Our latest blog posts
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…
Emily Bitto wins the 2015 Stella Prize
The winner of the Stella Prize 2015 is The Strays by Emily Bitto! Inspired by aspects of the legacy of the renowned Heide group of artists and writer, the novel is an engrossing story of ambition, sacrifice and compromised loyalties.
Kerryn Goldsworthy, chair of the 2015 Stella Prize judging panel says:
“(The Strays) is both moving and sophisticated; both well researched and original; both intellectually engaging and emotionally gripping… In its subject matter, its characters, and its sombre…
Murray Middleton wins the 2015 Vogel's Literary Award
Murray Middleton has been named the winner of the Vogel’s Literary Award 2015 for his short-story collection, When There’s Nowhere Else To Run.
The characters of Middleton’s 14 stories are all seeking refuge across the country, from the wheat belt of Western Australia to the limestone desert of South Australia, but they all discover that no matter how many thousands of kilometres they put between themselves and their transgressions, sometimes there’s nowhere else to run.
As the recipient of…
Anthony Doerr wins the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
We’re delighted that Anthony Doerr has been awarded the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel, All the Light We Cannot See, which was ten years in the writing!
The jury described the book as, ‘an imaginative and intricate novel inspired by the horrors of World War II and written in short, elegant chapters that explore human nature and the contradictory power of technology’. Our own reviewer writes, “…it’s impossible to do Doerr’s novel any justice with paltry…
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
One Life: My Mother’s Story by Kate Grenville
Mothermorphosis: Australia’s Best Storytellers Write About Becoming a Mother edited by Monica Dux
Mothers and Others edited by Natalie Kon-Yu, Christie Nieman, Maggie Scott, Miriam Sved and Maya Linden
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
Wrong Way Round: One Country, One Camper Trailer, One Family, One Amazing Adventure by Lorna Hendry
Watson’s Pier by…
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