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Bookish Challenges to get you Reading More in 2025
I’m not really one for New Year’s resolutions, but let me tell you I love a good reading challenge at the start of a new year! I love using reading challenges to inspire me to read more and read broadly throughout the year. I thought I’d pop in to quickly share some of my reading challenge plans for 2025 and invite you to keep up with my progress during the year. Reading GoalI think the simplest kind of reading challenge is to set a number of books that you’re aiming to read across the year. I like to aim for about a book each week, so set mine at 50.…
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What’s going on? March 2024 update.
Look, I know it’s such a cliche, but the first few months of 2024 have really flown past. I haven’t shared a chatty post for a while, so I thought I’d take the chance to share a bit of what’s been happening here while I spend my Sunday evening in front of some truly terrible reality tv. One of the things that has been keeping me busy at the start of the year, not just this year but over the past few, is my role as a judge for the Aurealis Awards. I think this was my fourth year being part of the judging team, and I absolutely love it.…
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Friday favourites :: 21 October
Hello and happy Friday! Yesterday when I was writing my review of PJ Nwosu’s Red Kingdom novella, A Pale Box on a Distant Shore, I mentioned how much I love her newsletter and it got me thinking about some of the fab newsletters I look forward to seeing pop up in my inbox. I thought a Friday favourites post would be a perfect place to share some of the ones I like best, in case you also love getting these little sneak peeks behind the scenes from authors too. So, check out five of my faves below, and make sure you let me know in the comments if there are…
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Friday Favourites :: 7 Oct
I’m sure I’m not alone in it having been a long looooong time since I was on a plane, so you had better believe I was excited (and a bit nervous) about finally making an interstate trip again last week. This was only the second time since Christmas 2019 that I’ve been across the border to visit with my family, and I’m sure I don’t need to explain any more about why spending time with my people after so long is a favourite worthy of a Friday post! I took my Kindle with me and had the best intentions to read a couple of the kids’ fantasy books on my…
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Friday Favourites:: 2 September
Friends! Happy September! Happy Spring! AND, at our school this week, HAPPY BOOK FAIR! I think soooo many of us have such wonderful memories of the Scholastic book fair arriving at school and setting up like a magical moving book store full of books and pens and posters. It’s such a delight as an adult to see that magic still exists, and – judging by the kids I’ve seen this week – is still every bit as exciting! I popped into our school library today to help pack up the book fair (it arrives in metal boxes on wheels that open out into shelves!) and had a good look around…
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Friday Favourites :: 26 August
Happy Book week everyone! I’ve had such a nice week celebrating children’s books, starting with the CBCA award announcements last Friday which I watched live on the CBCA YouTube page here – I may have had a little tear or two watching the amazing writers and illustrators find out their books had won! You can see the full list of winners here. I always love seeing people share book week costumes – either their finished costumes or their tips about how to create them. Some of my favourites this year were the Worst Week Ever and Llamas in Pyjamas ideas on Matt Cosgrove’s website, the Real Pigeons costume my friend…
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Friday Favourites :: 19 August
I’ve been super bust this week with reading and working on reviews, as I’m determined to get through some of the (many) books that have been hanging out on my NetGalley shelf for way to long. I really only request books that I want to read, so they are all titles I’m interested in, but it just gets a bit overwhelming when a bunch of requests come through at once (kind of like when all the library holds come in at once!). So, that does mean you can expect to see lots of new reviews on backlist books (a lot of them likely to be Christmassy) over the next little…
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Friday Favourites :: 12 August
I have a big, exciting weekend ahead, with the Canberra Writers Festival being held over the next few days. I’m planning to get to a couple of events and am sure I’ll have lots to say about it next week. It has been a funny week that has disappeared but dragged at the same time! Winter seems to be having its second wind, and the weather can’t seem to make up it’s mind between being sunny or wet, but it has been pretty cold! One of my favourite things in the past week or so though has been seeing my garden start to look like spring. I have daffodils and…
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Friday Favourites :: 5 August
We’ve had a really quiet week here – it has been wet and wintry and I’ve kind of just wanted to hibernate! One of my favourite thinks this week was catching up with my lovely friend Holly from The Hole Solution for a mending morning at a local cafe. It was the most miserable, cold, wet morning but we were in a warm cosy pace and honestly it was the loveliest way to spend a morning (I mean, look how cosy in the photo!) I didn’t have any mending along, but I did take my new crochet project, which I am kind of madly in love with. My daughter has…
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Friday favourites :: 29 July
Happy Friday everyone! It’s a beautiful winter morning in Canberra – I love these cold mornings that turn into still, sunny, blue sky days. Jack (the cat) and I are sitting out on our patio, soaking in the sunshine and enjoying all the little signs that spring isn’t far off.I have a bit of a mix of things to share that have made me smile this week – I hope there will be something there that takes your fancy too! A little while ago I signed up to the Three Mills Bakery collective – a monthly subscription box. I love their breads and pastries, and we’ve been ordering from them…
