Another month, more books. Not with the easiest subject matter this time around, as you’ll see! Let’s discuss. Before I did a little background reading, I believed I’d heard about Still Alice by Lisa Genova when it was first released. But I don’t think that’s the case – otherwise, I’m sure I would’ve remembered its extraordinary success…
It’s been a great month for books, so I’m going to get straight into matters. It’s not often I can tally how long a book will take me to complete but I can in this case: I read This House of Grief by Helen Garner cover to cover in the nine-and-a-bit hour car journey from…
Quite to my surprise, I discovered My Booky Wook was first published in 2007. This was when Russell Brand was very popular in England, but just before he became a true international star. Not that that matters – by thirty years of age had certainly accumulated enough life experience to fully justify this first memoir. He has…
Everywhere I Look is a collection of Helen Garner’s non-fiction from the last twenty-or-so years – although some pieces from the 90s have also been included. Even if you’ve read these before, it’s a treat to revisit them again, even more so when they’re all together. My bookcase is getting a nice area that’s purely…
I have to say, I was a little uncertain about picking up The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer. She is a rather polarising personality in creative and musical circles, but I really love her TED talk on this subject – in fact, this book’s genesis can be traced back to it. Well, I’m happy to…
Read / February 22nd, 2016
Many of you will know I borrow most of my (printed) reading material from my local public library. I’ll buy the occasional treat for myself, but if I bought every book I wanted I would run out of money pretty quickly. We library members can put in title requests, but I have wondered how much…
Read / January 25th, 2016
I couldn’t believe my luck just after Christmas when I checked out a local Little Free Library to find Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. It’s the same book I’ve heard such good word about from people’s opinion that I respect that I started recommending it by that alone. Once I was about a quarter of…
Read / December 29th, 2015
There are books that come into your life at exactly the right time. For me, this month, Yes Please by Amy Poehler has been one of these books. I’ve heard a lot about it, along with companion-of-sorts-title Bossypants by Tina Fey (and Poehler’s good friend). I’ve been feeling drained and when I get like that I…
Read / November 25th, 2015
Anyone who hangs out on the internet for an extended period of time, blogs, posts selfies, make public status updates on Facebook – or does them all – has possibly been accused of being narcissistic. By asserting your place in your world, that you matter, is often challenged. Just ask mother bloggers, or female tech…
