I read Kate Chopin's short story "Désireé's baby" (1893) back in March when Kirsty mentioned it in her comment on my last Chopin post, but I didn't blog it then. However, when it appeared a couple of weeks ago as a Library of America selection, I felt its time had come. But, what to say? … Continue reading Kate Chopin, Désireé’s baby
Women writers
Kate Jennings, Snake
In her "fragmented autobiography", Trouble, Kate Jennings used excerpts from her first novel, Snake, to convey her childhood experience of growing up on a farm in the Riverina region of New South Wales. She had, she wrote, an "unhappy mother, diffident father". Snake is the story of such a mother and father. While the novel … Continue reading Kate Jennings, Snake
Kate Jennings on Gutless Fiction
Did I say in my review of Kate Jennings' Trouble that she's not backward in coming forward? If not, I do now and will cite as an example her essay "Gutless fiction" which was first published in The Australian Financial Review in 2005. The article was inspired by her becoming aware of "prejudices against so-called business fiction". Business … Continue reading Kate Jennings on Gutless Fiction
Kate Jennings, Trouble: Evolution of a radical
I'm not going to beat about the bush but tell it like it is: I absolutely gobbled up Kate Jennings' Trouble: Evolution of a radical: Selected writings 1970-2010. It took me a fortnight to read it, partly because I've been pretty busy but also because there was so much to savour and take in that … Continue reading Kate Jennings, Trouble: Evolution of a radical
Helen Garner, Cosmo cosmolino
When I returned to seriously reading Australian writers back in the 1980s, there were four women writers who caught my attention, and I have loved them ever since. They were Elizabeth Jolley (1923-2007), Thea Astley (1925-2004), Olga Masters (1919-1986) and Helen Garner (b. 1942). Garner, the youngest by a couple of decades, is the only … Continue reading Helen Garner, Cosmo cosmolino
M.J. Hyland, This is how
If you want to read a book that is quick (and seemingly simple) to read and yet satisfyingly complex, then MJ Hyland's This is how is for you. I've been wanting to read Hyland for a while and, having now done so, this won't be the last. So where to start? The novel is a … Continue reading M.J. Hyland, This is how
Hilary McPhee on Australian writing
I was going to write my next post on why I like short stories - as a prelude to my next review - when I heard on the radio today that Hilary McPhee has just edited a book of Australian short fiction. To most Australians, Hilary McPhee is - and if she's not she should … Continue reading Hilary McPhee on Australian writing
Louann Brizendine, The female brain
Beware - the F-word is coming! Yes, Feminism. It might be a dirty word in some quarters, but I regard myself as a feminist - 1970s style - and so I approached Brizendine's best-selling book, The female brain, with my cautionary antennae out. It's not the sort of book I would necessarily have chosen myself … Continue reading Louann Brizendine, The female brain
Eva Hornung, Dog boy
I first read Eva Hornung when she was writing as Eva Sallis. It was her second novel The city of sealions, which is a pretty passionate and evocatively written exploration of cultural alienation and dislocation brought about primarily by migration. In some ways Dog boy explores similar concerns, but its alienation is played out in a … Continue reading Eva Hornung, Dog boy
Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad
This is the second time I have read Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad. Much as I enjoyed it the first time around, I probably wouldn't have read it again if it hadn't been scheduled for one of my online bookgroups. However, given that scheduling and the fact that I had recently listened to Simon Armitage's dramatisation … Continue reading Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad
