This month the Pocket Book Club did not stray far. Sort of. We read Angela Slatter's Vigil, set in Brisbane but in a world far weirder than our own. Vigil is urban fantasy but owes a great deal to the detective novel. Verity Fassbinder's mother was Normal but her father was Weyrd. (As in child-eating-Weyrd) You … Continue reading Could the Angel Cake be nicer than Angels?
Category: Pocket Book Club
Pocket Book club and salty tears
Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar made me cry three times. One time was while I was walking to work (I listened to the book). I got in the elevator, having barely wiped away my tears. My work colleague was in the lift and I did not even see him. I was still on the Coorong in … Continue reading Pocket Book club and salty tears
Pocket Bookclub get clucky and talk polio
The Golden Age by Joan London is a novel set 1950's Perth. The Golden Age was an old pub repurposed to care for children with polio. Frank Gold, the oldest resident is the child of Hungarian refugees and the book is in part about his parents' trauma and sense of being different in the big … Continue reading Pocket Bookclub get clucky and talk polio
Pocket book club get curious
I have a particular prejudice against male writers who either are proclaimed, or self proclaim as genius. It is a little jealousy. Not because I am remotely close to being a genius, but because it is a tag more often given to male writers than female writers which seems unfair and a product of sexism … Continue reading Pocket book club get curious
Pocket Bookclub talk about brunch coats and Miles Franklin winner
It says something of the age of Pocket Book club members that we all know what a brunch coat is and remember our mothers' wearing one. Perhaps we wore one too but we were not willing to admit it. A bit like duchess for a dresser, brunch coat has fallen out of favour. I have … Continue reading Pocket Bookclub talk about brunch coats and Miles Franklin winner
Bookclub cold on The Snow Kimono
When you Google The Snow Kimono, Mark Henshaw's 2014 book, Google will offer you 'The Snow Kimono explained' as a predicted search option. You can't go into this book with expectations of neat tidy bows. Omura's father, in the Japanese section of the book, buys and European jigsaw puzzle. He loves puzzles and he is … Continue reading Bookclub cold on The Snow Kimono
The votes are in: Pocket Book Club
The Pocket Book Club have voted for our favourite and less than favourite books in 2016. We had our Christmas break up at the glorious Cormorant Bay Restaurant with glorious views of Wivenhoe Pocket Dam and succulent pork. Everyone was given three yellow stickers to vote for their favourite books of the year (the stickers … Continue reading The votes are in: Pocket Book Club
Pocket Book club is either depressed or feeling thankful
Ruth Park's book The Harp in the South has never been out of print. Yep, that is 68 years of being in bookstores. The Harp in the South is the second book, or the first book, in Park's trilogy. She wrote it first but 40 years later she wrote a prequel, Missus. She was a … Continue reading Pocket Book club is either depressed or feeling thankful
The Man Who Loved Children – Christina Stead
I first heard of Christina Stead as a result of my book club’s Patrick White journey. We listened to David Marr speak about Patrick White at the Brisbane Writer’s Festival, read Marr's biography, Patrick White: A Life and finally all read the Vivisector together. Along the way, someone read that Patrick admired Christina Stead so we … Continue reading The Man Who Loved Children – Christina Stead
Pocket book club is in love
In the 5 year history of the Pocket Book Club, I only remember two books that have been unanimously loved. Not just, we all like it, it was good, but we all love it. The first loved book was the purely eccentric The History of Rain by Niall Williams and second love fest occurred last night with … Continue reading Pocket book club is in love