Blogging highlights for 2025

January 1, 2026January 2, 2026 / Whispering Gums / 22 Comments

Yesterday, as per my tradition, I posted my annual Reading highlights, which means tonight it’s time for my Blogging highlights. This is of more interest to me, really, but being a librarian/archivist by training I love to keep records and my blog is the best place to keep my blogging records – duh!

My main highlight for this year is one I let slip by, which is that August marked 15 years of writing my weekly Monday Musings posts. I published my first one on 9 August 2010, and never expected to be still blogging now, let alone writing those Musings. My closest post to that anniversary went live on Monday 11 August, and was no. 753. They can be a challenge at times, and some are pretty thin, but I enjoy writing them and love the conversations many of them engender. My post on The lost child motif (February 2011) which has been in my annual top three Monday Musings for some time, fell this year to 6th, but it is still my top Monday Musings of all time.

Anyhow, onto some specific highlights …

Random blogging stats

The searches

It looks like Jetpack has dropped reporting on search terms altogether, which makes me sad, but it will keep this post a bit shorter!

Other stats

2025 was another quiet year for me post-wise. I wrote fewer posts than ever before, just 130, which is well under my long term average of 151. However, my overall hits for the year were only a little under last year’s significant jump and 24% ahead of 2023’s figures.

The top six countries visiting my blog changed a little. The top three were the same – Australia (37% versus last year’s 46%), the USA (22%, same as last year), and the United Kingdom – but then China, which was just out of last year’s Top Ten, popped in at fourth, followed by last year’s next group, India, Canada, and the Philippines, and then New Zealand, Germany and Ireland. Thankfully, I didn’t have the spamming/AI bot scraping that Brona had.

I first reported on Clicks last year. These tell which sites (and posts) visitors clicked on from my posts. They tell us something about how people (other bloggers and readers) engage with our posts, and about the blogging community. My most clicked on links are Wikipedia, my own blog and images within it, but here are the top 5 blogs clicked on from mine, plus their most clicked link:

ANZLitLovers: Tony Birch’s Common people
Brona’s Books (This Reading Life): Andrew O’Hagan’s Caledonian Road
Reading Matters: Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard devotional
The Australian Legend: Australian white man, 1788-1950s
Jonathan Shaw (Me Fail? I Fly!): On Caledonian Road with the book club

Caledonian Road was clearly a big hit last year!

Challenges, memes, et al

There is no real change from last year. I continued to do my one regular meme, Kate’s (booksaremyfavouriteandbest) #sixdegreesofseparation (but did not do any others in 2025). And I took part, to some degree, in Nonfiction November (multiple bloggers), Novellas in November (Cathy of 746 books and Rebecca of Bookish Beck), the #YEAR Club (Kaggsy’s Bookish Rambling and Simon’s Stuck in a Book), and Buried in Print’s MARM. Most of these can be found via my “Reading weeks/months/years” category.

I value the structured opportunity these provide for us to explore writers and works we might otherwise not get to. I’d love to do more, but, well, I whinge enough so will say no more …

And so, on to 2026 …

Once again thanks to all of you who commented on my blog this year – my wonderful regulars and the newbies who gave me a shot. I love those of you who comment – regularly or occasionally – and thank you for engaging so positively. Posts can’t cover everything, so I enjoy it when comments tease out other ideas. I also love being encouraged to clarify my ideas and thinking. But, thank you too to the lurkers. Your interest and support is also greatly appreciated, even if I don’t know who you are.

I also want to thank all you hardworking bloggers out there. Again I’ve been a less regular commenter on your blogs than I’d like to, and it saddens me. My life has changed quite dramatically over the last five years, and I’m still working out how to manage my new lifestyle, and balance new and old commitments. I enjoy reading your posts when I can. I hope to read more, and engage in more book talk in 2026.

Finally, as always, big thanks to the authors, publishers and booksellers who make it all possible.

Roll on 2026 … and Happy New Year everyone.

Blogging highlights for 2024

January 1, 2025January 1, 2025 / Whispering Gums / 37 Comments

Yesterday, as per my tradition, I posted my annual Reading highlights, which means tonight it’s time for my Blogging highlights. This is probably only of interest to me, but I’m a librarian/archivist by training and I love to keep records! My main blogging highlight this year has to be that I celebrated 15 years of blogging in May. I never thought I’d still be here, but then again, I hadn’t realised how much fun it would be to be part of an international community of litbloggers, nor did I guess the way we’d become part of literary culture, locally, nationally and internationally.

Anyhow, onto some specific highlights …

Random blogging stats

The searches

Help Books Clker.com — (Courtesy OCAL, via clker.com)

I know some of you enjoy this part of my Blogging Highlights post, even though these days search term visibility is greatly curtailed.

