All The Books I Read In May

“Do you remember when Despereaux was in the dungeon, cupped in Gregory the jailer’s hand, whispering a story in the old man’s ear? I would like it very much if you thought of me as a mouse telling you a story, this story, with the whole of my heart, whispering it in your ear in order to save myself from the darkness and to save you from the darkness too. “Stories are light,” Gregory the jailer told Despereaux. Reader, I hope you have found some light here.” – The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo.

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I haven’t been doing the greatest job at keeping you all advised of my London adventures lately, and in truth that’s because the last month has consisted of me finding work, a place to live and finally an Odeon Limitless card which means I can watch movies again, so I’ve been a little distracted. That said, a new job meant a new commute, giving me roughly twelve hours of reading a week and the following is the result of that.

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There but for the, by Ali Smith

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“And they all lived happily ever after, until they died.”

Serendipity hits when you least expect. A few weeks ago I was exhausted by #filmtwitter, over movies and decided to head to the Greenwich Waterstones to buy something from the 1001 Books list instead. Since I’ve decided to read backward chronologically (because Ovid is exhausting), Ali Smith was next, and coincidentally, had set There But For The in Greenwich, London.

Among mentions of the Greenwich foot tunnel (feature of my midday commutes to Waitrose for lemon icy poles), the observatory – where I spent my very first day in London after realising it was minutes walk from my cousin’s house, and the DLR, a form of public transport niche to only East Londoners – Ali Smith’s There But For The is a satirical examination of the impact we have in those moments where our lives Venn Diagram with another person’s.

A tale told in four parts, the novel centres around a dinner party where attendee Miles decides to close himself in the upstairs bedroom of his hosts for several months. Each section then tells the story of someone who intersects and overlaps with Miles somehow – a reminder that we leave a little of ourselves in each of our acquaintances’ stories.

At first, I worried that Smith would fall into a trap I’ve noticed among 00’s authors, that the text would be too introspective, too critical and too pessimistic, but the stories – especially “for” and “the” were surprisingly uplifting. The font is relatively large, and this in addition to the absorbing and well-connected stories made for a quick and entertaining read, very likely the reason for my following binge-reader status this month.

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A Visit From The Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan

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“I’m always happy,” Sasha said. “Sometimes I just forget.”

 Another novel about the cross-sections between people’s lives and relationships, Egan’s A Visit From The Goon Squad is darker and messier than There but for the. Goon Squad is about time and history and reminds us that each of us is the sum of our experiences and relationships. For better or for worse.

Centering on Bennie Salazar, an ageing former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs, A Visit From The Goon Squad never allows it’s main characters to share their histories with each other while baring all to the reader. Each chapter follows a peripheral character’s story. With no formal introduction to the character, the reader is left to piece together their position in the constellation of Bennie and Sasha.

I adored this novel. While There but for the seemed to drag in places, Egan’s tiny snippet style chapters were more welcome for my distracted brain. A master of imbibing strong personality in limited text, a skill only possible from an authentically empathic writer. While many of the stories dealt with unhappy themes, fear was never a central theme, instead, every character felt hopeful and ambitious about their future – preventing this novel from falling into the aforementioned critically pessimistic introspection trap.

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The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes

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“This was another of our fears: that Life wouldn’t turn out to be like Literature.”

For the life of me, I cannot get the name of this book to stick in my brain, despite really enjoying it. I’m not sure if I’ve reached my threshold for book titles – if so I’ll be very sad – but regardless of why, since this book is entirely about the bias of memory and its inadequacies, it seems almost ironic that this is the first book in a long time that I just cannot recall the title of.

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“How often do we tell our own life story? How often do we adjust, embellish, make sly cuts? And the longer life goes on, the fewer are those around to challenge our account, to remind us that our life is not our life, merely the story we have told about our life. Told to others, but – mainly – to ourselves.”

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Barnes’ The Sense of An Ending is not about a variety of characters, instead, it’s mostly about Tony and is very introspective and indulgent, but I didn’t hate it. I love a good twist, and this book has several, including a good ending that punches you in the gut and reminds you how biased your own memory can be in order to protect you.

There’s also a film adaptation of The Sense of An Ending starring Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling.

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The Tale of Despereaux, by Kate DiCamillo

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“Stories are light. Light is precious in a world so dark.”

Have we acknowledged the problematic basis of mice being good but rats being bad? The racial implications of that distinction? That thought was relatively distracting while reading this kid’s book. That and the parallels between this novel and Jordan Peele’s Us from earlier this year (if you know, you know).

Despereaux is one of those children’s books that seems much more profound through its quotes taken out of context but isn’t a bad book generally. Concessions, as always, have to be taken for my “not actually a child anymore” status, but I also read at least one of these books a month, so if any adult were close enough (and let’s face it, immature enough) to make a fair assessment, it’s probably me, and The Tale of Despereaux is sweet. Even if it does encourage what is potentially racial stereotyping to nine-year-olds.

