Coincidentally, my first review after this week's Monday Musings on historical fiction happens to be a work of historical fiction, Gay Lynch's cleverly titled Unsettled. Consequently, I'm going to start there, that is, talking about the form. Well, more or less, because I should at least give you a sense of its subject. It is … Continue reading Gay Lynch, Unsettled (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Supporting genres, 1: Historical fiction
While my prime focus here is literary and classic fiction, I do also delve into other forms (like biography, autobiography/memoirs, poetry, history), and other genres (like crime, dystopian fiction, and historical fiction). So, I've decided to start a little MM subseries on other genres and forms, starting with historical fiction. My aim is less to … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Supporting genres, 1: Historical fiction
Bill curates: Monday musings on Indigenous Australian writers
Bill curates is an occasional series where I delve into Sue's vast archive, stretching back to May 2009, and choose a post for us to revisit. The feature of Whispering Gums that we all most look forward to is Monday Musings. But when did they start? It took me a while to locate - WordPress … Continue reading Bill curates: Monday musings on Indigenous Australian writers
Fannie Barrier Williams, Women in politics (#Review)
It's been months since I posted on a Library of America (LOA) Story of the Week offering, but this week's piece by African American activist, Fannie Barrier Williams, captured my attention. Several LOA offerings this year have been relevant to the times - including stories about infectious diseases - but this one is so spot on for … Continue reading Fannie Barrier Williams, Women in politics (#Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Alison Lester
Saturday, as I noted in my Six Degrees of Separation post, was National Bookshop or Love Your Bookshop Day in Australia (and in Great Britain too, it seems). For last year's day, I wrote a post on author-owned/managed bookshops, most of which were located in places other than Australia. The exception was Australian children's author … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Alison Lester
Six degrees of separation, FROM Turn of the screw TO …
One month into spring here down under, and it is so lovely, particularly with daylight savings starting tomorrow. That will hopefully mean not being woken at 5am by sun and birdsong, much as I enjoy the latter! Now though, onto today's business, this month's Six Degrees of Separation meme. As always, if you don't know … Continue reading Six degrees of separation, FROM Turn of the screw TO …
Balli Kaur Jaswal, Erotic stories for Punjabi widows (#BookReview)
Broadly speaking, Singaporean author Balli Kaur Jaswal's third novel, Erotic stories for Punjabi widows, reminds me of Anita Heiss' choclit books like Paris dreaming (my review). By this I mean it presents as an escapist romcom genre novel but within it is some serious intent. In this case it relates to the oppression of women, … Continue reading Balli Kaur Jaswal, Erotic stories for Punjabi widows (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Nib Literary Award
The Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award is a somewhat unusual award that I've been receiving notifications about for years, but have never posted specifically on (though Lisa of ANZLitLovers has.) It's unusual for a couple of reasons. One is that its focus is on celebrating "excellence in research and writing in Australia", and the … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Nib Literary Award
Bill curates: Favourite writers, no. 2
Bill curates is an occasional series where I delve into Sue's vast archive, stretching back to May 2009, and choose a post for us to revisit. We discovered in August that Thea Astley is Sue's #3 favourite writer. We've always known that Jane Austen (here) is #1. So I thought we should check out # … Continue reading Bill curates: Favourite writers, no. 2
Carol Lefevre, Murmurations (#BookReview)
Murmurations is a beautiful, evocative word, and Carol Lefevre's latest book, titled Murmurations, does beautiful, thoughtful justice to it. It is though an unusual book. Styled by its author as a novella, it reads on the surface like a collection of short stories, except that the stories are not only connected by the various characters … Continue reading Carol Lefevre, Murmurations (#BookReview)
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