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honestly, if you're having trouble reading, I recommend audiobooks. they're incredibly soothing, authors get paid when you buy or obtain them from the library and they deliver storytelling the way it was first experienced, a lone voice speaking as though at a campfire.

We are thrilled to announce Markus Zusak, Julie Goodwin, John Safran, Prof Anita Heiss AM, @hannahferg & Peter Greste are among 155 writers participating in #NWF2025 from April 4 to 6. Full program available from February 14 & tickets go on sale the same day. newcastlewritersfestival.org.au/first-writers-…

if Don’t Let The Forest In has left a gaping hole in your mossy ribcage do not fear, i have recs for you. the vibes? immaculate forest rot.

I can't. No more Last Jedi discourse. You've been talking about the text for 7 years, but your take hasn't evolved beyond what a bitter YouTuber said almost a decade ago?!

Reading a huge bestseller and I'm dying. Let me infer *something*. Please. I beg.

people who say “why do we need [fine arts, humanities degrees, mid-budget films] when they don’t make a ton of money?” are insufferable. why do we need chrysanthemums? why do we need bonfires or baleen whales or the color blue? we just do. we just do.

the cult of maximum efficiency is one of the worst things to happen to society. I can’t defend studying Latin or reading for pleasure or spending an hour at the park with my niece in a way that will satisfy shareholders. but they’re worth doing because they’re beautiful and good.

Still fascinated that so many baby boomers exist in an alternate world where The Kinks’ “Lola” (in which a woman has she/her pronouns and a penis) hasn’t been playing on the radio every day for 54 years straight.

The old year is dying. The new world struggles to be born. Now is the time for silly hats.

I wrapped up my inaugural #AussieYAChallege. An interesting first year and one I am definitely keen on continuing. lostinagoodbk.com/2024/12/31/aus…

I take a look at my Book Bingo for the year. A surprise result based on a last minute scramble. lostinagoodbk.com/2024/12/30/boo…

The tech companies bear a huge share of blame for this. Some of the biggest names in tech don't allow their kids to use social media. Sean Parker, one of the founders of Facebook, said, “God only knows what it’s doing to our childrens’ brains.”

The good news is, this is extremely fixable. The more books you read, the more you build back your reading stamina. I think we would all benefit from spending more time this year reading. In a world that’s keen to distract you, having the ability to focus is a superpower.

we need poetry because at a low point in my teens I came across the line “let the day be time enough to mourn / the shipwreck of my ill-adventur’d youth” in an old poem, and just the knowledge that someone else felt lost and adrift as a young person helped save me.

Inspired by the guy who had never heard of the Odyssey, here’s a thread of books you should at least KNOW about, if you want to be culturally literate.

There's a reason so many people are book addicts. It can feel difficult at first but the more books you read, the more you find yourself wanting to read, and the easier reading becomes until it's hard to stop.

I think some behaviors need to be socially shamed, like using AI to generate a novel or chatbots to write grocery lists. Ceding your mental and creative abilities to a machine is an embarrassing thing and people should be ashamed to admit doing it in public.

I hope you’ll join me in the Cool Person challenge (being a Cool Person by getting a library card, lengthening your attention span and sharpening your mind through extensive reading)

The internet we were promised in the 2000s is gone. We thought that raising kids on the web would lead to the smartest generation in history, but that internet has been destroyed by three or four of the world’s richest people, who have mined our attention for profit.

Young Adult Category Winner #IndieBookAwards25 'My Family and Other Suspects' by Kate Emery Allen & Unwin Judges' Comments: ‘A love letter to all things classic crime wrapped up in a pacey and entertaining teen mystery.’ Category sponsored by @penguinbookaus #loveozya