ANZAC Challenge January - February 2016

Below is our Jan/Feb selection of writers:

Australia:
Thomas Kenneally
Kate Forsyth
Judith Armstrong

New Zealand
James McNeish
Ronald Hugh Morrieson
Jenny Pattrick

Back to main thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/211009

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Thomas Keneally

Thomas Keneally, (born October 7, 1935, Sydney, Australia), Australian writer best known for his historical novels. Keneally’s characters are gripped by their historical and personal past, and decent individuals are portrayed at odds with systems of authority.

At age 17 Keneally entered a Roman Catholic seminary, but he left before ordination; the experience influenced his early fiction, including The Place at Whitton (1964) and Three Cheers for the Paraclete (1968). His reputation as a historical novelist was established with Bring Larks and Heroes (1967), about Australia’s early years as an English penal colony. The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1972; film 1980) won Keneally international acclaim; it is based on the actual story of a half-caste Aboriginal who rebels against white racism by going on a murder spree. The Great Shame (1998), a work inspired by his own ancestry, details 80 years of Irish history from the perspective of Irish convicts sent to Australia in the 19th century.

Although Australia figures prominently in much of Keneally’s work, his range is broad. His well-received Gossip from the Forest (1975) examines the World War I armistice through the eyes of a thoughtful, humane German negotiator. He is also praised for his treatment of the American Civil War in Confederates (1979). His later fiction includes A Family Madness (1985), To Asmara (1989), Flying Hero Class (1991), Woman of the Inner Sea (1992), Jacko (1993), Homebush Boy (1995), Bettany’s Book (2000), The Tyrant’s Novel (2003), The Widow and Her Hero (2007), and The Daughters of Mars (2012).

Keneally’s best-known work, Schindler’s Ark (1982; also published as Schindler’s List; film 1993), tells the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved more than 1,300 Jews from the Nazis. Like many of Keneally’s protagonists, Schindler is a rather ordinary man who acts in accord with his conscience despite the evil around him. Controversy surrounded the book’s receipt of the Booker Prize for fiction; detractors argued that the work was mere historical reporting.

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Kate Forsyth
Kate Forsyth is best known for her historical novel Bitter Greens, which interweaves a retelling of the Rapunzel fairy tale with the true life story of the woman who first told the tale, the 17th century French writer Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force.

She is the internationally bestselling author of more than thirty books, including The Witches of Eileanan and Rhiannon's Ride fantasy series for adults. She completed a doctorate in fairytale retellings and the novels that have come out of this fascination include the winner of the 2015 American Libraries Association Prize for Historical Fiction, Bitter Greens, The Wild Girl and The Beast's Garden. Her books have been published in seventeen different countries, including Japan, Poland, Spain, Russia and Turkey. Kate has also written series for children of all ages and the contemporary novel Dancing on Knives. She is a five-time Aurealis Award winner.

She is married with three children, and lives in Sydney, New South Wales. She is also a direct descendant of Charlotte Barton, the author of Australia's earliest known children's book.

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Judith Armstrong
Judith Armstrong, born in Melbourne, taught Russian, French, European studies and Literary Theory at Melbourne University, and is currently a Fellow of the Contemporary European Research Centre. Armstrong left full-time teaching in 1996 to lead tours in Eastern Europe and write full time.

Her most recent book is War and Peace and Sonya (2011), a biographical novel about Sonya Tolstoy. Her greatest claim to public fame was probably the invitation to write an article on Anna Karenina for Oprah Winfry's website. She frequently reviews for newspapers and magazines, contributes articles to opera programs, and has judged literary awards. She lives in Melbourne. Her previous books include The Christesen Romance (shortlisted, Age Book of the Year Award in 1996) and The Cook and the Maestro: : two brothers, two countries, two passions (2001). The French Tutor (2003) was her first novel.

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James McNeish

James McNeish is a well-known novelist and biographer. He has received critical attention in New Zealand and overseas; many of his works have appeared in London and New York. His novels include Mackenzie (1970) and Lovelock, nominated for the 1986 Booker Prize. His non-fiction encompasses social history, memoir, a psychological study of a young chorister convicted of multiple murder, The Mask of Sanity: the Bain Murders (1997), and Dance of the Peacocks: New Zealanders in exile in the time of Hitler and Mao Tse-tung (2003) which has become a standard work in the literature of expatriatism. James McNeish has also written plays.

