Aotearoa NZ Readathon is still alive and kicking and with ten days left in February, I have a few more books to add to my list.

Above, we have Cousins by Patricia Grace but I’ll actually be reading her new short story collection Bird Child and other stories which I am very excited to get my hands on. I seem to have several short story collections on my library requests list which will be a nice change of pace from my usual novel length reads.

Next are two books that I’ve already read, How to Loiter in a Turf War by Coco Solid and The Man who Ate Lincoln Road by Steve Braunias. Both I found to be unique, engaging and short reads and I highly recommend How to Loiter in a Turf War to those wanting a Kiwi story with minority representation.

Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts and The Luminaries are two books that I think I will be reading for March. I am keen to get both of them read, but there are several other books I need to read before then. Everything is Beautiful and Everything Hurts is an NZ fiction written by debut author Josie Shapiro which deals with topics of sacrifice within sporting elites and the physical and emotional pressure of such sacrifices. It won the Allen and Unwin Commercial Fiction Prize, yet another reason why I’m so excited to pick it up. The Luminaries, written by Eleanor Catton, is a mammoth of a novel at nearly 850 pages, but it holds an incredible depiction of 19th century New Zealand. Not only that, but this Booker Prize winning novel expertly weaves astrology, local mystery and the realities of life on the rugged West Coast to create a truly impactful read.

I still have several books from my previous stack to get through, namely Aue and Better the Blood. What I’m realising though is that my excitement and readiness to read NZ Fiction is being swamped by this time pressure to get it down this month. I don’t want to rush through these books because that takes away from the very joy of reading them in the first place, hence I have pushed some reads into March. While it would have been amazing for me to get them all read in one month, others things in my life have taken precedence over reading. This is a great chance to remind everyone that even if there is a timeframe for doing a reading challenge, be it a month or a weekend or whenever, it’s always okay to ease off the accelerator and take your time to read. You know I’m not a fan of the competitive aspects of reading and this slightly mimics those tendencies, wholly brought on by myself and the pressure I’ve placed upon this endeavour. So if you have a bunch of books waiting for you, I want you to take a deep breath with me and say this – I am reading for enjoyment and not for a deadline.

I am so thankful that this readthon cropped up this month because it has opened my mind and my preferences up to not only NZ stories and NZ authors, but to appreciating the diversity within NZ Fiction. Last year, I read Backwaters by Emma Ling Sidnam and the representation and discussion of NZ Chinese and NZ Asian identity is brought up. I’ve read The Girl From London by Olivia Spooner, a historical fiction set during WWII about a women who helps ferry British children to Australia and New Zealand and the events surrounding the attack on the Rangitane. These two alone couldn’t be any different, yet they are NZ stories. Add The Luminaries or Better the Blood into the mix and you still have a diverse range of stories and voices and perspectives. If this month has taught me anything its that New Zealand has a sea of voices and perspectives waiting to be uncovered. You can bet I’ll be fishing from that sea for the rest of my life.