January 06, 2009

Australian Bookcovers #143 - The Orchard Thieves by Elizabeth Jolley

THE ORCHARD THIEVES bookcover

The Orchard Thieves by Elizabeth Jolley, 1995
(Viking 1995 edition)
Jacket illustration by Rosanna Vecchio

Posted by Perry Middlemiss at 08:52 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

January 05, 2009

Richard Flanagan Watch #2

Reviews of Wanting

"Publisher's Weekly": "The interlaced stories focus on conquering the yearning that exists both in the Aboriginals and the noble English gentlemen, and though Flanagan has a tendency to hammer home his ideas, his prose is strong and precise, and the depiction of desire's effects is sublime." [Note: the novel won't be released in the USA until May.]

Magdalena Ball on The Compulsive Reader website: "One of the key objections I had to Richard Flanagan's last novel, The Unknown Terrorist was that it put the ideology first: making a political point at the expense of the characters and the plot. This isn't at all the case in Wanting. Indeed, in Wanting, as in Gould's Book of Fish, the whole notion of historical fact becomes subservient to the greater truth -- that of human nature -- the most fundamental of emotional responses and how they underpin the making of history. Wanting is a novel that traces the trajectory of desire...Like good poetry, the novel is full of correspondences, connections, and vivid imagery."

Sandra Hogan on the "M/C Reviews" website: "Wanting is a sad, vivid book in which Flanagan expresses his very strong feelings about the painfulness and uncertainty of life through powerful, compact prose. This artfully constructed novel, with its variety of astonishing characters and stories, is introduced deftly in short, contrasting chapters, bringing the reader back in small climaxes to the central theme of conflict between reason and wanting. A good deal of craft has gone into this book with its clear, spare writing style and --ironically, given the theme -- deep, but controlled emotions."

Other mentions of the novel

ABC television gardening legend Peter Cundall launched the novel in Launceston, Tasmania.

Screenplay for Australia

A lot of coverage has been given to Baz Luhrmann's new film Australia but the bulk of it has concerned itself with Nicole Kidman and her acting abilities. Rarely have there been much in the way of critical thought applied to the screenplay. In "The Australian" David Stratton states: "With considerable help from computer-generated material, Luhrmann creates a genuinely spectacular saga with this often impressive film; a cattle stampede towards a precipice and a Japanese bombing attack on Darwin are among the highlights. Still, given the status of his distinguished collaborators on the film's screenplay -- Ronald Harwood, Richard Flanagan and Stuart Beattie -- it's surprising so many cliches have found their way into the story. Given Luhrmann's fondness for old movies and popular songs, it's not surprising he manages to make frequent reference to The Wizard of Oz (which was released in 1939) and its famous song, 'Over the Rainbow', unlikely as this channelling may seem at first."

Review of The Sound of One Hand Clapping

kimbofo listed this novel as one of her favourites of 2008. She reviewed the book back in March: "The Sound of One Hand Clapping is a book about new beginnings that shatters the myth of Australia as the 'lucky country'. It does not shy away from presenting white Australians as uncouth, uncultured and racist at a period in the country's history at which immigration was running at an all-time high. For that reason alone, it is a refreshing -- and challenging -- read."

Interviews

Sally Warhaft interviews the author on Slow TV.

Ramona Koval spoke to Flanagan on "The Book Show" on ABC Radio National in November.

Posted by Perry Middlemiss at 02:33 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

2009 Age Short Story Award winners

Peggy Frew's story, "Home Visit", has won the 2009 Age Short Story competition. Glenys Osborne, won the second prize, for the second year running, for "A House Was Built Around You While You Slept" and Bronwyn Mehan won third prize for "Frozen Cigarettes".

The winner was published in the print edition of "The Age" over this past weekend - no sign of it online as yet.

Posted by Perry Middlemiss at 01:27 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

January 01, 2009

Major Australian Literary Anniversaries in 2009

Births in 1909

Mavis Thorp Clark (d. 1999)
Joyce Dingwell (d. 1997)
Ronald McKie (d. 1991)
Osmar E. White (d. 1991)

Deaths in 1909

Emily Mary Barton (b. 1817)
George Essex Evans (b. 1863)
W.T. Goodge (b. 1862)
Stefan von Kotze (b. 1869)

First Publication in 1909

The Barb of an Arrow by Roy Bridges
Fugitives from Fortune by Ethel Turner
The Golden Treasury of Australian Verse by Bertram Stevens
"The Meeting of Sighs" by John Shaw Neilson
Some Everyday Folk and Dawn by Miles Franklin
"To Sydney" by Louise Mack

