Monkey Grip, Helen Garner

'So afterwards, it is possible to see the beginning of things, the point at which you had already plunged in, while at the time you thought you were only testing the water with your toe' (pg 2)

Helen Garner is possibly one of my favourite Australian authors. She is personable, frank, and has the ability to cut to the core. I like that in a writer.

Monkey Grip was one of her first novels and was written in the 197os. Set in Melbourne, it's about Nora and Javo. Nora loves Java and Java loves junk. The book revolves around their relationship; what it is and what it isn't. It's a novel about the gaps love can reveal in your life. What happens when you get everything and nothing at the same time. When you miss somebody despite best attempts not to.

I loved this book. It reminded me of reading a diary. All that honesty and hurt. And surprising maturity. Bless H.G.

Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov

'Oh Lolita, you are my girl, as Vee was Poe's and Bea Dante's, and what little girl would not like to swirl in a circular skirt and scanties?' (pg 120)

Well, I think that sentence sums up Lolita quite well. And just for you curious folk out there, 'scanties' are underpants. Nice. The only thing I really knew about this book was it was about some old guy (Humbert Humbert) who fell in love with a young girl, Lolita.

Well, no surprises here - Nabokov is a very beautiful and convincing writer. Throughout the earlier stages of the book, you actually feel slightly sorry for Humbert as he tries his very best to keep his behaviour around Lolita above board. However, as the book pushes on, Humbert loses his cool a little bit and just turns out to be slightly intense (and a little bit creepy). Lolita has a fair bit of attitude too, which I wasn't expecting either.

Not for the faint hearted. But you gotta give Nabokov props for putting it out there

Foreword

I love reading and everything that surrounds it. The quiet, the tea, the characters.

So I'm embarking on a challenge. To read 52 penguins in 52 weeks. It initially started as 100 penguins but my lovely (and wise) friends were worried that I would become some sort of social recluse... so 52 it is.

My friend Amy will also be joining me on this adventure. The first penguin off the rank: Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita.

Watch this space boys and girls.