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
Recently read: Foal’s Bread, White Noise + The Swimming-Pool Library
Foal's Bread, Gillian Mears, Allen & Unwin, 9781742376295 (paperback, ebook) A slow read – but think ‘slow’ as in that positive movement of slow food, slow travel – picked up each morning over breakfast. Set in Northern NSW, quite near where I grew up (and author Gillian Mears grew up) in the interwar and WWII … Continue reading Recently read: Foal’s Bread, White Noise + The Swimming-Pool Library
New ejournal: Review of Australian Fiction
I've just sampled the first issue of a new ejournal called Review of Australian Fiction, which will publish a short story by one established and one emerging author each issue (fortnightly). You can subscribe to all six issues in Volume One for $12.99, or buy them individually. There will be four volumes each year. Info … Continue reading New ejournal: Review of Australian Fiction
20 Classics #10: The Well by Elizabeth Jolley
I’m reading 20 classic, modern-classic or cult books. Read more about this project here. Why did I want to read it? There are way too many Australian authors I haven’t read. People told me I’d click with Elizabeth Jolley. When was it published? It was first published in 1986, which makes it a very young ‘classic’ (a little younger … Continue reading 20 Classics #10: The Well by Elizabeth Jolley
Etymology Monday: David Crystal on the word ‘unfriend’
Unfriend a new age (21st century) by David Crystal In 2009 the New Oxford American Dictionary chose unfriend as its Word of the Year. It meant ‘to remove someone from a list of contacts on a social networking site such as Facebook’. A minor controversy followed. Some argued that the verb should be defriend. But the use of un- was … Continue reading Etymology Monday: David Crystal on the word ‘unfriend’
Cut, print, that’s a wrap: 2011
In 2011 I... went on the longest and most incredible trip of my life (with the love of my life) to France, England, Scotland, Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic and Germany failed to read 20 classics, but I read half of that and will continue the project in 2012 had fiction published in Seizure and on … Continue reading Cut, print, that’s a wrap: 2011
The best books I read in 2011, as told to the Australian
This first appeared in the Australian over the weekend of 24 & 25 December, 2011. Thanks to Stephen Romei for seeking my contribution. In 2011 I caught up on some classics: I enjoyed being isolated with aging actor/director Charles Arrowby in Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, The Sea. I took to sea with Gulliver on his … Continue reading The best books I read in 2011, as told to the Australian
2012: National Year of Reading & my reading challenges
Despite the fact that I am still working through 2011's challenge (20 classics) I am going to add books by Australian women (for reasons laid out in the Australian Women Writers 2012 Reading & Reviewing Challenge page, here) to my 'challenges' for 2012. 2012 also happens to be the National Year of Reading in Australia. I've … Continue reading 2012: National Year of Reading & my reading challenges
Etymology Monday: David Crystal on the word ‘OK’
OK debatable origins (19th century) by David Crystal The little word OK has a linguistic reputation that belies its size. Over a thousand words in English have an etymology which, in the words of the Oxford English Dictionary, is ‘origin unknown’. Nobody knows where bloke comes from, or condom, gimmick, nifty, pimp, pooch, queasy, rogue or skiffle. Theories abound, of … Continue reading Etymology Monday: David Crystal on the word ‘OK’
Christmas whimsy
These Fleischer cartoons are irresistible at this time of the year. *rosy cheek glow* I've blogged it before and I'll blog it again, because it's the best Christmas video ever: 'Do you like modern music?' 'Oh, I think it's marvellous. Some of it's really fine.' And this one is for you, darling G... Merry Christmas, … Continue reading Christmas whimsy
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