I've decided to start a new, occasional series - a bit like The Conversation does! I have two reasons for this. One is that I'm reading pretty slowly at the moment, partly because my current read is a big one, and partly because life is busy. The other is that during my current decluttering project I've come across … Continue reading Favourite quotes: from Thea Astley’s Coda
Author: Whispering Gums
Monday musings on Australian literature: Story and Poetry Readings
I've written several posts in the past about festivals and awards - national and regional - but I haven't written about ongoing lower-key literary events, sometimes called Readings, sometimes Salons, so today I'm going to highlight this aspect of Australia's literary culture. I first planned this post a year ago when I read about the Whispers … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Story and Poetry Readings
Julie Twohig, Full circle (Review)
When I review individual stories, I tend to choose ones that are available on-line. Is that fair, I wonder? It means the author receives no payment for the story I review, but it does mean readers can enjoy a story that they may not otherwise easily access and, I suppose, that the author receives some exposure. … Continue reading Julie Twohig, Full circle (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Noted Works series
In early December I wrote a post about online journal The Conversation's occasional series they call The case for .... I promised that I would write my own case, and I will - soon. It's just that I feel like a - well - a reader in a library. So many great books to choose from. I … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Noted Works series
Julian Davies, Crow mellow (Review)
Julian Davies, author of Crow mellow and publisher at Finlay Lloyd, has written six novels, some of them short-listed for significant literary awards, but, embarrassingly, I only became properly aware of him through his inclusion in the two Canberra centenary volumes that I reviewed in 2013, The invisible thread and Meanjin's The Canberra Issue. It's the … Continue reading Julian Davies, Crow mellow (Review)
Anna Funder, Everything precious (Review)
I must thank John aka Musings of a Literary Dilettante for introducing me to this intriguing little e-work by Miles Franklin award-winner, Anna Funder. When John read it, back in October, it was in daily instalments, but when I clicked the link in his post I was offered several e-book versions, including for the Kindle and iPad, … Continue reading Anna Funder, Everything precious (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Coming in 2015
Although my readerly eyes are always too big for my readerly brain, I do like to know about coming attractions - book-wise - and assume you're interested too. If you're not, apologies, but I know I'll find this post useful to refer to as the year progresses. As I did last year, I'm basing this post on … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Coming in 2015
Blogging highlights for 2014
Top posts for 2014 According to my tags and categories, my most popular posts according to WordPress still relate to Australian literature, Women writers, Australian writers, 21st century literature and Review-Novels. However, as in 2013, my most "hit" post* for 2014 was a short story by an English woman, Virginia Woolf's "The mark on the wall" (reviewed in March … Continue reading Blogging highlights for 2014
Reading highlights from 2014
Unlike last year when I crammed all my highlights into one post, this year I'm returning to the two-post approach. This keeps the posts shorter, which better suits this lazy time of year (southern hemisphere speaking anyhow!) So, this post will focus on literary/reading highlights, and the other will share my blogging highlights (such as they are!) Literary event … Continue reading Reading highlights from 2014
Annie Parker, Passages in the life of a slave woman (Review)
I have, this year, reviewed a couple of Library of America's (LOA) stories about slavery in the USA, one being Harriet Ann Jacobs' "The lover", and the other William Wells Brown's, Madison Washington. I've always been interested in slavery in the US, so when Annie Parker's "Passages in the life of a slave woman" appeared in my inbox, I of … Continue reading Annie Parker, Passages in the life of a slave woman (Review)
