Author: Whispering Gums

Monday musings on Australian literature: 2016 awards season dragging to a close

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As the year draws to a close, our final major literary awards are being announced. We've seen this month the winners of the Queensland Literary Awards and the Western Australian Premier's Book Awards. The Barbara Jefferis Award has announced its shortlist, but we are still waiting for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards shortlist. All but one … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: 2016 awards season dragging to a close

Six degrees of separation, FROM Extremely loud and incredibly close TO The women’s pages

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I have never played this #6Degrees "meme" before but when Kate (BookasAreMyFavouriteAndBest) announced that Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely loud and incredibly close (her response) would be the October starter, I knew I had to do it. Read on to see why ... I have read Extremely loud and incredibly close and as I recollect I enjoyed it. I don't … Continue reading Six degrees of separation, FROM Extremely loud and incredibly close TO The women’s pages

Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian Arts, mid-1960s style

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Last week's Monday Musings discussed my high school history book, Nation and people, published in 1967. I don't plan to labour this book, but I would like to share its chapter on the Arts. The authors, Brian Hodge and Allen Whitehurst, dedicate 8 pages to "The Arts" which is pretty good, I think, for a school history book. … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian Arts, mid-1960s style

Anthony Doerr, All the light we cannot see (Review)

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Just when you thought that there couldn't possibly be another angle to writing about World War 2, up comes another book that does just that, like, for example, Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer prize-winning All the light we cannot see. I had, of course, heard of it, but it wasn't high on my reading agenda until it was chosen as … Continue reading Anthony Doerr, All the light we cannot see (Review)

Monday musings on Australian literature: on Nation and people

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Do you keep your old textbooks? I do, though am now starting to move them on. But some I still can't part with, one being my high school history text. Called Nation and people: An introduction to Australia in a changing world, and first published in 1967, it was written by Brian Hodge and Allen Whitehurst who … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: on Nation and people

Cassie Flanagan Willanski, Here where we live (Review)

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"Write what you know" is the advice commonly given to new authors - and it's something Cassie Flanagan Willanski, author of Here where we live, seems to accept. Set in South Australia, where Willanski lives, this debut collection of short stories reflects her two main interests, creative writing and the environment. The book won Wakefield Press's Unpublished Manuscript Award a couple … Continue reading Cassie Flanagan Willanski, Here where we live (Review)

Monday musings on Australian Literature: The Vagabond

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Quite by accident - no, I tell a lie, it was through a link sent by a good friend (thanks Kate) - I came across "The Vagabond", a mysterious journalist who wrote for Australian newspapers - primarily in Victoria - in the late 19th century. The link was for an article he wrote on sixpenny restaurants, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian Literature: The Vagabond