The Chosen Ones

The Chosen Ones are specially chosen books ...

This month's chooser is Joe Dolce ... and here are Joe's Chosen Ones and his notes on why he chose them ...


Imperium by Robert Harris

Harris wrote one of my other favourite reads, Pompeii, which follows the life of an aqueduct engineer in ancient Rome leading to the eruption of Vesuvius. That book was filled with politics, corruption and beautiful detail and so damn exciting, I have to re-read it periodically to get the hit again. This one is almost as good. Again set in old Rome, it traces the rise of Cicero, from stuttering apprentice to master orator. But don’t let any imagined classical stuffiness of the theme scare you – this is a crackin’ legal thriller equal to anything you have seen. Cicero defends an honest Sicilian peasant against one of the strongest lawyers in the country, who also happens to have the backing of the ancient Sicilian mafia.

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris

Another Harris. No relation. I saw this paperback in the airport and noticed the blurb by Stephen King on the back, ‘best popular novel since The Godfather.’ That was in the days before King put his name to toilet paper so I was impressed and bought it on faith alone. Mind-boggling and terrifying story of the serial killer, Francis ‘The Tooth Fairy’ Dolarhyde, and the detective, Will Graham, who is pitted against him – with the introduction and help, of course, of now the world’s most infamous psycho-genius, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. Lecter has a minor role in this story compared to later books but Red Dragon is the most memorable novel of this series, containing more nuance and detail than any of the films. A masterpiece of the genre.

The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis

“The Queen’s Gambit is sheer entertainment. It is a book I reread every few years – for the pure pleasure and skill of it.” Michael Ondaatje

Walter Tevis wrote The Hustler and The Man Who Fell To Earth. I always thought there were two books that couldn’t be made into movies with present day film technology: Perfume by Patrick Süskind, which conjures the world of fragrance, and The Queen’s Gambit, which evokes the richly cerebral and infinite landscapes of the chess mind. Hollywood attempted a movie of Perfume which failed dismally. A movie was also planned from this book with directors such as Michael Apted and Bernardo Bertolucci on board. Even Heath Ledger had planned to make his directorial debut with the screenplay. But the wheels, so far, have always fallen off any attempts. It’s a tough one. I like books like this that stake out an inviolate territory all their own. Like untranslatable poems. A book that only works as a book. It is not necessary to play chess to enjoy this absolutely thrilling read about the young tranquilizer-addicted orphan girl, protagonist Beth Harmon, who learns chess from the janitor of a girl’s home and rises to become the first woman to challenge for the World Chess Championship in Russia.

The Collected Poems of Cavafy translated by Rae Dalven

One of the most influential poetry books I have ever read. Ms Dalven’s translations are, in my opinion, the most evocative of the unique almost post-sexual and pagan world Cavafy summons for us. Cavafy wrote maybe 20 poems a year, sent advance copies out to friends and the ones they liked, he published – the rest he destroyed. Writers like Cavafy who produce a small but unforgettable body of work like this single volume demonstrate that it is not necessary to be prolific, only to strike the bell squarely. The resonance of a single note can affect your entire life.

The Ballad of Siddy Church by Lin Van Hek

This beautifully written and endearing novel will stay with you a very long time. It conjures up an Australian past that has all but disappeared. Based in part on Lin’s recollections of her own childhood, but now transformed into a poetic present, it evokes the very real dramas of very real people. From the derringer-carrying grandmother, Siddy Church, outback publican – to creepy Mr Mott, the peeping tom lurking outside the protagonist’s window – to German-Jewish Anna Wesoloski’s humble but heroic survival in Auschwitz and subsequent voyage to Australia, this is a glorious spinning wheel of storytelling.