This is a really well written account of the story behind 3 brutal murders in a small Victorian town. It reminded me a little of Helen Garner’s ‘This House of Grief’. If you like true crime pop this on your TBR.
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open

Love Begins
RMH
d e v o n
Mike Driver
art blog(derogatory)
wallacepolsom
cherry valley forever
Peter Solarz
Stranger Things
TVSTRANGERTHINGS
Keni
trying on a metaphor
No title available
Jules of Nature

JBB: An Artblog!
DEAR READER
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
Acquired Stardust

No title available
seen from Japan
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Germany
seen from Netherlands

seen from France
seen from Lithuania

seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Sweden

seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom

seen from Türkiye
seen from Canada
seen from United States

seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United States
@doddyaboutbooks
This is a really well written account of the story behind 3 brutal murders in a small Victorian town. It reminded me a little of Helen Garner’s ‘This House of Grief’. If you like true crime pop this on your TBR.
Post apocalyptic books by First Nations authors? Yes please.
A couple of good looking nominees for the Stella Award 2018
I’ve posted on my blog at doddyaboutbooks.com about prompt 4 of the #aussiesrule2018 challenge. I’m keen to hear about your mystery and thriller recommendations from Aussie women.
A powerful and important read.
My 2017 Reading List
Here are the books I read in 2017. I didn’t read as much as I usually do this year. I was kind of on tour constantly and also life. But I read many excellent books this year and only one inexcusably bad book that I am still very angry about.
My Favorite Book of the Year
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
I cannot say enough about Pachinko. This novel was utterly absorbing. I knew nothing about it when I picked it up, and I couldn’t put it down. I read it voraciously and was so taken by the writing, by the elegance of the prose, the sweeping ambition and scope of the narrative, how much I learned without feeling lectured, how I wanted so very much for the characters and was very invested in their lives. I love this book.
My Second Favorite Book of the Year
Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash
A girl (woman obvi) I’m always trying to impress gave me this book so I of course read it and at first, I was like, hmm, this is just an uncomfortable read. As in literally, the prose is so weird that it was uncomfortable to read. But I kept reading. And I kept reading. And it was all so strange, so intensely committed to being what it was, no pretense, no bullshit, just incredibly stylistic storytelling about a young man who lives to wrestle. I loved all the details, the intense focus on the body, the obsession with ambition, the plainness of Stephen Florida’s wants and needs. I never knew what was going to happen next. I was always anxious about what might happen next. The execution of this novel is flawless. So many very good books are very good but unoriginal. This book is excellent and truly original.
The Other Best Books of the Year
What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby Spoiler Alert by xTx Eat Only When You Are Hungry by Lindsay Hunter The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi The Idiot by Elif Batuman I’m So Fine: A List of Famous Men & What I Had On by Khadijah Queen
An Absolutely Delightful Novel That Was Thoroughly Imaginative and Strange and Charming
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders
A Memoir that Was Really Very Extra but the Writing Was Fine and the Book Certainly Held My Prurient Interest
How to Murder Your Life by Cat Marnell
Gorgeous Collections of Poetry That Astonished Me And Opened The World Up To Me
Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith Wade in the Water by Tracy K. Smith Blud by Rachel McKibbens Call a Wolf a Wolf by Kaveh Akbar Bestiary by Donika Kelly Silencer by Marcus Wicker
A Really Creepy True Crime Book About an English Girl’s Disappearance in Japan
The People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry
An Utterly Underwhelming (and Often Annoying) but Very Competent Short Story Collection
Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks
An Ambitious Essay Collection From a Talented Writer Where I Wanted More Depth From Each Essay
All the Lives I want by Alanna Massey
