My Nana turned 90 this week, and we are having a little party for her this weekend. I think she‘d like people to stop saying 90 in general 🤣 she doesn‘t like being the centre of attention and she‘s requested no speeches or presents… so I‘ve gone for her favourite black tea and a willingness to elbow my grandpa if he stands up to make a speech…

It's that time of the year again! If you are wanting some bookish festive fun and live in Australia - this is it!

Fill out the form : https://forms.gle/7SEQ42n4MnoKGCnN7

Form closes : 14th November 2025, with matches sent out soon after

Tagging previous #AussieSecretSanta‘s but new Aussie Secret Santas would be very welcome!

On one hand, 👏 to Maria V. Snyder for having a book still be in print and being available in mainstream bookstores, 20 years after it was first published…

But on the other hand…. Wtf have they done to the cover?

I‘m not a coffee drinker, I don‘t like the taste of hot coffee… but iced coffee is a slightly different story… even though there is a reasonably high chance of heart palpitations 😅 let‘s go Monday!!

I‘ve already read a couple of chapters of an ARC at my desk before switching over to some actual work (boring, I know) and some audiobook.

Lunch and then it‘s time for my customer facing desk shift - understaffed!!! 😜

The book slump I‘ve been on the verge of for months has finally got the better of me… none of my audiobook options appeal, I‘m part way through 13 books and feel little incentive to pick them back up (even though they are all books I was quite enjoying). I am not having a good time right now.

Ended up being a bit of a dull list, imo.
I‘ve read 7.

List : https://www.abc.net.au/listen/radionational/countdown/top100books

Trent Dalton‘s Boy Swallows Universe coming in at #1 made me laugh - I haven‘t read any of his books but I have been the recipient of a passionate anti-Dalton rant from a librarian AND I think of the phrase “he is the definitive novelist of Scott Morrison‘s Australia” every time he comes up.

I love the gentle way that K. O‘Neill‘s stories unfold. In this one, two people with very different outlooks on life, gradually become friends and help each other reach their full potential through kindness and acceptance. I mean - there is also a flying horse called Kestral…

I was going through my rather neglected emails and saw one from Reactor which said that Alix‘s forthcoming novel, The Everlasting, tied in with this stunning short story, which I first read in 2023 and has haunted me ever since - so obviously needed to reread it immediately. If you need me, I‘ll be staring thoughtfully at the nearest wall.

The chokehold that Miranda has on the Australian psyche is absolutely fascinating (no doubt in part due to Peter Weir‘s 1975 film adaptation) - this was a reread for me and I was amazed at how much of the story I‘d forgotten and how few pages we have with Miranda (and Marian), given the extent to which her absence haunts the narrative.

Continued below :

October 11th is Love Your Bookshop Day and I had a lovely day! I started with a 3 card tarot spread at Ramona Books in Northcote and met the lovely Toni Jordan who floating around giving out book recommendations, I added 2 new penguin titles to my collection so I could get my personal penguin, had the most delicious brunch and earl grey matcha, before heading off to visit Amplify Bookstore (near the Queen Vic Market).

Australian Gothic has been on my mind (I‘m currently reading Picnic at Hanging Rock & Honeyeater) and I‘ve just come across the term Tasmanian Gothic (and laughed because I know they don‘t like associating with the main land)

Have you read any? Or anything gothic about where you live?

https://reactormag.com/six-stories-for-fans-of-beautiful-australian-gothic/

The casting announcement for the movie was so funny that it pushed this up to the top of my reading pile… and I had a great time. I should read more contemporary romances was my main takeaway.

The premise for this one wasn‘t as strong out the gate as her previous novels but the second half redeems it - and I was HOOKED - I‘ve been in such a reading slump of late and this managed to get me to read my Sunday away!

Love it when Murder, She Wrote gets mentioned 🥰

While slightly overlong at almost 500 pages this was a lot of fun! I‘m looking forward to reading the sequels at some point.

I was so excited to read this, I was basically sold just for it being part of Penguin‘s Weird Fiction imprint and Algernon Blackwood‘s (isn‘t that just such an authors name?) Wikipedia page made for interesting reading.

The book itself is essentially a collection of John Silence‘s case notes. Anyway, I wanted to love occult Sherlock Holmes but I lowkey hated it and was mostly bored throughout.

