While my reading group's main reading fare has, from the start, been contemporary fiction, we also mix it up a bit. We do non-fiction, for example, and most years we try to do a classic. Over the years we've done Jane Austen, Elizabeth von Arnim, Anton Chekhov, EM Forster, and Randolph Stow, to name a … Continue reading Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five (#BookReview)
World War 2
Emuna Elon, House on endless waters (#BookReview)
I've said before that I'm surprised by how many takes there can be on World War II, and on the Holocaust, in particular - and once again I'm here with another such story, Emuna Elon's House on endless waters. I hadn't heard of Elon before but, according to Wikipedia, she's an Israeli author, journalist, and women's rights … Continue reading Emuna Elon, House on endless waters (#BookReview)
Melanie Myers, Meet me at Lennon’s (#BookReview)
I was keen to read Melanie Myers' debut novel, Meet me at Lennon's, because it is set during the Brisbane of my mother's early teens, that is, wartime Brisbane when her school, Somerville House, was commandeered in 1942 by the Australian Military Forces and served as a US Army Headquarters for the rest of the … Continue reading Melanie Myers, Meet me at Lennon’s (#BookReview)
Nigel Featherstone, Bodies of men (#BookReview)
Nigel Featherstone's latest novel, Bodies of men, is a brave book - and not because it's a World War 2 story about love between two soldiers at at time when such relationships were taboo, though there is that. No, I mean, because it's a World War 2 story that was inspired by Featherstone's three-month writer-in-residence … Continue reading Nigel Featherstone, Bodies of men (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: War-time reading tastes, World War 2
Continuing last week's brief survey of war-time reading habits... World War 2 And then we come to the Second World War. Here's The West Australian again, this time in July 1940, less than a year after the war had started (a bit like our 1915 World War 1 report last week.) The article is headed, … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: War-time reading tastes, World War 2
Randolph Stow, The merry-go-round in the sea (#BookReview)
Randolph Stow is a writer I've been meaning to read for the longest time - since, would you believe, the 1970s? Embarrassing, really, given his significance. My plan had always been to read his Miles Franklin award-winning novel To the islands first. However, the first I actually bought was The merry-go-round in the sea - back in … Continue reading Randolph Stow, The merry-go-round in the sea (#BookReview)
Jan Wallace Dickinson, The sweet hills of Florence (#BookReview)
There are several reasons why I enjoyed Jan Wallace Dickinson's historical novel The sweet hills of Florence, the first being Florence itself. I fell in love with Italy in Florence. Brunelleschi's dome, Giotto's belltower, the Uffizi and all the other gorgeous places of art and architecture, not to mention the food, combined to capture my heart. … Continue reading Jan Wallace Dickinson, The sweet hills of Florence (#BookReview)
Monday musings on Australian literature: Grateful Brits send books to Aussies
As I was searching Trove for another topic, I came across some articles that I just had to share, particularly given my recent posts on bookswapping and bookselling for charity. These articles date from post-World War 2 when Britain was living under strict rationing, which continued for a long time - until 1954, in fact. To … Continue reading Monday musings on Australian literature: Grateful Brits send books to Aussies
Susan Varga, Heddy and me (Review)
Susan Varga's biography-cum-memoir, Heddy and me, was first published back in 1994, so why am I reading it now? By a rather circuitous route, as it happens. Lesley Lebkowicz, whose The Petrov poems I've reviewed, read my post on Anna Rosner Blay's Sister, sister, and suggested to Susan Varga that she might like to send me her book to … Continue reading Susan Varga, Heddy and me (Review)
Anthony Doerr, All the light we cannot see (Review)
Just when you thought that there couldn't possibly be another angle to writing about World War 2, up comes another book that does just that, like, for example, Anthony Doerr's Pulitzer prize-winning All the light we cannot see. I had, of course, heard of it, but it wasn't high on my reading agenda until it was chosen as … Continue reading Anthony Doerr, All the light we cannot see (Review)
Whispering Gums 