For a second week Peter Carey’s  The Chemistry of Tears (Hamish Hamilton) has received the most mentions in Media Extra. Author Alain de Botton, who tours Australia in late February, argues that religion still has some very important things to teach the secular world in Religion for Atheists (Hamish Hamilton). In Vanished Kingdoms (Allen Lane), historian Norman Davies asks how many people know that Glasgow was founded by the Welsh in a period when neither England nor Scotland existed? Also on the most mentioned chart were Jojo Moyes’ Me before You (Michael Joseph) and Peter Carey’s Parrot and Olivier in America (Penguin)–Media Extra.

Tags: Alain de Botton, Jojo Moyes, Me before You, Norman Davies, Parrot and Olivier in America, Peter Carey, Religion for Atheists, The Chemistry of Tears Category Most mentioned books |

Peter Carey’s latest novel The Chemistry of Tears (Hamish Hamilton) received the most mentions in Media Extra this week. In the story, Catherine is the leading lady. When her lover dies suddenly, all Catherine has left is her work at London’s Swinburne Museum. When she finds the diary of a mysterious clockmaker, she becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth about his life. Also listed on the most mentioned chart this week were Breakdown by Sara Paretsky (Hodder & Stoughton), A Common Loss by Kirsten Tranter (HarperCollins), The Fortunes of Richard Mahony (Henry Handel Richardson, various imprints) and The Glass Canoe (David Ireland, various imprints)–Media Extra.

Tags: A Common Loss, Breakdown, David Ireland, Henry Handel Richardson, Kirsten Tranter, Peter Carey, Sara Paretsky, The Chemistry of Tears, The Fortunes of Richard Mahony, The Glass Canoe Category Most mentioned books |

Jane Sullivan spoke about literary sexism in several forums during the week and her book Little People (Scribe) has consequently made it to the top of the most mentioned chart. Little People is about an impoverished governess, who rescues what appears to be a child from the Yarra River, but turns out to be General Tom Thumb, star of a celebrated troupe of midgets on their 1870 tour of Australia. Other books on the most mentioned chart, all receiving a couple of mentions this week, include Colin Cotterill’s Slash and Burn (Quercus), Kirsten Tranter’s A Common Loss (HarperCollins), Robert Harris’ The Fear Index (Hutchinson) and Christopher Simon Sykes’ Hockney: A Rake’s Progress (Century)–Media Extra.

Tags: A Common Loss, Christopher Simon Sykes, Colin Cotterill, Hockney: A Rake's Progress, Jane Sullivan, Kirsten Tranter, Little People, Robert Harris, The Fear Index Category Most mentioned books |

The death of political writer and renowned athiest Christopher Hitchens received considerable media coverage over the weekend, with two of Hitchens’ books–his memoir Hitch-22 (A&U) and a collection of his most controversial writings, Arguably (A&U)–appearing in this week’s most mentioned chart. Also receiving several mentions were Michael Lewis’ analysis of Europe’s credit crisis, Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour (Penguin), Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad (Corsair) and Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs (Little, Brown)–Media Extra.

Tags: A Visit from the Goon Squad, Arguably, Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch 22, Jennifer Egan, Michael Lewis, Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson Category Fancy Goods |

As the year draws to a close, publications are looking back at 2011 and compiling lists of the best books of the year. For a round up of the ‘best of 2011′ lists see Fancy Goods. Appearing on these lists are this week’s most mentioned books, with Chad Harbach’s novel The Art of Fielding (Fourth Estate) at the top of the most mentioned chart. Set at Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom, but when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are affected. Also appearing on the most mentioned chart this week are Alex Miller’s Autumn Laing (A&U), Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 (Harvill Secker), Jessica Rudd’s Ruby Blues (Text) and Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad (Corsair)–Media Extra.

