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Life Random thoughts Reading Review

45/52 on my Goodreads challenge for the 2024

This year, I decided to try a different style with my Goodreads challenge. Ever since I started, the ‘target number’ I chose was based on a specific number of books per week. So in 2015 it was one book a week (ie 52 books) which I obliterated by reading 73, then I upped it to two books per week (104 total) in 2016, for which I managed the exact 104, right on the lead up to midnight on December 31, from memory!

For the next three years in a row, I aimed for three books per week. 156 books! Okay, sure, I only achieved that goal in 2019, reading 168 books, but still! It was a pretty good goal. And reading 81 in 2017 and then 126 in 2018 is not really to be sniffed at either, when I think about it…

I must have been pretty impressed with myself because the following year I upped it again. 2020, the year of ‘four books per week’, for a total of 208. Which I achieved, reading 210… but I’m pretty sure I added that year’s shortlisted BookWeek books into that record… which included 12 picture books!

The following year, 2021, I set the challenge back to three books per week (156 total) and even though I made it, reading 157… the following two years I stepped it back again to just two books per week (104 total) and achieved it again, each year, reading 115 and 114, respectively.

Fastforward to this year. 2024, the year of one book per week again. There were a few reasons for this: not the least of which was that I was back in the classroom, teaching, instead of in the library as librarian, and the planning / reporting / marking workload would leave significantly less time for reading. And also, I wanted to ensure that every book I recorded was a worthwhile, 250+ pager, rather than the picture book or Bible book, just to bulk out my Goodreads challenge record (I try to read my Bible each year, which in itself contains 66 books… but I don’t record these in my challenge as this is a recurring thing for me!).

Currently, I’m on 46 read out of 52. And in the main, I’m happy with that. The most recent is ‘The Space Between Worlds’ by Micaiah Johnson – a book I co-read with my bothers, so we could chat about it. Quite interesting Sci-Fi, and what made it more interesting was to pull it apart with my brothers and work out what we liked / didn’t like, and why. That one before it? Passive income? Don’t bother. It’s really short (I didn’t realise that when I downloaded it) and it’s pretty general in nature. Still, it was a book I read, which is why it’s in there. And the other 13 in the image continue the ‘reverse chronological order’ thing šŸ™‚

The book I’m partway through right at the moment? (again!) is ‘The Brothers Hawthorne’ by Jennifer Lynn Marnes… because my local library contacted me on Friday to tell me that the fifth and final book in the series is sitting there, ready for me to collect… which I’m planning to do, tomorrow! So reading Book 4 this weekend seems the most sensible course of action šŸ™‚ Even though I only read it, 10 books ago…

Anyway, that’s my reading so far this year. How’s yours going this year, dear Reader?

  • KRidwyn

 

 

Categories
Life Random thoughts Review teaching Work

41/52 Huh! Catching up… and aliens because sure, why not…

So we *do* have a new government. And Miss 16 has completed three of her four external exams, with her final this coming Wednesday, and Master 15 has recovered from his very successful Work Experience week, and I’m marking the Year 10 English (real) exams, ready for them to start Year 11 work next week.

Phew!

Oh, did I also mention I’m finishing four Halloween ‘inflatable alien’-but-without-the-inflatable-bit costumes for my year 1 Innovate class?

Long story.

“Innovate” is what my school calls the amalgamation of the two curriculae ‘Digital Technologies’ and ‘Design and Technologies’ and in 2025, it’s taught from Prep through to Year 10. And yours truly is the Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 teacher. The Year 1 class is studying ‘wearable costumes’ and – rather than just deisgning them – I thought it’d be fun to help the children actually *make* them.

The idea quickly paled though, when I was absent the lesson where the children decided on their costumes… and the relief teacher let some of them choose ‘inflatable aliens’. As in, this type:

Now, inflating a costume is something I’ve never done before. So that was never going to happen. Sewing though: I’m not great, but it’s do-able. So that’s what is currently happening. Four of them. And the kids are stuffing them with foam and adding eyes to the heads and enjoying the process.

Here’s hoping it’s all going to get done before this Thursday! Wish me luck!

  • KRidwyn
Categories
family anecdotes places to visit Reading Review

37/52 On family holidays

The last time I holidayed with Hubby and all three of my children was pre-Covid. September 2019. My eldest was in Year 9; she’s now just 3 months away from turning 20.

But a family holiday on K’gari is what we’ve all just enjoyed over this past week. And it was amazing! The memories. Seeing my Miss19 repeating “I remember this” and “This has changed so much”… and now sharing the driving load! Wild.

