Regular?

Tonight I became a little flustered preparing some lentil soup. I've had it in my head that I would like to post here more regularly - podcasts, interviews and reviews yes! absolutely - but I've been slowly turning in my mind the notion of linking to some of the fantastic essays and short(ish) works that, beyond a retweet or a splash on the transitory facebook timeline I feel I don't pay enough respect to. The fluster arose from the fact that I have been procrastinating writing the first post in what now will come a regular (weekly, mostly) project - because I couldn't decide which piece to link to first. Pfffft. Procrastination?
  Cut to: spicy, spicy soup smell drifing through the house, laptop perched on knees, cat asleep on a copy of (unread at this point) The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach and to my left a stubby of Cascade Draught.
  I considered Gillian Mear's eloquent essay 'Fairy Death,' originally published in Heat from The Best Australian Essays 2011 (edited by Ramona Koval, Black Inc), also an article I read about Lord Byron and the birth of celebrity that was published in The Independent - but the one piece that rocked my mildly bruised heart last week was an essay about reading Joan Didion that was published and tweeted by The Rumpus and retweeted by Readings Bookshop - and read by me on the Gagebrook bus I sometimes catch home.
  People often create a spray of white noise around them, an energy of static that inhibits any closeness, any appearance of secret thoughts and feelings, rawness hidden behind hand gestures, chat, or the propensity to gently probe others with questions. I have my own tricks for diverting people away; it is simpler to keep the carapace intact.
   But when I read I discard the shell, there is no need to be protected or closed. It is just me and the text - yeah?  And this is the wisest way I think we can read - raw, open - and awake. Except when you are on the Gagebrook bus - and as I slowly read this incredibly moving essay about a mother and a daughter's shared reading of Joan Didion, penned by the daughter, Abby Mims, I felt exposed and I had to fight back tears. I have sisters and, of course, I have a mother. The relationships that Abby describe aren't the same that I have with my family, but the nuance echoed clearly.
  I've read Joan Didion only intermitently; the occasion essay. One of my best friends, a journalist, talks about how important Didion has been for her writing life. I read the reviews of Didion's most recent book Blue Nights, in which she tells the story of the death of her daughter, Quintana at age 39. The reviews have generally not been good - though the admiration and respect for what she had written before has not dimmed for those who read her, excitedly and diligently. The essay is truthful and sad; an exploration of both Abby's family and Didion's writing.
  The fluster which is so wrong for my newly discovered Sunday evenings, has abated, I'm glad I have commited to more regulary posts - and I truly hope you enjoy the well written, honest-to-raw essay from Abby Mims about Didion 'What We Talk About When We Talk About Joan Didion'.
  

Interview with Rosie Dub about 'Flight'

It has been four years between the publication of Rosie Dub's first novel Gathering Storm and her latest, Flight which was launched by the director of the Tasmanian Writers' Centre, Chris Gallagher to an audience of more than 100 people last week in Hobart. Flight tells the story of Fern who we first meet, depressed and in an attic - and then we travel with her as she tumbles down and down into both her psyche and the depths of love - and despair - to the heart of darkness, if you like. More prosaically, we journey with her from the attic in Sydney to the mythic heart of Tasmania's forests.
    I really enjoyed chatting to Rosie live to air on Edge Radio last Tuesday. She has just finished her PhD - of which Flight is a major component. We talked about the importance of story, how they are told to recalibrate and heal. We talked the magical links between shamanism and madness and  Rosie's personal numinous experience  - and how growing up with a fear of life allowed her to  walk hand in hand with her protagonist Fern  as she heals and begins to soar.
You can listen to the whole interview here

