When you read do you come across passages that you just want to hang onto forever - but (if you're a blogger) when you go to write your blog review you can't quite make them fit? I do, and have been pondering for some time what to do about it. Then, suddenly, it came to … Continue reading Delicious descriptions from Down Under: Barbara Hanrahan on the sun
Australian writers
Madeleine St John, The women in black
One thing mystified me as I started reading Madeleine St John's The women in black and that is why she would write a book in 1993 about 1950s? It seemed an odd choice. And then, as I read further, it started to become clear. The time period represents one of those cultural watersheds that nations … Continue reading Madeleine St John, The women in black
Monday musings on Australian literature: A dry or not so dry continent?
It's rather ironic that in the last week or two when I've written a couple of posts about Australia's image* as a "sunburned land" (Barbara Hanrahan) or "sunburnt country" (Dorothea Mackellar), the image the world has been seeing is somewhat opposite - a raindrenched land. Then again, Dorothea Mackellar did also write that this is … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: A dry or not so dry continent?
Matt McClelland, Best river and alpine walks around Mt Kosciuszko
For many years now, Mr Gums and I have been going to Thredbo in Kosciuszko National Park for a few days in early January. In other words, instead of heading east to the coast, like many of our city's residents, we head south to the mountains for a bit of R&R involving bushwalking, dining and reading. … Continue reading Matt McClelland, Best river and alpine walks around Mt Kosciuszko
Kate Holden, The Romantic: Italian nights and days
Book cover (Courtesy: Text Publishing) The romantic, by Kate Holden, is hard to categorise. In an interview with Richard Aedy on ABC Radio's Life Matters she comments that, despite the success of her memoir In my skin, she was "a little bit uncomfortable with memoir" because it felt a bit "narcissistic". And so this, her second … Continue reading Kate Holden, The Romantic: Italian nights and days
Katharine Susannah Prichard, The pioneers
Katharine Susannah Prichard (1883-1969) is probably not as well-known in Australia, let alone internationally, as she should be. She was born in Fiji, but grew up in Tasmania and Melbourne, travelled overseas and in other parts of Australia, before settling in Western Australia in 1919. She was a founding member of the Australian Communist … Continue reading Katharine Susannah Prichard, The pioneers
Garry Disher, Wyatt (Guest post)
Some time ago I found in my mailbox a bundle of books from my lovely contacts at Text Publishing. Unfortunately, there were more books in the bundle than I could read at the time, and a couple were in genres I don't generally read (though that's not to say I wouldn't read them if I … Continue reading Garry Disher, Wyatt (Guest post)
Peter Carey, Parrot and Olivier in America
It's not surprising, really, that after living in America for two decades Peter Carey should turn his pen to it. Having lived in the US twice myself, I well understand the fascination of trying to understand that large and paradoxical country. In Parrot and Olivier in America, then, Carey sets out to explore America through … Continue reading Peter Carey, Parrot and Olivier in America
Toni Jordan, Fall girl
It's just as well I'm not one of those readers who likes to draw conclusions about writers' lives from their writing, because if I were I'd be seriously concerned about Toni Jordan. You see, her latest novel, Fall girl, is about a con-artist, a very experienced one in fact. And Jordan writes so convincingly you'd … Continue reading Toni Jordan, Fall girl
Gretchen Shirm, Having cried wolf
I have come to the conclusion that short stories are the best holiday reading for me. After a day's sightseeing followed by reading up on sights for the next day, I usually find I have little time left for my reading. Novels are hard to read under such circumstances, but short stories? Well, they are … Continue reading Gretchen Shirm, Having cried wolf
