The Bookshelf

More than 280,000 readers voted. Now Kate and Cassie reveal the books that just missed Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books countdown. With special guests literary curator and Top 100 producer Michaela Kalowski, and critic and publisher Geordie Williamson, they unpack the biggest talking points from the vote and spotlight the next 100 books in Australia's literary ranking. Download a printable Top 100 Australian Books 1-100 ranked Also, the list from 101-200 The 'Ones That Got Away' List: 101-200 101 — Phosphorescence (2019) — Julia Baird 102 — Bliss (1981) — Peter Carey 103 — Always Home Always Homesick (2025) — Hannah Kent 104 — Kissed by the Moon (2013) — Alison Lester 105 — The Sound of One Hand Clapping (1997) — Richard Flanagan 106 — A Room Made of Leaves (2020) — Kate Grenville 107 — The Eleventh Hour (1988) — Graeme Base 108 — The Labyrinth (2020) — Amanda Lohrey 109 — Fight Like a Girl (2016) — Clementine Ford 110 — Eggshell Skull (2018) — Bri Lee 111 — Bruny (2019) — Heather Rose 112 — Any…

On this special edition of The Bookshelf, ahead of the Top 100 Australian Books Countdown, Kate Evans speaks with historian Professor Martyn Lyons about the history of reading in Australia and what our reading lives can reveal about the nation. Plus, crime fiction expert Sue Turnbull traces the evolution of Australian crime writing before sharing three books she loves. Singer-songwriter Fanny Lumsden and artist-performer Maeve Marsden also reveal their top three Australian reads. And in the podcast edition, music journalist Stuart Coupe joins us with three Australian books he can't live without. Guests Martin Lyons – Emeritus Professor of History and European Studies in the School of Humanities and Languages at UNSW Sue Turnbull – Honorary Professor of Communication and Media at the University of Wollongong, with expertise in crime fiction, television and popular culture Maeve Marsden – Theatre maker, performer and Creative Director of Varuna, the National Writers' House in the NSW Blue Mountains Fanny…

Kate and Cassie are joined by rockstar Tim Rogers and novelist Madeleine Gray to discuss some big new releases. Australian crime heavyweight Chris Hammer swaps the outback for the world of high finance in Full Circle, a thriller of money, power and corruption. Then there's Jem Calder's I Want You to Be Happy, a zeitgeisty portrait of young Londoners searching for connection in an increasingly disconnected world; and Pip Williams' The German Wife, her eagerly anticipated follow-up to The Dictionary of Lost Words and The Bookbinder of Jericho, a sweeping World War I story of forbidden love and art. Plus, as Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books countdown draws closer, novelist, essayist and art critic Fiona Kelly McGregor discusses three Australian books that have had an impact on her life and writing. FEATURED BOOKS Full Circle by Chris Hammer, Summit Books I Want You to be Happy by Jem Calder, Faber The German Ward by Pip Williams, Affirm Press FIONA KELLY MCGREGOR'S TOP 3 AUSTRALIAN BOOKS Working Hot by…

This week, Kate and Cassie are joined by regulars Hannah Kent and Tom Wright to discuss three books that echo one another across themes of art, beauty, family and transformation. In Barbara Kingsolver's Partita, a young woman longs to escape her small town and difficult mother through music (and there are dogs and an accident); Ayad Akhtar's The Radiance follows a man whose vivid, radiant life is shaped by music and ambition (and there’s a terrible accident); And in Colm Tóibín's The Bridge, a son and father navigate change, possibility and belonging in a new world (accompanied by a whole pack of dogs). Plus, voting may have closed for The Bookshelf's Top 100 Australian Books, but we're still taking inspiration from readers' recommendations. Actor, writer and trans activist Zoe Terakes joins us to share their three favourite Australian books. Featured books Barbara Kingsolver, Partita, Faber Colm Toíbín, The Bridge, Picador Ayad Akhtar, The Radiance, Summit Zoe Terakes' Top 3 Christos Tsiolkas , Loaded…

