8-10 Jan 26 (audiobook)
We listened to this very quickly but ultimately I felt it lacked the urgency of the first two books despite the not so subtle point that the rebellion was really just an extension of the arena.
The end was a touch predictable but for me there was never a question of Peter v Gale. Ok, I choose Finnick but then Team Gale all the way (perhaps my view is skewed by the Hemsworth factor).

2-8 Jan 26 (audiobook)
Listening to this series with Beatrix (mostly with one AirPod each) has been a highlight of the holidays. This second instalment introduced some great characters - Plutarch, Finnick, Joanna - as the third quell brings the Hunger Games All Stars as victors from each of the districts are again returned to the arena.
A worthy sequel.

3-8 Jan 26
Facing the death of her beloved father, Alice is confronted with her own life choices, stuck in a tiny apartment and working in the admissions office of her old school.
This was one of those books that forced me to question by own shallow priorities. Spoiler alert - I would definitely have chosen to remain in her spoiled life with Tommy, two adorable children and an apartment in the San Remo. What could possibly be wrong with that?

3-5 Jan 26 (audiobook)
One of NYT top 10 books of 2025.
A fictionalised account of Austrian filmmaker Pabst‘s life from his failed attempt at Hollywood to his return to Austria where he made propaganda and apolitical films under the Nazi regime.
I thoroughly enjoyed this - it balanced humour with questions about what it means to make art, patronage and integrity. It also conveyed the threatening and suffocating nature of the Nazi regime.

29 Dec 25-2 Jan 26 (audiobook)
I listened to much of this is a kind of fever-dream recovering from the virus that hit me on Boxing Day. Although I am not certain that is why I found it difficult to follow at times and quite uncomfortable listening.
Jones juxtaposes the massacre of the Black Feet people of Montana in 1870 with a vampire story and a failed academic today. It did not really work for me, although I appreciate the intentions.

27 Dec 25-2 Jan 26
Firmly in the literary fiction category, I have not previously read any of Arnott‘s books but picked this up as Flames is on Polly‘s syllabus for next year. And whilst the plot was a bit far-fetched and bloody, I enjoyed the beautiful depiction of the Australian highlands and of the magnificent panther, Dusk. I also appreciated a break from the perimenopausal women genre, which seems to be my most frequent hard copy oeuvre.

24-28 Dec 25 (audiobook)
Soft pick. I have loved many of Ian McEwan‘s novels, even some of the less popular, but I did not love this. His ideas about the explosion of information, the dangers of AI being regulated and exploited by private interests, and the difficulties of finding truth amongst so much fake news and information dumping are very interesting. As are his environmental concerns. But I did not really engage with the characters or story

25-6 Dec 2025
I feel a bit icky after devouring this in a 24 hour post-Christmas fever state. It made me feel like one of those true crime obsessives, reading all the most sordid newspaper articles and tuning into 60 Minutes exposes on serial killers. And whilst the authors discussed whether their attendance at the trial added to the hype and voyeurism, I think it did and that publicity is what personalities such as this woman are looking for.

12-25 Dec 2025
This was both funnier and more heartbreaking than Sandwich. The heartbreak does not come from any particularly tragic event but simply from the poignancy of aging, watching parents age and lose their soulmate, witnessing your children grow up and move on with their lives and make choices that you may not make. And dealing with an aging body.
I love Catherine Newman, but of course I am exactly her target audience.

20-24 Dec 25 (audiobook)
Well, really volumes 7 and 8.
I must say I was disappointed. I had it in my head that volume 8 was the final book in the series and would therefore bring some kind of resolution. Not so happy to have to wait for volume 9 (and probably listen to the others all over again as I will have forgotten what happened). I wonder how many there will be.
Is anyone else hoping to see Emma become a duchess? Or am I just too mercenary?

18-20 Dec 25 (audiobook)
Continued this delightful series. Not sure why there is no entry for volume 7 but as I previously said they all blended into one really so doing separate reviews seems pointless, and a little impossible a week or so after finishing.

16-7 Dec 25 (audiobook)
I enjoyed listening to this Christmas story in the lead up to Christmas. Emma seems to have accepted her grief somewhat and be potentially ready to embrace life again. Islington, Pearce and Hawks are all wonderful characters but I also enjoy the more minor characters, such as Jack, Mr and Mrs Penury, Arabella and, of course, Agnes. Hawks has my heart.

