MOTHER’S DAY READING GUIDE 2022 265 KING ST NEWTOWN NSW 2042 | 02 9557 8700 | BOOKS@BETTERREAD.COM.AU
Time is a Mother | Ocean Vuong | $29.99 | Random House Gorgeous, lyrical prose shines forth from a favourite author of all Better Read staff over the years. This startling collection of poems is deeply emotive and will move you to tears. As suggested in the title, time is required to digest the beauty of Vuong’s words as he captures the binds of familial relationships. Tender and moving, Vuong always captures my heart and says so much in so few words. I absolutely adored this. - Dean
Bedtime Story | Chloe Hooper | $34.99 | Simon and Schuster With immense skill and vulnerability, Chloe Hooper takes us inside the experience of learning her partner has cancer, and finding a way to explain this to her young sons. She turns to children’s stories, trying to find a parable that is adequately wise, a story that has the words she does not, to accompany them through this time. This book is both a memoir and a guiding light for families experiencing darkness and loss. It is deeply felt, engrossing, and beautifully crafted. - Tahlia
Miimi Marraal, Mother Earth | Melissa Greenwood | $24.99 | Harper Collins Gumbaynggirr custodian and artist Melissa Greenwood is one of my favourite creators, and her brand new picture book for young readers is just stunning! Warm pinks, oranges, yellows and blues combine to create landscapes which perfectly capture Mother Earth (Miimi Marraal). This is a story of humanity, animals, plants, mountains (juluum), rivers (bindarray) and the seas (gaagal), told for a young audience. It reads as a letter from mother to child, and makes clear our place in Country. - Steph
Bitter | Akwaeke Emezi | $16.99 | Allen and Unwin Bitter is a coming of age story with bite. We follow our protagonist as she navigates social uprising and protest while developing her creativity and trying to find where she belongs. Written in Emezi’s signature no-nonsense and assured style, this novel places you directly in the action from page one. A novel for every teenager and young adult today. - Jimmy
MAY HIGHLIGHTS
This All Come Back Now | Edited by Mykaela Saunders | $32.99 | University of Queensland Press Everything you’d hope for from the first-ever anthology of speculative fiction by First Nations authors: lyrical, articulate, transformative, and deeply, deeply creative. Saunders describes the creation of this book as curating a mixtape; the piecing together of different songs to create an experience entirely unique. A collection unlike any other. - Leona
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AUSTRALIAN FICTION 2
Mothertongues | Ceridwen Dovey and Eliza Bell | $34.99 | Penguin Is it a play? Is it a song? Memoir? Poem? Story? Letter? In truth, Mothertongues is all of these things. It plays with form, fragmentation, and absurdity. For what is motherhood if not absurd? I just think we need more, good books about motherhood. And it is so badass that these two women artists would meet at the school gate, and decide to collaborate on such a project. I loved it. - Tahlia
A Solitary Walk on the Moon | Hilde Hinton | $32.99 | Hachette Another gently beautiful novel from Hinton that highlights the beauty in the ordinary. The main character, Evelyn, operates a laundromat. From this vantage point, she sees everything that’s going on in the community around her. This book serves as a reminder that everyone we pass on the street is living a life that is rich, and complicated. An ode to paying attention. - Tahlia
The Winter Dress | Lauren Chater | $32.99 | Simon and Schuster Two women separated by centuries but connected by one beautiful silk dress. In the 17th century, Anna Tesseltje is a poor Amsterdam laundress turned ladies’ companion. Today, on the small Dutch island of Texel where fortunes are lost and secrets lie buried for centuries, Jo will finally discover the truth about herself and the woman who wore the Winter Dress. A captivating novel based on a real-life shipwreck.
The Burnished Sun | Miranda Riwoe | $32.99 | UQP From the award-winning author of Stone Sky Gold Mountain come these superbly crafted stories that explore the inner lives of those who are often ignored or misunderstood. We follow a migrant mother who yearns to feel welcomed; a young skateboarder caught between loyalty and being accepted; and an Indonesian maid working far from home. These wide-ranging stories are rich with emotional insight.
