This will be short as I’m leaving early tomorrow morning on a photography tour up into the Tarkine forests and northwest Tasmania for a week. The Tarkine is a Unesco rainforest. Many trees, moss and tourists that disappear from time to time. You do not leave the path. Tasmania wilderness is like nowhere else in the world. It’s a shame many tourists don’t believe it. We return home next weekend. I’m looking forward to it.
I did spend time reading books this week but didn’t finish any of them. I’ve been spinning the wheel. I read more of Women Walking and Flanagan’s Heresies. I’m enjoying both and continuing to enjoy reading an hour at a time. i also read an interesting hour of Tasmaniology literary magazine.
I went to a book launch at Fullers book shop. The Wreck by Australian writer Riley James. It is based on the true story of a young man, an inexperienced pilot, flying at night time(that he was not qualified for yet) over Bass Strait. He reports seeing an identified object shadowing his plane. Calls it in, then disappears. The wreckage and man are never found. Bass Strat is the water way that separates Tasmania from Mainland Australia to the north. The waters are notoriously dangerous and it has claimed many planes and ships over the years. The Wreck is a fictional account of what happened after the event. I added it to the wheel and am one hour into it. It has a very good start. This author has also written a book about Antarctica called Chilling I think. The launch was fun.
I’m continuing to also listen for 30 to 60 min of The Count of Monte Cristo. I do need to check in with ChatGPT on the occasional chapter to keep characters straight when new people are introduced. There are a lot of French names and places and French is not a language I have ever been able to get my head around. If it were in Spanish, I’d be fine.
Next week will be a week of photography and not books. I will try to put up a post or at least some photos but we will be doing sun rises, sunsets, night skies if weather is cloudless. Ha! Not likely. Also several waterfalls and a couple of river trips. We’ll see how much energy I have.
Just for fun I’m adding a couple of photos below of books the Penguin has put together. That are YES reads. Have a good week everyone.
Ollie had his surgery for his cruciate ligament. The orthopaedic veterinarian surgeon pretty much rebuilt his little, skinny knee. Now we have the long road to rehabilitation.
His new leg.
Several months ago I signed up for a photography tour for a week in the Tarkine in the northwest of Tasmania. It will be a wonderful trip as the Tarkine is old growth forests, rain forests and beautiful river cruises. But the timing is really off. I’d like to be here for Ollie but Mr P will be taking over the chores. It is always busy caring for an animal that is not 100% and needs confinement for at least 6 weeks.
Being home with Ollie gave us time to read more though. Here is my update on my reading.
Heresies by Richard Flanagan came up on the wheel:
One hour read. In the first chapter he talks about birds. Not all of it happy as many birds are disappearing. Loss of habitat and global warming is causing a lot of harm. Our weather has been so much warmer here the last few years. The gum trees don’t blossom so much and the birds lose their food supply. That and people cutting down the trees.
His next chapter is entitled Does Writing Matter? I really enjoyed this chapter. He discusses how much more Australian history is in the world due to the rise of so many wonderful Australian writers that are getting international recognition. That led into a conversation about the abuse of asylum seekers in the recent past that were detained in Nauru and the horrible way they were treated. Violence, rape, torture. People wrote about it and it became more popular in our news feeds. He mentions the Guardian publication had people write some flash fiction short stories about it. They received more than 2000 stories that could be accessed online about the atrocities.
He also talks about how reading Camus’s The Outsider influenced him and his writing when he was younger. So far I’m enjoying thinking about these things.
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Next on the wheel was Women Walking by Kerri Andrews. Another hour from the wheel. I read the introduction. She mentions William Wordsworth and Henry Thoreau, Raynor Winn and Cheryl Strayed, Robert Macfarlane and Bill Bryson. She states anthologies and collections about walking repeat the patterns, and add others: the names that come up again and again are too often male, white and living in bodies that exist without impediments like chronic illness or childbearing or caring. But what about writers who don’t match this description? Bodies coded as female have often been written out of walking history altogether, had written onto them particular stories, or been restricted to just a few paths. This collection looks to break these old patterns by giving much overdue and well earned space to writers living with disability and chronic illness, writers of colour,. Who are trans, who live in bodies that shift in composition and meaning as they move in time and space.
Scotland- the highlands.
The first story takes place in Scotland. A woman hiker goes to Cruachan Beann. I had to look it up. Scotland. This mountain is popular with walkers due to the spectacular views it offers from the summit.
She describes her walk to the top. There are others there but on the way up she only passes men. There is always a bit of apprehension when out in remote areas alone as a female but everyone was very friendly. It is one of the issues that are written about. When she arrives at the top there are both men and women sitting silently, taking in the views.
She passes a large power plant early on as she begins this trek and there is information about past protests around issues surrounding things such as old power plants, nuclear run facilities. I tended to skip over it a bit as I just wanted information on her walk heading up the mountain.
