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On outdated books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 The writer Fran Lebowitz is very … Continue reading On outdated books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
Sherlock Holmes (the movie)
This will neither a book nor a film review be - since I've never read a Sherlock Holmes book, and I don't really feel inspired to review Guy Ritchie's new film, Sherlock Holmes. That's not to say I (in fact we) didn't enjoy the film, we did well enough. It's just that it didn't fully … Continue reading Sherlock Holmes (the movie)
Best unread books of the decade
One of my favourite internet bookgroup friends - the one who gave me the Jane Austen diary - has just posted, on a listserv we belong to, a link to The Guardian's list of books that got away over the last decade. Now, that's a new take on lists isn't it? They asked people like publishers, … Continue reading Best unread books of the decade
Andrew Croome, Document Z
Truth, according to the dictionary, can mean several things including: the state of being the case, fact or actuality; and a transcendent or spiritual reality. Truth in all its variety and slipperiness is, I think, the fundamental theme of Andrew Croome's Document Z which won the 2008 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award. This book, which chronicles the … Continue reading Andrew Croome, Document Z
Smoking chair?
...and now for something completely different. Recently I was offered, and gratefully accepted, two chairs which had belonged to my grandparents and which date back to around 1930. They no longer suited my aunt's needs, and my father, keen to see them stay in the family if they were wanted, offered them to me (with … Continue reading Smoking chair?