The Secret Wife | Mark Lamprell | $32.99 | Text Publishing In 1961, Edith Devine moves into her brandnew suburban home, and meets her new neighbour Frankie Heyman. Frankie is a glamorous, sophisticated foil to the quiet, clever Edith, and when Frankie secretly goes out to work. Edith becomes Frankie’s secret wife. A story of love and unconditional sacrifice in the wake of the sexual revolution, the summer of love and the second wave of feminism.
Here Goes Nothing | Steve Toltz | $32.99 | Penguin Angus Mooney is in a dark place: the afterlife. His days are spent in aching embarrassment; god, religion, the supernatural – he was wrong about everything. Narrated with the ironic hindsight afforded by life beyond the mortal plane, Here Goes Nothing is a razor-sharp, hilariously entertaining, insightful and moving meditation on our 21st-century world, and the intricate relationship between love and death.
Red | Felicity McLean | $32.99 | Harper Collins
Dinner with the Schnabels | Toni Jordan | $32.99 | Hachette
Wild, whip-smart Red can’t stay out of trouble to save her life, and her dad Sid’s latest hustle is more harebrained than usual. No wonder the local sargeant has a vendetta on the family. A spirited and striking contemporary retelling of the Ned Kelly story.
The Schnabels are an Aussie family in Melbourne with a lot going on. Told from the perspective of the disastrous Simon Larson, he shares his warm-hearted take on his fabulous family as he tries to impress (and avoid) his mother-inlaw. Relatable, hilarious and heartwarming yet finely observed. - Dean
No Hard Feelings | Genevieve Novak | $32.99 | Harper Collins Penny is falling further and further behind her best friends - forget getting engaged, she needs to stop running back to her ex. This is peak millennial fiction and you can’t help rooting for Penny to get herself to therapy, get off ASOS, fix her friendships, and finally stand up to her boss. And ditch the ex. - Lexie
Losing Face | George Haddad | $32.99 | UQP Joey is young and indifferent. He’s drifting around Western Sydney unaware that his passivity is leading him astray. And then one day he is involved in a violent crime, one that threatens to upend his life entirely. This gripping and hard-hitting novel reveals the richness and complexity of Australian life.
The Improbable Life of Ricky Bird | Diane Connell | $32.99 | Simon and Schuster Ricky Bird loves making up stories for her brother Ollie almost as much as she loves him. The imaginary worlds she creates are wild and whimsical places full of unlimited possibilities. Real life is another story. A heartbreakingly funny and deeply moving family portrait.
The Good Captain | Sean Rabin | $29.99 | Transit Lounge Set in the near future, The Good Captain follows a group of radical environmentalists committed to a mission of extreme civil disobedience against the powers threatening to destroy the last of the world’s marine life. A gripping, confronting and truly unique novel.
CATEGORY AUSTRALIAN FICTION
The Natural History of Love | Caroline Petit | $32.99 | Affirm Press The Natural History of Love is based upon the true story of 19th century French explorer, naturalist and diploma the Count de Castelnau and his lover Madame Fonçeca; a sweeping historical narrative set in the wilds of Brazil, salons of Paris and the early days of Melbourne’s settlement.
The Murder Rule | Dervla McTiernan | $32.99 | Harper Collins A perfect standalone crime that will dazzle fans and seduce new readers. Hannah is an unlikeable law student working on a case to free an innocent man on death row but not all is as it seems. McTiernan pulls out the punches to lead you down an unusual yet deeply satisfying path to solve this fascinating case. - Dean
Banjawarn | Josh Kemp | $32.99 | UWAP Garreth Hoyle is a true crime writer whose destructive love affair with hallucinogenic drugs has sent him searching for ghosts in the unforgiving mallee desert of Western Australia. This is a darkly funny and unsettling debut novel that earns its place amongst the stable of Australian gothic literature.
The Signal Line | Brendan Colley | $29.99 | Transit Lounge Brothers Geo and Wes are testing their relationship now that their parents have passed away. Geo and Wes rarely agree on anything, especially not the sale of the Hobart family home. But then a ghost train appears in Hobart. A warm-hearted, unforgettable novel about what we are all searching for.
