Distractions From Our Summer Sizzle

 

How to escape summer’s sizzle? First, you could pop into Gallows Gallery and feast your eyes on cool works by Janette Drysdale. See our report.
Or head to the movies. Recently we saw captivating new film, Black Dog, shot in northern China.
The opening scene was gobsmacking! No surprises the film won the Un Certain Regard prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Catch it at the Somerville early next month.
We also recently saw the much-hyped  Maria, in which Angelina Jolie plays opera diva Maria Callas, now a faded star, a semi-recluse, bitter, ill, and hallucinating on Mandrax. I’d been keen to see Jolie in this; in recent years she’s been mostly making headlines over her never-ending divorce from Brad Pitt. While Jolie is indisputably a fine actress, the film was predictable and repetitive; I found myself yawning.  See Ros’s review in this edition.
If anyone’s been reading anything outstanding recently please drop us a line; we’re always up for a new recommendation! Three of my fave recent reads:  Sarah Winman‘s Still Life, Amitav Ghosh’s Sea Of Poppies and Abraham Verghese’s Covenant of Water.
The book I’m currently reading is the Booker Prize winning, Orbital, by Stephanie Harvey. Short, sweet, and told from the point of view of some orbiting astronauts, it’s an ode to our astonishing and fragile planet earth.
One of our planet’s unique treasures happens to grow right here in southern WA, nowhere else. The Tingle tree. Recently we attended a protest down in Nornalup, five hours south of Perth.
Hundreds of people were there, distressed that a precious forest of ancient Tingle trees is due to be targetted in a WA government “controlled burn.” Grannies, fire fighters, young parents clutching their babies, scientists, nature-lovers, and locals were all there, united over their worry about the way controlled burns are being conducted by our public servants.
Defenders argue the burns  are necessary to help protect us from potential bushfires. But, it’s the way these burns are carried out – often resulting in the incineration of highly endangered numbats, quokkas, and other species, some found nowhere else on earth and in danger of vanishing altogether – that scientists say so is wrong.
Invariably the State government’s position is that this is the best way; this is all for our own good!
If so, why are so many educated people up in arms? And where are the scientific, peer-reviewed papers to back up this arrogant stance? The way these burns are conducted has to be improved.
Many are pushing for the Walpole region to become World Heritage listed; fat chance if swathes of it are burnt out by man-made fires, with visitors perpetually subject to asthma-inducing smoke when they come down to be enchanted by our tall trees.
On a happier note, in this issue of The Starfish, Pete re-lives our road trip odyssey in Southern India, covering the extraordinary Chettinad region.
There’s also a tasty recipe for Asparagus, Pea and Feta Tart from splendid new cookbook Middle Eastern Feasts – perfect for these hot summer days and nights.
Margot reviews romantic drama, We Live In Time and Ros critiques Indian movie All We Know as Light, following three woman working at a busy hospital in Mumbai.
Enjoy!

One thought on “Distractions From Our Summer Sizzle

  1. Big beautiful books about place, like ‘Covenant of Water’ by Abraham Verghese, are especially inviting and captivating when the reader has spent time in that place. Having spent time in Kerala, south-west India, as have Starfish publishers Jac & Pete, I found it a very special read. A big book about a small(ish) part of a very big country, it’s well worth devoting serious summertime reading to. Go get yourself a copy.

    Dr Verghese has also written another novel about another country with another colourful history i.e. Ethiopia. ‘Cutting for Stone’ is therefore next on my bookshop or local library list, that is once I’ve finished a local library gem, also about a big country, I plucked from the shelf this week i.e. ‘No country for love’, an engaging and informative 1st novel about Ukraine life in the 1930’s/40’s/50’s by Ukraine born Yaraslov Trofimov.

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