I was so happy to be able to repurchase my very first Kip & Co sheet - after 6 years of being in high rotation, my foot went right through it (nothing like having to remake your bed after you‘d already gotten cosy) ANYWAY, they also have a collaboration with Margaret Preston (sadly no love for double beds) but I couldn‘t resist this pattern on a silk pillowcase (and well, free shipping 😉)

Nana DNFed this library book telling me that the first few chapters just had awful people in it. She seemed most upset that there were jewel thieves on board. PROFESSIONAL ONES. 🤣 Did not know that she felt so strongly about people who steal jewels for a living. Anyway, she said she couldn‘t recommend it to anyone but lowkey I kind of want to read it now, she was just so 😩 about JEWEL THIEVES!! Who steal jewels professionally. 💎🚫

I‘m not in the right frame of mind for this book BUT I loved this quote

If you take the story on its own merits, you are left with some uncomfortable questions for the Postman - even though he is not painted as the villain of the story.

If you take the story with the understanding that it the words for / explaining a ballet - it‘s still a strange little thing BUT I see the vision and think it would actually be kind of cool.

I was scrolling through my camera roll and came across this GEM from lockdown 2020 when I had to work from home - and had the surreal experience of accepting book deliveries into my tiny apartment 🤣 I‘d accession and catalogue them, then load them up in tote bags, shove them into the boot of my car, ready for when I had my next library click and collect shift. Truly a time that feels like a fever dream…

I took @julesG ‘s suggestion of OIL before attempting to peel (THANK YOU!!!) AND aside from my Nana defaulting to EMU when I said I needed oil (she‘s hard of hearing, we got to olive eventually 🤭😳) it went pretty well, not painless but I didn‘t lose a layer of skin! I‘m probably still going to wrap my wrist when I‘m working but I think it‘s just about there…

I found an Animorphs book in the wild (an op shop) and it was only a $1 - I knew going on a side mission between physio and work would be a good idea (I wanted the veggie pies from the deli and to see the newly renovated indie bookshop - fitting in an op shop was an added bonus)

Back to the physio today and got taped again… something tells me that the white adhesive tape is not going to relinquish my skin gently when the time comes comes to remove it 😩

On the positive side, I washed my hair before the appointment so at least showering in the morning is going to be more straightforward.

Things I did instead of reading this evening :

- failed at deciding on a new show to watch
- vibed to a “top hits of 2006” playlist
- bought 2 dresses that I‘d been thinking about
- dusted and decluttered my bed side table
- bought tickets to the jousting this weekend
- continued to wonder where some of my misplaced objects are
- looked guiltily at the pile of library books I probably won‘t get around to reading

Sometimes I remember to provide context before I text something unhinged

TBD if she is in fact, here for the brain rot

How do you even review a book like this? Part of me feels that the less you know going in, the better. The title acts as a trigger warning, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor a couple of times because things did get, for lack of a better word, psychotic.

It caught my eye at the book store and the quirky chapter headings sold me completely (my favourite being "XXVI. Is Fraught with Some Danger, but for Whom, the Reader Must Determine.")

The way I was SURPRISED that this happened in England and NOT Australia 🤣

https://www.pedestrian.tv/entertainment/unfair-dismissal-boss-dickhead/

Did not pack my pockets very well this morning and have left home without my AirPods 😫

Yesterday, I was at the physio, when he busted the tape out & all I think was I SHOULD HAVE WASHED MY HAIR THIS MORNING 😫

It‘s sort of getting better but also I‘m not loving having it taped. My goal is to leave it on til at least close of business tomorrow. I‘ve been wearing my wrist support brace on top (as instructed)

I‘ve started 2 audiobooks because I didn‘t trust myself not to 🤣 at my work desk with one of them. Reading motivation LOW!

“This isn't supposed to be a scary story. It's supposed to be disturbing. There's a difference.”

Hmm!! HMMM even!

I think I‘ll try another.

It was my grandpa‘s birthday yesterday - we had a family lunch (I made his favourite soup - minestrone!, followed by Black Forest cake) and it was just really nice! He‘s not been having a good year, health wise and I wasn‘t convinced we‘d all be here and smiling for his birthday but we made it! And things in this moment are good.

Spotify would struggle to find an artist I was less interested in seeing tbh.

I‘m posting this here because my Mum has already endured my rant about How To Make Gravy coming 9th in the recent TripleJ Hottest Australian 100 of all time.

