My first experience reading a verse novel was with Dorothy Porter’s El Dorado, which I was forced to read for uni. I was pretty intrigued by the concept at the time, yet while I was reading the book, I couldn’t quite fathom why that particular story couldn’t have been written in prose. Thankfully, I’ve now…
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Before you delve into my article, first watch this fantastic book trailer Australian author Max Barry created for his novel Machine Man at the end of last year: This is far and away the best book trailer I’ve ever seen, simply because it blatantly makes the point: what is the point of this? This is…
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Darwin is probably my favourite place in the world. My parents took my brother and me there on long trips when we were younger and, to me, there’s always been something magical about the Top End. Despite this, my knowledge of how Darwin, and other places north of Australia, were affected during World War II…
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There are times when I complain about things in my life which, really, don’t warrant complaining about: Australia’s performance at the Olympics, getting out of my shift at work ten minutes late when I’m anxious to get home, the phenomenon that is Fifty Shades of Grey, university assignments. The list goes on. Thankfully, life is…
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Everyone feels the pressure of meeting deadlines at one time or another. At least, I do. Maybe there are many lucky people who simply take a Douglas Adams approach to deadlines and laugh in the wake of them. For those of us who don’t, whether that deadline be at school, or at uni, or in…
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In this week’s column, I’m looking at a new publishing platform which emerged from the digital book boom. There is no question that the boom has brought about a plethora of new digital publishers and new self-publishing opportunities. However, short story download site Alfie Dog Fiction, launched in May this year, are doing things a…
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Library Pronunciation: /?l??br?ri, -bri/ noun (plural libraries) a building or room containing collections of books, periodicals, and sometimes films and recorded music for use or borrowing by the public or the members of an institution: a university library (Source) Unless I’m mistaken, the above definition would suggest that a library is a room filled with…
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My favourite short story ever would have to be Roald Dahl’s The Great Automatic Grammatizator. I read it for the first time when I was about twelve, and loved the absurdity of these two business partners producing novels in a matter of minutes on a machine. I’ve re-read the story several times since, and it…
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There is something enchanting about losing yourself in the notes, rhythm and melody of a song which has carved its way into your being and remains there long after the actual music has stopped. The wonderful thing about music is that it is accessible and can be enjoyed by everyone, despite an individual’s personal ability in creating such…
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I don’t like reading fantasy. It is not that I don’t have an imagination; it is simply a matter of plausibility. I don’t find fantasy plausible and I would much rather read about something with some connection to the real world (no matter how small) than something set in a completely different world. I was…
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There are over 200 Baby-Sitters’ Club books sitting proudly on my bookshelf. Logic tells me I should be ashamed of them, but I’m not. I used to be, between the ages of twelve and fourteen, when I was too old to be reading them and they hadn’t yet reached the ‘coolness’ stage of nostalgia, the…
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Love is one of those things. Overrated, underrated, underwritten, overwritten, sublime, misunderstood. The list could go on and on. Love is such an individual experience that it’s hard to accurately depict it in books and films, yet that certainly doesn’t stop filmmakers and authors from trying. Lauren Kate’s Fallen in Love is a book of four love stories,…
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My mother grew up on a farm, in country Victoria. My grandmother’s brother died in France, fighting during World War II and my great-great parents migrated here from Germany. There are so many different stories of survival and courage in my family history, yet my knowledge of most of those experiences has huge gaps in…
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It’s a shame it took an Oscar award-winning foreign film adaptation of Eduardo Sacheri’s debut novel, The Secret in Their Eyes (La pregunta des sus ojos), for the English-speaking literary world to sit up and take notice. First published in its original Spanish in 2005, the novel was finally translated into English in 2011 on…
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