Those of you who have read a bit of my blog will know that I am a big Jane Austen fan, and so when you see the name Jane in a post's title you would not be wrong to assume that it's about her. However, over the last decade another Jane has been coming to … Continue reading The other Jane
David Malouf, Ransom
Words are powerful. They too can be the agents of what is new, of what is conceivable and can be thought and let loose on the world. (p. 61) Is risk-taking only the province of the young? Do desperate times call for desperate measures? Or, more to the point, can the impossible be made possible? … Continue reading David Malouf, Ransom
Helen Garner, The children’s Bach
I've said a few times now that I rarely reread books, and then go on to write about something I've re-read. I must look like a liar, but the fact is that if I've liked a book so much that I've reread it it's likely to find its way here. The funny thing is, though, … Continue reading Helen Garner, The children’s Bach
George Orwell, Confessions of a book reviewer
It's been a while since I wrote on a George Orwell essay so it seemed - while I'm still reading my current read - to be a good time to do another. And what better, given my recent "how to write a book review" post, than to do Orwell's essay on book reviewing. Orwell, as … Continue reading George Orwell, Confessions of a book reviewer
Librarians as writers
It is (almost) a truism that librarians harbour a secret (or not so secret, as the case may be) desire to be writers. It is, similarly, (almost) a truism that keen readers desire to be writers. Now, I am a librarian (retired) and a keen reader but I have never really had a desire to … Continue reading Librarians as writers
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Appetite
"Appetite" is a short story by Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, an American-born author of Iranian descent. It was recently published in The New Yorker, and you can read it here. It is, I have to say, a strange little story. The 25 year-old first-person narrator is a cook in a restaurant where he has been working since leaving school. … Continue reading Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Appetite
How to write a (book) review!
If you go looking for advice on how to write a book review on the web, you won't be looking for long. There are hundreds of sites which provide such advice or offer courses on how to do it. Reviewing 101 is alive and well out in cyberspace. Much of the advice, though, is step-by-step … Continue reading How to write a (book) review!
Alan Bennett, The lady in the van
It is a truism that truth is stranger than fiction, and Alan Bennett's The lady in the van is one work that proves it. It is strange - and wonderful - that a woman could have lived the way the eponymous lady did for as long as she did, and it is equally strange - … Continue reading Alan Bennett, The lady in the van
Longlist for 2010 Miles Franklin Award announced
Without further ado, here are the twelve who've made it to the 2010 Miles Franklin Award longlist: Allington, Patrick Figurehead Carey, Peter Parrot and Olivier in America Castro, Brian The bath fugues Doust, Jon Boy on a wire Foster, David Sons of the rumour Foster, Deborah The book of Emmett Guest, Glenda Siddon Rock Hartnett, … Continue reading Longlist for 2010 Miles Franklin Award announced
Dorothy Porter, The bee hut
The most powerful presence is absence (from "Egypt") The above lines open Australian poet Dorothy Porter's The bee hut, a collection of poems mostly writen in the last five years of her life. The lines are prophetic ... and they appropriately open a collection which deals very much, though not exclusively, with the tension between life … Continue reading Dorothy Porter, The bee hut
Whispering Gums 