January 2021 – Recent Reads Part 6
If you’ve been a recent visitor to this column, you’ll think it’s turned into a book review site. And because I’ve been powering through the great books lately, I think I might continue as I’ve been going on. Why not? I’ve got four great nonfiction reads for you today. Something about 2020 inspired me to dive into a lot of nonfiction, and all of these are well worth picking up! Read more…
February 2021 – Recent Reads Part 7
There’s a few more book review months to come, partly because with Covid, I’ve been doing an awful lot of reading lately and so many of the books have been fab. Seems a pity not to share them with you! Today I’m going to talk about some fiction I’ve recently really enjoyed, starting with Miss Garnet’s Angel by Salley Vickers. This one was pure pleasure. I love stories about people who seize life with both hands once the world and they themselves believe that life has passed them by. Read more…
March 2021 – Recent Reads Part 8
Ah, romance! Don’t you love it? Actually if you’re here on this page, there’s a good chance that you do! Today, I’m going to talk about three romantic novels, all by beloved authors, that I’ve recently very much enjoyed and that I hope you’ll add to your TBR pile. Read more…
April 2021 – Recent Reads Part 9
I’ve got some more books that I’ve recently enjoyed to recommend to you today! This time, it’s nonfiction, two with a distinctly Russian flavor and one about our feathered friends that was just a delight. I’ll start with Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing by Anya von Bremzen. This one was sad and funny and fascinating. Until she was 10, Anya Von Bremzen lived in Soviet Moscow in a crumbling communal apartment block, where 18 families shared one kitchen. Read more…
May 2021 – Recent Reads Part 10
I’ve got three fantastic nonfiction books to talk about this month that wend their way across a wide variety of subjects. I’ll start with Gossip from the Forest: A Search for the Hidden Roots of Our Fairytales by Sara Maitland. Often when people ask me to describe my work, I say I write adult fairy tales. Which is true but I don’t think it conveys the vast affection I feel for the stories I heard as a little girl and that I have continued to explore as an adult. Read more…
June 2021 – Recent Reads Part 11
Some more nonfiction this month, three intriguing and heartfelt memoirs that I very much enjoyed and I think you will too. First up, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone (2019) by Lori Gottlieb, which is a moving, funny, and frank description of what it’s like to be a practicing psychotherapist. I’ve always found psychotherapy fascinating, the “talking cure” as Freud called it. It was wonderful to get some insight into the nuts and bolts of the process, not least how psychotherapists need to be in analysis themselves to make sure that they’re not inflicting their own problems on their patients. Read more…
July 2021 – Recent Reads Part 12
Some outstanding nonfiction for you today: two great memoirs about powerhouses in the business world and one of the best books I’ve ever read in my life, an exploration of the often forgotten role women have played in science. I’ll start with The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger (2019). The Christmas before last, a good friend gave me a full-access pass to the Masterclasses that you might have seen advertised on social media. How’s that for a wonderful present? Read more…
August 2021 – Leap to Watch Leap Year
Do you have any guilty pleasure films? Films that strike you the right way, but which generally got a panning from the critics? Films that often even your best friends don’t love the way you do? Films that you could be mean about if you wanted to be all cynical and intellectual, but that somehow bypass all your inner critic and charm you to death anyway? I’ve got more films like this on my list than I can poke a stick at! Today I’m going to talk about just such a film. I love Leap Year (2010), although it didn’t get great reviews when it came out. Read more…
September 2021 – Sunrise Time!
I’m going to do a couple of months of mini photo essays. I’ve been doing a lot of walks along the front at Pumicestone Passage at Golden Beach this month and I’ve caught some absolutely beautiful sunrises in the process. If you follow me on Facebook, you’ll already have seen most of these. But on the other hand, it’s no chore to revisit a lovely colorful sky or two! Read more…
October 2021 – Another Day! Another Set of Sunrises!
As a break from short book reviews, I’m doing a short series featuring some of the photos I’ve taken from my recent walks along the front at Golden Beach in Caloundra, not far from where I live. As you will see (and you did see if you checked out last month’s My Favorite Things column), it’s a beautiful spot. Particularly first thing in the morning when the sun comes up over the passage with Bribie Island National Park in the distance. Read more…
November 2021 – Groundhog Day
I recently re-watched one of my favorite films (re-watching is quite appropriate in this case as you’ll know if you’ve seen this clever, funny movie!). And I was still as charmed as ever! Groundhog Day came out in 1993 which is when I saw it (that makes me feel rather ancient!) at the cinema in Brisbane and found myself completely enchanted by how original this story is. If you write and if you watch a lot of movies and TV, you generally can predict where a plot is going to go. Yet I remember that I was surprised over and over, watching Groundhog Day for the first time. Read more…
December 2021 – My Life in Ruins!
A couple of months ago, I did a piece for my website on Leap Year, one of my favorite movies and a film that unfortunately isn’t a critical favorite. You can read that column here: https://annacampbell.com/my-favorite-things/2021-2/august-2021/ Today, I want to talk about another film that received a critical drubbing but which has never failed to enchant me. Leap Year only manages a measly 6.5 out of 10 on IMDB. Today’s selection is even less popular, coming in at 5.9. Read more…