Category Archives: Books

Book Review: Lars Saabye Christinsen’s The Half Brother

The Half Brother by Lars Saabye Christensen My rating: 3 of 5 stars I just couldn’t get through it, but I won’t give it a poor rating. From reading rave reviews from newspapers and literary magazines, and seeing the praise … Continue reading

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Book Review: Jonathan Franzen’s Crossroads

Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen My rating: 2 of 5 stars I still remember reading ‘The Corrections‘ and then recommending it to everyone I knew. I found it comic, poignant, brilliant and unfortunately relatable, and I was very much swept into … Continue reading

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Book Review: Jennifer Egan’s The Candy House

The Candy House by Jennifer Egan My rating: 5 of 5 stars I was disappointed with Hanya Yanagihara’s ‘To Paradise’ after I loved ‘A Little Life’ so much and felt the same with Viet Thanh Nguyen’s ‘The Committed’ after the … Continue reading

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Book Review: Armistead Maupin’s Mary Ann in Autumn

Mary Ann in Autumn by Armistead Maupin My rating: 3 of 5 stars I loved the original Tales of the City series. As a much younger man, they made me imagine San Francisco, and what it might be like to … Continue reading

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2021 in lists: concerts & shows, theatre, books, movies, TV

Movies (seen in the cinema) Bonjour Tristesse. Read some grumpy words about this here.  La Dolce Vita. Read some grumpy words about this here.  Possessor. A movie from David Cronenberg’s son, Brandon, I brought husband because it was described as … Continue reading

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Book Review: Christos Tsiolkas’s Dead Europe

Dead Europe by Christos Tsiolkas My rating: 2 of 5 stars I remember that I could barely read The Jesus Man, finding it pointlessly grungy and shocking. But I loved The Slap: the premise was clever, it was a page-turner, … Continue reading

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Book Review: Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Committed

The Committed by Viet Thanh Nguyen My rating: 4 of 5 stars I loved The Sympathizer. I found the story of the duality and duplicity of the half-French, half-Vietnamese counterspy original and irresistible, and it was one of my favourite … Continue reading

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Book Review: Rowena Lennox’s Dingo Bold – The life and death of K’gari dingoes

Dingo Bold by Rowena Lennox My rating: 4 of 5 stars It is a tragic circumstance, I think, the dingoes of K’gari (formerly named Fraser Island). Dingoes are wild animals, in a country that is no longer wild. How do … Continue reading

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2020 in lists: concerts & shows, theatre, books, movies, TV

Movies (seen in the cinema) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Enjoyable enough and hit the mark, I thought. I would have liked to see Rose get more screentime. I enjoyed seeing Carrie Fisher. I got mixed up and expected … Continue reading

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Book Review: George Ilsley’s The Home Stretch: A Father, A Son, and All the Things They Never Talk About

The Home Stretch: A Father, a Son, and All the Things They Never Talk About by George K. Ilsley My rating: 5 of 5 stars You wouldn’t think, necessarily, that a book about a son, visiting his father in his … Continue reading

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