Category Archives: Biography

Book Review: The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner by Grace Tame #audiobook

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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Grace Tame has had a very traumatic life, being a sexual assault survivor. When she reached her teenage years, she found the courage to speak out, after suffering many years of sexual abuse.

In 2021 Grace was named Australian of the Year, which gave her a platform for conversations about sexual assault. She was inspirational and passionate, and made people stop and think. She inspired many to speak out about the issue.

“The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner is Grace’s story, in Grace’s words, on Grace’s terms. Like Grace, it is sharply intelligent, deeply felt and often blisteringly funny. And, as with all her work, it offers a constructive and optimistic vision for a better future for all of us” – Goodreads

The subject matter in this book was difficult to read about, but there were also moments that made me laugh out loud. The Ninth Life of a Diamond Miner is not a pleasant read, but it’s not meant to be pleasant, as it’s a difficult subject matter. The subject of sexual assualt is one that Grace says many people turn their back on because it’s too difficult to face.

There were times that I had to put this book down and just leave it alone for a while. However, I always came back to it, as Grace’s words were honest and cut right to the heart of the matter. Grace faces the subject full on without mincing words. Many times over, while she was Australian of the Year, Grace had the strength to face audiences and talk about her abuse. She has taken her message to the world, regardless of the pain that continually talking about it, causes her.

However, it has to be said, that Grace Tame should not be defined by her sexual abuse. She is a very, strong, committed woman, a powerful advocate of others, a fitness freak, a writer, an amazingly talented artist, and so much more.

This audio book was read by Grace Tame. It made her message much more powerful, to hear it spoken with her own voice. At times, I could hear the anger in her voice as she spoke about her abuser and about those who abuse others.

Grace describes herself as neuro divergent, as she is on the spectrum and has ADHD. She also has a very dark sense of humour.

Audiobook Released November 2022
Published by Bolinda/MacMillan Australia
Duration: 11 hours 43 minutes
Read by Grace Tame

Star Rating 

Please note that my star rating system isn’t at all based on literary merit, but is based on my enjoyment for the book.
For me a book that gets five stars, is a book that I really enjoyed, and found difficult to put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Unputdownable. Would read it again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fantastic read. Not to be missed

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyable. Would recommend it.

⭐️⭐️ Wouldn’t read it again

⭐️ Don’t recommend this book at all

💫 Half star

The book mentioned in this post is of my own choice and has not been sent to me to review. My opinions are my own and I receive no renumeration at all for them.

To keep up with the latest book reviews, please pop your email into the box in the side bar. This will ensure you are notified of all updates.

Find me here: Facebook and Instagram and Goodreads

© 2024 Copyright. all rights reserved: bestbookishblog.com

Book Review: The Last Daughter by Brenda Matthews

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4 star


Summary

This memoir tells the story of a young Australian First Nations girl, who was stolen from her parents and family, by the Aboriginal Welfare Committee. Brenda’s parents cared well for their children, and there was no legitimate reason for the children to be taken.

Brenda and her siblings were part of the stolen generation. The white family that the authorities gave her to, loved and cared for her, for five years. In those years, she lived a happy life in a country town, close to Sydney. She was completely unaware of her aboriginal parents and had no sense of being an aboriginal child.

During the years after the children were taken, her birth parents had been constantly searching for them. By the time she was found, and able to come home, Brenda was the last child to be returned, reuniting the family.

Many years later, when Brenda was a mother and grandmother, she felt something was missing in her life, and began the long search for her foster family. .

This book is about the secrets kept from Brenda, by the Australian Government. It is also a beautiful story of family love, connection and deep rooted Aboriginal culture.

“The Last Daughter follows Brenda’s journey to discover the truth about her past, to unite her two families-and to foster a better connection between black and white Australia. It’s a story full of heartbreak, love, hope and healing, one that shows a way forward for all Australians.”. – Goodreads

Published November 2023
Audiobook released 2023 by ABC Audio
Duration: 6 hours 36 minutes

My Thoughts

The story of Brenda’s fractured life is heartbreaking to read, but it is not bitter and completely sad. I would expect Brenda to be bitter and angry about what had happened to her, but her story is told from a place of hope.