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What did you read this month? This is a big reading month for me and I have plans to continue, but since I just moved and my commute has been halved, we’ll have to see about that…

xoxo,
Casey

 

#the1001project – On Anxiety & Falling for Sydney on Day 1

The 1001 Project is my ongoing venture to finish items from various 1001 Before You Die lists. For other blog posts you can click here, or for a better description you can click here.

First: A Prelude to Adventure

I used to love airports. There’s a great sense of anticipation, waiting in an airport, either knowing where you’re going, or not having a plan but considering your options, knowing there’s somewhere new or exciting just hours away, and you can go anywhere you want to if you set your mind to it. I was always someone who arrived at airports hours early to soak up the anticipation of a holiday or the buzz of adventure. I’ve travelled solo enough times to be completely comfortable waiting for a journey alone in a room packed with people coming and going, and never had I found anything to be anxious about with travel.

Until three years ago.

Four years ago I was experiencing anxiety in its most desperate and nervous state. It’s not the time to explain why, although it’s never really the time to explain why, but all roads lead somewhere and mine resulted in abandoning my sister on a flight to my grandmother’s funeral in 2013 because I was overwhelmed and claustrophobic. Until May 2016, I hadn’t flown in three years.

I wasn’t anxious about the funeral, I had never been claustrophobic before and with parents who lived on opposite sides of the country to each other, I was a perfectly seasoned traveller – I’d been flying alone with my sister since the age of six. But anxiety is anxiety and it manifested itself as a panic attack during boarding where I left my – granted, she is as well, or perhaps more well travelled – teenage sister to go on alone.

The process of overcoming these problems has taken years, but step by step and slowly but surely, the unconscious side-effects of this situation have been dealt with in time, until the final and most difficult was set for last – flying for fun. But as of December 2016, I can finally say that, with the aid of one or more anti-anxiety tools for backup, I can fly again.

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Therefore: Sydney

I had a blast.

Have you ever been to a new city before and straight away just “yep, this is my vibe” and all of a sudden things fall into place and you know you’re somewhere that’s for you. That was Sydney. Now, I will always love Perth and as I’ve said countless times before, I will always return to the SWAFR, it’s my home. But Sydney was just perfect. Maybe only needing to survive two days was the key, but I have a sneaking suspicion that that’s not it.

Sydney is also the second best Australian locality for #the1001project so here’s a run-down of my 56 hours of constant adventure.

Day One: ANZACs, Heights & So Much Walking

The first key to travel is understanding timezones, and though I crossed state lines five times in ten days during my holiday, I’m happy to report that I avoided jet lag completely. That first day though, waking up at 4:30am “my” time was not easy.

Day One started with an early train to Hyde Park. Now I had travelled to Sydney once before, as a beret-wearing, book-loving thirteen year old – there are no photos of this phase, thankfully – and I have specific memories of grumpily heading to Hyde Park with my parents and my copy of the Goblet Of Fire in tow. In some ways my travel habits have not changed – if where we’re going is of no concern to the 1001 Project and does not have a museum of natural history or a petting zoo, then please leave me in my hotel room so I can read and watch Gilmore Girls. More importantly though, in many ways it has changed, and Hyde Park was the first tangible proof that I was no longer that inside kid.

While the Park itself is not on any of the relevant lists, there are two nearby attractions which are: The ANZAC War Memorial & The Hyde Park Barracks. Side note, there is also a museum of natural history, but unfortunately I didn’t have the time.

The photo above is a relatively terrible representation of the War Memorial, but a cute photo of me, and though the fellow I asked to be my Instagram husband for the moment had “just returned from an overseas trip where he became adept at portrait  photography” he did a remarkably poor job with a real photo – it’s in portrait orientation and anyone who follows me on Instagram knows that isn’t how I roll so this’ll do for now.

The ANZAC Memorial however, is fantastic. I’ll soon post a YouTube video of the days I spent in Sydney and if you haven’t been to the ANZAC Memorial in Sydney, please consider watching it because the artistic symbolism throughout the monument is wonderful, and it’s too difficult to portray in either text or photography. One item of particular note however, is the incorporation of nurses into the list of commemorated casualties of the collective war effort. They are memorialised among the important groups which also include the army, air force and navy leaders. To me this gesture to the underrepresented women, over 2000 of whom served overseas during the Great War is significant and in my experience, one of a kind.

As an Australian, the ANZACs are kinda like our gladiators. Not in a glorified or overall sense, but we each have connections to a family member who was involved in World War I, and though far from exalting war in its many forms, the commemoration of the ANZACs is fuelled by a certain sense of pride and respect. Seeing this memorial for all of the soldiers and nurses who lost their lives was a sobering and pensive experience, which I’m glad I was able to experience in the relative silence and contemplation of the memorial.

As of December 2016, the ANZAC War Memorial is actually receiving an upgrade. Though the initial building commemorates all 120,000 casualties from New South Wales, these men and women are represented by stars on the roof of the building. The upgrade will instead present soil samples from each suburb as a token of memory. In addition it will also expand the memorial and incorporate rooms with an emphasis on education and support.

