As an author it can be difficult to garner reviews and when they are received quite often we wish for a more positive tone. Unlike the silver screen, excellent book reviews do not automatically equate to healthy sales figures and in the end let's face it they are merely someone else's opinion. Yet society in [...]
I have always been a huge festive season person, long, hot days, plenty of good cheer (the food and wine kind) and time with family and friends. We're used to big christmases in the bush and with the temperature gauge usually soaring, on-farm jobs are scheduled for mornings so the Christmas week can be enjoyed. This year it [...]
It's lucky I'm use to driving. With 2.5 weeks of touring already behind me, 3600 kms (give or take a few ks) takes in a whole lot of country. From the vast open spaces of western QLD to the south of the state through to NSW and the waterways of the beautiful midnorth coast, I [...]
Nearly everywhere I travelled last week stories of the recent floods of 2011 and 2012 still abound. From Miles and Charleville to St George and Goondiwindi, everyone has a story, rising water, stranded livestock and pets, water sucking up living room walls, infrastructure and erosion and the greasy, smelly silt left behind in the waters wake. Today [...]
Well it's been another busy week on-farm. Suddenly the weather conditions are looking ordinary again which goes to show how quickly things change out here. We did have good rain during July with a very welcome 50 mm falling however we've had a freezing winter. At one point we had seven consequtive frosts which is [...]
This months coffee-break review in celebration of The National Year of Reading is Monica McInerneys, Those Faraday Girls. McInerney is a much-loved author. Her elegant prose and insight into the human spirit makes for enjoyable reading. Synopsis: As a child, Maggie Faraday grew up in a lively, unconventional household in Tasmania, with her young [...]
The Sydney Writer's Festival has now finished however what a fabulous event! An ecletic group of authors and commentators gathered for the two week 'gig' which celebrated the very best of all things bookish. By the queues many a reader was eager to listen to their favourite authors talk about their latest releases, discuss world [...]
With mum away this week, David and I headed over to the main homestead last night for a slow-cooked lamb roast with my dad and brother. After years of being the lone sibling on-farm it is strange having another family member back. Scott is having a break from his own business down south and is spending [...]
A big welcome to Peter Watt. As someone who dabbles in historical narrative I've been a big fan of Peter's since reading The Cry of the Curlew. If you're a fan of Australian rural literature and partial to an engrossing, authentic story set in the outback, then this is the type of read for you. The Cry [...]
Anything you can play on a veranda, you know, without electricity, dirt music. Winton is so adept at descriptive prose a reader quickly understands that a major character in Dirt Music is the landscape, the sea and desert of Western Australia. If you love narratives of our ancient land, Australia, then this book is hard [...]