Inherited by Amanda Curtin

Dear Book Chums, I've been reading and re-reading the most magnificent anthology of short stories by West Australian author Amanda Curtin. It's called Inherited and is made up of nineteen of the most amazing short stories you'll ever read. The stories, each quite different from one another is imbued with humour and compassion and a wicked wit. You'll love them. This is a must read. You can borrow my copy, or obtained a copy from all good libraries and bookstores. Retails for $26.95. Ever wondered what that means - all good bookstores, implying that there's good and bad??? Take Car... more »

Stuff

I loathe stuff. You know, stuff. Getting stuff, having stuff, finding places to store stuff. Then eventually having to throw out stuff. Stuff me, if there aren't days when the stuff of life gets me plain down. Well, now Christmas is looming. Jeez, more stuff. Stuff for landfill. This year I'm escaping from Christmas, hopefully going camping in a place where the locals haven't yet heard of Christmas. It's unlikely though, because there's barely a place left on earth now where there's not stuff. Am I alone in my stuffy attitude? Thoughts please. I know it's not bookish, but hell it's important.

Motivation

Calling for suggestions my dear writer/reader/ chums as to how to get myself out of the house and into the studio to write.  I think the word I’m looking for is motivation. You see I’ve hit a brick wall of “What’s the freaking’ point of it all?” At this point in time, it makes more sense to get a hair-cut and get a job.  Like night packing or working for Australia Post. Better still, going to the beach to frolic and turn my skin into good Australian leather.

No having to live in the land of make believe, no scrounging around for money, no having to put up with rejection. However there is another part of me, saying “just get out there and write.”

Love to know how you get motivated. Let us know how to get motivated!

What do we read and why?

My son collects and reads more Stephen King novels than anyone I know. My estimate is that he has all 500, and counting, of Stephen King's books. Our son tells us he'd like to write horror, especially given that living with his folks has given him mountains of fodder. I tell him that we can always make things more "horrific" for him.
I guess my own personal favourite Stephen King novel is The Shinning.
Does anyone else out there love reading horror, or do you feel like you're surrounded by enough horror in everyday life? Given our pace of life, and all the problems we seem to be inundated with what do you read to escape from it all? What do we read? And why?

Washing Chickens

Ever have one of those mornings, like I did this morning, when you open up your washing machine to discover that your damp clothes have become infested with a million trillion minute participle of paper.  You curse to yourself, who left tissues in their pockets!

I call this highly annoying occupational hazard of being a domestic goddess: washing chickens. Or that it’s being snowing in my washing machine. Which puts me in mine of an excellent novel I’ve just finished reading by an English author AD Miller called Snowdrops. It‘s a superb physiological thriller set in modern Russia.

Russia seems to have become a byword for hardship and heartbreak, and no more evident than in Snowdrops.  Short listed for this year’s Man Booker Prize it’s a fascinating read, a truly insightful observation of contemporary Russia. I loved it.   Should be able to order this one from libraries.

Now I best get back to plucking a million participles of paper from my wet laundry.  Have a good day all!

Dear bookish friends and bookish friends yet unknown, I would love to have your thoughts on books you've read, or thoughts on anything,  are fit for general consumption. Would also love to have "guest" blogs from my native Blogistan. So please just holler and let me know when you've read a book you'd like to tell the world about.

A New Blogger

Calling myself a blogger sounds like I have just immigrated from some country located between India and Russian. ‘Ello, I am from Blogistan.  In my country we eat books . Crops are poor in winter, make book stew. We very…how you say…litter...rare... people.’

Being a blogger is pretty new terrain for this cyber-immigrant, so I do hope you blogger locals will be accommodating and kind and help me along.

 My blog will be about books , life, and everything in between. A stew. To get the ball rolling I’d like to demand that everyone read   Mary Lawson’s superlative novel Crow Lake at least once.  I loved it.It's a masterpiece that demands many a re-read. And read her other novel too - The Other Side of The Bridge - when you get the time. Now I best rattle my dags and get dinner on!