Spring Reading Guide 2022

SPRING READING GUIDE 2022 265 KING ST NEWTOWN NSW 2042 | 02 9557 8700 | BOOKS@BETTERREAD.COM.AU Sixty-Seven Days | Yvonne Weldon | $29.99 | Affirm Press What a joy this novel is! Set in Redfern, the novel charts the budding romance between Evie, a young Wiradjuri woman attending uni, and James, who fall in love over the span of 67 days. The love from her large family and their connection and commitment to each other, the community and its Country emanates throughout this novel.

- Stella

The Whitewash | Siang Lu | $32.99 | UQP I fell in love with this book from the first page. Set in an mock interview style, it’s a biting and mocking witticism about society, with a bit of history of kung fu movies; this book had me laughing out loud. Complete with a full cast including the mobster, the jock stunt double, the snooping paparazzi and the triad family members.

- Lexie Mulganai | Emma Hollingsworth | $24.99 | Thames and Hudson The perfect way to relax and unwind, filled with pages of gorgeous artwork to colour in.

Each page reflects Hollingsworth’s (Mulganai) heritage and experience as a First Nations woman.

This book is not just for colouring in, but also for exploring the stories and imagery central to Hollingsworth and her community.

- Issy

RECENT BOOKS OF THE MONTH

The Stardust Thief | Chelsea Abdullah | $32.99 | Hachette It turns out there’s a formula for amazing fantasy! Layla is a notorious trader on the black market and captures the attention of a sultan, who wants her to venture into the desert and find relics. However, as an insurance policy, one of his sons must accompany her. This is the type of book you can entirely get lost in. I loved it!

- Lexie Watersong | Clarissa Goenawan | $29.99 | Scribe Goenawan is a master of literary suspense. In Watersong, Shouji, our protagonist, begins work at a mysterious company that offers ‘listening’ services to its prestigious clients. Following a complication with one of his company’s most powerful clients, Shouji must leave Akakawa.

But his girlfriend, Youko, is nowhere to be found. I devoured this novel in a single setting. A delectable, easy read!

- Carolina The Wonder of Little Things | Vince Copley | $34.99 | Harper Collins Vince and his friend Lea sat down over many cups of tea to bring us the story of his life; from childhood on a mission, to befriending Charles Perkins and fighting for his people, and playing elite sport. A truly extraordinary testament to the life of this esteemed Ngadjuri Elder and activist.

- Steph

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AUSTRALIAN FICTION 2

Written against a backdrop of a grimy, early 90s Melbourne in the heat of summer, The Diplomat is a deeply human exploration of addiction, grief and regret. I yearned to pick it back up, to see where our protagonist, Edward, would end up. Precise prose, a fast pace and a good helping of suspense make for a page turner with heart.

- Tahlia

Enclave | Claire G. Coleman | $29.99 | Hachette Coleman’s Terra Nullius and The Old Lie are not only extraordinary works of speculative fiction and fantasy, but also shed crucial life and provide unique insight into colonisation and racism. Enclave achieves this too, and also explores issues of surveillance and segregation through the compelling story of Christine, a girl living in a wall-off and sinister “enclave”.

T | Alan Fyfe | $29.99 | Transit Lounge T is a thrilling read, cut with powerful energy and strong feeling.

Timothy lives on the economic margins, using and dealing methamphetamine in Mandurah. When a friend tragically dies and T grows close to Lori-Bird his life shifts.

A lyrical and arresting portrait of characters who crave love but struggle with addiction and the tenuous yet intimate community connections it gives them.

Electric and Mad and Brave | Tom Pitts | $34.99 | Macmillan Matt Lacey is in a mental health facility working through a mess of conflicting thoughts and feelings as he writes, unwinding the story of his adolescence with the beautiful, fierce Christina. As Matt delves into his past, he has to learn to look directly at the pain and love that shaped him. This is a technicolour story about the soaring joy and numbing nightmare of being young and hopelessly in love.

The Diplomat | Chris Womersley | $32.99 | Macmillan

Settlement | Jock Serong | $32.99 | Text On the windswept point of Van Diemen’s Land, the Commandant has gathered together, the “Last Tasmanians” and orphans Whelk and Pipi, fighting for their survival against the malevolent old man.