In American Hagwon, the bestselling author of Pachinko, Min Jin Lee, explores family, education, ambition and the long shadow of economic upheaval, set between Seoul, Sydney and California. Louise Kennedy's Stations offers a tough and deeply felt Irish family story, while Catherine Chidgey's The Starving Bride turns hunger into a strange gothic performance. Kate and Cassie are joined this time by regulars, novelist and academic Professor Tony Birch and critic and literary judge Beejay Silcox. And, as we count down to the Top 100 Australian Books, Frank Moorhouse's biographer Matthew Lamb reveals his top three. Books featured Min Jin Lee, American Hagwon, Fourth Estate Louise Kennedy, Stations, Bloomsbury Circus Catherine Chidgey, The Starving Bride, Penguin Matthew Lamb's Top 100 picks Forty-Seventeen (1988) by Frank Moorhouse Tourmaline (1963) by Randolph Stow Writer Reader Critic (1992) by Dorothy Green Other books mentioned Janet McCalman, Struggletown Peter Carey, The Fat Man in History The Women's…

Kate and Cassie take a look at bestselling author Emily St. John Mandel's latest, Exit Party, an epic that follows a doppelgänger and a man who disappears from a Los Angeles party in 2031, leading to a journey across parallel worlds and fractured timelines. Internationally-bestselling crime writer Michael Robotham is in to discuss The Weight of Angels by John Boyne; and Graham Akhurst, novelist, academic and Director of Indigenous Studies at the University of Technology on Turkish writer Kenan Orhan's Booker Longlisted novel The Renovation; and historian and author Anna Clark is in to share her Top 100 picks. Books featured Emily St John Mandel, Exit Party, Picador John Boyne, The Weight of Angels, Doubleday Kenan Orhan, The Renovation, Hamish Hamilton Anna Clark's Top 100 picks Raimond Gaita, Romulus, My Father Gay'wu Group of Women, Songspirals: Sharing Women’s Wisdom of Country through Songlines Billy Griffiths, Deep Time Dreaming: Uncovering Ancient Australia The Macquarie Dictionary, first edition…

We step into Irish bestseller Donal Ryan's world in Where Are the Kings, a tender coming of age story about a boy navigating grief. Inside a fracturing mind in Emma Cline’s Booker Longlisted novel Switzy, read with novelist Madeleine Gray. A chronicle of DIY activism, collectives and autonomous living in Sydney's west in Australian writer Max Easton’s Now, Autonomy, read for us by singer-songwriter Tim Rogers, and a newer world emerges in the wake of the American Civil War in Sebastian Barry’s new novel, The Newer World, read by author Hannah Kent. BOOKS FEATURED Donal Ryan, Where Are the Kings, Doubleday Emma Cline, Switzy, Chatto & Windus Max Easton, Now, Autonomy, Giramondo Sebastian Barry, The Newer World, Faber OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Sigrid Nunez, What Are You Going Through Meg Howrey, Body Language Colum McCann, Apeirogon Melina Marchetta, Looking for Alibrandi Abigal Ulman, Hot Little Hands Patrick White, The Tree of Man Heather Rose, The Museum of Modern Love Elizabeth Jolley, The Well We want to know…

Kate and Cassie with regular reviewer Tom Wright discuss new releases including Melissa Harrison’s The Given World and Malcolm Knox’s The Second Child. Plus, novelist and memoirist Mandy Sayer on her Top 3 Australian books ahead of Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books Countdown. Mandy Sayer's Top 3 Australian Books Christina Stead, The Man Who Loved Children (1940) Robin Dalton, Aunts up the Cross (1965) David Malouf, Johnno (1975) Other books mentioned A.B. Facey, A Fortunate Life George Johnston, My Brother Jack Eric C. Rolls, They All Ran Wild Emily St John Mandel, Exit Party Colm Toibin, The Bridge Barbara Kingsolver, Partita John Boyne, The Weight of Angels Marlon James, The Disappearers Max Porter, works Patrick Gale, works Sarah Moss, works Joseph Furphy, Such is Life Peter Carey, Illywhacker Gerald Munane, The Plains

Voting in Radio National's Top 100 Books countdown is about to open and this year we're celebrating Australian books. As you think about your own Top 10, Kate and Cassie bring together a trio of award-winning writers (including last year's Top 100 Books winner!) to reveal the Australian books they have loved and been influenced by: Trent Dalton, Claire Thomas and Steve MinOn, with a surprise appearance in the audience from Grimmish and Griefdogg author Michael Winkler. Books mentioned Storm Boy by Colin Thiele Hating Alison Ashley by Robin Klein Cole's Funny Picture Book by E.W. Cole The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay Johnno; Fly Away Peter by David Malouf Wake in Fright by Kenneth Cook The Getting of Wisdom by Henry Handel Richardson Ruth Park, works Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith; Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally Possum Magic by Mem Fox The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan The Book Thief by Markus Zusak Carpentaria by Alexis Wright Burial Rites by…

