Everything Feels Like the End of the World | Else Fitzgerald #AWWshortstories

16 January 202316 January 2023 ~ Brona's Books ~ 10 Comments

We drove home along the forest road, the trees like exposed bones in the headlights, trunks bending in over the gravel track. From the first story in the collection, 'River' Everything Feels Like the End of the World is a speculative fiction short story collection 'exploring possible futures in an Australia not so different from … Continue reading Everything Feels Like the End of the World | Else Fitzgerald #AWWshortstories

Limberlost | Robbie Arnott #AUSfiction

17 October 20224 April 2023 ~ Brona's Books ~ 18 Comments

Epigraph: In the economy of Nature nothing is ever lost. Gene Stratton-Porter The end of this quote from Stratton-Porter's Jesus of the Emerald (1923) is, "I cannot believe that the soul of man shall prove the one exception." I'm not sure where Arnott stands on the whole idea of souls, but it is clear that … Continue reading Limberlost | Robbie Arnott #AUSfiction

Haven | Emma Donoghue #BookReview

24 September 202224 September 2022 ~ Brona's Books ~ 18 Comments

Trian's stomach growls. He's not twenty yet, still growing, and always hungry. When I first heard about Emma Donoghue's book, Haven, I thought it would not be for me. Even though it was historical fiction, it was three monks alone on an island in Ireland. The religious life holds very little interest for me, so … Continue reading Haven | Emma Donoghue #BookReview

Bewilderment | Richard Powers #USAfiction

21 September 202116 November 2022 ~ Brona's Books ~ 13 Comments

But we might never find them? Fermi's Paradox is at the heart of this story. The story goes that in 1950, Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi, made a passing comment asking 'where are all the aliens?' given the youngish nature of our planetary system and the relative ease of space travel. Fermi was not the first … Continue reading Bewilderment | Richard Powers #USAfiction

Yuiquimbiang | Louise Crisp #PoetryMonth

14 August 202115 August 2021 ~ Brona's Books ~ 4 Comments

In her Preface, Louise Crisp describes her collection of poetry, Yuiquimbiang as an 'ecopoetic form that integrates political essay and environmental poetics: a project that evolved out of my double life as a poet and environmental activist'. The regions she writes about the East Gippsland and the Monaro. Crisp's poems and texts evolve from her … Continue reading Yuiquimbiang | Louise Crisp #PoetryMonth

Toxic | Richard Flanagan #AUSnonfiction

21 July 202117 October 2021 ~ Brona's Books ~ 31 Comments

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 #AUSnonfiction

Born Into This | Adam Thompson #AUSshortstories

6 March 202117 October 2021 ~ Brona's Books ~ 10 Comments

Born Into This is a collection of short stories by an exciting new voice in Indigenous writing, Adam Thompson. Adam Thompson may be an emerging Pakana writer from Launceston, but there are powerful and promising things going on here. Some of his stories pack a serious punch, others creep in quietly under your skin. Either … Continue reading Born Into This | Adam Thompson #AUSshortstories

The Living Sea of Waking Dreams | Richard Flanagan #AUSfiction

10 December 202025 May 2021 ~ Brona's Books ~ 8 Comments

I know there is a lot of love for The Living Sea in Waking Dreams out there already. It's not that I didn't love it, or even admire what Flanagan was trying to achieve, but it's not easy to read a book where you feel like you're being smashed over the head, not just with … Continue reading The Living Sea of Waking Dreams | Richard Flanagan #AUSfiction

The Last Migration | Charlotte McConaghy #AWWfiction

20 November 202017 October 2021 ~ Brona's Books ~ 16 Comments

Charlotte McConaghy has written an intense, emotional story about the effects of mass extinction in The Last Migration. I don't normally quote the back blurb of the book, but in this case it so aptly describes the book, I'm really not sure I can top it. The Last Migration is a wild, gripping and … Continue reading The Last Migration | Charlotte McConaghy #AWWfiction

A Fairy Tale Revolution

28 October 2020 ~ Brona's Books ~ 7 Comments

The series, A Fairy Tale Revolution, consists of four picture books from Vintage Classics, that 'remix and revive' well-known fairy tales and give them a modern, feminist twist. Featuring four amazing UK authors - Jeanette Winterson, Kamila Shamsie, Malorie Blackman and Rebecca Solnit - flexing their authorial muscles in a new format.Like most fairy tales, however, they … Continue reading A Fairy Tale Revolution

The Rain Heron | Robbie Arnott #AUSfiction

10 June 202026 September 2021 ~ Brona's Books ~ 6 Comments

Thank goodness for Robbie. After a spate of so-so books and DNF's, I finally landed on this beautifully imagined, eco-dystopian tour de force from my new favourite contemporary Australian writer. My love affair with Arnott started last year, when I read his debut novel, Flames. This is a little of what I had to say … Continue reading The Rain Heron | Robbie Arnott #AUSfiction

Fathoms: The World in the Whale | Rebecca Giggs #AWWnonfiction

7 May 202022 December 2021 ~ Brona's Books ~ 7 Comments

Fathoms: The World in the Whale was a recent binge read. The weather had turned suddenly cold and it was bleak outside. Curling up on the lounge with a throw rug and a good book was the only logical response. Rebecca Giggs was the perfect companion for such a session - engaging, personable and … Continue reading Fathoms: The World in the Whale | Rebecca Giggs #AWWnonfiction

Where the Crawdads Sing | Delia Owens #USfiction

26 February 202028 June 2022 ~ Brona's Books ~ 15 Comments

When one sets out to read a book, you enter into a contract of sorts with the author. You agree to be apart of their world and to go along for the ride. As I've discussed before, we all have our own criteria by which we judge a book and whether we will pick it … Continue reading Where the Crawdads Sing | Delia Owens #USfiction

A Poem for Thursday Dub Leffler

11 December 201931 July 2021 ~ Brona's Books ~ Leave a comment

Photo by Christoph von Gellhorn on Unsplash Dub Leffler grew up in the small western NSW town of Quirindi. He is descended from the Bigambul and Mandandanji people of south-west Queensland. He is an illustrator of children's books, including one of my favourites from 2011 Once There was a Boy (which he also wrote) and Sorry … Continue reading A Poem for Thursday Dub Leffler

City of Trees by Sophie Cunningham

5 August 201925 May 2021 ~ Brona's Books ~ 2 Comments

City of Trees: Essays on Life, Death and the Need for a Forest by Sophie Cunningham was one of the books I took on holidays a couple of months ago (along with Richard Powers, The Overstory) to Far North Queensland on the edge of the Daintree Rainforest. Both books seemed very appropriate for the occasion. And except … Continue reading City of Trees by Sophie Cunningham