Michelle de Kretser recommends
Tuesday, 10 September 2024
Fiona McFarlane’s Highway 13 is a stupendous collection of stories that imagines the fallout from the crimes committed by a serial killer. It’s a dazzling refraction of the backpacker murders...
David Dyer recommends
Tuesday, 27 August 2024
The last Australian book I read and loved was Larry Writer’s wonderful The Shipwreck (2022). It tells the dramatic story of the sailing ship Dunbar, which, in 1857, after a...
Rochelle Siemienowicz recommends
Wednesday, 14 August 2024
If You Go by Alice Robinson (Affirm) is an amazing book that works as both tense, speculative fiction and as a nuanced, philosophical exploration of divorce, motherhood and the moments...
Jacqueline Dinan recommends
Tuesday, 6 August 2024
I have just finished reading Nova Weetman’s Love, Death & Other Scenes, in which she so rawly yet beautifully explores her journey through her husband’s illness and ultimate death, plus...
Andrew Krakouer recommends
Tuesday, 6 August 2024
I am fascinated by Always Was, Always Will Be by Aunty Fay Muir and Sue Lawson, also published by Magabala Books. I have always appreciated the fight for respect on...
Hasib Hourani recommends
Wednesday, 31 July 2024
I keep returning to Jumaana Abdu’s Translations, which will be released in August. It’s an expertly paced work of fiction about a woman trying to build a home for herself...
Tigest Girma recommends
Tuesday, 23 July 2024
The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni is a YA fantasy book about a girl who fights to survive in a death prison. It was my first time reading a fantasy...
Christopher Cheng recommends
Tuesday, 16 July 2024
I adored Emma Quay’s Happy All Over. It’s full of joy and light and happiness. The text consists of short, simple statements. These expressions of joy for a child arise from...
Raelke Grimmer recommends
Tuesday, 9 July 2024
Eta Draconis by Brendan Ritchie. I loved this novel not only for the vivid depictions of place and landscape but also for the resilience and determination of the characters. The...
Louise Southerden recommends
Tuesday, 25 June 2024
I loved Music and Freedom, a novel by Zoë Morrison, which I found in the street library out the front of where I live. (I stumble upon a lot of...
Anita Heiss recommends
Tuesday, 18 June 2024
I just re-read Vivienne Cleven’s Bitin’ Back, published as part of the UQP First Nations Classics series. Hands down, this is one of the funniest books I have ever read,...
Liz Evans recommends
Tuesday, 4 June 2024
The last Australian book I read and loved was Katherine Brabon’s Body Friend. It was so unusual and mysterious—and very elegantly crafted. It provides some beautifully profound insights into living...
Michelle See-Tho recommends
Wednesday, 8 May 2024
There are so many to choose from! I might go with The Body Country by Susie Anderson (full disclosure/humblebrag: we are friends). It launched in 2023, but I recently revisited...
Ashleigh Barton recommends
Wednesday, 24 April 2024
I recently read and loved One Song by A J Betts. It reminded me how much I love YA. I also loved that it was set in Perth, revolved around...
Yvonne Sewankambo recommends
Wednesday, 17 April 2024
I’m currently reading and loving Mawunyo Gbogbo’s Hip Hop & Hymns (Penguin), which has been on my bookshelf since it was published in 2022. Finding the mental capacity to read that...
Jenna Lo Bianco recommends
Tuesday, 26 March 2024
I really enjoyed reading Karina May’s Never Ever Forever, because I just love her narrative voice and her subtle contemporary humour. She’s a clever writer and her fresh takes on...
Cristy Burne recommends
Wednesday, 20 March 2024
A book on anti-gravity. I found it hard to put down. A book on black holes. I was totally sucked in. A book on electricity. It was shocking. Okay, seriously....
Shankari Chandran recommends
Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Winnie Dunn’s debut, Dirt Poor Islanders (Hachette). She explores Australian Tongan life with defiance and audacious honesty. It’s something we’ve never seen in Australian literature before. It was ferocious and...
Bri Lee recommends
Wednesday, 28 February 2024
Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood! She’s the G.O.A.T. Huge fan. How she does so much in so few pages always astounds me. A master at work, for sure.
