There are always far, far, far too many new books to talk about adequately in this column, but seriously, this month is out of control. But I want to use some words to say something about Jennifer Down, whose Pulse Points is the winner of this year’s Readings Prize. I think Down is actually a genius, and couldn’t agree more with judges about the quality of her writing: her ability to convey the emotional world is peerless. If you ever have a chance to hear her read her own work, take it up – I won’t ever forget her delivery of ‘Dogs’ at the MWF panel I chaired in 2017. You could have heard a pin drop. Congratulations, Jennifer, and welcome to the Readings Prize Winners’ Club!

Let the felicitations continue for A.S. Patrić, our resident Miles Franklin Award-winner on staff, whose collection, The Butcherbird Stories, is Fiction Book of the Month. Our reviewer commends Alec’s way of writing below the surface of things, and particularly his ‘profound understanding of the desperate, catastrophic way that we love’. If you are yet to read Patrić, this collection is a great place to begin (and we can hook you up with a signed copy).

Also out this month are new Australian novels from Jane Harper, Toni Jordan, Jock Serong and Tom Keneally (and some handsome editions of Helen Garner’s Monkey Grip and The Children’s Bach).

International fiction is truly diverse this month, with writing from Greenland (Niviaq Korneliussen’s Crimson), China-in-exile (Ma Jian’s China Dream), Japan (Yukiko Motoya’s Picnic in the Storm), Japan-by-way-of-Australia (Kei Iwaki’s Farewell, My Orange), Italy (Matteo Righetto’s Soul of the Border), and Norway (Matias Faldbakken’s The Waiter). There are also new releases from Barbara Kingsolver, Sarah Moss, Mohammad Hanif, Jonathan Coe, M.R. Carey, Laura Purcell, George R.R. Martin, J.K. Rowling, Eileen Myles, and a blistering short-story debut, Friday Black, from Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah whose name I promise you will hear from now on.

Lucia Berlin fans can get a double dose of this amazing woman’s work in the form of a collection of stories (Evening in Paradise) and a memoir (Welcome Home).

I haven’t stopped thinking about Chloe Hooper’s The Arsonist since I read an advance copy a few months ago. It’s our sensational and essential Non-fiction Book of the Month. You also need books from Sarah Smarsh, Alice Pung, David Marr, Marina Benjamin, Jill Lepore, David Grann, Jonathan Franzen, Stephen Fry; Patrick Mullins’s groundbreaking biography of Billy McMahon; memoirs from Ed Moreno, Anne Summers, Michelle Obama, Kerry O’Brien and Kiese Laymon; Brow Books’ latest offering, Going Postal; manifestos from Sohaila Abdulali, Gemma Hartley and Mary Portas; and I cannot wait to get my hands on Beastie Boys Book, by and about popular music’s most loveable ratbags.

Alison Huber is the head book buyer at Readings.

You can pick up a free copy of the November edition of the Readings Monthly from any of our shops, or download a PDF here.