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Topics messages Last message 999 Challenge : Pamelad's 999 #2 171 RidgewayGirl , Yesterday 10:32amClub Read 2009 : Wandering_star's 2009 reading 219 wandering_star , Monday 5:08amClub Read 2009 : akeela's 2009 reading 234 avaland , Sunday 9:30pm999 Challenge : FleurFisher's 140 FleurFisher , Sunday 2:25pm75 Books Challenge for 2009 : akeela keeps track again 209 alcottacre , Sunday 3:16am999 Challenge : Detailmuse ... 200 cmbohn , Saturday 6:50pm50 Book Challenge : 50 books for 2009 46 alexdaw , December 1The Prizes : 2010 IMPAC Dublin Literary Award 16 avatiakh , November 17Australian LibraryThingers : "Must read" Aussie Novels? 84 tangerinealert , October 9What Are You Reading Now? : Your Best Reads of the Second Quarter (April - June 2009) 54 dchaikin , October 5100 Books Challenge for 2009 : teelgee tackles 125 in 2009 275 teelgee , September 18999 Challenge : bonniebook's 999 challenge, Turn to Chapter 2 115 RidgewayGirl , September 1350 Book Challenge : bonniebook's 50 book challenge in 2009, chapter 2 265 nannybebette , September 1375 Books Challenge for 2009 : Kidzdoc's 75 Book Challenge for 2009 #4 253 kidzdoc , September 9Literary Snobs : August 2009 Reading 106 CliffBurns , August 3150 Book Challenge : merry10's 2008 challenge 222 merry10 , August 17List Five Books Parlour Game : Where do you live? 78 rolandperkins , August 14What Are You Reading Now? : What is the Best Book you've read so far this year --2009 78 dchaikin , June 25The Prizes : The Orange Prize 2009 45 Cariola , June 22I want to read that! : koalamom's updated list 22 koalamom , June 19999 Challenge : pamelad's 999 challenge 160 pamelad , June 16Club Read 2009 : pamelad's reading 2009 85 pamelad , June 1375 Books Challenge for 2009 : Dianestm 2009 books 241 dianestm , June 10Book of the month club : June Books!! 14 FicusFan , June 6Girlybooks : What Women's Books Are You Reading - May 2009 ? 106 lindsacl , June 3What Are You Reading Now? : What You Are Reading the Week of 16 May 2009 208 teelgee , June 2Early Reviewers : March books received 231 craftyfox , June 2Early Reviewers : ER Stars and Stinkers 143 bookczuk , June 2Canadian Bookworms : Welcome to May - What are we reading this month? 49 LynnB , May 31What Are You Reading Now? : What You Are Reading the Week of 25 April 2009 212 Breez , May 28Australian LibraryThingers : 2009 NSW Premier's Literary Awards 7 socialpages , May 1975 Books Challenge for 2009 : KIWIDOC TAKE 2 - reading 2009 304 kiwidoc , May 18Reading Globally : Where in the World Are you Now? - April 2009 149 ddelmoni , May 15Girlybooks : What Books by Women are you Reading Now? April 2009 94 avaland , April 28What Are You Reading Now? : Books Brought Home, April 2009 237 mckait , April 17Romance - from historical to contemporary : What Are You Reading Week of April 6 44 katybear , April 15Reading Globally : New Australian Literature 78 Thrin , April 14Romance - from historical to contemporary : What Are You Reading Week of March 30 29 hallontass , April 7Early Reviewers : March, 2009 books are up! 74 infiniteletters , March 1975 Books Challenge for 2009 : Kidzdoc's 75 Book Challenge for 2009 280 kidzdoc , March 16Early Reviewers : Spying on EarlyReviewers 9 FlossieT , March 7The Prizes : The Orange 91 Nickelini , March 675 Books Challenge for 2009 : Kiwidoc- reading in 2009 353 Whisper1 , March 5Book talk : KIWIDOC TAKE 2 - reading 2009 1 kiwidoc , March 2What Are You Reading Now? : Your BEST BOOKS of 2008 174 MissTeacher , January 18Book of the month club : December books 16 FicusFan , January 450 Book Challenge : alphaorder's 2008 challenge 118 mrstreme , January 150 Book Challenge : Judylou's at it again in 2008 245 merry10 , January 1BookCrossing Australia! : Group Reading Log: December 2008 72 freelunch , December 2008What Are You Reading Now? : Top Five Books 3rd quarter 2008: July - Sept. 78 MarianV , October 2008What Are You Reading Now? : What Books Came Into Your Home Today? - #1: AUGUST. 2008 320 charlienmary , August 2008
... elf
David Benioff City of Thieves
Andrea Camilleri The Paper Moon
Gyorgy Dragoman The White King
Helen Garner The Spare Room
Zoe Heller The Believers
Stephanie Johnson Swimmer's Rope (New Zealand)
Andrei Makine Human Love
Linda Olsson Sonata for Miriam (New Zealand)
Em ...
... Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
The Northern Clemency by Phillip Hensher
The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante
The Spare Room by Helen Garner
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
Really Liked:
The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Li ...
... 17 of the books on this list, and I own 14 others, including The Hakawati, which I'll get to next year. My favorites are The Spare Room , God's Own Country, Sea of Poppies, Death with Interruptions and Frida's Bed.
... (awaiting howls of protest) The Enchantress of Florence far better than The White Tiger. And I still can't believe that The Spare Room by Helen Garner wasn't at least selected for the longlist (and that Child 44 was). This year I'm surprised that Me Cheeta was selected, and Burnt Sha ...
I also really enjoyed The Spare Room by Garner, which inspired me to read others of hers. However, as an example,The Monkey Grip was less appealing.
The Spare Room
... Bryson
Corfu by Robert Dessaix
The Man from Snowy River by Banjo Paterson
To the Manor Drawn by Leslie Ann Bosher
The Spare Room by Helen Garner
The Spare Room
I finished Knossos and the Prophets of Modernism yesterday and went right on with The Spare Room . Both were very well-written, and each investigated the repercussions of ignoring truth in favor of a personal agenda.
Libby Cone aka reademwritem
akeela - I read The Spare Room earlier this year and enjoyed it. Glad you thought it was a lovely read.
akeela - I really enjoyed The Spare Room too. It made me search out her other books, but I was rather disappointed with Monkey Grip which was rather seedy in a 1970s kinda way.
Hi Akeela, Just came across your great review for The Spare room . It is nothing like I usually read but you have intrigued me, thanks!
... last year and didn't really get into it, and it's made its way back to the shelves. I'm also going to keep my eyes out for The Spare Room . Thanks for the reviews!
Lovely review, akeela. I also enjoyed The Spare Room when I read it last year, and I was amazed that it wasn't longlisted for the Booker Prize, as it was far better than most of the listed books.
The Spare Room by Australian Helen Garner. This book centers around a comfortable, loving friendship between two 60-year-old women. The narrator, Helen, has invited her old friend, Nicola, to inhabit her spare room while she is in Melbourne (from Sydney) for three weeks to receive treatment ...
The Spare Room by Australian Helen Garner. This book centers around a comfortable, loving friendship between two 60-year-old women. The narrator, Helen, has invited her old friend, Nicola, to inhabit her spare room while she is in Melbourne (from Sydney) for three weeks to receive treatment ...
Border Songs by Jim Lynch
The Spare Room by Helen Garner
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
and, if I hurry to finish, probably Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.
Bonus: ABC3D by Marion Bataille, which takes two minutes to read (if ...
... - Hannah Tinti (7/22/09)
75. The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff (7/24/09)
76. Sorry - Gail Jones (7/26/09)
77. The Spare Room - Helen Garner (7/29/09)
78. Isabel's Bed - Elinor Lipman (7/31/09) a comfort food book
79. The Flying Troutmans - Miriam Toews (8/03/09)
80. T ...
... in his book. Any of his others you particularly liked?
