Linda Neil's second book, All is given, is subtitled "a memoir in songs". I wondered if this meant her memoir would be structured around specific songs - but that's probably way too prosaic an idea. Certainly, it's not what I got! I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that I didn't know of Linda Neil, who is … Continue reading Linda Neil, All is given (#BookReview)
AWW Challenge 2017
Jill Roe, Our fathers cleared the bush (#bookreview)
As that old pop song goes, what kind of fool am I? I went, you see, to Macquarie University, which I chose for its then modern approach to tertiary education. It was great, but somehow, I didn't end up in tutorials taught by Thea Astley, nor did I study Australian history in which Jill Roe was one of … Continue reading Jill Roe, Our fathers cleared the bush (#bookreview)
Sara Dowse, As the lonely fly (#BookReview)
Some books grow out of their author's desire to engage the reader in an issue they feel passionate about, such as Jane Rawson on climate change in A wrong turn at the Office of Unmade Lists (my review) and Charlotte Wood on the scapegoating of women in The natural way of things (my review). Sara Dowse's … Continue reading Sara Dowse, As the lonely fly (#BookReview)
Maxine Beneba Clarke, The hate race: A memoir (Review)
This is how it changes us. This is how we are altered. Maxine Beneba Clarke's Stella Prize short-listed memoir, The hate race, is one powerful book. I've been reading about racism since my teens during the Civil Rights years, and have read many moving novels and memoirs. Clarke's book holds its own in this company. The … Continue reading Maxine Beneba Clarke, The hate race: A memoir (Review)
Carmel Bird, Family skeleton (Review)
I love a cheeky writer, and Carmel Bird must be the doyenne of cheeky writers, so it goes without saying, really, that I thoroughly enjoyed her latest novel Family Skeleton. The cheekiness starts with the epigraph, which, as she is wont to do, is a quote from her fictional character Carillo Mean. As Bird has … Continue reading Carmel Bird, Family skeleton (Review)
Janette Turner Hospital, Orpheus lost (Mini-review)
Last year I did a mini-review of Elizabeth Jolley's An innocent gentleman using some scrappy notes from when I read the book long before blogging. This post on Janette Turner Hospital's Orpheus lost has similar origins. I'm keen to add it here because I've read several of her novels, but none since blogging, and I really … Continue reading Janette Turner Hospital, Orpheus lost (Mini-review)
Madelaine Dickie, Troppo (Review)
"Write what you know" is the advice commonly given to writers, and this is exactly what Madelaine Dickie has done in her debut novel, Troppo, which won the City of Fremantle TAG Hungerford Award. For readers, on the other hand, the opposite could be true, as in "read what you don't know." This is certainly what I've done … Continue reading Madelaine Dickie, Troppo (Review)
Mena Calthorpe, The dyehouse (Review)
Mena Calthorpe's novel The dyehouse was, as I wrote in a post last year, Text Publishing's choice for its 100th Text Classic, which surely says something about its quality or worth, wouldn't you think? And yet, as Lisa (ANZLitLovers) pointed out in her post, it is not mentioned in recent books discussing the history of Australian literature, … Continue reading Mena Calthorpe, The dyehouse (Review)
David Carlin and Francesca Rendle-Short (eds), The near and the far: New stories from the Asia-Pacific region (Review)
Anthologies, almost by definition, have a unifying theme, something that explains their existence. There are the "best of" type, as in best of a year or of a genre, for example. There are those drawn from a prize, such as The trouble with flying, and other stories (my review) from the Margaret River Short Story competition. And of course there … Continue reading David Carlin and Francesca Rendle-Short (eds), The near and the far: New stories from the Asia-Pacific region (Review)
Maria Katsonis and Lee Kofman (eds), Rebellious daughters (Review)
To rebel or not to rebel, that is the question. At least, it's the question that interested memoirists Maria Katsonis and Lee Kofman who, having written their own stories about "conservative upbringings and subsequent rebellions", wanted to discover what other women could reveal about that "universal life experience", the rebellion against parents. This book, Rebellious daughters, is, obviously, … Continue reading Maria Katsonis and Lee Kofman (eds), Rebellious daughters (Review)
Whispering Gums 