Alternative headline - Simeon Brown, while overseeing massive cuts to a severely strained NZ health system, becomes poster boy for Alanis Morissette 'Ironic' lyrics meme by claiming other people "gambling with lives" #nzpol

Ferdia Lennon's Glorious Exploits was such a refreshing read after the ham-fised humour of my last read. Somehow the Irish voice telling a tale set in ancient Syracuse worked perfectly for me. I'm not sure how a story with so much suffering made me so happy. Great craic out of 5 💙📚🇳🇿 🖋️📚

You know when a book's blurb completely puts you off, but it's everywhere so you hate it a bit more with each mention and you build up some snobbish attitude without actually having read it? Anyway, time for me to be the last person on the planet to get around to reading Dungeon Crawler Carl 🪐📚 💙📚

On to book 3 of the year, Oranges by John McPhee - How did I nearly reach 50 years old and not know Jaffa was a place? What's next? Snifter is a region in Belarus famous for it's ancient mint varietals? Also, I think I might be living in the past and need some more current references... 📚🇳🇿

Just finished book 2 of the year, Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson. Listened to a character name pronunciation vid halfway through, it was like the novel just doubled it's character cast as I had just about every name wrong in my head ;) Who's Ka-lamb? I think you mean Callum ;) 🪐📚 💙📚 #malazan

My kiwi brain keeps getting shocked out of this fantasy novel by one of the magic groups being called Meanas... I was fully expecting the next line to be something like, "aw... chur bro, you're mean as too!" 📚🇳🇿 #meanas #tumeke

2 hours editing epubs, converting back and forth between formats, trying to get chapters to work on my kindle... then figured out a minute removing spaces from the chapter file names fixed everything. Nothing like overcomplicating tech issues to keep your days filled with frustration ;) 💙📚🇳🇿

Decided the best way to get through some of my TBR was a 2026 reading plan... fast forward two hours and I'm 50 books in and a bit overwhelmed. So, yeah, if all authors out there could not release any books in 2026 so I can catch up some... that'd be appreciated. #pukapuka #booksky #self-sabotage

So, uh, anyone hiring a security engineer or infrastructure engineer? ;) #nzpol #firingCVsintothevoid

Brooke van Velden celebrating James Cameron getting citizenship on the day redundancies are confirmed at Weta FX pretty much sums up the "NACT First" economy to me... #nzpol www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3607...

Normally I try to keep things on an even keel, but I'm more and more enraged by the sideshows we're getting while real issues are not being dealt with. Who needs another enquiry which amounts to a carnival for science-dodging village idiots + pearl clutching about the word spineless? #nzpol

SILKSONG IS REAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL

Hollow Knight: Silksong releasing 2025 according to Nintendo

Mixed reading month in March... including a few short books on the Booker International longlist, some questionable romantasy to see what the fuss is about, the Ockham NZ Fiction award shortlist and some gems while trying to find fantasy that doesn't read like it's written for YAs. 🖋️📚💙 #pukapuka

Have been searching out some decent literary fantasy recently and found a goodreads review containing "honestly, this is the most pretentious book i have ever read. its so far beyond high-brow, its in an obnoxious league all on its own." - I think I might have found my next read! ;) 💙📚 🪐📚 #pukapuka

Normally I don't pay too much attention to my goodreads recent updates feed, but enjoyed this one... Does marking something as Did Not Finish count as getting something done? ;) 💙📚

Just finished the Ockham NZ fiction award shortlist... enjoyed them all, but the standout was The Mires by @tinamakereti.bsky.social - reminding me that while it's easy to see the differences between ourselves and others it's our commonalities and connections which are truly important. #pukapuka 💙📚

Sure to be heard soon - "What I would say to you is that Seymour is handling the destruction of school lunches fantastically, and if you have a problem with it you should just have your chef whip something up for the kids before the nanny drops them to school." #nzpol www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3606...

A varied reading month in February... started on the International Booker Prize longlist which has been good so far, crossed a few off the NYT 100 best books of the 2000s unread list, enjoyed a few randoms that popped up in my bsky feed and revisited my favourite book from my childhood 💙📚 #pukapuka

Reading the International Booker longlist is off to a good start. Ibtisam Azem's The Book of Disappearance is great speculative fiction told from multiple POVs and set in an Israel and Palestine where one day all Palestinians simply vanish. Touching, engrossing and infuriating in under 260 pages 💙📚🇳🇿

Half way through my 650 page book, and getting to the life story of the third member of a family that doesn't seem connected to any plot points yet... this must be one of those literary fiction books I hear about ;) 💙📚🇳🇿

Weirdly my post didn't seem to make it to the #booksky 💙📚 feed so quoteposting to see if that changes things... because it's totally important that everyone sees what I thought about a book I just read! Now I feel like I'm reliving the book obsessing over external validation...

