Édouard Manet, The Reading (1865-1873), Manet's son reading in the background. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Continuing my Trove Treasures series, I am turning this week to some of the discussions I found about the value of novel-reading. Three months ago, I shared some of the arguments made against novel-reading, but in fact, in the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (8), Pro-novel reading, 19th century
Reading
Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (7), What police read
Number 7 in my Trove Treasures series was inspired by a little piece that appeared in Sydney's Daily Telegraph on 6 December 1946. It was titled, "Men join police force after reading novels". Naturally, I was intrigued. What novels, for example? The story's subject was one Constable J. Simons who had just resigned the police … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (7), What police read
Slow reading: Jane Austen’s Pride and prejudice
Some of the editions of Pride and Prejudice owned by my JA group Back in the early to mid-2010s, my local Jane Austen group undertook a program of slow reading Jane Austen's novels, coinciding with those books' 200th anniversaries. Given that began around a decade ago, we decided last year that it was time to … Continue reading Slow reading: Jane Austen’s Pride and prejudice
William Trevor, The dressmaker’s child (#Review)
I knew, when Kim (Reading Matters) and Cathy (746 Books) announced their "A year with William Trevor" project, that I had a little book containing some William Trevor short stories but, could I find it? Nope. It was a little book after all. And then, voilà, just the other day while I was doing my … Continue reading William Trevor, The dressmaker’s child (#Review)
Jane Austen on travel
It's been some time since I posted on Jane Austen, but currently my local Jane Austen group is repeating the slow reads we did a decade or so ago when her novels had their 200th anniversaries. Last year, we did Sense and sensibility, and right now we are doing Pride and prejudice. There are different … Continue reading Jane Austen on travel
Maggie O’Farrell, The marriage portrait (#BookReview)
I have mentioned Author's Notes a few times recently, because I have read a few works of historical fiction. Maggie O'Farrell's latest novel, The marriage portrait, is another historical novel and so here I am again talking Author's Notes. The marriage portrait, as you probably already know, is based on the life of Lucrezia de' Medici, … Continue reading Maggie O’Farrell, The marriage portrait (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (6), Why waste time reading novels?
My next Trove Treasure is not, strictly speaking, Australian, because it features the English humorist Jerome K. Jerome. But, I found it reported in multiple Australian newspapers, which means that many Australians probably read it, and that makes it at least a bit relevant here. The first one I found was in The Inverell Times … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (6), Why waste time reading novels?
Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (5), Church and novel reading
You'll be getting sick of my time-is-short posts, but rest assured that this too shall pass - eventually! Meanwhile, here is another Trove Treasure post. It shares two different responses to reading from churches, in the first couple of decades of the 20th century. What the churches thought Reading novels IN church Courtesy: Clker.com On … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (5), Church and novel reading
Robert Drewe, Nimblefoot (#BookReview)
Nimblefoot is Robert Drewe's eight novel, but is the first of his that my reading group has done. Drewe is a prolific and versatile writer, having written memoir and other nonfiction, as well as short stories and novels, both. contemporary-set and historical. In other words, he is not easy to compartmentalise. He has appeared before … Continue reading Robert Drewe, Nimblefoot (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (4), Impatient readers
Time is short tonight as my downsizing move has hit a little roadblock. In a nutshell, our furniture and some of our goods are sitting on a truck awaiting transfer to our new apartment where the lift went out of service the same time that the truck was being loaded. That was last Thursday. We … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (4), Impatient readers
Whispering Gums 