Readings booksellers share their favourite books of 2025!
Pan
Michael Clune
'Michael Clune paints the blurred edges of reality with bright, clear prose, bringing into focus on the page parts of the mind so rarely pinned down in any art form. Brilliant, unsettling – this is what figurative language is for.'
Molly Smith is from Readings Emporium
The Correspondent
Virginia Evans
'There have been so many fantastic books this year, but my favourite was The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. Anyone who loves Ann Patchett, Fredrik Backman or Elizabeth Strout should give this a go. You are in for a real treat!
Sybil appears to be a prickly older lady who takes great delight in her daily letter correspondence. Through the course of these letters and responses the reader is soon exposed to a very full life as she tries to make sense of it all. This was a five-star for me – it was a true delight, deeply emotive and life-affirming. Look past the cover on this one and just trust me on how special this book and character is.'
Melanie Barton is from Readings Carlton
Heart the Lover
Lily King
'Heart the Lover follows the narrator’s experiences with love and literature at college. Usually, I don’t like unnamed narrators (give me someone to get to know), I don’t read anything set in America (fascism), and I don’t read romance (really fun person), but King’s subtle depth and her gut-punch emotional writing make for a happy exception to the rule.
Her characters are pretending to be adults in a college world, talking about Proust and Greek mythology when they’re thinking mostly about kissing and student debt. You can read this without the predecessor, Writers and Lovers, but you will get more out of it as a companion. I feel like I waited all year for a book like this.'
Grace Gooda is from Readings Chadstone
The Art of Kaylene Whiskey
Edited by Natalie King & Iwantja Arts
'The Art of Kaylene Whiskey is pure joy. I keep going back to this book to pore over the vibrant artworks and read about Kaylene’s life, dreams and words of wisdom.
I can’t fully express how much I love this book and the warmth it brings me. It might be the antidote to my pre-bedtime doomscrolling, and even just for that reason alone I cannot recommend it highly enough.'
Rosalind McClintock is head of marketing
Eurotrash
Christian Kracht, translated by Daniel Bowles (trans.)
'Eurotrash is a wild ride: a Swiss Thelma & Louise-style road trip between a son (an author named Christian Kracht) and his 80-year-old mother who has just been released from a psychiatric hospital. Wealthy and awful, the two commandeer a cab and attempt to go on a spending spree to unload a hefty portion of her ill-gotten gains. Amidst their constant bickering and upper-class histrionics, mother and son are thrust back into the dark truths of their family’s history and, unexpectedly, brought closer together.
Eurotrash’s humour is irreverent and dark but, ultimately, it is the unexpectedly tender denouement which elevates this novel to one of the best of the year. I loved it!'
Justin Avery is from Readings Warehouse
Not Quite White in the Head
Melissa Lucashenko
'Melissa Lucashenko’s first nonfiction collection spans time, place and theme, but every piece holds its own. Ranging from essays to speeches and across two decades, this is a moving and essential read for fans of personal essays, political journalism, cultural and literary criticism and, of course, Lucashenko’s writing in any form. It’s also a particular treat for anyone keen to gain insight into the backstories behind her award-winning novels.'
Elke Power is the editor of Readings Monthly
The Wolf Who Cried Boy
Mark Mupotsa-Russell
'When I think of the best books released this year, The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Mark Mupotsa-Russell sticks clearly in my mind. It is a beautifully heartbreaking story of a young boy who has created a fantasy world in his mind to explain why he and his mother are on the run from their father, showcasing a child’s wonder and innocence in difficult situations.
It is a fast-paced, shocking thriller that deeply preserves the serious nature of the story at its core, bringing to attention many societal and systemic issues from a child’s perspective. I cannot recommend it enough.'
Aurelia Orr is from Readings Kids
Wait Here
Lucy Nelson
'Wait Here is an incredible selection of short stories, all about women who don’t have children, either by choice or circumstance. Both heartbreaking and affirming, fragile and firm, this book is centred on women and their agency – or lack thereof – in their lives; how they feel about their bodies and what they do with their feelings about not being able to, or choosing not to, have children. Beautifully written and spanning a variety of experiences, this is a stellar collection worth devouring.'
Pauline Hopkins is manager of Readings Hawthorn
The Transformations
Andrew Pippos
'I adored The Transformations, and the more I think about this wonderful book, the more I love it. Andrew Pippos is a star. One of my favourite books of the year.'
Alison Huber is the head book buyer
Little World
Josephine Rowe
'Josephine Rowe’s Little World is a little miracle – sparse yet brimming with razor-sharp pathos, I picked up this novella a few days after it was released and didn’t put it down until I’d devoured it whole. Following an incorruptible teenage saint on her undying journey across the globe, Rowe spins pure poetry out of the horrific and the mundane without becoming burdened by the weight of all the saint’s years and miles. Out of all the brilliant Australian titles I’ve been lucky enough to read this year, Little World has stayed with me the longest for its quiet empathy and keen intelligence.'
Gene Pinter is from Readings Chadstone
Mother Mary Comes To Me
Arundhati Roy
'This is a memoir of epic proportions and fans of Arundhati Roy’s fiction will not be disappointed. It’s equal parts rage and heartache – two women, two very different paths, and, ultimately, two legacies shaped by each other.'
Danielle Mirabella is the senior book buyer at Readings Hawthorn
Good and Evil and Other Stories
Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell
'In such an incredible year for books, I still can’t stop thinking about Good and Evil and Other Stories by Samanta Schweblin. Across its six tales, Schweblin wields an incredible level of craft and careful restraint to paint these enchanting and heartbreaking portraits of loss, grief and regret.
Schweblin already proved her skills at dreamlike horror with the excellent Mouthful of Birds, but here she only uses the barest touches of surrealism and strangeness to punctuate otherwise grounded familial narratives – it’s all still just as haunting, but the prevailing feeling is less dread and more devastating gut-ache. Transcendent stuff!'
Joe Murray is from Readings Kids
Flesh
David Szalay
'My favourite book this year is the one that has stuck with me the longest. The one that I’m still carrying around. David Szalay’s Flesh.
Szalay has achieved something very special here. His protagonist, István (just 15 when we meet him) is carried along by events that seem to be happening beyond his control, disconnected from his body, barely able to articulate what it needs. Flesh is very coolly composed, dispassionate even, but Szalay is reckoning with something huge about difficult aspects of masculinity and who they really hurt. By its final pages I was quite bereft, stunned by everything this masterful novel made me feel.'
Joanna Di Mattia is from Readings Carlton