Some searches related to specific books…

“need a detailed summary of stone yard devotional book by charlotte wood for a book club”: don’t you love the “need”?
“what is the trait of esperance in novel terra nullius”
“the rosie project cultural context”

while some are more general …

“australian modernist literature books”: this would have found a Monday Musings I wrote.

and some are just surprising …

last year I noted that the searches – ‘date of birth and “scott tucker”‘ and ‘husband and “scott tucker”’ – were probably looking for this Scott Tucker but that they got Michelle Scott Tucker’s Elizabeth Macarthur’s biography instead. People are still looking for “that” Scott Tucker, but are finding “mine”.
“trust-your-instincts-and-have-a-premarital-agreement-drafted” : what on earth brought this search to me?
“helen garner detives inspiration from female british author” : despite the typo this search found me, though I haven’t worked out why.
“books on literary authenticity in australia” : this seems to have brought the searcher to my home page rather than to a particular post which I guess should please me!
“historical importance of the esay literature and totalitarianism” : this brought the searcher to my post on George Orwell’s essay on “The prevention of literature”

Other stats

2024 was another quiet year for me post-wise. Although I wrote four more posts than last year’s 135, it was still well under my long term average of 153. However, my overall hits for the year increased by 35% on last year. Stats! I find it hard to believe that’s a true increase, particularly given the number of “likes” and “comments” were about the same. Methinks they’ve changed their counting protocols.

The top six countries visiting my blog were the same as last year, in the same order: Australia (46%), the USA (22%), United Kingdom, India, Canada, and the Philippines. But the next four show a change with Ireland popping in at no. 7, having not been in the ten at all, followed by New Zealand, Germany and France, from last year’s top ten. China dropped out.

I’ve never reported on this one before, but another interesting figure provided by WordPress (JetPack) is Clicks. This tells which sites visitors clicked, suggesting something about visitors’ engagement with our posts. My tops include Wikipedia, my own blog and images within it, and two short story sites. But, you might be interested in the bloggers that I link to. Here are the top 5 blogs clicked from mine, plus their most clicked link:

ANZLitLovers: Audrey Magee’s The colony
Bronas Books: Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead
The Australian Legend: Alexis Wright’s Praiseworthy (2/2)
Reading Matters: Robbie Arnott’s Limberlost
746 Books: Novellas in November, The ones that got away 2023

Challenges, memes, et al

I only do one regular meme, Kate’s (booksaremyfavouriteandbest) #sixdegreesofseparation. I occasionally do other memes – found under my “memes” link – but did no others in 2024.

I also took part, to various degrees, in Bill’s (The Australian Legend) Gen 0, Nonfiction November (multiple bloggers), Novellas in November (Cathy of 746 books and Rebecca of Bookish Beck), the #YEAR Club (Kaggsy’s Bookish Rambling and Simon’s Stuck in a Book), and Buried in Print’s MARM. Most of these can be found via my “Reading weeks/months/years” category.

I like the structured opportunity these provide for bloggers to explore writers and works we might otherwise find hard to fit in, and would love to do more, but …!

And so, 2025 …

I can’t do much but repeat my usual thanks you to all of you who commented on my blog this year – the regulars and the newbies who have given me a shot. I love those of you who comment – regularly or occasionally – and thank you for being an active part of the community. But, as always, a big thank you too to the lurkers. Your interest and support is also greatly appreciated.

I also want to thank all the hardworking bloggers out there. I’m sorry that I’ve continued this year to be a less regular commenter on your blogs than I’d like to. My life has changed, and I’m still working out how to manage the new lifestyle, with new and old commitments. I enjoy reading your posts when I can, and hope to read more, and engage in more book talk in 2025.

Finally, huge thanks to the authors, publishers and booksellers who make it all possible.

Roll on 2025 … Meanwhile, Happy New Year everyone.

Blogging highlights for 2023

January 1, 2024January 1, 2024 / Whispering Gums / 45 Comments

As is my tradition, I have separated out my annual Reading highlights from my Blogging highlights, mainly because combining them would result in one very long post. I always do my Blogging Highlights on 1 January, which this year clashes with Monday Musings, unfortunately. All being well, I plan to do my usual first Monday Musings of the year tomorrow.

Random blogging stats

The searches

I love sharing some of the search terms used to reach my blog, Unfortunately, search term visibility is no longer what it used to be, but a few still get through for some reason. Certain browsers?

Some are probably assignment or book group related?

“david foster wallace word notes”
“key characteristics of australian literature in terra nullius by coleman”
“the colony audrey magee book club questions” and “the colony audrey magee what does title mean”
“characters in ripper by shelley burr”
“but being completely alone was a feeling”: searching this on my blog retrieves posts like Delia Owen’s Where crawdads sing and Tegan Bennett Daylight’s Six bedrooms, with Delia Owens being what they were looking for, as I quote this line, without the opening “but”.

Some are just general research:

“famous first sentences from Australian novels”

Then others seem to be looking for something very specific:

‘date of birth and “scott tucker”‘ and ‘husband and “scott tucker”’: these are probably looking for this Scott Tucker but they got Michelle Scott Tucker’s Elizabeth Macarthur’s biography instead.
“germaine greer care home” AND “germaine greer aged care”: we are still interested in Germaine Greer. Over the year I have had many hits from a site called mumsnet.com which linked to my 2022 Canberra Writers Festival post on her.
“very short stories convict fiction free”: this seems to find my Convict Literature tag, so tags do work!

Other stats

Overall, 2023 was another challenging year for me blog-wise and it shows in the stats. I only wrote 135 posts, which is the fewest number of posts per year that I’ve ever written and is well under my long term average of 153. However, my overall hits for the year increased by 17% on last year. Stats! Always a mystery.

The top ten countries visiting my blog vary slightly from last year: Australia (44%), the USA (27%), Britain, India, Canada, the Philippines, China, France, New Zealand, and Germany, in this order. The first four are the same, and then five of the next six are the same countries, in different order. However, Mexico dropped out to be replaced by New Zealand.

