#Bk5 of the #24in48 #readathon is finished! This small book was a gothic ghost story by the author of The Woman In Black. Two young doctors in a London Hospital at the end of the 19th Century are conducting unethical experiments with the dying. When their colleague witnesses one of these experiments he‘s haunted for the rest of his life. Years later, he stumbles across what he realises is the young woman he saw at that macabre scene.👻

I‘m back! After a 4hr nap I‘m ready to get back in to the #24in48 #readathon My entry in the #Hr18challenge about Romance books isn‘t full of “typical” romance, for me the love story has to be part of the story, not the story itself. My favourite trope is the I hate you/I love you & I much prefer it with a fantasy/supernatural element, with a few exceptions like Our Souls At Night & Jenny Colgan‘s series.🥰♥️💔♥️

It‘s 5.30am Sunday here in Sydney but I‘m still plodding on! #Bk4 is finished for the #24in48 #readathon The 20th book in the ADA Alex Cooper series by Fairstein, a former prosecutor in the Sex Crimes Unit in Manhattan, it wasn‘t the best she‘s written but still a solid page turner. Though I‘d guessed the ending by the halfway mark!👩🏼‍⚖️👮🏻‍♂️ Debating whether to get some sleep or kick on till I drop🤔

I‘m highly qualified for the #Hr12challenge for #24in48 #readathon I‘ve been an #Audible member since October 2007 & have over 200 audiobooks on both my original iPod & my iPhone. I have a wide selection of genres from true crime to SciFi, I listen to an audiobook every night in bed & I also enjoy #audiopuzzling I have lots of favourites, I could listen to the Phryne Fisher books,Jordan‘s Wheel Of Time series & the Anita Blake series anytime.🎧

Almost 7hrs in and #Bk3 is finished for the #24in48 #readathon I‘m very sad to see the last of MurderBot, I hope the new full length novel comes out soon. This is one of the best Space SciFi series I‘ve read, right up there with Ann Leckie‘s “Ancillary” trilogy. It‘s dead on midnight here in Sydney but after a short snack break I‘ll be diving right into Bk4. When I can decide which of my huge #TBR pile is next!

For my entry into the #Hr6SFFchallenge in the #24in48 #readathon I‘ve pulled just a fraction of the SciFi books on my shelves. SciFi was my first #genrelove when I found Anne McCaffrey & Piers Anthony on the library shelves. Then it was the classics, but the new SciFi coming through is just as fantastic & sometimes a little bit twisted. And weird. Like the tagged book, about an all female race living on an organic ship that are recycled for parts!

#Bk2 of the #24in48 #readathon is finished! I love MurderBot so much, this is No3 of 4 in the novella series & I was sad to think there were no more. But hope rings eternal or some such, apparently the author is now writing a full MurderBot novel!🥳 The SecUnit calling herself MurderBot is still on a mission to make the company pay that tried to kill her & her humans. But pretending to be a human is so tiring. Yet another @Liberty golden recce.

#Bk1 and almost #Hour1 is finished for the #24in48 #readathon This has got to be one of my favourite GN series, I‘ve always been fascinated by steampunk, add in a half mechanical female adventurer/Assassin and you have the perfect basis for a story. Former workmates Of Lady Mechanika‘s friend, Mr Lewis, are being murdered. When she is accused of being the killer herself, tracking down the real culprit is her only option to avoid arrest.

And we are off! Starting my #24in48readathon with a graphic novel before switching to an audiobook and maybe a nap so I can power through the first night/day. For some reason the Litsy database has this listed as Vol5 but hey, it‘s an amazing series nonetheless. How many other littens are joining me this weekend? #startyourengines #24in48 #readathon

Goodnight all you fabulous people, it‘s 2am here and I‘m gonna attempt to get some decent sleep before the #24in48 #readathon kicks off in 12hrs time. One of the drawbacks to living in Australia is the time zone difference, even being an insomniac doesn‘t quite get me on the same page as most of y‘all. I‘ve got my books all handy, comfy socks & slippers, my reading chair & blanket, and most importantly, my snacks ready & waiting. See you in 12hrs!

