tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14838776544741628452024-03-06T08:16:29.428+11:00Brona's BooksThis Reading LifeBronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.comBlogger1596125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-55949161861359952252020-12-31T19:07:00.009+11:002021-02-04T20:35:09.064+11:00I've Moved!<p>After 11 years of blogging at Blogger and many years recently, agonising about lost comments, it took losing three posts, in as many months, to help me make the switch.</p><p>A new year - a new me!</p><p>Come and find me at my new Wordpress blog - <a href="https://bronasbooks.com/" target="_blank">The Reading Life</a> - and feel free to leave a comment :-)</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Ktvsb-1IHuE65Fen26lQulUi9O32GN1vXiqhxZnQiZk92znss4DFpDjyB4f2Uz4S3E-NJtOUjtQWBOinBVJyt-E-7xLZOONfhUB6xNtmoGbN0y6KBYZgJv5_ENfX-I74lvM6-xz8l-9D/s1712/this+reading+life.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="1712" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Ktvsb-1IHuE65Fen26lQulUi9O32GN1vXiqhxZnQiZk92znss4DFpDjyB4f2Uz4S3E-NJtOUjtQWBOinBVJyt-E-7xLZOONfhUB6xNtmoGbN0y6KBYZgJv5_ENfX-I74lvM6-xz8l-9D/s320/this+reading+life.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Some posts you may have missed:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://bronasbooks.com/2021/02/01/wolf-hall-trilogy-readalong-master-post/" target="_blank">Wolf Hall Trilogy Readalong 2021</a></li><li><a href="https://bronasbooks.com/2021/02/04/station-eleven-emily-st-john-mandel-plaguelit/" target="_blank">Station Eleven | Emily St. John Mandel</a></li><li><a href="https://bronasbooks.com/2021/01/25/dearly-poems-margaret-atwood-poetry/" target="_blank">Dearly: Poems | Margaret Atwood</a></li><li><a href="https://bronasbooks.com/2021/01/21/my-love-must-wait-ernestine-hill-aww/" target="_blank">My Love Must Wait | Ernestine Hill</a> #ccspin</li></ul><p></p>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-62375653284189169262020-12-28T18:42:00.002+11:002020-12-28T18:50:44.061+11:00The 12 Days of Christmas, or the End!<div class="separator"><p style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://bronasbooks.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/12-days-of-christmas.png?w=255" /></div>It all started with a 12 days of Christmas book tag.<br /><br />Although, not really.<br /><br />However, it's as good a place as any to start.<br /><br />The lead up to Christmas is pretty hectic for me. I work right up until the last minute, in the busiest week, in the busiest month of my work year. If we go away to be with our extended families, it also involves lots of planning and food prep...at a time when I am feeling most pressured and exhausted to boot. But, it's what you do.<br /><br />It's not easy to also fit in a couple of scheduled blog posts to come due over the silly season.<br /><br />This year, I managed to organise one and half such posts.<br /><br /><i>The Tailor of Gloucestor </i>went live on Christmas Eve and I was planning a 12 Days of Christmas book tag for the 26th. All I had to do was add a few more hyperlinks to complete the deed.<br /><br />But as I went to add the last link, blogger did it's new/weird thing and accidentally deleted the whole post. The even newer/weirder 5 second autosave kicked in...and the post was gone...forever.<br /><br />This was the third time in as many months that I had lost a hard won post during a crucial blogging phase.<br /><br />I may have swore a little.<br /><br />Over the next few days, I mulled and stewed and steamed.<br /><br />I have contemplated moving to wordpress many times, but the loss of ALL my hyperlinks was too much to cope with.<br /><br />This time, I was ready!<br /><br />All my previous hyper links will continue to exist on my original blogger site. It is too hard to change them, so I will simply have to live with it. Given everything we have had to learn to live with this year, a little hyper link angst no longer seems so bad!<br /><br />So I moved to Wordpress.<br /><br />Still Brona's Books, but with a slight change in emphasis to celebrate the switch. The old byline is now the main heading and <a href="https://bronasbooks.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">This Reading Life</a> is born!<br /><br />Farewell Blogger!<p></p></div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-76394302365799994422020-12-24T09:44:00.008+11:002020-12-24T09:44:00.182+11:00The Tailor of Gloucester | Beatrix Potter #ALiteraryChristmas<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4u7FWSVZK3JJk7uP0v7d5c6wpOz6XyX_Z355HUZvZTZniq-8dOzP0E2Jmru-bp4PyZIrzyssAH7WP3wWsPKPdzLfI8195AcN2mLvmg5f650uxiN_8c1ZqiY8ReOZKqGdZPmNXDU61yZqt/s1633/the-tailor-of-gloucester.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1633" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4u7FWSVZK3JJk7uP0v7d5c6wpOz6XyX_Z355HUZvZTZniq-8dOzP0E2Jmru-bp4PyZIrzyssAH7WP3wWsPKPdzLfI8195AcN2mLvmg5f650uxiN_8c1ZqiY8ReOZKqGdZPmNXDU61yZqt/s320/the-tailor-of-gloucester.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div>Feeling very grateful, right now, that <a href="http://inthebookcase.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-literary-christmas-2020-begins-link.html" target="_blank">Tarissa @In the Bookcase</a> is hosting A Literary Christmas this year. It made me search my shelves for something Christmassy that I hadn't read yet. It led me straight into the delightful and utterly charming arms of Beatrix Potter.</div><div><br /></div><div>I confess that I did not read any of the Peter Rabbit stories when I was a child. I had to wait until my early childhood teaching years to discover them. The first time I tried to read one aloud, I stumbled with the phrasing and pacing of Potter's writing. The story has plenty of drama and suspense, but it isn't immediately apparent. You have to read it several times to find the most dramatic way to read it out loud, in a way to keep the attention of twenty, very modern, 4 year olds.</div><p></p><p>It is twelve years since I taught my last class (I was reminded just yesterday of how that final class has grown, when one of them popped into the bookshop to buy books for her mum for Christmas. She is now in her final year of school, and has matured into a thoughtful, gracious young woman). Which is my long way of saying that it is also twelve years since I last read <i>The Tale of Peter Rabbit</i> (1902). </p><p>I now have a beautiful hardcover copy of Beatrix Potter's <i>Complete Tales</i>. It contains a lovely map of Hawkshead and Sawrey, showing where many of the stories take place, including the Tailor of Gloucester sitting next to the road to Gloucester and South Coast, with Pig Robinson. This collection then lists all the stories in chronological order. <i>The Tailor of Gloucester</i> is the third story. To get to it, one has to go past the original Peter Rabbit and <i>The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin</i> (1903).</p><p>However, I couldn't skip past so glibly. </p><p>I settled down, with the memories of classes past arrayed in front of me, and read Peter Rabbit, then Squirrel Nutkin out loud. All the old phrasing and pacing came back to me. I knew where to pause for dramatic effect and how to milk the tension. I was transported to another time and place. These two mischievous characters are drawn so sympathetically, it's hard not to love them and their naughty ways. However, Potter was writing these stories for the children of her former governess, so she was careful to give both Peter & Nutkin a proper comeuppance, for after all, bad behaviour should come with natural consequences.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkGsbwvwvlearILfuvRnRp6NOZMWIyWwmnfD2BFqsmu7ApbQ7qB4IIEZ0E_qbsXo0yGhyphenhyphensBLfBC6QH412AXAQ3Y6OnnoFnByWzmDnHXLaocDyr0yk3lDD7d82AXQYbIFwM_ZtEGRWQ6Pqt/s1536/A01090_10.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="1285" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkGsbwvwvlearILfuvRnRp6NOZMWIyWwmnfD2BFqsmu7ApbQ7qB4IIEZ0E_qbsXo0yGhyphenhyphensBLfBC6QH412AXAQ3Y6OnnoFnByWzmDnHXLaocDyr0yk3lDD7d82AXQYbIFwM_ZtEGRWQ6Pqt/s320/A01090_10.jpg" /></a></div><p><i>The Tailor of Gloucester</i> is a longer story and was considered by Potter to be her favourite from amongst all her books. It is based on the true story of a tailor in Gloucester, John Prichard, who was commissioned to make a waistcoat for the local Mayor. He had to leave it unfinished on Saturday evening, but when he turned up to work again on Monday, it was finished, except for one buttonhole for which there was 'no more twist'. In real life, it was his two assistants who secretly helped out. In Potter's imagination the helpers turned into little brown mice and the setting became Christmas Eve. </p><p>Our hard working tailor becomes stricken with a fever. In his delirium he keeps muttering about needing 'one more twist', and 'where is my twist'? He is ill for three days, until it was Christmas Eve. Everyone else was buying geese and turkeys and baking Christmas pies, but not our poor tailor. His only company was his mean old cat, Simpkin.</p><blockquote><p><i>But it is in the old story that all the beasts can talk, in the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the morning (though there are very few folk that can hear them, or know what it is that they say)</i>.</p></blockquote><p>Rather like the Grimm's Brothers fairy story, the Elves and the Shoemaker, the tailor's hard work and dedication is rewarded when he needs it most. Even Simpkin, sees the errors of his ways, and does his bit to help out too.</p>A review appeared in the trade journal, <i>The Tailor and Cutter</i>, on Christmas Eve 1903. One hundred and seventeen years later, it is hard to top!<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">we think it is by far the prettiest story connected with tailoring we have ever read, and as it is full of that spirit of Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men, we are not ashamed to confess that it brought the moisture to our eyes, as well as the smile to our face. It is got up in choicest style and illustrated by twenty-seven of the prettiest pictures it is possible to imagine.</blockquote><p><u><b>Epigraph</b></u>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>I'll be at charges for a looking-glass; and entertain a score or two of tailors. </i>Richard III</li></ul><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-TNaVq6tFdUyqU861Lx2PJP2xdGikwn3Gj5i-VJVeMPWtFRCtJMTIuBjpO8qom4y7npGSFOxMSbSEqvKFNcNBlT-Ua6DaYkocp7S5Mtg-AEFpeDGUu2uVjpL-RhWyUB46xx6QIv1cE4hY/s1053/Coogee-Beach-Christmas-Tree-Sydney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="1053" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-TNaVq6tFdUyqU861Lx2PJP2xdGikwn3Gj5i-VJVeMPWtFRCtJMTIuBjpO8qom4y7npGSFOxMSbSEqvKFNcNBlT-Ua6DaYkocp7S5Mtg-AEFpeDGUu2uVjpL-RhWyUB46xx6QIv1cE4hY/w640-h397/Coogee-Beach-Christmas-Tree-Sydney.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christmas Eve at Coogee Beach - even the tree is in quarantine this year!</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><p></p>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-47602083745955830392020-12-23T08:49:00.001+11:002020-12-23T08:49:55.865+11:00The Salt Path | Raynor Winn #UKNonFiction<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGxf9fxLNp93cFxVE68CbJHi0Xw4shPEV_RQDgpiyYsBT5uVb1Y3rgdB3RO_ohcY8KIb0ik5sXoYvTcljkVuGWhKTOMiAwU9wYVUduLvWYpFS4nl1Z3Y0C-uXPN7CpxNJqMgVG0ooompIt/s2048/the+salt+path.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1334" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGxf9fxLNp93cFxVE68CbJHi0Xw4shPEV_RQDgpiyYsBT5uVb1Y3rgdB3RO_ohcY8KIb0ik5sXoYvTcljkVuGWhKTOMiAwU9wYVUduLvWYpFS4nl1Z3Y0C-uXPN7CpxNJqMgVG0ooompIt/s320/the+salt+path.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It has taken me a while to finish <i><b>The Salt Path </b></i>by Raynor Winn, not because I wasn't enjoying it, but simply because it became my walking backpack book. It was the perfect choice. It was a slim paperback (i.e. lightweight). It was about going for a very long walk. It was non-fiction and therefore easy to pick up and put down without needing to remember complicated plot points or narrative arcs. And the gorgeous cover design by Angela Harding was a thing of beauty to savour as a drank my coffee, in my favourite coffee shop. at the end of my walk.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The early pages are a tale of woe and misfortune. Winn and her husband, Moth, are in the 50's and suffer a serious of life-changing blows. From financial ruin, losing their home and discovering that Moth as a life-threatening illness, corticobasal degeneration or CBD. I occasionally felt frustration at their level of trust in the goodness of others (and institutions) and their lack of proper planning and forethought, but there was no denying their deep love and commitment to each other. <p></p><div>After being made homeless, their young adult children were unable to take them in or support them, as they will still at the university/study phase of life. Some friends helped out for a while, but they did not want to be a burden to anyone. Moth's terminal diagnosis hung over them and memories of the life together in Wales on their farm, were too painful to face every day. So they packed up the few things they still owned, stored some, converted others into walking gear and backpacks, and decided to walk the south-west coast path around Cornwall. A mere 630 miles!</div><div><br /></div><div>They used Paddy Dillon's little brown book, <i>The South West Coast Path: From Minehead to South Haven Point </i>as their guide. Which meant they had to start their walk, at what is considered, the hardest end first so that they could read the book front to back rather then back to front.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfHyuIiZrLyvK040srMU-iSPjk0U3ejT4p719qv7afXmzDpa6DIPfvkzMmydjAa-7AKHxFn9WZ6KLWASvXPWrtMtizOLJ7MyltQH8dcRCrv3kENfhIIcxlvlPnag7zLvobuOMJW1-w0dgt/s640/pathmap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfHyuIiZrLyvK040srMU-iSPjk0U3ejT4p719qv7afXmzDpa6DIPfvkzMmydjAa-7AKHxFn9WZ6KLWASvXPWrtMtizOLJ7MyltQH8dcRCrv3kENfhIIcxlvlPnag7zLvobuOMJW1-w0dgt/w400-h300/pathmap.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Raynor & Moth quickly discovered that they would not be walking as quickly as Paddy and that his idea of a slight incline was very different to theirs!<br /><div><br /></div><div>Sharing their story with other walkers, was also an eye-opening experience. If they mentioned they were homeless and basically penniless, they were treated as hobos to be avoided and looked down upon. But if they tweeked their story a little they could be seen as heroic, adventurous types to be admired or envied. </div><div><br /></div><div>The scenery along this walk is obviously amazing, and I do wish they had included some photos so that those of us on the other side of the world could picture it as we read. Of course, google provides the same service these days. </div><div><br /></div><div>The walk was also a lot harder than they thought it was going to be. From blisters, to extreme cold (even in the middle of summer), storms in a barely waterproof tent, and the price of food in many of these scenic, touristy seaside villages. Moth's illness slowed them down as well...for a while. Several weeks into the walk, they both realised that he was moving better, experiencing less pain and seemed to be improving. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the end, they had to do the walk in two stages, thanks to the onset of winter. </div><div><br /></div><div>Many things were left unsaid.</div><div><br /></div><div>Did they discover a possible cure or at least, a way to slow down the onset of CBD, by doing this hike? Were they able to find work at the end of the walk? And somewhere to live?</div><div><br /></div><div>I have to assume that many of these queries will be addressed in her latest book, <i>The Wild Silence, </i>or in the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/raynor-winn-salt-path-walking-homelessness-illness/12750226" target="_blank">Conversation she had with Sarah Kanowski on ABC radio</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Shortlisted Costa Book Awards 2018</li></ul></div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-55319495100205917162020-12-21T20:16:00.001+11:002020-12-21T20:18:14.156+11:00How We Live Now: Scenes from the Pandemic | Bill Hayes <p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0LE2Qx-iISPJieIx4S2GCFFxknf0h428xrn4k6ecS5R5oty5bg8klUxkVMo1JPTo0U8nPDCKZHecSwlXR5k-ccOBNn3eVszaTZHc3DzJ9mD5njQo-ro0YP8kYgXwFJlyofHHjP7OmmflA/s739/ho+we+live+now.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="739" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0LE2Qx-iISPJieIx4S2GCFFxknf0h428xrn4k6ecS5R5oty5bg8klUxkVMo1JPTo0U8nPDCKZHecSwlXR5k-ccOBNn3eVszaTZHc3DzJ9mD5njQo-ro0YP8kYgXwFJlyofHHjP7OmmflA/s320/ho+we+live+now.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div>I had no idea that Bill Hayes was working on another scenes of New York book that would focus on the March-April Covid-19 lockdown of 2020. If I'd known, I may have experienced fewer angsty days of my own, knowing that Bill was going to somehow make it all right!<div><blockquote><i>It’s a little like losing your life while still being alive, this experience.</i></blockquote><div><i><b>How We Live Now</b></i> is presented in a very similar way to <i><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2017/05/insomniac-city-by-bill-hayes.html" target="_blank">Insomniac City</a></i> from three years ago. A lovely hardback edition, with black and white photographs scattered throughout. Photographs, or more precisely portraits, that Bill takes of strangers as he is out walking around New York (with their permission). <a href="https://www.billhayes.com/" target="_blank">You can see some of them here</a>. The photographs are usually accompanied by a vignette - whether it's what was happening on that particular day or a little personal story about his meeting and conversation with the stranger in question.</div><div><blockquote><i>Behind me a small line had formed....A family was looking for books for their kids to read. I felt like I was in a metaphorical breadline - a breadline for feeding the brain and the soul.</i></blockquote></div><div><i>Insomniac City</i> was a love letter to New York and to his recently deceased partner, Oliver Sacks. <i>How We Live Now</i> continues this theme. Losing Oliver is obviously still a painful memory for Bill, but three years later, his stories are fond reminiscences rather than emotional outpourings. While his love for New York continues unabated, despite the changes that lockdown brought.<br /><blockquote><i>When you look out & see the empty streets & sidewalks & shuttered shops, a friend tells me, see it as solidarity - everyone doing their best to keep themselves & everyone else healthy....Even so, I can’t deny how sad & disorientating the absence of life in these once busy streets seems.</i></blockquote>It's only a small volume. A slim slice of life as we are living it now, by someone who has a tender eye for detail, for the unusual and the routine. Hayes is a thoughtful man who reflects on how is feeling throughout this time as well as documenting the impact on some of those around him.<br /><blockquote><i>In the enforced solitude and silence, you can sometimes hear yourself replaying moments in your life, things said or not said, done or not done, love expressed or not expressed, all the gratitude you’ve ever received, all the gratitude you’ve ever felt.</i></blockquote>He captured some of the feelings and moods that I also experienced during our Sydney lockdown. The moments of anxiety as well as the odd moments of peace - being able to listen to an individual bird sing, watching a skateboarder roll down an empty street from his apartment window...<br /><blockquote><i>Because I’ve worked at home for years now, the mandate to stay home and work from home is, I imagine, a little easier for someone like me. I’m also a loner and an introvert (except when it comes to strangers), which helps too.</i></blockquote><blockquote><i>Even so, there are times when I feel spooked - not scared but spooked.</i></blockquote>However, what I found most endearing or comforting as I read <i>How We Live Now</i>, was the sense of solidarity that we are all in this together, and the reminder to live our lives now. Our collective here and now may not be the one we planned for or expected, but this is what we have right now. <br /><div><blockquote><i>Because what IS is what matters most. What was will only make you blue in New York.<br /></i></blockquote><p>This is our life. We are living it. And that's all we have ever been able to do - to live in the world we are in.</p><p>Wishing that things were 'normal' or talking about when things go back to 'normal', will only lead us to despair. This is our normal now. We're living it. Whatever happens afterwards, will be different to what went before. This experience will change us all, in big ways and in small. We don't know what or how yet, but change is one of the few things guaranteed in life. Covid-19 has simply been a real in-your-face reminder that this is so. If we fight against it, we can become bitter and disappointed. However, if we accept it, and let go of our desire to control everything (one of the hardest lessons I've certainly had to learn as an adult) we can learn to roll with the punches and find some grace in just being, here, now.</p><p>And like Hayes, I am curious to see what's on the other side. </p></div><blockquote><i>I am climbing the walls here. But I also know I am among the most fortunate: I have a roof over my head, food in my fridge, and my health to be thankful for. So, if this is how we have to live - with masks and gloves and almost no human contact for several more months - then so be it, this is how we have to live. I just want to see what's on the other side of this f***ing mountain.</i></blockquote><div><i><br /></i></div><div><u style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"><b>My Previous Plague/Pandemic Reads</b></u><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;">:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;" /><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1483877654474162845/3879536288661419667#" style="color: #088a34; text-decoration-line: none;">The Plague | Albert Camus</a></li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">How We Live Now | Bill Hayes (non-fiction <b>Covid-19</b>)</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">The Stand | Stephen King</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Moloka'i | Alan Brennert (<b>Leprosy</b>)</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">All Fall Down | Sally Nicholls (<b>The Black Death</b>) YA</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Hamnet | Maggie O'Farrell (<b>The Plague</b>)</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Oryx and Crake | Margaret Atwood</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Year of Wonders | Geraldine Brooks (<b>Great Plague of London</b>)</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1483877654474162845/3879536288661419667#" style="color: #088a34; text-decoration-line: none;">The Pull of the Stars | Emma Donoghue</a> (<b>Spanish Flu</b>)</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1483877654474162845/3879536288661419667#" style="color: #088a34; text-decoration-line: none;">A Journal of the Plague Year | Daniel Defoe</a> (<b>Great Plague of London</b>)</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/intimations-six-essays-zadie-smith.html" style="color: #088a34; text-decoration-line: none;">Intimations | Zadie Smith</a> (non-fiction <b>Covid-19</b>)</li></ul><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;" /><u style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"><b>My Current Plague Reads</b></u><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;">:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;" /><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century | Barbara Tuchman (non-fiction <b>The Black Death</b>)</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">How We Live Now | Bill Hayes</li></ul><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;" /><u style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"><b>Up Next</b></u><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;">:</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;" /><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 1.4; margin: 0.5em 0px; padding: 0px 2.5em;"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">Pale Horse, Pale Rider | Katherine Anne Porter (<b>Spanish Flu</b>)</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;">The Decameron Project: 29 Stories from the Pandemic | The New York Times (<b>Covid-19</b>)</li></ul></div></div></div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-35235185989518100702020-12-19T09:39:00.006+11:002020-12-21T09:02:47.860+11:00The Covid Chronicles #9<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ukM8yGfpEGypjXmvAQcETTwOkCN7MxomBqyVquTm0ygv49Yrw9heX9Y6DcxkF5HlMdrkbtYCNGrO2mfPOEPI4V-EwUW_qLlKNd5-lOPv0ad14l_yOuAbJzXLSv64ATu6ldILpSDLDXBW/s2048/Covid+image.