Don’t look back in anger: Liam and Noel Gallagher
As interest in Oasis resurges, talking to the combative brothers recalls their glory years as ‘dirty chancers, stealing riffs instead of Ford Fiestas’
December 2008 – January 2009
Arts & Letters
Best Books for Summer 2008–09
Alice Schroeder, The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life (Bloomsbury, 976pp; $49.95).
Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father, read by the author (Text Publishing, 6 CDs; $39.95).
Helen Garner, The Spare Room (Text Publishing, 208pp; $29.95).
Christos Tsiolkas, The Slap (Allen & Unwin, 496pp; $32.95).
Tim Winton, Breath (Hamish Hamilton, 224pp; $45).
Murray Bail, The Pages (Text Publishing, 208pp; $34.95).
Kate Grenville, The Lieutenant (Text Publishing, 320pp; $45).
Nam Le, The Boat (Hamish Hamilton, 336pp; $29.95).
Julia Leigh, Disquiet (Hamish Hamilton, 120pp; $29.95).
Toni Morrison, A Mercy (Chatto & Windus, 165pp; $39.95).
John Updike, The Widows of Eastwick (Hamish Hamilton, 320pp; $32.95).
Philip Roth, Indignation (Jonathan Cape, 256pp; $45).
Joyce Carol Oates, My Sister, My Love (Fourth Estate, 576pp; $33).
Chloe Hooper, The Tall Man (Hamish Hamilton, 288pp; $32.95).
Peter Costello, The Costello Memoirs (Melbourne University Publishing, 374pp; $55).
Brian Matthews, Manning Clark: A Life (Allen & Unwin, 450pp; $59.95).
Christina Thompson, Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All (Bloomsbury, 288pp; $29.95).
George Steiner, My Unwritten Books (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 224pp; $40).
Evelyn Juers, House of Exile: The Life and Times of Heinrich Mann and Nelly Kroeger-Mann (Giramondo Publishing, 352pp; $32.95).
Andrea Weiss, In the Shadow of the Magic Mountain: The Erika and Klaus Mann Story (University of Chicago Press, 310pp; import).
Shirley Hazzard and Francis Steegmuller, The Ancient Shore: Dispatches from Naples (University of Chicago Press, 144pp; import).
Penelope Fitzgerald, So I Have Thought of You: The Letters of Penelope Fitzgerald (Fourth Estate, 624pp; $60).
Manning Clark, Ever, Manning: Selected Letters of Manning Clark, 1938-1991, edited by Roslyn Russell (Allen & Unwin, 576pp; $65).
Dirk Bogarde, Ever, Dirk: The Bogarde Letters (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 536pp; $65).
Sean Connery, Being a Scot (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 312pp; $40).
Roger Moore, My Word is My Bond (HarperCollins, 400pp; $50).
James Davidson, The Greeks and Greek Love: A Radical Reappraisal of Homosexuality in Ancient Greece (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 656pp; $90).
Robert Dessaix, Arabesques (Picador, 320pp; $50).
Graham Freudenberg, Churchill and Australia (Macmillan, 613pp; $55).
Julie Andrews, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 384pp; $35).
Thomas Hischak, The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film and Television (Oxford University Press; 592pp; $79.95).
Mary Hunter, Mozart's Operas: A Companion (Yale University Press, 354pp; import).
John O'Malley, What Happened at Vatican II (Harvard University Press, 344pp; $45.95).
Don Watson, American Journeys (Knopf, 332pp; $49.95).
Simon Schama, The American Future: A History (Jonathan Cape, 384pp; $35).
Peter Dale Scott, The Road to 9/11: Wealth, Empire and the Future of America (University of California Press, 449pp; import).
Stephenie Meyer, Breaking Dawn (Orbit, 768pp; $30).
Gregory Maguire, A Lion Among Men (Voyager, 336pp; $33).
Christopher Paolini, Brisingr (Doubleday, 765pp; $34.95).
Candace Bushnell, One Fifth Avenue (Little, Brown, 448pp; $33).
