How clever is Ann Patchett to find a way to write about a happy family without sacrificing dramatic tension? The warmth of the family relationship and the angst of Lara‘s coming of age are so beautifully balanced. I‘m really glad I waited until I‘d read Our Town (serendipitously chosen by my play reading group last term) to read this book. While I think I would have enjoyed it anyway, it made the story much richer. I loved it.

If I‘d read this as a Kindle Unlimited romance I would have thought it was decently written, amusing and an enjoyable romcom, but as a full priced book from the general fiction section it left a lot to be desired. Which just goes to show how much impact my expectations have on my reading experiences. A very low pick. #ozfiction

Almost every time I read a new Heyer I decide it's up there as my favourite! This one isn't quite as funny as Sophy, but I think it shades it for romance - Sir Richard's declaration made me swoon.

Like the first Canon Clement book this is a mash up of a cozy mystery with the Church of England liturgy. This one digs a little bit into the variations in Anglican theology ranging from the “bible based” (as described here) evangelicals to the “if it moves bless it” (as Catherine Fox puts it) school of thought. The Canon leans towards the latter. I‘m not CofE but I‘m kind of fascinated by them so I enjoyed this even if the mystery is a bit thin.

An effective portrait of a disintegrating relationship. At about the half way mark I was disappointed that it seemed to be heading in an all too obvious direction but it turned out that was just a step on the way to something more interesting. A good read. #ozfiction

@Reggie I thought you might like to see my favourite big thing - the Big Merino in Goulburn (Lian Moriarty referred to it as a ram, but it‘s not just any old ram🤣) When we lived in Canberra we would see it regularly on the way to or from Sydney. It was a sight to behold at night with its eyes lit up a demonic red! These days the Hume Highway bypasses Goulburn so travellers miss out. We paid a nostalgic visit on our last Sydney road trip.

A one star review, some associated bad behaviour on the part of the male reviewer & the female performer‘s revenge provide a framework for discussions around the me too movement, cancel culture & the ethics of reviewing in general. The story is narrated by the reviewer‘s female colleague who is dealing with her own challenges in balancing her professional & family lives. I liked it a lot.

Although Molly Clavering gets compared to DE Stevenson, on the strength of this book, at least, her work is darker and less charming. I found it difficult to be enthusiastic about either of the romances because both men engaged in some bad behaviour towards the women early in their acquaintance (in one case one particularly unforgivably). I liked the Susan‘s rejected suitor best of all of them. A low pick. #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

#14books14weeks

I did it! Read them all. Thanks for the impetus to get these books off my TBR @Liz_M

#BookReport for August

A pretty good reading month. Our Evenings was my favourite, honourable mentions for Everyone and Everything and Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont.

#RomanceRoundup
Love‘s Labours - 3 stories following the same couple as they perform in summer stock over 3 seasons. I enjoyed it a lot.
Love of the Game & Reckless on Ice - hockey romances that were better than the ones I bailed on, but not really memorable.
Love Me Do - entertaining enough but I was more invested in the story of the fabulous elderly neighbour than the romance. Read with #LittensLoveRomance. Thanks for the readalong @StayCurious

The memoirs of David Winn, English in every way but his appearance, covering the period from the 1960s to the present as he navigates life as the son of a single mother, as a scholarship boy at a posh boarding school, as a student at Oxford, as an working actor and, always, as both biracial & gay. It is beautifully written, slow but engrossing & a thoughtful portrait of the changing times. I loved it.

Delightfully quirky mystery with a bunch of entertainingly odd characters. It took me a bit to get into but I enjoyed it once I did.

A woman seeks justice for modern and historic sexual harassment/assault in her workplaces. A worthy topic & decently written, but I think a novel‘s theme should emerge from the story & characters rather than dictate them as it does here. Read for my IRL book group. #ozfiction
It is set in Perth - might be of interest @Jeg @MrsMalaprop @Rissreadswithcats

#PersephoneClub
I have a lot of thoughts about this one. Firstly, the ostracism. No one quite seemed to know exactly why, but Hetty was a “menace” & to be shunned. I wonder how often this happened (& still happens) to someone innocent? Then the “femme fatale”. Of course it‘s the woman‘s fault, no man can resist a beautiful woman who appears available & interested🤬 I was kind of disappointed that it turned out Hetty conformed to the stereotype.

