Reading Heart Liberals

[sally maclennane]

The Lost Man is great, I didn't think the Survivors was as good but it was still enjoyable. I'm really enjoying Exiles but like Bats, I'm a bit worried about people I have grown fond of

[Bat Macdui]

The Lost Man stayed with me for a long, long time. I was thinking about it last night, and I still remember a lot of the details. Which is unusual for me, I quite often read a book then immediately forget everything about it. Such an excellent book.

[Dutchie]

I think I'm going to speed-read my current book as I can't wait to get started on the Jane Harper books! I realise I like Australian authors in general - Bryce Courtenay, Liane Moriarty, to name a couple.

[Estrella]

After recs on here and at work, I bought The Dry by Jane Harper today which I’m loving so far.

[Pippedydeadeye]

I finished The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie last night, it took way longer to read than a short book like that should. I’m going to seek out the film now.

I started The Exiles straight after.

[Bat Macdui]

Gary Disher is pretty good, too, for fans of Australian crime/fiction. The Paul Hirschhausen series that starts with Bitter Wash Road is the best.

[Estrella]

A Little Bird by Wendy James is another one set in the Australian outback/small country town that is really quite evocative.

[sally maclennane]

I finished Exiles tonight, I loved it!

[Pippedydeadeye]

I’ve had to put it down so I can sleep, but I really didn’t want to. I can totally picture the place so well too.

[sally maclennane]

Me too, I've never been to South Australia but I went to the Hunter Valley (NSW wine country) and I loved it. She captures the sense of place so well.

[Bat Macdui]

I also loved Exiles. Properly loved it. I have started The Dry again now.

[Pippedydeadeye]

Oh it was SO GOOD.

[Flora Poste]

I've just finished You Be Mother by Meg Mason - I know ella really didn't like it but I thought it was ok. Nowhere near as good as Sorrow and Bliss and very different. I really didn't like or especially sympathise with the main character though!

[Estrella]

I’ve just finished The Dry. I utterly loved it. Though when I was reading it, Falk didn’t seem like Eric Bana to me at all.

[Pippedydeadeye]

You do need to separate film Falk from book Falk.

[Estrella]

I’m now torn about whether I should watch the film!

[Pippedydeadeye]

It’s good, he’s just not as she describes Falk. She makes such a thing of him seeming so pale he’s almost transparent but I think that’s part of him not fitting anywhere in life, because he definitely seemed to me to have more colour in Exiles.

[Dutchie]

Speaking of books made into films - has anyone seen the Tom Hanks film of A Man Called Ove?

[Morganna]

I haven't, Dutchie. I nearly went, if that helps? The NWR were going to go last month, but so many people had The Lurgy that the trip was cancelled.

I have finished Giving Up The Ghost, the Hilary Mantel memoir. I didn't love it, but I'm not a fan of autobiography as a genre. The stories are so partial, and I feel desperately sorry for the other people in them, who have their lives exposed to the world with no right of reply. It was very well-written, but the usual rather self-indulgent reminiscing about a fairly average life (she doesn't talk much about her writing, which is, of course, far from average). The bits about her lost daughter were very sad, and her endometriosis was well described, but overall it left me rather flat. I've moved onto Maus 2 (And Here My Troubles Began) which is unbearably powerful.

[sally maclennane]

I didn't really like Eric Bana as Falk. I think Jane Harper has said that Exiles will be the last Falk book

I'm reading Great Circle, I think I read about it here.