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)
Women writers
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
Christina Stead, Introduction: Ocean of story (Review, possibly)
I am so glad Lisa (ANZLitLovers) has given me an excuse, her Christina Stead Week, to finally pick up Ocean of story: The uncollected stories of Christina Stead. I bought this book, in 1991, from a sale table for all of 98 (Australian) cents! What a bargain. I then popped it on my Australian literature TBR shelves, … Continue reading Christina Stead, Introduction: Ocean of story (Review, possibly)
Susan Varga, Heddy and me (Review)
Susan Varga's biography-cum-memoir, Heddy and me, was first published back in 1994, so why am I reading it now? By a rather circuitous route, as it happens. Lesley Lebkowicz, whose The Petrov poems I've reviewed, read my post on Anna Rosner Blay's Sister, sister, and suggested to Susan Varga that she might like to send me her book to … Continue reading Susan Varga, Heddy and me (Review)
Whispering Gums 