Our latest blog posts

Three delicious new cookbooks from around the world

by Chris Gordon

So French So Sweet by Gabriel Gate

From the very first Melbourne celebrity chef comes a wonderful collection of recipes sure to increase your appetite for a sweet end to your meal. You already know that Monsieur Gaté’s recipes are easy to follow. I consider his food writing one of the most accessible of all instructions for the home cook. So French So Sweet will make it possible for you (and here I do mean anyone) to make cakes and…

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10 fun books to read in dark times

by Nina Kenwood

Sometimes the best escape from the dark times swirling around us is a good, fun book, dammit. And as luck would have it, right now there are a bunch of new releases that are highly entertaining, delightfully funny and 100% Trump-less. Here are four I’ve read and loved, and six I can’t wait to start.

Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny

Katherine Heiny’s collection of short stories Single, Carefree, Mellow was one of my favourite books of the past few years…

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The Environment Award for Children’s Literature shortlist 2017

Congratulations to all the authors, illustrators and publishers shortlisted for this year’s Environment Award for Children’s Literature. This annual Award from the Wilderness Society’s annual Award celebrates books that promote a love of nature, a sense of caring for the world, and curiosity in children.

This year’s shortlist features wonderfully illustrated picture fiction, adventurous tales with conservation hijinks, and fact-filled nonfiction books that will feed children’s curiosity.

Here are the shortlisted books for each category…

Picture fiction

Circle by Jeannie…

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Recommended new YA books in June

by Leanne Hall

This month we’re spoilt for choice with new books from three favourite Australian authors. We also get our mitts on the next instalments in several bestselling series, and we announce the shortlist for our very first Readings Young Adult Prize.

(Find our best recommendations for kids’ books this month here.)

LOVEOZYA PICKS

A new book from Vikki Wakefield is always cause for celebration (and a possible stampede to the bookshop…). Her latest is Ballad for a Mad Girl –…

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Recommended new kids' books in June

by Leanne Hall

This month we’re excited by swimming unicorns, the first book of a new series by Sally Rippin, a middle fiction novel with a Tibetan setting and tween crime thrills.

(Find our best recommendations for teen books this month here.)

PICTURE BOOKS

We’re a little bit obsessed with unicorns here at Readings, and Not Quite Narwhal has been a sweet addition to our shelves. Kelp is a sea-dwelling unicorn with an identity crisis – he’s not a narwhal, but he’s…

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The Wainwright Golden Beer Prize longlist 2017

The Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize is awarded annually to the book which most successfully reflects the ethos of renowned nature writer Alfred Wainwright’s work, to inspire readers to explore the outdoors and to nurture a respect for the natural world.

Here are the 12 longlisted books for 2017:

Love of Country by Madeleine Bunting

The Otter’s Tale by Simon Cooper

The Nature of Autumn by Jim Crumley

Foxes Unearthed by Lucy Jones

The Running Hare by John Lewis-Stempel

Where

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Our top ten bestsellers of the week

Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout

Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami

Ache by Eliza Henry-Jones

The Clever Guts Diet by Michael Mosley

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

Depends What You Mean by Extremist by John Safran

The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Cardinal: The Rise and Fall of George Pell by Louise Milligan

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

Our bestseller of the week is Anything is Possible, the…

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

Storm Whale by Sarah Brennan and Jane Tanner

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

A Most Magical Girl by Karen Foxlee

Boone Shepard’s American Adventure by Gabriel Bergmoser

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

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

The World’s Worst Children 2 by David Walliams and Tony Ross

Family, Friends and Furry Creatures (Tom Gates Book 12) by Liz Pichon

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What we're reading: Emma Chastain, Sarah Bailey & Simon Rowe

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.

Nina Kenwood is reading The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey

The Dark Lake is a terrific Australian crime fiction debut. Set in rural NSW, it opens with a dead body in a lake and a police detective juggling lots of complicated secrets. It has the small town mystery of The Dry, the police procedural…

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Dear Reader, June 2017

by Alison Huber

Knowing I am among friends, I can confess to expressing inappropriate book-related outrage on occasion. ‘What do you mean you haven’t read The Handmaid’s Tale?’, I exclaimed to a colleague last year. So strong is my feeling that this book must be read, the words involuntarily escaped my mouth. One must be careful, of course, in casting this kind of judgement, because, let’s face it, we all have our own list of Very Important Books we haven’t read. My…

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