Books
Prose by your favourite poets
These poetic novels and works of non-fiction and memoir are from some of our most beloved and revered poets!
Son of Sin by Omar Sakr
An estranged father. An abused and abusive mother. An army of relatives. A tapestry of violence, woven across generations and geographies, from Turkey to Lebanon to Western Sydney. This is the legacy left to Jamal Smith, a young queer Muslim trying to escape a past in which memory and rumour trace ugly shapes in the…
The best new crime reads in March
Our crime specialist shares 10 great crime reads to look out for this month.
CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH
When We Fall by Aoife Clifford
As she walks along the beach with her mother, discouraged barrister Alex Tillerson wishes she wasn’t back in her childhood town of Merritt. Alex is going through a painful divorce, her mother’s health is deteriorating due to younger onset dementia, and Merritt holds no good memories. She wants to leave, but there’s nobody to go…
On events, with Chris Gordon
Anyone who has watched me on Zoom over the last two years will know that I often ask you to imagine the perfect literary event. It goes like this: first, your outing to a Readings shop is easy; the tram is on time, or you find a carpark within striking distance of our shop. From there you saunter to a nearby café where you meet with friends and enjoy a refreshing beverage, before walking through the glass doors into Readings…
International Women's Day books for kids and teens
by Angela CrocombeHappy International Women’s Day! It’s a day to celebrate women and their achievements - past, present and future - and we are blessed with many great books that articulate the lives of remarkable women. Here are a few recent titles about amazing women to both educate and inspire young people.
Courageous Queens by Angela Buckingham
A story collection about women with power and how they used it.
These queen stories are not fairytales for small children. They are true tales…
Our top 10 bestsellers of the week
Sadvertising by Ennis Cehic
Hovering by Rhett Davis
Give Unto Others by Donna Leon
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
The Shortest History of the Soviet Union by Sheila Fitzpatrick
When We Fall by Aoife Clifford
The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
The Idea of Australia by Julianne Schultz
Burning Questions by Margaret Atwood
Goodnight, Vivienne, Goodnight by Steven Carroll
Our best-seller from the past week is Sadvertising, a fantastic collection of short stories from an emerging writer…
Our children's and YA top 10 bestsellers of the week
Pierre the Maze Detective: The Curious Case of the Castle in the Sky by Hiro Kamigaki
League of Liars by Astrid Scholte
When You’re Older by Sofie Laguna & Judy Watson
Arabella’s Adventure Alphabet by Suzy Zail
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
Our Planet: The One Place we all call Home by Matt Whyman & Richard Jones
Abigail Fig: Secret Agent Pig by Megan Hess
You’ll be the Death of Me by Karen McManus
Rockstar Detectives by Adam…
What we're reading: Hartnett, Miller & Scholte
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.
Tye Cattanach is reading Go Home, Cat! by Sonya Hartnett, illustrated by Lucia Masciullo
Isn’t liquorice a delicious word? If you didn’t think so before, you certainly will once you have revelled in the magical new picture book from the uber talented Sonya Hartnett. A gorgeous (and long awaited) sequel to Come Down,…
An extract from the new anthology, We've Got This
More than 15 per cent of Australian households have a parent with a disability. This month, a new anthology, We’ve Got This: Stories by Disabled Parents, shines a spotlight on those stories that are rarely shared in parenting literature. In this edited extract, contributor Jax Jacki Brown writes about their experience.
‘Do you want to have kids some day?’ I asked her on a cold winter’s night, while we waited for a cab in Fitzroy.
Before meeting Anne, I’d…
Dear Reader, with Alison Huber
As I write, it does feel like things are, ever-so-slowly, coming back to life in Melbourne. More people are out and about, dinners are being had, and there’s something approaching a renewed confidence in this (possibly temporary?) status quo. As far as books go, though, it’s all systems go, and March is full of big ones. Margaret Atwood, as our reviewer points out, needs no introduction, so her essay collection, Burning Questions was always going to be our Nonfiction Book…
25% off 25 fiction favourites
Right now we have an exclusive online offer on a select range of popular fiction titles! Buy any title from our fiction favourites collection, use the code 25OFF at checkout and receive a 25% discount on the eligible titles. This offer runs online only until 31 March, on select in-stock items only, while stocks last. This offer is not available in shops.
Find some of our staff’s recommendations below or discover the full selection here.
