All hail the Cheese Queen! While this absolutely did test the limits of me not giggling while listening to this at work… I had an absolute blast rereading this (as part of my plan to actually finish a series I‘ve started)

After reading this (taken from Garth Nix‘s website) I have no idea how I pronounce Sabriel… and it‘s freaking me out a little bit 🫣😬

One of my favourite Aussie bands with a plea not to move to Melbourne (the place I‘ve lived almost my entire life, awkward).

I‘ve just noticed that they are coming to Melbourne in May but sadly I have conflicting theatre tickets 🫣 (I did see them last year when they toured with Lime Cordial so I‘m going to be brave about it)

https://youtu.be/24tCRxpsTpg?si=Z7joRAlIPXuzx1j0

lowkey the music video works as a tourism campaign for Brisbane

You just don‘t see FAIR DINKUM in print very often 🤣 my mum says it sometimes but I wouldn‘t say it‘s still in super common usage…

Anyway, it made me laugh. Maybe I should just commit and read 90s Australian teen fiction for 2025.

I loved this!!!

The Appalachian setting, the clash of past and present and how everything comes together. I‘m so keen to get my hands on the companion novel and find out what else the sisters get up to.

I stayed late at work to finish off the audiobook - I was on the edge of my seat!!

My not a real bookclub chose Sabriel for February and I‘m having the best time rereading!

It‘s almost 11pm… it shouldn‘t still be this hot ?

(It‘s currently 84°F with the day time top temperature of 103°F)

On the upside, guess I don‘t need to water the plants on my balcony anymore… (since it‘s raining)

The second one was available on Libby and the weather is so hot atm that it‘s not like I was going to sleep anyway 🤷🏻‍♀️

This one picks up where the first left off - unmasking the villain of the first book… but is she actually a villain? An interesting twist, especially when read in a time with DEI initiatives being pushed back and groups of people villainised (this book was published mid 2024). It‘s very MG - everything works out in the end.

Featuring not one but TWO references to my beloved Jessica Fletcher & Murder, She Wrote - it‘s just a cozy good time with a murder in a bookstore in the quaint coastal town of Pirate‘s Cove with motives galore.

Throw in the beginnings of a romance between bookstore owner and new in town, Ellery Page with the gruff police chief, Jack Carson (only once Ellery has cleared himself as a possible suspect OF COURSE) & I‘m ready for another!

A second MSW reference! Be still my heart! 😍

I‘m not much of a NF reader so… these stats will probably not be repeated 🤣

Love that digital/audio/print have somehow managed to be perfectly balanced (a happy accident)

I really want to work on bringing up my page count (I want pie pieces in the 300-499 & 500+ range) but it was a great month for graphic novels.

(I smushed 2 slides of stats together to get the ones I‘m most interested in into one square)

Ahh! This was cute! Not quite what I was expecting coming from what I‘d seen on insta - but a lovely story aimed at a middle grade audience.

I‘ve never been this excited to read a work of NF before! But I really enjoyed the Anthropocene Reviewed and I still watch the occasional Vlog Brothers video - so I‘m acquainted with John‘s musings on all things TB. It‘s unreasonable to wish for an international book tour… and yet I saw this on IG and felt a bit envious!

I love Sarah Scribbles - and I don‘t think that‘s ever going to change… it‘s the millennial humour that makes me chuckle! A gift to have spent a decade watching Sarah hone her craft - I especially enjoyed her essays in the back about her journey into adulthood and her experiences as an comic artist in a male dominated field (and how that‘s changed over the years).

🤣

The struggle is real

Couldn‘t believe my eyes when I saw this on the new book display - I thought it‘d be reserved! I‘m happy to be the first reader 🤩

Choosing a book on the strength of its cover doesn‘t always yield the best results… this was lovely but it was missing something. I love an interconnected story, and I loved the underlying message of hope - but the mind laundry itself didn‘t spark joy for me.