This year I've read a few books set in Melbourne - The Slap, The Spare Room , Cosmo Cosmolino - and have The Time We Have Taken near the top of the tbr pile.
tiffin, Jane and Prudence was just sitting there in the remainder ...
... Joke Book of Book Jokes
The School of Essential Ingredients
The Girl She Used to Be
Kitchen Confidential
The Spare Room
Border Songs
ABC3D
Best one for me is Helen Garner's The Spare Room . The narrator's old friend comes to stay with her for three weeks while she undergoes controversial cancer treatment. Sounds bleak, I know, but there is so much honesty about love and friendship and mistakes made along the way. It is a small ...
... that impacted on her life. Recommended.
Secret Son by Laila Lalami - a coming of age story for a poor Moroccan boy.
The Spare Room by Helen Garner - a wonderful story of love and friendship in a very difficult situation.
Before I Die by Jenny Downham - Tessa is 16 and dying, she ...
Book No. 87
The Spare Room by Helen Garner
4 stars
This novel starts with a woman, Helen putting out fresh sheets for a friend who’s coming to stay, and thinking: what colour should they be? Helen’s friend, Nicola needs all the help she can get as she has cancer in her liver and her ...
... getting lots of reading time in, as the weather is overcast and cloudy.
I have made it through a number of quick reads: The Spare Room which was great, The Professor and the Housekeeper which I found captivating, and Water Dogs which was just so-so.
Next up is The Condition which I ...
... enjoyed. The history of the mental health system fascinated me.
I have made it through a number of quick reads: The Spare Room which was great, The Professor and the Housekeeper which I found captivating, and Water Dogs which was just so-so.
Next up is The Condition which I ...
I am starting The Spare Room by Helen Garner tonight. After that I plan on picking up The Housekeeper and the Professor, which has been moved to the top of my TBR pile, thanks to avaland's post above (at #44)!
... into the American mental institutions system from the 1920's through to them being dismantled in the 1980's.
Next up is The Spare Room by Helen Garner.
My list of books to look at/buy is now in my library under, appropriately enough, Wish List.
... - Hannah Tinti (7/22/09)
75. The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff (7/24/09)
76. Sorry - Gail Jones (7/26/09)
77. The Spare Room - Helen Garner (7/29/09)
78. Isabel's Bed - Elinor Lipman (7/31/09) a comfort food book
79. The Flying Troutmans - Miriam Toews (8/03/09)
80. T ...
... me - although he is always so unremittingly bleak! I think he writes prose in the category of his own.
Glad you liked The Spare Room - according to the conversation that Citizenkelly posted, it is highly autobiographical although she states that she is not as severe as the protagonist.
...
... reviews as always. Your well thought out comments on the books you are reading are definitely influencing my tbr list. The Spare Room is an extraordinary book. After reading it last year, its story has remained with me. I lost an aunt last year in similar circumstances to the character in ...
Book 28
The Spare Room by Helen Garner
Category: Contemporary writing
Rating: 4.5 /5 (A difficult subject beautifully handled)
More detailed thoughts here .
Book 11 The Spare Room by Helen Garner. I found this at the Brisbane City Council Library on my way out: it was on the FastBack 7 day loan stand - a most sensible idea to get fast turnaround on popular books. 7 days - pish - I read it in 3!! And I really enjoyed it. My first Helen Garner ...
**Gasping in delight** You linked me ?! I'm honored, truly. And really interested in reading The Spare Room . Having survived breast cancer over 25 years ago, I have a lot of respect for the different ways that people choose to fight cancer, as well as how they choose to live and ...
... href="http://www.thebookstall.com" >best independent bookstore and came away with Australian Helen Garner’s novella, The Spare Room (*****).
Having spent my career in Western medicine, and having a friend whose dedication to alternative asthma treatments is proving risky, the book’s ...
