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New project: Guys Read Gals
First off, I did not come up with the name. That was all Rob Kennedy‘s fault. Second, last I checked I am not a male member of the species so I am not actually an active participant – I am just there to make sure everything runs properly. And to carry a metaphorical whip so that the guys involved behave like the gentlemen that they are. So what is it? It’s a website. For men. To post reviews of the Australian female fiction authors they have read. And for women and men. To contribute insightful articles, interviews and opinion pieces on the topics of men reading  and/or Australian female fiction…
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AWW 2013: Marion Halligan's Murder On The Apricot Coast
When I first found this book, I was thrilled. Crime fiction is the genre I love diving into and it always thrills me to find a potentially interesting, intriguing new crime fiction author I haven’t found before. And then I realised it was the sequel, not the first offering in the series. So I searched the shop in vain for another Halligan but there was none to be found. I didn’t want to miss something by reading them out of order. Eventually I walked out of the shop with Murder On The Apricot Coast in my hands. And I started reading. There is the promised murder of course but there also…
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AWW 2013: Interview with Amanda Curtin
Amanda Curtin is the author of Inherited, which I reviewed a couple of weeks ago for the AWW 2013 challenge. I first met her through the Society of Editors (WA) on whose committee she had served for something like 16 years. Amanda is also taking part in the AWW 2013 challenge as a reader and as a reviewer in between editing, teaching and writing. Her next book is Elemental which is coming out in May so you can guess what I will be reading then. You can also read her answers to the Next Big Thing meme about Elemental here. Even better, if you think she is cool, you can meet her in…
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AWW 2013: Ann-Marie Priest's Great Writers, Great Loves
I am not entirely sure where I picked it up from. But I live in Fremantle where there are three Elizabeth Bookshops and a plethora of other bookstores and secondhand bibliophile’s havens (or heavens if you prefer). Its prior home could have been anywhere but most probably had an address within the Fremantle post code. But I like writing and I like anything to do with Virginia Woolf so of course it somehow came home with me. Priest’s idea is not a new one. People often comment and ask writers which character in book X is based on them. Readers often assume that what is discussed in a novel, though…
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AWW 2013: Amanda Curtin's Inherited
Precision is what comes to my mind, first. Amanda Curtin likes to write about connections, between person to person, between person and object, person and landscape. And about how those connections make us feel. Or why they are unique to us. Why they don’t make any sense or at least a different kind of sense to others. The back cover blurb for the book tells us: Inherited brings together stories about the gifts and burdens we inherit from the world or from those we love, and what we, in turn, leave behind. Inherited is her latest collection of short stories. And every word in each story belongs…
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AWW 2013: Interview with author Marj McRae
Last week’s review for the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2013 was Marj McRae’s Not A Man. This week, I got to ask Marj a few questions about her writing process and about the novel itself.
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AWW 2013: Marj McRae's Not A Man
“The hero is an eunuch.” said the author Marj McRae. “Wait, what?” was my reaction. She emailed me the link, I downloaded Not A Man in e-book form and dove in. An eunuch – I expected there to be a few descriptions of not so very nice things – violence and rape. I mean, it’s a young boy being castrated. And frankly, I was stunned by the level of research and detail. I now know a lot of very interesting things about castration and about Oxford. That’s right, Oxford. As in Oxford University. You see, Shuki, is not content with the fate of other eunuchs – lovable as along as…
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Kerry Greenwood's Unnatural Habits
I discovered Greenwood quite by chance somewhere around 2007. And ever since I have eagerly awaited the next installment of a Phryne Fisher or Corrinna Chapman mystery. You can just imagine how thrilled I was when ABC started airing the TV series of Phryne Fisher last year. Accordingly I was excited to find a new offering – Phryne’s 19th outing Unnatural Habits. I bought it to read on my flight overseas at the end of the year and avoided it till I was in my plane seat. Phryne is much the same, the same devil may care attitude towards social conventions that don’t make any sense, the same thrill…
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The Australian Women Writers Challenge 2013: Suggested Reading List
So I mentioned to a writing group that I am part of on Facebook that I am trying to do this challenge. And I asked them to suggest titles. Because otherwise I was going to be stuck. And they have come up trumps. Now I am only going to review certain books in certain genres so I can say now that I probably won’t get to review all these but YOU can. If you are part of the challenge, then off you go, pick one and get reviewing! If you suggest any titles I will keep updating this list. Author | Book | Genre | Comment if any Kathryn White…
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The Australian Women Writers Challenge 2013
The challenge is to read, review and promote Australian female writers in 2013. You can sign up here. I guess a special part of this challenge is that as I am an Australian female writer, I should try to get my book finished as well. So I won’t just be reviewing, I will be writing as well. So I will update you as I go. Australian Female Authors & Titles My first title to be reviewed will be Kerry Greenwood’s latest Phryne Fisher novel Unnatural Habits. My (probably third, rather than second since I do not have the book with me right now) will be Amanda Curtin’s latest collection of short…