Brenda has happy memories of her foster sisters, and friends as well as the camping trips they took during her childhood. She had a happy childhood and bears no malice at all to the authorities.

When she is sent back to her birth parents, they bond well and Brenda’s happy life continues. But as she ages, she wonders about her foster parents and siblings who she did love. I think Brenda was stolen twice. Once from her birth parents, and then from her foster parents, when the govemment decided to return her to her family. From that point she never saw her foster parents again.

All Brenda wants is to reunite with her foster family, and unite both families so they can live a live of peace and love together. The Last Daughter is the story of a child taken and also that child’s search for her two families.

Star Rating 

Please note that my star rating system isn’t at all based on literary merit, but is based on my enjoyment for the book.
For me a book that gets five stars, is a book that I really enjoyed, and found difficult to put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Unputdownable. Would read it again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fantastic read. Not to be missed

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyable. Would recommend it.

⭐️⭐️ Wouldn’t read it again.

⭐️ Don’t recommend this book at all.

💫 Half Star

The book mentioned in this post is of my own choice and has not been sent to me to review. My opinions are my own and I receive no renumeration at all for them.

To keep up with the latest book reviews, please pop your email into the box in the side bar. This will ensure you are notified of all updates.

This post is linked to the Wednesday Words & Whimsy linkup hosted by Min from Write of the Middle 

Find me here: Facebook and Instagram and Goodreads

© 2024 Copyright. all rights reserved: bestbookishblog.com

Back To Bangka by Georgina Banks

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Back To Bangka
by
Georgina Banks

Summary

Bangka Strait, Indonesia, 1942 . Allied ships are evacuating thousands in flight from Singapore, the island having fallen to Japanese Imperial forces. Facing terrifying assaults by fighter planes, one ship, the Vyner Brooke , is badly bombed and sinks. Its survivors swim or paddle for hours to the nearest land, a beach on Bangka Island, parched, many dreadfully injured.

One of the survivors is Australian Army nurse Dorothy ‘Bud’ Elmes, the great-aunt of Georgina Banks. Bud makes it to the island, where she, colleagues and a matron tend to the wounded as a plan is formulated. But it is soon discovered the place is occupied by Japanese forces, and two days later they arrive on the beach.

Seventy-five years on, Georgina receives an invitation to a memorial service for her great-aunt. She knows little of the national history buried in her family but as she retraces Bud’s steps in Indonesia, and then deep in archives back in Australia, she is left making sense of half-truths and confronting the likelihood that she may never know exactly what unfolded on the beach on that devastating day.

Back to Bangka is a deeply moving intergenerational family story; a gripping retelling and investigation of events that throw a spotlight on women in wartime – in their vulnerability and profound strength. – Goodreads

Published June 2023. 327 pages

My Thoughts

I read this book very quickly, as once I started reading, it was extremely compelling, and I couldn’t put it down. Even though I had researched the of the story of the Bangka Island Massacre, and had written about it, there was information in this book that I hadn’t come across previously.

The Road to Bangka is the story of the tragedy of a family who sent their daughter, a trained nurse, off to the war to care for those injured in the war. The author sets out to uncover information that was previously not known about, but as the story goes on, she asks the question of whether it really is necessary to find out what exactly happened, in all it’s detail. Is it enough for the families, just to know that their loved ones were killed. Do they really need to know the details of what happened to them in their final hours and minutes.

Back to Bangka is not a dry war history book. It is about one person’s mission to find out exactly what happened after the nurses were captured. This book, about a family who lost their daughter in the Bangka Island Massacre, is told with compassion, love and care. The reader is made aware of the lasting impact of that loss over the next generations of the families.

I was drawn to read The Road to Bangka because a family member of mine, was one of the nurses on the Vyner Brooke. She was drowned, when the Vyner Brook was bombed. Since learning what happened to the nurses who survived and managed to get to shore, I have always felt that our nurse was fortunate not to have survived the bombing, only to be killed in a horrifying way, by the Japanese.

If interested, here is a link to a post that I wrote on my blog, Tracking Down The Family, about the Bangka Island Massacre

52 Week Book Challenge

I chosen this book for Prompt 23 of the 52 Book Club’s Reading Challenge.