Finished The Time Traveler's Wife (boo, hiss - why did it have to end???) and started my early reviewer book The Spare Room by Helen Garner. So far so good...
... in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie to make a novella-length trip to Melbourne, where a sixtysomething woman opens The Spare Room in her house to her friend who's come for cancer treatment at an alternative-medicine clinic.
The Spare Room was a wonderful story about the effect of imminent death, not on the dying person, but on the carer. I thought it was brilliant in its seeming simplicity as a story, whereas there were many layers in its pages. It was a book that I read at a time when I could relate to the ...
... src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0805088881.01._SX140_SY225_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg">
31. The Spare Room by Helen Garner. Beautiful, brutally honest look at death and dying, friendship. How far would you go to help a terminally ill friend? (4/5)
I'm done reading boys for awhile, am just about to start The Spare Room by Helen Garner. I've heard great things about it.
... enjoyed all the other books I've received, but my top books are A Night Out with Robert Burns: The Greatest Poems, The Spare Room and An Elegy for Easterly with a mention in dispatches for The Flying Troutmans which has stayed with me.
... 9)
Someone Knows My Name - Lawrence Hill (4/?/09) :( touchstone
The Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe (4/19/09)
Spare Room - Helen Garner (7/28/09)
The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman (7/29/09)
5. Books From My 50-Book Challenge ...
... Smith
The Juggler by Sebastian Beaumont (touchstone not working)
The Yorkshire Ripper by Roger Cross
The Spare Room by Helen Garner (ER Book)
I haven't got room for any more books but I can't stop buying them!
Title: The Spare Room
Author: Helen Garner
Arrived: 14th April
Packaging: Cardboard mailer
Sent To: London, UK
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Canongate Books
>144: The Spare Room just sounded really harrowing - it was in the ER programme for the UK a couple of months ago and I wasn't sure I could cope with it, emotionally, however well written. May need to give it a few years before attempting Helen Garner, then, by the sound of it!
April so far
Christine Falls 4*
The Patient in Room 18 1929 3*
The Spare Room 4.5*
Proust and the Squid 4.5*
The Roman Hat Mystery 1929 3*
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit 4*
The Frightened Wife 3.5*
More details on my 999 Ch ...
... me! I laughed so hard, I cried. And she is classified as Christian romance.
Reesa, I just re-read Lord Ruin and The Spare , and I think The Spare is my very favorite.
CC
Flossie - #138 - if you had to choose, I would pick The Spare Room over The Children's Bach
Thanks for the discussion on Woolf, everyone. I have just finished a second of hers which was great fun.
60. Flush by Virginia Woolf
pamelad in 999 Challenge : pamelad's 999 challenge (Apr 8, 2009, 9:03am)
The Spare Room by Helen Garner
Nicola, an old friend, comes to stay with Helen for three weeks to undergo cancer treatment in Melbourne. The hard-headed, sceptical Helen is soon enraged by the Nicola's faith in the shonky, painful treatment and her refusal to accept that she is dying. It ...
... to read your comments on The Children's Bach - I put this on my wishlist on the strength of a Guardian review of The Spare Room , which said it was criminal that The Children's Bach was so hard to get hold of. But I'm not very good with books stuffed with unlikeable characters... Might ...
... not get into, and Flush. Looks as though a re-read of Mrs Dalloway would be worthwhile.
About to start Garner's The Spare Room . Was interested to read your review of The Children's Bach because I recently read Cosmo Cosmolino and found its prose purplish too.
... hing.com/picsizes/b4/d2/93294a0f95bec0edc45515da8263a2b8.jpg">
I thought I would give Garner another try after loving The Spare Room and then picking up Monkey Grip and having trouble with her earlier style.
The book, written between the two above, is half way between. I still did ...
... a "mainstream", standard-sized paperback. It may be out of print now, but if you can find it, I highly recommend it.
The Spare was also outstanding.
