Book Recommendations Archives

Booktopia’s Romance Specialist asks Sophie Jordan author of Foreplay Nine Naughty Questions ———————————- 1. I wonder, is a romance writer born or made? Please tell us a little about your life before publication. Well, this romance writer was born when she picked up her first Sweet Valley High novel in the seventh grade. Fro... Read more

In this, a year of so many extraordinary gifts from the literary world, how can one work shine so brightly on the Australian landscape? Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North finds its voice in haunting, stark prose and the deeply personal story of a POW on the Burma death railway his father was a survivor of. From the opening pages Flanagan surges across generations and lan... Read more

Susan Duncan, author of Gone Fishing, the sequel to the bestselling The Briny Cafe, tells us her five favourite books of all time. Cloudstreet  by Tim Winton It reminds me of what it is to be deeply Australian – the good, the bad, the ugly and the very, very funny. From separate catastrophes two rural families flee to the city and find themselves sharing a great, breathing, shuddering joint cal... Read more

Bestselling author Matthew Reilly is one of Australia’s most reliable writers. Every couple of years he delivers his fans quality popular fiction and every couple of years he can be counted on to break Australian sales records.  But till now, all of his successes, Ice Station, Seven Ancient Wonders, Temple, The Five Greatest Warriors, Scarecrow, to name just a few, have one thing in common, the... Read more

Writing a follow up to The Slap was never going to be easy for Christos Tsiolkas. John Purcell casts an eye over his latest, Barracuda. This is a difficult book to write about. It has a personality rather than a plot. It is built upon emotion rather than reason. It is all shouts and whispers and nothing in between. As a boy Danny Kelly wants only one thing – to be the greatest swimmer of ... Read more

Halloween in Australia is kind of, sort of, in a way, taking off. Slowly. Whether you love it or hate it, being scared as a kid is something we all share, and there’s nothing like a scary book to teach you the power of imagery. Here’s some of Team Booktopia’s scariest books growing up. Let us know yours by leaving a comment below. Christopher I am David – It was an illus... Read more

With sales of over 200 million albums, AC/DC is not just the biggest rock band in the world. It’s a family business built by three brothers: George, Malcolm and Angus Young. And, as with any business, some people prospered while others got hurt along the way. The Youngs: The Brothers Who Built AC/DC is unlike any AC/DC book you’ve read before. Less a biography, more a critical appreciation, it ... Read more

John Purcell reviews Shame and the Captives by Tom Keneally One of the drawbacks of living in a society obsessed with the new is that we fail to recognise the simple fact that many things get better with time. There is just no story in ‘Author Gains Wisdom by Living a Long Interesting Life:  Talking, Travelling, Reading and Writing’. But there should be. Someone gaining wisdom shoul... Read more

I’ll let you behind the curtain of having the best job in the world. Publishers are awesome, and very generous. So when a book comes along that excites and surprises a publisher, so much so that we only get to look at a quick teaser before release instead of the entire book, we tend to take notice. Mike Tyson’s autobiography Undisputed Truth is one of those books. As the sports nerd... Read more

Chris Hadfield has nearly done it all as an astronaut. During this time he has broken into a Space Station with a Swiss army knife, disposed of a live snake while piloting a plane, and been temporarily blinded while clinging to the exterior of an orbiting spacecraft. The secret to Col. Hadfield’s success –  and survival –  is an unconventional philosophy he learned at NASA: pr... Read more