Are manicured nails the new thin?
Visit any suburban shopping centre and you’re likely to find at least one nail bar. According to the Australian Financial…
The Life to Come by Michelle de Kretser
Some books come with such glowing reviews that it is difficult for them to live up to the hype. Perhaps…
There’s something on the nose about the new breed of children’s books
There was a time when ‘bloody hell’ was a profanity considered too rude for polite conversation. Now, it is a…
The many faces of friendship in fiction
Mark Twain once claimed, “Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” And sometimes, a…
Do you remember when you first fell in love with libraries?
It's hard to pinpoint when my love affair with libraries began. It might have been on my first visit, when…
The Dry by Jane Harper
It has been some time since I have come across a book that has been so widely read and talked…
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
There is something endearing about an author who introduces a book by saying that the final story was nothing like…
To inscribe or not to inscribe? A bookish dilemma.
It was written in loose, sweeping lettering, on the inside cover. From Casey and John on your 61st birthday. I…
Look who’s talking – strange narrators in fiction
Not long ago, I read a book that was written from the viewpoint of a foetus. Now, I’ve just finished…
We need to talk about boys (and books)
We are currently experiencing a social revolution in which women are standing up and refusing to tolerate the bad behaviour…
