Some reading synchronicities - those coincidental connections that happen between books we read in a short period of time - are zeitgeist-related. For example, grief is not my go-to, but it is a common theme in contemporary writing so it's not entirely remarkable that I have written three reviews since January about books focused on … Continue reading Sun Jung, My name is Gucci (#BookReview)
Non-human narrators
Carmel Bird, Love letter to Lola (#BookReview)
In her prose piece, "Ocean of story" (my post), Christina Stead wrote that It is only when the short story is written to a rigid plan, or done as an imitation, that it dies. It dies when it is pinned down, but not elsewhere. It is the million drops of water that are the looking-glasses … Continue reading Carmel Bird, Love letter to Lola (#BookReview)
Chris Flynn, Here be Leviathans (#BookReview)
I am not one of those readers who shun weird narrators. Indeed, you'll find several in this blog, including a skeleton, a dead baby, a foetus and a mammoth fossil. The critical thing for me is not who the narrator is, but whether that narrator is convincing and offers a perspective that engages my mind … Continue reading Chris Flynn, Here be Leviathans (#BookReview)
Carmel Bird, The dead aviatrix: Eight short stories (#BookReview)
Carmel Bird, whose latest short story collection, The dead aviatrix: Eight short stories, I'm reviewing here, has to be the consummate writer. She can turn her hand to fiction and nonfiction, to short and long form writing, to formal and more informal voices, and to both serious and witty or satiric tones. She's also an … Continue reading Carmel Bird, The dead aviatrix: Eight short stories (#BookReview)
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)
Whispering Gums 