Let me begin in my father's house. A good opening line tells you a lot. Right from the get-go we see there is a story to be told. There is a father (but not a mother) and that houses will be significant. We start with Erica returning to her old family home - a cottage … Continue reading The Labyrinth | Amanda Lohrey #AWW
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 #AUSfiction
The longlist for the 2021 Miles Franklin Literary Award was announced this afternoon. What is the Miles Franklin Literary Award (MFLA), I hear some of you ask? According to the MFLA website it is, “Australia’s most prestigious literary award was established through the will of the writer Stella Miles Franklin, best known for her novel My … Continue reading Miles Franklin Longlist 2021
The White Girl by Tony Birch was my August book club choice. I'm always a little nervous when it's my turn to pick the book in case it turns out to be a book universally disliked, poorly written or just one of those duds that doesn't spark any kind of joy in anyone. Thankfully, that … Continue reading The White Girl | Tony Birch #AUSfiction
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
Written with unerring skill and insight, The Dyehouse is a masterly portrait of postwar Australia, when industrial work was radically transformed by new technologies and society changed with it. Mena Calthorpe—who herself worked in a textile factory—takes us inside this world, vividly bringing to life the people of an inner-Sydney company in the mid-1950s: the … Continue reading The Dyehouse | Mena Calthorpe #AWW
I've been trying to write a review for The Yield by Tara June Winch for the past week that would do it justice and adequately describe my reading experience. But I'm so tired and under the weather with a foggy brain and raspy throat that nothing is coming out right.So, let me just simply say how … Continue reading The Yield by Tara June Winch
It's a long weekend in Australia, and for the first time in over a year, we've enjoyed a lazy, nothing-to-do-but-flop-around-the-house kind of weekend. It has been blissful. Even with the ghastly high temps and even higher humidity, or maybe because of, it has been the perfect time for reading, snoozing and listening to music as … Continue reading Flames by Robbie Arnott
I suspect I'm going to be the lone dissenting voice when it comes to Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton.This is a debut Australian novel garnering a HUGE amount of attention and rave reviews. In the lead up to our Christmas rush at work last year, this is the book many, many locals were asking … Continue reading Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
I'm not sure I will be able to adequately sum up my thoughts and impressions about Taboo by Kim Scott, but I'll give it a shot.Scott has been shortlisted for this year's Miles Franklin Award; he has already won it twice. In 2000 for Benang: From the Heart and again in 2011 for That Deadman … Continue reading Taboo by Kim Scott
The Last Days of Ava Langdon has been shortlisted for this year's Miles Franklin award, that fact, and it's striking cover, brought it into my life at this time. I have yet to read Eve Langley's The Pea-Pickers (1942) - it has been on my TBR pile for quite some time though. Reading O'Flynn's fictionalised account … Continue reading The Last Days of Ava Langdon by Mark O’Flynn
I haven't been paying as much attention as usual to the various literary awards and their shortlists this year. Partly because I have wanted to read more classics this year and partly because I've dropped the ball in quite a few areas lately!However, I have just started reading one of the shortlisted Miles Franklin books … Continue reading The Long & Short of it.
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
One of my good friends has been raving about Salt Creek for nearly a year now. I knew I would love it - it has all the things I usually look for in a good book.Strong, interesting female protagonist, fascinating setting (Younghusband Peninsula in South Australia), a lovely cover design and historical fiction based loosely … Continue reading Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar
Ruth Park (1917 - 2010) won the 1977 Miles Franklin Award with her penultimate adult novel, Swords and Crowns and Rings.Until it was republished under the Text Classics umbrella in 2012, I had never even heard of it, let alone read any reviews about it.I've been wondering how this was possible?I read and loved some … Continue reading Swords and Crowns and Rings by Ruth Park
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