Guest review: ‘It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun’, Alice Robinson on 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston

March 1, 2011November 25, 2011 / Angela Meyer (LiteraryMinded) / 1 Comment

Simon & Schuster 9781849833905 (Aus, US, UK) Reviewed by Alice Robinson Aron Ralston is starving, dehydrated and on the brink of death when, six days after being pinned beneath an 800-pound boulder, stranded alone in a remote Utah canyon, he snaps his own wrist; the blade of the $15 multi-tool in his pack just won’t … Continue reading Guest review: ‘It doesn’t have to be fun to be fun’, Alice Robinson on 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston

The moody city: Meg Mundell on Black Glass

February 26, 2011November 25, 2011 / Angela Meyer (LiteraryMinded) / 1 Comment

Black Glass Meg Mundell Scribe, March 2011 9781921640933 (Aus) In Meg Mundell’s dark and stylish debut, two sisters and a cast of characters from different tiers of society fight for survival, recognition and connection in near-future Melbourne. The novel is in some ways about maintaining some kind of hope or dreams in a fractured, controlling … Continue reading The moody city: Meg Mundell on Black Glass

Guest review: Matthia Dempsey on What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us by Laura van den Berg

February 22, 2011November 25, 2011 / Angela Meyer (LiteraryMinded) / 1 Comment

Scribe Publications, February 2011 (Aus, US, UK) 9781921640896 Reviewed by Matthia Dempsey Laura van den Berg has particular skill in capturing the strangeness that can come at times—the sense of being a stranger to your own life and the world. For many of the women in her stories this feeling is the result of a … Continue reading Guest review: Matthia Dempsey on What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us by Laura van den Berg

Recent reads: Perth Writers Festival special

February 17, 2011November 25, 2011 / Angela Meyer (LiteraryMinded) / 4 Comments

The following three books are some of the new ones I've read in preparation for Perth Writers Festival (5 to 7 March). I'll be chairing panels featuring the authors. Find out more about those panels on this post. The Life and Opinions of Maf the Dog and of His Friend Marilyn Monroe by Andrew O'Hagan Faber, 9780571215997 … Continue reading Recent reads: Perth Writers Festival special

Hide and seek: Melbourne

February 14, 2011November 25, 2011 / Angela Meyer (LiteraryMinded) / 10 Comments

On Saturday afternoon G & I traversed the streets, alleys and stairwells of Melbourne for the launch of the Hide & Seek Melbourne books Feeling Peckish, Night Owl, Treasure Trove and Hit the Streets. The series (after the popular, original Hide and Seek: Melbourne book) take a look at some of the city’s hidden, cool and … Continue reading Hide and seek: Melbourne

More bite-sized book reviews

February 11, 2011November 25, 2011 / Angela Meyer (LiteraryMinded) / 1 Comment

Here’s the second batch of mini reviews I commissioned from some of my Twitter followers. They get a free book, I retweet the review to my followers and publish it here (slightly edited). It can be over two tweets. Enjoy! @toria_jayne: Kate Atkinson's Started Early, Took My Dog is a clever crime novel with a complex … Continue reading More bite-sized book reviews

Review of Yearn by Tobsha Learner up at Fancy Goods

February 10, 2011November 25, 2011 / Angela Meyer (LiteraryMinded) / Leave a comment

I recently reviewed Tobsha Learner's new collection of sexy short stories, Yearn: Tales of Lust and Longing, for Bookseller+Publisher. They've put it up now on their Fancy Goods blog. 'Yearn is a collection of fun, imaginative and sexy stories by the author of Tremble and Quiver, Tobsha Learner. Learner’s stories are not purely erotic, but romantic and … Continue reading Review of Yearn by Tobsha Learner up at Fancy Goods

Guest review: Lisa Down on Making News by Tony Wilson

February 3, 2011November 25, 2011 / Angela Meyer (LiteraryMinded) / 8 Comments

Murdoch Books July 2010 9781741969238 (Aus) reviewed by Lisa Down Remember the old saying, ‘Write what you know’? It’s an adage former AFL player, author and columnist Tony Wilson must have taken to heart. His latest offering, Making News, revolves around, well… a retired soccer player, an aspiring young columnist and an author, who … Continue reading Guest review: Lisa Down on Making News by Tony Wilson

Guest review: Lyndon Riggall on Five Wounds by Jonathan Walker & Dan Hallett

January 25, 2011November 25, 2011 / Angela Meyer (LiteraryMinded) / 3 Comments

Allen & Unwin, 2010 9781742370132 (Aus, US, UK) To call your novel 'illuminated' is a dangerous thing. Five Wounds' claim holds with it the expectation that it should be something beyond a typical read. An 'illuminated novel' must be more than novel: no minor feat, and no small promise. I am glad to say that … Continue reading Guest review: Lyndon Riggall on Five Wounds by Jonathan Walker & Dan Hallett

Ink, dust & darkness: Magpie Hall by Rachael King

January 21, 2011November 25, 2011 / Angela Meyer (LiteraryMinded) / 1 Comment

Vintage (New Zealand, 2010/Kindle) 9781869792886 Rosemary, a vintage-dress-wearing tattooed taxidermist, decides to spend some time in her family’s run-down old manor Magpie Hall – to work on her gothic literature thesis and simultaneously escape an affair with her supervisor. But there are plenty of distractions at Magpie Hall: memories of her recently deceased grandfather, her … Continue reading Ink, dust & darkness: Magpie Hall by Rachael King