Births in 1959

Venero Armanno
Gabrielle Carey
Bill Congreve
Stephen Dedman
Michael Heald
Michael Heyward
Philip Hodgins (d. 1995)
Andy Kissane
Mike Ladd
Sophie Masson
Paddy O'Reilly
Terri-Ann White

Deaths in 1959

Charles Barrett (b. 1879)
Vance Palmer (b. 1885)
Mervyn Skipper (b. 1886)

First Publication in 1959

The Big Fellow by Vance Palmer
The Big Smoke by D'Arcy Niland
The Blue Crane by Ian Mudie
Bony and the Black Virgin by Arthur W. Upfield
The Dame by Carter Brown
The Darkness Outside by George Johnston
The Devil's Advocate by Morris West
"Ghost Wanted: Young, Willing" by Bruce Dawe
"In Midland Where the Trains Go By" by Dorothy Hewett
Lantana Lane by Eleanor Dark
"Late Tutorial" by Vincent Buckley
"Leopard-Skin" by Douglas Stewart
"Man Friday" by A.D. Hope
"Prize-Giving" by Gwen Harwood
Seven Emus by Xavier Herbert
"Suburban Song" by Elizabeth Riddell
Walkabout by James Vance Marshall and Donald Gordon Payne
"Waterfall at Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand" by David Rowbotham
Young Man of Talent by George Turner

Posted by Perry Middlemiss at 01:10 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

December 31, 2008

Forthcoming Books for 2009

The following is a list of forthcoming books for 2009. Not a lot planned for January that I can find.

February

  • Butterfly by Sonya Hartnett (F)

  • The Unscratchables by Anthony O'Neill (F)

  • The Hunter's Wife by Katherine Scholes (F)

  • The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer

  • Shots by Don Walker

March

  • Move to Strike by Sydney Bauer (F)

  • Valley of Grace by Marion Halligan (F)

  • A Most Immoral Woman by Linda Jaivin (F)

  • Sideways by Patrick O'Neill

  • 60 Classic Australian Poems edited by Geoff Page (P)

  • The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Three edited by Jonathan Strahan (F)

April

  • Waiting Room by Gabrielle Carey

  • The Lost Life by Steven Carroll (F)

  • Look Who's Morphing by Tom Cho (F)

  • B by Wendy Hamer (F)

  • The Marriage Club by Kate Legge (F)

  • Ransom by Davod Malouf (F)

  • The Women in Black by Madeleine St John (F)

May

  • Escape by Anna Fienberg (F)

  • Reunion by Andrea Goldsmith (F)

  • Wild Spirit by Annette Henderson

  • Surrender by Mary Moody

  • The Red Highway by Nicholas Rothwell

  • The Blue Plateau: A Landscape Memoir

  • Astropolis: Book 3: The Grand Conjunction by Sean Williams (F)

June

  • The Bath Fugues by Brian Castro (F)

  • The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet by Reif Larson (F)

  • The Dark Mirror by Barry Maitland (F)

July

  • Death & the Running Patterer by Robin Adair

  • The True Story of Butterfish by Nick Earls (F)

  • The Book of Rapture by Nikki Gemmell (F)

  • Literary Melbourne edited by Stephen Grimwade (F)

  • This is How by M.J. Hyland (F)

  • Revolt of the Pendulum by Clive James

  • The River Wife by Heather Rose (F)

August

  • The Death of Bunny Munro by Nick Cave (F)

  • Last Night on Earth by Patrick Cullen (F)

  • Oceanic by Greg Egan (F)

  • Shooting the Dog by Peter Goldsworthy (F)

  • The Macquarie PEN Anthology of Australian Literature edited by Nicholas Jose (F)

  • Barley Patch by Gerald Murnane (F)

  • Russian Red by Malla Nunn (F)

  • Truth by Peter Temple (F)

September

  • The Black Russian by Lenny Bartulin (F)

  • High Stakes by Emma Boling (F)

  • Bad Behaviour by Liz Byrski (F)

  • Piano Lessons by Anna Goldworthy

  • Cold Justice by Katherine Howell (F)

  • My Hundred Lovers by Susan Johnson (F)

  • The People's Train By Tom Keneally (F)

  • The World Beneath by Cate Kennedy (F)

  • Manning Clark: A Life by Mark McKenna

  • Below the Styx Michael Meehan (F)

October

  • Sons of the Rumour by David Foster (F)

  • Five Greatest Warriors by Matthew Reilly (F)

  • Siblings edited by Charlotte Wood (F)

November

  • The Umbrella Club by David Brooks (F)

  • I Blame Duchamp: My Life's Adventures by Edmund Capon

  • Growing Up by Paul Carter

  • The Dangerous Dance of Danny Dunne by Bryce Courtenay (F)

  • Why You Are Australian: A Letter to my Children by Nikki Gemmell

  • Unreliable Memoirs V: Prelude to the Aftemath by Clive James

  • Opal Sunset by Clive James (P)

  • The Mind and Times of Reg Mombassa by Murray Waldren

  • Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusack (F)

December

  • Bloodborn by Katherine Fox (F)

Entries on this list are taken from "The Age" and Locus.

