I know it is here somewhere, in this shelf. This is where I put it. This is where I saw it the last time I saw it and thought: “Ah, I forgot about you. Hello book.” And yet it is
COLUMN: Whittling the library for a new life
I am grateful I became an adult in a time when – and a suburb where – one was not expected to have grand material ambition. Whether our parents had money or not was tested purely against the critical question
REVIEW: No Time Like The Present by Nadine Gordimer
No Time Like The Present Nadine Gordimer Picador Africa REVIEW: Karin Schimke Sweeping, cohesive, almost epic – and I use the word advisedly – in its scope, No Time Like The Present is the literary thermostat under the tongue of
REVIEW: Lost Ground by Michiel Heyns
LOST GROUND Michiel Heyns Jonathan Ball REVIEW: Karin Schimke There is the story of the story, and then there is the writer’s story, of which the reader is often not aware. Sometimes, the writer too, remains ignorant of how his
Simple needs
“Oh let me live my own, and die so too (To live and die is all I have to do)! Maintain a poet’s dignity and ease, And see what friends, and read what books I please.” Alexander Pope
Books and immorality
“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.” Oscar Wilde
COLUMN: Looking is also a kind of reading
This month I did a lot more “looking at” than “reading” books. This is probably because I was a little bored with my novel– Kristen Tranter’s book The Legacy – which was decidedly un-thriller-ish despite the cover shout claims. Because
Against the fading of handwriting
The writing on the wall is cursive There are states in the US that are abandoning the teaching of cursive handwriting. Never mind that learning cursive writing in Grade 3 is a rite of passage, something that turns us from
“Not every answer can be found in books, you know.”
The narrator of The Lacuna (Barbara Kingsolver) sheepishly admits to the character of Leo Tolstoy that he is writing a novel. “It’s nothing that will liberate the people,” he says. Tolstoy replies: “A novel! Why do you say this won’t
COLUMN: I like my books dirty
“I’m all precious about the thing, causing somewhat of a distance between myself and the book it holds. Instead of the book becoming an extension of me – like my hair clips or flip-flops or battered handbag – it is