The autumnal months in Australia have turned into the busiest three reading months of the year. I’m struggling to stay on top of everything going on in my life right now, so creating a page that I can refer back to seems like an essential step in managing my reading and blogging life.
Let me present….
MARCH:
As the weather cools ever so slightly, we can only hope that this never-ending La Niña rain pattern moves on! Our summer was almost non-existant in Sydney, with only a handful of days making it into the 30’s. Not many people I know are actually unhappy about this state of affairs, but I do like a good, hot summer’s day every now and again so that I can go for a swim. I haven’t been for one single swim this summer. Our week at the beach in the New Year only involved wading and jumping the low waves, as the water was far too cold to stay in for long.
As I type south-eastern Queensland and north-eastern NSW are in the midst of a devastating flood event that is breaking previous flood records all over the place. Street, suburbs, and even whole towns underwater, bridges and roads closed, electricity out, and Mr Books and B24 in the middle of it with a van full of furniture. They are currently holed up in Byron Bay waiting for this ‘unprecedented’ system to ease and roads to open again. There are worse places to be marooned.
Some sun would be nice to dry everything out again.
- Reading Ireland Month with Cathy @746 Books #TheBegorrathon
- I plan to read Four Letters of Love, but only peruse sections of The Penguin Book of Irish Poetry and In Kiltumper.
- My aim is to find the very first female Irish and Welsh poet.
- Reading Wales Month with Paula @Book Jotter #Dewithon22
- Bruce Chatwin’s 1982 winner of the First Novel Whitbread Prize (now the Costa Book Awards) has been on my TBR pile for quite some time. It’s time has finally come in 2022!
APRIL:
Easter is in April this year, and I have two weeks annual leave planned. It may interfere with my reading and blogging plans though as we will be road tripping (I cannot read in the car) and visiting family.
- #Zoladdiction2022 with Fanda @ClassicLit – APRIL
- I’m up to book 6 in publication order – Son Excellence Eugène Rougon (1876) His Excellency Eugene Rougon
- #1954Club with Simon & Karen – 18th to 24th April 2022
- As you can see, I have one of the gorgeous Virago Designer Classic books lined up from 1954.
- The Tortoise And The Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins contains a 2011 Introduction by Hilary Mantel.
MAY:
May is when Sydney finally does autumn. The leaves turn and the few local streets with deciduous trees come into their own. The nights draw in earlier and earlier and a chill lingers in the air all day. Good reading weather, but I am not a fan of being cold.
- Mary Gaunt biography, To the Ends of the Earth (plus short stories?) for Bill and AWW post.
ONGOING:
- Kim @ReadingMatters has just started a new Reading First Nations Writers challenge that will run for the rest of 2022.
- My book group is reading Archie Roach’s memoir Tell Me Why for our March meeting
- Also on my TBR is Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia that I have been meaning to read for ages. The 50+ individual chapter/memoirs are perfect for me, as I can read one at a time in between other books.
- Nick’s Aubrey/Maturin Chapter-a-Week Readalong is chugging along nicely.
- However, I am behind. As I knew I would.
- I am thoroughly enjoying my rereads of this famous seafaring series about an unlikely friendship. I am part way through Book 4 – The Mauritius Command.
- Slow and steady as she goes.
What will you be reading this season?
This Reading Life 
I’m impressed!
I don’t have any plans except to work my way through the sudden enlargement of my pile of books for review!
LikeLike
I tend to be a mood reader, so having so many plan is a bit daunting. But I enjoy all 4 challenges so I hope to make it work. I have a lot of Irish fiction so if I’m not in the mood for one I can switch it out, but I only have two Welsh books atm & know I don’t want to tackle the Mabinogion this year!
Any yes I have suddenly been inundated at work with some great arc’s that are also calling my name.
LikeLike
I’m probably not going to join in the Ireland month because I read Irish regularly anyway. But, yes, I have just two from Wales on the TBR and so I’m going to read one of those, but that *chuckle* does not constitue a ‘plan’. That is a book taken out of the shelf and put on the bedside table, that’s all!
