What we're reading

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.


Nina is reading The Feel-Good Hit of the Year by Liam Pieper

I was in a bit of a book slump when an advance copy of this book landed on my desk. After having started and stopped several novels, I was in the mood for a memoir – and what a terrific memoir this is.

The Feel-Good Hit of the Year follows the life of Liam Pieper and his family. Growing up in Melbourne with hippie, pot-smoking parents, Liam charts his rise and fall as a teenage drug dealer, followed by a decade of drug abuse and partying. The book’s blurb says it’s “a memoir about family, drugs and learning how to live with yourself.”

Honestly, written down, these descriptions aren’t particularly appealing to me but I promise you, this book is good. I-can’t-stop-reading good. Stay-up-until-1am-on-a-weeknight good. Next-big-thing good.

Liam’s a great writer, but more than that, he knows how to pace his book and create a compelling narrative out of a messy life. It’s intimate, raw, occasionally heart-breaking and very often funny. The book isn’t released until the beginning of June, so my advice is to pre-order it now as a gift to your future self.


Jason is watching Fruitvale Station

I’d seen a trailer for Fruitvale Station months ago and was interested to see it, but because it was shown so fleetingly in Australian cinemas I didn’t get around to it. Due to its DVD release this month, I finally did get around to watching it this weekend and it was well worth the wait. It tells the true story of Oscar Grant, the twenty two year old black man who was shot and killed by transit police officers on the platform of Fruitvale Station on New Years Eve 2008 in front of a train packed with commuters. Many of those commuters filmed the event on their smart-phones and because of this we have a very good picture of what happened that night.

The film isn’t just about that tragic event however. It explores who Oscar Grant was on the last day of his life. The performances by its young lead Michael B. Jordan, (The Wire, Friday Night Lights) who plays Oscar, and Octavia Spencer (The Help) who plays his mother are brilliant.

I’ve also just finished reading The Orenda by one of my favourite authors, Joseph Boyden. It takes place in Canada in the early 1600s. A French Jesuit missionary gets caught up in the war between two native tribes. It’s narrated by three of its characters; the Jesuit named Christophe, the warrior named Bird and a young girl stolen from her family named Snow Falls. The Orenda is epic. It’s violent, dark and challenging but it’s also beautiful and sad.


Bronte is reading Fluid Prejudice, edited by Sam Wallman

I read about this title in the most recent edition of The Saturday Paper and was prompted to purchase a copy this week. The anonymous reviewer wrote:

“Here, then, is a collection of comics and drawings from 50 contributors, focusing on underrepresented, marginalised and alternative visions of Australian history. Artist-cum-editor Sam Wallman – whose most recent projects include the rendering of a gay Bangladeshi man’s struggle to gain asylum in Australia, as well as the viral online comic Serco Story, illustrating the harrowing words of a detention centre guard – chases his obsession with how the past is a strategic weapon.”

I’m part-way through the collection and loving it.

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Cover image for The Orenda: Winner of the Libris Award for Best Fiction

The Orenda: Winner of the Libris Award for Best Fiction

Joseph Boyden

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