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 #GBRfiction
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 #AWWfiction
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 #AWWliterarycompanion
'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 #GBRnonfiction
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 #GBRfiction
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 #AWWfiction
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
of 20 Books of Summer Winter.Another calendar season has been and gone, and what do I have to show for it?I certainly didn't even go close to completing this year's 20 books challenge for starters. Although, if I had included picture books for children, I would have romped it in! Last year I easily read and … Continue reading The End…
Teen romance, The Gravity of Us never quite reached the stars it was aiming for. It took me ages to finish this cute story about budding online journalist Cal and 'astrokid', Leon. The romance was sweet, tender and funny and the stuff about NASA's astronaut program that both families were caught up in, was fascinating too, but … Continue reading The Gravity of Us | Phil Stamper #TeenFiction
A Testament of Character is book 10 in the Rowland Sinclair Mystery series, and really, if you haven't dipped your toes into this series yet, you really don't know what you're missing! While my love for the Maisie Dobbs series (see previous review) has waxed and waned a little, my love for Rowly … Continue reading A Testament of Character | Sulari Gentill #AWWcosycrime
The White Girl by Tony Birch was my August book club choice. I'm always a little nervous when it's my turn to pick the book in case it turns out to be a book universally disliked, poorly written or just one of those duds that doesn't spark any kind of joy in anyone. Thankfully, that … Continue reading The White Girl | Tony Birch #AUSfiction
What does one read during a pandemic that has changed the way we all live our lives? The Plague (La Peste) by Albert Camus of course! This existentialist (or absurdist, depending on who you talk to) classic from 1947 presents us with the day to day changes that occurred in a small city in Algeria … Continue reading The Plague | Albert Camus #ReadtheNobels
I had to remind myself of the exact definition of elegy as I was reading Ayad Akhtar's latest novel, Homeland Elegies: A Novel. In a promotional video on the Little Brown publishing page, he mentioned this book was not only about that longing for the home country that his parent's generation felt, but an elegiac … Continue reading Homeland Elegies | Ayad Akhtar #USAfiction
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