Culture
Books
Opinion
WordPlay
Do you live in one of Australia’s most oddly named towns?
Show me the way to Peter the Swede.
- by David Astle
Latest
Fungi, snakes and Virginia Woolf: 10 new books
Our reviewers cast their eyes over new fiction and non-fiction releases.
- by Cameron Woodhead and Fiona Capp
Stop counting your books and start actually reading them, you heathens
The raw number of books a person reads doesn’t tell you much about their general level of intelligence.
- by David Free
‘I want to look him straight in the eye’: Gisèle Pelicot’s quest for truth
After a decade of unimaginable betrayal, the woman who changed French law wants a confrontation in prison with her former husband to demand answers about his crimes.
- by Philippa Hawker
Conmen, crims and crooked cops: a rollercoaster ride through Luna Park’s history
Helen Pitt unearths wonderful anecdotes and tantalising trivia in her history of the famous amusement park.
- by Pat Sheil
How two women changed the patriarchal world of Australian publishing
Hilary McPhee’s memoir is the story of how she and Diana Gribble discovered a new wave of local voices, such as Helen Garner and Tim Winton.
- by Helen Elliott
Louise Milligan’s follow-up to Pheasants Nest is vivid and haunting
The award-winning journalist continues the story of her protagonist Kate Delaney in her second novel.
- by Sue Turnbull
How a novelist took on the Sicilian Mafia – and lived to tell the tale
Sicilian novelist and critic Leonard Sciascia fearlessly exposed the Mafia’s intersection with politics and business.
- by Gregory Day
A vibrant western Sydney setting gives this love story an edge
Author Alex Sarkis’ coming-of-age story is like catching up with an old cousin.
- by Sarah Ayoub
Writers paid as much as politicians? Once upon a time, it was a possibility
In the early 1970s, there was talk of paying writers a guaranteed minimum income – the same rate as federal backbenchers.
- by Jane Sullivan
Series
Literature
Book Reviews
What’s good, what’s bad, and what’s in between in literature this year? Here we review the latest titles.