Our latest blog posts

Our children’s and YA top 10 bestsellers of the week

The 91-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton

Take Three Girls by Cath Crowley, Simmone Howell, and Fiona Wood

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo

Pig the Star by Aaron Blabey

The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon

The Adventures of Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties by Dav Pilkey

A Most Magical Girl by Karen Foxlee

The Wayward Witch and the Feelings Monster (Polly and Buster Book 1) by Sally Rippin

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Davitt Awards winners 2017

Congratulations to the 2017 winners of the Davitt Awards for the best crime books by Australian women!

Adult novels

The Dry by Jane Harper

Jane Harper’s debut novel follows federal police officer Aaron Falk as he returns to his rural hometown to investigate an apparent murder-suicide, that might be more than it seems. The Dry was one of our top 10 best crime books of last year, and you can read why our staff loved it here.

Debut

Ghost

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Dear Reader, September 2017

by Alison Huber

Our Fiction Book of the Month is Chris Womersley’s City of Crows, a fascinating historical novel set in seventeenth-century France. Our reviewer is full of praise for this book, calling it ‘fabulous’, ‘dazzling’ and ‘Hieronymus Bosch in literary form’. That’s quite a persuasive endorsement, you must agree.

Considerations of history and the imagined lives of figures from the past offer inspiration for a number of Australian writers this month. Claire G. Coleman’s debut, Terra Nullius, is a powerful…

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What we're reading: Emma Viskic, Carina Chocano & Angie Thomas

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.

Jo Case is reading You Play The Girl by Carina Chocano

You Play The Girl, for me, just surpassed Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist in the category of ‘smart, thoughtful, completely engrossing read that makes feminist arguments through deep engagement with popular culture’. (That’s a category, right?)

In this book, Carina Chocano critically reflects on…

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Mark's Say, September 2017

by Mark Rubbo

Three and a half years ago, a great big, fat, intimidating-looking economics book burst onto the scene and changed the economic discourse. Based on years of research, its findings were that, over time, the rate of return on wealth has been greater than the rate of return on economic growth, leading to greater and greater inequality. The book argues that, unless capitalism is reformed, the very democratic order will be threatened. The book, of course, is Thomas Piketty’s Capital in

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A passive aggressive gift guide for Father's Day

by Lian Hingee

Socks and ties are all very nice, but if you want to give a gift with layers upon layers of hidden meaning here’s a guide to some of our best passive agressive recommendations for Father’s Day this year.

For the Dad that needs to embrace his bald noggin (coughPrinceWilliamcough)…

Illustrated throughout with pictures of 70 real-life and pop-culture icons from Captain Picard to William Shakespeare, Baldies will encourage the follicularly-challenged to love their chrome dome, and proudly join…

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Meet the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction shortlist 2017

We’ve announced the shortlist for the Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction 2017. Here, we introduce the six shortlisted authors.

Find more information about this year’s shortlisted books (including the judges’ report) here.

Sam Carmody

Sam Carmody is an award-winning songwriter and novelist from Geraldton on the rural coast of Western Australia. His forthcoming debut EP, Shadow in the Dream, is due for release in October. The Windy Season is his debut novel.

Read the judges’ comments for

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The Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction shortlist 2017

by Gabrielle Williams

The Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction considers first and second books from Australian authors, with the aim of recognising exciting and exceptional new contributions to local literature.

Over the past year, the judges have read their way through over 70 Australian titles and were impressed by the number of edgy voices who didn’t shy away from starkly original concepts. The task of filtering the terrific longlist down to a shortlist of just six books was difficult, but in the…

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Our children's and YA top 10 bestsellers of the week

The 91-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo

The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon

A Most Magical Girl by Karen Foxlee

Gap Year in Ghost Town by Michael Pryor

In My Room by Jo Witek and Christine Roussey

In My Heart by Jo Witek and Christine Roussey

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Magic Faraway Tree Collection (3 books in 1) by Enid Blyton

The Wayward Witch and the

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Our top 10 bestsellers of the week

The Enigmatic Mr Deakin by Judith Brett

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (including sales of other editions)

Crossing the Line by Kim McGrath

The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape

Watching Out by Julian Burnside

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

Taboo by Kim Scott

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

Common People by Tony Birch

On the Java Ridge by Jock Serong

Last week’s list of bestselling books includes some fascinating Australian…

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