ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

Welcome to the ANZ LitLovers blog.  It started out as a blog for an online reading group, and while it still retains its role as a portal to the group, its primary function now is as Lisa Hill’s ANZ LitLovers LitBlog – where you can find reviews and commentary about Australian literary fiction, Australian classics and (less often)  non-fiction.  There are also regular blog posts about contemporary international fiction and the classics.

Lisa Hill is a keen reader who lives in Melbourne, Victoria.  Her natural habitat is a library.  When not reading, she can be found buying, coveting,  sorting, re-arranging, cataloguing, blogging or talking about books, with occasional trips overseas to admire other libraries.  These activities are interrupted only by having to go to work, but after a long career in teaching she has finally found a way of combining the two by working as a primary school librarian, necessitating reading books to 17 classes a week and more buying, coveting,  sorting, re-arranging, cataloguing, blogging or talking about books.

(Just in case you were wondering if all this is really true, Lisa Hill is proud to wear the title Uber Cool History / Lit Geek)


The ANZ LitLovers reading group

 ANZ LitLovers is an online reading group for Australian and New Zealand lovers of literary fiction.  Our members are keen readers of all ages who discuss books and book-related topics by email.

Our members come from all over ANZ, but gatherings take place whenever the opportunity arises.  Bookshops and writing festivals are popular venues.

ANZLL defines ANZ literature as any book of literary fiction written by a Kiwi or an Aussie, (including expats) or set in Australia or New Zealand.  We choose mainly contemporary literary fiction, but include a ‘classic’ choice for the summer holidays. We also include an international title each year, and enjoy friendly and relaxed chat about other books we read as well.

Members nominate books for discussion, and we vote at the end of each year.   We choose affordable paperbacks that are also readily available from libraries, and the style and quality of our choices can be seen by checking current and past schedules as well as our Top Tens page.  Discussion starts on the 8th of each month, and if we have two titles in a month, the second discussion begins on the 22nd.  While it is not expected that everyone will join discussions for every title, all members are asked to contribute regularly to sharing their BBRLM (Best Book Read Last Month), and to our annual Top Tens.

ANZ LitLovers is a Yahoo reading group, and there is no cost to belong.  Membership is by invitation, but we welcome enquiries from keen readers from Australia or New Zealand any time.  Check out our reading schedule, rating scale and many other book-related links, and if you’d like to join, contact

ANZLitLovers-owner@yahoogroups.com  or capel@tpg.com.au (NB This is the contact email for the reading group, not for Lisa Hill at this blog. Scroll right down to the bottom for that.  I hide it to avoid spam.)

Our history

ANZ LitLovers was founded in January 2002 by  Kim Dwyer (at left) in Noosa, Queensland, and Lisa Hill in Melbourne, Victoria.

After a long struggle with breast cancer, Kim died peacefully at home with her family on May 13th, 2005.

Kim was a very special person to us all.  We loved her warm and generous spirit, her sense of humour,
her passionate opinions about the world’s injustices, and her wisdom.
Those of us who were privileged to know her will never forget her.

Gardenias were her favourite flower.
This one blooms in Lisa’s garden in  memory of Kim.

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This blog is maintained by Lisa Hill.

Ramblings, reviews, rants and raves are all by Lisa Hill unless otherwise noted.

Publishers and authors wishing to submit books for review, please visit the Comments and Reviews Policy page, then contact anzlitloversatbigponddotcom.

Transparency statement: Since November 2009, when I joined The Book Depository’s Affiliate Program,  some links on this site are to The Book Depository.  I receive a token commission if you buy a book from one of these links, or if you visit The Book Depository via the logo in the RHS menu and subsequently buy a book from them.  Any commission received in this way contributes a modicum towards the ISP costs of the ANZLL website, towards the subscription that I pay to keep it free of other intrusive advertising, towards the exorbitant cost of posting books to my friends here and overseas and towards my compulsive book buying habits.  For more information, see my post about this.

Update: April 9th 2011

I have also joined the Fishpond Affiliate Program, to provide convenient links for Australian and New Zealand buyers.    This is partly to support local online suppliers of Australian and New Zealand books and partly because The Book Depository does not always stock ANZ titles.  Like the Book Depository, they offer free postage on every order.

Please note:

The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows 10% of the number of words on this website to be reproduced and/or communicated by any Australian educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or the body that administers it) has given a notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under Part VB of the Act.
For details of the CAL licence for educational institutions contact: Copyright Agency Limited, Level 15, 233 Castlereagh St, Sydney NSW 2000 Ph 612 93947600 Fax 612 93947601 Email: info@copyright.com.au
Except for personal use or as permitted under the Act (e.g. for the services of the Crown or in reliance on one of the fair dealing exceptions i.e. a fair dealing for the purposes of research or study) no part of this website may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the copyright owner Lisa Hill at anzlitloversatbigponddotcom or as attributed on individual blog posts.