Our staff share the books they’re planning to read over summer.

“I’ve just nabbed a copy of The Topeka School on the enthusiastic recommendation of Alison, our head book buyer, and can’t wait to read it. She thinks it’s going to win all the awards, and I want to be in front of all that so I can brag about reading it “months ago” when it does.”

– Fiona Hardy

“This summer I am very excited to read an advance copy of Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe (which will be published in April 2020) which centres on a much-neglected experience in Australian literature, that of Chinese-Australians in the Gold Rush era. The mixture of siblings and sojourning and crime sounds right up my alley. I know it’s going to be a difficult read, but I am also planning to read Know My Name by Chanel Miller – the previously-anonymous author of the victim impact statement in the 2015 Brock Turner sexual assault case. It’s been sitting on my desk while I wait for the emotional resilience I’m going to need. And finally I am going to keep chugging through the Singapore: A Biography by Mark R Frost, an exhaustive, heavily illustrated and completely fascinating history of Singapore.”

– Leanne Hall

“Just like everyone else who works as a bookseller I have a ‘pile’ of books taking over my home that I fear I will never conquer. Some of these are old (and very old), some are new, and some are advanced copies of yet to be released titles. I’m excited to ease into the summer months with one that falls into the latter category: Kiley Reid’s Such a Fun Age, due for release early next year. I’ve heard wonderful things about this novel from people whose opinions I trust. Ben Lerner’s The Topeka School should also keep me busy on long, hot days, alongside a book I hope will make me laugh out loud, Patrick deWitt’s French Exit. For a complete change of pace, I can’t wait to read Annie Ernaux’s The Years, her critically acclaimed ‘collective autobiography’ published in English by the good people at Fitzcarraldo Editions.”

– Joanna Di Mattia

“I am excited to immerse myself in The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, I have heard great things and cannot wait to read it. I also look forward to finishing Terry Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching series and finally reading his stand alone, Nation.”

– Tye Cattanach

“ Damascus, Penny Wong: Passion and Principle and Ducks, Newburyport.”

– Rosalind McClintock

“My summer reading will hopefully involve some books I have been meaning to read for a while along with some guilty pleasures. The guilty pleasures include Wham! George and Me by Andrew Ridgeley and quite a few graphic novels I’ve bought but have yet to read. I’m also determined to read Andrew McGahan’s final novel The Rich Man’s House, Three Women by Lisa Taddeo which I know a lot of my colleagues have loved and some more of Heather Rose’s backlist.”

– Amanda Rayner