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)
Reading group book
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
Howard Jacobson, The Finkler question
Whispering Gums, as you would expect, writes erudite marginalia and so you'd be in for a treat if you ever obtained my copy of Howard Jacobson's 2010 Booker award winning novel, The Finkler question. The margins are peppered with my reactions, like, you know, "Ha!" and "Oh dear". Riveting stuff ... and yet, what comments … Continue reading Howard Jacobson, The Finkler question
Hazel Rowley, Franklin and Eleanor: An extraordinary marriage
I wonder what would make an Australian biographer decide to write about an American couple? And I wonder, having now read Hazel Rowley's Franklin and Eleanor: An extraordinary marriage, what she would have made of, say, Joseph and Enid Lyons, Australia's own political power couple. Unfortunately we'll never know as Rowley died just around the … Continue reading Hazel Rowley, Franklin and Eleanor: An extraordinary marriage
Geraldine Brooks, Caleb’s crossing
In the Afterword to her latest novel, Caleb's crossing, which was inspired by the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College, Geraldine Brooks describes the reactions of members of the Wampanoag Tribe: Individual tribal members have been encouraging and generous in sharing information and insights and in reading early drafts. Others have been frank … Continue reading Geraldine Brooks, Caleb’s crossing
Kim Scott, That deadman dance
(Image courtesy Picador Australia) About a third of the way into Kim Scott's novel That deadman dance is this: We thought making friends was the best thing, and never knew that when we took your flour and sugar and tea and blankets that we'd lose everything of ours. We learned your words and songs and stories, and never … Continue reading Kim Scott, That deadman dance
Lloyd Jones, Hand me down world
I used to find myself saying, I can't imagine. But, I've since found out, you can - it's just a case of wanting to. What this character is talking about is empathy - and empathy, the having or not having it, is for me a major theme of New Zealand writer Lloyd Jones' latest novel, … Continue reading Lloyd Jones, Hand me down world
Albert Camus, The plague (orig. La peste)
All I maintain is that on this earth there are pestilences and there are victims, and it's up to us, so far as possible, not to join forces with the pestilences. (Tarrou) and ... to state quite simply what we learn in a time of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men … Continue reading Albert Camus, The plague (orig. La peste)
Jonathan Franzen, Freedom
Hmm ... where to start? Half way through this book I was tiring. I wanted to say to Franzen "Enough already" (which, if you've read the book, has a certain appositeness). I also started to think of those song lines, so well-known to my generation: Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose. In … Continue reading Jonathan Franzen, Freedom
Whispering Gums 