Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.

Joe Murray is reading Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

I recently read Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's debut short story collection Friday Black, which perfectly encapsulated the exhilarating imagination that I search for in short stories.

The stories are deeply off-kilter and weird – in one, retail workers fend off Black Friday shoppers…

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Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.

Lian Hingee is reading The Stand-In by Lily Chu

I marked Lily Chu's debut rom-com The Stand-In as a 'must-read' as soon as it was announced in 2021, but I somehow managed to completely miss its 2022 release until seeing it in a round-up of great contemporary romance reads last week. I snapped…

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Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.

Ruth Mchugh-Dillon is reading The Vampire: A New History by Nick Groom

I was looking for some nonfiction that would jolt my January-brain back into action and The Vampire: A New History by Yale literature professor Nick Groom is proving just the thing.

The book explores the immense cultural potency of the vampire…

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Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.

Lian Hingee is reading Clarke by Holly Throsby

I bought Clarke on a whim just before Christmas thinking it might be a good book to give to my Mum, but I'm glad I ended up keeping it for myself because I turned the last page last night, and let me tell you: it's…

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Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.

Rosalind McClintock is reading Trespasses by Louise Kennedy

Each time I visited one of our shops a colleague would ask me if I'd read Trespasses. So, when it came to selecting my summer reading, Trespasses was on the top of my pile, and I am so glad it was. This is an…

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Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.

Mark Rubbo is reading King & Godfree: The Corner Grocer by Michael Harden and The Passion of Private White by Don Watson

I’ve been reading King & Godfree: The Corner Grocer by Michael Harden; anyone who has spent any time around Carlton will (or should) have a deep love for this Melbourne institution…

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Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.

Gabrielle Williams is reading Less is Lost by Andrew Sean Greer

A follow up to Greer’s Pulitzer-Prize winning Less, Less is Lost again follows Arthur Less, middlingly successful novelist and indecisive lover as he tries to come to terms with the death of his ex-lover, the poet Robert Brownburn. Although Less is…

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Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.

Chris Gordon is reading A Year with Wendy Whitley by Ashleigh Wilson

I feel like I spent the entire weekend with Wendy Whitley and her mate Ashleigh Wilson. Reading A Year with Wendy Whitley is like being at an afternoon tea, seated at Wendy’s re-imagined table (read the book to know what I…

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Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving.

Mark Rubbo is reading The Successor: The High Stakes Life of Lachlan Murdoch by Paddy Manning

Given the influence of the Murdochs on both Australian society and the world through their pervasive media interests, this book is essential reading. With his lively and engaging style Paddy Manning presents his extensive research in a…

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Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on, or the music we’re loving

Angela Crocombe is reading Every Version of You by Grace Chan

I read Grace Chan’s Every Version of You this week and I cannot get it out of my head. It’s a speculative fiction novel set in a future Melbourne in the 2080s and it's cleverly unclear if it is describing a dystopia…

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