Littleelfman's Bibliotherapy

I am SO THRILLED to announce that I've been selected as one of the contributing authors for the @underdogshortstories anthology that is coming out later this year!! 🤩🤩🤩 I'm super proud of my story and can't wait to share it with you all. ⬇️🐶 Big congratulations to the other authors that were selected, but special shout out to my friends and fellow #AusQueerYA enthusiasts, @getyawordsout and @a_geek_with_a_hat. 🤓 Huge thanks to the Underdog team for organising and doing all the hard work in reading submissions and selecting! 🤗 Also, keep an eye out for another announcement next week... *giggling minaically emoji*

I got a new tattoo on the weekend! I love it so much! I've wanted it done for a while now. It has so much meaning to me. 🍁 One of my oldest and dearest friends gave me Shaun Tan's The Red Tree for my 18th birthday. It was the beginning of my obsession with children's literature (not to mention Shaun himself!). 🍁 This book has spoken to me on such a deep personal level at many different times in my life for many different reasons. It still moves me to tears when I spend time with it. 🍁 Someone unfamiliar with the book asked me its significance and I found myself explaining that to me, the book is about how no matter how tremendously awful your life can be at any given moment there's always hope, even if you can't see it or it's hard to find. The red tree that grows at the end of the book I see as hope fulfilled. But I specifically chose the sapling, not the full tree because I feel like I've been through some amazingly rough times, but things are getting better. My hope is visible but not yet bloomed. My horizon is brighter than it has been for a very long time. I have so much to look forward to. 🍁 Thank you @shauncytan for getting it and being able to express it. Thank you @rosecoloureddork for alerting me to so much beauty. And thank you to all my friends and family for supporting me, being there for me through hard times and good. I love you all.

Hey look! Not only do I actually have a #ReadThisMonth stack for May, it's actually a semi-decent size! Who would have thought? And I also listened to the audio book of Picnic At Hanging Rock as well! Not a bad effort! But FYI, there are some great books in this stack!

Well, the title didn't lie! Spoiler alert: this book is ALL the dirty parts. It is candid, unflinching and (at many times) uncomfortable. But it is brilliant as a starting point for discussions about sex, sexuality, consent, and relationships. Not for the prudish, let's just say that.

I bought a thing... 🏳️‍🌈🇦🇺 #pride #queerpride #Australian #gaysdownunder #rainbow #rainbowflag

Nice morning for reading in the park 😌📖🌞🍂🍃🍁 (at Carlton Gardens)

"Sometimes you just don't know what you're supposed to do" #ShaunTan #TheRedTree 🤷‍♂️ I'm beyond excited for both of Shaun Tan's releases this year, Cicada (with the greatest punchline ever) and Tales From The Inner City (with art that is LITERALLY breathtaking). 🙃 But tonight I'm more like the girl from The Red Tree. My self-doubt and anxiety are riding high. I just hope my red tree is bright and vivid, quietly waiting just as I imagine it will be.

Today is IDAHOBIT! (International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interxism & Transphobia) So support your fellow humans and wear a rainbow or three.

I'm selling the wooden spinning bookshelf that was housing all my ARC (and some not so advance... can't half tell how behind I am on my reading). So now this TBR is just a stack next to my bed... 📚📚📚 N.B. This is only the books I've gotten through work. This does not take into account the 400+ unread books in my personal collection. 😱 Note to self: acquire less, read more. (at Yarraville, Victoria, Australia)

Autumn is being moody, but it's great to find the gaps in the clouds, the calm of the weekend and the colours of change. 🍁🍂🍃 My mood is brighter than a top of 15° suggests.

The other amazing things that came from having dinner with @patricknessbooks last night include, but are not limited to: • getting this super rare collectable coin made to celebrate the upcoming release of The Sea Was Our Sky illustrated by @rovinacai • getting all the remaining books in my collection signed and dedicated including a beautiful inscription in Release, the book that speaks to me most strongly • achieving a general sense of fanboy heaven even if I spent most of the night unable to form coherent sentences 🤩😍😱 Just look at that full shelf of signed goodness!

This was the only book I bought at @clunesbooktown. 'Master Snickup's Cloak' by Alexander Theroux and illustrated by Brian Froud. It looks dark and fairytale-y and I can't wait to read it.

So happy to have had the opportunity to have dinner with @patrick_ness tonight. His books are so incredibly brilliant and affect me personally. I'm so blessed, to both have his books in my life and the chance to meet him!

#MunMun by @_jesse_andrews_ is speculative dystopian at the top of its game. Is a world where your wealth directly affects your physical size, the wealth gap is even more evident and littlepoors will go to great lengths just to survive. I'm really enjoying this brilliantly bizarre book. 💸 I can't wait to see Jesse and Patrick Ness on Monday Night!

I'm reading this fun middle grade mystery adventure at the moment. Full of all kinds of characters to love. 🍎🍏🍎🍏 #TheOrchardUnderground #MattLarkin #LoveOzMG #bookstagram #instabook #book #Books #reading #CurrentlyReading

David Almond is so quirky and fun. He certainly sees the world with a keen eye. This story of a tiny Angel who "don't no nowt" is very charming. We can all inspire each other to be a little better. And none of us are Monsters, we were all little angels once... 👼 #TheTaleOfAngelinoBrown #DavidAlmond #AngelinoBrown #MiddleGrade #bookstagram #instabook #book #Books