Sometimes we need a book like we need to take a deep breath: to recompose, relax and bring a little bit of presence and perspective into our day. This is the effect Life Lessons From Byron had on me. By no means a full biography, but author Matthew Bevis takes snippets from Byron’s poetry and…
Beginning with Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson. If you’ve read Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, you’ll be back in familiar territory as Winterson talks about her troubled formative years with her adopted parents. This book also tells of her search – and discovery – of her birth mother. Beautiful writing,…
It’s a male-centric list, I know. Not by any design, and I have other titles by women lying about I could/should have picked up instead, but I wanted to get that out in the open straight away. In truth, my reading lately hasn’t been all that thorough or satisfying in the sense I’m getting much…
Read / February 12th, 2014
With Valentine’s Day almost upon us, I thought it fitting that at least one of the titles I read this month be explicitly about love and such is the case with Australian Love Poems 2013, thus also filling my minimum self-set poetry quota. While it contained some beautiful poems, many by names I already admire…
Read / January 10th, 2014
Oh, boy, Melbourne has been dealing out some fickle weather lately, but I’ve been trying to take that into my stride when it comes to finding opportunities to read. Want to sit under a blanket with a book? Sure! Want to stretch out in the hammock under the sun? Sure! So, to the reading pile….
Read / December 27th, 2013
Right now, no doubt, many of you will still be digesting yummy Christmas food (just like I am!) and the readers will probably have their noses in a new book or two, am I right? I was able to get through a respectable amount while on holidays and it was heaven, beginning with The Best of…
Read / November 29th, 2013
To be brutally honest, this month sees a collection of various disappointments. Not too disappointing, I hasten to add, for I’ve actually finished three out of the four (currently reading the last) and I have a policy not to finish a book if I’m not enjoying it or think it’s bad (or both). First…
Read / October 29th, 2013
Hello! I’ve popped back in today to do my regular reading feature, because I can’t help myself. Will be back in proper capacity soon x I knew the title A Young Doctor’s Notebook was familiar, and not just because it was written by Bulgakov, whose The Master and Margarita I really enjoyed, but also because…
Read / September 23rd, 2013
I’m really not sure how best to write this post, so I’m going to plunge straight in and hope that what I type follows some kind of track. My reading slump continues, which isn’t great timing considering I’m trying to model positive reading behaviour, but there you have it. However, I suppose, from another angle…
