What we're reading
What we're reading: Stubbins, King & Nieman
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.
Lian Hingee is reading In My Defence, I Have No Defence by Sinead Stubbins
My toddler is going through some kind of dreadful sleep regression thing at the moment and I actually can’t remember the last time I slept through the night (2018?) so my usual bedtime routine of cuddling up with a…
What we're reading: Brandi, Chambers & Zisin
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 – surprise, surprise – a whole heaps of books!
It’s been a rich and varied week of reading for me, in which I read three books that could not be more different from one another. Let’s begin with Mark Brandi’s latest literary crime novel - The Others. Tense…
What we're reading: Winman, Stubbins & Moreno-Garcia
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.
Alexa Dretzke is reading Still Life by Sarah Winman.
Step away from a world of Covid and into the embrace of Sarah Winman’s new novel Still Life. Let it take you to Florence at the end of World War II and let its big-hearted storytelling keep you in its thrall. Ulysses, a…
What we're reading: Mas, Waal & McQuiston
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 The Mad Women’s Ball by Victoria Mas
Lockdowns always seem to result in me struggling to stay engaged with any book and this past one was no different. I picked up and put down no less than 12 titles (one I even got halfway through before abandoning all hope)…
What we're reading: Jackson, Taddeo & Myers
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.
Lian Hingee is reading Two-Week Wait written by Luke and Kelly Jackson, illustrated by Mara Wild
When I was first referred to a fertility specialist to start IVF, it was one of the most isolating moments of my life. I felt like a colossal failure and had no idea what the process entailed…
What we're reading: Ward, Crowley & Grant
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.
Pilgrim Hodgson is reading Rawblood by Catriona Ward.
To read a Catriona Ward book is to take her hand and trust, as she leads you on very dark, unpredictable path. Having recently read her bleak and bloody second novel Little Eve and her mind-bending and chilling latest work The Last House On Needless…
What we're reading: North, Cusk & Rippin
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.
Fiona Hardy is reading Outlawed by Anna North
After loving North’s The Life and Death of Sophie Stark when it came out a few years ago, I was thrilled to pick up a copy of her new book. Set in a slightly different version of classic Movie-Western 1894 America, a woman’s fertility is…
What we're reading: O'Leary, Nguyen & Donnelly
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.
Lucie Dess is reading The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary
This book was my most anticipated read for 2021 and it did not disappoint! Addie and her sister are on their way to a friend’s wedding when a car crashes into the back of them. In that car is Addie’s ex boyfriend Dylan…
May recommendations from our Teen Advisory Board
Our Teen Advisory Board have been busy reading and letting us know what they’re loving; below, you can read recommendations from three of our fantastic 2021 board members. You can also browse the favourite books by favourite authors collection – compiled by the entire board – here.
Aurelia Orr is reading The End of the World is Bigger Than Love by Davina Bell & Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker
I can barely put to words how I feel after…
What we're reading: Johnstone, Bergmoser and McDonald
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.
Lian Hingee is reading Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone
Parenting a small has played havoc on my reading time, so when my partner and I took our nearly-two-year-old up to visit his grandparents for the first time since before Covid, I took the opportunity to catch up on my TBR pile while they kept…
What we're reading: Lockwood, Barry & Bell
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 No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
No one Is Talking About This is a difficult book to talk about. Lockwood does such an incredible job of articulating her astute observations of the demise of human compassion, the disassociation from reality that can occur on social media…
What we're reading: Ward, Pollard, & Noni
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 Cattanch is reading The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward.
It seems everyone is talking about The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward. And rightly so. A taunt, sinister, psychological thriller that had me holding my breath and second guessing myself the entire way through, this book is…
What we're reading: Bennett, Gong & Bardugo
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.
Lian Hingee is reading The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
The Vanishing Half is one of those extraordinary novels that stays with you long after you turn the final page. This cross-generational story about two sisters whose lives are intrinsically tied up with America’s obsession with race is a powerful piece of historical…
What we're reading: Barker, Brokken & Ginzburg
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.