Challenges, memes, et al

I only do one regular meme, Kate’s (booksaremyfavouriteandbest) #sixdegreesofseparation, and in 2023 I did every month, except December. I occasionally do other memes – found under my “memes” category link – but you’ll find no others in 2023.

I also took part, to various degrees, in Bill’s (The Australian Legend) AWW Gen 5 – SFF, Nonfiction November (multiple bloggers), Novellas in November (Cathy of 746 books and Rebecca of Bookish Beck), the #YEAR Club (Kaggsy’s Bookish Rambling and Simon’s Stuck in a Book), Brona’s Aus Reading Month, Buried in Print’s MARM, and the William Trevor Reading Year (Cathy of 746 Books and Kim of Reading Matters). Most of these can be found via my “Reading weeks/months/years” category.

I do these because they align with my reading practice and goals. I’d love to do more, and I like the structured encouragement they provide for me to explore writers and works I would otherwise find hard to fit into my schedule.

And so, 2024 …

As always, thank you to all of you who commented on my blog this year – the regulars who hang in with me year in year out, and the newbies who have given me a shot. I hope you have enjoyed the community here enough to stay. I love those of you who comment. Thanks so much for being an active part of the community. But, a big thank you too to the lurkers. I really do appreciate your interest and support too.

I also want to thank all the hardworking bloggers out there. I’ve been a poor community member – again – this year, but I do appreciate you and enjoy reading your posts when I can. I look forward to more reading and great book talk in 2024.

Finally, huge thanks to the authors, publishers and booksellers who make it all possible – and who have proved yet again that the book is far from dead.

Roll on 2024 … a big year for my blog which will turn 15 in May. Meanwhile, Happy New Year everyone.

Blogging highlights for 2022

January 1, 2023December 31, 2023 / Whispering Gums / 30 Comments

As is my tradition, I have separated out my annual Reading highlights from my Blogging highlights, mainly because combining them would result in one very long post.

Random blogging stats

The searches

I love sharing some of the search terms used to reach my blog, although search term visibility is no longer what it used to be, which spoils my fun. However, some still get through.

this year there were a couple of very long searches … “i mean there is this guy who aparently is using me as his muse to do some form of story telling and writing and pass it off as satire… hmmm… i wonder who the person in the satire could be?…” (this found my Satire tag I think)
and this one that seems to have been copied from an assignment question, “dialogue about you at the restaurent you place an order but everything goes wrong the service is poor the food when it comes isnt what you order its poorly prepared even plates and cutlery were not good write your responsetothewaiter andthewaitercomplain” (no prizes for which post this one found)
there are always some that mystify me, like “virtuallightexperiments” and ‘“ashfield tamil” wardrobe‘, though repeating the search does reveal what they found (though not whether it was what they were looking for!)
as always, several searches seemed to be for assignments, like “writing a war story irony” (which found Wharton, presumably) and “everything good will come. settings” (which found who knows what?)

Other stats

Overall, 2022 was a challenging year for me blog-wise and it shows in the stats. I only wrote 138 posts, which is well under my long term average of 155. However, I wrote significantly more words per post this year, and my overall hits for the year increased by 8% on last year. Clearly my posts weren’t too long!

The top countries visiting my blog are the same as last year: Australia, the USA, Britain, India, the Philippines, Canada, Germany, France, Mexico and China, in that order.

Challenges, memes and other things

I only do one regular meme, Kate’s (booksaremyfavouriteandbest) #sixdegreesofseparation, and occasionally do others, which you can find on my “memes” category link. And, of course, as mentioned in a recent post I continue to be part of the Australian Women Writers blog.

As last year, I also took part, to different degrees, in Lisa’s (ANZLitLovers) First Nations Reading Week, Bill’s (The Australian Legend) AWW Gen 4, Nonfiction November, Novellas in November (Cathy of 746 books and Rebecca of Bookish Beck), the #YEAR Club (by Kaggsy’s Bookish Rambling and Simon’s Stuck in a Book), and Brona’s Aus Reading Month.

All of these align with my reading practice, with some providing a welcome opportunity to explore outside my blog’s main focus.

And so, 2023 …

As always, thank you to all of you who commented on my blog this year – the regulars who have hung in with me year in year out, and the newbies who have taken the time to visit and comment. I hope you have enjoyed the community here enough to stay. A sadness this year was the death in December of longterm friend Neil who had become a semi-regular commenter here and on other blogs. It is a testament to his lively personality and to the community feeling that blogging creates that his loss was commented on with genuine feeling (it seemed to me) by many. Thank you too to the lurkers. I may not know who you are but I know you are there and appreciate your interest and support too.

I also want to thank all the wonderful bloggers out there. I have done a poor job of keeping up this year, but I do appreciate you and enjoy reading your posts when I can. I wish you all good reading and great book talk in 2023.

Finally, huge thanks to the authors, publishers and booksellers who make it all possible – and who prove again and again that the book is far from dead. Roll on 2023 …

Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian Women Writers Challenge 2021

December 27, 2021December 28, 2021 / Whispering Gums / 39 Comments

For the last time, I am devoting my last Monday Musings of the year to the Australian Women Writers Challenge ( in its current form at least, see below). What a couple of years we’ve had. It’s hard to know whether it has affected the challenge or not but, anecdotally, our numbers did not increase over a period when more people were stuck at home. Were we too discombobulated to focus on reading or were many of our participants too tired from the challenges of working from home and home-schooling to read and review as well? I look forward in the future to seeing what sociologists and other researchers make of these years and how we behaved.

