I am so very pleased to see some of the books I’ve loved on this shortlist!
FICTION
Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey (Penguin)
Golden Boys by Sonya Hartnett (Penguin)
The Snow Kimono by Mark Henshaw (Text Publishing)
Demons by Wayne Macauley (Text Publishing) See my review.
N by John A. Scott (Brandl & Schlesinger) See my review. (BTW John Scott has just won the $12,000 David Harold Tribe Fiction Award for his short piece Picasso: A Shorter Life. Which is excellent because I think he’s a great writer.)
To Name Those Lost by Rohan Wilson (Allen & Unwin) See my review.
NON-FICTION
The Europeans in Australia: Volume Three: Nation by Alan Atkinson (NewSouth) See Yvonne’s review at Stumbling Through the Past.
Acute Misfortune: The Life and Death of Adam Cullen by Erik Jensen (Black Inc.) (See my review)
Darwin by Tess Lea (NewSouth)
Where Song Began by Tim Low (Penguin)
The Tainted Trial of Farah Jama by Julie Szego (Wild Dingo Press)
The Bush by Don Watson (Penguin)
DRAMA
Resplendence by Angus Cerini (Cerini/Doubletap)
Mayakovsky by Alison Croggon (Carriageworks/Sydney Chamber Opera)
The Long Way Home by Daniel Keene (STC)
POETRY
Bed For All Who Come by Susan Bradley Smith (Five Islands Press)
The Beautiful Anxiety by Jill Jones (Puncher and Wattman)
Radiance by Andy Kissane (Punchman and Wattman)
YOUNG ADULT
Razorhurst by Justine Larbalestier (Allen & Unwin)
The Cracks in the Kingdom by Jaclyn Moriarty (Pan Macmillan)
The Protected by Claire Zorn (UQP)
Congratulations to all the authors, editors and publishers!
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
Interesting shortlist/s. I have Henshaw’s The snow kimono on my TBR, having been to the launch a couple of months ago. I’ve read some positive reviews of the Hartnett.
I’m also keen to read Don Watson’s The bush. Historian blogger Yvonne (whom I know you know) highly recommends Alan Atkinson’s book.
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By: whisperinggums on December 11, 2014
at 7:09 pm
Thanks for the heads up about Yvonne’s review, I’ve added the linkJ
I’ll try to scout around for some other reviews, but am so very, very tired tonight, I’m just going to have dinner and then veg out in front of something mindless on TV before an early night.
Six (working) days to go…
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By: Lisa Hill on December 11, 2014
at 7:25 pm
Yes, I’ve been wondering how you’ve been going … very emotional time I bet. We have just got the next series of Downton Abbey and are watching that.
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By: whisperinggums on December 11, 2014
at 7:57 pm
Emotional?
I’m just physically exhausted from stocktaking 30,000 items and not even a parent volunteer to help. .
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By: Lisa Hill on December 11, 2014
at 8:08 pm
Oh .. Yes, that would be exhausting. You couldn’t rope in some Year 6s?
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By: whisperinggums on December 11, 2014
at 9:01 pm
I’ve had some wonderful kids to help, but it’s not the same as having a trained parent volunteer who can fix cataloguing problems as they occur.
But hey, it’s Friday, and it’s time to relax with a nice G&T and some more of Game of Thrones. My goodness, it’s a racy series…not my usual fare at all!
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By: Lisa Hill on December 12, 2014
at 6:43 pm
Oh yes, I understand …
I haven’t got into Game of thrones so will have to take your word for that, but sometimes an escapist TV series is just the thing isn’t it?
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By: whisperinggums on December 12, 2014
at 7:58 pm
I hope The Golden Boys win, an intriguing story. The Snow Kimono and To Name those Lost, are also excellent reads. I didn’t like Demons. I am on the reserve list at the library for Only the Animals and The Bush and looking forward to reading them, as I have heard good reports about both.
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By: Meg on December 12, 2014
at 8:50 am
Yes, I’d like to read the ones I haven’t seen yet too. I know what you mean about Demons, it’s very clever, and I found it interesting, but it seemed a bit sour to me.
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By: Lisa Hill on December 12, 2014
at 6:50 pm
What a great fiction short list. I bought N just after your review, Lisa, and it’s still sitting on my TBR shelf… maybe it’s about time to get it down.
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By: Jane Bryony Rawson on December 12, 2014
at 10:57 am
I loved N. I would be rapt if it won.
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By: Lisa Hill on December 12, 2014
at 6:50 pm
So would I. N is one of my favourite books of the year and I don’t think it garnered even a fraction of the attention it deserved. It”s a different list to many of the others that have been generated this year- not a Flanagan in sight! Pleased to see the Watson – I borrowed it and began it but had to return it to the library unfinished because too much else was happening. He’s a beautiful, clean writer, as you would imagine with his other work on language. Atkinson is challenging and sees things from a very distinctive perspective.
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By: residentjudge on December 13, 2014
at 6:59 am
I like Don Watson’s writing too. A gifted speech writer too…
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By: Lisa Hill on December 13, 2014
at 9:03 am
Thanks for the mention of my ‘not really a review’ :-) I really hope that Alan Atkinson’s book gets widely recognised.
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By: perkinsy on January 9, 2015
at 2:45 pm
Thank *you* for writing it. I must try to read more non-fiction!
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By: Lisa Hill on January 9, 2015
at 5:15 pm
You will find Atkinson’s book challenging. As always he does not play safe. He is a very independent thinker and for this reason his contribution to Australian history throughout his career has been significant.
Likewise I’m reading more fiction as nonfiction has a lot to learn about writing from fiction. Just finished The Narrow Road to the Deep North. I’m actually thinking of reviewing it but having trouble getting time to write reviews at the moment.
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By: perkinsy on January 10, 2015
at 1:48 pm