#readaustralian

[tigerballoons]

🌬️ January books 🌬️

A new year and a new reading challenge. I've decided to join the @2026-book-bingo as a push to keep looking for new things. Once again the overall goal is 36 books for the year, so as long as I read three books and check off two bingo squares every month I'll be fine...

🔹 Arctic Labyrinth - 3⭐

A relatively modern overview of the history of European attempts to find the Northwest Passage. You will wonder what the hell was wrong with these guys. I hunted it down because I swear it was cited as the source for something but now I can't find where that reference was. Most likely to be either Franklin or John Ross related, and if you come across it let me know!

🔹Taaqtumi - 3⭐

An anthology of short horror stories by Arctic-based writers. As with all anthologies, it's a bit of a mixed bag. The longest story, while decent, went in a direction that made it not horror to me, and some of the others could have done with more development. There are some absolute gems though

✅ Short story collection

🔹 The Murder Mystery Club Puzzle Book - 3⭐

This is a fun concept. You're doing a puzzle book, but also following a plot where each puzzle reveals the next step in solving a murder. The plot is.... Not overly complex, and the puzzles themselves start off very easy. They do get harder over time, but it's the same handful of types of puzzles repeated so they get very tiresome. The book was a gift and I probably won't be picking up any more in the series.

🔹 Time to Orbit: Unknown #1 - 5⭐

Everyone loves a fucked up space ship. For all that this is a chonk of a book, it's pretty fast paced and you never feel like you're losing track of what's going on. Important concepts like genetic engineering are explained in what seems like an accessible way, but I guess YMMV. Excited to get volume 2 now

✅ Sci-fi

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

so I picked up a romance novel for today and I'm enjoying it but the author is barely disguising her hatred for the exploitation of academics in university settings 😂 i 100% agree with her, the way academics are treated is part of the reason i didn't go through with further study after my BA but uhhh this was not what i was expecting to hear today 🤣

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

ahh! just got jump scared by an Australian audiobook narrator 😂

i'm not used to it! but it's an Australian book so i don't really know what i expected 🤣

[tigerballoons]

🌞 September books 🌞

A range of settings for once 🙈 There's some good stuff in here, very enjoyable.

🔹 The Yield - 4⭐

This is about a native Australian woman who returns from living abroad when her grandfather dies. It's about belonging and heritage and trauma and secrets. About standing up to power, and building connections. Really good.

🔹 Translation State - 4⭐

This book is also asking questions about identity. In this case, how much of what you are is innate and how much is learned. I can see why the ending was a hit with some communities on here 😂

🔹 Tiger Tiger book 1 - 5⭐

Look, this is a great comic and you can actually read all of it online for free. Ships! Disaster queers! Eldritch gods! The world's most punchable creep! Sea sponges!

🔹 Dressed to Kill - 3⭐

An interesting look at the evolution of Royal Naval uniform in the context of its time. The second half contains loads of pictures and sketches of particular items which would be very useful if you were planning on making a period piece yourself.

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

JOMP BPC - February 2nd - Currently Reading

starting the month with Not Here to Make Friends by Jodi McAlister, the latest in her trilogy about love stories unfolding behind the scenes on a Bachelor-esque TV show

[booksandwords]

Stumble by Becca Seymour

Series: Outback Boys, #1 Read time: 1 Day Rating: 4/5

The quote: “I don’t know if I’m flattered or insulted that you think I’m, what, good-looking enough to hire out my services? That I’ve caught your attention enough to think someone like Mark would pay for a piece… well, damn, I think I quite like the idea.” — Trey (upon it being implied that he is an escort)

Warnings: Homophobia

Stumble provides a pleasant escape from the realities of the world for a couple of hours. For some people, Trey will be highly relatable. When we meet him he is having some serious aerophobia. it is this anxiety that becomes the thing that pulls him and Mark together with Mark having a natural caring instinct, especially when it comes to Trey. They have known each other for a few months and Mark has always been there for Trey. Neither of them lies to themselves about their attraction to the other but neither vocalises the attraction.

The language used in Stumble is important. This is a book that is set between Queensland (Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast) and Salt Lake City using two Australian protagonists. The language used couldn't be American or British English, it had to use Australian preferably Queensland language (both spelling and slang). The language used is right but I would think still readable to an English speaker. Fark is said fairly early on. The requisite mate, trady. Fark is I think an even better choice, it is dialectic for Queensland.

I feel the financial positions of the protagonists needs to be addressed. It needs to be acknowledged that Trey and Mark come from very different situations. Trey is something like the everyman, a web developer working from home. He is used to living somewhat frugally but spends money on the things that mean the most to him. In contrast, Mark runs a multimillion-dollar construction company. He does work hard for his money and always has, he doesn't carry that air of entitlement but the money he and his family has is key to the story, it is to a degree the driver of the plot's drama.

We don't have the pleasure of meeting both protagonists for Bounce, the second book in the Outback boys series. However we do get to meet one though, Aiden, described as standoffish in the blurb for his book. Yeah, I can see that but when he opens up he has a contagious personality, he's a transplant from Alice Springs with a serious past I would guess.

Yeah sorry, this is a bit of a weird review that ignores most of the key points of the plot. Including meeting the family homophobe and the fantastic mother in play. But I did enjoy it. Does it have some perhaps problematic elements? yep. But it still works.

[theomnilegent]

This month, I'm participating in Booklr Reads Australian, hosted by the lovely @thereadingchallengechallenge!

I have some pretty high goals for this month but my hope is to read my way through this stack. I've already started with Ellie Marney's The Killing Code and I'm loving it so far!

The books pictured here are also all sapphic in one way or another, to stick with my own goal of reading primarily sapphic stories this year.

Happy reading everyone!

[thereadingchallengechallenge]

282 books based on 51 votes: Tall Man: The Death of Doomadgee by Chloe Hooper, The Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia's Founding by Robert H

in the lead-up to Booklr Reads Australian, I'm going to share some Goodreads lists that have good selections of Australian novels for people to investigate and choose from 😊