Nathan Hobby
@nathanhobby
Biographer, scholar & special collections librarian in Perth, Australia. Author of THE RED WITCH, 2023 WA Premier's Prize Book of the Year. Working on a biography of John Curtin.
Lost book exchanges of Western Australia: 1. Stock Road Book Exchange [Bibra Lake - was this a later name for the Last Hurrah Bookshop?]
It's the Royal Western Australian Historical Society's booksale today and tomorrow. Best source of WA books in the world.
New acquisition. Published in 1999, I don't think many copies were printed. First time I've seen it for sale in 12 years of looking and I've never even seen a physical copy in a library, only the badly formatted ebook.
Siri Hustvedt unconvinced by precisely recalled conversations in memoirs.
I enjoyed the conversation with the other scholars in this book; we gave feedback on each other’s work at a seminar in late 2024. There’s some fantastic essays on many different aspects of the theme, from veteran activism to autonomous warfare. unsw.press/books/challe... 4/
In time for Anzac Day: a new book, Challenging Anzac: Stories That Don't Fit the Legend (NewSouth) edited by @miamh.bsky.social, Carolyn Holbrook and Joan Beaumont. My chapter is 'Bolshevik Anzac: the politics, celebrity and mythology of Hugo Throssell VC'. 1/
In my day job, I helped develop "John Curtin's Vision", a credential on the life & prime-ministership of Curtin Uni's namesake. I appear in some videos using objects he owned to tell the story of his life - his cut-throat razors, engraved pocket watch, file copies of the Worker.
I was at Swan's Moonah Bookshop in Hobart today. It reminded me of the beloved book exchanges of my childhood, now nearly all gone in WA - it even had Phantoms and Commandos! I left with this.
Abebooks keeps thinking I'm tempted to spend $80 to get this rare but rather unattractive dust jacket for the 1931 florin edition (which I have sans jacket) of Katharine Prichard's Haxby Circus. Abebooks is correct - but I will not be giving in.
Political memorabilia on eBay currently: Jack Lang's inscribed wooden box for a mere $5000!
Biographical puzzle pieces that don't fit... theguardian.com/culture/2025/a…
Hate to see the New South Welsh live up to their reputation for NSW-centricism ... Keneally wasn't even in the first three. (From Paul Farrell's generally very good book, Gladys.)
Two days late for Katharine Susannah Prichard's birthday, some Czech and Slovakian editions of her books came in the post. I wasn't going to collect foreign-language editions, but they were ridiculously affordable!
I asked for more detail and it made up a long description. When I challenged this and told Copilot it was inventing things, it wouldn't engage any more. I asked for its sources and it just gave me this coward message over and over:
When I asked for a reading list on John Curtin for a history student, it recommended an incredible book which will have historians very excited... if it existed.
This morning's finds on the bookshelf at my local cafe. I don't properly know any of these authors but I feel someone nearby has refined literary taste.
I like the new Julia Donaldson. Quiet and poignant as 1000 years passes for an oak tree. Lacks the contrived climaxes that exasperate me in many of her other works.