My body hates me. I say this not to complain but as a prelude to help you understand why I was awake in the middle of the night. Eczema was stopping me sleeping. It was a warm night and I’d woken up very itchy. Unless you suffer from eczema it’s ...

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I’m developing a really good track record for not talking about books this year. Or maybe that should be a really bad track record for talking about books. Both of those are right so take whichever you want. Last week I didn’t write at all and this week I’m writing ...

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What people often do for their last blog of the year is to talk about the year they’ve had, the books they’ve read or some of their other social media highlights or lowlights. Today I’m putting fingers to keyboard to see what comes out. I normally write almost every week, ...

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It’s been a quiet four weeks on the blog. There’s a really good reason for that and I’ve been taking my time to rectify things and get back to it. One of the joys of having a website of any kind is keeping everything updated and backed up. After I ...

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I was planning on writing last week. I had it all planned out. Drive from Sydney during the day and then in the evening write for you lot. It was an excellent plan, sadly, my body had different ideas. I was too tired to think. And that leads me nicely ...

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We recently took a few days out of our regular routine and went to Broken Hill. For those who don’t know, Broken Hill is roughly 900 kms north and a little west of Melbourne. It’s an old mining town as evidenced by the name of BHP or Broken Hill Proprietory. ...

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One day I’ll get back to talking about books, but that day has not arrived yet. Two weeks ago I talked about having books to write about, that is still the case. The problem this time is covid. And, yes, it was me. I finally succumbed to that illness that ...

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It’s not just the writing, it’s finding the time, finding the right head space, and sometimes finding the energy. I’ve had trouble finding both the physical energy and the emotional energy. Who’d a thunk you’d need both types of energy to write. Last Monday I had a meeting in the ...

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This is an interesting time. We’ve lost four people in the last couple of months. One family member and three friends. I’m finding it a little hard to attend more funerals and try to give words of comfort. The only ones that are coming now are ‘I’m sorry for your ...

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I know you’re here for the books, and I’ve really tried these last few months. Sadly, personal life has taken its toll me and I’ve missed writing the last two weeks. I have kept reading, thank heavens, it’s just the writing that has taken a back seat. Somehow I managed ...

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With the setting of the sun tonight is the completion of Chanukah. This list of books is to denote each of the eight nights of Chanukah. There may be nothing about Chanukah in any of these books, but they spoke to me more than other books and may change your ...

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Hi Everyone, I’ve had to take a little break. It was totally unintentional and I’m not sure if I’m really back. I’m looking after an elderly person with dementia, I’m not a full-time carer, but it is taking its toll on me. Before someone tells me to just step away ...

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Paratalk or Torque is where I take a paragraph, mostly at random, and talk about it however I wish. It’s an old column I’ve revived. It has fairly broad scope and could go on for ages. Let me know if you get bored, I may not listen though.  Today’s paragraph is ...

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Paratalk or Torque is where I take a paragraph, mostly at random, and talk about it however I wish. It’s an old column I’ve revived. It has fairly broad scope and could go on for ages. Let me know if you get bored, I may not listen though.  Today’s paragraph is ...

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Paratalk or Torque is where I take a paragraph, mostly at random, and talk about it however I wish. It’s an old column I’ve revived. It has fairly broad scope and could go on for ages. Let me know if you get bored, I may not listen though.  Today’s paragraph is ...

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