Pick up any of Aira’s books, they’re all interesting, but Landscape Painter is a good place to start…

Books, novels, novellas and stories are unique among the arts for being able to hold a reader in a narrative. Some authors use this particular art to tilt the reader’s perspective, to hold narrative to a different perspective, to expose the reader to a philosophy long enough for it to be experientially burned on the reader’s mind. Kafka, Beckett, Woolf, Bolano – all play with this form.

Cesar Aira is an Argentine writer who is a master of this style. He is prolific – publishing at least a couple of novellas every year, varying in genre from historical, to dada, to futuristic. They are published sometimes as books, or novellas, and sometimes as chapbooks, or stapled photocopies.

And Cesar Aira is unsettling good. He writes in a form he calls “flight forward” (fuga hacia adelante) with little pre-planning or post-revision.

I can’t tell you too much about An Episode in the Life of a Landscape Painter as telling any of the plot will deprive readers of the joy of the story unfolding. Suffice to say, I read it in one sitting and felt, the rest of the day, as though I had experienced pleasure – and the world looked a little different than before.

A gentleman among pro-wrestlers of the 80s, Andre the Giant was a legend and his life is poignantly represented here by Box Brown in his graphic biography. Known to another generation for his role in the movie ‘The Princess Bride’, he became an acclaimed figure in popular culture.

Born Andre Roussimoff, Andre had a condition which meant he never stopped growing, peaking at seven and a half feet tall, and weighing over 600 pounds. While he knew early that his life would be short, he lived his life to the full and honourably.

Box Brown’s graphic portrayal reflects his own love of Andre and wrestling generally. Contributions from many characters, including Hulk Hogan and Robin Wright.

Although it is eloquently and dispassionately argued, Kolbert’s new book about the massive extinctions happening around the world makes depressing reading. Mostly because it is so clearly alarming and yet humans for whatever reason aren’t reacting urgently. This seeming unfathomable counter-intuitive – lies quietly at the centre of this book.

It took thousands of years for mammoths and giant ground sloths to become extinct. For geologists, these millennia are considered “geologically instantaneous”. We are witnessing a similar mass extinction in a lifetime.

The last time this many species went extinct this quickly was 65 million years ago when an asteroid hit the earth causing a long global winter. Human impact over the last 100 years is thus the equivalent of a similar meteorological collision. Will we be able to slow the rate of extinction? Do we care? What will the cascading effects of mass species collapse be?

Very interesting book as much for its scientific cataloguing of extinctions, as for what it says about human nature.

Light Horse Boy by Dianne Wolfer and illustrated by Brian Simmonds.

Review by guest reviewer Madeline Gardener.

Light Horse Boy is a book about a 17-year-old boy who goes with his 18-year-old friend called Charlie. Jim is recruited to the Light Horse by lying about his age and because he was a great equestrian rider. He realized the reality of the frontline when Charlie and his friend Bob passed away and Jim’s mate Chook (Tom) was sent back to Australia after he was shot in the forearm. Jim went with his horse Breaker. Jim was employed into lots of different areas such as the Infantry, Medic corps and Veterinary corps. There are letters from Jim to Alice and vice versa, Jim also wrote to Bob’s mother, and Chook wrote to Jim. These letters were written over the different years of the war and this book was based in the Great War also known as The War to End All Wars or World War I. This book talks about the Light Horse in Egypt, Turkey and Jordan.

The book has wonderful charcoal illustrations and work with the theme of the book. The charcoal effect brings out gloomy and sad feelings and emotions of the characters. The illustrations are realistic and you do not have to stare at the pictures to make out what they are depicting.

I think that Light Horse Boy is a great book and I would recommend it for kids 10-14 years old who like reading about animals serving humans and being respected. The animals in the book were loyal and you could imagine them being at your side whatever the situation even if a gunfight broke out. I really liked the book because of the storyline and time era.