June | 2010 | Reading Upside Down

From the monthly archives: June 2010

When Was Your Last ‘Actual Conversation’?

By Susan On June 28, 2010 · 5 Comments

I recently took part in a blog meme titled ‘How Aussie Are You?’. It was simply meant as a bit of fun, especially since my aversion to sport, meat pies and the outdoors often makes me wonder whether there is something my parents aren’t telling me about my true nationality.

One question, about [...]

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Book Review: Summer Crossing by Truman Capote

By Susan On June 28, 2010 · 1 Comment

Summary (Popular Penguins website)

Flame-haired Grady McNeil is beautiful, rich and defiant. Her privileged society life leaves her wanting, and excitement comes in the form of the highly unsuitable Clyde, a Brooklyn-born, Jewish parking attendant. When Grady’s mother and father leave her alone one summer in their New York penthouse, her secret affair intensifies and [...]

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Book Review: Toppling by Sally Murphy

By Susan On June 28, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Summary (from Walker Books Australia website)

John is obsessed with dominoes. But not with playing the traditional game, he is obsessed with toppling. He spends hours setting up spirals, ramps, patterns and lines of dominoes all for that satisfying toppling beginning with a small push in the right direction, everything falls as it is [...]

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I Love You Twitter

By Susan On June 24, 2010 · 11 Comments

I find myself mentioning Twitter more and more often in general conversation of late. After sitting mesmerised by my computer screen last night and again this morning as I watched #spill unfold, I went to be wondering how I ever managed without my Tweeps to keep me informed and entertained.

So, to avoiding writing [...]

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That’s What Friends are For

By Susan On June 23, 2010 · 10 Comments

I don’t have a lot of indulgences in my life – I don’t drink a lot of alcohol, smoke, gamble, drink coffee, coke or even soft drinks in general. I don’t watch much television and I don’t go out all that often without my kids in tow.

You know, reading over this, it has suddenly [...]

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Book Review: Fair Skin Black Fella

By Susan On June 23, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Summary (Magabala Books website)

This is the story of Mary, a young Aboriginal girl who lives on a red and dusty cattle station. Shunned by the other girls because of her fair skin, Old Ned, one of the community elders, finally speaks up. With words full of knowledge and wisdom, he teaches the girls that [...]

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How Aussie are You?

By Susan On June 18, 2010 · 6 Comments

I found this meme at Tina Gray {dot} Me, who apparently borrowed it from Flawed. It’s like the circle of life, but with blog content rather than cute animated Disney characters.

So here goes, I’ve highlighted all the one’s I’ve completed and added some extra comments in brackets here [...]

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Chalking This One Up to Experience

By Susan On June 18, 2010 · 9 Comments

This year I enrolled at university and I have recently completed my first subject.

I had pictured the return to studies as a fulfilling and affirming experience. With my mind challenged by erudite and intellectual discussions, I was going to take the academic world by storm and prove, if only to myself, that after 12 [...]

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Book Review: After the Fall by Kylie Ladd

By Susan On June 16, 2010 · 1 Comment

Two married couples: Kate and Cary, Cressida and Luke. Four people who meet, click, and become firm friends. But then Kate and Luke discover a growing attraction, which becomes an obsession. They fall in love, then fall into an affair. It blows their worlds apart. After the fall, nothing will ever be the same again.

[...]

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Robbed of a Chance to Say “I Told You So”

By Susan On June 10, 2010 · 8 Comments

There are few moments as satisfying as the opportunity to deliver a well-timed “I told you so”.

I know that I’m about to offer conclusive proof that I am a less than ideal parent, but a small part of me was waiting for the results of my son’s saxophone exam yesterday, knowing that they would [...]