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2ukM8yGfpEGypjXmvAQcETTwOkCN7MxomBqyVquTm0ygv49Yrw9heX9Y6DcxkF5HlMdrkbtYCNGrO2mfPOEPI4V-EwUW_qLlKNd5-lOPv0ad14l_yOuAbJzXLSv64ATu6ldILpSDLDXBW/w640-h360/Covid+image.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>I cannot believe the last time I sat down to write a Covid Chronicle was back in July.</p><p>Melbourne was at the beginning of it's second wave, while the rest of the country held it's collective breath. Would the outbreak spread? Would we all have to go into another lockdown?</p><p>Numbers steadily increased around the three hotspots in Sydney and by August most of the states had closed their borders to each other. Anyone coming or going from one state to the next, would have to self-isolate for two weeks. A very tricky situation for long haul truck drivers, in particular, to manage.</p><p>Melburnians went into a hard stage 4 lockdown on the 2nd August when their Premier announced a state of disaster. They had a week or so of 600+ positive cases a day, before the restrictions started to take effect and a steady decline in positive cases set in.</p><p>I began wearing a mask to work and anytime I had to be in a shop. It wasn't mandatory in NSW, just highly recommended by health officials. I was dealing with the public every day, so it seemed like an easy and simple thing to do to keep me from catching a virus that I'd rather not catch.</p><p>By the end of August the few hotspots in Sydney were all under control, with contract tracing and self-isolation doing the trick.</p><p>Interstate travel was still almost impossible, so we all enjoyed our spring break closer to home. Mr Books and I had a lovely week in the Port Stephens area, walking along the beach, reading and relaxing. We have been holidaying in this area for over 20 years now; it was the busiest we have ever seen it. </p><p>Our holiday home in the Blue Mountains has been booked out every single weekend since July when state-wide travel reopened. We have never been busier.</p><p>By the middle of September, NSW basically had zero community transmission. I was able to leave the mask at home again, much to the relief of my hearing impaired colleague who had been unable to lip read during the whole mask-wearing phase.</p><p>Melbourne was getting on top it's second wave and it seemed like their tough approach was turning things around. By the end of September, they were able to finally ease restrictions.</p><p>A Trans-Tasman bubble came into effect in October between New Zealand and NSW, the ACT and Northern Territory. There were a couple of hiccups at the start, but it seems to be working well now.</p>On the 24th October, Victoria recorded 98 active cases; this was the first time since the 19th June in which Victoria had under 100 cases. Two days later they recorded zero new cases and zero deaths - a double doughnut day - as another new phrase entered our Covid-normal world!<div><br /></div><div>November saw most of the states reopen their borders to each other as state by state we continue to achieve days and weeks with no new locally acquired cases. Melbourne has had no new cases since November 23rd and Sydney has enjoyed a similar story...until this week (see below).</div><div><br /></div><div>A scare in Adelaide a couple of weeks ago, reminded us how quickly things can change. Lockdowns were announced and borders closed, before officials discovered that one of the key new cases in their cluster had lied about where he was and for how long. They were not dealing with a new, more virulent strain of the virus after all; just a quarantine hotel worker who didn't want to declare that he had a second job elsewhere.</div><div><br /></div><div>Once again, government officials, and the media, were caught unawares by the economic realities of one of our citizens. </div><div><br /></div><div>But we can never completely breathe a sigh of relief. </div><div><br /></div><div>We watch in horror as Europe and the US descend back into a Covid disaster zone. We may grumble about our government officials at times, but most Australians are happy with how our Covid crisis has been handled. Overseas travel may not be a sensible thing to do right now, but as long as we can travel interstate, we're happy. Business is booming in every single holiday area - coastal, mountains and the outback. Towns known for their wineries, food, water activities or bushwalking are booked out months in advance. The local tourism industry is back in business with a vengeance. </div><div><br /></div><div>Will this last?</div><div><br /></div><div>No.</div><div><br /></div><div>Three days ago, a community case of Covid popped up in and around Avalon and Palm Beach, on the northern beaches of Sydney (home of 'Home & Away' for those of you in the UK). </div><div><br /></div><div>Yesterday, the number of positive cases jumped to 28 with the areas of concern stretching into Cronulla (down south), Penrith (western Sydney) and Woolloomooloo (city). Residents of the Northern beaches area are being urged to get tested and stay at home for three days, to give the authorities time to track down the source and ramp up the contact tracing for those being identified as positive.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our fragile borders with other states became apparent once again, as WA quickly quarantined any incoming flights from Sydney while the other states nervously consider what to do next. Our Christmas guests from Victoria, planning to stay in our holiday home, cancelled last night due to the uncertainly of the situation once again. Northern beaches residents planning to go interstate for Christmas, will no longer be granted entry to other states. Anyone who has booked a holiday house to play in 'Summer Bay', will no doubt be seriously reconsidering their options too. </div><div><br /></div><div>This is how we roll now. Plans can change in the blink of an eye. We are all learning to be uber-flexible. Any reprieve is short-lived. We all live in hope that the new vaccines will be successful, with no side effects. Although, it will be March 2021 before we start any vaccination proceedings in Australia.</div><div><p>Until then, </p><p>Take care; take heart.</p><div>And please let me know how you're going, wherever you are in the world.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Northern Beaches suburbs:</div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Allambie Heights</li><li>Avalon Beach</li><li>Balgowlah</li><li>Balgowlah Heights</li><li>Bayview</li><li>Beacon Hill</li><li>Belrose</li><li>Bilgola Beach</li><li>Bilgola Plateau</li><li>Brookvale</li><li>Church Point</li><li>Clareville</li><li>Clontarf</li><li>Coasters Retreat</li><li>Collaroy</li><li>Collaroy Plateau</li><li>Cottage Point</li><li>Cromer</li><li>Curl Curl</li><li>Currawong Beach</li><li>Davidson</li><li>Dee Why</li><li>Duffys Forest</li><li>Elanora Heights</li><li>Elvina Bay</li><li>Fairlight</li><li>Forestville</li><li>Frenchs Forest</li><li>Freshwater</li><li>Great Mackerel Beach</li><li>Ingleside</li><li>Killarney Heights</li><li>Ku-ring-gai Chase</li><li>Lovett Bay</li><li>Manly</li><li>Manly Vale,</li><li>McCarrs Creek</li><li>Mona Vale</li><li>Morning Bay</li><li>Narrabeen</li><li>Narraweena</li><li>Newport</li><li>North Balgowlah</li><li>North Curl Curl</li><li>North Manly</li><li>North Narrabeen</li><li>Oxford Falls</li><li>Palm Beach</li><li>Pittwater</li><li>Queenscliff</li><li>Scotland Island</li><li>Seaforth</li><li>Terrey Hills</li><li>Warriewood</li><li>Whale Beach</li><li>Wheeler Heights</li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwbKYnMsaWFYbB2Wf7umCg9QMlOqeQs_J2Gigl77AXUj1pr3tIZxz5fRmcqlcPF5hSdShhyphenhyphen1k3EsFxdnETdcrCKNtk8M_MxdRkZjApTVbd5f-xLw8j5KL2C2oYyga_uuH5L0Pzv99VSkuD/s1192/Screenshot+2020-12-21+090048.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="1192" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwbKYnMsaWFYbB2Wf7umCg9QMlOqeQs_J2Gigl77AXUj1pr3tIZxz5fRmcqlcPF5hSdShhyphenhyphen1k3EsFxdnETdcrCKNtk8M_MxdRkZjApTVbd5f-xLw8j5KL2C2oYyga_uuH5L0Pzv99VSkuD/w400-h288/Screenshot+2020-12-21+090048.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-covid-chronicles-1.html" target="_blank">The Covid Chronicles #1</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-covid-chronicles-2.html" target="_blank">The Covid Chronicles #2</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-covid-chronicles-3.html" target="_blank">The Covid Chronicles #3</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-covid-chronicles-4.html" target="_blank">The Covid Chronicles #4</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-covid-chronicles-5.html" target="_blank">The Covid Chronicles #5</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-covid-chronicles-6.html" target="_blank">The Covid Chronicles #6</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/02/your-urgent-help-required-with-my-tbr.html" target="_blank">The Covid Chronicles #7</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-covid-chronicles-8.html" target="_blank">The Covid Chronicles #8</a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-covid-chronicles-9.html" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-covid-chronicles-9.html" target="_blank">The Covid Chronicles #9</a></div></div></div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-85719488489092253132020-12-17T07:48:00.071+11:002020-12-18T08:12:31.621+11:00A Year in First Lines<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEWcXTUlKVQuixzaJyFgnvgM0iJUjLLAW4Zr1xKruFJCyUUVZchgncgiZSNEkc5lXPdsP9TjoAcwp1dWyBJfojZk9HpkjUyv90EwZxz_twNW8xHs-xGGJkrqP5IFopYH-LRBm8D7Hl0pD0/s1600/first+lines+woodcut-by-kent-ambler.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEWcXTUlKVQuixzaJyFgnvgM0iJUjLLAW4Zr1xKruFJCyUUVZchgncgiZSNEkc5lXPdsP9TjoAcwp1dWyBJfojZk9HpkjUyv90EwZxz_twNW8xHs-xGGJkrqP5IFopYH-LRBm8D7Hl0pD0/s400/first+lines+woodcut-by-kent-ambler.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>A number of years ago I joined in this meme that takes the first line of each month’s post over the past year to see what it tells you about your blogging year.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I do like an end of year wrap up post that helps me to reflect on what I've read. A Year in First Lines has the added bonus of checking in on the state of my blog.</span></div><div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
January</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/01/first-book-of-year-2020.html" target="_blank">First Book of the Year 2020</a></li></ul></div>
<blockquote><i>Can you believe it's this time of year again?!<br /><br />2019 was a year of working hard, staying close to home and change.<br /></i></blockquote>
<div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>It was curious to read this. 2019 was a laying low kind of year thanks to changes in our working and family life. Maybe this is one of the reasons why I haven't found the restrictions now in place thanks to Covid too hard to handle. I had a whole year beforehand to practice!</li></ul></div><div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
February</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/02/such-fun-age-kiley-reid.html" target="_blank">Such A Fun Age | Kiley Reid #USfiction</a></li></ul></div><div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"></span><blockquote><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;">I had no intention of reading </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"><b>Such A Fun Age</b></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;">. The premise sounded only mildly appealing/interesting.<br /></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;">But really, I'm rather over the whole adulting trope with a world peopled by no-one but twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings. Yet it was hard to completely resist the buzz surrounding the release of this book.</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"></span></i></div>
<span style="text-align: start;"><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I'm a little disappointed that this was the first book review to make this list. It was fun, but not particularly memorable. Ten months later I can barely recall anything about it except the supermarket scene. The things I do for work!</li></ul></div></span>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
March</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-forest-of-wool-and-steel-natsu.html" target="_blank">The Forest of Wool and Steel | Natsu Miyashita #JPNfiction</a></li></ul></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"><i></i></div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"><i>I wanted to love <b>The Forest of Wool and Steel</b> far more than I did in the end. </i></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"><i><br /></i></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"><i>A coming-of-age story about a piano tuner from a remote mountain region in Hokkaido had all the right ingredients for me - one as a former (very amateur) piano enthusiast and two, as a recent visitor to Japan. It was beautifully, elegantly written, with gorgeous chapter illustrations showing a piano slowly being returned to the wild. Nature, naturalness and nurturing were ideas that ran through the piece. It's tone was pianissimo (softly, softly), it's tempo larghissimo (as slow as possible).</i></div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"><i></i></div></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Oh dear. Another forgettable book that failed to really capture my imagination. Although, as we now all know, March was the month that the news about a certain virus racing around the world, hit the headlines. We had also had a mini-disaster at work with a flood in mid-Feb. I was off work for just over a month while everything was being renovated.</li></ul></div>
<div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
April</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-covid-chronicles-2.html" target="_blank">The Covid Chronicles #2</a></li></ul>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"></span><blockquote><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;">I left you at the end of </span><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-covid-chronicles-1.html" style="background-color: white; color: #088a34; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Covid Chronicles #1</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;">, heading off into the wild, wild west with Mr Books.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;">Our first stop was to visit my parents. This was the first time we found ourselves considering how social distancing might work in the real world. As we drove into town, we realised that we shouldn't hug my parents hello, or even shake their hands. The news was full of images showing Prince Charles bowing to people to avoid shaking hands. So we waved and bowed too!</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"></span></i></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>During my time off work thanks to the flood (see March), Mr Books and I decided to go on a roadtrip to the South Australian wine regions. Concerns about a certain virus kept us from going overseas and our roadtrip consisted of listening to Dr Norman Swan's Coronacast updates. During the final days of our trip, we had to do a sprint to get back across the stateline into NSW, just hours before the borders closed. At this time, I had the idea of writing my own Covid updates...The Covid Chronicles were born!</li></ul></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
May</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/05/talking-to-my-daughter-about-economy.html" target="_blank">Talking to My Daughter About the Economy | Yanis Varoufakis #NonFiction</a></li></ul></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"><b></b></i><blockquote><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"><b>Talking to My Daughter About the Economy </b></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;">took me AGES to finish...and now even longer to review!</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;">I want to be the kind of person that is informed about financial stuff, but honestly, the word economy just makes my eyes glaze over and my brain go numb. Keeping daily accounts and a family budget - yep, got that. Managing things like home loans, savings accounts, superannuation, paying bills - yep, can do. But as soon as you go down that old rabbit hole of world markets, capitalism and economic stimulus, you lose me. Every single time.</span></i></blockquote><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li> Yikes! Yet another book that failed to live up to expectations. My aim for 2021 is to post reviews about books I love at the beginning of the month instead!</li></ul><p></p></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">June</span></h3>
<span style="text-align: start;"><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/06/book-stop.html" target="_blank">Book Stop</a></li></ul></div></span>
<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"><i><blockquote>Given that we cannot travel outside our home state, let alone the country, at the moment, I thought I might indulge my bookish instincts with my itchy feet and explore the world via bookshops.</blockquote></i></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A new meme was one of the many ways I tried to beat the blogging blues this year. I've only managed to post two Book Stop editions so far, but I have three more in the wings.</li></ul></div>
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<span style="text-align: start;">July</span></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/06/claris-megan-hess.html" target="_blank">Claris The Chicest Mouse in Paris | Megan Hess #PictureBook</a></li></ul></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"><blockquote><i>Every time I see these very chic, very elegant picture books, I want to say Cla-reece. I have an acquaintance called Cla-reece. However to read these stories, I have to make a huge mental effort to say 'Paris-Claris' in my head a few times to find the rhyme.</i></blockquote></span></div> <div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Picture books are my cheats way of joining in a blogging event when I have not planned ahead well enough. In 2021 I will do better - <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/12/2021-here-we-come.html" target="_blank">I will plan ahead</a>!</li></ul></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipvJSf26V5z5V1o8JJ7MMOrIo4KkQuwU0vkLS6sqhOvgSka6wYLcvNorxrw4QOZaRT4m0-eMD97Ba8it2FYI9EYRD9oeoa7L6OrQ4SSZ0Mzv5zhQrxN4RBY8IL16mHsvrl4UWOCnxaQ-o8/s500/MeganHess_UltimateClarisCollection_1_1024x1024.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipvJSf26V5z5V1o8JJ7MMOrIo4KkQuwU0vkLS6sqhOvgSka6wYLcvNorxrw4QOZaRT4m0-eMD97Ba8it2FYI9EYRD9oeoa7L6OrQ4SSZ0Mzv5zhQrxN4RBY8IL16mHsvrl4UWOCnxaQ-o8/w400-h400/MeganHess_UltimateClarisCollection_1_1024x1024.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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August</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/08/maigret-and-killer-georges-simenon.html" target="_blank">Maigret and the Killer | Georges Simenon #ParisinJuly</a></li></ul>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote><i>A big part of the reason I love reading Maigret's so much is the glimpse into life in Paris in the middle of the 20th century. </i>Maigret and the Killer <i>opens with Mrs Maigret and her man, dining out with friends discussing the merits of the Madame Pardon's '</i>unparalleled <a href="https://www.pardonyourfrench.com/slow-cooker-beef-bourguignon/">boeuf bourguignon</a>...filling, yet refined<i>', provincial cookery that was '</i>born of necessity', whilst finishing off the meal with the obligatory 'coffee and <a href="https://www.pardonyourfrench.com/a-taste-of-calvados/">calvados</a><i>'.</i></blockquote><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I have come to love my time with Maigret during Paris in July. Thankfully there are so many titles in the series, I will be able to participate in this particular blogging event for many more years to come!</li></ul><p></p></div><h3><span><div style="text-align: left;">September</div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: normal;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">The End...</a></span></li></ul><blockquote><span style="font-size: normal;">of 20 Books of <strike>Summer</strike> Winter.</i></span></blockquote></div></h3></div></div></div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-weight: normal;">Another community blogging event completed, even if I do feel seasonally challenged the whole time!</span></li></ul></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "im fell double pica";">October</span></h3>
<div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/1001-books-update.html" target="_blank">1001 Books #Update #Booklist</a></span></span></li></ul>
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<div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote><i>My edition of the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die is a 2009 reprint by Harper Collins Australia with a Preface by Australian journalist and book lover, Jennifer Byrne. <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2016/02/1001-books-you-must-read-before-you-die.html">Back in February 2016</a>, I spent one ghastly heatwave weekend, going through this book and compiling my read and to-be -read lists with the idea that I would constantly refer back to it and update it.</i></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Another post reflecting my ongoing Covid blogging malaise. I read steadily throughout the year, but I struggled to maintain my blogging mojo. Recycled posts featured more than ever during the later half of 2020.</li></ul></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">November</span></span></h3>
<div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/ausreading-month-2020-master-post.html" target="_blank">AusReadingMonth 2020 Master Post</a></span></span></li></ul>
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<div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Welcome to AusReading Month 2020!</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Now in it's eighth year, AusReading Month is all about reading and talking about Australian literature.</i></div></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;"></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>November is my biggest blogging month, with AusReading Month, Non-Fiction November, Novellas in November and Margaret Atwood Reading Month. </li></ul><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
