my favourite books of 2022

Hello friends, happy new year! How have you been?

First cab off the rank is my usual reading highlights post. It amused me how many “best books I read in 2022” articles and posts I started seeing appear in the lead up to Christmas because I nearly always end up reading one of my favourite books of the year between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

2022 was no exception! It turned out my favourite book of the year was waiting wrapped under the Christmas tree, which I read in a handful of sittings on Boxing Day afternoon. It was one of the most transcendent and important reading experiences of my year.

My favourite book of the year

Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here (2022) by Heather Rose

Long time readers of my ramblings will know that I would buy a book about paint drying if Heather Rose wrote it - I have never been disappointed by her writing and this long-awaited memoir was no exception. I had no idea how autobiographical her first novel, White Heart, actually was.

Reading Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here was a joy - I had forgotten that delicious, expansive feeling of finishing an entire book in a mere handful of sittings over a day or, in my case, one afternoon! It was glorious. Moving, insightful, tender, inspiring. In many ways, it was the perfect book to end 2022 - a very strange and at times incredibly painful year. Nothing Bad Ever Happens Here is about all the interwoven threads of our lives, how an idyllic childhood can be shattered in moments, and where the search for meaning, love, connection and wholeness can take you. How even suffering, unimaginable grief, might have a deeper meaning and push us in the direction our lives were always intended for:

Every human life is perfect in its own way. We cannot understand that, because it seems like there is so much suffering. But maybe every life is perfect for we need to know and learn and see and understand. Even when we don't understand, even when the suffering seems unfathomable, does some part of us understand? Could that really be true, I wondered?

Nothing bad ever happens here...

My body was shaking violently now. I held onto the rock beneath me as if I was clinging to life itself. Maybe I was. I clung to this life, my life, with all its imperfections and mistakes, with all its joy. I didn't want to go anywhere.

The key message for me was that choosing joy is an act of courage, especially in the face of trauma, grief and endless knocks to one’s spirit. Joy and pain can co-exist, as can light and dark, as can mystery and knowledge. This book has encouraged me, going into 2023, to seek joy as much as possible, to deliberately cultivate it. It was also a timely reminder, as I’m staring down the last 18 months of my PhD, that the work I am doing, that I’ve been called to do, will take everything I have.

I loved it.

And now, for the honourable mentions:

A fabulous collection of inter-connected short stories that read more like a novel, and set in Tassie

Smokehouse (2021) by Melissa Manning

Two excellent books on the craft of writing, especially within the Australian context

The Writer Laid Bare (2022) by Lee Kofman

Reading Like an Australian Writer (2021) edited by Belinda Castles

Two books that cemented my decision to continue my social media hiatus for the foreseeable future

Break the Internet: In Pursuit of Influence (2022) by Olivia Yallop

Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention (2022) by Johann Hari

A moving and evocative poetry collection that I adored and savoured

Ledger (2021) by Jane Hirshfield

A stunning, no-detail-spared biography that expanded my world considerably

My Tongue is My Own: A Life of Gwen Harwood (2022) by Ann-Marie Priest - see my review for TEXT here

A book that reignited my passion for and interest in a writer who has influenced and intrigued me for decades

Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz: The Rebellion of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton (2022) by Gail Crowther

A book I read out of sheer curiosity that was astonishing, daring and brilliant

Nightbitch (2021) by Rachel Yoder

A book of essays that was so clever, inventive and insightful it made me want to rewrite everything I’ve ever published

Blueberries (2020) by Ellena Savage

Cookbooks I did not just devour the words of but actually cooked a lot from

One Pot: Three Ways (2021) by Rachel Ama

Unbelievably Vegan (2022) by Charity Morgan

Tenderheart (2022) by Hetty Lui McKinnon

A cookbook I have not yet cooked from but that was so beautifully written I read it twice

The Year of Miracles (2022) by Ella Risbridger

So there you have it, another year’s reading done and dusted. I’ve been writing about my favourite books for ten years now! Here are my favourites from 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013

What were your favourites from last year? Do tell me!

Please note: this blog post has affiliate links with retailers such as Booktopia which means I may receive a commission for a sale that I refer, at no extra cost to you.

review in TEXT: My Tongue is My Own, a life of Gwen Harwood by Ann-Marie Priest

I was very honoured to review Ann-Marie Priest’s wonderful book My Tongue is My Own: A Life of Gwen Harwood for TEXT Journal of Writing and Writing Courses last month. It’s published now and you can read it here.

