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Melbourne
Series: Cities Series
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Check link for latest rating. ( 326 ratings, 54 reviews)
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Melbourne
$3799
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
Melbourne's a city you get to know from the inside out you have to walk it to love it. My favourite time to do this is at night. That's when you capture glimpses of people eating, laughing, talking, arguing, watching TV and reading through half-open terrace house doors and windows ... It is a city of inside places and conversation. Of intimacy.
Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and
still learning, it may not be perfect - your
feedback is welcome!
Description
Melbourne's a city you get to know from the inside out—you have to walk it to love it. My favourite time to do this is at night. That's when you capture glimpses of people eating, laughing, talking, arguing, watching TV and reading through half-open terrace house doors and windows... It is a city of inside places and conversation. Of intimacy.
Melbourne begins on Black Saturday, the day that bushfires tore through the outskirts of Melbourne, destroying the townships of Marysville and Kinglake, shattering thousands of lives. Sophie Cunningham writes about what happened over the year that followed.
Sit through a heatwave, visit the drains underneath the city, participate in a letterpress workshop, wander beside the Yarra, cycle alongside tram tracks and cheer at the footy. Live through the drought before the storm, the rain before yet more fire and days of searing heat. Along the way, be captivated as Cunningham shares her Melbourne, its stories and its characters.
In a new introduction, Cunningham returns to Melbourne after a period away and reflects on how much her city has changed since Melbourne was first published in 2011: it is hotter, greener and has endured the rollercoaster ride from boom times to economic depression that defined 2020.
'Cunningham has successfully captured the dynamics of a city in constant flux, while focusing on the essence of its inner life, which gives it an ambience quite unlike that found in any other Australian city.' — Robert Hefner, The Canberra Times
'It would be nice to imagine that the gift of this book to Melbourne is its greater capacity to understand itself and its webs of connection.' — David Sornig, Melbourne Review
'An admirable response to the impossible task of writing about a city—its history, its present, its characters, its stories, its politics and its personal meaning in a single, accessible volume when any one of these themes should take several. Cunningham is communicating this city's soul as though it's a person, full of contradictions but with an essential character.' — Waleed Aly, The Sunday Age
'This beautiful book provokes nostalgia and deeper thinking about the events, places and people who have defined Melbourne.' — Herald Sun
'Cunningham is communicating this city's soul as though it's a person, full of contradictions but with an essential character.' — Waleed Aly, Australian Book Review
Series: Cities Series
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Hobart
MONA has done a lot more than just rescue a flagging tourism economy. It has changed the city's body language, teaching it to stand up straight and look others squarely in the eye, even putting a swagger in its step. Peter Timms leads us on a journey through his adopted city of Hobart, Australia's smallest, most southerly, least prosperous, but...Paperback$3499Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Sydney
As I set out from the city's southern end, the sandstone walls beneath the Central railway line still held the day's heat ... The moon rose from the invisible harbour into a sky of such a deep royal blue it was almost hard to believe in. The street smelled of low tide. For all its beauty, the city could return...Paperback$3499Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Perth
...we rarely travel far to swim. We occasionally cross the river to Leighton or Cottesloe, where the white sand squeaks underfoot and the champagne foam in the shallows tingles the legs and fizzes over the shoreline and makes children giddy with delight ... the cirrus clouds above the horizon often resemble passages of perfect cursive script written in soft white...Paperback$3499Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Darwin
Darwin is a survivor, you have to give it that. Razed to the ground four times in its short history, it has picked itself up out of the debris to not only rebuild but grow. Darwin has known catastrophes and resurrections; it has endured misconceived projects and birthed visionaries. To know Darwin, to know its soul, you have to listen...Paperback$3799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Melbourne
Melbourne's a city you get to know from the inside out—you have to walk it to love it. My favourite time to do this is at night. That's when you capture glimpses of people eating, laughing, talking, arguing, watching TV and reading through half-open terrace house doors and windows... It is a city of inside places and conversation. Of intimacy....Paperback$3799Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks -
Brisbane
I keep coming back to the light of Brisbane. If you are born into it, this palette of gentle pinks and oranges at dawn and dusk, the blast white of midday in summer, the lemon luminescence of mid-morning and mid-afternoon, you keep it with you and measure all other light by it. If you live away from it, then step...Paperback$3499Unit price /UnavailableAvailableShips in 4-6 weeks
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Sophie Cunningham's Melbourne is praised for its comprehensive exploration of the city's complex history, vibrant present, and unique character. Reviewers appreciate how the book captures the essence of Melbourne, conveying the city's contradictions yet cohesive identity. It evokes nostalgia and encourages a deeper understanding of Melbourne's connections, dynamics, and distinctive ambience.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781742237107
Publisher: NewSouth Publishing
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 01 November 2020
Country: Australia
Imprint: NewSouth Publishing
Audience: General / adult, Professional and scholarly
DIMENSIONS
Spine width: 20.0mm
Width: 110.0mm
Height: 177.0mm
Weight: 333g
Pages: 320
About the Author
Sophie Cunningham is the author of six books, her most recent being City of Trees, a former publisher and editor, was a co-founder of the Stella Prize and is now an Adjunct Professor at RMIT University’s Non/fiction Lab. In 2019, Cunningham was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her contribution to literature.
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