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The Museum of Words
The Museum of Words: a memoir of language, writing, and mortality | Georgia Blain
12 posts | 6 read | 18 to read
In late 2015, Georgia Blain was diagnosed with a tumour sitting right in the language centre of her brain. Prior to this, Georgias only warning had been a niggling sense that her speech was slightly awry. She ignored it, and on a bright spring day, as she was mowing the lawn, she collapsed on a bed of blossoms, blood frothing at her mouth. Waking up to find herself in the back of an ambulance being rushed to hospital, she tries to answer questions, but is unable to speak. After the shock of a bleak prognosis and a long, gruelling treatment schedule, she immediately turns to writing to rebuild her language and herself. At the same time, her mother, Anne Deveson, moves into a nursing home with Alzheimers; weeks earlier, her best friend and mentor had been diagnosed with the same brain tumour. All three of them are writers, with language at the core of their being. The Museum of Words is a meditation on writing, reading, first words and last words, picking up thread after thread as it builds on each story to become a much larger narrative. This idiosyncratic and deeply personal memoir is a writers take on how language shapes us, and how often we take it for granted until we are in danger of losing it.
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review
Jeg
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Just finished. A short but powerful read. The tears have not dried as I write this. Another Aussie writer gone way too soon. I want to write more but hard to find the words. It‘s not depressing , in fact it‘s uplifting.
The book itself is a pleasure for me. Hard back and printed on thick white paper that looks like it would stay white forever. So glad I was able to hold this book and read it.

Rissreads Beautiful review ♥️ 8mo
CarolynM ❤️ 8mo
17 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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Jeg
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And this is the eternal human paradox,the only way we can cope with our mortality is to ignore it, to live as though we have all the time in the world.

CarolynM ❤️ 8mo
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MrsMalaprop
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Oh my. So beautiful. So sad. What an incredibly special book. Read it if you dare. Thank you and vale Georgia Blain. 😍💔

“The best way to pay tribute to the Australian author, who died in the same week as her mother Anne Deveson, is to read her work” Sophie Cunningham, The Guardian, Dec 2016.

dabbe Pretty nails! ❤️❤️❤️ 10mo
MrsMalaprop @dabbe Thanks 😊 10mo
CarolynM I don‘t know why I haven‘t read this yet. Must get to it soon. 10mo
33 likes1 stack add3 comments
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MrsMalaprop
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“Life is an amorphous mess, a huge soup of details we wade our way through, and in order to make sense of what is happening to us, we impose structure or narrative. It is inescapable.”

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MrsMalaprop
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Writing about sharing news with her mother who has dementia Georgia says,
“Sometimes…she momentarily surfaces out of the goldfish bowl of Alzheimer‘s where she spends most of her time, swimming round, trapped, bumping up against her own reflection.
‘So what do I do now?‘ She asks.”
My mum has Alzheimer‘s and often asks that same question. It‘s a tough one to answer. I sometimes say, “surrender” or “it‘s your turn to be looked after now.” 🤷🏻‍♀️

LeahBergen 💔 10mo
CarolynM This strikes such a chord with me right now💔 10mo
Rissreads I will read this one day but it‘s too hard for me at the moment 10mo
34 likes3 comments
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MrsMalaprop
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Librariana I love this. Such an honest way to look at life 💜 10mo
25 likes1 comment
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MrsMalaprop
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I wasn‘t planning to start this right away, but couldn‘t help myself.
Georgia is reflecting on her daughter‘s reading here.
Having recently read Grapes of Wrath, this resonated. 😍💯🙌

Rissreads Yep, amazing! 10mo
33 likes1 comment
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MrsMalaprop
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@Rissreads @Jeg Look what I got my hands on today 😍.

Rissreads Woop woop! I hope it‘s fabulous! 💛🧡♥️ 10mo
Jeg Lucky you . I‘m still looking. Op shops have been good to me lately. 10mo
33 likes1 stack add2 comments
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MrsMalaprop

@Rissreads This is the book of hers I don‘t have, but very much want if you happen to see it on your travels. 🙏 I‘ll let you know if I manage to find it first.

Rissreads Mission accepted! I‘m on it! 🤣♥️ 10mo
Jeg I‘ll be looking. 10mo
MrsMalaprop @Jeg Now I know what you were talking about on messenger! Between us we will find it. 10mo
See All 6 Comments
Jeg I‘ll keep looking everywhere I go. Last resort Amazon! Perhaps. Thinking now I can imagine you are not an Amazon fan. 10mo
MrsMalaprop Ok @jeg & @Rissreads I have ordered the book from Crow, so no need for you to continue hunting, unless of course you want it for yourself. Thanks beautiful book-rescuers 🥰🙏 10mo
Rissreads 👍🏼 10mo
21 likes6 comments
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TheBookStacker
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This book finally came from all the way across the pond! I couldn‘t find it anywhere in the US! I loved Georgia Blaine‘s novel Between a Wolf and a Dog so much so I just had to get this one. It‘ll be awhile before I start this as I have other book commitments but I‘m excited it‘s here!

58 likes2 stack adds
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Sue
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This is my first read for the #aussiesrule2018 challenge (for prompt 6: character with chronic illness or disability - can be NF). After having written about a character with brain cancer, Blain is dealing with her mother who has Alzheimer's and a friend who has brain cancer when she discovers she also has a brain tumour. This is book is brave and meticulous, about the love of words and the loss of them, and will punch you in the feels.

CarolynM I loved Between a Wolf and a Dog so much, I have to read this! 7y
Sue Me too @CarolynM. I had no idea this was out until @chapter_fifty2017 posted about it a couple of weeks ago, and luckily my library had it! 7y
chapter_fifty2017 Now i am behind the eight ball, havent read Between a wolf and a dog but really want to now that u ladies loved it , and she started writing it before she was diagnosed !! Thankyou for your acknowledgements doesn't happen often 😉 7y
DivaDiane Oh. One of my mentors and an amazing musician and woman had brain cancer and it was heartbreaking to witness how the cancer took her ability to communicate away from her. For a singer this is devastating. I‘m not sure I could handle reading this book, but maybe I should, so I‘m stacking it. 7y
75 likes5 stack adds4 comments
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chapter_fifty2017
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Your a novelist you are writing a book about someone with a brain tumor , your mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer's she forgets you. Your best friend discovers she has an aggresive brain cancer , she cannot communicate with you anymore. Georgia loves words, this is her world she is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour this is her last book , and is written so beautifully poignantly , Her mother dies 3 days after Georgia.

chapter_fifty2017 Thankyou so much to all you littens , am so behind with my reviews but am spurred on now , must be more diciplined for 2018 happy new year to all🌠🎶😙 7y
Libby1 Happy New Year to you! ⭐️ 7y
batsy Happy New Year! 7y
22 likes2 stack adds3 comments