Our latest blog posts
The June Crime review
These are the crime books which have been read and reviewed by our excellent booksellers this month - all in one place!
Smoke by Michael Brissenden
Reviewed by Chris Gordon, events and programming manager for Readings
Journalist Michael Brissenden has covered the impact huge fires have on communities in his work for the ABC. This knowledge is apparent in his latest novel; an atmospheric dive into how a fire-ravaged town deals with the trauma of losing homes, lives, and…
Literary prize winners you don't want to miss
The first half of the year has seen many literary accolades, both local and international, awarded to outstanding authors. Here's a selection (there are too many to mention them all!) which includes a couple of prizes you might have missed, as well as the more celebrated. We think they all deserve another round of applause before we rush headlong into the second half of the year.
2024 Age Book of the Year for Fiction
🏆 Women & Children by Tony…
Hopeful books about the climate crisis
If the current state of the world is filling you with anxiety, don't just bury your head in the sand. These books all grapple with the realities of climate change, while focusing on actionable solutions. They'll remind you that there is still hope, and we do have the ability to make change for the better.
Together We Can by Claire O'Rourke
Together We Can is an invitation to anyone worried about what climate change means for our future, and a…
What we're reading: Mari, Hession, Tóibín
Each week our wonderful staff share the books that they've been enjoying.
Baz Ozturk is reading Verdigris by Michele Mari, translated by Brian Robert Moore
Michele Mari, recognised in Italy as one of the country’s great living writers, was translated into English for the first time in 2023 with his story collection You, Bleeding Childhood, which I really enjoyed. I was charmed by Mari’s warmth, cleverness and offbeat sensibility, so when his novel Verdigris came out recently, I pounced…
Cosy fantasy favourites
Do you associate fantasy with epic wizard battles, dragons breathing walls of fire, and hazardous quests through dangerous lands? Then you need to discover cosy fantasy – where the stakes are low, the worlds are whimsical and the stories are sweet.
Cosy fantasy is an increasingly popular genre, with more and more new books focusing on feel-good stories rather than grand (and sometimes torturous) epics. This collection of cosy favourites includes stories of self-discovery, romance, fresh starts and found family…
Beautiful nonfiction for nature loving kids
Take an incredible and informative tour around the natural world with these illustrated non-fiction books. Whether you're shopping for a young reader obsessed with plants, bugs, or birds, this collection will have something to spark their interest and keep them engaged.
Learn about First Nations practices to care for Country in The Trees, discover weird and wonderful native Australian plants with Plantabulous! or go inside an insect's cocoon to learn about butterflies and moths – there are heaps of…
Books to read in National Refugee Week
June 16th to 22nd marks National Refugee Week in Australia, with World Refugee Day on June 20th. This is a time to promote greater social awareness of and support for refugees; a time to highlight the issues they face even after arriving safely in Australia, and the contributions refugees are making to the Australian community.
Below we've curated a range of titles to help provide insight into the refugee experience, with stirring nonfiction, picture books to help explain complex concepts…
The 2024 BookPeople Book of the Year Awards
The winners of the 2024 BookPeople Book of the Year Awards were announced this week, celebrating exceptional books by Australian authors.
BookPeople, the Association of Australian Booksellers, award these prizes annually to recognise outstanding achievements in our literary community. Melissa Lucashenko won Fiction Book of the Year for Edenglassie, Anna Funder won Non-Fiction Book of the Year for Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life, and Children's Book of the Year went to Sophie Blackall for If I Was…
Uplifting queer fiction
If you're looking for a reprieve from queer stories that end in tragedy, look no further. Here's a selection of titles with a diverse array of LGBTQIA+ characters, telling a wide array of stories, that will all leave you feeling a bit more hopeful than when you started.
The Performance by Claire Thomas
The house lights lower.
The auditorium feels hopeful in the darkness.
As bushfires rage outside the city, three women watch a performance of a Beckett play.
Margot…
A spotlight on translated fiction this month
This month we're reading fiction translated from: Dutch, French, Italian and Japanese!
The Hairdresser's Son by Gerbrand Bakker
translated from Dutch by David Colmer
Simon never knew his father, Cornelis. When his wife told him she was pregnant, Cornelis packed his bags, and a day later he was dead. Or everyone assumed he was dead; after all, he was on the passenger list of the KLM plane that crashed in Tenerife in 1977.
Simon is a hairdresser, just like his…
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