My Reading Life (Bob Carr, Viking, $35 pb, ISBN 9780670070664, May) ***1/2

There are few things a genuine book lover enjoys more than enthusing about their favourite books and authors. In this thoughtfully phrased and inspiring volume, former New South Wales Premier and current Dymocks board member Bob Carr is allowed to do just that for over 400 pages. Carr is an intellectual, and the topics he is drawn to revolve around politics, history, international relations, belles-lettres and contemporary issues such as the environment. He shares Kim Beasley’sfascination with the American Civil War and is in thrall with the ‘greats’ such as Shakespeare, Flaubert, Proust, Dickens and Dostoyevsky, and is also well-versed in the classics. Normal Mailer is a particular favourite, and Carr is able to back up an appraisal of his work with an illuminating personal anecdote of their meeting. At the same time, he’s also reading recent releases from Simon Sebag Montefiore and Martin Amis. While some booksellers may wish to disregard his advice to
those seeking books on recent US presidents (‘go to Dymocks’), there’s no disguising his infectious love of books and the ideas they convey. Given the plethora of ‘recommended reading’ titles from overseas it’s good to see an Australian  perspective—although it could be argued that Carr’s tastes are so catholic Australian writing is slightly under-represented.

Andrew Wilkins in the publisher of Bookseller+Publisher

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2008, Thorpe-Bowker

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