I went on a book shopping spree..

[Sagealicious]

I've been sick for a long time (about 2 years) in that time I've had several hospital stays, lost part of my spleen, had low kidney function and endocarditis (bacterial infection of the heart).

I also had bleeding on the brain due to the infection, (which thankfully was able to stop on its own).

I Had open heart surgery (valve replacement and a hole fixed) as well as vascular surgery on my leg due to an aneurysm, otherwise I could have lost my leg.
Was in ICU twice and on the ward for a few months. I ate hospital food and watched shocking daytime tv.

I had to put up with machines beeping all day and all night and being woken by nurses at some ungodly hour to check on me (absolute legends they are though).

So when I'm finally released what do I do when well enough to get out and about? Well I go book shopping of course. .

High Wire - Candice Fox
The Campers-Mary Rose Cuskelly
The Limestone Road -Nichole Alexander
Wake -Shelley Burr
Vanish - Shelley Burr
Into the night - Fleur McDonald
Into the flames - James Delargy
The women's orchestra of Auschwitz - Anne Sebba
The Prospect - Fleur McDonald

Books aren't cheap in Australia but having spent a long time in hospital my bank account grew and my cardiologist told me that if I hadn't of gone to hospital when I did I wouldn't have lived for much longer so I'm using that as a reason to spend a lot of money and reward myself for making it through. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it 😀 Oh and I still have more books on my list so I'm not done yet!

Fabulous! Congratulations on making your escape.

I don’t know any of those writers - is that bad? (I think I’ve heard of the Anne Sebba.) About 15 years ago I challenged myself to get to know some Australasian writers beyond Janet Frame and the wondrous Christina Stead. Now Patrick White is probably my second most adored writer (though I don’t love all his books.) Do Australians read him? Those days involved a lot of Shirley Hazzard as well; sometimes astonishing, though mostly I felt I must be missing a lot of subtext. A few others I’ve now forgotten - not least because I enthusiastically lent several of them to friends and never saw them again.

Really, it cheers me to think of you comfortably ensconced in a window seat, surrounded by tea and cake and books … Happy reading!

I did buy some tea when I went shopping so I can have a nice cuppa while I'm reading! It's not bad that you don't know the writers, they're Australian as I have a thing for Aussie locations in books at the moment.
Even though there have been non Australian authors in the past who have set their books in Australia they can be frustrating as it's clear they've never been here and don't understand how far apart a lot of places can be.
Australian's would have read Patrick White in the past but not so much these days. That doesn't mean he's not read just that we're not all rushing out to buy his books.

There’s a passage, a few pages long, in his ‘The Tree of Man’ that is the funniest thing I have ever, ever, ever read. (And I spent my teens with P. G. Wodehouse and a fair bit of my twenties on Tom Sharpe …)

I did try to read Shirley Hazzard once, can't remember which one it was but I never finished it as I couldn't get into it.
Another one I started a long time ago but didn't finish because I lost the book was Capricornia by Xavier Herbert. Might have to track that one down and finish it. From memory it was a long one

Might put that book on my to read list. It's going to take me a few months to recover so I may as well have as many books as I can while I rest relax and laze about

Save your money and use your local library. You will be emailed when it’s due back and can renew umpteen times 🙂

Sometimes I do use the library but there's something about going into a bookshop and buying a new book that feels special.
I live in an apartment building and when I've finished a few books I leave them in the foyer for someone to pick up. They always go fast so I feel like I'm getting my money's worth by passing them on.

Fantastic! Good for you, OP. Enjoy. 📖📚📕

Thank you!

It sounds great. I haven't heard of any of those writers either - my knowledge of Australian writers isn't great and extends to the obvious names like Colleen McCullough, Markus Zusack, Neville Shute, Kate Grenville and Thomas Keneally. Anyway, your list is a good long one and will help you recover from the awful time you've had and rinse daytime TV out of your brain. A nice pot of tea and some decent biscuits help too🍵🍪

Oh - how could I forget Neville Shute! Definite comfort reading - though not exactly comfortable. Thomas Keneally is on my reserve longlist, so may never make it to the top of the shortlist.

Beyond Australia - I seem to have stalled on Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I was enjoying it; but have only made my way through about a third of the book since the start of the year. Too much MN. Too many streaming platforms - though I’m gradually shedding the latter and returning to actual physical cinema.

You absolutely deserve that haul, you really do!

All the very best to you and I hope that when you have ploughed through it, you go on another spree!

This looks amazing - have you read any of her novels, @Sagealicious?

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/may/23/michelle-de-kretser-wins-stella-prize-for-book-that-expands-our-notions-of-what-a-novel-can-be

I tried to read one of her books several years ago (can't remember which one) but I couldn't get into it so gave it up. Never know I could pick it up again one day and finish it.

It is weird to think that despite our close culturalties with Australia we don't really read many Australian authors in the UK. Peter Carey is very well known obviously but apart from him I've only read Germaine Greer and am aware of Kathy Lett (who lives in the UK) and the ones mentioned above. But we watch lots of Australian TV and films. Bit strange really.

It does seem to take some conscious effort for people in the UK to step outside what they already know - or have been taught.

You only have to look at any thread asking for ‘classics’, or ‘greatest books ever written’ - the lists that appear would suggest that no human being outside (not even the UK but) England has ever put pen to paper. Unless I add them myself I never, ever see a book by a writer from anywhere on the entire continent of Africa, or the Caribbean, or South America. And I’d never even heard of Banu Mushtaq, the winner, with her translator, of the 2025 International Booker Prize …

We’re just insufficiently outward looking.

I saw Anne Sebba at a book festival recently talking about the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz book. She was an amazing speaker, and spoke movingly about interviewing the surviving members of the orchestra.

What really came across was how determined the orchestra leader was to make use of it as a means of saving prisoners. Anne Sebba said that it would be a mistake to think romantically of the orchestral music being a solace to the prisoners; the music they were required to play was largely jolly work tunes, which felt like a grim mockery of the prisoners' appalling situation, and the quality of playing would have been affected by the policy of accepting more or less any woman who could squeeze a few notes out of an instrument, with the intention of securing them a place in the orchestra as a sort of lifeboat.

I also recommend on a similar theme The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adlington. So many brave and talented women.

It does seem to take some conscious effort for people in the UK to step outside what they already know - or have been taught.

There are more books published each year in English than any other language. And 'classics' means pre-twentieth century to a lot of people and there are very very few books from then published in translation (I know, I read a lot of books in translation), they need seeking out and so not many people are aware of them beyond the big hitters from France and Russia. For modern novels there are more and more books being published in translation (e.g. it's pretty easy to find Japanese literature) but it's still a small share of the overall market.

If you're talking about non-British books published in English then we read books from Ireland, the US, India, Nigeria, Canada, and to a lesser extent South Africa, New Zealand and other Commonwealth countries. Like I said, I'm surprised I've read so few Australians because culturally we do have strong ties with the country but maybe we just get more from the larger countries producing novels.

Anyway, @Sagealicious , glad you are feeling better and hope you enjoy your new books.