With a long weekend coming up in Melbourne, our booksellers share some of their best recommendations for long weekend reading – new and old.

Nina Kenwood recommends What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton

I don’t normally read political memoirs – this might, in fact, be my first. But last year’s US election wasn’t a normal campaign, and nothing has been normal since, and I can’t stop consuming information about how the world got to this place. Reading What Happened is surprisingly enjoyable, for a book that delves deep into the pain of last year’s election. Clinton is an excellent writer, and her tone is warm, candid and often funny. Her regret and frustration at the outcome of the election is still raw, and her anger simmers under the surface in a satisfying way. The book is chatty and easy to read, filled with fascinating titbits and Clinton’s thoughts on everything from her email ‘scandal’ to Russia, from Bernie Sanders to what it’s like to be a woman in politics. It is deeply personal at times, and I found myself teary-eyed at several points.

I highly recommended What Happened for anyone trying to make sense of the world we live in. I read the book while wearing my Nasty Woman t-shirt and dreaming of Trump’s destruction.

Bel Monypenny recommends City of Crows by Chris Womersley

Set in 1600s France, Chris Womersley’s City of Crows is addictive and deliciously foul. This novel is a sensory onslaught, from the glorious French countryside to characters who are filthy in body and soul. Everything stinks, there’s occult, a hunt for treasure believed to be guarded by demons and a mission to rescue a child lost to the evils of Paris. Ripe with vivid characters, lush scenery, power struggles and suspense – not even the Grand Final will drag you away.

I’m hoping to dive into Jeannette Walls’s memoir, The Glass Castle, which has recently been adapted into a film starring Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts. At 17, Wall escaped her chaotic, nomadic childhood in the American Southwest when she left for New York on a Greyhound bus with her older sister. The ultimate rebellion against her unconventional but brilliant alcoholic parents was to carve out a successful career and middle-class life for herself, but she’s still haunted by loyalty and love. This book had me from the first sentence: ‘I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster.’ Fabulous!

Lian Hingee recommends Heartburn by Nora Ephron

Nora Ephron’s wonderful little novel Heartburn is the perfect long-weekend read. Based loosely (or not so loosely) on Ephron’s own marriage breakdown it’s populated with enough thinly-veiled references to real people to send you down a Google hole trying to find out how much of it is true, and how much of it is exaggerated for comic effect.

It’s a slim little volume that you can power through in a day, but full to the brim with the most delicious-sounding recipes so it’s a good thing you’ll have another two days to go to the market and pick up some ingredients so you can try them! Team it with one of Ephron’s wonderful movies – or, better still, the Everything Is Copy documentary – and spend the entire long weekend immersing yourself in the acerbically funny, heartfelt, and authentic voice of this legendary filmmaker.

Leanne Hall recommends The Boundless Sublime by Lili Wilkinson

If you want to disappear into a delicious vortex of long weekend reading, I can’t recommend Lili Wilkinson’s The Boundless Sublime highly enough. This tense YA thriller takes the reader deep into life in an inner-city cult, run by the powerfully creepy Zosimon. When grief-stricken Ruby Jane Galbraith encounters the charismatic Fox handing out drinking water on a street corner, she is primed for a transformative experience. Friendship turns into a visit to the Red House to meet other devotees – which then turns into Ruby’s full-time residence at the Institute.

I was fascinated by the intricate, odd and utterly believable details of cult life: Zosimon’s teachings and beliefs, the rituals and schedules, the methods of control and the hidden hypocrisies. Ruby is tough and vulnerable all at once, and her internal grappling with Institute life is intense and compelling. The Boundless Sublime unfolds in an unpredictable and extremely satisfying rollercoaster of hope and dread – somewhat akin to watching a tiny but capable insect struggling to extract itself from a very sticky spider web.

Chris Gordon recommends Black Inc’s Writers on Writers

My tip for the long weekend is to start with one of the two books released in Black Inc’s new series titled Writers on Writers. Neither of these slim books will take you long to read but both will spark you off into ‘never never land’. Once this occurs, you will probably end up spending the entire weekend far from the maddening footy crowd and instead, tucked up at home reading. Here, you can move between bed and sofa, eating cheese toasties and slurping enormous mugs of tea, as you read the day away.

If this sounds like your ideal long weekend, I suggest you start with Alice Pung’s long essay on John Marsden. Pung does a wonderful job of explaining why Marsden’s books are so important, and before you know it – you’ll be picking up a classic like So Much to Tell You or Tomorrow, When the War Began, and you will be reminded why you love these books. You might even be struck by a desire to ring Pung up so you can tell her that you agree with her.

If a trip down young adult literary lane is not your cup of tea, then try Eric Jensen’s take on Kate Jennings. An entirely different essay but I warn you – the impact will be the same! Before you realise that you are under a spell, you’ll be searching for your copy of Snake or Moral Hazard and remarking to your family and friends: ‘Oh, thank goodness for writers like Kate. She gave us tenacity and she gave us fury in literary forms.’ And all the while, Jensen will be at the back of your mind, nodding in agreement, pleased as punch that you have also remembered why you embraced her writing in the first place.

So shut down the screen, close the door and make yourself comfortable: this long weekend can be all about getting reacquainted with old friends.

Bronte Coates recommends The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

I am a latecomer to Mary Ann Shaffer’s novel which generated enormous buzz when it was first published in 2008 – a response that I now know was warranted. This is such a delightful world to get stuck into on a long weekend, full of characters you’ll fall head over heels for and featuring moments of heartbreak, hilarity and (hooray) romance. I highly recommend this one for booklovers because as well as being a cracking great read and a compelling snapshot of our history, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society also functions as a love letter to books and reading. Your heart will be toasty warm by the time you turn the final page.

My other pick for this long weekend is Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere. I’ve been recommended this novel by a several trusted sources including my colleague Nina. She described the story as an ‘emotionally complex, richly detailed drama about motherhood and belonging’ which sounds like exactly the kind of absorbing, meaty read that would be ideal for a long weekend at home. You can read Nina’s full review here.