"Well, there’s so much to read, and I’m so far behind." Wallace Stegner
Week 2: (November 8-12) – Book Pairing with Katie at Doing Dewey: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. It can be a “If you loved this book, read this!” or just two titles that you think would go well together. Maybe it’s a historical novel and you’d like to get the real … Continue reading Nonfiction November – Week 2
My dear son James has given me a task for my last years, or months, or whatever time I have left beyond the many years I have lived so far. Sometime in April or May last year, I was given an advance reading copy of Kate Grenville's A Room Made of Leaves. I was very … Continue reading A Room Made of Leaves | Kate Grenville
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
Happy Birthday Ernestine! My Love Must Wait by Ernestine Hill was a bestseller when it was first published in 1941, which puts it neatly in the middle of Bill @The Australian Legend's Gen III of Australian Women Writers. I can see why this story about the adventurer and explorer, Matthew Flinders attracted a lot … Continue reading My Love Must Wait | Ernestine Hill
Words are like stories ... They change as they are passed from mouth to mouth; their meanings stretch or truncate to fit what needs to be said. Many years ago, the year 2000 to be precise [I know this because], I read and loved Simon Winchester's The Surgeon of Crowthorne: A Tale of Murder, Madness … Continue reading The Dictionary of Lost Words | Pip Williams #AWWfiction
What a fascinating premise!What a fascinating story!What an amazing story teller!Rodham: A Novel is hard to define, and even harder to classify or deconstruct. What is real and what is fiction is the thing that haunts you the whole time you're reading this story. At least it did for me.The idea of sliding doors, alternate … Continue reading Rodham: A Novel | Curtis Sittenfeld
As most of you know by now, I love and adore historical fiction. It's my preferred genre, although I will have a go at most things if it's well-written, has an interesting premise or I'm in the mood. However my go-to, when I need a guaranteed read, a read I can simply fall into with … Continue reading Fictionalised Biography or Biographical Fiction?
Bel Canto was our May book club choice. It was a reread for several of the members, but for me it was my very first time. I'm now wondering why on earth I left it so long to read. Bel Canto is a glorious story about the power of song to soothe the beast within us … Continue reading Bel Canto | Ann Patchett
In close to one of the worst book cover choices I've ever seen, A New England Affair by Steve Carroll is a classic case of a book that should not be judged by its cover!Yes, a woman heading out to sea (to the Dry Salvages) is a central part of the story, but the woman (Emily … Continue reading A New England Affair by Steven Carroll
White Houses was my latest book club pick, chosen by me. I felt a weird sense of pressure to enjoy the book on that account. But the best I could summon up in the end was a mild kind of appreciation. It took me a while to pinpoint my disconnect. The first person narrative was a … Continue reading White Houses by Amy Bloom
It feels like I've been waiting a VERY long time for Jane Caro to finish her Elizabethan YA trilogy. Just A Girl was first published in 2011, Just A Queen in 2015 and now, finally we have Just Flesh and Blood.I'm sure that Caro must get asked all the time, why Elizabeth? In her acknowledgements … Continue reading Just Flesh and Blood by Jane Caro
A big thank you to the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction for shortlisting Sugar Money by Jane Harris otherwise I may never have stumbled across this gem of a story. Based on real events in Grenada in 1765, we follow young Lucien and his older brother Emile as they attempt to convince the hospital slaves … Continue reading Sugar Money by Jane Harris
I wanted to read The Lady and the Unicorn thanks to the exhibition currently on at the Art Gallery of NSW. As a long-time cross-stitcher, the tapestries fascinate me. I've been to see them twice so far and hope to see them one more time before the exhibition ends later this month. To say I … Continue reading The Lady and the Unicorn | Tracy Chevalier
During the planning stages of my trip to Japan I asked around and checked on Goodreads for the best books set in Japan. At the top of nearly every list I came across was Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.When it was first published in 1997, and later when the movie was released in 2005, … Continue reading Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Pompeii by Robert Harris is my first bookclub read for 2018. I confess that Robert Harris is not a usual go-to author for me, although I've said that without ever having read any of his books before. I figured Pompeii would be okay as I'm always interested in anything Ancient Greek or Ancient Roman and Pompeii … Continue reading Pompeii by Robert Harris
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