This is described as heartache for grownups, and I think that pretty much sums it up! Very character driven (dare I say Tessa Hadley-ish), with crystal-sharp observations that have me feeling it all. I‘m totally hooked 💕

I also have eyebrow envy for the cover 😂

After a busy morning of U10s cricket 🏏 I‘m gettin comfy on the sofa to start my latest - and much anticipated, longest library hold ever!!! - read.

Another week, another #weeklyforecast 😀

I‘m in the middle of Damnation Spring, which I‘m really enjoying despite it taking me a while to settle into.

Then it will be one or two of the others to tick off a few #Booked2022 prompts. I‘m hearing very good things about The Spectacular, and the cover is grabbing me, so that might be the next one. But I think it will all depend on the day - loosey-goosey it is for me 🐦

Happy reading 📚

Hello lovelies. Hope everyone is doing ok in what has been yet another brutal week of this pandemic. Thank goodness we have books! These are what I have planned in my #weeklyforecast📚

Finishing up:
Signs & wonders - a series of exceptionally beautiful essays about climate change
Rock Paper Scissors - fun thriller so far

Next up:
Listen - loved her last one
Damnation spring- seen lots of love for this on litsy

Big hugs to all. Stay safe ♥️

I‘ve missed being on Litsy and chatting all things books. But I have still been reading and finishing up #Booked2021

Looking forward to #Booked2022 🥳 Thanks for all your effort in hosting my fave book challenge @Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage

Wishing everyone a safe new year. See you in January ♥️

Another quarter done for #Booked2021. Time is flying!

☀️13 Nothing but blue sky
☀️14 We keep the dead close
☀️15 Betty
☀️16 Falling man
☀️ 17 Two stories
☀️18 Dominicana

Will fill the form out now. Thanks lovey hosts 😘😘😘@cinfhen @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft

One of the most powerful reading experiences I‘ve had for a long time. Philosophical, practical, and poetic. Just wow ❤️

Absolutely loved this. Short stories are not usually my thing, but each one was perfectly formed. Heartbreaking and thought provoking - so good.

Aw, Helen. What a lovely surprise to get this all in the post today. I‘ve been wanting to read this for ages and … Percy Pigs!!!! 🐷 I‘ve not had them for years. I will share them with the kids (I promise). Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness and friendship. You‘re the fab one! Big hugs.

A new Erin Kelly twisty ballet thriller 🙌

In need of a bit of sparkle ✨ and magic 🪄this Sunday.

Library hold goodness 📚

Extremely late to the party but already glad to be finally here - thanks for sending me this, Lee @LeeRHarry 😘

Three people and three stories about their romantic heartbreaks. It was non-fiction and reminded me in format of Three Women. Lovely writing and I raced through it, yet I wanted more. Heartbreak is so familiar and ubiquitous, so I expected to be pulled emotionally. But I wasn‘t and I‘m not sure why. Still good though. #oznonfiction

If I‘d read this a year or so ago, I would have been more shocked. Sadly, the sexism, misogyny (and worse) of the Australian parliament has been well and truly exposed. It‘s hard to believe this stuff is still happening in 2021. Rage inducing 😡

This was a fascinating and well-crafted look at loneliness by former US Surgeon General. Murthy brings the science but couples it with plenty of relatable content, which makes for a really engaging read.

My reads for #Spring #Booked2021 and form submitted

I really enjoyed them all, but my favourite has to be Fresh Water for Flowers 💕

7. Dear Fahrenheit 451 📚
8. Fresh water for flowers 💐
9. Cutting for stone 🇪🇹
10. Dear reader 🎧
11. Words of every song 🎸
12. White fragility ❤️

Thanks for another fab season @Cinfhen @4thhouseontheleft @BarbaraTheBibliophage

A truly beautiful read that captures life in all its complexity.
It‘s filled my heart up with hope ❤️

I cannot stop reading this 👆So good!

What a start to a series! Detective Brett Buchanan is a great MC - I couldn‘t help want the best for her as she struggles moving back to the small town she grew up in and where her sister was murdered years before. The story builds at a perfect pace, and the writing is rich with description and feeling. I‘m excited to read the next instalment.

