If you haven’t yet discovered the American writer Lauren Groff,then you should – and not just for her books (although they’re very,very good). Her five novels and two short-story collections are wildly different in theme,but all are intricately wrought,deeply evocative,quietly subversive and often hilariously funny. Her most recent work,The Vaster Wilds,follows a servant girl who escapes to the wilderness from a plague-affected settlement in 17th-century Virginia (The Guardian describing it as “the Book of Job meets Bear Grylls”).
But the New Yorker,who reluctantly moved to Florida almost two decades ago for her husband’s work,is making headlines for a new reason. This (northern) spring,in an act of defiance against the state’s neo-fascist spree of book-banning in many Floridian school districts,Groff and said husband,Clay Kallman,will open a bookstore,The Lynx,in their hometown of Gainesville. The Lynx will be a full-service bookshop but with a special focus heavily on prohibited books and works by local BIPOC (Black,Indigenous and People of Colour) and LGBTQI+ writers. It’s going to be a weighty section since more than 700 books have been removed from Orange County’s school shelves alone,including works such asEat,Pray,Love (Elizabeth Gilbert),A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith),Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert) andAngels and Demons (Dan Brown). Even Groff’s ownFates and Furies made the hit-list because,she suspects,of “the sex scene. Also,I … think it’s because Barack Obama really liked it and put it on his list,” she tells e-zineLiterary Hub.Deborah Cooke
READ/ Life of Brian
What does a life,well lived,look like? Big questions are prompted by the seemingly small story of Brian,the unassuming central character in Jeremy Cooper’s 2023 novel (Fitzcarraldo Editions;$28). Brian lives alone in North London,pushes a pen at Camden Council and lunches at the same cafe every day. Friendless and isolated from family,he’s a man of such obsessive habits he’s thrown a loop by the closure of his long-time laundrette. One day,a visit to the British Film Institute’s Southbank multiplex sparks a new passion:cinema. A developing love of film and the connections he makes with other BFI regulars bring new meaning to his life. An ode to those quiet people who go unnoticed in our clamorous world,Brian,for all its gentle rhythms,is a compelling read.Paul Connolly
GROOVE/ The professionals
Is West Thebarton the most overqualified band in Australia? The six-piece group,named after the Adelaide suburb where it rehearses,includes two lawyers,a radiation therapist,a Red Cross worker – oh,and the 2023 South Australian Tattooist Of The Year. Their new album,Mongrel Australia,showcases their fiery,three-guitar attack,with impassioned frontman Ray Dalfsen going for the jugular,whether he’s singing about life’s highs (the celebratoryGeorge Michael) or lows (the gut-wrenchingNeck Pains). “I’ve waited my whole life just to see some change to my land,” he roars inModern Australia,a song that sounds like a raw rock ‘n’ roll update of Goanna’sSolid Rock. Out March 22.Barry Divola