Date |
Book |
Reviewer |
Host |
Type |
20 March |
Small Things Like These and Foster by Claire Keegan |
Angela |
Janeane |
Fiction |
17 April |
The Fraud by Zadie Smith |
Jo |
Chris C |
Fiction |
15 May |
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig |
Trish S |
Chris M |
Fiction |
19 June |
The Bad Ass Librarians of Timbuktu by Joshua Hammer |
Marian V |
Trish R |
Non-fiction |
17 July |
Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka |
Bev |
Marian V |
Fiction |
21 August |
Trust by Hernan Diaz |
Belinda |
Belinda |
Fiction |
18 September |
Return to Valetto by Dominic Smith |
Sue |
Belinda (was Trish S but she is ill) |
Fiction |
16 October |
American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America by Colin Woodard |
Chris M |
Judy |
Non-fiction |
20 November |
Edenglassie by Melissa Lucashenko |
Judy |
Jo |
Fiction |
7 December |
Christmas do |
Saturday |
TBA |
Cost $TBA |
Off-piste - other ideas for 2024 reading that did not make the cut:
Book |
Recommended by |
Notes |
Genre |
The Seventh Son by Sebastian Faulks |
Belinda |
A novel about a tech billionaire altering the DNA of an IVF pregnancy |
Fiction |
Living with a Dead Language by Ann Parry |
Amanda |
About learning Latin as an adult |
Non-fiction |
Unfinished Woman by Robyn Davidson |
Belinda |
The author tries to come to terms with the effect of her mother's suicide when she was eight |
Non-fiction |
Nine Quarters of Jerusalem by Matthew Teller |
Jane |
About the city |
Non-fiction |
A City with a River Problem by Margaret Cook |
Elizabeth |
About Brisbane floods |
Non-fiction |
On Our Best Behaviour by Elise Loehnen |
Jane |
About the price women pay to be 'good' |
Non-fiction |
Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton |
a few people |
Newest book |
Fiction |
Date |
Book |
Reviewer |
Host |
Type |
15 March |
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus |
Janeane |
Sue |
Fiction |
19 April |
Act of Oblivion by Robert Harris |
Chris C |
Ange |
Fiction |
17 May |
Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life by Brigitta Olubas |
Belinda |
TBA |
Biography |
21 June |
The Romantic by William Boyd |
Marion B |
Trish S |
Fiction |
19 July |
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver |
Bev |
Amanda |
Fiction |
23 August ~ |
The Plague by Albert Camus |
Belinda |
Marian |
Fiction |
20 September |
Wifedom by Anna Funder |
Sue |
Bev |
Fiction |
18 October |
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett |
Jane C |
Janeane |
Fiction |
15 November |
Booth by Karen Joy Fowler |
Trish S |
Jo |
Non-fiction |
2 December |
Christmas do |
Saturday |
TBA |
Cost $TBA |
~ Later week because of Ekka Public Holiday.
Off-piste - other ideas for 2023 reading that did not make the cut:
- Simon Sebag Montefiore: The World: A Family History - history of the world told through the stories of certain familiies
- Alan Atkinson: Elizabeth and John - joint biography of the Macarthurs
- Max Chafkin: The Contrarian - biography of Peter Thiel, billionaire tech entrepreneur who founded PayPal and has since gone very Trumpian
- Alan Rickman: Madly, Deeply: The Alan Rickman Diaries
- Michiko Kakutami: Ex Libris - essays on literature by ex-NYT columnist
- Maggie O'Farrell: The Marriage Portrait - new novel about Lucrezia Borgia by the author of Hamnet
- Amy Odell: Anna: The biography - biography of Anna Wintour of Vogue
- Edward Enninful: A Visible Man - autobiography of black, gay, Ghanaian-born editor of British Vogue
- Rick Mortion: Growing up in Country Australia - an anthology of stories
- Douglas Rushkoff: Survival of the Richest - all about The Mindset - how the tech elite (like Peter Thiel) think they can avoid societal catastrophe
- Peter Watson: The French Mind - why the French are the way they are - history, politics, philosophy, food and more
- Dominic Smith: The Beautiful Miscellaneous - new novel by the author of The Last Painting of Sarah de Vos.
