Aussie Readers discussion

I know Marianne has always got funny coincidences to tell us, and with one I just had, I thought a thread of its own would be good. A little light entertainment...

I read and finished Finding Eadie yesterday and in part it was about book publishers in both the US and UK. The main character's best friend was Penny.

I finished this morning Her Last Words (directly following the above) which was about book publishers in AU and the main character's best friend was Penny...

Eerie!

I have just remembered there were Virginia's in both books too though the second was very minor.

Love this! Every now and then I happen upon one so it's fun to have a thread dedicated to it!

I read two books set around the theme of race relations in the southern USA last month, The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones and A Good Neighbourhood. Although set about 60 years apart, both novels featured central characters who were teenage boys with an African-American mother and European-American father, but also a main female protagonist who is a white teenager called Juniper!

And you don't exactly meet many people called Juniper!!

The opening chapter of one of my books written some years ago, is set on a cliff top, all open grassland.

I have just moved to that very same spot, smack bang on top of it.

Wow that's pretty amazing Anna!! I bet you had a "moment" when you saw the place :)

I can't remember exactly when the penny dropped but it was after I'd already fallen in love with the place. Nearly two hundred years later and it had changed, of course. It was my son who sent me the details and he has not read the book (grrr...) so he had no idea.

Haha! Good story Anna. Which book was it?

This happens to me all the time!! Now off the top of my head I cannot think of an example, but nice to know that I have somewhere to put them now.

Brenda wrote: "Haha! Good story Anna. Which book was it?"

One Dark Soul, chapter one (definitely not the prologue with the slobbering dog - although that's just on the other side of the bay).

Kylie H wrote: "This happens to me all the time!! Now off the top of my head I cannot think of an example, but nice to know that I have somewhere to put them now."

Yes, I agree!

Oh I did enjoy One Dark Soul! Third in your series. I think I can visualise the area on top of the cliff :)

Thank you, Brenda. Chalk cliffs, bright white when the full moon shines on them, though I didn't know that until I moved on top of them. Grass is still there. No artists, as in ODS, but plenty of photographers - how times change.

Here's a fun coincidence: I just finished The City of Brass, a fantasy book where the main character is from a line of healers, meaning she can sense illness in people (and heal them).

Now I'm reading Find Your Light which is non-fiction (spiritual) written by a woman who worked as a medical intuitive - ie using her 'gifts' to sense illness in patients.

When fantasy and reality collide!

Anna Faversham wrote: "Thank you, Brenda. Chalk cliffs, bright white when the full moon shines on them, though I didn't know that until I moved on top of them. Grass is still there. No artists, as in ODS, but plenty of p..."

They certainly do. It sounds fabulous - a great place to live :)

Good thread, Brenda :)

👍👍

Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies: A Novel and Miss Benson's Beetle: both "miss" titles, both have people meeting at Lyons Corner House, just finished the second, still reading the first...

A bit macabre, but both the book I’ve finished today (Blind Eye by Stuart MacBride) and the one I’ve just started reading for the second time (Crossings by Alex Landragin) feature a series of victims having their eyes gouged out as a sort of punishment/revenge. Both great books, by the way, but perhaps not for the squeamish!

Marianne wrote: "Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies: A Novel and Miss Benson's Beetle: both "miss" titles, both have people meeting at Lyons Corner House, just finished the..."

I remember having tea as a small child with my mother at a Lyons Corner House somewhere in London many years ago. I remember sitting near a potted palm and a piano was being played. Thanks for the memory, Marianne.

Sarah wrote: "A bit macabre, but both the book I’ve finished today (Blind Eye by Stuart MacBride) and the one I’ve just started reading for the second time (Crossings by Alex Landragin) feature a series of victi..."

I just finished Crossings this morning! And so strange - another character in a book I was reading at the same time ((view spoiler)[ Darkside (hide spoiler)]) ALSO had their eyes gouged out! Eww!!

Just finished Miss Cecily's Recipes for Exceptional Ladies: A Novel where they go to this amazing bakery, Brick House.
Now reading So You Had to Build a Time Machine where a character called Brick is a baker of muffins

Before reading House of Correction I'd never heard of a McKenzie friend (non-legal helper for the accused in court). Then I reach the court scene in The Constant Rabbit and the accused has the help of a McKenzie friend.

Marianne wrote: "Before reading House of Correction I'd never heard of a McKenzie friend (non-legal helper for the accused in court). Then I reach the court scene in [book:The Constant Rabbit|518013..."

Is that an example of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, or "frequency illusion", I wonder? I get that a lot, both when reading and in "real life".

Sarah wrote: "Is that an example of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, or "frequency illusion", I wonder? I get that a lot, both when reading and in "real life"

I had to google that lol but WOW that's fascinating! Many years ago I encountered the word 'august' as an adjective for the first time (which I consequently had to look up) and now I notice every single time I encounter it and think, 'why did it take me so long to encounter this word when it's everywhere now?'