F- Fiction
P - Poetry

Posted by Perry Middlemiss at 05:31 PM Permalink | Comments (1)

2008 A Year in Australian Literature

January

  • One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke is announced as an honoree of the 2008 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature

  • The Company of the Dead by David Kowalski wins the Aurealis Award for Best Australian SF Novel of 2008

February

  • Shaun Tan is awarded "Album of the Year" at Angouleme, one of the world's biggest comic book festivals, for his book The Arrival

  • His Illegal Self by Peter Carey released

  • Novelist Sophie Cunningham is named as the new editor of Meanjin

  • "The Bulletin" magazine publishes its last issue, the first was in 1880

  • The Australia Council for the Arts announces Christopher Koch and Gerald Murnane as recipients of its 2008 emeritus writers awards

March

  • The Ballad of Desmond Kale by Roger McDonald wins the main fiction award of the 2008 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature

  • The Time We Have Taken by Steven Carroll wins the Best Novel award in the South-East Asia and South Pacific region of the 2008 Commonwealth Writers' Prize. The Anatomy of Wings by Karen Foxlee wins the Best First Novel award for the same region

  • Saturn Returns by Sean Williams wins the Best Novel award at the 2008 Ditmars

  • "The Monthly" magazine starts a series of interviews with Australian authors under their "Slow TV" banner

  • Feather Man by Rhyll McMaster wins the inaugural Barbara Jeffries Award

April

  • Helen Garner publishes The Spare Room, her first novel in 15 years

  • the judges for the inaugural Prime Minister's Literary Awards are announced

  • God for the Killing by Kain Massin wins the 2008 ABC Fiction Award for best unpublished manuscript

  • Napoleon: The Path To Power 1769-1799 by Philip Dwyer and These Few Lines: A Convict Story - The Lost Lives Of Myra & William Sykes by Graham Seal are announced as joint winners of the 2008 National Biography Award

  • the Australian Federal Government announces funding for a new chair of Australian Literature based at the University of Western Australia

May

  • the 2008 Sydney Writers' Festival runs from May 19th to 25th

  • Clunes, Victoria, holds its second Booktown weekend

  • Tim Winton publishes Breath, his first novel in seven years

  • Nights in the Asylum by Carol Lefevre wins the 2008 Nita Kibble Award, and The Anatomy of Wings by Karen Foxlee wins the Dobbie encouragement award

  • the sponsors of the Man Booker Prize announce a special award to commemorate the prize's 40th anniversary

  • the winners of the 2008 NSW Premier's Literary Awards are announced: Christina Stead Prize for Fiction - The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser; Douglas Stewart Prize for Non-Fiction - Slicing the Silence: Voyaging to Antarctica by Tom Griffiths

  • Ten Things I Hate About Me by Randa Abdel-Fattah wins the 2008 Kathleen Mitchell Award for Young Writers

  • Max Barry, Belinda Castles, Jessica Davidson, and Jessica White are named 2008 Best Young Australian Novelists by "The Sydney Morning Herald"

June

  • Nam Le publishes The Boat, his first collection of short stories, to great acclaim

  • the 2008 Australian Book Industry Awards are announced, with People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks winning the major Book of the Year award

  • Shaun Tan wins an award in the 2008 Boston Globe Horn Book Awards, titled "Special Citation, for excellence in graphic storytelling", for his graphic novel The Arrival

  • Steven Carroll wins the 2008 Miles Franklin Award for his novel The Time We Have Taken

July

  • the first Crime and Justice Festival in held in Melbourne over the weekend of July 19-20. As it happens the Melbourne Festival of Travel Writing is held over the same dates

  • the Man Booker Prize Longlist is announced, with two Australians on the list - Michelle de Kretser and Steve Toltz. Ex-Australian resident Aravind Adiga also makes the list

