Life Update

Hi lovely readers! I’m sorry for not having posted any reviews in the last few weeks – I have been insanely busy writing essays and studying for exams. I’m finally free now though, so I’ll try to get through my backlog over the next week or so. Also, some pretty big changes have happened/are happening in my life right now, and I just thought I’d share them with you.

  1. I had my last exam this morning, which means that I have officially finished my degree. Woohoo! I’m relieved to be done with assessments, but I’m a little sad that my university days are over (at least for now).
  2. At the end of the month I will be leaving my beloved Melbourne to go and play in a music festival in France. I’m unbelievably excited about this, but I’m a bit heartbroken about leaving this wonderful city and all the wonderful people in it for an indefinite amount of time.
  3. I have resigned from my amazing bookshop job and will be heading off on a year-long adventure across North America in October. I don’t really have much of a plan yet, which is both exhilirating and terrifying. If you have any recommendations for things to do/places to see/bookshops to fawn over in the USA or Canada, I would love to hear from you.

Anyway, that’s my life at the moment. It’s a bit of a mess, but it’s an exciting mess. I also read a few books over the last few weeks, which I will try to review as soon as possible. Here is the list:

  • The Last Painting of Sara De Vos – Dominic Smith
  • The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern
  • The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America – Bill Bryson
  • Adulthood is a Myth – Sarah Andersen
  • O Pioneers! – Willa Cather
  • Wishful Drinking – Carrie Fisher

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them? Do you have any good post-graduation book recommendations? Or recommendations for books that will get me excited about road-tripping across America? Would love to hear your thoughts. 🙂 

~Anna

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Anna

Anna. Melbourne. Bookseller. Student. Serial tsundokist.

13 thoughts on “Life Update”

  1. Congratulations on finishing up your degree! 🙂 France and the US! Exciting times ahead of you. 🙂 As for book recommendations I would say On the Road and Train Dreams, but I didn’t love either! 😐

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  2. So many wonderful and amazing changes going on in your life. How exciting! You’re playing in a music festival? What do you play? Any chance you want to link to some recordings of your music? Inquiring minds want to hear. 🙂

    I see that some wonderful bookish bloggers have given you some great recommendations. I was totally going to recommend O Pioneers! too. Hm. I want to add anything by Mark Twain (Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, or his memoir Life on the Mississippi). You already read A Walk In the Woods (I adore Bryson, too!)– if you like the idea of hiking the major American trails, I’d also recommend Wild by Cheryl Strayed. She crosses the Pacific Crest Trail along the west coast. Also, American Gods by Neil Gaiman is around my neck of the woods (Wisconsin!)– plus, Niel Gaiman is amazing.

    Let me know if you ever make it to Wisconsin. I live in the Madison area, and I’d be more than willing to show you two around!

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    1. Aww, thank you so much for the lovely comment (and for all of your great recommendations). I’ve been meaning to read Wild for ages, but I haven’t got around to it yet. I think now might be a great time to give it a read. 🙂

      Oh, and I play the violin (and the viola too sometimes)! I don’t actually have any recordings online at the moment, but there will hopefully be some after this festival. Will definitely let you know! And thank you so much for the invite – if we do end up in Wisconsin, I’ll be sure to let you know. It would be so lovely to get to meet you! 🙂

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  3. Congrats on finishing your university work! And it sounds like you’ve got an exciting few months ahead of you. Hmmm, trying to think of road-trip across America books to recommend…most of my travel memoir books have been outside of America. Have you read A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson? It’s funny, but it’s about the Appalachian Trail, not really a road trip book. Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck is pretty good. Wish I had some better recommendations! If you get a chance, though, you should try to go to Charleston, SC. It’s just a lovely town and SO many good restaurants! Lots of historic places too.

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    1. Thank you so much, Laila! I’m really excited about the next few months. I will definitely try to pass through Charleston. I just looked it up on Google images and it looks so charming! I actually read ‘A Walk in the Woods’ for the first time this year and it had me crying with laughter. Bill Bryson is amazing. Ooh, I’ll have to give ‘Travels with Charley’ a shot – thanks for the recommendation! I think I might even have a copy lying around somewhere.

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  4. Wow- your life sounds amazing!! Hope you have an incredible time on all your adventures!!! And *massive* congrats on finishing your degree!! Looking forward to your reviews 😀 As for bookish recommendations, I’m drawing a blank, but I saw in the comment above that you weren’t too keen on On the Road and I can totally relate

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    1. Aww, thank you so much! I’m pretty excited. 🙂 Yeah, I just thought On the Road was really boring and I couldn’t stand Kerouac’s appalling representation of women. Glad to know I’m not the only one who isn’t a fan!

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    2. You’re welcome!! I felt the exact same way. ughh yes. I don’t recall any actual female characters (women with the same amount of personality and intellect as furniture do not count as characters)- which pretty much says everything about it.

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  5. The ultimate road-tripping-across-the-United-States book would likely be Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. How does one end up in North America all the way from Australia with no plan? And are you going it alone??

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    1. Yeah, I read that one a few years ago, but I remember not enjoying it that much. Maybe I should go back and re-read it though! I guess this road trip is something I’ve always wanted to do and now that I’ve finished university, I have quite a lot of time on my hands and not too many obligations. Oh, and I’ll be going with my best friend. We’re flying into Canada where we will most likely work for a few months and then we’re planning on buying a car and living out of it for a while.

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    2. I didn’t like On the Road either, but it’s a classic. My god, are you going to turn into Thelma and Louise?? Also, how does over simply road trip in a foreign country? I’m just picturing visas and paperwork galore. Either was, if the you want to see the famous Notre Dame, lemme know. 😉

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    3. Hahaha, let’s hope it doesn’t end with both of us driving over a cliff. I’ve actually got an American passport, so there is actually very little paperwork involved. Ooh, I’ve never been to Notre Dame – I think we might just have to pass through. 😛

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