Teen Advisory Board Member Aurelia Orr is reading Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker
I finished Waking Romeo by Kathryn Barker last night and it was SO GOOD. I loved every minute of it and devoured it in two days (stayed up to 3am first night, 1.30am the next). Easily a 5 star read…
What we're reading: Murphy, Rovellis, & Lord
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.
Clare Millar is reading The Shape of Sound by Fiona Murphy
I was so excited about the release of this book. I honestly raced through this one over the Easter break. It’s such a perfectly structured memoir that I felt completed immersed.
Fiona tells the story of how she hid her deafness for…
What we're reading: Ryan & Fuller
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.
Eleanor Jenkins is reading A Room Called Earth by Madeleine Ryan
I’m reading A Room Called Earth and I’m finding it a joyous stream-of-consciousness ride. I was talking with a friend recently about how Convenience Store Woman left me saddened by its rather bleak outlook on the society’s treatment of neurodiverse people -…
What we're reading: Romanova, Peters & Richardson
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.
Jessica Strong is reading Goblin Girl by Moa Romanova (translated by Melissa Bowers).
Goblin Girl is a semi-autobiographical graphic novel which follows a young struggling artist who matches on a dating app with a famous celebrity, Known TV-Guy, 53, who quickly becomes a source of intense validation for her personage and a…
What we're reading: Nolan, Mason & Saramago
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 Acts of Desperation by Megan Nolan
It may surprise some of you to learn I am one of those shocking people who believes books want to be interacted with in a physical manner. Spines cracked, pages dog-eared, sentences underlined, pages marked so I can return to a paragraph or…
What we're reading: Hall, Thorne & Welsh
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.
Gabrielle Williams is reading The Gaps by Leanne Hall
I’m reading The Gaps by Leanne Hall. Full disclosure, Leanne is a friend and a work colleague so of course you’d expect me to say great things about her book! But I love The Gaps for all kinds of reasons, none of which are…
What we're reading: a deep-dive into Scottish literature and a round-up from our head book buyer
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.
Our head book buyer Alison Huber has been busy reading for the year ahead while still finding the time to catch up with friends from Middle-earth.
I’m just back to work after three weeks of annual leave. I set myself a pretty challenging reading schedule, and some of that was undermined by a…
What we're reading: Saunders, Forsyth, and Maas
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.
Joe Rubbo is reading A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders
Some of George Saunders happiest memories arise from teaching Russian short stories to a small group of students - 6, to be exact, chosen from a pool of 600 - at Syracuse University, something he’s done for the…
What we're reading: Taddeo, Brown & Wilkerson
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.
Amanda Rayner is reading Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
One of my reading goals this year is to alternate reading a pre-2021 book from my TBR bookshelf with a book released this year. As Lisa Taddeo has her debut novel Animal due out in early June this year, I saw it as a…
What we’re reading: Dean, Nunez & Di Pietrantonio
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.
Gabrielle Williams is reading A Feather on the Breath of God by Sigrid Nunez
This week I’m reading the upcoming (9 February), A Feather on the Breath of God by Sigrid Nunez. Having read her earlier book, The Friend, I’m compelled to read everything that falls from her fingers.
Her new book…
What we're reading: Ullmann, Meddlings & Frazier
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.
Joanna Di Mattia is reading Unquiet by Linn Ullmann
I’m very close to finishing an utterly engrossing novel, my first by the Norwegian writer, Linn Ullmann. Unquiet is categorised as fiction - and that’s certainly where we shelve it in store - but it’s so much more than a conventional novel.
Ullmann writes…
What we're reading: Haynes, Quinn & North
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.
Lian Hingee is reading A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
For someone who’s never read The Iliad (and truthfully, probably never will) I have a deep and abiding fascination for the story of the Trojan War. Pat Barker’s remarkable novel The Silence of the Girls was one of my favourite books of 2019…
What we're reading: Solnit, French & Stuart
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.