Sorry for the scare but what do you think of my new glasses! They‘re multifocals so I‘m still getting used to them, but I can actually read without having to take my glasses off & hold the book up an inch from my nose. And just in time for the #24in48 #readathon. Oh happy day!🥳 #foureyedwonder #doyouseewhatisee

Even the lower shelves of my fantabulous #TBRcart from the #IkeaGods are full of amazing titles to read this weekend for the #24in48 #Readathon Sometimes having so many choices can be a curse instead of a blessing, am I the only one that goes into neutral trying to decide? Instead of BrainFreeze it‘s #BookBrainFreeze!🧠❄️🥶I‘ve just sent the hubby in to get my #readingsnacks for the weekend, plus I‘m cooking a slow cooker Morrocan Lamb casserole🥘

Close up of one side of the top level of my fabulous #TBRcart I love this so much! I even got a black one to use in my kitchen so I can sit comfortably and still help the hubby cook. All hail the #IkeaGods Which books have you read? Which do you recommend? I‘m gonna be spoilt for choice at this weekends #24in48 #readathon

Almost filled my new #TBRcart already, but I still have some room if I reorganise the lower shelves a bit. Lots of choice of genres for this weekends #24in48 #Readathon ranging from true crime to SciFi and everything in between (except soppy romances🙅🏻‍♀️) Can you see anything you‘re either dying to read or have read & would highly recommend? Who‘s joining me this weekend? 🙌

#Stack4 This #24in48 #readathon #stack has a YA 🏳️‍🌈 romance graphic novel, a gothic Victorian supernatural, a sci-fi foodie romp & a ghost story. You could say I have an abundance of riches to choose from thanks to all you awesome #bookcrackpeddlers!📚🤓

#Stack3 This is my blue #stack for this weekends #24in48 #readathon There‘s true crime(The Feather Thief), 70s family drama(The Dakota Winters), Texas crime(Bluebird Bluebird) & biographical graphic novel(Agatha). Join in the fun with me 21-22 July. There‘s door prizes, challenges & lots of fun & recommendations from bookworms around the world. #internationalbibliophilesrunwild #itsabluesummerforsome #butigotthewinterblues

#Stack2 My 2nd #stack for the #24in48 #readathon is another mixture. There‘s a diverse middle grade graphic novel, a memoir, a crime novel & a witchy tale about a group of students. My #TBRcart has plenty more where they come from, I think I can make a different stack for each hour of the readathon & not double up on books! I should do a #BeforeLitsyAfterLitsy photo of my library, then you‘ll know why the hubby calls it my #bookfort now📚🏗📚

#Stack1 Playing around with #stacks for this weekends #24in48 #readathon This will be my 6th time round & hopefully, the 5th time I make the 24!🤞I like a bit of variety in my reading choices so I try to include a graphic novel, a crime/mystery, a sci-fi/fantasy & a non fiction as well as an audiobook or two. Helps to keep my hours up if I can switch it up. What are you stacking for your readathon?

My first books were all Little Golden Books(The Poky Little Puppy, Scuffy The Tugboat, The Saggy Baggy Elephant etc) but the books that were my first true obsession were the Oz books by L. Frank.Baum. I think I borrowed each one from the local library at least five times, my favourites were Ozma Of Oz & Tik-Tok Of Oz. All of them are books I recommend for any little bookworm in your life. #followtheyellowbrickroad #memberofthelollipopguild🍭

🦉Has to be Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone! Hedwig was my favourite character.
🦉The Sword In The Stone-Archimedes was my favourite movie owl until Hedwig
🦉Who Are You:The Who- Who are you, Hoo hoo hoo hoo

