Our latest blog posts
What we're reading: Richard McGuire, Charles D'Ambrosio and Octavia E. Butler
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.
Stella Charls is listening to podcasts
For me this has been the summer of public transport which means it’s also been the summer of podcasts. Since developing an addiction to Serial in 2014, I’m now hoarding recommendations for anything and everything worth listening to. When my colleague Nina put together a beginner’s guide…
The 25 bestselling albums at Readings in 2014
Here are our 25 bestselling albums from the past year.
Our top sellers for music features a diverse range of talent – from Australian C.W. Stoneking’s ‘scintillating gumbo brew of delta blues and old time Dixieland jazz’ (Gon’ Boogaloo), to a new exciting collaboration between the Coen Brothers and T. Bone Burnett (Inside Llewyn Davis (Soundtrack)).
Of the following albums listed 10 are from Australian musicians including some great compilations. (When The Sun Sets Over) Carlton…
The 25 bestselling DVDs at Readings in 2014
Here are our 25 bestselling DVDs from the past year.
Crime and politics dominate our top sellers with every currently available season of The Bridge, House of Cards (both the US and UK versions) and Borgen all listed below. Three new crime shows have also proved popular: The Fall which stars Gillian Anderson of The X-Files fame, Morden: The Fjällbacka Murders which is based the books of Swedish crime writer Camilla Läckberg and True Detective which was one of…
The 100 bestselling books at Readings in 2014
Here are our 100 bestselling books from the past year!
Of all the authors (as well as illustrators, translators, editors, photographers) listed here…
50 are female
51 are male
45 are Australian
Of all the books listed here….
21 are books for children and young adults (including six young adult novels and four Minecraft books)
44 are non-fiction books (including 11 food and wine books, 11 memoirs and biographies and two true crime reads)
35 are fiction books (including four…
Ask Agatha: Is it rude to admit I dislike a book that was a gift?
Our wise bookseller Agatha answers all your tricky questions.
I’m half-way through a book I received as a Christmas gift and have just considered throwing it across the room. If the gifter asks me what I thought, is it rude to come clean about how much I hated it? Should I just pretend I enjoyed it?
In this situation, you’re going to need to do some risk assessment: How often do you receive gifts from this person? How likely is…
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi
We are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
The Book of Paul: The Wit and Wisdom of Paul Keating by Russell Marks
Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s ‘Learned’ by Lena Dunham
A World of Other People by Steven Carroll
Amnesia by Peter Carey
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey
What we're reading: Donna Tartt, Michael Faber and Molly Idle
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 (and rereading!) Flora and the Penguin by Molly Idle
I have a stack of work to do at the moment so I am sadly in-between books. However, I have read one stand-out title recently and not just once, but over and over again.
A Christmas gift from a friend…
Australian young adult books to look forward to in 2015
‘The Year Ahead in Youth Literature’ is a mouth-watering event showcasing the following year’s young adult highlights and hosted by a tireless organisation known as the Centre For Youth Literature (CYL).
Publishers come armed with a 1-minute spiel on their selected titles and anyone who’s interested is invited to come along and take notes. The audience is largely made up of bloggers, teachers, teacher-librarians, authors and publishers, but I also met a young guy who works in a bank, happens…
Our literary resolutions for the new year
Our staff share their literary resolutions for the new year.
One of the things I keep learning way too late is that when someone hands you a book to read, you should read it right away. Too often those books sit untouched on my shelf for months – or years – until the person who once recommended them forgets to ask how I’m enjoying it or becomes suspicious of my evasive ways. For 2015, I am resolved to start any…
What we're reading over summer
Our staff share the books they’re planning to read over summer.
My extensive summer reading list is as follows: My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toew, Dept of Speculation by Jenny Offill, The Most of Nora Ephron by Nora Ephron, Nobody Is Ever Missing by Catherine Lacey, H is for Hawk by Helen MacDonald, Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit, Young Hearts Crying by Richard Yates, Tracks by Robyn Davidson and Men…
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