While my reading group's main fare is fiction, we do include nonfiction in the mix. In fact, this year has been unusual as we've scheduled three nonfiction books - Richard Flanagan's Question 7 (my review), Anna Funder's Wifedom (my review), and, last month, Raynor Winn's The salt path. I can't recollect how The salt path … Continue reading Raynor Winn, The salt path (#BookReview)
21st century literature
Monday musings on Australian literature: Final thoughts on Canberra Writers Festival 2024
In 2019, I wrote a detailed wrap-up of that year's Canberra Writers Festival, and I thought to do one this year, though I didn't have the fascinating stats I had in 2019. However, with this year's festival bumping up against November, which is a very busy month in the blogosphere, I've decided to scale down … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Final thoughts on Canberra Writers Festival 2024
Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Publishing Prize 2024 Winning Books Launch with Conversation
I mentioned the nonfiction winner of the 2024 Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Publishing Prize, in this week's Monday Musings, but saved the full winner announcement until after I attended the launch at a conversation with the winning authors this weekend. The participants This year, as publisher Julian Davies had hoped, there was a prize for fiction … Continue reading Finlay Lloyd 20/40 Publishing Prize 2024 Winning Books Launch with Conversation
Karen Jennings, Crooked seeds (#BookReview)
Crooked seeds is the third novel I've read by South African writer Karen Jennings, and she continues to intrigue and impress me, because she seems to be quietly bubbling away in her little corner of the world writing books that grapple with the difficult questions. Unfortunately, I didn't read her Booker-longlisted novel, An island (2020), … Continue reading Karen Jennings, Crooked seeds (#BookReview)
Stephen Orr, Shining like the sun (#BookReview)
A question that confronts many young people as they reach adulthood - in western cultures at least - is, should I go or should I stay? This is particularly so for young people in small rural towns, and is the issue at the heart of Stephen Orr's latest novel, Shining like the sun. Wilf Healy, … Continue reading Stephen Orr, Shining like the sun (#BookReview)
Jane Caro, The mother (#BookReview)
When my reading group scheduled Jane Caro's debut novel, The mother, I was, I admit, not exactly enthusiastic, because my sense was that it was not going to be the sort of, shall I say, subtle writing I prefer. My sense was right, but I am not sorry I read it - partly because of … Continue reading Jane Caro, The mother (#BookReview)
Beth H. Piatote, Beading lesson (#Review)
Beth Piatote's "Beading lesson" is the thirteenth of fourteen stories in the anthology, Great short stories by contemporary Native American writers, and with it, we move from the 1990s to the 2000s. Beth H Piatote Anthology editor Bob Blaisdell provides very little information about Piatote. It simply says that she is Nez Perce and a … Continue reading Beth H. Piatote, Beading lesson (#Review)
Sebastian Barry, The secret scripture
What follows here is an edited version of the first ever review post I wrote - back in December 2008 on a Blogger blog I set up for my reading group. I've been meaning for some time to bring it over here because I'd like to have Sebastian Barry represented on my blog! However, my … Continue reading Sebastian Barry, The secret scripture
Donna M. Cameron, The rewilding (#BookReview)
Quite coincidentally, earlier this month, I read and posted on Willa Cather’s short story "The bookkeeper's wife" which commences with a young man, Percy Bixby, sitting in his office deciding to do something in order to keep his flashy fiancée Stella. That was published in 1916. I have now just finished Donna M. Cameron’s novel, … Continue reading Donna M. Cameron, The rewilding (#BookReview)
Melissa Lucashenko, Edenglassie (#BookReview)
Broadly speaking, Melissa Lucashenko's latest novel, Edenglassie, does for southeast Queensland what Kim Scott's That deadman dance does for Noongar country in southwest Western Australia. Both tell of the early days of their respective colonies from a First Nations perspective; both are written in a generous spirit but with absolute clarity about the dispossession that … Continue reading Melissa Lucashenko, Edenglassie (#BookReview)
Whispering Gums 