Jason Steger is a British-born Australian journalist and one of Australia’s best-known literary critics. He served as the books editor and literary editor of The Age in Melbourne for 25 years, becoming a respected voice on Australian and international literature through his book reviews, author interviews and commentary. Steger was also a regular panellist on the The Book Club on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, where he discussed classic and contemporary books with fellow critics and writers. Widely regarded for his thoughtful, accessible criticism, he has played a significant role in promoting Australian literature and reading culture.
I receive a weekly newsletter from him every Friday called Booklist. He reviews new Australian books, talks about current literary festivals and asks readers questions about books. I enjoy reading his bookish discussions.
A couple of weeks ago he was asking readers what type of book ending do they like/dislike. Some endings wrap everything up. Some are ambiguous. Some just leave the ending completely open. A few books have several endings.
I’d be interested to know what are your favourite type of ending. I must say I enjoy closure. All things wrapped up. However having said that I find if an ending is ambiguous or not clear I tend to think about the story for a longer time.
What do you prefer?
Peanny loves watching animals on tv.
Having a quiet day today. Hobart has been very cold this past week. One of those days you just can’t shake the chill. I think I need to get to the pet store and get little moss Peanny a jumper. She keeps crawling under blankets as does our cat Pickles. But I think Pickles would hate wearing one.
(By the way for you North Americans- a jumper is a sweater here.)
I had some journal pages to catch up on so am doing that today. Updated the reading journal somewhat. Need to look up some publishing dates to fill in some blanks.
I enjoyed making up a page in my junk journal using a paper menu from the Cascade Brewery menu with some magazine pics and a few doll stickers. Lastly I saw a sketching exercise on Tik Tok of drawing heads and decorating them so I did that and found it quite relaxing.
In the end I did go ahead and finish the book Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. Overall I enjoyed it but I had to dip into it a half hour or so a day instead of reading it right through. It is somewhat repetitive and really so sentimental but I liked Theo very much. And I enjoyed the setting of Golden, Georgia.
I have several book launches coming up at Fullers book shop but will talk about them later.
Mr P is visiting family in Canada for a month so things have slowed right down here.
I did a 6+km walk the other day with a friend as we had sun if not warmth. It was bracing and we stopped at a local cafe on the way home for a hot Chai Latte.
Last night I spent an evening out at the cinema with a friend and her son. We saw The Sheep Detectives with Hugh Jackman. It was silly but I can’t go past a flock of sheep who all talk and have different personalities. The sheep do solve the murder. They are very clever. We followed that with a Vietnamese meal. A very enjoyable time. I haven’t been to the cinema in a long time.
Well that’s my week finished. Just to finalise it all I received Cousin Eddie’s ashes. (He was our old cat we said goodbye to last week.). The vet also sent some little papers with his foot prints, a vial with a hair clipping and a lovely card. I will put his ashes under our Japanese maple tree come summer and hang his bell. All of our past pets are there and they each have their own little bell. It sounds lovely when the wind comes through.
All the best for the week,
Don’t forget to answer the question about book endings.
Travellin' Penguin 
To use Sue’s example of Small Things Like These, I like the main crisis of the story to be wrapped up by the end (ie the young girl in the convent needs to be saved/rescued/escape) but what happens next can hang loose so that each reader can decided for themselves what the consequences might be.
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I agree with you about this book. I want to think all will be right but it could also go the other way. I think of this often.
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What a lovely idea to put a bell up for each member of your fur family. When our sweet Katie died last year (first anniversary just passed) I couldn’t bear the idea of putting her ashes outside as she always wanted to be with us, so we have them in a box with a plaque, and her collar, lead and harness are also in the box. Our previous dog Emma just loved swimming, so we scattered her ashes in the sea near where we had a beach house at the time.
As for book endings, for me it depends on the kind of book it is. A mystery needs to be solved and everything left tidy. But in other books I like to have the feeling that life will go on for the characters and as in real life, things do not necessarily have a tidy line drawn under them.
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I’m not sure what type of book ending I prefer, but OH MY GOD how cute is that polka dot sweater / jumper on that Peanny is wearing?????
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Great post Pam. I nearly wrote a post on that Jason Steger article too. While I can enjoy closure, particularly in genre novels, like crime or romance, not that I read many of them, I do like open-ended novels or stories. Having just read a bit of Claire Keegan, I think she’s a good example of a writer who can leave an ending up in the air but often with a little sense of hope that it might go the way you’d like it to go. These stories have told you about humanity and encourage you to think about the various ways it might go and the various ways people might behave. I love that sort of writing. But, I don’t like endings where I don’t understand what they mean. I guess these are more ambiguous endings than open endings. I can’t think of an example right now but there are some where metaphor, for example, is used and I’m thinking what did that mean?
Ashes weren’t really a thing when our last dogs died, at least as we were aware, but when our daughter’s dog died recently, we gave them a little shrub and they have put the ashes under that. It’s in the front garden and I think it gives them pleasure (and encouragement to keep the plant – a hardy one) – alive. I do like your idea of a bell.
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Another busy week, Pam! As for endings, it depends what I’m reading. With crime fiction I always like a resolution, that’s half the pleasure of reading them. But with other types of book I don’t mind if an ending is ambiguous or open ended if it works with the rest of the book. Especially if it keeps you thinking!
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Hello Penguin Re book endings, like you I prefer some closure, but do tend to think more about the book when the ending is ambiguous. In my opinion, completely open endings are an authorial cop-out, and several endings are just pretentious…. By the way, I like the idea of the literary discussion, so will see if I can get that newsletter here in Toronto….
By coincidence, I also saw The Sheep Detectives a couple evenings ago– on Amazon Prime. I thought it was great fun, even though the premise is just silly. But sometimes silly is what we need. And I am about to read Theo of Golden– downloaded over a dozen books to my Kindle to take with me to Mongolia, where I will be for almost 3 weeks. Travelling is the only time I use Kindle because it certainly saves space in the luggage. Josée Posen Toronto
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I envy your trip to Mongolia. It is one place I always wanted to go to. I hope you enjoy it. Mr Penguin will be visiting his nephew in Toronto on Monday then his sister in London a few days later. Small world. 🌻
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When our first Silkie Terrier Topaz went to the Great Kennel in the Sky, we had a plaque made for her grave in our back garden with her name, dates, and the words ‘our little gem’ on it. I wonder if one day when we have passed on, someone will come across this little memorial and wonder what lies beneath!
As for book endings, well, it depends. I dislike soppy happy endings where the author has tied the plot up so neatly that it ends that way, but books that just leave me confused about what happened can be annoying.
With books that are about difficult issues, I prefer not so much an ambiguous ending as one that leaves a door open for hope, as long as it’s a realistic possibility.
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I like your preference for an author leaving an ending like an open door for hope.
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Hi Pam,I was sorry to hear about Cousin Eddie. I can picture Mr P carrying him
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Eddie certainly liked to be carried. 🐱
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