James

While very short at 69 pages. I found Audre Lorde's Cancer Journals provided a deep and insightful look at what it means to battle and overcome (at least for a while) cancer. Written through the lens of a Black Lesbian mother in the late 1970s. Lorde shares her thoughts, in part via her journal entries and in part via essay.

I came across an interview with Harold Bloom, made at the time he published "How to Read and Why" - I liked what he had to say and thought his book might prove to be the catalyst I needed to make a more serious study of literature. The book promises to help the student commence this journey. I half expected to abandon it as I'm won't to do with 'serious books' especially when on 'dry subjects' - however, this proved to be false on both counts. I think the greatest lesson is that good literature teaches you how to read good literature and the why is to gain a better understanding of ourselves. It gives us an opportunity to view life through a different lens and just maybe pop some world view bubbles. Hopefully, this does prove to be as helpful as it seems.

A monolithic text on libertarian-ism written as a dystopian novel set in the 1950s. It's written from an idealist perspective where the author sets up her characters to be able to live by these ideals in a very black and white way. Personally, I think life is far more grey-scale than this and she fails to explain how such a society cares for those who cannot care for themselves. On the positive side she does raise some interesting points and does succeed in describing how corruption and social welfare idealism can be counter productive. I think the book would have been significantly more meaningful if it was less long winded.

I've been a fan of Charles de Lint for many years and he has not failed me. “Under My Skin” is an engaging, easy to read story. His unique fusion of shamanistic mythology and the contemporary urbane doesn't seem to grow old. He extrapolates into new intriguing areas drawing the reader into the adventure.

The story is creative and very easy to read. and it will be very interesting to see how the author matures into this series. Like fine whiskey and good wine, I believe writers only get better over time - which means exciting times ahead.

This is M.L.Lockwood's first book. It is self published and perhaps self edited. So minor editing errors are forgivable.

An excellent essay on the failure of Neoliberalism in Australia. My question is: Is it dead though? Events that occured since the essay was published seem to indicate that the Neoliberals still think they are in charged. Hopefully the next election proves them wrong. In my imagining, the collapse of this ideology can only lead to good things.

The essay is completed by a series of responses to a previous essay (Quarterly Essay 69 - Moment of Truth) by Mark McKenna - which I have yet to read/listen to. This explores the history and current discussions about Recognition and Reconcilliation for First Nations of Australia and includes a call to embrace the Ullaru Statement of May 2017 and fold this into our Constitution.

I found both the primary essay and the responces to McKenna's essay interesting and enlightening contain much food for thought. How do we want the future of Australia to look?

A highly relevant story, despite its age. An excellent read.

A highly relevant story, despite its age, about the dangers of technocracy. An excellent read. I don't want to give any spoilers, so I won't go into details but it does highlight the deviousness of humans even in an environment of total control.

A good study on habits for helping focus. It gets a tad repetitive in places and much of the suggestions are well known - however, it's strong point is in collating these things and evaluating what works - at least for the author. I feel like I did get a lot from it and look forward to applying the principles to my life.