15-6 Dec 25 (audiobook)
Continuing to race through the series. Maybe when I finish I should listen again and do a proper review of each. They have been a pleasant distraction as I try to get organised for the chaos of having numerous birthday celebrations for Polly in the week before again hosting Christmas.

12-4 Dec 25 (audiobook)
As I previously remarked, I really cannot recall where one volume starts and the next stops but I do love the neighbourhood of St Crispian‘s and the lovely vicar, Young Hawks. He may be my favourite character.

10-11 Dec 25 (audiobook)
Cynicism aside, I am enjoying the characters in each of these novellas, both the heroes and villains. Emma herself is a worthy Austen heroine eschewing chaperones and longing for a true education. Cousin Archibald is suitably Dickensian, although perhaps even more of a caricature of the evil elder relative stealing the fortune of a young, innocent orphan.

9 Dec 25 (audiobook)
Listening to these on audiobook and I am very much enjoying them. I do have a complaint though - they are so short that I begrudge spending a whole credit on each volume. And at this stage (I am now midway through volume 6) I cannot really distinguish between any particular volume. I am not sure why they were not published as one or perhaps two novels but being slightly cynical I do wonder whether it was for mercenary reasons.

4-16 Dec 25 (audiobook)
I was reluctant to listen to this with Trix, as I think she is probably too young for the concept. But as soon as we started we were both engrossed. I do find it alarming how easily children accept violent concepts - 24 children placed in an arena to fight to the death is barbaric and horrifying to me. But in fact, apart from Kato‘s death, it is not overly gory. And the gross inequalities do raise interesting discussions.

6-11 Dec 25
Amongst the recent books featuring the ravings of perimenopausal women, this has been my favourite. Our heroine does not abandon her husband for a lesbian affair (see All Fours, Lioness) but at times Rocky is exasperating, moody and unreasonable. Just like me (and I expect many other women hitting 50). Her musings on her changing body, her love for her almost grownup children, aging parents and said husband are relatable and funny.

30 Nov-8 Dec 25 (audiobook)
I was familiar with Atwood‘s voice but still it took me a little while to get into the groove of the narration. She is so droll that it almost sounds as though she is boring herself. Sped up slightly (1.4x) and she sounded to be enjoying herself a little more.
As you would expect, she is defensive about the more controversial aspects of her life, but certainly not apologetic.

1-5 Dec 25
I finished this late Friday night and sobbed through the last 50 pages or so. It lived up to the hype. A lovely, nostalgic story of youth, love, friendship and miscommunication. I would love for Polly to read it, as she is just on the cusp of that world.
I will seek out more books by Lily King. I remember little about Euphoria, except that I did enjoy it.

11 Nov-3 Dec 25 (audiobook)
This was one of my favourite instalments. The clash of cultures between our world, embodied by the luckless Oscar from Byron Bay, and that of the Empires and Kingdoms was amusing (although the narrator‘s very broad Australian accent was a little aggravating). I also enjoyed the eleven quest, which meant that the structure of this book was similar to Brontë Mettleston, which I think was the most successful,

21-24 Nov 25 (audiobook)
I realised about 3/4 of the way through that I should have been listening to the track that matched the chapter title at the end of each chapter. I was quite familiar with most of the music, but once I started doing that it really enhanced my reading experience.
I enjoyed this quite a lot. I knew basic biographical details but I enjoyed what was quite a close reading of the text and Leslie‘s attempt not to demonise Paul.

2-30 Nov 25
Highly recommended by Jaclyn Crupi, for good reason. Leo recounts many decades of his life, his long friendship with Bill and Violet and the relationship between their two sons. From about midway through, I felt quite uneasy, not sure where the story was going but anxious and quite disturbed. For me, this was a psychological thriller.
An exceptional book dealing with the nature of art, mental illness, depression, addiction and marriage

10-20 Nov 25 (audiobook)
I may have read this back in my uni days - certainly I remember it being on my mother‘s bedside table, for quite a long time! So when the update came up as a recommended title after finishing Motherland I decided to listen to the original title first.it was long! And not quite as engaging as Motherland, but still an interesting look at the lives of the author, her mother and grandmother, and by extension women, in China.

3-9 Nov 25 (audiobook)
An incredible book. Traces the history of women in Russia from the revolution at the turn of the 19th century to the present day. Ioffe offers both deeply personal stories, biographies of famous and less famous Russian women and an overview of the legal, social and political status of women through the various regimes. Marriage, childbirth, education, employment, religion - Ioffe considers all. And it is all fascinating.

