Each week our amazing staff bring you a sample of the books or music they're immersed in.

Joanna Di Mattia is reading Absolutely & Forever by Rose Tremain

Over the past three months, I have read one great book after another. I recently finished Rose Tremain’s latest novel, Absolutely & Forever, which has continued this golden streak.

This is a book of young passions written with the insight of age, told from the perspective of Marianne Clifford, a teenager…

Read more ›

The winners of this year's Prime Minister's Literary Awards have been announced! The Prime Minister's Literary Awards celebrate outstanding literary talent in Australia and the valuable contribution Australian literature and history makes to the nation's cultural and intellectual life.

Fiction winner:

Cold Enough for Snow by Jessica Au

Nonfiction winner:

My Father and Other Animals by Sam Vincent

Australian History winner:

Unmaking Angas Downs by Shannyn Palmer

Poetry winner:

At the Altar of Touch by Gavin Yuan Gao

Young Adult…

Read more ›

These are the crime books which have been read and reviewed by our excellent booksellers this month - all in one place!

The Mantis by Kotaro Isaka & Sam Malissa (trans.)

Reviewed by Joe Murray from Readings Kids

Kabuto lives a double life: one as a loving father and dutiful husband, the other as a cold-blooded contract killer. Only one of those lives is terrifying – the other is just murder for hire. Trouble is, Kabuto wants out of the…

Read more ›

Australian Fiction | The Conversion by Amanda Lohrey

Nick: so persuasive, ever the optimist, always on a quest to design the perfect environment, convinced it could heal a wounded soul. The conversion was Nick’s idea, but it’s Zoe who’s here now, in a valley of old coalmines and new vineyards, working out how to live in a deconsecrated church. What to do with all that vertical space, those oppressive stained-glass windows? Can a church become a home or, even with…

Read more ›

Benjamin Myers is the winner of this year's Goldsmiths Prize for his novel Cuddy. Established in 2013, The Goldsmiths Prize celebrates the qualities of creative daring and rewards fiction that breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form.

On winning the prize, Benjamin Myers said: 'It’s a big surprise to win the Goldsmiths Prize. I genuinely didn’t think it was going to be given to my book. It probably sounds a bit ingenuous or a little…

Read more ›

Growing up I was only allowed half an hour of TV a day, which at the time felt like deprivation. It did however force me to choose my shows very carefully, and to be honest I am not sure how I managed to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which from memory was at an ungodly hour, but I did. And let me tell you, I loved it.

My fascination with vampires was originally sparked by the film adaptation of Anne…

Read more ›

Songlines: First Knowledges for Younger Readers by Margo Neale, Lynne Kelly & Blak Douglas (illus.)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

The 169-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths & Terry Denton (illus.)

No Brainer (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 18) by Jeff Kinney

Write Fight Flee! by 100 Story Building

Artichoke to Zucchini by Alice Oehr

Look Who’s Talking (the Bad Guys: Episode 18) by Aaron Blabey

What to Do When You’re Not Sure What to Do by…

Read more ›

Explore our books of the month for November; each of the below titles has been read and recommended by our booksellers before being selected as our book of the month for its category.

FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH

Women & Children by Tony Birch

Reviewed by Ruby Grinter, Readings Carlton

Lovely, mischievous…

Read more ›

Killing for Country: A Family Story by David Marr

Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton

Philoxenia: A Seat at My Table by Kon & Sia Karapanagiotidis

Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood

Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi & Geoffrey Trousselot (trans.)

Unfinished Woman by Robyn Davidson

Unruly by David Mitchell

The Seven by Chris Hammer

Wifedom: Mrs Orwell's Invisible Life by Anna Funder

The Last Devil to Die (The Thursday Murder Club,…

Read more ›

These recently published picture books are just the thing for when days don't go to plan.

Woo Hoo! You’re Doing Great! by Sandra Boynton

Whether you are learning to skate, baking a cake, or even making a mistake, this hilarious and heartfelt rhyming book reminds us that trying our best is reason to celebrate. From children trying to master new skills to adults who had a hard week at work, we all get overwhelmed sometimes and need reassurance. And who…

Read more ›