Recently I watched the 1980 film Coal Miner’s Daughter, a biopic about country singer Loretta Lynn. I enjoyed the film, thinking Sissy Spacek deserved her Oscar, and...
Read MoreThis gritty gothic horror novel of hardship and brutality contains a vile mystery that only time can solve. The Scrimshaw Marionette begins with a prologue set in 1881...
Read MoreAlan Sampson’s memoir explores parenting, education, and the dangers of pursuing a narrow concept of success. This heartfelt winner of the 2015 Finch Memoir Prize is a...
Read MoreMy local corner shop has informed me that as a ‘small business’, it will no longer have the Sydney Morning Herald delivered. This, along with the SMH going tabloid and...
Read MoreThe author of big historical novels like Black Diamonds and Paper Daisies turns to the novella form in Wild Chicory for a very personal story. What does it take to move...
Read MoreDavid Mitchell’s new novel is a companion piece to The Bone Clocks, but also a delightful stand-alone read. Slade House began its life on Twitter as the short story...
Read MoreI can’t remember when I first read Wilkie Collins’s ‘sensational’ (to use the contemporary term) novel The Moonstone (1868). It would have been at some time in that...
Read MoreCandice Fox is on the verge of scoring a rare hat-trick at this year’s Ned Kelly awards with the release of the third book in her Frank Bennett and Eden Archer series....
Read MoreHorse racing provides an enthralling key to Gerald Murnane’s world. Whenever I try to explain Murnane’s literary work I begin by saying that while he sometimes writes...
Read MoreResponding to my column about execution songs, an NRB reader made some suggestions and remarked that, for train songs, there were ‘300 and counting’. I’m sure there is...
Read MoreAdrian Simon’s Milk-Blood is a character study in grit. This dramatic memoir provides another perspective on the infamous true crime story of Warren Fellows, an...
Read MoreThis unashamedly partisan account of Australia’s recent political history is part comedy, part reality check. It’s been said that on the night Tony Abbott lost power,...
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{ I'm with you Julia. And I extend that to the aggressively English accents (whatever they are) you hear on BBC radio. I feel I am... } – The Godfather: Peter Corris on accents, 25 Feb 18, 6:01 pm 
{ I thought it pretty common knowledge that anyone who pronounced 'aitch' as 'haitch' was of blue collar, Catholic background - as I'm now in my... } – The Godfather: Peter Corris on accents, 23 Feb 18, 1:41 pm 
{ I would add that any politician who feels the need to be accompanied at a television interview by a 'noddy', or even worse, two 'noddies'... } – The Godfather: Peter Corris on disqualifications, 16 Feb 18, 1:53 pm 
{ Agree wholeheartedly - especially point #3 } – The Godfather: Peter Corris on disqualifications, 16 Feb 18, 11:01 am { What did you think of the TV series of "Bosch", Peter? I found the first episodes difficult - as the splendidly named actor playing Harry... } – The Godfather: Peter Corris on retrospectives, 09 Feb 18, 8:44 pm