The Best Books, Music, Film & Tv of the Year
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE BEST BOOKS, MUSIC, FILM & TV OF THE YEAR CARLTON 309 LYGON ST 9347 6633 KIDS 315 LYGON ST 9341 7730 DONCASTER WESTFIELD DONCASTER, 619 DONCASTER RD 9810 0891 HAWTHORN 701 GLENFERRIE RD 9819 1917 MALVERN 185 GLENFERRIE RD 9509 1952 ST KILDA 112 ACLAND ST 9525 3852 STATE LIBRARY VICTORIA 285-321 RUSSELL ST 8664 7540 | SEE SHOP OPENING HOURS, BROWSE AND BUY ONLINE AT READINGS.COM.AU READINGS MONTHLY 2 Best of 2019 Here are the 10 best Australian fiction books of 2019, as voted by the Readings team. Readings’ Here are the 10 best international fiction books of 2019, as voted by the Readings team. head book buyer Alison Huber shares why these books made it to the top of our list. Readings’ head book buyer Alison Huber explains why these books made such an impression. The White Girl Bruny Lanny Where the Tony Birch Heather Rose Max Porter Crawdads Sing UQP. PB. $29.95 A&U. PB. Was $32.99 Faber. HB. $27.99 Delia Owens The White Girl is local $29.99 So many of us at Readings Corsair. PB. $29.99 legend Tony Birch’s best Heather Rose takes fell head over heels for Where the Crawdads Sing novel to date. With his no prisoners in this Max Porter’s very special is an exquisite character historian’s eye for detail, hugely entertaining second novel, Lanny, study and the story of and knack for character satirical novel. Set in a early in the year. This an unusual childhood. and dialogue, Birch tells fictional insular world beautifully rendered Kya lives an isolated life, a story of the Stolen Generations through the of Tasmanian politics, and centring on literary work is brimming with ideas, growing up in the 1950s and 60s, and eking unforgettable characters of Odette Brown a controversial project to build a bridge mystery and myth, centring on characters out her survival in a shack on the edge of and her granddaughter, Sissy. It is a work of to the island of Bruny, Rose critiques the that are so alive on the page that they civilisation. She is an outsider who finds her love and respect for family and survival. parochialism of Australian politics. There remain in the reader’s imagination. An way in nature, and her story of segregation are twists and turns you won’t see coming in extraordinary reading experience. can be read as a metaphor for our times. The Glad Shout this literary thriller. Alice Robinson The Eighth Life The Friend Affirm Press. HB. Damascus (for Brilka) Sigrid Nunez Was $32.99 Christos Tsiolkas Nino Haratischvili; Virago. PB. $22.99 $24.99 A&U. PB. Was $32.99 Charlotte Collins & When a woman loses her This novel of climate $29.99 Ruth Martin (trans.) close friend unexpectedly, emergency fiction won Damascus is a knockout Scribe. PB. Was $35 she discovers he has left Alice Robinson the novel that has been five $29.99 her in charge of his dog, 2019 Readings Prize for years in the making. Epic in every sense, a Great Dane. And so New Australian Fiction. A gripping story Ruminating on the life of this nine hundred-plus unfolds Sigrid Nunez’s of a family’s survival during a flooding Saul of Tarsus, known as page novel is a multi-generational, sprawling elegant story about grieving and friendship disaster, the experience of motherhood as it Paul in the New Testament, this exploration narrative that takes readers on an immersive (human–human and human–canine), told is articulated in crisis draws the focus here. of faith, power, compassion, and hope is as journey through the histories of Georgia with humour and an eye for the absurd. This Full of tension and with a heartstopping contemporary as it is ancient. A stunning and Russia across the twentieth century. book is a gift for readers and writers alike, ending, Robinson’s writing skill excels. piece of work from one of Australia’s Surprisingly addictive and incredibly readable, with so much to delight the literary-minded. boldest literary voices. this all-consuming book is a reminder of the This Taste for fulfillment to be found in the act of reading. On Earth We’re Silence Invented Lives Briefly Gorgeous Amanda Andrea Goldsmith Fleishman Is in Ocean Vuong O’Callaghan Scribe. PB. $32.99 Trouble Jonathan Cape. HB. $29.99 UQP. PB. $22.95 Andrea Goldsmith’s Taffy Brodesser- Ocean Vuong is an Amanda O’Callaghan’s eighth novel is the work Akner acclaimed poet, and has Readings Prize- of a writer at the top Wildfire. PB. $32.99 written a show-stopping shortlisted debut of her game. Set in the This debut novel is an debut novel. Written as collection of stories is mid 1980s as the Cold addictive comedy of a letter from a son to his testament to the power of the short form. War rages and