I read and review across a variety of genres, but particular enjoy historical fiction and delving into the classics from time to time. I also enjoy reading non fiction and of course supporting Australian authors.
- If you'd like to see what I've read so far this year => go to Read in 2024
- If you'd like to see the 2024 reading challenges I'm participated in => go to Challenges 2024
- If you'd like to see ALL the books I've reviewed in alphabetical order by author surname => go to Books By Author
- If you'd like to check out the authors I've interviewed => go to Author Interviews
- If you want to win free stuff => go to Giveaways
- If you’d like to see my favourite books => go to Top 5 Books of 2023, Top 5 Books of 2022, My Top 10 Books of the Decade, Top 5 Books of 2021, Top 5 Books of 2020Top 5 Books of 2020, Top 5 Books of 2019, Top 5 Books of 2018, Top 5 Books of 2017, Top 5 Books of 2016, Top 5 Books of 2015 and Top 5 Books of 2014
Rating
I use a 5 star method of rating each book review as follows:★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Absolutely loved it, excellent read, highly recommended
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Excellent read, would definitely recommend this one
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Good read (most books fall into this category for me)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Not a good read, didn't really enjoy this one
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Terrible read, don't bother
Prior to 2019, you'll see ratings in asterix, like this:
5 Stars ***** Absolutely loved it, excellent read, highly recommended
4 Stars **** Excellent read, would definitely recommend this one
3 Stars *** Good read (most books fall into this category for me)
2 Stars ** Not a good read, didn't really enjoy this one
1 Star * Terrible read, don't bother
Before deciding to read any book, I spend at least 15-20 minutes reading other book reviews. If the average book is more than 8 hours of reading time, I figure this is time well spent, and often saves me from wasting my precious reading time on a 'dud'.
I approach this like a screening process, and an absolute must given the phrase 'so many books, so little time'. I hope my ratings and reviews help you in your own screening process. If so, I'd love to hear about it, so feel free to drop me a line.
Bookmark Collection
I love to collect bookmarks and my collection is now over 500 at last count. I'd love to hear from fellow readers or collectors who also enjoy collecting or using bookmarks. I always have a few duplicates to trade and have a Pinterest board dedicated to Bookmarks if you'd like to check it out.Booktopia
In September 2020 I became a Booktopia Affiliate. If you click on a Booktopia link and purchase a book, I will receive a very small commission completely independent of your purchase price. Thanks in advance to anyone who purchases a book after enjoying one of my reviews. Be sure to come back and let me know if you enjoyed it!
Boomerang Books
I joined the Boomerang Books team of bloggers in May 2014 and you can check out my work for them here.Melbourne Writers Festival
In 2018 and 2019 I was a Digital Storyteller and Blogger for the Melbourne Writers Festival.Published Reviews
In August 2013 I had the privilege of being interviewed by the Pittsburgh Examiner and in June 2013, I had two book reviews published in the special crime edition of Good Reading Magazine.In November 2012, I had an excerpt of a book review of mine featured on Mamamia Book Circle, hosted by Cheryl Akle. In 2012 I had a book review published in the April edition of Good Reading Magazine.
In September 2011, I was featured in the Caught Reading article in Good Reading Magazine and in August 2011, I had a book review published in Good Reading Magazine.
Judge
In 2013 I judged a national Short Story Competition, reading and judging 91 entries in total and determining the place getters.Privacy Policy
When you subscribe to my blog and sign up to receive notifications of new blog posts by email, your email address is saved on a server. This is purely to facilitate the automatic email notification for each new blog post. In February 2019, I exported my subscriber list to MailChimp and will be using this going forward. Subscribers are free to unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the link at the bottom of each email or by emailing me directly.If you choose to leave a comment on one of my blog posts, the comment and user data is saved in Blogger. This data is not shared with any other party and will remain on display for as long as the post remains public.
Services
If you'd like me to edit and proofread your manuscript for a fee, please visit my business Extra Edge for an obligation free quote.I have proofread and edited the following books:
- Tall Storeys & True Tales - The First 20 Years of the Southbank Residents Association by Lynne Lumsden (2021)
- Gen Z - Kickstart Your Future by Simon Walter
- College Blues by Daniel Henricson
- A Whisper In The Jungle by Robert Mwangi
- Caught In The Crossfire by Matina Jewell
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| Peeking out from The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth |
I have a box of bookmarks intending them to be a collection, but haven't actively done anything with them in terms of organisation and display. I will check out your Pinterest site. I'm not sure I have many duplicates though as I think I did a clean up a year or so ago and just retained one of each.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear about your collection, although they don't need to be on display in order for you to enjoy them. How many do you have?
ReplyDeleteIf you have an Australian postal address, I could send you a few new ones? :-)