August

  • Australia wins the right to host the 2010 World SF convention in Melbourne

  • The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett is named Book of the Year for Older Readers in the Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year awards; Dragon Moon by Carole Wilkinson is named Book of the Year for Younger Readers

  • a number of previously unknown Banjo Paterson poems are found in an old cash book dating back to the Boer War

  • UNESCO names Melbourne as its second City of Literature, after Edinburgh received the first such award in 2004

  • "The Age" Book of the Year Awards are announced: Fiction - Breath by Tim Winton; Non-Fiction - American Journeys by Don Watson; Poetry - Not Finding Wittgenstein by J.S. Harry

September

  • the Ned Kelly Awards are presented: Novel - Shatter by Michael Robotham; First Novel - The Low Road by Chris Womersley; Non-Fiction - Red Centre, Dead Heart by Evan McHugh; and Lifetime Achievement - Marele Day
  • Duet by Kimberley Freeman is announced as the winner of the Long Category section of the 2008 Australian Romantic Book of the Year awards
  • the winners of the 2008 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards are announced: The Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction - The Spare Room by Helen Garner; The Nettie Palmer Prize for Non-fiction - The Ferocious Summer: Palmer's Penguins and the Warming of Antarctica by Meredith Hooper; The CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry - Press Release by Lisa Gorton
  • the shortlist for the 2008 Man Booker Prize is announced with A Fraction of the Whole by Steve Toltz, and The White Tiger by ex-Australian resident Aravind Adiga among the six novels listed
  • the inaugural Prime Minister's Literary Awards are announced: Fiction - The Zookeeper's War by Stephen Conte; Non-Fiction - Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers by Philip Jones
  • the winners of the 2008 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards are announced: Fiction - The Spare Room by Helen Garner; Non-fiction - Muck by Craig Sherborne; Poetry - Typewriter Music by David Malouf

October

  • the Davitt awards for crime fiction by women are presented by Sisters in Crime: Fiction - Frantic by Katherine Howell; YA Fiction - The Night Has a Thousand Eyes by Mandy Sayer; and True Crime - Killing Jodie by Janet Fife-Yeomans
  • the 2008 Man Booker Prize is presented to ex-Australian resident Aravind Adiga for his novel White Tiger

November

  • the winners of the 2008 NSW Premier's History Awards are announced: Australian History Prize - Vietnam: the Australian War by Paul Ham; Community and Regional History Prize - Sacred Waters: the Story of the Blue Mountains Gully Traditional Owners by Dianne Johnson; General History Prize - The Politics of War: Race, Class and Conflict in Revolutionary Virginia by Michael A McDonnell
  • Nam Le is announced as the winner of the 2008 Dylan Thomas Prize, for his collection of short stories, The Boat
  • John Romeril, Melbourne playwright and screenwriter, is announced as the winner of the 2009 Patrick White Award
  • David Malouf is announced as the winner of the 2008 Australia-Asia Literary Award for his short story collection, The Complete Stories

December

  • the death of Melbourne poet Dorothy Porter is announced
  • Caro Llewellyn, a former director of the Sydney Writers' Festival and PEN World Voices Festival in New York, is appointed as director of the new Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas in Melbourne

Posted by Perry Middlemiss at 09:52 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

December 24, 2008

End of Year

Well, that's just about it for another year. I'll be back just before the New Year to round things off, and to celebrate the fourth anniversary of Matilda.

In the meantime, enjoy the upcoming Festive season - whatever your inclination - and I hope the gifts you receive include a lot of books - Australian, of course.

Stay well.

Posted by Perry Middlemiss at 02:31 PM Permalink

Australian LitBlog Snapshot #20 - John Retallick

John Retallick's The Comic Spot weblog is based on his 3CR radio program of the same name.

1. How would you describe your weblog to someone who wasn't at all sure what this blogging business is about?

My blog is the place I can share information about events, books, items of interest that I think are worth sharing and that are related to Australian Comics and Graphic Novels. It started as an adjunct to my monthly radio show on 3CR but I've reimagined it in the last little while so that hopefully it will bring listeners to the show and the podcast. I write about what's coming up on the show and I'm also turning my hand at some written reviews of books I come across in between the programs. I would like it to be a rolling, living document of my interactions with comics and comics culture in Melbourne and to try to join up the many disparate arms of the form as practised here.

