52. Crazy Book Lady Reads For 24 Hours!
The Case of the Substack Birthday
Hello, friend - hope you’ve had a great week!
Not sure if you’ve been keeping track, but there are 52 weeks in a year (I’m told) and this is my 52nd newsie! Ipso calendaro - Happy Birthday to Between You, Me and the Gatepost!
One year of weekly nonsense, blathering, shameless promotions of my own website and mooning over you, dear reader. Without you, I’d be scratching my thoughts onto an aged papyrus with a piece of charcoal and wondering why the Internet didn’t exist any more. Turns out you’re pretty important.
In all seriousness, the support and love you continue to show me means more than you know. You are a miracle wrapped in a cute suit, and that’s not to be sneezed at.
Anyway - stop going on about it. Let’s pass Notes later.
Fishbird Catch of the Week
We publish articles twice a week on the Fishbird Central website - every Wednesday and Saturday! This week’s included:
Atmospheric Reads: Fiction Faves!
In this post we review 3 atmospheric Aussie novels - Still by Matt Nable, a brooding noir set in Darwin’s sweltering streets; Treasure and Dirt by Chris Hammer brimming with secrets hidden in mineshafts; and Crimson Lake by Candice Fox, featuring investigators under their own clouds of suspicion. Have you read any of these titles - what did you think? Who’s your favourite Aussie author?
Check out the latest post here - Atmospheric Reads: Fiction Faves!
In this post our sketchy crew find themselves on WANTED posters. Gabby Gibbon keeps hanging around like a lost lunch; the Cheese Clock is drawing dairy thieves; the Pink Princess seems to be making promises she can't keep - and the Potato Baker is making some delicious enemies! Will Mother Goose keep her cape? Who can stop Blinky from ... blinking? Will Slow Greg be quick enough to escape his doom? Sketch on, friends - sketch on!
Check out the latest post here - Sketching May: Week 2, 2025!
Challenge: Reading for 24 Hours (Part One)
Friday evening at 8:15 I came up with an amazing idea. “I should do some reading! BUT let’s make it into a multi-day challenge for no reason!”
What’s more exhilarating than taking a pleasurable hobby and turning it into a chore?! How much can I read in a 24 hour period? Let’s find out!
First, I needed to lay some complex ground rules no-one would care about:
Set a timer counting down 24 hrs and only hit the timer when actually reading.
Do reading.
I chose to begin my reading quest 30 minutes before my regular evening snooze shutdown, so I was bright as a button and raring to go! Thankfully I’d chosen a page-turner to kick me off and had the glorious power of audiobook to act as my eyes.
Leaping immediately out of bed Saturday morning, I grabbed my headphones and was straight back on the reading train! Listening with eggs, reading whilst pottering and flying through chapters like a young Amelia Earhart (if her plane was made of books). One novel down!
Sunday arrived and I was still at it! New book loaded - a cosy Kindle romance to power me forward! This was risky as, given a choice, I prefer my characters murdering each other in dark alleyways more than frolicking with farmers. But spicy story conquered and Book 3 teed up and ready to go!
As I write this newsie Sunday arve:
TIME REMAINING: 14:53:19 = Read 9 hrs 7 mins so far (yes, I had help with this math)
PAGES COMPLETED: 732
Can she read for another 15 hours?! What lessons is she learning about herself?! When will she reset the timer by accident?! Why is she talking about herself in third person?!
Find out next Sunday, if I remember to keep doing it and/or don’t run out of books!
Quick Fire Wrap Up
Currently Reading: ‘Kickback’ by Garry Disher. Wyatt plans to hit a suburban law firm for the settlement money in its safe. But he’s working with cowboys, and the lawyer planning to rip off her boss is a little too mysterious for his comfort. Wyatt’s as good as they come, but everything needs to go like clockwork—and you can’t always plan around human frailty.
Currently Watching: ‘Murderbot’ Season One on AppleTV. A security android struggles with emotions and free will while balancing dangerous missions and desire for isolation, evading detection of its self-hacking as it finds its place. Lured into this one by Alexander Skarsgård, and having a good time :)
Currently Singing Along To: ‘Make Your Own Kind of Music’ by Cass Elliot. “… Make your own kind of music, sing your own special song. Make your own kind of music - even if nobody else sings along.”
Have any book, song or show recommendations? Let me know in the comments! :)
Wishes for the Week
You’re powerful, precious and pretty. Stop rolling your eyes, it’s the truth.
I’ve lost count of the amount of people who message me to say they think you’re amazing. Keep it up, kiddo - you’re knocking ‘em dead. In a nice way. No charges.
Stay cool, punks.
“Audiobooks count as real books. You have ears, that’s how the story gets in.” Dr Gregory House (probably)
Jen x
Well done 🤩 good luck with your reading challenge 👍 keep on keeping on 📚and big Birthday congrats 🥳