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Australian Reading Hour

Tuesday 14 September is Australian Reading Hour which means it’s the perfect time to take a break and spend some time with a book!

This great project is facilitated by Australia Reads — a not-for-profit joint initiative of the Australian Booksellers Association, Australian Library and Information Association, Australian Publishers Association and the Australian Society of Authors working in collaboration with their members. They believe reading is the key to a smarter, healthier, happier nation. And we agree! Research shows that reading books can be a great way to improve your cognitive abilities, relax your body and lower your heart rate, and enhance how happy you are with life.

To get involved all you have to do is pick up a book!

If you’re looking for inspiration, browse below for a selection of our 2021 Australian titles, or have a look at our book club notes for author notes, playlists, and discussion questions.

Happy reading!

In Moonland

WINNER OF THE 2022 AGE BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR FICTION
HIGHLY COMMENDED IN THE 2022 VICTORIAN PREMIER'S LITERARY AWARD FOR FICTION

‘A parent’s love for a child, you probably know this yourself, it’s pretty bottomless. It goes down into the guts of the world. But a child’s love for a parent is different. It goes up. It’s more ethereal. It’s not quite present on the earth.’

In present-day Melbourne, a man attempts to piece together the mystery of his father’s apparent suicide as his young family slowly implodes. At the ashram of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, in 1976, a man searching for salvation must…

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The Golden Book

Jessie had said they should go at midnight. 'It’s the gods’ time,' she said, narrowing her eyes dramatically. 'Anything could happen.’

It’s the 1980s, and in their small coastal town, Ali and her best friend, Jessie, are on the cusp. With ‘The Golden Book’, a journal of incantation and risk taking as their record, they begin to chafe at the restrictions put on them by teachers, parents, each other. Then Jessie suffers a devastating accident, and both their lives are forever changed.

When Ali is an adult, with a young daughter herself, the news of Jessie’s death brings back the intensity of…

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The Orchard Murders

A novel about revenge, obsession, and the dangerous gullibility of religious fanatics.

In 1944, in the outer-Melbourne suburb of Nunawading, a brutal triple murder heralds the return of a long-forgotten cult. A man named Anthony Prescott has declared himself the Messiah and has promised his followers immortality. There are those who believe him and who are ready to kill in his name. Inspector Titus Lambert of the Melbourne Homicide unit, whose detectives are over-stretched, requests the discreet assistance of Helen Lord and Joe Sable, once members of his unit, now private inquiry agents. The investigation…

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The Newcomer

There's no such thing as a perfect victim.

In a hotel room on a sleepy Pacific island, Judy Novak waits. And worries. It isn’t the first time 29-year-old problem child Paulina has kept her mother waiting. But Judy can’t ignore the island’s jagged cliffs and towering pines — or the dread that Paulina has finally acted on her threats to take her own life.

When Paulina’s body is discovered, Judy’s worst fears seem confirmed. Only, Paulina didn’t kill herself. She was murdered.

So begins a thorny investigation, wherein every man on the island is a suspect yet none are as maligned as Paulina: the…

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Rewilding the Urban Soul

We’re a famously nature-loving nation, yet 86 per cent of Australians call the city home. Amid the concrete and the busyness, how can we also answer the call of the wild?

Once upon a time, a burnt-out Claire Dunn spent a year living off the grid in a wilderness survival program. Yet love and the possibilities of human connection drew her back to the city, where she soon found herself as overscheduled, addicted to her phone, and lost in IKEA as the rest of us. Given all the city offers — comfort, convenience, community, and opportunity — she wants to stay. But to do so, she’ll have to learn how to…

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A Room Called Earth

A brilliant debut from a neurodiverse author that explores a young woman's magical, sensitive, and passionate inner world.

A young woman gets ready to go to a party. She arrives, feels overwhelmed, leaves, and then returns. Minutely attuned to the people who come into her view, and alternating between alienation and profound connection, she is hilarious, self-aware, sometimes acerbic, and always honest.

And by the end of the night, she’s shown us something radical about love, loss, and the need to belong.

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Quick view

In Moonland

Miles Allinson

Cover view
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The Golden Book

Kate Ryan

Cover view
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The Orchard Murders

Robert Gott

Cover view
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The Newcomer

Laura Elizabeth Woollett

Cover view
Quick view

Rewilding the Urban Soul

Claire Dunn

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A Room Called Earth

Madeleine Ryan

Cover view