Our latest blog posts
Ask Agatha: What are the best books about writing?
Our wise bookseller Agatha answers all your tricky questions. If you have a question for Agatha please email [email protected].
What do I get my mother-in-law for Christmas? She’s a high school English teacher and loves reading - but she’s usually always read something before me so I find it tricky to get her something new.
I see two options here….
The first would be to choose a book that is ‘hot-off-the-press’ so that she simply doesn’t have enough time…
Important information for our online shoppers
A note about our free delivery service
Since 2011, Readings has been committed to offering our customers free delivery within Australia for all online orders. Unfortunately, rising postal costs are making it increasingly difficult for us to continue with this offer in some cases. Consequently, from today, we are offering free delivery within Australia for all orders totalling $19.95 and over.
Orders totalling less than $19.95, delivering within Australia, will now be charged a flat rate delivery fee of…
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi
Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s ‘Learned’ by Lena Dunham
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
The Girl Who Lived by Susan Jane Berg
Merciless Gods by Christos Tsiolkas
Only the Animals by Ceridwen Dovey
The Burning Room by Michael Connelly
Something Quite Peculiar by Steve Kilbey
Amnesia by Peter Carey
For the fourth week in a row, Richard Flanagan…
November round-up for kids and young adults
This month sees the release of Alice Pung’s Laurinda, a young adult novel that (a) needed to be written and (b) needed to be written by Alice Pung. Laurinda is set in a mainly-white private girls’ school in Melbourne and narrated by scholarship girl Lucy, the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants. Our reviewer, Athina Clarke, called it “a time machine that shot me straight back to my own years in middle secondary school”. Indeed, I expect this will be a…
What we're reading: Tom Hanks, Robin Black & Michelle de Kretser
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 Life Drawing by Robin Black
Life Drawing might be the best novel I’ve read this year (and I’ve read a lot of good ones). It’s not showy or flashy. It doesn’t have an attention-grabbing hook. I haven’t read that much about it, in terms of buzz. But I am…
Things to do, watch, read and eat: your guide to Melbourne in November
Wine and dine
If you’re in Carlton, we suggest a visit to Heartattack and Vine, a gorgeous new café and bar which is co-owned by Melbourne author Emily Bitto. This Italian-style café/bar serves coffee and simple on-the-go eats (like hot pork rolls) during the day, then snacks and drinks at night.
You can find Heartattack and Vine at 329 Lygon Street, Carlton, 3053.
Dance
Celebrate the roots and rhythm of jazz music and dance at the Sea of Rhythm…
What are some books to keep early readers reading?
Fill your house with stacks of books, in all the crannies and all the nooks. – Dr. Seuss
For lots of parents, there’s a stage when their children are learning to read that requires gritted teeth and plenty of enthusiasm, when we try our hardest not to say things like: ‘But we sounded out this word fifteen seconds ago!’ Once that stage is over, which varies hugely from child to child, you need a good supply of books that appeal…
Christine Kenneally shares her influences
by Christine KenneallyThe Invisible History of the Human Race reveals how both historical artifacts and DNA tell us where we come from and where we may be going. Here, Christine Kenneally shares the authors and books that influence her work.
Great writing can be a beacon in the fog for a writer in the middle of their own book, even if the subjects are very different. As I wrote The Invisible History, I would sometimes stumble on a great idea or…
Six must-read Australian authors
Our staff reflect on the work of six terrific Australian authors who have new books out this month.
Amy Vuleta recommends Michelle De Kretser
I’m dying to get my hands on Michelle De Kretser’s new novella, Springtime: A Ghost Story, because what I love the most about De Kretser’s writing is how utterly haunted it is – all of her stories are ghost stories. She has a way of writing characters and situations that are at once present and…
James Butler on Jeanette Winterson
by James ButlerI’ve been thinking a lot about the body lately, about consciousness and embodiment and the ways we relate to them. The mind and body are often distinguished from each other, drawn as two parts of a whole: the mind an essence and the body a vessel. I’ve been questioning why we maintain such a distinction, what the repercussions of that distinction are, and what writing and actively thinking about the body can do.
These questions are how I came to…