12th February, 2005

My personal release challenge - to release a book for every year of my life, on my birthday, at a place that represents a significant place or event in my life, hopefully with an appropriate book.

Planning my route, with the help of Telstra yellow pages online and whereis.com, was half the fun but I think I was just a tad ambitious!
It all began well enough, with books left locally at the places I'd chosen and at the beginning of the CBD section, I was doing OK. Then around Barrack Street, it all began to turn to custard when I realised that it was just too hot, I'd worn the wrong shoes and I was running out of time.
From there, I have to confess that I scattered books fairly willy-nilly, up Martin Place, on the train and around Central Station.
I was then due to meet my daughter who was helping me with the second half of the project and we got back on track after a spot of lunch.
The Eastern suburbs went well and the last few books were released back in the city after dark, where we went on a Ghost Tour of the Rocks with a local tour company, which was a lot of fun.
Then it was home to open my presents, among which were - more books!

These are the 61 books I released.

1 Kings in Grass Castles - Germany.
Left at Dresden Lounge, Princes Highway, Rockdale.
Received as a bookray from a German friend, Falmouth.

2 Corfu - Greece.
Left at Zorba's Kitchen, Princes Highway, Rockdale.
This book was a fitting representative for Greece, since it was this island that provided my introduction to the country. I spent several idyllic weeks here at the end of 1971 and fell immediately in love with the country and its people. At the time Greece was under military rule and sadly, Theodorakis' music was banned. Currency still came in the form of Drachma, but nothing, from a meal to a hotel room to gold jewellery, seemed to cost more than a dollar or two!

3 Prey - Egypt.
Left at Egypt by Nile Tours, King St Rockdale.
I know a book about nano-technology in the Nevada desert doesn't immediately signify Egypt, but I saw the common thread of - sand?
Plenty of it in both places.

4 Tara Road - Hungary.
Left at the Balkan Deli, King St Rockdale.

5 The Ninja The Miko - Japan.
Left at Carrot Japanese Cafe, King St, Rockdale.

6 Germaine Greer-Untamed Shrew - Italy.
Left at Kingslane Gelato Bar, King St, Rockdale.
Well, she lived in Italy for a while.

7 The Ultimatum - USA.
Left at Hollywood Bridal, Princes Highway, Rockdale.
There are so many books set in or about the US, this was just the one I happened to have available.

8 Gulliver's Travels - Yugoslavia.
Left at Macedonian Bakery, Walz St, Rockdale.
Gulliver travelled to a fictitious country and the Yugoslavia I travelled through in 1978, certainly doesn't exist anymore.

9 Great Expectations - Afghanistan.
Left at Rockdale Halal Chicken, Walz St, Rockdale.
I didn't expect any great things of this country before we reached it during an overland trip in 1978, but it exceeded all my expectations.

10 The Six Wives of Henry V111 - Spain.
Left at Consulate-General of Spain, Market St.
Yes Spain. Remember Catherine of Aragon!

caught! (briefly)11 The Full Monty - England.
Left at the Intensive English College in York St.

12 Lonely Planet Unpacked - Bali.
Left at Bali Bungalows and Villas, York St.
Such an appropriate book for this area, as without Tony Wheeler's first book 'South-east Asia on a Shoestring', there would have been many an overland traveller stranded during the seventies.

13 Robinson Crusoe - The Maldives.
Left at The Maldives Travel Centro, York St.

14 Wuthering Heights - Sweden.
Left at the Swedish Consulate-General, Kent St.

15 Cry Freedom - Djibhouti.
Left at P&O Australia, Sussex St.

16 Bleak House - Malaysia.
Left at Malaysia National Tourist Office, York St.

17 Les Miserables - Tahiti.
Left at Air Tahiti Nui, York St.

18 The Gunslinger - Pakistan.
Left at Pakistan Consulate-General, York St.
The town of Peshawar, on the border with Afghanistan has been a centre for the making and selling of guns for generations.