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INTERNATIONAL FICTION CATEGORY
Idol | Louise O’Neill | $32.99 | Random House Samantha Miller has it all. Having turned herself into a Glennon/ Gwyneth hybrid, she is a self help guru. But when her essay about a sexual experience with a friend goes viral, what happens when the friend tells a very different story? This book has such beautifully developed characters and was deeply uncomfortable. - Lexie
French Braid | Anne Tyler | $29.99 | Penguin When the kids are grown and Mercy Garrett gradually moves herself out of the family home, everyone is determined not to notice. Yet there is a clutter of untidy moments that form the Garretts’ family life over the decades. And it all begins in 1959, with a family holiday to a cabin by a lake. It’s the only one the Garretts will ever take, but its effects will ripple through the generations. A brilliantly perceptive, painfully true and funny journey deep into one family’s foibles, from the 1950s right up to the changed world of today
Elizabeth Finch | Julian Barnes | $35.00 | Penguin Elizabeth Finch was a teacher, a thinker, an inspiration - always rigorous, always thoughtful. Neil, a former student, unpacks her work. This is a loving tribute to philosophy, a careful evaluation of history, an invitation to think for ourselves. It is truly a balm for our times.
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All the Lovers in the Night | Mieko Kawakami | $32.99 | Pan Macmillan I have adored every book Kawakami has written, and this blistering read is no exception. She captures loneliness and isolation in modern Japan in a way unlike any other author I’ve read, and I was enthralled by this story of freelance proofreader Fuyuko whose life begins to warp when she meets Mitsutsuka. - Steph
Glory | NoViolet Bulawayo | $32.99 | Penguin An effervescent, punchy, piercingly funny novel exploring the fall of Robert Mugabe , Glory is an energy burst and an exhilarating ride! A bold chorus of animal voices calls out the dangerous absurdity of contemporary global politics, and helps us see our human world more clearly.
Vagabonds! | Eloghosa Osunde | $27.99 | Harper Collins Èkó, the spirit of Lagos, and his loyal minion Tatafo weave trouble through the streets of Lagos and through the lives of the ‘vagabonds’ powering modern Nigeria: the queer, the displaced and the footloose. A tumultuous and unexpectedly joyous novel of oppression and defiance in Lagos.
Lessons in Chemistry | Bonnie Garmus | $32.99 | Penguin This book is a joy to read and what a satisfying ending, the build-up to the end was really something. It was fun to imagine a real person to be like her. I think that everyone wishes they were a little bit like Elizabeth Zott- bold and fierce. The shifts in narrative perspectives were interesting and subtle enough at times where when the narrator shifts to say, 6:30 the dog you take a moment to realise “oh the narrator has shifted again”. This book is for readers of Olive Kitteridge, although 100% everyone should buy this for their mum! - Poppy
The Dance Tree | Kiran Millwood Hargrave | $32.99 | Pan Macmillan In Strasbourg, in the boiling hot summer of 1518, a plague strikes the women of the city. Musicians will be brought in. The devil will be danced out of these women. Just beyond the city’s limits, pregnant Lisbet lives with her mother-in-law and husband, tending the bees that are their livelihood. The dance marks the beginning of a few weeks that will change everything for Lisbet. A a heart-stopping story of family secrets, forbidden love and women pushed to the edge.
A writer takes residence in the illustrious but decaying Grand Hotel Europa, to think about where things went wrong with Clio, with whom he fell in love in Genoa. He reconstructs a compelling story of love in times of mass tourism.
Woman, Eating | Claire Kohda | $29.99 | Hachette Don’t we all love a relatable vampire heroine who’s just moved out of home to find herself, chase her artistic dreams and binge watch Buffy? Kohda is funny, self-assured and incisive as she subverts the vampire trope to pull apart the very human issues facing a young, mixed-race woman in contemporary London. - Tahlia
Ingrid is selected for a cruise ship’s prestigious ‘mentorship scheme’ - a strange initiative run by the ship’s captain and lifestyle guru, and slowly but surely things start to go wrong. Wickedly funny and slyly poignant, a satire on cruise ships, crappy jobs and capitalism.