Anjet Daanje's The Song of Stork and Dromedary, translated from the Dutch, explores the intimate work of death and care in the eighteenth century. Liane Moriarty returns to the world of Big Little Lies with Big Little Truths, reuniting readers with the coastal suburb of Pirriwee and her cast a decade on, just with a little more menopausal rage, teenage angst, and a severed finger. Joining us are regular reviewer Beejay Silcox, along with Cheryl Akle from Better Reading. Plus, critic and publisher Geordie Williamson shares his Top 3 Australian books. Books The Song of Stork and Dromedary by Anjet Daanje, translated from Dutch by David McKay (Scribe) Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty (Macmillan) Geordie Williamson's Top 3 Australian Books Such is Life by Joseph Furphy Translations from the Natural World by Les Murray The Eye of the Crocodile by Val Plumwood Other books mentioned The Secret History by Donna Tartt The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas Mine by Adam Ousten Dark Places by Kate Grenville John Brown, Rose,…

We review the latest in fiction for dedicated readers and for those who wish they read more.

Omar Musa joins us after winning the 2026 Miles Franklin Literary Award. Plus, Michael Robotham and Madeleine Gray review Djamel White's Booker Prize-longlisted debut All Them Dogs and Téa Obreht's sweeping new novel Sunrise.

From the nightclubs of 1930s Berlin to the heartache and awkwardness of high school, and into the green rooms and backstage spaces of writers' festivals.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead’s latest novel Cool Machine is a vivid portrait of Black New York in the 1980s. The book reunites readers with furniture salesman and part-time fence Ray Carney. Kate Evans and regular reviewer, critic and essayist Beejay Silcox discuss. Also this week, Isabelle Li’s The Northern Tomb offers an intimate and richly textured portrait of life in Northeast China during the Covid pandemic, while Claire Berest’s Frida brings the passion, colour and complexity of artist Frida Kahlo vividly to the page. Plus, Kate speaks with Ashley Hay, novelist and interim editor of Meanjin, about the magazine's rich literary history and how its archive can help guide your vote in the ABC's Top 100 Australian Books countdown. (Ashley also shares her top three Australian picks). Each week, a specially curated selection of archival material will be released at Meanjin: Meanjin – The Finest New Writing in Australia Books discussed Cool Machine - Colson Whitehead (Fleet) The Northern Tomb…

Dave Eggers explores the messy intersection of art, friendship and growing up in Contrapposto, while Daniel Mason's Country People follows an academic family into a Vermont landscape full of stories and believers in worlds beneath the earth. Then Maria Takolander's The End of Romance imagines life after collapse. Joining Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh are our regular reviewers, novelist Madeleine Gray and musician Tim Rogers. Plus, playwright and novelist George Kemp shares three favourite Australian books ahead of the ABC's Top 100 Australian Books countdown. Books discussed Contrapposto - Dave Eggers Country People - Daniel Mason The End of Romance - Maria Takolander Cloudstreet - Tim Winton The Sun Walks Down - Fiona McFarlane Cold Enough for Snow - Jessica Au Guest recommendations Dream Girls - Hannah Goldstein Brother of the More Famous Jack - Barbara Trapido The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark Riverboy - Jim Ewing A Suitable Man - Jock Serong Fifty Beating Wonders - Dr Michelle Johnston…

This week on The Bookshelf, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh discuss new novels including Laura McPhee-Browne's Worry Doll, a story of desire, obsession and uncertainty; Leïla Slimani's I'll Take the Fire, the acclaimed French-Moroccan writer's rich, politically charged exploration of family, memory and identity; and Kris Kneen's Rite of Spring, an eerie island novel where strange creatures lurk in the mist. Joining the program are regular reviewers, bestselling crime writer Michael Robotham and novelist and academic Roanna Gonsalves. Plus, as ABC Radio National's Top 100 Australian Books Countdown approaches, writer and historian Bruce Pascoe shares three Australian books he loves. Books discussed Worry Doll, Laura McPhee-Browne I'll Take the Fire, Leïla Slimani (translated by Sam Taylor) Rite of Spring, Kris Kneen Benang: From The Heart, Kim Scott Every Secret Thing, Marie Munkara Mullumbimby, Melissa Lucashenko Guest recommendations Whistler, Ann Patchett The Hunter, Tana French Tomb of Sand, Geetanjali…

