Stephanie Convery
@gingerandhoney.bsky.social
Writer. Reporter at Guardian Australia. Stories and tips: stephanie.convery@theguardian.com or stephanieconvery@protonmail.com; DM for Signal
Here they are just yesterday, hanging out in the afternoon sun
October 7, 2025 at 10:02 PM
Here they are just yesterday, hanging out in the afternoon sun
There are so many shameful details in this story. Consider, for eg, this whole passage:
July 22, 2025 at 10:25 PM
There are so many shameful details in this story. Consider, for eg, this whole passage:
Butter by Asako Yuzuki. This was recommended to me by heaps of people so I’m sorry to say I really didn’t like it. Assuming a faithful translation, I found it overwritten and mawkish, and even allowing for cultural differences I struggled to accept some of the characters’ choices or logical leaps.
April 10, 2025 at 6:45 AM
Butter by Asako Yuzuki. This was recommended to me by heaps of people so I’m sorry to say I really didn’t like it. Assuming a faithful translation, I found it overwritten and mawkish, and even allowing for cultural differences I struggled to accept some of the characters’ choices or logical leaps.
Down Cemetery Road by Mick Herron. The first Herron novel, well before Slow Horses. Solid, plot-driven, smart crime fiction; he hasn’t quite got the flair of the Slough House novels down yet but if you need a fix before the next one comes out, this bodes well for the rest of the Zoë Boehm series.
April 10, 2025 at 6:42 AM
Down Cemetery Road by Mick Herron. The first Herron novel, well before Slow Horses. Solid, plot-driven, smart crime fiction; he hasn’t quite got the flair of the Slough House novels down yet but if you need a fix before the next one comes out, this bodes well for the rest of the Zoë Boehm series.
Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence. I mean, look. I hadn’t read any Lawrence before and figured I should. I dunno that I really enjoyed this, exactly; the phallocentrism was irritating, the pacing was all over the place and I often found the characters’ emotional pivots incomprehensible. Oh well.
April 10, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence. I mean, look. I hadn’t read any Lawrence before and figured I should. I dunno that I really enjoyed this, exactly; the phallocentrism was irritating, the pacing was all over the place and I often found the characters’ emotional pivots incomprehensible. Oh well.
More recent reads: His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet. A solid historical murder story of the “found document” subgenre; slightly disappointing ending for reasons I struggle to remember now, but in the main a well-crafted, very readable “literary” crime novel.
April 10, 2025 at 6:31 AM
More recent reads: His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet. A solid historical murder story of the “found document” subgenre; slightly disappointing ending for reasons I struggle to remember now, but in the main a well-crafted, very readable “literary” crime novel.
I assume the dahlias on my balcony will stop blooming eventually but they haven’t yet and they are bringing me so much joy
April 6, 2025 at 3:56 AM
I assume the dahlias on my balcony will stop blooming eventually but they haven’t yet and they are bringing me so much joy
What a lovely variety! What kind is it? I have bukajo watermelons, jeff bloom, cafe au lait and magenta balls and they are some of my most favourite things I’ve ever planted. And they are thriving even in pots!
March 22, 2025 at 10:40 PM
What a lovely variety! What kind is it? I have bukajo watermelons, jeff bloom, cafe au lait and magenta balls and they are some of my most favourite things I’ve ever planted. And they are thriving even in pots!
This is just such a typical, completely backwards response from Creative Australia: commission a review into the appointment of the artist, but not a review of the matter at the centre of the actual outrage: their own shameful about-face. Do better.
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
February 16, 2025 at 10:53 PM
This is just such a typical, completely backwards response from Creative Australia: commission a review into the appointment of the artist, but not a review of the matter at the centre of the actual outrage: their own shameful about-face. Do better.
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo. Perhaps I was spoilt by The Vegetarian and the Herrera novellas but this one just didn’t grab me. I could see the intent, but I wasn’t sold on the structure and the prose fell flat (hard to know if it was the translation or a quality of the original text).
February 11, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo. Perhaps I was spoilt by The Vegetarian and the Herrera novellas but this one just didn’t grab me. I could see the intent, but I wasn’t sold on the structure and the prose fell flat (hard to know if it was the translation or a quality of the original text).
The Transmigration of Bodies/Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera. This is frankly superb literature in translation. Two strange, thought-provoking novellas from a writer whose translator has embraced his original vision and idiosyncratic prose as its own exciting literary project.
January 31, 2025 at 2:04 AM
The Transmigration of Bodies/Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera. This is frankly superb literature in translation. Two strange, thought-provoking novellas from a writer whose translator has embraced his original vision and idiosyncratic prose as its own exciting literary project.
This piece by Ben Walter reminds me of that Terry Pratchett gag that turns up in a few of his books but is best summarised in the Tiffany Aching novels, as not being afraid of heights, but rather depths
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
January 17, 2025 at 2:53 AM
This piece by Ben Walter reminds me of that Terry Pratchett gag that turns up in a few of his books but is best summarised in the Tiffany Aching novels, as not being afraid of heights, but rather depths
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Vegetarian by Han Kang. A short, lush, brutal book about the violence we unleash on those whose small acts of breaking convention threaten to expose the much larger lies we tell ourselves about ourselves. One of those books you think about for a lot longer than it takes you to read.
