I'm sure no one is surprised to hear that talking about books is one of my favourite things to do! And where better to get your book chat on than a book club with friends? 

At the moment I'm part of two book clubs - one with some work friends who are also participating in the Read Harder Challenge - we don't read and discuss the same book, but instead talk about what we're reading for each task and recommend books to each other... so good! And then also a more traditional kind of book club where one of my very best friends and I read the same book and chat about it. 

We have been focusing on books by women, and largely classics (ish). One that has been on our book club list since last year was Daphne du Maurier's  Rebecca, after we both read (and loved) My Cousin Rachel, and saw the movie together (I love a book club field trip!).

 

These are mostly books that I got for Christmas (the bottom 5), plus Frankenstein (which I'm reading for bookclub this month), Hangman by local author Jack Heath (currently on loan from a friend) and In the Dark Spaces, which I have out from the library at the moment (it's #LoveOzYA and also meets the criteria for the Read Harder Challenge task about scifi with a female protagonist written by a woman). I do like that the black and reds through them kind of match though, and also, I finally saw The Last Jedi this week so I feel more prepared to look at Star Wars books! 

So, Star Wars books. I've heard good things about these and I'm really excited to read them! I love Star Wars, and Leia (of course), and I'm looking forward to filling in some of the back story that isn't covered in the movies. One of the things I've heard about the Star Wars books is that they can make the films more enjoyable, since you have more of an idea of the bigger picture of events, i guess, and how they fit in a broader universe and time line. I'm not sure how I feel about the storytelling of the movies if extra reading is required to fill in blanks and enjoy them to their fullest (which I feel like was kind of the case with the prequel trilogy)?

In any case, keep an eye out for these in upcoming TBRs and I'll definitely let you know what I think.

xo Bron

ps I'm pretty sure these books about Leia by Claudia Gray would also meet the criteria for the scifi task in the Read Harder Challenge - assuming, that is, that you are happy to accept Star Wars as scifi, rather than, say, a Western set in space...  (a bigger debate than I think I want to get into today haha)

The Woman in the Window has been getting so much buzz - being called the thriller of the year for 2018, as well as the next 'Girl on the Train'/'Gone Girl'/whatever other thriller with girl in the title. I'm not going to lie - books with girl/woman in the title and written by white dudes are not the first place I'm inclined to invest my reading time right now, but this did sound kind of cool, and then I won an advanced copy from Dymocks book shop, so I figured I'd check it out - and I was glad I did.

First with the girl stuff (yes, maybe I'm making too much of the "girl/woman" title thing, but hey, if you're putting that title on a thriller the comparisons are going to come!) - I haven't read Gone Girl, but I can tell you I enjoyed this more than Girl on the Train! I thought the twists were twistier, and it did a better job of keeping me guessing. I feel like there are bits and pieces here that you'll pick up on/predict, but you are probably not going to have it all worked out super early.

I liked the set up for the story, and the way that the back story is told - the protagonist is a woman named Anna, who we know from the start is agoraphobic, and lives alone - as the story progresses we are not only seeing the 'incident' unfold into the future, but we also learn little by little how Anna got to where she is, as her history catches up with what's happening now.

I felt like Anna was pretty superbly written. We see from the start that she clearly has some serious issues, and she continues to engage in some really self-destructive behaviours - this combination could make her really frustrating to read, but I actually found her honesty, rawness, and the self awareness she has about her problems quite endearing. I was kind of surprised to find myself so much on her side, and I felt more respect for her than I have in other unreliable narrators I've read.  

As is generally the case with thrillers there were some bits that I predicted ahead, but overall I thought this was a well written, page-turny read. I gave it a solid 4 out of 5 stars.

Six months ago, Zoey’s life went off the rails. After the tragic loss of her brother, she partied her way to oblivion, estranged her best friend, Cass, and pushed away her now ex, Finn. But when her destructive behaviour reaches dangerous heights, Zoey realises she needs to pull herself together and get her old life back, including her ex. There’s just one complication: Finn is now dating Cass.

Now, it’s the last week of summer and Zoey, Cass and Finn are setting out on the road trip of a lifetime to see their favourite musician, Gray, perform live, joined by Finn’s infuriatingly attractive bad-boy cousin Luc and his vibrant younger sister Jolie. Zoey thinks this is her chance to put things to rights and convince Finn they should get back together. But she wasn’t counting on her friends’ lingering resentment, Luc’s disarming sincerity, and Jolie’s infectious love for life to turn her plans upside down.

This is a sweet, fun story about finding yourself (or at least learning where to start looking!), with a summery vibe. Don't let this fool you though - there are some really heavy issues in here too.
In a way, this book is really about grief - and how people process it at a time when they aren't even really sure who they are (or want to be).

I thought the characters were really well written - I liked that they were all flawed in their ways, but also all trying to be better and so not unlikeable. The ensemble cast also allows us to see that different people deal with challenges in different ways - I love this in YA, since I think it is really important for young people (and everyone, really!) to learn that there is no one right way to react to a particular situation because we are all different.

Given the themes of loss explored in the book, this got pretty emotional in bits. I found some of these heavier parts really moving - partly because the characters were written in a way that I felt a connection with, or at the very least sympathy for, them. I'm not going to lie - there were tears!

Because of the way grief and loss are explored in this book, its one where I'd recommend some further research before reading if you have any concerns about triggering content.

Also, I love this cover!

