Author Archives: susan

It seems that often my random reading continues a kind of conversation in my head. After writing my last post, on Tim Parks’ book, I’ve been thinking about thinking. The problem of too much thinking. Thinking when I’d rather not. … Continue reading →

Tim Parks’ Where I’m Reading From is a collection of articles originally written for the New York Review of Books between 2010 and 2014. The introduction starts with a fusillade of questions. It’s time to rethink everything. Everything. What it … Continue reading →

I read Nina Riggs’ The Bright Hour over an afternoon and evening; I literally couldn’t put it down. It wasn’t because of suspense; there was no ‘how will this story turn out’; there was never any doubt about the ending. … Continue reading →

Just finished Sally Abbott’s Closing Down. I was at a dinner party here in Castlemaine a couple of years ago when I met Sally for the first time. She was still finishing the book, with chapters flying to and fro … Continue reading →

Continuing the stationery theme from my last post… End of financial year always has me scrabbling around for receipts and invoices. In general, they’re properly filed away but occasionally not. That’s when I go looking, and in looking find all … Continue reading →

That’s my son, Lachie, at the top of the photograph, holding this big cardboard key and looking bewildered. It was taken 14 years ago, when he was in Grade 1. What 6-year-old even knows the meaning of ‘organisation’? Not my … Continue reading →

To be released in December (a Christmas gift for brave girls) is Vasilisa the Wise, with stories retold by Kate Forsyth and illustrated by Lorena Carrington, published by Serenity Press. It includes my second-favourite fairy tale (the first is Beauty … Continue reading →

Once upon a time, there were lots of really popular, really exciting tough-guy action thrillers by Robert Ludlum. Some on them were made into films, and they were really exciting and really popular too. The titles? The Bourne Identity. The … Continue reading →

Not many posts lately  – “Blogday,” usually Sunday, has come and gone and come and gone. Time to start posting again. I’ve been sick – just a cold, but the worst I’ve had for many years. No mucking around with … Continue reading →