My curly hair claimed another brush

I don‘t read many memoirs (and my reason for reading this one was mainly to fill a book chain challenge prompt) but I had a delightful time listening to Lauren look back on her acting career - it‘s really just a highlight reel of what went well and it‘s told in such an upbeat, breezy manner that it feels like a friend telling her favourite anecdotes over coffee.

A murder she wrote / Angela Lansbury mention! Consider me charmed!

Two students returning from long medical absences are thrown together in a special class designed to help them catch up/reintegrate back into school life. One is adjusting to life with type 1 diabetes, the other to life after what would have been a fatal car accident if vampirism didn‘t run in the family.

It‘s often very sweet, but I think portrays teenage anxieties pretty realistically.

I spotted this in an op shop and instant memories of the tv show and its theme song!!!

I wish Aussie shows from the 90s were a little bit more accessible - like sure I can stream Round The Twist but I want to experience Lift Off, Silversun, Ocean Girl and Cybergirl again… genuinely no one was doing it like Australian kids shows in the 90s.

(Silversun came out in 2004 and I walked home extra fast to make sure I‘d see the whole episode)

This book was meant to find me - it literally landed in my hands while I was filling in at branch I don‘t usually work at. It demanded that I read it immediately & it absolutely held me in a chokehold until I finished it.

It‘s not perfect, it doesn‘t end with a neatly tied bow. It manages to be deeply weird & uncomfortable but the fever dream, gothic fairytale elements were absolutely for me (but not for everyone as the reviews are super mixed)

I was so excited to see some HMC representation in this “test your knowledge” quiz in Good Reading… but perplexed that they dropped the Jones out of her name…

Quizzed my library colleagues and they collectively mostly didn‘t know the answers 😅

A patron came in to pay for a destroyed library book (it had suffered significant water damage) with a comment that she‘d pay for it, if I insisted 😐

She paid for the book, I gave the book back to her and she was like 🤨 and I explained that it was too damaged to remain in the collection so she could take it or I could dispose of it. She took it AND THEN asked if the library bought books from Amazon because “it‘d be cheaper” 🤡 like no??

I do stir the pot when I‘m bored 🤷🏻‍♀️

I have snails in my letterbox & they had an absolute feast on this (attempted) hit piece… 🐌

😱, she‘d support labor-greens government??? Stop threatening me with a good time!

They are no doubt still salty that Monique ousted them out of what was considered a “safe seat” at the last election. Gonna be a long election season.

(For non Aussies the liberal party [the authors of this pamphlet] is our equivalent of the Tories or Republicans)

Well the DFTBA store is different now (why aren‘t they doing books anymore?!) so I bought this via the author/artists website which is fine but the shipping was insane BUT I couldn‘t not have the set 🥹

Hopefully it holds up when I reread it.

A very gentle cozy fantasy with themes of self discovery and acceptance through adventure, friendship, the impact of growing towns on nature and the importance of communicating for a better tomorrow.

My favourite part was when Hadley switched into detective mode, deerstalker hats appeared for them and & little Fern (the snake).

Continuing on my mission to read all the Japanese Cat Fiction books - this was a delightful tale of not-quite strangers unexpectedly finding their way to the Full Moon Coffee Shop.

I love an interconnected story and there‘s just something about distinguished cats talking about the age of Aquarius & the astrological houses that is deeply charming.

My favourite quote from Ken Done comes from the introduction and reads “I love it that people have a $20 poster in their bathroom.” because my Mum is the OG Ken Done fan in the family AND we had a framed Ken Done poster in the bathroom!

Great coffee table book.

I‘ve strayed from my middle grade reading roots so this feels like a return to form!

This brings together my two great MG loves - kids solving mysteries and fantasy - in this instance in the form of a family curse by way of a fairy gift brokered by a greedy, long dead relative.

Will Saffi find a way out in time to save her dad and brother and new friend from the Fairy Queen? I had a great time finding out!

As an Aussie with very little interest in AFL & as someone who doesn‘t read a lot of non fiction - this was a surprising choice!