10-2 Nov 2025 (audiobook)
Soft pick. I am a bit bored by books with a he said/she said format and unreliable narrators. Not quite fair to judge Groff‘s work in this way as she predates Trust and all its successors.
This was well written and I did enjoy Lotto‘s character, once he overcame his post graduation slump, and Mathilde‘s devotion. It did make me query, again, whether homemaking is a sufficient occupation but Mathilde did seem to make it so

13 Oct-10 Nov 25 (audiobook)
This has been a good series for Trix and I to listen to on our travels. The stories are engaging and I found the narration of this quite delightful. I also appreciate that each novel in the series can easily standalone, although part of the same world.
This focused on horrible Aunt Nancy‘s three lovely daughters, particularly, Esther, and their adventures at boarding school with awful teachers and dark magic. Lovely.

7-9 Nov 25 (audiobook)
Not sure now what prompted me to listen to this but it was an at times enlightening and heartbreaking compilation of firsthand accounts of 9/11. The testimony of spouses as they realised their loved ones were not coming home made me cry and there were many details of which I was only vaguely aware. Luke did question why I would listen to it when it was clearly going to be miserable, and it was, but also important to remember

3-7 Nov 25 (audiobook)
Lonesome Dove has been on my TBR list for a long time (36+ hours makes it good value for my Audible credit) but only 1 and 3 are on audio. Anyway, I finally decided to take the plunge and enjoyed this much more than expected. Despite its age, it was not a gung-ho American tale of the Wild West, and it was also less violent than a novel written today would be (although still quite violent). Waiting on 2 to arrive in hard copy

2-3 Nov 25 (audiobook)
Had read the reviews saying this was better than the first, but not for me. Perhaps the characters were a bit more interesting but I don‘t think this series is for me. I do like the occasional spicy romance but the language in these sex scenes is a bit coarse or something. Not exactly sure but not really what I enjoy.

29-31 Oct 25 (audiobook)
Finally got around to the first in this series (having picked up the second as the best of a very small selection at the Bali airport a few years ago).
For anyone unaware, the Club is a quartet of octogenarians living in a retirement village in England reviewing unsolved murder cases. When a number of murders occur in and around the village, they decide to investigate. Quite fun and will probably continue at some point.

23 Oct-1 Nov 2025
I so love these books. Bob Burgess is such a wonderful man and it was lovely to go back to this earlier Strout book to learn more about his life, and that of his two siblings.
Not sure exactly what it is about Strout‘s tales of small-town Maine that makes me feel nostalgic, comforted and happy. Certainly the lives she depicts are not always that comfortable as many are quite lonely and struggling. But I love them.

27-8 Oct 25 (audiobook)
Published a decade ago, but I expect it has not become any less relevant. Flexible work is more normalised post COVID and hopefully there is less stigma for men wanting to reduce hours or work around a family but the central premise - that having a wife is an economic and political asset - remains very true.

25-7 Oct 25 (audiobook)
I think I expected more; only a soft pick for me and possibly only because having come through the English department at Melbourne Uni a little less than a decade later, it felt very familiar. For me, this was a cross between Helen Garner‘s diaries and Miranda Darling‘s Thunderhead (as an example of a fictional work that engaged with Virginia Woolf) but not as compelling as either. Not sure what else was up for the Stella?

25-6 Oct 25 (audiobook)
Decided I needed to read something trashy and this has come up a few times over the past little while, so thought I would give it a go.
The enemies to lovers trope always seems to work for me, as does the billionaire in shining armour. The heroine in this is not completely hopeless and the sex scenes were ok; my main problem is that there was not really much tension. The whole thing could have been half as long really.

22-4 Oct 2025 (audiobook)
An Australian novel that has received good reviews but I expect it was spoiled in audio. The male narrator was just awful - he sounded like he was presenting to toddlers. I should have waited for my hard copy to arrive (had forgotten I had ordered it) as the story itself may have been ok, if a bit predictable. I expect I would have always had problems with the male character being absolutely clueless though.

17-22 Oct 25(audiobook)
I attempted to read this shortly after it won the Booker, but lost focus (busier times). The full cast audiobook worked well, although at times it was difficult to keep track of the large cast of characters.
Loosely based on the story surrounding the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in Jamaica in the 70s, it is violent, coarse and very disturbing at times but utterly compelling in a Tarantino-esque manner.