Elektra | Jennifer Saint | $32.99 | Hachette There are few things as fabulous as feminist retellings of Ancient myths. Elektra masterfully weaves together the lives of Clytemnestra; Cassandra, princess of Troy, who is cursed to be a seer but never believed; and Elektra, the daughter of Clytemnestra who watches a family murder. - Lexie
Nightcrawling | Leila Mottley | $29.99 | Bloomsbury Kiara Johnson, a 17-yearold, gets caught up in the underbelly of the police department. An unforgettable novel about young people navigating the darkest corners of an adult world, told with a humanity that is agonising and utterly mesmerising.
People Person | Candice CartyWilliams | $32.99 | Hachette Dimple Pennington knew of her half siblings, but she didn’t really know them. Now 30, and with her life going nowhere, she is forced to reconnect with them AND their absent father. A story full of heart, humour, homecoming, and about the truest meaning of family.
The Odyssey | Lara Williams | $32.99 | Penguin
INTERNATIONAL FICTION
Grand Hotel Europa | Ilja Leonard Pfeijffer | $32.99 | Harper Collins
The Exhibitionist | Charlotte Mendelson | $34.99 | Pan Macmillan Meet the Hanrahan family, gathering for a momentous weekend as famous artist and notorious egoist Ray prepares for a new exhibition of his art. A dazzling exploration of art, family politics, queer desire, and personal freedom.
The Old Woman with the Knife | Gu Byeong-Mo | $29.99 | Allen and Unwin A whip-smart and compelling novel about a 60-something female assassin navigating the vulnerabilities posed by her ageing body, and a meditation on loss and loneliness. Gu Byeong-Mo proves that the female of the species is always more deadly than the male.
Pure Colour | Shelia Heti | $32.99 | Penguin After God created the heavens and the earth, he stood back to contemplate creation, like a painter standing back from the canvas. This is the moment we are living in - the moment of God standing back. Heartbreaking, exciting, profound: a short epic that reimagines what the novel can do.
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CRIME / SCI-FI / FANTASY
Wake | Shelley Burr | $32.99 | Hachette What really happened to young Evie McCreery? A searing debut crime novel where the grief and guilt surrounding an unsolved disappearance still haunt a small farming community... and will ultimately lead to a reckoning.
Book of Night | Holly Black | $32.99 | Penguin Would you notice if your shadow was missing? Black has created a sprawling urban fantasy, where shadows give you magic, can operate independently, and can be traded on the black market. Charlie is a well known charlatan, but her life escalates when she is tasked with retrieving The Book of Night. - Lexie
When We Fall | Aoife Clifford | $32.99 | Ultimo Press In this smoldering coastal crime thriller, nothing is as it seems. A body drowned in a ravine but the lungs are full of salt water? Another body “drowned” but no water in the lungs? What’s going on here? Protagonist Alex joins with her mysterious Mum as they together try to work out what is happening. - Maddy
Blood Sugar | Sascha Rothchild | $32.99 | Hachette She’s accused of four murders. She’s only guilty of three... From the Executive Producer of The Bold Type, this darkly funny and compulsively pageturning novel is the story of Ruby, a Dexter-like figure who might finally go down for a crime she didn’t commit.
The Memory Librarian | Janelle Monáe | $32.99 | Harper Collins
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Music, fashion, film and futurist icon Monáe returns to the Afrofuturistic world of her critically acclaimed album. She explores in these tales how different threads of liberation – queerness, race, gender plurality, love – become tangled in a totalitarian landscape.
Dirt Town | Hayley Scrivenor | $32.99 | Pan Macmillan On a sweltering Friday afternoon in Durton, friends Ronnie and Esther leave school together. Esther never makes it home. With emotional depth and sensitivity, this debut shows us how much each person matters in a small community.
Sea of Tranquility | Emily St. John Mandel | $32.99 | Pan Macmillan The author of Station Eleven returns with a novel of time travel that precisely captures the reality of our current moment. An enormously exciting novel that investigates the idea of parallel worlds.
Skyward Flight | Brandon Sanderson | $32.99 | Hachette Sunreach, ReDawn and Evershore are three stories which build upon Sanderson and Patterson’s iconic Skyward series. This gripping collection of novellas, told from the perspectives of three different characters, are superb adventures in their own right and are also essential Skyward reading!
A Spindle Splintered | Alix E. Harrow | $19.99 | Pan Macmillan It’s Zinnia Gray’s 21st birthday, which is extra-special because it’s the last birthday she’ll ever have. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty. A classic tale, beautifully reimagined.