2. Have there been any major changes in your weblog's direction, theme or subject since you started?

Initially I had no idea what I was doing - now whilst that mightn't have changed a great deal - I have put some more thought into it. I want at least weekly updates - which I've managed to stick to since delting the entire blog and starting again a couple of months ago. I feel much happier with it now. I think it helps if you have some sort of structure in mind when blogging. If I can put 4-5 entries a month up then I'll be happy with it. A great feature of blogging is that it constantly grows. It's present and past existing simultaneously. In two years' time a new reader may come along and they will be able to go back and discover new books or listen to older podcasts and it will be fresh for them even though I may have moved on.

3. Do you have more books in your house than you can possibly read? If so, why?

I lived in Papua New Guinea for a couple of years and it really impacted on the amount of stuff I allow myself to own. We are so wasteful in developed countries. One of the things that changed was my relationship to books. I have a one shelf policy for prose fiction, one shelf for non-fiction. Books should be shared, passed around and moved on. Libraries are great repositories and so is lending things from friends. I've become a lot less precious about 'owning' books rather than experiencing them. My comic/graphic novel collection on the other hand is a little different. The long term plan is to establish a kind of comics culture centre and lending library. They already get lent out to friends and creators regularly but I'd like to set up something a little more formal in the long run. In the case of the comics I see myself as a custodian of a future communal community resource.

Graphic novels can be expensive so sharing them is something that is encouraged in an area of literature such as comic creation that is often marginal and part time for the cartoonists involved.

4. If there were three things you'd like to include in your weblog if you had more time/money, what would they be?

I would be interested in creating some blog specific audio or video. It can be difficult describing the art of a book. Responses to visual art are incredibly subjective so some video could come in handy. I may describe someones art as 'surreal and illuminating' yet it may be totally banal for another reader. It's a tough one and something that is always a challenge in comics where the weight of the writing can be taken by the words or the pictures or anywhere in between. But to be honest the time needed really puts me off at this point. It may also have something to do with the dinosaur of a computer I own and the fact that handling video would push it past the point of extinction!

5. How would you eat an elephant?

It would have to be at gun point as I am a vegetarian! I would eat WITH an Elephant. Some shared bamboo shoots could be lovely with candlelight under the canopy of the rain forest.

Posted by Perry Middlemiss at 01:21 PM Permalink | Comments (1)

Australian LitBlog Snapshot #19 - Judith Ridge

Judith Ridge runs the Misrule weblog, which is Australia's best resource for all literary things relating to children's and young adult fiction.

1. How would you describe your weblog to someone who wasn't at all sure what this blogging business is about?

I guess I'd start the way I initially explained my blog to my parents, who are latecomers to the internet. It's a kind of online journal or diary, but rather than being a personal journal, it's dedicated to documenting children's book news and events and to publishing my thoughts and opinions on what's going on in the world of children's and youth literature.* Misrule is my platform to express my views, to have my say, on those issues, and it's valuable to me precisely because it is my domain. Having said that, I can't just say any damn thing I like about individual books, or the industry, or whatever. I used to use it quite a lot to talk about books I've been reading, but I do less of that since I've been appointed as the Western Sydney Young People's Literature Officer. I know, even though I don't quite get how or why, the things I say in my blog were considered to be influential even before I was appointed to the Western Sydney position, so I have always been a somewhat cautious about what I write. Now I am in this job, it's even trickier to publish, for example, negative comments about books when I may have the opportunity to work with the author some time down the track. Or even if that weren't the case, having an official position brings with it a more formal degree of influence and authority, and so I am even more circumspect about what I say about individual books on the blog these days. And I regret that. I mean, I was always a bit circumspect, because it's a small industry and I know so many of the players, but it's even more incumbent on me now to watch what I say. Which means I blog less, alas, and save my more inflammatory opinions for cryptic comments on my Facebook status (see, I can't even be frank there!). I've toyed with the idea of starting an anonymous blog to circumvent this, but then I think, how would I promote it, and anyway I'm not very big on anonymity, and I am on the record as saying that I don't believe a critic should publish anything if they are not prepared to put their name to it, so as far as that's concerned, I have to put my blogging where my mouth is, so to speak.

I think that's the beauty and danger of blogging -- of all online publishing, actually -- that it's actually incredibly easy to forget that you have a readership. That can be very freeing, but I think for me I am also very conscious of the responsibility (see comments above).

I'd also explain, as I did to Mum and Dad, that a blog is a public journal, so it's meant for others to read and comment on -- but having said that, it took me a long time to really get my head around the fact that people read Misrule, and to realise how many people were reading it. I used to freak out a bit when people I knew -- or worse, didn't know -- would approach me and tell me they read my blog. I'm used to it now -- and in fact, mostly now people approach me to complain that I haven't been keeping the blog up regularly enough (guilty as charged). It's nice to know they miss it when I'm being slack or uninspired.

