September Audio Books and Podcasts

I am very much enjoying my recent discovery of Jerome K. Jerome and have gone down a bit of a rabbit hole....

First up I listened to this on Audible & it was free. It's Ghost Tales by Bram Stoker, Sir Walter Scott and Amelia B. Edwards as well as Jerome K. Jerome. These are serious ghost stories, and while I hadn't read any of them, they all felt very familiar. There is one little bit of nuttery at the end of J.KJ's one, otherwise it didn't really seem like his other works.

However, the above was good background for what I listened to next.

This is sort of 2 books in 1. The first is very funny, and dissecting the formula of the Victorian Ghost Story genre. It's classic Jerome K. Jerome nuttiness and I laughed out loud more than once. It also highlighted why all those stories seemed so familiar. They are all built with the expected tropes and traditions of the classic ghost story in literature at the time. The second half is just ghost stories - a few by Poe, Kipling and other well known authors. 

Cat (Wire) recommended the Tim Curry, Michael Palin movie of Three Men in a Boat, free on Youtube. It's dramatised by Tom Stoppard so you know it's a good adaptation. I thought it was missing my favourite bit but it appears later in the film, so the movie is sort of mixed around a bit. Tim Curry made a comment that it was sort of the last moments for the Victorian man where idle happiness was possible for the upper classes and life was idyllic, before the world changed forever with the build up to war. Three men in a boat (reviewed here) was written in 1889 but the humour is as whacky as anything today. It was meant to be a serious travelogue with some humorous elements but apparently the editor kept throwing out any of the serious guide references.

If you like classic movies, Cat's Wire is all over it, reviewing films from the Golden Age of Cinema and more.

Jon Ronson's The Castle is out, and he's touring Australia with it. I adore Jon Ronson so have been eagerly awaiting it. It's on the unravelling men that we currently seem to be seeing - through the manosphere and beyond. It's crazy yet true insights into all sorts of aspects, starting with a creepy castle that his son was lured to. When he was last out he mentioned this anecdote at his talk, and since then, has built a book around it. What I like about Jon Ronson is that he goes in without judgement. I find Louis Theroux has a bias that he sets out to present. Ronson, on the other hand, seems to see the best in everyone until they prove otherwise, even if they are white supremacists, for example. It leads to a more interesting investigation. Anything by Jon Ronson is fascinating and funny. He is an extraordinary talent these days in the culture war times.

Other Ronson reviews:

Last Days of August

So you've been publicly shamed

The Butterfly Effect

What I do

The Debutante

Things Fell Apart - note there is a new series coming of this podcast, and lucky me discovered a series I hadn't listened to, so currently enjoying that here.

Post on his Psychopath night.

and this old post made me smile: Small Mercies.

Yes, I am a total fan girl on his work! 

I am labouring through my book club book so will review it next time, so I give it a chance...

Do you go nuts for certain writers? Who?

Linking with #TuesdayTwirl & MonthlyBookworms

Also a quick shout out to Get Lost magazine going into Print - my copy turned up (they had a subscription special so I treated myself to a year to test it out). A little more interesting than normal travel mags & at a glance, a lot less ads.

Sydney Marathon

The Sydney Marathon is now a world major, and one of the prettiest, according to my husband who has run over 20 and has all the Abbott Stars (Though I think he forgets how beautiful Paris was - and as a spectator, how easy Berlin was to get around, but I digress).

The city is abuzz on the Sunday in late August, moved due to the terrible heat a few years back. It was a perfect day.

With Father's Day the following week, it's really been a fortnight of celebrating him!

Are you a runner? Do you run distance or marathons?

Throwback to last year's Marathon here. You can sign up for next year's Ballot here.

My favourite costume was the Monkey King from Journey to the West (I think that's who he was meant to be, and the cricketer who very excitedly took a selfie outside the SCG).

#Allseasons linky runs from Thursday to Wednesday each week. 

Link one post that shows something seasonal. Traditional weather wise, a seasonal nature marker or a seasonal celebration or event.  Please link relevant posts only.

Make sure you link back to this #AllSeasons post. 

Please comment on the post before yours and the host. Don't dump and run.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Now you see it

 and now you don't.

Short and sweet for #NaturesNotes and #AwwMondays

Leaving his mark

I find it interesting what a mark this image made. For those overseas, this was written all over the footpaths of Sydney in 1930s more than half a million times, by a man named Arthur Stace. It is indeed iconic for us, and Remo made a very popular Eternity shirt in the 1980s.

Back in 2015 it was appearing in chalk again for some reason.

So while it wasn't what he was meaning, his action seems like it might last for Eternity.

Linking with #MuralMondays #HappyTuesday as I love that his legacy is still so well known almost 100 years later. It's a ripple through time.

A change for the better...

Twice in Japan, in different areas, I've stumbled across these vending machines. They are adorned with fire fighters and fire trucks so you can't miss them.

Part of the proceeds are given to a fund to support widows and children of the fire fighters who lost their lives at work.

How simple, yet affective. Like myself on a hot night, people buy water or drinks. Why not have part of that go and do good in the world?

I want to investigate how to do that here, as we only recently (Nov 2025) expanded the list of cancers covered for fire fighters, even thought those very cancers were more than likely caused by fire fighting chemicals. 