Leaving Kiya at Mum’s though… that was hard. She didn’t look happy to see us drive off šŸ™

And it was pretty great to be able to catch up on some reading. I particularly liked this little gem of wisdom:

The bit about tortuous Latin lessons showing how questions anticipate answers: one way to ask anticipates a ‘yes’ and the other anticipates a ‘no’. This was quite interesting, I thought! (The book less so, all things being equal…)

Well, that’s it from me for the week. I hope it was a wonderful one for you as well, dear Reader!

  • KRidwyn
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#blogjune Blogging challenges Reading Review Writing

#BlogJune Day 29

So I finished the trilogy I started on Monday: the Nevernight Chronicles by Jay Kristoff.

Iā€™m thinking that heā€™s fast becoming one of my favourite authors. His writing style is as readable as Lynette Noniā€™s Akarnae and as witty as Kevin Hearneā€™s Iron Druid. But his descriptions are all his ownā€¦ and they are sublime! His similes, in particular, are so cleverly crafted to fit perfectly within the exact time and place of the plot. Simply stunning writing.

Itā€™ll be a hard act to follow these, I think.

Stay tuned though, dear Reader, as I may yet be surprisedā€¦

Have a wonderful day šŸ™‚

KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Random thoughts Review

#BlogJune Day 28

Seriously in love with these boots. Iā€™ve had them a week and theyā€™re fast becoming my new favourite footwear!

Theyā€™re fur-lined so it feels like slippersā€¦ worn while out and about! And oh so comfortable šŸ™‚

Hereā€™s hoping you have a ā€˜favourite itemā€™ purchase soon too, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Review Writing

#BlogJune Day 24

This morning sees me train-bound, heading for Brisbane. New beginning for a new week; it seems apt that, with an hour long journey ahead with nothing to do but sit, I reward myself and download a novel Iā€™ve been wanting to read for a while. Jay Kristoffā€™s NEVERNIGHT, the first in his trilogy of the same name.

So I downloaded, and then I opened it and started readingā€¦ and then stopped after the very first sentence.

Why? you may ask.

Because itā€™s brilliant! say I. And such an arresting beginning must be shared! (And, speaking from experience, I must act on this now before the novel swallows me and I donā€™t emerge for a lengthy period of time) soā€¦ here it is! Enjoy šŸ™‚

Have an un-soiling-yourself week too, dear Reader!

– KRidwyn

Categories
#blogjune Review teaching Work

#BlogJune Day 14

So I’ve been an avid avoider of anything and everything AI related (as much as I’ve been aware, that is). But earlier this week, I attended a Webinar on ‘GenAI in schools’ and, from that, figured I should probably find out more for myself. Engage with it, at least, so I can be familiar with some of the concepts in the conversation… so I did.

Yesterday I discovered something amusing. I’m currently starting a unit onĀ A Midsummer Night’s Dream with one of my classes, so to cut down on my workload I thought I’d ChatGPT some of the significant quotes in Act One.

So Act One has two scenes. Scene 1 shows Duke Theseus and others in Athens; Scene 2 shows a group of ‘mechanicals’ (actors) who are preparing to rehearse a play. Neither scene shows any of the fairies: Oberon (King), Titania (Queen) or Puck (mischief making sprite). But check this out:

See the explanation after each bolded quote? Oberon! Then Titania! And so then this happened:

Ha! Humans for the win right here! (Although I didn’t use question marks when asking my questions, so I feel like I’ve lost a bit of credibility there too…)

Still, have a winning day yourself, dear Reader šŸ™‚

  • KRidwyn
Categories
Reading Review teaching Work

9/52 On reading

Books Iā€™ve read recently:

H. G. Wellsā€™ War of the Worlds. I figured it was time; that I should read it at least once in my life. And it *was* good. I can see why it was such an influential novel in its timeā€¦ but it was the introduction by Orson Scott Card (in the version I was reading) which impressed me more in its insight and readability. Heā€™s an impressive writer, Orson Scott Card!

The Joy Luck Club: I picked this one up because again, it was one of those ā€œI should really read this at least once in my lifeā€ moments. Halfway down the first page, I realised I’d already read it, probably a decade or two ago now! And I’d enjoyed itā€¦ but seeing as time is fleeting, reading takes it up, and Iā€™d already read it before: I finished the first chapter then skipped to the final chapter for a quick re-read before putting it down. Itā€™s the mark of a brilliant writer, I think, that Amy Tan can make me cry in just those first and last chapters! Although maybe, being half-Asian myself, the story resonates with me moreā€¦?