Star Rating

Please note that my star rating system isn’t at all based on literary merit, but is based on my enjoyment of the book.
For me a book that gets five stars, is a book that I really enjoyed, and found difficult to put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Unputdownable. Would read it again.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fantastic read. Not to be missed

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Enjoyable. Would recommend it.

⭐️⭐️ Wouldn’t read it again.

⭐️ Don’t recommend this book at all.

The books mentioned in this post are of my own choice and have not been sent to me to review. My opinions are my own and I receive no renumeration at all for them.

© 2023 Copyright. all rights reserved: bestbookishblog.com

L: Lawson by Grantlee Kieza #atozchallenge

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The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge  is for bloggers who wish to participate by publishing a blog post every day in April except for Sundays. Each blog post will focus on a letter of the alphabet. For example April 1 will be A, April 2 will be B and on it goes. By the end of April, a blog post for every letter of the alphabet will have been posted. My theme for 2023 is Book Reviews.

You can read my reviews without worrying about spoilers. My reviews are quite brief and I give away nothing more than you would read on the back cover or on Goodreads.

LAWSON
BY
GRANTLEE KIEZA

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Summary

“Henry Lawson captured the heart and soul of Australia and its people with greater clarity and truth than any writer before him. Born on the goldfields in 1867, he became the voice of ordinary Australians, recording the hopes, dreams and struggles of bush battlers and slum dwellers, of fierce independent women, foreign fathers and larrikin mates.

Lawson wrote from the heart, documenting what he saw from his earliest days as a poor, lonely, handicapped boy with warring parents on a worthless farm, to his years as a literary lion, then as a hopeless addict cadging for drinks on the streets, and eventually as a prison inmate, locked up in a tiny cell beside murderers. A controversial figure today, he was one of the first writers to shine a light on the hardships faced by Australia’s hard-toiling wives and mothers, and among the first to portray, with sympathy, the despair of Indigenous Australians at the ever-encroaching European tide. His heroic figures such as The Drover’s Wife and the fearless unionists striking out for a better deal helped define Australia’s character, and while still a young man, his storytelling drew comparisons on the world stage with Tolstoy, Gorky and Kipling.

But Henry Lawson’s own life may have been the most compelling saga of all, a heart-breaking tale of brilliance, lost love, self-destruction and madness” – Goodreads

Published in 2021. 512 pages.

My Thoughts

The author definitely tells the story of the life of Henry Lawson, warts and all. There is no glossing over his heavy drinking and the problems he faced in his life, many caused by himself. I have been a fan of Henry Lawson since we read The Drovers Wife at school. I come back to his short stories quite often and always enjoy them, but have never really given much thought to his life. I found it very sad to read about his life, in fact this book brought me to tears in many places.

Henry Lawson is an icon in Australia, but he was flawed, and those flaws are laid out in the book. I really enjoyed reading the back story to his short stories – where he got his ideas from, who might have prompted them, and why he wrote them.

For a fan of Henry Lawson, this book is gold. If you’re not a fan, or not aware of his works, I’m sure you would still enjoy this very well researched book, about a man who had a weakness, but who also had a huge talent for writing.

I would recommend Lawson, without any hesitation at all, as an unputdownable read.

More than 60 pages of bibliography and references.

All books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library, unless otherwise stated.

Star Rating 

Please note that my star rating system isn’t at all based on literary merit, but is based on my enjoyment for the book.
For me a book that gets five stars, is a book that I really enjoyed, and found difficult to put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Unputdownable. Would definitely read again
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Fantastic read. Not to be missed.
⭐️⭐️⭐️Enjoyable read. Would recommend.
⭐️⭐️Wouldn’t read again
⭐️Don’t recommend this book again

Find me here: Facebook and Instagram and Goodreads

Images and author information: Goodreads

You can find my other blogs here:
Next Phase In Fitness & Life and Tracking Down The Family

© 2023 Copyright. all rights reserved: bestbookishblog.com

K: Kin: A Real Person’s History Of Our Nation by Nick Brodie #atozchallenge #throwbackthursday

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The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge  is for bloggers who wish to participate by publishing a blog post every day in April except for Sundays. Each blog post will focus on a letter of the alphabet. For example April 1 will be A, April 2 will be B and on it goes. By the end of April, a blog post for every letter of the alphabet will have been posted. My theme for 2023 is Book Reviews.

