Eye-opening, devastating, and sickening. Three words to describe my response to the essays in this book.
Amy McQuire is a Darumbal South Sea Island Aboriginal journalist. She writes about the violent deaths of a number of Aboriginal Australians and the extreme injustice in their reporting and investigation. I‘m reminded of Chelsey Watego‘s book, Another Day in the Colony 😡😔.
The systemic racism in this country is real and it persists.

I‘ve been aware of Australian novelist Toni Jordan since she came to a Perth writers festival many years ago, but have only now read one of her books.
Think I can once again blame @Rissreadswithcats for seeing this second hand copy and telling me I should buy it 😄. I enjoyed it. I was able to suspend judgement about some of the unlikely plot points and roll with it. More great #ozfiction, this time set in 1980s Brisbane.

Loved this #ozfiction about two half-sisters Matilda & Lara. Matilda works in a groovy Sydney restaurant. Lara is a successful model. Their lives are very different, but they share a traumatic history.
Matilda, the narrator, is 10-years older than Lara & has ‘looked after‘ her whilst not really looking after herself.
Matilda‘s compartmentalised life gets disrupted when Lara comes to visit & her absent father re-enters their lives. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finished reading this palate cleanser loaned to me by a friend. I have heard about Jock Serong as an Australian author, but not read one of his books before now. Decent #ozfiction with two intertwined timelines and some magical realism thrown in.

Proud of myself for getting this book read waaayy before my book club deadline for a change. I‘m glad to have read my first Kristin Hannah. It might also be my last though. A soft pick, it was readable and not too badly written, but overall not really my jam.
Anyone care to try to convince me otherwise? Any books from her considerable cannon that fans think I should give a go at?

This book was chosen for my book club last month and as usual I waited too late to start it and spent the weekend madly trying to get it read. Luckily it was very easy to dedicate myself to it because it sucked me in and propelled me through to the very last page. Our book club‘s analysis revealed its many flaws, but overall, a great #ozfiction read 👏📖❤️.

Subversive, thought-provoking and moving. Glad I picked this up. Need to read more of his work.

This was excellent. A debut #ozfiction novel that I picked up at a second hand bookstore last week. Engrossing, well-written and informative. A story of the Vietnamese immigrant experience of Australia, centered around a horrific crime that the main character Ky, the sister of the victim, is attempting to solve. Struggled to put it down. Bravo 👏.

I am not sure how to review this book that I finished reading a few days ago. The first half for me was meandering and a bit irritating. Then once I realised what was happening, I became more engaged and was propelled forward. Then it ended. I‘m not sure I “buy” the relationship. An unnerving, clever and different read.

Well that sure didn‘t dampen my desire to visit Iceland in July next year. Many of you may know of Hannah from her debut novel, Burial Rights. This, her fourth book, tells the back story to her writing Burial Rights including her year as an exchange student in Iceland. It helped me understand why, whilst good, her second and third novels didn‘t quite match up to the power of the first. Hannah is a #mustread author for me.

The perks of having a lurgy = reading this in a day. So much packed into this tiny book. Feel like I need to pick it straight back up and read it again. 😟❤️🥺

Book‘n‘breakfast. I loooved this breakfast. The book, not so much. It‘s our book club read this month and I feel like I‘ve been reading it FOR EVER.
My menopausal, feminist self just can‘t be F*ed with stories about sexist old white men. I didn‘t much care about Mountstuart. Of his time he may be, and I am of mine 💪🤷🏻‍♀️🖕.
Let‘s see how the book club discussion goes on Monday, but on the weekend, I can read what I want 🙌🤓📖.

And another work purchase. This one on neurodiversity for kids. ❤️🧠🌎

Just purchased these books to share with incoming Kindy parents at an orientation session next term. Love my job (most of the time 😉) 🥰.

What a story🥹. What writing 😍.
Imagine if you grew up knowing you were adopted and were told a fiction about the circumstances of your birth.
In your late 40s you get hold of your original birth certificate, and read your biological mother‘s name…famous Australian writer Charmian Clift.
This book was re-released after the author‘s daughter Gina Chick wrote her memoir, We Are The Stars, a book I read and loved in 2024.
Wonderful 🥰🙏👏

Well, I did it! Managed to get this finished before our book club met last night. Seems it was liked by all. It was a low pick for me. I like that historical fiction is being written about barely known women of substance and that‘s why it‘s a pick. But I found this a little dry and lacking in depth. Pretty cover though. Sort of #ozfiction (Scottish-born, now living in Australia).

