My 2025 Aussie Book Challenge

While scrolling through my reviews from the year that's just been, I had a heart-sinking realisation. In my quest to cover old classics and novels from around the world, I'd read only three Australian books all year. And since they comprised Michael Gerard Bauer's Don't Call Me Ishmael trilogy, which I read back to back, that can arguably be compressed into one. I instantly knew what I'd felt to be missing in 2024, and I kicked myself. As an Aussie author myself, I'm well aware that our excellent stories, and those of our close neighbours, the Kiwis, tend to fly beneath the radar of most of the world. To make amends for last year, I've created my own monthly reading challenge, which includes some quintessentially distinctive categories. And I'm adding the stipulation that they must all be set in Australia, rather than merely having an Australian author. 

If you'd like to, please join me for any or all, making your own choices for the categories. Or at least watch mine as they fill out. These can be ticked off in no particular order. 

 1) Time Travel 

2) Fan Fiction 

3) Memoir/Autobiography 

4) Cosy Mystery 

5)  Convict Story 

6) Bushfire Story 

7) Migration Story 

8) Romantic Fiction  

9) Historical Fiction 

10) Modern Fiction (or at least set in the 21st century) 

11) A Name in the Title 

12) Nature in the Title