LikeLiked by 1 person
On the Black Hill is a great choice. Some inside knowledge for you – the book is set in the mountains where you’ll find Hay on Wye (the book town that hosts the big literary festival). There’s a lovely film version available too.
I hadn’t realised your summer hadn’t been the usual wall to wall sunshine. It’s horrible to get to the end of summer on the calendar and not feel you’ve actually had a summer (we should get used to that in the UK but I don’t)
Thanks for the reminder of the Zola reading month. His Excellency Eugene Rougon is next in line for me too
LikeLike
Thanks for the geographical tips Karen. That’s not an area of Wales I’m familiar with. On my two trips to Wales, I was mostly around the Cardiff area, but also did the coastal drive out to St David’s, all the way up to Portmadog, Caernarfon & Bangor. I went through a little town called Bronwydd and spent a bit of time around Llantrisant, which is where my ancestors came from. A number of great greats are buried in cemetaries around there and the family farm still has the original name but is no longer owned by family. Like everyone in Wales, we are said to be neighbours of Tom Jones’ family 😀
LikeLike
I should have realised that with a name like Bronwyn you might have Welsh origins. I have a Welsh middle name – my great grandfather came from Wales in the last 19th century. The middle name – mine and his – is Erwyd.
I have not plan except I aim to read something for the 1954 club, and my reading group books, and some the review pile. I also hope to read Gabrielle Carey’s Only happiness here. However, the only thing I can be really sure of is the reading group books!
LikeLike
That’s an unusual Welsh name, Sue, not one I’ve come across before.
My gr grandfather came to Australia during the same time, settled around the south coast of NSW for a while, met his wife (a woman whose parents were from Scotland), then moved up to Grafton. My pop then married my nan, whose family had settled around the Casino area. Her gr grandfather was a convict, transported from Wales for stealing a copper pot. Their family name was Llewellyn. Many of my uncles and cousins have it as their middle name too.
I like to make these plans (that help me read my TBR), but I do get distracted by the new books at work, which doesn’t help my problem at all!!
LikeLike
Great plans! I have amde a small stack of March books, but otherwise I’m playing catch-up as far as writing and planning go.
I heard about the flooding; that sounds very bad. We’re coming out of a ridiculously dry winter, again, and a not-hot summer would be ideal…at least for me. I hope you have a great winter!
LikeLike
Sydney is due to get the east coast storm cell tonight. I’m hoping it has blown itself out some, by the time it gets here, but it’s leaving record floods everywhere it’s been so far.
LikeLike
Ha! You think your summer is off. You should be in Tassie. Sydney sounds almost tropical. I enjoyed the Archie Roach book. A book I won’t ever forget. What an incredible story and especially of how he found his siblings. I’ll say no more. Happy reading.
LikeLike
It has certainly been quite humid this summer in Sydney but our home in the mountains has had a similar summer to Tassie I think!
I have just finished the Roach book and yes it is powerful and moving.
LikeLike
So glad you’ll be joining in with Ireland Month Brona – I adored Four Letters of Love, hope you do too!
LikeLike
It has started well 🙂
LikeLike
This may be a regular thing…while waiting for my groceries to be delivered (0700 am…) and before I start reading the news….let’s check in with Brona. You speak of Autumn and we look forward to Spring. Well, the mood here in Europe (The Netherlands) is 2 sided: happy that most of the Covid rules have ended and watching Ukraine be decimated by Putin. Refugees are already coming to NL. Watching people fleeing Kyiv on trains, cars, on foot…anyway possible reminds me of Suite Franciase by Némirovsky and the rush to leave Paris.
It probably sounds so far away for you (…that is how I felt about the protests in Hong Kong)…but yet another seismic change in the world influences my reading. I have10 reads planned for #IrelandReadigMonth22 but will need a few Irish Whisky’s in my coffee to keep me motivated!
Zola: …wonderful that you are making progress with the M-R series! His Excellence….well, I missed the beautiful descriptions of nature and the surrounding countryside. Zola is confined to the colors and images of interiors: drapes, carpets, ladies ball gowns, offices and a few flickering candles in De Nôtre-Dame de Paris. The storyline goes on and on with descriptions of people, intrigues and politics. There is no real “dénouement” we can look forward to, no real action!