This character study in anxiety, paranoia and delusion is like watching a spider in a sink fighting to get out as the plug is pulled and the water circles the drain. As someone who's a bundle of anxieies on a good day, and whose worst horror is their own mind, it all felt a bit too real at times. 💙📚

"I wonder if this is going to end well" I think, as the characters in the book I'm reading turn up to their new job in the township of Eldritch... 💙📚

Recently saw an imagined interaction with a librarian - "Could I get that book I loved as a child?" "Which version?" "What do you mean?" "The version you remember from childhood or the version with all the issues?" - Just read Harriet the Spy again nearly 40 years later, and boy oh boy issues :) 💙📚

Today's hot take: Storygraph is good for performative readers who want graphics to post to social media to show how readery they are. Goodreads is good for people who just want to know information about the books they're read or might want to read. Today's not hot take: Amazon/Bezos still sucks 💙📚🇳🇿

My son has a pretty uncommon name, so whenever I see a reference to it I get a bit Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme about the whole thing. Currently in the middle of a book with a character that I can't stand, who shares my boy's name... not exactly sure how to feel about it :-/ 💙📚🇳🇿

The stuff-o-sphere musn't like the recent coverage of their boy's actions... I expect we'll soon be getting a front page article on how beautiful the flower arrangements will be at his upcoming wedding. #nzpol www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

I suspect off-street parking in Philadelphia might be filling up at a pretty quick rate right now, as it looks like it's not going to be long before any accessible cars end up upside down and on fire...

Pretty good start to the reading year, especially Hilary Mantel's books after passing them over for years as a genre I don't normally read... Still 79 books left from the NYT 100 best books of the 21st century list, I may be some time ;) 💙📚

This article, on the goings on in the USA written in the tone it would be if it were happening in another country, would be on the front page of every newspaper if the world was still sane - www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/musk-s-jun...

What a gutshot watching the Oscar nominated short 'A Lien' in the days following the inauguration... just learned what it's like to be filled with absolute dread and unbridled rage at the same time. Kia kaha from New Zealand to anyone dealing with ICE/the new administration vimeo.com/997805490

Decided to mix things up a bit this year and start reading through the 80 NYT 100 best books of the 21st century I hadn't already read... 5.5 books into the year, only one of which I would have chosen myself, and all bangers. Who knew a strategy other than "more of the same" would work ;) #booksky

In positive #Oscars nomination news, pretty happy to see three projects from my work getting well deserved nominations out of the five vfx slots... let's go Team Ape/Alien!

I guess that's my day planned, listening to Nine Inch Nails and contemplating awful #Oscars snubs... One of the score noms I haven't seen, but the other four shouldn't have got the nod ahead of #Challengers

Decided to set a goal of reading all of the NYT's 100 best books of the 21st century... Figured I would have read a bunch of them already, but it seems the NYT and my tastes don't fully align - 85 books to go, this might be a 2-3 year project rather than a fun challenge for next year ;) #BookSky

Just finished reading Michael Pollan's "How to Change Your Mind." Interesting read, but now I'm left with the problem of trying to explain to people that I'm interested in the medicinal use of psychedelics without it just sounding like "hey, you know what I like? drugs!" #booksky

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge Day 20:

Here at Time Magazine, We’ve Decided This Is Another One of Those Years We Pick a Person Who Fucking Sucks www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/her...

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge Day 19:

Talking about reducing poverty while listing foci of "supporting parents into paid work" and "breaking the cycles of benefit dependency" gives a very "the beatings will continue until morale improves" vibe... #nzpol www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA24...

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge Day 18:

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge Day 17:

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge Day 16:

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge Day 15:

Incredible police work here

"Restoring employers’ ability to make pay deductions for partial strikes could help incentivise both parties to return to the bargaining table" - maybe I'm just not all the smart, but I fail to see how this incentivises employers to bargain #nzpol www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA24...

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge Day 14:

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge Day 13:

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. #BookSky💙📚 #Books #BookChallenge Day 12: