This book was a breath of fresh air!
“So tell me, since it makes no factual difference to you and you can‘t prove the question either way, which story do you prefer? Which is the better story, the story with animals or the story without animals?”
Definitely the story with! I cannot stop thinking of the island of meerkat‘s!
I loved this book but at times it wasn‘t an easy read, I found the description of animals suffering very hard to take.

I re read this whilst on holiday. I still loved it but maybe not as much as my 16 year old self. I‘ve always had a soft spot for a good vampire novel!

I‘ve just come home from visiting my daughter in Melbourne and whilst there I went to a lot of new and secondhand book stores. This is my haul. 6 of them are secondhand, I was very lucky! My suitcase was bulging coming home! ♥️

Not a relaxing read for sure! I felt tense throughout, but that was the beauty of it. Such a great story even though I didn‘t like the two main characters. It posed the question, do you really know anyone?
“He didn‘t look like a murderer, he supposed. In his clean white shirtsleeves and his silk tie and his dark blue trousers, and maybe even his strained face didn‘t look like a murderer‘s to anyone else. ‘That‘s the mistake,‘ guy said aloud, ⬇️

This book made me sad and mad and disgusted. It‘s so thought provoking.
We know we haven‘t always been fair to everyone. Certainly -no. But we‘ve always been fair to people according to what the definition of fair was at the time.
You know nothing more about the protagonist Pew from the beginning of the book to the end of the book. But you know a lot about the towns people from their reactions to them. Generosity turns to fear and suspicion, ⬇️

This book is amazing! ♥️

Now that I‘ve finally read it I get why there was such diverse and great discussion on Litsy. I‘m late to the party. I didn‘t really like both Toby or Rachel and I was appalled by a lot of the their behaviour, but that didn‘t stop me from appreciating what this book had to say. I think it was clever in how it commented on men and women by reversing their roles in the marriage. This is a book that doesn‘t truly show itself until the end. ⬇️

My mate Muriel in my garden.
This book was small in pages but big in heart ♥️
It is the story of a good, kind man in Ireland who doesn‘t just talk the talk but actually walks the walk. The writing is beautiful, I could see the snow covered town and the yellow lights in the windows.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you @Freespirit for sending me this book as part of our #Aussiesecretsanta swap.

This book was a hoot! Oh the hilarity! I couldn‘t stop smiling! I loved the people, loved the animals and loved the made up words, like mollocking! I watched the movie when I finished the book. It was ok but I feel it didn‘t capture the true spirit or the warmth of Flora Poste, the Starkadders or cold comfort farm.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a perfect start to the year with a perfect little book. This was fabulous! Even better that I only picked it up a few days ago at a secondhand book shop for $3. It‘s been on my tbr list for sooooooo long.
I loved everything about this one and was so relieved that Jonas was not harmed, anything but that! 🐈‍⬛
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

My best books of 2022. ♥️
I read 51. Very happy with that! 😊

Whilst going through my read books list on Goodreads I realised I had missed these two books!
I loved both. The tagged book was obviously devastating, every mothers worst nightmare! I spent the whole book shaking my head in disbelief.
These precious days were essays on life, love and death. I enjoyed them all!

This book was ‘WOW‘! Bloody brilliant! I learnt a lot! Anyone who loves language and fantasy will love this book. This next passage is so profound and one of my favourites.
“I think translation can be much harder than original composition in many ways. The poet is free to say whatever he likes, you see - he can choose from any number of linguistic tricks in the language he‘s composing in. Word choice, word order, sound ⬇️

My Christmas book haul provided by my friends and family with vouchers and cash. I don‘t tend to buy new books throughout the year so this is a real treat! 💚♥️
The tagged book I bought because there is a buddy read happening on Litsy in March I think? But I can‘t remember who organised it. I‘m sure I will get a tag! 🤣

#Aussiesecretsanta
@Freespirit THANK YOU for my gorgeous gifts! I am feeling all warm and fuzzy! I love both books and really want to read the tagged book! Also how did you know I needed a new notebook? As you can see I love yellow flowers! 💛My boys thank you for the Ferrero Rocher, they have already eaten them! 🤣
We are so lucky to have Litsy!
💚♥️🎄♥️💚
@thegirlwiththelibrarybag thanks for organising 💙

Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater,
Had a wife but couldn‘t keep her,
He put her in a pumpkin shell
And there he kept her very well.
This book was an unexpected surprise. Although It captures the brutality of marriage and motherhood for some in 1962, I feel that it is still relevant today in parts. The devastation of having a breakdown. The struggle to carry on. The sense of duty, expectation. The feelings of love and also the absence of feeling.

