We chatted to Lian Hingee, our new Digital Marketing Manager, about her favourite books

Describe your taste in books.

I’m a fiction reader primarily, but I binge-read across a broad range of genres. Usually what happens is that I’ll read one book that really grabs me, then I’ll spend a couple of months powering through similar titles until I hit saturation point and have to start from scratch to find my Next Big Thing.

I’ve got a long history with kids’ books so I read a lot of middle and young adult fiction. I have this theory that kids are more discerning readers than adults because they won’t persevere with anything because of pride or ego, so anything that makes it as a bestseller in the kids market must be really excellent.

I’m also big foodie so I have an embarrassingly large number of cookbooks – My copy of David Herbert’s Complete Perfect Recipes is practically glued shut with smears and spills, and my copies of Mr Wilkinson’s Simply Dressed Salads and Community are going the same way.

Tell us about an Australian book that made a significant impact on you.

I adore Murray Bail’s Eucalyptus, and every summer I find myself revisiting it. It’s the story of a man who has a beautiful daughter, and rather than put up with the scores of inferior suitors that keep showing up at his door he sets this virtually impossible challenge: whoever can name every eucalyptus tree on his property (keeping in mind there’s over 900 varieties!) can have her hand in marriage. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to him, she’s being secretly wooed by a man who’s telling her fairy tales about the trees. It’s like Scheherazade in the Australian bush, and every time I emerge from it I can almost feel the warmth of dappled sunlight and the smell of red dirt and eucalyptus in the air.

What would be the first book you buy for a baby?

Oh, too many choices! It usually depends on the parents but I usually try to pick classic books that are a bit lesser-known (I’m sure every new parent gets at least seventeen copies of The Very Hungry Caterpillar). Outside Over There (from Maurice Sendak who wrote Where The Wild Things Are) was a favourite when I was little – I was always trying to climb backwards out of my bedroom window to get to the goblin kingdom. I love The Paperbag Princess, which I still think is the best feminist fairytale ever. The Muddle-headed Wombat, which often gets overlooked in favour of Blinky Bill or The Magic Pudding.

Do you ever read books more than once?

Yes, always! It’s like revisiting old friends. A favourite though? Maybe the Anne of Green Gables series? (A series counts as one book, right?) Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman? Oh wait: Good Omens, because that way I get Neil Gaiman AND Terry Pratchett. The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness? Actually, maybe Cold Comfort Farm. Or The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankenweiler. No, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Ah, I can’t do it! It’s like trying to pick a favourite child!

What are you reading right now?

I’m on a crime binge at the moment – I just finished chain-reading the Dublin Murder Squad series from Tana French (really great contemporary crime novels that rely on good characterisation and strong narrative, rather than splashy gore) and I’m on to the third Robert Galbraith novel, Career of Evil, and then I’ve got Zeroes by Scott Westerfeld, Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti to read for book club.

Lian Hingee