Flight
by Rosie Dub
Fourth Estate
9780732294144

Snow Petrel - to Antarctica in a 34 foot yacht

The journey that Snow Petrel, a 34 foot yacht made deep into the Southern Ocean, all the way to the mythical landmass of Antarctica one Summer makes for a textured, intriguing, exhilarating story. Yes, I admit I have a passion for all things nautical and I love the way how, so often in our everyday speech, we find ourselves out to sea; we set course, we change tack, we don't like the cut of someone's jib, we make things shipshape.
   'Snow Petrel' is riddled with nauticalia - but it also a well constructed travel narrative of an amazing adventure that has a good dollop of both history and geography. The author Jon Tucker, the  "cabin boy," and father of the skipper Ben and other crewmate Matt, narrates the story with a gentle and interested tone. He cuts from his version of a log, to a personal history of 40 years on the water - and a greater historical narrative of 95 years of Antarctic exploration.
   The trip across the Southern Ocean was immaculately researched and planned for - and the story takes us through some of these preparations through fields of ice, the Roaring Forties, Furious Fifties - to I don't even know what the winds that surge through the latitudes of the Sixties are called to the windiest place on earth, Commonwealth Bay, landmass Antactica, Mawson's hut - and all the way back to Southern Tasmania.
 "Just lucky I had two sons who were prepared to take their old man along," says Jon, author, father, sailor, as he recounts some of the story of the trip. These recollections include the most beautiful sights these men have ever seen, colours shining through fields of seemingly unnavigable ice. There are stories of being incarcerated by winds of 80-110 knots, held captive by sea-ice, tales of the introverted stage of an ocean passage when everything contracts, a world devoid of colour outside of white and grey - and empty of sound, outside of Penguin noises and the tones of the yacht. Jon tells of the onboard library as vital, the books as "sanity savers," and he tells of a knock down and the loss of the best bolognaise of the journey.  Listen to the full interview by clicking here. Seriously; please do, it's an amazing story - oh! and read the book too.

Snow Petrel
by Jon Tucker
40 Degrees South
9780980533262

Charlotte Wood discusses 'Animal People'

Animal People was one of my favourite reads last year - and also an introduction to the writing of Charlotte Wood. It is a mature and insightful book and it is beautifully written I spoke to Charlotte late last year about this book and Stephen, the returned protagonist from her earlier novel The Children. You can listen to the interview here.
The book opens oppresively with Stephen on a sweltering morning, Sydney high summer and a sense of forboding  is apparent from the first page. We learn that today is the day that Stephen is going to break up with his girlfriend, for reasons that seem to be beyond even his own comprehension.
  Stephen is a man who chooses to reject things, in some instances simply to be a contrarian says Charlotte. She admires this in people, those who "step away from the wheel of aspiration or status."  Stephen has no career ambitions, a risky state for contemporary man to inhabit.
  The story is condensed in to a single day in his life- and is laden with detail, it builds  in rich layers as the sticky, humid day progresses. The prism of the day forces the detail to be tightly wrought - indeed, it is observation, paying attention and a knack for getting detail right that Wood talks about here on her post on Damon Young's blog darkly wise, rudely great. She mentions how Iris Murdoch said "that paying attention is in itself a moral act," a notion which resonates for me; a gentle yet insistent chime.
  The animals - and the animal people of the title are a recurring motif. Charlotte discusses this in our interview -"a fear of animals is a fear of chaos, a fear of life."
Animal People
by Charlotte Wood
Allen and Unwin 2010

9781742376851
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The Tastey Recyclibrary

The Inaugural Recyclibary

The Recyclibrary launched on P(ark)ing Day last year in a parking space outside the wonderful Hobart bakery Jackman and McCross. There were shelves packed with books, a date stamped dialled up and ready to go, and Miss Wimple, the head library was accompanied by many of her assistants including Mr (Dr?) Dewey Decimal, Josie, the Aquarian Librarian and myself, Miss Paige Turner.
    You can find more information here and here and here.
   Since the inaugural Recyclibrary, there have been a number of incarnations including a pre Christmas Elizabeth Street Mall appearance where the shelves were stripped bare. Today, fully restocked with a new and innovative catalogue we will be arriving at the Taste of Tasmania at around 1pm to set up to lend and accept returns.

