reeling and writhing

goodbye noughties, then

It can't possibly be almost the end of the year, can it? Christmas shopping is in progress.In that spirit there's a list of top reads from the past year after the jump, in no particular order other than abecedarian, arranged by type.

If you're still hungry for selections and suggestions after trawling through mine, there are other lists, by other people, covering all five (six?) Readings stores and beyond. And there's a very comprehensive US/international roundup at The Millions, of course. I might not be back for a little while, as there's plenty of good book news around - follow the blogs here (scroll down for the feeds) and you won't be bored.

What I want for Christmas: Peter Carey's Parrot and Olivier, Lorrie Moore's A Gate at the Stairs, botanical prints I've had framed, which will be ready to pick up next Friday, a bottle of brandy and a month's supply of Zero lemonade.

AND...safe holidays for everyone.

subscribing all over the land

...just in case you did not know, there is a subscription drive at the literary journal Overland - and the fancy button below will take you to that esteemed journal's blog to read guest posts around and about good Australian writing (as well as occasionally urging you to read the current issue and SUBSCRIBE).

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Abbotts and Bishops, it's an

                        

and I am supporting it because its editorial team have their eyes (and get their hands) firmly on well-written, readable essays on public issues, in short it's worthy of your attention, and above all, EXTREMELY good value for money - the cheapest literary mag around. I don't know how they do it for the price - essays, fiction, poetry, reviews. Incredible.

(There's also some very attractive subscription packages with other Oz mags - package deals with Island, Griffith Review, Wet Ink and Meanjin.)

free christmas gift of epic poetry thanks to Cordite

And what a stunning cover to EPIC, too.

The guest editor of this issue of Cordite, Ali Alizadeh, writes:

Having read the 600+ poems that were submitted to Cordite 31: EPIC, and having found it very difficult to choose only 34 pieces for this issue of our journal, I can say confidently that the epic, the long poem and the narrative poem are neither antique nor finished. Although my definition of the epic is perhaps more provisional than some classicists would like it to be, there is no doubt in my mind that the poems in this issue are extremely vibrant, modern, sophisticated and, at the same time, superbly readable and entertaining testaments to the longevity of perhaps the oldest form of literature in the world.

At a time when the proliferation of electronic media and technologies is perhaps further shrinking the reader’s attention span, and print publishers remain obsessed with excessively short poems that don’t take up too much precious space on the page (space that could be used for more advertising, prose, etc.), this issue confirms that at least 34 contemporary Anglophone poets have not lost the desire to either respond to the very, very long poems of the past and/or to write very, very long poems of their own.

Should keep us all happily reading over the summer, I reckon.

while walking one day on the lower south side...

Strolling in South Melbourne last night, digesting dinner prior to taking in the Christmas instalment of this show, in which a family member got a few shots at the mike, I came across an exhibition in the process of being put together, which I was permitted to inspect briefly: a lovely thing to be able to do on a quiet spring evening.

The exhibition is a group show opening tomorrow night - the people in the gallery were busy attaching large framed glass prints to the roof by chains, so they could hang loose and be backlighted (the production method is being patented by artist Chris Gillard.) I also saw delicate giclee prints of botanical subjects in reds and blacks, some long, narrow landscape oils which whisper of clotted Cezanne, and beautiful fabric and wire sculptures of sea creatures. I can't do justice to one set of oil paintings which were abstract in tone but captured light and water and waving textures - I think this is one of them here, but there were more. 

 

                

                            

wire viper fish sculpture by Cristina Metelli.

                                                                                         Grass by Chris Gillard, photography in 4-colour separation on glass           

Natural Selection is at the greenwood gallery, 1 Hotham Street, South Melbourne, from 3-24 December. It features work by Llewelyn Ash, Patrick Christie, Pip Davey, Chris Gillard, Josef Marzi, Cristina Metelli, Anthony Vanderzweep, Nikai van Garderen, and Dolores Malloni.

The opening is Thursday night, December 3, 6-8 pm, and greenwood gallery is open 11-5 from Wednesday to Sunday.