GarnerRama - Part I

The giveaway is a complete set of Garner's diaries, now in paperback, thanks to Text Publishing.

Hello and welcome to probably the single most requested theme for a special edition ever: Helen Garner.

We could do an entire year of Garner special editions but because of my trips to Antarctica and Turkey in the coming months we’re just going to start with one and pick back up in May or June. I can see this thing growing into three parts at least, like YanagiharaRama, with livestream shenanigans too. The good news for you right now is that we’re going in hot’n’spicy with a bang! focusing on her nonfiction first. Here’s what we’ve cooked up:

• In my opening essay I answer a reader’s question about how The First Stone has ‘aged’, because it overlaps with some of the research I did for my Masters. Who is the Helen Garner we meet on the pages of that book? What does a close analysis tell us about Garner’s claims that the book is ‘reportage’? It’s controversial.

• As you know,

  Astrid Edwards
  live-recorded her experience of reading all of Garner’s diaries for the first time in a chat thread. (I had a ball watching this unfold.) She has now pulled her thoughts together into an essay here, ‘Shady At Best, Arrogant At Worst’ about not only those diaries, but also about the act of reading Garner in Australia, and the role Garner has come to hold in this literary scene.

• I don’t know if this will become a regular thing, but I had to reply to Astrid’s essay. A short riposte. (Sorry, Astrid. You can go hard serving a reply-reply in the comments if you want!)

• Each month in our Nerd special edition I pen an essay replying to a reader’s question. This month there were two that overlapped and were specifically about reading and writing, which I presume the GarnerRama crowd would like, so I figured I’d take them on together. Here’s what you asked me:

How do you read so many books? Do you have a certain page target daily?

Hi Bri - my nerd question is: how do you structure your day to manage all the projects and commitments you have going at any given time? I always feel like I’m pulled in so many directions and it gets hectic so I’m always keen to know how others with heavy workloads manage their time, what their daily routines are, and any survival tips and tricks to squeeze the most out of the day. - Also thanks for your new newsletter - it’s ace! Xo

Okay, here we go! Enjoys the gifs about monkeys and stones. :)