Anyhow, the challenge … it has continued to go very well. The full database now contains reviews for nearly 7,700 different books across all forms and genres, from all periods, of Australian women’s writing. This means that the number of books reviewed on our database increased in 2021 by nearly 700 books, less than the number added last year, but still a healthy 10% increase to the database.

My personal round-up for the year

These last two years have not been stellar ones for me, so my posting to the challenge was down (mirroring the overall trajectory for the challenge!) I posted only 23 reviews to the Challenge over the year, a few less than last year, but I did also read three essays I didn’t post to the challenge. I will include them here as they were by women and appeared in a book edited by a woman, Belinda Castles’ Reading like an Australian writer. I’m disappointed in my reading achievements this year, but it is what it is! Here they are, with links to my reviews:

Fiction

Emma Ashmere, Dreams they forgot (short story collection)
Sara Dowse, West Block (classic)
Irma Gold, The breaking (contemporary fiction)
Irma Gold and Susannah Crispe, Where the heart is (children’s picture book)
Elizabeth Harrower, The long prospect (classic)
Margaret Hickey, Rural dreams (short story collection)
Elizabeth Jolley, “Hilda’s wedding” (short story for the #1976Club)
Sofie Laguna, Infinite splendours (historical fiction)
Marian Matta, Life, bound (short story collection)
Helen Meany, Every day is Gertie Day (novella)
Carl Merrison and Hakea Hustler, Black cockatoo (First Nations children’s/young adult)
Angela Savage, Mother of Pearl (contemporary fiction)
Nardi Simpson, Song of the crocodile (First Nations contemporary fiction)
Leah Swann, Sheerwater (contemporary fiction/mystery)

Non-fiction

Alison Croggon, Monsters: A reckoning (narrative nonfiction/memoir)
Helen Garner, One day I’ll remember this: Diaries, Volume 2, 1987-1978 (diaries)
Sarah Krasnostein, The believer (narrative nonfiction)
Wendy and Allan Scarfe, A mouthful of petals: Three years in an Indian village (memoir)
Jasmine Seymour and Leanna Mulgo Watson, Cooee mittigar: A story on Darug songlines (First Nations lore/children’s picture book)
Cindy Solonec, Debesa: The story of Frank and Katie Rodriguez (memoir, review coming)
Marie Younan and Jill Sanguinetti, A different kind of seeing (First Nations memoir)

Anthologies/Essays

Debra Adelaide, “Structure, serpents and Serena McGarry: Kate Jennings’ Snake“ (essay in Belinda Castles’ book)
Tegan Bennett Daylight, “A big sunny shack: Cosmo cosmolino by Helen Garner” (essay in Belinda Castles’ book)
Nancy Jin and Rosalind Moran, Cicerone Journal: These strange outcrops: Writing and art from Canberra (anthology)
Sara Phillips (ed), Best Australian science writing (science writing anthology)
Ellen Van Neerven, “Kinship in fiction and the genre blur of Swallow the air as novel in stories” (essay in Belinda Castles’ book

This year, fiction (including short stories) represented around 53% of my AWW challenge reading, which is a little less than last year’s 61%, and only two were classics by my loose definitions. One, Elizabeth Harrower’s, was read for Bill’s (The Australian Legend) Gen 4 week (Part 1). As always, I appreciate the impetus to read books from the past, because they do not deserve to be forgotten! In terms of that problematic word “diversity”, I read four books by First Nations Australia women.

My non-fiction reading was even more heavily slanted towards memoir/life-writing than usual, though the essays shift the balance a little, with a focus there on writing about writing.

Finally, as always, a big thanks to Theresa, Elizabeth and the rest of the team. I have loved being part of this challenge, partly of course because it equates with my reading goals so has never really been a challenge, but also because it’s been a generous and supportive team working on an important goal.

And so, 2022

Most of you will know that this challenge was instigated by Elizabeth Lhuede in 2012 in response to concerns in Australian literary circles about the lack of recognition for women writers. I have been involved as a volunteer since 2013. In many ways, we feel that ten years on, the goal has been achieved, as women writers seem to be well-established on Australia’s literary scene, at least by observable measures.

Partly for this reason, the challenge will change tack in 2022 and focus on past and often under-recognised or overlooked women writers, from the 19th- and 20th-centuries. The new team overseeing this new phase comprises Elizabeth, Bill (The Australian Legend) and me. We plan to offer articles and reviews about earlier writers, and publish their actual writings – in full or excerpt form, as appropriate. We three feel that Australia’s rich heritage of Australian women’s writing hasn’t been fully explored and we’re keen to nudge it a bit more into the limelight.

This does not mean that the always popular contemporary aspect of the challenge will cease, but it will now be carried through our Facebook groups, Love Reading Books by Aussie Women and Australian Women Writers News and Events. Please join those groups if you are interested and haven’t already joined them.

Meanwhile, you will hear more about AWW 2022, when we get going in February.

Blogging highlights for 2020

January 3, 2021January 3, 2021 / Whispering Gums / 34 Comments

Finally, the last of my traditional and very self-indulgent year-end trifecta (which includes my Australian Women Writers’ Challenge wrap-up and Reading highlights posts).

