Laura Palmer-Archer c.1904 | John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland We were married at six in the morning, and now my brand-new husband and myself are starting to our station home, sixty-five miles from the little Queensland township. When the Classics Club announced their latest Dare - Love is in the Air, I went … Continue reading A Bush Honeymoon | Laura M. Palmer-Archer #AWWshortstory
I wasn't sure what to expect when I started Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe. A gold rush story set on the Palmer River in Queensland (an area I did not realise even had a gold rush!) through the eyes of Chinese settlers, sounded intriguing. However, I struggle with blokey books about blokey men … Continue reading Stone Sky Gold Mountain | Mirandi Riwoe #AWWfiction
So, novellas.November is not only AusReadingMonth and Non-Fiction November, it's also Novellas in November. Given my hectic life and work schedule, novellas seem like a pretty good option at the moment, but what exactly IS a novella?In the spectrum of written words how does one define a short story, a novelette, a novella or a … Continue reading The Water of Life by Mary-Rose MacColl
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
The Commandant came recommended to me in a roundabout fashion. Earlier on in the year, I attended an 'Honouring the Author' event at the State Library, NSW. The author in question was Jessica Anderson.Anderson won the Miles Franklin Prize twice (in 1978 & 1980), but not for The Commandant.By the end of the honouring event, … Continue reading The Commandant by Jessica Anderson
As many of you know, my TBR pile is out of control. A bigly number of those books are by Australian authors (I feel safe using bigly now that 1. we know that Trump actually said big league and 2. that bigly is a real work, although archaic and rarely used.)I thought I'd list some … Continue reading My #AusReadingMonth Possibilities
The Reef: A Passionate History does exactly as its cover promises - it delivers 12 'extraordinary tales' about Australia's Great Barrier Reef.The only thing it missed to my mind, was a thirteenth chapter where McCalman included some of the local Indigenous tribes stories about the reef. There must be Dreamtime stories, rock paintings and oral traditions … Continue reading The Reef: A Passionate History by Iain McCalman
This is my first Alex Miller. I know! How did that happen? I've been meaning to read his others books Autumn Laing, Lovesong &; Journey to the Stone Country in particular. And although there were some flaws in Coal Creek; the writing, the story, the characters and the sense of place were so evocative that I … Continue reading Coal Creek | Alex Miller #AUSfiction
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