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The Library Is Open

A blog about books and writing, through rainbow-tinted glasses. Every book gets a gay rating.

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Author: James Whitmore

I am a writer based in Melbourne. I’m interested in nature and the environment, and queer books.

Review: Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright

A vast, “open-wound theatre” that peers deep into a continent’s soul.

Australian, Contemporary, Fiction, Indigenous Australians, Indigenous writers, Novel

Review: We Come With This Place by Debra Dank

A rich and beautiful history of family and place.

Australian, Historical, Indigenous Australians, Indigenous history, Indigenous writers, Memoir, Nonfiction

Review: Alec by William di Canzio

A sexy flip of E. M. Forster’s illicit queer romance.

Fiction, gay, Historical, LGBTIQ, Novel, UK, War, World War I

Review: Boulder by Eva Baltasar (translated by Julia Sanchez)

A juicy domestic horror.

Contemporary, Fiction, lean ian, LGBTIQ, Man Booker International, Novel, queer

Review: big beautiful female theory by Eloise Grills

A gorgeous and liberatory collection of illustrated essays and memoir.

Essays, Female writers, Feminism, Illustrated, Memoir, Nonfiction, Stella Prize

Review: Indelible City by Louisa Lim

A gripping and frightening account of the city’s history.

China, History, Hong Kong, Nonfiction, Politics, Protest

Review: This All Come Back Now (edited by Mykaela Saunders)

A spectacular anthology of First Nations spec fic.

Anthology, Australian, Fiction, Indigenous writers, Speculative, speculative fiction

Review: A Few Right Thinking Men by Sulari Gentill

A sprightly if sanitised mystery set during one of Australia’s flirtations with fascism.

Australian, Crime, Fiction, Historical, Novel

Review: Little Plum by Laura McPhee-Browne

A beautiful and tender novel of becoming a mother.

Australian, Contemporary, Fiction, Melbourne, Novel, Parenting

Review: Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar

An intimate, clear-sighted epic of Australian colonialism.

Australian, Colonialism, Fiction, Historical, Indigenous history, Novel

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A new Alexis Wright book is something to anticipate feverishly and with a little trepidation. Her latest, vast novel is her most intimidating yet, a 700-page “open-wound theatre” about the town of Praiseworthy on the Gulf country of northern Australia.
I read this amazing book a little while ago, and it’s had a powerful impact on the way I look and listen to the world around me. It’s a beautiful history of family and country that richly evokes Debra Dank’s Gudanji land in the dust and gravel country of the south-western Gulf Of Carpentaria.
This retelling of E. M. Forster’s Maurice is a fast-paced, horny exercise in wish fulfilment, told from the perspective of Maurice’s lover Alec.
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