For a conversation about art vs. parenthood…

Transit by Rachel Cusk

Rachel Cusk’s follow-up to her critically-acclaimed 2014 novel, Outline, is equally astonishing and bold as she delves deeper into the themes raised in the first book. In the wake of family collapse, a writer and her two young sons move to London. Here, they attempt to construct a new reality for themselves. Transit captures the human longing to both inhabit and flee one’s life with remarkable restraint and precision.

For book clubs populated by writers…

Autumn by Ali Smith

Novels from award-winning author Ali Smith are always brilliant fodder for book clubs – intellectual and imaginative offerings that shine through with Smith’s love of language and wordplay. Her new novel, Autumn is the first in a quartet of interconnected novels. Set in post-Brexit London, it is a dream-like story of transient realities. St Kilda shop manager Amy Vuleta writes: ‘Smith is a masterful, beautiful writer. Her stories are tender, smart and brimming with postmodern word-play that manages to cut right to the heart.’

For scones, tea and reminiscing about your favourite literary detectives…

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Magpie Murders is a homage to the ‘golden age’ of detective fiction, and cleverly uses the format of a book inside a book to give readers two mysteries in one. When editor Susan Ryeland receives the tattered manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has little idea it will change her life. She’s worked with the revered crime writer for years and his detective, Atticus Pund, is renowned for solving crimes in the sleepy English villages of the 1950s. Yet, Conway’s new manuscript is not quite what it seems; hidden in the pages of the manuscript there lies another story…

For a discussion about real (and little-known) events here in Australia…

Fair Game by Steve Cannane

Based on years of interviews and research, Walkley Award-winning journalist Steve Cannane investigates Scientology’s deep-seeded roots in Australian soil. If you’ve ever brushed Scientology off as harmless, or even funny, his findings will make you think otherwise. This powerful, secretive group has a long history of human trafficking, slave labour, false imprisonment, intimidation, threats, abuse, and more. Their presence in Australia should not be taken lightly, and there are surprising revelations in this work.

For book clubs who seek out translated works…

Echoland by Per Petterson (translated by Don Bartlett)

Norwegian novelist Per Petterson writes quiet novels that pack a powerful emotional punch; his breakthrough novel was his fifth, the award-winning Out Stealing Horses. His debut novel has only just now be translated to English. Echoland follows 12-year-old Arvid who is vacationing with his family in Denmark at the home of his maternal grandparents. Confused by the underlying tension between his mother and grandmother and grappling with his own sense of self, Arvid is a wonderful, completely believable character.

For a friendly, gossipy chat over cheese and wine…

Today Will be Different by Maria Semple

Eleanor Flood is going to clean up her act, only change into yoga clothes for yoga, which today she will actually attend, and be a better version of herself. But then, as it always does, life happens. This is a very funny new novel from Maria Semple, whose earlier novel Where’d You Go, Bernadette was shortlisted for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, and who for 15 years wrote for television on shows such as Arrested Development.

For inspiring you all to rock out to ‘Dancing in the Dark’…

Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen

Born to Run will be revelatory for anyone who has ever enjoyed Bruce Springsteen’s music, but this rock memoir isn’t ‘just for the fans’. Springsteen writes with passion and honesty about his childhood, his struggles with depression, his driving ambition to succeed, and more. Born to Run is some damn fine storytelling, and book clubs will have much to digest.

For book clubs who loved Room…

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

Emma Donoghue’s new novel has won over many of us here at Readings. Inspired by numerous European and North American cases of ‘fasting girls’ between the sixteenth and the twentieth century, The Wonder is set in the Irish Midlands in the 1850s. Digital marketing manager Lian Hingee writes: ‘This novel is a beautifully realised historical thriller that examines the conflict between the old world and the new, but never loses sight of the human story at the heart of the mystery.’