Wow, wow, and more WOW! Not since Decima by Venter Even or Leaving the Atocha Station by Ben Lerner have I been so gripped by a novel and protagonist! This book is amazing! Found myself re reading chapters to enjoy the prose again!

A charming read about the beauty and astonishing facts about plants!

Simply marvellous! Loved piecing the fragments together and wow what a writer! Audio book was amazing!

Re-reading ‘Sula! I am so excited, and truly blessed, to experience and teach ‘Sula‘ again with my Year 12 IB Literature class over the next four weeks! I read a lot of books but ‘Sula‘ is STILL the greatest novel I have ever read! How marvellous is it to be a Literature teacher!

What a charming coming of age story. So many intriguing characters and a wonderful insight is modern Nigeria. So many out there book down and reflect moments

Drop everything and read this collection!!!!!!!! What a gift and privilege it is to be among Lahiri‘s majesty and talent. This collection is simply stunning! There is no better short story writer than Lahiri! She is the master!!!! This collection is perfection! Hands down the best read of 2023!

A great work of eco/environmental criticism through beautiful poems, essays, and short stories. Never preachy, there is instead a deep reflection on the precarious nature of our current existence. Yet, it is also not a doomsday collection. There is hope!

Pre Christmas Summer Holidays Reading (and travel) all planned
Destination 1 - Prophet Song (Ireland)
Destination 2 - Tiger Work (Nigeria)
Destination 3 - Helena Rubinstein - The Australian Years
Destination 4 - Roman Stories (Rome)
Destination 5 - Those who Saw the Sun (North Carolina)
Destination 6 - Mobility (Azerbaijan)
Destination 7 - The Premonition (Japan)

Wow, wow and more WOW! Just a truly awesome book!

I was really charmed and intrigued by this novel. A group of wayward people end up at the institute for various reasons and their backstories and present lives collide in a captivating read. A great debut novel.

What an awesome book! Refreshing concept! Thought provoking and beautifully crafted! This is one of my favourite reads of the year!

7 chapters in WOW! I was not a fan of Kang‘s Booker winning ‘The Vegetarian‘ but with this new work she captures the tender and deeply felt above the horrific. The structure is marvellous and makes readers active in the creation of meaning. It has touches of Calvino! Just really enjoying this text.

Charming. White at his best and not his convoluted worst! - we delve into the childhood of the aunt, travel with the aunt and truly embody her perspective and anxieties! There is an exquisite sense of the Australian landscape in the late 1890s. The dynamics between the family and unspoken truths that will come to fruition later in the novel create a general sense of intrigue and excitement in readers! Highly recommend.

Some good philosophical musings but otherwise quite forgettable!

The literary equivalent of an unremarkable movie on Netflix!

Such tender and touching short stories! Immediately engrossing! Only just discovered van der Berg so decided to start with her first collection.

Only just discovered this wonderful collection of bold and wacky short stories! There are hints of Atwood and Murakami - but Suzuki is a bold original!

In 2006, I first fell in love with Condé! ‘I, Tituba' remains an engrossing 'addition' to Miller's 'The Crucible'. I‘ve taught 'Crossing the Mangrove' 7 times and each time I‘ve discovered something wonderful and engrossing! Condé has been dubbed the 'Grand Dame of Caribbean Literature' and the 'Queen of Caribbean storytelling' for a very good reason! This latest work, translated and transcribed by her husband Richard Philcox, is simply stunning!

Simply amazing!

Well I wasn‘t expecting to utterly adore this text! Definitely not what I usually gravitate towards. But how splendid it was. Totally quirky concept but once you run with it you are engrossed and enchanted! The character of Kamotaketsunumi no Kami, who is one of the 8million gods, is hilarious! And the magic realism doesn‘t detract from a very human story! Was so charmed by this tale!

Marvellous! Quirky! But asks so many important questions about memory and identity. The exploration of modern history is also very interesting and intriguing! Brilliant time spent in a captivating world!

Charming book! Really transports you into a world of gambling, drinking and a whole other life that exists late into the night. Sad and touching at times. Very well written!

I fell in love at 16 with this play! Most of that initial adoration was due to Stockard Channing's portrayal of Ouisa. But having re-read it this weekend, I also realise and recall the power of the text/play. It combines so many worlds - art, mystery, suspense, the modern condition, and family dynamics. It is so astute in its observations of all of the above. AND there are so many put the book down and marvel at the language! MARVELLOUS!

