Pages

Tuesday 1 December 2020

AusReading Month - Wrap Up Post

 

As they say in show business, that's a wrap folks!

AusReading Month is tucked away for another year. 

In a strange year of uncertainly, Covid-19 and change, it has been wonderful to pause a while to read, blog and celebrate Australian literature.

Thank you to everyone who contributed with reviews, comments and social media activity. Congratulations to the many who managed to combine two or three reading events in November with the one book - bravo!

A very special thanks goes to super-contributors, NancyElin and ShelleyRae for their outstanding reading and reviewing efforts across such diverse genres. The Fairy Bread Award goes to both of you, for your hundreds and thousands of AusReading Month words!

(incidentally International Fairy Bread day is celebrated on the 24th Nov)

For the first time ever, I have been organised enough to list all the incoming reviews in one final post, for future reference. I hope you find something inspiring in the list below, when next you wish to read an Australian book.

While you're waiting for next November's AusReading Month, you can cultivate your Australian reading habits by joining in these upcoming Australian reading events:
  • Bill @The Australian Legend will be hosting Australian Women Writers Gen reading week January 17th - 23rd, 2021. We're up to Gen III, Part II. It is not necessary to have been involved in any of the previous reading weeks to join in this one. A list of possible reading choices are available via the link on Bill's name.
  • Every July, to coincide with Naidoc Week, Lisa @ANZ LitLovers hosts Indigenous Literature Reading Week to encourage us to read and learn from Indigenous authors.
The List:

Susan Allott | The Silence (crime fiction) | reviewed by Grab the Lapels
Robbie Arnott | Flames (fiction) | reviewed by Reading & Viewing the World
Thea Astley | An Item From the Late News (fiction) | reviewed by Nancy

Capel Boake | Painted Clay (classic fiction) | reviewed by The Painted Garden
Karen Brooks | The Lady Brewer of London (historical fiction) | reviewed by Book'd Out
Ben Brooksby | The Naked Farmer (non-fiction) | reviewed by Book'd Out

Ada Cambridge | The Three Sisters (classic fiction) | reviewed by Adventures in Reading, Running & Working from Home
Gabrielle Carey | Only Happiness Here (biomemoir) | reviewed by Brona's Books
Lauren Aimee Curtis | Dolores (novella) | reviewed by Nancy

Antony Dapiran | City On Fire: The Fight For Hong Kong (non-fiction) | reviewed by Nancy
Tom Doig | Hazelwood (non-fiction) | reviewed by Nancy
Ceridwen Dovey | Life After Truth (fiction) | reviewed by ANZ LitLovers

Ali Cobby Eckermann | Ruby Moonlight (poetry) | reviewed by Nancy

Nigel Featherstone | Fall On Me (novella) | reviewed by Nancy
Richard Flanagan | The Sound of One Hand Clapping (fiction) | reviewed by Booker Talk
Kate Forsyth & Belinda Murrell | Searching For Charlotte (memoir) | reviewed by Book'd Out

Helen Garner | The Spare Room (novella) | reviewed by 746 Books and Brona's Books
Dennis Glover | Factory 19 (fiction) | reviewed by ANZ LitLovers
Anna Goldsworthy | Melting Moments (fiction) reviewed by Whispering Gums
Lisa Gorton | Empirical (poetry) | reviewed by Nancy
Charmaine Papertalk Green | Nganajungu Yagu (poetry) | reviewed by Nancy
Lana Guineay | Dark Wave (novella) | reviewed by ANZ LitLovers
Stephanie Gunn | Icefall (novella) | reviewed by Nancy

Rosalie Ham | The Dressmaker's Secret (historical fiction) | reviewed by ANZ LitLovers

Gail Jones | Our Shadow (fiction) | reviewed by Brona's Books

John Kinsella (Displaced: A Rural Life (memoir) | reviewed by Whispering Gums
Dominic Knight | Dictionary (non-fiction) | reviewed by Book'd Out
Dr Karl Kruszelnicki | Dr. Karl’s Surfing Through Science (non-fiction) | reviewed by Book'd Out

Penelope Layland | Things I Thought To Tell You Since I Saw You Last (poetry) | reviewed by Nancy
Bella Li | Argosy (poetry) | reviewed by Nancy
Melissa Lucashenko | Too Much Lip (fiction) | reviewed by Grab the Lapels

