The award for my last review of the year goes to something a little left field for me, Joy Eadie's Discovering Charles Meere: Art and allusion. I say left field because it is, essentially, a book of art criticism, and I don't do much of that here (or anywhere, for that matter!) However, when Halstead … Continue reading Joy Eadie, Discovering Charles Meere: Art and allusion (#BookReview)
21st century literature
Bernadette Brennan, A writing life: Helen Garner and her work (#BookReview)
Enough of the filler posts for a while! It's time for a review, and it's a special one because it's for a book about one of my favourite writers, Helen Garner. The book is Bernadette Brennan's A writing life: Helen Garner and her work. Described as a "literary portrait" rather than as a biography, it … Continue reading Bernadette Brennan, A writing life: Helen Garner and her work (#BookReview)
Betty McLellan, Ann Hannah, my (un)remarkable grandmother: A psychological biography (#BookReview)
Betty McLellan's Ann Hannah, my (un)remarkable grandmother: A psychological biography disconcerted me at first. I'd never heard of a psychological biography (which, I presume, is the same as psychobiography) so I was intrigued by McLellan's discussion in the Introduction of her decision to use this approach. I did feel, for a chapter or two that she was … Continue reading Betty McLellan, Ann Hannah, my (un)remarkable grandmother: A psychological biography (#BookReview)
Helen Garner, Why she broke: The woman, her children and the lake (#Review)
Three years ago I reviewed Helen Garner's This house of grief about Robert Farquharson who drove his car into a dam in Victoria, resulting in the deaths of his three sons. It's a grim grim story, so you might wonder why I am now writing about her essay "Why she broke: The woman, her children and … Continue reading Helen Garner, Why she broke: The woman, her children and the lake (#Review)
Caroline Moorehead, Dancing to the precipice (#BookReview)
Unusually, my reading group read two biographies about non-Austrian women this year, Jane Fletcher Geniesse's book on Freya Stark (my review) in January and now, this month, Caroline Moorehead's book Dancing to the precipice: Lucie de la Tour du Pin and the French Revolution on the French aristocrat Henriette-Lucy, Marquise de La Tour-du-Pin-Gouvernet. Interestingly, Moorehead has … Continue reading Caroline Moorehead, Dancing to the precipice (#BookReview)
Stephanie Buckle, Habits of silence (#BookReview)
I have been champing at the bit to read local author Stephanie Buckle's debut short story collection, Habits of silence, ever since I attended its launch in August by John Clanchy at the Canberra Writers Festival. The readings that both Clanchy and Buckle herself gave from the book grabbed my attention and convinced me that … Continue reading Stephanie Buckle, Habits of silence (#BookReview)
Viet Thanh Nguyen, The sympathizer (#BookReview)
A cover blurb on my edition of Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Sympathizer, captures the novel perfectly when it calls it "intelligent, relentlessly paced, and savagely funny" (Wall Street Journal). I loved reading it. It's quite coincidental that I read this straight after Hoa Pham's Lady of the realm (my review) but they … Continue reading Viet Thanh Nguyen, The sympathizer (#BookReview)
Hoa Pham, Lady of the realm (#BookReview)
Hoa Pham was one of the participants at the recent Boundless Festival (my post), so it's rather apposite that her latest work, Lady of the realm, popped up as my next review copy. The very brief author bio on the Festival site describes the novel as "about a Buddhist clairvoyant in Vietnam". Well, it is, but … Continue reading Hoa Pham, Lady of the realm (#BookReview)
Stan Grant, Talking to my country (#BookReview)
History is, in a way, the main subject of my reading group's October book, Stan Grant's Talking to my country. I'm consequently somewhat nervous about writing this post, because discussions of history in Australia are apt to generate more emotion than rational discussion. I will, though, discuss it - through my interested lay historian's eyes. … Continue reading Stan Grant, Talking to my country (#BookReview)
Gabrielle Carey, Moving among strangers (#BookReview)
Emma's guest Monday Musings post last week on Randolph Stow provided the impetus for me to finally retrieve Gabrielle Carey's Moving among strangers: Randolph Stow and my family from my TBR pile. I've been wanting to read it for the longest time, but ... well, those of you with big TBRs will understand. Moving among strangers, whose … Continue reading Gabrielle Carey, Moving among strangers (#BookReview)
Whispering Gums 