Elizabeth Macarthur’s Letters | Kate Grenville (ed.) | $34.99 | Text Publishing These letters were the starting point for Grenville’s A Room Made of Leaves. They inspired the portrait of her imagined Elizabeth: shrewd, subtle, passionate, and offer a glimpse into her complex inner life.
An Autobiography | Angela Y. Davis | $39.99 | Penguin Edited by Toni Morrison, and with a new foreword by Davis to mark its republication, An Autobiography is a rich insight into the formidable life of an iconic activist, scholar and writer. From her childhood in Alabama to her involvement in the civil rights movement, she paints a picture of a life dedicated to radical activism and the pursuit of justice. She proves here that her words are enduringly relevant.
The Jane Austen Remedy | Ruth Wilson | $32.99 | Allen and Unwin At the age of 70 Ruth has what some may call a midlife crisis- she decides to live apart from her husband of nearly 50 years, and retreat down to a cottage in the southern highlands. While down there, Ruth revisits Jane Austen’s novels and reflects on how they have shaped her life since she first read Pride and Prejudice nearly 60 years ago. Let’s face it- there isn’t a whole lot in life that a great book can’t help with.
- Stella
All Mixed Up | Jason Om | $34.99 | Harper Collins When Jason Om was just twelve, he witnessed his mother die of a heart attack, and blamed himself for her death. So begins this unflinching memoir about coming of age and coming out in a ‘mixed-up’ Melbourne family.
Gathering Blossoms Under Fire | Valerie Boyd (ed.) | $34.99 | Hachette An unprecedented compilation of over 60 of Alice Walker’s journals, drawing an intimate portrait of her development as an artist, human rights activist and intellectual over four decades of her life.
Speaking in Tongues | Tom Tilley | $34.99 | Harper Collins From the outside, Tilley’s childhood seemed ordinary, but things were different behind the church doors. This is a powerful coming-ofage story about questioning the life created for you and building your true self.
CATEGORY BIOGRAPHY
Left on Tenth | Delia Ephron | $35.00 | Penguin Delia Ephron, in her seventies and recently widowed, reconnects with a man she dated in college. This is a magical memoir about coming back from the brink of cancer and finding love second time around.
- Lexie
The Uncaged Sky | Kylie Moore-Gilbert | $34.99 | Ultimo Press This is Kylie’s remarkable story of courage and resilience, and a powerful meditation on hope, solidarity and what it means to be free after she fought to survive 804 days imprisoned in Iran.
Sentence | Daniel Genis | $32.99 | Penguin Daniel Genis, the son of a famous Soviet émigré writer, was fresh out of NYU when he faced a serious heroin addiction that ultimately led him to crime. Sentence is a memoir of a decade in the New York penal system, written with empathy and wit.
Stories I Might Regret Telling You | Martha Wainwright | $35.00 | Simon and Schuster Born into music royalty, this is Martha Wainwright’s heartfelt memoir about growing up in a bohemian musical family and her experiences with love, loss, motherhood, divorce, the music industry and more.
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AUSTRALIAN CATEGORY STUDIES
Heartland | Jennifer Pinkerton | $32.99 | Allen and Unwin Punchy, research based, and on the pulse, Pinkerton explores how we are having sex and meeting each other, focusing on hookup culture. Doing a deep dive into the rise of app dating, Heartland is all about the under 40 and features stories from expats, uni students, and everyone in between. - Lexie
Astronomy | Karlie Noon and Krystal De Napoli | $29.99 | Thames and Hudson Explore the astronomical praxes and learnings of the oldest scientists in history, and delve into First Nations conceptions of the interconnectedness of sky, earth, nature, weather, and seasons. A truly beguiling vision of the knowledge held in the stars. - Maddy
Who Needs the ABC? | Matthew Ricketson and Patrick Mullins | $29.99 | Scribe Publications Who Needs the ABC? charts how, in its 90th year, the ABC arrived at its current plight: doing the most it ever has, with less than it needs, under a barrage of constant criticism. It argues that we all need the ABC.
The Most Important Job in the World | Gina Rushton | $34.99 | Pan Macmillan A powerful, compelling and forensic analysis of the role of motherhood in society today, and the competing forces that draw us towards and away from it.