Or a different charity. Any charity. We could have many different kinds. Women's Shelters, Smith Family, Wayside  - whatever! A $1 from every sale. Slowly the world changes a little.

As I saw in Cambodia, tourism and consumer spending can directly help those in need. And for the consumer, nothing changes. 

The world doesn't get better by chance, it gets better by change. Let's be that change!

(Note, I'm paraphrasing a quote by Jim Rohn)

Linking with #TalkaboutitTuesday #HappyNow as this project makes me happy at the moment....(Charity gives as much to the giver as it does the receiver)

Self Indulgence: Positive or negative?

I was listening to a book on grief and it had a chapter titled Self Indulgence - I was expecting a lecture on not wallowing but it was literally 'indulge yourself' - eat the cake, have the bath, laze about - give yourself permission to do whatever makes you feel good. More what we refer to as self care these days.

I realised that is actually what Self Indulgence means but somewhere along the way, we turned it into a negative. A bit of googling discovered the dictionary description of 'the act of allowing yourself to have or do anything that you enjoy' (Cambridge Dictionary) It is literally a positive, however, what we default to in our meaning is excessive self indulgence, or mindless self indulgence where our gratification comes at the cost of damage to others or ourselves. We default to a negative view of what that 'anything' might be, when for most of us, it's pretty harmless. Or is the 'anything' for a lot of people self destructive and hurtful to others.

I can't find why or when this happened. 

It reminds me of the day it was pointed out in someone's blog that mental health was not a negative. We all had mental health, either good or bad. It was the same as health. We do things that are good for our health and bad for our health every single day.

But this shame and negativity attached to self indulgence seem a really nasty frame for pleasure. I wonder if it goes back to medieval time where people worked to the bone while the wealthy lords frolicked around?  Why are we as humans so judgmental on other people's happiness these days? Why are we so judgemental on our own actions that make us happy? If we eat the cake? If we take the day off chores? There's an internal feeling of being naughty.

Anyway, I had plenty of self indulgence this week - the joys of a Moomin Bath bomb, a wild orange sunrise lighting the room, relaxing with a face mask and a morning walk with my friend. The only excess was the cost of the bath bomb, but it was Moomin and it made me so happy so I did indulge.

Linking with  #SundayBest #WeekendReflection #TrafficJamReboot #TalkaboutitTuesday

August Reading

It's been a turbulent month for me, and while I've read a few chapters of the Ariel Gore I'm rereading, I've only read a comic start to finish.

I have listened to a lot of audio books, an indication of how much time in the car I've spent.

I saw an ad for this book on FB, and thought I'd check it out. I ended up listening to all three in the series. They are currently free on Audible for a limited time. It is the memoir of a man with a mother who was a hippy. A full blown hippy. As a mum, I was pretty shocked at the age she let her kids take drugs, at the attitude towards the sexualisation of her kids and the fact she could just dump them to fend for themselves as minors.  While I am guessing these books come as a result of much therapy, I found it frustrating he could forgive her. I was furious on his behalf. Perhaps the fault is in me, not him, and I should say all power to him but I found his mother completely narcissistic and frankly awful. And yet she was never held accountable by any of the children. It was heartbreaking. So if you feel you fail as a parent, like I did by having to go and look after my mum in the middle of my kid's exams, know that there is someone so much worse than you....if you like memoirs, you won't be bored. It's one incredible thing after another. 

This was selected for the online blogger book club, I always like to read the book so that I get more from their podcast when I listen to it. (look here for other titles they've discussed). I had heard of Jerome K. Jerome but never read his work. I thought it was hilarious. I loved the opening hypochondria (and know only too well what diseases you think you have if you jump on Dr Google...HA!). I found it amusing from start to finish. It's short and an easy read. A little touching towards the end, but for the most part, nutty and fun. I thought this was an excellent pick, as I really enjoyed the silliness of it and would never have read it without being prompted. Have a short story of his lined up next....

While looking for the Jerome K. Jerome title, I stumbled across this comic. His name is from the bumbling style of J.K.J and Bloch is from Psycho. I guess because of murder? Anyway, it's sweet - he's like Tintin but less competent and stumbles through solving mysteries with luck rather than great skill. I will read the others on Hoopla, but won't seek them out to buy  - they aren't the greatest comic you ever read but they're a bit of fun. You can read them (not listen) though the hoopla app. Took about 50 minutes so perfect if waiting for a kids activity to finish.

This was in Borrowbox and I thought it looked interesting - it's short, only about 2 hours. It has Australian support group contacts and numbers. It covers not just mourning a death, but natural disasters, suicide and supporting children through death. I thought it was very practical and had some interesting ideas. It's a low investment (timewise and free through your library with access to Borrowbox) so worth checking out.

Two things I learnt:

The shock of bereavement affects the pituitary gland so you physically become immunosuppressed in grief. However, shedding tears of grief actually help as these tears contain healing and sedating properties…

and

Apparently 10 mins of sunshine on your eye lids can stop sadness turning to depression (in grief, not dismissing actual depression risk factors).

Short this month but hopefully back to normal with some actual page turning next time!

Linking with #TuesdayTwirl #TalkaboutitTuesday #Bookdate #IMWAYR #StackingtheShelves #SundaySalon #SundayPost #MonthlyBooksWorms #Acupofteaandgoodbook