Rebecca Howden

Simmering darkly with unspoken traumas and longings, Steeplechase is a compelling novel about the tremulous bond between sisters. The first non-erotic work from Brisbane writer Krissy Kneen, following on from the memoir Affection and short story collection Triptych, this is a stirring Australian Gothic where the tangled threads of art, desire and madness are sensually, unsettlingly evoked.

Bec Reich is 40 years old. A painter and a university art lecturer, she masks her loneliness with a cold sense of reserve and an obsessive devotion to her work. Against her judgment, she is slipping into an affair with one of her students, a talented 23 year old enamored both with her and with the legend of her sister Emily – a captivating figure of the Australian contemporary art scene now living in Beijing. (more…)

The other week I watched Howl, and now all I can think about is Remington typewriters and readings in smoky New York clubs, and James Franco as Allen Ginsberg talking about falling in love with Jack Kerouac, and about falling in love with Neal Cassady, and about wanting to write so that they would “understand, nakedly, how I felt”, and about being in the psych ward, and saying, “There is no Beat Generation. It’s just a bunch of guys trying to get published.”

And all I can think is that if I was a cute guy all I would ever wear would be big black Ray-Bans and white t-shirts and plaid shirts. And then I thought, well, maybe I’ll just do that anyway.

Indiscretion is a sensuous novel about desire, folly and love in all its permutations. Set against the alluring backdrops of the Hamptons, Manhattan, Rome and Paris, debut novelist Charles Dubow tells the story of the splintering of a seemingly perfect marriage. Though not exactly a literary masterpiece, this is an engaging beach read that blends the dramatic and the familiar, providing a bit of escapist fun.

To dispense with the negative comments up front: as a first novel, Indiscretion has its fair share of flaws. The dialogue often feels like it’s from a bad soap opera, unnatural and laden with eye-rollingly profound statements. The characters motivations are not always believable, and much of the action borders on the clichéd. And yet, if you can put all that aside and allow yourself to just be taken into this world, you’ll find it’s quite an enjoyable one. (more…)

Sometimes I get this feeling like, hey remember how I used to draw and stuff? And then I sit down with my charcoals and I realise how out of practice I am and it’s one of those things that just is not like riding a bike. So I cheat a little and I trace bits and copy stuff and I scribble and cry, and my cat walks all over it with his cute little paws and tries to eat it. But then I scan it in and adjust it a little and I feel kind of happy.

Anyway, I did this thing of Andrej and it was fun for me. (more…)

In a way I kind of hate going to fashion shows, because I feel so messy and unglamorous in my eBay hand-me-downs, and I’m a big poser pretending my knowledge of fashion goes any deeper than OMG LOOK AT ALL THE PRETTY THINGS. But in another way I love it completely, because OMG so many beautiful people and beautiful clothes and you can drink champagne and get free cosmetics and everything is so beautiful and cool. And this year’s L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival was pretty great in that same miserable/exhilarating/inspiring/depressing kind of way.

Obviously, even if I could afford to buy this stuff I couldn’t actually wear the styles I love, but that’s not really the point anyway. Designer clothes just aren’t really made for women  who are shorter than 5’11″ or bigger than a size 6, or who, you know, have breasts and hips – which is a whole other complex kettle of fish in itself, but I’ve made my peace with it, mostly. But in an imaginary world where I look like Georgia May Jagger and have her bank account as well, this is what I’d fill my wardrobe with. (more…)

In the small French village of Clèves – a sleepy place, where the main attractions are a seedy nightclub and a yearly carnival, and where “the whole school is obsessed by sex” – teenage Solange is navigating the anxieties of her ever-growing sexual desire.

All the Way is the latest work from award-winning French author Marie Darrieussecq, best known for her 1996 debut Pig Tales: A Novel of Lust and Transformation, a beguiling story of a young woman who is slowly transformed into pig. Here, she continues her exploration of the female body in a darkly humorous coming of age story that is both familiar and surprising.  Naïve and awkward, Solange is coming into an awareness of her body and discovering the pleasures and pains it is capable of. She is desperate to be touched, to experience, to have the reassurance that comes with being desired. But as much as she is obsessed with the idea of having sex, she is consumed by a feeling that she’s not pretty, not sophisticated, not quite the same as all the other girls. (more…)

Sufficient Grace has been longlisted for the very first Stella Prize, a major new literary award for Australian women’s writing.

Deep in the heart of rural Wisconsin, 13-year old Ruth and her cousin Naomi are grappling with sin, penance and the dark tensions of adulthood. Living in a small community tightly bound by their Pentecostal faith, the two girls are like sisters, wrapped up in an unconditional devotion to one another – “she is mine,” Ruth often reflects. They are also bound together by a horrifying secret, and as they seek help through prayer, their faith becomes as suffocating as it is a comfort.

Sufficient Grace is the debut novel from Melbourne-based American writer Amy Espeseth, and won the 2009 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an unpublished manuscript. Narrated through the perspective of Ruth, the story stretches slowly over five months in a harsh winter, brought to life with an enchanting, almost folksy resonance. It comes as no surprise that Espeseth herself grew up in a Wisconsin fundamentalist community much like Ruth’s. This is an authentic rendering of a world created through intimate knowledge and a penchant for rich, earthy detail.   (more…)

A colleague brought this in to work for me, knowing how much I’d go crazy for it. And she was right – I’m nuts about this stuff.

The Successful Wife’s Pocketbook is a handy little pamphlet by Woman’s Journal from 1962 that offers kind, sisterly guidance on how to satisfy your husband – and to do it all with a sweet, pleasing smile. You wouldn’t want to annoy him by not having dinner ready on time, or not having your hair styled properly when he gets home, or by accidentally letting slip that you experience feelings like boredom and tiredness and frustration and sadness every once in a while. So take notes! (more…)

[Updated, maybe with slightly more collected thoughts this time.]

The Stars (Are Out Tonight), the second single from David Bowie’s upcoming record The Next Day, was released earlier this week, and it’s kind of everything. The song is beautiful, grungy and melodic, with a sweeping energy that is unmistakably Bowie. But what’s more exciting is the way it is brought to life in a strange, gorgeous and beguiling video, starring Tilda Swinton, Andrej Pejic, Saskia de Brauw, and Iselin Steiro.

It’s like a creepy little arthouse film – disturbing, sexy and utterly bizarre. Bowie and Swinton (who many have long suspected may actually be the same person) play a straight-laced, middle-aged couple living quietly in the suburbs. “We have a nice life,” Swinton says, kissing Bowie on the cheek as they do their supermarket shopping. He is starting distractedly at a magazine cover featuring an incredibly young, glamorous and decadent celebrity couple plastered on the cover. Then he tosses it aside. “We have a nice life,” he agrees firmly. (more…)

Like a House on Fire has been longlisted for the very first Stella Prize, a major new literary award for Australian women’s writing.

A man takes a trip with his overbearing, difficult mother to scatter his father’s ashes. A new mother returns to work from maternity leave, feeling dislocated and empty in a suddenly uncomfortable environment. A young girl writes in her journal about her unstable family, longing desperately for a beautiful set of 72 Derwent pencils.

Intimate and familiar, Like a House on Fire takes a close look at domestic life and the quiet frustrations that simmer beneath the ordinary. This is Cate Kennedy’s second collection of short stories, returning to the form of her highly acclaimed Dark Roots, which earned her a reputation as one of Australia’s most masterful writers of contemporary short fiction. With her characteristic lightness of touch, Kennedy guides us quietly in and out if fifteen carefully distilled worlds, letting unexpressed aches and pains reveal themselves through simple actions. (more…)