Mark Rubbo is reading Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart
I took last week off and greedily devoured a number of books. The one I enjoyed most was last year’s Booker Prize winner, Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. Set in Glasgow in Thatchers era, this is the grim story of a dysfunctional family and…
What we're reading: Hale, Raskin & Kim
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.
Angela Crocombe is reading Kind of a Big Deal by Shannon Hale
This time of year is fantastic for getting large quantities of reading done, which I have certainly achieved. I bought my 12-year-old daughter a copy of Kind of a Big Deal by Shannon Hale for Christmas, and once she had finished…
What we're reading: Osman, Jansson & Kerr
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.
Ellen Cregan is reading Please Don’t Hug Me by Kay Kerr
I am notoriously bad at keeping up with all of the wonderful YA releases we get each year - typically I only read one or two. This year I did a little better, and one of the awesome titles that I was…
What we're reading: Clarke, Moreno-Garcia & Mantel
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.
Amanda Rayner is reading Mantel Pieces by Hilary Mantel
Thank goodness for Hilary Mantel this year. In 2020 I have read/re-read over 2000 pages of her writing and the release of her final book in the Wolf Hall trilogy was so exciting that I even bought a Tudor costume to wear on the…
What we're reading: Ephron, Obama & Schlink
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.
Mark Rubbo is reading Olga by Bernhard Schlink (translated by Charlotte Collins)
I’m been reading Olga by Bernhard Schlink. This is the first book of Schlink’s I’ve read since The Reader in 2017, and I’m very much enjoying it. I particularly love the European sensibility of the story. Olga and Herbert are childhood…
What we're reading: Disher, Papertalk Green & French
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.
Mark Rubbo is reading Consolation by Garry Disher
For a bit of escapism, I’ve been reading the new crime novel from Garry Disher. Consolation is the third in his series featuring Constable Paul Hirschhausen as he investigates crimes in the dusty, remote town of Tiverton. This new novel seems him having to solve…
What we're reading: O’Hagan, Colwin & Mackintosh
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.
Joanna Di Mattia is reading Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan
By no deliberate design, I’ve spent a significant chunk of the year thinking about life in 1980s Britain and the havoc wreaked by Margaret Thatcher and her policies on the working class. It began with a re-watch of the brilliant 1996 series, Our Friends…
What we're reading: Tan, Carey & Garner
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.
Chris Gordon is reading One Day I’ll Remember This: Diaries 1987-1995 by Helen Garner
Along with the entire population of Melbourne, I’ve been reading Helen Garner’s new volume of diaries: One Day I’ll Remember This. This volume begins in 1987 and finishes in 1995 with the publication of The First Stone.
…
What we're reading: Haig, Goenawan & Novik
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.
Jason Austin is reading The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida by Clarissa Goenawan
I finished reading The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida by Clarissa Goenawan about a week ago and it’s one of those rare books that I have found myself still pondering. This story about the suicide of its title character and…
What we're reading: Lockwood, Jackson & Offill
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.
Lian Hingee is reading Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood
Patricia Lockwood’s book Priestdaddy is a favourite of our booksellers and often appears on our blog as a recommended read. I don’t read much memoir myself so it’s always passed me by, but a couple of weeks ago Lockwood’s tweet about her cat Miette popped…
What we're reading: Boyd, Spector & Schweblin
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.
Bronte Coates is reading Samanta Schweblin
Earlier this year I listened to the audiobook of Samanta Schweblin’s 2017 Booker Prize shortlisted novel, Fever Dream, and I was completely blown away. The story is structured as a conversation between Amanda, a young mother who is dying in a rural hospital, and David, a…
What we're reading: Tremblay, Wilkinson & O'Donnell
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.
Leanne Hall is recommending two LoveOzYA novels
I have just finished a really satisfying reading week with two new Australian YA novels that kept me enthralled and entertained.
Kate O'Donnell’s This One Is Ours follows dreamy and effervescent Australian exchange student Sofie all the way to Paris, where she goes to a very…
What we're reading: Miller, Timberlake & Gyasi
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.
