The Godfather: Peter Corris on a room of his own
My workroom is spacious, light and airy. It is detached from the house, joined to it by a short, covered walkway. It’s built of brick, is very well insulated, and solar panels on the roof supply most of the power to the electronics. The large window in one wall looks...STEVE LEWIS and CHRIS UHLMANN The Marmalade Files. Reviewed by Linda Funnell
This slickly sliced satire offers an insider’s view of federal politics. In a political world that contains all the strange twists of, say, the James Ashby/Peter Slipper case, or the Malcolm Turnbull/Godwin Grech imbroglio, how could fiction possibly top reality?...The Godfather: Peter Corris on preserving the papers
Malcolm Bradbury was offered a lot of money by an American university for the manuscript of The History Man. He’d thrown it out. He produced another version, complete with crossings out and corrections, and got the dough. I’ve never pulled off such a coup, but I have...FRANCESCA RENDLE-SHORT Bite Your Tongue. Reviewed by Annette Hughes
This fictonalised memoir is a book of revelations. Two little girls, sisters, dare each other to touch tongues. I’ve done it, but always thought we were the only ones! The description of the act recalls vividly the singular weirdness of the Tongue Touch – the...The Godfather: Peter Corris on the big word-producers
I have published 66 books of fiction and half a dozen non-fiction titles and am called prolific, but I am a minnow compared to the whales of big literary producers. Belgian Georges Simenon published over 200 novels and almost as many novellas. Best known for his books...The Godfather: Peter Corris on the books he re-reads
Like most readers, I have favourite books; by that I mean ones I re-read or at least dip into frequently. Three of mine are: The Bare Knuckle Breed by Louis Golding, The Sweet Science by AJ Liebling and Sober Truth: A Collection of Nineteenth Century Episodes,...JANETTE TURNER HOSPITAL Forecast: Turbulence. Reviewed by Linda Funnell
These stories of family trauma find their echoes in the elements. In ‘Moon River’, the chapter of memoir that comes at the end of this collection of short stories, there is an image of the Brisbane River swollen and raucous in flood. It occurs six months after...The Godfather: Peter Corris on the decline of the Western
We know that video killed the radio star, but what killed the Western genre? Up until the 1960s the Western, in novels, pulp novelettes and short stories, was immensely popular, possibly as popular as crime fiction is today. I never saw my father open a book, but I’m...ABIGAIL SOLOMON-GODEAU Rosemary Laing. Reviewed by Annette Hughes
The art and times of Rosemary Laing. I’m looking at a 100-year-old black and white photograph of a man riding a bicycle. It is on the cover of a biography of Alfred Jarry, author of Ubu Roi and one of the bright young literary lights of the turn-of-the-century...The Godfather: Peter Corris on large-print editions
Thirty-five years ago, as a result of my neglect of diabetes, I developed retinopathy. This is a condition that can cause blindness. I was lucky; the argon laser had recently become available in Australia and skilful use of it saved my sight. As one doctor said, ‘You...THOMAS DORMANDY Opium: Reality’s Dark Dream. Reviewed by Peter Corris
A history of the world’s most fascinating drug. Did you know that only the white poppy yields opium? Did you know that harvesting opium requires great skill but that to produce heroin from morphine requires only basic chemical knowledge and simple equipment? Did...
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