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.…
My New Year’s resolution is to make more conscious book choices
In the past I have always taken a scatter gun approach to choosing books, picking up one at a second-hand stores, another at a Sunday market, and finding many on…
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
It is not hard to see why W.Somerset Maugham wrote The Painted Veil after he was inspired by a fascinating story he read while on vacation as a student. According…
What makes the perfect holiday read?
IT’S the time of year when everyone is preparing for their Christmas break, planning festive menus and get-togethers, and packing their bags for a couple of weeks down the coast.…
The big appeal of short stories
Can you think of a blockbuster book of short stories? No, me neither. In this form of writing, there is no Dan Brown or JK Rowling, and just a very…
Remembrance of video stores past
There were many people who sighed in relief when the video shops shut down. My husband was one of them. He hated spending so much time browsing the shelves –…
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
I had been told that The Elegance of the Hedgehog would make me cry. For me, the ability to make a reader cry is high praise, and even though the…
To every book there is a season
In my late teens, the movie Reality Bites spoke to me. All of that teen angst, the heartfelt pronouncements and the aloof boyfriend seemed so profound and moving. Fifteen years…
The Bodysurfers by Robert Drewe
There’s a strange sense of synchronicity when an event in the news closely aligns with a book that you are reading. That happened when I was finishing The Bodysurfers by…
Shed the book shame and get back to enjoying reading
The Book Club on the ABC is polling Australia’s favourite books released in 2017. Wonderful, I thought. I’ll have a look at the options and enter my choices. I scrolled…
What kids really want to read
One thing teachers learn early on in their careers is that no child is alike. Each is an amalgam of different traits, preferences and behaviours. As a parent of three,…
Seeing the walkman, Salt ‘n’ Pepa and the Australian schoolyard through new eyes
Pop culture has a way of marking a generation. Those who spent their childhood and teen years listening to the same songs by the same bands and choosing the same…
I have mixed feelings about improved internet on my commute
One of the big frustrations of an hour-long commute to work is the poor internet reception on the train. Between the regional town where I live and Melbourne, where I…
One theme is at home in most of our literature
Readers can travel to far flung places in the pages of a book. They can see life from the lofty perspective of an Olympian or statesman or immerse themselves in a…
