Chadstone Readings had a James Islington signing today - Chadstone, being the largest shopping centre in the Southern Hemisphere, is normally a place you wouldn‘t find me BUT I hadn‘t realised that James was Australian AND I‘m aiming to get to a million steps for the walking challenge I‘m in (& the advantage of walking means avoiding the carpark).

I spelt my name for the cashier & didn‘t realise I‘d gained an E until after I‘d joined the line 😝

I only buy dresses if they have good pockets… points 2 and 3 would require slightly more reflection…

The appeal of this dark comic described as Richard Starry‘s Busy Town meets Dexter is in the disconnect between illustrations that (mostly) wouldn‘t look out of place in a children‘s book with a storyline about a gruesome murder spree in a small town & a 🐻 who is concerned that her own murderous ways are on the verge of being uncovered.

That said, I thought this would have a more tongue in cheek vibe but this is just dark, which isn‘t my vibe.

lol

My dislike of Nitani and his disregard and general dislike of women (especially Ashikawa, who he worked with and was dating) coloured my experience of this book. I did enjoy the office politics and the petty frustrations that bubble up when you are forced to work with people, with different interests and talents that don't always compliment your own. Not quite sure what I was expecting when I picked this one up, but it wasn't quite this.

Regency romance. Not my usual but I had a great time listening to Diana and Max overcome their first, unfortunate meeting and slowly fall head over heels for each other. Loved that while this is a romance book - female friendships, and how vital they are, were given just as many pages.

Low angst, great secondary characters, swoony hand kisses. Really enjoyed it.

Working in a public library is rarely dull and yesterday I had to call an ambulance after an elderly patron took a tumble down some stairs.

Not the first emergency services call I‘ve made at work but the one thing they seem to have in common is the injured person trying to convince themselves & me that they are fine actually, and no, they don‘t need me to call anyone for them.

A very sweet colleague bought me roses & complimented my calmness.

Glorious on audio.

Past meets present, tales of the old world meet the realities of the modern world - in this lush novel in verse that celebrates Latin America and the Jewish diasporas. 16 year old Ilana is banished to Prague for the summer by her parents, who hope that the time away will help her to focus on her studies and less on her music. ⬇️

While I was initially horrified to learn that Henry & Tobias had parted ways - they did need the time apart. I didn‘t have to wait too long until Henry‘s mum manages to reunite the band - and these two idiots slowly work their way back to each other (adding a new folklorist to the found family along the way! I could read stories of their future exploits forever. Poor Tobias is locked into being the [ignored] voice of reason forever).

This book made me WHEEZE because I was laughing so hard - the yeerks have a major weakness and it‘s maple and ginger instant oatmeal. Jake had a monologue about oatmeal not playing a major role in famous historical battles and Rachel solved problems by going through walls in elephant morph and making it Visser Three‘s problem by throwing the oats into a yeerk pool and him in after it.

No notes.

“We can‘t back out now,” Marco said. “I‘ve 36 boxes of maple and ginger instant oatmeal at home, in easy open single serve pouches.”

Cutting it mighty fine with this one - I have 20ish minutes left but won‘t be able to return to this until the early afternoon… work really gets in the way of being able to finish your book sometimes!

Off to introduce the people who turn up for a weekday, 2pm library book chat to weird girl lit fic!!

(and to shock them with the fact I‘ve read 2 memoirs! I tell them every time I have non fiction in my stack that I‘m not really a non fiction reader)

Imagine if you will, a book that gently fills your heart with cozy fantasy and whimsy with just a dash of monstrous things in the wood and that‘s pretty much what this book delivers in perhaps too few pages…

It‘s been almost a week since I read this and I still don‘t really know what I want to say about it, one could just keyboard smash about it, but I really love what Emily Tesh did with this novella, which I listened to on a whim. I loved it.

The easiest way to get me to read a book is to dangle a comparison to my beloved Howl‘s Moving Castle in front of me… and well I‘m not immune to spectacular covers either.

I absolutely loved this - definite reread material. While this is billed as a standalone, I think the experience might have been even better if I‘d read the Raybearer novels that this shares a world with.

⬇️

*laughs nervously* I‘M SCARED!!! (of how much story needs to happen for this to have a satisfying ending)

(Also maybe I should have read the Raybearer novels first?? but it said standalone and hooked me with the Howl‘s Moving Castle comparison)

I must confess, I borrowed this from Libby under the impression that it was going to be a cozy fantasy novel (I was looking for Isabelle Nagg and the pot of basil) BUT in some respects this worked out very well because this was completely delightful and I probably would have passed it by if I‘d stopped to read the blurb.

This is a collection of anecdotes from Oliver‘s time working as a antiquarian bookseller in London.

Hello! Looks like being indecisive about adding this to my library has paid off since it‘s half price at Dymocks right now!

Ahh yes, the well known Animorphs to hard core communist pipeline… come on in! the water is fine!

