I love generosity of spirit, the ability to rise above terrible things to see the humanity that lies beneath. Richard Flanagan's Booker Prize shortlisted The narrow road to the deep north is, without being sentimental or glossing over the horror, a generous book - and this is why I expect it will be one of … Continue reading Richard Flanagan: The narrow road to the deep north (Review)
Australian writers
Kate Forsyth, Stories as salvation (Review)
One of the best things about being involved in the Australian Women Writers' Challenge is hearing of writers whom I may not otherwise have come across, or, if I had, who may not have registered strongly with me. One such writer who regularly pops up in the challenge is novelist Kate Forsyth. The reviews that keep coming in for her … Continue reading Kate Forsyth, Stories as salvation (Review)
Cate Kennedy (ed), Australian love stories (Review)
Four hundred and forty-five stories! She read four hundred and forty-five of them! I'm talking about Cate Kennedy, the editor of Australian love stories. These stories were the response to Inkerman & Blunt's call for Australian writers "to share their love stories, fictional or true". Having no experience in these things, I don't know what they expected, but 445 … Continue reading Cate Kennedy (ed), Australian love stories (Review)
Nigel Featherstone, The beach volcano (Review)
Back in 2010, Featherstone spent a month, on a writer's retreat, at Kingsbridge Gatekeeper’s in Cataract Gorge, Launceston. He writes on his blog that he left Launceston with sketches for three novellas. The beach volcano is the last of these, the other two being Fall on me (my review) and I'm ready now (my review). Before I … Continue reading Nigel Featherstone, The beach volcano (Review)
Olivera Simić, Surviving peace: A political memoir (Review)
I hadn't heard of Olivera Simić when Spinifex Press offered me her book, Surviving peace: a political memoir, to review, but her subject matter - the Bosnian war, to put it broadly - was of particular interest to me, so I said yes. You see, I worked for several years with a woman who, like Simić, was also … Continue reading Olivera Simić, Surviving peace: A political memoir (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Plebiscite on Australian poets and novelists, 1927
Pottering around old Australian newspapers on Trove, I came across reports of a "plebiscite" on Australian poets and authors. Suggested by the Australian Literature Society, it asked readers of Melbourne's The Argus newspaper to send in the names "of those whom they regard as the six leading poets and the six foremost writers of fiction of … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Plebiscite on Australian poets and novelists, 1927
Brooke Davis, Lost & found (Review)
I must say that my antennae go up when I hear a book being touted as a publishing sensation even before it is published, as Brooke Davis' recently published debut novel Lost & found, was. What does that mean? That it was the subject of a mega-dollar bidding war like, say, Hannah Kent's Burial rites? Well, … Continue reading Brooke Davis, Lost & found (Review)
Ouyang Yu, Diary of a naked official (Review)
When I was offered Chinese-born Australian writer Ouyang Yu's latest novel Diary of a naked official to review, I was warned that it is rather graphic. And so it turned out to be, but, not having read Ouyang Yu before, I did want to give it a go. The accompanying publicity sheet describes it as … Continue reading Ouyang Yu, Diary of a naked official (Review)
Eleanor Dark’s Juvenilia (Review)
Eleanor Dark was quite a star in Australia's literary firmament of the 1930s to 1950s, and has left an important legacy, not only in her most famous book The timeless land but also in the fact that her home Varuna in the Blue Mountains is now one of Australia's most significant and loved writers' retreats. It's … Continue reading Eleanor Dark’s Juvenilia (Review)
Sara Dowse, Schemetime (Review)
What Sara Dowse didn't know when she recently commented here on her love-hate relationship with Los Angeles was that I was in the closing stages of reading her novel, Schemetime, set there. I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that I've had this novel since Christmas 1990 when I was living in the LA area (in adjoining Orange … Continue reading Sara Dowse, Schemetime (Review)
Whispering Gums 