Hands up if you've seen Touchpress's gorgeous iPad app for TS Eliot's poem The wasteland? Now, if your hand is up, why didn't you tell me about it? Luckily, though, I have a real-life, dinky-di librarian friend who told me what my online friends didn't! This is not going to be a proper review as … Continue reading TS Eliot’s The waste land, app-style
English writers
Margaret Mendelawitz, Charles Dickens’ Australia: Selected essays from Household Words 1850-1859
It was not to be a high-brow intellectual periodical. Above all he wanted to reach and entertain the masses and, at the same time, help shape discussion and debate on the important social questions of the time. (from Introduction, by Margaret Mendelawitz) Charles Dickens' Australia is a set of five volumes containing essays, stories and … Continue reading Margaret Mendelawitz, Charles Dickens’ Australia: Selected essays from Household Words 1850-1859
Jay Griffiths, A love letter from a stray moon
I have always wanted wings. To fly where I belong, to become who I am, to speak my truths winged and moon-swayed. I'm not sure I can do justice to this poetic, passionate novella by Jay Griffiths. Titled A love letter from a stray moon, it's a first person outpouring in the voice of Mexican … Continue reading Jay Griffiths, A love letter from a stray moon
Jane Austen’s letters, 1807-1809
The letters Jane Austen wrote between 1807 and 1809 seem somewhat different to those she wrote later. There are probably a number of reasons for this but one could be that this was an unsettled period for her. Her father died in early 1805 which changed her (and her mother's and sister's) life circumstances dramatically. … Continue reading Jane Austen’s letters, 1807-1809
Geoff Dyer, Jeff in Venice, death in Varanasi
What, a few moments earlier, had seemed such a persuasive notion - that ridiculousness might be the animating principle of life - seemed, in the face of this more pedestrian idea of progress, abruptly ... ridiculous. No sooner had I thought this, than I'd suddenly had enough of walking. ("Death in Varanasi") Hmm ... what … Continue reading Geoff Dyer, Jeff in Venice, death in Varanasi
Jane Austen, Sense and sensibility (Vol. 2)
...and because they were fond of reading, she fancied them satirical... (Lady Middleton on the Dashwood sisters, Ch. 36) In January, I wrote about Volume 1 of Jane Austen's Sense and sensibility, which my local Jane Austen group is reading volume by volume this 200th anniversary year of its publication. Unfortunately I missed the February … Continue reading Jane Austen, Sense and sensibility (Vol. 2)
David Mitchell, Earth calling Taylor
And now for something a little different from novelist David Mitchell, a short story titled "Earth calling Taylor". You can read it online at FT.com. FT.com is the online version of the Financial Times, so it's not surprising that Ryan Taylor, the protagonist of the story, works in the finance industry. The story starts with Ryan … Continue reading David Mitchell, Earth calling Taylor
Jane Austen, Sense and sensibility (Vol. 1)
This year is the 200th anniversary of the publication of Jane Austen's first (published) novel, Sense and sensibility. To celebrate this, my local Jane Austen group plans to discuss the novel over the next three months, volume by volume. We tried this last year with Mansfield Park and valued the opportunity it presented to delve … Continue reading Jane Austen, Sense and sensibility (Vol. 1)
Alan Bennett, The uncommon reader
Light with bite is how I would describe Alan Bennett's delightful novella The uncommon reader. But, before I explain that further, a quick plot summary for those few who haven't come across it. It explores what happens when Queen Elizabeth II stumbles across a mobile library on the palace grounds and becomes obsessed with books and … Continue reading Alan Bennett, The uncommon reader
On polishing Jane Austen’s halo
My American friend Peggy who, several years ago, very generously sent me the Pride and Prejudice Game, has now sent me a link to a short interview - with a transcript - conducted on NPR (National Public Radio) with Dr Kathryn Sutherland. Sutherland is the academic who has been researching Austen's manuscripts for the last three … Continue reading On polishing Jane Austen’s halo
Whispering Gums 