While there is a lot about AFL and names of sports stars that I‘ve never heard of - it‘s also a reflection on loving something without necessarily having a strong grasp on the rules, on aging, on family bonds and watching a beloved grandson transition into manhood - all with footy training as the back drop.

I got a shipping notification from eBay the other day and was like hmm, what did I buy during my summer heatwave induced bout of insomnia this time?

The answer was this edition of Witch Week! I love it but I‘m very hopeful for some cooler nights and some deeper sleeps! Otherwise who knows what other parcels will turn up?!

🤭

I‘m processing my sadness over the passing of John Marsden by revisiting his brilliant books, starting with his debut.

I remember my grade 5 teacher reading this to the class and I‘ve read it several times since. Even though I know what happens I‘m still completely absorbed.

I‘ve gotten something a little different from it each time.

"OK, it's 3.47 in the morning," Marco said. "And i'm here because my Dad is a sound sleeper and doesn't notice when I wake up screaming because an owl and a hawk have just flown through my window."

This series goes SO HARD! And it‘s still so early in the series. Lots of impossible, hard decisions to be faced.

I enjoyed the pop culture references in this one - we had the GAP and we had a new Keanu Reeves movie playing at the cinema.

I FINALLY FINISHED A BOOK!!!

I first read this in the summer before the movies came out & I was so taken with it, that I read the trilogy through & then immediately began again - it‘s been long years since, with many viewings of the movies & it was hard not to compare the differences as I read. It‘s still a glorious read, but my younger self found it much easier going. ⬇️

🥹 something of a call out 😂

I didn‘t get a lot of reading done in December - going back to work after a month away and the shock of having seen snow fall in ?? to some brutal summer heatwaves in ?? was not a fun adjustment (today is also awful - it‘s 18°C/31°F hotter than the average January temperature - top temperature today was 40°C/104°F with no overnight cool change)

#12booksof2024 : December

So a return to Shady Hollow was just right!

I found this series while playing kindle roulette (in which I scroll really fast through my kindle library and read whatever my finger lands on) during my holiday AND it was a delight! I read the first two (this being the second) back to back and am saving the third until I see a release date for the fourth book.

#12booksof2024 : November

My jam is absolutely damaged detectives solving crimes in an unusual manner with some romance on the side.

I just like how Robin Sloan‘s mind works AND I really enjoy books where I have no idea where we are going (as long as I‘m having a great time getting there)

#12booksof2024 : October

Sweet sweet urban fantasy with a big old dash of found family - inject it into my veins!

#12booksof2024 : September

The only downside to this is that it‘s a series that‘s still being written 😭

One of my most anticipated books of 2024 - and I actually read it in the same year it published!! A rare feat for me! I really enjoyed not only the story but Wiswell‘s writing style, I look forward to whatever story comes next from him.

#12booksof2024 : August

The audiobook was excellent.

Just finished watching season 2 - was hooked just as throughly! This season featured an actor who was in a show I watched growing up so it did hurt a little to see him play a baddie.

Reading the book synopsis makes me think that storylines were blended - if anyone has read it - I am curious about the fate of Twist. Unfortunately it hasn‘t got enough traction online for someone to have written one of those handy book vs show articles.

🐊

I laughed, I related, I wondered how everything was going to work out - if I could only have one favourite for 2024, it would be this one!

#12booksof2024 : July

Happy New Year from Australia!

Valancy ♥️

#12booksof2024 : June

Anne of Green Gables is always going to be the first thing associated with L. M. Montgomery, but she definitely wasn‘t a one hit wonder!

Blending the vibes of Murder She Wrote with Beatrix Potter, and you‘ve hooked me already!

I really enjoyed this first outing - and even read books 2 & 3 this year! Not bad for someone with a penchant for not finishing series (it‘s still being written and I‘m not quite up to date yet - but I‘m still counting it as a series win)

#12booksof2024 : May