Blog Archive

1 December 2025

Two Classic Children’s Novels

When I was in primary school I read a book that has lived in my imagination my entire life. John Masefield’s The Midnight Folk tells the story of young Kay Harker, ostensibly being raised by an unsympathetic governess, who is introduced to a secret world that comes to life at night. In the opening pages, Kay and the reader discover the presence of witches, talking animals, his toys that come to life, and the chance to track down an old family treasure taken from the Caribbean and rumoured to be hidden somewhere on the estate.

I was hooked. I have to admit, I wanted an adventure like Kay Harker, and I remember getting up in the middle of the night sometimes, wishing something would happen but nothing did. Sometimes I moved things in the house just so I could see them in a different place the next day, and I expected my family might notice and wonder what had happened, but they never did. I partly attribute years of insomnia to this book.

There is a sequel featuring Kay, set during Christmas, called The Box of Delights. I never read it. I used to look at it in the local newsagency where they had a copy, and its cover illustration (the Piccolo edition) was just as enticing and evocative for me. But we never had a lot of money so buying books was a luxury my mother could not always afford. I always felt that as a loss.

Which is why I love to go back to books like these and reread them, now. I’ve previously reread Margaret Potter’s The Blow-and-Grow Year and I reviewed it for this site, as well as Mordecai Richler’s Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang.

I recently reread The Midnight Folk with Toriaz, who expressed an interest in it. However, because our reading was intermittent and the book is surprisingly complex and detailed for a children’s book, I decided I would reread it again on my own. To this end I ordered a hardback edition published by the New York Review, and also finally bought myself a copy of The Box of Delights in the same edition. They’re lovely editions, but what pleased me most was that this edition contains the original illustrations. Some editions are now illustrated by Quentin Blake, and I don’t like his work. His style is too light and whimsical for these books.

Naturally, when I read these books I intend to do something on the website for them. However, I have now decided I want to do more than just review them, because their language is more sophisticated than most books now written for children, and their plots multilayered with many characters (at least for The Midnight Folk). I thought I might produce some kind of guide for the books. I really hope someone else will be inspired to read these old books, written early last century, but set in the 19^th century.

- bikerbuddy

23 December 2025

Book Buying with Neptunes Bounty

Neptunes Bounty, another reviewer on this site, has been tempting me to visit her local bookshop in Lithgow. Yesterday, I finally made the drive west to catch up and indulge in a favourite pastime – browsing in a good second-hand bookshop. With a sign like this out front, who could resist?

We met for a leisurely lunch then wandered over to A Readers' Haven, an incredibly well stocked and organised bookshop. We started just browsing, slowly accumulating a selection of books, then ended up searching for specific books we'd been interested in. Owner Paul and his enthusiastic assistant both helped us track down a few titles.

Both of us already have piles of books in our homes, waiting to be read, but neither of us really made any effort at restraint. We both ended up very happy, with lots of books to add to our collections

- Toriaz

26 December 2025

A Book-Themed Christmas

I’ve been waiting until after Christmas to post any further blogs for this year because I didn’t want to reveal certain things before then. I’ll write more about that tomorrow.

We had Christmas yesterday and I thought I would write about the gifts I received. My Christmas was (predictably?) book orientated. I was given gift cards by Jenny, Victoria and my oldest son for Harry Hartogs, a book retailer in Penrith. I was also given books and a book-themed piece of furniture. I think the image shows it better than I could describe it.

Jenny saw an advertisement on Facebook by a local carpenter for this book stand. She thought I could use it in my book nook in our backyard to rest books or drinks on top of it. I wrote about my book nook in my blog post for 2 September 2024.

I also received books from both my sons. My eldest son gave me Suttree by Cormac McCarthy and The House of Wolf by Tony Robinson. Yes, that’s the same Tony Robinson who starred as Baldrick in the Blackadder series and hosted Time Team for 20 seasons. Given that, it shouldn’t be surprising it is an historical fiction set in Medieval England. I had almost bought this book not so long ago.

My youngest gave me Super-Frog Saves Tokyo by Haruki Murakami and Tom’s Crossing by Mark Z. Danielewski. I had also been tempted by both these books recently, too. Which helps to explain how I guessed their exact titles before I even opened the presents. I must have looked like a psychic or Sherlock Holmes. But my powers of deduction are not as formidable as they appeared. Murakami’s book is a small hardback of an unusual size and thickness, and I am known to like Murakami. I was also familiar with the feel of Danielewski’s book since I had bought it as a gift for my younger son, who is avidly rereading House of Leaves by Danielewski, and I know he wants me to read these books. So, we really just swapped copies, I guess. I actually have House of Leaves on my shelf waiting to be read, like too many other books!

Tomorrow I’ll write about something I gave everyone else.

- bikerbuddy

27 December 2025

Merch!

Yesterday I said I had been waiting until after Christmas before posting another blog. I hadn’t wanted to reveal that I had created ‘merchandise’ for the Reading Project.

To be clear, I have no plans to sell merchandise for the website. But I wanted to do something website-related for Christmas. So, I put in an order with a merchandising company that had discounted their rates for Christmas, to produce ten coffee mugs and three T-shirts with the Reading Project artwork on it. The three T-shirts were for Jenny, Victoria and myself and were a part of their Christmas presents. The ten mugs were for the family, and I thought I would use spares as thankyous where I could to any contributors living in Australia.

I took a screenshot of the T-shirts from the supplier rather than photograph them myself, since I realised how difficult it is to make T-shirts look good in a photo:

But I photographed my mug, front and back, myself. This is what it looks like:

My youngest son sent me a photo of his mug full of coffee yesterday morning. He does humour me!

My last thought is that it’s going to be fun going into bookshops with those T-shirts, especially if two of us are wearing them, together. We’re going to look like weirdos!

- bikerbuddy