Aussie Readers discussion

Hi,
Just joined the group today - great idea! Although I have to confess I'm biased because I'm an Aussie author :)

I live in Melbourne, and I'm married with one 3yro daughter. I write crime fiction and read both crime fiction and vampire/werewolf books. I know, very different! I also read true crime and research books on police procedures, forensics, etc.

Phillipa
www.pdmartin.com.au

Hi there P.D., welcome.

Oh, I like the catch line - "After Twilight, it's much darker", very smart!

Hi everyone,

I kind of buzzed into this group behind Paul Daniels before the screen door swung shut; I've had bits and pieces going on here on Goodreads for a while now, but have only started seriously looking at local special-interest groups. I'm always wary of showing up in someone else's patch, shouting "Look at me! Aren't I great!" and alienating people. Unfortunately, as someone who's trying to get attention for a self-published urban fantasy writer based in Melbourne, that's in the job description.

Paul's doing for Elita a lot of the same things I'm doing for Joanne Valiukas and Danann Frost Falls from Grace, and we seem to be facing a lot of the same issues and challenges.

So... no hard sell, no "Look at me, aren't I wonderful", just a sincere hope to contribute to the discussion and a gratuitious link to Joanne's website :-)

Cheers,

Mark.


edit: grammar *facepalm*

Welcome Mark, set yourself up a thread the way Paul has done. He is making himself at home, do the same and we promise to love you. :)

Just don't go touching my 3 beautiful... wait, erm, cups of coffee :D

Rita wrote: "David wrote: "Rita wrote: "Hi all, I'm 25 and my name is Rita but sometimes I go by the alias of KiTTiE or KiTTiArrA depending on my character role at that moment (no I don't have multiple personal..."

I was thinking Rita, you need a thread of your own. You have a variety of interests that people would like to chat to you about if you are willing to give it a go? To tell us your thoughts, share a poem, we will come in and chat to you promise. You could call it Rita's, KiTTie's and KittiArra's corner? Maybe. :)

Rita wrote: "David wrote: "Rita wrote: "Hi all, I'm 25 and my name is Rita but sometimes I go by the alias of KiTTiE or KiTTiArrA depending on my character role at that moment (no I don't have multiple personal..."

Yes it was Rita...

Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O any thing, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.

This is poetry to me.

I enjoy writing sonnets, but, holding firm to the original disciplines, not like the American versions that feel any syllable count goes.

here is one I dedicated to my Uncle who fought in Korea.

Sonnet no. 5

Why

New morning sun brings forth her warming rays
while dying leaves drift gently to the ground.
Approaching winter soon will dampen days,
when ice will hang from barren trees abound.
Korea’s changing beauty I have seen,
penned every scene for all the world to read.
I miss so much your sparkling eyes of green,
while for your love, my heart again will bleed.
The freezing snow will cover all that lives
I hope I will survive this daily fight.
A priest once said that Jesus Christ forgives,
though what I do, he could not see as right.
My helmet sits upon my weary head ─
My rifle, now replaces pencil lead.


David J Delaney
27/12/2009 ©

This is like duelling sonnets! I love it. So much creativity in one little discussion thread!!

Hi everyone...I'm kind of an honorary Aussie. I'm actually a Brit living in the USA who is into all things Australian especially Tim Tams. I have a three book a week habit which I'm trying to get under control! Mostly non fiction and biographies as well as humour books. Please give me your recommendations. Also have a parenting humour book Cocktails at Naptime out in Australia in October available from Finch Publishing http://www.finch.com.au/books/cocktai...

hope to make some new friends!

