A decade or so ago my local reading group, with trepidation from some, decided to try a poetry night. The idea was that we'd all bring a favourite poem or two to share. What would I bring? I have some favourite poets from my student days - poets like Gerard Manley Hopkins, T.S. Eliot and … Continue reading More Jolley
Elizabeth Jolley, My father’s moon
'No one,' she says, 'can write anything till they've had experience. Later on perhaps. You will write later on.' (Elizabeth Jolley, My father's moon, 1989) Although fiction demands imagination, it must be based on some kind of genuine experience. (Elizabeth Jolley, "Only Connect", essay first published in Toads, 1992) My father's moon is the first … Continue reading Elizabeth Jolley, My father’s moon
More on blogging, images and copyright
Those of you who have read my very early posts will know that copyright on images is an important issue for me - it's why I often don't have a lot of images on my posts, much as I'd like to. I'm sure that it won't be long before the whole copyright situation is blown … Continue reading More on blogging, images and copyright
Disgrace-ful
Well, I finally got to see the film adaptation of J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace today. Before seeing it, I was a little surprised that it only had an (Australian) M rating. From my memory of the book I was rather expecting an MA rating. I was slightly disappointed in the film: it's not that I want to watch … Continue reading Disgrace-ful
State of the investigative journo film
I really want to see the new Australian film, Last Ride, and the film of J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace, but as State of Play is coming to the end of its run and we hadn't yet seen it, that's what we went to see today. Apparently, the film is an adaptation of a well-reviewed 6-hour British … Continue reading State of the investigative journo film
Stitching up the NGA
What a thrill! Today, as the result of blogger Ms Textual's posts about her knitting for the National Gallery of Australia's Knitta Project, I decided to pop over and check it out. I only planned to go for ten minutes or so, and who should I spy but Ms Textual herself. After a moment of … Continue reading Stitching up the NGA
Haruki Murakami, What I talk about…
What a strange little book! I guess it's not surprising that Haruki Murakami's notion of a memoir is not quite that of the rest of us. This is not because it has any of the, shall we call it, weirdness you find in his novels, but because in its 180 pages, What I talk about … Continue reading Haruki Murakami, What I talk about…
Murakami on The Great Gatsby
I have nearly finished Haruki Murakami's slim memoir, What I talk about when I talk about running, but thought this little tidbit deserved its own post. As well as writing his works in Japanese which others translate for him, he also translates English language works into Japanese. Interesting eh? Anyhow, while he was writing this memoir, … Continue reading Murakami on The Great Gatsby
On growing old
I am currently reading Haruki Murakami's What I talk about when I talk about running. I will write more on it when I've finished it, but today I came across this statement which rather caught my attention: ...one of the privileges given to those who've avoided dying young is the blessed right to grow old. … Continue reading On growing old
The challenge of the biopic
I do love a biopic - essentially, a movie dramatisation of the life of a real person - but I also know that I must always keep in mind that it is a dramatisation. That is, it is not a biography but more like a biographical novel. The challenge with this is that when I … Continue reading The challenge of the biopic
Whispering Gums 