A story about finding out who you really are and where you really belong. Very enjoyable.

2 Joe Keenan novels for 2 #Movember prompts #TrueBlue #LuckyStar

This is a fabulous idea @Alora I am enjoying everyone's responses #LitsyLearn

1. I've never owned a dog, my favourite band is The Beatles, I've touched the Rosetta Stone
2. Quite a few, I'm afraid. Most recently My Sister the Serial Killer
3. Yes
4. Too hot - it's unpleasant but not painful, being too cold hurts!

#BookReport

Another slow reading week for me, I'm afraid. I managed to finish Beloved and BadApple (my #romantsy bedtime book) and I've caught up with A Lost Lady for the #CatherBuddyRead. No progress on either West Coast or Mythos, so that's my #WeeklyForecast - get the former finished and get stuck into the latter.

What a powerful book. Not an enjoyable reading experience but a truly important one. I appreciated that it confronted the realities of slavery - the physical abuse, the psychological damage and the way that trauma not only haunts those who suffer it, but echoes down the generations - calmly and unflinchingly.

#WeeklyForecast

Two to finish - Beloved (I'm supposed to have it read for book group tonight, not sure if I'll get there) and West Coast - then I want to make a start on Mythos at long last. The Days in Between (for #BBRC Middle a Grade Written by an Actor) will go in my handbag. Elle Kennedy's Bad Apple is my bedtime romance (on the kindle, not shown)

#BookReport

Finished and reviewed Before the Coffee Gets Cold, finished One Step Back (not bad but not very memorable) about 2/3s through West Coast (enjoying a lot), halfway through Beloved (need to finish before tomorrow night) no progress on A Lost Lady (sorry @Graywacke and fellow buddy readers, I will catch up). Instead of reading this weekend I was bottling wine and enjoying some great music at the Bendigo Blues Festival.

One seat in an out-of-the-way Tokyo cafe allows its occupant to travel in time, overseen by the staff and subject to some strict rules. It's an outlandish premise, but it allows the author to explore some big issues about people and their relationships. The writing is flat and has a coolness about it that I don't much like, but I very much enjoyed the psychological insights the story provided. I'll put it in the mail next week.

#keeplitsyactive #historybooks

I've always been fascinated by stories of the First World War both fiction and nonfiction.

#Sorry #Movember

Nearly 50 years of glorious silliness.

Library reorganising turned up some book marks from a UK trip

#WeeklyForecast
Before the Coffee Gets Cold still in my handbag, A Lost Lady for #CatherBuddyRead, Beloved for book group, One Step Back on the kindle in bed and finally I found West Coast while rearranging my library and couldn't resist the blurb "The best book about a Scottish photographer in London since, well, maybe ever" ?

I'm not really sure how I feel about this one. The central characters were interesting and so was their relationship, there were some good observations, some poking of fun at the literary and artistic worlds and some nice local colour. My problem was that there were also quite a few elements that didn't work for me - some unconvincing and some just uninteresting. #ozfiction

#BookReport

Finished my bedtime romance Gilded Cage by KJ Charles which I thoroughly enjoyed, now halfway through One Step Back by Edie Danford. Haven't spent as much time as usual on the couch so I'm only 2/3 through a The Returns - the story is OK but there are a lot of passages about things that don't add much to the story or characters and aren't very interesting. 1/2 way through Before the Coffee Gets - it's holding my interest.

I still haven't decided if I like this book, but it certainly has its moments. Philip Salom has been around the Australian literary scene for a while. I'm sure he has an author in mind here, I'd love to know who it is. And I snort-laughed at the last sentence.

It's been said that writing about #music is like dancing about architecture. I don't agree. I own a lot of books about music. Here is a selection. #Movember

More books to give away - see my previous post

I am currently in the process of getting the books off the floor of my library and into our new shelving. I am discarding a few books along the way. Unfortunately the cost of postage means I'm only offering them to Melbourne Littens at this stage. I'm tagging those of you I know. Let me know if you're interested in any of them. Here is the first bundle, there will be more!

I know we're heading for summer when Leo prefers the back of the couch to one of the beanbags. I'm not sure about this book but I'm not bailing yet.

#A2Z #BBRC

I still need to read books for Q and X. I will need a librarian's help.