Bronte Coates is reading Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
When I read Yaa Gyasi’s brilliant debut novel in 2016 I was impressed by her skilful prose, and in particular, her talent for conjuring unusual images. Transcendent Kingdom is her second work of fiction and it’s as striking and memorable as her first. The…
What we're reading: Carey, Pham & Herron
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 Mick Herron’s Slough House series
Lockdown for me has included making time to read books I’ve been meaning to, and Mick Herron’s Slough House series is in that TBR list. These books centre on a team of intelligence officers whose careers have gone awry and have found themselves ‘pastured’…
What we're reading: Nunez, Patchett & Washington
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.
Chris Somerville is reading Lot by Bryan Washington
Sometimes things converge perfectly. I have no attention span at the moment, our apartment is small and I’ve looked at every part of it. I watched every Fast & Furious movie in a row. The only thing I’ve been able to focus on is short…
What we're reading: Conte, Deer & Biss
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.
Elke Power is reading The Doctor Who Fooled the World by Brian Deer
I’ve been reading our September Nonfiction Book of the Month, The Doctor Who Fooled the World by British investigative journalist Brian Deer. Amanda’s review was so convincing that it made me determined to fit in this book somewhere among the…
What we're reading: Cline, Gifford & Stayman-London
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.
Lian Hingee is reading One To Watch by Kate Stayman-London
I’ve just finished reading One To Watch by Kate Stayman-London about a plus-size fashion blogger who becomes the new love interest in a Bachelor-esque TV show called The Main Squeeze. Bea Schumacher is unlucky in love, still hung up on an…
What we're reading: Knox, Downes & Lindqvist
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.
Bronte Coates is reading The Absolute Book by Elizabeth Knox
I’ve been struggling to read the past few weeks, instead opting for mindless television over books, but then my partner brought home this hefty fantasy epic from New Zealand writer Elizabeth Knox. I cracked it open to take a look and was forced…
What we're reading: Persaud, Lehmann & Conte
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.
Mark Rubbo is reading The Tolstoy Estate by Steven Conte (available 2 September)
It’s been hard to find time to read during this second lockdown but then I picked up Conte’s second novel. Set in Russia during the second World War, Germany requisitions the estate of Count Leo Tolstoy as a field hospital…
What we're reading: Smith, Coley & Rosoff
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.
Leanne Hall is reading I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
I Capture the Castle has been on my radar for many years - ever since I fell in love with Michelle Cooper’s The Montmaray Journals series, and realised how often readers of those books used Smith’s classic novel as a reference…
What we're reading: Hardy, Kiesling & Haynes
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.
Chris Somerville is reading The Golden State by Lydia Kiesling
I’ve been in a real reading slump lately, for a variety of reasons I’m sure, but I mostly blame being stuck in our small apartment in lockdown with our 18-month-old child. I can recall a few times when I’ve had a novel catch…
What we're reading: Bennett, Honey & Que Mai
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.
Chris Gordon is reading The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai
This week I have been transported to jungles, to muddy fields, to bomb shelters, and to straw bedding. I’ve been led by grandmother Hương’s hand through the recent history of Vietnam, through four generations of grief, and I’m finding the imagery…
What we're reading: Ireland, Marney & Majumdar
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 Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
I usually avoid Zombie novels, or Zombie related anything actually. I find them utterly terrifying. I listened to the Zombies, Run! phone app for five whole minutes a few years back and I am still having nightmares. Nothing like a pandemic to make you…
What we're reading: Schweblin, Daylight & Fannin
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.
Chris Gordon is reading The Weight of Love by Hilary Fannin
One of my friends gave me a new novel, The Weight of Love by Irish author Hilary Fannin to read during these tough times. She said, this is just for fun … but while I enjoyed reading it very much it is…
What we're reading: Mildenhall, Mantel & Godwin
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 When Rain Turns to Snow by Jane Godwin
When Rain Turns to Snow might just be the most original middle grade novel I have ever read. A premise unlike any other that I can recall, this intriguing mystery introduces an unlikely – but somehow entirely believable – cast of…
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