(Now if they‘d gone for Animorphs to vocal anti war activist pipeline, they might just be on to something)

The [British Monarch] birthday honours list is always questionable but this is pretty insulting to the people who actually deserved recognition.

(This is a headline from a satirical article but he was a genuinely terrible PM who left the county & lied about it during some of the worst bushfires in recent times. He‘s one of the architects of Robo Debt, he secretly appointed himself into multiple ministries & that‘s just the tip of the iceberg)

I keep reading this series because I really enjoy the characters - Rarity has such a good group of friends and community around her.

I hated the miscommunication storyline with Archer. It was such a bizarre thing for him not to have communicated, abruptly just telling Rarity that he didn‘t think he should move in with her after all. Boy, bye. It did resolve but honestly 🤨

Overall an enjoyable read but maybe needed one more round of editing.

The more I think about this story - the more it charms me. It did get off to a very slow start and I did consider not finishing it but ultimately decided that I believed in the premise AND i'm so glad that I did. While I do wish that there had been more backstory given for the other children - it did all weave together beautifully (and what a well executed red herring there was - had me doubting myself!) ⬇️

I came for the weird girl, lit fic vibes but found myself unexpectedly charmed by the whole thing, vision boards included.

I read this and wondered if the “western classics” are really popular or well known in Japan or if it was a niche interest of the author - because there are just so many references to really old books… the scene where the musketeers ride in to rescue, iconic! Also loved that this one had one main story and villain, it just felt more developed to me ⬇️

Picking up from Penric‘s Mission this sees Penric still trying to get General Arisaydia and his sister, Nikys across the border to safety. It‘s not going particularly well - until they take shelter in a brothel with a louse problem. Long story short, Mira‘s (one of the imprints that makes up Desdemona) expertise as a courtesan plays a heavy role in eventually getting them all to safety. As always, I love the slice of life nature of these books.

I saved the last hour of the audiobook for my walk home and end up crying so hard that I had to stop walking until I could blink all the tears clear. So - 5 stars, no notes!

Tbh, I wasn‘t sure about Bud in the beginning, if he was a character I wanted to spend time with - but then he hit submit on his own obituary and well, I was hooked.

I keep stumbling into books that explore grief in its many manifestations ⬇️

Ages ago, I ordered the Rainbow Crate All For The Game special edition box - and the whole thing seemed like one problem after the other, starting with wrong details on dust jackets BUT also for me a damaged book - which was eventually replaced with an even more damaged book… third time lucky and this one is what I expected to get the first time!

My copy of The Hearing Trumpet arrived and well, my finger slipped when I placed the order so Down Below and The Skeleton‘s Holiday arrived with it… oops?!

I kind of want all the editions of The Hearing Trumpet tho - so I may haunt some used books websites… the cover art is just that good.

ngl Marco broke my heart in this one. His biggest heartbreak (his Mom‘s death) and closely guarded secret (she‘s actually alive and an unwilling human controller for a very high ranking Yeerk) previously only known by Jake - comes to light and Marco is left to deal with the consequences.

There‘s shark morphs and some lighted jail breaking of some parrots from a fast food chain - but this one was 💔😩

Enemies to lovers but really misunderstanding to pining to lovers while also somehow being both a slow burn and insta love???

This isn‘t really my genre but the audiobook made me laugh many times so I‘m calling it a win! And I can tick read an Ali Hazelwood off my to-read list.

“I had won. I think it was the first time in my entire life that I‘d won any kind of athletic contest. Sure, I was a horse - but a victory is a victory.”

I love that every once in a while we get a book where the Animorphs get to be a little goofy, where the stakes are not quite so high… and in this one we had yeerk controllers in wild horses trying to discover what alien technology the airforce had locked up in TOP SECRET AREA, Zone 91.

♥️ this so much that upon finishing the audio, I bought the paperback. What‘s not to ♥️ about a story centring on 92 year old Marion that has multiple mentions of a 110 year old mother with a keen interest in sports?! Marion is rich in friends - it‘s Carmella that gifts her the hearing trumpet & how that transforms her world! I never knew what to expect with this book (other than the murder, that I saw coming) but oh such (delightfully weird) fun!

The (Conservative party) fallout from the Australian federal election continues!! We are not beating the “not a serious country” allegations today because 🍿

Great day for memes and people who enjoy reading comment sections… (the funniest reel I saw put this news to Eamon‘s long forgotten 2004 song “Fuck It (I Don‘t Want You Back)” excuse me while I go and add that song to my playlist 😂

Almost let my loan expire but decided, no - I could totally finish this in 2 days, I should give it a go!! & HONESTLY best decision, I‘m obsessed with this book actually.

I‘ve got no idea where we are going but I‘m loving the journey - it just went off on a tangent about a nun - whose portrait hangs in the dining room of the institution where the book takes place & I‘m excited to see how that comes back round to fit in with the main narrative.

