In my recent review of Fiona Wright's Small acts of disappearance, I focused on her analysis and her experience of anorexia, but, as I mentioned in the review, she was, already, a published writer. An award-winning poet for a start: her poetry collection, Knuckled, won the Dame Mary Gilmore Award for a first collection. Her … Continue reading Delicious descriptions: Fiona Wright on writing and hunger
Australian writers
Fiona Wright, Small acts of disappearance (Review)
It would be a rare person these days, from Western cultures anyhow, who didn't have some brush with an eating disorder, whether through a friend, a family member, or personal experience. And yet it is one of our most misunderstood afflictions, which is where Fiona Wright's Small acts of disappearance: Essays on hunger comes in. Wright, born in 1983, is a … Continue reading Fiona Wright, Small acts of disappearance (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Spotlight on David Malouf
A couple of weeks ago I published the first of a number of posts which I'm planning to write using Annette Marfording's Celebrating Australian Writing: Conversations with Australian Authors as starting point. That post was on the first interview in the book, Robert Dessaix. I decided that my second post would be on one of my favourite Aussie writers - you could call … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Spotlight on David Malouf
Monday musings on Australian literature: Some Australian screenwriters
Funny things sure do happen sometimes. I decided on the weekend that, with my comment about screenwriters in my post on Hail, Caesar and with the Oscars being screened today, Monday (downunder time), that I would devote this post to screenwriters. Then, I turned on the TV to look at the Oscars, and guess what? They … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Some Australian screenwriters
Kate Jennings, Moral hazard (Review)
How often do you read a book that connects in some ways with something you've recently read or thought about? Kate Jennings' award-winning Moral hazard, my latest read, links pretty directly to our discussion about autobiographical fiction in my Monday Musings post on Robert Dessaix two weeks ago. Dessaix, you may remember, criticised Garner's The spare room (and other works) arguing she was just … Continue reading Kate Jennings, Moral hazard (Review)
Delicious descriptions: Gerald Murnane’s landscape and imagination
A couple of years ago I reviewed Gerald Murnane's The plains. I found it a mesmerising book, but a challenging one to fully get my head around, to grasp and hang onto what I'd grasped. Then a couple of days ago, I reviewed his memoir, Something for the pain: A memoir of the turf. It … Continue reading Delicious descriptions: Gerald Murnane’s landscape and imagination
Gerald Murnane: Something for the pain: A memoir of the turf (Review)
When I heard Australian author Gerald Murnane had written a memoir, and even more when I heard its title, Something for the pain: A memoir of the turf, I knew I had to read it. I am not a horse racing tragic, by any stretch, but how could I resist such an intriguing sounding memoir from … Continue reading Gerald Murnane: Something for the pain: A memoir of the turf (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Spotlight on Robert Dessaix
Last year, I published a guest post by Annette Marfording, who was, for many years, the Program Director of the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival. At the time of this post, she had just self-published her book, Celebrating Australian Writing: Conversations with Australian Authors, containing a selection of interviews she'd conducted over many years with a wide range of … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Spotlight on Robert Dessaix
Steve Toltz, Quicksand (Review)
Aldo Benjamin, the anti-hero of Quicksand, accuses wannabe-writer-friend Liam of having "such little imagination". You could not, however, accuse the novel's author, Steve Toltz, of this. Quicksand reads a bit like a 19th century satirical novel transplanted into the 21st century. It is big in size (though not as big as his first, A fraction of the whole), broad in subject … Continue reading Steve Toltz, Quicksand (Review)
Halina Rubin, Journeys with my mother (Review)
I've read a lot of World War 2 literature over the years, but very little from the Polish point of view, so I was more than willing to read Halina Rubin's Journeys with my mother when it was offered to me a few months ago. Rubin was born in Warsaw on 27 August 1939. Note the date: her mother, … Continue reading Halina Rubin, Journeys with my mother (Review)
Whispering Gums 