Our latest reviews

This Too Shall Pass by S.J. Finn

Reviewed by Annie Condon

S.J. Finn’s debut novel focuses on a woman experiencing massive change in both her home and work life. It’s a timely exploration of the roles women play in each domain, and how motherhood impacts onidentity and career.

At age 33…

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Bright and Distant Shores by Dominic Smith

Reviewed by Pip Newling, Readings Port Melbourne

Amid the personal obsessions with reputation and legacy in 1897 Chicago, Owen Graves is determined to make something of his life. He accepts the offer of insurance tycoon, Hale Gray, to sail to the SouthSea islands and retrieve artefacts and…

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The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt

Reviewed by Jo Case, editor of the Readings Monthly newsletter

[[Siri-Hustvedt]]Siri Hustvedt is renowned for her elegant, cerebral novels and darkly bewitching storytelling (particularly the psychological thriller What I Loved). Her latest novel contains all hertrademark elements, though she sheds her recent male narrators to feature a cross-generational, deliberately…

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Fair Trade Revolution edited by John Bowes

Reviewed by Kara Nicholson, Readings Carlton

If you’ve thought about buying fair trade products but are not sure (or are a bit cynical) about what happens to the extra money you’re paying, this book is a good introduction to what is now a truly global movement…

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Brain Rules for Baby by John Medina

Reviewed by Thuy On

Anxious (expectant) parents are forever being bombarded with often conflicting advice about how to raise a child. Fortunately, John Medina’s book offers facts rather than just well-meaning advice. This is a point that’s worth noting, given that the research into…

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The Messenger by Yannick Haenel

Reviewed by Pip Newling, Readings Port Melbourne

In The Messenger, Yannick Haenel crosses the boundary between non-fiction and fiction while shining new light on the extermination of the European Jews by the Nazis, and challenging any notion of humanity we may hold onto.

The book tells…

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Inside Wikileaks: My Time With Julian Assange At The World's Most Dangerous Website by Daniel Domscheit-Berg

Reviewed by Martin Shaw, Readings Carlton

It was a curious experience for me to read a book with quite so much topicality as this. Most nights that I was reading it, the TV news in the background would include a mention of Wikileaks - in particular…

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Caribou Island by David Vann

Reviewed by Jason Austin, Readings Carlton

In 2009 I read and reviewed David Vann’s brilliant short-story collection, Legend of a Suicide. It turned out to be a highlight for me that year and I wasn’t shy in singing its praises. I was pleased to have…

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Working The Room by Geoff Dyer

Reviewed by Jon Bauer

You might not have heard of Geoff Dyer. He has a sort of quiet famousness, typical of a writer too dignified for fame. Too good for celebrity, really, Dyer has written fiction, discourse, and genre-defying works that aren’t quite novels…

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Making Girls and Boys by Jane McCredie

Reviewed by Monica Dux

When journalist and science writer Jane McCredie was in primary school there was a white line painted down the middle of the playground, sharply dividing the boys from the girls. In Making Girls and Boys, McCredie sets out to…

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