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What we're reading over summer

Our staff share the books they’re planning to read over summer.

I’m going on a crime binge. My next book club book is I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes, a daunting 912 page (hence the summer read) crime thriller which has received a lot of media attention and positive reviews. But I’ve also lined up an award winner (the CWA Gold Dagger 2015) by Australian author Michael Robotham called Life Or Death, which is billed as a fast paced…

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A guide to TV shows to watch this summer

by Nina Kenwood

Here’s where I’m coming from – I like good comedies, snappy dialogue, family drama, teen angst, action-packed intrigue, survival-against-the-odds stories, anything that will make me cry and legal dramas. I don’t enjoy procedurals, most cop shows, and reality TV.

My summer viewing guide encompasses the shows I have enjoyed this year, the shows I expect to enjoy in the future, and shows I don’t personally enjoy but others will.

Shows I loved

This year had an abundance of terrific new…

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Four books that broke my heart in 2015

by Bronte Coates

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

No piece of writing has ever made me cry as much as this raging, eloquent letter from Ta-Nehisi Coates to his 14-year-old son, Samori. In my review I wrote, ‘I read with my heart in my throat and for the final 50 or so pages I cried without stopping. Between the World and Me attests to the power of literature.’ Coates writes specifically about the experience of being a black father to…

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Five books I'd like to see turned into movies

by Lian Hingee

Hollywood is long known for harvesting from the fertile ground of books and some of the biggest blockbusters in the whole history of film-making started out life as well-thumbed tomes on the bookshelf.

Here are five more books that would make great movies.

Alanna, the First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

Before Arya of Winterfell there was Alanna of Trebond. When her twin brother is told that he is to be sent to the palace to be a page (his worst…

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How to dip your toes into blak writing these holidays

Blak & Bright (the first ever Victorian Indigenous Literary Festival!) will take place over three days in Melbourne, and feature more than 60 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander novelists, storytellers, poets, songwriters, playwrights, academics, comedians, raconteurs and rabble-rousers. The festival organisers are currently looking to hear your personal reflections on Indigenous writing. They want to know why you read blak, or why you write blak. Find out more here.

If you haven’t read many books by Indigenous authors up…

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What we're reading: Marlee Jane Ward, Peggy Frew & Emma Donoghue

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.

Stella Charls is reading Room by Emma Donoghue

Emma Donoghue’s novel comes with a stack of endorsements. A beloved literary bestseller, shortlisted for both the Man Booker and Orange prize, this summer also sees the release of a critically acclaimed feature film adaption, with a screenplay by Donoghue. Motivated to read the book…

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