About

On a cool, rainy day I'd curl up on the lounge with The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams. If I were a long way from home, I’d read Tim Winton’s Island Home. If I need escape, I’d pull out Tolkien. If it’s truth that I crave I’d read Australia Day or Talking to my Country by Stan Grant. If it’s inspiration for the perfect novel, I’d grab Kindred by Octavia Butler, Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman, or maybe The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland. If I need an archive to gird me, it will be The Yield by Tara June Winch. For a good cry it will always be The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. If I’m angry I’ll avoid Lionel Shriver. When I feel shaken, I turn to Eugene Peterson’s The Message. Beneath a chilly rainforest canopy, give me Kate Morton. When I need to get outside of myself, I’ll grab The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson, or How to be Both by Ali Smith. And if I have forgotten who I am then Pádraig Ó Tuama will remind me. Whose words tell you who you are?