- Violet Moller: The Map of Knowledge: how classical ideas were lost and found - a history in seven cities
Date |
Book |
Reviewer |
Host |
Type |
16 March |
The Labyrinth by Amanda Lohrey |
Bev |
Judy |
Fiction |
20 April |
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins |
Ange |
Chris C |
Fiction |
18 May |
Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty |
Sue |
Marian V |
Fiction |
15 June |
River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Road by Cat Jarman |
Amanda |
Trish S |
Non-fiction |
20 July |
Fury by Kathryn Heyman |
Trish S |
Marion B |
Memoir |
17 August |
Leaping into Waterfalls: The enigmatic Gillian Mears by Bernadette Brennan |
Gabrielle |
Gabrielle |
Biography |
21 September |
The Magician by Colm Toibin |
Belinda |
Jo |
Fiction |
19 October |
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande |
Janeane |
Belinda |
Non-fiction |
16 November |
Letters to Camondo by Edmund de Waal |
Marion B |
Chris M |
Non-fiction |
16 November |
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk |
Judy |
Chris M |
Fiction |
3 December |
Christmas do |
Saturday |
TBA |
Cost $TBA |
Off-piste - other ideas for 2022 reading that did not make the cut:
Book |
Recommended by |
Notes |
Genre |
Sister Stardust by Jane Green |
Elizabeth |
Fictional account of Talitha Getty - Francesca's first project! |
Fiction |
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles |
Judy |
New book from author of A Gentleman in Moscow |
Fiction |
Everyone knows your mother is a witch by Rifka Galchen |
Chris C |
Based on the real world witchcraft trial of Katharina Kepler, mother of astronomer Johannes Kepler |
Fiction |
The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking by Saifedean Ammous |
Marion |
All about bitcoin |
Non-fiction |
Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen |
Jo |
New book |
Fiction |
The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars and Caliphs by Marc David Baer |
Belinda |
History of the Ottoman empire |
Non-fiction |
The Origins of Sicily by Jamie Mackey |
Belinda |
History of Sicily from earliest times |
Non-fiction |
Devotion by Hannah Kent |
? |
New book from author of Burial Rites |
Fiction |
Still Life by Sarah Winman |
Jo |
A story of people brought together by love, war, art, flood and the ghost of E. M. Forster |
Fiction |
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr |
Jo |
New book from author of All the light we cannot see |
Fiction |
Date |
Book |
Reviewer |
Host |
Type |
17 March |
The Godmother by Hannelore Cayre |
Belinda |
Angela |
Fiction |
21 April |
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld |
Marian V |
Belinda |
Fiction |
19 May |
Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell |
Bev |
Elizabeth |
Fiction |
16 June |
Becoming Beauvoir by Kate Kirkpatrick |
Elizabeth |
Jo |
Non-fiction |
21 July |
All our Shimmering Skies by Trent Dalton |
Sue |
Trish R |
Fiction |
18 August |
Enid: the scandalous life of a glamorous Australian who dazzled the world by Robert Wainwright |
Gabrielle |
Chris M |
Biography |
15 September |
Apeirogon by Colum McCann |
Trish S |
Judy |
Fiction |
20 October |
Monogamy by Sue Miller |
Jo |
Janeane |
Fiction |
17 November |
The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams |
TBD |
Marian V |
Non-fiction |
4 December |
Christmas Lunch |
Saturday |
Moreton Club |
Cost $TBA |
Off-piste - other ideas for 2021 reading that did not make the cut:
Book |
Recommended by |
Notes |
Genre |
The Sandpit by Nicholas Shakespeare |
Belinda |
Quasi-sequel to The Dancer Upstairs and a cracking mystery |
Fiction |
Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler |
Trish S, Belinda |
Genuinely wry and amusing |
Fiction |
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart |
Trish S |
"2020 Booker prize winner and a harrowing read superbly written, could only have been written by someone with firsthand experience of alcoholism and apparently it is autobiographical" |
Fiction |
Box 88 by Charles Cumming |
Trish S |
"With an endorsement by Mike Herron has to be good" |
Fiction |
