This is one of those incredibly important books my kids read in school. I wish I’d read it then. Actually, I wish it had been written decades ago so I could have read it way back when and been totally inspired by their courage, their tenacity and their skills. A ...
"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me." C.S. Lewis
Est. 2009
Last week was an interesting week and the last thing on my mind was writing my blog. It was Friday before I realised I’d been remiss. I’m not sharing the reasons in public but they took a lot of my time. Today I’m sharing yet another text from uni. Julia ...
Killing Kitchener is the sequel to A Fatal Tide. I was reading a pdf and noted a few typos which do not detract from the fact that Sailah’s writing has improved in this second book. Killing Kitchener goes further into the story of Thomas and Snow. We see how mateship was ...
My Brother Jack is one of the most important books about the Australian depression in the 1930s that I’ve read. It shows it as it must really have been. And then there are the sequels. Clean Straw for Nothing and A Cartload of Clay. I’ve done my usual and read ...
I’m familiar with Jon Faine having heard him on the radio for many years. He’s livened up my morning countless times and I’ve also ignored him as I powered through whatever needed powering through. I’ve also met him on one occasion. When I picked up this book I wasn’t certain ...
This is one of those books that are so beautifully crafted I completely forgot that I was meant to be reading it for uni. I won’t say I loved it as that would be giving it away completely. About a young boy in Russia who ends up being brought up ...
Yes, another book I studied at uni, this line is getting repetitive but the books aren’t. Only the Animals is an anthology written by Ceridwen Dovey. What she’s done reminds me very much of what I used to do with Mondayitis, the biggest difference is that Dovey’s work is ever ...
Yes, another book I studied for uni. This one is challenging to read but well worth it. Written by an Indigenous lady who has a more of a handle on allegory, symbolism than I ever will and what is likely to happen to both the Indigenous and the world if ...
My new column, with a title that somehow makes sense. From now on until I stop I will be examining a paragraph in whatever detail I choose. This is also a good time for guests to pop in and do their own paragraph. Today’s paragraph comes from Here’s Luck by ...
I’ve read Alan Gold before and found him a good read, this book was no different. Paired up with Mikes Jones Gold has produced a book which kept me spellbound. It’s set in Israel and opens us up to a whole new world of conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, I can see ...
Judging by the date of publication this these books have been on my shelf for five years. Not too bad by my standards. I don’t remember where or when I met Petrie and bought some of his books but they’ve proved to be a good buy. What you’ve got here ...
This book was first published in 1963. I remember hearing about it when the movie of the book came out in 1983. The trailer I recall seeing had a tragic boat accident, and I didn’t want to see a sad movie so I never saw it. Didn’t read the book ...
Another of the books I was sent a while ago with the hope I’d give a review. I’ll try to be comprehensible or even understandable. This is a series of short stories written by Australian writer, Edwina Harvey. As always she aims to write an ending we’re not expecting. Not ...
This book contains two plays written by Katharine Susannah Prichard. I’m only talking about the first one as I’ve not read the second. Brumby Innes was a text we studied during the unit on Australian Literature. I found it problematic. It deals with the turbulent relations between the sexes and the ...
This is one of the books we examined for our unit on Australian Literature at uni this past trimester. The unit was interesting. I started it thinking how excited I was by Australian literature and what I knew about it, I finished pondering how little I actually know. But that ...