There seems to be two types of people in this world. Those who love Michael Robotham, and those who haven’t heard of him yet. Life or Death is for the crime fan who likes a story, not just an account. Brilliantly written, intelligent, funny, sad and meticulously mapped out, it’s easy to understand why there has already been so much interest in a big screen adaptation of the novel. There is noth... Read more

How strange it is to know a voice so well, yet know nothing about the person behind it. Ray Warren has been purring like a wolverine in my living room for most of my life. On the rare occasions we were allowed to watch TV during dinner, it was usually Ray’s voice emanating from that part of the room, a big game that even mum’s lamb roast couldn’t compete with. They are the str... Read more

There seems to be two types of people in this world. Those who love Michael Robotham, and those who haven’t heard of him yet. It can be difficult for a crime writer to receive critical acclaim and popularity. Books by design are denser than any cop drama on TV, asking questions designed for reflection rather than ratings. Formulas are examined and broken down, cliches noted, thin characte... Read more

You wake up after a long night of reading… …and try to sneak some pages in before you leave for work… …and on the bus. You start work full of vigour… …until the 5 minute mark. And then it’s lunchtime… …but pretty soon it’s time to go back to work… …where you daydream about the next chapter… …and then actually dr... Read more

Grab a copy of Lost & Found here Lost & Found by Brooke Davis A heart-warming debut about finding out what love and life is all about. Millie Bird (aka Captain Funeral), seven-years old and ever hopeful, always wears red gumboots to match her red, curly hair. Her struggling mother leaves Millie in a local department store and never returns. Agatha Pantha, eighty-two, has not left her ho... Read more

Grab a copy of Foreign Soil here Foreign Soil by Maxine Beneba Clarke Winner of the Victorian Premier’s Unpublished Manuscript Award 2013. In this collection of award-winning stories, Melbourne writer Maxine Beneba Clarke has given a voice to the disenfranchised, the lost, the downtrodden and the mistreated. It will challenge you, it will have you by the heartstrings. This is contemporary... Read more

The opportunity to critique a childhood idol is an uncomfortable proposition. When I was a child my mother would thrust a library book in my hands after we’d run down the bus I was always late for. One of these books was Misery Guts, by Morris Gleitzman, a book that fostered my love of reading. I remain forever indebted to him. Gleitzman’s new novel, Loyal Creatures, continues his l... Read more

Q: Have you read the latest Hilary Mantel? A: No. I prefer her earlier work… It’s easy to imagine two cavemen standing at the foot of a rock painting and grunting softly over the irony of using mammoth blood to draw a wounded deer. Readers, like all passionate art lovers, tend to argue over the merit of works at the drop of a hat. All arguments over books boil down to one common poi... Read more

As an avid reader with ambitions to one day become a broke writer, you tend look at stories differently. Rather like a butcher eating a steak. The pleasure isn’t only in the meal itself, but the cut and the consistency of the meat. You don’t just appreciate the story, but also the construction, the character development, and the sleight of hand an author might use to explore themes.... Read more

Around six million Jews died in the Holocaust at the hands of the Nazis. After reading Eva Slonim’s heartbreaking memoir, Gazing at the Stars, to throw a figure like that around seems careless. Europe’s Jewish population, of which two-thirds died in those years, were not just a faceless crowd of statistics. They were mothers, daughters, teachers, doctors, sons, fathers and decorated... Read more