I shocked my reading group last week when I announced during our discussion of Pat Barker's novel, The women of Troy, that I was tiring of feminist re-imaginings of historical women. This is not to say that I didn't enjoy the novel, and it is definitely not to say that I am not interested in … Continue reading Pat Barker, The women of Troy (#BookReview)
Reading
Monday musings on Australian literature: Masterpieces of fiction, 1910-style
A straightforward post this week, and one shared in the spirit that readers love lists of books. This list is not Australian (despite my posting it in my Monday Musings series) but it was shared in multiple Australian newspapers in 1910 which makes it part of Australia's literary history, don't you think? The list was … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Masterpieces of fiction, 1910-style
Monday musings on Australian literature: Thoughts on literature’s moral purpose
I struggled with titling this post because I don't want it to sound like a thoroughly thought through treatise on the topic. However, I jettisoned my original plan for today's post to respond to Angela Savage's question on my CWF post on the Robbie Arnott interview because it seemed worth exploring. If you haven't read … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Thoughts on literature’s moral purpose
Debra Dank, We come with this place (#BookReview)
First Nations people are advised that this post contains the names of deceased people. It has been my reading group's tradition for some years now to read a book by a First Nations writer in July, the month in which NAIDOC Week occurs. Coincidentally, NAIDOC Week’s 2023 theme was “For our elders”, which worked beautifully with our … Continue reading Debra Dank, We come with this place (#BookReview)
Edwina Preston, Bad art mother (#BookReview)
Edwina Preston's Bad art mother was my reading group's June book, replacing our previously scheduled book because we'd heard Bad art mother was to be the featured book in the Canberra Writers Festival session, Canberra's Biggest Book Club. This suited me, as, coincidentally, I'd just started reading it! Bad art mother has been shortlisted for two … Continue reading Edwina Preston, Bad art mother (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (9), Pro-novel reading, early 20th century
Last week, in my Trove Treasures series, I shared some ideas published in the 19th century arguing for reading novels. Now, I am sharing some from the first decades of the 20th century. The articles range from 1903 to 1928, with many, again, coming from London. Diversion and instruction Two papers - Brisbane's The Telegraph … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (9), Pro-novel reading, early 20th century
Monday musings on Australian literature: Trove treasures (8), Pro-novel reading, 19th century
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
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)
