If you like warm-hearted novels with a positive ending you may like this. If you like such novels with a touch of social commentary you will probably like this. If you like books like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Miss Garnet's angel, then this is definitely for you. But if you … Continue reading Helen Simonson, Major Pettigrew’s last stand
Author: Whispering Gums
Alexander McCall Smith, Tea time for the traditionally built
Alexander McCall Smith said at the literary event I attended recently that if he achieves nothing else in his life he is glad he introduced the concept "traditionally built" because it has brought such comfort to many women (particularly, he says with a twinkle in his eye, in America!). Tea time for the traditionally built … Continue reading Alexander McCall Smith, Tea time for the traditionally built
Edith Maude Eaton, Mrs Spring Fragrance
This week's Library of America short story offering is "Mrs Spring Fragrance" by Chinese American author Edith Maude Eaton (1865-1914) who wrote under the pen name of Sui Sin Far. She had an American father and a Chinese mother and, according to the notes which accompany the story, was apparently the first person of Chinese … Continue reading Edith Maude Eaton, Mrs Spring Fragrance
Conversing with “a slightly shambolic dandy”
"A slightly shambolic dandy" is how journalist Elizabeth Grice described novelist Alexander McCall Smith in Britain's Telegraph newspaper. Shambolic works to some degree, but dandy? That's not quite how I would describe him after tonight's literary event in which he "conversed" with Colin Steele, retired university librarian, long-term bibliophile, and reviewer for The Canberra Times. … Continue reading Conversing with “a slightly shambolic dandy”
Martin Boyd, A difficult young man
Difficult but handsome (Courtesy: Sydney University Press) I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I certainly wasn't expecting the delightful sly wit I found in Martin Boyd's A difficult young man, which, I understand, is the second book in the "Langton Quartet". This novel though can clearly stand on its own - otherwise, why … Continue reading Martin Boyd, A difficult young man
ABR’s Favourite Australian Novel poll
Back in October I wrote about the Australian Book Review's poll to find our favourite Australian novel (not Australia's favourite novel!). Well, the result has just lobbed into my email inbox: it's an interesting list. No great surprises, and it's certainly pretty acceptable even though one can always find something to argue about when the … Continue reading ABR’s Favourite Australian Novel poll
Bran Nue Dae
You could hardly get two more different films than Warwick Thornton's Samson and Delilah and Rachel Perkins' Bran Nue Dae. Both are directed by indigenous Australians and both address indigenous Australian issues but, wow, how differently they do it. While Samson and Delilah is spare and almost without dialogue, Bran Nue Dae is exuberant and … Continue reading Bran Nue Dae
Geoff Page, The scarring
Geoff Page (born 1940) is a Canberra-based poet who has been active in the Australian poetry scene for many decades now. He was also, for nearly three decades, an English teacher. Page has published several volumes of poetry and at least three verse novels, of which The scarring is his first. The scarring, which I … Continue reading Geoff Page, The scarring
John Muir, A wind-storm in the forests
Being rather partial to trees, I could not resist reading "A wind-storm in the forests" by Scottish-born American naturalist/enviromentalist John Muir (1838-1914) when it lobbed in by email today as this week's Library of America story of the week. Anyone who has been to the stunning Yosemite - or visited the peaceful Muir Woods north of San … Continue reading John Muir, A wind-storm in the forests
Vale Kate McGarrigle
Last week I read on Cat Politics' blog that Kate McGarrigle - one part of the Kate and Anna McGarrigle duo - had died just shy of her 64th birthday. How very sad. Like Cat Politics I discovered the McGarrigles in the 1970s, and over the years have acquired a few of their albums: Kate … Continue reading Vale Kate McGarrigle
Whispering Gums 