Mark's Say: Readings Foundation
Around 2008, when it became apparent that thanks to the community’s support, Readings would survive the onslaught of Borders, we decided we needed to acknowledge that support and the efforts of our staff in a tangible and ongoing way. We resolved to give a total of 20% of our profits to the community and staff each year. A year later in 2009, we established the Readings Foundation to support literacy and the arts in the Victorian community.
Since that time…
The Stella Prize longlist 2022
The longlist for this year’s Stella Prize has been announced! The Stella Prize seeks to elevate the work of Australian women writers – cis, trans, and non-binary inclusive. The $50,000 prize is awarded annually to one outstanding book deemed to be original, excellent, and engaging.
Below are the 12 longlisted books for the 2022 Stella Prize.
Coming of Age in the War on Terror by Randa Abdel-Fattah
We now have a generation - Muslim and non-Muslim - who have grown…
Our children's and YA top 10 bestsellers of the week
Our Planet: The One Place we all call Home by Matt Whyman & Richard Jones
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
Only A Monster by Vanessa Len
Welcome to your Boobs by Yumi Stynes & Melissa Kang
Ninja Kid 9: Ninja Fish by Anh Do
Aaron Slater, Illustrator by Andrea Beatty & David Roberts
The First Scientists by Corey Tutt
Friday Barnes 10: Undercover by R.A. Spratt
Gangsta Granny Strikes Again by David Walliams
Our top 10 bestsellers of the week
The Future Is Fungi by Michael Lim & Yun Shu
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
Still Life by Sarah Winman
On Reckoning by Amy Remeikis
The Big Switch by Saul Griffith
Love Stories by Trent Dalton
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Making Australian History by Anna Clark
Black and Blue by Veronica Gorrie
Maid by Nita Prose
Our best-seller from the past week is the wonderful The Future Is Fungi, an informative and richly illustrated guide to…
Recommended reading: short story collections
We love short stories and their unique ability to distill so much insight and entertainment with artful brevity and fervour. This month we’re highlighting six collections that have recently hit our shelves.
Send Nudes by Saba Sams
A motherless teenage girl, daughter of the town butcher, falls into a relationship with a much older boy, but realises she’d rather have the love of his dog. A directionless university student is taken up by beautiful, chaotic party girl Lara, who moves…
What we're reading: Keyes, Smith & Dahl
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.
Julia Jackson is reading Cooper Not Out by Justin Smith
I’ve read many a cricket book in my lifetime, from the Iceman’s Captain’s Diaries right through to Duncan Hamilton’s erudite biography of cricket laureate Neville Cardus, but I haven’t read a cricket book as downright fun as Cooper Not Out.
Here, Justin…
Six Australian fiction titles to pick up this month
It’s been a slow beginning for locally published works this year but we’re so excited to finally see a flurry of new local releases hitting our shelves. Below are six excellent titles that landed this February.
28 Questions by Indyana Schneider
When first-year music student Amalia stumbles into her Oxford college bar, she has no idea that everything is about to change. Seated across from her is Alex, a velvety-voiced fellow Australian with eyes the colour of her native sky…
Spotlight on recent translated books for children and young adults
In recent months there have been a number of uniquely beautiful books in translation for children and young adults. From a picture book by one of Sweden’s most beloved authors, a hilarious book about a dad trying to keep their child busy during lockdown, to a story set in Nazi Germany and more. Read on to discover these unique perspectives.
The Tale of the Tiny Man by Barbro Lindgren & Eva Nilsson (translated from the Swedish language by Julia Marshall)
…
CBCA Notable Books of 2022
The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has announced its Notable Books for 2022. Congratulations to all the authors, illustrators and publishers!
The CBCA presents annual awards to books of literary merit, for outstanding contribution to Australian children’s literature. The CBCA Awards were first presented in 1946 and are the longest-running book awards in Australia.
Here are the notable books for each category:
Older Readers
Books in this category may be fiction, drama or poetry and are appropriate in style…
Five books to help curb your consumption
Too many things in your cart or on your wish-list? These books can help you think more critically about what you’re buying, where you’re buying it from, and why we – as a society – feel so compelled to consume in the first place.
