Beautiful & Necessary

May 18, 2015

What Should We Read? Short Story Collections – Lex Hirst

Short story collections have got to be the absolute lifeblood of the modern day bookclub. Why, you ask? Because even if you don’t have time to read the entire book, you can definitely read at least a few complete stories to discuss! And the truth is, if you’re anything like me, once you start you’ll most…

January 29, 2015

Back in the game – Hannah Parkes

So I’m finally sitting myself down and writing my first blog post of the year. I’ve been meaning to get back on here but just never managed it. There’s been a bunch of reasons for this – sure, life just got too busy, the lead up to Christmas is always ugly – but in truth, I just wasn’t sure…

October 13, 2014

On Giving up Books – Hannah Parkes

It’s been a long time between blog posts but I have an excuse: I’ve gone cold turkey. Six weeks ago I made the conscious decision to stop reading books and considering this is a book-lovers blog I have understandably, been without anything much to write about. You heard me: I quit books. Have I lost my…

August 28, 2014

What Should We Read? Recent Award Winners – Lex Hirst

Literary awards are tricky things, and when picking book off their lists you do run the risk of getting caught with some painfully literary experimental work (cue Will Self’s impenetrable Umbrella), and there’s no doubt the prizes themselves can get quite political. However, they can still be an awesome place to search for writers you…

August 25, 2014

Long live the local rag: An interview with Wily Badger’s Sarah Drumm – Hannah Parkes

I write this post from London. It seems strange that a few days ago I was in Sicily, dodging vespas and falling in love with pistachio arancini and now here I am in Clapton, scoffing a bowl of muesli, in bed, surrounded by the weekend papers. I miss Italy, but London called for various reasons…

August 18, 2014

Musings in a Snow Lodge – Lex Hirst

There’s a freedom that comes from not doing the expected – staying up late on a Saturday night and not drinking, travelling to Argentina and not eating steak, going to a ski town and not visiting the snow. It’s an awkward type of freedom, because it comes from willfully ignoring the most obvious and often…

August 13, 2014

A Postcard From: Stromboli – Hannah Parkes

Hi gals! It’s not everyday one wakes to the sound of a volcano erupting but not much about life on Stromboli mirrors ‘regular life’. The sand at the beach is black, for one. And the roads don’t have any cars which is completely fabulous. Took the overnight ferry from Naples to get here. It’s a hike,…

August 4, 2014

A Case for Coffee Table Books – Hannah Parkes

I’ve always been suspicious of people who own piles of coffee table books. A general distrust of any publishing industry dependent on churning out overpriced volumes to help people appear refined is entirely healthy in my book. So it seems strange, as my boyfriend and I backpack our way down the west coast of Italy,…

July 31, 2014

What Should We Read? Australian Books – Lex Hirst

It’s the best time of year for book clubs – if you’re anything like me all you want to do is huddle up by a fire with a glass of wine and a great story. This month’s suggested books are all locally grown – we really have some amazing writers in Australia and since I…

June 29, 2014

A book with a view – reading my way across three continents – Hannah Parkes

Looking back over our four months on the road, it strikes me that one of my fondest memories of this trip took place before I even left home. It was a Sunday afternoon, I was newly unemployed and had just finished cleaning up after a fabulously messy house party in honour of making questionable decisions. In…