Showing posts with label Richard Flanagan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Richard Flanagan. Show all posts

Sunday, March 08, 2026

Six Degrees of Separation: Wuthering Heights to The Secrets of the Huon Wren

Welcome to this month's edition of Six Degrees of Separation, which is a monthly meme hosted by Kate from Books Are My Favourite and Best. The idea is to start with a specific book and make a series of links from one book to the next using whatever link you can find and see where you end up after six links. I am also linking this post up with The Sunday Salon, hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea hosted at Boondock Ramblings.




This month the starting point is Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

When Kate announced this as the starting point, she mentioned that it was in celebration of the current movie adaptation starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi. Another recent movie adaptation that I have seen is Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell, which tells a story about William Shakespeare and his family

I did have several different ideas about other movie adaptations, but instead I am choosing a non fiction read called Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Dame Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea. In this book, Dame Judi talks about her life working in the theatre in many different roles. It's a fascinating book.

I don't read a lot of non fiction, but I did recently attend a book talk about a book called Survival in Singapore: The triumph and tragedy of Australia's greatest commando operation by Tom Trumble. It tells the story  of a daring raid on Singapore Harbour following the Japanese invasion in 1941 and the aftermath for the citizens of Singapore

I am casting my mind back many, many years now, to a book that has stuck with me. Tanamera by Noel Barber is a book that I remember with great fondness.  Tanamera tells the story of a white family and a Eurasian woman both during the Japanese occupation and in the years afterward during the Malayan conflict. I used to love Noel Barber's books when I read them back in the late 1990s but I am not sure how they would stand up now if I was to reread them. I do still own quite a few of them. Tanamera was made into a mini-series in the late 1980s. 

A more recent WWII and aftermath TV adaptation is The Narrow Road to the Deep North which also stars Jacob Elordi, and was adapted from Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan's book of the same name. 

Now, if this was a 5 Degrees of Separation post then I would have gone full circle back to the starting book given that Jacob Elordi starred in both adaptations but alas, I need to add one more link. I am choosing a book by another Tasmania author. I read both of Claire van Ryn's books last year and thought they were great, so for my final choice I am going to select her book The Secrets of the Huon Wren (my review)

Next month, the starting point is The Correspondent by Virginia Evans which I currently have out of the library!

Will you be joining us?

Tuesday, March 08, 2022

Top Ten Tuesday: Books set in Tasmania

 


Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week the topic is Books With Your Favorite Trope/Theme (Submitted by Raincheckandread.com and Sara Beth @ Life, Love, Writing). I was contemplating doing something around books with dual timelines, but in the end I have decided to go off theme this week. Instead, I am trying to make my holiday vibes stretch out as much as I can. A couple of weeks ago now we travelled all around Tasmania so my theme this week is books set in Tasmania!





The Last of the Apple Blossoms by Mary-Lou Stephens - I read this book last year and really liked it. This book is set in the Huon Valley and inspired us to visit during our trip. We had the best toasted sandwich in a cidery there!



The Exiles by Christina Baker-Kline - This book is something of an anomaly as it is the only one which wasn't written by an Australian author. (my review)





The Roving Party by Rohan Wilson - I saw Rohan Wilson on a panel at Melbourne Writers Festival more than 10 years ago. I have a signed copy of the book, but I still haven't read it. 



A Trifle Dead by Livia Day - This is a foodie murder mystery set in Hobart. The review I did of this a few years ago is probably one of my favourite ever posts on the blog.






Wildflower Hill by Kimberly Freeman - I really enjoyed Kimberly Freeman's historical/dual timeline novels. I have mentioned her in a couple of posts recently which has inspired me to try and find the last books of hers that I haven't read yet.



The Living Sea of Waking Dreams by Richard Flanagan - In theory I am currently listening to this. In practice I keep on getting distracted by other audiobooks. I will get back to it.






The Potato Factory by Bryce Courtenay - We spent went to a few places which highlight the convict history of Tasmania. This book does the same.



Past the Shallows by Favel Parret - This is another book I have had on my TBR shelf for years!





Mawson and the Ice Men of the Heroic Age: Scott, Shackleton and Amundsent by Peter Fitzsimmons - This is a non fiction book. I don't read a lot of non fiction, but I do want to read something about Mawson as one we really enjoyed visiting the replica of Mawson's Hut. There is lots of Mawson/Antarctic related information in Hobart as it is often the starting point for boats travelling there.



The Survivors by Jane Harper - This is the only Harper book I haven't yet read. Better get on to that as I have heard there is a new book coming out soon.



I shared some photos of our trip here and here.



Monday, December 27, 2021

This Week....


