While I was travelling in the USA last month, I wanted to read at least one book relating to the regions we were visiting. I started by looking for a novel set in/about the northwest, but then Yuri Herrera's Signs preceding the end of the world, set in the southwest, popped out at me, and … Continue reading Yuri Herrera, Signs preceding the end of the world (#BookReview)
Migrant literature
AS Patrić, Black rock white city (Review)
With that extended conflict known as the Yugoslav Wars (1991-2001) now over for more than a decade, we are starting to see books written about them. I've reviewed two on this blog to date, Aminatta Forna's novel The hired man (2013) (my review) on the Croatian War of Independence, and Olivera Simić's memoir Surviving peace (2014) (my review) on … Continue reading AS Patrić, Black rock white city (Review)
Phillip Stamatellis, Growing up café: a short memoir (Review)
Phillip Stamatellis' Growing up café is the third book I've read in publisher Finlay Lloyd's fl smalls collection. Unlike the previous two, by established creators Paul McDermott and Carmel Bird, it is a debut work by an unknown writer. According to the author bio provided at the beginning of the book, Stamatellis is studying writing at the University of … Continue reading Phillip Stamatellis, Growing up café: a short memoir (Review)
Hanif Kureishi, The buddha of suburbia (Review)
The first thing to say about Hanif Kureishi's 1990 Whitbread award-winning novel The buddha of suburbia is that it's pretty funny. It's a comic satire - over-the-top at times, confronting at others. It has its dark moments, but it's also brash, irreverent and ultimately warm-hearted towards its tangled band of not always admirable but mostly very human characters. I've come late … Continue reading Hanif Kureishi, The buddha of suburbia (Review)
Olivera Simić, Surviving peace: A political memoir (Review)
I hadn't heard of Olivera Simić when Spinifex Press offered me her book, Surviving peace: a political memoir, to review, but her subject matter - the Bosnian war, to put it broadly - was of particular interest to me, so I said yes. You see, I worked for several years with a woman who, like Simić, was also … Continue reading Olivera Simić, Surviving peace: A political memoir (Review)
Christos Tsiolkas, Barracuda (Review)
The best way I can describe Christos Tsiolkas' latest novel Barracuda is to liken it to what Tsiolkas would define as a "good man", tough on the outside, but tender within. I don't know how Tsiolkas does it, but he manages to reach into your heart while at the same time confronting you to your … Continue reading Christos Tsiolkas, Barracuda (Review)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian migration literature
Last week I reviewed Gabrielle Gouch's memoir, Once, only the swallows were free, in which she tells of her family's migration from Hungary to Romania to Israel, and then her own on to Australia. While Gouch focuses more on the brother left behind, she does touch on the challenges of migration - the dislocation and … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian migration literature
Willa Cather, Peter (Review)
Surely a whole year can't have passed since I last wrote about a Library of America short story? But yes, it has. My last one was Robert Frost's "The question of a feather" in July last year. Many times I've chosen one to read, and many times I've let other things get in the way … Continue reading Willa Cather, Peter (Review)
Michael Sala, The last thread (Review)
It's clear why Affirm Press chose a comment by Raimond Gaita for the front cover of their latest publication, Michael Sala's autobiographical novel, The last thread. Gaita, for readers here who don't know, wrote an award-winning memoir, Romulus, My Father, about growing up as a migrant with mentally unstable parents. Sala's story is different but both … Continue reading Michael Sala, The last thread (Review)
Ana Menéndez, Celebrations of Thanksgiving: Cuban offerings
I love food and I enjoy reading about food. I particularly enjoy reading about food - and food traditions - from other cultures. And so, when Ana Menéndez's story popped up on the Library of America last month I made a note to read it. The last piece of food writing that I read from LOA, … Continue reading Ana Menéndez, Celebrations of Thanksgiving: Cuban offerings
Whispering Gums 