Let’s talk about books, baby
At the start of spring, as the days lengthen and the sun emerges, conversation naturally centres on the weather. We marvel at the warmth of the sun, the beauty of…
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
A book with a tricky structure can sometimes seem a little too self-conscious. The style can get in the way of the story, and when that happens, the reader loses.…
What book did you hate?
The question was asked in a book club on Facebook – what is the worst book you’ve read? I quickly type “Atlas Shrugged” before scanning the list to see which…
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness is a book overflowing with life and death, love and loss – a book that is unlike any other and difficult to describe or define.…
The busy parents’ guide to Book Day
As seen on Ten Daily This is a community service announcement for parents of children in primary school: Children’s Book Week has begun. ‘So what?’ you might ask if you…
A bookstore is far more than just another business
As seen on Ten Daily Some are musty, ill-lit and crowded with stock, tucked shyly into the streetscape, while others are proud and bright, their doors open wide in welcome…
The strangeness of death in life and literature
A woman died after being hit by a train at the crossing at the end of my street. V/Line announced on social media that trains would be halted until the…
Junior review: Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend
Review by Elizabeth Morrison, 10 years old Nevermoor is a heartwarming story that will soon become the favourite of most children and adults. I liked if from the start and…
What is the difference between literary and general fiction?
A glance at the cover can offer some clues as to the genre of a book, but it can be trickier to determine if a particular book is ‘literary fiction’.…
The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante
What is it about this series that so takes hold of the reader? Is it the Italian setting, so vividly evoked by Ferrante? Or is it the gorgeous, understated language?…
Have we become lazy readers?
In a widely panned speech this month, author Howard Jacobson asserted that the problem with literature was not with books or writers, but the reader. Speaking at the Man Booker…
Forget self-development, fiction will make you happier … and nicer
Forget self-help, fiction can make you happier Australian bookselling figures can provide an illuminating insight into the preoccupations of our time. And, apparently, ‘personal development’ and food and drink are…
Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
Don’t let the title fool you – Toibin’s book is just as much about Ireland as it is about Brooklyn. Place looms large in the novel, set in the 1950s,…
Why are we all so obsessed with ancestry?
As seen on Ten Daily Interest in ancestry is booming, with more than 12 million people submitting their DNA for analysis last year. This was eight million more than in…
The Reason Boys Don’t Choose to Read ‘Girls” Books
As seen on Ten Daily It is widely believed that boys prefer to read about male protagonists. But, before we decry the way that boys are not interested in girls’…
The Geography of Friendship by Sally Piper
The Geography of Friendship is set in a beautiful bush land setting, through which a group of friends retraces a bush walk of decades earlier. However, there is nothing calm…
Circe by Madeline Miller
For anyone who is curious about the ancient classics, but reluctant to give them a go, Circe is the perfect introduction. However, it is equally appealing as a stand-alone story…
Who’s afraid of the ancient classics?
Have you read Homer’s Odyssey? If you haven’t, don’t feel bad. While there are some classics that most students read in high school English classes – The Great Gatsby, Pride…
The best comfort reads of winter
As seen on Ten Daily Our gastronomic tastes vary depending on the season . During winter, we are drawn to slow cooked stews and hearty roasts, while in summer, we…
The reasons why I read what I do
There are almost as many reasons to read as there are books. For one person, it might be to escape to a different place, while for another person it might…
Race matters in contemporary Australian literature
Hashtags can create revolutions of a kind, from #blacklivesmatter to #metoo. But while this brief and powerful form of communication can be effective in driving change, the longer form of…
What is behind our love affair with crime fiction?
Australians are in the midst of a love affair with crime fiction. Last week, four crime titles were among Australia’s top ten bestselling books, while crime and thrillers represented three…
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azari
Twenty years ago, I fell in love with the magical realism in One Hundred Years of Solitude. I had never read this type of novel before and was carried away…
The train might not be all you catch on your way to work this winter
As seen on Ten Daily The train might not be all you catch on the way to work this winter There is nothing that ruins a peaceful commute to work…
How old is too old for Harry Potter?
