Our latest blog posts
What to give for Mother's Day (that isn't another pair of slippers)
If you believed most of the marketing you'd be forgiven for thinking that every maternal figure in Australia would like nothing better for Mother's Day than a pair of FLUFFY PINK slippers and maybe a new blender. We're not so sure. Instead of the traditional gifts this year, check out some of our (OK, slightly tongue-in-cheek) suggestions for what to give instead.
Instead of a fleece dressing gown, My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Mosfegh
Set in New…
The April Crime Review
These are the crime books which have been read and reviewed by our excellent booksellers this month – all in one place!
It Takes a Town by Aoife Clifford
Reviewed by Aurelia Orr from Readings Kids
Reading this book, I’m reminded of a quote in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, when Jordan says ‘And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.’
Set in the Australian countryside in the small town of…
The 2024 Age Book of the Year shortlists
The 2024 Age Book of the Year Shortlists have been announced! Judges for this year’s awards include Readings' own Mark Rubbo. The winners will be announced during the Melbourne Writers Festival opening gala on 8 May, with each category winner to receive $10,000.
The shortlisted books in each category are:
Fiction
Women & Children by Tony Birch
The Anniversary by Stephanie Bishop
One Day We’re All Going to Die by Elise Hearst
The Idealist by Nicholas Jose
Books to read based on The Tortured Poets Department
Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department is finally here! And after listening to it on repeat, I've chosen a book that encapsulates each song (for part one!). So find your favourite song and its corresponding book and keep the sad vibes going.
'Fortnight (Feat. Post Malone)'
I was supposed to be sent away, but they forgot to come and get me
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
‘I was supposed to be having the time of my life.’
When Esther…
Dear Reader with Alison Huber
It should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that this issue of our beloved Readings Monthly is an absolute cracker, because every issue is, ever since we began publishing it in its earliest form back in the 1980s. Each Readings Monthly showcases the deep book-love and expertise of our booksellers. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with many staff who pursue parallel lives as artists, musicians, academics, students, lawyers, actors, promoters, filmmakers, theatremakers, puppeteers, designers, sewers…
Australian fiction to pick up this month
No Church in the Wild by Murray Middleton
It's been five long years since violence erupted between young migrants and local police in Melbourne's inner west. A police-led trip to hike the Kokoda Trail hopes to rebuild relationships in the community, but as training gets underway, fresh allegations of racial profiling have everyone on a knife-edge.
For wannabe rapper Ali, pride is hard to come by in the commission towers as both gentrification and his best friend's court date creep…
Writing Lives – an extract from Hazzard and Harrower: The Letters
Immerse yourself in literary days gone by in this preview of the sparkling correspondence between Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower, as curated, introduced, and insightfully edited by Brigitta Olubas and Susan Wyndham in Hazzard and Harrower: The Letters. Below you will find an edited extract from the introduction to the book, and a glimpse of the letters it brings to light.
Shirley Hazzard and Elizabeth Harrower met in person for the first time in London in 1972, six years…
What we're reading: Everett, Frankel & Poranek
Each week our wonderful staff share the books and music that they've been enjoying.
Rosalind McClintock is reading James by Percival Everett
I just swallowed up James by Percival Everett in less than a weekend, and I have a very chatty 7 year old, so that is saying something! A retelling of Huckleberry Finn, from Jim's view, it is such an elegant, compelling, harrowing and yet hopeful read. Everett's prose is perfect, the issues meaty, and his characters are…
Art & Design for Mother's Day
How to Cut an Orange by Zoë Croggon & edited by Justine Ellis, Ash Holmes & Dan Rule
Readings Carlton art and design buyer Zoë Croggon is a person of many talents. Not only does she expertly curate our art and design list, she is a celebrated artist in her own right, working across multiple forms including dance, drawing, sculpture and collage. Her new book, How to Cut an Orange, draws on each of these disciplines along with the…
MWF events for Mother's Day
There's no more perfect gift than time shared together, especially when your quality time is taking place at one of this year's Melbourne Writers Festival events! Below is a selection of events we think are perfect to book in for you and a loved one this Mother's Day.
Prize-winning Gudanji and Wakaja writer Debra Dank (We Come With This Place) and bestselling Tracks author Robyn Davidson (Unfinished Woman) discuss their new memoirs…
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