Consumed by Aja Barber
In the ‘learning’ first half of the book, Barber will expose you to the endemic injustices in our consumer industries and the uncomfortable history of the textile industry; one which brokered slavery…
Our children's and YA top 10 bestsellers of the week
Somebody’s Land by Adam Goodes & Ellie Laing
Only A Monster by Vanessa Len
The First Scientists by Corey Tutt
Possum Magic by Mem Fox
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
Your School is the Best by Maggie Hutchings
The Unexpected Tale of Bastien Bonlivre by Clare Povey
Rockstar Detectives by Adam Hills
Nature’s Treasures by Ben Hoare
Our Planet: The One Place we all call Home by Matt Whyman & Richard Jones
Adam Goodes again takes out the…
Our top 10 bestsellers of the week
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas
Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes
Violeta Isabel Allende
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
Love Marriage by Monica Ali
On Reckoning by Amy Remeikis
Love and Virtue by Diana Reid
Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher
All About Love by Bell Hooks
Our best-seller from the past week is Jessica Au’s, Cold Enough for Snow. Our reviewer and Readings Monthly editor Jackie Tang says of…
Our top picks of the month for book clubs
For book clubs seeking stories of reinvention…
Free Love by Tessa Hadley
It’s 1967. While London comes alive with the new youth revolution, the suburban Fischer family seems to belong to an older world of conventional stability: pretty, dutiful homemaker Phyllis is married to Roger, a devoted father with a career in the Foreign Office.
But when the twenty-something son of an old friend pays the Fischers a visit one hot summer evening, and kisses Phyllis in the dark garden…
What we're reading: Kang, Hadley & Baume
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.
Tracy Hwang is reading The White Book by Han Kang (translated by Deborah Smith)
Having loved Han Kang’s writing in the past, I knew going into The White Book that I would likely enjoy it. Turns out, ‘enjoyable’ is really too simple a word to describe the reading experience this book provides.
In…
A message from the outgoing Teen Advisory Board
Well, that’s a wrap.
It feels anticlimactic for the Teen Advisory Board of 2021/22 to sign off this way, given the incredible highs we’ve had these past few months. From meeting acclaimed authors to attending book launches, there’s been such an amazing array of activities on offer, it scarcely seems possible to identify the highlights.
Our first meeting was a blur, meeting each other for the first time and learning all about everyone’s likes and dislikes, the things that make…
The CILIP Carnegie & Kate Greenaway Medals longlists 2022
The longlists for the 2022 CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medals have been announced!
The Carnegie Medal is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book written in English for children and young people. The Kate Greenaway Medal is awarded by children’s librarians for an outstanding book in terms of illustration for children and young people.
Here are the longlisted books for the 2022 Carnegie Medal:
October, October by Katya Balen, illustrated by Angela Harding
Musical Truth by Jeffrey Boakye…
Our top picks of the month for kid's and YA book clubs
We have some fantastic new releases that would be excellent reads to provoke discussion amongst young people in book clubs! Read on see this month’s top picks.
Books for readers aged 5-9
Looking After Country with Fire by Victor & Sandra Steffensen
This non-fiction book uses a story narrated by Uncle Kuu to teach children about cultural burning techniques. The book includes explores understanding ecosystems, the technique of cultural burning, and respect for First Nations practices.
You can read our…
Our books of the month, February 2022
OUR FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
Reviewed by
This highly anticipated follow-up to 2015’s A Little Life is an epic tour de force. In fact, it’s impossible for me to praise To Paradise enough. Set in an alternative America, this is a novel of three parts, its narratives traversing a slew of human experience and emotion.
Locational echoes and characters’ names recur from one story to the next, as if they are reincarnated or reimagined…
Fury and Joy: International Women’s Day
Join us for an event this International Women’s Day!
One of the most joyful ways I have chosen to celebrate International Women’s Day is to gift my son and my daughter, each year, a book about a woman that was or is incredible. I want their heads to be filled with women’s stories because we are not there yet.
All the way back in 1911, only eight countries allowed women to vote, equal pay for equal work was unheard of…
Books to reimagine our relationships with love, sex, and the self
There’s so much more to love than sex and romance. There’s also far more to sex and romance than their often pervasive white, cis, straight heteronormative definitions. This Valentine’s Day, we’re recommending books that challenge these narrow definitions about how we love.
Thankfully, our shelves are full of voices that both smartly and eloquently explore questions around love, sex, and the self. Below are some favourite reads from recent times, or browse the full collection of suggested titles here.
