Alejandro Ferri is my name. I truly am being stalked by Jorge Luis Borges. Everywhere I turn, there he is! Again! The latest incident occured on the 1st August when I opened my copy of Cold Light by Frank Moorhouse to complete my Edith Trilogy Readalong. Frank ambitiously included six, yes SIX, epigraphs. The first … Continue reading The Congress | Jorge Luis Borges #ARGshortstory
Lady Wroth with archlute. Unknown artist.From the collection of Viscount De L'Isle. I recently read Mrs March by Virginia Feito. It was a terrific read, full of curiosities and strange behaviours. One of which came from the author herself - a second epigraph inserted towards the end to preface the final two chapters of the … Continue reading Crowne of Sonnets Dedicated to Love | Mary Wroth #poem
Image: iStock | George Marks I have just started reading Mrs March: A Novel by Virginia Feito. Her epigraph is the first two lines of a Dylan Thomas poem from 1932. Thomas was only 17 when he wrote this poem. It wasn't published until after his death in Dylan Thomas: The Notebook Poems 1930-1934 edited … Continue reading The Gossipers | Dylan Thomas #poem
The performance at the heart of The Performance is a Samuel Beckett play, Happy Days. It was Beckett’s sixth play, written in response to his wife requesting something less depressing. I'm not sure he knew how to do that though. The play revolves around a central character, Winnie, a woman in her fifties. In Act … Continue reading The Performance | Claire Thomas #AWWfiction
This slim volume of essays grabbed my attention thanks to it's Covid-related lockdown content. Lately, I've been reading a number of fiction titles about plagues and epidemics (see below). This was the first one, however, that considered our current Covid situation. I've been meaning to read something by Zadie Smith, ever since 2000 and White Teeth, … Continue reading Intimations: Six Essays | Zadie Smith #USANonFiction
I have to ask straight up - who is Norah's father? Could you work it out? I wasn't sure. There didn't seem to be any repercussions or exposition after the reveal. Was it all about the #metoo element? But since you kind of figure that out for yourself very early on, it wasn't so much … Continue reading Actress | Anne Enright #Begorrathon
Hamish Hamilton | Penguin AustraliaIn 1989 Saul Adler (a narcissistic young historian) is hit by a car on the Abbey Road. He is apparently fine; he gets up and goes to see his art student girlfriend, Jennifer Moreau. They have sex then break up, but not before she has photographed Saul crossing the same Abbey … Continue reading The Man Who Saw Everything by Deborah Levy
The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay was a tremendous read. Fascinating, absorbing and eye-opening. I say eye-opening, because even though I've read a lot of Indian literature over the years, I don't believe I've read many that cover the conflict in Kashmir. Vijay doesn't answer all the questions or provide all the answers, she doesn't … Continue reading The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay
In my recent post about Ethel Turner's In the Mist of the Mountains, her epigraph, dedicated to her husband, was the final two lines from a William Henley poem.It was a poem (and a poet) I didn't know, but after reading the poem in full, I can see why Turner chose it for this particular … Continue reading The Ways Are Green by William Henley
There is a lot of space in Megan Hunter's The End We Start From. Known as a poet until now, her debut novel is written almost like a poem, but not quite. It's not prose as we know it either. It's fragmentary, somewhere in between.Stark, sparse paragraphs, poetic words, no names, just letters of the … Continue reading The End We Start From From by Megan Hunter
Touted as a pocket-sized antidote to fake news, Leigh Sales essay On Doubt has been re-released eight years after it's initial 2009 publication in the Little Books on Big Themes series. With the on-going, even increased need for a discussion on self-doubt, balance and truth in our modern lives, this little book has struck a chord … Continue reading On Doubt by Leigh Sales
I'm very excited to have a copy of book 8 of the Rowland Sinclair series in my hands for this NSW October Labour Day long weekend.The series has had a recent change of cover style. I miss the old art deco style covers, but I think these darker covers show the crime side of the … Continue reading I Am Reading…
I Married You For Happiness by Lily Tuck was a bit of an impulse read one grey, rainy work day. It's slim form meant it could slip inside my coat pocket and come along to lunch with me.I quickly realised that having happiness in the title was a misnomer as this was yet another book … Continue reading I Married You For Happiness by Lily Tuck
I love a good epigraph.A well-chosen, thoughtful epigraph can establish the tone for the book journey you're about to embark on. However many authors spend a lot of time and effort on finding the perfect epigraph only for it to be skimmed over by most readers.For the reader who does consider the epigraph, its true … Continue reading Epigraph Philosophy – Smith Vs Shamsie
I love a good epigraph.A well-chosen, thoughtful epigraph can establish the tone for the book journey you're about to embark on. However many authors spend a lot of time and effort on finding the perfect epigraph only for it to be skimmed over by most readers.For the reader who does consider the epigraph, its true … Continue reading Epigraph Philosophy
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