Charlotte McConaghy | The Last Migration (fiction) | reviewed by Brona's Books
Fleur McDonald | The Shearer's Wife (crime fiction) | reviewed by Book'd Out
Sophie McNeill | We Can't Say We Didn't Know (non-fiction) | reviewed by Nancy
Wayne Macauley | Simpson Returns (novella) | reviewed by Nancy
Melina Marchetta | The Place on Dalhousie (fiction) | reviewed by The Australian Legend
Lucie Morris-Marr | Fallen (non-fiction) | reviewed by Nancy
Les Murray | Dog Fox Field (poetry) | reviewed by Typings
Les Murray | Waiting For the Past (poetry) | reviewed by Nancy

Joanna Nell | The Great Escape from Woodlands Nursing Home (fiction) | reviewed by Book'd Out

Henry Handel Richardson | The Fortunes of Richard Mahony (classic fiction) | reviewed by Journey & Destination
Mirandi Riwoe | Stone Sky Gold Mountain (historical fiction) | reviewed by Brona's Books
Tansy Roberts | Girl Reporter (novella) | reviewed by Nancy
Josephine Rowe | Writers on Writers: Beverley Farmer (non-fiction novella) | reviewed by Brona's Books

Kirli Saunders | Kindred (poetry) | reviewed by Brona's Books
Margaret Simons | Penny Wong: Passion and Principle (biography) | reviewed by Nancy
Suzanne Smith | The Altar Boys (non-fiction) | reviewed by Nancy

Angela Thirkell | Trooper to the Southern Cross (historical fiction) | reviewed by The Australian Legend
Nicole Trope | The Girl Who Never Came Home (crime fiction) | reviewed by Book'd Out

Elizabeth and Her German Garden | Elizabeth von Armin (classic fiction) | reviewed by Brona's Books

Jessica White | Hearing Maud: A Journey For a Voice (memoir) | reviewed by Grab the Lapels
Anne Richardson Williams | Unconventional Means: The Dream Down Under (memoir) | reviewed by Grab the Lapels
Charlotte Wood | The Natural Way of All Things (fiction) | reviewed by Consumed by Ink

Georgina Young | Loner (YA) | reviewed by Brona's Books

Please let me know if I missed your AusReading Month review, so I can add it in.
See you next year!

7 comments:

  1. I snuck a post in on December 1st because I couldn't read the book quite fast enough to get it in November!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No problems! I leave the linky open a couple of days into Dec for that very reason 😊 so glad you enjoyed your first AusReading Month.

      Delete
  2. The Fairy Bread Award...I would like to thank the #AusReadingMonth committee for this prestigious award! Reading one last book for #Aus but could not finish it before 30 November, c'est la vie! Awaiting your 2021 challenges suggestions...and Xmas Challenge? @fanda_A I will try....but promise nothing, bit exhausted after 4 weeks Aussie! Thanks again for hosting...and I'm already making my 2021 list!! Ha!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know the feeling! I've had a few blogging-free days to catch my breath again after such a busy Nov. I finished Life After Truth and I've started my CC Spin book. We had our staff Christmas dinner during the week (big night! hard to back up to work the following day!) so just feeling my way back into this blogging life....I look forward to reading your 2021 lists :-)

      Delete
  3. Wow, what a massive list. I so enjoyed taking part (saving my book up for aaaages!) and well done to everyone who took part, and you for organising!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've only read the one Ada Cambridge myself, but I hope to get to more. I consider her a bit of a hidden gem. I think I may just keep on doing all-Aussie cc spin lists for a while to help me get through the pile I have.

      Which Aussie book will you save for 2021, I wonder?

      Delete
  4. I'm sorry I did not get to participate after all but I'm glad to see so many others did. I very unexpectedly got these freelance projects in November that took my blog reading away for the month, ugh! Though one of my favorite novels of the year turned out to be Charlotte McConaghy's Migrations (wow)! just reviewed that on my blog Dec. 11 ... and I hope to still get to Evie Wyld's The Bass Rock .... I will try again next year. thanks for hosting. and I will peruse many of these reviews you posted

    ReplyDelete

This blog has now moved to Wordpress.
Please visit This Reading Life to comment.

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.