Explore our books of the month for September!
Each of the below titles has been read and recommended by our booksellers before being selected as our book of the month for its category.
Fiction Book of the Month
Fierceland
Omar Musa
Omar Musa’s second novel, Fierceland, begins with a familiar domestic scenario in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. Two children, Rozana and Harun, desperately want their father, Yusuf, to buy them a new video game, The Legend of Zelda. Brother and sister are united in their fixation and agree that this is the best video game ever, even though neither of them have ever played it. This is not some pipe dream; Yusuf is a wealthy businessman – owner of Italian silk ties and sports cars – who has the means to buy his children whatever they want.
Yusuf is in the vanguard of Malaysia’s economic boom and when he takes Roz and Harun on a business expedition deep into the jungles of Borneo, we begin to discover the dark side of his wealth – the destruction of ancient trees and ecosystems to make way for monolithic palm plantations. As Roz and Harun reckon with this shocking truth, their relationship begins to splinter and their lives take divergent turns, sending them to different parts of the globe. A family tragedy sends them back to Borneo and forces them to confront their complicity in the environmental destruction of their homeland.
Kaleidoscopic in narrative scope and form, Musa traverses the jungles of Borneo, elite Sydney boarding schools, the glass-making workshops of Murano and Nigerian palm oil laboratories. While the focus of the story is on Roz and Harun, the novel is told from the perspectives of many different characters, jumping between the years, decades and centuries. While Musa propels the story forward with more straightforward narrative prose, the chapters are interwoven with poetry and verse. Musa started out as a poet and performer and there is real lyric beauty and rhythm in this writing.
This is an ambitious and important novel that interweaves Malaysian history, environmental degradation, cultural heritage, artistic endeavours and fucked-up families. And that description doesn’t even scratch the surface. Highly recommended.
Reviewed by Joe Rubbo.
Crime Book of the Month
Five Found Dead
Sulari Gentill
My fellow crime fiction enthusiasts here at Readings and I are big, big fans of Sulari Gentill, and we all get very excited whenever she has a new book out. Five Found Dead is a standalone novel and marks a bolder departure from her most recent works, The Mystery Writer and The Woman in the Library, both of which had me guessing and guessing again. I say bolder because the setting for this book is none other than the legendary Orient Express.
Ever since Agatha Christie’s masterwork Murder on the Orient Express, this train has had a special pull for writers and readers alike. Gentill resurrects this famed rail service with wonderful aplomb – its final journey was in 2009 – for a thoroughly entertaining mystery.
What should be a celebratory journey for Australian twins Joe and Meredith Penvale – Joe having recently recovered from a long bout of cancer and himself an increasingly famous mystery writer – soon turns into a ride from hell when a cabin is found strewn with blood, but there’s no body to be found. The tension and isolation of their setting is enhanced by a COVID outbreak in the end carriages. True to form, more bodies pile up, prompting a sweeping investigation into a truly bizarre ensemble.
Sulari Gentill is a master storyteller, and she’s thrown a lot into this book to make it into the suspenseful yet wholly fun whodunnit that kept me guessing right up to the clinch point.
Reviewed by Julia Jackson.
Nonfiction Book of the Month
Snake Talk
Tyson Yunkaporta & Megan Kelleher
Over the course of his first two books, Sand Talk and Right Story, Wrong Story, Tyson Yunkaporta has carved out a highly distinct intellectual niche.
A member of the Apalech clan from Far North Queensland and founder of the Indigenous Knowledges Systems Lab at Deakin, Yunkaporta applies Indigenous wisdom to contemporary problems with brilliant insight. In this new book, Snake Talk, Yunkaporta has co-authored the text with his wife, Megan Kelleher, a Barada and Gabalbara woman with a background researching blockchain technology and Indigenous knowledge.
The book explores the snakes, serpents and dragons that feature prominently in so many of the world’s myths, from Nepal, Central America, Ireland, India and China. Kelleher and Yunkaporta approach these stories by meeting, breaking bread and engaging in solemn ritual with representatives of each culture, bringing them into dialogue with Indigenous Lore. The tone is inclusive and invitational, too – oral culture transmuted into written form.
I would be remiss if I failed to mention the book’s humour. Snake Talk opens with a cheeky anecdote about the confusion of European naturalists encountering the echidna, a mammal with two vaginas. This follows on from Right Story , Wrong Story, which opens with a fact about the male echidna’s four-headed penis. I am personally eager to know whether all their future books will include echidna genitalia as a recurring literary motif.
