Nedlands Apocalypse

Last Sunday, before the cyclone hit, the smoke from a bushfire shrouded Perth. This was the scene as I entered the Windsor Cinema.

A Little Wetness

Here are yesterday's rainfall figures for Perth metro sites.

Cyclone Joyce

For fans of extreme weather, recent summers in Perth have been wonderful. After last year's wettest summer in history, plus our coldest ever summer day (17 degrees in Perth, 13 degrees in Bickley), we have ex-tropical Cyclone Joyce to look forward to. If there's a direct hit, we could get over 100mm of rain by Tuesday. Here is the latest forecast.

My Top Ten Novels of 2017

I wasn't able to read as much as I hoped last year, getting through 201 novels, 19 less than in 2016. But there was plenty of quality among them. Here are my most enjoyable reads. These include fiction published any year, not just last year.

1. The Witchwood Crown (The Last King of Osten Ard, #1) by Tad Williams (FANTASY)
 

2. The Shuddering by Ania Ahlborn (HORROR)

3. The Ritual by Adam Nevill (HORROR)

4. The Mime Order (The Bone Season #2) by Samantha Shannon (FANTASY)

5. Mostly Void, Partially Stars (Welcome to Night Vale Episodes, #1) by Joseph Fink  (FANTASY)

6. Breakfast with the Borgias by D.B.C. Pierre (WEIRD)

7. A Suspension of Mercy by Patricia Highsmith (THRILLER)

8. Willful Child: Wrath of Betty by Steven Erikson (SCI FI)

9. Some Rain Must Fall by Karl Ove Knausgard (DRAMA)

10. The Barrow by Mark Smylie (FANTASY)

My Cats' Favourite Flicks of 2017

As is traditional, my two cats have been debating furiously which films should appear in their joint top ten list. And finally they've come up with the following, in no particular order:

Miss Sloane - (I must mention that I fell asleep in this movie twice, the first time in the cinema, the second time on a plane).

Guardians of the Galaxy 2 - I'm proud of my cats that they only listed one comic book movie. Any more would be an embarrassment.

Dunkirk

Wind River

The Hitman's Bodyguard

Blade Runner 2049

The Death of Stalin

Neruda

Gold

Hidden Figures

It's rather impressive that cats can count to ten.

And honourable mentions go to:

Alone in Berlin

Life

The Dinner

Daddy's Home 2

Only the Brave

Why Him?