My Week:
- Same as last week, except I am now double vaxxed!
What I’m Reading:
- Mrs Marsh | Virginia Feito
- Bewilderment | Richard Powers
- The Bombay Prince | Sujata Massey (book 3 in the Perveen Mistry series)
- Meditations | Marcus Aurelius (translator Gregory Hays)
- Committed Writings | Albert Camus (translator Justin O’Brien)
- The Countess From Kirribilli | Joyce Morgan (bio)
- Julia and the Shark | Kiran Millwood Hargrave (middle grade)
Read But Not Reviewed:
- Scary Monsters | Michelle de Kretser
- The Magician | Colm Tóibín
- Flowers For Algernon | Daniel Keyes (short story)
- Two Stories | Leonard & Virginia Woolf
- Fire Front: First Nations Poetry and Power Today | edited by Alison Whittaker
Anticipating:
- Mr Books birthday this week.
- 10 years of the Stella Prize – a free zoom event – book here – and check out their new look at the same time.
Postponed:
- Yet another family gathering for another family birthday…
New to the Pile:
On the Blog:
- I’ve started using the ‘edit in HTML’ option to help me tidy up old pages and old posts.
- It can be somewhat time-consuming, but it fixes the glitches properly.
- It allows me to feel like I’m back on Blogger, playing with basic coding (that’s a good thing by the way! And one of the reasons why I was so reluctant to make the change – I love being able to tweak the coding.)
- As I get more confident with this option, I hope to explore what else I can edit/recode.
- For instance, my old A-Z of book titles from my Blogger blog – I have cleared it of all the old invalid links.
- As I wordpress-ise (thank you Sue for this very useful word) old posts I will add the link to their new URL here.
- In the meantime, posts older than Jan 2021 can be found by using the SEARCH box.
- I have found it much easier to convert these older posts from classic view to the new block editor, as I now find the classic view very clunky to use, especially having to scroll to the top of the page to find the options bar every time I want to adjust formatting, add links etc.
- Having it sit just above the block I’m working on is far more convenient and practical.
- I’m thinking of turning my many posts about moving from Blogger to WP as well as how to use block editor into more user-friendly pages accessible from the menu tab.
Shout Outs:
- My very own AusReading Month 2021 is coming up in November
- Novellas in November 2021 with Cathy & Rebecca is also in November. Combine the two for hours of family fun!
Until next time, stay safe, and happy reading!
| This post was written on the traditional land of the Wangal clan, one of the 29 clans of the Eora Nation within the Sydney basin. This Reading Life acknowledges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are our first storytellers. |
bronasbooks.com 
Hi Brona, I really appreciated your Blogger to W/Press posts. I think it’s a great idea to make them more accessible.
I’ve fiddled a tiny bit with the html on W/Press but it does feel familiar. Makes me feel quite techy when I do it – not a word people who know me well would use to describe me.
I started with block editor & even though I’m not very experienced with it I wondered why W/Press bloggers complained about it so much. I suppose it’s just what you are used to.
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I’m so glad my tips have helped at least one blogger – thanks 🙂
I had used the classic style with other blogs I had edited over the years, so I did find adjusting to block editor challenging at first. But, as you say, you get used to it.
I’m enjoying playing around with what all the blocks can do. A lot I have no idea about or no need of at this point, so I just ignore them and use the most basic ones.
What I really like is how clean and neat it keeps all my pages now, no matter what device people view it on. No weird wrapping of text around an image in particular.
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So glad to hear your positive comments about block editor. They counter the negatives I see. I know that it can be frustrating when you start using block editor but I wish people would persevere because it really does have a lot of benefits.
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I guess I had only used the classic editor sporadically, & didn’t like it compared to Blogger. Moving across as the block editor came in ended up being a good choice for me. I was happy to abandon the classic. But it is not easy to learn a new system, and I’ve certainly had some clunky mistakes along the way.
Do you have any advice on how to make a list from my tag ‘Australia’ so that I can add a list to a post about what I’ve read this year, with the URL’s?
When I try the ‘old’ way, I just get this – https://bronasbooks.com/tag/australia/
Not a nice, easy list of title/name/date to copy and paste.
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I’m still using Classic. I manage 6 different websites at work, all using different content management systems, so having to learn yet another one is beyond me at this stage. But pleased to hear the Block editor is working out for you 😊
Also, how do you manage to read so many books at once?! I generally have a max of two on the go (one on Kindle and one physical).
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I have a couple by my bed, one in the lounge room, one on the dining table, one in the bathroom & one in my backpack. The backpack one is usually short stories, essays or poetry. The bathroom is non-fiction. The rest are a mix, depending on my mood.
At some point one of them really takes my fancy or I decide it’s time to finish it, & I’ll give it a couple of days all to itself. It’s the only way I can get through all the ARC’s we get through work! It’s a good work stress to have!!
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I’m anticipating a granddaughter’s 18th, to be celebrated next Fri. Got to love WA hard borders. Though, I went to eat in a Perth truckstop the other day while I waited for my truck to be washed, and stopped short at the door – what if an interstate driver tested positive? Everyone who had been inside would have had to quarantine for 14 days. No lunch that day.
Still anticipating Mum’s 90th in Bendigo, Vic next April but will the Premier (of WA) let us back in afterwards. By then I hope to have had a Moderna booster.
I hate being sucked in by hype, but I think I will buy/read the Rooney sooner rather than later.
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I hope the 18th goes off without any hitches.
We had our first phone alert from NSW heath during the week. Turns out someone who went to get vaccinated last Wednesday, like we did, tested positive! Thankfully all we had to do was monitor for symptoms, although B21 got tested (again) just to be sure, for his work.
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Yay double vax! Looks like my husband will get a booster jab soon but not me, as he turns 50 next month but I don’t until January. I used to like being the young one of our group but …
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It is a relief to have us all double-vaxxed, and most of our extended family. Whatever happens next, we can at least spend more time together, without worrying that we might be the cause for hospitalising someone!
I will still certainly be doing all I can to avoid catching Covid though. With all the mask wearing and social distancing of the past 18 mnths, it is the healthiest 2 winters I’ve ever had – not one single cold or bout of tonsillitis. That hasn’t happened since I started teaching in the late 80’s.
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Yay, I’ve been gone a bit and didn’t know you came on board with Word. So much easier to comment!
I for one do not like Block Editor and am of the “it wasn’t broke so why fix it crowd?” It’s clunky and not intuitive, but I use it and am getting used to it. I don’t think it needed to be changed at all 🙂
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I felt like that when I first encountered Block, but with all the intensive fixing I’ve had to do on my old pages in particular, to make them look okay on WordPress, I’ve basically had a crash course in it. I’m now used to it and I’m ready to start exploring what it can really do!!
I do like that whatever formatting I use on my PC/laptop, it will also look good on someone’s phone, thanks to Block. That was not the case on Blogger or with the Classic Editor.
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