*(I do also, from time to time, include personal entries, about my family or my very aged cat, or about politics or TV -- not too often, as it is primarily meant to be a children's book blog, but I think the personal posts help readers get a feel for the person behind the blog. And I'm not interesting or vain enough to think that anyone would want to follow a purely personal blog of mine, so Misrule readers just have to put up with the odd parental wedding anniversary or vet's report. They don't seem to mind!)

2. Have there been any major changes in your weblog's direction, theme or subject since you started?

No. The blog began as a place to write about my field of expertise and passion -- children's and youth literature -- and it's stayed true to that. The content has changed a bit, as I indicated in my answer above (less book "reviews"), but the direction, theme and subject has more or less stayed steady.

3. Do you have more books in your house than you can possibly read? If so, why?

Absolutely. Always have, always will. I still have books I bought when I was in high school and can't bear to throw out because I might still get around to reading them one day...

Many years ago, when my now long-time ex-husband and I were moving into our new home, he said, rather ruefully, as he lugged yet another box of books into the house, "I should have married Elle Macpherson" (this was after her infamous Good Weekend interview, in which she said she didn't think one should read a book one hadn't written). I replied, "If you'd married Elle Macpherson, we could afford a house big enough to hold all my books." Well, the marriage is long gone, but the books remain!

But I digress... Why do I have so many books? Lots of reasons.

a. I am bad at throwing things out.
b. I have long been in the fortunate position of getting lots of review copies from publishers, and they tend to accumulate faster than I can read them. We couldn't afford many books in my family (and were therefore great library users), so owning a book is still a very precious thing, and I can't easily just ditch them. And anyway, you never know when I might want to write an article about/teach/add to a reading list/etc that author, that series, that topic, and I might just need those books to refer to!
c. I buy more books than I can read. I love second hand bookshops and have lots of gorgeous old books I bought just because they look good, or have a funky title that I like the look of on my bookshelves (eg. Condemned as a Nihilist; I: In Which a Woman Tells the Truth About Herself; The Minister's Family [my dad is a retired Uniting Church minister]; My Wife's Secret Life and Justice for Judy are among my favourite titles of never-read books that grace the bookshelf in my bedroom).
d. I keep accumulating non-fiction books (primarily historical and literary biographies) that I'll never read, but hang on to, because I might just, one day... I am fascinated by the subjects, but the commitment to reading the whole book is beyond me. I am first and foremost a fiction reader, and have so little time to read all the fiction I want to, so the non-fiction sits on the shelves, looking impressive and suspiciously new...
e. You can never have too many books. You simply have too few bookshelves.

Having said all that, I am getting better at culling, and donate the books I can't use to public schools and libraries and charities that can use them -- but books are like coat hangers -- turn your back and they've reproduced seemingly spontaneously, and there's yet another pile gathering dust bunnies as they wait for shelf space.

4. If there were three things you'd like to include in your weblog if you had more time/money, what would they be?

Money is not so much the issue -- although, wouldn't it be nice to be paid for blogging? (Is it just call girls who get paid for their blogs? Seems like it...) Time is the critical issue, and physical and intellectual energy. Regardless of these factors, what I wish I could include more of in the Misrule blog is:

a. Total freedom of expression. I'd like to be braver and franker in my Misrule posts. But I accept that I have had to sacrifice a degree of freedom of online expression to the bigger picture of my role in the "real" world. This is a bit of a dilemma, because I think it's essential to keep a weather eye on standards and so on, and I have all sorts of opinions and ideas about writing and publishing for younger readers that I'd like to express, but I just can't, always. It's a very small town, Children's Book World!
b. More content -- I'd update it more often, and my posts would be more about specific books. I started out as a critic/reviewer of books for children and young adults, and I miss that public intellectual engagement with literature. Writing about books is what I personally find most challenging and most satisfying, but is increasingly what I can't do. So I have to find a way of being a more regular blogger now that I have accepted those limitations on what I can and can't say.
c. I'd love to blog about my teaching. (I teach two courses at the Sydney Writers' Centre: Writing Children's Books and Creative Writing Stage 2.) Unfortunately, I think that blogging about my teaching, which would inevitably mean blogging about my students, is too fraught with ethical issues, so I just don't go there at all. I'm sorry about that, because I do think that blogging about it would afford me the opportunity for reflection on my teaching practices. But I feel a great duty of care towards my students (who place a huge amount of trust in me), so this is an out-of-bounds area. At least, so far. If anyone has any suggestions about how to do this ethically, let me know.