Growing Up in Country Australia | Rick Morton (ed.) | $29.99 | Black Inc. Thid collection of forty stories by established and emerging authors is a modern look at country Australia. There are stories of joy, adventure, nostalgia and connection to nature but also more grim tales – of drought, fire, plagues and isolation.
Family | Alaina Gougoulis and Ian See (ed.) | $34.99 | Text Publishing This collection, featuring some of our finest writers, reimagines what family can mean in the twenty-first century and pays tribute to families in all the wonderful forms they may take. .
Birds | Judith Wright | $24.99 | NewSouth Books The poems in Birds commemorate Judith’s love of birds, while on a deeper level exploring a gamut of very human experiences, from the delightful, to the humorous, to the sorrowful. Featuring a contemporary, elegant design, and illustrated with artworks by renowned nature painters such as William T. Cooper, Neville Cayley, and Lilian Medland, this book will be treasured not only by lovers of poetry and art, but anyone who appreciates beauty.
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The Space Between the Stars | Indira Naidoo | $45.00 | Harper Collins After the sudden death of her younger sister, Naidoo was adrift in grief. This memoir chronicles her process of healing, particularly how she found solace in the natural world around her. Despite living in Sydney, Naidoo turned to whatever natural beauty she could find amongst the urban landscape – a large fig tree overlooking Sydney harbor, a cluster of weeds, the ecosystem of a puddle – to cope. A compelling account of finding comfort in nature’s beauty, even in the most unexpected of places. - Stella
The Kelly Hunters | Grantlee Kieza | $34.99 | Harper Collins When Ned Kelly and his band of young tearaways ambushed and killed three brave policemen in a remote mountain camp in 1878, they sparked the biggest and most expensive manhunt Australia had seen. This is a fascinating and compelling account of this hunt.
The Stasi Poetry Circle | Philip Oltermann | $39.99 | Allen and Unwin
Following the success of her seasonal quartet, Smith’s latest novel Companion Piece also illuminates the spirit of the times. Smith’s ability to encapsulate, meditate and question our contemporary world in the most beautiful and thought provoking way possible has me in complete adoration. - Carolina
Writing poetry to undermine capitalism may have backfired a bit this time around. This book recalls the bizarre history of the poetry circle that was formed to reinforce their commitment to the immortal science of Marxism-Leninism. A fascinating account of a darkly funny slice of cold war history. - Darcy
Africa is Not a Country | Dipo Faloyin | $35.00 | Penguin So often Africa is depicted simplistically as an arid red landscape of famines and safaris, uniquely plagued by poverty and strife. In this funny and insightful book, Faloyin offers a much-needed corrective. He examines each country’s colonial heritage, and explores a wide range of subjects, from urban life to democracy, stereotyping to who makes the best Jollof rice. By turns intimate and political, this book is a fantastic story of the continent.
INTERNATIONAL NON-FICTION
Companion Piece | Ali Smith | $32.99 | Penguin
Bittersweet | Susan Cain | $35.00 | Penguin
Persians | Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones | $34.99 | Hachette A definitive new history of the Persian Empire, the world’s first superpower. Professor LlewellynJones calls upon original Achaemenid sources, including inscriptions, art, and recent archaeological discoveries in Iran, to create an authentic story of this remarkable empire.
This Woman’s Work: Essays on Music | Sinead Gleeson and Kim Gordon (eds.) | $32.99 | Hachette A powerful collection by female creators, writing about the female artists that matter to them and their own personal experiences. This book is for and about the women who kicked in doors, and offered a new way of thinking about the vast spectrum of women in music.
Sounds Wild and Broken | David George Haskell | $34.99 | Black Inc A lyrical exploration of the diverse sounds of our planet, the creative processes that produced these marvels, and the perils that sonic diversity faces, from the streets of Paris to the depths of the forest. Haskell shows that sonic crises are not mere losses of sensory ornament and invites us to listen, wonder, and act.
In this inspiring masterpiece, Cain shows the power of the “bittersweet” - the outlook that values the experiences of loss and pain, which can lead to growth and beauty. Understanding bittersweetness can change the way we work, the way we create and the way we love. Each chapter helps us navigate an issue that defines our lives, from love to death and from authenticity to creativity. For bittersweetness is the hidden source of our love stories, moonshots and masterpieces.
