Lost in a Good Book

Well.

I don’t know who lets me have these grand ideas but as we tick down the final hours or 2024 I managed to pull off some kind of miracle. The past few days I frantically tried to meet my (personally chosen and completely voluntary) goal of reading 12 #LoveOzYA books this year and I have snuck in before the final strike of midnight. Yay!

Like most of my grand plans, I started off well, dipped in the middle, got angry at myself for my inability to maintain my plans despite the want and desire still being there, and then managing to stress out and make sure I met these (again, arbitrary, completely voluntary, self-inflicted, no consequence) goals.

It feels like an ongoing cop out, but I putting some blame on the fact there are so few Aussie YA books made into audiobooks. Even with the brief consideration of signing up for audible I couldn’t find any on there worth my time that I couldn’t get through the free library apps. The second blame lays entirely on the fact at somehow, in an entire year, I couldn’t make time to sit and read a single book and do nothing else? I felt like time was being wasted if I only read, I couldn’t read and do laundry, read and drive, read and walk the dog. That I think is one thing I will seriously have to work on next year because that doesn’t sound healthy if we study that too closely.

But enough lamenting, we’re here to celebrate the first annual Lost in a Good Book award for outstanding achievement in the field of reading challenges! I know readers like thebookmuse and jess64au on StoryGraph met their achievements which is amazing, especially considering I thought this was going to be a solo venture. I know a couple other people dropped off but I am still eternally grateful they were keen enough to give it a shot in the first place. I was a bit slack on the promotional aspect and I know I didn’t keep up with my tagging and reviewing but for a first year I am quietly pleased I pulled it off. Onto greater success next year!

I read some great Aussie YA this year. Two of which were set at university, and two were at the lower end with a 14 year old character and a 13 year old character. It was refreshing to see a different side of young life that wasn’t the mid teens which is often so prevalent. Some of the books I read have even made it onto my Top Five of 2024 list.

I read a lot of authors I hadn’t heard of, some that had been on my TBR list ages, and some lesser known books that were quietly waiting my discovery. The full list of what I read is below but I love that doing this challenge made me track down these books. Of course there are lists every year about new and upcoming books, the fantastic #LoveOzYA team promote new releases, themed books, and old favourites all the time. But having to discover Aussie YA on various library apps and diving right in because I have a goal to meet and it was available in a format I could handle honestly hasn’t been the worst way to read.

I also managed to complete a small related side quest and finished the Read 24 YA stories in 2024 Challenge on StoryGraph. Depressingly a lot easier without the Australian restriction in terms of audiobooks and in the end I exceeded that too (reading a couple series definitely helped I think), and I am most certainly going to challenge myself to that one again as well.

I plan to review these books if I haven’t posted them already, so look for those through the next few months. I am also keen to dive right back in 1^st January and get a head start on next year’s challenge. I cannot wait to see what amazing stories I discover. I will be putting up a whole new 2025 Aussie YA Challenge post so keep an eye out for that if you’re keen to join but for now these are the books that I read for my Aussie YA Challenge this year!

Aussie YA Challenge – Garth Nix level

Hamlet is Not Ok by R. A. Spratt

Points of Departure by Emily O’Beirne

Unnecessary Drama by Nina Kenwood

My Family and Other Suspects by Kate Emery

The Quiet and the Loud by Helena Fox

It Sounded Better in My Head by Nina Kenwood

The Pause by John Larkin

Untidy Towns by Kate O’Donnell

My Lovely Frankie by Judith Clarke

As Happy As Here by Jane Godwin

Josie Robs and Bank and Other Stories by Gabrielle Reid

Can’t Say it Went to Plan by Gabrielle Tozer