Hangmanā€™s Curse by Frank Peretti. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would! The Christian overtones werenā€™t as ā€˜in your faceā€™ as other Christian novels I’ve read, and as for the depiction of bullying in high schools: I donā€™t know if much (at all!) has changed in the intervening years since it was published in 2001.

And now: The Janson Directive by Robert Ludlum. Considering his Bourne series has been one of my favourites since my teens, this is proving to be quite an easy read. Again: what a writer, huh?


And thatā€™s it from me this week. Now I need to go and get through those class sets of draft marking which are waiting patiently for me!

Have a great week, dear Reader šŸ™‚
āƒ KRidwyn

Categories
Life Review

7/52 On transparency

Today’s the 18th of February. In less than a month, we’ll be heading to the poll booths to get ourselves the next four years’ worth of local politicians.

So the other week, I thought I’d look into who’s running. In my region, Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, both our Mayor and our Deputy Mayor (who was also my divisional councillor, just for interest) have decided to not run again… meaning I’ll have two newbies in these roles.

I headed off to Google to find out who’s been nominated. My first hit seemed to be the go: three mayoral candidates with a bit of a blurb on each. Impressive… until I realised that according to sunshinecoastnews.com, there’s six candidates for mayor, not three!Ā Ā Jason O’Pray; Wayne Parcell; Ashley Robinson, Michael Burgess, Rosanna Natoli, and Min Swan (apparently listed in the order they appear on the Electoral Commission of Queensland website). I guess the original article made sense when I re-looked at the title “meet the latest candidates”… I’m guessing they’d already had an initial article with the other three hopefuls.

And in my own division, there’s three choices: Kristy Taylor-Rose; Jenny Broderick; and Stan Nowrocki.

Trying to find informaion on each of these nine people though, proved problematic. Surely there’d be a news article where each candidate was linked to their own page, which detailed (or even just outlined!) who they were and what they stood for? But nope.

So I tried Facebook. Nothing. Even a request to the Sunshine Coast Council’s offical Facebook page only produced this:

Hmm. So off to the ECQ website. Several clicks later, I can see that no, the list order must have changed since the 13th of February, when sunshinecoastnews.com published its article. No matter. There’s still 6 mayoral candidates, and 3 candidates for divisional councillor. Links to their websites though? Nope.

So I’ve decided that I’ll do it. I have my own website, yes? And an interest in getting this information out so people can actually be informed about who it is they might vote for? Well, here it is. For my division, as least. And they’re in alphabetical order (I’m a librarian, remember!)

Sunshine Coast Division One Councillor candidates:

Jenny Broderick

Stan Nowrocki (LinkedIn was the closest site I could find)

Kristy Taylor-Rose (again, no dedicated website; this one’s a news article and this is LinkedIn)

 

Sunshine Coast Mayoral Candidates:

Michael Burgess

Rosanna Natoli

Jason O’Pray

Wayne Parcell (this site takes a while to load…)

Ashley Robinson

Min Swan

Something I noticed about the mayoral candidates: numbers of them say they’re interested in transparency. So I’m guessing that when they inherit the Facebook page, the policy of ‘giving residents the information they’d like’ will change? Hmmm.

Enjoy, dear Reader! And feel free to share / comment etc as you see fit…

  • KRidwyn

 

Categories
Reading Review

Novel series review…

Now Iā€™m a Teacher Librarian, I check out the book section of each store I happen to find myself in. And boy! Have I found some bargains šŸ™‚
Iā€™ve been meaning to purchase the trilogy by Amie Kaufmann and Jay Kristoff THE ILLUMINAE FILES for some time now, however time has worked against me. Imagine my delight then, to find them for just $5 each from my local supermarket! Purchase acquired, I scurried home to read themā€¦ and was even more delighted that I was on holiday and could afford the time. Because I literally could NOT put these books down!

On the downside, the grey font on grey background pages were a little frustrating. And a second downside was that finishing the series meant I had to integrate back into reality again, however I am immensely glad for the experience while it lasted, and have been recommending these books left, right and centre ever since. Itā€™s no wonder they won a Prime Minister’s Literary Award, an ABIA Award, an Aurealis Award and an Inky Award – theyā€™re well deserved winners!
So. If you have a few hours and want to be immersed in a gripping storyline, check these out. And who knows? Perhaps youā€™ll also be fortunate enough to find the entire trilogy for just $5 each!
Have an immerseful day yourself, dear Reader!
– KRidwyn