In response to the New York Times list, Readings bookshop got appropriate people to nominate their favourite Australian books of this century and compiled a top 30. Here's the first 10.

https://www.readings.com.au/news/best-australian-books-of-the-21st-century

This has been my handbag book for the last few weeks. Bull Durham is one of my favourite films. Sheldon‘s background as a minor league baseball player was really interesting, and so was his description of the process of making the film, but what I most enjoyed was the insight into how and why he wrote it in the first place.

I used to enjoy L A Witt‘s books, but the more recent ones haven‘t done it for me. I feel like she‘s not trying with the character development - there‘s just a lot of repetitive blather about whatever angst she‘s ascribed to them - so the romance falls flat. I went back and reread an early one - it‘s not just my recent mood. I‘ve bailed on the last few I‘ve read and not bothered with a review. I think I‘ll pass on her in future. Not in database.

Ugh!

I‘m retitling this one Diary of a Narcissist. What an insufferable, self obsessed pain in the neck she was from beginning to end. Maybe I‘m missing something, but most of her inner monologue seemed to me to be just a load of pretentious twaddle.

I‘m looking forward to the discussion.

#CampLitsy24

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

Not much story, but what an entertaining collection of characters! I loved Harriet & her Aunt Finch (I could just imagine Aunt Finch as a Suffragette, yelling slogans while chained to the railings at the Palace of Westminster😆) & I liked Robert for seeing her charms. The interactions between Mrs Prentice and Mrs Minnis were a hoot, but as for the Popes… oh dear.

#ReadYourKindle list for July. Thanks Cydney😘

#BookReport

Lots of comfort reading in June. It‘s hard to pick a favourite. The Sweet Dove Died or The Masqueraders, I think.

Well, I adored this! So much fun. My favourite Heyer so far. Thank you again @LeahBergen for the gift of this book.

Delightful! I loved Valency and Barney and hated the appalling Stirlings. The descriptions of the landscape were sublime. Thank you to @LeahBergen for the gift of the book and to @thegirlwiththelibrarybag for reminding me to read it.

I wouldn‘t have thought it possible to set a convincing romance against the background of a bunch of civil servants trying to get a piece of legislation through the House of Lords, but this lovely novella proved me quite wrong. It also gave me a little bit of PTSD from the pressures and frustrations of my time doing that kind of work. And I just loved that it described one of the MCs as a “policy wonk” 😆
Not in the database ☹️
#ReadYourKindle

I love an m/m sports romance - this trilogy delivered plenty of warm & fuzzies with a touch of spice plus I learned a lot about baseball. Rather than the usual stories about stars & their successes, these are about the players on the fringes of the big league & their struggles with injuries, form slumps, the uncertainty of being traded or sent down to the minors & the resultant mental health issues. Better writing than your average romance too.

So sweet and charming. It evoked memories of my newlywed days, although I don‘t think I was ever quite such a goose as Felicity or my husband as ineffectual as Ian, and of our first house where we were very happily childless for a lot longer than the first year! But I can‘t imagine how we managed without a cook and a maid🤣🤣🤣

#PersephoneClub

This is an extraordinarily atmospheric book. The writing was unobtrusive but incredibly effective -I felt the primness of the place and time, the harshness of the weather, the rugged emptiness of the landscape, the rough expanse of the sea and the claustrophobic interiors. The story was simple but engaging and offered plenty to think about. Thanks to the #CampLitsy24 hosts and participants for the discussions which added to my enjoyment.

Barbara Pym joins the permissive society😳 No anthropologists, Anglicans or excellent women in this one, and the entanglements between the characters are as much sexual as romantic. Pym‘s wit is as entertaining as ever, but I have to take issue with her on one point. “Books as presents were somehow lacking in excitement and romance.” What rot!

How could I resist adding this bag to my #bookhaul?

#BookReport for May.

Edenglassie and Caledonian Road are my favourites for the month, and possibly for the year so far.

#ReadYourKindle list for June. I‘ll go look at the numbers drawn now🙂 Thanks Cydney.

I‘ve been out of action for a few days so coming in late with these end of month posts.

