(courtesy Allen & Unwin – Australia) OOOO OOOO OOOO Reviewer pictured with author at Dymocks crime fiction panel Books in Bars on Thursday 13 August 2026) OOOO OOOO OOOO
Books
New releases August book review: Everything that is Beautiful by Louise Nealon
This novel was mostly read at Kalimna, Yeranda Cottages, Main Creek (Dungog) NSW, August 2026 Secrets can usually only stay secrets for so long. Somehow, some way, what was holding them in place far away from public gaze and collective knowledge corrodes and falls away and the truth outs, unable Continue Reading
New releases August book review: I Love the Whole World! by Victoria Hannan
This novel was read at Kalimna, Yeranda Cottages, Main Creek (Dungog) NSW, August 2026 The title of this remarkable novel is your first indication that there is something special in the offing. I Love the Whole World! may sound like the exuberant, chemically-adjusted and enhanced exclamation of someone at a Continue Reading
New releases August book review: Billie King by Shannon Kelly-White
This novel was read at Kalimna, Yeranda Cottages, Main Creek (Dungog) NSW, August 2026 Life is so full of quiet, everyday moments that we can forget how momentously explosive it can be, how, that hiding in those self-same nuanced and seemingly unremarkable slivers of time, can sit some of the Continue Reading
New releases August book review: Porcupines by Fran Fabriczki
This novel was read at Kalimna, Yeranda Cottages, Main Creek (Dungog) NSW, August 2026 If there’s one thing that is guaranteed to get me diving into a novel faster than you can say “Yes, I’ll buy that book!” (a favourite and enduring phrase of mine) it’s saying that the novel Continue Reading
New releases August book review: Country People by Daniel Mason
This novel was partially read at Kalimna, Yeranda Cottages, Main Creek (Dungog) NSW, August 2026 Becoming lost in life is far easier than we might think. Oh, we march from the vivaciously assured certainty of youth, inwardly adamant that we know we are, what we want and how we will Continue Reading
Christmas preview: Love From Christmas Tree Farm by Jo Thomas
(courtesy official Jo Thomas Facebook page) SNAPSHOTGwen has lived at Christmas Tree Farm for many years. It’s where she’s built a life, a business and a place to call home. But after her beloved husband Paddy dies, it’s time to downsize and move on. But when nine-year-old Willow, a distant Continue Reading
Christmas preview: Joy to the World by Beth Moran
(courtesy official Beth Moran Facebook page) This Christmas, the nation’s favourite life coach is in desperate need of a little holiday magic. Alex Nixon has built a glittering TV career teaching clients how to win at life. But when a disastrous viral awards speech reveals that she has zero friends, Continue Reading
New releases August book review: Algot, Anna Stina and the Water of Life by Jonas Jonasson
(courtesy Harper Collins Publishers Australia) Reading has always been a great way to escape the world. When all around you things go from bad to worse, and the nothing seems to be make any kind of meaningful sense, having a written story to escape into can make all the difference. Continue Reading
A final season: Thoughts on Survival of the Thickest season three
(courtesy IMP Awards) Good lord but there such an infectious vibe to people who know and love themselves. In the nicest, least aggressive of ways (we’re not talking unreconstructed narcissists here), they own who they are, celebrate what they do and don’t feel the slightest need to begin to apologise Continue Reading