5. How would you eat an elephant?

I'd begin by consulting James Roy's latest novel Hunting Elephants. Once I realised that the book is not a how-to manual (and the title is a metaphor), I'd abandon my Sarah Palinesque culinary ambitions, and settle for takeaway instead. (That's the long answer. The short answer is -- reluctantly and only under extreme duress.)

Posted by Perry Middlemiss at 08:32 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

December 23, 2008

Australian LitBlog Snapshot #18 - Caren Florance

Caren runs the Ampersand Duck weblog - a fascinating amalgam of all sorts of stuff. She has subtitled it "life, the universe and letterpress", so designing books is just part of it all.

1. How would you describe your weblog to someone who wasn't at all sure what this blogging business is about?

Heh, this is something I do on almost a weekly basis, because people seem to be divided into those who Know or those who Don't Know about blogging. There's no in-between, apparently. As with anything I explain to people, my answer depends on what I think they'll relate to. Aunties who read magazines go 'ahhh' when you say blogging is like writing episodes of 'The Middletons' for Woman's Day. Other people understand the concept of diaries/soap operas/group emails, whatever. Often they'll get it, but the next question is almost always 'why?'. My blog seems to be more soap opera than anything else; it seems to be the best way to keep myself interested and satisfied with life, otherwise I'll get bored and cause mischief.

2. Have there been any major changes in your weblog's direction, theme or subject since you started?

No, it had to be a blog that talked about everything, because that's me anytime of the day. I think I've just become more confident. The first few months were fairly tentative, and then I hit my straps and had fun. There's a weird bit at about the 18-month mark when the NLA Pandora project started archiving me and I got the willies about what I'd already said, since for the first 2 years I was pretty much anonymous and that gives a tremendous sense of freedom. Then my father discovered the blog and I had another confidence crisis, but we both survived the experience and I think it improved our relationship immeasurably... at that point I made I made a conscious decision not to go back and edit or censor, but in truth I think the loss of anonymity has made me more circumspect. I write the blog as much for myself as anyone else, but the inclusion of a live audience adds a thrill that keeps me writing. I don't keep a hard copy diary anymore, but I do make handwritten notes about things, unfortunately in fairly random places.

3. Do you have more books in your house than you can possibly read? If so, why?

I have more books in my house than I can possibly shelve, even though we've made nearly every available place into shelving, but I've read most of them. Actually, I'm wrong. About a third of the books belong to my partner, and they're mostly about religion, bizarre cults, political conspiracy theories and cooking, books I don't want to read. I've read most of the books that belong to me. I'd like to say that as they come in I throw others out, but it just doesn't seem to happen.

4. If there were three things you'd like to include in your weblog if you had more time/money, what would they be?

Ah, they'd be the serious posts, the ones that take days to brew and further days to polish. I just don't have that sort of time and energy usually. Time is the limiter, not money. When has blogging ever been about money?

5. How would you eat an elephant?

[You've been hanging out at the Blogger profile page, haven't you?]
Stuff it all in my mouth at once and chew. They're made of marshmallow, aren't they?

Posted by Perry Middlemiss at 12:39 PM Permalink | Comments (1)

Australian Bookcovers #142 - The Georges' Wife by Elizabeth Jolley

THE GEORGES' WIFE bookcover

The Georges' Wife by Elizabeth Jolley, 1993
(Viking 1993 edition)
Cover illustration by David Nelson

Posted by Perry Middlemiss at 08:31 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

December 22, 2008

Australian LitBlog Snapshot #17 - Marg

Marg's weblog, Reading Adventures, covers all aspects of her reading tastes - which are wide - as well as other topics she's interested in.

1. How would you describe your weblog to someone who wasn't at all sure what this blogging business is about?

I have described my blog as an online reading journal whenever I am asked by my friends and colleagues what all this blogging business is about! Of course, that is usually when I am waxing lyrically about blogging, and trying to convince them that they need to start their own movie review blog/craft blog/whatever they are interested in blog! Before too long I am convinced that they are going to start listening to me!

I also talk about blogging being a way to make online friends all around the world, who share similar interests with you. There are not many people around me who share my love of books, who love to talk about books, let alone blog about books!

Reading across a variety of genres (historical fiction, romance, mysteries, and then a smattering other genres) means that I do get to meet a pretty wide cross section of bloggers which is a great bonus for me!

2. Have there been any major changes in your weblog's direction, theme or subject since you started?

When I first started blogging three years ago, I was very much focused on just blogging about the books I read. Every now and again I posted about something that happened in real life, but not very much.

