2017 Australian Women Writers Challenge

Just to say that yes I have signed up for the AWW 2017 challenge.  You can too, if you are interested in reading more books by Austraian women writers.  Just click here.

I think the addition of reviewing classic as well as contemporary books is great.

I have set an overall goal of 15 books - reasonably achievable given that I read 14 this year.

Of those 15, I have set a goal of reading 3-5 classic books and would like to combine that with my love of Virago Modern Classics.  These are the ones that have taken my fancy so far:










I wonder how I'll go.

What guides my choices?  Prizes sometimes such as the Premier's or Prime Minister's Awards and the Book Industry Awards. Sometimes I'll see a review in the Good Reading magazine that takes my fancy.


I like to make myself read outside my normal range and explore crime, children's and young adult to name a few.

I wonder what treats 2017 will bring.

Australian Women Writers' Challenge 2016 - Challenge Completed

I always like to set goals at the beginning of the New Year - particularly with regard to health and reading.  I've met a few challenges this year walking wise with the aid of my beautiful hound Arwen.  

With regards to reading, one of  my favourite goals is the Australian Women Writers Challenge.  

I hoped to read 10 books this year and write 5 reviews for them.  I think I may have fallen short of my goal in the reading department. And while I'm pretty sure I met the writing reviews goal, I confess that some of my reviews are on the short side.  

Here's my year in reading AWW.

1.



I didn't really write a review for this.  This was what I said at the beginning "Oh now this is a nice easy read and not predictable...well not yet anyway..."...I remember being a bit cross with the lead character by the end...she was so unforgiving and I think the other characters (step-brother from memory???) went to a lot of trouble over her and I wondered if that would happen in real life....anyway....not a stand out book for me but not unbearable.


2.



Link to my review on Goodreads.

3.



Link to my review on Goodreads

4.



Link to my review on Goodreads

5.



Link to my review on Goodreads

6.



Link to my review on Goodreads

7.



Link to my review on Goodreads

8.




Link to my review on Goodreads

9.



Link to my review on Goodreads

10.



Link to my review on Goodreads


Oh my goodness!  Look at that !  I met my goal in terms of reading!  In fact...I exceeded it!

Here's a gratuitous photo of me on a glacier taken by my father earlier this year on a fabulous holiday.  I looked pretty pleased with myself don't I?


11.



Link to my review on Goodreads

12.



I'm not going to link to my review on Good Reads because it is ridiculously short.  It's a one-word review- and the word is???? Wonderful!  

Oh and when I first started reading it, I logged the comment - God it's great to be reading a good book.  

I have to say that I am in love with Helen Garner's writing.  I didn't think much of The Spare Room but I have gobbled up everything I have read of hers since.

13.




Link to my review on Goodreads

14.



Link to my review on Goodreads



So that's my year in reading.  I really stepped outside my normal reading boundaries.  I read my first graphic novel. I read a supernatural YA regency novel.  I read crime. I read short stories. I read essays.  I had never read 11/13 authors before.

Did I have a favourite?  Oh this is so hard - Fiona Wright's work is so so smart, so insightful, so thoughtful - I am in awe of her self-knowledge.  And then I really loved Not just black and white - what a story! And what a wonderful tribute to the relationship between mother and daughter - powerful stuff.  But Helen Garner's Joe Cinque's Consolation takes the cake for me because it is ultimately a work of love - beautifully constructed, from the heart, seeking the truth and revealing love. Just beautiful.

Thank you AWW Challenge for taking me beyond my normal reading boundaries and for introducing me to so many good authors.

I could have kissed her except...

The dog and I went for a walk this morning.  We didn't go yesterday.  I was weak and feeling sorry for myself after a late night.  So we definitely had to go this morning. Definitely. Because, despite walking a little bit later in the day with friends.....

They led me into temptation to a very good gelato shop where self-control took a rapid dive into self-indulge....

No I didn't eat both tubs, silly, but I did eat the larger tub. So we definitely had to walk.

Only thing was that, from the minute we stepped out the front door, with me desperately trying to shush an over-excited 6 year old dog, yelping for all her worth like I was belting her instead of taking her for a walk, I was set upon by some very enthusiastic bush flies.

"Shoo" I cried, waving my arms around my head.  

And then I kept waving my arms around my head for the next 2.8 kilometres.  

After 1k I found a handy branch of leaves which had fallen on the footpath so I fanned myself with that.  "Shoo!".  To no avail.  They were stuck to me like glue.  

I was beginning to feel a lot like Pig Pen in the Charlie Brown cartoon.  How embarrassing.  Did I really smell that bad?  What on earth was attracting them?  

"I should never have let the dog lick me this morning."  I thought to myself  "Or maybe it was the last dregs of the sample pack eye makeup remover that I used to remove my owl eyes after wearing mascara the night before."  

"Oh well" I thought "At least my arms are getting a workout too."

But then I started to get really cross.  I don't know about you, but when I get going on my morning walk, I do tend to breathe through my mouth, rather than my nose.  But this morning I had to keep my lips firmly shut.  Aussie bush flies enjoy buzzing right past your ear or landing on your nose or....no!...lips firmly shut.

