Dear Reader, November 2017
Huge congratulations to Sam Carmody, author of The Windy Season, winner of this year’s Readings Prize for New Australian Fiction. By now you will be familiar with the high quality of the prize-winning books, selected by our group of dedicated, close-reading judges who undertake a unique task: to read and assess all the eligible first or second books written by Australian writers published over the course of a year (over 70 for this year’s prize). Carmody now shares a very special place in Readings’ esteem with previous winners Ceridwen Dovey (2014), Stephanie Bishop (2015) and Zoë Morrison (2016).
Congratulations also to A.S. Patrić, our Readings St Kilda colleague and resident Miles Franklin award-winning author, on the publication of his new novel, Atlantic Black, our Fiction Book of the Month. Reading Alec’s writing is described by our reviewer as ‘an almost physical act’. An immersive experience awaits the reader: Patrić ‘will toss you and turn you, and never let you go’.
Meanwhile, fellow Miles Franklin winner, Alexis Wright, publishes Tracker this month, her account of the life of Leigh Bruce ‘Tracker’ Tilmouth. Our reviewer calls this book by one of Australia’s most interesting creative minds ‘a landmark work’: it simply had to be our Non-fiction Book of the Month.
Along with these three essential reads, there are numerous November titles that had me thinking, ‘surely everyone needs a copy of this book’. Exhibit A: A Pleasure to Be Here: The Best of Clarke and Dawe 1989-2017. Things don’t seem quite right since the untimely halt to Clarke and Dawe’s iconic satirical segment on ABC TV earlier this year; this collection might help alleviate that feeling, along with Exhibit B: Tinkering: The Complete Book of John Clarke.
And who wouldn’t covet the beautiful packages of Helen Garner’s collected fiction and non-fiction, Stories and True Stories? You can buy the two from us in a specially priced bundle for $49.99.
Stephen Fry plus Greek myths seems too good to be true, but it isn’t: that’s Mythos. I suspect I will be forever restocking Saga Land, in which dream team Richard Fidler and Kári Gíslason investigate the Icelandic sagas (Iceland! Vikings!!).
And then there’s the new books arriving from Peter Carey, Alex Miller, Louise Erdrich, Umberto Eco, Masha Gessen, Gerald Murnane, Han Kang, Ali Smith, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Jimmy Barnes, Irving Yalom, Christine Milne, Walter Isaacson, Matthew Kneale, Oliver Sacks … and an incredible new collection of portraits by star photographer-of-stars, Annie Leibovitz.
And finally, dear reader, may I ask, do you subscribe to our e-news? If not, now is the time to sign up in-store (or online) to get the lowdown on our brilliant 12 Days of Christmas super-duper special offers (this year we’ll have daily deals for both adults and kids), plus handy gift-giving guides, alerts to signed copies, and more. Plus, if you’re a subscriber to our Readings Monthly, but you’ll also soon receive our annual Summer Reading Guide and our special newsletter outlining our staff’s picks for 2017’s best books, music and DVDs, so more recommendations head your way soon.
Be safe and well, and see you in 2018!
