Our latest blog posts

A guide to our October promos

Check out the great promotions and giveaways we have for October!

Win a $300 voucher for Attica

Purchase a copy of Uses for Obsession by Ben Shewry and go into the draw to win a $300 voucher to Attica.

Plus, we have signed copies! Available in shops and online, while stocks last.

In this absorbing and wide-ranging memoir meets manifesto, Shewry applies his sometimes searing, sometimes comic eye to creative freedom in the kitchen, food journalism, sexism in hospitality, the…

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Australian fiction to pick up this month

Juice by Tim Winton

Two fugitives, a man and a child, drive all night across a stony desert. As dawn breaks, they roll into an abandoned mine site. From the vehicle they survey a forsaken place – middens of twisted iron, rusty wire, piles of sun-baked trash. They’re exhausted, traumatised, desperate now. But as a refuge, this is the most promising place they’ve seen. The child peers at the field of desolation. The man thinks to himself, this could work.

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Our books of the month, October 2024

Explore our books of the month for October.

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

Juice by Tim Winton

Reviewed by Joe Rubbo, Managing Director of Readings

‘ … the writing is just as superb as we have come to expect from Winton.’

Somewhere in Western Australia, a man and a young child in his care…

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ARA Historical Novel Prize 2024 Shortlist

The Historical Novel Society Australasia (HNSA) has announcd the shortlists for the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize! Selected from over 130 entries, the 2024 ARA Historical Novel Prize Shortlists encapsulates some of the best historical fiction from Australian and New Zealand writers.

The shortlisted authors will all share in a prize pool of $150,000; the winners of the adult and children's categories will receive $100,000 and $30,000 respectively, and the remaining authors from the shortlists will each receive $5,000.

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A beginner's guide to Sally Rippin

Sally Rippin is one of Australia’s best-selling and most-beloved children’s authors. Rippin has written over 50 books for kids, so it would be completely understandable to be just a tad overwhelmed! This blog is here to help you pick which Rippin book to pick up first!

There are lots of great junior fiction series to dive into, as well as beautiful picture books for little ones. And whether they're a new Sally Rippin fan or pick up all her books…

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Dear Reader, with Alison Huber

by Alison Huber

The start of a new month means that there's a new issue of Readings Monthly available online and in our shops. Below you can read Alison Huber's column from the latest issue – and keep an eye on the blog for more updates and recommended new releases throughout the month!

Last year I remember calling October O for Overwhelming, and I must say that this declaration is even more Obvious in 2024. This is a proper whopper of a month…

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Q&A with award-winning author Melanie Cheng

by Chris Gordon

Our extraordinary community engagement and programming manager Chris Gordon asks beloved local author Melanie Cheng about her beautiful, heartbreaking new novel, The Burrow.

CG: The Burrow is set during Covid times in Melbourne. How important to you was recording this particular moment of Melbourne lockdown history? The unfinished house improvements and diminished public contact particularly resonated with me.

MC: I didn’t set out to write a book set during the pandemic. I knew publishers were wary of pandemic books…

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Mark's Say

by Mark Rubbo

The start of a new month means that there's a new issue of Readings Monthly available online and in our shops. Below you can read the Mark Rubbo's column from the latest issue – and keep an eye on the blog for more updates and recommended new releases throughout the month!

It was with sadness that I read of Jack Hibberd’s passing; it made me feel a nostalgia for the creative energy of the Carlton of the ’60s and ’70s…

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Whet your appetite with great food writing

From world-renowned chefs to foodies with a passion, these tantalising page-turners are captivating reading – regardless of whether you're a home cook that throws lavish dinner parties, or are still working on how to boil an egg properly . . .

A Bit on the Side by Virginia Trioli

Virginia Trioli knows that enduring joy is often found not in the big moments but in the small. And as a dedicated, almost obsessive, foodie, she believes that food gives us…

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The 2024 Ned Kelly Award Winners

The Australian Crime Writers Association (ACWA) has announced the winners of the 2024 Ned Kelly Awards. Here are the recipients for each category:

🏆 BEST CRIME FICTION

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

It's not just secrets buried at Wild Meadows. For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. Rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother on an idyllic farming estate, they were given an elusive second…

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