But, before I launch into my usual analysis, I must send a huge shout-out to Bill (The Australian Legend) for the astonishing effort he put in this year to help me keep my blog going during the sad months of my mother’s late-diagnosed illness and death. He coordinated four Monday Musings guest posts (from Lisa, Kate and Michelle, as well as himself, even proposing topics in case they needed inspiration). And, inspired by Karen’s (BookerTalk) post on reblogging, he curated a series of reblogged posts from my early days, which we titled Bill curates. It was a stellar effort and I’m immensely grateful to him (and to Lisa, Michelle and Kate) for helping me out during those times. It may sound silly but it significantly helped my well-being to have these posts lined up to keep my beloved blog ticking along. Thanks Bill.

Random blogging stats

The searches

One of my favourite parts of this highlights post is sharing some of the search terms used to reach my blog, but this year that aspect of the end-of-year stats has been flakey. However, I did glean a few that might interest – and hopefully, entertain – you.

several searches seemed to be for a school or college assignment about Sherwood Anderson’s short story “Adventure”. The searches included: who should be blame for alice’s tragedy; alice is the one to be blamed for her tragedy. do you agree?; explain. adventure sherwood anderson; and explain the significance of the title ‘adventure’ by anderson. Don’t you love how some have just typed in the whole question?
I have reviewed an essay by Sebastian Smee but I don’t think that will have helped this searcher: does wellesley have a non-credit on-line course taught by sebastian smee
relevant to this year’s second top post, here is one search: what type of satire is mark twain’s a presidential candidates
and, my favourite: word association. what comes into your mind about australian literature? You know what I’m going to ask: What words come to your mind when you think about Aussie lit?

Other stats

I wrote thirteen (nearly 8%) fewer posts in 2020 than in 2019, averaging under 13 posts per month. This resulted in a small drop in my blog traffic.

Australia, the USA, Britain, in that order, continue to be the top three countries visiting my blog. The next three slots went, respectively, to India, the Philippines and Canada. India has been fourth for two of the last three years but, this year, the Philippines jumped from its usual 6th place to 5th, edging out Canada. This is largely due to Philippine-born Merlinda Bobis’ Fish-hair woman.

I’d like to thank all of you who commented on my blog this year. I’m thrilled that, although my blog traffic dropped a little this year, my comments count increased by 12%, which is heart-warming because the conversations have to be one of blogging’s biggest delights. The friendly but fearless sharing of sometimes opposing ideas – you know who you are! – demonstrates that social media can be positive and respectful.

Challenges, memes and other things

I only do one challenge, the AWW Challenge, which I wrapped up last week, and one regular meme, #sixdegreesofseparation run by Kate (booksaremyfavouriteandbest). I occasionally do others, which you can find on my “memes” category link.

I also took part in Lisa’s (ANZLitLovers) Indigenous Literature and Thea Astley weeks, Bill’s (The Australian Legend) AWW Gen 3 Week, and, more casually, in Nonfiction November, because all these align with my reading practice.

Each year, I like to host some guest posts but I have already mentioned these in my opening paragraph. You can find them at this link.

Being blogging mentor for the New Territory program has been a major highlight over recent years. It was set to continue, until you-know-what. I don’t know whether it will return next year. Meanwhile, I have enjoyed following the writings of several “alumni” who are continuing their literary reviewing and criticism journeys. Rosalind Moran’s well-timed Overland post on the value (or not) of lists, caught the eye of several bloggers over the last month! Amy Walters has revamped her website to include links to her other writings, and Angharad has continued to be an active blogger as well as occasionally writing other articles. Shelley Burr, on the other hand, won a Debut Dagger for her Aussie noir unpublished manuscript, Wake. How lucky am I to know these great young women.

And so, 2021 …

As I say every year, a big thanks to everyone who read, commented on and/or “liked” my blog last year – and to all you other wonderful bloggers out there. I’m really sorry that I don’t always manage to visit everyone as much as I’d like. I wish you all good reading in 2021, and look forward to discussing books with you at your place or mine!

Finally, huge thanks to the authors, publishers and booksellers who make it all possible (and who have put up with my extreme tardiness this year). Let’s hope 2021 will be better for us all.

Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian Women Writers Challenge 2020

December 28, 2020December 28, 2020 / Whispering Gums / 27 Comments

Once again I am devoting my last Monday Musings of the year to the Australian Women Writers Challenge*. Last year in my opening paragraph, I wrote that I loved the sound of 2020 – and I wished you all a wonderful year to come in whatever form you would like that to take. My, oh my, little did we expect what was going to eventuate (which for me included a personal loss in addition to the impacts of the pandemic and other catastrophes). I no longer like the sound of 2020, and fervently hope 2021 turns out much better for us all. And so, may you all have a positive and fulfilling 2021.

Now, the challenge … it has continued to go very well. The full database now contains reviews for nearly 7,000 books across all forms and genres, from all periods, of Australian women’s writing. This means that the number of books reviewed on our database increased in 2020 by 900 books, which is about the same number added as last year, or just under 15%.

