Jana's Reviews From the Stacks hosts Spell the Month in Books meme the first Saturday of every month, thankfully latecomers are always welcome! I love compiling this list as it gives me a good excuse to go back over my older posts, checking them for missing links, weird formatting and other inconsistencies that occured during the … Continue reading Spell the Month in Books | June
The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding | Holly Ringland #AWWfiction
On the afternoon that Esther Wilding drove homeward along the coast, a year after her sister had walked into the sea and disappeared, the light was painfully golden. I've spent a little bit of time mulling over why this book didn't work for me. I don't read a lot of popular fiction, but I do … Continue reading The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding | Holly Ringland #AWWfiction
The Fire and the Rose | Robyn Cadwallader
Eleanor has no parchment, but she does have three quills and a pot of ink. She sets them on the lid of her wooden chest and looks at them. Nothing more. Australian author Robyn Cadwallader writes superb, well-research historical fiction. Medievel England, religion and the role of women seem to be her speciality. The Fire … Continue reading The Fire and the Rose | Robyn Cadwallader
100 Best Books Written by Women
Must-read books by female writers, chosen by our books editor and the Good Housekeeping team. Good Housekeeping | 8th March 2023 | 100 best books to read by women authors I can't say that I'm a regular Good Housekeeping UK reader, but Paula @Book Jotter includes in her weekly roundup, Winding Up the Week, a … Continue reading 100 Best Books Written by Women
May 2023 | The Books
Airlie Beach, Queensland About halfway through May I thought I wouldn't have many books to show for it. But thanks to a 12 day holiday in the beautiful, warm, sunny Whitsundays at the end of the month, a reading blitz occured! I brought home Greek Lessons (which had been my lunch-time read) on the last … Continue reading May 2023 | The Books
Nothing Special | Nicole Flattery
beautiful town. 2010 My mother had a book she liked to read to me as a child. She must have discovered somewhere that it's good to educate your child. She must have encountered that fact amongst a haze of other facts at the time. She might have once seen a mother and daughter on a … Continue reading Nothing Special | Nicole Flattery
20 Books of (Summer) Winter 2023
Can you believe it? It's time for 20 Books of Summer Winter with Cathy @746 Books once again! It only feels like yesterday that I put together my 2022 list with so much anticipation. Cathy's call to arms "Do you fancy getting 20 books off your TBR in three months?" is especially appealing this time. … Continue reading 20 Books of (Summer) Winter 2023
The NSW Premier’s Literature Award 2023
In conjunction with the annual Sydney Writers' Festival, the NSW Government and the State Library of NSW in association with Create NSW award a number of prizes across a range of categories. Their aim is to "honour distinguished achievement by Australian writers, and literary merit". Senior Judge Jane McCredie said, This year’s awards celebrate the courage, … Continue reading The NSW Premier’s Literature Award 2023
Stories & Shout Outs #60
What's On My Mind: Airlie Beach - sunshine, time with Mr Books, walking along beaches, snorkelling and cocktails with spritz! Palm Bay, Long Island, Whitsundays (my photo) What I'm Reading: The Fire and the Rose | Robyn Cadwallader The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma | Bessel van … Continue reading Stories & Shout Outs #60
Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life | Claire Tomalin
Katherine Mansfield was born a century ago and died in 1923, but there is still something tantalizing about the 'faint ghost with the steady eyes, the mocking lips and, at the end, the wreath set on her hair.'* *quote from The Diary of Virginia Woolf: 1925-30 (1980) I read, but did not particularly enjoy Claire … Continue reading Katherine Mansfield: A Secret Life | Claire Tomalin
Spell the Month in Books | May
Better late than never! Every single month so far I have forgotten this meme from Jana's Reviews From the Stacks, until I spy Jennifer @Tasmanian Bibliophile at Large or Lisa @ANZLit Lovers post. I love compiling this list as it gives me a good excuse to go back over my older posts, checking them for missing … Continue reading Spell the Month in Books | May
Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe | George Eliot
In the days when the spinning-wheels hummed busily in the farmhouses - and even great ladies, clothed in silk and thread lace, had their toy spinning wheels of polished oak - there might be seen in districts far away among the lanes, or deep in the bosom of the hills, certain palid undersized men, who, … Continue reading Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe | George Eliot
Don’t Look Now | Daphne Du Maurier #UKshortstories
This week is Daphne Du Maurier Reading Week hosted by HeavenAli with Liz @Adventures in Reading assisting in the collation of links. In recent years I have worked my way through DDM's short story collections, often only 2-3 stories at a time. For the 2023 DDM Reading Week I have started on the stories in … Continue reading Don’t Look Now | Daphne Du Maurier #UKshortstories
The Bookbinder of Jericho | Pip Williams #AWWhistoricalfiction
Scraps. That's all I got. Fragments that made no sense without the words before or the words after. The Dictionary of Lost Words was such a huge success for Pip Williams and Affirm Press that I am sure they both approached her next book with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. I had the good … Continue reading The Bookbinder of Jericho | Pip Williams #AWWhistoricalfiction
Penguin Monarchs #BitesizedHistory
The acclaimed Penguin Monarchs series: short, fresh, expert accounts of England's rulers - now in paperback I collected two reading copies from the Penguin Monarchs series towards the end of last year - in fact, before the Queen died on the 8th September. I forgot that I had them until I went looking for another … Continue reading Penguin Monarchs #BitesizedHistory