Country Style

BOOK CLUB

THIS MONTH’S PICKS ARE ENTERTAINI­NG, BUT ALSO LEAVE BEHIND NEW AND EXCITING IDEAS ABOUT HOW THE WORLD IS CHANGING.

- REVIEWS ANNABEL LAWSON

THE ONE

John Marrs, Del Rey, $23.99 You’ll have a bunch of unanswered questions at the end of this deliciousl­y bodeful novel, but that’s okay. A decade from now a scientist has set up ‘Match Your DNA’ — the ultimate dating tool. Trouble is, happily married couples want to try it. Have they made the best choice? Dear oh dear. And what if your match happens to be a serial killer? Or already dead? Marrs presents a convincing panoply of human nature at its best and worst. Let us enjoy the way things are before technology takes over. Blundering into relationsh­ips and then adapting as best you can is probably the best option.

MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS

Jonathan Taplin, Macmillan, $32.99 If I win the lottery, I’ll buy every subscriber a copy of this book. Taplin writes about the largely hidden powers of Google, Facebook and Amazon to replace government, in fact to become our new rulers. (They collect personal data and sell it to those who want to harness our behaviour.) Their founders were decent blokes who wanted to ‘do no evil’. Yet what they did was create an addiction to funny little emoticons. Instead of revelling in the knowledge and beauty the internet offffffers, we look for ‘likes’. There’s more. Creatives can no longer survive because their products are distribute­d free via the internet. Style Country A very small number of creators do well and get paid vast amounts of money, but we are denied the variety and boldness of the past. The build-up of facts and fifigures is interspers­ed with chunks of autobiogra­phy. Taplin used to be on Bob Dylan’s team, worked with Scorsese in the days when power-hungry plutocrats hadn’t yet impoverish­ed so-called ‘content providers’. He is now a professor. Perfect. The tumult of creation followed by a handover.

TABOO

Kim Scott, Picador, $32.99 Scott belongs to the Noongar people and he’s a professor of writing at Curtin University. His novel explores a do-gooder’s attempt to heal bad blood between Indigenous and white communitie­s. A young female suffffers shocking abuse from both sides of the ethnic divide, yet emerges braver than those held in thrall by traditiona­l beliefs and wiser than the rest of us who seem to be making it up as we go along.

THE GIRL BEFORE

J.P. Delaney, Quercus, $32.99 There’s nothing spooky about Edward’s computer. This isn’t science fifiction. He’s an architect and he’s built the perfect house, a pristine cube. He needs the perfect tenant. There are rules and regulation­s, and a long questionna­ire to elucidate the applicants’ psyche. After two deaths and a birth (which poses the biggest question of all), the cube awaits a new tenant. This is probably the best novel you’ll read all year.

DEPENDS WHAT YOU MEAN BY EXTREMIST

John Safran, Penguin/hamish Hamilton, $34.99 Safran starts out in ironic vein. In search of Australia’s extreme activists he fifinds that the leader of a white supremacis­t group is Sri Lankan. Islamists and Islamophob­es fifind common cause against Jews. (Safran is Jewish.) As the months go by, however, his energetic socialisin­g turns sour. Safran’s Muslim mate is no longer sharing Monty Python jokes. He’s in gaol and non-contactabl­e. The book ends with Safran rejoicing that Trump has been elected US president. He is ‘good for the book’ — because he proves Safran’s claim that fringe sentiments can suddenly gain traction and harrow the middle ground.

THE EXTRAORDIN­ARY LIFE OF PIKELET

Calley Gibson, Ebury Press, $29.99 Pikelet was a rescue puppy, who now fosters other unfortunat­e animals. Gibson dresses him in every imaginable outfifit and he clearly enjoys showing offff; this is not exploitati­on. Pikelet’s diary is aimed at doting staffiffie owners like myself. Nuffff said. Some proceeds from the book go towards helping dogs that have been abandoned.

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