Opening Lines: Early on Sunday, after first Mass in Clonegal, my father, instead of taking me home, drives deep into Wexford towards the coast where my mother's people came from. It is a hot day, bright, with patches of shade and greenish, sudden light along the road. Foster was the buddy read chosen by Cathy … Continue reading Foster | Claire Keegan #IRLnovella
Sydney, 1971The American family rented the house without having seen it - how could they have, halfway around the world? - so they did not know what it meant. Tablo Tales is a new Melbourne-based imprint in the hands of Jemma Birrell (some of you might know of Jemma as the Artistic Director of the … Continue reading A Dream Life | Claire Messud #AUSnovella
Last year, my friend at the Writer's Centre NSW, now called Writing NSW, was planning on hosting an Honouring event for Katharine Susannah Prichard. It's an annual event, of which I have managed to attend about half so far. I had just popped my name on the expressions of interest list early last year, when … Continue reading The Wild Oats Of Han | Katharine Susannah Prichard #AWWfiction
Feeling very grateful, right now, that Tarissa @In the Bookcase is hosting A Literary Christmas this year. It made me search my shelves for something Christmassy that I hadn't read yet. It led me straight into the delightful and utterly charming arms of Beatrix Potter. I confess that I did not read any of the Peter Rabbit … Continue reading The Tailor of Gloucester | Beatrix Potter #ALiteraryChristmas
A couple of weeks ago I listed The Skylarks' War by Hilary McKay on my post about books read but not reviewed in an attempt to remove the backlog of reviews bogging me down. But I always knew that I would have to return to this book. And thanks to Lenny's Book of Everything by … Continue reading The Skylarks’ War by Hilary McKay
I fell in love with Karen Foxlee's writing in 2014 when I read and loved Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy.A Most Magical Girl confirmed her ability to move me with her words. So much so, that I acquired her YA backlist to read...one day...!So I was thrilled to discover recently that she had a new … Continue reading Lenny’s Book of Everything by Karen Foxlee
I have a vague recollection of seeing the 1984 movie version of The NeverEnding Story in my late teens. It was a bit too juvenile for my sophisticated, desperate-to-be-grown-up self at that time, so other than a shaggy white flying dragon and a boy clinging to its neck, I remember nothing. And felt no need to … Continue reading The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
The Child in Time was my latest book club read and one of McEwan's earlier works that I had yet to read. For this particular book club gathering we agreed to extend the meeting to include a viewing of the BBC movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Kelly Macdonald. I thought it might be interesting to do … Continue reading The Child in Time by Ian McEwan
Time for a classic children's story. The Children of Green Knowe was first published in 1954. Lucy M Boston published this series of delightful stories about her old family home. I say delightful and mean it in an Enid Blyton, ye-olde-worlde charm kind of way. A story full of imagination, simple pleasures and family history. … Continue reading The Children of Green Knowe | Lucy M. Boston
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