CC
... bias towards her other work, and I am likely to miss something that might be worthwhile. If I had read Monkey Grip before The Spare Room , for example, I would have missed a very good read by Helen Garner, whose talent combined with maturity really produced a winner in her later book.
... - Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All
The Christina Stead Prize for a book of fiction:
Helen Garner - The Spare Room
Kate Grenville - The Lieutenant
Julia Leigh - Disquiet
Joan London - The Good Parents
Steve Toltz - A Fraction of the Whole
Tim ...
... Dog, which was good. I'll have to get the Morrison and Robinson. I'll check out the others soon.
I'm surprised that The Spare Room didn't make the longlist. Did it not qualify?
Today's Guardian has a short article about the longlist: kiwidoc in 75 Books Challenge for 2009 : KIWIDOC TAKE 2 - reading 2009 (Mar 16, 2009, 1:06pm)
... src="http://www.librarything.com/picsizes/da/53/0a2c34966a3acce5911ba4d8d4610bbb.jpg">
After reading The Spare Room and really loving it, I rapidly sought out more of Garner’s fiction.
Monkey Grip is Garner’s first novel, published when she was 35 in 1977. It is ...
... where.
Translations of books originally written in other languages are not eligible for the prize.
I'd like to see The Spare Room make the longlist. I'm curious to see if Kamila Shamsie's Burnt Shadows, which was released last week to glowing reviews, will also make the list. I ...
... 10 books (from memory - I may be uncharitable here but if so not by much), none of which are my kind of thing, apart from The Spare Room - which is technically my kind of thing but there's no way I could handle reading it at the moment.
Never mind, I've got too many books anyway.
... Only three I actually requested (How Do I Love Thee? A Bride in the Bargain and The Song is You).
But I did want The Spare Room . Pity that it's not in the US.
... it, but I can still remember the local flavour. Helen Garner is a Melbourne identity.
The reviews here said that The Spare Room was based on fact. She has also written some controversial non-fiction. I am planning to read more of her books because of your glowing review.
...
42. Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
41. The Great Crash by John Galbraith
40. The Blue Fox by Sjon
39. The Spare Room by Helen Garner
38. This Blinding Absence of Light by Tahar Ben Jelloun
39. The Spare Room by Helen Garner
I have read most of Maugham – but it was so long ago that I will have to revisit. Thanks for your comments.
My next two reads have gotten me very excited. They are, despite their divergent topics, in many ways quite similar. Both are spare is style and deal with despair, dehumanizing events ...
... books that you & other Britons like. For example, my favorite book on the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Helen Garner's The Spare Room , is one that I learned about from the discussion groups on the Booker Prize web site, as its members were surprised that it wasn't longlisted last year. IMO, ...
... Case of Exploding Mangoes, which were both longlisted for the 2008 Booker Prize. The White Tiger, which won the Booker, The Spare Room , and The Boat. I have Unaccustomed Earth, The Northern Clemency, and Breath, but haven't gotten to them yet.
Nice reviews. The Spare Room sounds interesting.
I'm still amazed that The Spare Room wasn't listed for last year's Booker Prize.
6. The Spare Room by Helen Garner.
I read a review of this book which made it sound excellent but really depressing, so I don't think I would have read it but for the fact that I could get it as a bookring. So I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the person who launched the bookring.
The ...
... quite pleasing and the period details were nice. I'm not sure I'll read any more of the Pimpernel adventures, though.
The Spare by Carolyn Jewel Aack! Regency romance time. What can I say? Very stressful time and so I lost myself in my favorite genre.
Anna's Book by Barbara V ...
... were Wise Children, The Road by Cormac McCarthy and Alias Grace.
My favourite Australian books of 2008 were The Spare Room by Helen Garner, Breath by Tim Winton, Tender Morsels by Margo Lanagan, the Lieutenant by Kate Grenville and Wanting by Richard Flanagan.
My ...
... his-year%27s-booby-prize-is...-me.html
But, I did finish Sea of poppies by Amitav Ghosh, and I am now finishing off The spare room by Helen Garner - amazing story. The Welsh girl is up next.
