Life Lessons From Books

When I’m not reading, I’m doing jigsaw puzzles 🧩. This is one that was created by Jane Mount on Banned Books from American libraries since the 1960s. As I’m doing the puzzle, I realise that there’s so many books and voices that have been silenced.

As we are living in a world that needs these diverse voices heard, I decided that I’ll be reading a few of these in 2026. That’ll be one of my reading goals for the new year.

Over to you. Run your eye through the list.

(1) What can you read and share with others?
(2) Which books surprised you that they were banned in schools?
(3) Which would you recommend?

#bookbans #reading #books

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1 week ago | [YT] | 16

Life Lessons From Books

Today I did a bit of “flaneuring” in Melbourne and walked the city’s laneways and exploring places I had never been.

I found myself in the RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) Library and spent a good couple of hours there perusing their literature and fiction shelves before exploring their different buildings (no, I never studied there but it’s always nice to explore other universities and institutions - and their libraries and bookstores hidden within them).

I’ll pull together a video of what I saw and did. Coming soon.

➡️Have you read any of these books?
➡️Where was your best hidden find for books in your city?
Share your secret. 👇

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2 months ago | [YT] | 15

Life Lessons From Books

Guess which book I’m reading….

2 months ago | [YT] | 6

Life Lessons From Books

One of the things I love to do is to visit various bookstores around Melbourne to see “what’s on the shelves”. If you’re interested to see what’s on them, here’s a couple of photos from Readings bookshop at Chadstone.

There’s a few there that I’d be interested in reading and will share my thoughts over the coming months. Later, I sat down and enjoyed a cuppa and lemon meringue pie with a Gertrude Stein (auto)biography. She wrote the book as if it was her partner’s eyes into Gertrude’s life.

Ah Gertrude. Modernist in observation of the arts in Paris and modernist in nature through her eclectic writing approaches. That review will be shared soon.

Happy reading!

What’s on the bookshelves in your country?

List them below please as I’d love to get the English translations - or find them here in Australia- of your authors.

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3 months ago | [YT] | 13

Life Lessons From Books

I’d like to learn more about AI in particular, the ethical and moral reasons for its use without falling into the rhetoric and hype by tech companies encouraging (or forcing people) to use it without a right of refusal.

I started to read this book but then had a closer look at its authors, the testimonials and the interests behind them….. mmm. 🤔

Ok, it’s fair to say I won’t be doing a review of this book. Don’t wait for it.

In the meantime, if you have any recommendations of books on this topic written by people and researchers who come from a different perspectives and broad industry backgrounds that explore impact of gen AI in society then let me know. Thanks. 🙏 (even fiction)

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4 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 5

Life Lessons From Books

Today I thought I’d be a little creative.

I wanted to create a deck of cards with some questions that I could ask at my next Book Club meeting. So I fired up Canva and with some business card paper, I printed them out and cut them to size.

This is something you can do easily of you have a computer, printer and some card paper. Questions? Well you can come up with anything that you want. You can then also use them as part of journal writing (but I’d use deeper and more reflective questions for this)…..maybe I should print another deck of cards for this as it was fun creating these.

How do you integrate creativity with your reading?

What do you create?
What does reading and books inspire you with different activities?

5 months ago | [YT] | 21

Life Lessons From Books

Hello everyone. It is cold and wet here so I’ve been focused on two things:

(1) Reading (obvs) and
(2) Knitting (yes, I’m a knitter 🤣)

So what does that mean?

Unfortunately I’m hopelessly behind creating and editing videos here. They take ages to create and I prefer to be doing one of the above two things) 🤣

I’ll be back in action again soon enough though (once I heat up the room which I’ll film in because it’s a freezer but anyway….

Here’s some of the books I’ve been reading - and will read - in coming months.

Recommendations?

(1) Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ~ have tissues nearby
(2) Honeybee by Craig Silvey (Australian) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ~ quick read
(3) The Ledge by Christian White (Australian) ⭐️⭐️⭐️ ~ quick read
(4) Parisian Days: The Rediscovered Memoir by Banine ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
(5) Days in the Caucasus (1945) by Banine ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Happy reading (or knitting, or writing or doing whatever makes you happy in these crazy times). Stay warm or stay cool.

5 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 29

Life Lessons From Books

In the last four days, I DNF (Did Not Finish) four books.

This must be a personal record for me. 🤣

I made it to about 120-150 pages in but they all failed to grip me for different reasons. If you want to know the different reasons of why I DNF books, check out one of my recent videos here.

Ultimately, don’t feel bad if you can’t finish the book. It might not be the right time for that book to enter your life - and that’s ok.

6 months ago | [YT] | 33

Life Lessons From Books

It’s been a while since I posted a photo or two here. On gloriously sunny weekend afternoons, I head to this library. It’s Brighton Library and it is on beautiful grounds surrounded by architecturally distinct buildings from the late 1800s, the art deco 1920s and the wonderful library itself inspired by the Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim. It’s a great place to sit in the shade of the trees, listen to the magpies or kookaburras and read your latest book borrowings.

What’s in my hand?
Nina X by Ewan Morrison
After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
When We Cease to Understand the Wod by Benjamin Labatut
Life Without Children by Roddy Doyle

What are you reading this weekend?

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8 months ago | [YT] | 21

Life Lessons From Books

Ghandi once said,”Live as if you were to die tomorrow; learn as if you were to live forever”.

I’m excited to be reading this book currently that delves into one of my main interests of Lifelong Learning (to bring about personal transformation in our lives).

The world is complex. It’s constantly changing and uncertain - but we have the ability as humans to nurture our creativity, curiosity and self-awareness - even in this world dominated by technology and AI - by tapping into the lessons and experiences of our lives.

We can find lessons in our books, conversations, projects and the world around us.

Looking at these lists of knowledge capacities I can’t help but wonder that we already have what we need to shape a new future through collaboration and co-operation towards kinship. We so need it right now.

Big thank you to AS for the loan of this book.

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9 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 12