Thursday, January 19, 2012

Economics?



Maybe not.Three books at the library today, one from The Australian's 2011 Best Books list on Keynes, the economist credited with helping lift Britain out of its financial slump in the 1930s. It looks to be quite well written and important because of its relevance to current financial issues, shall we say. The book is quite a compact, lightweight paperback. Not a big dull Economics sort of text book thing at all. But I am not sure my heart's in it. Have made a start instead on Tamarisk Row by Gerald Murnane, published in 1974.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Mary Poppins


I have just finished The Shiralee - a shiralee is a swag, a burden. Lovely story, some nice images of dusty, tough rural Australia. A bittersweet story about a drifter Dad with his little girl Buster. Made into a movie in 1987.

There are another couple of books to pick up from the library which I will try and do tomorrow. Meantime I have started reading Mary Poppins as an iBook on the iPad. PL Travers was born in Maryborough, just up the road in Queensland. The show Mary Poppins is currently on in Brisbane.

Monday, January 16, 2012

The Shiralee

Finished Dog Rock this morning (yes, I am on a week's break) and got The Shiralee from the library this morning. The Shiralee was published in 1955. Maybe it's about a girl who wears red ribbons at the ends of her plaits?

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Project Gutenberg Australia (PGA)

I finished Obernewtyn a couple of days ago, now back to Dog Rock. I am thinking about ways to access some of the more difficult to find, out of print, rare books and found a couple of titles on PGA, including Out of the Silence, by Erle Cox. Cox's book is a very early example of science fiction; Obernewtyn is fantasy. Dog Rock is just plain comical, very funny.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Obernewtyn and Dog Rock


I did finish Cargo the second night of reading it. I started Dog Rock (funny story about very small town Australia in the '60s) but in the meantime, Obernewtyn has become available at the library. It is a fantasy story, not at all my thing I would have thought, but it's quite well written.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Jessica Au - Cargo


I finished Be Near Me so Dominic and I went to the library last night after dinner as this book became available - it's another from The Australian's Best Books of 2011 list. Its author is Australian, the book is most definitely Australian and I am two-thirds of the way through it already. I could have read until I finished it late last night but I am back to work now and thought I had better get some sleep. Hopefully I can finish it tonight!

Jessica Au has a website - click on her name.