Serong reimagines in urgent, prose the illfated exploits of George Augustus Robinson at the settlement of Wybalenna—a venture whose blinkered, selfinterested cruelty might stand for the colonial enterprise itself.

Nimblefoot | Robert Drewe | $32.99 | Penguin At the age of ten, and just short of four feet tall, a boy from Ballarat named Johnny Day became Australia’s first international sporting hero. This is his untold story - a tale of mishap, adventure, chase, chance and luck.

- Steph

Psalms for the End of the World | Cole Haddon | $32.99 | Hachette It’s 1962 and physics student Grace Pulansky thinks she has met the man of her dreams.

Then the FBI shows up, accuses him of mass-murder and they’re on the run across America’s Southwest. Spanning continents, centuries, and dimensions, this exquisitely crafted and madly inventive novel is a profound yet propulsive enquiry into the nature of reality.

The Crimson Thread | Kate Forsyth | $32.99 | Penguin Forsyth’s latest novel reimagines the myth of the Minotaur in WWII Crete. When Crete is invaded by German forces in 1941, Alenka, our protagonist, saves two Australian soldiers and childhood friends, Jack and Teddy from the blitzkrieg. A clever and modern retelling with heart.

- Carolina

Cautionary Tales for Excitable Girls | Anne Casey-Hardy | $29.99 | Simon and Schuster These stories are about the desire to rush out and meet life; about getting in over your head; about danger, and damage, and what it means to survive. A masterful debut about the terrifying thrills of innocence.

All That’s Left Unsaid | Tracey Lien | $32.99 | Harper Collins There were a dozen witnesses to Denny Tran’s brutal murder in a busy Cabramatta restaurant. So how come no one saw anything?

Combining family drama and gripping suspense, this is a study of the effects of inherited trauma and social discrimination.

Jesustown | Paul Daley | $32.99 | Allen and Unwin

Blue Hour | Sarah Schmidt | $32.99 | Hachette

The haunting, bloody Jesustown is a former mission town in remote Australia. A historian returns to the mission years later to chronicle his family’s past. Paying homage to all the tragedy and lies of colonial Australia, Jesustown is a brutal epic that takes a long, hard look at our country’s murky frontier.

- Lucy

Set over four decades and against the landscapes of the WWII and the Vietnam War, Schmidt’s highly anticipated second novel explores the lives of a mother and daughter in tandem. Both deeply moving and brutally confronting, it explores the cost of intergenerational trauma and constricting expectations. - Carolina

The Cutting | Richard McHugh | $32.99 | Penguin Lance Alcocke, heir to a fortune, forty-ish bachelor, has just lost control of his life’s work; his new mine. Among those now unemployed is young engineer Will Fulbright. This is a novel of our times. It is about money, class, race, privilege, families, friends, lovers, and corruption.

Salt and Skin | Eliza Henry-Jones | $32.99 | Ultimo Press Grief-stricken and on the verge of a breakdown, Luda Managan and her two teenagers try to make a home for themselves on a collection of harsh and haunted Scottish islands. Drawing on records of the witch trials and folk tales of the isles, Salt and Skin is full of tenderness and magic.

Everything Feels Like the End of the World | Else Fitzgerald | $29.99 | Allen and Unwin A collection of short speculative fiction exploring possible futures in an Australia not so different from our present day to one thousands of years into an unrecognisable future. Each story is anchored in grief, loss, pain and love.

CATEGORY AUSTRALIAN FICTION

Here Be Leviathans | Chris Flynn | $32.99 | UQP Venture from the storm drains under Vegas to the Alaskan wilderness; the rainforests of Queensland to the Chilean coastline. Told by animals, places, objects and even the odd human, these unique short fictions examine human behaviour from the perspective of the outsider.

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INTERNATIONAL FICTION CATEGORY

The Immortal King Rao | Vauhini Vara | $32.99 | Hachette It’s 2040 - the effects of climate change are in full force, and humanity is ruled by a dictatorial, corporate body once led by King Rao. An inimitable debut novel from ex Wall Street Journal reporter that takes a long hard look at our shared future and technological reality.