…
Our top 10 bestsellers of the week
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
Making Australian History by Anna Clark
Black and Blue by Veronica Gorrie
Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
Love Stories by Trent Dalton
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Devotion by Hannah Kent
Love and Virtue by Diana Reid
Dune by Frank Herbert
Our best-seller from the past week is Jessica Au’s short and incisive novel, Cold Enough for Snow. Our reviewer and Readings Monthly editor Jackie Tang says…
Our children's and YA top 10 bestsellers of the week
The Brightest Night: The Graphic Novel by Tui Sutherland
The First Scientists by Corey Tutt
You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen McManus
Only A Monster by Vanessa Len
Friday Barnes 10: Undercover by R.A. Spratt
Rockstar Detectives by Adam Hills
Wandi by Favel Parrett
Somebody’s Land by Adam Goodes & Ellie Laing
Bumper Treehouse Book by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys
This week sees the graphic novel adaptation of Wings of…
Kids books celebrating love in all its guises
Love is not just for lovers. It comes in many forms, such as a love of family and friends, a love of animals and nature, and a love of community. Here are a few recent books that celebrate different iterations of love that will be a joy to share with the children in your life.
Love of family…
Big Love by Megan Jacobson and Bec Feiner
No matter how different our families may be, the one thing we all have…
What we're reading: Osman, Nunez & Amba
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.
Baz Ozturk is reading What Are you going Through by Sigrid Nunez
I’m enjoying this novel about a woman dealing with a friend who’s coming to terms with terminal cancer. Enjoying doesn’t seem like the right word because it sounds heavy, and it is! But only in subject-matter. Yes, it’s sad, and even…
A spotlight on translated fiction this month
February signals promising start to the year with a wonderful collection of new novels in translation. Below are six stories for readers looking to discover voices from beyond our shores.
Strangers I Know by Claudia Durastanti (translated from Italian by Elizabeth Harris)
Every family has its own mythology, but in this family none of the myths match up. Claudia’s mother says she met her husband when she stopped him from jumping off a bridge. Her father says it happened when…
ICYMI 50 – some recommendations to help you choose your next read
There’s still time to discover your next read within the excellent range of titles that make up the ICYMI 50: Must-read new Australian books you might have missed collection.
To celebrate our brilliant local authors (and ensure that you don’t miss out on their wonderful books) we’re offering 20% off fifty recent releases that might have flown under your radar. From brilliant short story collections, we highly recommend trying Hold Your Fire, She is Haunted, or Born into…
Rainbow family picture books
We’ve seen some beautiful new books recently that reflect diverse families in all their glory, whether it be two dads, two mums, a child who does not gender conform, or many other family groupings. Plus, who wouldn’t love a picture book celebrating the sheer fabulousness of drag queens?!
Here are some of our favourite rainbow family picture books as well as picture books that encourage self expression and exploring your identity. Each story celebrates curiosity, open-mindedness, and kindness, and would…
Recipe extract from the Mabu Mabu cookbook
From Melbourne-based First Nations chef Nornie Bero, Mabu Mabu: An Australian Kitchen Cookbook is filled with simple yet delicious recipes that champion native ingredients and invite you to innovate the way you cook.
Read on to discover a refreshing recipe from this unique soon-to-be best seller.
Spicy Desert Lime and Watermelon Salad
This sweet-savoury salad is power-packed with flavour. The sweetness of the watermelon – one of my favourite fruits – combines with the sharpness of desert lime and the…
The best new crime reads in February
Our crime specialist shares 10 great crime reads to look out for this month.
CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH
The Cane by Maryrose Cuskelly
The northern Queensland town of Quala is reeling: oneof its own is missing. Young Janet McClymont walked through the cane fields early one evening to go babysit her neighbours’ kids, but never arrived. Her bag was found, and nothing else. Now her parents trawl through the vast expanse of cane, begging their neighbours not to light…
Recommended children's books and news for February
It’s February already!? We are so lucky that there are some fantastic new releases to ease us into the return to routine that inevitably happens at this time of year. We’ve got some beautiful new picture books, a look inside famous artist’s gardens that is also a fun activity book, some stunning new middle fiction and more.
You can read our round-up of new Young Adult titles here.
CHILDREN’S BOOK OF THE MONTH
Recommended YA books and news for February
New year, new books! So many exciting new releases are coming our way this month with stories to suit a wide variety of young adult readers. We’ve got a fascinating historical novel, contemporary thrillers, a local debut fantasy, as well as the beginning of a fantasy series focused on Persian mythology, not to mention a collection of romantic short stories. Let’s get into it!