And lastly: I hope everyone got one good book for Xmas. I got a Gleebooks voucher!
... (March)
6. The Fire Gospel by Michel Faber (April)
7. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (April)
8. The Spare Room by Helen Garner (April)
9. Yellow by Janni Visman (May)
... renville
Breathe by Tim Winton
The Boat by Nam Lee:Burning In by Madeleine Juchau
The Broken Shore by Peter Temple
The Spare Room by Helen Garner by Tolz
The Riders by Tim Winton
Oyster by Janette Turner Hospital
The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes
Jill Ker Conway- True North
...
... of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif
Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
God's Own Country by Ross Raisin
The Spare Room by Helen Garner
Onitsha by Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio
Carpentaria by Alexis Wright
At month's end, I may also include 2666 by Rober ...
... has only just been published in the UK - is that what the Orange Prize takes as its criteria?
What about Helen Garner - The Spare Room ? Lots of people were very upset it didn't make it onto the Booker shortlist. (I haven't read it myself, again I'm just judging by the reviews!!)
... (global travel) ed. by Dorling Kindersley (*****)
The Day the Falls Stood Still (Canada) by Cathy Marie Buchanan (****)
The Spare Room (Australia) by Helen Garner (*****)
... by Cathy Marie Buchanan (****) (See review)
The Spare Room by Helen Garner (*****) (See review)
Banned/Challenged/Taboo-Topic Books
...
... ruptions)
Honorable mention:
Agamemnon's Daughter by Ismail Kadare
Crossing the River by Caryl Phillips
The Spare Room by Helen Garner
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
... 's
Disquiet
The Girls
Interpreter of Maladies
The Road Home
Small Island
Sorry
The Story of Forgetting
The Spare Room
Breath
Ursula, Under
The Deportees
The Red Tent
Careless
The Uncommon Reader
On Chesil Beach
. . . and there are a number of others ...
August
106. The Spare Room , Helen Garner, 2008
Splendid treatment of the difficulty of caring for the terminally ill and the strain on friendship.
107. The Secret Scripture, Sebastian Barry, 2008
Booker shortlist 2008. I liked it.
108-111. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
...
Best of the recently published that I've read this quarter.
The Spare Room , Helen Garner
The Road Home, Rose Tremain
The Secret Scripture, Sebastian Barry
The Lost Dog, Michelle de Kretser
Breath, Tim Winton
The best of the rest
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Fugitive Pieces, ...
44. Fault Lines by Nancy Huston (finished in August)
45. The Spare Room by Helen Garner
... UK:
1. Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
2. From A to X by John Berger
3. Self Help by Edward Docx
4. The Spare Room by Helen Garner
5. The Way Out Tube Map by Roger Collings
#74: Picola3, I saw such great reviews in the weekend broadsheets of the latest Helen Garner novel, The Spare Room , that I've already ordered it online - something I don't do often these days regarding novels.
... Mask, crime and passion in a verse novel, excellent.
Helen Garner - I don't think anyone has mentioned her yet - The Spare Room is her newly released novel, you'll read it in a night and won't be able to put it down.
Gail Jones' Sixty Lights.
Salt Rain by Sarah Armstrong. ...
dreamlikecheese, I second your above recommendation. The Spare Room is a very moving story about cancer, death and friendship where the feelings of the carer are explored. Garner tells a very honest story which is in no way maudlin or depressing; it is uplifting in the way she depicts the ...
... work that makes for itself a place in the great tradition of American Journeys."
The other book I can recommend is The Spare Room by Helen Garner. I haven't seen a review of this yet (though apparently both The Age and The Monthly have reviewed it), but I read an extract from it in ...
42. The Spare Room by Helen Garner
Helen lends her spare room to a friend who is undertaking a dubious course of treatment for cancer. During her stay Helen supports and helps her friend until her anger about Nicola's denial of her imminent death overcomes her. This was a wonderful little ...
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