Number 4 in the Sandhamn Murders series. There's only a bit part for the island in this one, with the neighbouring island of Korso playing a bigger part. An intriguing mystery and some happy developments in Norah and Thomas's lives.
#SeriesLove2025
@Andrew65

Charming coming of age story about a teenage girl in 1960s Yorkshire. I loved Evie and Caroline and Mrs Scott-Pym but I wanted to throttle Christine 🤬 Thanks for putting this one on my radar @LeeRHarry

What a stunning piece of autofiction this is! Family, friendship, grief & the slow recovery from a serious mental health crisis are beautifully & sensitively rendered in this sad, funny and artfully written book. Thank you @MrsMalaprop for putting it on my radar. I loved it. #ozfiction

I‘m not sure what to make of this book. The writing is great, there‘s lots of entertaining clever talk & a poignant portrait of a man with severe mental health issues but in the end I felt like Guido. “Guido felt he was being bombarded with concepts and moods, impressions and expressions, like insects splattering against a windscreen on a summer drive.” A low pick.

Emphasis on the dirt! The author makes no attempt to sanitise the experience of a Tongan family living on a pittance in Sydney‘s outer suburbs to help support their relations in Tonga. A fascinating insight into Tongan culture but, for me at least, not an enjoyable read. A low pick. #ozfiction

This book starts with a chapter that reads like a long form article in a newspaper or current affairs magazine, then peels back the layers of that story to show the manipulations perpetrated & the consequences for the people involved. There‘s lots to think about, not least the insidious nature of columnists whose “opinions” are written to “maximise [their] own profits, influence and longevity”. I think it‘s really good - a worthy Booker contender.

And isn‘t that exactly how a lot of people see the world? It just makes me sad.

Ok, I confess I bought this because I sometimes watch 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown 🫣 It was a pretty slow to start, and the whole thing was a bit contrived, but I enjoyed the word games, the etymologies and the insiders look at the work of lexicographers as well as the Oxford setting. A fun read.

This tale of a group of genteel elderly people seeing out their days in a shabby London hotel is funny and sad in equal measure. The unlikely friendship of widowed Mrs Palfrey and young would be writer, Ludo, makes for a subtle way of illustrating the social divide of 1960s Britain - the last vestiges of the colonial empire and the youth culture of Swinging London. I loved it.

#BookReport for July

The Axeman‘s Carnival was my favourite. Woodworking, Fundamentally & Better Days were all terrific too & I wouldn‘t be surprised if they all feature in my best of 2025.

#RomanceRoundUp for July

Copper Script - historical M/M. KJ Charles never disappoints
Awk-Weird - cute hockey player/nerd story. Surprise pregnancy / forced proximity tropes
I Think They Love You - second chance M/M. Romance was okay, family PR company story a bit cringy
Kiss of Steel - Steampunk vampires! Not really my thing but fun for a change. Read with #LittensLoveRomance

For me, humour is the ultimate humaniser & I thought this book used it to perfection. The bureaucracies & corruption of the UN, British Embassy & Iraqi ministries were believable, comic & infuriating all at once. I liked the way it dealt with the role of the media. The main thing I take away from the book is how, in spite of the ways we other one another, people are people - whatever our culture/religion a lot of our behaviour is very similar⬇️

Loved it. Great characters with distinctive voices , plotting that avoided cliché and predictability, smart writing and some wonderful calling out of the attitudes of the “Christian” Right - “…everything you say is bankrupt, warped by money and power and privilege”. “But a person‘s life is their own. Few sins are greater than trying to squeeze someone else into the shape you require them to be.” Can‘t wait to discuss #CampLitsy2025

The talking magpie narrator explaining the ways of birds and people is an appealing hook that frequently had me laughing out loud and is also an effective counterpoint to the harshness of conditions of the human characters. What could have been very bleak became much more palatable, but no less powerful. I loved it. A definite contender for my book of the year so far. #NZfiction
Have you read this one @Centique ?

At the half-way mark I‘ve read 8 of the books in my #14books14weeks stack 😊

What a charmless lot these characters were! I had trouble feeling sympathy for any of them, except maybe Lavinia who seemed to be doing her best. #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub

@Sarahreadstoomuch Tag you‘re it! If you want to play, find another post related to the ocean to share.

