If you liked Lizzie and Darcy’s ‘opposites attract’ chemistry in Pride and Prejudice, you’ll like … Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

Uzma Jalaluddin has taken Jane Austen’s prototypical romantic comedy of manners and transformed the squabbling Bennett clan into a boisterous Indian-Muslim family living in modern-day Toronto. Ayesha Shamsi is smart, independent … and unmarried at 27, a fact …

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What do you love most? Is it your family and friends? Or is it your new shoes? Or a sport, or a stranger who needs your help, or books or yourself! We recommend our favourite picture books about that big emotion: LOVE. Under the Love Umbrella by Davina Bell & Allison Colpoys

We all need a love umbrella sometimes. When life doesn’t turn out the way we want it to (when you’re left out of a ga…

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Love, obsession, jealousy, validation, support … the many complex and inspiring facets of female friendship make for great literary subject matter.

In honour of Galentine’s Day (the fictional holiday from TV show Parks and Recreation that occurs on 13 February and celebrates your love for your best girlfriends) here is a list of recommended reads with female relationships at their heart.

A…

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Here is a round-up previewing some of the most exciting local releases for the first half of 2019! FICTION A Season on Earth by Gerald Murnane (February) Small Blessings by Emily Brewin (February) The Rosie Result by Graeme Simsion (February) The Year of the Beast by Steven Carroll (February) Zebra: And Other Stories by Debra Adelaide (February)

After the Party by Cassie Hamer (February)

I…

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The Rosie Result by Graeme Simsion No Friend but the Mountains by Behrouz Boochani, translated by Omid Tofighian Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi The Fast 800 by Michael Mosley Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe Imperfect by Lee Kofman Normal People by Sally Rooney Becoming by Michelle Obama Eat Like an Athlete by Simone Austin Birthday Girl by Haruki Murakami

Topping our bestsellers last week was …

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Highway Bodies by Alison Evans On the Come Up by Angie Thomas All the Ways to be Smart by Davina Bell & Allison Colpoys The House on the Mountain by Ella Holcombe & David Cox Little People, Big Dreams: Stephen Hawking by Isabel Sanchez Vegara & Matt Hunt The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen McManus Brawl of the Wild (The Adventures of Dog Man Book 6) by Dav Pilkey Love…

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The longlist for this year’s Stella Prize has been announced. This $50,000 prize is awarded for the best work of literature, fiction or non-fiction by an Australian woman published in 2018.

The judging panel for this year’s award comprises Stella Prize co-founder Louise Swinn (chair), author Michelle de Kretser, journalists Daniel Browning and Kate McClymont, and Head of Children’s and YA Progra…

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For book clubs who can’t get enough of Sally Rooney… You Know You Want This by Kristen Roupenian

From the writer of Cat Person, the 2018 New Yorker short story that went viral, this debut collection covers sex and dating in the modern world. Roupenian’s stories about people grappling with desire, punishment, guilt and anger feel fresh and of the moment, addressing directly the lives of young …

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Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films and TV shows we’re watching, and the music we’re listening to. Mark Rubbo is reading The Lost Girls by Jennifer Spence

I’ve been reading The Lost Girls by Sydney author Jennifer Spence. It’s an intriguing concept. Returning from a trip to the city Stella finds her suburb familiar yet changed. Her warehouse apartment build…

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This month we have a wonderfully wide range of great reads for kids – a beautifully designed paper-cut board book, a coterie of award winners and kids fiction that puts climate change and the environment front and centre. Find our February picks for YA books here. KIDS BOOK OF THE MONTH Hello Lighthouse by Sophie Blackall

Follow the daily and seasonal ebb and flow of activity around a lig…

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