Our latest blog posts
Exciting September reads for teens
I’ll admit it: I’m an eavesdropper. Whenever I work in the Carlton store, I eavesdrop on the books people are excited about, and in the last few weeks most of the conversations have gone like this:
“Hey, look, YA new releases.”
“Yeah, that one looks good. And that one, and – oh my god…”
“What? What?”
“It’s… the… new… PATRICK NESS!””
Of course, this level of excitement will come as no surprise to anybody who’s ever read a Patrick Ness…
Exciting September reads for kids
Spring is here. I’m excited. Are you excited?
It is exciting. The sun is shining, the birds are singing…well, not right now. As I write this the rain is still drizzling and the world is pretty grey, but it does seem like winter’s time is nearly up and it’ll be safe to venture outside again.
One family was in our Carlton store over the weekend buying books they could read together in the park, which doesn’t sound like the worst…
Man Booker Prize Shortlist 2015
The shortlist for this year’s Man Booker Prize has been announced!
The winner of the Man Booker Prize will receive £50,000 prize. This is the second year that the Prize has been open to writers of all nationalities writing in English.
The six shortlisted novels are:
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
Satin Island by Tom McCarthy
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma
The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne…
Is Monsters by Emerald Fennell teen appropriate?
I was introduced to Emerald Fennell’s Monsters when my colleague Dani came in and asked me what I was doing later that night. Before I could answer, she told me that the correct answer was reading this book – the one with the pleasant pastel cover told from the point of view of a sociopath. Dani had been up all night reading it and was so disturbed that, in her words, she needed to debrief.
‘Have you ever heard Nick…
A look at what The Readings Foundation Grant recipients achieved last year
Established by Readings’ managing director Mark Rubbo in 2009, The Readings Foundation assists Victorian organisations that support the development of literacy, community integration and the arts.
In 2014, The Readings Foundation provided grants totalling $134, 750 to Victorian organisations that supported the development of literacy, community integration and the arts. (Read more about the 2014 round of grants here.) As well as provide ongoing support to three organisations with which the Foundation have longstanding partnerships, they were also able…
Meet Holly Harper, our new Online Children’s and YA Specialist
Meet Holly Harper, our new online children’s and YA specialist! She sells books at our Carlton shop and writes them too, under the name H.J. Harper. She loves zombies and hauntings, quests and explosions, and would be totally okay if we all started wearing capes.
Describe your taste in books.
Lots of people have told me I read like a thirteen-year-old boy. I like books with zombies and hauntings, and quests and explosions – books that’ll have me perched on…
Our children's and YA top ten bestsellers of the week
The 65-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
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
The Cat with the Coloured Tail by Gillian Mears and Dinalie Dabarera
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness (Exclusive edition)
Rivertime by Trace Balla
Auggie & Me: Three Wonder Stories by R.J. Palacio
Cloudwish by Fiona Wood
Our top ten bestsellers of the week
The Anti-Cool Girl by Rosie Waterland
Purity by Jonathan Franzen
The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz (translated by George Goulding)
Bleed by Bill Williams
The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein)
Fever of Animals by Miles Allinson
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein)
ST Gill & His Audiences by Sasha Grishin
Prick with a Fork: The World’s Worst Waitress Spills the Beans by Larissa Dubecki
Best new crime in September
CRIME BOOK OF THE MONTH:
Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic
While I love a solely plot-driven book as much as I love a blustery action movie (i.e. a LOT), a book that has characters of real depth and diversity, like Resurrection Bay, is quite simply a pleasure to read. And having diversity in a book’s characters is, quite honestly, a relief: it shows awareness of the world around us, one that is not full of much-loved cookie-cutter crime staples…
A look at the winners of Seizure’s Viva La Novella Prize 2015
It’s often difficult for emerging writers, particularly of longer works, to find spaces to showcase their craft – and the same is true for emerging editors, who can find it difficult to make a name for themselves in a role which is meant to be largely invisible. Seizure’s Viva La Novella Prize, now in its third iteration, combines the two in a yearly competition, teaming up emerging editors with emerging writers, who work together over several months bringing a novella…
Browse our blog by category