A live recording from the 2025 Melbourne Writers Festival, with guests Hannah Kent and Beejay Silcox. Hannah Kent, Always Home, Always Homesick (Picador) Eimear McBride, The City Changes Its Face (Faber) Susan Choi, Flashlight (Jonathan Cape) Edward St Aubyn, Parallel Lines (Jonathan Cape) Caryl Phillips, Another Man in the Street (Bloomsbury) Guests Hannah Kent is the author of the novels Burial Rites, The Good People and Devotion. Her latest book is the memoir, Always Home, Always Homesick Beejay Silcox is a critic, writer, festival director and literary interviewer Other Books Mentioned Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex Michael Chabon, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Eric Puchner, Dream State Rebecca Makkai, The Great Believers Emily Maguire, Rapture Mariana Enríquez, A Sunny Place for Shady People Susan Hampton, Anything Can Happen

We review the latest in fiction for dedicated readers and for those who wish they read more.

Cassie McCullagh is joined by Jonathan Green this time, for a wide-ranging hour of new fiction, from Australia and beyond. First, Fiona Mozley’s unsettling Awake Awake, where a young woman begins to suspect her grandfather may have killed Adolf Hitler, Zan Rowe weighs in. Then, Irish writer Niamh Campbell’s Make Strange, a quietly eerie novel about a four-year-old asking impossible questions, including whether she’s lived before...Madeleine Gray gives her verdict. And we begin with a striking new Australian voice in the short story collection I Made This Just For You by Chris Ames. ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Elmet; Hot Stew, by Fiona Mozley What We Can Know, by Ian McEwan The Ruiners, by Ellena Savage The Shepherd's Life; A Place of Tides, by James Rebanks The Animators; Returns and Exchanges, by Kayla Rae Whitaker Fruit Fly, by Josh Silver Yellowface, by R.F. Kuang A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart ~ CREDITS Presenter, Cassie McCullagh and Jonathan Green Producer, Cassie…

From a sun-drenched Tuscan reset with a side of style advice (Andrew Sean Greer's Villa Coco via Michael Robotham), to Ilka Tampke’s How To Love the World, a tender take on parenting and the pull of the bush (guided by Roanna Gonsalves), and throw in a windswept lighthouse on the edge of the world with Michael Pedersen’s Muckle Flugga. ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Charles Bukowski, works Andrew Sean Greer, Less Graham Greene, Travels with My Aunt Patrick Dennis, Auntie Mame Steve Toltz, works Ilka Tampke, Skin; Songwoman Debra Adelaide,When I Am Sixty-Four David Sedaris, The Land and Its People; Me Talk Pretty One Day Rashida Murphy, Old Ghosts; The Historian's Daughter Olga Ravn, The Wax Child; The Employees ~ CREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh Producer, Kate Evans and Sarah Corbett Sound engineer, Tegan Nicholls and Harvey O'Sullivan Arts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Kate Evans and Cassie McCullagh are joined by regulars Hannah Kent and Tom Wright to talk new fiction from three major voices: Maggie O’Farrell’s Land, an expansive novel set in famine-era Ireland that traces memory, myth and the imprint of history on place; Ann Patchett’s Whistler, a sharp story of family, lost fathers and the long shadow of childhood; and Christine Balint’s A Single Witness, which follows a teenage girl confronting her community and the law in 18th-century Italy. ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Maggie O'Farrell, works Ann Patchett, works Christine Balint, works George R.Stewart, Names On The Land Sumner Locke Elliott’s Careful, He Might Hear You Tusiata Avia, Big Fat Brown Bitch Dominic Hoey, 1985 Ingrid Horrocks, All Her Lives: Nine Stories Tāme Iti, MANA ~ CREDITS Presenter: Kate Evans Producer: Kate Evans, Sarah Corbett Sound: Micky Grossman, Isabella Tropiano Arts editor: Rhiannon Brown

