Our latest blog posts
Our children's and YA top 10 bestsellers of the week
Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo
Bad Dad by David Walliams and Tony Ross
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust Book 1) by Philip Pullman
Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers
No One Likes a Fart by Zoë Foster Blake and Adam Nickel
The Getaway (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book 12) by Jeff Kinney
What we're reading: James S.A. Corey, Sally Rooney & Daniel Mendelsohn
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.
Ann Le Lievre is reading An Odyssey: A Father, A Son and an Epic by Daniel Mendelsohn
This is my most favourite non-fiction book for 2017.
Daniel Mendelsohn is an undergraduate classics professor at Bard College in New York. One day his father, who is 81-years-old, rings to say he wants to ‘sit in’ on…
24 more picture books I loved this year
Earlier this year I shared 24 picture books that I was loving. Here are 24 more titles to add to your shelves…
Petra by Marianna Coppo
Meet Petra. She’s a totally awesome rock – or is she? In this excellent picture book, Petra is subject to the whims of others and sent haphazardly around the world. But thanks to her enormous imagination and admirable self-confidence, she hardly lets this ruin her mood or stop her being the heroine of her…
Books we didn't finish (but you might) in 2017
Our staff share the books that they didn’t quite finish this year… but that you might.
‘I loved the sounds of Maria Semple’s Today Will Be Different. A woman wakes up determined that this is the day she will Turn Her Life Around, but instead (and of course) chaos ensues. But almost as soon as I started reading I recognised that this was not a story I was in the mood for. I feel sad about this as several…
Books that kept us on the edge of our seat in 2017
Our staff share the books that kept them on the edge of their seat this year.
‘I read two terrific crime novels by Australian women this year that kept me turning pages late into the night: Force of Nature by Jane Harper and The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey. Both set up the kinds of mysteries that keep you hungry to know what happened right until the very end, with plenty of twists and turns and secrets and lies. If…
Books we wouldn't have read without a recommendation in 2017
Our staff share the books they loved this year, but wouldn’t have read without a recommendation.
‘At a loss for what to read one day, a workmate recommended Olivia Laing’s The Lonely City. This encouraging and interesting memoir considers loneliness, with a particular focus on the lives and works of several artists. This quote provides a memorable summary of what’s in store for a reader: 'You can show what loneliness looks like, and you can also take up arms…
Indie Book Awards longlists 2018
Congratulations to all the authors, illustrators and publishers longlisted for the Indie Book Awards 2018!
Each year, independent booksellers from around the nation get together and vote for their favourite titles in six different categories, as well as their favourite book overall. Here are the longlistees for each category.
Fiction
A Long Way from Home by Peter Carey
The Life to Come by Michelle de Kretser
First Person by Richard Flanagan
Force of Nature by Jane Harper
The Choke by…
Books that made us cry in 2017
Our staff share the books that made them cry this year.
‘ Jean Harley Was Here by Heather Taylor Johnson. There’s no getting away from the fact that the story is about a tragedy, yet the telling of it is a celebration of a life, almost making it a feel-good book. Told through multiple perspectives, each chapter offers insights into those left behind, and whose lives had been touched so positively by one person. I was engrossed immediately and tearing…
Books that made us laugh in 2017
Our staff share the books that made them laugh this year.
‘ Confessions of a High School Disaster: Chloe Snow’s Diary by Emma Chastain is hands-down one of the funniest books I’ve ever read. It reminded me of the joyous 80s classic, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾, but with all the social media, smart phones, emails and texts you’d expect in a contemporary teen read.
The titular Chloe Snow is a delightful mess in this…
Victorian Premier's Literary Awards shortlists 2018
The Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards shortlist for 2018 has just been announced.
The winners of the five award categories – fiction, non-fiction, drama, poetry and writing for young adults – each receive a prize of $25,000, and will be considered for the $100,000 Victorian Prize for Literature.
PRIZE FOR FICTION
A New England Affair by Steven Carroll
Australia Day by Melanie Cheng
The Life to Come by Michelle de Kretser
The Choke by Sofie Laguna
The Restorer by Michael Sala
…
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