Featured:
ALL OF THE NEWS from around the Shire on One Page below for your convenience

The Beagle
- Dec 14, 2018
Gadfly 57
The suggestion for a women’s caucus among our female Members and Senators is a good one; but it’s only the beginning. The time has come to face the simple fact that men are uniquely unsuited to the business of politics. It should an occupation reserved for women. I’m not joking. Politics is far too important to be left to the fragile egos and testosterone fuelled pomposities of men. They cannot be trusted to govern nations. They can’t even govern their own flailing vanities.

The Beagle
- Nov 30, 2018
Milkman - a review
Milkman Anna Burns, Faber & Faber, 2018, ISBN 978-0-571-33874-0, 348pp I have not read either of Anna Burns’ previous two novels. This one, Milkman, however, won the Man Booker Prize just recently and that, at £50,000 is a serious matter. As Burns herself says “It’s nice to feel I’m solvent.” She wrote this book in circumstances that sound eerily similar to J K Rowling when she wrote the Harry Potter novels. Struggling, no money, all that stuff. It might sound romantic, you k

The Beagle
- Nov 22, 2018
The Labyrinth of the Spirits - a review
The Labyrinth of the Spirits Carlos Ruiz Zafón, 2016 (English translation 2017), The Text Publishing Company,
ISBN 9-781925-603927, 805pp “And what do I do with this, aside from using it to practice (sic) shooting poodles? Make sure nobody practises on you.” In 800 pages this quote contains the only fault that I can find with this book. In Australian (and British) English the verb is “to practise”.
It is the Americans who use “practice” for both noun and verb. Let us suppos

The Beagle
- Nov 16, 2018
The Lost Man - a review
The Lost Man Jane Harper, McMillan, 2018, ISBN 978-1-74354-910-0, 362pp Jane Harper’s reputation is growing with each novel she publishes.
If you have read The Dry and Force of Nature, you will know that this repetitional growth is deserved. She tells a mean tale and tells it in a way that is engaging and thrilling.
I bought this latest novel, The Lost Man, immediately on entering Janice’s emporium and it lived up to expectations. If you have read the previous novels then

The Beagle
- Nov 8, 2018
Mr Bold featured in Vol 15 of The Wedding Playbook
Planning a wedding? Looking for gorgeous, fresh, creative ideas without pouring through pages of advertising? The Wedding Playbook is an high quality free, independent Australian wedding blog and online magazine published by editors Danielle and Kathy (Danielle is the one on the left.) You’ll find Danielle in her home office most days with peppermint tea in hand, publishing stories on the blog, sharing the latest finds on social media and designing their next magazine.
Kat

The Beagle
- Nov 5, 2018
Any Ordinary Day - a review
Any Ordinary Day Leigh Sales, Hamish Hamilton, 2018, ISBN 978-0-14-378996-3, 264pp The author of this book is indeed the Leigh Sales who is the anchor of ABC’s 730 program. On that program she is a measured, thoughtful and objective presenter. There is much more, however, behind the ABC’s required façade. She does a podcast called Chats 10 Looks 3 with Annabelle Crabbe. I generally get this title the wrong way around and refer to it as Looks 10 Chats 3 which may mean that I s

The Beagle
- Nov 4, 2018
Fibonacci, rabbits and beauty
Here are the Fibonacci links in the pdfs pages above:: 1 The fascinating article by Helen G. Grundman and Pamela E. Harris called Sequences of Consecutive Happy Numbers in Negative Bases can be found at fq.math.ca/56-3.html ... at least the synopsis can 2 Information about the breeding habits of rabbits at livestocklibrary.com.au/bitstream/handle/1234/5410/ab01012.pdf?sequence=1 3 Estimates of rabbit population at thoughtco.com/feral-rabbits-in-australia-1434350 #Tre

