Difficult but handsome (Courtesy: Sydney University Press) I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I certainly wasn't expecting the delightful sly wit I found in Martin Boyd's A difficult young man, which, I understand, is the second book in the "Langton Quartet". This novel though can clearly stand on its own - otherwise, why … Continue reading Martin Boyd, A difficult young man
Australian writers
Geoff Page, The scarring
Geoff Page (born 1940) is a Canberra-based poet who has been active in the Australian poetry scene for many decades now. He was also, for nearly three decades, an English teacher. Page has published several volumes of poetry and at least three verse novels, of which The scarring is his first. The scarring, which I … Continue reading Geoff Page, The scarring
Australia Post’s new set of Living Legends
Does the choice of writers for Australia Post's Australian Legends of the Written Word look a little one-sided to you? Here is the list: Peter Carey David Malouf Colleen McCullough Bryce Courtenay Thomas Keneally Tim Winton The Guardian books blog - Australian writers' stamps send the wrong message - suggests so, and has a bit … Continue reading Australia Post’s new set of Living Legends
Top non-fiction of 2009
Is it cheating to do separate lists for fiction and non-fiction? Some people list their top books regardless of form or genre, while others created separate lists. I'm going to do the latter because - well, because I get to choose more books for a start. Actually, I didn't read a lot of non-fiction this … Continue reading Top non-fiction of 2009
C.J. Dennis, The moods of Ginger Mick
Sometimes a bloke gits glimpses uv the truth("In Spadger's Lane") I wasn't sure, really, that I wanted to read CJ Dennis' verse novel, The moods of Ginger Mick, which I received as a review copy from the Sydney University Press as part of their Australian Classics Library - but have surprised myself. I rather enjoyed … Continue reading C.J. Dennis, The moods of Ginger Mick
Best unread books of the decade
One of my favourite internet bookgroup friends - the one who gave me the Jane Austen diary - has just posted, on a listserv we belong to, a link to The Guardian's list of books that got away over the last decade. Now, that's a new take on lists isn't it? They asked people like publishers, … Continue reading Best unread books of the decade
Andrew Croome, Document Z
Truth, according to the dictionary, can mean several things including: the state of being the case, fact or actuality; and a transcendent or spiritual reality. Truth in all its variety and slipperiness is, I think, the fundamental theme of Andrew Croome's Document Z which won the 2008 The Australian/Vogel Literary Award. This book, which chronicles the … Continue reading Andrew Croome, Document Z
Arnold Zable, Sea of many returns
He leaps through centuries, tears apart myths, and reassembles them in his own way. These words that are said of one of the characters in Arnold Zable's Sea of many returns could just as easily be said of Zable himself - not only of this book, but of his earlier ones such as Cafe Sheherazade. Zable … Continue reading Arnold Zable, Sea of many returns
Jessica Anderson, The commandant
When I first read about Sydney University Press's Australian Classics Library, the book I really wanted to read was The commandant by Jessica Anderson. It's her only historical novel, but its subject matter doesn't stray much from what she told Jennifer Ellison in an interview many years ago, "I was very much, and always have been, preoccupied with people who … Continue reading Jessica Anderson, The commandant
Markus Zusak, The book thief
In one moment, there was great kindness and great cruelty, and I saw it as the perfect story of our humans are. (Zusak on the Random House website) Zusak could hardly have chosen, for The book thief, a better setting to explore the best and worst of humanity than Germany during the Holocaust. The book … Continue reading Markus Zusak, The book thief
Whispering Gums 