Saturday 14 September 2019

AusReadingMonth?


Recently Nancy asked me if I was going to host #AusReadingMonth again this year in November. My first response was an internal 'noooooooooooooooo! It's all too hard!'

But I woke up this morning, wondering why I had such a strong reaction.

I LOVE reading Australian literature and promoting it far and wide.
I LOVE this blogging community that joins in whichever way suits them best.

So I pulled up my AusReadingMonth tag to have myself a little stroll down memory lane.

The first surprise was that 2018 was the one and only year I haven't run AusReadingMonth. I thought it had been a couple of years.

However, I quickly joined the dots, when I realised that my 2017 AusReadingMonth, which was meant to be a month long celebration of five years of the event, ending up being an intense, very personal family month of honouring the sudden passing of my father-in-law.

My second surprise was the result of some more faulty thinking. I thought I hadn't had very many participants in the last couple of years, that interest was dwindling. However, the stats and link ups proved me otherwise.

Given that I've read some amazing Australian literature in the past two years, I'd love to have chance to pull them all together to show them off properly. And I always love to hear about which Australian books have found their way overseas. Which books have been picked up by UK or US publishers, and which books have been publicised or featured in overseas media.

It's beginning to sound like #AusReadingMonth 2019 is going to be a thing!

Are you interested in joining in?
  • How would you prefer to share your thoughts and posts on the Aussie books you've read this year? 
  • Would you be interested in a month-long readalong of one book? 
    • A Bingo card? 
    • Weekly challenges? 
  • Do you like lists of Australian classics? 
    • New releases? 
    • Indigenous authors? 
    • Award winners?
  • Should we revive the never-ending discussion about the Great Australian Novel?
I'm keen to hear your thoughts, suggestions or effusions of pure enthusiasm!

17 comments:

  1. I'll join in, it's probably time i read some more Oz Lit. For my one vote, I'm probably most in favour of Bingo Card and least in favour of Award Winners.

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    1. Thanks for my early morning chuckle when I first spotted this comment Bill!
      (For other readers, Bill, to my knowledge, only reads and reviews Oz Lit :-)

      I've just found three online copies of Tasma's work that you mentioned in a recent post - thank goodness for Project Gutenberg Australia!

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  2. I would love to join in! I think I would need some suggestions. Or, come to think of it, I have two Jill Ker Conway books on my TBR shelf...I would be very interested in Indigenous authors.

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    1. That's great news Jean.
      Jill Kerr Conway would be a fabulous place to start and I will definitely pop up a list of recent Indigenous authors to watch out for. You could also check out Lisa's recent Indigenous Reading Week page for me info until then...here

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  3. I'd join in. I've got a couple of unread Patrick Whites that have been around here forever, and I might have a Peter Carey as well. I probably shouldn't get any new books, though... ;-)

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    1. I have still to read a Patrick White all the way through (I abandoned Voss fairly early on when I attempted it in my late teens/early twenties). Given that he is my former bosses favourite Australian author, and White turns up on pretty much every 'best of lit' list published here, I probably should try again.

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    2. My eyes were bigger than my stomach at one point--the usual story with books--so I have several around. But I did read Riders in the Chariot through and rather enjoyed it.

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  4. Well, you know my answer...YES!!
    It is no work...you love to make lists: Your favorite Aus Classics, AUS books you read that you can't forget, Your AUS TBR...books that you keep postponing and why! "Why am I not reading these books?", (Jean Gleeson's top 50,Indigenous writers, and of course award winners (links to literary prizes) and new releases. Don't forget a list of great non-fiction (Helen Garner, true crime, biography, memoirs (Fiona Wright)!!). Personally I don't enjoy week challenge...just let me pick and choose during the month of November. Bingo card is always fun with a block for short fiction (Flame Tip by Karenlee Thompson is excellent and a quick read!)CF (Srublands and The Dry are excellent!), essays (Best Australian Science Reading 2018, Helen Garner, "Everywhere I Look", Ashleih Young's book 'Can You Tolerate This?" oth books on my top 10 list 2019!) a poetry, these books are just a few pages and there must be one poem a reader can single out and tell us how it made them feel! (Poets: Alison Whittaker, Eileen Chong, Kate Lilley, NZ too.. Cilla McQueen en Selina Tusitala Marsh)or a play Patricia Cornelius, Michele Lee, Nakkaih Lui, Kendall Feaver...all prize winners!)! As added choice...pick a book from each AUS province, I enjoyed that one!
    In short I am bursting with enthusiasm and looking forward to joining!

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    1. Your enthusiasm is infectious - thanks Nancy!

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  5. This sounds interesting but I would definitely need suggestions. Australian classics would be of particular interest to me though I am more than willing to branch out and try anything you suggest!

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    1. I plan to post some suggestion lists between now and November to help people with their lists. Australia has some interesting poets too :-)

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  6. I do like weekly challenges, or at least posts that celebrate certain aspects of Aus Lit (I participate in Nonfiction November each year and it is basically four posts over the month about different aspects of nonfiction, so although there's no pressure to be reading NF throughout November, I always end up adding lots to my TBR stack after reading other blogs...which is the point, right?!).

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    1. Non-Fic Nov format was exactly the one I was thinking of too. I love how my TBR wishlist is overwhelmed by the end of the month...so the fun part now starts with thinking up a few GREAT weekly questions/challenges!

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    2. I'll put my thinking cap on but would be great to have one that was about actual places - eg. Rush Oh! set in Eden NSW, and Everyman's rules for scientific living by Carrie Tiffany in the VIC/ NSW wheat belt.

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  7. I'll be doing Non Fiction November but you can certainly count me in.
    My vote is the same as Bill's.

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    1. Thanks Lisa - I like to do non-fic Nov too, so if I do a weekly question, I will aim to post them at a different time of the week. I did a state based Bingo card in 2017 that I could revive, since I completely failed to complete it that year.

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  8. I'll join you. I have a few unread Australian books on the shelves.
    My work life is pretty intense, I don't think I can manage anything more than link posts to the page you'll design for that?

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