01. The this-week-part of our glorious extra-long weekend in Rutherglen at the ROAM Winery Walkabout. We visited a bunch of wineries* and the car boot was certainly full on the way home (partly because I was very lucky at John Gehrig – see my text message to my friends below, who were enjoying the sun when I was at the cellar door). Continue reading
I did away with ‘top tens’ a few years ago, and instead I finish the reading year with a recap of the books that are still speaking to me (less about four and five-star ratings, more about what has stuck). Continue reading
Here’s my year in books – Continue reading
01. I love looking at big infrastructure projects (it’s the planner in me that lingers). Today we got to walk part way into the West Gate Tunnel, before the cars takeover in December. Continue reading
Apparently it started like this: Sarah and Chloe were to-ing and fro-ing about whether they’d write anything about the ‘mushroom case’.
None of us wants to write about this. And none of us wants not to write about it.
And then they roped in Helen.
One wild domestic detail galvanises us: his dying aunt remembered the guests ate off four grey plates, while the hostess served herself on an orange one.
Can you imagine the team at Text Publishing when they discovered that Helen, Chloe and Sarah said, ‘Yeah, we’ll do something but only if we can do it together’? Publishing pay-dirt.
And so we have The Mushroom Tapes by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein. Continue reading
By virtue of a long weekend in Melbourne, combined with some solid rain, I was able to devote the first few days of November to reading. And I’ve smashed through a bunch of novellas. Continue reading
When I started scouting my TBR stack for #ShortStorySeptember books, I happened across Zadie Smith’s Grand Union and couldn’t remember how it had even come into my possession. To be honest, I’ve been a bit off Smith after finding Swing Time so-so, and abandoning The Fraud.
Mystery solved when I opened the book – it’s a personally signed copy, that I acquired at an incredible literary event in 2019, Broadside (among others I saw over the two days were Curtis Sittenfeld, Ariel Levy, Helen Garner and Monica Lewinsky). Clearly when I had the book signed I was totally loving Smith… which makes this review a little rude… Continue reading
It’s time for #6degrees. Start at the same place as other wonderful readers, add six books, and see where you end up. Continue reading
01. I’m just back from eight amazing days in New Zealand. I’ll do a show-off holiday post within the next few days but in the meantime, the pic above was taken on the Kaikōura Peninsula, where you can gaze at snow-capped mountains and listen to waves crashing. Magical. Continue reading
Arrangements in Blue by Amy Key Continue reading