Dymocks Top 101 books

Dymocks bookstores have just released their Top 101 books, as voted by Dymocks customers. There are some good books here, but I'm embarrassed to say that I've only read five of them:

• no. 3 To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
• no. 14 Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
• no. 18 The Alchemist, by Paulo Cohelo
• no. 75 Chocolat, by Joanne Harris
• no. 83 The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck

Just about all the books on the Dymocks list are novels. I'm sure my own personal list would include a fair amount of non-fiction, which probably explains the small number that I can tick off.

What I'm reading now ...

The Theban Plays by Sophocles

A trilogy of classic Greek drama. Includes King Oedipus, Oedipus at Colonnus, and Antigone


Started 18 Feb 2008
Finished 26 Feb 2008



The Memoir book by Patti Miller

From the best-selling author of Writing your life, comes this new book on writing memoir.


Started 11 Feb 2008
This was a borrowed book, that had to be returned before I could finish it.

Review: A Place on Earth: An anthology of nature writing from Australia and North America by Mark Tredinnick (ed.)

Writing about nature is in no way a new phenomena, although as the editor of this book, Mark Tredinnick, suggests, it is probably more common in America than here in Australia.

In this collection of essays and personal stories, Tredinnick explores the reason for this, and offers a comparison of American and Australian traditions of nature writing, with a discussion of authors from both countries that have helped shaped the genre.

The writers in this book are more contemporary, and many pieces have been written specifically for this collection.

But what exactly is nature writing? According to Tredinnick,

"The literature of nature has three main dimensions: natural history information, personal repsonses to nature, and philosophical interpretations of nature" (p.35)

We are given examples of all three forms in this book through the work of 26 different authors (12 Australian, 14 American). Some write about a particular place - Tasmania, Northern Australia, Oregon, Alaska; some write about natural features - wind, rain, mountains, oceans; and some about various plants and animals - pine forests, bears, fish, birds.

What we learn from each of these writers is that we are all a part of our environment, and we cannot separate ourselves from it without causing it and ourselves some damage.

As Tredinnick writes in his introduction:

'You cannot know me until you know the weather and the country that surround me, the trees and rocks and animals, as well as the people, that keep me company" (p.27)

In this age of greater environmental awareness, nature writing is bound to become a much more prevalent form in our society, and this book is a wonderful introduction to the tradition.

Review: The Cambridge Companion to Henry David Thoreau by Joel Myerson (ed.)

In this collection of essays on Thoreau's life and work, thirteen different authors discuss Thoreau's development as a writer, his social and political conscience, his committment to the natural environment, and how all this influenced his writing.

I have to confess, I had not read any of Thoreau's writing before reading this book. Although I was aware of his greatest work, "Walden", I was never really sure what it was about, and it was only a reference to this work that I read somewhere else recently that lead me to seek out books by or about Thoreau.

This was the first book I came across, and I found it a wonderful introduction to Thoreau's work. From his early writings for various literary magazines, to his first book "A week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers" through to Walden and his later natural history writings, we are given a detailed analysis of each piece.

There are also essays on Thoreau's relationship with Ralph Waldo Emerson, an important figure in his life; his deep connection with Concord, the city where he lived; and his reputation as a writer during his own lifetime, and as viewed through modern eyes.

What’s surprising is how relevant Thoreau’s work still is today. In recent times, environmental management has become a mainstream issue, as our concern and awareness for the damage that has been done grows. However Thoreau was writing about this almost 200 years ago. He was a pioneer of the science of ecology, even before that term was invented.

In the discussion of Thoreau’s journal, we learn more about his philosophies and methods of working. Thoreau viewed his journal as ‘possibly his most important project as a writer’, and he discusses the purpose and value of journal-keeping. This is all placed in the context of the nineteenth-century literary world, where the habit of journal-keeping was prevalent.

Reading this book made me wish that I had discovered Thoreau much earlier. He was exactly the sort of writer I needed to read when I was in my teens and early twenties, struggling with my own writing and passion for natural history.

Whether you have read any of Thoreau's work or not, I believe you will find something of value in this book. If not in the analysis, then definitely in the detailed references and suggestions for further reading. A must-read for all ‘Thoreauvians’.

Review: Creative journal writing : the art and heart of reflection by Stephanie Dowrick

Over the years I have made many aborted attempts at keeping a journal. Starting out with the best of intentions, I would soon lose interest when my journal writing became very dull, little more than a recording of facts and events.

Stephanie Dowrick's 'Creative journal writing' helped to change all that. While Stephanie still talks about the importance of recording facts and events, she shows us how a journal can be so much more.

After briefly discussing the reasons for keeping a journal, and how to go about choosing a journal, Stephanie then presents us with many exercises and examples which help us to explore a whole range of deeper issues.

Using techniques such as free association, observing your internal and extenal environments, reflection, venting and many others we learn how to make our journal writing more interesting.

There are many reasons for keeping a journal, and many ways of journal writing. Stephanie covers just about all of them in this book. Some of the exercises here may appeal to you, some may not. The trick is to pick what works for you, and just write. This is probably the best book I've come across to help you get started.

Review: The reasons I won't be coming by Elliot Perlman

Released after his award-winning novel 'Three Dollars' but before his massive work 'Seven types of ambiguity', this collection of short stories by Elliot Perlman shares many characteristics of both those other books.

Each of these nine stories, to my mind, deals with an aspect of loss - the loss of friends, lovers, family; the loss of innocence; the loss of hope and the loss of life. Perlman's great skill is in showing us how his characters deal with these dilemmas, or, in some cases, fail to deal with them.

In this respect the stories remind me very much of 'Three dollars'. I suspect that many of the stories were written before that first novel because you can see in them the development of Perlman's style. His writing is imbued with a deep social conscience, exploring the lives of those living on the fringes of society.

Perlman is obviously well read, his writing being littered with many obscure literary references, reminding me very much of his second novel 'Seven types of ambiguity', which referred to the work of William Empson (among many others). My favourite story in this collection is 'I was only in a childish way', which refers to the work of Russian poet Osip Mandelstam. I'd never heard of this writer, and one of the great strengths of Perlman's writing is that it inspires me to do further reading.

It's interesting to note also, that this story is one of few in this collection that contains a sizable portion of dialogue. I think some reviewers have criticised Perlman's writing for containing too much narration and not enough dialogue. While I enjoy all of Perlman's writing, I do think the inclusion of dialogue makes the story more readable.

If, like me, you've read Perlman's novels first, I think you will enjoy this collection of stories. If you haven't read any of his writing, then this is a great place to start.