Love That Story | Jonathan Van Ness | $34.99 | Simon and Schuster We all need a little bit of Jonathan Van Ness in our lives – always compassionate, optimistic, and kind, Van Ness is the heart of the Queer Eye reboot. Here, they talk dealing with grief, they uncover the hidden LGBT history of their hometown, they reflect on political divisions in the US, they celebrates queer identity in all its facets. An inspiring read from a modern day queer idol. - Maddy
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COOKING / LIFESTYLE
The Thai Kitchen of Boo Raan | Dokkoon Kapueak | $69.99 | Peribo With fresh ingredients and a little extra attention to Thai preparation methods, you can put the tastiest Thai dishes on the table. According to Dokkoon Kapueak, a Michelin-starred chef, Thai cooking is not as difficult as you might think, and anyone can learn it, starting with these 60 delicious dishes.
The Way of the Nagomi | Ken Mogi | $29.99 | Hachette Explore the popular Japanese concept of Nagomi, an allencompassing way of life which emphasizes balance between both positive and negative experiences/ emotions. Unlike a lot of selfdevelopment books, this book gets into the weeds of how to apply this concept to your own life. - Darcy
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Yiayia Next Door | Daniel and Luke Mancuso | $36.99 | Pan Macmillan Now we can all enjoy Yiayia’s home cooking, with this collection of traditional Greek recipes from her kitchen and those of yiayias all around Australia. This is a book about the power of food to bring people together.
The Nutmeg Trail | Eleanor Ford | $49.99 | Murdoch Books Ford’s recipes and stories explore how centuries of spice trading and cultural diffusion changed the world’s cuisine. A unique and enlightening guide to cooking with spice, this book looks at their flavour profiles and origin stories, and how they can be used, combined and layered in 80 spice-infused recipes.
Meshi | Katherine Tamiko Arguile | $35.00 | Affirm Press Arguile’s second book, Meshi, is a beautiful exploration of food and the tradition, history, spirituality, ritual and culture inextricably woven into Japanese cuisine. Perfect for lovers of Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner or Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto and told through Japan’s 24 seasons. - Carolina
Ngirramanujuwal | Neil Perry | $59.99 | Murdoch Books
With Nature | Fiona Brockhoff | $70.00 | Hardie Grant
Home | Victoria Alexander | $90.00 | Pan Macmillan
Ngirramanujuwal is one who adds colour. Walmajarri man Jimmy Pike manifests colour as strokes of ink on paper. His vivid and exceptional drawing, painting and printing skills reveal the Great Sandy Deserty to be a place teeming with colourful life, history and stories.
With Nature is an inspirational look at garden design and landscaping. In this beautifully photographed book, Brockhoff takes us through her gardens in Australia with tips, design guidance and inspiration to help you create your own sustainable and wholistic gardens.
Home is our nest, our safe place, to recharge and rest, explore and be our unguarded self. Home is about pleasure and nurturing, about varying ideas of physical and emotional comfort. A stunning guide to interior design from a Vogue Australia and Cosmopolitan editor.
How to Count to One | Caspar Salmon and Matt Hunt | $22.99 | Nosy Crow | 3+ Get ready to show off your skills in this fun new counting book! But all is not as it seems... is this book really only about counting to ‘ONE’? Because there are SO MANY fun things that you could count. A hilariously bossy picture book that children will love to outsmart!
If the World Were 100 Animals | Miranda Smith | $19.99 | Harper Collins | 5+ There are around 20 quintillion animals living on Earth, but it’s tricky to picture so many animals! So instead, let’s imagine just 100 animals at a time. A thoughtprovoking book for children that explores biodiversity and extinction.
Milo Finds $105: Bored #1 | Matt Stanton | $14.99 | Harper Collins | 8+ It’s a complicated business being a kid. The dynamic between the characters here is authentic and entertaining, and Stanton’s writing is hilarious and engaging, styled in short chapters to help reluctant young readers build confidence. A great new series that is anything BUT boring! - Lucy
Flooded | Mariajo Illustrajo | $24.99 | Murdoch Books | 3+ Flooded is a beautifully illustrated book which tells the story of animals living in a city which is slowly flooding. It carries important messages about climate change, the importance of community and dealing with problems before they get too big, with a little team work and community spirit.
