Is it cheating to do separate lists for fiction and non-fiction? Some people list their top books regardless of form or genre, while others created separate lists. I'm going to do the latter because - well, because I get to choose more books for a start. Actually, I didn't read a lot of non-fiction this … Continue reading Top non-fiction of 2009
Australian literature
C.J. Dennis, The moods of Ginger Mick
Sometimes a bloke gits glimpses uv the truth("In Spadger's Lane") I wasn't sure, really, that I wanted to read CJ Dennis' verse novel, The moods of Ginger Mick, which I received as a review copy from the Sydney University Press as part of their Australian Classics Library - but have surprised myself. I rather enjoyed … Continue reading C.J. Dennis, The moods of Ginger Mick
Best unread books of the decade
One of my favourite internet bookgroup friends - the one who gave me the Jane Austen diary - has just posted, on a listserv we belong to, a link to The Guardian's list of books that got away over the last decade. Now, that's a new take on lists isn't it? They asked people like publishers, … Continue reading Best unread books of the decade
Andrew Croome, Document Z
Truth, according to the dictionary, can mean several things including: the state of being the case, fact or actuality; and a transcendent or spiritual reality. Truth in all its variety and slipperiness is, I think, the fundamental theme of Andrew Croome's Document Z which won the 2008 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award. This book, which chronicles the … Continue reading Andrew Croome, Document Z
Arnold Zable, Sea of many returns
He leaps through centuries, tears apart myths, and reassembles them in his own way. These words that are said of one of the characters in Arnold Zable's Sea of many returns could just as easily be said of Zable himself - not only of this book, but of his earlier ones such as Cafe Sheherazade. Zable … Continue reading Arnold Zable, Sea of many returns
Jessica Anderson, The commandant
When I first read about Sydney University Press's Australian Classics Library, the book I really wanted to read was The commandant by Jessica Anderson. It's her only historical novel, but its subject matter doesn't stray much from what she told Jennifer Ellison in an interview many years ago, "I was very much, and always have been, preoccupied with people who … Continue reading Jessica Anderson, The commandant
Markus Zusak, The book thief
In one moment, there was great kindness and great cruelty, and I saw it as the perfect story of our humans are. (Zusak on the Random House website) Zusak could hardly have chosen, for The book thief, a better setting to explore the best and worst of humanity than Germany during the Holocaust. The book … Continue reading Markus Zusak, The book thief
The magnificent River Red Gums
River Red Gums, or Eucalyptus Camaldulensis, are among our most ubiquitous of gum trees, but that doesn't mean they're a boring tree. As their name implies they grow along watercourses - including ones that are very very dry such as those you find in Central Australia. They are also a significant part of what makes … Continue reading The magnificent River Red Gums
Were you an Argonaut?
Before the sun and the night and the blue sea, I vow to stand faithfully by all that is brave and beautiful; to seek adventure, and having discovered aught of wonder, or delight; of merriment or loveliness, to share it freely with my comrades, the Band of Happy Rowers. (from The ABC Weekly, 28 Dec … Continue reading Were you an Argonaut?
On the literary road, in Gippsland
The Gippsland area of Victoria is a particularly rich one in terms of Australia's literary history. It is also an area I've never visited before and so this week we decided to return home from Melbourne via the less common path, that is via Gippsland. Unfortunately our trip through the region was a quick one, … Continue reading On the literary road, in Gippsland
Whispering Gums 