Idk what‘s worse, being injured (I‘m so tired of patrons moving library furniture around) or being told that my managers are “reviewing available duties within my restrictions”… it‘s my right hand/wrist and I‘m right handed… genuinely what am I going to be doing tomorrow? It‘s a public library, everything is manual handling.

I loved this! I do wonder why I was completely fine with snow leopards, moose and pandas showing up at the same watering hole but when I got to kangeroos, I was like this is a bridge too far 🤣 where are we?

Loved finding all the frogs scattered across the pages - I found my little glasses wearing guy on most of them! 🐸

Continuing my Graham Base journey and I‘m 😍 with the frog in glasses on the very first page!

I picked up library books from my grandparents this afternoon and Nana told me mournfully that she thought this was the second last Sebastian St Cyr mystery… she was so happy when I told her that she wasn‘t even at the halfway point of the series yet…

😃 = her face

So far, it‘s been a drop everything to read / stay up past her bedtime series and I love that for her!

Loved the premise, it‘s very topical, it sadly fell flat for me, only finished it because it‘s short.

I introduced an 🇺🇸 friend to NetGalley and she was approved for this book 5 months ago… *angry muttering about Australian book rights* to be fair, I had forgotten that I‘d requested this, mostly because I didn‘t think I was likely to get it.

Everytime I come across a mention of Chopper, I flash back to my most terrifying library enquiry which started with a man asking if we had Chopper on DVD and then, unprompted, while I was looking it up on the catalogue, added that he‘d been in Pentridge Prison at the same time as Chopper. Different cell block though.

👀

🇦🇺 VEGEMITE MENTIONED 🇦🇺

Vegemite is great! (I wouldn‘t call it a treat tho 😝 it‘s a staple!)

I worked the closing shift at the library tonight and at one point, I looked across to see if the water dispenser needed filling (it sadly is not plumbed in) and there‘s a young adult on their hands and knees drinking out of one of the taps… genuinely baffled at the thought process that got them there. (Most people have their own bottles or we have paper cups at the desk, you just need to ask).

A short book that packs a punch. I had a great time not joining a single dot - I read it in one sitting and I can't say that I even had a theory which is very unusual for me. Strange Buildings is being translated and will release in March 2026 and i'm ready to be bamboozled again! Thanks for the buddy read @julesG

It starts with a troll playing Godzilla on a bridge and it ends with the reveal that Baba Yaga is a multi level marketing guru… and the small business of averting a war between humans and the fae happens in the middle. So you know, the usual EXCEPT no one got kidnapped…

Mercy & Adam were a bit cute in this one. Possibly the end of the walking stick? An enjoyable outing!

I was reminded of this book recently and couldn‘t remember if I‘d ever actually read it? Graeme Base feels very familiar to me as a 90s Aussie kid but I‘ve never been particularly patient (even though Where‘s Wally had me in a chokehold) so carefully searching for visual clues wouldn‘t have appealed - so it‘s very possible that I didn‘t… anyway, it‘s pretty cool (I read the answer page and made no attempt at decoding. I know who I am)

Ooh! Arrived earlier than anticipated (it‘s the Libby way)

Are you up for a buddy read this weekend @julesG ?

Today in libraryland ranged from having to knock on a toilet door to ask them to turn their music down (baby shark doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo) to a patron spiralling over a lost bookmark (returned in a book several months ago & no longer in lost property) that ended with a proclamation of reporting the “theft” to the police…

Is it a full moon? Is a planet in retrograde?

Cassie, Cassie, CASSIEEE

I love that the Megamorphs books switch between all the Animorphs kids - it really adds to the drama and so much happens in this one. From getting flung back in time and eating trex meat around a campfire, to Magic School Bus and Hansen (lol) references to the Big Bang… there was a lot happening, that‘s barely scraping the surface.

Disappointing that the trex morph wasn‘t retained when they made it back to their time 🦖

I‘ve been laughing at this all day.

(I used to watch this movie all the time with my siblings AND when the OG painting came to the NGV, we went to visit it)

In the last room of the Cats & Dogs exhibition there was a room with no gallery cards, which I find deeply annoying HOWEVER since I just finished Sabriel, I was like - is that ??? and it is!!!

Formally titled Girl with sword and white cat by Gregory Rogers, this was the cover illustration for Sabriel by Garth Nix, when it was published in 1995 by Harper Collins.

And tbh, if I can sneak Garth Nix into a conversation - I will.