For our children’s book round-up please take a look here.
YA BOOK OF THE MONTH
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Our children's and YA top 10 bestsellers of the week
Somebody’s Land by Adam Goodes & Ellie Laing
Only A Monster by Vanessa Len
Looking after Country with Fire by Victor & Sandra Steffensen
Maisy’s Chinese New Year by Lucy Cousins
Your School is the Best by Maggie Hutchings & Felicita Sala
The Brightest Night: The Graphic Novel by Tui Sutherland
You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen McManus
Animal Train: Wolf Girl 6 by Anh Do
Claris: Fashion Show Fiasco by Megan Hess
Plume: World Traveller by Tania…
Our top 10 bestsellers of the week
Making Australian History by Anna Clark
Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
Love Stories by Trent Dalton
Black and Blue by Veronica Gorrie
Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au
Love Marriage by Monica Ali
Atomic Habits by James Clear
Love and Virtue by Diana Reid
Violeta by Isabel Allende
Our best-seller from the past week is our Non-fiction Book of the Month for February, Making Australian History. This new release is already making waves…
What we're reading: Norman, Au & Reilly
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.
Karl Sagrabb is reading Permafrost by SJ Norman
This debut collection of short stories is striking and incisive, exploring desire and loss, and playing with, subverting, and inverting classic traditions of literature like the Romantic and the Gothic.
I absolutely adore work that plays around with Gothic traditions and, having written my thesis…
The most anticipated books of 2022
Dare I say it: here we go again? With another Covid-dominated year on the horizon, it is easy to feel not a little despondent: I don’t mind admitting, dear reader, that I’m very, very tired, and after a particularly difficult but still pretty fun Christmas trading period following our 2021 lockdown (like retailers across the land, I could recount a gripping, personal account of the infamous supply chain issues, but I’ll save that for my memoir…), I am sure I’m…
Mark's Say: February, 2022
As I mentioned in one of my columns last year, the lockdowns had a terrible impact on the sale of books in bricks-and-mortar shops. For books that were first published during that period, they may never recover those lost sales. New South Wales and Victoria account for around 60% of all books sold nationally, so to lose a substantial amount of those sales is fairly significant. For most first-time authors, exposure in bookshops is very important in establishing a market…
Winners of the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2022
Congratulations to all the winners of the 2022 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards!
WINNER OF THE OVERALL VICTORIAN PRIZE FOR LITERATURE AND
WINNER OF INDIGENOUS WRITING
Black and Blue by Veronica Gorrie
A proud Kurnai woman, Veronica Gorrie grew up dauntless, full of cheek and a fierce sense of justice.
After watching her friends and family suffer under a deeply compromised law-enforcement system, Gorrie signed up for training to become one of a rare few Aboriginal police officers in Australia. In…
On Events, with Chris Gordon
Over the summer, I reread Susan Cooper’s 1964 thriller Mandrake. Set in an Orwellian future, England is under the thumb of a power-hungry Prime Minister who engineers a society of isolation that forces people back to their places of origin. (Sound familiar?) Standing against him is Dr David Queston. In an early scene, Queston waits for a train on a quiet platform and sees a sign; it reads: ‘Is your journey necessary?’
I have been asking myself this very…
Books to read aloud to children
Reading aloud to kids increases their vocabulary, helps improve their attention span, and is a great way to spend time with them. But really, the best reason to read to children is how much fun it is for everyone!
Wednesday, February 2 is World Read Aloud Day, which is now enjoyed by millions of people in 170 countries. To celebrate this special day, I have rounded up some perennial favourites that are truly magical when read aloud to children…
Our children's and YA top 10 bestsellers of the week
Somebody’s Land by Adam Goodes & Ellie Laing
The Brightest Night: The Graphic Novel by Tui Sutherland
Adam Spencer’s Maths 101 by Adam Spencer
First Scientists by Corey Tutt
Tomorrow is a Brand New Day by Davina Bell
Wandi by Favel Parrett
You’ll Be the Death of Me by Karen McManus
There’s a Zoo in my Poo by Felice Jacka
Aaron Slater, Illustrator by Andrea Beatty
In an Artist’s Garden by Claire Orrell
Adam Goodes continues to hold onto the…
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