'First, a confession. With these three books, all written by women for women about overcoming personal and collective struggles, I felt not fist-pumping solidarity but jaded reticence. Worse, what sprang to mind unprompted was a scene from Sex and the City, the HBO hit that began as an irreverent romp about four independent and sexually adventurous friends in 1990s New York before gradually disintegrating into a tired and predictable formula: happiness = 1 boyfriend + 3 credit cards x unlimited designer labels.' (Introduction)
'This year marks the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death and, to coincide, the Bank of England has released a £10 note with the author’s face on it. Avid Janeites can attend events across the world, and for the armchair enthusiast there are countless new words, from surprising memoirs to contemporary reading guides to that trusty favourite: articles advising us what we can still learn from Jane Austen. As if we need to be told.' (Introduction)
'Memoirs about positive people who jog are not for me. I far prefer a big fat rock memoir with a black cover and razor-wire font. You don’t read these books for redemption or life skills, though, strangely, they sometimes contain them.
'Often a toxic tale, say Scar Tissue by Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis, will squeak out some clean memories. Expunged of chemicals and body fluids, like a donor organ. Hence the obligatory ‘‘detox’’ bit at the end of some rock biographies: Sting assuming full lotus position or Elton John hanging another Rembrandt in the loo.' (Introduction)
'Andrew O’Hagan’s new book is a triptych of long essays about personality in the age of the internet, originally published in the London Review of Books. Two of the three subjects are Australians. The first is Julian Assange, who in 2011 enlisted O’Hagan as the ghostwriter of an ill-fated autobiography. The second is computer scientist Craig Wright, who last year laid claim to being the shadowy Satoshi Nakamoto, inventor of the online currency bitcoin. The third piece is on online identity, something O’Hagan explored by using the name of a young man who died in 1984.' (Introduction)
'How young people respond to trauma and being trapped is explored in five new novels by Australian writers. Some characters are stuck in time and place, others are victims of grief and persecution.' (Introduction)
