Book that inspired us to watch the most movies
Life Moves Pretty Fast: The Lessons We Learned from Eighties Movies (and Why We Don’t Learn Them from Movies Any More) by Hadley Freeman

Teen romance most likely to restore your faith in love
Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Best feminist hero
Dietland by Sarai Walker

Most sumptuous and heart-warming picture book
The Most Wonderful Thing in the World by Vivian French and Angela Barrett

Tastiest recipes…

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There are so many exciting Australian books due to be released in the second half of 2015. Here, ten Readings staff share the Australian book that they are most looking forward to.

Alison Huber is looking forward to Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar

Last year I went on an unforgettable camping trip to the Coorong in South Australia – a place I had wanted to visit ever since I saw the windswept sand dunes in the 1976 film adaptation of…

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Over the next few weeks we’re participating in a work experience program with students from high schools across Melbourne. Here, Emily Gough tells us why she loves Australian books.

How would you describe your taste in books?

I don’t have a specific taste in books, but most of my favourites are Australian classics. I think Australian authors are usually far better writers than international authors. The Australian books I have read are very well written, almost poetic. They usually have…

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July is proving a particularly strong month for Australian women’s writing. Nina Kenwood shares four new releases by Australian women that she has read, loved, and can’t stop talking about.

Eliza Henry-Jones’

In The Quiet

is a heartbreaking debut novel. Set on a rural Victorian horse farm, it tells the story of a grieving family as seen through the eyes of Cate Carlton, their mother and wife, who has recently died. It might sound a little schmaltzy and overly sentimental…

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Marketing and Events Coordinator Stella Charls shares her top five picks from our July event calendar!

Stephanie Bishop in conversation with Emily Harms

July is a fabulous month for those who love good conversation! Authors Rod Jones, Alex Hammond and Gregory Day, will all be visiting us across the month for in-depth discussions on their books. I’m particularly excited to hear Stephanie Bishop chat about her second novel, The Other Side of the World, as judging by…

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It might these days be fashionable to say it but nevertheless the seeds of all of my books have begun in walking. The trigger for my new novel Archipelago of Souls lies in a pretty arduous but wonderful walk I took around the island of Crete back when I was still at university. My eyes were opened in many ways during those days, not only to the sea-lit slopes and valleys of the classical world of Minoan and Homeric myth…

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Readings staff member Chris Gordon tells us what it’s like to watch the complete Game of Thrones series, with her teenage son.

Here is the stark truth:

I am not a fan of fantasy films or novels.

I’m well aware that dragons are not real.

Gratuitous sex and violence does not please me.

I hate anything to do with zombies.

And yet, I’ve somehow managed to watch all available seasons of Game of Thrones, without missing one single minute…

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Here’s a collection of testimonials from Readings staff who have read, and loved, the new novel from Australian author Stephanie Bishop – The Other Side of the World.

I was terribly impressed by The Other Side of the World. It’s evocative of its time and place – England and Australia in the sixties – yet has a timelessness about it that makes it totally relevant. The characters are finely drawn; they are people who you are interested in…

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The Australian merger of two publishing giants Penguin and Random House will be all but completed in early August as their distribution facilities merge into one combined facility. The process of merging the two companies will have taken almost 3 years since the original announcement. The merged companies will have a market share in Australia of close to 30%; in addition, Penguin and Random House provide different levels of sales and distribution services for a range of Australian and international…

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Eliza Henry-Jones is the author of In the Quiet. Here she tells us the last five books she read – all from women.

When I look back at the books I read in school and at university, they’re predominantly from male writers. So, this year I’m reading all books by women. And what a wonderful year of reading it’s been.

I’ve just finished The Strays by Emily Bitto and absolutely adored it. This is one of those books that…

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