My personal round-up for the year

This year, for obvious reasons, was not my best Challenge year. I posted only 26 reviews relevant to the Challenge over the year, about the same as last year which was also a strange year (but differently). I feel disappointed about all this, but such is life. Anyhow, here they are, with links to my reviews:

Fiction

Thea Astley, An item from the late news (classic)
Shokoofeh Azar, The enlightenment of the greengage tree (contemporary fiction, translated)
Carmel Bird, Field of poppies (contemporary fiction)
Madelaine Dickie, Red can origami (contemporary fiction)
Anna Goldsworthy, Melting moments (historical/contemporary fiction)
Julie Janson, Benevolence (Indigenous Australian historical fiction)
Gay Lynch, Unsettled (historical fiction)
Favel Parrett, There was still love (historical fiction)
Heather Rose, Bruny (contemporary fiction)
Angela Thirkell, Trooper to the Southern Cross (classic)
Julie Thorndyke, Mrs Rickaby’s lullaby (contemporary fiction)
Tara June Winch, The yield (Indigenous Australian historical/contemporary fiction)
Charlotte Wood, The weekend (contemporary fiction)

Short stories

David Carlin and Francesca Rendle-Short (eds), The near and the far: More stories from the Asia-Pacific region, Vol. 2
Carol Lefevre, Murmurations
Emily Paull, Well-behaved women

Anthologies/Essays

Helen Garner, Yellow notebook: Diaries, Volume 1, 1978-1987
Ashley Hay (ed.), Griffith Review, 68: Getting on

Non-fiction

Julia Baird, Phosphorescence (memoir/philosophical/self-help)
Carolyn Collins and Roy Eccleston, Trailblazers: 100 inspiring South Australian women (biography)
Desley Deacon, Judith Anderson: Australian star, First Lady of the American stage (biography)
Anna Goldsworthy, Piano lessons (memoir)
Chloe Hooper, The arsonist: A mind on fire (non-fiction/true crime)
Sue Lovegrove and Adrienne Eberhard, The voice of water (art/poetry)
Ruth Park and D’Arcy Niland, The drums go bang! (classic memoir)
Heidi Sze, Nurturing your new life (parenthood self-help/cookbook)

This year, fiction (including short stories) represented around 61% of my AWW challenge reading, which is a little more than last year and a bit closer to my preferred ratio. I read three Classics. Two were novels and one a memoir, and they were read for Bill’s (The Australian Legend) Gen 3 week and Lisa’s (ANZLitLovers) Thea Astley week. Thanks to Bill and Lisa for the impetus to read these books, because they added a special depth ! In terms of that problematic word “diversity”, I read two novels by Indigenous Australian women, and one translated novel by an Iranian-born Australian writer.

My non-fiction reading was eclectic, featuring biography and memoir of course, a work of creative or narrative nonfiction, a beautiful collaboration between an artist and a poet, and, unusually for me, also two books that could be seen to be in the self-help vein.

If you’d like to know more about the Challenge, check it out here. We are also on Facebook, Twitter (@auswomenwriters), and GoodReads. Do consider joining us. All readers are welcome.

Finally, as always, a big thanks again to Theresa, Elizabeth and the rest of the team. I (still) love being part of this challenge, partly because equating with my reading goals it is not really a challenge, and also because I enjoy working with the people involved. See you in 2021.

And so, 2021

The 2021 sign up form is ready, so this is also my Sign Up post for next year. As always, I’m nominating myself for the Franklin level, which is to read 10 books by Australian women and post reviews for at least 6 of those. I expect, of course, to exceed this.

Do you plan to sign up?

* This challenge was instigated by Elizabeth Lhuede in 2012 in response to concerns in Australian literary circles about the lack of recognition for women writers. I have been one of the challenge’s volunteers since 2013. Theresa Smith (of Theresa Smith writes) now oversees the day-to-day management of the blog, but Elizabeth is still an active presence.

Australian Women Writers 2020 Challenge completed

September 10, 2020September 10, 2020 / Whispering Gums / 30 Comments

I’m very late with my traditional completion post for the Australian Women Writer’s Challenge – it’s been a weird and difficult year all round. As always, I will continue to contribute until the year’s end, and do a final round-up then, but I do like to get the completion admin done!

I signed up, of course, for the top-level, Franklin, which involves reading 10 books and reviewing at least 6, and of course I’ve exceeded this. In fact, by June 30, my usual marker for my completion post, I’d contributed 13 reviews to the challenge,

Here’s my list in alphabetical order (by author), with the links on the titles being to my reviews:

Shokoofeh Azar, The enlightenment of the greengage tree (novel)
Carmel Bird, Field of poppies (novel)
David Carlin and Francesca Rendle-Short (eds), The near and the far: More stories from the Asia-Pacific region, Vol. 2 (anthology)
Madelaine Dickie, Red can origami (novel)
Anna Goldsworthy, Piano lessons (memoir)
Chloe Hooper, The arsonist: A mind on fire (nonfiction)
Ruth Park and D’Arcy Niland, The drums go bang! (classic/memoir)
Favel Parrett, There was still love (novel)
Heather Rose, Bruny (novel)
Angela Thirkell, Trooper to the Southern Cross (classic/novel)
Julie Thorndyke, Mrs Rickaby’s lullaby (novel)
Tara June Winch, The yield (novel)
Charlotte Wood, The weekend (novel)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I don’t set myself specific reading goals, but I do keep in mind a wish to read more indigenous and diverse writers, more classics, and more from my TBR pile. As I wrote last year, these continue to be my non-goal goals. So, how did I go? Well, I read just one Indigenous Australian writer, an Iranian Australian writer, two classics (thanks to Bill’s AWW Gen 3 week), and four (Hooper, Park, Thirkell and Azar) from my TBR*. This is not too bad out of 13 books (I think!), particularly given this weird year. However, I’d like to do more. Let’s see how I go by the end of the year.

Not included in the above list is Heidi Sze’s book Nurturing your new life, which I have not specifically reviewed. However, I have read a significant proportion of it, and did write up the author event I attended.

