As I reached around the two-thirds point in Frank Moorhouse's Cold light, the third tome in his Edith trilogy, I wanted to cry out "Enough already"! It's not that I wasn't enjoying (most of) it, and it's not that it's a bad book, but it does go on - and on. It's a book, I … Continue reading Frank Moorhouse, Cold light (Review)
Reading group book
Gerald Murnane, The plains (Review)
Wayne Macauley, he of the Most Underrated Book Award fame, wrote in his introduction to my edition of Gerald Murnane's The plains that "you might not know where Murnane is taking you but you can't help being taken". That's a perfect description of my experience of reading this now classic novella. It was like confronting … Continue reading Gerald Murnane, The plains (Review)
Elliot Perlman, The street sweeper (Review)
Elliot Perlman's latest novel, The street sweeper, is a complex book with a pretty simple message. It's complex because of its multiple interconnecting storylines that move back and forth between World War II, the American Civil Rights era, and contemporary times. It has multiple themes, about which I'll write further, but the underlying message is … Continue reading Elliot Perlman, The street sweeper (Review)
Anna Funder, Stasiland (Review)
Anna Funder's Stasiland, which won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, is one of those books that can be reviewed from multiple angles, and I know that when I get to the end of this review I'm going to be sorry about the angles I didn't get to discuss. But, I can only do what … Continue reading Anna Funder, Stasiland (Review)
Susan Johnson, Life in seven mistakes (Review)
By coincidence, really, my local reading group finally got around to reading Susan Johnson's Life in seven mistakes just as her next novel, My hundred lovers, is to be published. Johnson has written several novels now, though I'd only read one, The broken book based on the life of Charmian Clift, before this. I loved … Continue reading Susan Johnson, Life in seven mistakes (Review)
Julian Barnes, The sense of an ending (Review)
I should have known I wouldn't be the first to think of it, but during my reading Julian Barnes' Booker Prize winning novel, The sense of an ending, I was suddenly reminded of TS Eliot's The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock. It was the melancholic tone, the sense of life having passed one by, … Continue reading Julian Barnes, The sense of an ending (Review)
Izzeldin Abuelaish, I shall not hate (Review)
Revenge is a concept that I just don't get. No, let me put that another way. I understand the emotions that give rise to the desire for revenge - though I've never, admittedly, been tested myself, not like, say, Izzeldin Abuelaish. What I don't understand is the belief that revenge is the answer, that it … Continue reading Izzeldin Abuelaish, I shall not hate (Review)
Gillian Mears, Foal’s bread (Review)
Foal's bread is Gillian Mears' first novel in around 16 years, though she has published short stories in the interim. This is a shame because she is a beautiful writer, particularly when she writes about the place she knows best, the farms of the New South Wales north coast. Foal's bread is about the Nancarrow … Continue reading Gillian Mears, Foal’s bread (Review)
Fergus W. Hume, The mystery of a hansom cab (Review)
Sometimes you just have to break your reading "rules" don't you? Two of mine are that I'm not much into detective fiction (despite having reviewed Peter Temple's Truth here) and I don't read self-published books - but then along came Fergus Hume's The mystery of a hansom cab. It's a classic Australian crime novel - … Continue reading Fergus W. Hume, The mystery of a hansom cab (Review)
Andrew O’Hagan, The life and opinions of Maf the dog and of his friend Marilyn Monroe
Andrew O'Hagan's The life and opinions of Maf the dog and of his friend Marilyn Monroe is a fun - though also serious - book, so I'm going to start with something trivial, just because it will provide a laugh to those who know me: Like all dogs, I take for granted a certain amount … Continue reading Andrew O’Hagan, The life and opinions of Maf the dog and of his friend Marilyn Monroe
Whispering Gums 