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Keywords: Books

  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Books, screens, and holiday dreams

    • Juliette Hughes
    • 18 December 2024

    In a year defined by uneven cultural offerings, books stood tall while cinema faltered and television treaded water. From Alexander Armstrong’s enchanting Evenfall to Patricia Briggs’ mystical Winter Lost, the literary landscape offered gems aplenty. Meanwhile, Netflix’s Mary proved a thunderous flop, and Barbie charmed in pink. Let the debates begin.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Sanmao and the priest

    • Margaret Simons
    • 13 December 2024

    High in Taiwan’s mountains, Jesuit priest Barry Martinson found a soulmate in celebrated author Sanmao, who inspired millions with her writing. Their relationship—neither romantic nor conventional—was a profound meeting of kindred spirits, rooted in shared curiosity, literary love, and the sacrificial essence of friendship.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Evangelicals, exiles, and other tall tales

    • Ken Haley
    • 12 December 2024

      Lech Blaine’s Australian Gospel is a quintessentially Australian tale of faith, family, and identity. Blaine explores the fractures of belief and belonging in an effervescent and vivid work of creative nonfiction. But where does the ‘non-’ stop and the ‘fiction’ begin?

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Alexei Navalny: Patriot and holy fool

    • Danielle Terceiro
    • 12 December 2024

    Navalny’s memoir Patriot was released last month. Written in prison, it is a testament to Navalny’s deliberate practice of a forward-looking hope for the future, even though he was certain that he would not outlive his sentences. Surprisingly, the book is full of humour. 

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  • AUSTRALIA

    How the male crisis is killing women

    • Sarah Klenbort
    • 10 December 2024

    From playground shrugs to a growing male crisis, outdated ideas about masculinity fuel violence, isolation, and despair. Addressing these challenges starts with how we raise boys — teaching compassion, accountability, and the courage to truly connect.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Jordan Peterson wrestles with God

    • Peter Craven
    • 06 December 2024

    As an outspoken psychologist and best-selling author, Jordan Peterson become a lightning rod for debate on culture, gender, and the meaning of life itself. His newest book, We Who Wrestle With God, attempts to reinterpret the Bible through a psychological lens. Yet, some critics question whether his explorations of scripture offer revelation or revisionism.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Russell Brand: Messiah or very naughty boy?

    • Cherie Gilmour
    • 06 December 2024

    Russell Brand's conversion to Christianity has sparked fascination and skepticism. Dismissing his newfound faith as a cynical PR move, critics cite his controversial past. Yet, his public embrace of grace and redemption speaks to a restless spiritual hunger. Is this a genuine transformation or another reinvention of Brand’s ever-shifting persona?

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Tom Hughes, legend of Australian politics and law, farewelled

    • Peter Craven
    • 05 December 2024

    Tom Hughes, who passed away at 101, was a towering figure in Australia’s legal and political history. A barrister of dazzling skill, an Attorney-General with a penchant for reform, and a man of unshakable conviction, Hughes combined wit, charm, and grit to shape justice and inspire a legacy beyond party lines.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    What's it like being Donald Trump?

    • Mark Beeson
    • 28 November 2024
    2 Comments

    What does Donald Trump’s improbable return to the White House have to do with the mysteries of consciousness? Quite a lot, actually. From the psychology of a man shaped by relentless egotism to the social dynamics of his base, we scrabble for insights into what a Trump second term could mean for our fractured world.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    The spirituality of KFC

    • Michael McGirr
    • 22 November 2024
    3 Comments

    There’s this other place that is neither heaven nor earth but which you might find in the car park of the third busiest KFC in Melbourne, waiting for your son to finish his shift. A bin beside the car is overflowing with all the packaging that comes with fast food, not to mention the remains of poor dead chooks whose life it is hard to imagine. 

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Don Watson's elegy for an imperfect union

    • Barry Gittins
    • 22 November 2024
    1 Comment

    Before the U.S. election, Don Watson predicted the electoral victory of Trump in his essay High Noon, an exploration of a divided America teetering on the edge. Dissecting the economic, racial, and cultural forces that led to a Republican landslide reveals an imperfect union at its most vulnerable.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    A guitar that sings to the universe

    • Warwick McFadyen
    • 21 November 2024

    David Gilmour’s latest album, Luck and Strange, emerges as a meditative masterpiece, steeped in themes of time, mortality, and the currents of life. With Gilmour’s unmistakable playing style, the album channels the introspection of an artist reflecting on paths taken and those left behind.

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