Our latest blog posts
A guide to TV shows to watch this summer
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…
Four books that broke my heart in 2015
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…
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein)
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
The Moroccan Soup Bar: Recipes of a Spoken Menu and a Little Bit of Spice by Hana Assafiri
This Annoying Life: A Mindless Colouring Book for the Highly Stressed by Oslo Davis
Reckoning: A Memoir by Magda Szubanski
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Broadsheet Melbourne Cookbook
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
Keating by Kerry O'Brien
…
Five books I'd like to see turned into movies
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…
Our children's and YA top ten bestsellers of the week
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book 10: Old School by Jeff Kinney
The Singing Bones by Shaun Tan
The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers
Grandpa’s Great Escape by David Walliams
The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt (translated by Laura Watkinson)
In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek and Christine Roussey
My Dog Bigsy by Alison Lester
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Illustrated edition) by J.K. Rowling and Jim…
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…
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…
Best literary pets (that we'd secretly like to own ourselves)
Our staff share their favourite pets from fiction – that they wish they could’ve owned themselves!
Lian Hingee especially loves imaginary animals
I read Phoebe and Her Unicorn this year and I’m totally with Phoebe here, if I rescued a unicorn and was granted a wish I would definitely also wish for the unicorn – one Marigold Heavenly Nostrils – to be my best friend/pet. Marigold isn’t just a talking magic unicorn, she’s a talking magic Unicorn with attitude and…
What I loved: The Mouse and his Child by Russell Hoban
The Mouse and his Child is a perfect book for the word-dreaming child. The tale of two tin wind-up mice in search of their own territory sings with incident, humour and emotion. At its heart is a story of family bonds that cannot be broken. And in Manny Rat the novel also has one of the most villainous figures in children’s fiction.
The Mouse and his Child is undergoing a revival – the Royal Shakespeare Company (who also created the…
Our 30 essential picture books
Our collection of favourite Australian and international stories to read with every child.
Who Sank the Boat by Pamela Allen
Beside the sea, there once lived a cow, a donkey, a sheep, a pig, and a tiny little mouse. One warm, sunny morning – for no particular reason – they decided to go for a row in the bay. Do you know who sank the boat? This funny tale will have everybody guessing.
Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy by Lynley…
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