The State Library of Victoria has, with perfect timing, come up with an activity to amuse us during the social distancing period for COVID_19. It’s their Autumn Book Binge 2020.
Ok, I know, there are some places in the world where it isn’t autumn. That’s a pity, it’s a most beautiful time of the year here in Melbourne, but you can still join in if you like, and (I know I’m going to regret this, because the postage will be spectacular) for one lucky participant who blogs their reviews, I am going to draw a winner from those who complete the challenge to win my surplus-to-requirements copy of Hilary Mantel’s A Place of Greater Safety. (Readings sent me a free copy along with my copy of The Mirror and the Light, but I already had it).
You can read about the Autumn Book Binge here, and pick up your Challenge Card from any participating library, or download it here. The card looks like this:
For Victorian participants, there are monthly prizes of book vouchers from Readings.
To complete a line (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) on the challenge card, you need to read or listen to a book of your choice from any of nine book categories, and here are some suggestions:
Set in Victoria: Click here to see reviews of 162 books set in Victoria: these are some of the most recent ones.
- Simpson Returns, by Wayne Macauley
- There Was Still Love, by Favel Parrett
- The Poison of Polygamy, by Wong Shee Ping, translated by Ely Finch
- Act of Grace, by Anna Krien
- Room for a Stranger, by Melanie Cheng
- Field of Poppies, by Carmel Bird
- Maybe the Horse Will Talk, by Elliot Perlman
- Stone Girl, by Eleni Hale
Recent releases (books published in the last 12 months): Click here for more books published in 2020 and here for more books released in 2019.
- Spinoza’s Overcoat, Travels with Writers and Poets, by Subhash Jaireth
- Small Mercies, by Richard Anderson
- Elephants with Headlights, by Bem Le Hunte
- Fauna, by Donna Mazza
- Return Ticket, by John Doust
- The Innocent Reader, by Debra Adelaide
- Red Can Origami, by Madelaine Dickie
- A Sack Full of Memories, by Zwi Levin, as told to Joe Reich
Other lives: biography about someone who inspires you: Click here for literary bios; here for musician bios; and here for all kinds of other interesting people.
- Maurice Blackburn, Champion of the People, by David Day
- Penny Wong, Passion and Principle, by Margaret Simons
- Nora Heysen, Light and Life, by Jane Hylton
- Kathleen O’Connor of Paris, by Amanda Curtin
- The Heart’s Ground, a Life of Anne Elder, by Julia Hamer
- Elizabeth Macarthur, a Life at the Edge of the World, by Michelle Scott Tucker
- Songs of a War Boy, by Deng Thiak Adut with Ben McKelvey
- No Way But This, In Search of Paul Robeson, by Jeff Sparrow
In translation: Click here for more translations, and you can also filter by gender by using the drop-down category widget in the RHS menu if you want to.
- The Blessed Rita, by Tommy Wieringa, translated by Sam Garrett
- A Meal in Winter, by Hubert Mingarelli, translated by Sam Taylor
- The Eighth Life (for Brilka), by Nino Haratischvili, translated by Charlotte Collins and Ruth Martin
- Max Havelaar, by Multatuli, translated by Ina Rilke and David McKay
- Made in Sweden, 25 Ideas that Created a Country, by Elisabeth Åsbrink, translated by the author
- Butterflies in November, by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir, translated by Brian FitzGibbon
- Our Lady of the Nile, by Scholastique Mukasonga, translated by Melanie L. Mauthner
- Dry Milk, by Huo Yan, translated by Duncan M Campbell
Fact to fiction (works of fiction based on true stories)
- The Electric Hotel, by Dominic Smith
- Paris Savages, by Katherine Johnson
- Book Review: Rosa: Memories With Licence by Ros Collins
- Stone Girl, by Eleni Hale
- Little Stones, by Elizabeth Kuiper
- Daughter of Bad Times, by Rohan Wilson
- Half Wild, by Pip Smith
- Shell, by Kristina Olsson
Book to screen: This was hard—I hadn’t classified books by this criteria. I’ve probably missed heaps of possibilities because I don’t watch much film. Click here to see suggestions from the NFSA.
- Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
- A Dry White Season, by Andre Brink
- Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
- The Harp in the South by Ruth Park
- For the Term of his Natural Life, by Marcus Clarke
- The Shiralee by D’Arcy Niland
- The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, by Thomas Keneally
Beastly titles (books with an animal in the title)
- The Year of the Beast (Glenroy Series), by Steven Carroll
- Between a Wolf and a Dog, by Georgia Blain
- Dogs in Australian Art (expanded edition), by Steven Miller
- Running Dogs, by Ruby J Murray
- Lion Hearts: A Family Saga of Refugees and Asylum Seekers, by Henry R. Lew
- In the Skin of a Lion, by Michael Ondaatje
- The Flight of Birds, by Joshua Lobb
- When Blackbirds Sing, by Martin Boyd
Other worlds (books set in an alternate world to your own) Click here for more speculative fiction, but you can also include books from societies very different to our own, e.g. the USSR or the Middle East.
- The Trespassers, by Meg Mundell
- Rule Britannia, by Daphne du Maurier
- Songwoman, by Ilka Tampke
- A Superior Spectre, by Angela Meyer
- Nyarla and the Circle of Stones, (The Fethafoot Chronicles #1) by Pemulwuy Weeatunga
- The Interrogation of Ashala Wolf, by Ambelin Kwaymullina
- Dyschronia, by Jennifer Mills
- Terra Nullius, by Claire G Coleman
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers. Click on the ANZLL Indigenous Reading List for a wealth of choices. These are IMO must-reads:
- Growing up Aboriginal in Australia, edited by Anita Heiss
- Coranderrk: a play, a book and a moment of Melbourne’s history we all should know
- A Most Peculiar Act, by Marie Munkara
- Talking to My Country, by Stan Grant
- Am I Black Enough For You? by Anita Heiss
- That Deadman Dance, by Kim Scott
- Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms, by Anita Heiss
- Dark Emu, Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident? by Bruce Pascoe
So there you are: lots to choose from!
Join in the conversation and share your book reviews and recommendations on social media, using hashtag #AutumnBookBinge.
Happy reading!!
ANZ LitLovers LitBlog 
Thanks for the online link for the card. I meant to pick one up when I went to the library this afternoon, but apparently I was just very focussed on picking up my book on hold and getting out of there.
LikeLike
By: Marg on March 14, 2020
at 7:43 pm
Good luck with winning a prize!
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on March 14, 2020
at 9:07 pm
I might steal this idea for this week’s Monday Musings Lisa – with a credit to you of course. I have had a busy time and was wondering what to do for this Monday. I have some ideas but all take more work than I will be able to do I think.
LikeLike
By: whisperinggums on March 15, 2020
at 8:53 am
Steal away, the more people know about this, the better:)
LikeLiked by 1 person
By: Lisa Hill on March 15, 2020
at 9:06 am
Reblogged this on Tasmanian Bibliophile @Large and commented:
For those of us looking to do more reading ….
LikeLike
By: Jennifer on March 15, 2020
at 1:44 pm
Excellent! And I have reblogged as well :-)
LikeLike
By: Jennifer on March 15, 2020
at 1:45 pm
Thanks, Jennifer:)
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on March 15, 2020
at 2:30 pm
Damn it. I’m such a sucker for things like this… After ‘failing’ with my Stella longlist reading, I swore off ‘planned’ reading for a while. Tempting categories though… If we go into lockdown, I’m in.
LikeLike
By: Kate W on March 15, 2020
at 2:06 pm
Well, a chance to win a readings voucher, what’s not to like? I mean, this month’s catalogue was a real temptation, but after what I spent last month (I’m too embarrassed to own up) I’m just keeping the catalogue until my credit card recovers…
LikeLiked by 1 person
By: Lisa Hill on March 15, 2020
at 2:32 pm
I’d never say no to a Readings voucher…
LikeLike
By: Kate W on March 16, 2020
at 7:11 am
You know, I’ve never had one. Never. You’d think everyone would know that there is the one, perfect, fail-safe gift for me, and yet…
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on March 16, 2020
at 8:21 am
Such a clever idea!
LikeLike
By: ThoughtsBecomeWords on March 15, 2020
at 3:37 pm
Yes! Well done to the SLV for coming up with it.
