Did you guess my ‘blind date with a book’? And other things…
The giveaway this week is ‘Where the Light Goes’ by Sara Barnard
Last week, I borrowed a book covered in brown paper from the library. On the paper a few dot points were written to describe the novel hidden underneath (catch up here to see the clues).
You might’ve taken a stab at guessing what it was. I was confident I had no idea. More on the mystery book later to create column length so you hopefully don’t accidentally glimpse the solution to the puzzle too soon.
In the meantime, I’ll tell you about other recent happenings.
I attended a picture book workshop run by author/illustrator Mandy Foot at the State Library of South Australia. It was a tad embarrassing – she read her book Joey and Riley to us after letting us know it has a happy ending and because it was about a boy and his dog, I started bawling. Oh dear. What a book to be able to do that in less than 500 words, though! I’m not usually a cry-at-the-drop-of-a-hat type. But animals, man. They get me right in the feels.
Anyway, the point is Mandy’s words and drawings are amazing, and I was digging her vibe as a person too. Excellent workshop presenter. All round excellentness was had. I had fun while I was there and left with tingles of inspiration in my toes. Did you know she illustrates for Haighs chocolates? I didn’t. Talk about a dream job.
My Adelaide Fringe season had been off to a rollicking start. Any year I don’t manage to see any shows, I feel a bit incomplete, like I’ve missed an opportunity. We’re still early in the festival, and I’ve already made it to three shows. The first one was the mushroom-themed displays at the abandoned Sleep’s Hill Tunnel (Insta pics here).
Next up, I saw Bradbury the Musical, based on the life of Aussie come-from-behind Olympic speed skating champ, Steven Bradbury. It was one of those shows where days and weeks later, you’re still unsure whether you liked it. The pacing was great, the small cast did a great job with the costumes and props they had, and they put in great performances but… I dunno, it took several weird turns is all I can say. I was certainly entertained for the time I was there, though.
Lastly, I went with a friend to see Zan Rowe and Myf Warhurst doing a live performance of their podcast, Bang On (again, I did a lil Insta post here). Despite not knowing, er, anything at all about the podcast, I had an excellent time and we managed to fluke seats right near the front, so we were close to the action.
So proud of my little introverted self for getting out and about so much. Now I need to go live in a cave for the next three years.
This brings us to… tada! My blind date with a book!
If you guessed it was The Codebreaker’s Secret by Sara Ackerman, you sure were right, buddy!
The other paper-covered book I picked up, but realised from the clues that I’ve already read was Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
Did you correctly guess either of them?
Either way, have a fun-flavoured week. : )
News
1. How fascinating is this – scientists isolated in Antarctica are beginning to develop their own accent! My guess was that they’d be keeping their mouths closed as much as possible so the chilly air didn’t wander in, but something else is happening. With little else to do there for six months straight over winter other than work and chat to each other, their accents are slowly converging as they inch toward picking up each other’s vocal traits. There’s also local jargon peculiar to the continent that newbies quickly pick up. Cool stuff (pun intended).
2. Far out, companies marketing their products towards women (and often led by women) aren’t doing a great job at closing the gender pay gap. I note that some of the clothing brands performing poorly in this area are, sadly, some of my favourites (Lorna Jane and Forever New, I’m looking at you). Sure, to a certain extent the gap can be explained due to most of the lower-paying retail roles being inhabited by women and men tending to work in higher-paid head office roles, but other companies seem to be making it work much better. Perhaps it would be worth writing an email to your favourite brand and asking them to pull up their socks or finding more ethical alternatives. I know I’ll be considering these paths.
Reviews
1. Testing a free sample of Pixi Skintreats Glow Mud Cleanser from Sephora, it didn’t make a great first impression. The substance I squeezed out of the tube was a grainy greyish-brown. The smell was okay and not too strong, but it wasn’t the nicest fresh smell ever from a cleanser. The brand gets points for being cruelty-free, but loses them with me for containing various acids that make your skin more sensitive to sunburn. My skin did come up clean afterwards without that stretched-tight feeling. There are better cleansers out there for the price ($28 for 135ml).
2. Here’s a comforting thought I came across this week – chances are, people like you more than you think. As a chronic overthinker, I’m always worrying I’m annoying people when I first strike up a conversation with them. Apparently, I’m not alone. It turns out, shy people are especially prone to this type of thinking, but to a certain extent it’s across the board. We tend to rate others higher than ourselves as conversationalists and there’s a term for it – the ‘liking gap’. So maybe we don’t need to mentally beat ourselves up quite so much after chatting with others about every little thing we could have said differently. Yay!
3. If you’ve read Becks and the City before, you’ll know that I frequently yammer on about mysteries and crime fiction. I’m also quite the sci-fi buff, but you hear about this less, somehow. Probably because I’m super picky about my sci-fi. I’m mostly in it for dystopian stories, frankly, and even within that subgenre, I probably only enjoy a small fraction of those. But when I love them, I REALLY love them. Anyway, all this is to say: I’m fascinated by the moral quandaries of the future. So this review by Pat Sheil in the SMH caught my eye. (Yes, this is a review of a review.) It’s of a non-fiction title called Who Owns the Moon? In Defence of Humanity’s Common Interests in Space by A.C. Grayling. The book looks at the impending land grab on the moon. We’ve already got customers paying to visit the moon. Are more permanent trips there really all that far away? This review makes the book sound like (and I’m sure it is) a deep dive into the legal situation, a rumination on humanity’s colonising tendencies, and hopeful philosophising about the future. Yes, please.
What I’m Feelin’ Right Now
Going to a botanical drawing class
Terry’s Chocolate Orange
Acquiring some house plants and actually keeping them alive
Cream wide-leg pinstripe trousers
Watching videos of capybaras
Reading up on the theory behind book cover design
Putting jewel stickers on everything like I’m 12 years old again
Starting a collection of vintage Somerset Maugham books
Giveaway
Last week’s giveaway, The Dinner Party by Rebecca Heath, was won by Christine Taylor. I’ve sent you an email about it, Christine!
This week the giveaway is YA read Where the Light Goes by Sara Barnard. Enter your name and email address here for a chance to win.
Playlist of the Week
Wait, what? You’re kidding me, right?: