'The Geography of Friendship' by Sally Piper (UQP)

'The Geography of Friendship' by Sally Piper (UQP)

'The Geography of Friendship' is circular in structure, further echoed in devices including the bush walk which produce an oppressive, claustrophobic world where nature provides no escape. It shows the trials of being a girl and a women in this world of toxic masculinity.

Sally Piper's 'The Geography of Friendship' is a claustrophobic read concerning toxic masculinity and its impacts on women

'She wanted to tell him that a woman's body wasn't a confection though; that women weren't a free for all feast of the eyes with some bits of them looking tastier than others.

She said nothing to her son though. Instead she hurried him along on to the car.

In this she knows she failed him.'

What is unsaid is the greater failure of the mother: to the girls and women a boy or man with this unchecked toxicity would hurt.

The looping, repetitive thoughts of the women across their 20-years-apart-walks build a trap which is mental, physical and geographical. Congratulations Sally on your second book.

The photo is closest I could get to a bush walk in my inner city 'hood! 🤐. It shows off Sally's gorgeous cover, which from memory is by the same designer as @sylviemina 's, fab 'The Birdman's Wife' #coverart

'A Superior Spectre' by Angela Meyer (Ventura Press)

'A Superior Spectre' by Angela Meyer is a disturbing & masterful read. Finely crafted it recalls the classic prose of an earlier time while tackling futurist notions as well as an earlier era. Jeff the White Male Privilege anti-hero is an extreme example of the type: invading, colonising, exploiting & using the heroine Leonora life for his own idle pleasure only questioning his morality too late after great harm. As such a flawed, disturbed, complex Humbert Humbert character in the #metoo era.

'A Superior Spectre' by Angela Meyer, snapped against my David Bowie 'The Archer' photo. The author and I are both Super Fans.

Kudos, Angela on this achievement. I know I'm so lucky to be published by a great writer (Angela also is head of Publishing at Echo Publishing).

Re the artwork. I try to use relevant or visually harmonious selections as cover photo backdrops. I chose my David Bowie signed 'The Archer' as super fan ⚡️status is something I share with Angela.

'Go Went Gone' by Jenny Erpenbeck, Portobello Books

'Go Went Gone' is a deserving English Pen Award winner and is nominated for the Booker 2018.

A quote to think about: 'must living in peace ... inevitably result in refusing to share it with those seeking refuge, defending it so aggressively that it almost looks like war?'

I recommend this insightful book. It's focused on Germany but is sadly universal in 2018. I hope you can all read it.

Go Went Gone cover design mirroring in many ways my KPM Berlin porcelain plate. Plate was  bought as a souvenir from KaDeWe while on a lovely Berlin holiday. The era was very different from that of the book.