Goat Mountain | David Vann

This is a gem of a book, from an author I have not read before. It is very intense and powerful.
The story itself is simple, a father, son and grandsons go hunting on their land over a weekend. Something horrific happens at the very beginning, and the rest of the time is spent dealing with the impact of this occurrence on the family, on the individuals, on the land on on the family's history.

Vann has written scenes where the tension mounts, it is palpable. It is very well executed and thoroughly worth reading. Vann throws in quite a bit of philosophy into the story, which I feel adds to the intensity.

There isn't much more than can be said without spoiling the novel. I will search out more of his books as he is a very skilled writer.

Off The Map: lost places, invisible cities, forgotten islands, feral places | Alastair Bonnett

This is an interesting non-fiction book which pretty much dedicates itself to the places Google forgot. Each chapter is short and reads like an essay about some location on Earth which is lost, invisible, forgotten or feral. The chapters are a brief and entertaining discourse on a particular area and the implications in society.

I found it interesting and informative, amusing and a quick read. There are some weird places still left on Earth! Good to know.

A Map of Glass | Jane Urquhart

I think I loved this book first because of it's cover. Yes, the cover art made all the difference! The cover is an old black and white photograph of a woman in long skirt, blouse and straw hat fishing on the banks of a wild river.

This is the story of maps, rivers, forests, pioneers and art. The story is set in the wilds of Canada where a family of pioneers owns great tracts of land and forests. They develop an industry around deforestation and supplying logs for the emerging country's cities. Then as the land stabilises they plant barley, which further denudes the landscape until the sand dunes take over the remains of their settlement.

It is the story of a few generations of the family and how they live in this landscape and the family's parallel deterioration as the land is scoured.

Amongst the story of the older generations is the present day family, who tries to understand itself in the light of the past. The story begins with the discovery of a body encased in ice, found by a young man who is photographing the island where the mill was established. Consequently he meets a woman who suffers from Autism (never stated but seems to be the case) who wants to meet the young artist who found her dead lover. As she meets with the young artist she reveals the family's history, the history of the island and the devastation it brought to the family.

I really enjoyed the structure of the book and it's characters. Quite haunting at times, I kept thinking about the story for a long time after I finished reading it.

Oyster | Janette Turner Hospital

This is one of Turner Hospital's earliest works. It is a bit less polished than her later works but a great read nonetheless.

This novel is set in the outback of Australia, in a town that seems not to officially exist, which shuns outsiders and where people seem to disappear in huge numbers.

We switch narrators quite often which is disconcerting at first until we learn to recognise the voices of the characters, which took me a while. The town's deterioration begins with the appearance of Oyster, a self-styled guru preaching peace on earth and the approach of Armageddon. The town is urged to arm itself and to shun all outsiders. Oyster procures an opal mine where the local youth flock to live in community and mine the opals. After a period of peace, Oyster seems to decline into madness and obsession. Rules are tightened, the community becomes more a cult and the young people start disappearing.

We discover the story bit by bit as the narrators reveal how the shame of what has happened touches all of  their lives.

I enjoyed Turner Hospital's ability to tell a story, build tension and her amazing lyricism.

Well worth reading, as are her other novels. Her style develops and becomes more streamline.

A Spool of Blue Thread | Anne Tyler

Tyler has been one of my favourite authors throughout the years. When asked why by a friend, I responded that Tyler does people well. In every book, the characters are so well crafted we are absorbed by them.
 This is her latest novel and it is character driven. I laughed out loud at times because it has a black humour undertow. This is the drama of a dysfunctional family getting together to move the parents out of the family home into something more suitable. As siblings arrive, each adds to the chaos and dysfunction of this family, which could be any family.

The narrations dips back and forth from the present to the history of the family and the famous house they have lived in for years. We discover family secrets and we watch as the family copes with the secrets and the future.

Thoroughly worth reading as are all Tyler's novels.