His most recent publication was his memoir Touchstones

He has travelled widely and his work reflects his knowledge of many lands. In 1958 he went to the UK as a deckhand on a Norwegian freighter. Travelling around Europe, he recorded folk music in twenty-one countries. He worked with Joan Littlewood in the Theatre Royal in the East End of London, and her spirit of socially committed drama left an impression not only on his plays but also on his novels. As a freelance journalist he also worked for the BBC, the Guardian and the Observer. In New Zealand, too, he has been a prolific writer for radio and newspapers.

For four years he lived and worked with Danilo Dolci, a courageous non-violent opponent of the Mafia, sometimes called ‘the Gandhi of Sicily’. Out of this experience came Fire under the Ashes (1965), McNeish’s clear, remarkably objective biographical account of Dolci.

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Ronald Hugh Morrieson 1922–1972

The legend of Ronald Hugh Morrieson is that of a man from the sticks who, despite writing funnier, darker and more original novels than his compatriots, got little praise for it at home. The legend is sealed by the author providing his own epitaph: "I hope I'm not another one of those poor buggers who get discovered when they're dead".
Morrieson's books are coloured by his own experiences as a musician and drinker in hometown Hawera, plus references to movies and popular songs. Born in 1922, Ronald Hugh Morrieson was an only child who spent his first three decades living with his mother and Aunt (his father died when Ronald was six). Removed from school after a prank went wrong, Morrieson's musical talent led him into dance bands; later the sound of a piano pulled him prematurely from university back to Hawera.
At 37, Morrieson swapped playing for music teaching and writing. His first novel The Scarecrow was published by leading Australian company Angus and Robertson in 1963. Mixing comedy and horror, it was the gothic tale of a stranger who turns up in a Hawera-like town awash with pubescent teenagers. Though The Scarecrow's sales were initially unremarkable, newspapers on both sides of the Tasman were generally impressed - The Dominion called it brilliant and highly original, while the Sydney Morning Herald praised how Morrieson had melded at least six genres together "to produce a brilliant, hallucinatory mixture distinctively his own".
Morrieson's second novel Came a Hot Friday emerged in 1964. Set over one hectic weekend in a post-war New Zealand loaded with bookies, carousers, cars and conmen, Friday was met with reviews that ranged across the board, from enthused to offended.
The Listener praised its gusto, wit, headlong pace and sickening plausibility - yet preferred The Scarecrow and argued the new book was best carried in an anonymous cover so no one could see you reading it. While Australian literary journals were comparing Morrieson to a sex-obsessed Dickens, Landfall damned the author's first two books, by neglecting to review them.
Writer Peter Simpson has argued that such indifference was due partly to Morrieson having deliberately moved in another direction from the dominant mode of local writing, which Simpson calls provincial realism.

Morrieson's novels - rich in dialogue, colourful characters, melodrama and period detail - would prove a magnet to filmmakers.

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Jenny Pattrick

Jenny Pattrick is an acclaimed historical novelist, whose The Denniston Rose, and its sequel Heart of Coal, are among New Zealand's biggest-selling novels. They are set on an isolated coal-mining plateau, Denniston, once the primary coal producer for New Zealand, now a ghost town. Jenny Pattrick was born and raised in Wellington. She trained and worked as a teacher before becoming a mother in 1963. In 1969 Pattrick began her career as a jeweller. Her work has been exhibited in New Zealand and internationally, and featured on the book jacket of her second novel, Heart of Coal (Black Swan, 2004).
Pattrick has long been active in the arts community and has served as President of the Crafts Council. She has chaired the Arts Council and has served on the boards of Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School, the New Zealand School of Dance and the New Zealand Festival of the Arts’ New Zealand Post Writers and Readers Committee. With her musician husband Laughton, she has also written stories, songs and shows for children.

Reviewer Mike Crean of The Christchurch Press in 2003 said that ‘Pattrick writes with the assuredness of a veteran. She creates an authentic stage for a cast of characters who interact in ways that always ring true’.

Jenny Pattrick was awarded the 2009 NZ Post Mansfield Prize, incorporating the six-month Katherine Mansfield Fellowship in Menton France.

So my Aussie choice for this month will definitely be a Thomas Keneally as I have four to choose from and I look forward to finally reading The Scarecrow by Ronald Hugh Morrieson as my NZ author, although I have just finished Chappy by Patricia Grace.
The first Keneally I have laid my hands on is Three Cheers for the Paraclete, so I will start that tonight.

>7 avatiakh: going to Denniston was fabulous after having read Denniston Rose. You can just wander about amongst the old coal carts and imagine the town that used to be there.

