Around a month ago I wrote a Monday Musings post on the Juvenilia Press, and said that I would read and post on some of its publications. Well, here is the first of those posts. While I discovered the press through its Jane Austen juvenilia, the books I ordered were those for juvenilia by Australian authors. … Continue reading Mary Grant Bruce, The early tales (Review)
Australian writers
Angela Meyer (ed), The great unknown (Review)
The great unknown is a mind-bending collection of short stories which explores, as editor Angela Meyer says, "the unknown, the mysterious, or even just the slightly off." I was, in fact, expecting more horror, thriller even, which are genres that don't really interest me, but this collection is not that. There are some truly scary scenes … Continue reading Angela Meyer (ed), The great unknown (Review)
Delicious descriptions: Jessica Anderson and urban life
I didn't quote much from Jessica Anderson's One of the wattle birds in my recent review, which is unusual for me - so I decided a Delicious Descriptions post was in order. I had trouble however choosing which excerpt to quote. My first thought was to share an example of the book's wonderful - and often very funny - dialogue, … Continue reading Delicious descriptions: Jessica Anderson and urban life
Jessica Anderson, One of the wattle birds (Review)
I have finally read Jessica Anderson's final novel, One of the wattle birds, which has been sitting in my beside cabinet since my parents gave it to me in 1998! Never let it be said that I don't read books given to me - though, on reflection, I'd prefer you didn't hold me to that! … Continue reading Jessica Anderson, One of the wattle birds (Review)
Barbara Baynton, Billy Skywonkie (Review)
Well, I must say that "Billy Skywonkie", my fifth* story from Barbara Baynton's Bush studies, fair near defeated me, so I was rather relieved to read in Susan Sheridan's introduction that "in this story and others, Baynton's use of dialect to represent the speech of these uneducated bush folk can also act as a barrier … Continue reading Barbara Baynton, Billy Skywonkie (Review)
Hannah Kent, Burial rites (Review)
"We'll remember you" says Margrét to Agnes on the day of her execution. We sure will, if Hannah Kent's debut novel Burial rites has anything to say about it. Kent's book is the second novel set in Iceland I've read, the first being Icelandic writer Halldor Laxness's unforgettable Independent people. Although Laxness's novel is set a century after Burial rites, … Continue reading Hannah Kent, Burial rites (Review)
Sue Milliken, Selective memory: A life in film (Review)
Funny how things go sometimes. I may not have read Sue Milliken's memoir, Selective memory, had the publisher, Hybrid Publishers, not noticed my rather particular interest in film via my recent review of Margaret Rose Stringer's And then like my dreams. I'm glad they did because this book took me down memory lane ... Sue Milliken is … Continue reading Sue Milliken, Selective memory: A life in film (Review)
Angela Savage, The dying beach (Review)
When I received Angela Savage's novel The dying beach out of the blue last year as a review copy, I didn't put it high in my list of reading priorities. I had - and still have - a pile of books waiting patiently, and I rarely (never say never) read crime novels. However, two things … Continue reading Angela Savage, The dying beach (Review)
Christos Tsiolkas, Barracuda (Review)
The best way I can describe Christos Tsiolkas' latest novel Barracuda is to liken it to what Tsiolkas would define as a "good man", tough on the outside, but tender within. I don't know how Tsiolkas does it, but he manages to reach into your heart while at the same time confronting you to your … Continue reading Christos Tsiolkas, Barracuda (Review)
Margaret Merrilees, The first week (Review)
Having discussed in this week's Monday Musings Margaret Merrilees' essay on white authors writing about indigenous Australians, I'm now getting to my promised review of her debut novel, The first week, in which she does just this. It also, according to Wakefield Press's media release, won the Adelaide Festival's Unpublished Manuscript Award in 2012. I can see why … Continue reading Margaret Merrilees, The first week (Review)
Whispering Gums 