Immagine dell'autore.
41+ opere 649 membri 13 recensioni

Sull'Autore

Carmel Bird is an Australian author and former teacher, born and raised in Launceston, Tasmania, in 1940. She taught fiction writing at the university level at Melbourne, Deakin, Latrobe, Monash, Swinburne and RMIT Universities. She has been writing since 1976 and is the author of novels, short mostra altro story collections, nonfiction, children's books, and has edited anthologies. Dimitra was her first collection and was published in 1981 and My Hearts are Your Hearts was published in 2015. Cherry Ripe was her first novel, published in 1985, and Family Skeleton, published in 2016, is her most recent. Dear Writer, published in 1988, was her first nonfiction book and Fair Game was published in 2015. She wrote two children's books, The Mouth (1996) and The Cassowary's Quiz (1998). The Writing on the Wall: Collection of Poetry and Prose by Women (1985) was her first work as an editor, and The Penguin Century of Australian Stories was published in 2000. She has written book reviews for the Australian Book Review. Her awards include winning the Philip Hodgins Memorial Medal at the Mildura Writer's Festival (2001) and in 2016, winning the Patrick White Literary Award. (Bowker Author Biography) mostra meno
Fonte dell'immagine: Samantha Everton

Serie

Opere di Carmel Bird

The Penguin Century of Australian Stories (2000) — A cura di; Collaboratore — 75 copie
Dear Writer (1988) 54 copie
Cape Grimm (1893) 46 copie
The White Garden (1995) 41 copie
Bluebird Cafe (1991) 39 copie
Red shoes (1998) 37 copie
Automatic teller (1996) 22 copie
Family Skeleton (2016) 18 copie
Australian Short Stories (1991) 17 copie
Open for Inspection (2002) 16 copie
Field of Poppies (2019) 15 copie

Opere correlate

The Best Australian Stories 2006 (2006) — Collaboratore — 31 copie
The Best Australian Essays 2010 (2010) — Collaboratore — 23 copie
The Best Australian Essays 2002 (2002) — Collaboratore — 22 copie
The Best Australian Essays 2004 (2004) — Collaboratore — 22 copie
The Best Australian Stories 2003 (2003) — Collaboratore — 22 copie
The Best Australian Stories 2007 (2007) — Collaboratore — 22 copie
Dark House (1995) — Collaboratore — 20 copie
Forever Shores (2003) — Collaboratore — 20 copie

Etichette

Informazioni generali

Utenti

Recensioni

Richmond, Coriander Press
 
Segnalato
KMcGovern | Dec 4, 2023 |
Carmel Bird's beautiful new book Telltale: reading writing remembering is the perfect book for a post-covid brain.

That is to say,, it's probably perfect any time, but when the ability to concentrate, read and remember is a bit compromised, a book like this is ideal. It doesn't have a plot to be followed, or characters to connect, or a narrative voice to interrogate for reliability. It can be read in short, unconnected bursts of energy for the sheer delight of Carmel Bird's reminiscences and the pleasure of the book's exquisite design.

It's ironic that I'm reading the book with a post-covid brain. Telltale has its origins in the great Covid enchantment — enforced isolation during the pandemic — when the books in the author's own personal library became the catalyst for this memoir. As Australian readers will know, we had strict and lengthy lockdowns in my state, widely supported because we evaded the worst of the virus when it was at its most virulent and the previous federal government had failed to secure adequate vaccination supplies. I'm reading the book now in the wake of being very unwell with the latest variant, but I was unlikely to die from Covid because I've had four vaccinations and the latest antivirals. But the steady rate of deaths each week means that the sense of dread is not entirely vanquished. (And we are not yet allowed out of the house, by law.)

Carmel Bird lives outside Melbourne in a small regional city and here she captures the sense of foreboding that was widely shared:
Dead of night. I am at my desk, 'safe' inside my house in Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia. This is dja dja warrung country. The outside world is muffled by darkness and by the rows and rows of books. A misty wave of danger and foreboding whispers at the windowpanes, creeps under the door, drifts down the chimney, tickles with invisible slippery poisonous fingers the chambers of my heart. What is the shape of this hovering harbinger of death? Do the vast lugubrious wings of some dark angel slowly beat above the tiny marbled sphere of the turning world? (p.14)

If you've read any of Carmel Bird's novels, you'll recognise the macabre imagery and the playful gothic style...

I have described Telltale as a memoir, but it's more than that.
Telltale is composed of two different kinds of narrative. One is warp and one is weft, and I am not sure which is really which. Will the threads hold? What patterns might I work across the surface? Will the metaphors crumble into useless dust? One threads speaks of books read and sometimes of books written. And also of things that happened in my life. The other speaks of a journey of the heart, a pilgrimage through a patchy history of the world, becoming a poetic thread that runs through the whole narrative. (p.5)


To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2022/06/04/telltale-reading-writing-remembering-by-carm...
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
anzlitlovers | Jun 4, 2022 |
Reading this book was such a "non-event" that I wouldn't even waste time reviewing it. I have given it one star for the cover !
 
Segnalato
lesleynicol | 2 altre recensioni | Aug 16, 2020 |
Marsali Swift and her husband William have returned to Melbourne after what they hoped would be a permanent retirement tree change to the quaint property of Listowel, in the Victorian Goldfields township of Muckleton. They hoped for a quiet life full of rural splendour, delightful book clubs and country charm. Instead they become victims of a theft, a neighbour goes missing - presumed murdered, and they uncover disturbing facts about their little town’s violent past.

The style of writing is somewhat unusual, especially for the genre, and it may not appeal to all readers. The novel is set out in a journal/memoir style and is a combination of recollections of the events interspersed with random thoughts and observations relating to art, history, politics, the environment, literature and science. It’s kind of like being stuck next to Great Aunt Clara at a wedding after she’s had too many glasses of sherry. It is charming, confusing, informative and irritating all at the same time. Part of you want to leave the table, and part of you can’t drag yourself away.

The style of the novel allows for extensive descriptions of character and places. One can readily visualise Muckleton, its quaint streets and landmarks and eclectic mix of locals. It is worth pushing through to the end, even if the writing doesn’t set readily with you.

“Field of Dreams” by Carmel Bird will either earn a place in your top ten for the year or be left unfinished. Reader’s choice.

I received a free copy of this book through Sisters in Crime - Australia, in exchange for a fair and honest review.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
SarahEBear | 2 altre recensioni | Aug 1, 2020 |

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Statistiche

Opere
41
Opere correlate
12
Utenti
649
Popolarità
#38,891
Voto
½ 3.4
Recensioni
13
ISBN
88

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