And once again I leave myself 48 hours to read the book club book I‘ve known about for a month. #currentlyspeedreading #kathdaynightstyle

I adore Rose Tremain‘s novels. I can‘t recall how I first learned about her, but I have been reading her for many years. This one is set in the 1980s in a small French village. A cast of excellently drawn characters navigate their way through life. Perfection 👏😍🙏

#currentlyreading #favouriteauthor

Leni is reminding me of another grumpy old woman character that I am fond of. 😂
Any other fans of Rose Tremain out there?
#currentlyreading

@Rissreadswithcats and I went to see Hannah talk about her latest book last night. Hannah is Australian and her first novel, Burial Rights, achieved international acclaim. This book is her fourth and is a memoir, which in part tells the story of the inspiration and writing of Burial Rights. I can‘t wait to read it 🤓.
Thanks for organising for us to go Nerissa 🙏.

I read this book while I was away on an annual trip with three friends, one of whom has ongoing cancer treatment. She‘s doing well currently 😊.
I didn‘t want to put it down and managed to get a big chunk read sitting on the beach in the photo. 😎🙏

This book caught my eye when I was book shopping with @Rissreadswithcats & when I read the blurb I decided to buy it. A French epistolary novel that starts with a derogatory social media post. Addiction and recovery, #metoo and the pandemic feature in this guns-blazing, disturbing read.

Ahh, that‘s better. (Sighs with the relief of having taken quiet refuge in a delightful, absorbing reading experience).

Marriage, or any long term romantic relationship, is hard. This cleverly written and uniquely structured short novel explores one such relationship.

A most excellent read.

Yeah, nah. #ozfiction I was compelled to read for book club.

Fantasy/magical realism are some of my least favourite genres. Having said that, I made an effort to go along for the ride. I enjoyed the world that Clarke built, the characters and the twisted tale.
Thanks once again goes to @Rissreadswithcats for being my book-pusher, and literally putting this in my hand 🙏. Pushing me right out of my 📖 comfort zone 😆.

Book two from the 2025 Stella Prize long list finished. Can‘t recall how this came to be on my radar, but when I saw it recently announced on the longlist I bumped it up.
I really liked it. The first half felt a little bit clunky to me but then it hit its stride and I didn‘t want to put it down. Excellent #queerfic #ozfiction #bildungsroman

So proud of my eldest son who is working on the Little Fella Yarns project with the Western Australian State Library. A part of the Better Beginnings early literacy program, these book packs are given out to parents of Aboriginal babies in regional WA. The packs are being rejuvenated & my son is the project officer. I‘ve been asking him to bring me home a pack, and today he finally did! This is one of the awesome books in it ❤️🖤💛👶🏽📚👏.

This beautiful debut micro-memoir was loaned to me by a friend. I devoured it and returned it to her tonight. It doesn‘t exist in the Litsy database. The writer is a young Western Australian Aboriginal woman. I loved it. I hope it‘s just the beginning of Mabel Gibson‘s writing career.

Stunning. Chose this #ozfiction for my book club to read this month. It was announced as a Stella Prize longlisted book this week. A very special, quiet exploration of grief.

This book has sat patiently on my #tbr shelves, gifted to me in an Aussie book swap years ago. The cover is so beautiful, just like this beach (background) I was at yesterday.
The cover belies the contents of this dark read. I found it confusing yet engrossing. Multiple narrators over multiple timelines. Disturbing.

My mum has advanced dementia and this novel feels very real and how I imagine things have been for my mum. So many parallels. I have often pondered how utterly discombobulating it must be. This book captured the unmooring nature of dementia so well. Beautiful 🥺

In this novella, Nabila is 80 and lives in present day Australia. In 1948 she and her family were expelled from their village in Palestine. This modern parable is beautifully written and very accessible at only 102 pages. I hope it is read widely.

This is an unusual choice of book for me. I didn‘t know anything about Gina Chick before I bought it. But this memoir just kept jumping onto my radar from a bunch of diverse places. It was calling to me.
And “Wow!” 🤩 I loved it 💖
What a fascinating, awesome woman. As the saying goes, ‘It takes all sorts to make a world‘. And the world is better for having Gina in it.

Read for book club. I‘m still not sure how I feel about Rooney, having read three of her novels now. She‘s a ‘blokey‘ writer, which I think is the reason my husband likes her. That and the sex scenes 😉.
Overall this one is a pick. I was engaged and many of the brother/family issues felt very realistic. Looking forward to our book club discussion.

