Nonfiction
Fox and I by Catherine Raven
Catherine Raven lives on her own in a tiny hand-built house, on acres of land off a dirt track that has never been named, far from towns and civilisation. She likes it that way – the remoteness of her bush…
Women in the Picture: What Culture Does with Women’s Bodies by Catherine McCormack
Reading Catherine McCormack’s new book is an antidote to something I didn’t know had been happening to me. I have read writers that McCormack references such as Griselda Pollock, Hélène Cixous and Barbara Creed, and their ideas informed me deeply…
Things Are Against Us by Lucy Ellmann
Lucy Ellmann’s most recent novel, Ducks, Newburyport, was nominated for the Booker Prize in 2019. It is over 1000 pages long, has no paragraph breaks and almost no full stops. It is also a compelling, moving and highly original…
Trivial Grievances: On the Contradictions, Myths and Misery of Your 30s by Bridie Jabour
In late 2019, Guardian Australia opinion editor Bridie Jabour wrote a viral article titled ‘The millennials at 31: Welcome to the age of misery’. Jabour wrote it believing the uniquesocial and economic circumstances millennials grew up in have led them…
Soil: The Incredible Story of What Keeps the Earth, and Us, Healthy by Matthew Evans
Read a book on soil, they said. You like gardening, eating, breathing – read a book on soil. Until now, I can honestly say that soil has not been a passion of mine, but now I am all about considering…
Where We Swim by Ingrid Horrocks
At a time when we can’t travel very far from home, let Ingrid Horrocks take you to bodies of water across the world in Where We Swim, a warm and compelling blend of memoir, travel and nature writing. This…
Who Gets To Be Smart by Bri Lee
Bri Lee’s first book, Eggshell Skull, interrogated the failure of the Australian legal system to protect and advocate for victims of sexual assault. Lee’s ability to blend her own deeply personal story with a complex critique of systemic failure…
Beeswing: Fairport, Folk Rock and Finding My Voice, 1967–75 by Richard Thompson
In Beeswing, songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson gives his account of the amazing period of cultural change in 1960s London and beyond. This period in music has been written about extensively, but Thompson brings something unique to the task…
Fury by Kathryn Heyman
At a time when it often feels impossible to take a breather from the overwhelming injustices and inequalities that warrant outrage, you might hesitate to pick up a book called Fury. This memoir by prolific Australian writer Kathryn Heyman…
With the Falling of the Dusk by Stan Grant
Stan Grant’s new book is not a long book. It will only take you an evening to read, but my advice is to take your time with it. In With the Falling of the Dusk, Grant has created his…
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