Dear Life - On Caring for the Elderly (Quarterly Essay 57) by Karen Hitchcock

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

Bad Behaviour: A Memoir of Bullying and Boarding School by Rebecca Starford

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

The Story of Australia’s People Volume 1: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Australia by Geoffrey Blainey

Hello, Beautiful!: Scenes from a…

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We’re delighted to announce the six books shortlisted for the Readings Children’s Book Prize 2015!

The Prize recognises and celebrates Australian books that children love to read, and raises the profile of debut and on-the-rise Australian children’s book authors. The Prize judges are a panel of Readings children’s book specialists.

The six shortlisted titles are…

Rivertime by Trace Balla

This book is delightfully unique, it is an absolute thrill that it has been shortlisted for our award. Produced in a…

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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.

Nina Kenwood is reading The Well by Catherine Chanter

I was handed a copy of The Well last Friday and I read it in one big gulp over the weekend. It’s a book chock-full of ideas, and interesting ones at that. The story is set in a world where it hasn’t rained in…

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Our staff bring us an update from the Alliance Française French Film Festival – what they’ve seen so far and what’s still to come!

Mark Rubbo on Gemma Bovery:

I had the privilege of attending the opening night which included a viewing of Gemma Bovery – a funny retelling of Madame Bovary’s classic story. The film is based on a popular graphic novel by Posy Simmonds. Skilfully directed by Anne Fontaine, who also made the similarly sumptuous Coco Before…

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For one day only, we’re offering 30% off a range of Bloomsbury books on our website!

To receive the 30% discount, apply the promo code BLOOMSBURY on the final payment page of online checkout. Please note, this sale is online only and ends at midnight on Thursday 19 March. Shipping times may vary if in-stock items sell out.

If you’re looking for a meaty novel to sink your teeth in try The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert, which…

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The Centre for Youth Literature has just announced the two longlists for the Inky Awards.

The Inky Awards recognise high-quality young adult literature, with the longlist and shortlist selected by young adults, and the winners voted for online by teens. There are two awards: the Gold Inky Award for an Australian book, and the Silver Inky Award for an international book.

The Gold Longlist (Australian books)

Nona and Me by Clare Atkins

Head of the River by Pip Harry

The…

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CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH:

If She Did It by Jessica Treadway

Hanna and Joe Schutt are unsure about their awkward daughter Dawn’s first love, the handsome yet unnerving Rud, but are pleased to see their daughter happy – until the night they are viciously beaten by a croquet mallet in bed, leaving Joe dead and Hanna with facial injuries so acute that they leave her, nearly three years later, still with visible scars and a brain injury that impedes…

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Stop all the clacks.

An entire world ended last Friday: warring countries; vibrant, huge, dirty cities; small villages settled by people with busy work-filled lives all gone. Individuals perished too: a sharp-as-nails old woman and her wicked friend; a straight-as-an-arrow cop and his big-hearted wife and son; a sixteen-year-old girl who had just discovered what love can mean. A world full of people with hopes and dreams, and love and hate, simply ceased to exist.

At least that what it…

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Our staff share the classic novels (and authors) they believe are overrated…

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. An unappealing heroine, a very dull story and an awful ‘love interest’ – I genuinely do not understand what people see in this classic. I do, however, very much recommend the sublime Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys, which tells the story of Rochester’s wife. – Isobel Moore, bookseller at St Kilda

George Orwell’s time would have been much better spent writing more…

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Recently there has been a more open dialogue about what it’s like to live with anxiety, which has made me think about the worries we experience as children and how, as parents or caregivers, we react to those worries. Our response to a child who is uncomfortable about a particular situation, or struggling to find their place in the world, is a great responsibility. This month there are some beautiful picture books with simple messages about how to nurture a…

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