Watch this space as the afternoon progresses to hear (nearly) live vox pops from new and old Recyclibrarian patrons:

First up this afternoon I chatted with Laura who borrowed four books. You can listen to her chat a little bit more about her borrowing choices here

Next up I had a bit of a yarn with Calvin. he was a young chap and he was checking out a copy of the latest Percy Jackson book (by Rick Riordan). He was a very articulate young fellow and you will enjoy listening to him explain his reading choice here.


Next up were Katy and Frazer from the UK via Sydney. We chatted about E books and our desire in the future to lend Ebooks. Listen to the full conversation here

Top - Katy and Frazer from Sydney
Bottom - Young Calvin with the latest in the Percy Jackson series.

Rod Howard's 'A Forger's Tale' Podcast.

A Forger's Tale, the extraordinary story of Australia's first novelist
by Rod Howard
Arcade Publications


To begin with this book held a rather parochial appeal for me. "Again," I thought, "Van Diemen's Land (aka Tasmania) ahead of the zeitgeist, setting the tone, leading the nation. Again, this small, still chilly and isolated island spawns a first." And I settled in to read it with a grin on my self satisfied convict-heritaged face. The book does tell the story of Australia's first novel but it also tells of a strange man living in stranger times. My grin faded as my astonishment at the story unfolded.
    Henry Savery, now known as Australia's first novelist, was convicted for forgery in 1825 and, after a gruelling series of negotiations and a trial, was sentenced to transportation to the newly established penal colony of Van Diemen's Land. The son of a well to do family with sway, Henry was a charismatic entrepreneur and on sentencing, his tale becomes even more captivating.
    Henry attempted to abscond with his wife and child to America, and when faced with impending re-capture he jumped overboard and tried to do away with himself by smashing his head on the hull of the boat - tragic and tragi-comic events like this are spliced through the tale. The tribulations normally expected on passage to Van Diemen's Land were assuaged, his landfall and subsequent employment (as indentured labour) were, to begin with, comfortable. He wrote an anonymous column (as 'The Hermit of Van Diemen's Land') which included assiduous and cutting summations of what was going on under Governor Arthur's increasingly neurotic rule. He fell into and out of favour with various power brokers - and he sent for his wife and child to whom he could be assigned as convict labour. They arrived, she broke his heart - and he attempted to take his own life again.
    Quintus Servinton was published in 1830 and from all accounts is a stodgy and tedious, semi-autobiographical novel, which varied most signifigantly from his life in its happy ending. It preceeded Woman's Love by another Van Diemonian, Mary Grimstone by 2 years and For the Term of His Natural Life, generally presumed to be the first Australian novel, by 44 years. For more academic detail about both Savery and Grimstone here is a PDF of E. Morris Miller's 1958 paper 'Australia's First Two Novels; origins and background'.
    A Forger's Tale was launched in Tasmania last week by the irrepressible Lindsay Tuffin, editor of Tasmanian Times. Here is his introduction speech - where he articulates the paradox and intrigue surrounding Savery's life and times.
    And here is a most enjoyable interview I did with the author Rod Howard, who came to know Henry and his nuanced existence intimately - and has written about him most beautifully. Listen to the podcast here.

Housewife Superstar - podcast

Would you prefer rabbit stuffed muttonbird or pickled tripe?
Actually you don't need to choose because the recipes for both of these delicacies are found inside Housewife Superstar; The Very Best of Marjorie Bligh (Text, 2011).
Marjorie, for those of you who don't know, may very well be the inspiration for Barry Humphries' Dame Edna - and that is only one of the mysteries that award winning novelist Danielle Wood sets out to unfurl in this intricately researched biography of Australia's (2nd) best known (and possibly most competitive) housewife.
Listen to the podcast of my chat with Danielle about Marjorie, about the irony (or not) of Nigella Lawson - as well as some of the best 'household hints' Marjorie has to offer HERE