Now is the Time to Open Your Heart by Alice Walker

Alice Walker is probably best known for her novel The Color Purple which won the Pulitzer Prize for 1983. Now is the Time to Open Your Heart was first published in 2004 and dwells on themes of ageing, spiritual enlightenment and the impact of the modern life on the human spirit. The novel follows the …

Australian Women’s History – Memoirs of Tilly Aston

Although we have not seen a million things we understand quite well, we have seen something else with which we can compare new impressions; something which makes it possible for us to SEE, perhaps more vividly than many unseeing sighted people, the gifts of beauty or grandeur strewn around us. Tilly Aston If you are …

The Gift of Pain

Usually when we think of a gift, we think of something pleasant, like a bunch of flowers, a box of chocolates or a book voucher. I doubt that any one of us would consider pain to be a gift. The niggling pain in the middle of my back can be annoying sometimes. The blinding pain …

#BookSnapSunday – Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence

I am finally picking up the series I started a few weeks ago about Australian Women’s History. March was dedicated to the contribution and experiences of women throughout history.  Generally the history of women has been ignored and neglected, so Women’s History Month is a chance to set the record straight. Of course, it has …

Australian Women’s History – Come In Spinner

Today’s belated Book Snap is also celebrating International Women’s Day and introducing Women’s History Month. International Women’s Day is celebrated every year on March 8th and this year’s theme is Choose to Challenge. It is an encouragement to call out and challenge gender bias and inequality as well as draw attention to the achievements of …

World Wildlife Day

It’s surely our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth. David Attenborough World Wildlife Day is a celebration of the incredible diversity evident in our world’s plant and animal life and the theme for this year is …

The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga

In any jungle, what is the rarest of animals - the creature that comes along only once in a generation? I thought about it and said: The white tiger. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga was first published in 2008 and won the Man Booker Prize for that year. Narrated by Balram, it is funny …

#BookSnapSunday – Lady Audley’s Secret

Love, which is a madness, and a scourge, and a fever, and a delusion, and a snare, is also a mystery, and very imperfectly understood by every one except the individual sufferer who writhes under its tortures. Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon is the perfect book for Valentine’s Day - love, deception, conspiracy, …

Women and Girls in Science

Today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Over the last couple of decades there has been a dedicated push to encourage more women and girls to study science, and yet science still remains a male dominated field. Less than 30% of researchers are women and only 30% of girls choose to …

#BookSnapSunday – The Elegance of the Hedgehog

When something is bothering me, I seek refuge. No need to travel far; a trip to the realm of literary memory will suffice. For where can one find more noble distraction, more entertaining company, more delightful enchantment than in literature?  If you like a fast-paced, action-packed plot, then this book is probably not for you. …