#ManicMonday #EmojiMadness

I think I‘m probably the last litten to post their #Top6Reads of 2019 so far. Took me a bit to narrow it down, according to my GoodReads challenge, I‘ve read 68 books since Jan 1st. Rating them 1-6 is -Neuromancer(fantastic), All Systems Red(Murderbot rules), Chernobyl(nuclear nightmare), Song Of Achilles(Greek love), Ruby Ridge(scary siege) & Six Of Crows(Oceans11 on ice). Highly recommend all six! 10⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I‘m in a non fiction kick atm, luckily I have a large stockpile encompassing so many different topics. This is one I‘ve been dying to get to. NYC has always held a fascination for me, it‘s history is just so interesting. Whether it‘s about the original Native owners,the Dutch then the English, or the melting pot of ethnicities that have shaped it, it‘s just endlessly full of interesting stories, like this one about the origins of Roosevelt Island.

That was a quick but depressing trip through a triple homicide in small town Victoria. In October 2014, Ian Jamieson stabbed his neighbor to death with a hunting knife before taking two shotguns & murdering the mans mother & stepfather. At first it seems like the sympathy was with the killer, before the author discovers a much more complicated story. The why is still unanswered. #NonFiction2019 #SomethingWithADeath #ReadHarder2019 #ByAJournalist

This was both an absorbing read and a terrifying one. I was 15yrs old when Chernobyl happened & vividly remember the atmosphere of horror at the time, a feeling that I‘d say has stayed with everyone old enough to remember it. This was not only a highly detailed account but also a very readable one without that feeling of academia a lot of science heavy books have. Highly recommend 5⭐️ #NonFiction2019 #SomethingWithScience #Pop19 #MakesYouNostalgic

#BookMail Pt12 Another cookbook with easy to follow recipes that look very tasty. The recipes in this are graded by how simple they are to do which is awesome. Plus there‘s chapters about cooking times, mixing flavors and more. Definitely will be trying a lot of these meals. Yum.🥘🥗🥧🧁

#BookMail Pt11 The last 3 books from this mail are all cookbooks. The hubs & I are now “empty nesters” so we need to learn how to cook for 2 instead of 6. I used to love cooking, but since I‘ve gotten sick it‘s harder to manage but we‘re learning to adapt with moveable carts & chopping boards. This book is full of easy to do, healthy & most importantly yummy, one tin meals. Plus she gives guidelines so you can invent your own combos.🥦🥕🍗🧀

#BookMail Pt10 The wonderful @Liberty was asking on Instagram for instances of books she recommended that you‘d fallen in love with coz she needed to be cheered up. Well, her recommendations for the last 3 years have cheered me up quite a few times! This is the latest rec I can‘t wait to add to the list, her favourite vampire story of all time. So, thank you for all the joy you‘ve brought to my reading life Liberty.👩🏻‍🎤🤘🐈 #holycats

#BookMail Pt9 This book was a spur of the moment purchase, but with a description of “a cross between The Chefs Kitchen & The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe directed by Baz Luhrman” how could I pass it up? Destitute teenager Kenna wins a dinner at The Sol Majestic, the galaxy‘s best restaurant. But her favourite place is facing bankruptcy unless she can pull off a scheme to get investment from some intergalactic billionaires.👽🍱💰

#BookMail Pt8 As a big SciFi fan, I‘m constantly surprised by how many of the top authors of the genre I haven‘t read yet! There‘s so much talent in this area, you could read a different writer every day for a year & still have many more to try. This novel by Stephenson is actually the 2nd in an informal set featuring the character of Dodge, a billionaire that runs a virtual world, the 1st being Reamde which is on order for me from Booktopia.

#BookMail Pt7 I‘ve seen this one everywhere over the past few months, both booktube & bookstagram loved it. Honestly, the cover kinda turned me off picking it up until now, I assumed it was chick lit! Instead, it‘s a version of Mary Shelley‘s famous work with a young trans doctor becoming entangled with Victor Stein, a professor obsessed with AI. How this, along with realistic sex dolls, parallels the tale of Prometheus I can‘t wait to find out!

