AusReading Month Master Post 2021

WELCOME to AusReading Month 2021

One of the things that I did not factor into this year’s AusReading Month was a Covid-19 lockdown. Or more precisely, the end of an extended (107 day) Covid-19 lockdown.

Just three weeks ago, when NSW reached the magic number of 70% double vaxxed, restrictions were eased. Schools, restaurants, businesses and retail reopened cautiously. However, the unrestrained and joyous release we all felt after the end of the first lockdown in 2020 was missing this time around.

I guess all it takes is to watch the international news to know that vaccinations are not the be-all and end-all we would like to believe them to be. Covid-19 is still out there, we can still catch it and we can still find ourselves very unwell and in home quarantine if we test positive.

I’m not particularly dwelling on these sobering facts, but I’m not jumping for joy either. I feel like I’m muddling along somewhat aimlessly – just living day by day and looking for the small and lovely ways to be happy where I am right now. Like enjoying family dinner nights again, taking photos of the beautiful jacarandas flowering in Sydney this month, coffee with friends in an actual cafe and topping up the herb garden. I haven’t been thinking very far ahead at all.

Which means that AusReading Month has snuck up on me this year and finds me totally unprepared.

I have no scheduled posts or lists of books.

Which doesn’t mean that I’m not keen or excited about a whole month devoted to reading and writing about Australian books. I am! I’m just not as organised as I would like to be.

I have, in fact, read a LOT of Australian books over the past few weeks (fiction and non-fiction), with a lot more in the pipeline, but like all my post-lockdown reviews, they will happen eventually, when the mood strikes right.

So, there will be oodles of Australian content throughout November, however it will most likely occur more sporadically than in previous years. AusReading Month 2021 will be a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-staying-one-step-ahead-of-Covid kind of challenge. I hope you can join me!

This Master Post is your home page for AusReading Month throughout November

Save it in your favourites or read-later folder so you can find it whenever you want to add a new review.
I will turn all the reviews into a nice list for everyone to read and visit at the end.
If you complete the Bingo card challenge or write a Celebration, Anticipation, Promotion post pop your URL link into the comments so we can visit you.
Which Australian books will you be reading and reviewing this month?
Have you be able to combine your Australian books with any of the other reading challenges going around?
On socials please use #ausreadingmonth2021

Looking For Something to Read in AusReading Month?

If, like me, you have been caught hopping by the approach of November, check out my AUSTRALIANA tab in the menu for some great ideas on Australian Novellas and Australian Essays, as well as books and authors by state.

Progressive AusReading Month List

Danielle Alvarez | Always Add Lemon (reviewed by N@ncyElin)
Thea Astley | Coda (reviewed by N@ncyElin)
- Tin River (reviewed by Bill @Australian Legend)
Jessica Au | Cold Enough For Snow (my review)
Max Barry | Jennifer Government (reviewed by Bill @Australian Legend)
J. M. Coetzee | Foe (reviewed by Lisa @ANZ LitLovers)
Liam Davison | The White Woman (reviewed by Kim @Reading Matters)
Michelle de Kretser | Scary Monsters (my review)
Sara Dowse | West Block (reviewed by Bill @The Australian Legend)
Nigel Featherstone | I’m Ready Now (reviewed by N@ncyElin)
Richard Fidler & Kari Gislason | Saga Land (reviewed by Liz @Adventures in Reading)
Richard Flanagan | First Person (reviewed by Kim @Reading Matters)
Bill Granger | Australian Food (non-fiction) (reviewed by N@ncyElin)
Kate Grenville | A Room Made of Leaves (my review)
- The Secret River (reviewed by Constance @Staircase Wit)
Ashley Hay (editor) | Griffith Review 66: The Light Ascending (reviewed by Lisa @ANZ LitLovers)
Donna Hay | Basics to Brilliance (review by N@ncyElin)
Kate Jennings | Moral Hazzard (reviewed by Cathy @746 Books)
Elizabeth Jolley | Miss Peabody’s Inheritance (reviewed Karen @Booker Talk)
- The Newspaper of Claremont Street (reviewed by N@ncyElin)
Evelyn Juers | The Dancer (reviewed by Lisa @ANZ LitLovers)
Christopher Koch | A Year of Living Dangerously (reviewed by N@ncyElin)
Mimi Kwa | House of Kwa (reviewed by Kim @Reading Matters)
Ambelin & Ezekiel Kwaymullina | The Things She’s Seen (reviewed by Jean @Howling Frog Books)
Sven Lindqvist | Terra Nullius (reviewed by Liz @Adventures in Reading)
Joan Lindsay | Picnic at Hanging Rock (reviewed by Margaret @Books Please)
Amanda Lohrey | Vertigo (reviewed by N@ncyElin)
Wayne Macauley | Caravan Story (reviewed by Lisa @ANZ LitLovers)
Helen Meany | Every Day is Gertie Day (reviewed by Sue @Whispering Gums)
Claire Messud | A Dream Life (my review)
Joyce Morgan | The Countess From Kirribilli (my review)
Kate Morton | The Secret Keeper (reviewed by Helen @She Reads Novels)
Ruth Park | Missus (reviewed by Lisa @ANZ Lit Lovers)
Andrew Pippos | Lucky’s (reviewed by Lisa @ANZ Lit Lovers)
Diana Reid | Love & Virtue (my review)
Tansy Rayner Roberts | Tea and Sympathetic Magic (review by N@ncyElin)
Henry Handel Richardson | Myself When Young (my review)
Jock Serong | The Rules of Backyard Cricket (reviewed by Kim @Reading Matters)
Randolph Stow | Merry-Go-Round in the Sea (reviewed by Bill @The Australian Legend)
Cassandra Szoeke | Secrets of Women’s Healthy Ageing (my review)
Alf Taylor | God, the Devil and Me (reviewed by Sue @Whispering Gums)
Christos Tsiolkas | 7½ (reviewed by Kim @Reading Matters)
Helen Vines | Eve Langley and The Pea Pickers (my review)
Alice Zaslavsky | In Praise of Veg (reviewed by N@ncyElin)

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.