It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

The Watch Tower by Elizabeth Harrower

"Breaking their poses like trees snapping branches, the women urgently regarded each other, cleared away all signs of work in an instant, examined their souls for defects, in a sense crossed themselves, and waited.

After Laura and Clare are abandoned by their mother, Felix is there to help, even to marry Laura if she will have him. Little by little the two sisters grow complicit with his obsessions, his cruelty, his need to control.

Set in the leafy northern suburbs of Sydney during the 1940s, The Watch Tower is a novel of relentless and acute psychological power."

Withering-by-Sea by Judith Rossell

"A Victorian fantasy-adventure, perfect for fans of WILDWOOD and TENSY FARLOW AND THE HOME FOR MISLAID CHILDREN Ages: 9-12.

 High on a cliff above the gloomy coastal town of Withering-by-Sea stands the Hotel Majestic. Inside the walls of the damp, dull hotel, eleven-year-old orphan Stella Montgomery leads a miserable life with her three dreadful Aunts. 

But one night, Stella sees something she shouldn't have ... Something that will set in motion an adventure more terrifying and more wonderful than she could ever have hoped for ... 

 From hugely talented Australian writer-illustrator Judith Rossell comes a thrilling and gripping Victorian fantasy-adventure, the first in an extraordinarily exciting new series."

I am down to the last 6 days of AusReading Month & Non-Fiction November. 

I finished three of the four books on last Monday's to-do list (wahoo!), but am still working my way through the non-fiction picks from the previous two weeks. I'm thoroughly enjoying them; it's just that I read non-fiction much more slowly than fiction.

For the first time in months & months, Mr Books & I had a night at the movies to see Interstellar (wow! what an epic journey! Some ghastly dialogue & intrusive music but utterly compelling when it gets stuck into the time & loss stuff).
We also took the boys (+ girlfriend) to see Mockingjay earlier in the day (Katniss is endlessly watchable but I'm very annoyed they split the book in two - just seems like a money-grubbing ploy to me.)

I finally started my Aussie Author Challenge on Thursday with the (only) four times winner of the Miles Franklin Thea Astley. 

I have my list of 26 contenders. The B for James Bradley post is under way - so far so good.

The real challenge, of course, will be the actual writing of an author post every week for the next 25 weeks!

The way I feel right now, just getting through this week in one piece without blowing my top, crying or curling up in a little ball in the corner to wait the week out will be a major achievement!

What are you reading this week?

Join in Sheila's Monday meme to have your say & see what everyone else is reading. 

It's a great way to make your TBR pile explode!