Don Watson, The Bush

Joseph Banks thought Botany Bay a suitable place for a penal colony, and with prisons in England overflowing Prime Minister Pitt soon got the transports happening.

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Landmarks of the spirit

 

Books, like landscapes, leave their marks in us. 

Singapore Walk

Some time ago one of us lived in Singapore for a number of years. That was post September 11 and in the days of SARS. The streets were deserted, tourism was down, for a little while life there was slow and peaceful.

Li Bai

 

Knausgaard’s Dancing in the Dark: more is less

It’s all over between me and Karl Ove.

Tomas Transtromer: Tracks

Tomas Transtromer, one of Gert’s favourite poets, died on March 26 2015 at the age of 83.

Gadinchela, Bhutan*

Where in the world would a tour guide spend a week by the bed of a sick tourist, even sleeping on a sofa in her room at night rather than leave her? 

Football

I do indeed judge the game as a disgrace….

Lucy Wood: Weathering

Lucy Wood’s 2012 short story collection Diving Belles was likened to the work of Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood, and the cover of her first novel Weathering quotes Michel Faber: Fresh, distinctive voices are actually very rare. Lucy Wood has one.

Crane Mansions review

 

In terms of literary comparisons, I saw the name Roald Dahl, but I’d also throw in the Lemony Snicket books–although I think Crane Mansions is superior. This is really a very, very funny story–a beguiling blend of Victorianism with the temptations of the modern world…