Not unusually, I'm late to this book that was all the talk in 2020 - and, I may not have read it at all if it hadn't been for my reading group. I'm talking, as you will have guessed from the post title, of Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet. As most of you will know, Hamnet's plot … Continue reading Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet (#BookReview)
Month: September 2021
Monday musings on Australian literature: 2021 Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award shortlist
Once again I am using my Monday Musings post to make an awards announcement, though I prefer not to. However, I am breaking my rule-of-thumb so soon again for a few reasons: I spent too much time on yesterday's Living under Covid-19 post leaving less time for today's post; I have a zoom Tai Chi … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: 2021 Mark and Evette Moran Nib Literary Award shortlist
Living under COVID-19 (5): Holds on happiness
It's nearly a year since I wrote a COVID-19 post. I nearly wrote one a few months ago when things were going COVID-normal smoothly, by which I mean our lives were minimally restricted, with daily life being as free as we could hope given the world-wide situation. We (I mean we Ken Behrens) were visiting … Continue reading Living under COVID-19 (5): Holds on happiness
Nancy Jin and Rosalind Moran, These strange outcrops (#BookReview)
Bagging Canberra - often used synonymously for the Federal Government - is almost a national sport, but in recent years anthologies have appeared to counter this with more complex stories about this place. The first two I've read - The invisible thread, edited by Irma Gold (my review) and Meanjin's The Canberra issue (my review) … Continue reading Nancy Jin and Rosalind Moran, These strange outcrops (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Supporting genres, 4: Literary nonfiction
Continuing my little Monday Musings sub-series on "supporting" genres, I'm turning next to a rather "rubbery" genre, literary nonfiction. It is tricky to define - and partly for that reason, it is not obviously well supported. Literary nonfiction goes by a few other names including creative nonfiction and narrative nonfiction. This last one provides a … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Supporting genres, 4: Literary nonfiction
Irma Gold and Susannah Crispe, Where the heart is (#BookReview)
I don't normally review children's books, particularly children's picture books, but I do make exceptions, one being Irma Gold. I have multiple reasons for this. Irma Gold is local; she is one of the Ambassadors for the ACT Chief Minister's Reading Challenge; she writes across multiple forms (including, novels, short stories and children's books, in … Continue reading Irma Gold and Susannah Crispe, Where the heart is (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: the Australian 9/11 novel
With the 20th anniversary of 9/11 having been commemorated on the weekend, I thought I might explore how 9/11 affected - if at all - Australian fiction. Before I start, though, I have two provisos: one is that my focus will be fiction, not literature, or culture more widely; and two is that, like many … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: the Australian 9/11 novel
Delicious descriptions: Sara Dowse on Canberra
In my recent post on Sara Dowse's West Block, I ran out of time to share some quotes and thoughts on her depiction of Canberra and the heritage building, West Block. Soon after, I wrote a Delicious Descriptions on West Block, promising another one on Canberra - because, well, I can, and Canberra is my city. … Continue reading Delicious descriptions: Sara Dowse on Canberra
Marie Younan with Jill Sanguinetti, A different kind of seeing: My journey (#BookReview)
In many ways, Marie Younan's A different kind of seeing: My journey is a standard memoir about a person overcoming the limitations of her disability which, in this case, is blindness. It's told first person, chronologically, from her grandparents' lives through her birth in Syria to the present when she is in her late 60s … Continue reading Marie Younan with Jill Sanguinetti, A different kind of seeing: My journey (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Islands in Australian literature
"No man is an island" wrote John Donne, recognising, to put it very simply, that we are better together than alone. Right now, Australians are experiencing "island-ship" in multiple ways, because not only are we an island geographically, but also practically, given travel in and out is extremely limited. Moreover, many of us on the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Islands in Australian literature
Whispering Gums 