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Here's a work a work of non-fiction from 1999: I?m not sure that the blurb on the back of this book does it justice, if anything, referring this gonzo-styled 200-odd year history of Sydney as an ?epic tale of a city with a cold vacuum for a moral core? seems needlessly melodramatic. Forget the...

Here's one from 2008: For a small book, Wanting is not short on substance. The novel is a return to form for Flanagan, a relief after his last effort The Unknown Terrorist which disappointed me greatly. Now, he has turned his attention from xenophobia to genocide, moving from a contemporary...

Here's one from 1855: Every so often you come across a book that you wished you liked so much more than you did. I had this feeling with the novel I read last, James Joyce’s Ulysses, and again with the one that followed, Raffaello’s The Eureka Stockade. I enjoy reading Australian history...

Here's one from 1922: So here we are, number 100 in my reading log of the last three years. For such a milestone I needed a novel with few rivals. I chose Ulysses, referred to by many as the greatest work of the 20th century. For the last couple of months I’ve been eager to pull it off the...

Here's one from 2008: I always finish the books I start, as a result I?m quite pedantic when it comes to researching authors prior to starting a novel. However, The Lieutenant is a rare case where I knew nothing more than what was written on the sleeve. From looking over Kate Grenville?s blurb...

Here's one from 1987: After reading The Aunt?s Story I wasn?t prepared to give up on Patrick White. A couple of years ago I had read Voss and could see that there was much to love about his writing, so when I tackled The Aunt?s Story it was with some disappointment that I came away less than...

Here's one from 1948: This book has so many passages of beautiful prose I found it hard to believe at times that Patrick White was going to be able to maintain its quality throughout this three hundred page, densely crafted novel. But White can not be underestimated, I should never have...

Here's one from 2008: I don?t have too much to report on this book ? that?s not leveled as a criticism, rather a reflection of this short memoir?s light and conversational manner. When I initially heard that Muramaki was releasing a memoir I was keen pick it up, I presume that I ? like many ...

Here's one from 1999: I was keen to read Coetzee?s Disgrace because of a new Australian-produced adaptation of the novel which recently won the FIPRESCI prize at Toronto Film Festival. From all early reports John Malkovich is fantastic. However, my judgment on the film will have to wait a few...

Here's one from 1987: Norwegian Wood is the seventh book I?ve read by Haruki Murakami. Each time I come to writing down my thoughts after finishing one of his novels I can?t help but reflect the reoccurring themes that are ever present in all his novels. In fact, I find it hard to point to...

WINNERS OF 2008 PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARDS ANNOUNCED Award winning Melbourne novelist, screen writer and journalist Helen Garner has taken out the prestigious Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction in the 2008 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. Premier John Brumby tonight announced Garner was among a...

Here's one from 1975: David Malouf?s first novel is certainly a personal one. This semi-autobiographical account of Johnno, a troubled adolescent cum restless adult is as much a glimpse into Malouf?s own upbringing as it is that of an often strained and dysfunctional, but profoundly strong and...

Here's one from 2003: Based on several previously published articles by Coetzee (and a couple of new ones), Elizabeth Costello is essentially a collection of essays, or lessons, on the nature of writing, and more importantly reading. Linking these themes is Costello, an aging Australian author...

Here's one from 1997: In reading the reviews of this novel the words gut-wrenching, heartbreaking and poignant often appear. I suppose that is because there are only so many superlatives one can use to describe the tragic story that unfolds in Richard Flanagan?s second novel. The story in...

Here's one from 1976: In this stunning semi-biographical take on the myth that is Buddy Bolden, Ondaatje employs a writing style that embodies equal parts jazz and schizophrenia in piecing together the story of this lauded musician from New Orleans, circa 1900. Through vignettes of drunken...

Here's something from 1992: In his fifth novel, Graham Swift again looks at the effects of past on present, a reoccurring theme central to at least two of his other works ? the phenomenal Waterland and the disappointing Shuttlecock. In particular I loved Waterland, Swift?s intricate crafting of...

Despite the many failures, I'm always interested in opinions on adaptations. I'm keen to hear about the filmed versions of novels that people believe worked, as opposed to those that don't. I'll kick it off with a couple of my favourites. Possibly the best for my mind is also one of the least...