Book Recommendations Archives

Some time ago a friend of Booktopia threw a book on my desk, a post it note attached with just two words on it. The book was a supernatural tale from a debut US author. That sentence is probably the most common used by booksellers over the past decade, and not really my cup of tea, but I took it home and flicked through it that night. And I then I flicked through it a little more. And a little ... Read more

Today is the National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence. The National Day of Action provides a focus for schools and the wider school community, including parents and carers, to strengthen their everyday messages against bullying and violence. Did you know that one in four Year 4 to Year 9 Australian students reported being bullied every week or more during the last term at school? So... Read more

What child’s bookshelf isn’t complete without a collection of Choose Your Own Adventure Books? While the rules could always be bent (finger still on the page means you haven’t chosen yet), they remain one of the best ways to get young kids into books. But as the craze wore on and more and more titles began to flood the shelves, authors began to take some strange turns with the... Read more

When we are teenagers we dream of being many things. I dreamt of writing today’s classic women’s novel just like Jo March in Little Women by Louise May Alcott. Life was an adventure for my two sisters and I growing up in a country town with a Lebanese heritage. And like the March sisters, despite growing up in the same household we experienced very different childhoods and have gone on to lead ... Read more

From Charlaine Harris, the bestselling author who created Sookie Stackhouse and the world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, comes a new, darker world – populated by more strangers than friends. But then, that’s how the locals prefer it? Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and Davy Road. It&... Read more

Have you heard of The Queen of the Tearling? No? Neither had I. In fact, it hasn’t even been published yet. But Emma Watson has heard of it. And so has the producer of the Harry Potter films, David Heyman. They were both given the manuscript to read. “I had kind of said I would never do a franchise again, so I was desperate to hate it,” Watson said in an interview with Wonderland magazine this ... Read more

The longlist for the 2014 Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction is here, a list of incredible books by some extraordinary talents. This year’s longlist is perhaps the finest the Women’s Prize has put forward in its history. I really can’t recommend each book highly enough. Australia’s Hannah Kent and Evie Wyld have thrust themselves into a stellar field with lit... Read more

Grab a copy of I Quit Sugar for Life here I Quit Sugar for Life by Sarah Wilson Quitting sugar is not a diet. Quitting sugar is a way of living without processed food and eating like our great-grandparents used to before the crap. With her bestselling book, I Quit Sugar, Sarah Wilson helped tens of thousands of Australians to kick the habit. In I Quit Sugar for Life, Sarah shows you how to be s... Read more

To start with, this was not what I expected. The name Seth MacFarlane brings to mind surreal, boundary-breaking, explicit, black humour. It’s the stuff you know you really shouldn’t laugh at, but you can’t help when you do. I was expecting something really funny, and extremely inappropriate. Instead, I got a comic love story set in the wild west, kinda Cohen brothersesque. And... Read more

So we have a Sale on now that I’m very, very excited about. A Sale where we’ve discounted only the best of the best, our biggest bestsellers from the summer. And this morning we’ve decided to make it even bigger. This morning we’ve put prices down even further, with some massive books at half price and then some. Love Matthew Reilly? You can pick up a copy of (in my opin... Read more