To Proust or not to Proust ‘One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory’. Rita Mae Brown Memories get a bad wrap from quite a lot of folk, including Rita Mae Brown. Yet so many song lyrics dwell on memories. Love songs frequently combine memories with intense regret, and in turn … [Read more…]
To Nap or Not to Nap Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care, the death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath, balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course, chief nourisher in life’s feast.’ William Shakespeare Shakespeare knew a lot about sleep, especially insomnia. I suspect he was … [Read more…]
She Purred Like a Tiger In 1903 Mrs Elinor Glyn published, Three Weeks. These days the novel is considered a bizarre but fairly tame read, but back then it was the Edwardians version of Fifty Shades of Grey and sold about 2 million copies. In the opening pages of my novel, The Scandalous Life of … [Read more…]
Wicked Women Famous historical figures are frequently sensationalized to provide fodder for films, plays, operas and books. Facts are wilfully ignored because wickedness, orgies, incest, violence, psychological abuse and criminal activity will always find an audience. Cleopatra was frequently represented as an objectified woman. Everyone from Cicero to Shakespeare used her to their own … [Read more…]
THE LEOPARD One of the most astonishing things about the novel, The Leopard is that it was initially rejected by major publishing houses. Yet when it was finally published in 1958, it was acknowledged to be a masterpiece. Unfortunately by this time the author, Giuseppe di Lampedusa had died at the age of sixty … [Read more…]
The Elixir of Youth ‘Nature gives you the face you have at twenty. Life shapes the face you have at thirty. But at fifty you get the face you deserve’. French fashion designer Coco Chanel Many of us believe that in today’s era of Botox and extreme cosmetic surgery, Chanel’s statement no longer applies. A scan of Hollywood’s red carpet affairs, … [Read more…]
Ma Kelly’s Boy ‘Don’t be frightened. Nothing will happen to you. I have a mother of my own.’ Ned Kelly to Anne Calvert while robbing the National Bank at Euroa. On November 11 1880, Edward ‘Ned’ Kelly was hanged for murder at Melbourne Goal. A reporter at the time claimed that Mrs … [Read more…]
The Man in the Moon Half a century ago Neil Armstrong and Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin walked on the moon. On July 20 2019 their moon landing of July 1969 will be celebrated worldwide. Given that there’s no atmosphere on the moon, it’s possible that Armstrong and Aldrin’s footsteps may still visible on the moon’s … [Read more…]
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ‘Kissing your hand may make you feel very good but a diamond bracelet lasts forever.’ Lorelei Lee from Anita Loos novella, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. One of my favourite books is a hardcover 1926 tenth edition of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. So popular was Anita Loos’ novella that it ran to … [Read more…]
Easy Rider ‘You watch the white line and try to lean with it . . . howling through a turn to the right, then to the left and down the long hill to Pacifica . . . letting off now watching for cops, but only until the next dark stretch and another few seconds … [Read more…]
Peel Me a Grape Hollywood legend Mae West liked her men distinctly masculine. Her taste veered towards wrestlers, boxers, prize fighters, gangsters and musclemen. At 61 she took up with Mr California, Paul Novak, who was thirty years younger. He was one of the musclemen in her stage show at the time and he remained … [Read more…]
On Being Fabulous Two nights ago I attended Madison Moore’s performative presentation at the National Art Gallery, Melbourne. Madison began his lecture dressed casually in gym gear but while talking about his influences growing up and how it felt to be marginalised, he slowly began a transformation. Madison began by cutting and … [Read more…]
Devilish Desires I’ve just reread Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and it has dazzled me yet again. My favourite line is, ‘The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.’ The characters throw themselves around dramatically and they rarely ever sit quietly. They fling themselves … [Read more…]
There’s Something About Henry King Henry the Eighth has been receiving bad press for centuries and Shakespeare, along with later writers and playwrights, got in on the act. Henry’s life fascinated everybody. He married six wives and distinguished himself by divorcing/annulling two wives and cruelly executing another two. His first wife died … [Read more…]
I Want That Cake ‘Let there be no shame on me tonight!’ Prince Wenzel von Metternich, 1832. The narrator of my novel, The Scandalous Life of Sasha Torte, was named in honour of a very famous cake. Sasha Torte is a world-class Tasmanian pastry chef and she establishes her magnificent cake emporium in … [Read more…]
Vive la France! I’m thinking of taking a trip to Europe next year and Paris is already on the itinerary. I’ve been there a few times but too much Paris is never enough. Cole Porter wrote the lyrics to I Love Paris and just about everyone recorded it. Frank Sinatra sang it for decades, … [Read more…]
Screaming Quietly The place is very well and quiet and the children only scream in a low voice. Lord Byron 1813 The poet Lord George Byron was a rake and a hellraiser who also happened to enjoy his own company and the solace of silence. Apparently he wrote much … [Read more…]
Mirka Mora 1928-2018 ‘Every time you show your work, you really show your soul.’ Mirka I never met Mirka Mora, but she became one of my most favourite people. I only know Mirka through her paintings and her wonderful autobiography, Wicked but Virtuous; My Life. Whenever I stop to look at Mirka’s murals – they … [Read more…]
I’ve frequently been asked by other writers and readers – what are the books that meant a lot to me growing up? And which particular books are my standout, all-time favourites? This is an extremely difficult question because there are so many books that I love! And when things get a tad tricky and … [Read more…]
In a recent interview journalist and former editor, Michael Gawenda, said of his son Husky Gawenda, ‘He can spend a lot of time by himself in his room. If you’re going to be a writer you have to be lonely in some way.’ (from ‘The Two of Us’. The AGE Good Weekend, 11August 2018). … [Read more…]
I often sneak back to the old neighbourhood to meet friends. It’s become increasingly gentrified; old houses have been tizzied up and sold for exceedingly high prices. Subsequently many of the artists, writers, junkies, musicians, booze hounds, photographers, dressmakers, poets and reprobates, I once knew have moved on. Some wisely moved up the coast … [Read more…]
I was born in London but raised in Australia by English parents. The second house we lived in was referred to by my mother’s friends as ‘ Little England ’ , while some local kids rudely called it ‘ The Addam’s Family House ’. I thought the insult gave our place cachet, as … [Read more…]
Lord Gerald Berners was a talented musician and painter. He also wrote for the stage and his impressionistic paintings continue to sell well today (that’s Gerald in the photograph above). He converted Faringdon House, in Oxfordshire England, into a luxurious country mansion that soon had England’s fashion set vying for a weekend invitation. Exquisite … [Read more…]
Melbourne’s Deakin Edge is a strange venue. The whole construction slopes precariously down to the hardwood stage area. Vertigo was apparent on the faces of those pioneering their way down to the front rows during the 2017 Melbourne Writers Festival. Rock icon, Tex Perkins (born Gregory Stephen Perkins), was onstage being interviewed by radio … [Read more…]
Marchesa Luisa Casati When I was doing research for my novel, Hotel du Barry, I read up on luxury European hotels in the early twentieth century. The London and Paris Ritz became my favourite hotels and I discovered the Marchesa Casati because she was a devotee of the Paris Ritz. Her nickname was ‘Medusa of … [Read more…]