If you have been paying attention to the world of late, wrapped up rather despairingly as it is in pandemic, war, climate change and creeping intolerance and extremism, it will not surprise you that hope is in short supply for many people. How can it possibly assert itself in any Continue Reading
Books
Book review: Nancy Business by R. W. R. McDonald
Grief does not have an expiry date. Oh, there are many who thinks that’s exactly what it has, a fixed moment in time which, when reached, magically dissolves all the pain, trauma and loss of having to say goodbye to someone infinitely special, taking with it the complex and unpredictable Continue Reading
Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: Official coffee table book tells the story of Schitt’s Creek
Schitt’s Creek is one of the most clever, funny and heartfelt shows that’s ever appeared on TV/streaming platforms/the entire world’s consciousness. Co-created by son and father Daniel and Eugene Levy, the show started small but grew into a zeitgeist dominating and ward-heavy sitcom hit, the sort of show that possesses Continue Reading
Book review – Over My Dead Body: Murder at #Eurovision by Christoph Fischer
The Eurovision Song Contest, as befits a singing competition marking it 65th anniversary this year, is a great many things – gloriously and deliciously over the top, a great promotional vehicle for aspiring singers or those looking to revive their career, as camp as Christmas and a brilliant way to Continue Reading
#Eurovision 2021 cultural festival book review: The Pelican by Martin Michael Driessen
It may not be wholly or completely so but there is good case to be made that life is, simply by virtue of its underwhelming existence, more than a little disappointing. Quite what it is most of us are expecting is never really clear but if pushed, there’s a good Continue Reading
Book review: Raft of Stars by Andrew J. Graff
In its usual state of busyness and activity, it is easy to think that your life is exactly where it’s meant to be. After all, who, in the pell-mell rush to get life done ever really has the time to stop and consider what it is they really want from Continue Reading
Book review: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Is there anything new under the apocalypse meets space opera sun? Why yes there is, in fact, and it’s all thanks to one of the best books to emerge so far this year, Project Hail Mary, courtesy of Andy Weir who is most well known for The Martian, his debut Continue Reading
Book review: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray (River of Dreams) by Anita Heiss
One of the enduring deficits of our modern age is the inability of people to put themselves in someone else’s shoes and appreciate life from their perspective, a great irony considering the supposed hyperconnectivity of the digital era. This lack of empathy is nothing new, of course, having bedevilled humanity Continue Reading
Book review: The Rose Daughter by Maria Lewis
Having the weight of destiny sitting heavily upon your shoulders is not easy for anyone. But it’s particularly onerous for Dreckly Jones, the protagonist of The Rose Daughter by Maria Lewis, a woman of supernatural origins – her father was an earth elemental and her mother a selkie – who Continue Reading
Book review: Falling by T. J. Newman
ARC courtesy NetGalley – release date 2 June 2021 in Australia. There is a certain familiarity that comes with airline hijacking narratives. Naturally, there is always a sense of mounting tension as innocent parties embark on what they think will be a trouble-free journey only to discover that their flight Continue Reading