Emma

Big welcome to Jaki and Emma, we love the newbie readers as well as the seasoned addicts. Great to have the variety. :)

Hi there Mandy, Thank you there for the invite....I like reading classical literature and at the moment very interested in early Australian lit. At present have been reading The Outback series by Aaron Fletcher and have thoroughly enjoyed them....Does open your eyes to what are early poineers, convists, free settlers faced...loved learnign more our our Aborigines and thier culture.
love Maureen

Welcome to our group Maureen. You have come to the right place if you're interested in Australian literature. Mandy is currently working hard sorting our book shelves, hopefully it will make it easier to find what you are after. :)

Congratulations to mandy for having the forethought to ask if anyone would be interested in joining an Aussie Group. Thanks for that. I only discovered Goodreads recently when I was looking for a review of a book I thought I might buy and this whole new world opened. At the time I was recovering from surgery and it was a godsend...
Not only could I find new and interesting books, I could then reserve them at my local library and have one of the family pick them up or if I felt the urge (.. and trust me,I feel it too often) to buy it then I use Booktopia or Amazon.
This is the one site that I visit every day... even from work. teehee
Nearly all of my TR list has come from lists posted or books read by friends. My friens so far I have encountered in reading challenges and they are lots of fun but sometimes a bit time consuming... I should get back to doing what I am paid to do.... catch you later!!

Jenny wrote: "Congratulations to mandy for having the forethought to ask if anyone would be interested in joining an Aussie Group. Thanks for that. I only discovered Goodreads recently when I was looking for a r..."

Thanks Jenny! I think my experience of GR has been almost exactly the same as yours. I'm addicted now and join in lots of group reading challenges and have many GR friends whose reviews I follow religiously. I think Goodreads is the best thing since sliced bread!!

Hi, I live in rural Victoria in Wangaratta, I write science fiction so obviously it is my favourite reading genre. I blog about writing and books at http://grahamclements.blogspot.com/ I have just started writing for Divine magazine http://www.divine.vic.gov.au/main-sit... I read a lot of Australian authors, particularly those in science fiction, but I also enjoy literature from Peter Carey and others.

Well done everyone - we just hit 500 members today :)

Really? My count only shows 497? Maybe I've been banished and no-one has told me yet.

Welcome Graham, make lots of noise, we like that. (just incase you missed my welcome in the Fav. Aussie author thread.) :)

members (500)

That's what I'm still seeing on the members list for the Aussie Readers group. Interesting. Either way, it's a great achievement to have so many people in here - of which I think we can thank Mandy and Gail for their incredible dedication to herding a lot of us in... reminds me of that cat-herding TV-advert :)

Great news & welcome all the newies (-:

Soma wrote: "Jan wrote: "I hope you don't mind me asking, but has the self-publishing worked out as you had hoped, and would you recommend it?"

Well, I only just started in the whole business. Actually publish..."

I am trying it myself - I have even started a purchasing page on my own website. Vision or Delusion, my historical novella, is for sale there. It's based on the history of photography in Belgium (of all things!). I'm putting it our for AU$4.00 to test the market. There's a PayPal facility, and it's a very fast PDF download, so I'm crossing my fingers and wondering whether anyone will buy it.

How much is your book, Soma?

Rosanne
http://www.rosannedingli.com

G'Day, I was wondering if you had room for another David and one who's not an Aussie but a Welshman interested in Australia. Jan invited me saying what a friendly bunch you are. I read widely both fiction and non-fiction and am keen to read more Nobel Prizewinners than I have done to date. I live in rural Mid-Wales and delight in five grandchildren who, although they live within 30 or so miles of London, I am fortunate enough to see frequently. I'm quite a fan of Peter Carey since I read Illywhacker some ten or more years ago, I'm also keen on French and Russian literature, especially that of the 19th century.

Interesting to see people talking about older writing - I know Elita (my wife) consumed a lot of 18th~19th century literature prior to writing "Tree of Life".

I should probably chatter about this in another thread - just hearing David talk of older writings prompted me to remember.

David wrote: "G'Day, I was wondering if you had room for another David and one who's not an Aussie but a Welshman interested in Australia. Jan invited me saying what a friendly bunch you are. I read widely bot..."

You're very welcome David. I've never been to Wales but from the pictures I've seen it's a beautiful part of the world. Oh, do I get points with you if I say I've been to a Tom Jones concert?? It was in Switzerland and it was heaps of fun.;D

Oi, oi, oi...welcome David, you must'nt be to bad a bloke with a name like that LOL!!

Mandy wrote: "David wrote: "G'Day, I was wondering if you had room for another David and one who's not an Aussie but a Welshman interested in Australia. Jan invited me saying what a friendly bunch you are. I r..."