>9 LovingLit: Hi Megan, I heartily agree. I read the series prior to visiting Denniston and found it fascinating. How they survived those winters up there I can only imagine. They must have been hardy souls. It definitely enhanced the reading experience.

I have read all of Jenny Pattrick's adult novels but my favourite is still In Touch with Grace. It has real heart and is based on her mother.

I haven't read any as yet, though I own Denniston Rose and have meant to read it for a long while.

I've got Lovelock by James McNeish lined up to read first. It's a fictionalised biography of athlete Jack Lovelock who won a gold medal at the Berlin Olympics.

Thank you so much for setting this up Kerry. I will definitely try to join in as much as I can.

I like the format of giving us a few to choose from over two months as it is good to have all the different challenges set up in slightly different ways. I will try to do one Aussie and one Kiwi writer over the given period.

I am thinking either Thomas Keneally or Kate Forsythe for this month with Came a Hot Friday for February.

This is a great selection. I've already got The Denniston Rose in the queue - recommended by Megan in preparation for our trip to the South Island in a couple of weeks. I think I will also read The Daughters of Mars, although it's a chunkster and I'm going on holiday...

>14 PaulCranswick: Came a Hot Friday is a wonderful madcap read, I remember the movie which was also quite hilarious. I read 3 of the 4 Morrieson's books a few years back and thought they were all great reads. Even made the pilgrimage to the plaque in the local KFC in Hawera which is all that's left to show where Morrieson's family home stood.
I've still got Pallet on the Floor to read, it's less well known and considered an unfinished work.

Last night I looked through my pile of Thomas Keneally books, I bought a collection of used paperbacks on our local version of ebay several years ago and while each book is in dubious condition, the promises of the story within is making my choice of which one to read quite difficult. I've got it down to Gossip from the Forest and The widow and her hero. I'll probably take both of these on holiday with me in Feb.

Pallet on the Floor by Ronald Hugh Morrieson (1976)
My first read for the ANZAC challenge was this novella which can be most easily found in Nine New Zealand Novellas. I've now read all Morrieson's work and have to say I love them all. This one was published in unfinished form after Morrieson's death and while it doesn't get to the standard of the other books, there's enough dark humour in there for a full enjoyment.
Set in a small town where almost everyone is employed at seasonal work at the local freezing works, most characters seem to be alcoholics, drowning in beer or sherry, flagons, jugs, kegs and home brew. There's a death after an attempted rape that needs to be covered up and blackmail follows. All this on the last week of work for most of the men.

Came a Hot Friday sure is madcap, movie is a cult classic & just as mad .......

I haven't seen the movie for years, must try to find it somewhere. Billy T, always entertaining.

Lovelock by James McNeish (1986)
This is a biographical fiction based mainly on Lovelock's training diaries. Lovelock approached running like a science, his diaries covered all nutritional and medical aspects.
New Zealander, Jack Lovelock ran the perfect race to win gold at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin in the 1500 meters, also setting a new world record in the process, New Zealand's first ever gold in athletics. He surprised the field by sprinting the last lap, usually the sprint took place on the last straight.
The novelisation tries to give an insight into the private life of Lovelock, his diaries are extensive about his training, but he also struggled to juggle his medical studies with athletics, suffered recurring bouts of depression & insomnia and was always financially challenged. After he wins gold in Berlin he retires from running and focuses on his medical career, but head injuries and vision problems from two horrific falls from horses do not help. The fallout from these injuries were definitely factors in his death in 1949 when he fell into the path of a subway train in New York. It's an interesting account that tries to get right into the mind of an extremely driven but perplexing personality.

The 1936 Olympic 1500m race as filmed by Leni Riefenstahl here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr0ihgPjo3k with excited commentary by Harold Abraham for the BBC.

Also a good short film: http://www.nzonscreen.com/title/lovelock-1992

I have a fuller set of comments on my thread.

I have completed my first Thomas Keneally book thanks to this challenge. Three cheers for the Paraclete was a trip back in time to the Roman Catholic church of the 1960's. At times it was very humorous and he is a master in the use of the English language.

>17 avatiakh: wow, I want to get hold of that one! I am going to check the library catalogue ASAP.

I just finished a Jenny Pattrick story entitled In Touch With Grace. It is the story of Grace and her friend Mildred who are trying to negotiate the trials of aging as they encounter pressures from other people to do their bidding. A sweet story with a biting edge.

>23 dallenbaugh:. This remains my favourite Jenny Pattrick book. I told her this and she said it is hers too, as it is based on her mother. I could sense the heart in it.

I'm late to 'get on the bus', but since this challenge goes to the end of February I just might make it. I will be reading Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally. I loved the movie and have had this on my shelf for years! Since my committment to myself for 2016 is to, mostly, read books 'off my shelf', this will help focus me

So everyone what's planned for February?
I'm finally picking up some Australian writing and will try to read one book by each of the three writers as well as The Denniston Rose. I'll be on holiday for the last 10 days of Feb so hope to get lots of reading done then.

I am currently reading Barbara Anderson, The Portrait of the Artist's Wife and enjoying it immensely. I am trying to follow several challenges as well as this one i.e. American Author, British author and Pullitzer prize winner which is helping me choose books off the shelves. Enjoy your holiday.

The Jenny Pattrick blurb and talk got me interested in her work. As a result I ordered 3 of her books, and I really need to have more books in my house. I ordered Denniston Rose, Heart of Coal, and Landings. I got them all cheaply because they are used copies, but still 3 more books in my house? Really, did I need that?

>28 benitastrnad: You're asking us? Lol

I read The Daughters of Mars by Keneally and enjoyed it, although I felt at times he got a little too caught up in the inner workings of his main characters and I wanted out of their heads and back into the story. I loved that the story focused totally on the nurses and their experiences during WWI.

I also listened to The Denniston Rose - recommended by Megan as a good read leading up to my visit to the west coast of the South Island last month. The audio is great, and the story gave me a good sense of life in a NZ coal mining town and the huge diversity of people that could end up in those camps. I'd like to read In Touch With Grace this month if I have time.

touchstones not working at the moment...

I was notified by the used bookstore from which I ordered Landings that the copy was in such bad shape that they would not ship it to me, so I ordered Skylark instead.

Since it sounded right up my alley, I tried to get Jenny Patrick's The Denniston Rose, but even Inter-Library Loan couldn't pull it off for me.

My library did have Thomas Keneally's The Daughters of Mars on hand, so I chose that. Almost done. Sense of place is outstanding, especially Gallipoli, and on ship. Sense of culture too - Australia, military/nursing, and foreign lands, all. Character portrayal, as well, especially the sisters. Excellent book. And the reader is 5 stars.

I've read Gossip from the Forest by Kenneally which was interesting rather than outstanding. It's about the armistice negotiations that took place at the end of WW1. Kenneally brings us the various personalities & ideals of the various participants and one does end up feeling quite sympathetic for the German, Erzberger, who had a very difficult job. The talks took place in a remote French forest in a couple of rail carriages, so fit Paul's TIOLI challenge for a book which is set or largely set in or on a means of conveyance.
More about the talks here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armistice_of_11_November_1918
I'm also listening to The Widow and her Hero but can't see myself finishing before the end of the month.

I'm currently reading The Denniston Rose and Kate Forsyth's The Beast's Garden which is a fairytale retelling set in Nazi Germany.
I would have been reading Judith Armstrong's The French Tutor but I left my copy on the airplane at the start of my trip. I was enjoying it too, she includes many Proust references that I was finding quite fascinating.

I have the March/April thread ready to put up in the next day or so.

I read Bitter Greens - lovely book that I don't think I would have picked up if not for browsing this thread. I wrote a bit more about it on my thread. Cheers all.

>33 charl08: I loved Bitter Greens, how Forsyth twisted the three stories together.

Ok, here's the link to ANZAC March/April: http://www.librarything.com/topic/219627

I finished Ronald Hugh Morrieson's Scarecrow at 1a.m. On to the next challenge.

I finished Judith Armstrong's novel The French Tutor. It looks like I have been the only one to read this novel on LT. For the most part I enjoyed it but the main character Emily King seemed amazingly dense concerning her relationship with Lewis Lincoln. The author delves in to the works of Proust as a parallel story to Emily's obsession with Lewis.

>37 dallenbaugh: I started reading The French Tutor but left the book behind on a flight last week. I liked her book about Tolstoy and was looking forward to this one.

I finished Kate Forsyth's The Beast's Garden this evening. It was ok, a novel set in WW2 Berlin, focusing on Germans who did not support Hitler.

I finally finished my audiobook of Tom Keneally's The widow and her hero. At times I didn't enjoy the way the story was put together but in the end I've come away fairly impressed with how he tackled the topic of death through heroism in war and the lifetime of grief for those left behind. The book is based on the tragic events of Operation Rimau towards the end of WW2.