Monday musings on Australian literature: Melbourne Prize for Literature

Having posted on a literary prize last week - the ACT Book of the Year Award - I decided that I may as well do another one, and give us a break from my recent run of historically-focused Monday Musings posts. This week's award is another geographically limited one, the Melbourne Prize for Literature. This … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Melbourne Prize for Literature

Monday musings on Australian literature: the ACT Book of the Year Award

I think it's time I dedicated a post to the Book of the Year Award made in my own jurisdiction. I briefly introduced it back in 2018, and then wrote recently about its 2022 shortlist. But today, I want to document it a bit more thoroughly. (For the record, the 2022 winner has now been … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: the ACT Book of the Year Award

Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (6), Why waste time reading novels?

My next Trove Treasure is not, strictly speaking, Australian, because it features the English humorist Jerome K. Jerome. But, I found it reported in multiple Australian newspapers, which means that many Australians probably read it, and that makes it at least a bit relevant here. The first one I found was in The Inverell Times … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (6), Why waste time reading novels?

Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (5), Church and novel reading

You'll be getting sick of my time-is-short posts, but rest assured that this too shall pass - eventually! Meanwhile, here is another Trove Treasure post. It shares two different responses to reading from churches, in the first couple of decades of the 20th century. What the churches thought Reading novels IN church Courtesy: Clker.com On … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (5), Church and novel reading

Monday musings on Australian literature: 1940 in fiction

As many of you know by now, Karen (Kaggsy's Bookish Rambling) and Simon (Stuck in a Book) run "reading weeks" in which they nominate a year from which "everyone reads, enjoys, posts and shares wonderful books and discoveries from the year in question". The current year is 1940, and it runs from today, 10-16 April. … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: 1940 in fiction

Monday musings on Australian literature: on 1923: 5, Novels and their subjects

On the basis that what novelists write about provides some sort of insight into their times, I've done a little survey of the books published by Australian writers in 1923 to see what their subject matter might tell us about Australian life and literature 100 years ago. First, here are the books I found, mostly … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: on 1923: 5, Novels and their subjects

Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (4), Impatient readers

Time is short tonight as my downsizing move has hit a little roadblock. In a nutshell, our furniture and some of our goods are sitting on a truck awaiting transfer to our new apartment where the lift went out of service the same time that the truck was being loaded. That was last Thursday. We … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (4), Impatient readers

Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (3), Novel reading and health

My second post in this Trove Treasures subseries shared some arguments against novel reading. I do have a pro-novel-reading post, but today I thought I'd go a bit lighter - I think it's lighter! - and some of the ideas I came across discussing the impact of novel reading on health. Novel-reading disease I found … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (3), Novel reading and health

Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (2), Anti novel reading

Recently, I started a new Monday Musings sub-series, Trove Treasures. That first post concluded on a rear-admiral reading novels while waiting for a court martial, and I said that my next post "might be one on novel reading and men". I still plan to do that, but I've decided to first share some of the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (2), Anti novel reading

Monday musings on Australian literature: A letter from Mary Gilmore

Gilmore, by May Moore, 1916 State Library of New South Wales (Public Domain) Mary Gilmore (1865-1962) is, I suspect, not well-known outside of Australia, but she was (is) a significant Australian poet - so significant that she earned herself a dame-hood! Wikipedia describes her as "an Australian writer and journalist known for her prolific contributions to Australian literature and … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: A letter from Mary Gilmore