Watch out for my 2020 AWW Challenge wrap-up post for the year’s full story!

* All books I read are, by definition, on my TBR, but in terms of my book management, I define my TBR pile as those I’ve had for more than 12 months!

Monday musings on Australian literature: Autumn Book Binge 2020

March 16, 2020March 17, 2020 / Whispering Gums / 21 Comments

A big thanks to Lisa (ANZLitLovers) whose post on the Autumn Book Binge brought it to my attention. I knew immediately that I had to post on it – albeit with a little change, as you will see.

The Autumn Book Binge (love the wordplay on “bingo”) is being run by the State Library of Victoria. It involves reading (or listening to) a book of your choice for each of the categories on the bingo (oops, binge) card. What a great idea for this autumn (or, northern spring) given COVID-19 and the consequent encouragement for us all to social distance – no punishment for readers!

The Binge is explained here. Victorians can pick up a Challenge Card from participating libraries, while anyone can download it here. The formal “game” runs over our downunder autumn, that is, from 1 March to 31 May 2020.

As Lisa has done in her post (linked in my opening sentence), I am going to list the categories with suggestions from books I have read (with links to my reviews on the titles). I’m limiting myself to five options for each. Here goes …

Set in the ACT

This is where I’ve made my change. This Book Binge is a Victorian challenge, so its category is “set in Victoria”. To play the game to win the prizes, you need to choose a Victorian-set book, but you must be Victorian-based to win. If you’re not, I suggest you make this box your own jurisdiction. (Sorry Victoria!)

Andrew Croome’s Document Z
Julian Davies’ Call me
Dorothy Johnston’s The house at number 10
Lesley Lebkowicz’s The Petrov poems
Frank Moorhouse’s Cold light

Recent releases (published in the last 12 months, more or less!)

I’m nominating only Australian writers because they need all the airing they can get:

Carmel Bird’s Field of poppies
John Clanchy’s In whom we trust
Madelaine Dickie’s Red can origami
Nigel Featherstone’s Bodies of men
Karen Viggers’ The orchardist’s daughter

Other lives (biography about someone who inspires you)

Bernadette Brennan’s A writing life: Helen Garner and her work
Sarah Krasnostein’s The trauma cleaner: the subject, Sandra Pankhurst, is not famous, unlike the others here, but is inspirational for her warmth and empathy despite her own traumas.
Karen Lamb’s Thea Astley: Inventing her own weather
Hazel Rowley’s Franklin and Eleanor: An extraordinary marriage
Michelle Scott Tucker’s Elizabeth Macarthur: A life at the edge of the world

In translation

Anton Chekhov’s The lady with the little dog (Russian, translated by Ronald Wilks)
Raphaël Jerusalmy’s Evacuation (French, translated by Penny Hueston)
Valeria Luiselli’s Faces in the crowd (Mexican, translated by Christina MacSweeney)
Sayaka Murata’s Convenience store woman (Japanese, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori)
WG Sebald’s Austerlitz (German, translated by Anthea Bell)

Fact to fiction (fiction based on true stories)

Sawako Ariyoshi, The doctor's wife As with translation above, I have aimed here to traverse the globe.

Sawako Ariyoshi’s The doctor’s wife (Japan)
Hannah Kent’s Burial rites (Iceland)
Elizabeth Kuiper’s Little stones (South Africa)
Janet Lee’s The killing of Louisa (Australia)
Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall (England)

Book to screen

Jane Austen’s Emma (my posts, one, two and three): this category could be filled with Austens but I’ve just chosen Emma because it’s the most recent adaptation I’ve seen.
Alan Bennett’s The lady in the van: adapted beautifully with Maggie Smith in the title role
EM Forster’s Howard’s End: adapted to film in 1992 and a more recent television miniseries in 2017
Pierre Lemaitre’s The great swindle: English film title, See you up there
Madeleine St John’s The women in black: filmed as The ladies in black

Beastly titles (with animals in the title)

Joyce Carol Oates’ Beasts
William Lane’s The salamanders
Gillian Mears’ Foal’s bread
Mario Vargas Llosa’s The feast of the Goat
Evie Wyld’s All the birds, singing

Other worlds (set in an alternate world to your own)

Jamil Ahmad Wandering falcon cover I think I can interpreted this to mean anything not my contemporary Australia, so I’ve chosen a wide variety of worlds, from the mythical past to dystopian futures.

Jamil Ahmad’s The wandering falcon (set in the multi-tribal region on the borders of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran)
Jorge Amado’s Gabriela, clove and cinnamon (set in 1920s Brazil)
Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad (set during the mythical time of Odysseus)
Claire G Coleman’s Terra nullius (dystopian)
Annabel Smith’s The ark (dystopian future, set in seed bank set not far from where I live)

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers

Ali Cobby Eckermann, Ruby Moonlight

I’ve focused on fiction for this list, but click here for all my posts on Indigenous Australian literature.

Ali Cobby Eckermann’s Ruby Moonlight
Melissa Lucashenko’s Too much lip
Kim Scott’s That deadman dance
Ellen van Neerven’s Heat and light
Tara June Winch’s Swallow the air

And there you have the nine categories, with selected recommendations from me. (Not all are Australian, but this is an Australian library’s initiative, qualifying it for Monday Musings!) You can take part in the discussion, whether or not you are Victorian, but if you do, please use the hashtag #AutumnBookBinge.