It took me some time to read and digest this incredible, meticulously researched and detailed biography of one of Australia’s most significant poets of the last century. There seemed a lighthearted wink from Gwen Harwood (and perhaps Ann-Marie Priest too), towards the end, where Priest recounts the poet declaring her hatred for writing reviews: “It seems insulting to praise or dismiss in a few pages work that has taken years to write” (p.313) which sums up my thoughts exactly. For a while I wasn’t sure how I was ever going to do justice to this very accomplished biography! As a result, my review could not be described as succinct but I wanted to give this book the time and attention it deserved, as its author does to her subject.

As a Tasmanian, this book was particularly enjoyable as there are so many familiar names and sites. Gwen Harwood’s Hobart of the 1950s and 1960s was also the Hobart my own parents grew up in. While I was reading it, I asked my father if his parents, who were very much part of the town’s artsy set (his words) at the time, had known the Harwoods. He couldn’t recall, but when I mentioned James McCauley, a close friend of both Bill and Gwen Harwood who is mentioned often in the book, his eyes lit up.

“I bought a car off his widow in 1977,” he said. “Mrs McCauley on Sandy Bay Road. A grey Holden FD. Nice little car.”

I also asked a friend of mine, a writer who lives in New Zealand now but who was raised in Hobart, if she had known Gwen Harwood too. It seemed likely, as she was a budding poet in the early 1990s. She smiled and told me about a workshop Gwen gave at Elizabeth College when she was doing her HSC.

“She read my poem aloud to the group and said she liked the imagery. I then started writing to her. I still remember her address.” Her memories were that Gwen was more than willing to make time for anyone who showed an inclination for writing, which Ann-Marie Priest also mentions. I include these two anecdotes here to illustrate my great amusement at the inter-connectedness of life in Hobart which is still very much a thing - you might not know the individual personally, but you’ll only ever be a few degrees of separation away :)

Thank you again TEXT for asking me to review this amazing book, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in poetry, feminism, twentieth-century Australia, or all three!

Please note: this blog post has affiliate links with retailers such as Booktopia which means I may receive a commission for a sale that I refer, at no extra cost to you.

this week

Spring has come to Battery Point…

Another week has passed, a week in which I was braced for turbulence that never eventuated. Today I feel oddly fragile, like a bird with a sore wing. Nothing’s broken, maybe I’ve just flown into a window.

I’m writing this with the front door open (even though it’s cloudy in Hobart today it’s still warm) and a steaming cup of Bengal Spice tea on my desk, the smell of jasmine, lilac and wattle in the air, and the crow of the neighbourhood rooster echoing in the street.

Getting grounded, taking a moment to be here, now, in the moment - it always helps.

Favourite experience/s of the week

Lots of little moments of joy. Finishing a journal and starting a new one. A beautiful card and letter from a friend on the mainland. Two lovely morning runs with the smell of crushed gumnuts underfoot, a clear view of the mountain, a still river and wallabies watching me from the long grass. Another friend’s new book arriving, lying in bed with it, turning pages until well after midnight.

Reading

My friend Holly’s new book The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding - I’m trying my best to savour it and not succeeding, she’s written another page turner! I’ll say more once I’ve finished it but needless to say it’s sumptuous, sensory and poignant writing, as always, and I’m enjoying it very much.

My Tongue is My Own: A Life of Gwen Harwood by Ann-Marie Priest - I’m reading this to review for an academic journal and absolutely loving it. Thoroughly researched, lively and utterly riveting, I’m loving getting to know Gwen Harwood and the fascinating life she lived. Any good biography of a poet should send the engaged reader straight to the work and that’s exactly what this book has done for me - I’m now reading Harwood’s poetry alongside the biography, which is proving to be a fun, if slightly mind bending, experience!

