How P J O’Rourke saved my life
Since I was 5 I have bought and read thousands of books. I can’t tell you when or where I had acquired a particular tome on my shelves – it all …
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20 + 1 Best Books I’ve Read in 2021
This is the last time I’m ever doing New Year’s resolutions. My resolution for 2021 was to read less – not because I hate reading but to have more diverse …
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A Bookseller of Wooloowin
When I was seven years old I dreamed of one day owning a bookshop. When I was seven years old I also thought that somebody in their mid-40s was very old; …
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25 Best Books I’ve Read in 2020
As always with these annual roundups, please note that these are the best books I’ve read last year, not the best book published last year, as I never buy new …
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Michael Gove’s bookshelf – and yours (and mine too)
Plenty of people like to be filmed against the backdrop of their bookshelves to convey the message or at least create the impression that they are smart. This has become …
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“Ruthenia & Galicia”
To quote myself from another website: Having read over 80 books last year, I have already made a New Year’s resolution to read less in 2020, but now, with the …
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20 Best Books and 19 Notable Mentions I’ve Read in 2019
You know the gig by the now: not the new books that came out last year but the books I got to read throughout 2019. There have been far too …
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Before there was Trump, there was Joe McCarthy
I’ve been reading M Stanton Evans’s excellent and scholarly “Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies” (published some 12 years ago) …
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Monte Cassino, great-grandfather and a bear
On May 18, the day Australia goes to the polls, on the other side of the world we will be commemorating the 75th anniversary of the end of the bloodiest …
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Hands off my books, Marie
Who is this monster and what does she want? Book lovers are not happy about the way organization guru Marie Kondo recommends handling books in her new Netflix series “Tidying …
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20 Best Books I’ve Read in 2018
Happy New Year to The Daily Chrenk readers. If 2018 sucked for you, as it did for many people I know, keep marching on, onward and upward; if it was …
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20 best books I’ve read in 2017
I read. Too much. In fact, my New Year’s resolution for 2018 is to read less, and instead fill that time with some more profitable pursuits, like making some profits …
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The best books in 2016
Confession: I read a lot. Always did, since I was 5. Perhaps too much. Which is why, to avoid bankruptcy, I don’t buy new books. My readings range widely and …
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The Joy of Sex* (and Books)
I have been coming to Bookfests since the very first one, more than twenty years ago. In case you’re not from around here, Bookfest is a twice-yearly, biggest charity book …
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