- Stella

The Last White Man | Mohsin Hamid | $32.99 | Penguin The last white man – a girl can dream, can’t she? Anders wakes up to see that overnight his skin has turned dark. This racial metamorphosis affects others – and many white men have to deal with racial injustice and confront their prejudices. A compelling and moving allegory.

- Maddy

Haven | Emma Donoghue | $32.99 | Pan Macmillan In seventh-century Ireland, three men vow to leave the world behind them. They set out in a small boat for an island their leader has seen in a dream, with only faith to guide them. What they find is the extraordinary island now known as Skellig Michael.

Haven, Donoghue’s gripping and moving novel, has her trademark psychological intensity - but this story is like nothing she has ever written before.

My Name is Yip | Paddy Crewe | $32.99 | Penguin Yip and his fiery Mama run the general store in Heron’s Creek, Georgia.

An uneventful life, until gold is discovered nearby and Yip is caught up in a grievous crime forcing him to flee. A brilliantly original story of courage and adventure on the American frontier.

The White Rock | Anna Hope | $32.99 | Penguin In a spellbinding narrative of sacrifice and survival, chaos and connection, four characters are caught up in the tides of history over three centuries and drawn to a sacred White Rock off the coast of Mexico. A breathtaking novel about what happens when the stories we lived by can no longer keep us safe.

Mercury Pictures Presents | Anthony Marra | $32.99 | Hachette The epic tale of a brilliant woman who must reinvent herself to survive, moving from Mussolini’s Italy to 1940s Los Angeles. Written with intelligence, wit, and an exhilarating sense of possibility, Mercury Pictures Presents spans many moods and tones.

Before Your Memory Fades | Toshikazu Kawaguchi | $19.99 | Pan Macmillan

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Book three in this four part Japanese series is here, and I could not have been more eager to get my hands on a copy. By this point, the series’ formula is clear - there is a magical cafe where a cup of coffee lets you travel through time, and we once again follow four new customers who seek to change something in their past. What’s unique about this book is that we get to see a new cafe with the same powers! These stories are utterly heart-warming, always intriguing and so, so profound.

- Steph

Isaac and the Egg | Bobby Palmer | $32.99 | Hachette This is a book about a lot of things - grief, hope, friendship, love. It’s also about what you’d do if you stumbled into the woods at dawn, found something extraordinary there, and decided to take it home. Sometimes, to get out of the woods, you have to go into them. Isaac and the Egg is one of the most hopeful, honest and wildly imaginative novels you will ever read, for fans of Matt Haig and Patrick Ness.

Essex Dogs | Dan Jones | $32.99 | Bloomsbury Saving Private Ryan with swords!

The eponymous Essex Dogs are an eclectic group of grizzled warriors who must rely on each other to survive King Edward III’s brutal tour of France. Jones brings the Hundred Years’ War to life in spectacularly brutal (and surprisingly funny) fashion. - Darcy

Lapvona | Ottessa Moshfegh | $32.99 | Random House This book is not for the faint of heart, or of stomach. Described as a grim fairy tale, and set in a medieval village where filth and perversity prevail, we follow the story of Marek, a shepherd boy, and a rotating cast of character. A story of human depravity, horror, and gore.

- Tahlia

Gods of Want | K-Ming Change | $29.99 | Penguin A surreal and seductive collection of stories brimming with moths, myths and mothers, nine-headed birds, ghost cousins and stormchasers. Themes of body, memory, queerness and family are explored with dark imagination.

Shrines of Gaiety | Kate Atkinson | $32.99 | Penguin A mesmerising novel set in Soho in the 1920s, when gangsters and politicians, peers and dancing girls, rubbed shoulders in a dazzling new world. The notorious queen of this glittering world is Nellie Coker, ruthless but ambitious to advance her six children.

Odd Hours | Ania Bas | $32.99 | Welbeck For Gosia, life is something that happens to other people, until she meets the man of her dreams at her work checkout counter Bas celebrates the unknown and imperfect routes to fulfilment in a timely excavation of the myth of a perfect life.

