In one of those coincidences that we often bother about in fiction, my local Jane Austen group scheduled Jane Austen's unfinished novel, The Watsons, for our July discussion. A coincidence because, if you are an Austen fan, you'll know that just this week the manuscript was sold at auction for nearly £1 million. Thank goodness … Continue reading Jane Austen, The Watsons (Unfinished)
Willa Cather, A Wagner matinée
Willa Cather's short story, "A Wagner matinée", was Library of America's "Story of the Week" back in May. However, I was busy then, but I like Cather, so I put it aside to read later. And later has finally come! I've reviewed another Cather short story here, "The sentimentality of William Tavener", which was published in … Continue reading Willa Cather, A Wagner matinée
Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian Poetry Library (online)
It seems appropriate now, when I've been exploring the iPad app for TS Eliot's The waste land, to introduce the Australian Poetry Library website that was launched in late May. Essentially a digital library, it contains over 42,000 poems from over 170 poets. That's a pretty good start, particularly when the poets range from pioneers like … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian Poetry Library (online)
Weekends with TS Eliot
In which I further exploring the iPad app for TS Eliot's The waste land, particularly in terms of the poem's sound/musicality.
Winners of the 2011 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards
Brought to you straight from the afternoon presentation with Caroline Baum in the National Library of Australia Theatre: Fiction: Traitor, by Stephen Daisley Non-fiction: The hard light of day, by Rod Moss Young adult fiction: Graffiti moon, by Cath Crowley Children's fiction: Shake a leg, by Boori Monty Pryor and Jan Ormerod This afternoon's panel discussion followed the formal … Continue reading Winners of the 2011 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards
Amazon: The good, the bad and the …
Well, let's not go there because, really, we all want convenient, economic access to good books don't we? And Amazon has done a great job of forging/championing a whole new world of book distribution - both through their online service for selling traditional books and then their development of the Kindle and eBook distribution. (I … Continue reading Amazon: The good, the bad and the …
Margaret Mendelawitz, Charles Dickens’ Australia. Book 1, Convict stories
So true may fiction be in the hands of a genius (from "Convict in the gold region", by Richard Horne) Richard Horne, in his article "Convicts from the gold region", describes a scene from Don Quixote in which Quixote meets and sets free some convicts by driving away their guards, only to have his generosity … Continue reading Margaret Mendelawitz, Charles Dickens’ Australia. Book 1, Convict stories
Monday musings on Australian literature: the National Centre of Biography
What is life? Life itself, as you will realise if you consult a dictionary, is hard enough to define. But what is a life? And why does it matter? For itself (a question of honour)? Or for what one can make of it as a biographer (which may mean trespass)? I am old-fashioned enough to … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: the National Centre of Biography
Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Melbourne scenes, 1850s
One of the contributors to Charles Dickens' weekly magazine Household Words was Richard Horne. According to the notes on Contributors in Margaret Mendelawitz's five-volume set, Charles Dickens' Australia, which I reviewed last week, Horne was an English-born author who lived in Australia from 1852 to 1869. He agreed to write travel pieces for Household Words "in return", … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Melbourne scenes, 1850s
TS Eliot’s The waste land, app-style
Hands up if you've seen Touchpress's gorgeous iPad app for TS Eliot's poem The wasteland? Now, if your hand is up, why didn't you tell me about it? Luckily, though, I have a real-life, dinky-di librarian friend who told me what my online friends didn't! This is not going to be a proper review as … Continue reading TS Eliot’s The waste land, app-style
Whispering Gums 