Book reviews of mainly modern & contemporary fiction
Last year I decided to embark on a project to read books from my adopted state of Western Australia. And then my plans flew out the window when I started a new full-time job in a new career just a couple of weeks later! Alas, six months on and my working life is now (slightly)… Continue reading 3 books by Western Australian women writers: Madelaine Dickie, Michelle Johnston and Emily Paull
In what has become a bit of a tradition over the past few years, my New Year’s Day post is focused on Australian Women Writers — specifically listing all the titles I have read as part of the Australian Women Writers’ Challenge the year before. (You can see my wrap-up for 2018 here, 2017 here… Continue reading 26 books by women: completing the 2019 Australian Women Writers’ Challenge
This year has been a rather eventful one for me — in all kinds of ways. Repatriating after almost 21 years in the UK has posed many challenges, but I’ve not regretted it and I have loved being able to buy Australian books as soon as they’ve been released instead of waiting a year or… Continue reading My favourite books of 2019
Non-fiction – paperback; Allen & Unwin; 150 pages; 2019. Earlier this year I read Bri Lee’s memoir Eggshell Skull, which was long- and shortlisted for many literary awards and was named Biography of the Year at the 2019 Australian Book Industry Awards. It is one of the best books I’ve read this year and will… Continue reading ‘Beauty’ by Bri Lee
Non-fiction – hardcover; Text Publishing; 272 pages; 2019. I’ve started to write, without thought of form: it keeps coming, I am happy and no longer straining after effect. But each morning I set out for my office weak with fear. I will never be a great writer. The best I can do is to write… Continue reading ‘Yellow Notebook: Diaries Volume 1, 1978–1987’ by Helen Garner
The past two months have been fairly hectic around here, mainly because I started a new job and I’ve had to learn a whole new role in a new industry and I’ve really not had the energy to read books much less review them. The books I have read haven’t exactly set my world on… Continue reading 5 Fast Reviews: Michelle de Kretser, Nikki Gemmell, Catherine Jinks, Meg Mundell and Heather Rose
Fiction – paperback; Allen & Unwin; 272 pages; 2019. The push and pull of friendship between three older women forms the dark, beating heart of Charlotte Wood’s eagerly awaited new novel, The Weekend. The trio, all in their seventies, have known each other for a lifetime. There is Jude, a bossy, not-afraid-to-speak-her-mind type who was… Continue reading ‘The Weekend’ by Charlotte Wood
Fiction – paperback; University of Western Australia Press; 247 pages; 2005. Sometimes I pick up a book and it so perfectly matches my mood that I immediately fall in love with it. This is what happened with Josephine Wilson’s debut novel, Cusp, a serendipitous find in my local independent bookshop earlier this week. (Wilson’s second… Continue reading ‘Cusp’ by Josephine Wilson
Non-fiction – paperback; Vintage Australia; 339 pages; 2019. Love is blind, so they say, and never more so in Stephanie Wood’s case. A respected journalist who dreamt of finding a special man to spend the rest of her life with, Wood fell victim to a charlatan — a love rat, who took advantage of her… Continue reading ‘Fake’ by Stephanie Wood
Fiction – paperback; Text Publishing; 240 pages; 2019. Review copy courtesy of the publisher. Alice Bishop’s A Constant Hum is the literary equivalent of a concept album. Instead of songs expressing a particular theme or idea, it features short stories and flash fiction focused on the aftermath of bushfire. It is possibly the most quintessentially… Continue reading ‘A Constant Hum’ by Alice Bishop
Reading Matters 