Picador, Australia, 9780330451369 (paperback) In The Psychopath Test Jon Ronson takes us on journey through the mad 'industry' of madness. And it's not all acid-tripping psychopaths. Ronson follows leads to high-security prisons, a mansion filled with predators... and to L Ron Hubbard’s coca cola stain. What results is an inevitably open-ended, sometimes frightening and often hilarious look … Continue reading Grey areas of madness: an interview with Jon Ronson, on The Psychopath Test
20 Classics #8: Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
I’m reading 20 classic, modern-classic or cult books. I aimed to read them all in 2011, but that's beginning to look unlikely. Read more about this project here. Why did I want to read it? I had vague ideas about Gulliver’s Travels. I remembered Ted Danson being tied up by some little people in a film version I … Continue reading 20 Classics #8: Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Black Postcards: Kent MacCarter interviews Dean Wareham (part two)
Part one of this interview can be found here. How do you feel about TS Eliot’s (in)famous quip, 'Good poets borrow, great poets steal'? I was having a hard time figuring out what TS Eliot meant here – what’s the difference between borrowing and stealing in poetry? So I Googled that phrase (the internet is … Continue reading Black Postcards: Kent MacCarter interviews Dean Wareham (part two)
Black Postcards: Kent MacCarter interviews Dean Wareham (part one)
By Kent MacCarter Dean Wareham – musician, author, actor and a co-inventor of the ‘shoegaze’ aesthetic – is coming home to Australia. Sort of. This month, he, his partner Britta Phillips, and band will be touring Australia and New Zealand playing entire sets from seminal rock band, Galaxie 500, 19 years after their demise and … Continue reading Black Postcards: Kent MacCarter interviews Dean Wareham (part one)
Review of Animal People by Charlotte Wood in the Age today
I reviewed Charlotte Wood's new novel Animal People for the Age and it looks like it has already found its way online, on the SMH website (not sure if it was in their print version as well). It is definitely one of the best Australian books I've read this year, and I do encourage you to … Continue reading Review of Animal People by Charlotte Wood in the Age today
Vale Diana Gribble
As reported on the main website today, Diana Gribble, co-founder of Private Media (owner of Crikey) and a huge influence in the Australian publishing industry, has passed away. I only met Di once. She and Sarah Stokely took me to lunch after Crikey had invited me to become one of their bloggers, three years ago. … Continue reading Vale Diana Gribble
Reading fiction is addictive and unhealthy, says Corn Flakes guy
I just came across this astonishing passage, quoted by John Fiske in Understanding Popular Culture. It's from the Ladies Guide in Health and Disease by John Harvey Kellogg (yes, of Corn Flakes fame), published in 1882. There are also chapters on 'marriage', 'personal beauty', 'diet', clothing', and, ah, 'criminal abortion'. He says: 'The reading of … Continue reading Reading fiction is addictive and unhealthy, says Corn Flakes guy
Between worlds: Dominic Smith on Bright and Distant Shores
Allen & Unwin, 9781742374161, 2011 (Aus paperback, ebook + US/Kindle) Bright and Distant Shores is hugely imaginative historical fiction. It’s set just before the dawn of the 20th century in Chicago and the South Pacific. Owen Graves is sent by Hale Gray, the president of Chicago First Equitable, to collect some ‘special items’ to … Continue reading Between worlds: Dominic Smith on Bright and Distant Shores
Extrapolations: stories re-imagined from the tangible, a guest post by Kent MacCarter
By Kent MacCarter In the preface on page six of Dupain’s Sydney, an art book featuring photographic plates of cityscapes, city dwellers and urban whatnot by acclaimed photographer Max Dupain, there is a photograph of the artist fussing with the aperture on his 4x5 large-format camera perched on a fully extended tripod. You can detect … Continue reading Extrapolations: stories re-imagined from the tangible, a guest post by Kent MacCarter
20 Classics in 2011 #7: Death on Tiptoe by RC Ashby
I’m reading 20 classic, modern-classic or cult books in 2011. Read more about this project here. Why did I want to read it? In The Children’s Bookshop in Edinburgh, I discovered a wall of yellow books with purple pinstripes: rediscovered, republished books by women. There were all kinds of stories, but the fact that Death on Tiptoe was … Continue reading 20 Classics in 2011 #7: Death on Tiptoe by RC Ashby
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