'Oh I found ways to live to tell the tale. It's my chief hobby-hawk is the noble art of survivin'.' 'Loyalty looks simple,' Grote tells him, 'but it isn't.' '...Expensive habit is honesty. Loyalty ain't a simple matter, Di'nt I warn yer...' It's interesting that some of the main themes of David Mitchell's The thousand … Continue reading David Mitchell, The thousand autumns of Jacob de Zoet
English writers
Monday musings on Australian literature: Elizabeth von Arnim
This week's Monday musings is a bit cheeky since Elizabeth von Arnim (or Mary Annette Beauchamp, her birth-name) was born in Sydney in 1866 but her parents left Australia in 1871 for Switzerland and then England. Von Arnim spent the rest of her life abroad. So, why am I writing about her? She didn't grow up … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Elizabeth von Arnim
Ian McEwan, Solar
I don't know whether I believe your story, but I've enjoyed it. So says McEwan's latest creation, Michael Beard, to a character he has "done wrong". This more or less sums up my feelings about Solar, the novel in which this statement appears. I am a McEwan fan and have greatly liked most of the … Continue reading Ian McEwan, Solar
Charles Dickens, On travel
In the 3rd essay in Hesperus Press's lovely little volume On travel, which comprises a selection of Dickens' travel essays, Dickens (1812-1870) makes a reference to Laurence Sterne's character Yorick. In one of those lovely bits of reading synchronicity, Hungry Like the Wolf posted last week on Laurence Sterne's A sentimental journey through France and Italy which features … Continue reading Charles Dickens, On travel
Rudyard Kipling, An interview with Mark Twain
How could I resist reading this offering from the Library of America, featuring as it does two giants of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? Both are writers I know well in a superficial way: I've really read only a little of their works. This essay, I thought, presented an interesting opportunity to get … Continue reading Rudyard Kipling, An interview with Mark Twain
Jeanette Winterson, Oranges are not the only fruit
As I was reading Jeanette Winterson's novella Oranges are not the only fruit, the question, rightly or wrongly, that was uppermost in my mind was "What is it with the oranges?" Is there something about oranges that I don't know? Something specific that they symbolise? I racked (wracked) my brain for something in my literary … Continue reading Jeanette Winterson, Oranges are not the only fruit
Jane Austen’s letters, 1811-1813
Early in my blogging career I wrote a post on the letters Jane Austen wrote (well, those remaining anyhow) between 1814 and 1816. This was to coincide with my local Jane Austen group's reading of Emma. This year we are reading Mansfield Park and so decided to read the letters she wrote during her writing … Continue reading Jane Austen’s letters, 1811-1813
George Orwell, Confessions of a book reviewer
It's been a while since I wrote on a George Orwell essay so it seemed - while I'm still reading my current read - to be a good time to do another. And what better, given my recent "how to write a book review" post, than to do Orwell's essay on book reviewing. Orwell, as … Continue reading George Orwell, Confessions of a book reviewer
Alan Bennett, The lady in the van
It is a truism that truth is stranger than fiction, and Alan Bennett's The lady in the van is one work that proves it. It is strange - and wonderful - that a woman could have lived the way the eponymous lady did for as long as she did, and it is equally strange - … Continue reading Alan Bennett, The lady in the van
Sarah Waters in conversation with Marion Halligan
Sarah Waters, 2006 (Courtesy: Annie_C_2, via Wikipedia, under Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0) In a delightful coincidence, Sarah Waters was in town tonight for a literary event, just one night after my reading group discussed her novel The little stranger - and so, naturally, those of us who were free turned up to hear her converse with … Continue reading Sarah Waters in conversation with Marion Halligan
Whispering Gums 