Will you take part in any way?

Monday musings on Australian literature: Australian Women Writers Challenge 2019

December 30, 2019January 19, 2020 / Whispering Gums / 27 Comments

For some years now, I have devoted my last Monday Musings of the year to the Australian Women Writers Challenge* – and this year I am continuing that tradition! Sorry, if you hoped for something else. With the New Year – I love the sound of 2020 – just two days away, I wish all you wonderful Whispering Gums followers a wonderful year to come in whatever form you would like that to take.Thank you, too, for supporting my blog with your visits and comments.

Now, the challenge … it has continued to go very well. The full database now contains reviews for nearly 6,100 books across all forms and genres, from all periods, of Australian women’s writing. This means that the number of books reviewed on our database increased in 2019 by 900 books, or 17%, which is about the same increase as last year. In my area of Literary and Classics, we had roughly the same number of reviews posted as last year.

My personal round-up for the year

It was not, I have to say, my best Challenge year, as I posted only 25 reviews over the year, about 25% less than last year. I’m not sure how that happened, but c’est la vie. It was clearly a different sort of reading year. Anyhow, here they are, with links to my reviews:

FICTION

Enza Gandolfo, The bridge (general and historical fiction)
Elizabeth Kuiper, Little stones (general fiction)
Jamie Marina Lau, Pink Mountain on Locust Island (experimental fiction) (guest post by Amanda)
Janet Lee, The killing of Louisa (historical fiction)
Melissa Lucashenko, Too much lip (general fiction)
Louise Mack, Girls together (classic)
Angela Meyer, A superior spectre (historical-cum-speculative fiction)
Melanie Myers, Meet me at Lennon’s (historical and general fiction)
Annabel Smith, Whiskey and Charlie (general fiction)
Karen Viggers, The orchardist’s daughter (general fiction)
Josephine Wilson, Extinctions (general fiction) (guest post by Amanda)

SHORT STORIES

Capel Boake, Three short stories (published in Trove) (classic short stories)
Jennifer Down, Pulse points (short story collection) (guest post by Amanda)
Amanda O’Callaghan, This taste for silence (short story collection)

ANTHOLOGIES

Anita Heiss (ed.), Growing up Aboriginal in Australia (memoir anthology)
Us Mob Writing, Too deadly (anthology comprising poems, fiction and memoir pieces)

CHILDREN’S PICTURE BOOKS

Nhulunbuy Primary School, with Ann James and Ann Haddon, I saw, we saw (picture book)

NON-FICTION

Ros Collins, Rosa: Memories with licence (creative memoir)
Amanda Duthie (ed.), Kin: An extraordinary filmmaking family (biography)
Jocelyn Moorhouse, Unconditional love: A memoir of filmmaking and motherhood (memoir)
Sue Ingleton, Making trouble: Tongued with fire (biography)
Vicki Laveau-Harvie, The erratics (memoir)
Kim Scott, Katherine’s tropical housing precinct 1946-1956 (local history)
Maria Tumarkin, Axiomatic (personal essays)
Jessica White, Hearing Maud (hybrid biography/memoir)

This year, fiction (including short stories) represented around 57% of my AWW challenge reading, which is similar to last year. I read no poetry or verse novels again this year, and I read fewer Classics than last. However, I did read three classic short stories by Capel Boake for Bill’s (The Australian Legend) Gen 2 week as well as Louise Mack’s novel. On the plus side, I read more indigenous writing this year – two anthologies, a picture book, and Melissa Lucashenko’s Miles Franklin award-winning Too much lip (as well as some male authors who shall not be mentioned here!)

If you’d like to know more about the Challenge, check it out here. We are also on Facebook, Twitter (@auswomenwriters), and GoodReads. Do consider joining us. All readers are welcome.

Finally, a big thanks again to Theresa, Elizabeth and the rest of the team. I love being part of this challenge, not only because it equates with my reading goals but also because the people involved are such a pleasure to work with. See you in 2020.

And so, 2020

The 2020 sign up form is ready, so this is also my Sign Up post for next year. As always, I’m nominating myself for the Franklin level, which is to read 10 books by Australian women and post reviews for at least 6 of those. I expect, of course, to exceed this.

Do you plan to sign up?

Yes, that’s a good way of putting it, Karen. I think that expresses it exactly.

Thanks very much Karen. I guess it’s been good for me!

15 years of weekly posts is a tremendous achievement, especially given your comments about how life has changed in recent…

love your idea of having reading intentions rather than goals. The latter always me think of work rather than pleasure.

love your idea of having reading intentions rather than goals. The latter always me think of work rather than pleasure.…

Top posts for 2025

Random blogging stats

The searches

Challenges, memes, et al

And so, on to 2026 …

Top posts for 2024

Random blogging stats

The searches

Other stats

Challenges, memes, et al

And so, 2025 …

Top posts for 2023

Random blogging stats

The searches

Other stats

Challenges, memes, et al

And so, 2024 …

Top posts for 2022

Random blogging stats

The searches

Other stats

Challenges, memes and other things

And so, 2023 …

My personal round-up for the year

Fiction

Non-fiction

Anthologies/Essays

And so, 2022

Top posts for 2020

Random blogging stats

The searches

Other stats

Challenges, memes and other things

And so, 2021 …

My personal round-up for the year

Fiction

Short stories

Anthologies/Essays

Non-fiction

And so, 2021

My personal round-up for the year

And so, 2020