It was all about who has power, who loses power. I tried so hard to be enthusiastic about Zola’s book, but I was just not fired up! Zola’s crowd scenes can be epic ( La Fortune des Rougon, chapter 1), but the procession to the Notre-Dame for the imperial baptism radiated as much warmth/feeling/excitement as a very cozy fireplace video! My advice? Just keep reading b/c there are better books in the series. I know this is a “long” book rant but I haven’t been commenting on a regular basis…too busy with books and the news. Don’t feel you have to reply with a long comment, I know you’ve get much to do….just say…good to hear from you!
LikeLike
So lovely to see a chatty comment from you this morning Nancy, thank you!
The rain has been relentless here, and waiting nervously to hear whether B24 and Mr Books made it safely with the furniture van to Brisbane. They finally did today. The flood waters came right up to the back steps of their home, but thankfully the house is clean and dry. They have now unpacked and are trying to work out how to get back to Sydney with the empty van. Most of the major highways, coastal and inland, have closures due to flooding or landslides. Sydney is in the middle of the storm cell that has been making it’s way down the coast today.
But I am still keeping my eyes on the Ukraine. Yes, it does feel like a long way away, but when Putin starts talking about nuclear warfare, the world suddenly seems a lot smaller.
I struggled with my last Zola. Too much religion, I think for my tastes. I’ve been wondering if all the poltics and power plays I’m expecting in Son Excellence, will reflect what I’m seeing in the news?
Good luck with your Irish reads this month.
LikeLike
So many reading plans, Brona! That’s what my life was like throughout 2021 and this year I figured I wasn’t going to sign up for anything other than my own project to read First Nations writers — thanks for flagging that, by the way, be great to have you join in — because it ends up making my hobby feel too much like work with commitments and schedules to keep. That said, I’ll probably join in with Cathy’s Reading Ireland month because I already read Irish fiction anyway.
I hope you aren’t getting flooded out over there… the amount of rain on the east coast looks frightening. Meanwhile here in Perth, we’ve just recorded the hottest summer ON RECORD. There were 13 days above 40C, six of which were consecutive. It didnt rain for weeks on end. This morning, however, we had a bit of a light shower and the temperature dipped to 22C… it felt like the middle of winter. LOL.
LikeLike
I thought of you & Bill every time I saw the high temps in Perth this summer. That’s not the kind of summer I missed!! Glad you’ve a had a few cooler days now.
I generally read a lot of new release fiction for work, so having prompts to read some of the books on my TBR is a good thing for me.
LikeLike
Looks like you have a few busy months ahead of you. I like the different genres that you choose to read. I have noted your Welsh poet, and will look for that one. I feel I would like to read more poetry.
LikeLike
I will actually (hopefully) read many more books than is on this list, as I tend to read 5-6 books most months. This post’s job is to keep me on track for the books I would really like to read from my TBR – the rest will be serendipitous!
LikeLike
That is a good plan. I tend to read several books at the same time. Of all the books I decide to read, there will always be some other popping up and grabbing my attention.
LikeLike
Always!!
LikeLike
I loved On the Black Hill and should re-read it! I have Growing up Aboriginal but sort of saving it for AusReading month …
LikeLike
Very happy to hear you already have a book lined up for AusReadig Month Liz 🙂
On the Black Hill has certainly attracted a lot of love – I’m looking forward to getting into it when I finish my Irish book.
LikeLike
I am in awe of all your reading plans and knowing you, the probable execution. Summer really has not been good and I hope everything worked out with Mr. Books and B24. I hope Autumn lives up to its promise and does not go the Summer way!
LikeLike
Your reading Ireland and reading Welsh plans are just to my taste: I’ll enjoying following along with your reading.
LikeLike
The Irish story has been fabulous. Should finish it in the 24 hours, but a part of me doesn’t want it to end! The Welsh one will have a lot to live up to!!
LikeLike