Our latest blog posts
What we're reading: Samantha Wheeler, Denis Johnson and Vendela Vida
Each week we bring you a sample of the books we’re reading, the films we’re watching, the television shows we’re hooked on or the music we’re loving.
Chris Somerville is reading Train Dreams: A Novella by Denis Johnson
I was a big fan of Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son years ago when I read it, and possibly let it have a disastrous effect on my life. I’ve since followed Johnson’s career idly, not reading all his books but taking them up…
Dear Reader, October 2015
You could be forgiven for having no idea where to start with the books of October 2015. I mean, really – this is a bumper month. First, may I suggest you read the new work of Tony Birch? Ghost River is further testament that Melbourne has in Birch both its champion and its quintessential raconteur. It’s our book of the month.
Or perhaps you’d like to start as if it’s the end of the world? How about reading the new…
Mark's Say, October 2015
Have you noticed those cool-looking books with the yellow spine and the Text Publishing colophon? Officially known as Text Classics, at only $12.95 they’re a chance for any of us to discover our literary history and some very good books as well. The series was launched in 2012 with 30 titles and now has about 100 in print.
I asked Text publisher Michael Heyward where he got the idea from and he said it was actually back in 1995, in…
Read an excerpt from The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood
by Charlotte WoodCharlotte Wood’s new novel, The Natural Way of Things, is a gripping, starkly imaginative exploration of contemporary misogyny and corporate control, and of what it means to hunt and be hunted. This is an extract from the book.
‘Who are you, the village idiot?’
There they were, in the middle of that day in their thick scratchy costumes, standing in a clump on the gravel. Ten girls, all their heads newly shaved (Yolanda felt again the cold snap of…
The story of my book
by Charlotte WoodCharlotte Wood is the author of The Natural Way of Things. Here she tells us the story behind her novel.
The very first glimmer of the story came to me in an ABC Radio National documentary about the Hay Institution for Girls, a brutal prison in rural NSW, where ten teenage girls were drugged and taken from the Parramatta Girls’ Home in the 1960s. At this place, which operated in extreme cruelty until 1974, the girls were forced to…
The last five books I've read
by Charlotte WoodCharlotte Wood is the author of The Natural Way of Things. Here she tells us the last five books she read.
The Illuminations by Andrew O’Hagan
I was keen to see how O’Hagan would bring together the story of a disillusioned British soldier returning to Scotland after a deadly, messed-up mission in Afghanistan, and his elderly artist grandmother, Anne Quirk, as she slips in and out of dementia. I’m interested in ageing as a subject for fiction, and whether…
Our featured writer for October: Charlotte Wood
Every month, we do a spotlight feature on an Australian author and Charlotte Wood is our chosen author for October.
Wood’s new novel, The Natural Way of Things, is a gripping, starkly imaginative exploration of contemporary misogyny and corporate control, and of what it means to hunt and be hunted.
What’s the book about?
Two women awaken from a drugged sleep to find themselves imprisoned in a broken-down property in the middle of a desert. Strangers to each other…
A recipe from Cornersmith - Pickled Fennel with Chilli
by Alex Elliott-Howery and James GrantCornersmith’s all-time favourite winter pickle! We use this on sandwiches with salami, chilli and ricotta, tossed through salads or with barbecued fish. Once you’ve finished eating the pickles, keep the jar of brine in the fridge. Whisked with some extra virgin olive oil, it makes a great salad dressing.
PREPARATION TIME
45 minutes
COOKING TIME
10 minutes, plus 15 minutes heat-processing
STORAGE
up to 12 months
MAKES
2 x 500 ml (17 fl oz/2 cup) jars
INGREDIENTS
2 large fennel…
St Kilda booksellers share their favourite banned books
In celebration of Banned Books Week, our St Kilda booksellers have shared some of their own favourite banned or challenged books.
Amy Vuleta on Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence:
My mother tells a story about my grandparents and their friends passing a contraband copy of D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, smuggled in from Europe, around their social group in country Queensland in the early 1960s. I was quite scandalised by this fact when I read the novel…
Our children's and YA top ten bestsellers of the week
The 65-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
The Singing Bones by Shaun Tan
The Day the Crayons Came Home by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers
In My Heart: A Book of Feelings by Jo Witek and Christine Roussey
Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories by R.J. Palacio
The 13-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury by Cressida Cowell (How to Train Your Dragon Book 12)
Cloudwish by Fiona Wood
Browse our blog by category
