David Pullar

Rates of Exchange: The Law of Conservation of Literature

By David Pullar

"What is a hardcore book buyer of simple means to do when faced with the discovery that books have effectively consumed all available space?" David Pullar explores the book culler's dilemma that is Cash vs. Store credit. [18 June 2008]

One Morning Like a Bird by Andrew Miller

By David Pullar

The writers' reflections on Japanese identity are never undertaken in isolation from the world -- they are informed by a strong awareness of the world beyond their islands. [17 February 2009]

Down to the Crossroads by Guy Rundle

By David Pullar

Rundle didn’t know for certain that Obama was going to win. Admit it, neither did you. [9 February 2009]

The Best Australian Stories 2008, ed.  Delia Falconer

By David Pullar

This is less a Nick Hornby mixtape, with each selection ordered just so, and more akin to an mp3 playlist, inviting the reader to dip in and out at leisure. [29 January 2009]

Elephantina by Andrew Drummond

By David Pullar

It may be an occupational hazard of the mimic: becoming so focused on the minutiae of tics and idiosyncrasies that the big picture is missing. [30 October 2008]

Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen

By David Pullar

The power of this book is not in its depiction of psychosis -- it’s in how effectively it symbolises this kind of romantic confusion. [22 September 2008]

The Spare Room by Helen Garner

By David Pullar

The old cliché that “you’ve got to laugh” in the face of tragedy is given new meaning by Garner. [27 August 2008]

The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow by A. J. MacKinnon

By David Pullar

Mackinnon’s eccentric, pith-helmeted adventure is a holdover from the days when books for children weren’t simplistic; when adult writers talked to their young readers as equals while still making sure there were plenty of thrills and spills. [29 July 2008]

Dreamland by Tom Gilling

By David Pullar

Really, someone should start a union for mysterious women in thrillers and demand better conditions. [9 July 2008]

Growing Up Asian in Australia by Alice Pung

By David Pullar

Anyone who has been bullied or excluded or felt that their family is weird will identify with many of these stories. [8 July 2008]

Bonk by Mary Roach

By David Pullar

While writing about the serious science of sex, Roach appears to have never met a double entendre she didn’t like. [7 July 2008]

The Good Parents by Joan London

By David Pullar

In the same way that Laura Palmer became largely irrelevant to the story of Twin Peaks, so the missing Maya is somewhat tangential from the moment she skips town. [4 June 2008]

Blood Kin by Ceridwen Dovey

By David Pullar

Throughout this portrait of a small republic following a coup, Dovey seems to question whether it’s those who seek power who are already corrupted. [30 April 2008]

Pravda by Edward Docx

By David Pullar

The odd mixture of cowardice and courage in all of us, the curious ties of family and genetics, and the eternal quest for significance are all contained within this novel. [18 March 2008]

People In Glass Houses by Tanya Levin

By David Pullar

This is the result of Levin's reflection, a curious mixture of memoir and journalistic expose, and rather more like an exorcism than anything else. [7 November 2007]

I Wouldn’t Start From Here by Andrew Mueller

By David Pullar

A book exploring some of the world's most war-torn hellholes with a self-important endorsement from Bono on the back cover does not promise to be a barrel of laughs. [19 September 2007]

Dont Panic by Cassandra Wilkinson

By David Pullar

Wilkinson gives an interesting and challenging look at what's good about capitalism. [23 August 2007]

Edward Trencoms Nose by Giles Milton

By David Pullar

Instead of writing Linen: The Fabric That Changed The World, Milton has taken a departure of sorts into the world of fiction with Edward Trencom's Nose. [13 July 2007]

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

By David Pullar

The quest for the true cause of Sir Edward's death takes the reader into some truly dark territory. We have a come a long way since "the butler did it". [31 May 2007]

Company by Max Barry

By David Pullar

It's a curious blend of a book: a confection that manages to provoke deep reflection; a contrived, superficial novel with something important to say. [2 April 2007]

They Call Me Naughty Lola by David Rose [Editor]

By David Pullar

Why on earth did someone in the first column ask for a "contortionist who plays the trumpet"? Apart from the obvious? [1 March 2007]

Underground by Andrew McGahan

By David Pullar

Of course, realism and plausibility are not as essential when a novel has some kind of allegorical significance. Which Underground does not. [30 January 2007]

Adult Themes by Kate Crawford

By David Pullar

Crawford's greatest contribution to the debate on the decline of modern civilisation is her call for a reasoned, well-developed ethics of adulthood, rather than the shallow focus on external signifiers. [1 December 2006]

The Asian Mystique by Sheridan Prasso

By David Pullar

Tuvalu by Andrew OConnor

By David Pullar

Instead of seeking to make his own environment more humane and liveable, Tuttle seems to imagine that what he needs is more isolation, rather than less. Impotence wins again. [6 September 2006]

Millions of Women Are Waiting to Meet You by Sean Thomas

By David Pullar

For all his broad, colourful and chequered sexual past, Thomas has not been able to discover much more than that men like looking at women. [24 August 2006]

March by Geraldine Brooks

By David Pullar

March's lessons can be taken on board by any liberal concerned by conservatives gaining ground in the 'culture wars'. [19 May 2006]

Re:Print: Making a racket [19 March 2009]

Re:Print: Million-dollar question [5 March 2009]

Re:Print: Parallel Lines [19 February 2009]

Re:Print: Put the book back on the shelf [5 February 2009]

Re:Print: A Plea For Madness [21 January 2009]

Re:Print: Banned for banality [8 January 2009]

Re:Print: Giving the Gift of Literature [24 December 2008]

Re:Print: Christmas Carolling [11 December 2008]

Re:Print: Australasia [26 November 2008]

Re:Print: Murder Most Pleasant [13 November 2008]

Re:Print: Are Writers Crazy? [30 October 2008]

Re:Print: The Great Divide [16 October 2008]

Re:Print: Searching for Spinoza [7 October 2008]

Re:Print: The Politics of Reading [18 September 2008]

Re:Print: Reading the friendly skies [4 September 2008]

Re:Print: A dark and stormy night [21 August 2008]

Re:Print: National pride [6 August 2008]

Re:Print: The Book Group [24 July 2008]

Re:Print: Ugly Australians [10 July 2008]

Re:Print: Reading for pleasure? [26 June 2008]

Re:Print: A sense of place [12 June 2008]

Re:Print: Sydney Writers’ Festival Recap [28 May 2008]

Re:Print: Not Without Honour [15 May 2008]

Re:Print: Imported Gems [1 May 2008]

Re:Print: J.M. Coetzee’s 2020 vision [18 April 2008]

Re:Print: Spook: Adventures in the Afterlife [15 June 2007]