In October 2006, I was sitting at the airport in Bali after the Ubud Writers' and Readers' Festival, and Eva Hornung (then Sallis) and her gorgeous little boy came and sat next to me. I had seen her speak during the festival, and read her book Fire, Fire, which I found quite confronting. We … Continue reading Eva Hornung on Dog Boy, writing and activism
literary fiction
The Comfort of Figs by Simon Cleary
9780702236433, UQP, 2008 (Australia) This book opens in the past, with the sight of a body falling from a bridge. In the present, Robert O'Hara makes small gestures - planting fig trees, comforting his distraught girlfriend after an attack on them both, easing his way into an old man's life to learn the secrets of his own … Continue reading The Comfort of Figs by Simon Cleary
Punk Romance and Time Travel – an interview with Audrey Niffenegger
The Time Traveler's Wife is a highly absorbing read with quirk, warmth and genuine romance. It follows the connecting stories of Henry, who suffers from spontaneous time travel, and Clare, his destined partner. LiteraryMinded caught up with Audrey Niffenegger somewhere in time and space to ask her a few questions about the novel... The … Continue reading Punk Romance and Time Travel – an interview with Audrey Niffenegger
The Children by Charlotte Wood
9781741753356, Allen & Unwin, 2007 The perfect book for me is one that is about the extraordinariness of everyday life - the things that human beings acknowledge, and the things they deny; the amazement, comfort and simultaneous hurt in personal relationships; the wealth beneath the surface, but also the necessity of surfaces. Charlotte Wood looks … Continue reading The Children by Charlotte Wood
The Trout Opera by Matthew Condon
Random House Vintage, 9781740510325, November 2007, $32.95 (TPB) (UK pb). First published in the October 2007 issue of BOOKSELLER + PUBLISHER magazine (c) 2007 Thorpe-Bowker (a division of RR Bowker LLC) http://www.bookseller+publisher.com.au/ Wilfred Lampe has experienced a whole century in the Snowy River town of Dalgety. He’s a part of the landscape, its consistencies and … Continue reading The Trout Opera by Matthew Condon
Matthew Condon – Interview
First published in the October 2007 issue of BOOKSELLER + PUBLISHER magazine (c) 2007 Thorpe-Bowker (a division of RR Bowker LLC) http://www.bookseller+publisher.com.au/ The Trout Opera sprang from an encounter with a Dalgety local, stories of the place, and much research. What were you most inspired by when you first visited the place? I hadn't been … Continue reading Matthew Condon – Interview
Anais Nin's Delta of Venus – Feminine Identity Through Pleasure – A Mini Analysis
Anais Nin’s stories in Delta of Venus (Aus/US) were intended for a specific male client but it is possible to detect a feminine presence in the writing. Lynette Felber (1995) suggests that Nin called herself a feminine writer but nonetheless, wanted to grasp the male reader in her projects with Henry Miller and her erotic … Continue reading Anais Nin's Delta of Venus – Feminine Identity Through Pleasure – A Mini Analysis
Dead Birds – Trevor Shearston
9780733320903, ABC Books, September 2007First published in the August 2007 issue of BOOKSELLER + PUBLISHER magazine (c) 2007 Thorpe-Bowker (a division of RR Bowker LLC) http://www.bookseller+publisher.com.au/ A New Guinean tribesman is killed by a spirit with lightning (a white man with a gun). His head is preserved in a jar and it’s from this point … Continue reading Dead Birds – Trevor Shearston
Modes of Connection – a review of Sorry by Gail Jones
My review of Gail Jones' Sorry (Aus, US) appears in the latest Australian Women's Book Review. Sorry is Gail Jones's most important and accessible book to date. Perdita is born late in life to immigrant parents Nicholas and Stella. They have come from England so Nicholas can study anthropology. In Broome they keep a ramshackle … Continue reading Modes of Connection – a review of Sorry by Gail Jones
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