Very slow burn m/m hockey romance that was most enjoyable for the soul baring and supportive group chats between the players. I‘d love to believe that a bunch of hockey bros had conversations like these but something tells me it‘s not very likely. And I claim I don‘t read fantasy😉😆

This final book in the trilogy was just as enjoyable as the first 2. This time the romance was set against the background of rehearsals for a play about the relationship between Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. I enjoyed the glimpse of backstage life and I wish the play was real because I would love to see it. I hope these 2 authors will write together again sometime.
#ReadYourKindle

Explores the developing relationship between 2 men in their 50s, largely through the lens of their previous significant relationships & their interactions with others. Tsioklas‘s writing is not for those with delicate sensibilities, he is brutal with his characters‘ psychologies & seems to glory in their animal essence, particularly their smells. My favourite part of the book was a dinner party argument covering a lot of topical issues. A low pick

1. Caught up with a friend from out of town
2. Finally got rid of a cold
3. IRL book group
4. Play-off hockey
5. Dinner at my favourite restaurant with my husband and daughter

#5JoySFriday

Thanks for the tag @DebinHawaii

This has been my handbag book for the last few weeks & I‘ve enjoyed it in a quite a few places. It took me a little while to warm up to Waldo, but I loved Ancilla from the start and I got plenty of laughs from the dreadful Tiffany. Among my favourite Heyer‘s so far @mabell @willaful

A young female thief, on the run from a former ally, thinks she has found safety with an antiques dealer in the Adelaide Hills, but she‘s not the only one who is hiding from her past. A multi stranded caper/thriller story with a lot of South Australian local references and some eye opening details about operating scams. Most enjoyable. #ozfiction

Fun, twisty Golden Age mystery about an amnesiac who may or may not have shot a man and stolen some emeralds. The hero is charming and the heroine is a lot pluckier than than poor Cynthia from Greylands. I think you‘d like it @LeahBergen

#ReadYourKindle

There are plenty of books about the beautiful people of the early 20th century swanning about Europe from one fashionable location to another in a whirl of social engagements & entertainments & falling in and out of love with one another. This book is about the impact of that behaviour on their children. It is sad, infuriating and amusing in equal measure. Thanks #WhartonBuddyRead for getting me to read it.

2024 Miles Franklin Award long list announced today. Any thoughts #ozfiction readers?

After The Days of Anna Madrigal it feels a bit redundant to be going back in time with the Tales of the City characters, and I don‘t think there‘s anything here that really adds to my understanding of them, but I enjoyed spending time with Mona in her English life. It was also a salient reminder of the early 1990‘s and the dark days of the AIDS epidemic.

Dual timelines, mirroring stories, truth telling, cultural learning, tragedy & humour feature in this brilliant book about early & modern Brisbane. I‘ve just come home from seeing Melissa Lucashenko at the Melbourne Writers Festival (I was too engrossed to take a photo) She spoke about humanising the statistics, reminding us that the atrocities were suffered by real people, with families, hopes & cares of their own. #ozfiction at its finest.

OMG Cynthia! Could you be any more of a drip? And your taste in men is terrible. All the “secrets” of this story were so well flagged (I mean, Letchingham? The clue‘s in the name, love) but they just passed you by. Sigh…

But it was good, campy fun and I enjoyed it.

#FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

A sprawling saga of modern London that exposes the web of relationships at the intersection of aristocracy, politics, celebrity & business that facilitate & cover up corruption, abuse & bigotry. Meanwhile, for many outside that sphere, their social & family connections are more likely to endanger than empower them. There‘s a lot to think about, a lot to Spark anger at the inequality & injustice, but it‘s also frequently funny. I loved it.

#BookReport for April. Not a very good reading month. Rereading Crocodile on the Sandbank was the highlight, The Cryptic Clue my favourite new read.

#ReadYourKindle

Revised list for May. Thanks Cydney.

A bit different from the previous Cait Nary romances. This one is told from the POV of the non-hockey player. It‘s super sweet.

I wasn‘t feeling it with either of these, they were both kind of annoying. Arthur and Teddy was trying too hard. Murder on Mustique was like reading a something written by the most unself aware socialite you can imagine all about how fabulous they and all their friends are. Ugh! At least I can delete them from my kindle now. Hope May‘s #ReadYourKindle choices are better!