December:</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><u><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/12/ausreading-month-wrap-up-post.html" target="_blank">AusReadingMonth Wrap Up Post</a></u></li></ul></div>
<blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><i>As they say in show business, that's a wrap folks!</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>AusReading Month is tucked away for another year. </i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div> <div style="text-align: center;">
<div>
</div></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>AusReading Month is a huge time for me. I start planning for it in September, so that I can have enough posts for every second day (leaving some spots for the weekly Non-Fiction November posts). The first week of December has become a time of putting my feet up and having a little blogging break. And as you can see here, the rest of the month becomes a time of reflection and meme participation!</li></ul></div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><b>
What do your first lines reveal about you?</b></div>
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Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-20949993540865584972020-12-15T07:36:00.001+11:002020-12-15T07:36:50.452+11:00My Life in Books - the 2020 edition<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjAauWqAtyIe3GEkr963Kkn8w4j8K8kk_Hq7slxRGVb43RY60-p0nzxpO8uhztZuyA6aEzHoUEnPcGuXH3sYodrxxPnUi4n_IJqMkYA2eMcxmZDjSzrXSb6yX7zBMhni1GLTXyzsy7GBl/s480/book-black-and-white-antique-retro-old-reading-1225330-pxhere.com_.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="480" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZjAauWqAtyIe3GEkr963Kkn8w4j8K8kk_Hq7slxRGVb43RY60-p0nzxpO8uhztZuyA6aEzHoUEnPcGuXH3sYodrxxPnUi4n_IJqMkYA2eMcxmZDjSzrXSb6yX7zBMhni1GLTXyzsy7GBl/w400-h266/book-black-and-white-antique-retro-old-reading-1225330-pxhere.com_.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Annabookbel has posted <a href="https://annabookbel.net/my-life-in-books-the-2020-version" target="_blank">her annual My Life in Books meme</a>. It's a fun way to finish the reading year and a nice opportunity to look back over all the books read during 2020.<br /><br />The rules are simple: using only books you have read this year (2020), answer these prompts. Try not to repeat a book title. (Links in the titles will take you to my reviews where they exist.)<div><br /><div><u style="font-weight: bold;">In high school I was:</u> <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/some-tame-gazelle-barbara-pym.html" target="_blank">Some Tame Gazelle</a><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">People might be surprised by:</u> <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/12/life-after-truth-ceridwen-dovey-aww.html" target="_blank">Life After Truth</a><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">I will never be:</u> <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-parisian-isabella-hammad.html" target="_blank">The Parisian</a><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">My life in lockdown was like:</u> <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/one-hundred-years-of-solitude-gabriel.html" target="_blank">One Hundred Years of Solitude</a><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">My fantasy job is:</u> <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/elizabeth-and-her-german-garden.html" target="_blank">Elizabeth and Her German Garden</a></div><div><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">At the end of a long day I need:</u> <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-spare-room-helen-garner-aww.html" target="_blank">The Spare Room</a><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">I hate being:</u> <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/redhead-by-side-of-road-anne-tyler.html" target="_blank">The Red Head by the Side of the Road</a><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">Wish I had:</u> <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-pull-of-stars-emma-donoghue.html" target="_blank">The Pull of the Stars</a><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">My family reunions are:</u> <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/01/the-tempest-william-shakespeare.html" target="_blank">The Tempest</a><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">At a party you’d find me with:</u> <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/01/girl-woman-other-bernardine-evaristo.html" target="_blank">Girl, Woman, Other</a></div><div><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">I’ve never been to:</u> <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/04/cherry-beach-laura-mcphee-browne.html" target="_blank">Cherry Beach</a><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">A happy day includes:</u> <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2019/08/tim-winton.html" target="_blank">Humankind</a><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">Motto I live by:</u> How We Live Now<br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">On my bucket list is:</u> <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-month-in-siena-hisham-matar.html" target="_blank">A Month in Siena</a><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">In my next life, I want to have:</u> <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-secret-of-hummingbird-house.html" target="_blank">The Secret Library of Hummingbird House</a></div></div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-27415017217063507282020-12-13T19:30:00.005+11:002020-12-14T08:33:45.552+11:00Life After Truth | Ceridwen Dovey #AWW<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwvFJ5rADrMBGWJokEM5La4vtpPAnCQgmBPSSFx3dn5HD2KwDb-92gleSSZ_ZZwfpvWACTjWXlYiJpVihncgHfm4-g2c2GGZv8UN39_c9eiTiOSG2Q33DestaKrbpWO4cpkvsD-eIXj61H/s2048/Life+After+Truth.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1362" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwvFJ5rADrMBGWJokEM5La4vtpPAnCQgmBPSSFx3dn5HD2KwDb-92gleSSZ_ZZwfpvWACTjWXlYiJpVihncgHfm4-g2c2GGZv8UN39_c9eiTiOSG2Q33DestaKrbpWO4cpkvsD-eIXj61H/s320/Life+After+Truth.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div>I had the pleasure of hearing Ceridwen Dovey talk about her latest book, <i><b>Life After Truth</b></i> at a recent work event (the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tifdd1pjAw" target="_blank">YouTube recording of the event can be found here</a>). By the time she had finished speaking, I knew this would be my next read.<div><br /></div><div>I'm not sure why I've found it so hard to write up my review for this book though. I thoroughly enjoyed it and highly recommend it as a great holiday read. So instead of talking about my journey with the book, I will focus on what I learnt from the author talk, which then informed how I read the story.</div><div><br /></div><div>Ceridwen evoked a lovely reading memory for me when she talked about one of her inspirations for writing a story about a 15 year reunion at Harvard University. Like me, she had devoured Erich Segal's Harvard stories, <i>The Class</i> (1985) and <i>Doctors</i> (1988) way back when.</div><div><br /></div><div>I read <i>The Class</i> in the early 1990's. I remember loving the huge rollicking epic nature of the story as we followed the fates and fortunes of five or six Harvard undergrads during their college days and into their adult lives. Back then, the chunkier the book, the better, was my motto! When I googled the book to refresh my memory, I was amazed at how simply seeing the names, Andrew Eliot, Jason Gilbert Jr, Theodore Lambros, Daniel Rossi and George Keller again, brought back so much of the story.</div><div><br /></div><div>The second inspiration for Ceridwen was her very own 15 yr, class of 2003 reunion, in 2018. All her friends and class mates were approaching 40 and various mid-life crisis were on show - emotional, hormonal, intellectual, financial and philosophical. <br /><div><br />The class of 2003 had some interesting graduates besides Dovey. Natalie Portman and Jared Kushner for starters. Mark Zuckerberg was in the following year.<br /><br />Ceridwen stresses that none of her characters are based on real life people. However, she was drawn to using the polar opposite characters, of a movie star and the son of a President in her story, as she found the contrast appealing. Thanks to her social anthropology background, she likes to write not so much what she knows, but towards what she wants to know. Which is, 'how do people make meaning from their daily lives.' Or how do live the second half of your life differently to the first half.</div><div><br /></div><div>For anyone who has read Dovey's earlier books, it is noticeable that the voice is very different in this story. It was a deliberate choice, although, also slightly out of Ceridwen's hands, as she finds that writing in different voices and styles comes naturally to her. She considers<i> Life After Truth</i> to be some kind of self-help novel, written in a fog of insomnia. <br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">She tried submitting and getting one of her books published under a different name to reflect the different voice she had used. But the publishers were not keen for a pseudonym, and neither was Dovey, as she feels that what she does is closer to the literary concept of heteronyms. The publishers were even less keen to go with this idea!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Recently she got around this by creating a story for Audible Originals called <i>Once More With Feeling</i>. It was a story she wrote, in what she describes as a 'warmer more accessible voice', purely with how it would sound, read aloud, in mind. Apparently she has a whole linen cupboard full of such stories, written in different voices, that she doesn't know what to do with.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As for <i>Life After Truth</i>, Dovey considers this her attempt to document the post truth world we all now live in, as well as a little nod towards the Harvard motto, <i>Veritas,</i> and what life is like for it's students after graduation.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">Epigraph:</b> </div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">...<i>the Love-god, golden-haired, stretches his charmed bow | with twin arrows, and is aimed at happiness, | the other at life's confusion.</i></div></blockquote><p>Euripides, <i>Iphigenia in Aulis </i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u><b>First Line</b></u>:</div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><i>JOMO GÜNTER-RIEHL. Address: 200 Church Street, Apartment 7A, Tribeca, New York 10013. Occupation: Founder & Director of Gem Acquisitions, House of Riehl Luxury Jewelers. Gradutae Degrees: MBA, University of California, Berkeley '13.</i></div></blockquote><blockquote><p><i>Last time I wrote one of these updates it was to brag about my life.</i> </p></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u><b>Facts</b></u>:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>One of Dovey's favourite poets is <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/fernando-pessoa" target="_blank">Fernando Pessoa</a> - famous for his use of heteronyms.</li><li>She studied social anthropology at Harvard</li></ul></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u><b>My Reviews of her Other Works (so far)</b></u>:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2015/01/only-animals-by-ceridwen-dovey.html" target="_blank">Only the Animals</a></li><li><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2019/11/in-garden-of-fugitives-by-ceridwen-dovey.html" target="_blank">In the Garden of Fugitives</a></li></ul></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">#AustralianWomenWriters</div><i></i><p></p></div></div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-31153974651507593482020-12-10T18:55:00.008+11:002020-12-11T07:49:38.268+11:00The Living Sea of Waking Dreams | Richard Flanagan #AUSfiction<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ9eNVcmjm4P8WKX37QYg4GMelsZJBRDwbe25M2JH_ZTJjSere_g_gI8HSi3snj13dLuERc5lSriJL7eYjla_mDTXPaGLukSqmEcqxmdEsgwfN94JtCwFafR9ldqAQrWPNKJ-ZZtJFUSbG/s2048/the+living+sea+of+waking+dreams.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1332" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ9eNVcmjm4P8WKX37QYg4GMelsZJBRDwbe25M2JH_ZTJjSere_g_gI8HSi3snj13dLuERc5lSriJL7eYjla_mDTXPaGLukSqmEcqxmdEsgwfN94JtCwFafR9ldqAQrWPNKJ-ZZtJFUSbG/s320/the+living+sea+of+waking+dreams.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I know there is a lot of love for <i><b>The Living Sea in Waking Dreams</b></i> out there already. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It's not that I didn't love it, or even admire what Flanagan was trying to achieve, but it's not easy to read a book where you feel like you're being smashed over the head, not just with a hammer, but with the biggest, heaviest mallet that Flanagan could find, on every single page, at every single turn. With such a convoluted title, I was expecting more nuance and intellectual word play. Instead I got whack after whack of anger.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Flanagan has a lot to be angry about.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Last summer was ghastly for all of us in Australia. The bush fires were the worst we'd ever experienced. Our skies were grey with smoke and ash for month after month. The smell was inescapable, the heat was oppressive, the news catastrophic. It was easy to feel like it was the beginning of the end. Or the end of the beginning.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Writing a book while all of this is happening around you, can take its toll. It can be hard to find perspective. It can be hard not to rave and rant in absolute frustration. It can be hard to resist a good old preachy sermon. Flanagan did not resist.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There was nothing subtle in his story about vanishing body parts, a dying mother and a world in flames. The ghastly siblings, Anna & Terzo, who refused to let their mother die with any dignity or grace, were so implausible, I struggled to spend my time with them. Their brother, Tommy, was much nicer company and more realistically drawn, as was Anna's son, Gus. But then, Tommy was the actual carer. He was on hand in Tasmania to care for their ailing mother, while the other two simply jetted in and out whenever there was a problem to be solved. And Gus' response to a world on the brink of catastrophic climate change is to withdraw into a world of gaming and Youtube videos. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Flanagan ranted several times about social media and smartphone use. Clearly he is not someone who properly understands these online tools. Nothing about the way his characters engaged with their online world actually reflected anyone I know. He had all the right words, but just like Mr Books & I discussing Tiktok or Snapchat or memes with our boys, we show our ignorance at every turn, much to their amusement.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I feel like I'm the one ranting now!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I didn't <i>not</i> like the book. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It was an interesting read and an interesting concept, with all the vanishings that nobody noticed, that spoke for, or to, something even bigger and scarier that nobody is noticing either. However I felt no emotional connection to anyone in the story, except pity - a huge amount of pity, in fact - for the undying, lingering, suffering, decaying mother. I found myself talking out loud to Flanagan throughout the book, telling him to get out of the way of his own story.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I love it, though, when I discover the title in the story.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><blockquote><i>It wasn't enough for Terzo that their mother had not died. It wasn't enough that she lived in her sea of waking dreams. In Terzo's view, she had to </i>live like us<i>, rationally, in a rational universe.</i></blockquote><p>Except of course, Terzo's world, or his idea of living, were not as rational as he thought.</p><p>In the end, though, the occasional insights and beautiful writing were not enough for me to rate <i>The Living Sea of Waking Dreams</i> particularly highly. </p><blockquote><p><i>It astonished her that he had a view as deeply held felt as hers and yet entirely opposite, and which he held with an equal conviction. And in the face of someone who would not be persuaded by her, she did not seek to see the world for a moment as he saw it but instead was simply angry with him that his world was not her world.</i></p></blockquote><br />I'm in the process of putting together my best 20 reads of 2020. This one will not make the cut.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><u><b>Epigraph</b></u>: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">John Clare | Remembrances</div><i><div style="text-align: right;"><i></i></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: right;"><i>To the axe of the spoiler and self-interest fell a prey;</i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>And Crossberry Way and old Round Oak's narrow lane</i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>With its hollow trees like pulpits, I shall never see again:</i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>Inclosure like a Bonaparte let not a thing remain,</i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>It levelled every bush and tree and levelled every hill</i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>And hung the moles for traitors - though the brook is running still,</i></div><div style="text-align: right;"><i>It runs a naked brook, cold and chill.</i></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: right;"><i></i></div></i><br /><p></p><p><u><b>Opening Lines</b></u>:</p><p><i>1.</i></p><p><i>Her hand.</i></p><p><i>2. </i></p><p><i>It's impossible to say how the vanishing began or if it was already ended, thought Anna.</i></p><br /><u><b>Other Opinions</b></u>:<div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://theconversation.com/review-richard-flanagans-the-living-sea-of-waking-dreams-considers-griefs-big-and-small-147105" target="_blank">The Conversation | 8th Oct 2020 | Tony Hughes-d'Aeth</a></li><i><blockquote>The brilliance of Flanagan’s story and the deep power of this novel is in our witnessing of the end of the world. The death of Francie opens up a black hole in the family drawing Anna, Terzo and Tommy into its implacable singularity.</blockquote></i><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/oct/16/the-living-sea-of-waking-dreams-by-richard-flanagan-review-a-wrenching-response-to-a-devastated-world" target="_blank">The Guardian | 16th Oct 2020 | Beejay Silcox</a></li><blockquote><i>The Living Sea of Waking Dreams </i>[is]<i> at its best when it balances its vehemence with its beauty, when it leaves space for the reader to wander and wonder – eucalypt leaves swinging down like “lazing scimitars”; a moth thrumming its “Persian rug” wings.</i></blockquote><li><a href="https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/10/04/the-living-sea-of-waking-dreams-by-richard-flanagan/" target="_blank">Lisa @ANZ Lit Lover</a> found more to like than I did.</li></ul></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ObRclRCzFaPxWxamGHi1VJhzvU6xylejuSaUlfCsPoIZfFTT8-dU-HHVHBBPwlZES8Gbl-6CeeVWQwvV6sPDr1uEEHCHv5m-rdVnSFNjYrzYOGdV19JnDHf4iF7makbev3RPmfgMLJi1/s703/sea+of+waking+dreams+UK+cover.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="703" data-original-width="440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ObRclRCzFaPxWxamGHi1VJhzvU6xylejuSaUlfCsPoIZfFTT8-dU-HHVHBBPwlZES8Gbl-6CeeVWQwvV6sPDr1uEEHCHv5m-rdVnSFNjYrzYOGdV19JnDHf4iF7makbev3RPmfgMLJi1/s320/sea+of+waking+dreams+UK+cover.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">UK Cover</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I've been trying to take a photo of the beautiful green textured feather design on the hard cover underneath the glossy black dust jacket, that would do it justice. You'll have to take my word for it. It's much more interesting than the dust jacket image. The next time you're in a bookshop, carefully open the jacket and take a peek for yourself.</div><p></p></div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-55509284358305522412020-12-08T08:50:00.007+11:002020-12-09T17:34:34.137+11:00Stories & Shout Outs #35<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxjyRWPZZkSZZYVXbPTfHkIe8VLFlOgHjr5Q7BQWepl38xvcB3Z7ytpKjPDN1sbJ4l8iT8h_ME9egQfrrusnK5mQku0YlhN3iSD9kB4x36COfBibO9_qL-4O69G1X617m2VYDE9bieSOn_/s2048/Stories+and+Shout+Outs.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxjyRWPZZkSZZYVXbPTfHkIe8VLFlOgHjr5Q7BQWepl38xvcB3Z7ytpKjPDN1sbJ4l8iT8h_ME9egQfrrusnK5mQku0YlhN3iSD9kB4x36COfBibO9_qL-4O69G1X617m2VYDE9bieSOn_/s320/Stories+and+Shout+Outs.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">My Week</u>:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>An ordinary few days as my hayfever symptoms ramp up another notch.</li><li>Enjoying our mini-wine bottle Advent calendar - a lot!</li><li>Restacked my TBR piles into a semblance of order and jettisoned a few old ones I will never read now.</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><u>I Am Reading</u></b>:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The Living Sea of Waking Dreams | Richard Flanagan | 65% done</li><li>My Love Must Wait | Ernestine Hill | introduction read</li><li>Dearly | Margaret Atwood | 41% done</li><li>Throat | Ellen van Neervan | 75% done</li><li>How We Live Now: Scenes from the Pandemic | Bill Hayes | 34% done</li><li>The Salt Path | Raynor Winn | 46 % done</li><li>War and Peace | Leo Tolstoy | 87% done </li></ul></div><br /><u><b>Read But Not Reviewed</b></u><p></p><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Life After Truth | Ceridwen Dovey</li><li>Homeland Calling | edited by Ellen van Neervan</li></ul><div><br /></div></div><div><u><b>New To the Pile</b></u>:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A Cheesemonger's History of the British Isles | Ned Palmer</li><li>Women | Mihail Sebastian</li><li>To Calais, In Ordinary Time | James Meek</li><li>The Decameron Project: 29 Stories from the Pandemic | The New York Times</li><li>Yolk | Mary H K Choi</li><li>A House For Mr Biswas | V S Naipaul<br /></li><li>Klara and the Sun | Kazuo Ishiguro (with HUGE thanks to my wonderful A&U rep!)</li></ul><div><br /></div><div><u><b>On My Radar</b></u>:</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The best of 2020 posts.</li><ul><li>T<a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-lists/best-historical-fiction-of-2020/#the-pull-of-the-stars" target="_blank">he Kirkus Review - Historical Fiction</a></li><li><a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-lists/best-fiction-in-translation-of-2020/#the-golden-cage-lackberg" target="_blank">The Kirkus Review - Best Read in Translation</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/06/the-best-books-of-2020-chosen-by-booksellers" target="_blank">The Guardian Best Books of 2020 Chosen by Booksellers</a></li><li><a href="https://www.ft.com/booksof2020" target="_blank">The Financial Times </a></li><li><a href="https://www.readings.com.au/news/the-best-australian-fiction-books-of-2020" target="_blank">Best Australian Fiction - Readings Staff</a></li></ul><li>I look forward to Kate's always impressive compilation of all these best of lists later on this month.