Take the Reading(s) challenge!
Ten books. Ten months. Ten prompts to challenge your reading in 2026.
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It's April! A month of laughing out loud at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and pulling pranks on your loved ones on April Fools Day! So, of course, this month's prompt is a funny book!
To get you feeling inspired, here's a line-up of Comedy Festival worthy books! Plus some that could also work for other prompts in the challenge …
A book by a comedian
I’m Not Mad (Anymore)
Bron Lewis
Bron Lewis is one of Australia’s most beloved comedians! And her book is just as funny as her stand-up – this is a must read.
If you’ve ever cringed as you watched your mum stumble dramatically through hot flushes, or soiled your pants in Kmart, or found yourself struggling through the seemingly unending chapter of becoming a new mum, then this is the book for you. Watch Bron spiral into rage and out of it so you can avoid the same fate.
I’m Not Mad (Anymore) sheds light on the mental struggles women go through silently, from post-natal depression and anxiety to menopause and all the muck in between. You will laugh, cry and look at your mum in a whole new light.
An author appearing at Melbourne Writers Festival
Two Hundred Million Musketeers
Ender Başkan
Looking for poetry that will make you laugh out loud, while also making you think? Well then Ender Başkan is your guy! His event at MWF has already sold out, but you can still pick up his debut collection – I particularly recommend his poem, 'Erotics of Bookselling'.
Başkan’s debut poetry collection depicts the intensity of life as a parent of young children. It maps the shifting trains of thought which go with the experience of being a new parent, when one’s attention is drawn in many different directions – between child-rearing and house-keeping, domestic crises, the need to earn a living, and the responsibilities you have to the past as well as to the future, to your own parents and grandparents, as well as to your children. Work, friendships, social life and creative practice are all altered.
Başkan’s writing is direct, playful, absurd, staunch and political.
A debut author
Very Impressive for Your Age
Eleanor Kirk
As children, we all had big dreams of becoming movie stars, astronauts, pop singers or the next prime minister. If you want to relive the day you realised you weren't ever going to make those dreams come true, then read this deeply funny novel about chasing your dreams and losing your ambition!
Twenty-six-year-old Evelyn is well on her way to becoming an international opera star … until one night, mid-performance, when she inexplicably loses her voice. With no cure in sight, she's forced to put her dreams on pause, flying back to her hometown to wait out her recovery. There she discovers that her old high school is hiring a debating coach (no experience needed!) and realises this might just be her ticket back to relevance.
While re-entering the gates of her alma mater is a welcome reminder of the glory days, being faced with a bunch of starry-eyed teenagers, who haven't had their dreams blown to pieces yet, forces Evelyn to consider whether she could ever be truly satisfied living a life away from the spotlight.
A memoir
My Cursed Vagina
Lally Katz
I think the title says it all. But if you need a little more convincing to read this book, then let me tell you it's a heartfelt and incredibly funny memoir about love, life and fortune from one of Australia’s most original and in-demand writers.
'Thirteen years ago, a shopfront psychic told me my vagina was cursed. She was a scam artist, but she was also right.'
In My Cursed Vagina Lally shares the many forms this hex takes as she searches for love, compulsively recording her life in real time as she goes. These are hilarious and heartbreaking tales of disastrous dates, hopeful sex, straight-talking friendships, a surprise marriage, the adventure of motherhood and the strange gifts of illness, by a woman who embraces everything life has to offer.
A quick read
Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast
Oscar Wilde
Are you struggling to find the time or energy to read 300+ pages? Then this little book is perfect for you! Oscar Wilde is known for his humorous wit and wisdom and is my absolute favourite author. You'll just love this one, or any of Wilde's other books.
'It would be unfair to expect other people to be as remarkable as oneself.'
Wilde's celebrated witticisms on the dangers of sincerity, duplicitous biographers, the stupidity of the English – and his own genius.
Part of the Penguin Little Black Classics, a collection to celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics from around the world. Discover the collection here.