January 11, 2025 at 8:59 AM
The Vegetarian by Han Kang. A short, lush, brutal book about the violence we unleash on those whose small acts of breaking convention threaten to expose the much larger lies we tell ourselves about ourselves. One of those books you think about for a lot longer than it takes you to read.
Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen. I had no context for this book; it is a strange one, defined by its unreliable narrator and central (also unreliable) mystery. A great example of how narrative voice can be the primary driver of plot, but I’m not sure there was much by way of resolution.
January 11, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen. I had no context for this book; it is a strange one, defined by its unreliable narrator and central (also unreliable) mystery. A great example of how narrative voice can be the primary driver of plot, but I’m not sure there was much by way of resolution.
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I confess I’ve not read much Dickens and picked this up as I was interested in Barbara Kingsolver’s version, Demon Copperhead. But I ate this up in its own right. Sometimes classics are classics bc they’re fantastic. I loved these characters, this whole book.
January 11, 2025 at 12:29 AM
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I confess I’ve not read much Dickens and picked this up as I was interested in Barbara Kingsolver’s version, Demon Copperhead. But I ate this up in its own right. Sometimes classics are classics bc they’re fantastic. I loved these characters, this whole book.
December 30, 2024 at 2:28 AM
Omg same! (Mine was in SA)
December 9, 2024 at 10:03 AM
Omg same! (Mine was in SA)
Made my own Beatrix Bakes birthday* sponge cake with muscat-infused buttercream and a tonne of fruit and chocolate on top. Honestly what else is the point of birthdays but to make a giant cake and hug your friends?
*it’s not today, just the celebration is
*it’s not today, just the celebration is
November 23, 2024 at 2:06 AM
Made my own Beatrix Bakes birthday* sponge cake with muscat-infused buttercream and a tonne of fruit and chocolate on top. Honestly what else is the point of birthdays but to make a giant cake and hug your friends?
*it’s not today, just the celebration is
*it’s not today, just the celebration is
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. Read earlier this month. The least cringe pandemic novel I’ve read yet but still doesn’t quite shake the “do we have to” factor. Not my favourite Patchett but honestly, she never does anything badly. I enjoyed it for what it was: warm, thoughtful, accomplished.
November 20, 2024 at 5:28 AM
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. Read earlier this month. The least cringe pandemic novel I’ve read yet but still doesn’t quite shake the “do we have to” factor. Not my favourite Patchett but honestly, she never does anything badly. I enjoyed it for what it was: warm, thoughtful, accomplished.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Sped thru this in 24 hrs. Quiet, affecting, perhaps best seen as a character/relationship study; the dystopian edge is almost an aside. Don’t know if I’d absorbed it somehow elsewhere or if the midpoint reveal was just kind of obvious after a page or two though?
November 19, 2024 at 10:39 AM
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Sped thru this in 24 hrs. Quiet, affecting, perhaps best seen as a character/relationship study; the dystopian edge is almost an aside. Don’t know if I’d absorbed it somehow elsewhere or if the midpoint reveal was just kind of obvious after a page or two though?
Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver. Started this months ago but it made me so anxious I put it aside until last week. I always appreciate Kingsolver’s nuanced handling of religion; the climate crisis/class message did seem a bit thumpingly obvious at times, but I was genuinely moved by the end.
November 18, 2024 at 1:17 AM
Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver. Started this months ago but it made me so anxious I put it aside until last week. I always appreciate Kingsolver’s nuanced handling of religion; the climate crisis/class message did seem a bit thumpingly obvious at times, but I was genuinely moved by the end.
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. I sank quite deep into this. I never saw the film but find it bizarre they tried to market it as romance; this is a novel about men and violence and men, and has a kind of existential hollow at the centre of it. A masterclass in writing dialogue though.
November 18, 2024 at 1:12 AM
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. I sank quite deep into this. I never saw the film but find it bizarre they tried to market it as romance; this is a novel about men and violence and men, and has a kind of existential hollow at the centre of it. A masterclass in writing dialogue though.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Wild reading this so soon after Dead Europe as they have more in common than it seems, including that I wonder if either would be published today. Really skilful storytelling and beautiful prose. Its darknesses are of a different tone to Tsiolkas’ but just as complex.
November 18, 2024 at 1:02 AM
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Wild reading this so soon after Dead Europe as they have more in common than it seems, including that I wonder if either would be published today. Really skilful storytelling and beautiful prose. Its darknesses are of a different tone to Tsiolkas’ but just as complex.
All Fours by Miranda July. Somehow the Miranda July phenomenon passed me by before I read this book (how?!) so I was actually disappointed in it when I found out it was autofiction. I enjoyed the ride at the time but on reflection think the author wasn’t totally aware of just what she’s shown us
November 18, 2024 at 12:55 AM
All Fours by Miranda July. Somehow the Miranda July phenomenon passed me by before I read this book (how?!) so I was actually disappointed in it when I found out it was autofiction. I enjoyed the ride at the time but on reflection think the author wasn’t totally aware of just what she’s shown us
Agency by William Gibson. Probably the most “meh” novel I read this year. Granted, I pulled this off the shelf kind of at random and he’s known for other work - and this is not considered his best - but it was a pretty good example of scifi that has a lot of movement without going anywhere much.
November 18, 2024 at 12:49 AM
Agency by William Gibson. Probably the most “meh” novel I read this year. Granted, I pulled this off the shelf kind of at random and he’s known for other work - and this is not considered his best - but it was a pretty good example of scifi that has a lot of movement without going anywhere much.