September was a busy reading month, with some wonderful books by favourite authors – the brilliant novel Home by Larissa Behrendt, and Anita Heiss’s memoir Am I Black Enough For You? 10 Years On – plus a lovely faery tale, The Vintage Witch by Melanie Karsak, and more…

56 of 90 – Home by Larissa Behrendt
One of my favourite reads last year was Larissa Behrendt’s After Story, so I was really happy to see her speak at a few events at this year’s Sydney Writers Festival (she was wonderful), and excited to read her first two novels. (She also writes amazing non-fiction, as well as being an academic, a lawyer with a Doctorate from Harvard, and an award-winning film maker!)
Larissa’s second book Legacy was amazing, and I loved her debut, Home, just as much (if not more). Described as “a powerful and intelligent first novel from an author who understands both the capacity of language to suppress and the restorative potency of stories that bridge past and present”, Home is completely heartbreaking, but so important – and so beautifully written.
Opening with a young Aboriginal lawyer from the city visiting the traditional lands of her family for the first time, it then goes back in time to tell the story of her grandmother Garibooli, who was stolen* from this place as a young girl, and forced to grow up without her close-knit family, her culture, or her connection to Country. The effect on her – as well as on her parents, her brother, and the wider family and community – is devastating, and it’s confronting, and heart-wrenching, to read about the abhorrent policies and “protections” that First Nations people have been subjected to since invasion and colonisation – and whose impact is still felt today. (It is sooo beyond time for #voicetreatytruth!) Spanning almost a century, this touching, compelling and powerful book covers the lives of three generations of Garibooli’s family, both those who stayed together and those who were forced apart. There are beautiful dreaming stories woven into the narrative, and it shares the importance of kin, connection, culture and Country that is so vital to so many First Nations people.   
I found out after I’d read it that many of the characters, and much of the plot, are drawn from Larissa’s own family, life and experience, which makes it even more poignant. I switched between the paperback and the audiobook, which is beautifully narrated by Tamala Shelton, one of my favourite voice actors, and I absolutely recommend all three of Larissa’s novels.
* The Stolen Generations: Between 1910 and the 1970s (and still, sadly, to this day), many First Nations children were forcibly removed from their families, sanctioned by various government policies. It has left a legacy of trauma and loss that continues to affect First Nations communities, families and individuals today.

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57 of 90 – Nineteen Letters by JL Perry
Tomorrow I head to Newcastle for a book signing, to meet readers, sign books, and catch up with lots of lovely writer friends – so it was a pleasure to read fellow author Jody Perry’s touching novel Nineteen Letters. Beautifully written, emotional, compelling and bittersweet, it was the perfect book to curl up on the couch with. 

Nineteen. There’s something about that number; it not only brought us together, bonding us forever, it also played a hand in tearing us apart.
The nineteenth of January 1996. I’ll never forget it. It was the day we met. I was seven and she was six. It was the day she moved in next door, and the day I developed my first crush on a girl.
Exactly nineteen years later, all my dreams came true when she became my wife. She was the love of my life. My soul mate … my everything. The reason I looked forward to waking up every morning.
Then tragedy struck. Nineteen days after we married, she was in an accident that would change our lives forever. When she woke from her coma, she had no memory of me, of us, of the love we shared.
I was crushed. She was my air, and without her, I couldn’t breathe.
The sparkle that once glistened her eyes when she looked at me was gone. To her, now, I was a stranger. I had not only lost my wife, I had lost my best friend.
But I refused to let this tragedy be the end of us. That’s when I started to write her letters, stories of our life. Of when we met. About the happier times, and everything we had experienced together.
What we had was far too beautiful to be forgotten.

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58 of 90 – Growing Up Wiradjuri, edited by Anita Heiss
Happy release day to editor Anita Heiss and all the wonderful First Nations Elders who have shared their stories of Growing Up Wiradjuri in a wonderful book for young people.
With gorgeous illustrations by Charmaine Ledden-Lewis and a stunning cover by Luke Penrith, this is a beautiful hardcover book that collects personal stories by Wiradjuri Elders. The writers are Uncles and Aunties who came of age in New South Wales in the 1950s and 1960s, and it’s edited by Wiradjuri writer Anita Heiss, author of many incredible books for kids and adults, from historical fiction to contemporary, who also edited Growing Up Aboriginal.

“These stories form part of our collective history, the way we speak of and live culture still today, and the importance of passing on such stories to younger generations,” says Anita Heiss.

In a strong collective voice, they share the difficulties of growing up under the rule of the welfare board. Some describe their experiences of evading capture by the welfare mob, or of being stolen and forced into state care away from their families. Some describe experiencing racism in school, the trials of poverty and family separation.
Alongside the difficulties of marginal life, backbreaking labour and family separation, they also detail their fond memories of their own Elders, Aunts and Uncles who cared for them and taught them culture. Contributors describe happy memories of family and community life on country, working the land, sitting around campfires, hunting, fishing, and playing games in the bush with their cousins, brothers and sisters. They talk about the values that were imparted to them by staunch parents and grandparents, about what it means to come from a family where everyone takes care of each other during hard times, and the work they have done to build stronger communities. Every contributor has important advice to share with the next generation.