</li><ul><li>Her <a href="https://booksaremyfavouriteandbest.com/2019/12/16/the-top-50-from-the-best-books-of-2019-list-of-lists/#comments" target="_blank">2019 Big List</a> (I only read nine of the books that made up these lists, four of which made my own top 19 of 2019. A couple will also make it onto my 2020 best of list.)</li></ul><li>A Covid Chronicles update coming soon.</li><li>Nick @One Catholic Life's surprise big announcement for 2021....what will it be?</li><ul><li><b><u>UPDATE</u></b></li><li>OMG! <a href="https://nicksenger.com/onecatholiclife/announcing-the-aubrey-maturin-chapter-a-week-4-year-read-along-odyssey" target="_blank">It was this</a>!</li></ul></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Se4WH0H-yyjXme8fCiio2XDBGpiPQ0I3hakzhRe8Ssl1WIxylH6Afrpr62AkTz1DmLIdlszmusAHRDYLXUDQvT2MmUdYfVv85IB5AEknxuTne-B-B5jkGvbFCFwo28vIfm-FfQxJJ09-/s980/Aubrey-Maturin-Read-along-Banner-980x450.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="980" height="294" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Se4WH0H-yyjXme8fCiio2XDBGpiPQ0I3hakzhRe8Ssl1WIxylH6Afrpr62AkTz1DmLIdlszmusAHRDYLXUDQvT2MmUdYfVv85IB5AEknxuTne-B-B5jkGvbFCFwo28vIfm-FfQxJJ09-/w640-h294/Aubrey-Maturin-Read-along-Banner-980x450.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><ul><li>But how will I fit this into my schedule?</li><li>One of my all-time favourite series, read before I started blogging.</li><li>I'd LOVE to reread them all again (even the one or two duds) just to be back in Aubrey and Stephen's world...</li><li>And so I can blog about each one as well.</li><li>Oh, what to do!</li></ul></ul></div></div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-75632917422961326472020-12-04T21:13:00.016+11:002020-12-12T18:35:44.106+11:002021 Here We Come!<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6izluYgZKeFTKy5cP6DBeV4wYFt3nQxoCBtncbeA6p_bY9yK0T9Ecv3TanuZU-IjZx3ery8stv3pV-UwDRmC0n9VrdQYLSaquiwUmBoi3l2Lyb-yKkoai3-pNP9f3iKE9Qbpi4vKxOBe7/s1024/2020-21.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="493" data-original-width="1024" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6izluYgZKeFTKy5cP6DBeV4wYFt3nQxoCBtncbeA6p_bY9yK0T9Ecv3TanuZU-IjZx3ery8stv3pV-UwDRmC0n9VrdQYLSaquiwUmBoi3l2Lyb-yKkoai3-pNP9f3iKE9Qbpi4vKxOBe7/w400-h193/2020-21.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><span>2020 was the year of many things. Some planned and expected, like the <a href="https://nicksenger.com/onecatholiclife/announcing-the-2020-war-and-peace-chapter-a-day-read-along" target="_blank"><i>War and Peace</i> chapter-a-day readalong</a>. But many things unexpected and impossible to plan for as well. </span></p><p>Who knew that <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/non-fiction-november-week-three.html" target="_blank">Plague-Lit</a> would become a thing? </p><p>Or that I would waste one whole perfectly good reading month by feeling weird and distracted about a certain virus to the point of being <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/search?q=covid+chronicles" target="_blank">unable to read or blog or focus</a> on anything productive except for another 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle!</p><p>How can 2021 possibly compare?</p><p>2021 will still be a year dominated by Covid-19 - it's not going anywhere in a hurry folks. Any new vaccine will take time to get out there and there are no guarantees about mutations or other unknowns. I cannot see any overseas travel on our immediate horizon. Even inter-state travel is fraught with uncertainty and quickly changing border rules.</p><p>2021 is looking like another quiet, stay-close-to-home year. Which is perfect for tackling some of those reading projects I've been meaning to get to for ages.</p><p><span>Therefore 2021 will be Project-Read-My-Own-Books (PRMOB).</span></p><p><span>A number of possible reading challenges have already come to my attention and I am creating two of my own.</span></p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">The Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall Readalong</b><span>: Feb - May 2021</span></li><li><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">The Edith Trilogy Readalong</b><span>: Oct - Dec 2021</span></li></ol><p></p><p><span><a href="https://nicksenger.com/onecatholiclife/announcing-the-2021-chapter-a-day-read-along" target="_blank">Nick @One Catholic Life</a> is once again hosting his now-famous chapter-a-day readalong. This year we are reading several different books to make up the 365 chapters. </span></p><p><span>The schedule looks like this:</span></p><p><span></span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>The Divine Comedy</i>: January 1 to April 10 (100 cantos, or chapters= 100 days)</li><li><i>Quo Vadis</i>: April 11 to June 23 (73 chapters and an epilogue = 74 days)</li><li><b><i>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</i>: June 24 to August 21 (59 chapters)</b></li><li><b><i>David Copperfield</i>: August 22 to October 24 (64 chapters = 64 days)</b></li><li><i>The Three Musketeers:</i> October 25 to December 31 (67 chapters and an epilogue = 68 days)</li></ul><div>I only own two of these books -The Hunchback and DC. Which is perfect for filling in the gap between my two proposed reading projects! <i>David Copperfield</i> will be a reread, but since I last read it in 1988, I'm sure it will be like reading it anew.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nick is also about to <a href="https://nicksenger.com/onecatholiclife/announcing-the-aubrey-maturin-chapter-a-week-4-year-read-along-odyssey" target="_blank">embark on a 4 year odyssey</a> with lucky Jack Aubrey aboard the <a href="http://www.hmssurprise.org/" target="_blank">HMS Surprise</a>. Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series, or the Aubreyad, is one of my all-time favourites. I first read the series around 2003, when the movie starring Russell Crowe was released. It took me several years to complete, finishing with a huge nautical themed party hosted by my book club! (The series was not a group read, but each meeting, for about three or four years, I began with my Jack update. We all felt it was worth celebrating, with a big HUZZAH, at the end.)</div><div><br /></div><div>I have no idea if I will be able to keep to Nick's schedule and read the other stuff I want to read, so I will <span style="color: #8e7cc3;">pencil the books</span> in for now and cross my fingers!</div><div><br /></div><div>What does my reading year ahead look like?</div><div>A little like this.</div><p><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">December 2020:</b></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span><a href="http://inthebookcase.blogspot.com/2020/11/a-literary-christmas-2020-begins-link.html" target="_blank">Tarissa @In the Bookcase: A Literary Christmas</a> </span></li><ul><li>The Tailor of Gloucester | Beatrix Potter (1902)</li><li>Christmas at High Rising | Angela Thirkell (2013 - a collection of stories written during the 1930's & 40's and published together for the first time by Virago)</li><li>Plus a few assorted Christmas cook books</li></ul><li><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/classics-club-spin-25.html" target="_blank">CC Spin #25</a></li><ul><ul></ul><li>My Love Must Wait | Ernestine Hill (1941)</li></ul></ul><p></p><p><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">January 2021</b>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://bookjourney.net/2020/12/06/here-we-go-first-book-of-the-year-2021/" target="_blank">First Book of the Year with Sheila</a></li><ul><li><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Master and Commander | Patrick O'Brian (1969)</span></li></ul><li>Bill @TheAustralianLegend and his <a href="https://theaustralianlegend.wordpress.com/aww-gens/" target="_blank">Australian Women Writers Gen 3, Part II Week</a>, 17-23 Jan</li><ul><li>The Pea-Pickers | Eve Langley (1942)</li></ul></ul><p></p><p><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">February</b>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Wolf Hall | Hilary Mantel (2009) | reread</li></ul><p></p><p><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">March</b>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Post Captain | Patrick O'Brian (1972)</span></li><li>Bring Up the Bodies | Hilary Mantel (2012) | reread</li></ul><p></p><p><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">April</b>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Zoladdiction Month with <a href="https://klasikfanda.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Fanda @ClassicLit</a> </li><ul><li>The Sin of Father Mouret | La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret (1875) </li></ul><li><a href="http://www.stuckinabook.com/announcing-the-1936-club/" target="_blank">1936 Club</a> with Simon & Kaggsy, 12 - 18th April</li><ul><li>All that Swagger | Miles Franklin (1936)</li></ul></ul><p></p><p><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">May</b>: </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>The Mirror and the Light | Hilary Mantel (2020)</li><li><a href="https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/about/anne-tyler-re-read-project-2021/" target="_blank">Liz's 2021 Anne Tyler Reread Project</a></li><ul><li>The Accidental Tourist (1985) </li></ul></ul><p></p><p><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">June</b>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>For <a href="https://anzlitlovers.com/anzll-indigenous-literature-reading-list/" target="_blank">Lisa's Indigenous Literature Reading Week</a> in early July </li><ul><li>Benang | Kim Scott (1999)</li></ul><li>The Hunchback of Notre Dame | Alexandre Dumas (1831)</li><li><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">HMS Surprise | Patrick O'Brian (1973)</span></li></ul><p></p><p><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">July</b>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://thyme-for-tea.blogspot.com/2020/08/paris-in-july-2020-visiting-paris.html" target="_blank">Paris in July with Tamara</a></li><ul><li>A Maigret or two</li></ul><li><a href="https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/about/anne-tyler-re-read-project-2021/" target="_blank">Liz's 2021 Anne Tyler Reread Project</a></li><ul><li>Ladder of Years (1995) </li></ul></ul><p></p><p><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">August</b>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">The Mauritius Command | Patrick O'Brian (1977)</span></li><li>David Copperfield | Charles Dickens (1850) | reread</li></ul><p></p><p><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">September</b>:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/about/anne-tyler-re-read-project-2021/" target="_blank">Liz's 2021 Anne Tyler Reread Project</a></li><ul><li>Noah's Compass (2010)</li></ul></ul><p></p><p><u><b>October</b>:</u></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">Desolation Island | Patrick O'Brian (1978)</span></li><li>Grand Days | Frank Moorhouse (1993) | reread</li></ul><p></p><p><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">November</b>:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>AusReading Month</li><ul><li>Dark Palace | Frank Moorhouse (2000) | reread</li></ul><li>Non-Fiction November</li><li>Novellas in November</li><li>German Literature Month</li><li>Margaret Atwood Reading Month</li><ul><li>Hagseed (2016)</li></ul></ul><p></p><p><b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">December</b>:</p><p></p><ul><li>Cold Light | Frank Moorhouse (2011)
</li></ul><div><u><b>January 2022</b></u>:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>First Book of the Year with Sheila </li><ul><li><span style="color: #8e7cc3;">The Fortune of War | Patrick O'Brian (1979)</span></li></ul></ul></div><div><br /></div><u><b>The Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall Readalong</b></u>: Feb - May 2021<div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I read <i>Wolf Hall</i> in 2011 and <i>Bring Up the Bodies </i>in 2012.</li><li>2021 will make it nine years since I read the first two books. </li><li>Before reading the final instalment, I want to revisit the first two, to refresh my memory and to see if I still love them as much as I did the first time. </li><li>I would be delighted if anyone would like to join me on this journey back in time to Tudor England.</li><li>#WolfHallReadalong2021</li></ul><u><b><div><u><b><br /></b></u></div>The Edith Trilogy Readalong</b></u>: Oct - Dec 2021</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I first read <i>Grand Days</i> and <i>Dark Palace</i> in my late twenties and adored them, particularly Edith and everything about her.</li><li>I reread GD in 2006 and sadly found that somehow Edith and I had gone our separate ways. </li><li>The books ended up in the big book cull of 2007 as I prepared to move from the country to the city.</li><li>But then in 2011, Moorhouse published the final, long-awaited book in the trilogy and I knew straight away that I wasn't done with Edith after all.</li><li>This trilogy has been patiently waiting to be read complete since 2011.</li><li>If you have a hankering for the League of Nations or would like to read a book set in Canberra and the ACT for AusReading Month, then <i>Cold Light </i>is the book for you!</li><li>Who's in?</li><li>#TheEdithReadalong2021</li></ul><div>#PRMOB</div></div><div>#AttackMyStacks</div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-30430039516423614482020-12-01T07:09:00.289+11:002020-12-06T08:31:32.957+11:00AusReading Month - Wrap Up Post<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEKhl_KBy-QEClIlLMY1ojNmifxtmI5gsD8ri3jGfPw9mzuic7xpWhWosH2QPD7WY3dlmnKv3O-FOQoLNxOSRdupO8X4h-pszsi0HQpObW8WaZkM7Qou9LcJyj7-4ri3uSBcLVgUZ7vHaG/s1333/ausreadingmonth+2020.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="1333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEKhl_KBy-QEClIlLMY1ojNmifxtmI5gsD8ri3jGfPw9mzuic7xpWhWosH2QPD7WY3dlmnKv3O-FOQoLNxOSRdupO8X4h-pszsi0HQpObW8WaZkM7Qou9LcJyj7-4ri3uSBcLVgUZ7vHaG/s320/ausreadingmonth+2020.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As they say in show business, that's a wrap folks!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">AusReading Month is tucked away for another year. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In a strange year of uncertainly, Covid-19 and change, it has been wonderful to pause a while to read, blog and celebrate Australian literature.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Thank you to everyone who contributed with reviews, comments and social media activity. Congratulations to the many who managed to combine two or three reading events in November with the one book - bravo!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A very special thanks goes to super-contributors, NancyElin and ShelleyRae for their outstanding reading and reviewing efforts across such diverse genres. The Fairy Bread Award goes to both of you, for your hundreds and thousands of AusReading Month words!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9GvGK_po6rKRqWPUzZH30W45lEeykQrHZox69FGNgNo4jMhDrqQlSQyaPy8KR2FEw2wD3WnyGdqdkoVX26MSaJqqqRomrZ6jSBldFoauYL33pUUt5yMoWqDjqtezAlPucfZCL-oKSSquw/s620/fairy+bread.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="620" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9GvGK_po6rKRqWPUzZH30W45lEeykQrHZox69FGNgNo4jMhDrqQlSQyaPy8KR2FEw2wD3WnyGdqdkoVX26MSaJqqqRomrZ6jSBldFoauYL33pUUt5yMoWqDjqtezAlPucfZCL-oKSSquw/w400-h225/fairy+bread.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">(incidentally International Fairy Bread day is celebrated on the 24th Nov)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">For the first time ever, I have been organised enough to list all the incoming reviews in one final post, for future reference. I hope you find something inspiring in the list below, when next you wish to read an Australian book.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">While you're waiting for next November's AusReading Month, you can cultivate your Australian reading habits by joining in these upcoming Australian reading events:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://theaustralianlegend.wordpress.com/aww-gens/aww-gen-3/" target="_blank">Bill @The Australian Legend</a> will be hosting Australian Women Writers Gen reading week <b style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;">January 17th - 23rd, 2021.</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;"> We're up to Gen III, Part II. It is not necessary to have been involved in any of the previous reading weeks to join in this one. A list of possible reading choices are available via the link on Bill's name.</span></li><li><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Molengo; font-size: 15.4px;">Every <b>July</b>, to coincide with Naidoc Week, <a href="https://anzlitlovers.com/anzll-indigenous-literature-reading-list/" target="_blank">Lisa @ANZ LitLovers</a> hosts Indigenous Literature Reading Week</span> to encourage us to read and learn from Indigenous authors.</li></ul></div><div><u><b>The List</b></u>:</div><div><br /></div><div>Susan Allott | The Silence (crime fiction) | <a href="https://grabthelapels.com/2020/12/01/the-silence/" target="_blank">reviewed by Grab the Lapels</a></div><div>Robbie Arnott | Flames (fiction) | <a href="https://readingandwatchingtheworld.home.blog/2020/11/28/review-no-120-flames-by-robbie-arnott-australia/" target="_blank">reviewed by Reading & Viewing the World</a></div><div>Thea Astley | An Item From the Late News (fiction) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/28/ausreadingmonth2020-thea-astley/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Capel Boake | Painted Clay (classic fiction) | <a href="https://theblankgarden.com/2020/11/30/review-painted-clay-capel-boake/" target="_blank">reviewed by The Painted Garden</a></div><div>Karen Brooks | The Lady Brewer of London (historical fiction) | <a href="https://bookdout.wordpress.com/2020/11/20/review-the-lady-brewer-of-london-by-karen-brooks/" target="_blank">reviewed by Book'd Out</a></div><div>Ben Brooksby | The Naked Farmer (non-fiction) | <a href="https://bookdout.wordpress.com/2020/11/13/review-the-naked-farmer-by-ben-brooksby/" target="_blank">reviewed by Book'd Out</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Ada Cambridge | The Three Sisters (classic fiction) | <a href="https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2020/11/21/book-review-ada-cambridge-the-three-miss-kings/" target="_blank">reviewed by Adventures in Reading, Running & Working from Home</a></div><div>Gabrielle Carey | Only Happiness Here (biomemoir) | <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/only-happiness-here-gabrielle-carey-aww.html" target="_blank">reviewed by Brona's Books</a></div><div>Lauren Aimee Curtis | Dolores (novella) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/17/ausreadingmonth2020-dolores-novella/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Antony Dapiran | City On Fire: The Fight For Hong Kong (non-fiction) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/16/ausreadingmonth2020-city-on-fire-hong-kong/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div>Tom Doig | Hazelwood (non-fiction) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/05/ausreadingmonth2020-hazelwood/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div>Ceridwen Dovey | Life After Truth (fiction) | <a href="https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/11/05/life-after-truth-by-ceridwen-dovey/" target="_blank">reviewed by ANZ LitLovers</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Ali Cobby Eckermann | Ruby Moonlight (poetry) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/24/ausreadingmonth2020-ruby-moonlight-poetry/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Nigel Featherstone | Fall On Me (novella) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/14/ausreadingmonth2020-fall-on-me-novella/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div>Richard Flanagan | The Sound of One Hand Clapping (fiction) | <a href="https://bookertalk.com/one-hand-clapping/" target="_blank">reviewed by Booker Talk</a></div><div>Kate Forsyth & Belinda Murrell | Searching For Charlotte (memoir) | <a href="https://bookdout.wordpress.com/2020/11/25/review-searching-for-charlotte-by-kate-forsyth-and-belinda-murrell/" target="_blank">reviewed by Book'd Out</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Helen Garner | The Spare Room (novella) | <a href="https://746books.com/2020/11/04/no-461-the-spare-room-by-helen-garner/" target="_blank">reviewed by 746 Books </a>and <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-spare-room-helen-garner-aww.html" target="_blank">Brona's Books</a></div><div>Dennis Glover | Factory 19 (fiction) | <a href="https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/11/03/factory-19-by-dennis-glover/" target="_blank">reviewed by ANZ LitLovers</a></div><div>Anna Goldsworthy | Melting Moments (fiction) <a href="https://whisperinggums.com/2020/11/27/anna-goldsworthy-melting-moments-bookreview/" target="_blank">reviewed by Whispering Gums</a></div><div>Lisa Gorton | Empirical (poetry) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/27/ausreadingmonth2020-empirical-poet-lisa-gorton/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div>Charmaine Papertalk Green | Nganajungu Yagu (poetry) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/03/ausreadingmonth-2020-nganajungu-yagu/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a><div>Lana Guineay | Dark Wave (novella) | <a href="https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/11/06/dark-wave-by-lana-guineay/" target="_blank">reviewed by ANZ LitLovers</a><div>Stephanie Gunn | Icefall (novella) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/20/ausreadingmonth2020-icefall/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Rosalie Ham | The Dressmaker's Secret (historical fiction) | <a href="https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/11/25/the-dressmakers-secret-by-rosalie-ham/" target="_blank">reviewed by ANZ LitLovers</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Gail Jones | Our Shadow (fiction) | <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/our-shadows-gail-jones-ausfiction.html" target="_blank">reviewed by Brona's Books</a></div><div><br /></div><div>John Kinsella (Displaced: A Rural Life (memoir) | <a href="https://whisperinggums.com/2020/11/15/john-kinsella-displaced-a-rural-life-bookreview/" target="_blank">reviewed by Whispering Gums</a></div><div>Dominic Knight | Dictionary (non-fiction) | <a href="https://bookdout.wordpress.com/2020/11/27/review-2020-dictionary-by-dominic-knight/" target="_blank">reviewed by Book'd Out</a></div><div>Dr Karl Kruszelnicki | Dr. Karl’s Surfing Through Science (non-fiction) | <a href="https://bookdout.wordpress.com/2020/11/04/review-dr-karls-surfing-through-science-by-dr-karl-kruszelnicki/" target="_blank">reviewed by Book'd Out</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Penelope Layland | Things I Thought To Tell You Since I Saw You Last (poetry) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/22/ausreadingmonth2020-penelope-layland-poet/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div>Bella Li | Argosy (poetry) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/09/ausreadingmonth2020-bella-li/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div>Melissa Lucashenko | Too Much Lip (fiction) | r<a href="https://grabthelapels.com/2020/11/24/too-much-lip/" target="_blank">eviewed by Grab the Lapels</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Charlotte McConaghy | The Last Migration (fiction) |<a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-last-migration-charlotte-mcconaghy.html" target="_blank"> reviewed by Brona's Books</a></div><div>Fleur McDonald | The Shearer's Wife (crime fiction) | <a href="https://bookdout.wordpress.com/2020/11/18/review-the-shearers-wife-by-fleur-mcdonald/" target="_blank">reviewed by Book'd Out</a></div><div>Sophie McNeill | We Can't Say We Didn't Know (non-fiction) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/13/ausreadingmonth2020-sophie-mcneill/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div>Wayne Macauley | Simpson Returns (novella) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/26/ausreadingmonth2020-simpson-returns-novella/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div>Melina Marchetta | The Place on Dalhousie (fiction) | <a href="https://theaustralianlegend.wordpress.com/2020/11/08/the-place-on-dalhousie/" target="_blank">reviewed by The Australian Legend</a></div><div>Lucie Morris-Marr | Fallen (non-fiction) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/10/ausreadingmonth2020-fallen/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div>Les Murray | Dog Fox Field (poetry) | <a href="http://reesewarner.blogspot.com/2020/11/les-murrays-dog-fox-field.html" target="_blank">reviewed by Typings</a></div><div>Les Murray | Waiting For the Past (poetry) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/29/ausreadingmonth2020-les-murray/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Joanna Nell | The Great Escape from Woodlands Nursing Home (fiction) | <a href="https://bookdout.wordpress.com/2020/11/03/review-the-great-escape-from-woodlands-nursing-home-by-joanna-nell/" target="_blank">reviewed by Book'd Out</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Henry Handel Richardson | The Fortunes of Richard Mahony (classic fiction) | <a href="https://journey-and-destination.blogspot.com/2020/12/an-australian-classic-fortunes-of.html" target="_blank">reviewed by Journey & Destination</a></div><div>Mirandi Riwoe | Stone Sky Gold Mountain (historical fiction) | <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/stone-sky-gold-mountain-mirandi-riwoe.html" target="_blank">reviewed by Brona's Books</a></div>Tansy Roberts | Girl Reporter (novella) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/25/ausreadingmonth2020-girl-reporter-novella/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div>Josephine Rowe | Writers on Writers: Beverley Farmer (non-fiction novella) | <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/writers-on-writers-josephine-rowe-on.html" target="_blank">reviewed by Brona's Books</a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"></div>
