This essay gives my belated response to my friend’s ten-year-old daughter who must have turned eleven by now. When mother and daughter visited us in Tasmania last year, my husband and I were planning to move back to Perth. Of the few travel options, we had once toyed with the idea of driving, and even[…]
I quite enjoy the book until the last chapter. Before writing about my disappointment, let me say what I like first. Published in 1915, Prichard’s descriptions of the lives of the early settlers are genuine enough. I get to know about the harshness of the nature, an absence of culture and civilization, and hardships in[…]
This is the first book I borrowed in a Perth library after I moved here from Tasmania; to be precise, I borrowed this book from the Mundaring Library. Through the eyes of Bel-Ami, Georges Duroy’s nickname, given to him by the daughter of one of his mistresses, I get to know Paris in 1885. The[…]
I read thirty-five books last year. Taking into account each book has an average length of 250 pages, and each page has about 200 words, I have consumed a total of 1.75 million words. And how much did I produce? I published my third novel that has around 67,000 words. I wrote thirty-five reviews, giving[…]
If only an author with a life full of hardships can come up with great literature, my dilemma is whether I should hope for such a life so that I can write great works. I started reading one of the greatest Spanish literary works, Don Quixote by Cervantes in the new year. It wasn’t clear[…]
My second reading of Saramago’s “All the Names” makes me realise how little I remember of the story. I almost had no recollection that Senhor José did not meet the unknown woman all the way through. She committed suicide two days after he broke into the school where she studied as a child, and later[…]