• Great article Tracey. Excellent comments Ro! I still find it hard to believe that people are still making comments, holding opinions, which put the blame on the victim. Michele S...can you hear yourself? People, particularly in democratic nations outside war zones tend to assume they are safe from rape, violence and murder...anywhere! We need to get rid of this 'risk management of uncontrollable male sexual urges' philosophy! Thanks Hoopla for getting onto this one. Just goes to show how indoctrinated we are when we hear comments like Ms Williams! Wake up everyone! This is not a rehearsal! - helen b
  • Sorry, suggest, not duggest. - linda
  • " Ditch the Witch " and endless other sneering , nasty comments aimed at denigrating . We are entitled to fight back , since when did appeasing a bully ever stop them . - Carole/m
  • If I hear the expression 'playing the gender card' once more i will scream! If someone complains about racism no-one accuses them of 'playing the racism card', if someone were to accuse Israel of 'playing the anti-semitism card' journalists would be jumping down their throat. It's a loaded term: it carries with it the assumption that the point being made is no more than a cynical ploy designed to disguise ulterior motives. There is no evidence it's so, it's an assumption made by journalists whose cynicism is very selectively applied. What about the media's and the opposition's playing the 'playing the gender card' card? That's what really annoys me: every journalist who says Gillard is 'playing the gender card' is saying that that there's no genuine reason for women to resent their status in the current political climate. There clearly is. The populist appeal to misogyny that the Opposition began and have since gone along with has let a very nasty cat indeed out of the bag. They have given permission for hatred of women to be publicly expressed, misogyny has in effect been endorsed by one of our major political parties. If they had limited their criticisms to policy alone I would not have been in a position to make this claim but, since they have not, I would duggest that they have made their attitude to women, as a group, perfectly clear. If and when it suits the LNP, their gender will be used against them. - linda
  • @Over the Outrage I think that's exactly what Julia Gillard is doing . - Carole/m
  • Just to add - if Coalition did win election & if hell froze over & Barnaby was elected & became Deputy PM - he wouldn't have any time to do anything for the electorate anyway. (It would also be seen as a conflict of interest.) - JaneS
  • There are good local members (of all colours) - with the genuine interests of their electorate - and then there are party political animals - who are only there to further their political career. Isn't Barnaby only going to the Lower House because he can't be the party Leader from the Senate? The location - New England was a coincidence. Which one has the interests of the electorate? Nationals dislike Tony Windsor with a passion - and some aren't too fussed about Barnaby. It's a win-win for them. - JaneS
  • @ MicheleS: "I’m not a Williams fan, but I’m with her on this one." So you agree that the rapists were harshly treated: “Do you think it was fair, what they got? They did something stupid" Yes, maybe you're right Michele, maybe we need to change the definition of rape. It's only "rape" if the woman is conscious. If she's unconscious, then it's just "something stupid". So, in future when I go to a party with my footy mates, we can look around for chicks flaked out on the couch, and if we find one, we can rip her clothes off and do "something stupid" to her. Or is it only if she's flaked out the carpet...? You'll have to clarify that in the law too. And chicks flaked out in bedrooms, you'll have to clarify that for us too. We wouldn't want to be accused of "rape". - Tony W
  • You will never look back...stay strong...I wish you well... - Linda
  • Yep , I read that Anna , 62% Turnbull , 32% Abbott . No story here.!!!!!!!!! You might have also noticed that Judy Moylan and one other ( can't remember his name ) Member from the Opposition Benches are resigning before the next election . Now I'm sure I remember when two members of the Labor Government ( Nicola Roxon and ?? ) announced that they would retire before the next election and at the same time the PM announced the election date , all hell broke loose and News Ltd papers screamed that the Gov. was in chaos and falling apart. BUT LNP Members resigning --- NOT A BLIP. - Carole/m
 
Categories:  Books, Entertainment, The Book Shelf

THE HOOPLA LITERARY SOCIETY

“I am a paper freak. It’s a physical passion, I cannot live without paper. Touching perfect paper has something sensuous about it.” Karl Lagerfield

 

I never thought I’d open a Literary Society column with a quote by Karl Lagerfield, but then again, I never dreamed anyone would invent a perfume called Paper Passion.

Shows you what I know. Many would agree with Lagerfield when he says, “the smell of a freshly printed book is the best smell in the world” but who would have thought that comment would inspire a collaboration between bespoke publishing house Gerhard Steidl and master perfumer Geza Schoen.

