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 |

Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Marriage Plot (HarperCollins), the third novel from the Pulitzer prize-winning author of Middlesex, is about a love triangle between three Ivy League undergraduates in the early 1980s. It’s followed on the most mentioned chart by Elliot Perlman’s The Street Sweeper (Vintage), which explores the varied histories of its New York-based characters, from the experience of the Nazi regime in Europe to the civil rights movement in the US. Julian Barnes’ Man Booker Prize-winning A Sense of an Ending (Random House), Alex Miller’s Autumn Laing (A&U) and Kerryn Goldsworthy’s Adelaide (NewSouth) also appeared on the most mentioned chart this week–Media Extra.

Tags: A Sense of an Ending, Adelaide, Alex Miller, Autumn Laing, Elliot Perlman, Jeffrey Eugenides, Julian Barnes, Kerryn Goldsworthy, The Marriage Plot, The Street Sweeper Category Most mentioned books |

An 85-year-old Autumn Laing is moved to write about her affair with Australian artist Patrick Donlon and the near-catastrophic effects their relationship had on those closest to them in Alex Miller’s Autumn Laing (A&U). Another elderly lady, Lola Quinlan, is the protagonist of Monica McInerney’s latest novel. In Lola’s Secret (Penguin), Quinlan has sent her family away for Christmas and invited a number of mystery guests to stay with her instead. On Shakespeare (A&U) is John Bell’s insight into the world of contemporary Shakespearean acting. In Tasmina Perry’s Private Lives (Headline), Anna Kennedy is the lawyer to the stars, hiding their sins from the hungry media. Heather Brooke’s The Revolution Will Be Digitised: Dispatches from the Information War (Bloomsbury) also gained a spot on the most mentioned chart–Media Extra.

Tags: Alex Miller, Autumn Laing, Heather Brooke, Lola's Secret, Monica McInerney, Private Lives, Tasmina Perry, The Revolution Will Be Digitised Category Most mentioned books |

Charlotte Wood’s Animal People (A&U), an urban love story set over 24 hours, and Alex Miller’s Autumn Laing (A&U), a novel about love, loyalty and creativity, made it to the top of the most mentioned chart this week with the same number of mentions. Stephen Greenblatt’s The Swerve: How the Renaissance Began (Vintage) is about one man’s discovery of an old manuscript in the 15th century, which fuelled the Renaissance and changed the world. A Private Life (A&U) is Michael Kirby’s collection of reminiscences that reveal his private side. Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Marriage Plot (Fourth Estate) is a novel about Madeleine Hanna, who falls in love with Leonard Morten, a charismatic loner and college Darwinist–Media Extra.

Tags: A Private Life, Alex Miller, Animal People, Autumn Laing, Charlotte Wood, Jeffrey Eugenides, Michael Kirby, Stephen Greenblatt, The Marriage Plot, The Swerve: How the Renaissance Began Category Most mentioned books |

At the top of the most mentioned chart is Elliot Perlman’s The Street Sweeper (Vintage), a story that combines the civil rights struggle in the United States with the Nazi crimes against humanity in Europe. Susan Mitchell’s Tony Abbott: A Man’s Man (Scribe) was a hot topic this weekend. Mitchell’s book describes the Opposition Leader as a sore loser and as someone afflicted by ‘innate and deeply embedded sexism and misogyny’. Christos Tsiolkas’ The Slap (A&U), Alice Pung’s Her Father’s Daughter (Black Inc.) and Michael Kirby’s A Private Life: Fragments, Memories, Friends (A&U) also featured on the most mentioned chart–Media Extra.

Tags: A Private Life, Alice Pung, Christos Tsiolkas, Elliot Perlman, Her Father's Daughter, Michael Kirby, Susan Mitchell, The Slap, The Street Sweeper, Tony Abbott: A Man's Man Category Most mentioned books |

Diane Armstrong’s Empire Day (Fourth Estate) is set in Sydney’s Bondi Junction in the late 1940s. It is a microcosm of changing Australia, and life is changing too fast for locals like Pop Wilson, who resents the European ‘reffos’ who have moved in. Stephen Sewell’s Babylon (Victory) is about Mick, an English backpacker, who is heading to the north of Australia for the chance of making his fortune on the prawn trawlers plying the gulf. Anna Funder’s debut novel All That I Am (Hamish Hamilton) continues to generate interest from reviewers and readers. Also on the most mentioned chart is Francesca Rendle-Short’s Bite Your Tongue (Spinifex), the story of a teenage girl growing up in Queensland in the 1970s, and Andrew Robb’s Black Dog Daze (MUP) on the challenges of managing depression. Julian Assange: The Unauthorised Biography (Text) was also a notable entry this week, gaining publicity from its release without Assange’s permission–Media Extra.

Tags: All That I Am, Andrew Robb, Anna Funder, Babylon, Bite Your Tongue, Black Dog Daze, Diane Armstrong, Empire Day, Francesca Rendle-Short, Julian Assange, Spinifex, Stephen Sewell Category Most mentioned books |