My Week: Bah!Three Australian states are in various degrees of lockdown once again.The politics of fear is in full flight. It's hard not to get caught up in it, as states are pitched against states against the federal government, who sends it back against the states!Trying to remember instead that I am/want to be a … Continue reading Stories & Shout Outs #41
In 1930 the woman who called herself Mrs Hill caught the Old Trans across the Nullarbor. She sat with a notebook propped on her knees, her suitcase, typewriter and thin swag slung in the rack overhead, revelling in the train's front-stall view of the weird and mournful wilderness all around. Sometimes books come into your … Continue reading Into the Loneliness | Eleanor Hogan #AWW
At the beginning it's sea was rich and wondrous. We'd snorkel and fish and swim and beach-comb. Ignorance can be bliss sometimes. Until this last month or so I had never really thought about where my smoked salmon came from. Other than somewhere in or around Tasmania, that is. I was proudly buying local product … Continue reading Toxic | Richard Flanagan #AUSnon-fiction
My nana used to call it the 'change of life'. It was a change alright. If you take a quick glance at the health section in most Australian bookshops, you will notice that suddenly there are quite a few books about older women's health, specifically perimenopause and menopause, being published. I can only assume it's … Continue reading The M Word | Dr Ginni Mansberg #AUSnonfiction
It's time for another Classics Club Spin.The rules are easy: compile your list of 20 books by Sunday 18th July.On that day a number will be randomly selected.That's the book you read.You have until the 22nd August 2021 to finish your book and review it.Join in the fun by visiting the other players and commenting on their lists.It's … Continue reading CC Spin #27
There was a moment, between Quai des Orfevres and Pont Marie, when Maigret paused, so briefly that Lapointe, who was walking beside him, paid no attention. Happy Bastille Day! Joyeux Quatorze Juillet! Picking up a Maigret is like falling into a soft, cosy blanket with a tray of strong cheeses, biscuits and a robust red … Continue reading Maigret and the Tramp | Georges Simenon
There was 'nothing for him' in England. The trouble with reading faster than one is blogging, is the backlog of reviews and trying to remember what I wanted to say about each book. I currently have eight books waiting to be reviewed. Thankfully I jot down notes as I go along and I underline interesting … Continue reading My Phantoms | Gwendoline Riley #UKfiction
All I can remember, and this is what I told the police over and over again, is that there was a party at the house and I'd been drinking. It took me several weeks to read Benang in preparation for Indigenous Literature Week. It was intense, demanding and confronting. I'm very grateful to have finally … Continue reading After Story | Larissa Behrendt #AUSfiction
2021 National NAIDOC logo The 4th - 11th July, 2021 is NAIDOC week. Lisa @ANZLitLovers hosts an Indigenous Literature Week to coincide with NAIDOC week. Lisa is careful to acknowledge that as 'a non-Indigenous Australian, I am mindful that I do not and cannot know or understand all aspects of Indigenous Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and … Continue reading Naidoc Week & Indigenous Picture Books
Last month Kaggsy celebrated her 9th blogaversary by actually remembering it! I made some smart comment about always forgetting my blogaversary. But then I decided, NO! Blogs have this marvellous, amazing technology that allows one to schedule posts. Why not use it to make sure I actually remember to celebrate my own blogging anniversary on … Continue reading 12 Years of Blogging
I know I make my people uncomfortable, and embarrass even those who come to hear me sing. It has been a while since I have read a book that I have underlined as much as I have underlined Kim Scott's Benang. It's up there, for me, with The Pea-Pickers and Moby-Dick as being a slow, … Continue reading Benang: From the Heart | Kim Scott #AUSfiction
It has been a very frustrating week in Sydney as we have watched the latest Covid-19 outbreak take hold. A few factors this time around seem to have caught Health and Government officials by surprise somehow. We all know there will be the occasional leak from hotel quarantine. That's another story. (Poor Queensland and NT … Continue reading The Covid Chronicles #12
You must be logged in to post a comment.