Blog — Readings Books

13 Oct 2016

What we're reading: Emily Maguire, Briohny Doyle and iO Tillett Wright

Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on or the music we’re loving.

Nina Kenwood is reading Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance

I’m obsessed with the US election at the moment, to a probably unhealthy degree. I listen to podcasts about it (my favourites are Slate’s Trumpcast and NPR’s Politics Podcast), read almost every article that…

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The Island Will Sink

Briohny Doyle

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13 Oct 2016

Why you should read the entire Readings Prize shortlist

This year’s shortlist for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction features six impressive first and second works of fiction from emerging Australian authors. Here’s why we think you should read every single one…

Here’s why you should read Portable Curiosities…

1. Portable Curiosities is a bold, wildly imaginative story collection.
2. This book is very, very funny.
3. As well as being entertaining, these stories are biting critiques of racism, class, and other important issues in Australia.
4.…

12 Oct 2016

Bob Dylan wins the 2016 Nobel prize in literature

This year’s Nobel prize for literature has been awarded to American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.

This is a historic (and controversial!) decision as it’s the first time this honour has ever gone to a musician. The Swedish Academy credited Dylan with ‘having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition’.

Here’s a short round-up of some interesting articles from around the internet about the news:

Our favourite Dylan lyrics (via The New Yorker)

Bob Dylan’s Nobel prize is…

Chronicles Volume 1

Bob Dylan

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12 Oct 2016

10 words for booklovers, bookworms and bibliophiles

1. Bibliosmia: The smell and aroma of a good book.

2. Abibliophobia: The fear of running out of reading material.

3. Tsundoku: Japanese word for the condition of acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in one’s home without reading them.

4. Shelf-righteous: The feeling of superiority about one’s bookshelf.

5. Librocubicularist: A person who reads in bed.

6. Book-bosomed: An individual who carries a book with them at all times.

7. Ballycumber: Coined by Douglas Adams, this term…

The Word Detective: A Life in Words: From Serendipity to Selfie

John Simpson

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11 Oct 2016

YA romances from male perspectives

by Leanne Hall

Boys. We know they have feelings – Big Feelings. But while there’s many YA books that speak of love and romance from a girl’s point of view, it’s a little more difficult to find stories coming straight from a teenage boy’s heart. Which could give everyone the inaccurate impression that boys don’t overthink, worry about, obsess over and get completely floored by love, or lust or a crush or something in-between.

So here are some recommended YA novels that show…

Our Chemical Hearts

Krystal Sutherland,Krystal Sutherland

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10 Oct 2016

Why you should read Music and Freedom by Zoë Morrison

We’re delighted that Zoë Morrison’s debut novel is one of the six books shortlisted for this year’s Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. Here’s why we think you should read this book.

1. Music and Freedom is a profound portrait of a woman’s life.

Music and Freedom follows one woman from early childhood through until her old age, and along the way it captures not just the personal story of a single person’s life, but touches on many universal themes…

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