Random House recently announced its 20 bestselling Vintage Classics for 2012 but the two books I’ve most coveted from this retro series didn’t make the list. Both are books I’ve been meaning to read for ages. That is: Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road and Raymond Carver’s What We Talk about When We Talk about Love. It won’t stay
The (US) National Book Critics Circle has announced the recipients of its book awards for publishing year 2012. Winners include Robert A. Caro’s The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (Alfred A. Knopf) and Ben Fountain’s debut novel, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (Ecco). The nonfiction winner was Andrew Solomon’s Far From the
The longlist for the 2013 ALS Gold Medal has been announced. The ALS Gold Medal is awarded annually for an outstanding literary work in the preceding calendar year. The Medal was inaugurated by the Australian Literature Society, which was founded in Melbourne in 1899 and incorporated into the Association for the Study of Australian Literature
The Stella Prize, a new major literary award for Australian women’s writing, has announced its 2013 longlist. The Stella Prize celebrates Australian women’s contribution to literature. Named after one of Australia’s most important female authors, Stella Maria ‘Miles’ Franklin (1879–1954), the prize rewards one writer with a significant monetary prize of $50,000. After receiving a
A new awards program recognising the best in Australian and New Zealand book design will hand out its first accolade in March. Open to Australian and New Zealand designers, printers and publishers, the biennial Most Beautiful Books – Australia and New Zealand (MBBANZ) has been established by Monash University’s Faculty of Art Design & Architecture
Who needs flowers? February 14 is International Book Giving Day — and I’m in love. You would be too if you’d just scored a second-hand copy of Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks for just $4 and had done so with the intoxicating scent of Valentine’s Day flowers all around. The shop I’m in is called Bloomsbury,
I’m wielding a sleekly glinting Kyocera knife in my mind — like the Sword of Damocles — as I determine which of these crusty old cookbooks to cull or to keep. Most were bought for under a dollar at garage sales a zillion years ago — so we’re not talking MasterChef Professional. Just a bog-standard exercise to clear
What’s the best book to take camping? A waterproof one … as it turns out. Overnight, thanks to the worst floods and tornados to batter the east coast of Australia in 30 years, my ancient two-man tent turns into a leaky ark. I wake mid-storm in frenzy. Where’s my book? Is it dry? My hands
We cruise into town on a sunny Saturday morning and the first place we notice is Our Book Shop & Café Berry. It’s got a shady courtyard and a family atmosphere. Grandmothers, prams, couples, kids and dogs create a laid-back ambience, surprisingly peaceful. We’re just passing through and needing a pit stop. I’ve got five
I’ve just had a new wooden floor laid (okay, I confess, it’s laminate) in the loft space where I write. I’ve also just been given (with a friend’s cheeky nod and wink) a book called Care of Wooden Floors: A Novel. How could I not read it? Written by Will Wiles, the book is about
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