Dragon Guest Handbook (Jeanette Stampone, illus Novia Heroanto, Wombat Books)
Tuesday, 23 July 2024
Whimsical and creative, Dragon Guest Handbook takes a different approach than most picture books in its presentation as a guide for the reader on how to handle an unexpected dragon visitor....
Cockatoo (Kaye Baillie, illus Max Hamilton, Windy Hollow)
Tuesday, 23 July 2024
Cockatoo is the new Australian wildlife picture book from Kaye Baillie and Max Hamilton, the team behind the CBCA-shortlisted title When the Waterhole Dries Up. In this story, Baillie has followed her...
Kitchen Sentimental (Annie Smithers, T&H)
Tuesday, 23 July 2024
Why do we cook, and where do we learn to appreciate food? In her new memoir, Kitchen Sentimental, chef and author Annie Smithers (Recipe for a Kinder Life) tackles these...
Cherrywood (Jock Serong, HarperCollins)
Tuesday, 23 July 2024
Jock Serong’s Cherrywood obscures time and place, braiding together the fates of his characters through extraordinary ventures and chance meetings. In his latest novel, Serong (The Burning Island, On the...
Books in the media this weekend, 20–21 July
Friday, 19 July 2024
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper The Fists of the Father (Daniel Tamone, Echo) If You Go...
Hoover back in the top 10
Friday, 19 July 2024
Top 10 bestsellers Reckless (Lauren Roberts, S&S) Storm Child (Michael Robotham, Hachette) Hide and Seek (Wolf Girl #11) (Anh Do, A&U Children’s) This Is Why We Lied (Karin Slaughter, HarperCollins)...
Travelling to Tomorrow: The modern women who sparked Australia’s romance with America (Yves Rees, NewSouth)
Tuesday, 16 July 2024
Historian and memoirist Yves Rees’s Travelling to Tomorrow is a new history of Australia’s relationship with the US during the first half of the 20th century, told through the stories...
I’m Not Really Here (Gary Lonesborough, A&U Children’s)
Tuesday, 16 July 2024
I’m Not Really Here is a moving coming-of-age story with so much heart, written by multi-award-winning author Gary Lonesborough (We Didn’t Think It Through, The Boy from the Mish). Jonah...
Warra Warra Wai (Darren Rix & Craig Cormick, S&S)
Tuesday, 16 July 2024
Warra Warra Wai visits the sites that James Cook’s crew irrevocably changed by hand, flag, pen or presence. Gazing at the Endeavour from the land and vice versa, Darren Rix...
Escape from Cuttlefish Cove (Rachel Jackson, Riveted Press)
Tuesday, 16 July 2024
Debut author Rachel Jackson knocks it out of the park with Escape from Cuttlefish Cove, a choose-your-own-adventure story where the reader is the main character. Imagine waking up on an...
The Wedding Forecast (Nina Kenwood, Text)
Tuesday, 16 July 2024
Nina Kenwood’s new adult romantic comedy, The Wedding Forecast, is sexy, fun and hard to put down. Kenwood, who previously wrote for young adults (It Sounded Better in My Head,...
The Venice Hotel (Tess Woods, Penguin)
Tuesday, 16 July 2024
The Venice Hotel by Tess Woods (Love and Other Battles) is a captivating tale that unfolds over the ‘12 days of Christmas’ at Il Cuore, a boutique hotel in Venice....
Dragon Folding (Christopher Cheng, illus Lucia Masciullo, Puffin)
Tuesday, 16 July 2024
Dragon Folding is an evocative picture book that celebrates community, creativity and intergenerational friendships, written by Christopher Cheng (Bear and Rat, One Tree) and illustrated by Lucia Masciullo (The Imagineer, An A–Z...
‘Reckless’ debuts at number one
Friday, 12 July 2024
Top 10 bestsellers Reckless (Lauren Roberts, S&S) Storm Child (Michael Robotham, Hachette) Hide and Seek (Wolf Girl #11) (Anh Do, A&U Children’s) RecipeTin Eats: Dinner (Nagi Maehashi, Macmillan) Resurrection (Danielle...
Books in the media this weekend, 13–14 July
Friday, 12 July 2024
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper The End and Everything Before It (Finegan Kruckemeyer, Text) The Mires (Tina...
