There are two main reasons why I like - actually love - to read Thea Astley. One is her language, her wonderful way with words that may, at times, be over-the-top but that is never clichéd. The other is her passion for the underdog, and thus for social justice in a world where it is … Continue reading Thea Astley, The multiple effects of rain shadow (Review)
Author: Whispering Gums
The limits of Google
I'm sure you've all had them, those searches that bring people to your blog by accident. Well, let me rephrase that: as far as Google is concerned it makes good sense, but you know the poor searcher at the other end of the keyboard would not agree. I just have to share with you one … Continue reading The limits of Google
James Thurber, The lady on the bookcase
If you like to think of yourself as a critic, read this. It is last week's offering from the Library of America, and is an essay by James Thurber titled "The lady on the bookcase"; it was first published in The New York Times Magazine in 1945 under the title "Thurber as seen by Thurber". … Continue reading James Thurber, The lady on the bookcase
And the Jane Austen bloggernaut just keeps rolling …
Late last year I created a blog for my local Jane Austen group and in the blog roll listed some of the well-known (among Austen circles anyhow) Austen blogs. Since then I have come across many bloggers like myself - such as, say, So Many Books and The Captive Reader - who like Jane Austen but … Continue reading And the Jane Austen bloggernaut just keeps rolling …
I do like a bit of nonsense
You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere. (Charles Kettering, from thinkexist.com) For over four months now, our daughter has been struggling with a toe-that-will-not-heal, her left big toe to be precise. It all started with a … Continue reading I do like a bit of nonsense
Jane Austen: Conservative or progressive?
I must admit that, fan as I am of Jane Austen (of her wit and clear-eyed observation of humanity), I have sometimes been conflicted about whether she is, as this post title asks, conservative or progressive. She was innovative in terms of the history of the novel - her sure use of the third person … Continue reading Jane Austen: Conservative or progressive?
Rudyard Kipling, An interview with Mark Twain
How could I resist reading this offering from the Library of America, featuring as it does two giants of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? Both are writers I know well in a superficial way: I've really read only a little of their works. This essay, I thought, presented an interesting opportunity to get … Continue reading Rudyard Kipling, An interview with Mark Twain
Miles Franklin shortlist for 2010
It seems vaguely silly for all we bloggers to be announcing the same thing - except that perhaps each of us has a slightly different readership so maybe it's not completely redundant for me to announce here what has already been announced elsewhere - at Musings of a Literary Dilettante. The Dilettante has provided links … Continue reading Miles Franklin shortlist for 2010
Jeanette Winterson, Oranges are not the only fruit
As I was reading Jeanette Winterson's novella Oranges are not the only fruit, the question, rightly or wrongly, that was uppermost in my mind was "What is it with the oranges?" Is there something about oranges that I don't know? Something specific that they symbolise? I racked (wracked) my brain for something in my literary … Continue reading Jeanette Winterson, Oranges are not the only fruit
Jane Austen’s letters, 1811-1813
Early in my blogging career I wrote a post on the letters Jane Austen wrote (well, those remaining anyhow) between 1814 and 1816. This was to coincide with my local Jane Austen group's reading of Emma. This year we are reading Mansfield Park and so decided to read the letters she wrote during her writing … Continue reading Jane Austen’s letters, 1811-1813
Whispering Gums 