While dining in Thredbo this weekend, we were served by a waiter who, when I asked for a certain ingredient to be excluded from my dish, repeated it back with the order, "and no to-mAY-to" she said. Her accent wasn't strong but this stood out, so when she returned to our table, we asked whether … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Regional differences in Australian English
Stephen Orr, The hands: An Australian pastoral (Review)
As promised, here is my review of a farm novel, Adelaide-based Stephen Orr's The hands: An Australian pastoral. It is his sixth novel but the first that I've read. Where have I been? The hands is such a good read I wonder why I haven't read him before. Among the review excerpts for his previous novels provided at the beginning … Continue reading Stephen Orr, The hands: An Australian pastoral (Review)
Mark Twain, How to cure a cold (Review)
I haven't reviewed anything by Mark Twain on this blog, though I have posted on an interview with him by Rudyard Kipling, so when his story "How to cure a cold" appeared in December as a Library of America Story of the Week, I figured it was time. According to LOA's notes, "How to cure a cold" was written … Continue reading Mark Twain, How to cure a cold (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Best books of 1975
Given we're all looking at best reads, I thought it might be fun to look at best reads of a past time? My initial thought was 1965, a neat 50 years ago, but I couldn't find any appropriate lists. Google found a 1965 New York Times bestseller list on Wikipedia and a couple of 1965 lists in GoodReads, but they weren't quite what … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Best books of 1975
Blogging highlights for 2015
So, I've done my Australian Women Writers' Challenge wrap-up, my Reading highlights, and now, to complete what's become my annual trifecta, my Blogging highlights. I hope I'm not boring you - but I'm doing this partly for my own record! Top posts for 2015 As in 2013 and 2014, my most "hit" post for 2015 was a … Continue reading Blogging highlights for 2015
Reading highlights for 2015
Well, dear readers, we have turned the calendar to 2016 so I can now reveal my highlights for 2015. As usual, I won't be naming top picks. I find that too hard to do. Instead, I'll discuss highlights which combines best reads with those that were interesting for other reasons. I'd love to mention every book I read, as every one … Continue reading Reading highlights for 2015
Vincenzo Cerami, A very normal man (Review)
And now for something very different from my recent fare here, a modern Italian classic. Originally published in 1976, A very normal man was, the back cover blurb says, Vincenzo Cerami's first novel - and it brought him instant acclaim. I can see why. At least, this is the sort of writing that gets me in, but more … Continue reading Vincenzo Cerami, A very normal man (Review)
My encounter with Encounters
I rarely write about museum exhibitions, and when I do it's usually in the context of a travel post, but I do want to share with you our National Museum of Australia's current exhibition, Encounters. Subtitled "Revealing stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Objects from the British Museum", it is described by the Museum as "one … Continue reading My encounter with Encounters
Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian Women Writers’ Challenge 2015
For the fourth year now, I'm devoting the year's last Monday Musings to the Australian Women Writers Challenge*. The challenge continues to be supported by a wide range of reviewers. This year we moved to a self-hosted site which enabled us to produce a single searchable database of all reviews logged since the challenge started in 2012. We now … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian Women Writers’ Challenge 2015
Eleanor Limprecht, Long Bay (Review)
One of the things that interests me about historical fiction, of which Eleanor Limprecht's Long Bay is an example, is why the author in question chooses to write his/her story as fiction rather than non-fiction. As I've written before, this is an issue with which Kate Grenville grappled when she wrote The secret river. That book was initially going to … Continue reading Eleanor Limprecht, Long Bay (Review)