Thanks Valerie for giving me an opportunity to win a copy. I really, really enjoyed it! @valeriegeary

‘This is a crossroads we all know, a moment when you need to shed a skin. If you do, you‘ll expose all those painful nerve endings, and feel so raw that you‘ll need to take care of yourself for a while. If you don‘t, then that old skin will harden around you. It‘s one of the most important choices you‘ll ever make‘.

🙌💫❤️🙌

Mother‘s Day can be hard for many reasons. Sending love to all those who need it today.

Lovely news to start the weekend with - I‘ve been jammy enough to win a copy of the new book from our super talented and very lovely Litten @valeriegeary 🥳

Thanks for hosting the giveaway, Valerie. Looking forward to making a start and getting to know Brett Buchanan.

On a hot Californian afternoon in 1959, housewife Joyce Haney suddenly disappears leaving only a bloodstain on the kitchen floor. The African-American housemaid, Ruby is first on the scene and is immediately arrested for murder. What follows is a clever crime-mystery that crackles with an unsettling depiction of white 50s suburbia with all its oppressive structures. Very noir-ish and really great on audio 🎧 👍

Thanks for the tag @MrsMalaprop 😘

1. York, UK 👶
2. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 🇦🇺
3. An older brother and a younger sister
4. Peter Rabbit 🐰

Would you like to play if you haven‘t already @KarenUK @Tanisha_A @Cathythoughts

#wondrousWednesday thanks @Eggs

Aww, Barbara @BarbaraBB you are just the loveliest! Thank you so much for this package of wonders. I look forward to reading both books - extra special as they‘re from the other side of the world. Thanks my friend x 😘

A stormy few days has brought some massive swell 🌊 But we have a beautiful day forecast ☀️ and I‘m finally getting round to reading this one after being on my TBR for far too long!

Set in Northern Ontario in the 70s, this story weaves in the perspectives of three main characters who are all somehow connected to the disappearance of a young girl. We learn about past mistakes and loneliness, and what it means to love. Not quite as good as I hoped, but a nice easy read for the holidays 🏝

An immensely powerful book. Perhaps the most important book I‘ll read this year.

#AntiRacismBook #Booked2021

A lovely story that was well crafted and definitely thought provoking. A #NewIn2021 that I was eagerly anticipating and it didn‘t disappoint 🤖 🌞

#Booked2021

A joyous little read perfect for book lovers. My TBR has grown 😉

#TitleIncludesLibraryOrLibrarian #Booked2021

A beautifully written book (from the author of The Trauma Cleaner) about how we make sense of the world we live in and our place in it. It focuses on the lives of 6 people who come at things with VERY different beliefs, and I was moved by some of the stories and grumpy and challenged by some others! But I loved it for that - an antidote to the echo chamber. Great read.

Using for #JewishAuthorOrMC #Booked2021

Winter #Booked2021 ✔️ and submitted in the new 📋online: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScNM9zdameJwnkQesQ2xQfS32LEzNIXmUmsDTWO...

1. #SetInAustralia - The Good Sister 🇦🇺
2. #NonfictionScienceOrSFWrittenByAWoman - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 🔬🦠
3. #BakedGoodsOnCover - So Lucky 🍩
4. #COVIDHEROS - Breathtaking 💔
5. #MustacheOnCover - This is Dali 🧔 🎨
6. #AuthorsFirstNamesStartsWithABOrC - Real Life 🅱️

I love a good campus novel, and this one - focusing on five Harvard alumni at their 15-year college reunion - sounded great. But it left me feeling a bit flat. Not quite as sharp as I was hoping and there was a really daft plot line at the end that I‘m not at all sure why was in the story. I had high hopes and waited ages for it to come in at the library. But overall, it was just an ok read for me.

Exquisite. It made me feel EVERYTHING and filled me with a warmth I‘ve not experienced for a long time when reading. I was bewitched. And I think if I read it at another time in my life, I would take a different wisdom from it. Beautiful book ✨🌸❤️

#TranslatedIntoYour1stLanguage #Booked2021

Thank you Sue @Suet624 for recommending it. Books like this are rare to find.