The Celebrity Memoir I Absolutely Loved and Did Not Expect to Love About an Artist I Knew Nothing About and Now I Can’t Stop Listening to His Song “Lemonade” Which Is Not to Be Confused With God’s Album “Lemonade”
The Autobiography of Gucci Mane by Gucci Mane
The Book I Hated Most, For Excellent Reasons I Explain in My Goodreads Review and That I WIll Summarize by Saying NO NOPE NO Because For One the Protagonist Scoops Semen Out of Her Vagina With Alarming Frequency (WTF DUDE? COME ON)
My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent
A Book From My Childhood That I Adored and Found Again With the Help of Some Fans At An Event (It totally holds up)
Caroline by Willo Davis Roberts
An Amazing Dystopian Feminist Novel I Couldn’t Put Down
The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison
A Fun, Unexpectedly Interesting Book About the Worst Movie Ever
The Disaster Artist by Greg Sestero with Tom Bissell
A Novel About Rich White Women That Was Okay And Very Readable But Also Very Predictable And Way Better Than the Dry Ass TV Adaptation With Bad Music
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
A Quintessential New Yorker’s New York Book That Is Wonderful
Arbitrary Stupid Goal by Tamara Shopsin
A Moving Novel About A Man Trying to Grapple WIth His Weight and His Grief and Keeping His Family Together
The Weight of Him by Ethel Rohan
A Book About Young Folk In the Big City Trying to Make It Work in Start Up World
Startup by Doree Shafrir
A Solid Memoir About Brain Trauma and A Woman Finding Her Way Back to Herself
Tell Me Everything You Don’t Remember by Christine Hyung-Oak Lee
A Book of Pictures Of Signs From the Women’s March (Literally)
Why We March: Signs of Protest and Hope
A Hilarious Book by a Comedian Which Is Notable Because Most Comedian Books Are Neither Good Nor Funny
The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell by Kamau Bell
A Book by A Comedian That Was Fine But I Didn’t Love It
The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish
Unique Poetry Collections That Experimented With Form, Language, and Thought In Really Interesting Ways
Electric Arches by Eve Ewing Madness by Sam Sax My Mother Was a Freedom Fighter by Aja Monet
A Book From A Writer I Love That I Wanted to Like But It Made Me Cringe A Lot, Particularly Where Race Is Concerned
The Force by Don Winslow
A Bad Romance Novel Where The Sex Metaphors Made Me Irate and Also The Woman Was Constantly Wetting Herself Over the Man’s Masculine Scent and Let’s Be Real In That Men Only Smell Good Once In A While DON’T AT ME
Deadly Rumors by Cheris Hodges
A Really Descriptive Novel Where Los Angeles and the California Desert Are More Vivid and Compelling As Characters Than the Human Characters
Wonder Valley by Ivy Pochoda
The Essay Collection About Race in America I Am Still Grappling With
We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates
A Book Where the Very Last Scene Was the Strongest, And Still Haunts Me Months After First Reading It
New People by Danzy Senna
Books I Taught In My Fiction Workshops
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen On Writing by Stephen King Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015 Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016 The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
Excellent Books I Blurbed
Reset by Ellen K Pao This Will Be My Undoing by Morgan Jerkins The Sarah Book by Scott McClanahan The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton This Is My Face by Gabourey Sidibe The Guidebook to Relative Strangers by Camille Dungy Now My Heart is Full by Laura June The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory Heart Berries by Terese Mailhot Goodbye, Sweet Girl by Kelly Sundberg
Some TBR material!
Hello, gorgeous.
Hope your Saturday night plans are as awesome as mine.
Joining in the #riotgrams. Like my #shelfie ?
Weekend plans
The Birdman’s Wife is a beautiful piece of historical fiction which reimagines the life of Elizabeth Gould, wife of John Gould who is best known for his work documenting Australia’s birds. The book follows Elizabeth into her marriage with John, through her early work, the loss of her two children and her trip with John to Australia to record Australia’s bird life. This was an unconventional decision for Elizabeth as it meant leaving three of her four children behind in England during the 2 year journey. But Elizabeth was clearly unconventional, working to produce over 600 lithographs while she was also bearing and raising children in an upper class family.