#BookMail Pt6 There was a box of books delivered this afternoon, just scraping into this weeks mail. The hubby has started to call my library “The Book Fort”🏛First up is the new one from Seanan McGuire about Rodger, an expert with language & his twin sister Dodger, a numbers genius. But the twins are not quite human & their creator is trying to set them up as gods. Just because you can make gods doesn‘t mean it‘s a great idea. Sounds promising!

I actually left the house today! Yay!!! Sitting down with an iced coffee & a great book after finally having my eyes tested. $600 later I have a new pair of glasses on the way😱Also found out the nerve in my left eye is thinning & the ducts that lubricate my eye aren‘t working so my corneas are suffering. Which means eye drops 5 times a day & hot compresses at night. But at least I left the house🚗🏠Hows your day been?

#BookMail Pt5 Finally for this stack of mail is this behemoth of a non fiction about Queen Victoria. It was actually my dad who recommended this to me, he said it was one of the best biographies he‘s ever read, and he‘s read a lot. Written by Sydney journalist Julia Baird, it uses historical documents & first person accounts to give a very frank account of the long lived queens life, including material that the Palace tried to stop her using.👸🏻

#BookMail Pt4 This is the 2nd crime novel from the expat Londoner living in Melbourne. Lawyer Eliza Carmody returns to her hometown to work on her biggest case, problem is she‘s defending a big Corp against a bushfire class action suit brought by the town. Then bones are discovered at an historic homestead & she becomes more entangled in the case. I like this cover, but I thought I‘d bought the better one with the black cockatoo on green.🤷🏻‍♀️

#BookMail Pt3 I‘ve always meant to pick up a Sharon Bolton crime novel, luckily Booktopia are having a Crime & Thriller Showcase sale so I picked this up with a discount. Florence Lovelady‘s career was made after the conviction of coffin-maker Larry Glassbrook for burying children alive. But he‘s now dead and similar murders are happening. Did she get it wrong?

#BookMail Pt2 This is the Waterstones Exclusive Edition Of The new Jackson Brodie novel by Kate Atkinson. I love that I can buy signed copies from overseas,not that many authors bother to visit Australia unfortunately. It‘s a beautiful copy, I really like the endpapers, I‘d love to know which beach in the UK it is, stormy beaches are my favourite type. Jackson has moved to a quiet seaside village with his son, but things don‘t stay quiet for long.

#BookMail Pt1 Kicking off my new books of the last fortnight is one that I‘ve already been hooked into reading. After watching the mini series on the disaster, I was stoked to see it was based on this book & knew I had to get my hands on it. I was 15yrs old when Chernobyl happened & I vividly remember the panic & feeling of impending doom of that time, having grown up with the Cold War I had horrific nightmares about nuclear disasters.☢️🛢💣

Up next is this Science/Crime novel by an Australian author. Loosely based on a drug trial that went horribly wrong in the 2000s, it‘s about a young Vietnamese-Australian medical researcher who discovers a promising new immunology drug. But as the first human trial gets underway, Dr Tran is found dead under mysterious circumstances & the motives of everyone around him are put under the microscope.🔬🦠💉 It‘s 6am so I‘m off to bed😴Catch ya later!

Another impeccable read from Karin Slaughter. My only complaint is that it could‘ve been longer! I was a huge fan of her Grant County books & was devastated when Jeffrey was killed, but I think Sara has found her perfect match in Will. That‘s one of the best things about a Slaughter book, it‘s not just crime, it‘s a drama too. She writes complicated characters extremely well, not just the good but confused, but also the sick & twisted. 5⭐️

For my first non-audio novel in a month😱I couldn‘t go past the new Will Trent/Sara Linton by my favourite crime writer, Karin Slaughter. So far I‘m 6 chapters in & loving it! Sara & Will are at a family lunch when explosions rock downtown Atlanta. Enroute to the bombing, they stop at a car accident and Sara is taken hostage by the bombers, who already have a CDC doctor they‘d taken a month earlier. An injured Will goes on the warpath.