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on March 15, 2020
at 10:03 pm
[…] big thanks to Lisa (ANZLitLovers) whose post on the Autumn Book Binge brought it to my attention. I knew immediately that I had to post on it – albeit with a […]
LikeLike
By: Monday musings on Australian literature: Autumn Book Binge 2020 | Whispering Gums on March 16, 2020
at 11:00 pm
For a blogger who regularly writes posts on movie adaptions, your list of book to screen from NFSA is most informative. I must admit these are titles that I’m not familiar with as they are from Down Under. The only one I’ve seen is ‘Rabbit-proof Fence’. And of course ‘Mary Poppins’, not knowing P.L Travers was Australian born.
There’s one movie adaptation I can think of that is not listed is Australian writer John Bryson’s novel ‘A Cry in the Dark’ (1988), based on a true event, directed by Melbourne-born director Fred Schepisi. The film stars Meryl Streep, and is a disturbing and realistic story of a mother accused of murdering her own baby when she reported her lost during a camping trip. That’s when I learned the word dingo. :)
LikeLike
By: Arti on March 17, 2020
at 3:08 am
Hi Arti, I think that would be the story of Lindy Chamberlain, who was indeed convicted of murdering her baby and then released when evidence was found to show that she did not. At the time here in Australia everyone had an opinion about her guilt or innocence, I cannot imagine how she would be treated today, with social media being so vicious.
Rabbit-proof fence was a brilliant film. I used to show it to my students.
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on March 17, 2020
at 8:20 am
Lisa, yes that’s was the true event. Is Lindy Chamberlain still living today? I was a bit surprised to see the filmmaker cast Meryl Streep to play her. I guess she can be anybody and still be convincing.
I’ve thought of another film, ‘Walkabout’ (1971) which is based on a novel too. That was an interesting one.
LikeLike
By: Arti on March 17, 2020
at 8:39 am
Yes, I think she is, I saw her on TV a little while ago, and was impressed by the way she seemed to have no bitterness about what happened to her.
I find it fascinating that people have an opinion about things like this. It seems to me that the only people who could have an opinion are the jury who are there to hear both sides of a case and all of the best evidence. Even so, I’ve been on a jury, and noticed how often people picked up on different aspects of what they saw and heard, and how we had to thrash out these differences in the jury room.
The only opinion I ever had about it was that it would be bad enough to lose your baby, but how much worse, if she was innocent, to be accused of murdering her.
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on March 17, 2020
at 8:45 am
How true. It was disturbing to watch. That was so long ago. You know, I just googled for this info. The distance between my city Calgary and Melbourne (that’s where u are, correct?) is 13,873 km, that’s 8,620 miles! We live in two different worlds and the stories we hear are so different too. Subject matters of books and films are so different as well.
LikeLike
By: Arti on March 17, 2020
at 8:53 am
Nearly 14,000 km! That is a huge distance, though I plan to travel it one day. (I want to do that railway journey that crosses the country).
And yet there are so many things we have in common too, I would argue that some differences are only skin deep. The late great Kevin from Canada wrote about what we have in common in an essay here: https://kevinfromcanada.wordpress.com/2009/05/06/an-essay-similarities-in-australian-and-canadian-fiction/
Food for thought, eh?
LikeLike
By: Lisa Hill on March 17, 2020
at 9:31 am
You know, Lisa, the difference between Calgary and Ottawa is 3,334 km and that’s 2072 miles! Even though we are both Canadian cities, there are many differences in terms of our social fabric and political structures. But I agree with you in that we should look towards what draw us together, the commonality rather than picking out the differences. Unfortunately, in this troubling time, what’s common among us all human in this global village is the Coronavirus. Our city has declared a state of emergency just last night. Hard times ahead. :( But, let’s keep up with our virtual ties in the blogosphere to go through this together!
LikeLike
By: Arti on March 17, 2020
at 9:48 am
[…] Reading Month at Cathy 746, and Welsh Reading month at Booker Talk. Here in Victoria there is the Autumn Book Binge hosted by the State Library of Victoria, and you can win prizes. If you don’t have the book […]
LikeLike
By: Ten Bookish Things to do while self-isolated at home | ANZ LitLovers LitBlog on March 17, 2020
at 11:38 am
[…] has issued the Autumn Book Binge reading challenge. ANZ Litlovers has put together an excellent list of books if you’re […]
LikeLike
By: Bookish (and not so bookish) Thoughts | booksaremyfavouriteandbest on March 17, 2020
at 4:55 pm