It's a long time since I read this, my Amelia Peabody rereads tend to be the mid series books (the grown up Ramses, Amelia & Emerson's son, is a lot of fun in those) so I'm grateful to #BakerStreetIrregulars for sending me back to it. It's a proper old fashioned adventure/romance written with great wit & style. The audio performance is excellent too.
@CatLass007 @StayCurious

It‘s 1966 and the tea ladies find their jobs under threat from the new fangled Cafe Bar machines but it doesn‘t stop them from solving some new mysteries. I loved the use of the historical background - the confusion over decimal currency and the political shenanigans surrounding the building of the Sydney Opera House. I‘m so glad this has become a series. #Ozfiction

#WhartonBuddyRead
Finally finished this one. I enjoyed the satire, particularly Pauline‘s self obsession and pursuit of ways to avoid genuine feeling for anyone else. Lita struck me as an updated Undine Spragg - Hollywood would be exactly the sort of society which would have appealed to her. I wish the ending had been clearer, I would at least like to know why Lita agreed not to divorce.

#TLT #ThreeListThursday

Thanks for the tag @Lizpixie In your honour I limited my choices to Aussie music.

Ita - Cold Chisel (I believe, I believe in what she says, yes I do!)
Love Is (What I Say) - INXS (the extended remix on the cassette only release Dekadance which I listened to obsessively in 1985)
Love In Motion - Icehouse (I wish the Chrissie Amphlett duet re-recording was 80s rather than 92, but the original version will do)

Visiting Sydney. It‘s a perfect day for a harbour cruise so I took a trip on the Manly ferry and treated myself to an ice cream on the Corso. Bliss!

#PersephoneClub

I didn‘t love this one, a low pick for me. I didn‘t feel much sympathy for anyone besides Ruth, Carrie and, to a lesser extent, Mrs Knight. I guess it was a good illustration of the dangers, both practical and moral, of getting into debt. I was impressed, once again, by the apparent ease with which a young woman could write and publish a novel 😆

Here are my suggestions for #CampLitsy24

I just got home from this show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. It was so much fun, all of the (small) audience were total book geeks too. We laughed ourselves silly. @LeeRHarry @thegirlwiththelibrarybag It‘s on until the end of the week. I highly recommend it.

I enjoyed this one a lot. A twisty murder mystery with an interesting cast of characters who all turned out to be not quite what they seemed. I didn‘t expect anything about the resolution, and I must have missed something because there was one aspect of it I still don‘t understand🤔 🤷🏻‍♀️ I realised part way through that I had read the author‘s debut, Greenlight, and didn‘t like it much. He‘s obviously improved 😆 #ozfiction

#ReadYourKindle

I finished 3 of the selected books and started on the 4th so I have replaced all 4. Can‘t wait to see what‘s up next. Thanks Cydney😘

#BookReport for March. One Another was the best book I read, but Something Wild and Wonderful was the one I enjoyed most.

My Heyer loving friend brought this one and The Nonesuch to our last book group meeting for me to borrow. This is an early one, and I think it shows, but I had a thoroughly good time with it any way. I found French polished Philip very amusing indeed.

This is a very serious book, which would usually put me off, but I read it in one sitting & I‘m going to be thinking about it for a while. The narrative switches between the experiences of Helen, an Australian at Cambridge in 1992 doing PhD on Joseph Conrad, & episodes from Conrad‘s life & work. I think it is, in part, a meditation on dislocation & associated undercurrents of violence. I think it will be on a few prize lists. #ozfiction

Sweet m/m hockey romance.

#ReadYourKindle

The latest in the Lindenshaw mystery series. Enjoyable as always and I liked the way she worked the day-to-day realities of the pandemic into the story.

This book, a memoir of life on the graveyard shift in an outer suburban service (gas) station, has had some glowing reviews. I wonder how much the publishers paid for them? While I guess it‘s worthwhile to cast light on the difficulties of this sort of poorly paid work, 300+ pages of over-written anecdotes of drug fuelled crazinesss (both customers & author) gets pretty tedious & I was uncomfortable with the depiction of the underprivileged.