You can read my reviews without worrying about spoilers. My reviews are quite brief and I give away nothing more than you would read on the back cover or on Goodreads.

Many book bloggers re-post a book review that they have written in the past, under the #throwbackthursday hashtag. I will be joining them in this each Thursday.

The following book review was first published here in April 2020. This is a book that I enjoyed, and I feel warrants highlighting again.

KIN
BY
NICK BRODIE

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Summary

From convicts, goldminers and sailors, to high country horsemen, nurses and soldiers – and almost everyone in between – KIN is about generations of real people living real lives. Join historian and archaeologist, Nick Brodie, as he traces his family back to their first arrivals in Australia. As their lives intersect, KIN provides a unique historical insight into Australia’s past: colonies grow and wars are fought as Nick follows his people and their children across land and sea, in their everyday occupations and through their hardships and most memorable events. Follow Nick’s journey to discover how his kinfolk lived, the bigger story of the history of Australia, as their stories become both his and ours. – blurb

Published 2019
Paperback, 448 pages

My Thoughts

The author uses stories about his own ancestors to create a full and thorough explanation of Australian history. I really enjoyed this book, but as family history and Australian history is my passion, be aware that I could be biased. I loved the ancestry charts included and really enjoyed following the lives of the author’s ancestors. Even though Kin is a very thorough history of Australia and of his own ancestors, it is very easy to follow.

Kin is based on very thorough research, both ancestral and historical. My only criticism would be that I’d have liked to have seen a list of sources at the back of the book. But this is addressed by the author at the end, where he gives his reasons for not including them.

Key to Star Rating

Please note that my star rating system isn’t at all based on literary merit, but is based on my enjoyment for the book.
For me a book that gets five stars, is a book that I really enjoyed, and found difficult to put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Unputdownable. Would definitely read again
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Fantastic read. Not to be missed.
⭐️⭐️⭐️Enjoyable read. Would recommend.
⭐️⭐️Wouldn’t read again
⭐️Don’t recommend this book again

Find me here: Facebook and Instagram and Goodreads

Images and author information: Goodreads

You can find my other blogs here:
Next Phase In Fitness & Life and Tracking Down The Family

© 2023 Copyright. all rights reserved: bestbookishblog.com

F: Flesh Wounds by Richard Glover #audiobook #atozchallenge

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The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge  is for bloggers who wish to participate by publishing a blog post every day in April except for Sundays. Each blog post will focus on a letter of the alphabet. For example April 1 will be A, April 2 will be B and on it goes. By the end of April, a blog post for every letter of the alphabet will have been posted. My theme for 2023 is Book Reviews.

You can read my reviews without worrying about spoilers. My reviews are quite brief and I give away nothing more than you would read on the back cover or on Goodreads.

FLESH WOUNDS
BY
RICHARD GLOVER
#audiobook narrated by Richard Glover

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

SUMMARY

“Richard Glover’s favourite dinner party game is called ‘Who’s Got the Weirdest Parents?’. It’s a game he always thinks he’ll win. There was his mother, a deluded snob, who made up large swathes of her past and who ran away with Richard’s English teacher, a Tolkien devotee, nudist and stuffed-toy collector. There was his father, a distant alcoholic, who ran through a gamut of wives, yachts and failed dreams. And there was Richard himself, a confused teenager, vulnerable to strange men, trying to find a family he could belong to. As he eventually accepted, the only way to make sense of the present was to go back to the past – but beware of what you might find there. Truth can leave wounds – even if they are only flesh wounds”. -goodreads

Published 2015. 305 pages

MY THOUGHTS

This book is primarily about Richard’s parents. We follow Richard from a small child to his teenage years, early adulthood and as a parent himself.

If, like me, you think that you probably have the strangest family out there, then this book is for you. By the time I finished reading this book, I realised that this family of Richards, were much stranger than mine, and I had never thought that possible.

