Page 3 of our blog posts
A spotlight on translated fiction this month
This month we’re reading novels translated from Dutch, Italian, Bulgarian and Catalan. Grand Hotel Europa by Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer (translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison)
A writer takes residence in the illustrious but decaying Grand Hotel Europa, to think about where things went wrong with Clio, with whom he fell in love in Genoa and moved to Venice. He reconstructs a compelling …
Q&A with Alison Lester
Seven graphic novels that would make great screen adaptions
The television adaptation of the Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman hit Netflix and I have already binged the entire season! Here are seven graphic novels I think would make great screen adaptions:
The Okay Witch by Emma SteinkellnerMove over Sabrina, there’s a new witch in town. This adorable graphic novel would make an even more adorable television series. Not only is it lots of fun, it…
The best food & gardening books in May
The one and only Yotam Ottolenghi said publicly that Eleanor Ford is a gastronomic archaeologist and I realised with one quick shiver of delight that surely that is the job of great dreams. Ford’s latest book, The Nutmeg Trail: A Culinary Journey along the Ancient Spice Routes is filled with recipes and stories…
Our books of the month, May 2022
Reviewed by Joe Rubbo, operations manager
Sunbathing is the stunning debut novel from Melbourne writer Isobel Beech. It follows the story of a young woman who is invited to stay with her friends Giulia and Fab at Fab’s family home in Abruzzo, in the month prior to their wedding. The village is an oasis, untouched by tourism. The narr…
Our children’s and YA top 10 bestsellers of the week
All the Little Tricky Things by Karys McEwen
How to Tackle Your Dreams by Fiona Hardy
Heartstopper: Volume 1 by Alice Oseman
World’s Worst Pets by David Walliams
Bad Guys 15: Open Up and Say Arrrgh! by Aaron Blabey
Real Pigeons Duck Trouble by Andrew McDonald & Ben Wood
The Way of Dog by Zana Fraillon
Heartstopper 1: Netflix Tie-in edition by Alice Oseman
Cat Kid Comic Club 3: On Purpose by Dav …
Our top 10 bestsellers of the week
Bedtime Story by Chloe Hooper
Dropbear by Evelyn Araluen
Yiayia Next Door by Daniel Mancuso and Luke Mancuso
The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan
Sunbathing by Isobel Beech
Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart
Wake by Shelley Burr
Then There Was Her by Sophie Cachia
The Palace Papers by Tina Brown
Abomination by Ashley Goldberg.
Our best-seller from the past week is part memoir, part manual from the …
The best new crime reads in May
It has been nearly 20 years since Evelyn McCreery went missing. She went to sleep one night, in the bed next to her twin sister Mina’s; the next morning she was gone, her bed neatly made, no fingerprints on the windowsill, the only tyre tracks around their desolate fa…
What we’re reading: Ali, O’Farrell & Jordan
I’m reading the excellent Love Marriage by bestselling and all-round literary rock star Monica Ali. (I fell in love with her work with one of her first novels, Brick Lane.)
If the book was …
Unknown: A Refugee’s Story
In January 2006, Mathew and Mama took Gai and me to enrol at Western English Language School on South Road in Braybrook.
When we arrived, we waited in front of a little glass booth w…