A week or so ago my local Jane Austen group had a guest speaker at our meeting, Roslyn Russell, the author of Maria returns: Barbados to Mansfield Park. Russell is a local historian who has written this historical novel based on Jane Austen's novel, Mansfield Park. She is also a lapsed member of our group, … Continue reading Roslyn Russell, Maria returns: Barbados to Mansfield Park (Review)
Reading
Tara June Winch, Swallow the air (Review for Indigenous Literature Week)
Tara June Winch's Swallow the air is another book that has been languishing too long on my TBR pile, though not as long as Sara Dowse's Schemetime. For Swallow the air, it was a case of third time lucky, because this was the third year I planned to read it for ANZLitLovers Indigenous Literature Week. Like the … Continue reading Tara June Winch, Swallow the air (Review for Indigenous Literature Week)
Sara Dowse, Schemetime (Review)
What Sara Dowse didn't know when she recently commented here on her love-hate relationship with Los Angeles was that I was in the closing stages of reading her novel, Schemetime, set there. I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that I've had this novel since Christmas 1990 when I was living in the LA area (in adjoining Orange … Continue reading Sara Dowse, Schemetime (Review)
Wallace Stegner, Crossing to safety (Review)
Nearly two decades ago, I read Wallace Stegner's Angle of repose. I loved it. Indeed, for many years I had the following quote from it on my work whiteboard: "Civilisations grow by agreements and accommodations and accretions, not by repudiations". Not just civilisations, I thought, but marriages, teams, organisations. I like the way this man thinks. … Continue reading Wallace Stegner, Crossing to safety (Review)
Adam Johnson, The orphan master’s son (Review)
Given my current reading preferences, I probably wouldn't have read Adam Johnson's Pulitzer prize-winning novel, The orphan master's son, if it hadn't been for my reading group, but I'm rather glad I did. It's a confronting novel, not only because of its brutal content, but also because it is an outsider's critique. I always feel more … Continue reading Adam Johnson, The orphan master’s son (Review)
Five years old today!
I woke up in cold-ish Toronto this morning to a congratulations message from WordPress telling me that it's 5 years since I joined WordPress. I knew it was coming up this month but hadn't taken note of exactly when. I'd like to have written a more considered post about this landmark but I'm so taken up … Continue reading Five years old today!
Preparing to visit friends, Jane Austen style
One of the things we learn through Jane Austen's letters - and indeed through her novels - is how much visiting and travelling people did in the early eighteenth century. They travelled to stay with or help out friends and family; they travelled for health purposes (such as to take the Waters at Bath); they … Continue reading Preparing to visit friends, Jane Austen style
Monday musings on Australian literature : University of Canberra Book of the Year, 2014
Last year I wrote about the University of Canberra's Book of the Year initiative in which they required each new student to read and be prepared to discuss the chosen book for the year. The book was provided gratis to all beginning students, and teaching staff was expected to incorporate the book somewhere in their … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature : University of Canberra Book of the Year, 2014
Jessica Anderson, One of the wattle birds (Review)
I have finally read Jessica Anderson's final novel, One of the wattle birds, which has been sitting in my beside cabinet since my parents gave it to me in 1998! Never let it be said that I don't read books given to me - though, on reflection, I'd prefer you didn't hold me to that! … Continue reading Jessica Anderson, One of the wattle birds (Review)
Hannah Kent, Burial rites (Review)
"We'll remember you" says Margrét to Agnes on the day of her execution. We sure will, if Hannah Kent's debut novel Burial rites has anything to say about it. Kent's book is the second novel set in Iceland I've read, the first being Icelandic writer Halldor Laxness's unforgettable Independent people. Although Laxness's novel is set a century after Burial rites, … Continue reading Hannah Kent, Burial rites (Review)
