When Julie Proudfoot offered me her debut novel, The neighbour, for review I was more than happy to accept. After all, it had won Seizure magazine's Viva La Novella Prize in 2014, and you all know how much I love a novella. I must say it's a gorgeous looking book. I'm not one to judge books … Continue reading Julie Proudfoot, The neighbour (Review)
Australian literature
Monday musings on Australian literature: Spotlight on Larissa Behrendt
This is the fourth in my occasional series of Spotlight posts inspired by Annette Marfording's Celebrating Australian Writing: Conversations with Australian Authors, and this time I'm featuring an indigenous author to coincide with Lisa's (ANZLitLovers) Indigenous Literature Week. Larissa Behrendt is the perfect subject for what is also NAIDOC Week, not only because she has a few books under her belt, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Spotlight on Larissa Behrendt
Monday musings on Australian literature: Recent books by Indigenous Australians
Next week, from 3rd to 10th of July, Lisa at ANZLitlovers is running her now annual Indigenous Literature Week. While she usually holds it during or near Australia's NAIDOC Week in order to support that program's goal of increasing awareness and understanding of indigenous Australian culture, she does in fact accept reviews of works by … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Recent books by Indigenous Australians
Dorothy Johnston, Through a camel’s eye (Review)
When should I give up saying that I don't read crime? In the last seven years, I've posted nine reviews tagged crime fiction (of which one was a guest post). Perhaps just over one a year still qualifies as not reading crime? Then again, what's the point of saying it, if every now and then I do … Continue reading Dorothy Johnston, Through a camel’s eye (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: My Aussie reads of 1996
Today, I'm having a bit of fun - a little trip down memory lane, in fact. I was inspired in this by Canadian blogger Debbie (ExUrbanis) who recently wrote a post on her past reads. Ever on the lookout for ideas for Monday Musings, I leapt at this one. (I do a few ideas running around my head, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: My Aussie reads of 1996
Australian Women Writers 2016 Challenge completed
The time has come to write my annual completion post for my one challenge of the year, the Australian Women Writer's Challenge. As in previous years, I signed up for the top-level, Franklin, which involves reading 10 books and reviewing at least 6. I've exceeded this, and I plan to continue to add to the challenge, as I've done in … Continue reading Australian Women Writers 2016 Challenge completed
Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian writers, loquacious?
It's a brave person who tries to characterise a nation's literature. But this is apparently what Australian-French writer Jean-Francois Vernay has done in his book A brief take on the Australian novel (published this year by Wakefield Press). I haven't read the book, but Lisa (ANZLitLovers) is currently reading it, and she challenged me to write … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian writers, loquacious?
Charlotte Wood, The natural way of things (Review)
Well, I wrote this week's Monday musings on Australian dystopian fiction as a lead in to my review of Charlotte Wood's award-winning The natural way of things, but I wasn't expecting to get the perfect intro for my review! In the post's comments, author and publisher Anna Blay pointed us to an article by Maria Popova in … Continue reading Charlotte Wood, The natural way of things (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Dystopian fiction
For some reason, I'm often drawn to dystopian fiction. In my younger days I read Nevil Shute's On the beach (probably my first book of this ilk) and then, of course, George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's A brave new world, moving later on to books like Margaret Atwood's A handmaid's tale and Cormac McCarthy's The road, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Dystopian fiction
My literary week (2), or so
No, I'm not going to write weekly "My literary week" posts - my last one was, anyhow, two weeks ago - but sometimes things happen that I want to share, and bundling them up seems the best way to do it. Miles Franklin Award Shortlist The shortlist for Australia's best known literary award was announced last … Continue reading My literary week (2), or so
Whispering Gums 