Recommended by a Readings Bookseller
All Fours
Miranda July
Many of our booksellers shout from the rooftops (and our blog) that you MUST READ this book! Our head buyer, Alison Huber said 'This book is funny and crazy, full of sex and desire and interior design, and contains so many brilliant one-liners, blistering observational passages and surprising plot twists, it’s thrilling.' Read the full review here.
A semi-famous artist announces her plan to drive cross-country from LA to NY. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she spontaneously exits the freeway, beds down in a nondescript motel and immerses herself in a temporary reinvention that turns out to be the start of an entirely different journey.
Part absurd entertainment, part tender reinvention of the sexual, romantic and domestic life of a 45-year-old female artist, All Fours transcends expectations while excavating our beliefs about life lived as a woman.
A green cover
Plastic Budgie
Olivia De Zilva
If you enjoy stories that are brutally funny, then you're going to love this genre-defying debut about family and self, full of Y2K nostalgia, curses and glimpses of birds! And what a fun cover!
Olivia was named after a lycra-clad singer her parents saw on Rage. As a child, she lost the ability to speak and spent a year barking like a dog. Her Gong Gong bought her a yellow bird in a shoebox from the Adelaide Central Markets. Her heart was broken by a guitar teacher after a school disco. She started university and learnt to run and travelled to Guangzhou for her cousin’s wedding.
Plastic Budgie questions how our memories and families form us, in a way that is both unapologetically sentimental and eternally surprising.
A cosy read
What Rhymes with Murder?
Penny Tangey
The weather is cooling down here in Melbourne, so it's time to pull out the snuggly blankets, pop the kettle on, and cuddle up with a cosy crime read! Look no futher than this juicy mystery.
When exhausted new mother Frida attends Baby Rhyme Time at the local library, she feels a sense of purpose that has been lacking in her anxious, apartment-bound, sleep-deprived life. But at the end of the session a piercing scream is heard, followed by the thump of a body, and the library becomes a crime scene.
Before long, Frida finds herself part of an unlikely group of sleuths investigating the murder. Between gossip and cups of magic at their local cafe, they are too busy having fun to realise how close they are to danger …
A fantasy
Lady’s Knight
Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
If you've previously read any of Amie Kaufman and/or Meagan Spooner's books, then you know you're in for a rollicking good time. If you're new to these authors, then let our reviewer, Bella Mackey, convince you to pick this one up! Bella says 'I heartily recommend this to any fantasy or rom-com lover – you’ll giggle, sigh, gasp and cheer!' Read the full review here.
Isobelle is a noble lady who has been offered as the prize for the winning knight in The Tournament of Dragonslayers. Gwen is the daughter of a village blacksmith, whose talents for forging and fighting are pointedly ignored by everyone around her. When the two cross paths, they realise that an unexpected partnership might be the key to solving both their problems – Gwen will disguise herself as a knight, win the tournament, prove herself beyond a doubt and save Isobelle from being married off to an unknown brute!
With Gwen’s skill and Isobelle’s determination, they can’t possibly lose, right?
A book by Richard Ayoade
Afterthoughts
Richard Ayoade
Richard Ayoade has such a distinctive style that, yes, he requires his own category. If you love Richard Ayoade, then you know you're going to love this book! And if you don't know who Richard Ayoade is, then read this book anyway! You won't regret it.
Richard Ayoade has set down his most enormous thoughts for the benefit of all those who dare read them. Thoughts like: 'TV detectives need a gimmick. Mine would be not caring who did it. If, when one door shuts, another door opens, there's something wrong with your doors. They shouldn't be doing that. Where's the box to tick if you ARE a robot? My mother used to say Manners Maketh the Man, but I didn't think it was very mannerly of her to make fun of my lisp.'
Afterthoughts goes beyond rumination, past pondering, probing further than ever before, drawing from a deeply private pool of questions: a reservoir so refreshing you may never need to think again.
Discover more Richard Ayoade books here.
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