If you want to feel warm and fuzzy…

• Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows co-wrote The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, an epistolary novel that draws readers into the Second World War. While the book may make you cry in places, it’s ultimately a story of hope.
• Graeme Simsion’s two novels – The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect – are rom-coms set in Melbourne and New York. Happy endings guaranteed.
• Between You and Me is a warm and lively look about language. The author, Mary Norris, is well-placed to talk on this topic, having spent more than three decades working at the New Yorker.
• For a read that’s smart, witty and charming, you can’t go past Nora Ephron, who is a favourite here at Readings. The Most of Nora Ephron is a comprehensive anthology of her various writings.
• Now an SBS drama, The Family Law introduces readers to an eccentric, utterly irresistible Chinese-Australian family of seven. Benjamin Law shares his childhood memories with an flair for finding the humour in any, and every, scenario.

If you want to feel inspired…

• Marie Kondo promises ‘life-changing magic’ if you adopt her methods for tidying. Her new book, Spark Joy, is an illustrated, updated how-to guide of the original. (There’s also The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**K for those less mindfully-inclined…)
• For travel inspiration, try A Traveller’s Year. This anthology features extracts from diaries, journals and letters on exploration and journeying.
• Our marketing manager Nina Kenwood says Big Magic is ‘the kind of book that will pick you up out of your funk, and remind you of why you pursue creative projects in the first place’.
• I am Malala is a searing portrait of a remarkable young woman: Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate.
• Cheryl Strayed’s book of quotes, Brave Enough, is perfect for those who like to have words of advice at the ready for when the need arises.

If you want to be distracted…

• Richard Price has crafted a brilliant, layered crime thriller with The Whites – one that has been being devoured by our staff. (Fans of The Wire might also be interested to learn that Price formerly worked on the show as a screenwriter.)
• Mary Beard is an English Classical scholar with a flair for bringing history to life. SPQR is her telling of the history of Ancient Rome, and it’s utterly fascinating.
• Vendela Vida’s The Diver’s Clothes Lie Empty is a twisty, literary page-turner with an excellent opener: an unnamed woman travels to Casablanca and as soon as she arrives, her backpack is stolen.
• It’s possible you’ve resisted the lure of George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy world, but let us encourage you to give in to temptation… A Song of Ice and Fire is the first book of the series.
• The Secret Place is an eerie, suspense-laded read with clever, intricate plotting that will keep you guessing the whole way. If you enjoy this one, Irish author Tana French has an excellent backlist that you can delve into.

If you want a story to cry along with…

• Readers of Hanya Yanagihara’s A Little Life claim to have cried (even sobbed) their whole way through this 700+ page novel, and by all accounts, the tough subject matter covered in its pages is not for the faint of heart.
• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter is Carson McCullers’s first novel and she was only 23 as the time of its publication. The story, which opens with a friendship between two deaf mutes, is devastating.
• In the Quiet is another moving debut from a young voice. Australian author Eliza Henry-Jones tells the story of a family moving through their grief is told from the perspective of their mother who’s just died.
• Holding the Man is the 1995 memoir by Australian writer, actor and activist Timothy Conigrave, and tells the story of his relationship with his lover of fifteen years, John Caleo.
• We could’ve named almost any work by Colm Tóibín in this list – his fiction is restrained yet heartwrenching – but with the local release of the film adaptation of Brooklyn just around the corner it feels fitting to give this absolutely wonderful novel a mention.

If you want a book to help you reflect on grief…

• Wendy Whiteley and the Secret Garden how Wendy Whiteley was compelled to create a public garden at the foot of her harbourside home in Sydney’s Lavender Bay as part of her grieving the deaths of her husband and daughter.
• Grief Is the Thing With Feathers is Max Porter’s extraordinary debut – part novella, part polyphonic fable, part essay – in which he digs deep into the reality of grieving.
• Smoke Gets in Your Eyes is mortician Caitlin Doughty’s frank and funny account of working with dead bodies. Our reviewer writes that Doughty, ‘will change the way you think about death, and for the better.’
• In The Iceberg, Marion Coutts writes of the 18 months leading up to the death of her partner, art critic Tom Lubbock, from a brain tumor.
• Poetry offers a different reading experience than other forms of more narrative-fiction, often allowing readers a chance to slow down and consider how they react to the language. Australian poet Sarah Holland-Batt’s The Hazards is a stunning collection of poems.