Inspired by her Mother‘s life, Cruz tells an important story about immigration and what it means to be a ‘good‘ daughter and wife. A quick read that left me with much to think about.

#LatinxAuthor #Booked2021

Oh my ... I am loving this. Absolutely beautiful. Thank you Sue @Suet624 for posting about it. Exactly what my heart and head needs right now ❤️

Ah Helen, thank you so much for my litsy stickers. I‘m chuffed to bits with them, and can‘t wait to put them to use. You are so thoughtful - thankyou ❤️

This was a sharp, smart, and quite funny read that revolved around inequality and the #metoo movement. Thanks @CarolynM for gifting this to me - I really enjoyed it. Very different to his other book I‘ve read (The street sweeper)!

#Two4Tuesday brought to you Wednesday lunchtime 😆

1. I keep track of the books I want to read on Litsy. Every few weeks I check my library for the ones I‘ve recently stacked, and then look at buying the ones that they don‘t have and I want to read.
2. Not at the moment. But I was thinking of preordering the new Ishiguro.

Thanks for the tag @squirrelbrain 😘 and for hosting @TheSpineView 😘

I cannot believe it has taken me till now to read Virginia Woolf. Love, love, love 💕

I liked the sound of this audiobook and noted that the author was from Yorkshire. Well, dear reader, it turns out that she grew up right where I did and I know the pub her family owned very well! Such a lovely surprise to hear the names of places from back home, especially as we lived in a tiny little place in the middle of nowhere. And it‘s also a really great listen...full of bookish goodness ❤️ 📚

This must have been SCANDALOUS when it was first published! 😯 The social commentary is fascinating and there is a lot of ‘show and tell‘ about the social, family, work, and sex lives of these women. It‘s quite a dense book, and there were times when I felt a bit hit over the head with explanations & detail. But for a book published 60 years ago, it still has lots of fizz and verve. Looking forward to the discussions! #BestBuddyRead #Galentine

A quick, palate-cleansing thriller depicting a future that doesn‘t seem too hard to imagine!
Set in Australia, people are chipped, climate change has taken hold, and The Department takes care of everything and everyone who won‘t conform.
When Mim‘s husband disappears while working at a remote mine under suspicious circumstances, she embarks on a dangerous journey with her kids to find him.

It‘s impossible to review this book without giving anything away. But I can say it‘s unlike anything I‘ve read - it‘s magical, has a talking bear & whale, oodles of literary references, & I was totally confused for a good chunk of it until it all made complete sense and I was 😭 at the brilliance. It‘s YA and I‘d be curious to see the thoughts of someone in that age bracket. Lots of buzz in Australia about it last year and I can see why 🐻 ❤️🐳

This was hilarious, raunchy, and quite sweet. But it was also predictable and in your face, which got a bit too much for me by the end. Probably best for the beach or for when you need complete escapism, if you like this sort of book🏖

#BakedGoodsOnCover #Booked2021

An absolute beauty of a book that I feel deserves all the hype. The author touched on so many issues in a deft and tender way. And his portrayal of graduate life was, well, very real life! Thanks so much for reading this alongside me @CarolynM and for gifting me this gorgeous copy.

“Money is always on their minds...They discuss the lives and fares of faculty the way one might track the paths of minor planets. Careers move in orbits, fixed by certain factors. One typically stays at the level of their graduate or postdoc institution, or goes one step lower...Fellowships lead to good postdocs, good postdocs lead to good grants, good grants lead to faculty positions....It all rises and falls on money”.

So very true!!!☝️

And she does it again! Another fantastic and compulsive thriller by Jane Harper, this time set on the beautiful Tassie coastline. She is a master at building tension, with some sort of revelation - big or small - coming nearly every chapter and leaving you wanting to know more. I think this might be my fave - and I didn‘t guess the ending!

‘Life is precious, and is perhaps best appreciated when we live with the end in mind‘.

A truely remarkable book about the process of dying written by a palliative care doctor brimming with compassion and wisdom. The stories are heartbreaking and I sobbed many times. But it also left me with a renewed feeling of purpose and gratitude for the things I have.