The Monthly Book Club

Welcome to the Monthly Book.

Each month Ramona Koval chooses a book, provides reading notes and posts a video interview.

Current book

November 2014

‘The Book of Strange New Things’ - Michel Faber

The author of The Crimson Petal and the White returns with a new novel that is every bit as grand in scope, genre-transcending and beautifully detailed. Michel Faber’s The Book of Strange New Things is a page-turning exploration of love, faith and the search for meaning. Peter Leigh, a missionary immersed in a fascinating civilisation on a distant planet, struggles to maintain his connection to his wife Bea, who is facing environmental and social catastrophe on Earth.

Previous Months

October 2014 ‘Acute Misfortune: The life and death of Adam Cullen’ - Erik Jensen Notes Comments Watch the interview Read the transcript	September 2014 ‘This House of Grief’ – Helen Garner Notes Comments Watch the interview Read the interview transcript
July 2014 ‘The Life of I’ – Anne Manne Notes Comments Watch the interview Read the interview transcript	June 2014 ‘The Claimant’ – Janette Turner Hospital Notes Comments Watch the interview Read the interview transcript
May 2014 ‘Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932’ – Francine Prose Notes Comments Watch the interview Read the interview transcript	April 2014 ‘A First Place’ – David Malouf Notes Comments Watch the interview Read the interview transcript
March 2014 ‘A Girl is a Half-formed Thing’ – Eimear McBride Notes Comments Watch the interview Read the interview transcript	November 2013 ‘Barracuda’ – Christos Tsiolkas Notes Comments Watch the interview Read the interview transcript
October 2013 ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ – Richard Flanagan Notes Comments Watch the interview Read the interview transcript	September 2013 ‘A History of Silence’ – Lloyd Jones Notes Comments Watch the interview Read the interview transcript
August 2013 ‘Mateship with Birds’ – Carrie Tiffany Notes Comments WATCH THE INTERVIEW READ THE INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT	July 2013 ‘The Watch Tower’ and ‘The Long Prospect’ – Elizabeth Harrower Notes Comments Watch the interview Read the Interview transcript Watch the live conversation
June 2013 ‘Night Games’ – Anna Krien Notes Comments Book interview Interview transcript Live conversation	May 2013 ‘The World Until Yesterday’ – Jared Diamond Notes Comments Book interview Interview transcript Live conversation
April 2013 ‘The Childhood of Jesus’ – JM Coetzee Notes Comments Book interview Interview transcript Live conversation