#5JoysFriday @DebinHawaii
1. Today‘s #breakfastandbook 🤤
2. Returning to work & getting to spend a rare 2 full training days with colleagues. As a school psychologist working in schools, I hardly ever get to do this.
3. Karaks (black cockatoos) in a tree in my neighbourhood.
4. Going to the museum with the family & doing a Kimberley VR (far north Western Australia).
5. My son getting his first professional job promoting early childhood literacy!

This book 💔🇵🇸. I learn about the world, history and perspectives from quality fiction. This book certainly ‘schooled‘ me. Extraordinarily harrowing and beautiful. Published in 2020, a good friend recommended it at the time. And oh, what has happened since then. So glad to have read it. 🥺🙏

Loving this book. I‘m a big fan of watermelon 🍉, especially now when we are in the middle of summer (over 40C again today). But roasted watermelon seeds that you crack open? I can‘t imagine shelling them or what‘s actually inside. We now have only seedless watermelons here, although I always remember collecting up the seeds and spitting them out as a kid.

Oh my, what an engrossing, immersive book this was. Auto-fiction by a Bengali Australian telling of her experience of psychosis. Talk about the ultimate unreliable narrator! I am grateful to have been given access to her world. She deftly depicts some of the inherent difficulties in treating acute MH episodes. Of course when you‘re paranoid & delusional you think your reality is real, the system is out to get you, & you refuse your meds 🤯❤️‍🩹🙏.

Stopped reading Picoult years ago for a reason: I am a book snob. This was naff.
Case in point: 2 lovers are reunited,
“A small cry climbed the ladder of her throat, & then she was in his arms & pressed against him & his mouth was crushed to hers. His hands speared into her hair, scattering the pins like raindrops around them. She melted like wax, shaped against him, remade.” 🤮
Why did I read it? It was gifted in my book club Secret Santa.

Once again I must thank @Rissreadswithcats for literally putting a book in my hand and commanding me to read it 🤣🙏. I loved it so much. Is there a movie or series adaptation of it I should watch?

Black or Carnaby cockatoos are endemic to southwest Western Australia & are endangered, mostly due to habitat loss. This book outlines how we can work to retain them in urban environments. I learnt that the native garden I planted in our last house was unwittingly consistent with the principles in this book - I just wanted to be waterwise, grow local plants & attract birds to my birdbath 😁. Now I need to work on the garden in my new house…

My final read of 2024. It didn‘t grab me. I can do no plot if the character development is excellent or the subject of interest. It was beautifully written and there were moments, just not quite enough of them for me.

How I‘m heading into 2025. #currentlyreading

Each year I aim to read roughly a book a week. In 2024 I read 53 🙌. Here are my 10 favourites (for a variety of reasons). If you‘re a detail person you‘ll note there are only 9 books pictured. That‘s because The Prophet Song by Paul Lynch is currently loaned to a friend. I struggle to choose THE best book, but if I had to, it would be the tagged book, which was an incredible, unexpected, devastating and beautiful read. HNY from Western Australia.

Creepy AF. @Rissreads and I came across a mountain of Doris Lessing novels in a secondhand store a while ago & vowed to read one/some. This is my first Lessing. Oh my goodness. An unsettling, disturbing & thought-provoking read.

Ok Aussie Secret Santa recipients, where the bloody hell are you? It‘s most definitely Christmas Eve here and I‘ve opened my beautiful #aussiesecretsanta parcel from @Freespirit
Will you look at these gorgeous gifts 👀🎁? Thank you Sally & thank you @CarolynM for organising this year 🙏.
Come on now, it‘s show and tell time…

Holy 💩⚽️⚽️! Climate dystopian #ozfiction, written by a local #mustread author. Finished reading it today, a day that reached 43C 🔥, whilst hibernating in air con. Absolutely terrifying and affecting. This is Winton desperately trying to WAKE US UP. Read it… if you dare. #chunkster

#aussiesecretsanta
It‘s arrived! How exciting. Thank you in anticipation Sally @Freespirit 😁🙏💕. Bring on Christmas Eve. @CarolynM

Australian author Helen Garner is a must-read for me. She‘s an octogenarian and this is her first book in a while. She says she wrote it about her youngest grandson‘s U16 football team as a way to connect with him “before he turns into a man and I die”. As a mum of boys obsessed with AFL myself (whilst I have minimal interest 😬), there was a lot for me to relate to.