In the lead-up to the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival, I’ll be putting up a series of (short) reviews of books I’m reading in preparation. The Lake Woman, Alan Gould, Arcadia, 9781921509346 Alec Dearborn is an Australian in British service in WWII. In his first moments of war he parachutes from an attacked plane (over … Continue reading Bellingen Readers and Writers Fest 2012 special: The Lake Woman by Alan Gould + The Rip by Robert Drewe
Reviews + Analyses
Books, poetry, journals and the occassional film…
Thoughts on Shakespeare and Anonymous
Are you a Stratfordian or an Oxfordian? For a long time I’ve avoided the debate around Shakespeare’s ‘true identity’. Partly because, like many people, I enjoy the romantic idea of the enigmatic genius. And partly because any debate around authorship (I believed) could potentially take away from the focus on, and the enjoyment of, the … Continue reading Thoughts on Shakespeare and Anonymous
Bellingen Readers & Writers Fest special: A Common Loss by Kirsten Tranter
In the lead-up to the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival, I’ll be putting up a series of (short) reviews of books I’m reading in preparation. A Common Loss, Kirsten Tranter Fourth Estate, 2012 9780732290825 (paperback, ebook) This is a fabulous, understated thriller and character story. A group of friends, who met in college, catch up … Continue reading Bellingen Readers & Writers Fest special: A Common Loss by Kirsten Tranter
20 classics #11: Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett
I’m reading 20 classic, modern-classic or cult books. Read more about this project here. See the other classics here. Why did I want to read it? I adore Beckett’s plays Waiting for Godot and Endgame. Masterpieces. When was it published? Originally published as Malone Meurt in Paris and first in English in 1956 (author’s own translation) by Grove Press. … Continue reading 20 classics #11: Malone Dies by Samuel Beckett
Guest review: Andrew Wrathall on 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Harvill Secker, 2011 9781846555497 (hardcover, ebook: books 1 & 2, book 3) by Andrew Wrathall Aomame is warned: ‘Things are not what they seem,’ before she leaves a taxi on a backed-up freeway in Japan and walks down an emergency stairway, which causes her to slip out of 1984 and into the alternate reality of 1Q84. … Continue reading Guest review: Andrew Wrathall on 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival 2012 special: The Sea Bed by Marele Day
In the lead-up to the Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival, I'll be putting up a series of (short) reviews of books I'm reading in preparation. The Sea Bed, Marele Day Allen & Unwin, 2009 9781741758412 (paperback, ebook) The Sea Bed is set around an island with a tradition of ‘sea women’, who, for generations, have dived, … Continue reading Bellingen Readers and Writers Festival 2012 special: The Sea Bed by Marele Day
Up in the air: an interview with Carrie Tiffany on Mateship with Birds
Picador, February 2012 9781742610764 (paperback, ebook) A version of this article was published in The Big Issue No. 399 Carrie Tiffany’s debut novel Everyman’s Rules for Scientific Living was published in 2005 to high praise. Now, her second novel Mateship with Birds—a compelling and elegant meditation on family, desire and country life—confirms the author’s attraction … Continue reading Up in the air: an interview with Carrie Tiffany on Mateship with Birds
Seduced by an island of sea-wives: Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan
Allen & Unwin February 2012 (paperback, ebook) 9781742375052 I picked up this novel one morning from somewhere in the pile and was instantly drawn into its strange, contained world. The story is about the island of Rollrock, and the sea witch Misskaella who can draw forth human beings from seals. The novel is divided into … Continue reading Seduced by an island of sea-wives: Sea Hearts by Margo Lanagan
The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
Picador, 2004 9780330483216 (paperback, ebook) I was going to refer to Nick, the protagonist of The Line of Beauty, as unambitious. But when I think about it, it’s just that his ambitions are not professional. They are romantic, aesthetic, and social. Another skill he has is taking in the pleasure of the moment, and even … Continue reading The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst
Melancholy tales of loss and gain: Inherited by Amanda Curtin
UWA Publishing 9781742582931 November 2011 (paperback, browser-based ebook) A version of this review was first published in the Sydney Morning Herald's Spectrum magazine on the weekend of 7-8 January. In Amanda Curtin’s atmospheric debut novel The Sinkings, as in her new collection, the past seeps into the present. In Inherited, each stunning story contains multiple layers … Continue reading Melancholy tales of loss and gain: Inherited by Amanda Curtin
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