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Mark's Say, February 2018
Sydney teacher and writer Catherine Walsh caused a bit of a storm when the Fairfax papers published a talk she gave on volunteering and charities, ‘Volunteering doesn’t make the world a better place’, (Sydney Morning Herald, 5 January). The crux of her argument was that volunteering and donating to charities transfers the collective obligations of society and government to individuals, and those who volunteer or donate are just propping up a broken system. Walsh’s piece attracted…
Winners of the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2018
Congratulations to all the winners of the 2018 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards!
The 2018 winners for each category are…
The winner of the Fiction Award is Melanie Cheng for Australia Day.
Australia Day is a collection of stories about people who are young, old, rich, poor, married, widowed, Chinese, Lebanese, Christian, Muslim. What they have in common is the desire we all share to feel that we belong. The stories ask crucial questions about the possibility of human connection…
What we're reading: Heather Morris, Dervla McTiernan & Yumi Stynes
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to.
Ellen Cregan is reading The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Over the weekend I read Heather Morris’s debut novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz.
This book tells the story of Lale Sokolov, the real-life tattooist who worked in the infamous concentration camp. Sokolov, a Slovakian Jewish man, volunteered to leave his family to work…
The most anticipated books of 2018
Dear Reader,
As 2017 drew to a close, a previously unknown writer, Kristen Roupenian, sparked an intense social media frenzy when her short story, ‘Cat Person’, was published in the New Yorker (NB: though the internet does love cats, the story is not about cats). By the end of December, the New York Times reported that Roupenian had secured a seven-figure, two-book deal (and in 2019 we’ll no doubt be talking about her debut collection, You Know You Want This……
Australian books to get excited about in the first half of 2018
Here’s a preview of some of the most exciting local releases for the first half of 2018!
You can also find a list of Australian books to get excited about in the SECOND half of 2018 here!
FICTION
Stella and Margie by Glenna Thomson – Two women, generations apart, are thrown together by circumstances and slowly come to love one another. (January)
A Week in the Life of Cassandra Aberline by Glenda Guest – After 45 years in Sydney…
Special offers at Readings in February
Throughout February, we’re offering two terrific 3-for-2 offers in our shops.
3-for-2 special offer on non-fiction favourites
We’ve curated a range of award-winning and popular non-fiction titles for this special offer. If you purchase two books from the range, you can choose a third book in the range (of equal or lesser value) for free.
The range includes Mythos by Stephen Fry; Where Song Began by Tim Low; Everywhere I Look by Helen Garner; Not Just Lucky by Jamila Rizvi…
Win dinner with Tim Winton
We’re delighted to announce that we’re offering our customers a very special opportunity to win a dinner with Tim Winton!
10 lucky Readings customers will be invited to attend an exclusive dinner with Tim Winton on Friday 27 April at 6.30pm at Jimmy Watson’s restaurant on Lygon Street, Carlton. To go into the draw, simply purchase Tim Winton’s highly anticipated new novel The Shepherd’s Hut from any Readings shop or the Readings website by Sunday 1 April. Copies will also…
Eight road trip novels that aren't On the Road
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
In this post-apocalyptic take on the road trip novel, a troupe of travelling actors and musicians bring Shakespeare to America’s isolated survivors in the aftermath of a global pandemic that wipes out most of civilisation. Marketing Manager Nina Kenwood describes this Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning novel as ‘smart, haunting and inventive’. Read her full review here.
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
13-year-old Jojo and his younger sister Kayla live with their…
Q&A with Sandra Pankhurst
St Kilda bookseller Kim Gruschow chats with trauma cleaner Sandra Pankhurst about her life and work – and what it felt like to see it all transformed into the critically acclaimed biography, The Trauma Cleaner.
Many people haven’t heard of or considered trauma cleaning; what does the work encompass?
Our job is to clean up in the aftermath of trauma or tragedy. Unfortunately, a lot of people do not realise such a service exists until they find themselves in…
Picture books about making & keeping friends
Making friends and then being happy with your friends is hard work, and not just for kids! We’ve picked out some of our favourite picture books that explore friendship and all its attendant wonders, challenges, disruptions and pleasures.
Bird, Balloon, Bear by Il Sung Na
Bird would love to make a friend in his new forest home, but unfortunately he’s very shy. He’s mustering the bravery to approach Bear, when it becomes obvious that Bear has just filled his friend…
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