My blog has definitely changed over the years though. I think the quality of my posts has definitely improved (I cringe at some of those early posts). My focus is still on reading and books, but I also talk about things that are going on in my life, and just recently I have started talking about my craft a little bit as well.

Another thing that has changed since I first started is that I also am part of a group blog which focuses on my first love in terms of genres, and that is Historical Fiction (http://historicaltapestry.blogspot.com/), which is both enjoyable and rewarding.

3. Do you have more books in your house than you can possibly read? If so, why?

Somewhat surprisingly, I think the answer to this question is No. I do have a lot of books in my house that I have been meaning to read at some point in time, but I think that there are probably only(!) a couple of hundred or so here that I haven't yet read. If I actually sat down and read these books I could probably get through them in a couple of years. My problem is twofold. The first is that there are always more really great sounding books that I keep on adding to my TBR list and the second is that I LOVE my local library. At any one point in time I have somewhere between 40 and 50 books out from the library, and I have a spreadsheet that I use specifically to keep track of what is due next! I can't imagine not visiting the library at least once a week, usually to take books back, but generally
to borrow more! It's definitely an addiction for me!

4. If there were three things you'd like to include in your weblog if you had more time/money, what would they be?

What I would really like is for some lovely review writing fairy to come and get me completely caught up on the outstanding reviews that I have. There are some great books that I have read on my list still to review, much to my consternation.

Then, I would love to get my hands on a affordable e-book reader that is compatible to Australian conditions! I don't think that will happen any time soon though. It would never replace the enjoyment of having a book in the hands, but given that I do most of the reading on the commute to and from work, it would make it easier than carrying loads of books around the place as well.

I also really want to spend more time reading Aussie authors, and helping to support the industry here as well. Reading more Aussie authors was one of my goals for this year, and I think I have met the target I set myself, so next year I will be challenging myself to read even more if I can!

5. How would you eat an elephant?

A little bit at a time?

I asked this question to some friends, and we did entertain ourselves for a long time with various scenarios! I think we managed to decided that it would have to be a hangi type arrangement that would involve digging a very large hole and then cooking for a very long time!

Posted by Perry Middlemiss at 02:56 PM Permalink | Comments (0)

Kate Grenville Watch #4

Reviews of The Lieutenant

"New Zealand Listener": "Grenville's great victory in this book is to show us that language is so much more than vocabulary or even grammar and syntax -- for this unlikely pair, it was 'not just the words and not just the meaning, but the way in which two people had found common ground and begun to discover the true names of things'. In short, she concludes, you can't learn a language without entering into a relationship and, in a sense, making a map of it."

"Bookbath" weblog: "I loved this seemingly simple but powerful book -- even though this is a fictionalised account based on the life of a real person, William Dawes, I think it can still possibly inform us of some of the events and feelings of this traumatic and often violent part of this countries past -- obviously still from the perspective of a white person which needs to be taken into account in our reading of this book."

Review of The Secret River

"Book Awards Reading Challenge" weblog: "Grenville's account of the struggles between the colonists and aboriginal people was eye-opening and compelling. In a modern context, we know what happened of this struggle, but it was mesmerizing and suspenseful to see this story play out in an early 19th century setting."

Other

"The Canberra Times" sent Gia Metherell along to see Grenville discuss The Lieutenant at a literary lunch.

Posted by Perry Middlemiss at 09:07 AM Permalink | Comments (0)

Australian LitBlog Snapshot #16 - Catherine Bateson

Catherine Bateson is a writer - "mainly poetry, children's book and young adult fiction" - and her weblog is called ten percent inspiration.

1. How would you describe your weblog to someone who wasn't at all sure what this blogging business is about?

An online journal inviting comments and personality revealing writing from innocent bystanders.

2. Have there been any major changes in your weblog's direction, theme or subject since you started?

I'm trying to keep a more focussed blog which offers readers weekly writing exercises.

3. Do you have more books in your house than you can possibly read? If so, why?

Yes. Fear of seige. It's some kind of inherited reflex. At one stage my mother owned twenty pairs of white Bonds full briefs still in their packets. Of course, you can't even make pasta sauce from the contents of our pantries, but you can sit out the seige in clean knickers reading a good book.

4. If there were three things you'd like to include in your weblog if you had more time/money, what would they be?

Competitions, reviews and good stuff for charities. Actually, just keeping it up to date would be fantastic!

5. How would you eat an elephant?

Slowly, with lots of sauce.

Posted by Perry Middlemiss at 09:00 AM Permalink | Comments (0)