Our latest blog posts

Q&A with Will Kostakis

by Isobel Moore

Will Kostakis’ new YA novel is the featured book for this month’s YA Book Club, and we’re delighted that Will himself is joining us on the night. Come along to Readings St Kilda on Wednesday 20 April and make sure to bring your very best questions.

Here, children’s bookseller Isobelle Moore asks Will a few questions about The Sidekicks.

The Sidekicks is set in a Catholic school, with the school administration taking a very conservative stance on LGBTQIA+ lives…

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A beginner's guide to Neil Gaiman

by Lian Hingee

I’m a long-time fan of Neil Gaiman’s novels, and am always trying to put them into the hands of people who haven’t yet discovered his particular brand of intelligent, unexpected, alternative storytelling.

I like to think there’s a Gaiman for everyone, and so here’s my beginner’s guide to prove it.

For someone who wants to laugh

Good Omens is one of the most magnificently funny novels I’ve ever read. It doesn’t matter how many times I dive into my well-thumbed…

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Our top ten bestsellers of the week

Everywhere I Look by Helen Garner

The Road to Ruin by Niki Savva

Our Man Elsewhere by Thornton McCamish

Talking to My Country by Stan Grant

Balancing Act – Australia Between Recession and Renewal (Quarterly Essay 61) by George Megalogenis

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein)

The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet by Michael Mosley

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

A Little Life by Hanya…

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Mark's Say, April 2016

by Mark Rubbo

One of the highlights of the past month for me was hearing indigenous journalist Stan Grant talk about his new book, Talking to My Country at one of our events. Grant is a remarkable and charismatic communicator; he is able to convey what it is like to be black in an overwhelmingly European country, to suffer a thousand cuts and small indignities. His strength is that he does this without bitterness or rancour; there’s some anger but, above all, there…

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What we're reading: Helen Garner, Thornton McCamish and Karen Hitchcock

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.

Mark Rubbo is reading Our Man Elsewhere by Thornton McCamish

Alan Moorehead was an Australian journalist, travel writer and historian. He was also a highly-regarded war correspondent who covered battles in Africa, Italy and Normandy, and later his books published in the the forties and fifties were bestsellers. Then, at the age of…

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Dear Reader, April 2016

by Alison Huber

In March, the winners of the Windham-Campbell Prizes for literature were announced. First awarded in 2013 and administered by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, prizes are given in the categories of fiction, drama and non-fiction for writers from anywhere in the world whose work is written in English. These prizes are awarded through an anonymous judging process, publishers and writers don’t actually know that their work is being considered. As a result, being informed that…

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Books with LGBTQIA+ themes for kids and teens

by Holly Harper

“It’s okay to be yourself.”

It’s a pretty universal piece of advice that many kids and teens hear, and it makes sense. After all, the difficulty in trying to maintain a façade – to be somebody you aren’t – is a huge burden, especially when you’re already going through the turbulent years of growing up. But with the current opposition to the Safe Schools program and the fact that many people are calling into question the suitability of the material…

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3-for-2 Faber Special Offer

Throughout April, we’re offering a special offer on a select range of award-winning and popular Faber titles - buy two books, and choose a third book in the range (of equal or lesser value) for free!

The range includes fiction, non-fiction and poetry, with titles from Paul Auster, Marilynne Robinson, Lorrie Moore, P. D. James, Kazuo Ishiguro, Rohinton Mistry, Barbara Kingsolver, Miriam Toews, and Willy Vlautin, among others.

This offer is exclusively available in all Readings shops and online, until…

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20% off vinyl this April

Record Store Day is officially on Saturday 16 April, but Readings is celebrating all month long with 20% off all vinyl.

Handpicked by our passionate music team, our vinyl collection includes old favourites alongside terrific new releases. Come on down to chat with our specialists in person and complete your own collection.

The sale runs from 1 April to 30 April at our Carlton, St Kilda, Hawthorn and State Library of Victoria bookshops. The offer only applies to vinyl currently…

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