OK, I'm going to show my hand here. I love animals - and hate animal cruelty - but I am not vegan. More to the point though, I am cautious about animal rights activists because they can sometimes act out the very violence and cruelty on humans that they condemn for non-human animals. I was, … Continue reading David Brooks, The grass library (#BookReview)
Lafcadio Hearn, Yuki-Onna (#Review)
I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted on a Library of America (LOA) Story of the Week. I usually "do" a few a year, but this is the first for 2019, even though I've identified several that I've wanted to do. However, when Lafcadio Hearn popped up last week - and with a Japanese story … Continue reading Lafcadio Hearn, Yuki-Onna (#Review)
Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Winners, 2019, announced
The Winners of the the Prime Minister's Literary Awards for 2019 were announced earlier today, but I was driving to Berrima for my annual "same-time-next-year" catch up with a dear Sydney friend. Below is the shortlist for the three categories I posted on in my shortlist post, with the winners marked in bold. Fiction Rodney … Continue reading Prime Minister’s Literary Awards Winners, 2019, announced
Monday musings on Australian literature: 1930s, moving beyond “gumleaf and goanna”
Time for another post inspired by Trove, this one, as often happens actually, discovered while researching something else. What I discovered was the discussion that went on in the 1930s about Australian fiction's coming of age - and the fact that much of this was down to the women writers of the time (about which … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: 1930s, moving beyond “gumleaf and goanna”
Special Book and Event Giveaway for Jessica White’s Hearing Maud
Regular readers here will know that I very rarely do give-aways. However, when Jessica White, who is on the Australian Women Writers Challenge team with me and whose novel Entitlement I've reviewed, asked whether I'd be happy to do a giveaway for her latest book, Hearing Maud, and her conversation with Inga Simpson at Muse, … Continue reading Special Book and Event Giveaway for Jessica White’s Hearing Maud
Ros Collins, Rosa: Memories with licence (#BookReview)
Memoirs are tricky things. There are readers who love them, readers who hate them, and readers like wishy-washy me who sit in the middle. I sit in the middle because, for a start, I don't like to say "never" when it comes to reading. I sit in the middle because I couldn't cope with a … Continue reading Ros Collins, Rosa: Memories with licence (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Writers Victoria
When I wrote my last post in this Monday Musings series on Australia's writers centres, author Angela Savage, who is also the current Director of Writers Victoria, commented that the centre was celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. She was hinting, in the nicest way of course, that I should "do" Writers Victoria this year - … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Writers Victoria
Monday musings on Australian literature: Growing up [name the aspect] in Australia
With my Japanese trip almost over, I'm posting just a quick - but nonetheless interesting, I hope - Monday Musings this week. Some of you will have guessed what this title refers to; it's to the little recent flurry of anthologies being published in Australia in which contributors write about growing up Asian, or Aboriginal, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Growing up [name the aspect] in Australia
Six degrees of separation, FROM Three women TO …
It is the first Saturday of the month again, which means it's time to do the Six Degrees of Separation meme. If you are new to blogging and don't know what that is, please check our host Kate's blog - booksaremyfavouriteandbest It all starts, of course with Kate setting our starting book, and this month's is - well, … Continue reading Six degrees of separation, FROM Three women TO …
Four books that changed me
A couple of weeks ago author and blogger Angela Savage posted the contribution she's made to a column in The Age newspaper in which the columnist is asked to identify Four books that changed me. Savage, being a writer - her works include The dying beach (my review) and her latest novel Mother of Pearl (on … Continue reading Four books that changed me
Whispering Gums 