This week's Monday Musings is my second Guest Post in the series. It comes from the lovely Louise of A Strong Belief in Wicker. I first "met" Louise through an online bookgroup and we quickly discovered that we lived within a few hours' drive of each other. Consequently, we have also "actually" met several times … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian Literature: Guest post from Louise of A Strong Belief in Wicker
Month: November 2011
Shadow Man Asian Literary Prize 2011: Reviews from the week November 20-26
Week 2 of our Man Asian Literary Prize 2011 longlist reviewing project (whew!) .... Matt of A Novel Approach is off and running with: Banana Yoshimoto's The lake (from Japan), which is high in my priority list as I've read Yoshimoto before and I'm particularly interested in Japanese literature. And Fay of Read, Ramble with Tarun … Continue reading Shadow Man Asian Literary Prize 2011: Reviews from the week November 20-26
Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Alice Pung and Haruki Murakami
Regular readers here may know that I like Haruki Murakami and so will understand that I was tickled when, out of the blue, Alice Pung alludes to Murakami in her book, Her father's daughter, that I reviewed earlier this week. It appears in her description of a prostitute who has come into her father's Retravison … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Alice Pung and Haruki Murakami
Alice Pung, Her father’s daughter
Her father's daughter (2011) is Alice Pung's second memoir - if you can quite call this book a memoir. Unpolished gem (2006), her first, established Pung in the eyes of both critics and readers as a writer to watch. I agreed with them, but with some minor reservations. She certainly demonstrated the ability to write and … Continue reading Alice Pung, Her father’s daughter
Monday Musings on Australian Literature: Pondering Meanjin’s Tournament
My recent post on the semifinals of Meanjin's Tournament of Books engendered some comments on the value or validity of the tournament itself - so I thought, having dedicated myself to reporting on the tournament, I should comment on what I think about it as an event. I'll start by saying that I don't take literary competitions … Continue reading Monday Musings on Australian Literature: Pondering Meanjin’s Tournament
Shadow Man Asian Literary Prize 2011: Reviews from the week of November 13-19
Lisa of ANZLitLovers has hit the ground running with two reviews this week - and she says that already she is going to find it hard to choose between the two. That augurs well (or badly, depending on your point of view!) for our judging, doesn't it? Anyhow, here are links to Lisa's reviews: Jamil … Continue reading Shadow Man Asian Literary Prize 2011: Reviews from the week of November 13-19
Meanjin’s Tournament of Books 2011, Semi-finals
So now we are getting to the business end of Meanjin's tournament of books ... and it's getting exciting. Since I've been posting a little more frequently lately, I'll keep this one short and, hopefully, sweet ... after all, there's still more to come. Semifinal 1: Joan London's Gilgamesh defeated Kate Grenville's The secret river … Continue reading Meanjin’s Tournament of Books 2011, Semi-finals
Henry James, Paste
It's been a while since I've read any Henry James though, like many readers, I did a few years ago read Colm Toibin's The master and David Lodge's Author Author. I was pleased, therefore, to see James pop up as Library of America's author last week. The story is "Paste" and it is a bit of … Continue reading Henry James, Paste
Monday musings on Australian literature: the AWGIES (for film)
Last week I finally saw the (excellent) film adaptation of Patrick White's The eye of the storm (which I may - or may not - separately blog about). I was intrigued to notice that the scriptwriter was one-time actor, Judy Morris, and this reminded me of the AWGIE awards. The AWGIES are annual awards organised … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: the AWGIES (for film)
Nigel Featherstone, Fall on me
Fall on me bookcover (Courtesy: Blemish Books) Nigel Featherstone is nearly a local writer for me - he lives in the country town an hour down the road - but I haven't read him before, even though he has published a goodly number of short stories and short fiction. How does this happen? Anyhow, Fall on me is … Continue reading Nigel Featherstone, Fall on me
Whispering Gums 