Two months ago I challenged our regular reviewers of Non-fiction (general) to try some bited sized, read-in-one-sitting titles in attempt to boost our non-fiction profile. Thank you all for contributing some fabulous titles to inspire and intrigue us. Most of the reviews were new to our lists and covered a wide range of topics.

Tracey @Carpe Librum travelled from bullying and harassment to literary biscuits with her reviews of Stalked: The Human Target by Rachel Cassidy and Well Read Cookies: Beautiful Biscuits Inspired by Literature by Lauren Chater.

Theresa Smith Writes was also tempted by the many delicious biscuit designs inspired by classic books in Well Read Cookies.

Jonathan @Me fail? I Fly is rediscovering the joys of children’s literature now that he’s a grandfather with Leaf Stone Beetle by Ursula Bubosarsky and illustrated by Gaye Chapman. Along with Janine @Resident Judge of Port Philip, Jonathan also reviewed Laura Tingle’s Follow the Leader Quarterly Essay 71.

Sue @Whispering Gums went to the movies one last time with Margaret and David: 5 Stars edited by Amanda Duthie. She finished her post with a thought-provoking discussion on the practice and art of criticism in the creative arts.

Rebecca @Story Addict Tackled feminism head-on with Clementine Ford’s Boys Will Be Boys with a discussion on how sexism negatively affects girls and boys. She followed up with a more light-hearted look at onomatopoeia in Words That Go Ping by Barbara Lasserre.

Brenda went south with Jade Hameister on her gruelling trek to the South Pole in My Polar Dream.

I headed off to Italy for a look at fashion in Iconic: The Masters of Italian Fashion by Megan Hess, before coming back home to review Chloe Hooper’s The Arsonist.

Anne took us genre-bending, post-modern, autofiction journey with The Happiness Glass by Carol Lefevre as well as an investigative foray into the modern day anxiety epidemic with Jill Stark in Happy Never After. Anne also caught up on Fiona Wright’s award winning Small Acts of Disappearance.

Shelley @The Newtown Review of Books and N@ncy both reviewed Leigh Sales’ Any Ordinary Day. N@ncy was profoundly inspired while Shelley found the book revealing and compelling.
Louise @A Strong Belief in Wicker embraced the lifestyle book genre with her two recent reviews, The Art of Frugal Hedonism by Annie Raser-Rowland and The Art of Living Alone and Loving It by Jane Mathews.
Slowing down, taking time to stop and smell the roses while appreciating each day as it comes were certainly common themes in many of our non-fiction titles this post. Given our hectic rush into the silly season in Australia, with the long summer school holidays and the extra long party season that now seems to extend from Melbourne Cup day through all the end of year staff parties, school concerts and dance recitals, swimming lessons, Christmas and New Year before finally finishing with the start of the new school at the end of January, it would be easy to get stressed out and frazzled just thinking about all that has to be done!
Or, you could select one of the many wonderful, entertaining, insightful books reviewed here at the AWW challenge this year, sit down with a cool drink, put your feet up and read.

About Bronwyn: I have been a book blogger at Brona’s Books since 2009 and a bookseller (specialising in children’s literature) in Sydney since 2008. Prior to this I was as an Early Childhood teacher for 18 years in country NSW.

I joined the AWW team in 2015 as the History, Memoir, Biography editor. In 2017 I moved to the General Non-fiction page and in 2018 I picked up the role of editor of Poetry. You can also find me at The Classics Club as one of the new Gen 2 moderators.

dragonflyI taught myself to read when I was four by memorising my Dr Seuss books. I haven’t stopped reading since.

You can find me on Twitter @bronasbooks and Litsy @Brona.