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This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. A couple of months ago my boss went to see James Patterson talk at Sydney Town Hall. He came … Continue reading Book Review — The Slow Natives (1965) by Thea Astley
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. When I think of friendships between young women in novels, it takes me a minute to come … Continue reading Book Review — The Strays (2014) by Emily Bitto
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. I haven't read many English novels from the mid-19th century. I've never read a work by Dickens, … Continue reading Book Review — The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) by Anne Brontë
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. There is a moment in most readers' lives that changes the way they think of first-person narrators: the … Continue reading Book Review — The Secret History (1992) by Donna Tartt
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. When I first read Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own (1929) in 2014, I put it down feeling … Continue reading Book Review — The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. Unsympathetic male characters have never been a great draw for me. Making them intelligent, stupid, anarchic, suburban, … Continue reading Book Review — The Autograph Man (2002) by Zadie Smith
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. Until last year, The Watch Tower (1966) was Elizabeth Harrower's last book. She attempted to write another, abandoned the project and … Continue reading Book Review — The Watch Tower (1966) by Elizabeth Harrower
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. 'Australian classic' is a term I wouldn't play around with. Mostly because I don't think many exist. … Continue reading Book Review — The Tall Man (2008) by Chloe Hooper
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. I hated waiting. If I had one particular complaint, it was that my life seemed composed entirely … Continue reading Book Review — Housekeeping (1980) by Marilynne Robinson
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. In Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s short story collection, The Thing Around Your Neck (2010), there is a great … Continue reading Book Review — The Compass Rose (1982) by Ursula K. Le Guin
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. A fly-on-the-wall narrator is a dangerous device. In some cases, most notably F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great … Continue reading Book Review — Cranford (1853) by Elizabeth Gaskell
This review is part of the No Man's Land Reading Project, an attempt to right a gendered imbalance in my reading and a general imbalance in the availability of reviews (by men, especially) of works by female authors. The first thing I said when I finished Karen Joy Fowler’s immensely popular, critically acclaimed, Man Booker … Continue reading Book Review — We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (2013) by Karen Joy Fowler
A few months ago I read an article by a female author who described the experience of signing her books for men who, as she signed, told her the book was for their mother, sister, girlfriend, wife, daughter, niece, and so on. They did also say they’d enjoyed the reading she’d given beforehand, but the … Continue reading The No Man’s Land Reading Project
