The Time We Have Taken

Well, it didn't take much time at all to finish Wanting. I came to the end of this heart-breaking story about a nasty time in Tasmania's history, in the late 1800s, last night. What happened to the Aboriginal girl and many of her people in this story (and in this period of history) is definitely not for the squeamish. Kind of an interesting read to have finished just before Australia Day.

Anyway, we seem to be on safer neurotic white ground at the moment, with another Steven Caroll book, The Time We Have Taken.

Pressure's On

I finished John Birmingham's Weapons of Choice last night and need to quickly get through Wanting by Richard Flanagan as it's due back at the library on Feb 4. So without further ado, time to get stuck in ...

Talk About a Mixed Bag ...

It seems I have raced through The Garden Book. It was pretty bleak, "about loneliness, addiction, exploitation". It was a bit like this sentence from the book: The chill, the aching heart, the soul raw and red (245).

So I might try an "explosive alternative history techno-thriller" for a bit of light relief.


I thought there had been a mistake when I picked up from the library the book Untouched by Anna Campbell. Yuck, I have to read that??!!

It looks truly awful but who knows ...

Musk & Byrne was the other book I picked up at the library today.

From the Gulf to the Garden

Finished the truly wonderful Carpentaria today. Alexis Wright is an indigenous writer, whose storytelling is described as "operatic and surreal: a blend of myth and scripture, politics and farce". I also like how Nicholas Jose, from the Sydney Morning Herald, describes the book: "The history she deals with is huge and terrible, but it energises her in an almost loving way."

Now to The Garden Book!