Rich and layered, Snake Talk is partly a response to the crises of rising authoritarianism and environmental collapse we currently face. It calls for rebalancing our relationships with the Earth and each other through shared narrative, ‘gathering a world of stories around one fire’. At a time when our world feels fragile, we sorely need the kind of fresh thinking found in this expansive and visionary book.
Reviewed by James Marples.
Young Adult Book of the Month
Black River (Black River, Book 1)
Ruby Jean Cottle
There is something very unsettling yet utterly compelling about this debut Australian novel set in a remote town in the US. Dusty and her sister Opi live with their father on a mountain that overlooks Black River. Their mother mysteriously left a few years earlier and they are still processing her absence from their lives. One day, Dusty wakes up with dirt on her feet and she doesn’t know how it got there. Nor does she know why she has incredible energy but doesn’t feel like eating, or why she now sees colours around people. And then there is her newfound desire for blood.
Dusty begins a friendship with a boy, Will, in her class, but her new needs are very distracting. At a party, when sitting with Will, Dusty suddenly realises another boy who also lives on the mountain – whom she has hated forever – has the same desire for blood as her. She grabs him before he does something stupid and they disappear into the woods for two days, causing her family to panic.
What have they become? And what is happening on the mountain? These are the questions that keep the reader turning the pages long into the night and make for an exciting, spine-tingling thriller. For those who love their stories with a bit of magic, a smouldering romance, and oodles of tension, this debut is a winner for ages 14+.
Reviewed by Angela Crocombe.
Kids Book of the Month
The Making of Martha Mayfield
Jo Dabrowski
A heartwarming and wholesome story about learning to find your voice, The Making of Martha Mayfield is a strong follow-up novel from author Jo Dabrowski, whose first book, Get Your Act Together, Doris Kozlowski was shortlisted for The Readings Children’s Prize last year. The qualities which made that book stand out shine even brighter here.
The story follows Martha, a young girl who struggles to speak with anyone. When her mother, who is similarly shy, loses her job in favour of a less talented but more open co-worker, Martha decides she must learn to speak up and share her ideas. What follows is a super-fun story of school captain elections, group projects, and how these scary opportunities can help us learn and grow. Alongside Martha, we get to know her family. Her sister, Iris, is constantly changing herself to appeal to different boys, and her mother, Eleanor, is struggling to find her way after losing her job.
This book is all about overcoming internal challenges to find a truer and happier version of yourself. It’s not about becoming the loudest in the class, but rather finding a way to share your voice nonetheless. Perfect for ages 9+.
Reviewed by Alicia Guiney.
Picture Book of the Month
Once I was a Giant
Zeno Sworder
This stunning book is an ode to trees and their relationship with humans, written from the perspective of a tree itself. The story begins immediately in the front endpapers with a picture-book maker who can’t think of an idea. That is, until his pencil starts talking to him! The pencil tells the story of its life as a tree living in the forest. The tree is befriended by a wanderer – a forest sprite – who tells stories of his adventures in the world. When the machines come, the wanderer gives the tree and the forest creatures advance warning.
With incredible drawings and a graphic style illustrating the natural world in all its glory, this powerful story reminds us of humanity’s connection to nature. Portraying the life of a tree from a little seed through to a giant forest elder, Once I was a Giant explores the theme of the cyclical nature of all life, with examples such as eggs in a nest hatching into hungry chicks. By the award-winning author of My Strange Shrinking Parents, this picture book is truly a work of art to pore over again and again, each time discovering new wonders. You’ll never look at a pencil in the same way again!
For ages 5+.
Reviewed by Angela Crocombe.
Kids Classic of the Month
Tashi (30th anniversary edition)
Anna Fienberg & Barbara Fienberg, illustrated by Kim Gamble
Growing up, Tashi was an absolute favourite, not only for my sister and me, but also for our parents. We even named our dog Tashi! What a joy it was to return to the world of Tashi for his 30th birthday. And I’m happy to say I was just as enthralled by the adventures of Tashi as I was as a child.
Jack has made a new friend at school named Tashi, an elfin boy who’s come from a land far away. Tashi tells Jack the most incredible stories of his adventures back home: how he was sold to a warlord and escaped on the back of a giant swan; how he tricked the very last dragon; and how he escaped a burning home and saved an orchard from thieves. Although Tashi’s stories are often dark and a little scary, there are also many humorous moments.
In Tashi, good always triumphs over evil. Tashi is about being courageous and standing up against injustice, but it’s also about friendship, love and opening yourself up to people who are different from you.
Including the original Tashi story and two bonus short stories, alongside Kim Gamble’s gorgeous illustrations, this hardcover edition of an enchanting classic is a beautiful keepsake to pass down through generations. For ages 6+.
Reviewed by Lucie Dess.