Another must read author. I love the characters that Towles creates, such depth. This book gave me all the feels. I knew I was invested when I was screaming to myself, Noooooooooo! I did not want this story to end. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I‘m always amazed when a small book can have so much to say. Powerful stuff! Loved this! ♥️

#Aussiesecretsanta
@thegirlwiththelibrarybag
My parcel has arrived!!!!!!! I‘ve put it on my special shelves to taunt me!
@Freespirit 💚♥️💚♥️💚♥️💚♥️💚♥️
@MrsMalaprop @CarolynM @LapReader @Jhullie @Lizpixie @Flingogal @Teresereading

This is not your normal Zombie novel. To be honest I like my Zombie novels to have a lot more flesh eating zombies in them! 🤣 But it was certainly different, what‘s true and what isn‘t? Everything you think you know, well you are not sure you know it! The infected have a viral disease that makes them believe that they are being attacked by zombies. So they end up killing their friends and family. I wish that the characters had been fleshed ⬇️

Book mail! Who doesn‘t love book mail! Only problem is I have no idea who was kind enough to send it to me! ♥️
Is it you @Reggie ?

Hanya Yanagihara is a go to author for me. I love all her books although this was my least favourite. This book had one of the most moving and powerful dying scenes I‘ve ever come across. So insightful. 💚

I forgot to take a picture of my gifts for the #Aussiesecretsanta
My parcel has gone out!
@thegirlwiththelibrarybag
♥️💚🎁🎅🎄💚♥️

This was a pick but only just. I don‘t know it just didn‘t do it for me. I found a lot of the dialogue cringey. I also picked the twist.

I picked the first of these as a book to read in Italy based in Italy. I liked them but I didn‘t love them. Probably between a pick and a so-so. Unpopular opinion I know. Where other readers gush about the friendship of Elena and Lila, I found it to be toxic and found myself thinking that I‘m glad I don‘t have any friends like that. But I ended up reading all 4 so 🤷‍♀️

Oh my! This was exquisite! I loved every page. The regret and the longing by Anne are so powerful and moving. I found myself reading this with my fingers and toes and everything crossed that Anne and Captain Wentworth would finally be together. This is my kind of love story. ♥️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book club book. This was slow to start but when it did it was very entertaining! Not always in a good way! Some people live such interesting lives. I loved that a lot of this was set in a suburb of Perth, Scarborough. I‘m not sure but I think I stayed at the hotel after one of my school balls. @MrsMalaprop do you remember a hotel called ‘Mandarin gardens‘?
#Oznonfiction

Latest school bookclub book. So many more stories of heartache from women in war.

This is beautiful Asos on the Greek island of Kefalonia my home for 5 days. I‘m so glad I waited to read this book in the setting it was written it made it all the more magical! I fell in love with the book characters and the place. Although I must admit I almost gave up on the book as I disliked the first quarter but I‘m glad I persevered as it was so worth it! 💙🤍

My latest bookclub book. Weird, weird, weird. Didn‘t love it but didn‘t hate it. It‘s the second Murakami book I‘ve read and both didn‘t wow me. I won‘t be reading any more of his books. I feel something is lost in the translation maybe?

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there. What a fabulous first sentence for a book.
I adored this tragic tale of the coming of age of a naive 12 yr old boy in 1900 who is taken advantage of and manipulated by those around him. He is a pawn in a game he doesn‘t realise he is playing in. This book was perfect and I finished it a few weeks ago but am still thinking about it. Brilliant!

This was an awesome book in my favourite genre - Dystopian fiction. Li the main character is searching to find her missing 8yr old daughter Matti. The landscape, the environment, the people and the system are all against her, but she refuses to give up. I love that there is always hope in oppression.