Book of Questions | Pablo Neruda | $29.99 | NewSouth Books | 7+ Holding the wonder and mystery of childhood and the experience and knowing that come with growing up, these questions are by turns lyrical, strange, surreal, spiritual, historical and political. This bilingual Spanish-English edition is the first illustrated selection of questions, 60 in all, from Pablo Neruda.
AUSTRALIAN BETTER READFICTION KIDS
Perfectly Weird, Perfectly You | Camilla Pang | $19.99 | Hachette | 9+ Learn all about yourself in Dr Camilla Pang’s scientific survival guide to growing up! This wonderful, heart-warming, insightful book is about embracing your weirdness and being okay with anything that makes you different. Pang is empathetic and inspiring. - Lucy
It’s My Rubber Band! | Shinsuke Yoshitake | $21.99 | Thames and Hudson | 3+ It’s My Rubber Band explores how a cherished everyday object can become a catalyst for curiosity, play and a profound sense of connection. With a special object of one’s very own, the possibilities are as limitless as the imagination! A wildly imaginative story by an acclaimed author-illustrator.
The Champ! | Anh Do | $55.00 | Harper Collins | 7+ Summer loves sport. She would love to charge down the field towards an open goal, or soar through the air over the basket. She would love to be part of a team. But instead she always seems to be the last one picked. That is until the day her life changes forever... A brilliant new series!
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BETTER READ KIDS
Skandar and the Unicorn Thief | A. F. Steadman | $19.99 | Simon and Schuster | 9+ Thirteen-year-old Skandar Smith has only ever wanted to be a unicorn rider, and the time has finally come for him to take his Hatchery Exam, which will determine whether he is destined to hatch a unicorn egg. Soar into a world where unicorns are real – and they’re deadly. An exciting new series!
An Arrow to the Moon | Emily X. R. Pan | $19.99 | Hachette | 12+ An effortless fusion of mythology, first love, and Shakespeare adaptation. Putting a contemporary spin on Romeo and Juliet and Chinese myths, this is a fast-paced, lyrical exploration of love in all its forms. The storytelling is so expansive, it even includes snippets of the parents’ perspectives, giving the novel a deeper sense of realism. Coupled with a fairytale otherworldliness, this book creeps up on you and makes you feel so many different emotions with a luminosity as bright as the moon! - Mischa
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The Ogress and the Orphans | Kelly Barnhill | $16.99 | Allen and Unwin | 9+ Stone-in-the-Glen, once a lovely town, has fallen on hard times. Fires, floods, and other calamities have caused the townsfolk to lose all sense of what it means to be generous, and kind. Only the clever orphans of the Orphan House and the kindly Ogress at the edge of town can see how dire the town’s problems are. A new fantasy classic!
We Run Tomorrow | Nat Amoore | $16.99 | Penguin | 9+ Part novel, part graphic novel, this hybrid is an exciting adventure for readers between 9-11 years. Friends from the block, pull together when the parents start making decisions that could tear them all apart. Their shared favourite graphic novel-where kids become technology- inspires their own amazing plan! Pacey, fun and inspired, this adventure is sure to draw in even the most reluctant reader. - Dean
Garlic and the Vampire | Bree Paulsen | $16.99 | Harper Collins | 9+
Make and Create | Thomas Readett | $14.99 | Thames and Hudson | 8+
Garlic feels as though she’s always doing something wrong. But when her village of vegie folk learns that a bloodthirsty vampire has moved into the nearby castle, Garlic has to confront him. A cosy, adventuresome graphic novel!
This book is full of amazing ideas and activities, inspired by some of the world’s leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contemporary artists, from the Art Gallery of South Australia.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS If you’d like a book recommendations, send through your query via email and one of our booksellers will respond to you with a personalised selection. SPECIAL ORDERS
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The books featured in the Better Read Than Dead Mother’s Day Reading Guide have all been hand-selected and many have been reviewed by our Better Read Than Dead and Better Read Kids booksellers. Prices, publication information, event dates and event details are correct at time of publication.