I'm reading....



Recently at work one of my friends mentioned a book called Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson and suggested that I would like it, so I promptly requested it from the library. I like music and books so it did seem like a book that I would like. It was only when I picked the book up and actually read the blurb that I realised that it was set in two places - Sheffield in the UK and Adelaide in Australia. Coincidentally I lived in Sheffield for 4 years in the late 90s and I lived in Adelaide from the time I was 10 to around 23 and then for another couple of years after I came back to Australia before I moved to Melbourne.



I also started and finished listening to The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. I haven't really listened to much Pratchett, mainly because I wasn't sure how all the footnotes would work. Recently there was a new unabridged version released and I thought I would give it a go, and I really enjoyed it. The narrators were Sian Clifford, Bill Nighy for the footnotes and Peter Serafinowicz as the voice of Death. I can definitely see myself listening to this again in the future. It's a perfect listen for this time of year.



Yesterday, I had to take my mother for a COVID test so she can go back to Adelaide and spent 4 hours in the queue. I started listening to Richard Flanagan's The Living Sea of Waking Dreams while waiting. I've heard a lot about Flanagan but I haven't actually read him before.



This will be one of my first reads for the Aussie Author Challenge hosted at Booklover Book Reviews which I last participated in several years ago.  For years, I have been done the Aussie Women Writers Challenge. That challenge is changing next year to focus on 18th and 19th century writers, which I am not really interested in. I have really enjoyed focussing on women writers, but more particularly on Aussie authors, so I am going to sign up for the Aussie Author Challenge in 2022. I am going to sign up at the Wallaroo level, the definition of which is

Read and review 6 books written by Australian authors, of which at least 2 of those authors are female, at least 2 of those authors are male, and at least 2 of those authors are new to you; Fiction or non-fiction, at least 2 different genre.

The challenge for me, other than reviewing, is finding male authors. The female and Australian part  is easy, but male not so much!!



Speaking of reading challenges, don't forget about the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. The sign up post is here





I'm watching...



It's been out a few weeks but we finally started watching The Great! and it is as good as the first season. I think we will finish it later today.



On the festive front, we watched Christmas on the Farm, an Australian Christmas movie. I actually enjoyed it for the most part. It certainly isn't the worst  Christmas movie I have ever watched.



On the other hand, I was super keen to watch Christmas in Paris because, you know, Christmas and Paris, but it really wasn't that great. We won't talk about the fact that more of the movie was in Montana than in Paris, but the bits that were there were beautiful. I am hoping we might make it to Paris for Christmas next year, but we will see.



On Christmas night we wathed The Abominable Snow Baby which is based on a story by Terry Pratchett. It wasn't really what I thought it might  be but it was a nice way to spend 30 minutes or so.



I also gave myself a treat and watched the final two episodes of The Vicar of Dibley, the ones where she marries Richard Armitage. It's been a couple of years since I have watched it but I do like to watch it at this time of year!! It doesn't matter how many times I watch it, I still laugh.



Life



Well Christmas has been and gone with everything associated with that. My brother, nephew and mother have been here to visit so it was nice to gather together, along with my brother in law's  aunt and cousins.




The week before Christmas I went to the Gabrielle Chanel Fashion Manifesto exhibition which is currently on. I am not really a fashionista so I was done much quicker than my firends but it was still an interesting exhibition. There was also an exhibition called Bark Ladies which featured indigenous artists which I liked too



I now have a few days off so I am looking forward to some chill time.




Festive treats...



Not a lot of time for new festive treats this week.  The only thing I got to watch was Christmas in Rome. I needed to prove that I am not all about Paris. Not all of the time!




Here are the festive treats I have read, listened and watched so far this year:



1. Flora's Travelling Christmas Shop by Rebecca Raisin


2. The Happiest Season 

3. The Christmas Secret by Karen Swan

4. Love Harder 

5. A Castle for Christmas
6. Hawkeye
7.  Christmas Train - Paul Kelly
8. Christmas with my Father
9. Wintertime Dreams: A Parisian Christmas- Tatiana Eva-Marie and the Avalon Jazz Band
10. Single all the Way
11. Christmas in Rome
12. Christmas in Paris
13. The Hogfather
14. Christmas on the Farm


Posts from the last two weeks


Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my Summer TBR

Christmas Quotes: From the Last Charm

Christmas Quotes: The Christmas Cactus

Weekend Cooking: Baking Kit Crazy

Christmas Quotes: Bringing Hope

Christmas Quotes: The Christmas Ornament
Weekend Cooking: Merry Christmas


I've linked this post to It's Monday, what are you reading? as hosted by Book Date


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