I read this whilst glamping down south. The weather was cold and rainy, perfect for reading! This book held my attention and contained some great characters but I anticipated more form the Women‘s prize for fiction winner 2022. It didn‘t have the ‘Wow‘ factor I was expecting.

It‘s so refreshing to have an eccentric middle aged woman as the main character of a story. Janina lives alone in the woods, observes life through astrology and cares deeply for the animals in her world. Her antics made me smile often, especially her letters to the police. This is an unusual murder mystery novel.

I enjoyed a lot of this book but it hasn‘t dated well. It made me laugh and made me cringe.

Bloody good satire! This book made fun of everyone and everything, nothing is immune. Really what a daft world we live in at the moment at times! This was entertaining and I did a lot of this 🤦🏼‍♀️ and eye rolling and groaning! But I also learnt a lot too! Very, very clever!

This book was brilliant. The story and characters are beautifully developed. Unsettled is a great word for how I felt throughout. The two main characters are 51 yr old twins, my age at the moment. It‘s a sad story that made me think about being that age and homeless. Also how different circumstances can put your life on a completely different path, missed opportunities.

Not alot happens in this book but it was so beautiful. Reminding me of the wonder and beauty of the landscape and nature. How the simple things in life can bring you the most joy and make you feel alive! The wind in your hair, rain on your face, the sun and salt on your skin, the sand between your toes. The sight of birds in the air. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love apocalyptic fiction. This was fantastic! Scientists unwittingly release a plague of white bats on the world who hunt by noise. Horrible stuff! But not as horrible as many of the humans behaviour. How quickly they turn on each other.
I didn‘t like the ending.

This book was a delightful surprise! I fell in love with the characters who all provide different perspectives of the same story. It was very clever in addressing the past with the present. #Ozfiction at its best! 🖤💛❤️

I‘m cheating and lumping my last 3 reads together before I get way behind on my posts.
The Dutch house was my favourite, I loved every page, although I will never be able to understand a mother leaving her children.
Project Hail Mary was fascinating and who wouldn‘t want an Alien spider for a friend?
Sea of tranquility, I enjoyed this but something was missing for me. I didn‘t connect to the characters as much as I would have liked.

What a fascinating book this was! I loved the world that was created. A house so beautiful and atmospheric, full of wonder. Of different floors filled with different things. The ocean and tides, birds, clouds and marble statues. Is this house real or in Piranesi‘s head? A story of both fantasy and mystery. This book was a breath of fresh air! ♥️

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This book broke my heart. A world where 80% of the animals are extinct. A future that‘s not far off. I fell in love with the landscapes, the people and the animals in this book. I‘ve always had a love of birds and that love is growing as I‘m getting older. They are an important and beautiful part of my back yard, my warm and fuzzy safe space. Im looking forward to reading ‘Once there were wolves‘.
#Ozfiction

This book is my bookclub pick. As expected this book made me Mad and sad! It‘s a difficult read but a very brave story.

This book was sensational! I could not put it down. When I was busy I was thinking about reading it! I learnt so much and I felt so much. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me!……
My friends and family are so wonderful. Book vouchers are the best gifts. LOVE getting new books from my tbr list! 😊♥️

This was a book that I picked up because of all the love it has gotten here on Litsy. It‘s not my usual genre because I‘m not one for romance but it did hook me in! A love story that spans 300 years between a French girl and the devil! I also loved how art played such an important role in this book. I‘m hoping there will be a book number 2! ♥️

Oh my, my, my, Olive. I miss you already! How I wish I had an Olive in my life! I did not want this to end 💛

“A minute means something to her, more than it means to us. We don‘t know how long she has-I can give them to her, I can give her my minutes.” Then, almost angrily, “What was I doing with them before?”
This quote sums up this book to me. The first half of the book is about how superficial and disconnected our lives have become online. The second half is about being connected and present in real life.
It‘s concerning how much time I can waste ⬇️

I was lucky enough to hear Helen Garner talk about her book (diary) ‘How to end a story‘ and then I brought it on the way home. Such an insightful look at the end of a marriage. I found myself shaking my head in amazement that this strong, intelligent woman could allow herself to be treated like this (of which she also shook her head and spoke about)! There are 3 diary‘s and I‘ve decided to read them backwards. I‘m half way through ⬇️