Tara Moss’ first venture into non-fiction, The Fictional Woman, opens with the day she chose to undergo a polygraph test to prove that she does, in fact, write her own crime novels. The writer has been marred for years by rumours that as a former model she couldn’t possibly write her own books, so when…
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The Bookshelf Diaries takes a peek into the reading life of writers, readers and book lovers. Today, Carissa Lee Godwin lets us in what inspires her and what makes her mad. What book changed you? The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I first read it when I was 16, and loved it on a morbidly…
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For you. You’ll soon. You’ll give her name. In the stitches of her skin she’ll wear your say. Mammy me? Yes you. Bounce the bed, I’d say. I’d say that’s what you did. Then lay you down. They cut you round. Wait an hour and a day. It’s clear from these opening lines that Eimear…
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Meg Wolitzer’s young adult novel Belzhar is the story of teenagers who have experienced traumatic events. Jam is sixteen and heart-broken. She can’t move on from the death of her boyfriend of forty-one days, English exchange student, Reeve. In an attempt to get her functioning again, her parents send her to boarding school The Wooden…
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Rural writer Maggie MacKellar has been through a lot. In her second memoir, How to Get There, she writes about the challenges she’s faced, and how she’s made her life anew. A historian, McKellar was pregnant with her second child when her husband committed suicide. Her mother passed away a short time later due to aggressive cancer, and McKellar…
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The Bookshelf Diaries takes a peek into the reading life of writers, readers and book lovers. Today we chat to writer Emma Marie Jones. What are you reading right now? I just started Virginia Woolf’s The Waves for like the third time, because it is 100% perfect. Before that I just finished HollyChilds’ No Limit,…
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Rebecca Jessen’s debut verse novel is excellent. I’ve read it twice cover-to-cover, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The first time, I read it too quickly to take notes or consider it critically – the narrative positively races along and pulls the reader with it. I had to read it again to be able to write this…
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Bad Feminist is, like feminism itself, not just about one thing, one experience, or one kind of woman. Roxane Gay’s new collection of essays is difficult to condense into a single sentence. There are essays on the topics you’d expect: she deals swiftly and cuttingly with the ever-pervasive subject of rape culture; she writes lucidly…
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Close your eyes. Go on. Do it. Now what can you see? Nothing? Really? Look again. Can you see the computer in front of you? Yes – you can feel it there with your fingertips. Can you see your cup of coffee steaming beside your elbow? Of course – you can smell its bitter aroma…
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The Bookshelf Diaries takes a peek into the reading life of writers, readers and book lovers. Today, Lip writer Alexandra Storey allows us a nose through her favourites. What are you reading right now? I’m currently reading Fanny Burney’s Camilla. It’s the first of her novels I’ve read, and I’m really enjoying it so far, even though I’m about 100…
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The Bookshelf Diaries takes a peek into the reading life of writers, readers and book lovers. This week, editor at Scum Mag Sam George-Allen exposes her literary loves. What are you reading right now? I’m finally reading a Junot Diaz novel – The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I’ve read his short fiction before but this is the first chance…
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Within the chaos of Melbourne’s Federation Square, there sits a modest caravan. Beyond the rounded windows the square is full of people. You can hear the clip-clopping of befeathered clydesdales leading grinning tourists in gilded carriages. You can smell the petrol fumes of heavy traffic, and watch a cheeky busker crack a whip and…
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When I heard that there was another magazine on the market for women, I was sceptical. Why add to the celebrity-driven nonsense already being circulated on newsagents’ shelves? Womankind, however, doesn’t compare. Simone de Beauvoir’s face graces the front cover, painted by thousands of butterflies. Flicking through the pages, I was caught by an article…
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The Bookshelf Diaries takes a peek into the reading life of writers, readers and book lovers. This week, loyal Lip contributor Raelke Grimmer allows us a look-see into her personal library. What are you reading right now? It is impossible for me to read only one book at a time. At the moment I’m dividing my time between…
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