Everything Feels Like The End of the World by Else Fitzgerald - I’ve started dipping into this short story collection which is described as “short speculative fiction exploring possible futures in an Australia not so different to our present day to one thousands of years into an unrecognisable future.” Certainly what I’ve read so far has felt very prescient! Full of fiery, flooding imagery, cities becoming unliveable. As I dipped into this earlier in the week we were told to brace ourselves for severe weather which ended up not reaching us down here…yet. Towns on the mainland already torn apart by flooding needing to prepare for more, and worse. So reading Fitzgerald’s stories felt odd alongside this, and everything else that has happened - it’s speculative but also very, very real. In many ways it almost reads like nostalgia for the world we live in now, because on some level we know it’s already been lost. Lots to ponder here.

GQ Magazine: 14 hours in the queue to see Queen Elizabeth’s coffin by Laurie Penny - would I have queued to see the Queen lying in state if I still lived in London? I really didn’t know, especially after reading this!

Paul Graham: Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule - an article from 2009 but still deeply relevant and relatable. It made me feel very seen. A must read for creatives!

Listening to

We Can Do Hard Things with Glenn Doyle: Hannah Gadsby, How to Communicate Better - always a pleasure to listen to Hannah who, as the whole world knows, is a very funny and deeply intelligent person.

How to Fail: Melanie Chisholm on mental health, self-worth and the Spice Girls - loved this revealing, tender and lively interview with Melanie, who comes across as someone very grounded and self-aware. I related to so much of what she had to say. Highly recommended!

Doing it Right with Pandora Sykes: a new to me podcast which I’m impressed with so far - her conversation with environmentalist and slow fashion advocate Venetia La Manna (one of my favourite Youtubers) was fantastic. Two articulate, passionate and well-informed women having an important conversation - it ticked all my boxes!

I’ve had Beethoven’s Pastoral symphony (his 6th symphony) playing while writing and working this week - in My Tongue is My Own, there is a lovely description of new mother Gwen in 1946 bringing her baby home from the hospital, back to their Fern Tree cottage, on the road to Hobart’s mountain kunanyi/Mt Wellington. She and her husband had just got a radio and Beethoven’s Pastoral was what came on as Gwen walked out on to the balcony, baby in her arms, as the snow began to fall. '“It was too much: that marvellous Movement…the snow falling, the great tall gum trees and to hold my own child. Every time I hear that great flowing theme, I am back there with the child, in the snow.” (88).

Eating

My favourite spinach, risoni and lemon soup - with loads of dill! Absolutely delicious as always.

Our favourite brunch, the Full Vegan, was enjoyed after a big 10km walk on the weekend. I haven’t seen our favourite sausages in the shops for a while but we make do with the hash browns, avocado, mushrooms and beans!

We had a Sunday roast with some wellingtons I’d made from the vegan sausage roll mixture and frozen the weekend before. After a bedtime flick through Nigel Slater’s Kitchen Diaries, I was craving roast potatoes, crispy and golden, their edges made translucent with (vegan) butter. Utterly delicious!

We also had the usual tofu noodle stir fry, dhal from the freezer, and more mind-blowing nachos which are such a treat. I also made a broccoli pasta with miso, vegan cream and capers which was quite sensational.

Watching

We finished The Newsreader on ABC iview which was absolutely wonderful - I cannot recommend it more highly. Smart writing, great acting and an utterly compelling story. If you loved Morning Wars (The Morning Show), I think this is even better.

I caught up with a few of my favourite Youtubers while also catching up on my sewing - I’m making a gift for a friend who I’m going to see in a few weeks so wanted to get that almost finished. I really enjoy sewing while catching up with Katie, Miranda, Venetia, Helen and Phoebe. In Katie’s case, I do know her - we met at an Arvon Foundation event well over ten years ago now and stayed in intermittent touch for a few years. I didn’t realise she had a Youtube channel, and so watching a few episodes on her channel I felt like I’d spent the afternoon sewing and catching up with an old friend, which was really nice! Who are your favourites? Anyone I should be checking out?

Grateful for

Tom. Every time I am lost, he is the map that helps me get home.

Quote of the week

Not attributed to anyone in particular, just something I wrote in the last pages of the journal book I’ve just finished that felt pertinent this week. I think I read somewhere that everything that happens to you, you have a choice - whether you let it open you up, or close you down. This is my reminder to stay open. May it be yours too, if you need it.

Be open, not closed.

If you’d like to share your thoughts on this post, or anything else, with me, please do! Have a happy weekend and I’ll see you next week xx