An interesting question to ponder when thinking about Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall is the significance of the title. While the place Wolf Hall, the family seat of the Seymour family, does get a few mentions it does not really function as a location. Wolves, however, are one of the subtle motifs running through the novel. … Continue reading Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
Historical fiction…some brief thoughts
I have never really thought of myself as a reader of historical fiction but of course I have read quite a bit of historical fiction, not because I seek it as a genre but because some of the, for want of a better word, literary fiction that comes my way is, also, historical fiction. Take … Continue reading Historical fiction…some brief thoughts
Coffee-time counsel
En route to our hedonistic hiking location we traditionally stop for lunch at the historic and delightfully rustic Crackenback Cottage and Restaurant. We've noticed over the years that they seem to like to tease their guests with words and ideas...and of course these particular guests are not averse to that! My first example though comes … Continue reading Coffee-time counsel
Salman Rushdie, The enchantress of Florence
Where to begin? Salman Rushdie's latest novel, The enchantress of Florence is one of those books-writ-large: its canvas is broad, its structure a little complex and it has a large character set. In other words, you need your wits about you as you read this one. This is only my third Rushdie. Like most keen … Continue reading Salman Rushdie, The enchantress of Florence
Simon Armitage’s The odyssey
Mostly when we travel we listen to the radio or music, but on our recent trip we listened to a 3-CD dramatisation of Homer's The odyssey. The set was lent to us; the dramatisation was done by poet Simon Armitage for BBC-4. As my friend who lent it to us said, you need to get … Continue reading Simon Armitage’s The odyssey
Hedonistic hiking
"Hedonistic hiking" is the title of an article in a glossy little ("free at selected tourist outlets in Australia" but otherwise $24.95pa) magazine I picked up in Melbourne a couple of months ago. The mag is called essentials magazine: culture, culinary, adventure. Can you tell me how the word "culinary" fits in there syntactically? The … Continue reading Hedonistic hiking
On outdated books
Most readers at some time or other confront the issue of "datedness" in literature. This book is "dated", we say. The funny thing is that what seems dated to one person is often not so to another. So, what do we mean when we say a book is dated? The writer Fran Lebowitz is very … Continue reading On outdated books
Top non-fiction of 2009
Is it cheating to do separate lists for fiction and non-fiction? Some people list their top books regardless of form or genre, while others created separate lists. I'm going to do the latter because - well, because I get to choose more books for a start. Actually, I didn't read a lot of non-fiction this … Continue reading Top non-fiction of 2009
C.J. Dennis, The moods of Ginger Mick
Sometimes a bloke gits glimpses uv the truth("In Spadger's Lane") I wasn't sure, really, that I wanted to read CJ Dennis' verse novel, The moods of Ginger Mick, which I received as a review copy from the Sydney University Press as part of their Australian Classics Library - but have surprised myself. I rather enjoyed … Continue reading C.J. Dennis, The moods of Ginger Mick
Top 12 fiction of 2009
I think, pedant that I am, I can now post my Top 12 fiction books of the year, since the book I'm currently reading (interesting though it is) won't be on it, and I won't be finishing another one before January 1 comes around. I am listing 12 because Tom at A Common Reader said … Continue reading Top 12 fiction of 2009
Whispering Gums 