Toowoomba’s favourite books

TOOWOOMBA’S movers and shakers, and The Chronicle staff, share just what their favourites books were in 2019.

As how we consume books changes, and podcasts replace nonfiction books as the medium for that genre, some people have included podcasts as their favourite literature instead of printed books. Paul Antonio: God is Good for You by Greg Sheridan

TOOWOOMBA Mayor Paul Antonio said his favourite book this year was The Australian foreign editor Greg Sheridan’s God is Good for You.

The blurb of the book says it “shows us why Christianity is so vital for our personal and social wellbeing, and how modern Christians have never worked so hard to make the world a better place at a time when their faith has never been less valued”. Geraldine Mackenzie: Me by Elton John

“I LISTENED to it by talking book in car trips between the USQ campuses and around western Queensland,” Prof Mackenzie said.

“At nearly 13 hours, it was big commitment, but it’s a beautifully written book telling the story of a musical genius, with all of the highs and lows of an extraordinary career.

“I love autobiographies, and this is one of the best, as Elton can look back and laugh at his own expense at the ridiculous things he did earlier in his career. The fact that he is still standing now is a miracle, and his music is a gift. “Deputy Mayor Carol Taylor also listed Elton’s autobiography as her favourite book of the year. David Janetzki: Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance and A World of Three Zeros by Muhammah Yunus

TOOWOOMBA South MP David Janetzki said two politically-themed books were his favourite reads of 2019.

“Hillbilly Elegy is an insight into US family life and culture that helps explain the political rise of Trump and Brexit,” Mr Janetzki said.

“A World of Three Zeros is a book about the economics of zero unemployment, zero poverty and zero carbon emissions.” Trevor Watts: Emperors of Rome by La Trobe University

“EMPERORS of Rome from La Trobe University is one of my favourite (podcasts),” Mr Watts said.

“It serves as a reminder that there’s nothing new in politics, because the Romans have done it all before.” Cr Nancy Sommerfield: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

“THIS book is the first of a trilogy about a girl who unexpectedly ended up caring for a wealthy young paraplegic man, incapacitated in a skiing accident in the prime of his life,” Cr Sommerfield said.

“The events that followed need to be read in this interesting novel. Once you read it, you will want to read After You and then Still Me. Great holiday reading.” Cr Geoff McDonald: Penguin Bloom by Cameron Bloom and Bradley Trevor Greive

“THIS is a remarkable true story about an odd little magpie named Penguin who saved a family,” Cr McDonald said.

“The book is written by Cameron Bloom and Bradley Trevor Greive and is so compelling it will be turned into a movie in 2020.

“I first saw this amazing story on 60 Minutes early this year and then had the great pleasure of meeting Cam and Sam Bloom when emciing a fundraising event for the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in October on the stage at the Empire Theatre.

“A true story of hope and courage that begins with Sam left paralysed after a fall when on a family holiday and then tells of an abandoned and injured magpie chick that came into their lives and became one of the family.” Cr Bill Cahill: Leading on the Edge by Rachel Robertson

CR CAHILL said his favourite book this year was Leading on the Edge.

In the nonfiction book, successful business speaker and consultant Rachael Robertson shares the lessons she learned as leader of a year-long expedition to the wilds of Antarctica, where she led 18 strangers around the clock for a full year through months of darkness and with no escape from the frigid cold. Cr Joe Ramia: Keating by Kerry O’Brien

CR JOE Ramia said Kerry O’Brien’s official biography of former Prime Minister Paul Keating was his favourite read of the year. Cr Megan O’Hara Sullivan: Dolly Parton’s America

CR MEGAN O’Hara Sullivan said the podcast Dolly Parton’s America, which is told in a similar way to a nonfiction book, was her favourite piece of literature for the year.

“The podcast asks the question what is Dolly Parton’s America?” Cr O’Hara Sullivan said.

“When Americans are experiencing the most divisive political climate in decades, how is it that she has remained an enigmatic figure for more than 60 years? The narrator, Jad Abumrad, at a packed-out Dolly concert, sees that she is the unlikely unifier of today’s American people. There are people in cowboy hats, people from the left, people from the right, people from LGBTIQ community, grandmothers and children. There are feminists and business people, patriots, immigrants and misplaced people.

“Dolly (72) was, and is, a prolific song writer. She has written more than 3000 songs. She was driven by creativity and ambition and the songs almost streamed out of her consciousness. We hear the background to songs like Jolene, I Will Always Love You, The Light of A Clear Blue Morning and many, many more.” Cr Chris Tait: Arthur Phillip by Michael Pembroke CR CHRIS Tait said his favourite book of the year was New South Wales Supreme Court judge Michael Pembroke’s book about Governor Arthur Phillip.

According to the book’s blurb “Australians know Arthur Phillip as the first Governor of the colony of New South Wales. But few know the real story of this mercurial man.

Arthur Phillip was a career soldier, a mercenary and a spy for the British Empire long before he captained the First Fleet and founded Sydney.” Cr Anne Glasheen: Split and Fetish by Tara Moss

CR ANNE Glasheen said Tara Moss’ books Split and Fetish were her favourite books of the year.

“They are Australian crime, thriller detective books,” she said. Carmel Stuart, Toowoomba City Librarian: The Fast 800: How to combine rapid weight loss and intermittent fasting for long-term health by Dr Michael Mosley and Dishonesty is the Second-Best Policy and Other Rules to Live By, by David Mitchell

“MICHAEL Mosley was credited with popularising the 5:2 diet in 2012, but for many of us doing two days out of seven on only 500 calories was fairly tough,” Ms Stuart said.

“The Fast 800 came out in 2019 as a more moderate approach; it promotes a Mediterranean diet with intermittent fasting (800 calories a day) which results in encouraging weight loss in a short time, with a side dish of numerous health benefits. The regime claims to reset one’s immune system, activate regeneration of cells (in a process called ‘autophagy’) and an improvement in insulin sensitivity.

The one most of us like though, is it seems to help boost the brain and productivity (or is that because one is happier).

“You may be familiar with David Mitchell, from the long-running Channel 4 comedy Peep Show, appearances on QI or Have I Got News For You, or from his comic riffs and satirist columns in The Guardian newspaper.

Dishonesty Is the SecondBest Policy, is a collection of his columns in The Guardian from the past three years, whereby Mitchell espouses his opinions on how Britain is now a country where things are ‘generally getting worse’.

David makes light of all the darkness, from the Olympics, Brexit, terrorism, exercise, rude street names, inheritance tax and salad cream. Tobi Loftus, The Chronicle: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood

“THRILLING, terrifying, exciting; those are the three words that could be used to describe the return to Gilead in The Testaments.”

The long-awaited sequel to The Handmaids Tale which was released in 1985, finally came out earlier this year and while the first book was a bleak look into the mind of a woman trapped in nightmarish circumstances, this new book offers a more hopeful look at standing up to oppression.

The book is narrated by three characters, Aunt Lydia, a young girl within Gilead (the former United States of America overthrown by terrorists and turned into a far-right wing Christian theocracy) and a young girl living in Canada.

What follows is a thrilling exploration of both the early days of the theocracy and the beginning of its end.