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A quick guide to MIFF 2015
Here’s a quick at-a-glance guide to this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival. You can see the full program here, and also find out what Readings staff are seeing here.
Most buzzed about
We recommend: The Lobster Runner up: Force of Destiny
Psychological thriller
We recommend: The WitchRunner up: Sunrise
Book-to-film adaptation
We recommend: Holding the Man Runner up: See all of our book-to-film picks here
Contemporary Australian drama
We recommend: The DaughterRunner up: Pawno
Tearjerker
We…
What we're reading: Hoa Pham, Moira Fowley-Doyle and Fiona Wright
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.
Emily Gale is reading The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle
Months ago I was able to sneak a look at the first page of The Accident Season, and it made a strong first impression. The premise immediately appealed – a family (a mother and three teenagers) meet with a series of accidents…
What we're watching at MIFF 2015
Staff share what they’re planning to see at the Melbourne International Film Festival this year! (You can find the full program here).
Nina Kenwood loves American indies
As always, there are a ton of American indie films I want to see: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (I’ll cry, I’ll laugh, my heart will be warmed), Sleeping With Other People (sex comedy starring Alison Brie – I’m in), The Overnight (sex comedy starring Adam Scott – I’m in)…
MIFF picks for literary lovers
This year’s Melbourne International Film Festival is filled with book-to-film (and play-to-film) adaptations. Here are our picks of the bunch.
The End of the Tour (James Ponsoldt, USA)
Tasked with writing a profile on author David Foster Wallace for Rolling Stone, David Lipsky joined Wallace on a publicity tour for Infinite Jest. His book, Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself is based on this road trip and the conversations they have. And now, it’s been adapted…
Literary stats for data nerds
Data nerds! We’ve compiled some statistics for the first half of this year and turned them into beautiful infographics for your appreciation.
A note about the data: the sales data in this report comes from our weekly top 10 bestseller lists (see an example here). This data excludes children’s bestsellers. Further statistics were gathered from our weekly ‘what we’re reading’ column (see an example here), our review list and all the events listed in our Readings Monthly newsletter.
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Q&A with Tess Masters, author of The Blender Girl Smoothies
Tess, firstly congratulations on taking the very humble smoothie to a whole new level. How did you find out that you had a passion for the drink to end all drinks?
Oh, thank you. It has been so much fun changing the way people think about smoothies with this book. I get messages from people all over the world who are making their way through every single recipe in the book. I love titles that read: I’m on #62 and…
Best new crime in July
The Unbroken Line by Alex Hammond
Defence lawyer Will Harris has barely recovered from being hospitalised after going rogue in his first book, Blood Witness, when he and his lover Eva are attacked and threatened by strangers who tell him to back off. Will, who doesn’t enjoy danger as much as it enjoys him, would oblige if only he knew what he was supposed to back off from. He’s already busy fighting a complaint accusing him of some suspicious…
Q&A with Jane Harrison, author of Becoming Kirrali Lewis
There are not any other Australian books quite like Becoming Kirrali Lewis. What were the initial motives for writing this novel? What made you decide: “Okay, it’s time to write this story now”?
Great to know that the book is unique! I want to break into new areas, and explore new themes. I do think there is a hunger for Aboriginal stories and yet there is a bit of a gap in the market for contemporary, urban stories. But…
National Biography Award Shortlist 2015
Congratulations to the six authors shortlisted for the National Biography Award 2015. This year Australia’s pre-eminent prize for biographical writing and memoir celebrates 20 years since it began.
The shortlisted books are:
An Unsentimental Bloke: The Life and Work of C.J. Dennis by Philip Butterss
Moving Among Strangers: Randolph Stow and My Family by Gabrielle Carey (Read our review)
Citizen Emperor: Napoleon in Power 1799-1815 by Philip Dwyer
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
The Mindfulness Colouring Book: Anti-Stress Art Therapy for Busy People by Emma Farrarons
In The Quiet by Eliza Henry-Jones
Gut: the Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Under-Rated Organ by Giulia Enders
The Other Side of the World by Stephanie Bishop
The Eye of the Sheep by Sofie Laguna
Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford
The Hanged Man and the Body Thief: Finding Lives in a Museum Mystery by Alexandra Roginski
The Strays by Emily Bitto
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