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The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern. This took me a long time to finish - partly because the story is intricate, and partly because work kept me busy. It's a book made up of many short parts, many seeming to be myths and fairytales, but all linked in ways that don't become clear until you approach the end. It is cleverly done, and each piece beautifully written. I liked Morgenstern's first book, The Night Circus better, but I did end up enjoying this one very much, and I look forward to reading it again when I have more time to really get lost in it. 4/5.
With work still being intense I've spent some of my time since then picking my way through Black Summer, edited by Michael Rowland and compiled for the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). It is a collection of articles written by ABC journalists about the bushfires of summer 2019/2020. It's interesting enough, although it may be describing events that are still too recent and familiar to me, for me to really appreciate the text. And while emergency broadcasts from the ABC undoubtedly played an important part in the events, I must say that some of the articles feel a little too self-serving; some things said that would have been much better left implied. I haven't finished yet ... will probably intersperse some other reading around this.
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