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59 of 90 – Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls and many more
Before my week in hospital there were a few more #septemberreads. Included free in the Audible catalogue is a brilliant series of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls chapter books, each about 90 minutes long, which introduce extraordinary women in global history – their childhoods, what inspired their interest in the field they transformed, their families, friends, education (or lack there of) and the obstacles they faced. They’re brilliantly written, wonderfully narrated, with great sound effects too, and there are downloadable activities related to their work which look fun.
I loved Ada Lovelace Cracks the Code, based on the exciting real-life adventures of Ada, one of the world’s first computer programmers.
Growing up in 19th-century London, England, the daughter of poet Lord Byron, Ada is curious about everything, impatient to learn more, and frustrated by those trying to curb her experiments and her obsession with machines and creatures that fly. Even a serious illness won’t hold her back. In the 1840s, a century before Konrad Zuse designed the first programmable computing machine, Ada wrote the first computer programme in the world. From a modern perspective, her work is visionary and incredibly important, and it’s so frustrating that her scientific contributions hardly attracted any attention while she was alive. But she’s known now, and the inspiring story of this computer sciences pioneer is a testament to women’s invaluable contributions to STEM throughout history. It also includes additional text on Ada’s lasting legacy, and educational activities designed to teach simple coding and mathematical concepts. (This series also includes Alicia Alonso Takes the Stage, Junko Tabei Masters the Mountains, Madam CJ Walker Builds a Business and Dr Wangari Maathai Plants a Forest.)
I also listened to some of the much shorter stories included in the Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls anthologies – which now span 100 More Stories of Extraordinary Women, 100 Immigrant Women Who Changed the World, 100 Real-Life Tales of Black Girl Magic and Rebel Girls Go for Gold.

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60 of 90 – The Vintage Medium by Melanie Karsak
Years ago I fell in love with three beautiful, magical novellas – The Glass Mermaid, The Cupcake Witch and The Bee Charmer – from The Chancellor Fairy Tales series by Poppy Lawless. Then the author ditched the pen name and started writing other awesomely popular books, including the Celtic Blood Series, the Road to Valhalla Series and several in the Steampunk Fairy Tales Series. But now Melanie Karsak has returned to the small town of Chancellor to share a sweet new story of enchantment and wonder, The Vintage Medium. Each of the Chancellor stories are shortish stand-alone reads, but are set in the same small town, and it’s so lovely to return there and spend some time with characters I still adore, and new ones too. And for those in the northern hemisphere, it’s a perfect autumn read.

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61 of 90 – Breakfast At Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
What makes a classic a classic? In this case, I have no idea… I’ve never seen the movie, but listening to Truman Capote’s Breakfast At Tiffany’s book left me baffled. But each to their own…

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62 of 90 – The Condor and the Hummingbird, and other variants
This month’s faery tales for the Australian Fairy Tale Society are The Condor and the Hummingbird from Peru – and its many variants from around South America, including The Condor’s Wife, and The Condor and the Shepherdess – plus Jose Guerne from Chile. It fascinates me how stories change from region to region, how they morph to reflect the culture and world view of the teller, recasting the villain to the hero even. My favourite version is The Condor and the Girl, but there are many others that make the condor the villain and the hummingbird the hero, including The Hummingbird and the Condor’s Wife that has some wonderful elements.

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63 of 90 – Am I Black Enough For You? Ten Years On by Anita Heiss
Wiradyuri writer, professor, speaker and Indigenous literacy advocate Anita Heiss is one of my favourite authors – Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray, Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms and Tiddas are just a few of her brilliant novels – and her memoir Am I Black Enough For You? Ten Years On is also a compelling, important read. The original book was inspired by the court case against racist right-wing columnist Andrew Bolt – and yes, the judge found that he is racist, and had contravened section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, defaming Anita and several more First Nations writers, lawyers, politicians and activists. Most of the original stories remain, some heartbreaking, some told with love and humour, each revealing the events that have shaped Anita’s life and her advocacy, her determination (from attaining her PhD to running marathons to raise money and awareness for important causes), the importance of her friends and mentors, and her sense of identity. There are also new chapters and new reflections, including 20 reasons to read First Nations authors (which I absolutely agree with – some of my fave books are by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers), her studies at 50 to learn Wiradjuri, which should have been her first language, thoughts on Black Lives Matter, her new passion for running, updates on the political landscape in this country, and the harrowing, negligent death of her cousin due to racist assumptions and lack of care in the health system.
There has been a small amount of progress over the last ten years – but deaths in custody and terrible discrimination continue, and we all have a responsibility to be part of the growing change finally starting to occur, for truth, for reconciliation, for recognition and for a voice. Described as the story of an urban-based high-achieving Wiradyuri woman working to break down stereotypes and build bridges between black and white Australia, I wish everyone in this country would read it.