Tags: 1Q84, A Visit from the Goon Squad, Alex Miller, Autumn Laing, Chad Harbach, Haruki Murakami, Jennifer Egan, Jessica Rudd, Ruby Blues, The Art of Fielding Category Fancy Goods |

Sherlock Holmes expert Anthony Horowitz brings the great man to life for a new generation of readers in The House of Silk (Orion), which sits at first place on the most mentioned chart. The following three titles received equal mentions this week. Peter FitzSimons provides a portrait of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 100 years ago inMawson and the Ice Men of the Heroic Age (William Heinemann). Cold Light (Vintage) is the final volume of Frank Moorhouse’s ‘Edith Trilogy’ set in 1950s Canberra among the murky politics of multi-national diplomacy. Pride and Prejudice fans should keep an eye out for P D James’ Death Comes to Pemberley (Faber): the year is 1803, and Darcy and Elizabeth have been married for six years, when Lydia Wickham, an uninvited guest at their annual ball, arrives screaming that her husband has been murdered–Media Extra.

Tags: Anthony Horowitz, Cold LIght, Death Comes to Pemberley, Frank Moorhouse, Mawson and the Ice Men of the Heroic Age, P D James, Peter FitzSimons, The House of Silk Category Most mentioned books |

Ahead of the bicentenary of his birth next year, Charles Dickens was all over the papers this week thanks to a new biography Claire Tomalin’s Charles Dickens: A Life (Viking). Receiving equal mentions were Joan Didion’s Blue Nights (Fourth Estate), an honest examination of her life as a mother, woman and writer; P D James’ Death Comes to Pemberley (Faber), which recreates the world of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and sets a dectective mystery at its heart, and Wade Davis’ Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory, and the Conquest of Everest (Knopf), which draws connections between the first World War and the conquest of Mount Everest in the 1920s. Geoffrey Blainey’s A Short History of Christianity (Viking), which describes many of the significant players in the religion’s rise and fall through the ages, also appeared on the most mentioned chart–Media Extra.

Category Fancy Goods, Most mentioned books |

All five books on the most mentioned chart received equal mentions this week. Gillian Mears’ Foal’s Bread (A&U) appeared on the Most Mentioned list again, as it continues to generate interest among reviewers. Cambridge University Press has released its Encyclopedia of Australian Architecture, which includes over 1000 entries from 200 contributors, and 500 photographs and drawings for all those curious about the built environment. Jessica Rudd’s Ruby Blues (Text) has made an appearance on the Most Mentioned list again. Steven Amsterdam’s What the Family Needed (Sleepers) is the tale of a family finding itself, told by each of its members as they discover powers they never thought possible. Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs (Little, Brown) also received a number of mentions this week–Media Extra.

Category Fancy Goods |

All five books on the most mentioned chart received equal mentions this week. Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating has published a volume of speeches and occasional pieces in After Words: The Post-Prime Ministerial Speeches (A&U). An English teacher finds a portal to 1958 and is given the chance to stop the assassination of John F Kennedy in Stephen King’s 11.22.63 (Hodder & Stoughton). Cold Light (Random House) is the third book in Frank Moorhouse’s Edith Campbell Berry Trilogy, set in postwar Australia. The rise and metamorphosis of double-entry bookkeeping is one of history’s best-kept secrets and one of its most important untold tales in Jane Gleeson-White’s Double Entry (A&U). And finally, media personality and foodie Indira Naidoo embarks on a mission to transform her tiny balcony into a bountiful kitchen garden in The Edible Balcony (Lantern)–Media Extra.

Tags: After Words, Cold LIght, Double Entry, Frank Moorhouse, Indira Naidoo, Jane Gleeson-White, Paul Keating, The Edible Balcony, The Post-Prime Ministerial Speeches Category Most mentioned books |

Gillian Mears’ Foal’s Bread (A&U) is set among the country show high-jumping circuit that prevailed in rural New South Wales prior to World War II and tells the story of two generations of the Nancarrow family and their fortunes as dictated by the land. In Hiroshima Nagasaki (HarperCollins), Paul Ham explains that most people believe the Allies ended the Pacific War and saved millions of American and Japanese lives in doing so. Ham challenges this view, arguing that the bombings, when Japan was on its knees, were the culmination of a strategic Allied air war on enemy civilians. Joan Didion’s Blue Nights (Fourth Estate), Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 (Harvill Secker) and Billy Connolly’s Route 66 (Billy Connolly & Robert Uhlig, Sphere) also appeared on the most mentioned chart–Media Extra.

Tags: 1Q84, Billy Connolly, Billy Connolly's Route 66, Blue Nights, Foal's Bread, Gillian Mears, Haruki Murakami, Hiroshima Nagasaki, Joan Didion, Paul Ham Category Most mentioned books |