BIG MAGIC has made me a stalker of Elizabeth Gilbert. BIG TIME. My adoration for her is not a new thing mind you, but this new book has certainly stepped things up a notch. I have pretty much read everything she has written and published. I’ve watched the Ted Talks, and more. I actually had Eat Pray […]
Category Archives: The Perfect Gift
October
19
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
posted by Ms K
I have not read anything by Anne Tyler since The Accidental Tourist, and let me tell you, after finishing this book, I am the emotionally poorer for it apparently. I have been seriously missing out and therefore want to race out and buy everything she has ever written. My bank balance is about to take […]
October
12
Someone by Alice McDermott
posted by Ms K
If you squint, you may see on the cover of this book to the left, a review by the Sunday Telegraph which simply says ‘A beautiful book’. I wondered about this right up to the last line, and it was then, only then, that I agreed. This is indeed a beautiful book. It is about life of the […]
October
12
The Girl with the Dogs by Anna Funder
posted by Ms K
If you are in the mood for quality but not quantity, this novella is for you. It is Anna Funder’s latest offering and it runs for just 57 pages. Penguin has published what is essentially a longer short-story (and you know how I feel about those if you have been following Readhead at all!) but […]
August
10
Six Bedrooms by Tegan Bennett Daylight
posted by Ms K
‘…the past is in us, and not behind us. Things are never over’ wrote Tim Winton in ‘Aquifier’. These words are the foreward of this collection of short stories and they set the tone from the get-go as the author promptly transports us back to our high school years. Yes, those teen experiences – wonderful and hideous and embarrassing – are explored in […]
July
19
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
posted by Ms A
Lila, Gigliona, Alfonso, Nino, Pasquale, Rino, Carmela and Ada are just some of the children of various ages featured in this book. Throw in their parents; Fernando, Nunzia, Alfredo, Giuseppina, Melina, Donato, Silvio, Manuela, Nicola, Assunta and the evil Don Achille and you pretty much have the village. These are the names of the friends and […]
June
16
The Wonder Lover by Malcolm Knox
posted by Ms A
This is a man’s book. Actually it is a multi – functional man’s book. First you can read it and marvel at what it tells you about male behaviour; then you can thump the nearest guy across the head with it. Written by Australian author Malcolm Knox (otherwise known for Jamaica, The Life and Summerland), this is a fictional equivalent […]
February
11
Wild by Cheryl Strayed
posted by Ms K
Cheryl Strayed took on a new name the day she divorced her husband. Strayed came to her and it stuck…….. “It’s layered definitions spoke directly to my life and also struck a poetic chord: to wander from the proper path, to deviate from the direct course, to be lost, to become wild, to be without […]
January
06
Daring and Disruptive by Lisa Messenger
posted by Ms K
True to this book’s title, it indeed did prove Disruptive. I picked it up one rainy Sunday to scan the first page and four hours later, there I still was…… Do you know Lisa Messenger? Do you know the magazine Renegade Collective? Well, it was her brainchild so once you have finished reading this, I […]
December
02
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
posted by Ms A
We would like to thank guest reviewer Jason Downing for this post today. As a long term fan of Richard Flanagan, he was always the perfect person to review this important book…… I should disclose up front that I came to this book as a fan of Richard Flanagan’s writing. I loved Gould’s Book of […]