The dog, and I slogged on.  Arwen seemed to be going faster and faster.  Perhaps the flies were annoying her too or was it the promise of the descent down Mukurta Street where sometimes, foolishly, I joined her in a run downhill.  As we hesitated to cross the street, a woman came up the hill towards us.

"Are the bush flies really bad this morning?" she shouted at us.

Honestly, I could have kissed her except....we don't know each other at all...and those wretched bush flies would have got in on the act too.

"C'mon Arwen" I said "Let's out-run them." 

P.S. And we're over-run with butterflies too apparently. 

#AWW2016 Bingo Challenge

Ouf - well the challenge was set quite a while ago and I don't seem to have done too well.  At first I thought I would be able to complete Bingo Card 1:

A book with a mystery - Peter May's The Lewis Man

A book by an indigenous author - um not sure if The Vegetarian by Han Kang qualifies really

A book set in the outback - hmmmm

A book by someone under thirty - oh dear

FREE SQUARE - Small Acts of Disappearance by Fiona Wright

A short story collection - A few Days in the County and other stories by Elizabeth Harrower

A book that's more than 10 years old - Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner

A bestseller - The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende

A book published this year - Murder on the Serpentine by Anne Perry

So no Bingo on Card 1 I'm afraid...

Let's try Card Two

A book set in your favourite town or city - Hades by Candice Fox

A funny book - Me Teddy by Chris McKimmie 

The first book by a favourite author - The Promise Seed by Cass Moriarty

A forgotten classic - The Eye of Love by Margery Sharp

Free Square - High Rising by Angela Thirkell

A book with poems - well I did buy a book of poems in Canberra in April and I've been meaning to read it but that doesn't count does it - but just in case you are interested it is Rosemary Dobson Collected.

A book you heard about online - Between a Wolf and a Dog by Georgia Blain

A book by someone of a different ethnicity to you - The Vegetarian by Han Kang

A book of non-fiction - The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

So almost Bingo Card Two but not quite.

Australian Women Writers Challenge - Book Review Small Acts of Disappearance by Fiona Wright

Small Acts of Disappearance by Fiona Wright
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The 2016 Stella Prize longlist of a dozen books was announced on 9 February, of which Small Acts of Disappearance - Essays on Hunger was one. I was intrigued by the description of this particular book and delighted to find it available as an e-book through my local public library service.

Anyone who knows me will know that I wrestle with food and weight on a daily basis and wish I had a different body. I am obese and have struggled with my weight since I was about 10 years old. I know obesity is one of the strongest markers for bowel cancer. Due to my genetic heritage I need to get tested for bowel cancer every 2/3 years - a hideous process where you must drink enormous quantities of very salty fluid until you want to puke before undertaking "a procedure" the next day. Fun stuff. Not.

Wouldn't you think I would be motivated to do something about my weight? But no - I eat just about everything that comes in temptation's way. I have very little self-control when it comes to food. So you can understand why I am fascinated about those who suffer from the exact opposite syndrome - who go hungry, who starve themselves to the point of being emaciated (by the way it is very difficult to find an antonym for obesity). Who have control.

Fiona Wright's book is a slim volume (pun kind of intended). Funnily enough, in my reading habits I do not like huge tomes. A bit like movies, I get impatient with anyone who can't get their point across in 2 hours or less. So I was surprised by how quickly I was getting through the book (goody -another finished for the Reading Challenge - measuring measuring attainment attainment) but also surprised by the density of the content, the carefully chosen words and their resonance. This was meaty stuff.

Wright's book is not a definitive text on the issue of eating disorders. Rather, and I think more importantly, it is a reflection on her experience.

Knowing ourselves is one of the greatest challenges of life. Think of how much we dissemble to others (and ourselves) on a daily basis - yes, we are happy, coping, not going mad, pleased to see you, meet you - whatever. And much of this is vital for the smooth workings of society. Good manners and charm are the oil that make the world go round. "Act enthusiastic and you'll be enthusiastic" my mother always intoned to me. And Lord knows, it seems to have served me well all my life.

And yet, what if you feel like the world is out of control, or you are out of control. What can you do?

Wright stops and looks back at the pathology of her illness - looking for clues about how it might have begun, what the triggers might have been. This is not all "Dear Diary" stuff, I hasten to add. Wright informs her reflections with other writing on the topic, scientific, historical and good old literature itself, including writings by Christina Stead, Tim Winton, Dorothy Porter, Carmel Bird and many more. She also analyses the language used by therapists in her treatment - a subject obviously dear to the heart of a wordsmith and a nod to the importance of the "connect" between mind and body.

I won't spoil the book for you by revealing all but here is some of her writing to give you a clue.

"I still want, sometimes, someone or something to take from me the burden of being myself, this burden that I could perhaps only bear, for so many years, through hunger" and "I miss the simplicity of illness sometimes. Because the more acute pain is in trying to get better - and it's a pain that's chronic too - and in stripping away the protection, the insulation, the certainty that my hunger gave me"

Such thought-provoking writing isn't it? I think this would be a great book for book clubs mostly because this is such an important issue - for mothers, for parents, for ourselves as women, for ourselves as members of a society that needs to reflect more on its pathology.

I thank the author for sharing her experience with us, for finding the words for that most difficult of undertakings - self-knowledge - and shining a light for the rest of us who need to unravel our complicated relationship with food; that most basic of needs.

View all my reviews