Jeffrey Archer, A Prisoner of Birth (Macmillan, 400pp; $35).
PD James, The Private Patient (Faber, 416pp; $32.95).
John le Carré, A Most Wanted Man (Hodder & Stoughton, 384pp; $33).
Sebastian Faulks, Devil May Care (Michael Joseph, 320pp; $32.95).
Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautika, translated by Peter Green (University of California Press, 524pp; import).
Vergil, The Aeneid, translated by Sarah Ruden (Yale University Press, 320pp; import).
Robert Adamson, The Golden Bird: New and Selected Poems (Black Inc., 293pp; $27.95).
John Milton, The Essential John Milton, read by Anton Lesser, Derek Jacobi and Samantha Bond (Naxos AudioBooks, 8 CDs).
Joseph Conrad, Nostromo (unabridged), read by Nigel Anthony (Naxos AudioBooks, 15 CDs).
William Shakespeare, Othello (abridged), read by Ewan McGregor, Chiwetel Ejiofor and cast (Naxos Audiobooks, 2 CDs & 1 DVD).
William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice (unabridged), read by Antony Sher and cast (Naxos AudioBooks, 2 CDs).
December 2008 – January 2009
Mati Diop’s haunting ‘Atlantics’
The French-Senegalese director channels ancient fables and contemporary nightmares in this ghostly love story
Sour note
It’s one rule for the government, another rule for everyone else
Diaries (2018–19)
Collected thoughts on writers seeking permission to write, Eurydice Dixon, the Nobel for Murnane and dealing with errant chooks
Bodak moment: Pop’s decade of superstars
Cardi B delivered the song of the decade as a new league of superstars overcame the significance of bandsDon’t look back in anger: Liam and Noel Gallagher
As interest in Oasis resurges, talking to the combative brothers recalls their glory years as ‘dirty chancers, stealing riffs instead of Ford Fiestas’
Damascene subversion: Christos Tsiolkas’s ‘Damascus’
The literary storyteller’s latest novel wrestles with the mythology of Christianity’s founder, Paul the Apostle![Cover of Peter Pomerantsev’s ‘This Is Not Propaganda’ [detail]](https://www.themonthly.com.au/sites/default/files/styles/panel_image_small/public/Lohrey_1140x700_v2.jpg?itok=BCUIHHKL "Cover of Peter Pomerantsev’s ‘This Is Not Propaganda’")
Agents of chaos: Peter Pomerantsev’s ‘This is Not Propaganda’
The Russian expat journalist wonders if democracy can survive the internet, as social media is used to promote feelings over factsDamascene subversion: Christos Tsiolkas’s ‘Damascus’
The literary storyteller’s latest novel wrestles with the mythology of Christianity’s founder, Paul the ApostleAgents of chaos: Peter Pomerantsev’s ‘This is Not Propaganda’
The Russian expat journalist wonders if democracy can survive the internet, as social media is used to promote feelings over facts
Radical ambiguity: Jia Tolentino, Rachel Cusk and Leslie Jamison
The essay collections ‘Trick Mirror’, ‘Coventry’ and ‘Make It Scream, Make It Burn’ offer doubt and paradoxical thinking in the face of algorithmic perfectionism
‘Penny Wong: Passion and Principle’
Margaret Simons’ biography of one of the country’s most admired politiciansMati Diop’s haunting ‘Atlantics’
The French-Senegalese director channels ancient fables and contemporary nightmares in this ghostly love story
‘I’m with the Band: Nasty Cherry’
This Netflix series pays lip service to female empowerment in the music industry, but ultimately reinforces its limits
Streaming highlights: November 2019
‘The Crown’, ‘For All Mankind’ and ‘Dickinson’ offer new perspectives on history, and pragmatism meets pyramid schemes in ‘On Becoming a God in Central Florida’
What does China want from Australia?
On Australia’s efforts to resist Beijing’s campaign for influence – A Quarterly Essay extract
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