A Dominant Character: The Radical Science and Restless Politics of J. B. S. Haldane by Samanth Subramanian |
Christine M |
Biography of Haldane - have linked to ABC podcast about it |
Biography |
With my Little Eye by Sandra Hogan |
Belinda |
About a family of kids raised by ASIO spies |
Biography |
Trio by William Boyd |
Belinda |
Set on a film set in the 60s in Brighton, this is about three people figuring out if life is worth living |
Fiction |
Mantel Pieces by Hilary Mantel |
Belinda |
Reviews and writings from many years |
Non-fiction |
Face it by Debbie Harry |
Belinda |
Autobiography from Blondie lead singer |
Biography |
Mx Libris: 100+ books to read and re-read by Michiko Katutani |
Belinda |
One of those lists books |
Non-fiction |
The cold millions by Jess Walter |
Belinda |
this got a really good rap in the Readings/Gleebooks list - a US depression era story |
Fiction |
Unquiet by Linn Ullman |
Belinda |
About Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullman's complicated relationship |
Non-fiction |
Son of the brush by Tim Olsen |
Belinda |
The son of John Olsen and this is about all his travails ... |
Non-fiction |
An unconventional wife by Mary Hoban |
Belinda |
The life of Julia Sorell Arnold, a colonial belle of the 19th century on Hobart |
Biography |
Date |
Book |
Reviewer |
Host |
Type |
18 March |
Educated by Tara Westover |
Janeane |
Jo |
Memoir |
15 April |
The Return by Hisham Matar |
Elizabeth |
Trish R |
Memoir |
20 May |
Last Boat out of Shanghai by Helen Zia |
Jo |
Belinda |
History |
17 June |
No book |
n/a |
Christine M |
Fiction |
15 July |
Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann |
Chris C |
Amanda |
History |
19 Aug |
The Children's House by Alice Nelson |
Amanda |
Bev |
Fiction |
16 Sept |
Maus by Art Spiegelman + Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast |
Trish S |
Chris C |
Graphic works |
21 Oct |
The Anarchy by William Dalrymple |
Christine M |
Janeane |
History |
18 Nov |
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens |
Sue |
Marian V |
Fiction |
5 Dec |
Christmas Party at Angela's |
This is a Saturday night |
Angela |
Cost TBD |
Off-piste - other ideas for 2020 reading that did not make the cut:
Book |
Author |
Proposed by |
Info |
Unsheltered |
Barbara Kingsolver |
Belinda |
An Amazon Best Book of October 2018. |
The Secret Scripture |
Sebastian Barry |
Belinda, Angela, Gabrielle |
Beautifully written. Best book of 2019 for Belinda. |
The Undoing Project |
Michael Lewis |
Janeane |
A book about the origins of psychology. |
Stalingrad |
Vassily Grossman |
Gabrielle |
A work of fiction along the lines of a modern day War and Peace. |
The Weekend |
Charlotte Wood |
Sue |
A novel about three women in their sixties who are clearing out the house of a friend who has died. |
Bruny |
Heather Rose |
Janeane? |
Dystopian novel set in the future in Tassie. |
The Bass Rock |
Evie Wyld |
Belinda |
Evie Wyld won the Miles Franklin for an earlier book All the Birds, Singing. |
Three Women |
Lisa Taddeo |
Gabrielle |
An extraordinary offering, according to Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love. |
The Sixteen Trees of the Somme |
Lars Mytting |
Belinda |
A novel about the unravelling of a mystery about the deaths of the main character's parents. |
Evicted |
Matthew Desmond |
Marion B? |
Offers a dark mirror of middle-class America’s obsession with real estate, laying bare the workings of the low end of the market, where evictions have become just another part of an often lucrative business model. |
The Dutch House |
Ann Patchett |
Sue |
The Dutch House is the story of a 'modern family', as this was the era when families started to become fractured and step-parents and step-siblings became more prevalent. |
Off-piste - some other ideas for 2019 reading:
- The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff. Just read a great review of this in last week's SMH Good Weekend section.
- Daphne du Maurier and her Sisters by Jane Dunn. This was a cracker!
- Done: The Secret Deals that are Changing Our World by Jacques Peretti. Eye-opening!
- Thomas Cromwell: A Life by Diarmaid MacCulloch. New bio - very detailed - maybe too much so for some.