Have you made a New Year’s Resolution yet? Is it to get fit, eat healthy, save money, manage stress or learn a new hobby? Our New Year’s Resolution is to read more books. Have you thought about that one? Let’s see how it weighs up against the more traditional resolutions… Getting Fit vs Reading More Books Getting Fit Think of all those hours in a poorly ventilated gym li... 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

Janella Purcell lives the life we all want to lead. Healthy, happy and full of food! She made a special trip from the Mid-North Coast to Booktopia to sign some copies of her bestselling new book Janella’s Super Natural Foods and teach our Incompetent Cook a thing or two about the most important meal of the day, Breakfast! Janella is all about making food that is healthy AND easy, with ove... Read more

I can be a little bitter sometimes… Around this time last year I finished Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North and immediately shouted to the world “THIS WILL WIN THE MILES FRANKLIN!” I told everyone who would listen, swelling with literary priggishness, waving them away when they offered up other worthy winners. “No” I would say. “You&#... Read more

Every week Booktopia’s Andrew Cattanach reviews a cookbook. He is an incompetent cook. He is The Incompetent Cook. Tex-Mex from Scratch by Jonas Cramby It’s time for another instalment of The Incompetent Cook. This week he road tests Tex-Mex from Scratch by Jonas Cramby. Scroll down to see how you could win a Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker valued at $699! It’s been a busy few mo... Read more

“They say you can tell a lot about a book by its first line.” – Andrew Cattanach, This Blog Post “Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday; I can’t be sure.” – Albert Camus, The Stranger “Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.” – Douglas Adams, The Hitch... Read more

And as the boys crowd at the door catching their breath in amazement, Colt sees it all, suddenly, for what it is. His father spends money not merely on making his sons envied, but on making them – and the word seems to tip the floor – enticing. With Golden Boys, Sonya Hartnett has surely established herself as one of the finest Australian novelists of her generation, nearly twenty y... Read more

Haruki Murakami’s quest to honour his literary hero Franz Kafka has resulted in Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, one of his most moving and accessible novels in years. While Franz Kafka remains best known for his genre-bending novella The Metamorphosis, most will point to his 1925 novel The Trial as his opus, a deeply personal meditation on sex, society and isolation.... Read more

The irony of Dave Eggers’ somewhat pretentiously named new novel Your Fathers, Where are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? is that it is a decidedly unpretentious work. But Dave Eggers knows that. He has more fun with his titles than most, from his breakout memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius to his 2004 novel The Unforbidden is Compulsory; or, Optimism. Your Fath... Read more

Grab a copy of Karl Cooks here Karl Cooks by Karl Stefanovic From the co-host of Australia’s popular Today show comes this easy to use cookbook full of delicious recipes for any Aussie home chef that wants to be able to eat like Karl. Whether you’re planning a weekend with mates, looking to spoil your lady friend or need a no-fuss breakfast to ease your hangover – Karl Cooks h... Read more