Victoria's Day - Victoria enjoys a day at preschool, Downs Syndrome does not get in her way
When I Grow Up - Tim Minchin's quirky humour on display
Yellow Dress Day - some days only a yellow dress will do
Zengilo and Bengilo - traditional story told in English and Assyrian (Westside Circus is a brilliant group - my daughter did classes with them for years)

#A2Z #BBRC

I read these and the next four a few weeks ago but didn't get around to posting them.
Remarkable Rexy - what a cat!
Spark - a little spark becomes a bushfire and even frightens itself
That is Not a Good Idea - don't trust a fox
Uncle Andy's Cats - the story of Andy Warhol's cats told by his nephew

Thank you @LeahBergen I cannot tell you how delighted I am by this little taste of Canada! The books sound great and I love the Flames swag - the stubby cooler will definitely get some use over summer. I am very grateful, my generous friend.😘

#SoaringScores #TheSwordFight

Not the most inspiring cover, unfortunately, but at least I have something for this prompt

#WeeklyForecast

Left: On the couch book
Top right: Handbag book
Bottom right: Bedtime book

OMG, another murder in Three Pines! I hate to think how much nefarious activity would go on there if it was more accessible 😂 Seriously, though, I really enjoyed this instalment in the series even if I wasn't completely convinced by all of it. I liked the way she told the story and I thought she handled the time shifts really well. Thought provoking re the role of conscience in the criminal justice system. Do the ends ever justify the means?

Indeed. Your conscience is for your own actions, not to police the actions of others.

Dropped in to the Penguin Random House book sale in support of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. I had to buy some books, obviously.

This was a really fun read. It had a satisfying romance between we'll drawn characters with plenty of 🔥and ❤️ and also an interesting subplot involving high tech industrial espionage. I usually prefer my romance without any thriller elements, but I thought this one was really well done. #romantsy

I've been feeling restless and not settling to anything other than trashy romance novels just lately. I've started lots of books and liked them too much to officially bail, but not enough to keep reading and I've got plenty more I haven't started. So what's my solution for my little reading slump? Go the the bookshop and buy more books of course! #BookHaul

It's hard to say very much about this without spoilers, so I'll just confine myself to saying that it is beautifully written and teeming with ideas. If you want a linear story it is not for you, but if you want something to chew on you couldn't do better.

Not really book related (although there is a photo of my current read). We are spending a couple of days on the Mornington Peninsula. Most of these photos were taken around Cape Schanck.

I'm not sure how to rate this. I was interested in and moved by the fictionalised story of Frank Merlo, Tennessee Williams's lover of 15 years, but I found the parts of the story that focussed on Anja Bloom (a totally fictional character) much less engaging. I liked the writing but I found it quite slow going. A pick with reservations.

This has been my handbag book for the last couple of weeks. I really enjoyed (and I have to say identified with😳😬) it's prickly heroine, Susan, and found the story thoroughly engaging. It's a delightful, easy read. Thank you again, Jessie, for such a lovely gift😘

#HesAPirate #SoaringScores

Raiding my husband's bookshelves again 🙂

At first I felt this was a car crash kind of book - ugly but difficult to look away from - and I was interested in where it was going. My major problem with it was its shallowness, I never felt I had any sense of the MC other than as a pretentious drunk so I had no emotional investment in him. Then came the insta-love and the appalling series of clichés which would have embarrassed most romance novelists. ? #LMPBC #GroupZ

Not quite a #Bonfire... #FallIsBooked

In this take on the story published in the year 2000 #DarcysLetter becomes an email #SoaringScores

The story begins with a #BreastCancer diagnosis but takes a very unexpected path from there.
#Spooktober

I know there's lots of Litsy love for this one but I'm in the like it rather than love it camp. A pick, but not with a lot of enthusiasm. Also a #BlackCat for #FallIsBooked

I assume the reference is to Wagner's Kaisermarsch 😂
#ImperialMarch #SoaringScores

A lovely light read. I enjoyed this one most out of the three Binchy buddy reads I've done. Thanks @Andrew65 and fellow buddy readers. Look forward to the final discussion. #MaeveBinchyBuddyRead #NightofRainandStars

The title is slightly off prompt but I think all Elizabeth Peters's books are #ToDieFor #SoaringScores

#OrangeCover #FallIsBooked

Today's #bookhaul includes some exciting new #ozfiction

Yay, it has arrived! Thanks Alissa😘
#LMPBC #GroupZ

Here is my (ambitious) #OctoberTBR. As you can tell from the bookmarks, I've made a start on a few of them. #FallIsBooked

I think Stephanie's inability to definitively choose between Joe and Ranger will be a #NeverEndingStory
#RedRoseSeptember

Thanks hosts for yet another great months of fun and challenging prompts.

When I was casting around for a response to today's prompt my unreliable memory brought up Angelmouse and his #Thingummybob (halo). Turns out is was actually a Thingamajig. Oh well, it has been 20 years, I guess. I don't have any other ideas, though, so this will have to do. #RedRoseSeptember

#TwoTribes #RedRoseSeptember

From a series of books published between 1928 and 1960 about an aboriginal detective in outback Australia. I read a few in my teenage years and enjoyed them. I suspect I would feel differently about them if I read them now.

Plenty of sailing in these books, I don't know if they manage all of the #SevenSeas #RedRoseSeptember