While I want to, I often don't manage to follow up books recommended by Lisa but Trevor Shearston's Hare's fur particularly caught my attention. He was an Australian author I didn't know; the novel is set in the Blue Mountains; and the protagonist is a potter, which sounded intriguing. So, I bought it - over … Continue reading Trevor Shearston, Hare’s fur (#BookReview)
21st century literature
Margaret Hickey, Rural dreams (#BookReview)
Rural dreams is another collection of short stories from small independent publisher MidnightSun, and it's another good one. I hadn't heard of Margaret Hickey before, but her website says that she's won a number of awards and is a performed playwright. Relevant to this book is that Hickey grew up in small country towns in … Continue reading Margaret Hickey, Rural dreams (#BookReview)
Bernadine Evaristo, Girl, woman, other (#BookReview)
If ever there was a "zeitgeist" book, Bernadine Evaristo's 2019 Booker Prize winning novel, Girl, woman, other is it. It might be an English-set novel about black British women, "the embodiment of Otherness", but its concerns, ranging from ingrained inequality, racism and sexism to newer issues such as globalisation, are contemporary - and relevant far … Continue reading Bernadine Evaristo, Girl, woman, other (#BookReview)
Leah Swann, Sheerwater (#BookReview)
I've been wanting to read Leah Swann's Sheerwater, having read and enjoyed, a few years ago, her short story collection, Bearings (my review). However, I didn't get around to buying a copy, so was pleased to see it available as an audio book when I was looking for listening matter for our recent Melbourne trip. … Continue reading Leah Swann, Sheerwater (#BookReview)
Garry Disher, Bitter Wash Road (#BookReview)
Garry Disher's Bitter Wash Road has been sitting on my TBR pile for over seven years. It was sent to me on spec but, as crime is not my preferred reading, I didn't feel obliged to read it - and yet, I hung onto it, just in case... So, when Kim (Reading Matters) decided to … Continue reading Garry Disher, Bitter Wash Road (#BookReview)
Jayant Kaikini, No presents please: Mumbai stories (#BookReview)
Jayant Kaikini is an Indian (Kannada) poet, short story writer, playwright, a public intellectual and a lyricist in Kannada Cinema. Kannada is new to me, but it's the language widely spoken in the Indian state of Karnataka, where Kaikini was born (in 1955). He is regarded, according to Wikipedia, as one of the most significant contemporary writers in … Continue reading Jayant Kaikini, No presents please: Mumbai stories (#BookReview)
Tsitsi Dangarembga, This mournable body (#BookReview)
Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangarembga's This mournable body was my reading group's February book. Shortlisted for the Booker Prize, it is Dangarembga's third novel, and is a sequel to Nervous conditions (1988) and The book of not (2006), neither of which I've read. These novels are written in English, the language of Dangarembga's schooling, though she … Continue reading Tsitsi Dangarembga, This mournable body (#BookReview)
Jasmine Seymour and Leanne Mulgo Watson, Cooee mittigar: A story on Darug songlines (#BookReview)
Recently, on a bit of a whim, I bought two books from the Indigenous Australian publishing company, Magabala Books. They were the younger readers-young adult novel, Black Cockatoo (my review), which had been shortlisted for a few awards, and this picture book, Cooee mittigar, which had just won the 2020 Prime Minister's Literary Award for … Continue reading Jasmine Seymour and Leanne Mulgo Watson, Cooee mittigar: A story on Darug songlines (#BookReview)
Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler, Black cockatoo (#BookReview)
Black cockatoo is a young adult novel written by Indigenous Australian author, Carl Merrison, and his non-Indigenous collaborator, Hakea Hustler, and illustrated by Indigenous Australian illustrator, Dub Leffler. It is a beautiful, little (in size, not value) book that made quite a splash when it was published. It was shortlisted for several children's literature awards … Continue reading Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler, Black cockatoo (#BookReview)
Angela Savage, Mother of Pearl (#BookReview)
Having commented in my Reading Highlights post about how little self-directed reading I did last year, I decided to start the year with just that, before returning to the Review TBR pile. What to choose? Many books jostled for attention, but in the end I chose Angela Savage's novel Mother of Pearl because I felt … Continue reading Angela Savage, Mother of Pearl (#BookReview)
Whispering Gums 