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Christmas gift guide: What to buy for your children
FOR AGES 0-2
My Dog Bigsy by Alison Lester is an energetic read-aloud story about a little dog with a big personality.
What does your perfect day look like? Perfect by Danny Parker & Freya Blackwood is a beautifully evocative picture book that brings to life all the pleasures of a day spent playing and exploring.
Patience can be a hard virtue to learn, but I’ll Wait, Mr Panda by Steve Antony is a hilarious way to drive home the…
Christmas gift guide: What to buy for your sibling
If they love to travel
Lonely Planet’s Ultimate Travel shares a list of 500 amazing sights and attractions from around the world, ranked by Lonely Planet’s global community of travel experts.
Part travel guide and part coffee table book, New York: An Inspired Wander Through Manhattan And The Brooklyn Boroughs looks beyond the well-known façades of this iconic city, and into the depths of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
In 1988, Lydia Bradey became the first woman to climb Mount Everest without…
Signed cookbooks from Matthew Evans and Hana Assafiri
Here at Readings we are pretty big fans of Matthew Evans. Earlier this week he dropped by to sign copies of his wonderful new cookbook, Summer on Fat Pig Farm. This gourmet farmer is a fair charmer; within minutes, he had booksellers and customers alike laughing – and wondering why we were not making our own ice-cream every day.
I asked him a few questions about his new cookbook. He told me that his favourite recipe for hot windy…
Christmas gift guide: What to buy for your parent
If they’re wordsmiths
With his trademark wit and wisdom, the talented Don Watson will make your parents cringe and laugh in Watson’s Worst Words.
In A Shakespearean Botanical, Margaret Willes marries the beauty of Shakespeare’s lines with hand-painted engravings of the plants he describes, and provides an intriguing look into daily life in Tudor and Jacobean England.
Mary Norris has spent more than three decades in The New Yorker’s copy department, maintaining its celebrated high standards. Now she…
Christmas gift guide: What to buy for your significant other
If they want to delve into fiction over summer
At 944 pages long, Garth Risk Hallberg’s debut City on Fire is a great pick for anyone looking for a big meaty book to get stuck into over summer. You can find more suggestions for really, really, really long novels here.
Stephanie Bishop’s The Other Side of the World is this year’s winner of our Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. Read some testimonials from staff about how much…
Why you should read Ann Leckie's Imperial Radch trilogy
I’ve just devoured Ancillary Mercy, the third instalment in Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch trilogy, and I recommend you all stop what you’re doing and pick up the first book of the series.
A civil war lies at the heart of the story, but it is not one waged between citizens of the same country. Rather, it is fought between the many selves of a single entity. If that sounds vague, it’s because it’s hard to find accurate words with…
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
Keating (special edition) by Kerry O'Brien
The Other Side of the World by Stephanie Bishop
Even Dogs in the Wild: The New John Rebus by Ian Rankin
M Train by Patti Smith
Home Truths: An Anthology of Refugee and Migrant Writing ed. Yannick Thoraval and Caroline Petit
Watson’s Worst Words: A Compendium of Management Gibberish by Don Watson
The Moroccan Soup Bar: Recipes of a Spoken Menu and a Little Bit of Spice by Hana Assafiri
Our children's and YA top ten bestsellers of the week
Diary of a Wimpy Book 10: Old School by Jeff Kinney
The Naughtiest of Reindeer at the Zoo by Nicki Greenberg
The Singing Bones by Shaun Tan
Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
The Wonder Garden: Wander Through The World’s Wildest Habitat and Discover More Than 80 Amazing Animals by Jenny Broom and Kristjana S Williams
What Do You Wish for? by Jane Godwin and Anna Walker
Girl Online: On Tour by Zoe Sugg
Grandpa’s Great Escape by David…
Best new cookbooks in November
Mietta’s Italian Family Recipes by Mietta O’Donnell
Welcome to Melbourne, where we pride ourselves on having the very best café and food landscape in Australia. We have this landscape because there are certain families and undeniable creative identities that years ago fostered a culture so rich and welcoming that we, as a city, have not dared to look back. Mietta O’Donnell and her family and friends represent such culinary trailblazers.
O’Donnell’s grandparents established a restaurant, Mario’s, when they first arrived…
10 ideal reads for armchair travellers
Without leaving the comfort of your favourite chair, you could travel around…
…Australia
In Green Nomads, Bob Brown packs a simple tent and sets off on a three-month odyssey across the country. Along the way, he documents, photographs and reflects on the luminous corners of our outback.
Kara Rosenlund’s Shelter is a revealing and intriguing photographic story of homes that have been created in isolated areas, of rambling, crumbling sheds and shacks that provide shelter.
Lost Melbourne is a…
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