There are worse concerts to go to than a Tom Jones concert, you get more points for being in Switzerland which is where both my paternal grandparents came from.

David wrote: "G'Day, I was wondering if you had room for another David and one who's not an Aussie but a Welshman interested in Australia. Jan invited me saying what a friendly bunch you are. I read widely bot..."

I just wanted to suggest you post some pictures of Wales or your home for us to drool over in our thread 'Tell us about your Travels - Australia and Elsewhere'. Only if you feel like it.:)

David - this is amazing! I have this thing about Wales although I've never been. I want to retire to Monmouthshire... for at least part of the year. I so love the Welsh accent (!) that I made one of my major characters in my forthcoming thriller Welsh. He is quite a character and my favourite person ever... I feel he's totally real.

http://www.rosannedingli.com

I've been to Wales, well sort of passed through, we intended to tour Wales but due to some stupid ferry strike, we got stuck in Ireland and had to cut the Welsh part of the trip short. :(

Rosanne wrote: "David - this is amazing! I have this thing about Wales although I never been. I want to retire to Monmouthshire... for at least part of the year. I so love the Welsh accent (!) that I made one of m..."

Unfortunately, I don't have much of an accent. My father was a teacher of English and his mission was to teach everyone to speak so-called 'received pronunciation' like wot they used to on the BBC.

Many years ago when I was at university in Bangor I worked spare time at a florists and got chatting to the girls. One of them said to me "You sound like Richard Burton" You can imagine how great I thought I was until, after a pause she said: "Mind you, I don't really like Richard Burton"

David wrote: "Many years ago when I was at university in Bangor I worked spare time at a florists and got chatting to the girls. One of them said to me "You sound like Richard Burton" You can imagine how great I thought I was until, after a pause she said: "Mind you, I don't really like Richard Burton"..."

Brought you down a peg or two didn't she!;)

Hi David, & welcome, I'm interested Wales but so far don't know much about it. Love to see any photos of Wales you have. I'm currently trying to read as many Russian books as I can, so have a few on my list. I also like Peter Carey.

Wow I can't believe how many members there are and more joining all the time. Howdy to David, my family are from Scotland originally, a tiny little place called Galashiels so grew up hearing all the stories - admittedly due to my grandparents very thick accents I couldn't understand them but my mum, who lost hers pretty quick, used to translate :)

Thanks for your warm welcome, Aussies. You're all so very kind. Looking through my picture collection I realise I don't have any of Wales, however, bear with me and I'll see what I can do.

Dean wrote: "My name is Dean Mayes and I'm an author/nurse from Adelaide...."


Hi Dean, welcome! Mandy seems to be dragging a few interesting new Aussie writers outside the publishing mainstream into the group, each with a different journey and tale to tell. I look forward to picking your brain about your experiences with ireadiwrite, they look like an interesting mob. What are they... digital, POD on selected works, with a non-exclusive deal?

Hi Mandy--everyone!

I'm Jenny, 40-something mother, writer and obsessive reader. I, too, live in Brisbane.

I see the group has Indelible Ink listed. I've just read it. Would be interested to hear what others thought.

Currently reading: Nicholas Shakespeare's Inheritance.

Jenny:)

Jenny wrote: "I see the group has Indelible Ink listed. I've just read it. Would be interested to ..."

Jenny, there's a few of currently reading Indelible Ink. The First Tuesday Book Club is going to review it on 5th Oct and we're going to have an informal discussion in the 'First Tuesday Book Club' thread in our group discussions. Love you to add your impressions.:)

Hi!

Im Emma, from Perth. Apart from working as a science writer and juggling my own photography business, I devour books. I have just discovered Audiobooks which are great while I am editing images at night :)

I need to read more Aussie writers but at the moment a little obsessed with Charlaine Harris (great for reading after a shooting a 12 hour wedding and the brain cannot shut down!). Also love traveling through books because I cannot afford to travel to far off places as much as I would like :)

Emma wrote: "Hi!

Im Emma, from Perth. Apart from working as a science writer and juggling my own photography business, I devour books. I have just discovered Audiobooks which are great while I am editing ima..."

