Opening Lines: The pool is located deep underground, in a large cavernous chamber many feet beneath the streets of out town. Some of us come here becasue we are injured, and need to heal. We suffer from bad backs, fallen arches, shattered dreams, broken hearts, anxiety, melncholia, anhedonia, the usual aboveground afflictions. For about a … Continue reading The Swimmers | Julie Otsuka #USAnovella
The Cinnamon Gardens Nursing Home sleeps deeply on this summer night. The heat trapped in its brick walls radiates outwards, through the skin of its painted facade. Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is set in an aged care home in Western Sydney. It's run by a Sri Lankan refugee, Maya and her husband, Zakhir. The … Continue reading Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens | Shankari Chandran #AWWfiction
This week was the Winter Solstice in Australia. On the 21st June the Southern Hemisphere celebrated the shortest day of the year; whilst the Northern Hemisphere celebrated the longest (in terms of daylight hours). Scientists and astronomers consider the solstice to be the beginning of winter (or summer). Because they use the solstices to mark … Continue reading The Winter Solstice Book | Gao Pengcheng #poetry
Have you ever wondered how many times a day you say thank you? This week I have been determined to catch up on some of my outstanding book reviews. Don't judge me for focusing on the easier, slimmer ones! I promise I will one day soon, very soon, write up my thoughts on The Pea … Continue reading Gratitude | Delphine de Vigan #FRAfiction
It is easier to feel young in new York. Lily Brett feels like one of my very dear old friends. I've been reading her fiction and non-fiction for over 20 years now. Most of her books I read pre-blog, with Lola Bensky being the only foray into her work during my blogging years (although I … Continue reading Old Seems to be Other People | Lily Brett #AWWessays
In some ways this will be the easiest book response I've ever written. Quite simply, Olive, Again is all the same wonderfulness that was Olive Kitteridge. If you loved the first Olive; you will adore the second. I don't want to say too much so as not to spoil your own reading experience. Except that Strout … Continue reading Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout #USfiction
The big five-oh is fast approaching and books like this now have a curious appeal.Suddenly finding yourself experiencing perimenopausal symptoms and not knowing what to do with them can be rather startling if not frightening at times.Considering how much medical knowledge we have about pretty much every other aspect of our physical lives, I am … Continue reading The Middlepause: On Turning 50 by Marina Benjamin
Published posthumously in 2015, Our Souls At Night is a beautiful, gentle love story between two elderly neighbours, who bravely decide to seek comfort in the arms of each other every night rather than being sleepless and alone.I first came across this book thanks to the rave reviews on our ABC's Bookclub program last month. … Continue reading Our Souls At Night by Kent Haruf
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