And my #audiobook #reread Of The Wheel Of Time is finished! When this was first released, I was one of the multitudes who was infuriated & disappointed with the ending, but after a few rereads its growing on me. I still wish that Jordan had enough been able to finish it himself of course, but I no longer have an urge to throw it across the room, so that‘s progress! I still HIGHLY recommend this series to every lover of epic fantasy.11⭐️

Just checking in to let everyone know I‘m still alive! My life is pretty much a road trip through hell atm, just last night I had another tooth break in half. So now my teeth are crumbling as fast as my health. Yay. On a brighter note, I be managed to finish three more books in TWOT, leaving me halfway through A Memory Of Light, The last book. Finally! Is it just me or do you also have to finish a series reread before reading a new book? 10⭐️reads

I don‘t normally post this sort of thing, but if anyone is looking for a trippy, beautifully shot, foreign language tv show to binge watch, try this French show on Netflix. I just watched 2seasons back to back and loved it! It‘s like a French “Twin Peaks” with Celtic forest deities thrown in. The acting is phenomenal, the locations are gorgeous and the cinematography is spot on. I really hope there‘s a season 3, I can‘t wait! #hornedforestgodsrule

#BookMail Pt13 Even though I‘ve had every book in the series as soon as it was published, I‘ve never bought any of the companion books until now. This one is like an Encyclopedia/dictionary of the world of WOT with information & illustrations on anything & everyone mentioned in the books, including maps of all the major places & portraits of major characters. I don‘t know how I‘ve gotten along without it until now!

#BookMail Pt12 Another bargain from Booktopia‘s EOFYS sale. Though I didn‘t realise it was one of those tiny trade paperbacks that fit in a handbag! It‘s about an inch smaller all round than all my other Connolly paperbacks. I used to have all of his books but a lot have “disappeared” over the years. This is one of his earlier novels, it‘s not a Bosch but set in the same universe. A reporter becomes the target of a serial killer in LA.

1. Wisteria. My favourite part of spring is seeing the purple sprays of flower all over my carport🌸
2. All I‘ve read this June is the Wheel Of Time books!⏳
3. Chernobyl! The Hot Zone! Big Little Lies! West world! The Haunting Of Hill House! The Umbrella Academy! The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina! I‘ve spent a LOT of time watching tv lately. Can you tell?📺
4. Robert Frost. His nature poems are beautiful.🍃🍂🌳

#HumpDayPost

#BookMail Pt11 It‘s tax time here in Oz so Booktopia.com.au was having an EOFYS(end of financial year sale) I picked this one up for $5au. I‘ve always meant to read some P.D.James, I‘ve seen the tv adaptation of her Inspector Dalgliesh novels & enjoyed it. This is an historical crime novel set in the world of Austen‘s Pride & Prejudice. Lizzy Darcy‘s little sister Lydia turns up at Pemberley claiming her husband has been murdered.

#BookMail Pt10 I‘m loving these editions of Susan Hills work, this is only a novella but it‘s gorgeous! It matches the green Woman In Black beautifully. A mysterious manuscript ends up on the step-son of Dr Hugh Merediths desk. It tells a story of what occurred when his step father was a junior doctor, an event that haunted him for the rest of his life.

#BookMail Pt9 Is the 2nd book in Jay Kristoff‘s series about a girl, her best friend called Lemon Fresh, an android boy named Ezekiel & Cricket her robotic conscience who all live in a scrap heap until she finds out she has abilities that will get her killed by all sorts of people. Including the puritanical Brotherhood who see her as an aberration & the conglomerates who see her as a weapon.

I‘ve also finished Bks 8-A Path Of Daggers, Bk9-Winters Heart & Bk10-Crossroads Of Twilight of my #audiobook #reread of #TheWheelOfTime. It‘s been much quicker(and easier on my head)listening to these doorstopper novels & just as enjoyable. This series is still my favourite high fantasy series of all time and always will be I think. I really hope they don‘t screw up the tv adaptation!🤞