The Children’s Bach, Helen Garner

I know that many people think of this as the perfect book, and it is really excellent, but I read The Spare Room first, and liked it even more. This is different — it jumps around a lot, in both time and perspective, and it does so in really interesting ways. But what really makes it great is the wonderfully breezy, nonchalant, but also totally matter-of-fact way that messy and even ugly human feelings are described. It’s very arch, and fun.