My 'challenge' this year is to... “Re-Read“! I began where it all begun for me! When I was seventeen, I read 'Paradise' and it made me want to be a Literature teacher! 36 years on... I am still in awe of this magnificent text. It is amazing! It demands you pay attention chronologically. The narrative is sweeping, yet exactI Stunning! Persist and pursue this marvellous text as it is, truly, paradise!

I‘ve decided that my reading theme for 2023 will be Re-Read! I am only going to re-read novels I have read before!

Have just finished my second reading of ‘A Little Life‘. It‘s just not a good book or written well! Cannot understand why it is so successful and why the NYRoB was the only publication to really critique the novel and author.

“…words, borne of the mind, were slapdash and chaotic, words in fact took one only further from the soul, not closer, and the purpose of art, Schmidt and I believed, was to connect or reunite a person with their soul, to bring about a wordless communion with the infinite and thus our books, replete with endlessly fallible words, were merely attempts at approaching what painting had mastered by default, simply by excluding words.”

From Trinidad and Tobago, I am off to Berlin!

Perfect combination of magic realism and gritty reality. Two seperate stories intertwine in this glorious debut novel. Beautiful prose with distinct voices and perspectives for the two main characters. Transports you to Trinidad and Tobago!

A captivating play! Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Two characters have a one night stand in modern Berlin but their simple affair leads to many conversations about guilt and identity! The ending is spectacular! Beautiful dialogue and heaps of put the book down to ponder ideas moments!

Murray makes some astute observations. He tackles contemporary and age old issues. His work is always engrossing and contentious! He reads the audio book so you get a real sense of his voice.

Fantastic novel about a queer muslim male growing up in Western Sydney. As a poet Sakr is exact and powerful. His debut novel is impressive. Stories and connection to the past and present evolve in episodes and the result is a brilliant novel! Highly recommend!

Not a book 📕 I would usually be drawn to! Transports you and you are suspended in an epic tale of memory, experience and the need to make connections with others. Great moments of beautiful prose!

David Malouf is hands down (in my humble opinion) Australia‘s greatest writer and although this one is not set in Oz, Malouf‘s beautiful prose is perfectly captured. An imaginary Ovid is exiled to the edge of the known world and he must discover the true meaning and power of language, identity and our spiritual relationship with the land! So many put the book down in awe moments! I first read this text in 1997 - it only gets better with age!

Really intrigued by this text! Great opening 100 pages! Hope it continues!

Wow! A great and moving memoir of a great South African poet! Stunning vignettes of childhood and life in South Africa. Awesome read! And the audiobook is exceptionally read and captured! Utterly charming!

It is a wonderful moment when you discover a poet who speaks to you. Illuminates the world for you! This is a truly a remarkable new poetic voice!!!!!! Charming and beautiful! Get a copy of this collection!

I loved Exit West and this new novel lives up to much of the promise of such a gifted writer. As a concept (the idea of skin colour and identity and relationships) this novel could be contrived and obvious, but Hamid‘s delicate and wonderful prose ensures the novel delves deeply but also soars above the page and lingers in your mind as you read. Heartfelt and genuine, I highly recommend this novel!

Such a great, detailed, account of the history of the bible! Karen Armstrong is a wonderful historian and writer!

Bri Lee is an amazing thinker! This book is so wonderful and timely!

This book should be REQUIRED READING for absolutely every person!!! Astounding work!!! The audio book is simply brilliant and beautifully captured and read. So many WOW moments in this work! I thought I knew quite a bit but this remarkable book has taught me otherwise! Drop what ever you are doing and read/listen to this text!

Struggled with this one as I am not big on fantasy! Interesting concept though and some beautiful writing in parts!

I love Bri Lee! The is a must for any teacher!!! Awesome observations and astute commentary!

Some interesting observations.

Such a gripping story! Wonderful characters and beautiful prose. Highly recommend!

Nigeria‘s answer to Animal Farm! Loved her first novel and this was a great shift in style.

Simply stunning! So many quotable moments! Brilliant prose! Awesome audiobook also!

WOW! Thought I would struggle with the four story lines but WOW, WOW, and more WOW! Absolutely STUNNING! HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS AMAZING NOVEL! BEAUTIFULLY CAPTURED!

An interesting concept but needed a robust edit!

Some great moments but overall quite forgettable!