"Diving into Glass" by Caro Llewellyn

Caro Llewellyn recently spoke at Adelaide's Writers Week, her book has been short-listed for the Stella prize in 2020. I read this book as part of the Aussie Author Challenge.

I found this book hard to read yet also mesmerising at the same time - what an interesting eccentric character and life on one (surface) level, but it also seems such a destructive book for someone to write about a family member who is still alive and is well-known and respected in literary circles. It is interesting how different people see and experience and interpret life through different lenses. If this had been written about people I had never met or it was pitched as fiction then I would have been more able to enjoy this book, but as I am friends with one of the people portrayed often in a negative light in this book I feel guilty and conflicted about reading this book.  

Started reading on my kindle: 6th March 2020

Finished: 8th March 2020

No score - I feel too conflicted abut the book to score it publicly.

Aussie Author Challenge Stats: Female author, new author to me, memoir/autobiography

"Child of the Sea" by Doina Cornell

Started reading: 29 July 2016
Finished: 6 August 2016
My score: 8/10
I will write a review soon.

"Finding Ultra" by Rich Roll

I've been loving listening to a lot of the Rich Roll podcasts lately, so I decided to read his book. It's a story about an unfit middle-aged lawyer who turns his life around by eating a plant-based diet and running ultra marathons and insane Ironman races. He now hosts podcasts where he interviews really fascinating people on all different topics from science, nutrition, athleticism, meditation, sleep, motivation etc.
I'm no where near as hardcore as this guy, but stories like his inspire me! It strengthens my belief that someone like me (who couldn't run even a few 100m without stopping a year or so ago) might be able to manage to run marathons or ultramarathons if I really want to do it and work towards it. On a personal note, I am currently training to run my first half marathon (21km) in August 2016!!

Started reading on my kindle 28th April 2016.
Finished: 14th May 2016
My score: 7.5/10

"Running Like a Girl" by Alexandra Heminsley

Fun and easy book to read - an autobiography that reads a bit like Bridget Jones decides to run a marathon when she initially cant even jog to the end of her street. By the end of the book, she's running multiple marathons. It's hilarious, but also very inspiring for anyone like me that has just started to become addicted to running. Some of the things she describes I can totally relate to, other things I think haha thankfully I am not/wasn't that bad, which all gives me hope. Also she goes into how running is more of a mental game than just a physical one, which is definitely something I am beginning to realise and love about it :-) I definitely recommend it, but especially if you are a runner or just starting to run.

"Running Like a Girl" by Alexandra Heminsley
Started reading: 30th August 2015
Finished 1st September 2015
My Score 8.5/10

"Like a virgin" by Richard Branson

I started reading "Like a virgin" on my kindle 3rd November 2014 and finished it on the 11th November. My score: 6/10....actually I probably would have scored the first 1/3 of the book 8/10 and should have stopped reading then, as the rest of the book was very repetitive. Richard Branson is a very inspiring person, involved in lots of successful businesses but also making a big effort in terms of the environment and community welfare, and coming up with innovative ways to address critical problems we are facing on a global scale.

"My Story" by Julia Gillard

This book is an autobiographical account of the first female Prime Minister in Australia about her time leading our country. I must say I found her an inspiring leader, and wish she was still governing our nation. I bought her book the day it was released, and attended a seminar presentation she gave at the University of Adelaide last Thursday night. Julia appeared down to earth, humourous at times, inspiring and intelligent. After her presentation I had the chance to get my copy of her book signed and to say a few words to her. Very glad to have this opportunity.

My review will appear here, once I have finished reading her book. It is a page turner, but it is a hard cover book and quite heavy so it's not easy to bring on public transport so it may take me longer to read than I would like. I do most of my reading at the moment on public transport, so I have been reading other books on my kindle in preference to lugging this heavier book around.

Aussie Author Challenge details: Australian Author, Female Author, New to me, first published in 2014, non-fiction, autobiography genre, politics.

"The Dirty Chef" by Matthew Evans

This book "The Dirty Chef" is an autobiographical account by Matthew Evans (From the "Gourmet Farmer" TV series on SBS) of his journey from being a food and restaurant critic in Sydney to setting up a small farm in Tasmania. He is really into eating locally produced, seasonal, organic, free-range, sustainable food, and also loves preparing, cooking and eating good quality and delicious food. His book is full of anecdotes of lovely, interesting and quirky characters, adventures and misadventures of essentially setting up a hobby farm from scratch with no real prior knowledge of what that might involve, and interspersed with delicious-sounding recipes. I read this book in kindle format, but I really wish I had bought it as a hard copy, as I'm sure I would keep referring back to it and looking up recipes etc which is a lot harder to do with an e-book I find. I found this book to be entertaining (humourous in parts), interesting and inspiring...over the last year I have personally been attempting to eat more local and seasonal food, shop at places like the Adelaide Central Markets for organic local delicious food, grow my own herbs in pots in the garden, and just enjoy cooking and eating clean healthy gluten-free food that tastes good and isn't pumped full of chemicals or shipped halfway around the globe and sold by big companies. It's not always possible on a tight budget, but I am enjoying trying to follow these ideas as much as I can. Additionally, I have been dreaming of a gourmet food holiday in Tasmania, taking a road trip down the east coast eating lots of local cheeses, berries, seafood and drinking wine... Given that I am already starting to get interested in this sort of lifestyle, I really loved this book and the insight it gave me into various aspects of organic, free range and local farming compared to what we are offered through big chain supermarkets. However if your a vegetarian you might not be as enthusiastic about many of the themes in the book.

I have only seen a handful of episodes of "The Gourmet Farmer" on SBS over the years, but now I have read this book I am quite keen to try to get a hold of the shows on DVD, and to look out for a copy of the author's other book "The Real Food Companion". 

Started reading on my kindle: 28th February 2014
Finished: 8th March 2014
My score: 9/10

Aussie Author Challenge criteria: Male author, New to me, Non-Fiction, Autobiography genre, foodie, first published in 2013.