As seen on Ten Daily When Are You Too Old to Read Harry Potter? The first Harry Potter book was published in 1997, launching a literary phenomenon that captured the…
The Last Mrs Parrish by Liv Constantine
I was recommended this book by a friend, and I have to admit I wouldn’t have chosen it on my own, given that its plot seemed melodramatic at first sight.…
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
There is no shortage of books about the Holocaust, or other horrors of war, but in The Tattooist of Auschwitz focuses on an intriguing story of one character. The tattooist,…
There’s more to life than a happy ending
It was unlikely that the ending was going to be a happy one, given the title of the most recent book I read was Extinctions. After all, isn’t an extinction…
Librarians are having their moment in the sun
Melbourne might have ACDC lane, but Canberra is set to name two streets after notable librarians. The Australian capital will name Ena Noel Street after the long-time teacher-librarian and advocate…
The big little lies we tell ourselves are laid bare in fiction
Fiction enables writers to explore some of the worst acts of which humans are capable. From The Odyssey to The Girl on the Train, literature is rife with murder, abuse,…
Extinctions by Josephine Wilson
Some books are painfully clever. They are dense with ideas, and their dialogue is so witty as to be almost undecipherable – even the characters are cleverer than the average…
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
Many of Australians' favourite books of all times, according to the Dymocks 101 list are familiar. Unsurprisingly, there was Harry Potter and The Handmaid’s Tale, alongside more recent bestsellers like The…
Forget sleep, I want a books that keep me awake at night
A good book can be wonderfully soporific, lulling the reader into a state of relaxation. This week, an article in The Guardian reported that a book with the specific purpose…
The many faces of loneliness in literature
More people are piling into Melbourne, hoping to make a home in what is apparently one of the world’s most liveable cities. Queues snake out of popular restaurants, and pedestrians…
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
It’s hard for a booklover not to be drawn to a novel that is about …. a book. And what a book it is. The Sarajevo Haggadah at the centre…
What is the best way to arrange a bookshelf?
You might have heard of Horace Mann’s quote that likens a house without books to a room without windows. For the past year, I’ve been enduring life in such a…
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine has attracted a lot of hype, including taking the top spot on the Sunday Times bestseller list. And for me, it lived up to that…
Are you guilty of these crimes against books?
There is a meme going around that suggests there are two types of people – those who use bookmarks and monsters (who turn over the corner of the book to…
Place is just one part of the story in Australian fiction
Many small towns are experiencing a renaissance as city dwellers make the move from metropolitan centres to places like Castlemaine, Kyneton and Woodend. In these places, they see tree-lined streets,…
Wimmera by Mark Brandi
It’s hard not to love a book in which Ballarat plays a minor role, but there are plenty of other reasons that made Wimmera so easy to recommend. The first…
Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout
I had high hopes for Anything is Possible, after enjoying Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, and it didn’t disappoint. In both books, Strout beautifully captured intimate moments of significance in the…
Notes on Australia’s favourite books, as voted by Dymocks customers
Dymocks has released its annual list of the top 101 books, voted by thousands of members of its Booklovers club. While some of the books listed were unsurprising (Harry Potter…
The Choke by Sofie Laguna
There are many books that are read and forgotten, just leaving a vague impression. Then, once in a while, there come along books like The Choke, that are impossible to…
Help! My tbr pile is out of control
The shortlist for the Stella Prize has just been announced, and the Man Booker Prize, just a few days later. For some booklovers, the announcements would be cause for celebration.…
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 Review, in the year to January 2016, nail bars increased…
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 that is what happened when I read de Kretser’s The…
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 part of everyday language in Australia, no longer causing 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 good book alone can fulfill our need for both of…
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 I first cast my eyes on those rows upon rows…
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 about. There seem to be very few people who have…
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 he had planned, and he expected it to be a…
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 had picked up the book for $6 at a stall…
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 one in which the narrator is death. The former, Nutshell,…
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 of certain men. It is happening in small towns where…
The problem with literature’s fascination with bad mothers
It is nice to laugh at bad mothers on film. In the movie, ‘Bad Moms’, exhausted, fraught and irreverent mothers behave badly as similarly frazzled mothers watch on in glee,…
The beauty of a book in which nothing ‘happens’
Most journalism students learn to write a news story as if describing an event to a friend. Start with the most important part, and that should be the first paragraph.…
All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld
Evie Wyld’s All the Birds Singing is like a beautiful dot-to-dot for grownups, tracing the story of Jake’s life back to the distant past in order to make sense of…
Forget neutral, my bookcase is going to be big, full and messy
The interior design idea was offered up innocently enough. “Lauren keeps the look neutral by stacking books back to front.” The Twittersphere responded with a tsunami of ridicule and scorn…
Head Over Heel: Seduced by Southern Italy by Chris Harrison
Most tourists see a certain side of Italy. There are the rolling hills of Tuscany, fascinating cities and idyllic coastal towns, topped off by warm and friendly locals and some…
Do you like the same books as me? Talking books with kindred spirits
It is usually the bookshelf that gives it away. That was how I often discover that a new friend is not just good company, but also a bookish kindred spirit.…
