Abebooks keeps thinking I'm tempted to spend $80 to get this rare but rather unattractive dust jacket for the 1931 florin edition (which I have sans jacket) of Katharine Prichard's Haxby Circus.

Abebooks is correct - but I will not be giving in.

And an Arthur Calwell letter for $65

Political memorabilia on eBay currently: Jack Lang's inscribed wooden box for a mere $5000!

Biographical puzzle pieces that don't fit... theguardian.com/culture/2025/a…

Hate to see the New South Welsh live up to their reputation for NSW-centricism ... Keneally wasn't even in the first three. (From Paul Farrell's generally very good book, Gladys.)

Worst Kindle preview ever - only goes to the table of contents.

Two days late for Katharine Susannah Prichard's birthday, some Czech and Slovakian editions of her books came in the post. I wasn't going to collect foreign-language editions, but they were ridiculously affordable!

I wasn't expecting levitation. A strange and beautiful novel.

An unexpected cameo in Voyage Around the Queen

I asked for more detail and it made up a long description. When I challenged this and told Copilot it was inventing things, it wouldn't engage any more. I asked for its sources and it just gave me this coward message over and over:

When I asked for a reading list on John Curtin for a history student, it recommended an incredible book which will have historians very excited... if it existed.

This morning's finds on the bookshelf at my local cafe. I don't properly know any of these authors but I feel someone nearby has refined literary taste.

I like the new Julia Donaldson. Quiet and poignant as 1000 years passes for an oak tree. Lacks the contrived climaxes that exasperate me in many of her other works.