Book Recommendations Archives

From the outset I want to say I’m a HUGE J.K. Rowling fan, but I’ve never really been a fan of crime fiction, and as I started reading The Cuckoo’s Calling, I wondered if Rowling would win me over. With the words over-flowing I asked myself whether I would be able to keep track or even remember the many characters who could possibly be attached to the apparent suicide of one m... Read more

How do you review a Shaun Tan book? Each time I open Rules of Summer I find a different book. I remember my excitement on being offered a sneak peek a few months ago. I was left feeling a little bewildered. Did I like it? I don’t think I did on that first look. Then a few months later I was given an advance copy. I flicked through the pages and found a completely new book. Or so I thought. But ... Read more

While reading Tim Winton’s latest novel, Eyrie, I couldn’t help thinking about Charlotte Wood’s Animal People, Zadie Smith’s NW and to a lesser extent, Julian Barnes’ Sense of an Ending. All four books have been published in the last five years. Each chronicles the lives of people making do within a society they have inherited. Each book is despairing of the turn the western world has taken. Ea... Read more

Morrissey’s much-anticipated memoir is the best written musical autobiography since Bob Dylan’s Chronicles, says The Telegraph’s Neil McCormick: “My childhood is streets upon streets upon streets upon streets.” As fans, we approach musical autobiographies with trepidation, fearing that, stripped of melody and rhythm, our lyrical heroes will reveal themselves in lumpen prose to... Read more

I was first introduced to Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries back in May of this year at an Allen & Unwin function. The Granta representative gushed about the book (which would reward her enthusiasm by going on to win The Man Booker Prize) and many of those present were very pleased to receive a small sampler at the end of the night. Myself included. I love reading nineteenth century lit... Read more

Earlier this year we interviewed a young New Zealand writer we believed was destined for great things. That writer was Eleanor Catton, the newly crowned Man Booker Prize Winner for 2013. Sit back and enjoy our chat with her, highlights of which were featured recently in the LA Times. The Booktopia Book Guru asks Eleanor Catton Man Booker Prize winning author of The Luminaries Ten Terrifying Que... Read more

Every month Booktopia’s Andrew Cattanach reviews a cookbook. He is an incompetent cook. He is The Incompetent Cook. Eat In by Anna Gare The meals: Tomato and Pesto Soup Chermoula Chicken with Harissa & Minted Yoghurt Lemon and Lime Pudding Read more

I’m going away for the whole month of October and will not be writing the Buzz for November, so you get a break from me. Instead, the Buzz will be in John Purcell’s capable hands. So for the first time this year I get to choose the books  that are going with me on the basis of pleasure – or at least anticipated pleasure. In case you are interested in what is coming with me here is the lis... Read more

It’s been 29 years since Morrissey pleaded please, please, please, let me get what I want, but now fans everywhere finally have what they want. An autobiography from one of the modern era’s finest song writers and most intriguing public figures. And true to form, he only agrees to be published if he can be published straight into Penguin Classics. Read more

The Gift of Kindness by Pam Ahern Some stories change your life, some events change your life, but a single act of kindness can save a life. Meet Ruby the working dog who got a second chance and found her perfect job, and Macho the orphaned alpaca who found happiness among his sheepy friends. Then there’s Edgar Alan Pig, Ginger the chirping chicken, Lucky Bunny, Othello the goat, Coco the... Read more