I gave this one 4 stars

Bron xo

I've been a bit swept up in the excitement of new release lists and reading challenges - so many amazing reading challenges! To be honest, I've found myself a bit overwhelmed by the feeling that in order to participate in the reading challenges I'd like to do in 2018, I'm already IN THE FIRST WEEK OF JANUARY putting things off all the way to 2019! *Insert screaming face emoji here!*

There are soooo many cool challenges, and it clearly really feeds into my 'to many books, too little time ' anxiety. I'm always particulary interested in the ones that challenge me to increase my reading diversity, and pick up things I usually wouldn't. 

Here are just a couple that I thought looked especially good...

 

Now, if I were to participate in all of those challenges, I'd be looking at 50 books at least (in fact, the Aus YA bloggers challenge is 4 books each month, so that's nearly 50 on its own!) - add in a couple of book club reads, and some review books, and I'm sure you can see how it's a bit overwhelming haha

So, here's my actual plan for 2018:

I'm doing the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge for real. In 2017 I started a book club with a bunch of my colleagues, based around Read Harder and it was so much fun. We didn't read the same books at the same time, but we're all working towards completing the challenfe, so it was fun to discuss the tasks and recommend books to eachother. 

I really want to read more local authors this year, so I'm planning to answer as many tasks as possible with Aussie books. And to boost my Australian reading, I'm also going to try and meet as many of the Aussies Rule Reading Challenges as possible - especially the indigenous prompts, which are a big gap in my reading usually.

The remainder of the challenges I'm planning to dip in and out of a bit. In terms of the Aus YA bloggers challenge, I'll probably try to read something for the #loveozya task for each month. Hopefully this will still leave me enough space to read a bit more according to how I'm feeling, and also to get through some of the unread books on my shelves (including some I'd like to do re-reads of the previous books in the series for.

With all of that in mind (and yes, I am aware I'm probably overthinking it haha) here is my TBR for the rest of January (why do I feel like January is almost over already?!).

This is a new release YA sci-fi novel, which was sent to me for review by the lovely people at Harlequin Books Australia. It is being released in January - the ARC says the 11th, but I feel like it might be the 16th. In any case, keep an eye out for a review soon, because I finished it today (or pop over to goodreads for a sneak preview!)

Draekora (Medoran Chronicles #3)

I don't read a lot of thrillers, but I won this review copy in a giveaway from Dymocks and it is getting so much buzz that I'm keen to read it before I hear too many opinions! It is also new out this month.

Frankenstein and Rebecca

There really isn't much to say about these two! I'm reading them for the (fairly casual) book club I have with my bff. We are trying to read books by women, and to include at least some classics. Rebecca was on our list for most of last year, after we both loved My Cousin Rachel. And Frankenstein seemed like a good one to read this month, when it's celebrating its 200th birthday.  Also, this will be my book for the Read Harder Challenge task 3. A classic of genre fiction.

So, that's my January! To be honest, I'm hoping to get to a few more books than these - I am having a week off work in the middle of the month - there are a couple of things on my Kindle I'd love to get to.

I'd also love to hear about your reading plans for January, or your reading goals/philosophy for 2018 (if you're an overthinker like me!) 

Xo Bron

This was my book of the year - the Most Important book I read in 2017, and the number one book I would make everyone read if I could. Maxine Beneba Clarke has an amazing way of writing about terrible issues in a really beautiful way - reading this I felt angry, I felt sad, I felt ashamed, I felt like I might vomit, but I enjoyed it completely.  

This anthology of #LoveOzYA short stories was my favourite YA read for the year. I've mentioned it a couple of times here already, I think, but one of the things I loved was the breadth of kinds of stories included - there really is something for everyone in here, and I have books from everysingle one of these authors on my 2018 the list. This book also gave me one of my favourite bookish experiences of the year, when I got up at crazy o'clock to catch the bus to Sydney for the All Day YA event (you can read more about that here). 

This was my first time reading Liane Moriarty and I loved her writing - the voices sounded really authentic (it often felt like listening to my friends talk about their own or other people's children!) and I enjoyed the twist. I watched the tv series, but didn't enjoy it as much, and am sceptical about there being a second season planned.

This was fierce and funny and feministy. I loved the sense of humour it brought to super hero tropes, while still tackling issues about self and difference. I'm hoping to catch up on more of Kamala Khan's adventures this year.

I hadn't read any Helen Garner before this, and her beautiful writing and sharp wit has me keen to try more! I'm open to recommendations of where to go next!

Another first experience with a widely loved author. I read this before going to see the movie (and, again, thought the book was so much better!). Check out more of my thoughts on this one in this post.

When Dimple met Rishi :: Sandhya Menon 

This book is completely adorable and fun, and I can't wait to read Sandhya Menon's next book - From Twinkle with Love - later this year. You can read my review of Dimple and Rishi here.

This book was pure space adventure fun, and that ending gave me my biggest book hangover of 2017! It was also brilliant meeting the authors and hearing them talk about the process of writing and writing together.

Empire of Dust is book 2 in the Blood of Gods and Royals series, and was my biggest bookish surprise of 2017 - I didn't expect to love this series so much, and I'm not sure I can put my finger on why! I wrote up a review of the series so far here, and I can't wait to get into the next book!

So those were the 10 books I fave 5-star ratings to last year. I'm excited to seeing how many I have in 2018!

Xo Bron