11-22 Oct 2025
A well-executed yet uncomfortable sequel to the wonderful Thunderhead. I loved Thunderhead, but could not say I loved this. Winona returns, divorced and granted only supervised access to her children due to her husband‘s construction of her questionable sanity. For me, the disintegration/deconstruction of her mental state echoed the many women throughout literary history who refused to conform: such as Mrs Rochester and Ophelia.

12-16 Oct 25 (audiobook)
Gibson weaves together the stories of a group of women known as ‘Bluestockings‘ - intellectual women in early 18th century England. Her subjects include Elizabeth Montagu, Frances Burney and Hester Thrale. Whilst the stories are engaging, I did find the format somewhat confusing as Gibson jumps back and forth between subjects and chronologically.

27 Sep-12 Oct 2025 (audiobook)
A good second instalment in these loosely connected stories. This predated the Brontë book and was a fun tale of orphans and spoilt boarding school kids learning to work together.
Trix and I enjoyed and moved on to book three.

10-3 Oct 2025 (audiobook)
Alarming, fascinating and off putting memoir of someone who worked in Washington PR firms for many years. My favourite story was his babysitting Gadaffi Jr in Las Vegas.
You do wonder how some people sleep at night.

#Bookerlonglist2025
And I am done! I think it is the first time I have finished before the winner is announced, although it did help that I allowed myself to listen to the longer novels (anything over 10 hours) on audiobook.
There were some great novels longlisted this year. My favourites are Seascraper, Misinterpretation, Sonia and Sunny and Flesh. And perhaps I am overly influenced by Jaclyn Crupi, but expect Flesh will take the prize.

29 Sep-10 Oct 2025
#Bookerlonglist2025 No 13
An impressive debut, Xhoga follows the life of an Albanian interpreter living in NYC. The narrator reminded me a great deal of a family friend from Bulgaria who seemed to take in all kinds of Eastern European strays (before the fall of the iron curtain) much to the dismay of her conservative, ENT husband.
The tension and underlying violence Xhoga creates is remarkable and disarming. Another great novel.

8-9 Oct 2025 (audiobook)
Listening to this audiobook increased my admiration of Ardern. Throughout her political career, she maintained kindness and dignity in a world where they are not characteristics commonly associated with politicians. Her five years as the NZ PM were challenging, not least because she discovered her pregnancy whilst waiting to hear whether she would take government and then dealt with terrorist attacks, a volcano and COVID.

7-8 Oct 25 (audiobook)
An English couple at crossroads in their life spend a summer in Greece. Wanting to try something new, they invite a young Greek women into their relationship with tumultuous results.
A tense, tightly written novel which, despite its somewhat salacious plot, raises interesting questions about identity, trust and love.

3-6 Oct 25 (audiobook)
Another great ‘memoir‘, although Faulks may object to that characterisation. I appreciated this did not attempt to be the all encompassing story of a life, but rather a series of essays. In particular, I respect that for the most part he did not detail his personal relationships. Like Graydon Carter, it is his work life that fascinated me - the career of a journalist and writer. Perhaps I will re-discover some of his books.

25 Sep-2 Oct 25 (audiobook)
#Bookerlonglist2025 No 12
A sprawling tale of loneliness, love and longing. I do not remember anything about Inheritance of Loss, others than so enjoyed it and read it as part of the Booker longlist many years ago.
I enjoy sprawling family sagas, which seems to be a genre at which some modern writers from India excel, and this deserves it place in the shortlist.

16-28 Sep 25
#Bookerlonglist25 No 11
A coming of age story of the teenage Jay spending a month on his family‘s dilapidated farm in 1990s Malaysia. Tash explores the conflicts between Jay‘s parents, between the urban and rural, and the paths open to the children of the middle class and the rural poor.
I enjoyed this easy read and its depiction of rural Malaysia, although it would not make my shortlist.
Interesting contrast with The Line of Beauty.

15 Aug-26 Sep 25 (audiobook)
Read this aloud to Polly quite a few years ago and decided it would be a good series for Beatrix and I on the commute.
I enjoy Brontë‘s voice - both the actual narrator‘s voice and her view of the world. She is bright, funny and quite English. Her quest to visit her ten aunts in accordance with the instructions in her parents‘ magical will is fun and a little silly. And it is long, making it good value on audio.

23-4 Sep 25 (audiobook)
A short and concise look at the atrocities being committed in Gaza and the ability of much of the world to ignore it. One of those books that will unfortunately primarily be read by those who share the author‘s view.
Particularly important given the events of the past week at the UN. Very pleased that Australia was amongst those to recognise the Palestinian state.