Our latest blog posts
Making miniscapes with Clea Cregan
In Miniscapes, Clea Cregan presents a beautifully designed step-by-step guide to creating your own terrariums!
This week our staff put Miniscapes to the test, and the author dropped by to judge the best one!
I like pot plants, but I also have a cat, which means terrariums are the only way I can introduce a bit of greenery into my home. I have a few that I’ve bought here or there, but they’re fiendishly expensive so I was excited…
Our children's and YA top ten bestsellers of the week
Boone Shepard by Gabriel Bergmoser
The Treehouse Fun Book by Andy Griffiths, Jill Griffiths and Terry Denton
The Bad Guys Episode 3: The Furball Strikes Back by Aaron Blabey
In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek and Christine Roussey
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox and Judy Horacek
The Bad Guys: Episode 1 by Aaron Blabey
Rockhopping by Trace Balla
Pax by Sara Pennypacker and Jon Klassen
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
Everywhere I Look by Helen Garner
The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood
The Last Painting of Sara De Vos by Dominic Smith
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Talking to My Country by Stan Grant
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein)
The Course of Love by Alain de Botton
The Memory Artist by Katherine Brabon
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Zero K by Don DeLillo
Helen Garner has topped our bestsellers list for…
What we're reading: Charlie Jane Anders, Julia Leigh and Tom Drury
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.
Chris Somerville is reading The End of Vandalism by Tom Drury
Last year we saw, finally, the re-issue of the strange and wonderful novels of Tom Drury, mostly set in the small hamlets that make up the (invented) Grouse County in Iowa. 1994’s The End of Vandalism, his first novel, interweaves the…
Exploring Charlotte Wood's backlist
Charlotte Wood has recently been named the winner of this year’s Stella Prize for her fifth novel, The Natural Way of Things. Here’s a look over her earlier books for readers who loved this novel, and now want to explore her backlist.
(I haven’t included Wood’s 1999 debut novel, Pieces of a Girl, as it is sadly out of print. However, this is a great excuse to visit your local second-hand bookshop!)
The Submerged Cathedral (2004)
Spanning many…
Dear Reader, May 2016
Are you, like our reviewer, a lover of the art novel? If yes, then our book of the month, The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by Dominic Smith, is most definitely for you: it’s an involving story that spans time and place (with a heist thrown in for good measure). Dodge Rose is an audacious debut novel from Sydneysider Jack Cox, and is everything good writing should be: challenging, creative and truly original. I suggest you answer its readerly…
April in review
We were blown away this month when London Book Fair named us Bookstore of the Year. In the words of our managing director Mark Rubbo: ‘We’re delighted and extremely honoured to receive this award. It’s a reflection of the quality of Australian independent bookshops.’
Three authors won notable literary prizes this past month. Viet Thanh Nguyen was awarded this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for The Sympathizer – an astonishing debut that takes a fresh look at the enduring…
Vale Prince
Here some of our staff reflect on how the work of Prince impacted on their lives.
“Happiness is the memory I have of Prince. I was in my late teens and early twenties when he was in the peak of his popularity. Just as Bowie has dominated the 70s, Prince dominated the 80s – ever changing styles and sounds, but always with his fun, sexy, confident signature.
I was 19 when Sign o’ The Times was released in 1987. A…
Katherine Brabon wins the 2016 Vogel's Literary Award
Katherine Brabon has been named the winner of this year’s Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award for her novel, The Memory Artist.
The Memory Artist is the story of Pasha Ivanov, whose childhood apartment in Moscow was used for secret dissident meetings during the years of Brezhnev’s tyrannical rule over the Soviet Union. Years later, as a young man living in St Petersburg, the death of his mother triggers Pasha’s desire to create art and as he travels across Russia he…
Five reasons we love Mister Cassowary by Samantha Wheeler
Mister Cassowary is one of the six books shortlisted for this year’s Readings Children’s Book Prize. Here are five reasons why we think it’s brilliant.
1. It’s about a real kid with real problems.
After his Grandad Barney passes away, Flynn and his dad head up to the old family banana farm in Mission Beach to get it ready for sale. Ten-year-old Flynn is having a hard time connecting with his dad, who’s usually away working in the mines and…
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