Our latest blog posts
Read an extract from Portable Curiosities by Julie Koh
by Julie KohWe’re delighted that Portable Curiosities by Julie Koh is one of the six books shortlisted for this year’s Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. Here is one of the stories from the collection: ‘The Three-Dimensional Yellow Man’.
Find more information about this year’s shortlisted books (including the judges’ report) here.
It was only when a one-dimensional yellow man stepped out of a cinema screen and into a plush red theatre on George Street that audience members noticed him from…
Read an extract from Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar
by Lucy TreloarWe’re delighted that Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar is one of the six books shortlisted for this year’s Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. Here is a short extract from the novel.
Find more information about this year’s shortlisted books (including the judges’ report) here.
The journey to that place was like moving knowingly, dutifully, towards death. I have seen beasts as resigned. People say it is not so, that they are ignorant to the end, but this is…
Our children's and YA top ten bestsellers of the week
The 78-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
Welcome to Country by Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon
The Treehouse Fun Book by Andy Griffiths, Jill Griffiths and Terry Denton
Don’t Call Me Bear by Aaron Blabey
Pax by Sara Pennypacker and Jon Klassen
Run, Pip, Run by J.C. Jones
The Boundless Sublime by Lili Wilkinson
The World’s Worst Children by David Walliams and Tony…
Blockbuster events in September
September is a blockbuster month for events! Here are some of the exciting guests we’re hosting over the coming month.
Hetty McKinnon’s Community was our bestselling cookbook of last year, and we’re delighted to be hosting an event celebrating her newest cookbook: Neighbourhood. McKinnon will be chatting with food activist Rohan Anderson about the inspiration she finds in her own neighbourhood.
When: Tuesday 6 September, 6.30pm.
Where: Church of All Nations, 180 Palmerston Street, Carlton.
Bookings: Free…
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
Harry Potter And The Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany
Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty
The Course of Love by Alain de Botton
The Island Will Sink by Briohny Doyle
The Hate Race by Maxine Beneba Clarke
The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer
The Dry by Jane Harper
The Girls by Emma Cline
Ghost Empire by Richard Fidler
Planet Jackson by Brad Norington
Our bestselling books of last week include some…
The most interesting books customers have special ordered this month
We love hearing new recommendations. Here’s 10 of the most interesting books customers have special ordered this past month…
The Interrogative Mood by Padgett Powell
My Faraway One: Selected Letters of Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz by Sarah Greenough
The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker
The Birth of the Modern World, 1780-1914: Global Connections and Comparisons by C.A. Bayly
Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts by Christopher de Hamel
The Elements: An Illustrated History of the Periodic Table by Tom Jackson
…
What we're reading: Tana French, Laura Elizabeth Woollett and Megan Abbott
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on or the music we’re loving.
Nina Kenwood is reading You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott
If, like me, you’re enjoying the Olympics and looking to theme your reading a little, then I suggest You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott. Like all of Abbott books, it’s about teenage girls and involves a page-turning mystery but at its…
Picture books about siblings
Our digital content coordinator Bronte Coates shares some of her favourite picture books about siblings.
Stupid Baby by Stephanie Blake
Stephanie Blake is a favourite at Readings, and so she should be! Her stories about Simon, a small, irreverent rabbit, are nose-snortingly-laugh-out-loud with bold, colourful illustrations and a healthy dash of grossness that kids will love. In this story, Simon’s parents bring home a new baby, much to Simon’s dismay – now he has to be quiet all the time…
The winners of the CBCA Book of the Year Awards 2016
The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) have announced their Book of the Year Awards winners for 2016. The CBCA Awards, which are in their 70th year, celebrates the best Australian books for readers in early childhood up to young adult readers. Congratulations to the winners!
Here are the winners for each category.
Older Readers
Cloudwish by Fiona Wood
Scholarship student Vân U’oc Phan is all work and no play – until star athlete Billy Gardiner develops a sudden and…
A beginner's guide to Tana French
I’m a bit late to the party on Irish crime writer, Tana French, whose first novel In the Woods was released nearly a decade ago. It came out just before The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo hit bookshelves, and despite winning a slew of awards I suspect it may have slipped under other people’s radars as well as mine with the onslaught of Scando-crime that followed.
As a result, I’ve come to the conclusion that French’s Dublin Murder Squad series…