White Noise (Raelke Grimmer, UWA Publishing)
Tuesday, 9 July 2024
White Noise is the captivating debut YA novel by Darwin-based author Raelke Grimmer. Fifteen-year-old Emma’s mum died three years ago, and she and her emergency-doctor father survive in a monotonous,...
Jilya (Tracy Westerman, UQP)
Tuesday, 9 July 2024
Jilya means ‘my child’ in Nyamal language, and it is evident on every page of her hybrid memoir/cultural study that leading psychologist and Nyamal woman Tracy Westerman is committed to...
The Glass Horse of Venice (Arnold Zable, illus Anita Lester, Text)
Tuesday, 9 July 2024
Arnold Zable, renowned author of Cafe Scheherazade, turns to children’s literature with his first picture book, The Glass Horse of Venice. Claudia lives in Venice and passes by a glassblower’s...
The Degenerates (Raeden Richardson, Text)
Tuesday, 9 July 2024
The Degenerates is a bold, layered work of experimental literary fiction that follows the linked storylines of Maha, Titch and Ginny, three Melbournians who have found themselves lost in their...
Diving, Falling (Kylie Mirmohamadi, Scribe)
Tuesday, 9 July 2024
In Kylie Mirmohamadi’s debut novel, Diving, Falling, Leila Whittaker is left with the business of living after her husband’s death. Ken Black was a famous artist, a legend given a...
Six Summers of Tash and Leopold (Danielle Binks, Lothian)
Tuesday, 9 July 2024
Middle-grade readers who enjoyed A L Tait’s The First Summer of Callie McGee and Nova Weetman’s The Edge of Thirteen will delight in this compelling coming-of-age story targeting the ever-growing...
How (Not) to Lose $1 Million (John Addis, Major Street)
Tuesday, 9 July 2024
How (Not) to Lose $1 Million is full of surprises. Given it's a book aimed at people seeking to invest in shares and control their own portfolio or improve their...
Robotham storms to the top
Friday, 5 July 2024
Top 10 bestsellers Storm Child (Michael Robotham, Hachette) RecipeTin Eats: Dinner (Nagi Maehashi, Macmillan) Love Unwritten (Lauren Asher, Piatkus) The Housemaid Is Watching (Freida McFadden, Poisoned Pen) A Court of...
Books in the media this weekend, 6–7 July
Friday, 5 July 2024
A round-up of the books being reviewed and mentioned in key media this coming weekend. National The Saturday Paper All Fours (Miranda July, Canongate) Big Time (Jordan Prosser, UQP) Growing Up...
The Fog (Brooke Hardwick, S&S)
Tuesday, 2 July 2024
The atmospheric setting of Brooke Hardwick’s debut novel, a highly selective writers’ retreat on the isolated island of Rathlin, off the coast of Northern Ireland, is sure to entice readers...
Summer of Shipwrecks (Shivaun Plozza, UQP)
Tuesday, 2 July 2024
Award-winning children’s author Shivaun Plozza’s Summer of Shipwrecks is a vividly real, heartfelt middle-grade novel that explores the capriciousness of tween friendship. Sidney has been waiting all year for her...
Anomaly (Emma Lord, Affirm)
Tuesday, 2 July 2024
Anomaly, the debut YA novel by Emma Lord, is fast-paced, compelling and confidently plotted. In 2020, Piper Manning awakens 52 days after a virus has wiped out her town—and perhaps...
Protecting Indigenous Art (Colin Golvan, MUP)
Tuesday, 2 July 2024
Scepticism is probably reasonable, at first, reading a book about Indigenous art written by a non-Indigenous person. Colin Golvan, however, has earned his bona fides by working as a barrister...
Jasper Cliff (Josh Kemp, Fremantle)
Tuesday, 2 July 2024
Western Australian author Josh Kemp’s debut novel, Banjawarn, won several prestigious awards, including the Dorothy Hewett Award, a Ned Kelly Award, and a Western Australian Premier’s Prize. For his second...
The Best Present Ever (Zoë Foster Blake, illus Lucinda Gifford, Puffin)
Tuesday, 2 July 2024
The most delightful stories can often stem from the simplest of ideas, as seen in The Best Present Ever, a playful celebration of creativity, imagination and the joy of giving....
