New episodes of the Bridgerton Netflix series are finally here, but if you're finding Penelope's new look to be the highlight and Colin to be mostly forgettable, try one of these books! The romantic leads will be living in your head rent-free.

For more regency vibes

Reputation Lex Croucher

Reputation by Lex Croucher is as much about friendship as it a romance, but it has the diversity (and wilder side) of the Bridgerton show, with even more wit and heart…

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Ela! Ela!: To Turkey and Greece, a Journey Home Through Food by Ella Mittas

Are you wistfully dreaming of travelling through Turkey and the Greek islands, but all you can afford is a souvlaki on Sydney Road? Ella Mittas, who was taught to cook by chefs including Annie Smithers, has you covered in her first collection of recipes, essays and memories. From her home in Melbourne she bounces off to the most stunning places, using each chapter to highlight the…

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Each week our wonderful staff share the books and music that they've been enjoying.

Mark Rubbo is reading The Spoiled Heart by Sunjeev Sahota

I've been reading the The Spoiled Heart by Sunjeev Sahota. It's a political novel about race, class and identity but its also a novel about trauma and denial. Set in contemporary England, I found it absolutely riveting.

Nayan has risen through union ranks and with his emphasis on better conditions for the members he's immensely popular…

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The 2024 longlist for the Miles Franklin Literary Award has been announced! The Miles Franklin Literary Award celebrates novels of the highest literary merit that tell stories about Australian life, shining a light on some of the country’s most talented writers. The winner receives $60,000.

Below are the ten longlisted titles:

Only Sound Remains by Hossein Asgari

Wall by Jen Craig

Strangers at the Port by Lauren Aimee Curtis

Anam by André Dao

The Bell of the World by Gregory…

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In this month’s issue of the Readings Monthly I was lucky enough to interview Colm Tóibín about his latest novel, Long Island. Colm Tóibín is a novelist I admire for his clear, beautiful style and the way he is able to make you so invested in the lives of his characters. I love all his novels based in County Wexford, The Heather Blazing being my favourite, but also his big fictional biographies like the very recent The Magician…

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Whether you’re a lover of magical worlds, intriguing mysteries, rollercoaster romances, or — like me — all of the above, there’s a new book waiting to be your next favourite! So if you’re struggling to choose your next read, here’s a round of up of my favourite new releases.

Fantasy

The North Wind by Alexandria Warwick

Personally, I always have a soft spot for retellings of Beauty and the Beast and the Greek myth of Hades and Persephone, and this…

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V. V. Ganeshananthan was announced today as the second ever winner of the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, for her novel Brotherless Night.

Brotherless Night is a searing, gripping novel about a young Tamil woman living through the Sri Lankan civil war.

Sixteen-year-old Sashi wants to become a doctor. But over the next decade, as a vicious civil war subsumes Sri Lanka, her dream takes her on a different path as she watches those around her, including her four…

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Ceridwen Dovey needs no introduction to the Readings faithful, but for completeness, let me remind you that she was the inaugural recipient of The Readings Prize for New Australian Writing in 2014 with Only the Animals, an inventive work of linked short stories that has since found many, many readers. Dovey has published several works since that breakthrough book, including the wonderful novel In the Garden of the Fugitives (2018), but she returns to the short form this year…

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Books have always been an important way that young kids start to understand the world around them. Diverse representation in children’s books is particularly important, so that kids can see themselves or begin to understand others in their communities.

So that all families can find books that resonate for them, we’ve curated a range of picture books that represent and celebrate rainbow families. 🌈

Mama and Mummy and Me in the Middle Nina LaCour

A little girl stays home with…

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1. The Scarlet Shedder (Dog Man, Book 12) by Dav Pilkey

2. Taylor Swift (Little People, Big Dreams) by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara

3. Gus and the Missing Boy by Troy Hunter

4. A Way Home by Emily Brewin

5. The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

6. Wrong Answers Only by Tobias Madden

7. I Hope This Doesn’t Find You by Ann Liang

8. Tweet by Morris Gleitzman

9. Wurrtoo by Tylissa Elisara & Dylan Finney (illus.)

10.…

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