Stella Charls
Stella Charls is a former bookseller at Readings Carlton
Review — 22 Mar 2015
Nightcrawler
The first thing you notice about Lou Bloom is his face. As Nightcrawler’s anti-hero, Jake Gyllenhaal’s physical transformation is striking – gaunt and vascular, with wide, sunken eyes and an…
Review — 23 Apr 2015
Lion Attack! by Oliver Mol
Oliver Mol deals in honesty and optimism. His memoir, Lion Attack!, the inaugural co-winner of the Scribe Nonfiction Prize for Young Writers, carries the subtitle ‘I’m trying to be…
Review — 23 Feb 2015
Hot Little Hands by Abigail Ulman
The characters in Abigail Ulman’s debut collection of short stories, Hot Little Hands, all float on the spectrum between youth and adulthood. These teenagers and 20-somethings are trying to…
Review — 22 Jul 2014
How I Rescued My Brain by David Roland
Through his work as a forensic psychologist, David Roland spent years grappling with matters of the mind. Indeed, the emotional pressure of supporting his patients in their mental-health problems coupled…
Review — 24 Aug 2014
Dress, Memory by Lorelei Vashti
Reading Lorelei Vashti’s Dress, Memory feels akin to spending time with a dear friend – the kind who might grip your hand fiercely as they talk, who could be accused…
Review — 1 Jun 2014
Last Bets: A true story of gambling, morality and the law by Michaela McGuire
Like Michaela McGuire, I’ve always deeply disliked casinos. When I was 18 years old I lasted five weeks serving rum and cokes to blackjack tables at Melbourne’s Crown casino. It…
Review — 28 Apr 2014
The Loud Earth by Elisabeth Murray
Following the release of Holly Childs’s No Limit, Elisabeth Murray’s The Loud Earth is the second book from Hologram, a special publishing project by Express Media. Hologram was designed…
Review — 21 Nov 2013
Petit Mal by D.B.C. Pierre
Petit Mal isn’t a conventional memoir, but then again there’s nothing conventional about its author, DBC Pierre. His nickname concealed by initials (‘Dirty But Clean’) only scratches the surface of…
Blog post — 28 Oct 2013
Meet the Bookseller with Stella Charls
We chat with
Why do you work in books?
I started reading books when my parents threw out our TV. I was three years old, and I think I remember…