Culture
Books
The controversial Lionel Shriver returns and a star tells (almost) all: 16 books to read
Candid memoirs and long-awaited returns, there is a bumper crop of new books – including a novel that may be Looking for Alibrandi for a new generation.
- by Jason Steger
Latest
Liza Minnelli says she was ‘humiliated’ by Lady Gaga at the Oscars
The stage and screen legend dishes on drugs, former husband David Gest and even claims she invented Michael Jackson’s moonwalk moves in her unflinching new memoir.
- by Cameron Woodhead
From pulse-pounding thrillers to a centenarian’s guide to happiness: 10 new books
Our reviewers cast their eyes over new fiction and non-fiction releases
- by Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll
Be patient with this unique eco-thriller: the pay-off is worth it
Set in the near future, Department of the Vanishing is a thriller that uses poetry, black-and-white images, archival material, lists and even newspaper headlines.
- by Thuy On
This cosmic horror story is like a warning from the future
John Morrissey’s evocative speculative fiction recalls the genre’s best writers, yet it is uniquely Australian.
- by Declan Fry
‘So many stories to tell’: First Nations poet wins prestigious literary prize
The acclaimed writer’s award comes just four years after her debut collection became the first poetry collection to take home the Stella Prize.
- by Kylie Northover
“Wuthering Heights”: The strokes that changed the moors
How tiny strokes of punctuation are rebranding the moors – and our reality.
- by David Astle
Can a kindly ghost save a greedy, unrepentant oil executive in the afterlife?
In Vigil, Booker Prize-winner George Saunders asks if it is ethical to invite absolution to those responsible for the planet’s environmental decline.
- by Jack Cameron Stanton
After my parents died, people could not bear to be in the presence of an orphan
When Erin Vincent was 14, both of her parents were killed in a road accident in Western Sydney. Almost 40 years later, the number 14 began haunting her, appearing everywhere.
- by Jenny Valentish
Bob Carr on marriage, grief and finally learning how to do a load of laundry
Life became very dark for the former foreign minister after the sudden death of his beloved wife Helena.
- by Jacqueline Maley
A labour of love, this book spotlights the influence of French New Wave cinema
In this modest but ambitious book, nine Australian writers grapple with the ways in which particular French New Wave films and their creators engaged in filmmaking
- by Tom Ryan