Penguin Anniversary Little Black Classics had me pulling an Emily Brontë book off the shelf. A little book of poetry called The Night is Darkening Round Me. I’ll be reading this little book next.
I also finished my book club book for October by Australian writer Miranda Darling- Thunderhead. This book mirrors the structure of Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. The protagonist’s surname is Dalloway. It is very interesting. Overall I thought it was really good though the middle of it gets bogged down by a lot of stream of consciousness writing. I am not that big on it but it all made sense in line with the book. As you read her thoughts as she goes by her day, beginning very early in the day you can see the direction her life is going. Very slowly from early morning to late evening we are with her as she envelopes the quiet before her young sons and husband are awake. She then takes them to school, goes to the doctor, lets the plumber into the house, does the afternoon school run. She must get home as her husband has invited guests over for dinner and of course she is responsible to provide a very good meal for them. She doesn’t like the people but she has no choice. Slowly as the day progresses we see more and more coercive control from her husband. He follows her phone, tracks her calendar, sends her text messages. Questions her. It continues to escalate and by the end of the day a big decision is made as a result of the dinner party. It is interesting how you don’t know that this book is about domestic violence but only learn of it gradually as the day progresses and little things begin to add up. The clues start small and increase. It is a short book with only about 110 pages or so. I think our book club discussion will be very interesting.
Here are a couple of quotes:
“The streets around the schools at 8:30 and 3:00 look like the wash up of the first gulf war.”
“Prays the guests will drop out at the last minute.”
She wears a long flannel dress to the doctor’s office-“the long flannel dress makes her feel like Virginia Woolf. Women encased in the attic.”
“I see myself as a zebra, walking down New South Head Road passing traffic, hardy and independent.” This when she is away from her husband. But we don’t know it’s a problem yet.
I’m still listening to 30 to 60 minutes of the Count of Monte Cristo which I am enjoying but as the Count has different identities it gets confusing at times. So I am going to Chat GPT and saying things like “Explain chapters 35 and 36 to me.” I then get an explanation of who is doing what and I get back on track. I find it very helpful.
I had a Big Day Out the other day, before Ollie had surgery but I will post that later. This has become long enough. I really enjoyed reading the various books. I find that taking notes as I read and stopping after an hour (except for book club book) I am getting a lot out of my reading. It’s good to get the spark back.
Spin the wheel. Read the chosen book for one hour, then spin the wheel again.
I have a lot of shorter books on the shelves that re unread. I’d like to move them on as they’ve been on the TBR a long time. I had a couple of bigger books on the wheel and realised it would take a long time to get through them. I also wanted to read some of my Australian authors.
The revised list:
Walking the Gobi by Helen Thayer
Helen Thayer walks across the Gobi desert with her 74 yr old husband and two camels, Tom and Jerry. Non fiction
A Misalliance by Anita Brookner8
Blanche Vernon changes her life after her long time husband leaves her. She makes some strange friendships. fiction
Heresies by Richard Flanagan
Richard Flanagan shares some of his interviews, ideas and essays on important issues affecting Australia. Non fiction
Women Walking by Kerri Andrews
Contemporary voices on nature and belonging. An anthology of women setting foot outdoors now, with ten women narrating walks that will challenge, inspire and fascinate the reader. Non fiction
Nonna Knows Best & Garden like a Nonno byJaclyn Crupi
Italian grandmothers and grandfathers discuss gardening, cooking and family celebrations/relations. A light hearted look at life in Italy. Non fiction.
John Broadley’s Books graphic novel
Graphic scenes of visual delights. A treasure trove from much loved classics, mysteries and obscure science fiction adventures. We travel through his bookshelves in a graphic form. Non fiction
The Rose Fancier by Olga Masters
Olga Masters died in 1986 but this book shares stories of Australian family life from the impoverished farms of the 1880s to the comfortable suburbs of the 1980s. Non fiction
Lucia on holiday by Guy Fraser Sampson
Emmeline Lucas (Lucia) makes some money in the stock market and off she goes on an adventure. But eternal rival Elizabeth Mapp-Flint is determined to outshine Lucia, and she’s got royalty on her side. They lock horns in an Italian setting. Fiction. Part of a series. Non fiction/ fiction?
Miss Peabody’s Inheritance by Elizabeth Jolley Arabella Thorne, is a witty and accomplished woman. An exotic tale of a flamboyant eccentric and her European travels-with jealous secretary and shy school girl protege. This is the inheritance that transforms the uneventful life of drab Miss Peabody. Fiction.
And last but not least a newly start up magazine called tasmaniology. Tasmania writers, stories, poetry and photography. The journals or periodicals are things I like to read but somehow get shelved so I’ll add a literary magazine of some sort onto the wheel.
Celebrating the spring equinox with a revised reading list.
