As the title indicates, Both Ways is the Only Way I Want it (Text, May 2010 in Aus, Riverhead US), Maile Meloy's engaging collection of stories, is about the fear, desire, pleasure, confusion and complications of wanting it both ways and sometimes having it so. It's like Guido's dilemma in Fellini's 8 1/2 - he wants … Continue reading Both ways is the only way she wants it: an interview with Maile Meloy
American authors
Don DeLillo’s Point Omega
Point Omega Don DeLillo Picador, 2010, 9780330512381 (buy Aus, US/Kindle) I’ve been ‘doing’ a few American writers of late. Loved my first encounter with Michael Chabon, in A Model World – he’s a master of beginnings and endings in those short gems – and will follow-up someday with The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and … Continue reading Don DeLillo’s Point Omega
Guest post: Andrew Wrathall interviews Charlaine Harris, the author behind True Blood
Charlaine Harris' successful Sookie Stackhouse series is the basis of the addictive TV series True Blood. Harris is touring Australia in September (Sydney and Melbourne) as a guest at Hub Production’s True Blood events, on the 25th and 26th of September and will then be doing a book tour for Hachette. Number 10 in the Sookie series Dead … Continue reading Guest post: Andrew Wrathall interviews Charlaine Harris, the author behind True Blood
Guest review: Lyndon Riggall on Stephen King’s Under the Dome
9780340992579 Hodder 2009 (Aus, US) I sometimes wonder when Stephen King will stop. Having published more than 150 books, it’s hard not to wonder when the ideas will dry up. What’s next Stephen, a killer broom monster? A giant ribbon that wraps itself around its victims and strangles them of life? A giant dome that … Continue reading Guest review: Lyndon Riggall on Stephen King’s Under the Dome
Collected Stories – Richard Yates
Vintage 9780099518549 (Aus, US) When a man is fired from his job in the story ‘A Glutton for Punishment’, he realises he has enjoyed the failures in his life. The character in this – like many of the other characters in Richard Yates’ Collected Stories – runs over a conversation in his head, with his … Continue reading Collected Stories – Richard Yates
Kilts and wine breath: a conversation with my sister about meeting Diana Gabaldon
Some years ago when I was a bookstore girl, I became intrigued by this massive brick of a book called Cross Stitch (Outlander in the US), which many middle-aged women would get flustered over: ‘You haven’t read it?’ they’d ask. I read it, and it was great fun – particularly the raunchy historical Scottish sex, and the … Continue reading Kilts and wine breath: a conversation with my sister about meeting Diana Gabaldon
Review of George Dawes Green's Ravens for ABC Radio National's The Book Show
I recently reviewed the thriller Ravens, by George Dawes Green, for The Book Show on ABC Radio National. Have a listen, here.
Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol goes well with cheap wine, corn chips and reading into the morning
The most blockbustery blockbuster of the year found its way into my lap and with curiosity piqued (and a break needed from festival preparations) I indulged in one solid reading session – cover to cover – and was mainly intrigued, despite a few small snags. In The Lost Symbol, Harvard Professor Robert Langdon is called … Continue reading Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol goes well with cheap wine, corn chips and reading into the morning
Eat the Document by Dana Spiotta
Picador, 2008, 9780330448291 (Aus, US) Mary sits in a dingy motel room in 1972 trying to figure out who she’s going to be. It is difficult to choose a name. She needs to be faceless, to blend. She needs to appear bland, harmless. No that she had meant to do any harm. In 1998 Jason … Continue reading Eat the Document by Dana Spiotta
Paint It Black by Janet Fitch
Virago, 2007 (Aus, US) If your lover ended their life, would you feel you had ever really known them? Josie Tyrell is an artist’s model and student-film actress in punk '80s LA. She escaped her white trash upbringing for a life of parties, drugs, music and intriguing people. She met Michael, who gave up a … Continue reading Paint It Black by Janet Fitch
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