Kate Evans is joined by Bernadette Brennan and Beejay Silcox to talk three striking new releases: Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s Said the Dead, a haunting, archive-rich exploration of a derelict Irish asylum; Chloe Wilson’s The Thornbacks, a darkly comic debut of morticians, dating apps and unsettling female entanglements; and Deborah Levy’s My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein, a playful meditation on literary life in Paris. ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Amitav Ghosh, Ghost-Eye Susan Choi, Flashlight S.A. Cosby, works Doireann Ní Ghríofa, A Ghost in the Throat Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle Angela Carter, Wise Children Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides Daisy Johnson, Sisters Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects Oyinkan Braithwaite, My Sister the Serial Killer Deborah Levy, works Kim Scott, Benang Alexis Wright, Carpentaria Francesca Wade, Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas Prudence Bussey-Chamberlain, Bone Horn Erin Vincent. Fourteen Ways of Looking Claire…

The Bookshelf comes to you from a sold out session at Sydney Writers’ Festival, for a conversation that brings together an exceptional line-up: acclaimed novelist and poet Tony Birch, Miles Franklin Award-winning author Siang Lu, and internationally celebrated writer Lily King. Together, with Cassie, Kate and special guest Claire Nichols from The Book Show, they mark the launch of ABC Radio National’s 2026 Top 100 Books countdown, this year turning the spotlight on the very best of Australian writing, fiction and non-fiction, across all time. ~ ABC RADIO NATIONAL TOP 100 AUSTRALIAN BOOKS COUNTDOWN https://www.abc.net.au/listen/radionational/top-100-books-2026/106621398 ~ BOOKS MENTIONED BY LILY KING Colleen McCullough, The Thorn Birds Shirley Hazzard, The Transit of Venus; The Evening of the Holiday Kate Grenville, The Idea of Perfection Christina Stead, The Man Who Loved Children ~ BOOKS MENTIONED BY TONY BIRCH William Dick, A Bunch of Ratbags Ruth Park, works Colin Johnson, Wild Cat Falling Kenneth Cook,…

We head by rackety ferry to Scotland in John of John, the latest, quietly devastating novel from Shuggie Bain author Douglas Stuart. Henry Lawson reimagined - brawling poets, strange tunnels, time loops, and a warped tussle between city and bush in Wayne Marshall’s Henry Goes Bush, reviewed by You Am I's Tim Rogers. From there, novelist Madeleine Gray turns her eye to Lena Dunham’s sharp, self‑aware memoir Famesick, before moving to Ellena Savage’s The Ruiners, which shifts between a Melbourne lobster shack and a smoke‑wreathed Greek island. ~ OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED Norman Lindsay, Bohemians of the Bulletin Ruth Park, Playing Beatie Bow Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist: Essays Lena Dunham, Not That Kind of Girl Joan Didion, works Eve Babitz, works Ellena Savage, Blueberries Charles Dickens, works Charmian Clift, works George Johnston, works Michael Winkler, Griefdogg Rachel Yoder, Nightbitch Colum McCann, Apeirogon Steve MinOn, First Name Second Name Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie James Bailey, Like a…

Tilly Lawless on her debut novel Nothing but My Body, and her reading inspiration; and Jon McGregor on aphasia and Antarctica, in his Lean Fall Stand

Kate and Cassie on James Ellroy's Widespread Panic; Debra Oswald on Jhumpa Lahiri's Whereabouts; Robert Gott on Guillermo Martinez' The Oxford Brotherhood and Charlotte McConaghy with the Bookshelf that Made Me (and her book, Once There Were Wolves)

Crime writers R W R McDonald (The Nancys, Nancy Business) and Jacqueline Bublitz (Before you Knew My Name) on the books that they are writing against, in concert with, inspired by, and so on (it's a complicated business).

Biographer Bernadette Brennan on why we should read and know Australian writer Gillian Mears; music writer Mark Mordue on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Malibu Rising, and mediaevalist Louise D'Arcens on a new translation of Beowulf

A fictional biography of German Nobel Prize winning writer Thomas Manne (and his extraordinary family) by Irish writer Colm Tóibín, with The Magician; and a roadtrip across America in Emily Gale's Wild Abandon. But what do these writers read?

