The pop sensation Dua Lipa made literary headlines recently (in Australia at least) for picking Helen Garner's This House of Grief as the August read for her Service95 Book Club. For followers of Dua Lipa and Service95, this is exciting because it marks the first Australian author to be featured in the book club and is part of growing international recognition for Garner's literary prowess. But for many others, this is may be the first they've heard of Dua Lipa even having a book club.
For the uninitiated, the Service95 Book Club is an online space 'to enjoy all things literary', including a monthly book pick from Dua Lipa and a Q&A between her and the author of the month. And when they say 'literary', they mean it – we're confident that the book club picks will already be familiar to a lot of the Readings' community. Which begs the question, how many of the picks from Dua Lipa's book club have you read?
This House of Grief
Helen Garner
Most Australians will remember the 2005 tragedy where a car holding a father and his three sons veered off the highway and into a dam; the three boys drowned but their father made it to shore. This book follows the tense saga of the subsequent trial, which sought to determine whether Robert Farquharson had intentionally caused his children's deaths. Garner is known for her ability to face hard truths head-on, and explore the dark side of humanity which others prefer to turn away from. She's also no stranger to ambiguity, and rather than trying to determine herself whether or not Farquharson is guilty, she instead focuses on how the tragedy and the trial have affected all those involved. Garner is an expert guide to the courtroom, and it's fascinating to see the many steps involved in attaining a verdict, and how slowly the wheels of justice turn.
If you haven't already read this tour-de-force, now is the time! Read along with Dua Lipa in August, watch her interview with Garner, and get extra excited for Garner's upcoming return to the courtroom in The Mushroom Tapes, written with Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein – out in November this year!
Small Boat
Vincent Delecroix, translated by Helen Stevenson
Small Boat, by french author Vincent Delecroix, is a fictional account of a tragedy that took place between England and France in 2021. A small inflatable dinghy, carrying migrants travelling from France to the United Kingdom, capsized, leading to the death of 27 people. The passengers were able to call for help, but the French authorities, wrongly believing they were in British waters, denied them help, and all but two of the passengers died before any help arrived.
Delecroix's story focuses on the woman who took the calls for help, and explores her role and responsibility in the tragedy. Is she more responsible than the global political forces that led to those migrants setting out in the dinghy? Than the leaders that made the policies she adhered to? Than the sea itself, which ultimately took those 27 lives?
This is a fascinating and moving novel, which was also shortlisted for the International Booker Prize earlier this year. For more, watch Dua Lipa's interview with Vincent Delecroix here.
There There
Tommy Orange
Tommy Orange is a critically acclaimed author who's been lauded as a successor to George Saunders and celebrated by Margaret Atwood. His debut, There There, won several awards on its release, including being named a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. This is a gripping and atmospheric novel, following a Native American community in Oakland, California, as they prepare for a cultural celebration, against a backdrop of poverty, violence and disenfranchisment. With a sprawling ensemble of characters, Orange combines vivid humanity with building tension, as we move inevitably towards a powerful climax.
Learn more about the novel, and the true stories that inspired it, with Dua Lipa's interview with Tommy Orange.
The Bee Sting
Paul Murray
Frankly, it would be impressive if you've never heard of The Bee Sting before now – it went gangbusters in the Readings community when it was first released in 2023, and we still keep it in steady supply across all our shops. For those who don't know, it's a wry and thought provoking family saga that marks Paul Murray as part of Ireland's growing stable of powerhouse authors.
Following the Barnes family through financial and personal crises, Murray explores the disconnect that can happen between us and our nearest and dearest, and the slow, encroaching way unhappiness builds overtime. But this novel isn't all doom and gloom – it's 'irresistibly funny' and will leave you reflecting on your own life, with hope that improvement (or redemption) is possible. For more, see Dua Lipa's interview with Paul Murray here.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong
Ocean Vuong has been receiving attention, locally and internationally, for his new novel The Emperor of Gladness, but don't miss his beautiful debut, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. The story of this novel bears a lot of similarity to Vuong's own family experiences, as Vietnamese refugees in America who weren't able to read or write.
The narrator, Little Dog, is writing a letter to his mother, despite knowing she won't be able to read it. But he's trying to reckon with his relationship with his parents, with their culture, and with the trauma that sent them to America and shaped them for decades afterwards; the writing of the letter, for him, is as important as whether or not the letter will actually be read. The novel is also a heart-wrenching queer coming of age story, that explores the fallout of the American Dream in parallel to the fallout of the Vietnam War.
There are many strands woven together in this exceptional book, so no blurb can really capture it – instead, just find a copy and allow yourself to be swept up in the tide of Vuong's writing. And then, watch his interview with Dua Lipa here to understand the experience even better.
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Patrick Radden Keefe
Garner's isn't the first nonfiction pick for the Service95 Book Club – there have been plenty of other great works featured, including Say Nothing, an award winning account of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, which explores the legacy of violence and the power of ideals.
This is another book that you've probably heard of, even if you haven't read it yet – it was recently adapted into a television drama, and was included in The New York Times Book Review's list of The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century. Readings' own Joanna Di Mattia said it is 'tense and harrowing, beautifully structured, and is the absolute best thing a work of history writing can be – rage inducing.'
Pick it up now and then check out Dua Lipa's interview with Patrick Radden Keefe here.
Crying in H Mart
Michelle Zauner
This is a bestselling memoir about family, identity, grief and good food. Michelle Zauner – also known as the singer-songwriter for indie pop band Japanese Breakfast – lays bare her relationship with her mother and her Korean heritage.
Zauner’s adolescent relationship with her mother was often fraught, but they did find connection on school holidays spent in Seoul, sharing heaping plates of homemade food. As Zauner grew into adulthood, her connection to both her mother and her heritage began to fade, superseded by new relationships and a burgeoning musical career. But then her mother’s diagnosis of terminal cancer forced a reckoning that led to a sometimes joyful, sometimes painful, reclamation of their history and culture.
Hear more about this emotional memoir in Dua Lipa's interview with Michelle Zauner here.
Grief Is the Thing with Feathers
Max Porter
This unique novel – part essay, part fable, part family story – marked Max Porter's literary debut ten years ago and has since become a modern classic. It's a moving and hopeful story of grief, following two young children and their romantic father, as they grapple with the sudden death of their mother. In the depths of their grief they are visisted by Crow, a trickster, an antagonist and a sentimental babysitter. Over weeks and months, the family grow accustomed to their visitor, and the absence that is now the defining feature of their lives.
This is full of incredible emotion and unexpected humour – if you haven't already read this short but powerful novel, now is the time! There's a beautiful 10th anniversary edition coming out in September, with new artwork throughout, and you can pre-order your copy now. You can hear more about the novel and its legacy through Dua Lipa's interview with Max Porter here.
Other recent picks include Widow Basquiat: A Memoir by Jennifer Clement; Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel, translated by Rosalind Harvey; Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones; Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders; and Bad Habit by Alana S. Portero, translated by Mara Faye Lethem. 📖
… so, how many have you read? And how many will be added to your TBR?
