The abandoned hotel comes into view. Derelict, windswept. Who is Mette Jakobsen and how is it I have never heard of her before? In 2011 she wrote The Vanishing Act about a young girl growing up on a small snow covered island. In October of the same year, a brief story called The Island appeared … Continue reading The Wingmaker | Mette Jakobsen
My mother was blue, a pale blue mixed with the colour of ashes. I find myself drawn to memoirs that dive deep into difficult, complicated mother-daughter relationships. It's a dynamic fraught with push me/pull me tensions. Tensions that seem to only evolve with time. Is it possible to work them out? Come to terms with … Continue reading Nothing Holds Back the Night | Delphine de Vigan
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
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
In December 2016 an email came to tell me that Shirley Hazzard had died. When I was planning my 20 Books of Summer Winter reading list, I decided to add my Shirley Hazzard short story collection to the list. Somehow, I have got to my early fifties without ever having read any of her books. … Continue reading On Shirley Hazzard | Michelle de Kretser #AWW
'Whither, O splendid ship' the poet asked as he lay on the shore and watched the great sailing ship pass away on the horizon. The six essays in The London Scene were first written by Woolf in late 1931 and then published in Good Housekeeping between December 1931 to December 1932. This edition includes a … Continue reading The London Scene | Virginia Woolf #UKnonfiction
In the mornings after breakfast I walk past a small marble plaque propped against the high wall flanking the road. The short stories in Jhumpa Lahiri's Whereabouts were originally written in Italian. Lahiri then translated them into English. Lahiri moved from the US to Italy in 2011 with her husband and two children. They live … Continue reading Whereabouts | Jhumpa Lahiri #ITAfiction
Goshawk Common, Newford, Surrey. Not the most remarkable expanse of open country, scrubby grass and tumbling hillside in the south of England, just as Newford probably wasn't the most remarkable town. I fell in love with Common Ground and Ishiguro's writing from page one. The only weird part, for me, was the name of the … Continue reading Common Ground | Naomi Ishiguro #UKfiction
September 1995I wake to find a young woman sitting beside me. She is Asian. Japanese. Chinese. I don't know. Book club throws up some interesting choices. The Butterfly Man by Heather Rose was such a one. I had never heard of Lord Lucan or the mystery surrounding him. Yet when this book was nominated for … Continue reading The Butterfly Man | Heather Rose #AWW
Please feel free to use my Southern Hemisphere badge if you're also reading 20 books over the winter months. It's that time of the year again, when we share 20 books we hope/plan/wish to read over the next three months. Cathy @746 Books is our wonderful host, with the most relaxed house rules you can … Continue reading 20 Books of Summer [Winter] 2021
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