I like making resolutions. Lots of them, so that if I fail at most of them, I still have a few achievable ones in reserve. It’s part of being an over achieving list-aholic. While everyone else probably wants to try and read more books it is the perverse nature of my job that makes me think it might be a good idea for me to try and read fewer books, more discerningly, bingeing less, savouring mo... Read more

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD0IE4jCpvo&rel=0] Montebello : A Memoir by Robert Drewe Listen to me,’ my mother says. ‘They’ve let off an atom bomb today. Right here in W.A. Atom bombs worry the blazes out of me, and I want you at home.’ In the sleepy and conservative 1950s the British began a series of nuclear tests in the Montebello archipelago off the we... Read more

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTiQSEUrfjQ&rel=0] Tracks by Robyn Davidson The international bestseller of one woman’s solo trek across 1,700 miles of Australian Outback. ‘I experienced that sinking feeling you get when you know you have conned yourself into doing something difficult and there’s no going back.’ So begins Robyn Davidson’s perilous journ... Read more

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kdKzQsYtBA&rel=0] You’re in safe hands – The Masked Avenger and Richie the Power Beagle are here to protect you! A brilliant jewel of a book from the acclaimed, best-selling author of Jasper Jones. Dear Sir/Ma’am, Please find enclosed this AMBER AMULET. That must sound unusual to a citizen, but you will have to trust me on this coun... Read more

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF1NHvY-XLU&rel=0] The Golden Land by Di Morrissey The latest bestseller from Australia’s most popular author, Di Morrissey Family and conscience. Money and marriage. The Golden Land is a story built upon classic themes in a modern Australian dimension. It powerfully brings together tragedy and trauma on both public and personal scales. Di Morrissey s... Read more

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDHkM0gLUrw&rel=0] Like a House on Fire  by Cate Kennedy ‘This is a heartfelt and moving collection of short stories that cuts right to the emotional centre of everyday life.’  Bookseller & Publisher From prize-winning short-story writer Cate Kennedy comes a new collection to rival her highly acclaimed Dark Roots. In Like a House on Fire, Kennedy ... Read more

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyhpqjAjFjQ&rel=0] Lola Bensky by Lily Brett Lola Bensky is a nineteen-year-old rock journalist who irons her hair straight and asks a lot of questions. A high-school dropout, she’s not sure how she got the job – but she’s been sent by her Australian newspaper right to the heart of the London music scene at the most exciting time in music ... Read more

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FyEmR9wT2U&rel=0] GOLD by Chris Cleave The extraordinary new novel from the author of international bestseller THE OTHER HAND. Usually, this is where we’d tell you what this book is about. But with Chris Cleave, it’s a bit different. Because if you’ve read THE OTHER HAND or INCENDIARY , you’ll know that what his books are abou... Read more

What’s your take on coincidence? Sometimes it’s hard not to ask yourself how themes and ideas come to share  the same moment in the ether… so when I read Courtney Collins’ The Burial this month, a remarkable début novel based on the true story of a female bushranger, swiftly followed by Amanda Coplin’s The Orchardist, another very polished first novel from the US, ... Read more

After reading Ailsa Piper’s very thought-provoking, candid and energising Sinning Across Spain and talking with her at the recent Byron Bay Writers Festival, I wondered about what a list of typically 21st century sins might look like. I like the list she quotes from the Vatican, not normally one of my most trusted sources of moral guidance, but they do supplement the traditional Seven Deadly Si... Read more