Credit to the Australian members of parliament who haven’t let this go:

[Prime Minister Anthony] Albanese has said he raised the matter directly with the US, including with the president, Joe Biden, during his visit to Washington in October 2023.

In February this year, Albanese and cabinet members supported a motion put forward by independent MP Andrew Wilkie urging the UK and US to allow Assange to return home to Australia.

The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said he also raised the matter with his US counterpart, Merrick Garland, during a meeting in January this year.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/jun/25/julian-assange-australia-reaction-wikileaks-founder-plea-deal

Beach Read by Emily Henry. Both protagonists are authors.

That’s why my shoes all wear out so soon now!

Great drive from Norris

“Before going into beta” is HIGHLY optimistic lol

Mass produced Knick knacks. Those useless ornaments that just seem to accumulate on bookshelves, fireplaces and cabinets.

I was wondering who else counted the words lol

Awesome to see Piastri get some success under his belt. I was worried the team orders would be to let Norris pass for 2nd.

I’ve always heard Wodehouse mentioned in the context of other authors like Pratchett and Adams.

What book would you recommend as a good starter?

It was definitely togs in Qld when I was growing up. Might be the old potato cake/scallop debate all over again.

I have to admit to giving up on the Fifth Season as well but I’m going to make another attempt soon!

How adorable. I bet you can feel the purrs in your chest :)

110F = 43.33C if anyone else was wondering.

It’s World Teachers Day on Oct 27. Maybe shout them lunch and give them gift cards? As for the school itself, offer to upgrade a specific thing? Like their books or arts and crafts supplies?

Would the Australian (NSW) laws apply here because that’s where it happened? They updated their sexual consent laws not long ago and their easy reader is pretty clear that a kiss is considered part of that. Not sure how it would be charged under the criminal code: https://dcj.nsw.gov.au/documents/children-and-families/family-domestic-and-sexual-violence/domestic-and-sexual-violence-hotlines/dcj_easy_read_sexual_consent_digital_accessible.pdf

Ah yes, I’ve just been through that Libby wait with all the Silo books! Hope it goes quickly for you. :)

From Australia:

Cloudstreet by Tim Winton. Two very different families leave the country for the bright lights of Perth

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton. A story about growing up in Brisbane on the rough side of town.

For the Term of his Natural Life by Marcus Clarke. Very readable novel about Australia’s convict history. I didn’t expect to enjoy it as much as I did.

Same! Love Malazan but Rothfuss is just a poet sometimes.

It’s the perpetual waiting of a fantasy fan haha

The Name of the Wind is sublime. I think because it sounds so different to the usual grand, bombastic, bellicose fantasy kick off. It’s all silence. And a man working in a bar. And that last sentence. Oof.

It was night again. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts. The most obvious part was a hollow, echoing quiet, made by things that were lacking. If there had been a wind it would have sighed through the trees, set the inn’s sign creaking on its hooks, and brushed the silence down the road like trailing autumn leaves… The Waystone was his, just as the third silence was his. This was appropriate, as it was the greatest silence of the three, wrapping the others inside itself. It was deep and wide as autumn’s ending. It was heavy as a great river-smooth stone. It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die.

Full text here: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9410716-it-was-night-again-the-waystone-inn-lay-in-silence