<br /></div><div>Kirli Saunders | Kindred (poetry) | <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/kindred-kirli-saunders-poetry.html" target="_blank">reviewed by Brona's Books</a></div><div>Margaret Simons | Penny Wong: Passion and Principle (biography) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/19/ausreadingmonth2020-penny-wong/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div>Suzanne Smith | The Altar Boys (non-fiction) | <a href="https://nancyelin.wordpress.com/2020/11/21/ausreadingmonth2020-the-altar-boys/" target="_blank">reviewed by Nancy</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Angela Thirkell | Trooper to the Southern Cross (historical fiction) | <a href="https://theaustralianlegend.wordpress.com/2020/11/12/trooper-to-the-southern-cross/" target="_blank">reviewed by The Australian Legend</a></div><div>Nicole Trope | The Girl Who Never Came Home (crime fiction) | <a href="https://bookdout.wordpress.com/2020/11/26/review-the-girl-who-never-came-home-by-nicole-trope/" target="_blank">reviewed by Book'd Out</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Elizabeth and Her German Garden | Elizabeth von Armin (classic fiction) | <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/elizabeth-and-her-german-garden.html" target="_blank">reviewed by Brona's Books</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Jessica White | Hearing Maud: A Journey For a Voice (memoir) | <a href="https://grabthelapels.com/2020/11/17/hearing-maud/" target="_blank">reviewed by Grab the Lapels</a></div><div>Anne Richardson Williams | Unconventional Means: The Dream Down Under (memoir) | <a href="https://grabthelapels.com/2020/11/19/unconventional-means/" target="_blank">reviewed by Grab the Lapels</a></div><div>Charlotte Wood | The Natural Way of All Things (fiction) | <a href="https://consumedbyink.ca/2020/11/29/ausreadingmonth-the-natural-way-of-things-by-charlotte-wood/" target="_blank">reviewed by Consumed by Ink</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Georgina Young | Loner (YA) | <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/loner-georgine-young-aww.html" target="_blank">reviewed by Brona's Books</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Please let me know if I missed your AusReading Month review, so I can add it in.</div><div>See you next year!</div><div><br /></div>
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<!--end InLinkz script--><div></div></div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-10773280222476780712020-11-30T19:47:00.011+11:002020-12-01T08:33:29.871+11:00AusReading Month 2020 Bingo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjanmgzErJZv-K-1ebkL2AEqkT27FXiFOE5VdOIV3IlF7AahylR7tLPCnHG4GS09oYCStQFP_kRLCvY7OX63VT1gGRVgI0ZkZ3XfCyanLGHQrbKCPIOPElY-MfyOjpg_l2Z9YTJVthlq-HV/s970/x9ruhKYW83E0sEs5rTuR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="970" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjanmgzErJZv-K-1ebkL2AEqkT27FXiFOE5VdOIV3IlF7AahylR7tLPCnHG4GS09oYCStQFP_kRLCvY7OX63VT1gGRVgI0ZkZ3XfCyanLGHQrbKCPIOPElY-MfyOjpg_l2Z9YTJVthlq-HV/w640-h290/x9ruhKYW83E0sEs5rTuR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I had planned on squeezing in one more post for AusReading Month, but our Sunday in Sydney was the first super hot summer's day of the season, with temperatures going 40℃ + around NSW. After grabbing a quick early morning walk before the heat ramped up, I stayed inside with the air con, lazing around, reading. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">After lunch I summoned up enough energy to finish my Margaret Atwood post, but that was all the brain power I could manage!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Normally I'm a 1st of December Christmas tree decorator, but we will be out on Tuesday evening. So I decided to go early with the tree. At 5pm I made a Christmastini and tuned up the Christmas playlist on Spotify. I then spent a lovely hour remembering all the wonderful people in my life who have given me decorations over the years, the many holidays shared with Mr Books where we bought more decorations for the tree and the many childhood decorations belonging to the boys at various ages. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When people ask me what my tree theme is (do people actually have tree themes?) I simply reply, 'love and memories'.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">All that is to say, I woke up this morning, grateful for the cool change that blew in last night but regretful that I had no post for the last day of AusReading Month (the official wrap up post is scheduled for tomorrow).</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Some of you may be wondering why I had a day left over. And some of you may have noticed that I did not post an Anticipation post. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Blogger ate it!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The recent batch of Blogger updates has made editing posts on a touch screen laptop trickier. When I think that I am highlighting one word or a phrase to delete/cut, it will delete/cut the entire post! A quick hit of the 'undo' button would normally rectify this, but the new & improved Blogger has a 5 second autosave function (that cannot be turned off or adjusted). Before I had even realised what had happened, it had autosaved the blank page and the chance to 'undo' was gone. Forever!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The same thing happened with my<i> Elizabeth and Her German Garden</i> post. Thankfully I was in preview mode as part of the editing process. Although it was not possible to copy and paste the preview screen, Mr Books was able to save it as a PDF that I could then copy and paste back in. Without Mr Books' tech know-how, I wouldn't have had the heart to start that rather long post all over again. Which is how I felt about the all-but-completed Anticipation post. Gone forever. Leaving me with one empty slot for AusReading Month.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Hence the ramble/rant instead.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I can tell you that I have several Australian books almost finished. However, they will now have to count in next years stats!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Ceridwen Dovey | Life After Truth <b>57% completed</b></li><li>Richard Flanagan | The Living Sea of Waking Dreams <b>24% completed</b></li><li>Richard Fidler | The Golden Maze <b>36% completed</b></li><li>Ellen van Neerven | Throat <b>75% completed</b></li><li>Julia Baird | Phosphoresce <b>23% completed</b></li></ul><div><br /></div><div>My BINGO card ended up being a hodgepodge of squares, with a plus formation through the middle. I guess that is officially two lines, which makes me a GREY NOMAD this year.</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Our Shadows | Gail Jones <b>WA</b></li><li>Stone Sky Gold Mountain | Mirandi Riwoe <b>QLD</b></li><li>The Spare Room | Helen Garner<b> VIC</b></li><li>Only Happiness Here | Gabrielle Carey <b>NSW</b></li><li>Josephine Rowe on Beverley Farmer <b>TAS</b></li><li>The Last Migration | Charlotte McConaghy<b> FREE</b></li></ul></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3_rSd9MzOSwfDymjUPLWdV_h4TPVGM8LpLCczBLYyyHc2aqKjO7ARDRE1iKCaIinHD6BaSQyFjVotVxLdcGQv3H7g3b7RkszfQlq1IUR5wV7kIyh_y1qj4wnKQDulYpJfA6zMpjlXa48g/s320/Ausreadingmonth+bingo.png" /></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In honour of AusReading Month I made my latest CC Spin list an all-Australian affair. My winning spin was Ernestine Hill's <i><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/classics-club-spin-25.html" target="_blank">My Love Must Wait</a></i>. It's a chunkster at 560 pgs, so I'm glad I have until the end of January 2021 to read it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Hill also wrote a book called <i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/9477663" target="_blank">The Territory</a></i>, about her time in the Northern Territory in the 1940's. Note to self - remember this for my 2021 BINGO card!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Note to self II - create a list of books and authors for Canberra and the ACT.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">#AusReadingMonth2020</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>
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<!--end InLinkz script-->Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-37203938886475415772020-11-29T17:24:00.006+11:002020-11-29T17:33:42.575+11:00The Penelopiad | Margaret Atwood #Novella<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-CyhxFnp019-NtSRc_pEd-U2QRMkXBJXfx6tQnRskO05gpVGvv1FWgVekX2SCat9ML7ggB15V4fIDE3gzQ55sNhZ5asJsSFnh9zYtnRIlubEisLVenX0ha2luTtVC1Oc5W6rUsVoEkJ-/s2048/the_penelopiad-paperback-cover-9781786892485.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-CyhxFnp019-NtSRc_pEd-U2QRMkXBJXfx6tQnRskO05gpVGvv1FWgVekX2SCat9ML7ggB15V4fIDE3gzQ55sNhZ5asJsSFnh9zYtnRIlubEisLVenX0ha2luTtVC1Oc5W6rUsVoEkJ-/s320/the_penelopiad-paperback-cover-9781786892485.jpg" /></a></div><blockquote>Independent Scottish publisher Canongate Books brings together some of the world’s finest writers, in the Myth series, each of whom has retold a myth from various cultures in a contemporary and memorable way. The project was conceived in 1999 by Jamie Byng, owner of Canongate, who hopes that 100 titles will eventually be published in the series.</blockquote><blockquote>Authors in the series include Karen Armstrong (A Short History of Myth), A.S. Byatt (Ragnarok), David Grossman (Lion's Honey), Natsuo Kirino (The Goddess Chronicle), Alexander McCall Smith (Dream Angus), Philip Pullman (The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ), Ali Smith (Girl Meets Boy), Michel Faber (The Fire Gospel), Victor Pelevin (The Helmet of Horror), Jeanette Winterson (The Weight), Su Tong (Binu and the Great Wall), Milton Hatoum (Orphans of Eldorado), Klas Östergren (The Hurricane Party), Dubravka Ugrešić (Baba Laid an Egg), Salley Vickers (Where Three Roads Meet), and of course, Margaret Atwood with <i><b>The Penelopiad</b></i>.</blockquote><p><br /><i>The Penelopiad</i> was one of the first books published in this series, in 2005. Simply put, it's the story of Penelope as she waits for the return of Odysseus. But this is Margaret Atwood at her best, so much, much more is going on once you enter this world.</p><p>Penelope is dead and 'living' out her time in the underworld. From this place of eternal wandering, she decides to do some story-telling of her own, to set the story straight. Her story is interwoven with the voices of her very own Greek chorus - the twelve maids hanged by Odysseus on his return.</p><p><i></i></p><blockquote><i>Our various mothers | Spawned merely, lambed, farrowed, littered, | Foaled, whelped and kittened, brooded, | hatched out their clutch. | We were animal young, to be disposed of at | will, | Sold, drowned in the well, traded, used, | discarded when bloomless. | He was fathered; we simply appeared </i></blockquote><br />Why were they hanged? What crime did they commit? What was Penelope's role in their downfall?<p>Atwood teases out these questions as she explores the roles of women in Ancient Greek life (and the many similarities to modern life) in verse and in prose. </p><blockquote><p><i>I was a kind girl...I knew I would have to have something to offer instead of beauty. I was clever, everyone said so...but cleverness is a quality a man likes to have in his wife as long as she is some distance away from him. Up close, he'll take kindness and day of the week, if there's nothing more alluring to be had.</i></p></blockquote><br />The role of patience, waiting and the appearance of submission hide the reality of women's lives lived away from the male gaze. The friendship and jealousy, the camaraderie and gossip that makes up one's daily life, when one has nothing else to do.<div><br /></div><div>There are many misunderstandings and many conversations misconstrued. Stories and myths are created to cover up deceit and misadventures. Where the truth lies, nobody really knows. Not even Penelope, in the end. Or the maids. All they know is that they were murdered and that their '<i>most pitiable end</i>' has gone down in history unremarked and uncontested.</div><div><br /></div><div>It pays to be conversant with <i>The Iliad </i>and <i>The Odyssey,</i> to appreciate where Atwood has used original narrative or woven in her own interpretation. Every word is wrought with an older meaning which leads back to the original stories. However the snarky, sardonic voice is pure Atwood!</div><div><br /></div><div>I loved every minute with this novella and I plan to reread it at some point (maybe when I finally get around to reading Emily Wilson's translation of <i>The Odyssey</i>).<br /><br /> <p><u><b>First Lines</b></u>: </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>'Now that I am dead I know everything</i>. This is what I wished would happen, but like so many of my wishes it failed to come true.'</li></ul><u><b>Favourite Quote:</b></u><br /><br /><i>We had no voice,</i><br /><i>We had no name,</i><br /><i>We had no choice,</i><br /><i>We had one face,</i><br /><i>One face the same</i><p></p><p></p></div><div><i><br /></i></div><div>Have you read any of the other Myth series books?</div><div>Can you recommend which one I should try next?</div><div>I'm leaning towards Jeanette Winterson and A. S. Byatt at this point.</div><div><br /></div><div>#NovellasinNovember</div><div>#MARM2020</div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-11657919831425787242020-11-28T08:32:00.005+11:002020-11-28T08:33:39.194+11:00Kindred | Kirli Saunders #Poetry<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZq5LbHr56JDnacva48CJbuueCaE9NuK3QHFxDAtGhAeLo4MIJv_1Wcya2lbJgE1efBRPUb-xQL_eN_TorVgcQD0AVuHbmMPQx_6NjoikCUf1DRiwdU6x49GP86Pf55_r6Px2b4m_re6dp/s600/Kindred.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZq5LbHr56JDnacva48CJbuueCaE9NuK3QHFxDAtGhAeLo4MIJv_1Wcya2lbJgE1efBRPUb-xQL_eN_TorVgcQD0AVuHbmMPQx_6NjoikCUf1DRiwdU6x49GP86Pf55_r6Px2b4m_re6dp/s320/Kindred.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">2019 was the International Year of Indigenous Languages:</div><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">It is through language that we communicate with the world, define our identity, express our history and culture, learn, defend our human rights and participate in all aspects of society, to name but a few.<br /><br />Through language, people preserve their community’s history, customs and traditions, memory, unique modes of thinking, meaning and expression. They also use it to construct their future. Language is pivotal in the areas of human rights protection, good governance, peace building, reconciliation, and sustainable development.<br /><br />A person’s right to use his or her chosen language is a prerequisite for freedom of thought, opinion and expression, access to education and information, employment, building inclusive societies, and other values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. <br /><br />Many of us take it for granted that we can conduct our lives in our home languages without any constraints or prejudice. But this is not the case for everyone.</blockquote><p><br />Part of the shameful role of colonial behaviour in Australia since 1788, is the conscious and unconscious effort to create a White Australia that only spoke English. This required new immigrants to forget their native language and assimilate by only speaking English, but more significantly, it completely denied Aboriginal Australians the dignity or right to speak their own languages.<i> </i></p><p>I grew up in an Australia that was almost empty of Aboriginal words.</p><p>Many rural towns and suburbs retained names derived from an Indigenous term to describe the local area and some of our plants and animals have a similar history. As a teenager, in particular, an Indigenous word would enter our language colloquially, but there was no systemic teaching, understanding or use of local languages.</p><p>Until recently.</p><p>Slowly, slowly, Indigenous languages are being revived, encouraged and celebrated. Dictionaries are being created, recordings are being made and Indigenous writers and artists are using their own words more often in their work.</p><p>Two of the poems in Saunders' collection, <b><i>Kindred</i></b>, caught my eye for this reason.</p><div style="text-align: left;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><b>My Apologies </b>(written on Dharawal Country with Dharawal translations informed by Aunty Jodi Edwards) finishes with a list of English words, followed by their Dharawal counterparts.</li></ul></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>as I recite a monologue | of apology | on behalf of anyone | that has ever branded you | with a name that isn't yours</i></div><div><br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>And <b>Wirritjiribin: </b><b>Lyrebird - The one who Remembers</b><b> </b>(written on Gundungurra Country with Gundungurra translations informed by Aunty Velma Mulcahy and Aunty Trish Levett) contains two stanzas that mirror each other. One is written in part English/part Gundungurra, the other is a full English translation.</li></ul></div><div><i>arise wirritjiribin | tangara your truth</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Saunders divides the book into three sections: Mother, Earth Child and Lover. Very delicately, she draws our attention to grief, loss and trauma <i>new trees | old scars | there is trauma here</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Nature and being on country is the healer. She reveals safe places, tender new growth and the journey back home. Home to country, home to culture, home to language.</div><div><br /></div><div><u><b>Facts</b></u>:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://kirlisaunders.com/" target="_blank">Kirli Saunders</a> is a proud Gunai woman, born on Gundungurra Country with ties to the Yuin, Biripi and Gadigal people.</li><li>Interview for <i>Kindred</i> in the <a href="https://nit.com.au/kirli-saunders-bares-us-to-bright-moments-in-debut-poetry-collection/" target="_blank">National Indigenous Times</a> 27th May 2019.</li><li>Saunders was made Gunai Woman NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year 2020.</li><li>She developed <a href="https://redroomcompany.org/projects/poetry-first-languages/" target="_blank">Poetry in First Languages project </a>for Red Room Poetry.</li><li>Inaugural winner Daisy Utemorrah Award 2019</li><li>Winner University of Canberra ATSI Poetry prize 2019</li><li>Shortlist ABIA Award Small Publishers' Adult Book of the Year 2020</li></ul><div>#AusReadingMonth2020</div></div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-17748988879318630872020-11-27T19:10:00.002+11:002020-11-28T15:52:58.964+11:00Writers on Writers: Josephine Rowe on Beverley Farmer #AWW<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaWIFifbjlOzWD3u5quzObY_03Xy9q9YCwuYr2Djvj0UemKsQuoM9CQnoljasdD4xSnOiDEGn3GTruxyUCqjSsdgeRydlATWUXu2bqmv42KrUYWXiHe2hrjAhA9yIPBY3HiqciFI2yTvNv/s1105/cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1105" data-original-width="687" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaWIFifbjlOzWD3u5quzObY_03Xy9q9YCwuYr2Djvj0UemKsQuoM9CQnoljasdD4xSnOiDEGn3GTruxyUCqjSsdgeRydlATWUXu2bqmv42KrUYWXiHe2hrjAhA9yIPBY3HiqciFI2yTvNv/s320/cover.jpg" /></a></div><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Writers on Writers<br /><br />In the Writers on Writers series, leading authors reflect on an Australian writer who has inspired and influenced them. Provocative and crisp, these books start a fresh conversation between past and present, shed new light on the craft of writing, and introduce some intriguing and talented authors and their work.<br /><br />Published by Black Inc. in association with the University of Melbourne and State Library Victoria.</blockquote><p><br /><i><b>J</b></i><b><i>osephine Rowe on Beverley Farmer</i></b> was my first foray into the <i>Writers on Writers</i> series. It was a very literary affair. A non-fiction novella if you like (and I do, which means this can also be part of Novellas in November!)</p><p>I confess that I did not know very much about Farmer prior to reading this book, and I'm not sure I know a whole lot more now. But I suspect, she was that kind of person. Very private. Extremely shy. But I am curious to know more.</p><p></p><blockquote><i>"This far, and no further. </i>A familiar refrain of Farmer's throughout her writing life."</blockquote><p></p><br />As Rowe explains, '<i>her characters are outsiders, foreigners, fringe dwellers. Expats and exiles, those returning home after long absences</i>...' much like Farmer (and Rowe) themselves. It certainly seemed that part of Rowe's fascination for Farmer, was for what Farmer's life and work could tell her about herself as well. <div><br /></div><div>Most of the essay consists of Rowe discussing the nature of writing (her own and Farmer's) and what it means to be a reader (especially of Farmer's work). She notes that the '<i>conditions from which we enter, and to which we return when we lift our attention from the page, have bearing on wherever we are taken from the time in between.</i>’ </div><div><br /></div><div>Rowe reveals Farmer's habit of notebook journaling and her ability for close, sustained observation as well as her belief in the age-old advice about keep on writing until something poetic pops out. </div><div><i></i></div><blockquote><div><i>every encounter with a text is influenced by the circumstances in which we read.</i></div><div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>Like Farmer and Rowe, I am drawn to wondering about the life not lived. The shadows in our past and our '<i>reckonings with the past</i>' that can produce a longing for elsewhere that we have all, no doubt, felt at times. This longing, though, seemed to drive Farmer constantly - as a source of creativity and a way to fend off loneliness.<i><blockquote>Across Farmer's works there has always been an attraction to those beings who occupy two worlds...Once one has lived elsewhere, lived differently, it doesn't matter whether she stays to forge a new life or turns back towards the old, or moves on once again; there will always be the shadow, the after-image, of the life not lived.</blockquote></i><div><br /></div><div>Farmer was also on a mission for authenticity, with a '<i>fastidious concern for accuracy... for the evolutions of language in all its slipperiness.</i>' She concerned herself with the all the opportunities we have to misunderstand each other and for being misunderstood ourselves. The power she has given to words, makes me feel a little nervous about reading her work. What if I don't understand? Or misunderstand? How would I even know?</div><div><br /></div><div>Rowe was finishing this book as coronavirus escalated from epidemic to pandemic. '<i>We speak of this time as an intermission, a hiatus</i>.' It made me wonder if that is a position that those of us in Australia are privileged to hold. We have had some lockdowns and spikes over the past nine months, but we basically have the virus under control for now. Being an island state has given us the ability to quarantine any and all incoming visitors. Since we cannot travel overseas easily or safely, the Australian tourism industry is, subsequently, booming, simply because we're all holidaying at home. It's easy to feel that any suffering we have had has been '<i>an intermission, a hiatus</i>', a time in which we could be creative, recharge our batteries and declutter our homes! But I'm sure there are many here and abroad who feel very differently. Maybe what we're both trying to say here, though, is that solitude, or hiatus, and the reason for that intermission, is just another one of the circumstances that can play on a reader and a writer in different ways.</div><div><br /></div><div>I am curious to see what kind of Covid-Lit emerges from this time. At the moment it seems to mostly be a little aside at the end of the book, where the author reveals how far through the editing process they were when the virus changed all our lives. It's like a place marker. </div><div><br /></div><div>I'm sure, though, that as part of the hiatus, many writers are penning their next book, that may or may not be set in a Covid-normal world. Whatever choice they make, their future readers will also bring their own understandings - to compare experiences or to wonder why the author chose to ignore it completely. Interesting times makes for interesting reading, we hope.</div><div><br /></div>Rowe is the author of the novel <i>A Faithful, Loving Animal</i> (longlisted for the 2017 Miles Franklin) and three short story collections including <i>Here Until August</i> (shortlisted for the 2020 Stella Prize & QLD Literary Award).<div><br /></div><div><u><b>Favourite Quote</b></u>:</div><div><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">Our relationship with the past and those who populate it is constantly shifting, as is our awareness of the ways in which it has shaped us....In returning to our first stories, those most deeply etched, are we seeking the comfort of...the familiar arrangements and foretokenings a means of retelling the story ourselves so that we might reconcile ourselves to an ending? </blockquote><br /><b><u>Facts:</u></b></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Beverley Farmer - born in Melbourne 7 February 1941 </li><li>Died 16 April 2018</li><li>Short story anthologies:</li><ul><li>Snake (1982)</li><li>Milk (1983)</li><li>Home Time (1985)</li><li>Collected Stories (1987)</li><li>This Water: Five Tales (2017)</li></ul>Novellas:<br /><ul><li>Alone (1980)</li><li>The Seal Woman (1992)</li><li>The House in the Light (1995)</li></ul>Other:<br /><ul><li>A Body of Water: A Year's Notebook (1990)</li><li>The Bone House (2005)</li></ul><li>A Body of Water has just been republished by <a href="https://giramondopublishing.com/books/a-body-of-water-a-years-notebook/" target="_blank">Giramondo Publishing</a>.</li><li>1984 – NSW Premier's Literary Awards, Christina Stead Prize for Fiction for <i>Milk</i></li><li>1996 – Miles Franklin Award shortlist for <i>The House in the Light</i></li><li>2009 – Patrick White Award</li><li>2018 – The Stella Prize longlist for <i>This Water</i></li><li>Stan Grant on Thomas Keneally due May 2021.</li></ul><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6vMUw4Dlnf4VpAK80pF4QnC9MN1qC3qHJUk5M9RdY4NZPsf14dMlmtLxigSwwXNo9FeL-i17hDDLRyqahjV18toyErPDujRyFWV5nvJPZYYyc02Ig3GqjcDEjZw0yYrs58BPhwusguaSb/s370/Writers+on+Writers+8+covers.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6vMUw4Dlnf4VpAK80pF4QnC9MN1qC3qHJUk5M9RdY4NZPsf14dMlmtLxigSwwXNo9FeL-i17hDDLRyqahjV18toyErPDujRyFWV5nvJPZYYyc02Ig3GqjcDEjZw0yYrs58BPhwusguaSb/s16000/Writers+on+Writers+8+covers.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div>#AusReadingMonth2020</div><div>#NovellasinNovember</div><div>#NonFictionNovember</div><div>#AustralianWomenWriters</div></div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-87101803000162021212020-11-26T13:07:00.002+11:002020-11-26T21:18:54.007+11:00Loner | Georgina Young #AWW<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDXrlYZEE3SmtytTOXuWkr2rzste9-lI6r9QZTdWn7o5BfdTP3aYlOTmbvYuTAYnIPz1MbTRYk1qyd8d7f3-YBJEBP5aCczfyEQpmVsg-r25C4lleWCDmYORyMxrAHygHiqWgoL_0ASxsA/s2048/loner.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDXrlYZEE3SmtytTOXuWkr2rzste9-lI6r9QZTdWn7o5BfdTP3aYlOTmbvYuTAYnIPz1MbTRYk1qyd8d7f3-YBJEBP5aCczfyEQpmVsg-r25C4lleWCDmYORyMxrAHygHiqWgoL_0ASxsA/s320/loner.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Oh, the existential angst!</div><div>Remember when you were 22 and you had no idea what you wanted to do or how you fitted into the big, wide world and it all seemed overwhelming, sometimes exciting, but mostly this big, huge, void of trying to be an adult, that you had no idea how to fill. <br /><br />This is the story that Georgina Young has crafted in <i><b>Loner</b></i>. The title is a subtle play on our protagonist's name, Lona, and also sums up her beliefs about herself.</div><div><br /></div><div>What I really liked about this story, is that Lona didn't have a big ah-ha moment or major crisis that suddenly dropped her into the adult world. It was far more real than that. Lona made some errors of judgement, nothing drastic, said no when she probably should have said yes, said yes when she probably should have said no, bumbled her way through moving out of home, caring for her sick grandfather, going out on dates, dropping out of uni because the art classes were leaving her feeling dead inside, alienating her best friend and working a couple of shit jobs.</div><div><br /></div><div>Lona's voice was authentic and endearing, yet she was aimless, insecure and full of so much uncertainty that it made my heart ache!</div><div><br /></div><div>One of my younger colleagues (closer in age to Lona than myself) also had a strong reaction to reading this book. She felt that she was still in the middle of Lona's angst, struggling to find meaning and purpose and confused about what it takes to become a fully fledged adult. </div><div><br /></div><div>I think we do ourselves (and our young people) a huge disservice, by not talking more about the journey we all go on to become an adult. It's not something that happens overnight on a certain birthday. Or when you move out of home for the first time, or get your first full-time job, or buy your first car. In fact, it's a lifelong journey that evolves with every decade and with each life experience. </div><div><br /></div><div>Having said that, though, there does seem to be a point in most people's mid-to-late twenties where things start to click into place. Maybe it's when you finally realise that this whole adulting thing is a lifelong journey after all and you finally feel significantly different to how you felt at 18 or 19 or 20. Or perhaps it's when everything stops being a 'first'.</div><div><br /></div><div>Lona at 22 isn't there yet. Like the rest of us, she experienced no miraculous revelation or epiphany. There was no big character change or psychological growth. She didn't suddenly 'come of age' or work everything out. Lona simply clocked up some more life experience.</div><div><br /></div><div><u><b>Facts</b></u>:</div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Winner of the Text Prize 2019</li><li>Set in Melbourne, Victoria</li><li><a href="https://www.killyourdarlings.com.au/article/show-your-working-georgina-young/" target="_blank">Kill Your Darlings interview with Georgina Young</a> | 13th Aug 2020</li></ul><div>#AusReadingMonth2020</div><p></p>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-78484995158018694862020-11-25T09:29:00.009+11:002020-11-25T10:01:39.949+11:00Elizabeth and Her German Garden | Elizabeth Von Armin #NovinNov<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioRx7aFGQLf1VUe2b7u9RJIzdG6Ttq_PjoEDd1ZB-Dee9yZxrm42Teapxj3LhbkqNtVNR0BH8Hpw2gJm1VhmhGxEI3x4lTRL1qJp15OhGNCw0dUXNHzooCAbN9YHs1fDf_xdTQ8alo9nx3/s593/elizabeth+and+her+german+garden.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="593" data-original-width="395" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioRx7aFGQLf1VUe2b7u9RJIzdG6Ttq_PjoEDd1ZB-Dee9yZxrm42Teapxj3LhbkqNtVNR0BH8Hpw2gJm1VhmhGxEI3x4lTRL1qJp15OhGNCw0dUXNHzooCAbN9YHs1fDf_xdTQ8alo9nx3/s320/elizabeth+and+her+german+garden.jpg" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">It would be very easy to read this lovely novella about a woman called Elizabeth and her love of gardens, as an autobiography in disguise. At least, it was very easy for me to be led down this particular garden path for quite some time. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">At every turn, <i><b>Elizabeth and Her German Garden</b></i> felt biographical. From the diary entry dates, to the very personal, confessional tone. <br /><br />Eventually, though, I had to confront the facts, that the lovely, audacious Elizabeth, had written a very modern story that combined facts and fiction, in a very fast and loose fashion. Just when you thought you had hold of a certain fact, she would skip away down a different path, throwing your certainty back in your face, with what sometimes felt like unseemly joy! <br /><br />At first I felt a little cheated. <br /><br />The facts known about the real Mary Annette (May) von Armin née Beauchamp are pretty basic and it can be very, very tempting to read more of her into her stories that actually exists. For a little while, I believed I had made discoveries about the real May that no previous biographer had ever discovered! <br /><br />That was when I knew I had completely fallen for the charms and wiles of one Elizabeth von Armin. <br /><br />Elizabeth, the writer, protected the identity and private life of May, yet happily trawled her feelings and <br />memories for scenes and vignettes that could be woven into her stories. She wrote about what she knew, and happily made up the rest. <br /><br />For the second half of the book, I sat back and let myself be thoroughly entertained. I gave up all pretence at trying to tease out the fact from the fiction, the bio from the make believe, and I let the magic of Elizabeth's garden wash over me. <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGH_LaQSFvXPl0uFtM9ftL85jNPy3wiIN66Hd4S9UxEBcX2rrIS85KjK8nGKozKnDSpRbDsE3Agz0S3cDirjQCAv40RX9qbhYledjknJItgHPNj8jKFfowvaFOXR6QkjBKdbcMVnfJ7mzw/s1095/Nassenheide+Alexander+Duncker.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="1095" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGH_LaQSFvXPl0uFtM9ftL85jNPy3wiIN66Hd4S9UxEBcX2rrIS85KjK8nGKozKnDSpRbDsE3Agz0S3cDirjQCAv40RX9qbhYledjknJItgHPNj8jKFfowvaFOXR6QkjBKdbcMVnfJ7mzw/w640-h486/Nassenheide+Alexander+Duncker.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nassenheide, Pomerania c. 1860</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div>The specific garden she wrote about was the von Armin estate, Nassenheide in Pomerania, where Elizabeth lived and wrote from 1896 until 1908 (they had to sell the estate in 1910 to alleviate the Count's financial problems). In 1911, a recently widowed Elizabeth, moved to Switzerland and the newly built, Chalet Soleil. In 1930 she resettled to Mougins in the south of France, in a house she renamed Mas des Roses. At the beginning of WWII in 1939, she moved to the US, to be closer to her daughter, Liebet. She died in 1941 in Charleston, South Carolina. </div><div><br /></div><div>Elizabeth obviously loved her garden and the freedom she felt there. There was a wistful, wishful air to many of the passages and a search for belonging.<br /><i></i></div><blockquote><div><i>The garden is the place I <span style="text-align: left;">go to for refuge and shelter, not the house. In the house are duties and </span></i><i>annoyances, servants to exhort and admonish, furniture, and meals; but out there blessings crowd </i><i>round me at every step-- it is there that I am sorry for the unkindness in me, for those selfish </i><i>thoughts that are so much worse than they feel; it is there that all my sins and silliness are forgiven, </i><i>there that I feel protected and at home, and every flower and weed is a friend and every tree a </i><i>lover.</i></div></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br /></p>A nostalgia for a more innocent, carefree childhood appeared at times. Was she remembering her childhood years in Sydney, Australia?<br /><i><blockquote>Why should I not go and see the place where I was born, and where I lived so long; the place where I was so magnificently happy, so exquisitely wretched, so close to heaven, so near to hell, always either up on a cloud of glory, or down in the depths with the waters of despair closing over my head? Cousins live in it now, distant cousins, loved with the exact measure of love usually bestowed on cousins who reign in one's stead; cousins of practical views, who have dug up the flower-beds and planted cabbages where roses grew; and though through all the years since my father's death I have held my head so high that it hurt, and loftily refused to listen to their repeated suggestions that I should revisit my old home, something in the sad listlessness of the November days sent my spirit back to old times with a persistency that would not be set aside, and I woke from my musings surprised to find myself sick with longing.</blockquote></i><br />I went from entranced, to cheated, to utterly delighted in less than a hundred pages. I wanted the story to be completely true, a proper biography. I wanted to think of Elizabeth rambling around her garden, chasing after her April, May and June babies, and rolling her eyes at the Man of Wrath and his conservative ways.<br /><i><blockquote>The people round about are persuaded that I am, to put it as kindly as possible, exceedingly<br />eccentric, for the news has travelled that I spend the day out of doors with a book, and that no mortal eye has ever yet seen me sew or cook.</blockquote></i><br />As one would expect from a novella,<i> Elizabeth and Her German Garden</i> is a story with one simple central theme and very little character development. There is no crisis to be resolved or problem to be solved. It's simply a diary of one woman and her love of nature.<br /><i><blockquote>I don't love things that will only bear the garden for three or four months in the year and require coaxing and petting for the rest of it. Give me a garden full of strong, healthy creatures, able to stand roughness and cold without dismally giving in and dying. I never could see that delicacy of constitution is pretty, either in plants or women.</blockquote></i><br />Elizabeth was also very funny, at times sarcastic and a feminist in the making. She obviously baulked at the Prussian way of doing things and found the strict gender roles expected in Germany to be restrictive. (These references in her book may be why she chose not to have the book translated into German!) Yet, it's her lively, playful character that makes this story so captivating, even more so than her descriptions of the garden.<br /><i><blockquote>What nonsense it is to talk about the equality of the sexes when the women have the babies! </blockquote><blockquote>"Quite so, my dear," replied the Man of Wrath, smiling condescendingly. </blockquote><blockquote>"You have got to the very root of the matter. Nature, while imposing this agreeable duty on the woman, weakens her and disables her for any serious competition with man. How can a person who is constantly losing a year of the best part of her life compete with a young man who never loses any time at all? He has the brute force, and his last word on any subject could always be his fist."</blockquote></i><br />Elizabeth Jane Howard, in her introduction to the 1985 edition of the book, wrote that while the novella, '<i>appears to be an ode to nature; within that ode is a determined rebellion.</i>' EvA wanted to do physical work in the garden, she wanted to control the money her writing produced and she wanted to be free from society's desire (as well as her husband's) to produce an heir to the estate.<br /><i><blockquote>I wish with all my heart I were a man, for of course the first thing I should do would be to buy a spade and go and garden, and then I should have the delight of doing everything for my flowers with my own hands and need not waste time explaining what I want done to somebody else.<br /></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote>I can imagine nothing more uncomfortable than a son-in-law, and besides, I don't think a husband is at all a good thing for a girl to have.</blockquote></i><br />I loved every minute with Elizabeth in her garden.<br /><br />Three early childhood years does not necessarily make you an Australian (whatever that means) with Australian sensibilities (whatever that means). But Elizabeth and her older siblings were all born in Sydney. As siblings do, they would have constantly retold and shared stories about their Sydney childhood years. The older ones would have talked about their Australian memories over family dinners and in front of their Swiss fire. <p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">As Gabrielle Carey said in her memoir, <i><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/only-happiness-here-gabrielle-carey-aww.html" target="_blank">Only Happiness Here</a></i>,<br /></p><blockquote><i>I am not certain that Elizabeth remembered her Australian beginnings but neither am I convinced that she had forgotten them altogether. </i></blockquote><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />The comments that evolved from that post had a number of bloggers wondering if we could really claim EvA as an Australian and did she even want to be remembered as being Australian. To my mind, she is as Australian, as say, Germaine Greer, Madeleine St John, and Clive James. Their particular feelings about their childhood in Australia are complex and complicated, as are their reasons for leaving, although '<i>cultural backwater</i>' is a phrase that springs to mind. Elizabeth is also as Australian as J. M. Coetzee, who we now claim as Aussie, since he moved here from South Africa in 2002 (becoming an Australian citizen in 2006). They are all part of the 'Australian, maybe?' team.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Keeping secrets and protecting her privacy was something EvA was well-known for. It would seem that one of her very first secrets was about her place of birth. Perhaps it was this need to keep quiet about her early years in Australia that turned EvA into such a private adult?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">Whenever I've travelled overseas (remember when we used to do that?), plaques stating that so-and-so was born here, lived here, died here were everywhere, celebrating their local writers and artists. Australia is not so good at doing this. Even the Sydney Writers Walk around Circular Quay has some rather dubious Sydney connections with the likes of James A Michiner, Charles Darwin and Anthony Trollope, simply because they visited once or wrote a passage in a book about Australia, but no Elizabeth. Why not?<br /><br />I'm drawing some long bows, when all I really had to do was follow the wikipedia line, that Elizabeth von Armin was an Australian born, British novelist who married a Prussian Count.<br /><br />My edition of <a href="http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks/fr100170.txt" target="_blank"><i>Elizabeth and Her Garden </i>was produced as a Project Gutenberg Australia </a>anniversary edition in 1998.<br /><br /><u><b>Biblio File:</b></u><br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Elizabeth and Her German Garden (1898)</li><li>The Solitary Summer (1899)</li><li>April Baby’s Book of Tunes (1900)</li><li>The Benefactress (1901)</li><li>The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen (1904)</li><li>Princess Priscilla’s Fortnight (1905)</li><li>Fräulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther (1907)</li><li>The Caravaners (1909)</li><li>The Pastor’s Wife (1914)</li><li>Christine (1917) (published as Alice Cholmondeley)</li><li>Christopher and Columbus (1919)</li><li>In the Mountains (1920)</li><li>Vera (1921)</li><li>The Enchanted April (1922)</li><li>Love (1925)</li><li>Introduction to Sally (1926)</li><li>Expiation (1929)</li><li>Father (1931)</li><li>The Jasmine Farm (1934)</li><li>All the Dogs of My Life (1936)</li><li>Mr. Skeffington (1940)</li></ul><div>#AusReadingMonth2020</div><div>#NovellasinNovember</div><p></p>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-53884788519861208392020-11-23T18:58:00.003+11:002020-11-27T08:13:01.202+11:00The Spare Room | Helen Garner #AWW<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6H9z7wwlFNfUEb6huP-DIwtcn9dET_zHTxugux1wQxAsTSrESIRZxUATpJ9luugyQPxZtKEVoPaPSaMucjbP9SPDpGH7Rl6lLEASiOGWKdGrgZ631ScywJFDT6bTuvqQAqCu5W4AYDEr2/s2048/the+spare+room.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6H9z7wwlFNfUEb6huP-DIwtcn9dET_zHTxugux1wQxAsTSrESIRZxUATpJ9luugyQPxZtKEVoPaPSaMucjbP9SPDpGH7Rl6lLEASiOGWKdGrgZ631ScywJFDT6bTuvqQAqCu5W4AYDEr2/s320/the+spare+room.jpg" /></a></div> <div><br /></div><div>I find reading Helen Garner a curious affair. There's a real push me/pull me effect, that intrigues me and wow's me, then repels me all in the same sentence.<br /><br />I'm intrigued and wowed by her writing, the turn of phrase that captures a moment brilliantly. There's a candour and earthiness that seems grounded in her strong sense of self. Then there's the confronting intimacy about herself and her friends and family. Such awkward, uncomfortable personal details that make me flinch with their rawness, that seem to suggest someone not so sure of their place in the world.</div><div><br /></div><div>Over the years, I've been impressed with Garner's habit of tackling difficult topics, especially in her non-fiction, like a father killing his own children after an access visit in <i><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2014/08/this-house-of-grief-by-helen-garner.html" target="_blank">This House of Grief</a></i>. These books seem to suggest, that like me, she is on a constant journey to understand human nature. Why do human beings do the things they do? What are our motivations? What stories do we tell ourselves to make the truth, the hard facts palatable? How do we live with ourselves when we do something bad? Questions to make us confront our own biases and preconceptions.