Books that Changed Me: Gabrielle Carey

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This was published 9 years ago

Books that Changed Me: Gabrielle Carey

Gabrielle Carey's family memoir Moving Among Strangers (UQP) was co-winner of the 2014 Prime Minister's Literary Award for non-fiction. The co-author of Puberty Blues, she has written and edited books of fiction, essays and memoir.

LES MISERABLES
Victor Hugo

Literary loves: Gabrielle Carey.

Literary loves: Gabrielle Carey.Credit: Domino Postiglione

About faith, justice and mercy, the most influential text I read in my early 20s. (Although it also led to my giving up writing for two years).

SEEING THINGS
Seamus Heaney

A poet who is simultaneously transcendent and earthly, he reminds you that life is a gift. When in doubt, quote Heaney (as I have in my last three books).

TOURMALINE
Randolph Stow

A visionary novel about Australia and Australians that was too far ahead of its time. Stow was also the inspiration behind my most recent book.

FINNEGANS WAKE
James Joyce

The book that has given me more joy and laughter than any other, probably because it takes a lifetime to read. At the rate I'm going, I'll finish in 2025.

Note: I am shamefully aware of the maleness of this list and hope this reflects the period I grew up in rather than my own deeply sexist reading preferences. If I was a 20-something now I imagine Eimear McBride's A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing would be on the top of my list.

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