How do you classify a book like Fish-hair woman by Filipino-Australian writer, Merlinda Bobis? Darned if I know, but I'll have a go. It's part war story, murder mystery, political thriller, romance, and historical epic. It draws on the magical realist tradition of writers like Isabel Allende, but overarching all this, it is a book about … Continue reading Merlinda Bobis, Fish-hair woman (Review)
War literature
Monday musings on Australian literature: Some novels about the second world war
As I am still immersed in things paternal - and as my father served in the second world war - I thought that this week I'd take the easy way out again and list some of my favourite Australian novels about that war. Although I call myself a pacifist, I don't shy away from war … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Some novels about the second world war
Alan Gould, The lakewoman: A romance
I'm a little embarrassed to say that until The lakewoman was shortlisted in the 2010 Prime Minister's Literary Awards, I only knew of Alan Gould as a poet. Turns out, though, that he has written several novels, of which this one is his most recent. It is, ostensibly, a war novel, in that much of it is set … Continue reading Alan Gould, The lakewoman: A romance
Monday musings on Australian literature: Literary Folk
As I attended my 13th or 14th (losing count now), National Folk Festival* this Easter weekend, I started to think about the relationship between folk music and literature. Some folk music is purely instrumental - think Celtic fiddling and bluegrass picking, for example - but, as a reader, it's the storytelling side of folk that … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Literary Folk
Arnold Jansen op de Haar, King of Tuzla
Translated works always represent a challenge. There is something slightly disconcerting about knowing that you are not reading the actual words of the author, but someone else's interpretation of them. There's been some discussion of this around the blogs and in the media this year, partly because of the publication of Why translation matters by award winning … Continue reading Arnold Jansen op de Haar, King of Tuzla
Herz Bergner, Between sky and sea
Book cover (Courtesy: Text Publishing) Do you read introductions to novels? And, if you do, do you read them before or after you read the novel itself? I read them, but always afterwards because I like to come to novels as objectively as I can. And so, this is what I did with Herz Bergner's … Continue reading Herz Bergner, Between sky and sea
Markus Zusak, The book thief
In one moment, there was great kindness and great cruelty, and I saw it as the perfect story of our humans are. (Zusak on the Random House website) Zusak could hardly have chosen, for The book thief, a better setting to explore the best and worst of humanity than Germany during the Holocaust. The book … Continue reading Markus Zusak, The book thief
Imre Kertèsz, Fateless (or Fatelessness)
[WARNING: SPOILERS, of sorts] Let's get the first thing clear. I like holocaust literature - not because I enjoy the subject matter but because in it I find the most elemental, universal truths about humanity. Depending on the book, this literature contains various combinations of bravery and cowardice, cruelty and kindness, love and hate, self-sacrifice, … Continue reading Imre Kertèsz, Fateless (or Fatelessness)
Whispering Gums 