September:

Book: Orbital, Samantha Harvey (2024).
A novel of epic power and the winner of the Booker Prize 2024, Orbital deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men traveling through space. Selected for one of the last space station missions of its kind before the program is dismantled, these astronauts and cosmonauts—from America, Russia, Italy, Britain, and Japan—have left their lives behind to travel at a speed of over seventeen thousand miles an hour as the earth reels below. We glimpse moments of their earthly lives through brief communications with family, their photos and talismans; we watch them whip up dehydrated meals, float in gravity-free sleep, and exercise in regimented routines to prevent atrophying muscles; we witness them form bonds that will stand between them and utter solitude. Most of all, we are with them as they behold and record their silent blue planet. Their experiences of sixteen sunrises and sunsets and the bright, blinking constellations of the galaxy are at once breathtakingly awesome and surprisingly intimate.

Profound and contemplative, Orbital is a moving elegy to our environment and planet.
Note: The ACT library has several copies of this book.

Movie: The Appleton Ladies Potato Race (2023)
The Appleton Ladies' Potato Race is a 2023 Australian television film based on the stage play of the same name by Australian playwright and journalist Melanie Tait. Doctor Penny Anderson moves from Sydney to her childhood home of Appleton. While visiting the hair salon of her sister Nikki, Penny sees a flyer advertising The Appleton Show and its famous potato race. She discovers the men's first prize pays out $2,000 and the winning woman's prize is only $200.[1] Penny leads a protest which causes turmoil in Appleton, particularly with Nikki, who is the current champion.

Available on Netflix, Paramount and Apple TV.

Podcast: Where are you going
Catherine Carr stops strangers to ask them “Where Are You Going?” and uncovers unexpected stories about people’s lives.
The conversations that follow are always unpredictable: sometimes funny, sometimes heart-breaking, silly, romantic or occasionally downright ‘stop-you-in-your-tracks’ surprising.

Each episode is roughly 10 minutes, so listen to whatever takes your fancy.
https://open.spotify.com/show/5K2iRhl4PCjHXHgOQwbHgw

Look forward to seeing you at Poppy's.