Our latest blog posts

Children's books about amazing women

by Leanne Hall

One of the strongest trends we’ve noticed in the last year has been an interest in children’s books about accomplished women – we literally can’t keep them on our shelves!

We adore the Little People, Big Dreams series. These colourful, cute and simple picture books present the stories of well-known women from girlhood up, allowing young readers aged 4 years and up to find new idols and role models, and hopefully be inspired to dream of big achievements for themselves.

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Staff music picks of the month

We’re excited to have two terrific musicians dropping by our Carlton shop on Friday, 10 March.

At 12.30pm, Canadian folk-pop singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright will chat with rock journalist Michael Dwyer. This special lunchtime event is free, but places are strictly limited. Find out more here.

At 6.30pm, singer and songwriter Rob Snarski will share tales from his new book, You’re Not Rob Snarski, and discuss his lifelong passion for music. This event is also free, and you can…

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Three classical albums we're loving this month

Elena Kats-Chernin: Unsent Love Letters – Meditations On Erik Satie by Tamara-Anna Cislowska

‘Many years after Erik Satie’s death in 1925, friends gained access to his small and cluttered apartment where they found two grand pianos stacked on top of each other, a chair, a table, seven velvet suits, and hoards of unsent love letters. An apparently eccentric man, Satie lived a life of contradictions: he was an introvert but a compelling performer; he lived in squalor but dressed immaculately…

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Our top ten bestsellers of the week

Fight Like a Girl by Clementine Ford

The Family by Chris Johnston and Rosie Jones

The Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape

Gut by Giulia Enders (translated by David Shaw)

The CSIRO Low-Carb Diet by Grant Brinkworth and Pennie Taylor

Jasper Jones (film tie-in edition) by Craig Silvey

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

The Crying Place by Lia Hills

Insomniac City by Bill Hayes

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Last week’s list of bestselling books includes some of our…

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Special offer on fiction books from Penguin Random House

This month we have two special offers available on a range of award-winning and popular fiction titles from Penguin Random House.

ONLINE OFFER

We’re offering online customers 25% off the full price of any of the selected fiction titles found here.

Titles include the critically acclaimed Swing Time by Zadie Smith; Margaret Atwood’s unique retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest; David Dyer’s astonishing debut novel, based on the true story of the ship that saw the Titanic’s distress…

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What we're reading: Bill Hayes, Thi Bui and Hisham Matar

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.

Mark Rubbo is reading Insomniac City by Bill Hayes

I’ve just finished writer Bill Hayes’s elegy to New York, and to his lover and partner – the late Oliver Sacks.

Insomniac City is a gentle, delightful book, full of humanity yet tinged with sadness. Hayes moved to New York from San Francisco in 2008 after…

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Our 10 best moments from the last year in photos

It’s our 48th birthday on Sunday 5 March.

The last year has been a particularly busy one for Readings. We opened two new shops, Readings Kids and Readings Doncaster, we were awarded both the Bookstore of the Year Award at the London Book Fair International Excellence Awards, and the Independent Book Retailer of the Year at the Australian Book Industry Awards, we took part in over 360 events around Melbourne and we distributed $93,000 worth of grants to community organisations…

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A newspaper for Australian kids

We talk to Saffron Howden, editor of Crinkling News, about wonder, whale vomit and the importance of media literacy.

Tell us a little bit about Crinkling News.

Crinkling News is the only national newspaper for young Australians. We tell all the news – without the boring or scary bits! And it’s a real newspaper printed on real paper to be read at the breakfast table, in bed, lying in a hammock, in a car, in the classroom, or…

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Mark's Say, March 2017

by Mark Rubbo

The first Taipei International Book Fair (TIBE) was held in 1987 which made this year’s fair the 25th. Spread over six days, it is one of the largest trade book fairs in the world with over 621 exhibitors from 59 countries. For many years, Australia has enjoyed a reasonably strong presence at TIBE but after recent cuts to Australia Council and Austrade funding, this year’s stand was only the size of a large cupboard. Adjacent to our country’s cupboard was…

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