Literary Brooding

The Inaugural Meeting of the Fairvale Ladies Book Club by Sophie Green Kindle Edition, 384 pages, Published August 8th 2017 by Hachette Australia Five women each in their own way are isolated are invited by Sybil to join the Fairvale Ladies Book Club. Fairvale is sprawling property in the Northern Territory that closes down over the wet season and waits for the dry season to run the steers and make ends meet. Sybil who is the matriarch of the Baxter family, that runs Fairvale, is facing upheaval in her life. One of her sons Lachlan has turned his back on the family and the other Ben has recently returned from overseas with a new British wife Kate who is struggling to adapt. Rita is Sybil's life long friend who works as at Nurse at the Flying Doctors. Sallyanne is married to an alcoholic husband and is struggling to raise three children. Della is from Texas, who is trying leave the shackles of a restrictive family and make it on her own. All of them find themselves in the N...

Haxby's Circus by Katharine Susannah Prichard Paperback, 288 pages, Published August 1st 2013 by HarperCollins - AU (first published 1930) " You play with an idea. Then it hypnotises you. The comedy becomes tragedy ." This is a corker of a novel and captures the difficulties for women involved in a travelling family circus troupe. The head of the family Dan Haxby is a showman through and through and nothing is more important than putting on the show. When we first meet the family times are tough but they are making a living and doing what they love. Gina Haxby is a hard worker out of the ring, making sure animals are fed, costumes are ready and then she performs the most difficult of tricks on the back of a horse in the ring. She is vivacious and is able to see the soul of a person not their physical appearance. Rocca the show's clown dwarf becomes fast friends with Gina. It is he who can see her intelligence and that she is more than just a performer. He als...

Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell Hardcover, 309 pages, Published November 18th 2008 by Little, Brown and Company (first published 2008) There is no doubt that Malcolm Gladwell has a curious and exploratory mind. He delves into the mystery of how and why people seemingly become an ‘overnight’ success. Gladwell unpacks how several people and groups obtained success looking at the common denominators and the circumstances that led up to how they developed into an ‘instant’ success.  It is interesting read and in a way states the bleeding obvious. That practice, practice and more practice, sprinkled with opportunity and support will help develop success. It is that simple, the theory that is being presented. As I read the book and case study after case study was used to demonstrate Gladwell’s theory and at one stage I wanted to say stop. I get it, no one is an overnight success and you have made that clear. I am not sure I needed another 200 odd pages to keep making that point even c...