I remember two bits of advice given to me about getting married. Dad’s simple advice was not to do it. A friend told me to forget any idea of the wedding being ‘mine’.

As I typed in the ISBN number just then I found myself thinking - why did I bother? Because Eucalyptus is not a novel you will have trouble finding. It is, on the contrary, one you may have had trouble avoiding for the last year.

Disgrace is a deeply disturbing book. It is not an easy read. A novel of despair, it is set in a world where "one ceases to be surprised that what used to be as hard as hard can be, grows harder yet." Yet for all its random violence, fractured relationships and sense of loss, Disgrace is also a powerful, honest novel, and one that deserves attention.

After seven years of work on his novel, Dirt Music, Tim Winton had a 1200 page manuscript and a book that he ‘hated’.

The publication of D Broughton Knox: Selected Works, Volume 1: The Doctrine of God is a highly significant event. This fine volume is, quite simply, a joy to read.

Cultures, even sub-cultures, are rarely static. Their grab-bag of values and practices ebb and flow over the course of years or geography, evolve, adapt or get corrupted. How sad it is that the church, chameleon-like, often simply goes with the flow - that infamous line of least resistance.

Communicating and stewardship are rarely linked. You might expect a book subtitled ‘Christian Stewardship in Community and Media’ to be about how to communicate more effectively or how to improve giving.

Few would deny that the pace of change in society is accelerating. Peter Corney has resourcefully written Change and the Church to aid church leaders, councils or boards initiate and manage constructive change in the local church.