I posted some months ago about how Veitch has written quite a few books based on WW2 events from an Australian perspective.
From memory, Fly was his first book so he was still finding his style.
I’ve really enjoyed his work as he has touched on things about Australia’s WW2 involvement that I only had limited knowledge of.
Check out these if you’re interested:
44 Days - about 75 Squadron RAAF and the defence of Port Morseby
Turning Point - about the Battle of Milne Bay
The Battle of The Bismarck Sea
Barney Greatrex - about an Australian bomber pilot and his war in Europe
First Victory 1914.
HMAS Sydney’s hun for the German Raider Emden.
By Mike Carlton.
As a boy l grew up hearing a little of this story, but l am very glad to have read this detailed account of the action. This is a finely researched and written history with plenty of perspective and depth given to many of the characters involved on both sides. The Emden captured and sunk close to 30 ships without the loss of a single life. Unparalleled in naval history.
Finally got around to reading this and I’m so glad I made the effort. At over 700 pages, it’s a saga not for the faint-hearted but it is well and truly worth the investment of your time.
The book is an epic story ostensibly about a father and son that is in equal parts hilarious, black, philosophical, irreverent, existential, farcical and ridiculous. Covering several decades, the story recounts an outlandish series of events verging on a catalogue of disasters and is an incredible achievement for a first-time novelist.
At different times during the book, I was reminded of the writing of Peter Carey, Barry Dickins, Lennie Lower and John Kennedy Toole (A Confederacy Of Dunces).
I recently found Toltz’s second book Quicksand at an op shop and look forward to reading more by this young Australian author.
The Embarrassing Australian.
The Story of an Aboriginal Warrior.
By Harry Gordon, 1962.
I found this curious titled book at a local market a few weeks ago. It wanders around its topic quite a bit while telling the story of Reg Saunders and to a lesser extent his brother Harry. Both served in the Army during WW2, both fought in New Guinea although in different units, and Harry died there. Reg went on to serve with distinction in the Korean war as well and became the first aboriginal officer in the army.
The book also details the problems and issues he faced living in Australia, with racism never too far away, no matter how casually it was expressed. Although only a small volume it does serve as a measure of how far Australian society has or has not come to assimilation, l am sad to say, not too far as recent events at Collingwood and Hawthorn have proven.
I am completely done with modern British authors.
Okay…I thought I was done with outback noir. But that doesn’t even come close to how done I am with modern British authors.
Can somebody please tell them that there are worse things than being the editor of a trendy magazine that somehow still exists?
There are worse things than growing up comfortably enough to rebel with zero repercussions?
■■■■■■■ they’ve written themselves into a corner.
Julian Barnes DID IT. Decades ago.
Are you as good as Julian Barnes?
No?
Then stfu and stop pretending you are.
I mean, so have Australians, but GOD-DAMN, is that less insufferable than the British.
On a happier note, The Chrysalids.
I got confused with Day of the Triffids, which he also wrote, but it was very apparent very quickly that there would be no walking plants here.
Has faults, but genuinely good.
Has a lot to say.
Pretty, pretty good for 1955.
Also…why are 20th century classics so short when everyone now feels they need 600 pages to make their point?
The first half is far more intriguing.
Deus Ex Machina is obvious early, but…again it’s the first half of the book that intrigues.
Narrative of the young 20 something female who works at a magazine/fashion house finding themselves through sex, drugs and friendships no longer appeals to a middle aged man . I’m shocked.
Every French film ever made. You can normally tell in the first seconds of the trailer. Oh look they made another one. Oh but this time she’s fallen in love with her neighbours adult son
I like my reading style…I look for books that I feel I will enjoy and then read them.
I don’t let anybody tell me what I should read…I don’t believe that the majority of books that get labeled classics are worth reading…who gets to say what is “a classic”
I read to enjoy, not to tick off items from a list that “experts” tell me are good.
But then, I figure I might be in the minority here with my view of “the classics” (and I’m ok with that).
I feel like I should read Blood Meridian, but I’m not bound to critics idea of what’s good.
It just so happens that when it comes to sci-fi especially, big surprise…Orwell, Huxley, Bradbury, Vonnegut, and now I guess I have to add Wyndham, are really, really good.
I didn’t set out to read Camus, but…yeah…turns out he actually knows what he’s doing.
I’m actually struggling to name a straight fiction writer that comes close to any of them.
Alright, Ishiguro is frustrating and falls into his own tropes, but he’s always fascinating.
Edit: Barnes always feels like he’s writing supernatural even when he’s writing straight.
Read some modern speculative fiction. Straight sci-fi can be too generic, but speculative fiction seems to have fresher ideas. Especially if you like Ishiguro who would fit under that umbrella.
My partner’s reading this at the moment - and she’s enjoying it. I don’t have time for it right now, as I’m ploughing through the Penguin edition of Royall Tyler’s translation of the (complete, unabridged) Tale of Genji. The first novel ever, it was written by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady in the Japanese emperor’s court in the 10th century - that’s a thousand years ago. The tale is set about a century before it was written. The publisher’s blurb, which is accurate, reads :
Genji, the Shining Prince, is the son of an emperor. He is a passionate character whose tempestuous nature, family circumstances, love affairs, alliances and shifting political fortunes form the core of this magnificent epic.
That’s true, but it’s not exactly short. Over 1,100 closely written pages. I’m a third of the way through, so I reckon it may well be February before I finish it…
. I’m shocked.