Quite some time ago I read and very much enjoyed Jasper Jones. Sometime later, saw the excellent movie of the same title. In the last few days I was enjoying the audio book and noted this conversation between Charlie and Jasper:

“I’ve always loved reading and stuff. Books, poems. So maybe a writer. I always thought that would be the thing. To write books. Make up stories.”
I try to couch it with an ambivalent shrug, like it’s a fleeting thought, like it’s not the single thing I’ve had my heart set on since I could first read.
To my surprise, Jasper nods his approval.
”Yeah. I reckon that’s you for sure, Charlie.”
“You think?”
“No doubt. Reckon you’d be great. Move to some big city with a typewriter. Meetin people, tellin their stories. Maybe you could write my story one day. Then we’ll make a film out of it, for certains. Imagine that.”

Does this mean Craig Silvey has some sort of predictive power? How could he possibly know Jasper's story would end up as a movie??

Marianne wrote: "Quite some time ago I read and very much enjoyed Jasper Jones. Sometime later, saw the excellent movie of the same title. In the last few days I was enjoying the audio book and noted..."

Haha my guess would be less 'predictive power' and more wishful thinking lol

Yesterday, reading The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, it discussed Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders which led me to several hours reading about the Manson murders.

Today, while reading A Nearly Normal Family, there's reference to a trivial pursuit question asking which director had been married to Sharon Tate, one of the Manson family's victims.

That's spooky Krystal!

Brenda wrote: "That's spooky Krystal!"

Bit of a grim one lol

I am currently reading The Keeper of Lost Things and The Family Inheritance and the surname Gifford has come up in both books. Not a common name I had to check back and make sure I had read the name correctly. It is odd I have found this connection as I am really enjoying both books which appear to be both be about love and loss. Still not very far in so hoping I don't get the books muddled!

That sure is weird Kylie. But I don't know how you do it. If I do (rarely) read more than one at a time, they have to be completely different genres - or I WILL mix them up!! lol

I always have one paperback and one eBook on the go. When I was young I used to read my books upside down to try and slow my pace. I just got fast at reading upside down. Which is a handy skill when you sitting opposite someone in a meeting 😉

Haha that's amazing! You could do lots of cheating 😉

Kylie H wrote: "I always have one paperback and one eBook on the go. When I was young I used to read my books upside down to try and slow my pace. I just got fast at reading upside down. Which is a handy skill whe..."

Wow! That sounds like a neat skill to have!

Krystal wrote: "Kylie H wrote: "I always have one paperback and one eBook on the go. When I was young I used to read my books upside down to try and slow my pace. I just got fast at reading upside down. Which is a..."

It is a strange but handy skill to have, especially if the person opposite you doesn't realise you can read what is in front of them faster than they can. Maybe it is a left hander thing, using the other side of my brain or something.

Just finished #3 of Master Mercurius, Dishonour and Obey in which there is a mention of a Dutch church in London.
I'm also currently reading Just Like You and have just come across a mention of a Dutch church in London.

Great thread!

Reading The Mystery of Henri Pick, girl with red bicycle
also The Never Game, young woman with red bicycle

Yesterday I read a contemporary YA fiction Radio Silence. Today I read a historical (WW2) middle grade fiction The Umbrella Mouse with two references to 'radio silence'

Last week my friend posted a story about a man who died from eating copious amounts of licorice. My current read Red Snow centres around strange goings on at a licorice factory in Sweden.

Diana wrote: "Last week my friend posted a story about a man who died from eating copious amounts of licorice. My current read Red Snow centres around strange goings on at a licorice factory in S..."

That's a random one, isn't it!

Diana wrote: "Last week my friend posted a story about a man who died from eating copious amounts of licorice. My current read Red Snow centres around strange goings on at a licorice factory in S..."

That's bizarre! Now I am craving licorice ☺

Not too long ago I read The Breeding Season and this morning I finished Devotion wherein both main characters make a similar observation about teeth being "the only visible part of the skeleton".

They also both reflected on how, after sex, the male's DNA remains inside the female - possibly forever.

Both icky things that I really didn't need to read twice lol

Krystal wrote: "Not too long ago I read The Breeding Season and this morning I finished Devotion wherein both main characters make a similar observation about teeth being "the only ..."

Lol. I quite liked The Breeding Season and the way is shared those odd perspectives that bio scientists can have. A little of it did go a long way though, I might skip Devotion.

We know there have been a lot of books with titles of 'wife', 'daughter', and so on. I've just noticed in my list of books to read in the next few months, I have a lot of "last" titles

The Last Truehart
Breathe Your Last
The Last Reunion
The Last Green Valley
The Last Thing to Burn

Another 'thing' perhaps....

Brenda wrote: "We know there have been a lot of books with titles of 'wife', 'daughter', and so on. I've just noticed in my list of books to read in the next few months, I have a lot of "last" titles

[book:The L..."

Long as it’s not the last book, Brenda.

Oh don't even think that Dale - devastation it would be!! lol

Diana wrote: "Last week my friend posted a story about a man who died from eating copious amounts of licorice. My current read Red Snow centres around strange goings on at a licorice factory in S..."

A component found in licorice root can cause your potassium level to plummet when eaten in high levels and can cause palpitations, high blood pressure and heart failure. Older people should be specially careful with sticking to just a few pieces.

My DH and I love Darrell Lea's dark chocolate coated licorice and have to ration ourselves to make a bag last a week.