I go through phases in my reading habits and at the moment I’m deeply immersed in the world of cosy English murders. I like nothing more than to walk around the lake near my home, or vacuum the house, while ..read more

Let’s get this out in the open right away – camping is not my thing. This is not to say that I don’t love a caravan park, with their bouncing pillows, games rooms and, most importantly, cabins. It’s just the ..read more

I’ve always had trouble remembering the exact (or even approximate) dates when it comes to the big events of history. When I read a passage in a textbook at school, my eyes used to glaze over when I read about a significant date hundreds of years ago, or even relatively recently. Even last year when I was lucky enough to travel to Europe, and I made a concerted effort to understand when the gladiators fought at the Colosseum or Julius Caesar walked the streets of the Roman Forum, the numbers remained slippery. Clearly, I am not someone why can learn history by numbers. It is a completely diffe ..read more

Has Melbourne ever seen fangirling of the kind we saw last month when Taylor Swift visited Australia for her record-breaking concerts? At each performance, more than 90,000 people swooned with admiration … and a degree of obsession. While I love the overt displays of joy at these concerts, it is a quieter but no less adoring fangirl that attends a book festival, snatches up the latest copy of a beloved writer’s book or awaits the airing of an adaptation of their favourite novel. However, I can’t help but see the similarities between the fanbases of Tay Tay and the bookish community. I was rece ..read more

Ever since they started reading Spot and Grug, I’ve loved helping my kids choose their next read. As the kids have reached their tween years, we have continued to share book talk and I still love recommending new books, or ones that I loved at their age. However, as my eldest turns 13 years old, I’m having a bit of trouble determining which books are suitable for his age group, whether at the library or bookshop or on the kindle. While children’s books are obvious with their big, bright colours, and size, there is little guidance on the age at which the book is aimed once they move on from pic ..read more

Audiobooks I’ve listened to audiobooks while walking, vacuuming and cooking this year and they’ve improved each of these activities immensely. They make waiting in the car for the school pickup enjoyable, and help me get through the commute to work. I’m so reliant on audiobooks now that I can barely hang up the washing or visit the supermarket without an audiobook on the go. My kids aren’t as happy when I drown out their questions or arguments with a Vera Stanhope novel … Ann Cleeves A perfect segue to my favourite books when listening – somehow Vera Stanhope, Inspector Ramsay and DI Matthew V ..read more

It has been quite a while since I posted, but during that time I have been busy travelling, then getting my life back in order after extended time away. But I haven’t forgotten to write about how I went with all of the books I planned to read while I was away. I really love how books that you read on holiday retain a link to that place in your mind. I remember reading Sorrow and Bliss while walking along Four Mile Beach in Far North Queensland, and tramping through the bush near Robinvale on the Murray River listening to The Redhead by the Roadside. Now, I will associate Daisy Jones and the Si ..read more

I’m about to leave on an international holiday with my family and I’ve been doing some careful planning about what books and audiobooks to load onto my Kindle and phone. It has made me realise that planning holiday reading is quite different to regular home-reading. As this holiday is a long one – 10 weeks! – I tried not to fall back entirely on ‘beach reads’, but neither did I want any books that would make me work too hard. Perhaps there should be a service offering holiday-makers advice on how to choose the perfect holiday read, depending on their destination and duration … Here are the boo ..read more

I have a love/hate relationship with politics. I love that we have a stable form of politics in Australia, even though sometimes it can get a little heated and it certainly isn’t without its problems. But I hate that it has taken over writers festivals to the degree that it is hard to find a session that isn’t overtly political. These festivals have moved from being celebrations of books to become fixated on politics and ideology. At risk of sounding like that uniquely Australian politician, Pauline Hanson, I just don’t like it. I’m not saying that literature doesn’t play an important role in ..read more

I never would have imagined how much I would come to love audiobooks. In the past I considered myself a purist – books had a feel and a smell that couldn’t be replaced; no ereader for me, and listening to an audiobook was not reading. Now, I have a list of audiobooks saved on my phone so that I can read anywhere, anytime. And I’ll never travel without my beloved kindle. Over the years since my misguided stand on what is and isn’t a ‘real’ book, I have embraced audiobooks and now I couldn’t walk, vacuum, mow without one. And I have to admit they have a very real advantage that traditional books ..read more