Dancing on Coral

Finished My Brilliant Career yesterday and started Dancing on Coral. I can safely say, it's not going to be my favourite on the list; all of the characters (so far, anyway) are just so unlikeable! I guess they're funny... but in a drippy sort of a way.

Nevertheless, got to keep reading, so I can get on to the next one!

A Shamelss Plug for Pamela Bakes at Page Two

When I first glanced through the list of FANs in the Australian Book Review article, I wondered just how many were available in the local libraries. I picked out what I thought might be an unusual book, Snail by Eric Dando. Nope, not in the library.

But the library website set me on a trail of really useful resources and within minutes I was able to establish exactly who had a copy of Snail. A site called Abe books suggested that Pamela Bakes at Page Two had the book and allowed me to leave an email message for the store owner.

Within a couple of days I had a lovely email from Pamela herself including her nice answer to what is probably a very common question for her: what's with the name of her shop? And here I quote: "I was going to call the business Page Two, which seemed like a good name for a second-hand bookshop. Then someone told me when selling online many customers prefer to know there is an actual person involved, not just a computer, hence I added my name, Pamela Bakes. Of course, for the first few years people thought I only sold cookbooks, but Bakes is my actual surname, not a play on words."

Nice one Pamela. And here's hoping we can manage a visit to Page Two when we're in Melbourne later in the year. If Snail's still on the shelf, then I may just snap it up (if not earlier online ...)

The First of the Library Books

Today, Dominic and I went to the library. I had reserved these two books ahead of time online; Dancing on Coral because it comes first on what is an alphabetic list, and Walking to the Moon because it was published in 2008, much more recently then the others I've been reading to this point.

And I am fascinated by who all these authors are. Moving to Australia 3 and a half years ago, I simply don't have the background to know these authors, the way I did of the authors and writers in NZ. So that's part of the project, too - to come to know a bit more of the history of writing here in Australia. So, I try and keep my eye on book reviews anywhere I can such as the Review magazine that comes with the Weekend Australian and I really like the book reviews in the Courier Mail, but we don't regularly get that. Reading, reading and MORE reading to be done!

Anyway, I was amazed to learn that Miles Franklin who wrote Brilliant Career, did so when she was just 16, while living in the bush! I wonder if she looked anything like Judy Davis who played her role in the movie, which I dimly remember seeing - no idea how long ago THAT would have been! And possibly that was the first time I'd ever seen Sam Neil in a movie (ignoramus again: is that the first movie he's ever been in?). I can see that I'm going to learn so much by reading all these books.

But as I sit here blogging, I'm clearly not reading. Which is what I want to do now, especially since Sybylla/Judy has just given Harold/Sam an almighty whip crack over his face because he dared moved in for a kiss after his marriage proposal!

The Stories So Far

22 May: found and started to read The Sound of One Hand Clapping.

25 May: finished One Hand. Started Wake in Fright.
26 May: finished Wake in Fright. Began reading My Brilliant Career.

On Monday 24 May, I took some time out from work to go to Corelli's SecondHand Book Shop in Mooloolaba - photo to follow. They have an "Australian Interest" section which was mainly non-fiction but quite a few FANs as well! I bought Wake in Fright and My Brilliant Career there. Also purchased: For Love Alone, Christina Stead and Picnic at Hanging Rock, Joan Lindsay. And A Difficult Young Man, Martin Boyd. I did wish I'd had more time to explore the shop further but then decided I first needed to see what was held at the library before trying to snatch up every itemI could find at the 2nd hand book places - strategy required, or I'd go broke very quickly!

Treasures I Didn't Even Know I Had

I was surprised to see on the list The Sound of One Hand Clapping by Richard Flanagan - that just shows you what an ignoramus I am. I have no recollection of buying this book or what might have possessed me to do so! I have a few Australian novels on my shelf, all grouped together. But One Hand Clapping was not amongst them. That's because I didn't even realise this was an Australian book. Oh dear. But I've read it now and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was pretty grim, set in Tasmania, the context being dam constructions and tells the terribly hard story of migrants from Europe in the 50s as they came to The Lucky Country to do all the "wog jobs" that the city Aussies didn't want to do. Many of the migrants had witnessed war-time atrocities and were seriously disturbed as a result. The little girl on the cover of the book is the daughter of two migrants and she's the novel's focus, the story centering on her troubled but ultimately hopeful relationship with her father.

So, I own a few of these books I'm going to read. But then there comes the question of how do I access the remainder of the books on the list? Well, I've been working my way through the list and our Sunshine Coast library catalogue online and thankfully, there are many available at the library.

Others I hope to pick up nice and cheaply at second hand bookshops, like I did Wake in Fright, by Kenneth Cook.

So, just how long WILL it take to read 290 books?

I like lists. And I like a challenge. So when I found a list published online by the Australian Book Review (ABR) of 290 Australian novels, and their wistful "Has anyone read them all, we wonder" ...well, I couldn't resist! Readers of ABR were asked to nominate their favourite Aussie novel and by the end of 2009, the votes were in. Tim Winton's Cloudstreet was the overwhelming favourite. So, I've read that one and have read a sprinkling of the rest. Ahead of me: years of reading! There are quite a few nineteenth century novels on the list and plenty more published before what has been an explosion of fiction publishing in the last couple of decades or so. So it's going to be a project that spans the decades and centuries, nice and wide-ranging indeed; not just the recent 'hot favourites'.

Here's a lovely old favourite: the book I'm currently reading is My Brilliant Career.