INTERNATIONAL FICTION

The Pachinko Parlour | Elisa Shua Dusapin | $24.99 | Scribe It is summer in Tokyo and Claire is tutoring 12-yearold Mieko while planning to take her grandparents back to Korea. This is a nuanced and beguiling exploration of identity and otherness.

Diary of a Void | Emi Yagi | $29.99 | Penguin A Japanese debut, where 34-year-old Ms Shibata, thoroughly fed up with gendered expectations at work, announces she’s pregnant. She’s not. Written in diary form, this novel is in turns hilarious and thoughtprovoking.

Milk Teeth | Jessica Andrews | $32.99 | Hachette A girl grows up in the north of England amid scarcity and the toxic culture of heroin chic. Then love takes her across England, France and Spain. Milk Teeth is a novel about the joy and terror of taking risks and a search for bodily autonomy.

The Queens of Sarmiento Park | Camila Sosa Villada | $29.99 | Hachette Auntie Encarna’s house is the queerest boarding house in the world. For Camila, it is home.

When Encarna finds a baby boy and brings him home, the forces of oppression, prejudice and fear surround the family.

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FANTASY / CRIME

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau | Silvia MorenoGarcia | $32.99 | Hachette The daughter of a madman, a melancholic overseer and a motley group of part-humans... this is a dreamy reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set in 19th century Mexico.

Never the Wind | Francesco Dimitri | $19.99 | Titan A bold, lyrical fantasy shadowed by gothic undertones; it follows Luca, a newly blind teenage boy, on his quest to uncover more about the feral Wanderer.

Luca’s story, alongside the pure evocation of Italy and bittersweet unveiling of family secrets make this book great.

- Lucy

Babel | R.F. Kuang | $32.99 | Harper Collins This book is the best dark academia book I’ve read. Robin is plucked from his home in Canton and sent to Oxford to study the language of magic. Kuang deftly works through colonialism and imperialism through language and immaculate world building (and secret socities)!

- Lexie

Dark Music | David Lagercrantz | $32.99 | Hachette The launch of a new series inspired by Sherlock Holmes. A murder investigation brings together two unlikely allies in a race to uncover a shadowy international conspiracy.

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Lying Beside You | Michael Robotham | $32.99 | Hachette Twenty years ago, Cyrus’family was murdered, and his brother was the killer. Cyrus, now a forensic psychologist, is called to a crime scene where a young witness can tell who is lying. A breathtaking thriller that will keep you guessing!

Wolfsong | TJ Klune | $34.99 | Pan Macmillan Ox was 16 when the Bennett family moved in next door; a family who can transform into wolves at will. Years later, a murder occurs and the youngest boy in the family returns.

The first of three novels in a gripping new series.

The Axe Woman | Håkan Nesser | $34.99 | Macmillan Sweden 2012; Inspector Barbarotti returns to work after a terrible personal tragedy to investigate a cold case. But without a body and no chance of interviewing his prime suspect, he must use all the ingenuity at his disposal.

The Invisible | Peter Papathanasiou | $32.99 | Hachette Burnt-out from policework, Manolis flies from Australia to Greece for a holiday. There, he learns of the disappearance of an ‘invisible’ - a local man who lives without a scrap of paperwork. This is a fresh, gripping tale of uncovering a dark, long-forgotten practice.

Murder in Old Bombay | Nev March | $34.99 | Pan Macmillan Two women fall from a university’s clock tower in broad daylight and CaptainJim is asked to investigate what happened. Based on real events, and set against the vibrant backdrop of colonial India, March’s lyrical debut brings this tumultuous historical age to life.

Desire | Jessie Cole | $34.99 | Text Publishing I was drawn to this book for its complex portrayal of the nature of relationships and power.

Jessie Cole is in her late thirties when she meets an older man and falls into a passionate, fraught, and uneven relationship.

What follows is an unabashed, thrilling exploration of desire, and the upheaval of vulnerability, strength, loss and regeneration it so often inspires.

- Daisy

Evergreen: The Botanical Life of a Plant Punk | