This is a cross post from the winter issue of Quarterly Access, a publication of the youth networks of the Australian Institute of International Affairs.

By Daniel Wilson

Following the success of journalist George Negus’s two books, The World from Italy and The World from Islam, comes perhaps his most ambitious work, The World from Down Under.

The release of Verge 2010: Other Places was a formal, if underwhelming affair. The Wheeler Centre was prepared for the folk blues of the Allistar McLean Duo (also featuring Sam Zerno), while the wine flowed and the finger food added the academic sophistication to an event mostly attended by students.

Winner of the 2004 Man Booker Prize, Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty is a brilliantly written novel with an almost surreal lifelike feel to it. It is also rather dull at times; fortunately these dull times are offset by unexpected twists and a protagonist who is easy to like (at first).

A Book by: Christos Tsiolkas

Sex, drugs and nightclubs are three words synonymous with Tsiolkas’ novel, Loaded. Set amidst suburban Melbourne, this Australian tale from the 1990s delves into the complexities of youth sexuality.