As I explained in my post last year on Annie Dillard's The Maytrees, we are slowly listening to some of the audiobooks we gave Mr Gums' mother in the last years of her life, and have just finished Olive Ann Burn's epic-length, Cold Sassy Tree. From what I've read in Wikipedia, Olive Ann Burns was another late … Continue reading Olive Ann Burns, Cold Sassy Tree (Review)
Women writers
Delicious descriptions: Louise Mack’s dialogue and satire
Over Christmas, during one of my conversations with Son Gums, he commented how he tires of meaningless conversations, conversations, for example, in which people discuss a television series they've seen but say nothing of note. He mimicked the sort of conversation he meant ... well, imagine my surprise when, in one of those surprising synchronicities, … Continue reading Delicious descriptions: Louise Mack’s dialogue and satire
Louise Mack, The world is round (Review)
I've had Louise Mack's debut novel, The world is round, on my TBR for about 20 years. Published in 1896, when she was 26 years old, it's a fairly straightforward tragicomedy about a young well-to-do 21-year-old girl, Jean, who aspires to be a writer, and the two men who love her, the 30-plus-year-old self-confident, successful lawyer-and-writer Musgrave, and … Continue reading Louise Mack, The world is round (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Louise Mack
I promised in my Reading Highlights post that my first review of the year would be for a book from my TBR pile, and so it will be - hopefully in a couple of days. However, I suspect that the book, and maybe even the author, will be unknown to most of my readers here so I've decided … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Louise Mack
Eudora Welty, A curtain of green (Review)
This week I received the Library of America's annual email in which they list their "Top 10 Story of the Week selections of 2016". I've only read eleven of their selections this year, but two - Kate Chopin's "A pair of silk stockings" (my review) and Willa Cather's "Enchanted bluff" (my review) - are in their Top Ten. … Continue reading Eudora Welty, A curtain of green (Review)
Georgia Blain: Births deaths marriages: True tales (Review)
Poignant is a word I actively avoid in my review posts, as it's such a review cliché, but sometimes a book really does call for it, and the late Georgia Blain's essay-collection-cum-memoir, Births deaths marriages, is such a book. In the last essay, she talks of her mother, broadcaster, activist and non-fiction writer, Anne Deveson, trying her … Continue reading Georgia Blain: Births deaths marriages: True tales (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Spotlight on Georgia Blain
This is the fifth in my occasional series of Spotlight posts inspired by Annette Marfording's Celebrating Australian Writing: Conversations with Australian Authors, and this time I'm featuring Georgia Blain who died just over a week ago, three days before her mother Anne Deveson also died. In a comment on my Vale post, Annette Marfording reminded me that she'd interviewed Georgia … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Spotlight on Georgia Blain
Elizabeth Jolley, An innocent gentleman (Mini-Review)
Note: this is a mini-review compiled from the notes I made when I read Elizabeth Jolley's An innocent gentleman before blogging. I found them on some scrappy pieces of paper while decluttering and figured my blog is the best place to keep them ... not floating in some drawer somewhere! Most if not all of Elizabeth … Continue reading Elizabeth Jolley, An innocent gentleman (Mini-Review)
Christina Stead, Ocean of story, Pt 1: The early years – Australia (Review)
Contribution no. 2 for Lisa's Christina Stead Week from Ocean of story: the uncollected stories of Christina Stead. My first post was on the titular story, "Ocean of story", which is also used as the collection's Introduction. After this Introduction, the stories have been organised into 7 sections by editor RG Geering. These sections are presented chronologically, … Continue reading Christina Stead, Ocean of story, Pt 1: The early years – Australia (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: 1902 in Australian literature
Why, you may be asking, have I chosen 1902 for this post? After all, it's not a nice round number of years ago, like 100. I could tease you with hints, but I want to get onto the post proper, so I'll just tell you: it was the year Christina Stead was born. And, as … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: 1902 in Australian literature
Whispering Gums 