Top Ten Tuesday: Author sisters

Welcome to this week's edition of Top Ten Tuesday which is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's theme is Things Characters Have Said (Maybe a character said something really profound or romantic or hilarious or heartbreaking. You could share witty one-liners, mic-drop moments, snippets of funny dialogue between multiple characters, catchphrases, quotes that have become a part of pop culture–like “May the odds be ever in your favor.”, etc.)

I always struggle with TTT when the theme is about quotes as they are just not something I keep an eye out for, so I am going to go back to an old post I have had in draft for a while. I originally put this post together when the theme was Relationship Freebie (Pick a relationship type and choose characters who fit that relationship as it relates to you. So, characters you’d like to date, be friends with, be enemies with, etc. Bookish families you’d like to be a part of, characters you’d want as your siblings, pets you’d like to take for yourself, etc.), but I didn't get to post it at the time. I think we were away.

I previously did a post featuring the word sisters in the title, so this time I am going to share some authors who are sisters! Let's start with some Australian author sisters:

Liane, Jaclyn and Nicola Moriarty - Whilst Liane is probably the most famous of the Moriarty sisters, Jaclyn and Nicola have also been writing successfully for a long time. Jaclyn writes more in the YA space and Nicola more women's fiction. My favourite book by a Moriarty is probably Paper Chains by Nicola.

Back in 2012 I did a Q and A with Jaclyn Moriarty and asked about the fact that all three of them were writers and this is what she said

Both of our parents are enthusiastic story tellers. We are always saying to Mum, ‘Give us the short version’, and Dad is always advising, ‘Never spoil a good story with the facts’. We had shelves full of books to read when we were kids. Also, instead of giving us pocket money, Dad would commission us to write stories. So I guess we grew up thinking it was the only way to make money.

Here's my review of A Corner of White (it's actually a joint review with Shelleyrae from Book'd Out which I had completely forgotten we did together), and a quote about doing Tim Tam Slams from Free-Falling by Nicola Moriarty

Kate Forsyth and Belinda Murrell - Kate Forsyth is one of my favourite Australian authors, even though I haven't managed to fit in any of her books for quite some time! She writes amazing fairy-tale retellings, is an awesome guest speaker and avid read. Her sister, Belinda Murrell, writes kids books. Interestingly, their great-great-great grandmother, Charlotte Waring Atkinson, wrote Australia's first children's book. Pretty amazing historical connection!

Here's my review of Bitter Greens. 

A S Byatt and Margaret Drabble - Whilst these two are sisters, they were estranged for many years .A S Byatt is best known for the book Possession and the book I remember reading from Margaret Drabble is The Red Queen. Here is my review.

Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte - It feels like it would be wrong to have a list of literary sister authors and not include the Brontes who have give us books like Jane Eyre, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes Grey. They also published a book of poetry under the names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

Do you know of any other famous authors who are sisters?

Will I ever read again?

So given how few posts there are on this blog, it is obvious that I am not blogging much at the moment and haven't been for quite some time. However, the problem goes deeper than that. I'm actually not reading either. Oh, I might start a book and read a couple of page then I will lose interest and just stop. It doesn't matter if we are talking about reading new books, rereading favourites, paper books, ebooks and even audio books. And this is a long term issue. My reading has become non existent over the last couple of years to the point that I haven't actually finished a book since March. Shocking I know.

I'm not sure this is a terminal problem though because even though I am not reading I am still happy to engage in conversations with people about books. Last week at work there was a conversation happening about starting a book club and I was quite keen about the concept even though I know that it is highly unlikely that I will actually read the chosen book. Luckily my actual book club doesn't really seem to care if I read the book or not. I haven't actually been to that book club for the last couple of months because I have been working late but I know when I do go back they will be glad to see me. I also know that when I say I haven't even read the synopsis the reaction will be okay and then ask if I want a party pie or sausage roll (to which the answer is obviously yes!!)

This weekend was the launch of the Melbourne Writer's Festival and despite my lack of reading mojo, I did end up buying tickets to a couple of sessions and also attended a couple of free sessions. I was reminded that bookish things are actually good for my soul and also a couple of other things.

Unlike previous years where I took copious notes so that I could blog in depth recaps of the sessions I attended, this year I have just sat and listened and just enjoyed being in the presence of authors whose books I have enjoyed previously.

The four sessions that I attended were:

Justin Cronin
YA Superstars featuring Rainbow Rowell and David Leviathan
Australia Through Time featuring Anita Heiss, Tricia Stringer and Kate Mildenhall
Wickedly Funny featuring Liane Moriarty and Rosalie Ham

All four sessions were really interesting and I have to say I was very impressed with the quality of the free sessions that were on offer. Both Australia Through Time and Wickedly Funny were free sessions and they were full houses. I only just got into Wickedly Funny even though I went and lined up half an hour before. They probably turned out away an equivalent of 50% of the crowd. The session was just that popular.

One of the things that I have taken away from this weekend is that maybe this might be a long break from reading but I don't think I am done forever and ever. Whilst I don't expect to go back to reading 200 plus books a year, I also don't expect to stay at reading less than 10 books in a year. Somewhere in the middle would be good.

I also came out of the sessions and a trip to a nearly bookstore I was reminded of a few things. Firstly, there are a number of authors who I used to wait avidly for each new book from and they have at least one and maybe two books out that I still haven't read yet. In other words my TBR list continues to grow even though I am not reading. Secondly, there were a number of books that I really wanted to read a couple of years ago that I still haven't read yet and thirdly, that there are any number of books that I wouldn't mind rereading at some point.

My reading life might be flat lining but it hasn't quite been declared dead yet. There's still a glimmer of hope. Just.