The Beagle
- Nov 1, 2018
A Dawn with no Birdsong - a review
As we are soon coming up to the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, I took the time to immerse myself in A Dawn with no Birdsong, a novel by Australian author Tony Matthews, which is set during the First World War but with a rather unique element. A Dawn with no Birdsong is a work of fiction but it has been inspired by real historical events as is Tony Matthew's style. In talking with Tony, a resident of Queensland, he said of the book "Few people today know

The Beagle
- Nov 1, 2018
Theory of Bastards - a review
Theory of Bastards Audrey Schulman, Europa, 2018, ISBN 978-1-60945-437-1, 413pp Audrey Schulman is a Canadian-American writer with four previous novels to her name. Hers was not a name that I knew and, indeed, she is unusual enough not to have an entry in Wikipedia though I imagine that is by design rather than due to a lack of, or desire for a lack of, notoriety because she has a website.
I bought the book simply because I liked the title. The word “theory” suggested some

The Beagle
- Oct 26, 2018
Paris Echo - a review
Paris Echo Sebastian Faulks, Penguin, 2018, ISBN 978-1-78-633022, 298pp I could push the boat out and claim that Sebastian Faulks is the greatest living English author. I could, but I won’t. But he is certainly up there among the best.
Anyone who has read Birdsong (1993) cannot have but been completely stunned, and even changed by it. On Green Dolphin Street (2001) contains some of the most beautiful prose by a modern author. His writing is not restricted to novels: The Fat

The Beagle
- Oct 12, 2018
Lauren Jackson: A life in basketball and beyond - a review
Lauren Jackson, women and sport - an interview with Lauren Jackson
I have just read Lauren Jackson’s recently published memoir Lauren Jackson: A life in basketball and beyond and you can find a review of the book below. But I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to speak to Lauren about some of the topics that she talks about in the book. I started by asking her why she wrote it. She thought that it was important to share her story particularly because she wanted to im

The Beagle
- Oct 11, 2018
Eurobodalla Literary Salons
After the success of the previous 2 years, the Salons have expanded to include Narooma. This year the artists are using written works by members of Eurobodalla Writers as inspiration for creative responses.
In partnership with the Eurobodalla Fellowship of Australian Writers the program of new literary works are introduced at the Eurobodalla Literary Salon. Each writer has created a literary work, which has inspired a local artist to create a new artwork especially for this

The Beagle
- Oct 9, 2018
Lauren Jackson: Interviewed by Simon Lauder of ABC South East
From Australian country school girl to an international sporting superstar, Lauren Jackson tells her extraordinary story for the first time.
Enjoy the interview with Lauren Jackson where Simon Lauder of ABC SOUTH EAST chats with Lauren covering her early years, her career and life after an international career. Audio: Lauren Jackson interviewed by Simon Lauder Oct 8th 2018 'I've realised my dreams, been there for my teams, experienced so many highs and lows. The game of bask

The Beagle
- Oct 3, 2018
Melmoth - a review
Melmoth Sarah Perry, Profile Books Ltd, 2018, ISBN 9-781-788-16066-7, 288pp It was because I had reviewed Sarah Perry’s last book The Essex Serpent (The Essex Serpent - a review) that Julie in Moruya Books pressed upon me Perry’s latest offering, Melmoth.
“It’s even more Gothic than her last one,” she said as I took the book from her.
My recollection of The Essex Serpent was more Victorian steampunk than Gothic though there was a touch of the gothic about it. In the end I

The Beagle
- Sep 30, 2018
Fear: Trump in the White House - a review
Fear: Trump in the White House Bob Woodward, Simon & Schuster, 2018, ISBN978-1-4711-8129-0, 420pp As soon as I saw that Woodward was about to publish a book about the Trump presidency I knew that I would be among its first readers. I was in Sydney a day after its publication and I was braying at the door of the Potts Point Bookshop in Macleay Street immediately after breakfast. Within moments I was back at my son’s apartment and had read several chapters. I suppose that this
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