Please click here for more information or donations!

Stop number two for the day was the Hyde Park Barracks, and where the Memorial made me pensive and reflective of our past, the memory of Australia being formed by convicts has always been humorous to me. I think there’s something telling in the fact that our entire society was based on a group of people who stole bread or killed people, and I’m not sure exactly what it is, but it’s definitely great that we are all related to people who were the scum of England.

It’s really hard to take something seriously when you know there were probably people who were stuck there because they stole an apple, and your mum always taught you that eating grapes while you’re in Coles is fine.

To be honest, after the ANZAC War Memorial, the Hyde Park Barracks was a little less special. I’ve grown up with Fremantle Prison, so the Barracks seemed too similar to be particularly interesting, and it’s difficult to discuss properly an experience that isn’t new or educational. The stand-out parts of the exhibition were comedic ones, which I vlogged about and you can see in the video part of this blog post.

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As for the rest of this blog post, I have suddenly discovered that while exhaustive and detailed, 1300 words is entirely ridiculous, so I am going to split the rest of the information in further blog posts – including the much more interesting topics of the Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge and of course the Hunger Games exhibit, but honestly, that’s just good writing, making you come back a second time…

x Casey

Top Travel: Western Australia

This list and any other Top Travel lists are in conjunction with my side venture The 1001 Project and are not only ongoing, but extensive. This page will be continuously updated as I visit more of the top travel destinations in WA.

Bluff Knoll
Mt Barker, Western Australia
1001 Natural Wonders & 1001 Walks

With stunning 360 degree views of the Stirling Ranges from its summit, Bluff Knoll is the highest peak within the Southwestern Australian Floristic Region. During the months of August to October, thousands of wildflowers in bloom make this the leading destination for botany enthusiasts and adventurers alike.

With a vertical height of 1095m, the third tallest mountain in Western Australia, the 3.1km return trip with a hiking classification of 4 (moderately difficult), requires approximately 3 to 4 hours return, but experienced hikers or fitness freaks can complete the trek in under 120 minutes.

While September is the ideal season to visit Bluff Knoll for wildflowers, any time between May and October is suitable, weather permitting. Climate can change instantaneously, and during winter it is uncommon, but not unheard of to experience frost and even snowfall during particularly cold days. Take adequate water and sun protective equipment at all times, but consider taking wet or cold weather gear even if it might seem gratuitous.

Torndirrup Peninsula
Albany, Western Australia
1001 Natural Wonders

Located approximately 30 minutes drive from Albany central, Torndirrup National Park is one of several protected nature reserves in the town’s vicinity, and one of two specified as Natural Wonders. With several picturesque options, there are a range of attractions to visit within the park.

The Peninsula itself is the most frequently visited, featuring both the Gap and Natural Bridge formations. No exertion is necessary, with a large open car park after a short drive, however as of December 2015, restoration activities were occurring at Natural Bridge and access was prohibited.

If you’re feeling slightly more adventurous, Cable Beach (pictured above) is my personal favourite, requiring some dirt track driving, rock walking that can be dangerous in wet weather and descent of a wooden staircase. The “beach” is non-accessible by foot without steep climbs, and high wind or water pressure can produce large, dangerous swell, so please use your own discretion and judgement when visiting.

Torndirrup also features several steep and exhaustive trails including Isthmus Hill (10km, 6-8 hour return trip) and Peak Head (4.3km, 2 hour return trip with some rock climbing), as well as short trips to the Stony Hill car park and Heritage Trail (500m, 20 minute walk) and as I would highly recommend, the Salmon Holes (300m, 10 minute walk).

Two Peoples Bay National Park
Albany, Western Australia
1001 Natural Wonders

Little Beach (pictured above) at Two Peoples Bay National Park is so far the most convincing argument yet against my prevailing dislike of beaches. Located 35km east of Albany, this spot is one of the more convenient secrets of the Albany area, and yet secluded enough to remain relatively unknown.

As with other national parks in the area, Two Peoples Bay features several options depending on the level or type of activity. For bush-walkers and flora/fauna enthusiasts, the Heritage Trail, a 4.6km Moderately Difficult hike takes you on a 2 hour return loop through woodland with strategic lookouts along the path to view the sheltered bay. For fishermen and swimmers, the Bay itself has open shallow water perfect for frolicking, or swimming with small children and a boat ramp allowing access by open water to Little Beach.

Little Beach itself is the headline act for Two Peoples Bay. With deep, clear water for 50-100m and clean white sand, surrounded by dense natural flora (unfortunately pictured above post-burning in December 2015) and granite rock, this is a perfect, secluded location for a summer swim, with the only downfall being the unfortunately low temperatures in Albany year-round. The area is large, with plenty of room, affording everyone the luxury of desolation even if you’re sharing the beach with several other groups.