Comments for city of tongues

Comment on The truth about Area 51? by James Bradley

James Bradley — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:56:19 +0000

I was just paraphrasing the article, which describes OXCART as having a “wide, disk-like fuselage”. Perhaps not quite the same as “disk shaped” but not far off, surely? Though having now looked at the WIkipedia page about the project I can see why you object to the description (as well as wondering why the journalist described something so obviously not disk shaped as disk shaped):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_A-12

Comment on The truth about Area 51? by Matt Grabon

Matt Grabon — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:43:48 +0000

Oxcart wasn’t a flying disc. It was the first spy plane to fly over the U.S.S.R.

Comment on Summer and the myths of Australiannness by Glenn

Glenn — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:58:53 +0000

Great pictures. I really enjoyed Winton’s memoir, no one writes better about the sea, but I found myself wanting more about him and his motivations, dreams, you know. I have been wanting to read the Shark Net for a while, you’ve convincd me to go and get it.

Comment on Pumped Up Kicks by Perry Middlemiss

Perry Middlemiss — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:51:20 +0000

It’s now appearing in a beer commercial, though it cuts out before bullets are mentioned.

Comment on The Hobbit by TimT

TimT — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:46:54 +0000

Hmm. I always greatly preferred The Hobbit (book) to the Lord of the Rings (book). It just seems more fresh, and fun.

I’m not sure what Jackson is going to do here – whether he just wants to provide a prequel to LOTR, or whether he wants to approach The Hobbit on its own terms. The twee introduction of the dwarfs and the campy costumes suggests the latter, though I don’t think Jackson would be able to pull that off.

The LOTR rings movies almost redeemed the books for me; it looks a bit like The Hobbit movie could ruin the book for me! (Not quite, I don’t think he could do that. But I’m just not sure why Jackson wants to repeat his success. I suspect his motives.)

Comment on Best Books 2011 by Kerryn Goldsworthy

Kerryn Goldsworthy — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:59:01 +0000

Comment on Lev Grossman’s The Magician King by Best Books 2011 | city of tongues

Best Books 2011 | city of tongues — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 08:11:24 +0000

[...] Lev Grossman’s The Magician King [...]

Comment on Best Books 2011 by Karen (miscmum)

Karen (miscmum) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 05:04:52 +0000

I agree 100% about A Monster Calls. Haunting and moving. I admit it took me a while to get into Grossman, but The Magician King won me over eventually. As for other reads, a lot of my reading has been a bit of a blur as I’ve been trying to knock over some classic novels (rediscovering Greene has been an utter delight), but The Last Werewolf stands out for me to be one of those genuine surprises that come every so often.

Comment on The Voyagers by Best Books 2011 | city of tongues

Best Books 2011 | city of tongues — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:30:43 +0000

[...] this year. The first was my partner Mardi McConnochie’s new novel, The Voyagers, a book I’ve recommended before but am happy to recommend again. The second was Lev Grossman’s brilliant sequel to The [...]

Comment on Best Books 2010 by Best Books 2011 | city of tongues

Best Books 2011 | city of tongues — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:29:51 +0000

[...] Saturday’s Weekend Australian had the first part of their Best Books feature, covering contributors from A-K, and including a list of my favourite books of the year. You can read that list there, but since it was a cut-down list I thought I might do a rather more comprehensive list here (just as I did in 2009 and 2010). [...]