Our latest blog posts
Three cookbooks to get you through winter
Maggie Beer’s Winter Harvest Recipes by Maggie Beer
I associate Maggie Beer with quinces, with pheasant pâtés, mushrooms, and with delicious slow-cooked country cooking. This delightful collection of recipes has everything you could expect for cold nights. The recipes are from the winter section of Maggie’s bible, Maggie’s Harvest. Included in this collection are detailed descriptions of meals (think perfectly planned menus for you to copy, step-by-step) with family and friends. I love this glimpse into Maggie’s life, her…
The Eye of the Sheep wins the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2015
The Eye of the Sheep by Sofie Laguna is the winner of the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2015!
First awarded in 1957, the Miles Franklin Literary Award is presented annually to a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases. As the winner, Sofie Laguna will receive $60,000 in prize money.
Our reviewer said of the winning book, ‘Sofie Laguna tackles the intricacies of love and marriage, brotherhood, power dynamics, medical…
Q&A with Helen Macdonald
Bronte Coates talks with Helen Macdonald about her award-winning memoir, H is for Hawk.
In H is for Hawk, you decide to train a goshawk (Mabel) in response to the grief you felt at your father’s death. Would you now recommend this decision to others?
Ha! No, I don’t recommend it at all. Training and free-flying a captive-bred goshawk was my own rather eccentric way of dealing with bereavement. But there’s no ‘right’ way to go about grieving…
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
The Mindfulness Colouring Book: Anti-Stress Art Therapy for Busy People by Emma Farrarons
Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom by Millie Marotta
Certain Admissions: A Beach, a Body and a Lifetime of Secrets by Gideon Haigh
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Supermarket Monsters: the Price of Coles and Woolworths’ Dominance by Malcolm Knox
Gut: the Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Under-Rated Organ by Giulia Enders
Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Colouring Book by Johanna Basford
The…
Literary-inspired period dramas to watch this winter
Winter is most certainly here and with that in mind, here’s some literary-inspired period dramas for you for to snuggle up with during the cold evenings – all sorted by the historical period they’re set in.
1529, Wolf Hall
Wolf Hall is an intimate portrait of Thomas Cromwell, the brilliant and ruthless advisor in the court of Henry VIII. As he walks the corridors of power at the Tudor court, Cromwell must navigate deadly political intrigue, the King’s tempestuous relationship…
Kids review Rivertime by Trace Balla
Trace Balla is this year’s winner of the Readings Children’s Book Prize 2015 for her debut graphic novel, Rivertime. Here, we share some reviews from her fans…
– Review by Maddy, age 11
– Review by Ava, age 6
– Review by Jonah, age 8
– Review by Verity, age 6
Find out more about the Readings Children’s Book Prize here.
What we're reading: Hadley Freeman, Milan Kundera and Ilka Tampke
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.
Amy Vuleta is reading Skin by Ilka Tampke
There’s something deeply satisfying about spending an entire day in bed reading a fantasy novel. It’s an entirely irresponsible adult indulgence!
I picked up Ilka Tampke’s debut novel Skin last weekend with mild curiosity, but found myself glued to where I sat, pyjama-clad, up in…
Interviews with our work experience students
Over the next few weeks we’re participating in a work experience program with students from high schools across Melbourne. Here, Jenny Liu tells us about her favourite books.
How would you describe your taste in books?
I mostly gravitate towards fantasy books, in particular those with interesting magic and strong lead characters. I also enjoy reading science fiction, survival and historical fiction – I’ll read most genres within fiction really. That being said, I don’t particularly enjoy romance books. I…
Our favourite books of 2015 (so far)
Our staff share the best books they’ve read so far this year, including new releases and older titles just discovered.
Alan Vaarwerk, Editorial Assistant of Readings Monthly:
This will come as no surprise to anyone who’s heard me raving about it for the past six months, but I was so excited to get my hands on Kelly Link’s Get In Trouble, the American writer’s first collection for adults in ten years. The collection’s tightly-written and astonishing short stories…
Announcing the winner of the 2015 Readings Children’s Book Prize
The winner of the Readings Children’s Book Prize 2015 is… Rivertime by Trace Balla!
The Readings Children’s Book Prize recognises and celebrates books that families love reading together, or that children read under the covers with a torch late into the night because they can’t bear to put it down – books they tell their friends about. It also aims to raise the profile of debut and on-the-rise Australian children’s book authors.
Rivertime is a tender and beautifully illustrated tale…
Browse our blog by category