19 True History of the Kelly Gang - Singapore.
Left at Singapore Tourism Board, York St.

20 The Abolition of Britain - Papua New Guinea.
Left at Papua New Guinea Consulate-General, Clarence St.

21 Lorna Doone - The Netherlands.
Left at Holland America Line, Clarence St.

22 Year of Wonders - Israel.
Left at Israel Consulate-General, York St.

23 Old Curiosity Shop - Austria.
Left at Consulate-General of Austria, York St.

24 Midnight Express - Turkey.
Left at Turkish Airlines, Barrack St.

25 The Totem - Canada.
A horror book, so not at all suitable for this wonderful country, where I spent five of the best years of my life, but they do have lots of totem poles.

26 Coma - Luxembourg.

27 The Snapper - Ireland.

28 Down River - Philippines.
Left at Martin Place and George St.

29 Hotel du Lac - Switzerland.

30 Denial - Bulgaria.
Left on Martin Place.

31 20,000 Leagues under the Sea - Morocco.

32 Mary Bryant - Indonesia.
Left in a phone box on Martin Place.
In the early years of the colony, this convict woman stole a boat and navigated all the way to Batavia, which has since become Jakarta.

33 Red Ink - USSR.
Left on a bench in Martin Place.

34 The God Project - Sri Lanka.

35 Moby Dick - Jamaica.

36 Arcade - Taiwan.
Left at Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, corner of Pitt and Martin Place.

37 Balkan Ghosts - Roumania.
Left at The Rocks.

38 The Shoes of the Fisherman - Vatican.
Left at The platform of Circular Quay Station.

39 The Dinner Party - Panama.
Left on the train to Central.
40 The Second Time Around - Mexico.
Left at Eddy Avenue exit of Central Railway at a cafe. On the way past later, a group of men were sitting at the table, one of whom had my book sitting comfortably on top of his folded newspaper, so I know this one was caught, even if it's never journalled.

caught!(and travelling again!)41 A Ride Along the Great Wall - China.
Left in the vicinity of the Consulate-General of the Peoples Republic of China in Surry Hills.

42 The Joy Makers - Finland.
Left in the tunnel at Central.

43 The Famous Five go off in a Caravan - Scotland.
Left in a phone box at Central.

44 Little Book of Feng Shui - Hong Kong.
Left at a Chinese Deli on George St, Central.

45 3rd Degree - Iran.
Left on Eddy Avenue.
The third degree was what we were given as we crossed the Afghanistan/Iran border in 1978.

46 A Fine Balance - India.
Left in a phone box on Bondi Beach.

47 Jane Eyre - Belgium.
Left on Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach.

48 Dombey and Son - Denmark.
Left at Royal Copenhagen Ice Cream Cone Co, Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach.
Not a very appropriate book but at least it starts with a D.

49 From N to Z - New Zealand.
Left at New Zealand Natural, Campbell Parade, Bondi Beach.

50 The Wind's Twelve Quarters - France.
Left in a shelter at Bondi Beach.

These are all the places I have visited or lived in.

51 Macca's Australia - Australia.
Left outside the ABC Studios, Harris St.
I have seen a fair bit of my own country, not nearly enough though.
Anyway, this is the man who brings Australia together every Sunday morning.
Where? ABC Radio, of course.

52 Hard Times - Blue Mountains.
Left at the Country Trains platform of Central Station.
This book was left for the five years we lived in the Blue Mountains town of Katoomba.

53 A Child's Christmas in Wales
and caught!54 Noah and Nelly in Skylark - Royal Women's Hospital.
These two were left on Oxford St Paddington, near the site where the Royal Hospital for Women stood in the 1980s, when both my children were born there.

55 The Necessity for Reincarnation - War Memorial Hospital.
Left at War Memorial Hospital, Birrel St, Waverley, where I was born.

56 Aberystwyth Mon Amour - Wales.
Left, by my husband, at the Prince of Wales Hospital.
Not only Wales, but the very town my husband comes from!

57 The Little Book of Calm - Bondi Baths.
Left near the Bondi Baths.

58 The Prince of Tides - Bondi Beach.
Left outside North Bondi Surf Club.
The beach where I spent most of my youth.

59 Life's Little Study Tips - Bondi Beach Public School.
Left at my first school, Bondi Beach Public.

60 The Finishing School - Dover Heights High School.
Left at my high school, Dover Heights High.

61 Unsung Heroes - North Bondi.
Left in memory of my family home, in which my family lived from 1936 until 5 years ago.