</div><div><br /></div><div>Last year, I attempted to read her <i>Diaries Vol I</i>, but I had to stop. It felt too voyeuristic, like I was trespassing where I didn't belong. I didn't understand Garner's purpose in revealing such private details. Yes, the names were disguised with initials, but if that letter happened to belong to you, it would be easy to feel betrayed and exposed.</div><div><br /></div><div>I am friendly with someone who will be an initial in Vol II of Garner's Diaries. She said enough water had passed under the bridge since then, but she does not feel the need to revisit the pain by reading about it. I'm beginning to understand why Garner writes so often of falling out with friends. One person's open frankness is often another persons hurtful loss of trust wrapped up in a sense of disloyalty.</div><div><br /></div><div>Which brings me to <i><b>The Spare Room</b></i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>I've been hearing about this novella for quite some time now, and it has been lingering on my TBR pile for almost as long. I assumed it was a memoir from everything I had heard - Helen writing about the three weeks she nursed a dying friend from Sydney, who had decided to try some alternative treatments that had no scientific backing whatsoever in Melbourne.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yet, <i>The Spare Room</i> is clearly and determinedly classified as a novel (or a novella). The name of the dying friend has been changed and no doubt, the timeline of events has been fictionalised to fit the constraints of the size of the book, but she is still Helen, living next door to her daughter's family in Melbourne. </div><div><br /></div><div>I read another fictionalised memoir earlier in the year, <i><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/08/homeland-elegies-ayad-akhtar-usfiction.html" target="_blank">Homeland Elegies</a></i>. I got completely caught up in trying to work out what was fact and what was fiction. I quickly established that a number of the details had been significantly changed from the author's wikipedia bio, but it became too difficult for me to tease it all out. In the end, I stopped worrying about it and sat back to enjoy the story for what it was.</div><div><br /></div><div>I found myself applying the same approach to <i>The Spare Room</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/11/australian-novellas.html" target="_blank">As a novella</a>, it ticked all of the boxes. It was under 200 pages - just. There was one central theme or conflict with just one, Helen's, point of view. There was very little backstory, and a continuous timeline. The majority of the book was set in Melbourne, with a brief trip to Sydney at the very end. It would be possible to read this is one sitting, if one had 2-3 hrs in which to do so. But thanks to the subject matter, I was happier reading it over three nights, to fully digest the story and absorb the emotional impact.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>The Spare Room</i> is one of the books discussed in <i>The Novel Cure: An A-Z of Literary Remedies</i> by Ella Berthoud & Susan Elderkin. Under 'cancer, caring for someone with', this book is discussed along with Alberto Barrera Tyszka's <i>The Sickness</i> and <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2011/06/monster-calls-by-patrick-ness.html" target="_blank"><i>A Monster Calls</i> by Patrick Ness</a>. They talk about the carer's agonising and the patient's denial. The rage that escalates to self-hatred and the '<i>bitter humour</i>' that evolves. They finish by saying that this is,</div><blockquote><div><i>a novel for those inclined to beat themselves up when they struggle to care for their patient 24/7....It's also a reminder that, however serious things are, it helps to laugh</i>.</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>I came away from the story with a deep disgust for those people who work away in their shoddy rooms, milking sick and dying people of their money, with their bizarre, unverified treatments. </div><div><br /></div><div><u><b>Epigraph:</b></u></div><div><blockquote>'<i>It is a privilege to prepare the place where someone else will sleep</i>.' Elizabeth Jolley</blockquote></div><div><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div><b><u>First Lines:</u></b></div><div><blockquote><i>First, in my spare room, I swivelled the bed on to a north-south axis. Isn't that supposed to align the sleeper with the planet's positive energy flow, or something? She would think so.</i></blockquote></div><div><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div><u><b>Favourite Quote</b></u>:</div><blockquote><div><i>'What am I supposed to do?'</i></div></blockquote><blockquote><p><i>He put his hand on the dog's head and drew back its ears so that its eyes turned to high slits. 'Maybe that's why she's coming to stay. Maybe she wants you to be the one.'</i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><i>'What one?'</i></p></blockquote><blockquote><p><i>'The one to tell her she's going to die.' </i> </p></blockquote><div><u><b>Facts</b></u>:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Winner, Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction</li><li>Winner, Queensland Premier’s Award for Fiction</li><li>Winner, Barbara Jefferis Award</li><li>Shortlisted, Commonwealth Writers’ Prize</li><li>Shortlisted, Australian Literary Society Gold Medal</li><li>Shortlisted, Colin Roderick Award</li><li>Shortlisted, WA Premier’s Awards</li><li>Shortlisted, NSW Premier’s Literary Award for Fiction</li></ul><div><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div><u><b>More Reviews</b></u>:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://746books.com/2020/11/04/no-461-the-spare-room-by-helen-garner/" target="_blank">Cathy @746 Books</a></li><li><a href="https://theaustralianlegend.wordpress.com/2017/09/01/the-spare-room/" target="_blank">Bill @The Australian Legend</a></li><li><a href="https://anzlitlovers.com/2009/04/25/the-spare-room-by-helen-garner-read-by-heather-bolton/" target="_blank">Lisa @ANZLit Lovers</a></li></ul></div><div><br /></div><div>#AusReadingMonth2020</div></div><div>#NovellasinNovember</div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-18622479697800304112020-11-21T08:16:00.002+11:002020-11-21T08:16:35.807+11:00The Last Migration | Charlotte McConaghy #AUSfiction<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVS9KzjVRO0XY4m-xUCuJnUIhoXdevQBROQSVilK5D_R_yoUgXo8jjoZPwAHfCtwlnEL2BnTI6Co-VkkU2BIDMI0TWO5DW82iVCnG_uNlLQZ0Doh3OF-odCuPUSUFBTXrmmbM_FnRvsW4z/s2048/the+last+migration.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1339" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVS9KzjVRO0XY4m-xUCuJnUIhoXdevQBROQSVilK5D_R_yoUgXo8jjoZPwAHfCtwlnEL2BnTI6Co-VkkU2BIDMI0TWO5DW82iVCnG_uNlLQZ0Doh3OF-odCuPUSUFBTXrmmbM_FnRvsW4z/s320/the+last+migration.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Charlotte McConaghy has written an intense, emotional story about the effects of mass extinction in <b><i>The Last Migration</i></b>. I don't normally quote the back blurb of the book, but in this case it so aptly describes the book, I'm really not sure I can top it.</div><blockquote>The Last Migration<i> is a wild, gripping and deeply moving novel from a brilliant young writer. From the west coast of Ireland to Australia and remote Greenland, through crashing Atlantic swells to the bottom of the world, this is an ode to the wild places and creatures now threatened, and an epic story of the possibility of hope against all odds.</i></blockquote><p><br />Our protagonist, Franny Stone, clearly has some major issues going on her personal life, and we can see that she is using this search/hunt/journey to run away from her problems of perhaps find closure. However, McConaghy slowly reveals that her personal issues are actually interwoven into the plight of the migrating birds.</p><p>The story is quite angst-ridden and there were times when I wanted to shake Franny into a more sensible, rational frame of mind as she crashed from one scene to the next in her search for personal redemption. But then, I guess it can be hard to be sensible and rational when faced with the reality of a mass extinction of an entire species and the existential loneliness that this climate crisis implies for all of us!</p><p>There was a dreamy quality or an otherworldly aspect to this high seas adventure that held the urgency and dramatic tension of the sea voyage at bay. For this reader, they were a welcome relief from the harsh descriptions of life on a small boat in a big sea!</p><p>McConaghy references several other authors and poets throughout her book. They are books her characters have read or quote from. I'm always fascinated by this occasional tendency of authors and I like to make a list for future reference. </p><p>Here we Colm Toibin, Mary Oliver (and <a href="http://www.phys.unm.edu/~tw/fas/yits/archive/oliver_wildgeese.html" target="_blank">her poem on geese</a>), Lord Byron, Edgar Allan Poe, Percy Shelley, John Keats, Margaret Atwood, and <i>Love in the Time of Cholera</i> by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.</p><p>I love the ending of Mary Oliver | Wild Geese in particular and share it below.</p><i>Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,<br />the world offers itself to your imagination,<br />calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -<br />over and over announcing your place<br />in the family of things.</i><div><br /></div><div>The other thing that fascinates me is covers and titles. </div><div><br /></div><div>Above I have the Australian title and cover.</div><div><br /></div><div>Below are the cover and title for the USA, a proof copy and Germany. All three of which I prefer way more than the Australian cover. I don't know why so many Aussie covers insist on using a human figure. They turn me off for some reason. </div><div><br /></div><div>As an aside, I had been feeling very negative about the new Richard Flanagan, <i>The Living Sea of Waking Dreams</i>. Partly thanks to my experience with his previous book, <i>The Narrow Road to the Deep North</i>, but also in part to the submerged face of a woman on the cover! However, when I finally picked it up, I discovered that underneath the off-putting face dust jacket is a gorgeous leaf-textured hardcover book and inside is a story that has me completely engaged. Needless to say, I have discarded the dust jacket.</div><div><br /></div><div>But back to <i>The Last Migration</i>.</div><div>I feel the Australian title best describes the story as <i>Migrations</i> suggests that there is more than one migration, when clearly the story is highlighting the very last migration of the Arctic terns. Although now I think about, it could be a plural to allude to the migration or journey taken by our protagonist as well. Hmmm, interesting.</div><div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj16biy3NgLu4HndkuQZTGMNvDddV7qHOuQzv6MgwCKpxmDxV1A4tEPlm9lWUxkGUJhMd85DZ99G8M_hkgNqXV2-SdvMZWa5VmT-k6Gab4AKViL791T8ZBJjNw6vPvDkmeLFfLvVme4_qco/s2048/m.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1347" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj16biy3NgLu4HndkuQZTGMNvDddV7qHOuQzv6MgwCKpxmDxV1A4tEPlm9lWUxkGUJhMd85DZ99G8M_hkgNqXV2-SdvMZWa5VmT-k6Gab4AKViL791T8ZBJjNw6vPvDkmeLFfLvVme4_qco/s320/m.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">US cover and title<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFgb8PqScXuRR9mnwFiMSm2fnBvtFOihpqfTGKZ6Z2jyJuBAjRMXFNYsmysmT5g6NLnREFycWT8mrpSbyWW3_1RgsnG7exrhTgEtrtlcsuqI13yCunSrXkF8fvlxaDDPZc1ObwmksYcYpj/s400/migrations+US.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="263" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFgb8PqScXuRR9mnwFiMSm2fnBvtFOihpqfTGKZ6Z2jyJuBAjRMXFNYsmysmT5g6NLnREFycWT8mrpSbyWW3_1RgsnG7exrhTgEtrtlcsuqI13yCunSrXkF8fvlxaDDPZc1ObwmksYcYpj/s320/migrations+US.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">US proof cover?<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDT4DR_-zmdwxWQdLJo7NZJx8Y5hUExQhtiLItcMh_CPRrK4eQ35mhZqYLlQAeJnwTArDGvjjKn4W1kjuBcLgNvj2rF3EnJWl3syahnSW1BGh1JFcZy5XulWlaiLfsGIrPlP5jtFSLglw_/s900/buch_06.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDT4DR_-zmdwxWQdLJo7NZJx8Y5hUExQhtiLItcMh_CPRrK4eQ35mhZqYLlQAeJnwTArDGvjjKn4W1kjuBcLgNvj2rF3EnJWl3syahnSW1BGh1JFcZy5XulWlaiLfsGIrPlP5jtFSLglw_/w400-h266/buch_06.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">German cover and title<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div>Eco-dystopian (environmental end of the world as we know it stories) or climate fiction are not everyone's cup of tea, but I have become a bit of a fan, if you can call a mere handful of titles, a fan. <i>The Overstory</i> by Richard Powers is an absorbing, epic climate fiction novel well worth your time, while <i>The Rain Heron</i> and <i>Flames,</i> both by Robbie Arnott are eco-dystopian and also firm favourites of mine. Margaret Atwood's <i>Oryx and Crake</i> trilogy is also eco-dystopian as well. </div><div><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div><u><b>Epigraph</b></u>: Rumi</div><div style="text-align: left;"><i></i></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Forget safety.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Live where you fear to live.</i></div></blockquote><p></p><p>The entire passage reads: “Run from what’s comfortable. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on I’ll be mad.”</p><p><br /><u><b>Opening Line</b></u>: </p><p></p><blockquote><i>The animals are all dying. Soon we will be alone here.</i></blockquote><p></p><p><br /><b><u>Favourite Quote</u></b>:</p><blockquote><p><i>there </i>is <i>meaning, and it lives in nurturing, in making life sweeter for ourselves, and for those around us.</i></p></blockquote>#AusReadingMonth<br />#Australian Women Writers</div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-76620857800271847532020-11-20T07:44:00.041+11:002020-11-23T18:05:50.146+11:00Classics Club Spin #25<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEu-ilvog7FpTWLCxrGVUT29pH2topO6QsfKMPrh7bINJ6fO_g1EI1MWpQXiPynoflKnlNz8i5nQoybTyTEo1EcqWaNw6wHnr-ePAd48ik6WToy2tpD5TtCC15MlNcBU_wqMqvbUxWNhHz/s1920/cc+spin+open+book.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1920" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEu-ilvog7FpTWLCxrGVUT29pH2topO6QsfKMPrh7bINJ6fO_g1EI1MWpQXiPynoflKnlNz8i5nQoybTyTEo1EcqWaNw6wHnr-ePAd48ik6WToy2tpD5TtCC15MlNcBU_wqMqvbUxWNhHz/w640-h210/cc+spin+open+book.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><i>It's time for another <a href="https://theclassicsclubblog.wordpress.com/2020/11/16/cc-spin-25/" target="_blank">Classics Club Spin</a>.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>The rules are easy: compile your list of 20 books by Sunday 22nd November.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>On that day a number will be randomly selected.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>That's the book you read.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>You have until the <b>30th January 2021</b> to finish your book and review it.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Join in the fun by visiting the other players and commenting on their lists.</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>It's a great way to meet like-minded bloggers and explode your TBR classics wishlist!</i></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"></div><br />In honour of AusReading Month, this spin I am going to focus on the Australian classics lingering on my TBR pile and ipad. <br /><br />CC Spin #25<br /><ol><li>The Timeless land | Elenor Dark</li><li>An Australian Girl by Catherine Martin</li><li>My Brilliant Career | Miles Franklin</li><li>It's Raining in Mango | Thea Astley</li><li>A Little Bush Maid | Mary Grant Bruce</li><li>The Pea-Pickers | Eve Langley</li><li>Maurice Guest | Henry Handel Richardson</li><li>Policy and Passion | Rosa Praed</li><li>The Slow Natives | Thea Astley</li><li>We of the Never-Never | Jeannie Gunn</li><li>Voss | Patrick White</li><li>Myself When Young | Henry Handel Richardson</li><li>A Woman's Experiences in the Great War | Louise Mack</li><li><b>My Love Must Wait | Ernestine Hill</b></li><li>The Battlers | Kylie Tennant</li><li>A Mere Chance by Ada Cambridge</li><li>Uncle Piper of Piper's Hill | Tasma</li><li>A Sydney Sovereign and Other Tales | Tasma</li><li>Coonaroo by Katharine Susannah Prichard </li><li>1788 by Watkin Tench</li></ol><br />My Previous 24 Spin Results:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsCFqR3NG4ThSPLy600DUZIYV2SY34dtTxmGtKQkjVcup0PqLwfc9YdMt2tP9Daqo6tDlqL_XcBz3xG5aTYtGKbbXx0lrN3hcnn7QMr_2A5yBMeyOVzOq8aCPGW1ZgmvD1I9SdA8amg_2K/s1600/cc+spin+first+5.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsCFqR3NG4ThSPLy600DUZIYV2SY34dtTxmGtKQkjVcup0PqLwfc9YdMt2tP9Daqo6tDlqL_XcBz3xG5aTYtGKbbXx0lrN3hcnn7QMr_2A5yBMeyOVzOq8aCPGW1ZgmvD1I9SdA8amg_2K/s640/cc+spin+first+5.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivHXRj86s5pLAg0cLEpu6x-Y_0QGN39u6AAmwgvqOMaF-T-ZVDrgLZ7XjB-2H3dCjzJJ_b44E9Wg0nd290TmVwaxJVmsjZLx2rCDHUzn77sCPO4jOlJXwyJED4UBKMACz7P1zpttkg4uue/s1600/cc+spin+second+5.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivHXRj86s5pLAg0cLEpu6x-Y_0QGN39u6AAmwgvqOMaF-T-ZVDrgLZ7XjB-2H3dCjzJJ_b44E9Wg0nd290TmVwaxJVmsjZLx2rCDHUzn77sCPO4jOlJXwyJED4UBKMACz7P1zpttkg4uue/s640/cc+spin+second+5.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiGYTRuYuziyzTWYNzeh0p0TOwSYbS23kp_gXKgoOD5lv2wSPJsPcphdo4w-s0izfh8wGRZ8C4scdmXuxgqqu1e5SV5lB1WSXr-0uX636SOmV02UlR2YmWCCh7dJod-i0OoBsMBg1fbepp/s1600/cc+spin+third+5.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiGYTRuYuziyzTWYNzeh0p0TOwSYbS23kp_gXKgoOD5lv2wSPJsPcphdo4w-s0izfh8wGRZ8C4scdmXuxgqqu1e5SV5lB1WSXr-0uX636SOmV02UlR2YmWCCh7dJod-i0OoBsMBg1fbepp/s640/cc+spin+third+5.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAlnRmp6VzWQD51aYyEPaO7mGEHyMrKtn3x8c-cvffsym0IB0TdfY8dlMJl6XUQuc883t8jHw58OO26yNOnQ6-RCkFElWpero2ZMUq9c_BY8uTf9V0iASewzRILhAr-SoD8yX6o2eMbHBE/s1600/cc+spin.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAlnRmp6VzWQD51aYyEPaO7mGEHyMrKtn3x8c-cvffsym0IB0TdfY8dlMJl6XUQuc883t8jHw58OO26yNOnQ6-RCkFElWpero2ZMUq9c_BY8uTf9V0iASewzRILhAr-SoD8yX6o2eMbHBE/s640/cc+spin.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8xLPJ_IWHtsEU_3pCHLgSq0lRPRt-Ec_G9-iENeLVamEsiOG3ag47g6gfONuA3fDGEULKww7A_3Sd5VLZMgTvd5o16uvZnv-QQsMSIM7ruPLLYMH54MQ7pvZKGr6btfTO2YzBcyo_sjSH/s1324/download+%25287%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="1324" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8xLPJ_IWHtsEU_3pCHLgSq0lRPRt-Ec_G9-iENeLVamEsiOG3ag47g6gfONuA3fDGEULKww7A_3Sd5VLZMgTvd5o16uvZnv-QQsMSIM7ruPLLYMH54MQ7pvZKGr6btfTO2YzBcyo_sjSH/w400-h151/download+%25287%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Happy Spinning!Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-25374901556133608352020-11-18T07:53:00.195+11:002020-11-18T15:26:36.173+11:00Non-Fiction November - Week Three<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOzl_WKXkpmMTaOERp156JlAVBo03ag4yN3qIf4f4TyoDKlrCT4XY2lS5zDnz82NhF8nX_wUXND61CUAZq0LITgEYRC557xntFB0vFI4yM0f-ciIQs-yHCW7PjL6pBU4pTMlau0lz9RUZX/s300/nonficnov+2020.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOzl_WKXkpmMTaOERp156JlAVBo03ag4yN3qIf4f4TyoDKlrCT4XY2lS5zDnz82NhF8nX_wUXND61CUAZq0LITgEYRC557xntFB0vFI4yM0f-ciIQs-yHCW7PjL6pBU4pTMlau0lz9RUZX/s0/nonficnov+2020.jpg" /></a></p><blockquote>Week 3: (Nov. 16 to 20) – Be The Expert/Ask the Expert/Become the Expert (Rennie of <a href="https://whatsnonfiction.com/">What’s Nonfiction</a>): Three ways to join in this week! You can either share 3 or more books on a single topic that you have read and can recommend (be the expert), you can put the call out for good nonfiction on a specific topic that you have been dying to read (ask the expert), or you can create your own list of books on a topic that you’d like to read (become the expert).</blockquote><div><br /></div><div>This is one of my favourite weeks with Non-Fiction November. It's the week my wishlist really explodes!</div><div><br /></div><div>I've been going through a Plague Lit phase recently. </div><div>It took a while though. </div><div><br /></div><div>At the beginning of the Covid lockdown I read about how Albert Camus' classic <i>The Plague (La Peste)</i> had suddenly hit the bestsellers list again in France. I was amused and curious, but as the lockdown restrictions increased, and the virus got upgraded to a pandemic, it all felt too close, too real and too soon. </div><div><br /></div><div>But by June/July, the new Covid-normal was starting to feel, well, normal. My reading mojo returned and I found myself becoming obsessed to learn more about how previous generations had survived and thrived during and after a plague event.</div><div><br /></div><div>I wanted to see if history could teach us some lessons.</div><div><br /></div><div>It seems, though, that the main lesson history teaches us is that we fail, time and again, to heed the lessons of history!</div><div><br /></div><div>My list of books is mostly full of fiction titles. I would now like to expand that into non-fiction. I'm particularly interested in learning more about the <b>Spanish Flu of 1918-1920</b>.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm hoping to learn more about the <b>Russian Plague of 1770 - 1772</b> when I read Robert K Massie's book about <i>Catherine the Great</i>, but would be keen for more recommendations.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>The Polio outbreak in the US</b> (and elsewhere) is also something I'm curious about (after seeing a fascinating bio about Roosevelt a few years ago). Any Australian books that talk about what happened here during the 30's, 40's and 50's would be of interest.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.livescience.com/worst-epidemics-and-pandemics-in-history.html" target="_blank">Live Science</a>, back in March of this year, listed the 20 worst epidemics and pandemics in history. My non-scientific explanation for the difference between a plague and a flu is that a plague is usually caused by a bacterium whereas the flu is viral. Both cross over from animals to humans. The concern right now is that antibiotics work on bacterium but not on viruses and that as we, as humans, encroach on more and more land once the sole domain of animals, more viruses will cross over.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the list below you will also notice that most flu events last, on average, 2-3 years and that viral flu epidemics have been on the increase over the past 100 years.</div><br />1. Prehistoric epidemic: Circa 3000 B.C.<br />2. Plague of Athens: 430 B.C.<br />3. Antonine Plague: A.D. 165-180<br />4. Plague of Cyprian: A.D. 250-271<br />5. Plague of Justinian: A.D. 541-542<br />6. The Black Death: 1346-1353<br />7. Cocoliztli epidemic: 1545-1548 <br />8. American Plagues: 16th century<br />9. Great Plague of London: 1665-1666<br />10. Great Plague of Marseille: 1720-1723<br />11. Russian Plague: 1770-1772<br />12. Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic: 1793<br />13. Flu pandemic: 1889-1890<br />14. American polio epidemic: 1916 - 1956<br />15. Spanish Flu: 1918-1920 <br />16. Asian Flu: 1957-1958 <br />17. AIDS pandemic and epidemic: 1981-present day<br />18. H1N1 Swine Flu pandemic: 2009-2010<br />19. West African Ebola epidemic: 2014-2016 <br />20. Zika Virus epidemic: 2015-present day<div><br /></div><div><div><br /></div><u><b>My Previous Plague/Pandemic Reads</b></u>:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1483877654474162845/3879536288661419667#">The Plague | Albert Camus</a></li><li>The Stand | Stephen King</li><li>Moloka'i | Alan Brennert (<b>Leprosy</b>)</li><li>All Fall Down | Sally Nicholls (<b>The Black Death</b>) YA</li><li>Hamnet | Maggie O'Farrell (<b>The Plague</b>)</li><li>Oryx and Crake | Margaret Atwood</li><li>Year of Wonders | Geraldine Brooks (<b>Great Plague of London</b>)</li><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1483877654474162845/3879536288661419667#">The Pull of the Stars | Emma Donoghue</a> (<b>Spanish Flu</b>)</li><li><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/1483877654474162845/3879536288661419667#">A Journal of the Plague Year | Daniel Defoe</a> (<b>Great Plague of London</b>)</li><li><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2020/10/intimations-six-essays-zadie-smith.html">Intimations | Zadie Smith</a> (non-fiction <b>Covid-19</b>)</li></ul><br /><u><b>My Current Plague Reads</b></u>:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century | Barbara Tuchman (non-fiction <b>The Black Death</b>)</li></ul><br /><u><b>Up Next</b></u>:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Pale Horse, Pale Rider | Katherine Anne Porter (<b>Spanish Flu</b>)</li></ul><br /><u><b>Plague/Pandemic Fiction Books On My Radar</b></u>:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Station Eleven | Emily St John Mandel</li><li>Blindness | José Saramago</li><li>The Last Man | Mary Shelley</li><li>Nemesis | Philip Roth (<b>Polio</b>)</li><li>Love in the Time of Cholera | Gabriel Garcia Marquez</li><li>The Years of Rice and Salt | Kim Stanley Robinson</li><li>The Dog Stars | Peter Heller</li><li>The Pest House | Jim Crace</li><li>The Children’s Hospital | Chris Adrian</li><li>Severance | Ling Ma</li><li>Fever 1793 | Laurie Halse Anderson (<b>Philadelphia Yellow Fever Epidemic</b>) </li><li>The White Plague | Frank Herbert</li><li>The Passage | Justin Cronin</li><li>Company of Liars | Karen Maitland (<b>The Black Death</b>)</li><li>The Decameron | Giovanni Boccaccio (<b>The Black Death</b>)</li><li>The Decameron Project 2021 | (<b>Covid-19</b>)</li><li>The End of October | Lawrence Wright</li></ul><div><br /></div><div><u><b>Non-Fiction On My Radar</b></u>:</div><div><ul><li>The Ghost Map: The Story of London's Most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World | Steven Johnson (<b>Cholera pandemic 1846–1860 -</b> obviously not bad enough to make the top 20 list above!)</li><li>Black Death | Philip Ziegler (<b>The Black Death</b>)</li></ul><div><br /></div><div>I'm happy to learn about the science around each and every epidemic, pandemic or plague, but I'm more interested in the human stories. </div><div><br /></div><div>How did the plague or epidemic affect the lives and livelihoods of the average person? How did it spread? How did the people and their governments react to the crisis? What myths and propaganda grew up around them? What methods did they use to control the spread? How did each one eventually end? What was the price that the town/city/country/continent paid during and afterwards - economically, culturally, spiritually, artistically and medically?</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div>Non-fiction is the name of this game, but if you also know of any fabulous fiction not already on my list, then please add that in the comments below as well.</div><div><br /></div>My 2014 Holocaust and Coco Chanel Be the Expert <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2014/11/my-year-in-non-fiction.html">post is here</a>.<br />My 2017 Holocaust Be the Expert <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2017/11/non-fiction-november-be-expert.html">post is here</a>.<br />My 2018 Napoleon & the French Revolution Become the Expert <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2018/11/non-fiction-november-week-3.html#comment-form" target="_blank">post is here</a>.<div>My 2019 Japan Be the Expert <a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2019/11/week-3-non-fiction-november.html" target="_blank">post is here</a>.</div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-40201439311157141672020-11-16T07:26:00.009+11:002020-11-16T07:26:00.181+11:00Our Shadows | Gail Jones #AUSfiction<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjswB7vSHUwyglbpOY2LO26rfPSkgsfLGYn90COTse4ZaDE6It9tXxUsliTzICJOz-cde9Fpv_5zz5DEWcJUmF88ImwqxrnQKhlGKv1L_NwHjlR0GPI-kzBL57MUch14RTLhluyz6xRRtb7/s2048/our+shadows.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjswB7vSHUwyglbpOY2LO26rfPSkgsfLGYn90COTse4ZaDE6It9tXxUsliTzICJOz-cde9Fpv_5zz5DEWcJUmF88ImwqxrnQKhlGKv1L_NwHjlR0GPI-kzBL57MUch14RTLhluyz6xRRtb7/s320/our+shadows.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>One gets to a time and place when one HAS to be done thinking about a book and what review to write for it. I have reached this point with <i><b>Our Shadows</b></i> by Gail Jones. </div><div><br /></div><div>I have done everything I can to put together some coherent, clever thoughts, from attending two zoom author talks with Avid Reader Bookshop in Brisbane and a week later with Gleebooks in Sydney, to reading other reviews and talking about the book with a friend who abandoned it half way through.</div><div><br /></div><div>I really enjoyed Jones' previous book, <i><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-death-of-noah-glass-by-gail-jones.html" target="_blank">The Death of Noah Glass</a></i>, although it was not easy. So I felt prepared for Jones' themes of loss and grief wrapped in layers of art and ideas. However, I never really felt fully engaged with her characters or her purpose. Noah Glass got under my skin, but sisters Nell and Frances failed to become fully-fleshed characters in my mind.</div><div><br /></div><div>About a third of the way through, I decided to engage with the book in a different way to help me get through (it was around this point my friend abandoned ship). I had noticed the number of times the word 'shadow' was being used by Jones, so I decided to list them.</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>mud and shadow make him appear older.</li><li>Let us say he is a man perpetually shadowed. He will always be in shadow.</li><li>Frances began to accept that she lived in Nell's shadow</li><li>their shadows were huge on the tunnel wall, they were monsters, not men</li><li>dying in their shadows</li><li>When Paddy saw their shadows walking alongside them, they were conglomerate creatures, lumpish and inhuman</li><li>he felt himself splotched in shadow.</li><li>ill-fated and shadowed.</li><li>his lungs have been checked. No shadows.</li><li>it was the shadow of wings passing over her</li><li>the women trudged back, pulling their long shadows</li><li>He was all shadows</li><li>the story that hung shadowy</li></ul></div><div><div><br /></div><div>In discussion with Krissy Kneen (Avid Reader) and then with Bernadette Brennan (Gleebooks) I learnt that Jones set up the novel with a specific spatial logic whereby the scenes shadowed each other. The modern story of the sisters being followed by a chapter about their grandparent's history in a process described by Jones as the '<i>layers of life in your childhood that you spend the rest of your life excavating</i>'.</div><div><br /></div><div>The loss of the girls' parents also highlighted the shadow between generations. This family had an aching, missing step between grandparents and grandchildren, that caused a discontinuity in history and memory. Jones described it as '<i>looking forwards as memory leads us back</i>'.</div><div><br /></div><div>She used the mining processes of Kalgoorlie, WA to explore themes of darkness, what lies underground and beneath the surface. Through mining she explored different levels of knowing and interiority (a word she used several times to describe her writing).</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Jones is also interested in scale and how a smaller, intimate story fits within the bigger narrative of history. In this story we glimpse the Irish potato famine, the gold rush/early settler life in Australia, the mining industry in WA and an Indigenous perspective. <br /><br /></div><div>The importance and use of language is another device that Jones plays with here. The importance of naming things and naming them correctly, the act of translation and language making and what it means when we lose language through cultural appropriation or dementia. When the absence of language becomes like a shadowy presence, leaving a space or void waiting to be filled, yet full of expectation, anticipation, memory and loss. It's something that feels very close, within reach, yet impossibly far away, unable to be grasped. Which is probably a pretty good description of my reading experience!</div></div></div><div><br />I learnt that Australian POW's (& British, Dutch, US, Czech & Norwegian) were in Nagasaki (or nearby at least in Omuta) at the Fukuoka #17 Branch POW Camp (and other camps) when Nagasaki was bombed at the end of WWII. How had I never heard about this before? Most of the British, Dutch and Australian POW's were also survivors of the Burma railway.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was moved by Fred's description of the pipeline and the country around Kalgoorlie:<br /><blockquote><div><i>He was surprised to realise how much he loved this landscape - the gimlets and casuarinas, the sweeping hawks and the streaking crows, the high shine of the cloudless, metallic sky. he loved the stiff grasses and the saltbush and the tiny tough flowers. The wind moving through them, and the scent of the red earth, baking. Alongside, the white pipeline stretched all the way from Perth. He loved it too. Water in the desert. And the story of how the pipeline was built</i>.</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRLJDxVi63eCqsjmdujVe0juvn0DZlwrLiXZf__Dch3B73q-QcsWNlQmJ5uTLOvI6xUUUgN-Lsqw1-_5LdIbEY70-8ltvdM1pnk4Xh3mUkuc4a2-nE7n6cftla4Z3BVFKlhlBq5lzcxIkn/s1920/Goldfields-pipeline.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="650" data-original-width="1920" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRLJDxVi63eCqsjmdujVe0juvn0DZlwrLiXZf__Dch3B73q-QcsWNlQmJ5uTLOvI6xUUUgN-Lsqw1-_5LdIbEY70-8ltvdM1pnk4Xh3mUkuc4a2-nE7n6cftla4Z3BVFKlhlBq5lzcxIkn/w640-h216/Goldfields-pipeline.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.australiasgoldenoutback.com/business/attractions/golden-pipeline-heritage-trail" target="_blank">Image source</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div>And, for the first time I heard about the Lake Ballard statues, 'Inside Australia', by Antony Gormley. I first came across Gormley's work when it was referenced by Heather Rose in <i><a href="http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-museum-of-modern-love-by-heather.html" target="_blank">The Museum of Modern Love</a></i>. So I was prepared for the eerie, startling nature of his statues, I just had no idea we had some in Australia.</div><div><blockquote><i>They climbed a neat hill that reminded Frances of the cover of </i>The Little Prince,<i> a hemisphere, like half a planet, in the middle of nowhere. From the top they stood in the salty wind and looked afar. Before them, beneath the white glaze of the sunlight, lay asterisk on asterisk of fanning trails, the footprinted patterns of earlier visitors who had tracked between the statues</i>.</blockquote></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfdr8XkUuBkZfMan2jlt4LMaY-PFIW4kSr3E1pRphV2XtPtpgUZd6Gr9Qfd3oPwAgZXZZVEUkRfOBLvcq9VG6iDCVuUF-DKzksq24EQL2sd-MTSrd0EhqO0jNPFqxDQHCO_FaS7XM-7UZu/s900/lake+ballard+antony+gormley.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfdr8XkUuBkZfMan2jlt4LMaY-PFIW4kSr3E1pRphV2XtPtpgUZd6Gr9Qfd3oPwAgZXZZVEUkRfOBLvcq9VG6iDCVuUF-DKzksq24EQL2sd-MTSrd0EhqO0jNPFqxDQHCO_FaS7XM-7UZu/w400-h266/lake+ballard+antony+gormley.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image: Merlyn Cantwell</td></tr></tbody></table><br />I'm not sure I can say that I enjoyed this novel, although I didn't dislike it either. Maybe the use of so many absences and shadows was a device to leave us feeling empty and unfulfilled on purpose.<br /><br />It is now a month since I read <i>Our Shadows</i>, and very little has stayed with me about the story. I enjoyed researching things like the POW's in Nagasaki and looking at all the images available on Instagram for Gormley's statues, but I did not engage at an emotional level with the characters. I love a good intellectual exercise, but sometimes the storytelling can get overwhelmed in the process. Judging by the experience of the two readers I have to hand right now, I fear that is what has happened here. <br /><p> <u><b>Epigraph</b></u>: </p><i></i><blockquote><i>Strange how things in the offing, once they're sensed,<br />Convert to things foreknown;<br />And how what's come upon is manifest<br /><br />Only in light of what has been gone through.</i><br /><br />Seamus Heaney<br />(Squarings xlviii)</blockquote></div><div><u><b><br /></b></u></div><div><u><b>Opening Line</b></u> (in an untitled prologue): </div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><i>So who is this girl, dreaming awake, of an entombed miner?</i></li></ul></div></div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1483877654474162845.post-67443690373531952032020-11-14T07:12:00.037+11:002020-11-14T08:28:02.242+11:00Only Happiness Here | Gabrielle Carey #AWW<p></p><div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyVFajt7D4KBScOTuruM5W3e0FQu9AP9y-AOwhqraAeUFm4jm5qRUrvR7_qyMD0ee6F7Ok1d4PsQAcAemUdH1k02BEpf0qZ-sav4y2cdkk7KyevUO61zmbqnH2g1hyi7uejSC_DUqTuxUp/s328/only+happiness+here.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="328" data-original-width="220" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyVFajt7D4KBScOTuruM5W3e0FQu9AP9y-AOwhqraAeUFm4jm5qRUrvR7_qyMD0ee6F7Ok1d4PsQAcAemUdH1k02BEpf0qZ-sav4y2cdkk7KyevUO61zmbqnH2g1hyi7uejSC_DUqTuxUp/s320/only+happiness+here.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Gabrielle Carey, with this book about Elizabeth von Armin, had the honour of being the very first author event by zoom, that I participated in during this Covid year. Also in attendance was Lisa from ANZLitLovers, who had alerted me to the event in the first place. It was lovely to be able to wave hello to someone I knew before proceedings started proper. For a thorough account of the author talk, please <a href="https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/10/15/author-event-gabrielle-carey-in-conversation-with-jessica-white-about-only-happiness-here-in-search-of-elizabeth-von-arnim/" target="_blank">read Lisa's post here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I had not read <i><b>Only Happiness Here</b></i> prior to the event, but it was high on my list for AusReading Month possibilities. By the end of the discussion, though, with Jessica White, it had moved up to be next on the pile! As had my desire to read <i>Elizabeth and Her German Garden</i>. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Only Happiness Here</i> refers to the sign that Elizabeth von Armin had over the door of her Swiss chalet. As Carey states in her book, Elizabeth may have been one of the '<i>earliest proponents of positive psychology.</i>' It was this approach to happiness that attracted Carey. Enough so for her to reread all twenty-one of von Armin's books before embarking on a trip to the British Library to read her letters and diaries as well.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This is very firmly in the camp of biblio-memoir or bio-memoir. Carey is very much a part of the story, as she rereads the books and interprets what she finds there. It is also her personal search for happiness and peace of mind, as she delves into von Armin's life, looking for clues or signs on how to be happy. </div><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><i>My quest was about how to understand Elizabeth's temperament and her way of seeing things, how she maintained such buoyancy, such apparent relish of daily living</i>.</div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">She eventually hits upon nine Principles of Happiness According to Elizabeth von Armin - freedom, privacy, detachment, nature & gardens, physical exercise, a kindred spirit, sunlight, leisure and finally, creativity. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Carey developed each principle into a chapter or section that interspersed von Armin's writing with known facts about her life. Of which, there are not as many as a biographer would usually like. This was all part of von Armin's desire to remain very private, and happy. Towards the end of her life, she burned a large number of her '<i>notes and diaries in what she referred to as "the holocaust"'.</i> Which, naturally, leads the rest of us to surmising stuff about how she felt and thought via the actions and words of her characters. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So the first fact many of you may not know about Elizabeth is that she was born in Australia. In the prestigious suburb of Kirribilli in Sydney, to be precise, on the 31st August, 1866. She was christened Mary Annette Beauchamp, and known as May by her family and friends. Her home for the first three years of her life was most likely Beulah House (converted into an apartment block in 1908 and now only remembered by the name of nearby Beulah St and wharf). I've said it before, but Australians are hopeless at commemorating the birth places and homes of our well-known authors.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div>Her father, Henry Heron Beauchamp, came from an artistic, well-to-do family in London. He emigrated to Australia in 1850 to set up a business as a shipping merchant. His business thrived and in 1855 he married Elizabeth Weiss Lassetter (known as Louey). All six of the Beauchamp children were born in Sydney.</div><div><br /></div><div>One of Henry's brothers, Arthur, moved with his young family to New Zealand in 1869. His son Harold is the father of Katherine Mansfield, making May and Katherine first cousins once removed. Katherine's last letter, before her untimely death, was to her cousin May.</div><div><br /></div><div>In 1870, Henry and his Lassetter brother-in-law, decided to move their families back to the Continent. Enjoying three years in Switzerland together, before settling in London.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As May got older, she kept her Australian heritage very quiet. Any odd accent or 'twang' that people noticed in her voice, she would put down to 'Irish connections'.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Being a 'colonial' in class-conscious England was not much fun and could often be a hindrance to making one's way into good society. Curiously, this slur of the 'convict stain' still loomed large in the imagination of many of the Brits that I got to know in the year I lived in London (1991). I imagine that the 'good-natured' ribbing I received was a watered down version of attitudes a hundred years prior.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Carey wonders if May's '<i>awareness of her Australianness (was) just another one of Elizabeth's deep secrets?</i>'</div><br />She married Count Henning August von Armin-Schlagenthin on the 6th February, 1891, effectively becoming a Prussian Countess overnight. She had three daughters in quick succession - Eva (1891), Elisabeth (1893) and Beatrix (1894), after which, the Count was apparently banished from her bedroom...until 1899 when Felicitas was born, then Henning-Bernd in 1902.<br /><br /><div>At the beginning of 1898, she sent her first manuscript, <i>Elizabeth and Her German Garden</i>, off to the publishers. It was published in September of that year under the pen-name, Elizabeth. After an initial celebratory remark in her diary, the following days were scrawled angrily with 'rows with H'. May never provided any detail about these rows, which leaves the reader to look for clues in her novels.</div><blockquote><div><i>If happiness was something she often enjoyed privately, depression was also something she believed should be borne individually....Elizabeth believed that sharing misery only increased the gloom and risked infecting others</i>. </div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>We know some of the basic facts about the less happy times in Elizabeth's life - the Count's arrest for embezzlement, the death of Felicitas as a teenager, her fear of ageing, the loss of their family home in Pomerania and Henning's sudden death in 1910 - but not how May felt about them. Once again, the only clues are in her books when her characters go through similar experiences.</div><div><br /></div><div>Despite times of depression and sadness, May continued to find joy and solace in nature, especially gardens and appreciating beauty.</div><div><br /></div><div>The rest of her books where published with the tag 'by the author of <i>Elizabeth and Her German Garden'</i> causing a lifetime of supposition and speculation in literary circles, although her friends, like E. M. Forster, H. G. Wells and Bertrand Russell, were well aware of her writing.</div><div><br /></div><div>I finished Carey's book with a very strong desire to get to know May better. I will try to source her two more recent biographies, but in the meantime, I will start at the beginning of EvA's oeuvre with <i>Elizabeth and Her German Garden</i>, which will have the happy coincidence of counting for an #AusReadingMonth title as well as the #NovNov challenge.</div><div><br /></div><div>Did Carey also find happiness in the end?</div><div><br /></div><div>Like the rest of us, and like May, the answer is yes and no.</div><div>The trick, it seems, is to focus on the happy.</div><blockquote><div><i>Not long after, the lockdown was announced and during the weeks of working from home, I took to having lunch under the frangipani tree. Oftentimes, following my salad and cheese and seeded bread, I stretched out on the picnic blanket, and as the world turned in turmoil, I lay in the dappled sunlight pretending I was Elizabeth von Armin</i>.</div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div><u><b>Facts</b></u>:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://elizabethvonarnimsociety.org/" target="_blank">The International Society Devoted to Scholarship on Elizabeth von Armin</a> has some amazing articles and essays, including the one that led me to them, <i><a href="http://elizabethvonarnimsociety.org/uncategorized/family-life-on-kirribilli-point-in-the-1860s-the-enigma-of-elizabeths-birthplace/" target="_blank">Family Life on Kirribilli Point in the 1860's: The Enigma of Elizabeth's Birthplace</a></i> (Jennifer Walker, posted October 27. 2019). This piece includes a copy of G W Peacock's <i>Government House</i> ca 1850, which when blown up to expose the background, we can clearly see Beulah House and its gardens.</li><li>There is a 1958 biography by one of her daughters, Elizabeth of the German Garden.</li><li>Another in 1986 by Karen Usborne, Elizabeth the Author of Elizabeth and Her German Garden.</li><li>And again in 2013 with Jennifer Walker's, Elizabeth of the German Garden - A Literary Journey.</li></ul><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUX4pdPbU8XQbAKlcIEdwiMiwItF16l8-ZsuNSeMcguSN6oNde6bBAw_D2spbZrcytR2vjifjoPPHb5Rc0nIGp5I-4W3x7QkGBNp7yhaBZzpDsN-n-hk-QT4iGswMXnf6oyQk-y7KNWw_S/s1067/Elizabeth_von_Arnim_Monument_in_Buk.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="800" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUX4pdPbU8XQbAKlcIEdwiMiwItF16l8-ZsuNSeMcguSN6oNde6bBAw_D2spbZrcytR2vjifjoPPHb5Rc0nIGp5I-4W3x7QkGBNp7yhaBZzpDsN-n-hk-QT4iGswMXnf6oyQk-y7KNWw_S/w300-h400/Elizabeth_von_Arnim_Monument_in_Buk.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption">Elizabeth von Arnim Monument in Buk, Poland<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br />#AusReadingMonth2020</div></div>Bronahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11110584237325026052noreply@blogger.com13