The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
Yeah, I was overwhelmed.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
And yeah, it was quite a moment.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
He very self-deprecatingly said that he thinks he won the People's Choice because people got the Book of Dirt mixed up with the Philip Pullman book, the Book of Dust.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
But every week we take this very seriously too here on the bookshelf, assessing and disagreeing over books.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
So let's turn to the books that we've asked our guests to read.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
It is some Australian fiction and Jenny Ackland's Little Gods.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
Now, Jenny Acklin is a Melbourne-based novelist whose first novel, The Secret Son, managed to combine stories of Ned Kelly and of Gallipoli.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
But it's her second novel, Little Gods, that you, Kate, and you, Suzanne Leal, have read.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
Her earlier novel makes it sound like she's pressing all the Australiana buttons.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
Is that what she's doing here in this new one?
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
What's the setup of the story?
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
Like, what's the kind of the business of the story?
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
If you've just joined us, you're listening to The Bookshelf on air, online and via the ABC Listen app.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
I'm Cassie McCullough.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
Kate Evans is with me, as ever, and we're looking at new fiction.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
That's such an interesting observation because we are seeing so much more creative non-fiction and blurring between the lines that sometimes we kind of wonder, Kate, whether we should include a book on this show because technically we're about new fiction.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
Do you think that maybe that honesty that you were describing with White Butterflies is missing because there's this form shift?
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
Well, Suzanne Leal, because you've been either very good or very naughty, I'm not sure which, we've asked you to look at two books for us.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
That's why I got you to say it.
The Bookshelf
On Michael Ondaatje's Warlight, Jenny Ackland's Little Gods, Charmaine Craig's Miss Burma and David Peace's Patient X.
So what David Peace has done is look at the life of this Japanese writer.