“Elizabeth got used to the sound of her own laughter, which she had at first found faintly improper.” (From “Cliffs of Fall”.) Ugh, I hate reviewing Shirley Hazzard’s CLIFFS OF FALL. What words can be used to describe such beautiful, lyrical, bittersweet, intelligent writing? Better, surely, to just read the …
Brilliant! Via Matt Cheney’s post at The Mumpsimus, which links to Lilli Loofbourow’s post at The Hairpin on the book ARE WOMEN PEOPLE? by Alice Duer Miller comes, eventually, this poem: Women (With rather insincere apologies to Mr. Rudyard Kipling.) I went to ask my governmentif they would set me free,They …
Wow. I had to blog this straight away because … wow. Ever been disappointed with the whole plus-size-model thing? Felt like something wasn’t quite right? Here’s something that’s right. How stunning — and, importantly, how *modern* — do these women look? No more freaking ‘rubenesque’, apologetic plus-size photo shoots, thanks, …
Honestly? I got into short stories because it seemed like a good way to learn to write. It’s become much more than that, of course, but I’ve not paused very often to think about what place they do have for me, and further what place they have for readers. I’ve …
I’ve always enjoyed Nick Cave’s music, in much the same way I’ve always enjoyed Meatloaf’s music. Yes, really. In essence they’re two sides of the same coin: Cave’s music is a kind of slowed-down cock-rock, equally melodramatic in its imagery and just as catchy as the music of his colleague …
Recently I’ve been having a problem. And that problem is Fiji. Well, to be more precise, that problem is that I agreed last Christmas to go to Fiji this year & now that the time is rolling close, I find I’m really depressed by it. Okay, not depressed. More like …
Today, Lucinda Williams, for that distinctive raw, Nashville, bluesy voice of hers that always makes me want to wake up in a different life in a whiskey bottle in a bar someplace remote (as if that could possibly be a good thing): World Without Tears If we lived in a …
I’ve talked about music before (usually to say, ‘I don’t know much about music’), but in honour of Women in Music month, I thought it time to talk some more! So I’m going to mention Deborah Conway as a musical hero. Not only because she is a fabulous musical talent, …
OK, so I’m getting a little obsessed with cover art (ever since Nick Stathopoulos turned in the fabulous A Book of Endings cover!). Yesterday I spent a couple hours staring at these sites: http://www.thebookdesignreview.com http://shelvedbooks.blogspot.com http://henryseneyee.blogspot.com I also followed various links, finding myself in a world of cover debate. Including …