September TIOLI: Down Under challenge - Australia & New Zealand

Kangaroos on MacKay Beach, Australia


Mt Taranaki, New Zealand

Return to TIOLI September thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/122775

Down Under challenge: Read a book set in either New Zealand or Australia

New Zealand is hosting the Rugby World Cup this month and as we are having an influx of sports teams and visitors from all around the world, I thought it's a good time to host a challenge to read a book set in this part of the world. I've included Australia to make it a more accessible challenge.

You are welcome to suggest books you've enjoyed reading set in this part of the world.

New Zealand suggestions:
Man Alone by John Mulgan (1939) – post WW1 classic novel that is available as a free ebook from the NZ Electronic Text Centre
The Bone People by Keri Hulme (1984)
Potiki by Patricia Grace (1986)
Owls do cry by Janet Frame (1957)
Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh (1945)
Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox (2005)
Changeover by Margaret Mahy (1984)
The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton (2008)

other writers include Maurice Gee, Witi Ihimaera, Fiona Farrell, Emily Perkins, Lloyd Jones etc etc but these may be harder to come across in the US/Canada or UK.

Australian suggestions:
The Getting of Wisdom by Henry Handel Richardson (1910)
A Fortunate Life by A. B. Facey (1981)
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay (1967)
For the term of his natural life by Marcus Clarke (1870)
Sorry by Gail Jones (2007)
Carpentaria by Alexis Wright (2006)
Sydney by Delia Falconer (2010)

other writers include – Thomas Kenneally, Peter Carey, Craig Silvey, Markus Zusak etc etc
I'll post some more recommendations later in the week.

Some threads in the Reading Globally group that discuss books from this part of the world:
AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE
Australian and New Zealand Fiction
Oceania

Return to TIOLI September thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/122775

My reading list for this challenge includes:

Beak of the Moon by Philip Temple (New Zealand)
Mangrove Summer by Jack Lasenby (New Zealand)
Once upon a time in Aotearoa by Tina Makereti (New Zealand)
The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin (Australia)

Kerry, I just figured out how to download Man Alone to my ipad - and I am going to read it THIS MONTH!! (You know how useless I am at reading NZ books. I also have Janet Frame's Towards another Summer sitting here.) Thanks for the push I needed.

Gorgeous photo of Mt Taranaki too.

Beautiful pictures, Kerry!

#1 - I very enthusiastically second The Bone People by Keri Hulme!! I listed her collection of short stories - Te Kaihau: The Windeater - as my New Zealand selection.

- Cushla, I think you'll enjoy Man Alone and do read John Mulgan's bio. I haven't read anything by Janet Frame since I was a teenager, I need to rectify that at some stage. Oh and we just got an iPad, I haven't figured out anything yet.

- Thanks Madeline

- Kerri, yes, The Bone People is brilliant. I haven't read that collection of short stories.

Ooh, goody! I'm already part-way through Blood and Circuses by Kerry Greenwood, set in c1930s Melbourne.

#7: good to have you join us. I haven't read any of her books yet but I love Melbourne.

Thanks, Kerry.

To my shame I seem to have no books set in Australia or NZ in my TBR piles although I do have a few on my wishlist. I can download some Katherine Mansfield stories from Project Gutenberg so I might try and read those for this challenge.

#3 Cushla, did you download Man Alone in a kindle format? I couldn't see it in that format.

Kerry, I read Long Journey to the Border a few years back and really enjoyed it (even though it makes more sense to read some of his work first).

Heather, it took a bit of figuring out and I just realised I am not reading it with the Kindle app on my ipad, I'm using ibooks which is another e-reader that comes with the ipad.

I went to the NZ electronic text centre website for the book here:

http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-MulManA.html

There are some logos on the side. I clicked on epub and it downloaded to ibooks on my ipad. But I think there must be a way to get it into Kindle format... does this link from Amazon help?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200140600

#11 Thanks Cushla. After posting my message above I thought I would try downloading the epub version and then used some free software called calibre to convert the epub to a mobi file which the kindle can read. Transferred the new file to my kindle and it seems to be working ok.

So, I've listed Man Alone by John Mulgan and The Garden Party and Other Stories by Katherine Mansfield for this challenge, both NZ authors.

Heather - I did some googling and found the Australian Project Gutenberg page where they have ebooks of The Getting of Wisdom, For the term of his natural life, My brilliant career as well as Robbery under arms.
The Getting of Wisdom (1910) is one I'd recommend, it's by Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson who published under a man's name and the book is a bit like the school section of Jane Eyre. The other titles are on my tbr list to get to at some stage.

The Getting of Wisdom: http://freeread.com.au/ebooks/e00086.txt

#11: Cushla, that's on my tbr pile. I got a copy on trademe a few weeks after finishing Man alone but still haven't got to it.

Heather - I forgot to add, thanks for joining this challenge. It does seem that no matter how big Mt tbr is, there are always more books to throw onto it.

I'll be reading Dorothy Hewett's Bobbin Up for this challenge, which appears to be about women labor activists in 1950s Sydney.

#15 - That sounds quite fascinating and right up my alley. I'm putting that on my wish list. Plus, I've always meant to check out more of the Virago Modern Classics.

#13 Thanks for the recommendations Kerry, I'll have a look at The Getting of Wisdom and My Brilliant Career as they both also seem to be published under the Virago Modern Classics label. Not sure I'll get to all of them this month but I'd like to read at least one book for this challenge.

No pressure, I just wanted to make you aware of this digital resource.

I've started reading The Bone People for this challenge. The computer at work won't let me add it to the wiki for some reason. I will add it when I get home. So far I'm really enjoying it. I like the way Hulme uses language. And.. I want to live in a tower.

#19 - I'm glad you're enjoying The Bone People. You may already know this (unfortunately, I didn't the first time I read the novel), but there's a glossary of Maori words and phrases in the back of the book. Very, very helpful!

Thanks -- I didn't know.

I read My brilliant career some years ago (I have a nice VMC edition) - I'd recommend it!

I started Man Alone in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep and am really enjoying it. (It didn't help with the insomnia!) It's a good thing we are coming home soon because the descriptions of everywhere he goes are so vivid. If anyone else tries it and you're not from New Zealand it might be worth having a map handy when you read it.

Both My Brilliant Career and The Getting of Wisdom are fab...

Would A Town Like Alice qualify for this challenge? I've been wanting to re-read this for some time, esp since I just got the DVD of the original film. First read it circa 1977, and it was the first book to make me want to visit Australia. (Still haven't managed...)

Yes, definitely. there's enough Australian content to this. I'm now reminded of The Thorn Birds from a long distant past, probably because they were both made into excellent miniseries (with Bryan Brown).

I'm reading Kate Grenville's latest book, Sarah Thornhill and it fits this challenge perfectly - at the moment it's set near Sydney in the 1800s but I think it's about to shift to New Zealand. It's a sequel to The Secret River. I loved that novel but am appalled that I can't remember exactly what happened near the end - so far it doesn't matter...

I saw a copy of Sarah Thornhill yesterday at the library, I loved The Secret River too. I've lined up quite a few Australian novels to read next year.
I've read a quick contemporary YA set in Australia, All I ever wanted, a good debut that has generated fairly good buzz.
I've also finished Tina Makareti's short story collection, Once Upon a time in Aotearoa, which I enjoyed as well as Jack Lasenby's Mangrove Summer. I started Beak of the Moon but knew straight away that I wouldn't finish it this month as the voice will take some getting used to, it's described as Watership Down with birds (keas). I pulled out The God Boy by Ian Cross but decided to keep it for my 12in12 challenge next year.