Big welcome to the group Emma! Do you watch True Blood the series as well? When you get time check our group bookshelf. We are sorting all the books into categories and have shelves for paranormal romance, urban fantasy and travel. Hopefully you'll discover some Aussie authors in your favourite genres.

Unfortunately I am also hooked on the True Blood series, *sigh* this was my year for high brow literature....

Emma wrote: "Unfortunately I am also hooked on the True Blood series, *sigh* this was my year for high brow literature...."

That'll make a good New Year's resolution...:)

Mandy wrote: "Emma wrote: "Unfortunately I am also hooked on the True Blood series, *sigh* this was my year for high brow literature...."

That'll make a good New Year's resolution...:)"

It sounds like it already was.

Yup... Epic Fail

Emma wrote: "Yup... Epic Fail"

There is always next year. I think NYR are meant to fail, that's why I never bother to make any. There are plenty of wonderful books out there, read them first before you tackle the 'high brow'. I read for the escape from reallity reading brings 'high brow' doesn't often allow me to do that. :)

Hi Mandy
Thanks so much for the invitation. I joined Goodreads a while ago when setting up my blog http://lifeonplanetbaby.blogspot.com - it's a great resource and one I'd like to use more. I adore books -I always have from an early age, you know, the kind who reads under the bed covers at night. I adored studying English at school and uni. Now, however, with my busy life as a stay at home mum to three children under five, I rarely get time to read which I really miss. I'm hoping to make the time to read a bit more as the children get older. Thanks for setting up this group. Jane

Howdily Doodily Neighboureenos! I'm a Brisbanite through and through and love to read just about anything (well, except Mills & Boon; that just isn't right... I do have a look at the sex scenes to make sure I'm writing it correctly, but that's it). Okay, I'm busted, I'm a writer. I have had an unbridled passion for the written word since I was 4 and taught myself to read... and well it didn't stop. I began collecting books and now ( at this very moment in fact) I'm surrounded by the very things. I have around 600 books in 4 bookcases in this little spare room in my townhouse. I call it the office or the library; and I spend most of my day here.
My main reads are vampire romance (no Maggie Shayne please), comedy, horror, sci-fi action (I write it too, have a blog in fact if you're interested) and poetry. I also have a book review blog on blogspot (url: http://continuousreader.blogspot.com/). I'm gaining followers but it's a relatively young blog as I've only been going for a year and a half... otherwise I love what I do: read and review books. How I do it is I watch what people buy and don't read or review those books; too mainstream. I read the banned books, the unusual books, the authors who write a little out of left field. I do that because it's more fun. So, you'll rarely find an Oprah's Book Club book reviewed on my blog.
Otherwise, I'm glad to have joined up here on this Aussie site... thanks for the invite Mandy... :D

Welcome Jane. The good news is that it does become easier, the time for reading will return. I enjoyed studying English at school as well. I was just hopeless at it and never considered studying it at uni.

I suffer from uni envy. I envy anyone who studied something they enjoyed. I'm not telling what I studied at uni, but I did it part-time for 6 years and hated every second.

Why, thanks, Gail. Even finishing a magazine article is a challenge nowadays with someone always tugging on my arm! I only did first year English at uni before my law degree took over. I would have loved to major in English for my art degree but chose German instead.

Jane I just checked you out. We need a Tasmanian contribution in our state by state round up if you are willing to start one up. It's not too arduous hopefully other Tasmanians will jump in and contribute once it has been started.

Mozette wrote: "Howdily Doodily Neighboureenos! I'm a Brisbanite through and through and love to read just about anything (well, except Mills & Boon; that just isn't right... I do have a look at the sex scenes to..."

Howdily right back atcha Ned Mozette! :D I checked out your blog. LOVE it! Lots of crucial info and I could spend days wandering around. I signed up as well. You should post it on our 'Australia's Best Book Blog Sites' thread. I think my taste in reading is very similar to yours so I look forward to reading more from you.:)

Ooops sorry Mozette you must have snuck in while I was typing, I didn't see your post. I second the welcome. :)