the crisis manners. When recent mother, this book pays homage to Vuong’s Written with both precision and grand of AIDS is unfolding, this is a family saga divorcé Toby Fleishman family history, and is at heart a coming- imagination, O’Callaghan explores a range that explores themes of exile, identity, and finds his newly single life in New York rudely of-age story that explores masculinity and of scenarios, many of them designed to inheritance. Goldsmith excels at rendering interrupted by the mysterious disappearance cultural identity. The sheer beauty of the unsettle the reader’s sense of comfort, the domestic sphere as her characters of his ex-wife, his recently acquired freedoms author’s prose shines. with impressive psychological acuity and navigate their ways through history. go out the window as author Taffy Brodesser- emotional scope. Akner mercilessly dissects relationship norms. The Man Who The Weekend Saw Everything The Yield Charlotte Wood The Nickel Boys Deborah Levy Tara June Winch A&U. PB. $29.99 Colson Whitehead Hamish Hamilton. HB. Hamish Hamilton. PB. Set over a weekend as Fleet. PB. $32.99 $32.99 $32.99 three women in their This short but devastating A perennial favourite To read The Yield is to seventies meet to clear novel by Pulitzer Prize- author of Readings relish words, and to out the beachside house winning author Colson staff, Deborah Levy has understand the centrality of their late friend, The Whitehead is based delighted us again with of Indigenous languages Weekend is an expertly on the history of a real this novel of ideas. A consummate stylist, to culture. Using a crafted novel about the complexities of long- ‘reform’ school in 1960s Levy tells the story of Saul Adler, who is hit multilayered narrative, Tara June Winch term female friendships. It is also Charlotte Florida, where the systematic abuse of its by a car crossing Abbey Road twice. As time carefully excavates the story of a mission Wood’s love letter to the importance of these African American students is masked by the and reflection become fluid across these town and a family. This is a moving literary families that we choose, cut through with school’s claims to provide moral training. accounts, Levy masterfully interrogates work about home, belonging, and the her brilliantly acerbic wit. Exposing the institutionalised mechanisms notions of history, autobiography, and the ongoing violence of colonisation, written in of racism, this book is timely and crucial. veracity of storytelling. gorgeous prose by one of our rising stars. There Was Still Love Rules for Visiting The Topeka Here Until August Favel Parrett Jessica Francis School Josephine Rowe Hachette. PB. $29.99 Kane Ben Lerner Black Inc. PB. $29.99 Favel Parrett’s third Granta. PB. $29.99 Granta. PB. $29.99 Josephine Rowe’s Here novel is a small book This lovely novel is a The Topeka School is so Until August is an with huge emotional reflection on friendship many things: a family outstanding collection of impact. Set between that defies sentimentality. saga; a psychodrama; short stories, showcasing Prague and Melbourne, Finding herself adrift at a campus novel; an her enviable talent. the story begins during World War II, and mid-life, May decides to exploration of toxic Ranging from North moves back and forth in time and space. reconnect with old acquaintances. Meditating masculinity; a reflection on parenthood; a tale America to Australia, and the wilderness to Parrett shows how familial love transcends on loneliness, the meaning of friendship in our of competitive debating; an experiment in the city, these stories sparkle with insight, the horrors of exile and separation, and age of connectivity, and the power of simply form. But the whole is greater than the sum of giving the reader countless moments of acknowledges the unique relationships that being present in the lives of others, this is a its parts. A truly innovative work of fiction by a pleasure in the words on the page. bond children and their grandparents. slyly moving book that feels like real life. writer of huge vision and technical brilliance. READINGS MONTHLY 3 Best of 2019 Here are the 10 best crime books of 2019, as voted by the Readings team. Author and Readings Here are the 10 best nonfiction books of 2019, as voted by the Readings team. Readings’ head Monthly crime-book reviewer Fiona Hardy drops clues about why these books will keep you up late. book buyer Alison Huber offers insight into why these books have kept us talking. Heaven, My Two Girls Down Three Women Penny Wong Home Louisa Luna Lisa Taddeo Margaret Simons Attica Locke Text. PB. $29.99 Bloomsbury Circus. PB. Black Inc. PB. $34.99 Serpent’s Tail.