also includes a copy of a rare album, ‘Skull Orchard’ originally released in 2005 by a label that quickly went bust. As well as a collection of his art and lyrics, Revisited includes his first published fiction, a dystopian fable about a dolphin and a whale. Read More

Sand by Robert Drewe & John Kinsella

It’s been a while since I finished a book, and then immediately picked it up and began reading it again. Sand is an unusual beast, a collection of Drewe’s prose interspersed with poetry by Kinsella. The book reflects on life growing up in and around Perth. Both remember Perth when it was really a sprawling town. Large tracts of bush and paddocks still existed amongst estates and a kid’s life was spent out about the coastal plains and around the river. Both Kinsella & Drewe demonstrate how indelibly these experiences mark a person. Read More

The Pale King by David Foster Wallace

When Foster Wallace committed suicide in 2008, he left behind various notes, drafts, fragments, a rough structure of a novel set in the IRS (US tax department). The release date is scheduled for April 15, which Tax Day in the US! The novel is apparently about boredom, but from the dribs and drabs leaked so far the book looks promising for fans of Foster Wallace - if not complete. The novel’s central character, ‘David Foster Wallace’, rocks up to work as a trainee at the IRS. As he settles in and gets to know his fellow workers he finds himself immersed in a plot to eradicate what little semblance of humanity still remains in the bureacracy. Foster Wallace was never shy of tackling such a daunting subject and The Pale King sounds typically intriguing and, well, Foster-Wallace-ian.

Alan Moore: Storyteller

Given the extent and quality of Alan Moore’s output since the late 70s, it is surprising how little he is recognised beyond the comic community. Alan Moore: Storyteller is the first account of Moore’s work to which he has contributed, and certainly the most definitive. Moore is one of the giants of visual storytelling culture, the author of seminal works V for Vendetta, Watchmen, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Tom Strong, 2000 AD, Swamp Thing, Batman, Lost Girls, From Hell… the list is extraordinary. He has won Eisner Awards, Kirby Awards, Harveys even a Hugo. This survey of his work boasts new and unpublished material, photos, experimental projects as well as a CD of an Alan Moore spoken performance.

9781907579127 UK edition

9780789322296 US edition

Beyond the Malachite Hills by Jonathan Lawley

Jonathan Lawley was born into colonial times, living first in India then in Southern Rhodesia (as it was then). Lawley studied in South Africa but rejected racialisation. He continued to work in colonial administration up to decolonisation. Since then Lawley’s business career has focussed on pursuing African economic advancement, applying his business skills to the promotion of indigenous technical training. His experience has been in copper mining in Zaire (DR Congo), then Morocco and Mauritius. Read More

On the Many Deaths of Amanda Palmer

Timely, given Palmer’s Feburary appearance in Perth, On the Many Deaths of Amanda Palmer is a collection of blogs, texts, poems, stories posted on the internet by fans following the apparent death of the eponymous Amanda Palmer. Of course this is Rohan Kriwaczek up to his postmodern tricks. With its collection of texts and intermittent scholarly commentary, Many Deaths is reminiscent of other genre bending titles such as Danielewski’s House of Leaves. Kriwacek’s playfulness fits well with (the real) Amanda Palmer’s own tendency to mess with expectations.