Book Recommendations Archives

Wouldn’t it be great to start the New Year with your 2015 reading list sorted with a Leatherbound Classics library or your audiobooks sorted with a range from Bolinda, or with Dinner for 2 at Quay, The Rocks in Sydney or win a Kookaburra ball and mini bat signed by Glenn Maxwell?  Let’s not stop there, look at the world with new eyes with three books signed by Brian Cox or spend you... Read more

Susan Elizabeth Phillips couldn’t have more accurately pin-pointed why I can’t stop reading romances than in her new book aptly named Heroes Are My Weakness. You have Annie Hewitt, a down-on-her-luck actress, who finds herself living on an island with a man who tried to kill her in her youth. Or so she thinks. Yes, you might find it odd that Theo, the man in the story, is basically ... Read more

The Booktopia Book Guru asks Sally Murphy author of Roses are Blue, Pearl Versus the World and more… Ten Terrifying Questions ____________ 1. To begin with why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled? I was born and raised in Western Australia, spending most of my childhood in the Southwest town of Collie. I spent my last two years of sc... Read more

The downside of working in such an exciting place that is growing faster than rhubarb in the dark (look it up, it’s a thing) is that because you’re always on your toes, always being presented with new challenges… …you’re always trying to find the precious time to read. But never fear. I’ve managed to squeeze in some fantastic books this year, and I think I... Read more

Agatha Christie’s lovable creation Hercule Poirot is one of crime fiction’s most memorable characters. Methodical and meticulous, he has inspired countless imitators in books and on screen. The Hercule Poirot Boxed Set brings together some of Christie’s most iconic Poirot cases as he utilises his “little grey cells” to find the culprit. PS: We ran a Facebook compet... Read more

A one size fits all definition for Australian fiction? Nup. Australian imaginations cross borders and time as easily as those from elsewhere. There is no rule that all Australian fiction must deal with the bush, or the surf or gritty inner city crime. Within the short selection below you’ll find Medieval Europe, Chinese dragons, Antarctica, Texas, CIA conspiracies and, from Christos Tsiol... Read more

2014 will be remembered as the year Australian Richard Flanagan won the Man Booker prize for The Narrow Road to the Deep North. We’re sure you’ll all recall that Narrow Road featured in our Best Books of 2013 list, along with Pulitzer Prize winning The Goldfinch and Stella Prize winning The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka, so we feel very confident proclaiming that somewhere in this list... Read more

Do you remember polio? Perhaps you don’t, but when I was growing up there were children who wore callipers (metal contraptions bolted to their leg below the knee) at my school or limped along wearing an awful tall shoe. Joan London has chosen child polio victims as her subject for this beautiful, tender and gently moving novel set in The Golden Age, a home for polio sufferers called in nineteen... Read more

Whether on the field, the pitch, the track or commentating from the sidelines, these men are amongst the biggest names in sport today. Their inspiring stories are a must for any sport fanatics summer reading collection. Pushing the Limits by Kurt Fearnley with Warwick Green When Kurt Fearnley was a kid, he would leave his wheelechair at the front gate and go exploring with his brothers and sist... Read more

Their music has inspired millions, but what what do you really know about them? The sex and the drugs and the rock and the roll, it’s all here, laid bare. Dancing with Myself by Billy Idol In this original memoir following Billy Idol from his childhood in England to his fame at the height of the punk-pop revolution, the iconic superstar tells the real story behind the sex, drugs and rock ... Read more