A new interview with Elizabeth Strout about Oh, William! and the Bookshelf that Made Her; and favourite review discussions from the year about Jane Austen, Joan Silber and Kevin Barry with readers Ruth Wilson and Michael McGirr

Writers and their bookshelves. Sarah Winman's Still Life moves between England and Florence, while Nick Earls' Empires travels from Brisbane to Alaska, London, Vienna and Hong Kong. But what are the books that shaped these novels and these writers?

What are the books that have shaped these writers and (in particular) their latest works? Ken Follett, Rose Tremaine, Amie Kaufman & Jaclyn Moriarty

Reading recommendations from writer and critic Beejay Silcox, crime writer Christian White and memoirist Lech Blaine. What are the books they have especially admired this year?

Actor Claudia Karvan speaks to Kate Evans about her reading life and the Books That Made Us

Reading John Hughes' The Dogs and Kate Grenville's The Secret River with historian David Hunt and writer and philosopher Michael McGirr

Introducing Classic Australian Novels. A collection of interviews from the ABC Archives with Australian authors about their most significant work. In 2007 Alexis Wright won the Miles Franklin Award for her epic novel Carpentaria, set in and around the mythical town of Desperance in Queensland’s Gulf Country.

Introducing Classic Australian Novels. A collection of interviews from the ABC Archives with Australian authors about their most significant work. In True History of the Kelly Gang Peter Carey took a mythic Australian story and turned it into a Booker Prize winning novel.

Introducing Classic Australian Novels. A collection of interviews from the ABC Archives with Australian authors about their most significant work. With his first two novels Richard Flanagan had already garnered a reputation as great author. But then in 2001 the Tasmanian writer consolidated his literary reputation, and his gift for great titles, with Gould's Book of Fish.

Introducing Classic Australian Novels. A collection of interviews from the ABC Archives with Australian authors about their most significant work. The politics and philosophy of tourism are at the core of Michelle de Kretser’s book Questions of Travel which charts the lives of two characters living worlds apart.

Introducing Classic Australian Novels. A collection of interviews from the ABC Archives with Australian authors about their most significant work. Monkey Grip ushered in a new voice in Australian Literature. Released in 1977 it was Helen Garner’s first novel and the first time Australians had read such a frank account of bohemian life in Melbourne's inner north.

Introducing Classic Australian Novels. A collection of interviews from the ABC Archives with Australian authors about their most significant work. That Deadman Dance was published in 2010 and is the third novel from Miles Franklin winner Kim Scott. Set in the Western Australian whaling port of Albany in the early 1800's it's an exploration of culture, first impressions, and the so called 'friendly frontier'.

Introducing Classic Australian Novels. A collection of interviews from the ABC Archives with Australian authors about their most significant work. Kate Grenville's The Secret River released in 2005 became an instant classic, inspiring a sequel, a television series, and a theatre production.

Reading recommendations from writers Emily Gale and Tristan Bancks (both of whom write for both teens and younger readers); and the Books That Made Us Youth Fiction Prize. (Part 2 of our best reads recommendation on 10 December)

On Christos Tsiolkas' 7 ½: A Novel, Violet Kupersmith's Build your House Around my Body and Jason Mott's Hell of a Book with comedian and writer Matt Okine and writer and producer Sheila Ngọc Phạm

Reading Polish Nobel Prize winning author Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob and Marisa Fazio's novella Piazza Garibaldi with writers Amanda Lohrey and Bram Presser; and novelist and essayist Ann Patchett on These Precious Days and the bookshelf that shaped her

Join us for a road trip book club, with actor and director Jeremy Sims and novelist and academic Intan Paramaditha. Travel on foot, in a car, on a train, into both ravaged and familiar landscapes

Reading Michelle de Kretser's Scary Monsters, Richard Powers' Bewilderment and Jay Kristoff's Empire of the Vampire with guest reader reviewers food writer Adam Liaw and novelist Hannah Kent

Reading Hannah Kent's much-anticipated new novel, Devotion, Katie Kitamura's Intimacies and Mary Lawson's A Town Called Solace, with guest reader reviewers actor Geraldine Hakewill and novelist Graeme Simsion

Reading Emily Bitto's Wild Abandon, Karl Ove Knausgaard's The Morning Star and Elizabeth Strout's Oh William! with musician Tim Rogers and novelist Pip Williams.

Reading Jonathan Franzen's novel Crossroads and Ruth Ozeki's The Book of Form and Emptiness, with actor Marta Dusseldorp and writer and provocateur John Safran