It's difficult to write about Pocket Bookclub's recent read, The Plains by Gerald Murnane. This book requires some patience to read and interrogate. It generated considerable discussion at our meeting, a lot of it about magic mushrooms. I will begin with the man. Murnane was born in 1939 in Victoria and has never flown anywhere. … Continue reading Serious Readers Only
Category: Book Fix
Fiction & non-fiction in harmony
When Pocket book-club read The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman I knew how it would end and I knew which book I had to re-read next. A few years ago I read Zealot: The Life an Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan. Aslan describes himself as having come from a family of lukewarm Muslims … Continue reading Fiction & non-fiction in harmony
Wild things and Wild birds
There were two Kevin Bacon films on TV this morning. They must be there to remind it is time for #6degrees of separation. So, I pop on over to booksaremybestandfavourite and see our starting book this month is Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. 1. You gotta love Where the Wild Things Are, … Continue reading Wild things and Wild birds
The Second Baby
This is the anxiety dream I had on the morning of launching The Dark Poet. In Real Life, I want to wake at 6.30am and do some last minute preparation. In My Dream, I wake late, at 7.30. I am worried about having slept in. I will be late and ill-prepared. Then I realise I … Continue reading The Second Baby
Why do you love short stories?
How old are short stories? Short fiction is as old as humankind. Novels are the new fang-dangled thing. The first short tales were oral. Storytellers often used rhyme to memorise stories. One the earliest still surviving tales is "The Shipwrecked Sailor" written on papyrus in Egypt around 2000 BCE. The Greek Aesop's fables, the first … Continue reading Why do you love short stories?
Where’s the Rakija?
The Pocket Bookclub set a dangerous precedent when we emulated Eleanor Oliphant's favourite dinner of vodka and pizza. It seemed that on every other page the characters in Téa Obreht's The Tiger's Wife are drinking Rakija or Rakia. This is essentially fruit brandy from the Balkans which you cannot buy (easily) in Australia. We know … Continue reading Where’s the Rakija?
From Castration to Dissection to Rescue
It is the first Saturday of the month and time for 6 degrees of separation as hosted by Kate at Books Are My Best and Favourite. A book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to make a chain. This month starts with Murmur by Will Eaves. I have never heard of this … Continue reading From Castration to Dissection to Rescue
Book-club Sidesteps
Pocket Book-club talked about a lot of things this meeting. Germaine Greer, The Cursed Child, suitable endings for Game of Thrones, hysterical children on school camps. The hysterical children were somewhat of a segue toward 'the book'. The book being Bluebottle by Belinda Castles. This book was chosen by us on the strength of it … Continue reading Book-club Sidesteps
Strange & Norrell
Some books are like a feather bed. Not that they lull you to sleep. More a case of falling into them like a comfortable dream. If you love a book as much as a feather bed you should not ask your book club to read it. You may hope they will also be dreamily enthralled. … Continue reading Strange & Norrell
Six degrees from The Dry and back again – with a dinner break.
It is the first Saturday of the month and time for 6 degrees of separation as hosted by Kate at Books Are My Best and Favourite. A book is chosen as a starting point and linked to six other books to make a chain. I have missed a couple of months and approach this post with … Continue reading Six degrees from The Dry and back again – with a dinner break.