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The 2024 Ned Kelly Awards shortlist
The shortlists for the 2024 Ned Kelly Awards have been announced, recognising the best Australian crime fiction and true crime writing from the past year.
Each year, the Australian Crime Writers Association recognises and celebrates the achievements and continuing strength of Australian authors. The Ned Kelly Awards for crime writing are among Australia’s oldest and most respected awards.
The judging panel commented that 2024 was the year of cosy crime, a sub-genre that has surged in popularity around the…
Our July 2024 children's and young adult bestsellers
Knocking Taylor Swift (Little People, Big Dreams) from top spot on our bestsellers this month is the lastest book in Anh Do's popular Wolf Girl series, Hide and Seek.
New entries include: ABC Disability, an A to Z of celebrating what makes each of us unique from three-time Paralympian swimmer, medal-winner and disability advocate Sarah Rose; Reckless, the second book in Lauren Roberts' romantasy Powerless trilogy; The Skin I’m In a feisty, funny and poignant YA novel…
Our July 2024 bestsellers
For the second month in a row, our bestseller list is topped by Miranda July's tender, hilarious and literary novel, All Fours, about a woman upending her life.
Newcomers this month include cookbooks from two amazing chefs who have made their mark on the Melbourne food scene and are must-haves for your collection: Tarts Anon's Gareth Whitton, winner of the first Masterchef: Dessert Masters last year, has released Tarts Anon: Sweet and Savoury Brilliance; and Andreas Papadakis…
Books set in the film industry
The 2024 Melbourne International Film Festival kicked off this week, so here are some great books set in the film industry to help you get extra excited about cinema and fill the time between screenings!
📽️Literary Fiction
The Whitewash by Siang Lu
It sounded like a good idea at the time: a Hollywood spy thriller, starring, for the first time in history, an Asian male lead. With an estimated $350 million production budget and up-and-coming Hong Kong actor JK Jr…
Debut fiction to read this month
Australian authors feature strongly in our debut fiction blog this month, including four exciting crime novels to sink your teeth into as you patiently (or impatiently) wait for the warmer months to arrive.
Australian and International fiction
Two Daughters by Alison Edwards
For Ava, heading to university in Sydney is her escape from a poverty-stricken upbringing. Her mother is long gone, her father able to provide love but little else. On the other side of the world, Laurie tolerates university…
Australian fiction to pick up this month
Woo Woo by Ella Baxter
Sabine is having a moment. Her new exhibition, Fuck You, Help Me, is opening soon and, as her gallerist says, 'Hell is an artist three days before their exhibition opens.' But it's not only this coming milestone that is causing Sabine to melt down.
She is being stalked. As exhibition day draws closer, so too does the man who has been watching her. As his approaches become more overt and threatening, Sabine's fear amplifies…
Our books of the month, August 2024
Explore our books of the month for August.
Each of the below titles has been read and recommended by our booksellers before being selected as our book of the month for its category.
FICTION BOOK OF THE MONTH
Woo Woo by Ella Baxter
Reviewed by Alison Huber, head book buyer for Readings
'... this book is so well-written, you can give yourself over to the words, and engage fully with Baxter’s original thinking, and feel the feelings she is…
Charlie Archbold on her second book, The Sugarcane Kids and the Empty Cage
Readings' Lucie Dess, keen Kids and YA reader, interviewed Charlie Archbold about the second book in her middle grade series: The Sugarcane Kids and the Empty Cage. The first book in this series, The Sugarcane Kids and the Red-bottomed Boat won the Readings Children's Prize in 2022, so we are super excited for this second installment, and to have the chance to talk to Charlie about her process, and what's next for the Sugarcane Kids.
Lucie also reviewed…
Books for when you need a cathartic cry
If you're in need of a real tear-jerker, then look no further than these emotional titles.
A Language of Limbs by Dylin Hardcastle
The first love of a teenage girl is a powerful thing, particularly when the object of that desire is her best friend, and another girl. On a quiet summer night in Newcastle, 1972, a choice must be made: to act upon these desires, or suppress them? To live an openly queer life, or to try desperately not…
Dear Reader with Alison Huber
The start of a new month means that there's a new issue of Readings Monthly available online and in our shops. Below you can read Alison Huber's column from the latest issue – and keep an eye on the blog for more updates and recommened new releases throughout the month!
There are few moments in the book buying department’s year that feel quiet. I joked to someone earlier this month that it slows down for maybe one or two days…
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