Originally commissioned for the Wallpaper* magazine Handmade exhibition in Milan, the idea was that Paper Passion should be a perfume that emulates the relaxed meditative state of concentration that reading a book does.

According to the Gerhard Steidl website, “wearing the scent of a book is chic”- mmm, not so sure about that. In case you’re curious, the perfume’s packaging is an actual book, you can read texts from Günter Grass, Tony Chambers and Karl Lagerfeld.

 

ARCHIPELAGO, MONIQUE ROFFEY

“The Galapagos. That’s where I want to sail. World’s End, some call it, or ‘the enchanted islands’. Even Melville himself visited them. I’ve wanted to visit these islands since I was a boy. Clive and I discussed them all the time, where would we go, if we took this old boat and roamed? I want to go there, to the end of the earth. To an island in the centre of the Sea of Peace, an island called Indefatigable.”

Gavin Weald is the CEO of a mid-sized company. He has a six-year-old daughter, Océan, an old dog called Suzy and a wife Claire “waterlogged with grief” after floods washed away their baby son, their house and their marriage. Unable to face returning to work and with Claire plunged into deep depression and currently residing with his prickly mother-in-law Jackie, Gavin picks up Océan and Suzy and runs away. It’s easy to do when you own an old Great Dane sailing boat and are able to island hop across the Carribean as if you were still 20-something. But Gavin is no longer a young man and there’s no guarantee that running away will help Océan overcome her post traumatic stress or his fear that Claire will never wake up and be her old self again.

Author Monique Roffey is a native Trinidadian and the flood that washed away fictional Gavin Weald’s house finds its genesis in the real life floods that washed away Roffey’s brother’s house in 2008. It became the inspiration for this tale of finding peace, renewal and connection through journey. That Roffey travelled from Trinidad to the Galapagos island of Indefatigable in order to research the novel (what a sacrifice!) shows in the clever detail and beautiful imagery.

For instance, Roffey repeats the image of pink houses. Weald paints their home pink to please Océan, and then again when the house is rebuilt after the flood. As they travel from island to island, they find other pink houses, each empty, lonely and in the case of the slave huts of Bonaire, full of grief. It’s just one example of how evocative and lush Roffey’ writing is- just like the West Indian setting of her story. Archipelago is a book of many delights. BUY THIS BOOK

 

END OF THE TIMES

No-one was fooled that the changes at Fairfax Media were ever going to be anything but bad news for any sections that weren’t The News. So, it is no real surprise that The Canberra Times is losing its locally employed literary staff and will now source its content from Melbourne and Sydney.

This is the kind of news that sends chills down the spines of publishing types because they need literary pages like (ahem!) The Hoopla Literary Society to review, interview and generally celebrate matters bookish. Losing one voice may not in itself be the end of the world but should losing one voice become a lost chorus then it will be a dire situation indeed. Particularly concerned are those who write and publish genre fiction, such as Sci Fi or Fantasy because they already receive scant attention.

It makes me wonder what changes we can expect in other Fairfax papers and whether we can expect less books reviewed and fewer people in the familiar literary pages. Have any of you noticed any content changes in your Spectrum or Turning Pages? Is The Canberra Times just the thin edge of the wedge?

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3 Responses to this article

  1. Loz July 21, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I completely agree with Karl. There is nothing like the smell and feel of a new book. Something that the new crop of ebooks cannot replicate.
    But I would go further and say that I even love exploring second hand bookstores. Different smell and feel altogether. Dusty, musty, yellowing pages and strangely comforting. New or used, they both have a place for me so it may be a while before I invest in a Kindle.

     
  2. Lisa Aherne July 21, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I look forward to Fridays Hoopla with Meredith’s literary society offerings. Notes are made for titles to add to my TBR list. There is plenty of space for both paper and e-books, I am a hoarder of the written word in either format. Bookshops are well supported, but sometimes the portability of my kindle wins the day. Now to get back to my book……

     
  3. Deborah August 1, 2012 Reply
     
     

    I always get a bit turned on when i go into a library – have done since I was a child. I just love the idea that the whole place is full of books and I can take ANY of them home with me.
    Mind you, I’m getting to like my ipad more and more. But nothing beats the smell of a new book.

     

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  • helen b: Great article Tracey. Excellent comments Ro! I still find it hard to believe that people are still making comments, ho...

  • linda: Sorry, suggest, not duggest.

  • Carole/m: " Ditch the Witch " and endless other sneering , nasty comments aimed at denigrating . We are entitled to fight back , ...

  • linda: If I hear the expression 'playing the gender card' once more i will scream! If someone complains about racism no-one ...

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