Our latest blog posts

Our top picks of the month for book clubs

For pairing with a feast of Indian food…

The Parcel by Anosh Irani

In the swollen and crumbling red-light district of Kamathipura, at the heart of Bombay, lives Madhu. Her home is Hijra House, one of the last bastions in the land war slowly consuming the area as property developers vie for land. It is here that hijras – eunuchs, people of the third sex, ‘neither here nor there’ – ply their trade. Madhu has been given the difficult and…

Read more ›

Our top picks for MIFF 2017

Staff share what they’re planning to see at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) this year. You can find the full program here.

Jemima Bucknell is excited for a very special Australian film event.

MIFF is just the best time of year for the Melbourne film scene. I’m looking forward to new things from the cinema landscapers like Terence Malick with Song to Song, Luca Guadagnino with Call Me by Your Name, Todd Haynes with Wonderstruck

Read more ›

MIFF 2017 picks for kids and teens

This year’s Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) presents two program streams for a youth audience. MIFF Kids is a program of films for all ages at family-friendly times on the weekends. MIFF Schools brings together an array of high quality, diverse and age appropriate films in languages most commonly taught in Victorian schools.

Here is what’s on offer for kids and teens in 2017.

RECOMMENDED FOR 8+

MIFF Kids’ Gala: Rock Dog

USA & China | English

Directed by Pixar…

Read more ›

Eight Australian fiction debuts to read in July

Australia Day by Melanie Cheng

In her debut story collection, Melanie Cheng offers a fresh perspective on contemporary Australia and asks crucial questions about the possibility of human connection in a globalised world. The people she writes about are young, old, rich, poor, married, widowed, Chinese, Lebanese, Christian, Muslim – but no matter who they are or where they come from, they all share a desire to belong. Hawthorn bookseller Annie Condon describes this collection as ‘a wonderful feat

Read more ›

Which Patrick Ness book should I read first?

by Joe Murray

Have you ever wanted to read Patrick Ness, but didn’t know where to start? Our work experience student (and Patrick Ness admirer) Joe Murray has some advice…

The Chaos Walking trilogy

This series is for those who like gripping action. The Knife of Never Letting Go is the first book of the series and the most intense of Ness’s books in terms of plot. The next two books are The Ask and The Answer and Monsters of Men.

A…

Read more ›

Davitt Awards shortlists 2017

Sisters in Crime has announced the shortlists for the 2017 Davitt Awards for the best crime books by Australian women. Congratulations to all the shortlisted authors.

Here are the shortlisted books in each category:

Adult novels

Dead in the Water by Tania Chandler

Ghost Girls by Cath Ferla

The Dry by Jane Harper

Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta

Goodwood by Holly Throsby

Young Adult novels

Yellow by Megan Jacobson

Frankie by Shivaun Plozza

Everything is Changed

Read more ›

Five inspiring events at Readings Hawthorn

Discover this upcoming series of five brilliant events with Australian women writers at our Hawthorn shop.

Join Jane Caro and contributors for the launch of Unbreakable, a collection of powerful pieces by successful Australian women who share the challenges they’ve overcome, including sexual assault, racism, miscarriage, depression and loss. Contributors include Kathy Lette, Tracey Spicer and Jacinda Woodhead, with a foreword by Tanya Plibersek.

When: 6.30pm on Monday 24 July
Where: Readings Hawthorn, 701 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn
RSVP: Free…

Read more ›

The best new crime reads of the month

by Fiona Hardy

CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH

The Scandal by Fredrik Backman

In a small, nearly-forgotten Swedish town in the forest, hockey is the reason the sun rises. After years of financial despair, of closed businesses and schools, and kids who want nothing more than to leave, here is a ray of hope that things will turn around, and that hope is pinned on one thing. The junior hockey team, close to winning the championship, closer still to securing a new hockey…

Read more ›

Our top 10 bestsellers of the week

Not Just Lucky by Jamila Rizvi

Wimmera by Mark Brandi

Open House Melbourne Weekend: 2017 Program by Open House Melbourne

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (including sales of the TV tie-in edition)

The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape

Hunger by Roxane Gay

Random Life by Judy Horacek

No Way! Okay, Fine. by Brodie Lancaster

The Clever Guts Diet by Michael Mosley

Two fantastic books from inspiring young Australian women appear…

Read more ›