2026 has been quite a year. Let's hope that 2027 is better. (Yes I've given up on this one already and it's the 12th of January).
So far we've been very very lucky on the fire front - the closest anything has gotten so far has been about 6ks away and that was on day one of the Extreme Heatwave last week. That's not going to last so we're watching and waiting for that other shoe to kick us in the head. You may or may not, therefore hear a lot from me, and then you may get never-ending newsletters as I go for distraction.
Now back to 2025 and the last newsletter which glitched and may not have gone to all subscribers. Something broke, it told me it broke, I didn't get to it over Christmas / New Year. If you'd like to read that newsletter it's here. Includes some notes on some excellent books reviewed, and a heap of books obtained.
On the obtained front there's been quite a few come in over the Christmas / New Year break, none of which have yet been added to the site. I'm still finding my feet and trying to remember the master phrase for the password encryptor but I'm now the proud owner of just about all of Randa Abdel-Fattah's works. Apropos of that Adelaide Writers Week is now wiped from the bucket list - always hoped I'd get there one day if it ever rains again and I don't have to spend all of summer in a constant state of alert and alarm.
Didn't manage to read anything like the number of books I'd hoped needless to say, although if I could just mention Last Rites which was moving and wonderful and made me sit and stare at a smoke plume for quite a long time wondering why it is that the truly nice, great people die and so many wastes of oxygen continue on.
Good luck everyone. We're going to need it.