It’s time for #6degrees. Start at the same place as other wonderful readers, add six books, and see where you end up. This month we begin with Dominic Amerena’s novel about authors and publishing, I Want Everything. The main character in Amerena’s novel takes part in medical trials, which is also a theme in Catherine … Continue reading →| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Guten Abend! Yes, the calendar has just flipped into October but I’m fairly sure that other readers are doing what I’m doing… that is, making November reading plans. We have to be…| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Well, after two funny collections about women and their relationships, Roxane Gay’s Difficult Women brought me back to reality with a thud. There are 21 stories in Difficult Women, and most h…| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
01. You couldn’t pay most Melburnians to swim in the Yarra/Birrarung… but I went to the Birrarung Riverfest Swimming in Stormwater event and had a little dip.| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye.| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Yep, running out of time to draw a line under the reviews for the year. Some of these I’ve been meaning to write for eleven months. Lucky it doesn’t actually matter…| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
To be honest, I was still dining on details of The Salt Path scandal, when I began I Want Everything by Dominic Amerena. I Want Everything is more a story about a literary mystery rather than a sca…| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Lisa at ANZ LitLovers has just announced a new reading event – Short Story September.| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Short story collections usually mean hits and misses – it’s rare that I rave about a whole collection (the last time was here). Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny is absolutely worth …| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
10 posts published by Kate W during September 2025| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
I enjoy Katherine Heiny’s writing. She makes me laugh and I’m quite okay with the odd boundary that she pushes. Her novels are terrific but I reckon it’s in short stories where sh…| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
01. OMG. Have you seen the 2026 Laneway Festival lineup? Chappell! Lucy! Wet Leg! Teen Jesus! Role Model! 02. Hooray! It’s asparagus season (these delicious spears with some kind of buttery lemon sauce and fried shallots at Bar Liberty). 03. My daughter’s last stage band performance at Brunswick Ballroom (the end of school is coming … Continue reading →| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld was probably one of my most anticipated books of 2025 (I rarely pre-order but this one, I did). I was excited because her last short story collection, You Think It, I’ll Say It was exceptionally good (subtext – Show had a lot to live up to…). There are twelve … Continue reading →| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye. May All Your Skies Be Blue by Fíona Scarlett Why I have it: Weirdly, saw someone reading it on the tram and thought it looked good! Summary: … Continue reading →| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
01. I have had an extraordinarily shitty week. I won’t focus on the really horrible bits (but everyone is okay). The best bit was a visit to Aurora and fish and chips for lunch by the sea at …| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
So many ways to focus ones reading in March: Women’s Prize, Stella Prize, Reading Ireland Month… I try to do a little of each. This time, two audios (the wait-list on hard copies at the…| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
There is so much to Elin Cullhed’s Euphoria, I hardly know where to begin. Perhaps an appropriate starting point is that I found this novel wholly absorbing. Euphoria is an account of Sylvia …| booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Welcome to #6Degrees. Annabel Smith and Emma Chapman began the 6 Degrees of Separation meme in 2014 (and I took over in 2016). The meme was inspired by Hungarian writer and poet Frigyes Karinthy. I…| booksaremyfavouriteandbest