Luis Miguel Rocha’s novel, The Last Pope, weaves fact and fiction into a thrilling story centered on the actual mysterious death of Pope John Paul I in 1978, who only reigned for 33 days. Rocha’s book develops the various conspiracy theories into an exciting thriller. His Holiness died of unknown causes but he was embalmed within 24 hours, preventing an autopsy which would have revealed the actual cause of his death.

The story begins in the Vatican, 3 decades later,  as a cleric dashes through the Secret Archives. When the Monsignor leaves the Archives, he encounters a stranger who follows him out of St. Peter’s Square into the streets of Rome. After being shot by the stranger, but before he is whisked away in a car, the Monsignor slips an envelope into a mailbox.

The fate of the mysterious envelope mailed by the Monsignor is brought to light when Sarah Monteiro, a journalist in London, returns from vacation to find this envelope stuffed in her mailbox. The yellowed pages in the envelope contain a list of unfamiliar names and a coded message. Initially she is not terribly concerned about the list until a stranger breaks into her home, and she realizes the list has put her in danger. When she tries to find the meaning of the list, she discovers it also holds the key to murder and corruption at the highest levels of the government and the Church. She tries to escape and joins up with a man code-named Raphael. He promises to reveal the meaning of the list and why she is involved. They become involved in a mix of terror and double-crosses as they try to find what really happened during the brief reign of John Paul I and who really benefited from the Pope’s sudden death.

Although the novel is a fictionalized account of the mysterious death of Pope John Paul I, the author learned that two copies of his book in Portuguese were delivered to the Vatican.

A gripping read which keeps the reader riveted until the end of the novel and questioning about what may really be hidden by the walls of The Vatican.

Highly recommended : *****

JW

Friday 9^th October:
Year Nine meeting

 Friday 16^th October:
Year Ten meeting

 Friday 23^rd October:
Year Ten Meeting,  begin to compile the Lit. Club recommended reads for 2009, introduce some new books and have a chat about books and reading.

 Wednesday 28^th October:
Australian centre for Youth Literature: bring the funny !
Depart @11.45. Return @ 3.30 (Year Nine)

 Friday 30^th October:
Year Eleven: End of year meeting with a pizza lunch and some good reading suggestions for the holidays.

 Friday 6^th November:
Leesa Lambert from “The Little Bookroom” will be showing you the latest new releases and you will be able to select books for the Library collection. (Year Nine and Ten)

 Friday November 13^th:
No meeting Black Friday best not to tempt fate! (Actually I will be at an in-service)

 Thursday November 19^th:
Literature afternoon with Genazzano and a couple of other schools. Includes a guest speaker, food, drink and prizes (Year Nine and Ten). (Year Tens I will get some Year Nine and Ten girls there)

After the exams Year Nine and Ten end-of-year break-ups.

Dates to be confirmed.

Some time ago I read the novel This boy’s life by Tobias Wolff. The book is a memoir of Tobias Wolff’s childhood and teenage years growing up in 1950’s America. The memoir stands alongside The catcher in the rye as one of the best adolescent or “coming of age” stories in modern literature. I was looking forward to reading In pharaohs army: memoirs of a lost war. In the memoir Wolff recounts his years after he leaves school and ends up in the US Army on a tour of Vietnam. In 1965, Wolff finds himself drifting into the army after dropping out of school and jumping ship in the merchant marines. He enlists in the army and is trained to be an officer in the Special Forces and he is despatched to Washington to become fluent in Vietnamese. On his arrival in Vietnam, due to his skill in Vietnamese, he is moved from the Special Forces to be attached as an American advisor to a South Vietnamese unit. Here he sits out the war in a muddy paddy field in the Mekong Delta and offers a vivid and witty insight into the experience of war. Tobias Wollf’s memoir is not a gritty combat narrative but more an account of a young man’s struggle to reach maturity and come to terms with his family and himself in the middle of war zone. Wollf’s memoir is a powerful account of a young man’s experience of war.

Mr Thornton

Rating: 4 out of 5 

Reading level:  Years 9 – 10.

OLDER READERS – BOOK OF THE YEAR  2009

WINNER – Tales of Outer Suburbia by Shaun Tan

HONOUR – Into white silence by Anthony Eaton

HONOUR – A Rose for the Anzac Boys by Jackie French

YOUNGER READERS – BOOK OF THE YEAR 2009

WINNER – Perry Angel’s Suitcase by Glenda Millard

HONOUR – The Wish Pony by Catherine Bateson

HONOUR – Then by Morris Gleitzman

PICTURE BOOK – OF THE YEAR 2009

WINNER – Collecting Colour by Kylie Dunstan

HONOUR – Home and away by Matt Ottley

HONOUR – The Big Little Book of Happy Sadness by Colin Thompson

EVE POWNALL – BOOK OG THE YEAR 2009 (Audience birth-18years)

WINNER – Alive in the Death Zone by Lincoln Hall

HONOUR – The Word Spy by Ursula Duborsarky

HONOUR – Simpson and his Donkey by Mark Greenwood

EARLY CHILDHOOD – BOOK OF THE YEAR 2009

WINNER – How to Heal a Broken Wing by Bob Graham

HONOUR – Leaf by Stephen Michael King

HONOUR – Tom Tom by Rosemary Sullivan

The Brennan Resource Centre was pleased to host a very successful combined event with Saint Kevins. 

 On Monday July 27th we welcomed visiting author Barry Heard who spoke to interested students, parents and staff about his experiences as an Australian soldier during the Vietnam War. 

His memoir titled “Well done, those men: memoirs of a Vietnam veteran”, has been recently published and well-received.