I have a mild bird phobia AND YET the movie (which I saw first) and the short story (which I decided to read to see how it differed from the movie) both live absolutely RENT FREE in my mind which is why I immediately bought tickets to Malthouse Theatre‘s The Birds - because what‘s a little more bird related trauma?!

Absolutely phenomenal one woman show. It‘s a lightly modernised version of the short story & 😍 but also 😩 & 🥺 & tbh also 😱

Low pick. This is my second Nghi Vo book and I love the way she writes. Lots of other reviews have pointed to this being very vibe based - and that‘s both a strength and a weakness - loved watching a city rise, fall and rise again over a large span of years but the weakness is that there isn‘t really a character that you grow to care deeply about.

This certainly is a fast paced affair, full of intrigue, double crossing, opium taking, English prejudice against the Chinese people who have made their home in London and more fighting than you'd expect in a murder mystery. Lao She, is the shy academic who gets swept up in Judge Dee Ren Jie's investigation into the murder of an old acquaintance. There is definitely a Holmes/Watson vibe to the pair.

Dreams are a reoccurring theme throughout Isobelle Carmody‘s works - and this is no exception. The basic premise is woman processes traumatic event through lucid dreaming but there is layers. The story was perhaps fairly predictable but the unfolding of it remained interesting. The ideas from this short story went on to be explored more fully in Comes The Night, which I haven‘t read yet so I‘m looking forward to seeing how the stories intwine.

More than a week after the election and I can finally stop refreshing the page to see if my electorate has been officially called (it was called on election night but then the vote count narrowed, partially because of postal votes - which lead to it being put back to “too close to call” 😭)

I did hit the iPhones limit on tabs open (500 🤪) so this means I can safely close ONE tab!

🎻

https://theconversation.com/a-new-publisher-will-focus-on-books-by-men-are-male-...

Feeling unhinged about this, actually.

(The election was a week ago 🫣😭 they technically have 13 days to count the votes but I NEED to know if Monique is gonna hold Kooyong!!!)

Anyway, never let anyone tell you that your vote isn‘t powerful - this is a gonna be a tight race to the bitter end.

I woke up the other day & thought "i am ready to be hurt again" and immediately started my reread. I remembered the basics but had forgotten so much- and going on Cooper's emotional journey (he's really going through it!!!) was SO GOOD. Will I be brave enough to move on to book 3... where it very much looks like the boys will be going through it again - but this time with Oliver's family being the ones entangled in a murder investigation? TBD.

Folio Society continuing to lead me into temptation with DWJ titles…

An ode to the power of books & their readers - there was a part that reminded me of the message in 'the velveteen rabbit‘ that the things we love have a life of their own. In some respects, this is a warning against the commodification of books, the dangers of book banning & the power of books to both inspire & connect people. I'm guilty of choosing to read this based on the cover & while I enjoyed it - there was less magical cat than anticipated.

That pesky Ellimist is back! And “not interfering” in what could be interpreted as quite an interfering way…

This is a Tobias book and we *finally* see him offered something of a pathway back to being a real boy.

Really enjoyed getting to meet two Yerk free Hork-Bajir and how it challenged all of the Animorphs previous assumptions about them being violent (like, them eating bark and using their blades primarily as tools rather than weapons).

Well, I got two of my three election wishes… which isn‘t bad. Senate votes will still take awhile to be finalised. #auspol

Fingers crossed my IG algorithm stops serving up young Albo thirst traps now because 🫣 whyyyyy?!

Settling in for a long night of election coverage…

Couldn‘t miss Antony Green (Australian Election Analyst and Commentator) calling his last election for the ABC…

The campaigning in my electorate has been kind of wild - my highlight was definitely the elderly lady that punched a neo Nazi in the face when he event crashed. Will be interesting to see who wins the seat.

CRAZY work making me care about Elfangor - the andalite warrior prince who DIES DRAMATICALLY in book one after giving the “Animorphs” the power to morph AND for making it EVEN MORE TRAGIC in retrospect for the already most tragic of the Animorphs kids.

I‘m feeling totally normal and fine about it
🫨🫨🫨😭🫨🫨🫨

I came to the Peanuts comics long after they‘d stopped being published - I‘ve always loved grumpy Lucy. I‘m new to manga style biographies but I really enjoyed this, it lays out Charles “Sparky” Schulz life in a simple manner, concentrating on his major milestones both at work and with family. I especially enjoyed learning how diligent he was, and how far in advance he completed his work - he never grew out of being anxious about being late.

Caspia from Maine starts to soften towards Brooklyn when she discovers a stash of old letters between sisters at the apartment her parents have rented for the summer. Each letter contains a clue about a plant and before long Caspia is set on an adventure towards solving riddles, falling in love with nature and making new friends in the neighbourhood. All in all - just a feel good time!