August non-fiction highlights

Is non-fiction your thing? Pick up a copy of the August Readings Monthly (online or from one of our stores) or check out the list below for our top recommendations this month. We’ve got everything from stirring biography to music memoir to a comprehensive collection of scripts from an Aussie comedian. Happy reading!


Mad As Hell and Back by Shaun Micallef and Gary McCaffrie

Shaun Micallef is a mainstay of Australian political comedy – and he’s been on the scene for 21 years as of 2019. In honour, Mad As Hell and Back is a comprehensive collection of the funniest scripts and scenes from Micallef’s long TV career. If you’re a comedy fan, a filmmaking fan or a screenwriter yourself, you’ll appreciate this behind-the-scenes look at the process, complete with hilarious footnotes to the most-loved sketches from Micallef and his co-writer Gary McCaffrie.


Salt: Selected Stories and Essays by Bruce Pascoe (Available 6 August)

Dark Emu fans have a few more days to wait for the new release from beloved Indigenous author Bruce Pascoe, but Salt: Selected Stories and Essays is indubitably worth the wait. Pascoe’s genius is showcased through this collection of fiction and non-fiction that explores his enduring fascination with Australia’s landscape, culture, land management and history. Salt is perfect for long-standing Pascoe fans and new readers alike.


A Dream About Lightning Bugs by Ben Folds

Musical memoir fan? A Dream About Lightning Bugs is for you. It’s a memoir reflecting on art, life and music that is as nuanced, witty and relatable as Ben Folds’ cult classic songs, where he looks back at his life so far in a charming, funny and wise chronicle of his artistic coming of age, infused with the wry observations of a natural storyteller. And you can catch Ben Folds at this year’s Melbourne Writers Festival too – more info about that here.


Home Grown: How Domestic Violence Turns Men into Terrorists by Joan Smith

If you read Jess Hill’s See What You Made Me Do last month and felt you needed to keep reading about this sobering and illuminating topic, turn to Joan Smith’s Home Grown: How Domestic Violence Turns Men into Terrorists. Within, Joan Smith, a feminist and human rights campaigner, discusses the history of domestic violence that links terror attacks such as those at the Charlie Hebdo offices, the Finsbury Park Mosque attack, and sadly, many, many more. Thought-provoking and essential, Home Grown will lift the veil on a revelatory truth.


Banking Bad by Adele Ferguson (Available 5 August)

In 2018, against all the odds, Australia held a royal commission into the banking and financial services industries. Its revelations rocked the nation. Even defenders of the banks were blindsided. Journalist Adele Ferguson, who was an instrumental figure in bringing about the commission, provides an in-depth look at those events. Banking Bad is required reading for every person with a bank account, telling the full story of the power imbalance, toxic culture and cover-ups.


Jack Charles: Born-again Blakfella by Jack Charles with Namila Benson (Available 20 August)

Jack Charles: Born-again Blakfella is a candid and uplifting memoir from one of Australia’s finest and most beloved actors. Jack Charles is heart-wrenchingly honest, and this memoir doesn’t hold back. From his sideline as a cat burglar, battles with drug addiction and stints in prison, to gracing the nation’s stages and screens as he dazzled audiences with his big personality and acting prowess, he takes us through the most formative moments of his life.Read our full review here.


The Way Through the Woods by Long Litt Woon (Available 6 August)

When Long Litt Woon’s husband of 32 years unexpectedly passed away, she was lost. An immigrant in his country, in losing the love of her life she had also lost her compass and her passport to society. For a long time, she wandered aimlessly, lost in grief. Then, she found her way – enrolling in a ‘mushrooming for beginners’ course, she came to realise that she’d uncovered a new hobby that would shape her life. This memoir of growth after grief ‘will make a lovely gift for the curious bushwalker, recently bereaved person, or even the niche hobbyist in your life.’ Read our full review here.


A Lot with a Little by Tim Costello

We all know Tim Costello’s name as a socially active fighter for the world’s most challenging issues. A Lot with a Little is Costello’s new memoir, tracing each defining stage of his life with stark insight and honesty. Tim untangles his ongoing struggle to align his self-perceptions with his choices and what his life represents in a book to savour and re-read. This is more than just a life story.