#tagyoureit #ocean

I really enjoyed this book, but I don‘t know how to describe it adequately. It‘s about a successful woman & her relationships with her mother, her husband, her best friend, her children, her number one client & with music. The story may not be very new, but the characters are wonderful, vibrant & multi faceted. The mother in particular. I‘m often not fond of novels with multiple time shifts but it works well here. #ozfiction

Meh. It was fine, decently written and interesting enough, but never particularly engaging. I'd have thought if you were going to make yourself the narrator of a cosy mystery you'd give yourself a bit of charm. Horowitz doesn't agree, it seems. With a sleuth as enigmatic as this one the narrator needs to sparkle. As it is, its a cosy mystery that lacks warmth.

#BookReport for June

The Proof of My Innocence was my favourite for the month and one of my favourites for the year so far.

June #RomanceRoundup

Poetry On Ice - Enemies to lovers isn‘t a trope I generally enjoy. This one handled it reasonably well, but I found the 🌶 a bit icky
Pucked - Read with #LittensLoveRomance (thanks @StayCurious ) teammate‘s sister trope, started well but never developed the relationship beyond the physical, which just got boring
Untouchable Player - Sweet jock/nerd & teammate‘s brother trope
Blue Line - OK but forgettable fake dating trope

I just loved this book. Ostensibly it‘s a murder mystery told by means of literary pastiche (a cosy mystery complete with secret passages, plenty of suspects & a quirky detective, a dark academia background excursion & an auto fiction conclusion) but at heart it‘s a political asking (expressly) why the proponents of the Thatcher/Reagan era policies which have created our current society do not like that society. ⬇️

I‘ve made it to 35% but I‘m going to bail now. I have no doubt a lot of Barnado‘s children were treated as badly as this, but the book feels too much like trauma porn to me. Sorry @Jess861 #OhCanada

Charming epistolary novel with a spiky central character and a lot of book chat. Thanks for putting it on my radar @BarbaraBB

It is an astonishing fact that, in 1914 & 1915, as Europe approached & then began a devastating war, the married, 60+ British Prime Minister was so besotted with a 27 year old society girl that he wrote letters to her during cabinet meetings that contained state secrets along side gushing professions of love & sent her top secret documents. This book is a fictionalised account of the relationship & of the government‘s conduct of the war. ⬇️

The Miles shortlist is out. Any thoughts, #ozfiction readers?

From the very start, this book told me where it was going. Even so, I was surprised when it got there. I knew nothing about life in post WWII Vienna and found this aspect of it fascinating. I enjoyed Resi‘s story, but she was such an ephemeral character I didn‘t feel a lot for her. I felt much more connected to Professor Adler & his efforts to make a new life in his old home. #PersephoneClub

#UnpopularOpinion

I appreciated what the author is trying to do here but for me she wasn‘t successful. I didn‘t buy the central relationship - there was too little to show how they came to care for one another. It‘s a trope I rarely enjoy or find convincing so maybe it‘s just me. The writing is good and the background story is really important. I‘m extra critical when I think a book could be truly great but misses the mark, so only a so-so.

I agree this is an odd book, but I enjoyed it. I have an idea about what I think it‘s doing. I‘m looking forward to seeing what the campers think. #CampLitsy25

I think this is a lesser known Heyer, but for me it is up there with the best of them. Romance, comedy and great characters. Totally delightful, but have you ever seen a less appropriate cover for a Heyer @LeahBergen ?

Oh boy! That was a lot! It starts as a 1920‘s shipboard murder mystery featuring a dizzying number of characters, all with complicated backstories, and evolves into a gruesome horror/disaster story. Underlying it all is the horror of the First World War and under that the evils of centuries of imperialism. I would never have chosen to read it if I didn‘t love Toby Schmitz. I think I‘m glad I did, but I need to wash my brain now 😵‍💫🤢 #ozfiction

This is brilliant

#BookReport for May. The Wardrobe Department and The Sitter were my two favourites for the month.

Romance round up - 3 m/m hockey romances

Textbook Defence - latest in the Hockey Ever After series. Not a patch on the first one as originally published, but still fun. It‘s always good to get a glimpse of Gabe & Dante.
On the Edge - I like the slow burn in this series. This one is a pretty good example of the grumpy/sunshine trope.
One Timer - I can‘t remember this much but it must have been ok because I finished it after bailing on a few.

The spirit of Cezanne‘s wife & frequent subject, Hortence, tells her story while watching over a writer who is trying to write Hortense‘s biography but winds up writing a heartbreaking part of her own autobiography. That may sound like an unnecessary bit of literary pretentiousness, but it is beautifully & sensitively done. I‘m not surprised it was on all those prize lists last year. #ozfiction
Second book for #14books14weeks