Archive for the ‘Latest news’ Category
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The Night Circus in 5 Bites
1. World building – both for what to do and what not to do. Morgenstern’s istorical fantasy world is rich with carefully conceived elements. As a young adult reader, I know I would have fallen for the circus completely, imagined myself one of the performers and created my own story, using Morgenstern’s circus as my ...
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Daisy Johnson in 5 bites
Since the publication of her first book of short stories, Fen, 2016, Johnson has consistently experimented with form, genre and the foundation of her narratives. The standout story in that collection is ‘Fen’ which explores teenage anorexia through a surreal, folkloric lens. Everything Under, 2018 (shortlisted for the Man Booker) is a contemporary re-telling of the ...
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Why you should gobble up Shirley Jackson’s work…
1. ‘The Lottery’ when it was published in The New Yorker in 1948, inspired 1300 people to write in to the magazine. Some were baffled, others outraged and a small percentage wanted to know where in America did this appalling event take place. 2. This short story exemplifies Jackson’s approach to horror. She pushes the ...
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Rebecca in 5 Bites
1. If you think about opening a story with a dream, think again. Daphne du Maurier’s opening of Rebecca has it down to perfection. Mrs de Winter the second’s dream of Manderley combines the surrealism of the dreamscape with a carefully crafted sensory exploration of the wild encroaching on civilisation. The descriptions of the garden ...
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Jane Eyre in 5 bites
Why read Jane Eyre? 1. For Jane herself – a rebellious woman From the opening of Charlotte Bronte’s famous novel, we’re batting for Jane. We first see her, an outsider to the group of ‘contented, happy little children’ grouped winningly around their mamma, sounding like a Victorian family portrait exuding virtue – Jane, the ...
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Books in 5 Bites – a series on books you should read and the reasons why.
What are the hallmarks of gothic fiction? 1. Ghosts and grief 2. Horror and hauntings 3. Portents and powerlessness 4. Real estate and remorse 5. Secrets and sexual awakening Gothic fiction offers both readers and writers a chance to dig into the subconsciousness, to revel in symbolism and venture into the darker side of the ...
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What I’m reading…
I heard Emily St John Mandel talking on one of the digital sessions of the Melbourne Writers Festival – and congrats, MWF for keeping these going post-Lockdowns. I hope they continue! I ended up with small pile of books by the authors I’d heard online, including Station 11. This pandemic novel was written in 2014 ...
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From Saint-Hilaire to Snow Daisy-bushes, Proust Project 2
How well do you think you know a given building? I would have thought that my recall of the State Libraries of Queensland – the old one and the new – and of various libraries in Victoria would be pretty good. Over the years I’ve spent a lot of time reading, writing and researching in ...
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Trouser suits and infashuation.
Trouser suits are back. I suppose they never really went away, but they’ve made a resurgence in the sewing world and it’s enticing to imagine that I could sew one – using the Heather Blazer and perhaps the Chandlers trousers also by The Friday Pattern Company. It feels as though this could be an ambitious ...
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Staying the distance
The route to certain books is serendipitous. At TAFE we’ve set Kate Spicer’s beautifully crafted memoir, Lost Dog; a Love Story as a set text for Write Creative Nonfiction. This is the first year for ages that we’ve set a text, but the book is so well-written and we thought the story would appeal to ...