Our latest blog posts
Is The Life of Houses by Lisa Gorton a good pick for book clubs?
Each month we choose a newly released book that we feel is perfect for a book club. Then we roadtest it.
Here are our thoughts on whether Lisa Gorton’s The Life of Houses is a good pick for for book clubs.
Does the book make for good conversation?
As well as the mother-daughter parallels and contrasts, I think there’s a definite conversation to be had about the sense of place in the novel, specifically houses and the way the places…
Rebecca Starford on writing Bad Behaviour
by Rebecca StarfordI studied creative writing at university. I loved almost everything about the course: the teachers were inspiring, the readings insightful and provocative, and the workshops were a safe and temperate space.
But the exercises I hated the most – which left me sitting under the fluorescent lights, mouth agape, my mind utterly blank – were on memoir.
‘Write about your childhood,’ our tutor instructed. ‘Write about your first memory. Your worst memory. Your best memory.’
As I sat there, glumly…
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
The Strays by Emily Bitto
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
River Cottage Australia by Paul West
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (translated by Simon Pare)
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
One Life: My Mother’s Story by Kate Grenville
When There’s Nowhere Else to Run by Murray Middleton
Bloodhound: Searching for My Father by Ramona Koval
Craft for the Soul: How to Get the Most Out of Your Creative Life by Pip…
An interview with Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on The Train
The Girl on the Train has been one of our bestselling books over the past few months. Here, we chat to the author Paula Hawkins about her popular novel.
You said recently in a New York Times interview that this book was ‘a last roll of the dice for me as a fiction writer’. Can you tell us a little more about that – the feeling that it was now or never?
Before I wrote The Girl on…
What we're reading: Janet Malcolm, Kate Grenville and G. Willow Wilson
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.
Fiona Hardy is reading The Silent Woman by Janet Malcolm
Thanks to the influence of peer pressure, I felt compelled by my co-worker Bronte’s enthusiasm for this book so picked up my own copy – and gosh, I’m glad I did. After fifteen crime books in a row, it’s good to be reading…
Which 3 classics would you buy as part of our 3-for-2 offer?
This month we’re offering a special 3-for-the-price-of-2 offer on our Vintage Classics range. We asked our staff which 3 classics they would buy. Here are their responses.
Alan Vaarwerk, Editorial Assistant of Readings Monthly:
The controversy surrounding Frank Hardy’s Power Without Glory is legendary, and while I’ve read about the barely fictionalised political figures and subsequent court case, I’ve never read the book itself, which has become such a large part of Australian literary history. Also, apart from a…
Meet two stars of the Readings Children's Book Prize Shortlist
One was ‘tall, gangly… sports loving and adventure seeking’ as a child, while the other was a ‘freckled, ballet-dancing red-head who loved reading’, but both grew up to be authors and after being widely published for their non-fiction, both are now shortlisted for the Readings Children’s Book Prize with their debut novels for children aged 7-12.
Meet Tony Wilson and A.L. Tait.
Find out what sparked the ideas for Tony Wilson’s Stuff Happens: Jack and A.L. Tait’s Race to the…
Why you should bake your own bread
Two of our staff members talk about why they bake their own bread.
Bronte Coates, Digital Content Coordinator:
While I’m not an entirely successful home baker (my success rate hovers around the 50% mark) I am an enthusiast one and bread is far and away my favourite thing to make at home. I love the science experiment aspect of it and I feel very impressive serving it to people. My housemate Maggie was the first person to teach me…
Books to read while you wait for Go Set A Watchman
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
The parallels between this memoir and To Kill A Mockingbird should be immediately apparent; social justice lawyer Bryan Stevenson has even been described as a ‘real-life’ Atticus Finch. Our reviewer writes that the book, ‘ presents a scathing exposé of the inequalities, racial bias and discrimination that has characterised the US justice system, most notably in the South’. It’s a sobering read for anyone who thinks we’ve moved past…
Hayao Miyazaki's 50 recommended children's classics from all over the world
Japanese animation film studio, Studio Ghibli, has produced gems such as Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle (based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones), My Neighbour Totoro, Ponyo and Arrietty (based on The Borrowers by Mary Norton).
Studio Ghibli’s latest film, When Marnie Was There, from the 1967 novel of the same name by Joan M Robinson, will have limited release in cinemas from 14 May to 27 May.
Below is a list compiled by Japanese film…
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