Flesh Wounds is part family memoir and partly a look at life in Australia in the 1970s. I really enjoyed reading about the 70s, as many memories came back to me. Much of the story is both very funny and also very sad. Richard was so honest and vulnerable in his writing that at times, it made me squirm.

This audio book was narrated by the author, which I enjoyed. I usually enjoy a memoir that is read by the author, especially if they have a voice that is easy to listen to, as is Richard’s voice. Richard Glover is a presenter on ABC Radio.

Star Rating 

Please note that my star rating system isn’t at all based on literary merit, but is based on my enjoyment for the book.
For me a book that gets five stars, is a book that I really enjoyed, and found difficult to put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Unputdownable. Would definitely read again
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Fantastic read. Not to be missed.
⭐️⭐️⭐️Enjoyable read. Would recommend.
⭐️⭐️Wouldn’t read again
⭐️Don’t recommend this book again

Find me here: Facebook and Instagram and Goodreads

Images and author information: Goodreads

You can find my other blogs here:
Next Phase In Fitness & Life and Tracking Down The Family

© 20203 Copyright. all rights reserved: bestbookishblog.com

A: Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz #AtoZChallenge

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The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge  is for bloggers who wish to participate, by publishing a blog post every day in April, except for Sundays. Each blog post will focus on a letter of the alphabet. For example April 1 will be A, April 2 will be B, and on it goes. By the end of April, a blog post for every letter of the alphabet will have been posted. My theme for 2023 is Book Reviews.

You can read my reviews without worrying about spoilers. My reviews are quite brief and I give away nothing more than you would read on the back cover or on Goodreads

ANATOMY A LOVE STORY
BY
DANA SCHWARZ

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“A gothic tale full of mystery and romance about a willful female surgeon, a resurrection man who sells bodies for a living, and the buried secrets they must uncover together.” Goodreads 

SUMMARY

Hazel is an upper class seventeen year old girl with a fascination for science and medicine. She has a strong desire to be a doctor and no interest at all in marriage, as is expected by her parents. Anatomy is set in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1817, a time when the idea of a female surgeon was inconceivable. Hazel needs to pass the medical exam but is thrown out of medical lectures for being a woman. As she now isn’t able to have official lessons, she needs a supply of corpses to study. At the time, grave robbing isn’t at all unusual, and she has recently made friends with Jack, a grave robber who helps her obtain the bodies for her research and study.

Published in 2022
Kindle edition

MY THOUGHTS

This is the beginnings of the story, and it develops into much more with macabre and unusual twists. I wouldn’t class this book as gothic, but it is definitely macabre. It’s not a scary read, but I did wish my stomach was stronger at times. Some passages for me, were quite difficult to read. After I finished reading the book, I discovered that it was YA, and did wonder how younger readers coped with those parts. Perhaps, being younger, they have a stronger tolerance than me, for gore and a bit of yukkiness.

This didn’t spoil my enjoyment of this book. I absolutely loved it, and read it very quickly, as I couldn’t put it down. I read this book when it first came out in early 2022, and have just read it for the second time. My reason for reading it again, other than that I adored the story line, is because the sequel was about to be published. I felt the need for a refresher before diving into what happened next to Hazel. I’m so pleased that I read it the second time. With the knowledge of what happens in the end, I was able to pick up on certain things during the book, that went over my head on the first reading.

Anatomy: A Love Story – audiobook – short sample

All books that I review have been purchased by me or borrowed from the library, unless otherwise stated.

Star Rating 

Please note that my star rating system isn’t at all based on literary merit, but is based on my enjoyment for the book.
For me a book that gets five stars, is a book that I really enjoyed, and found difficult to put down.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Unputdownable. Would definitely read again
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Fantastic read. Not to be missed.
⭐️⭐️⭐️Enjoyable read. Would recommend.
⭐️⭐️Wouldn’t read again
⭐️Don’t recommend this book again

Find me here: Facebook and Instagram and Goodreads

Images and author information: Goodreads

You can find my other blogs here:
Next Phase In Fitness & Life and Tracking Down The Family

© 2023 Copyright. all rights reserved: bestbookishblog.com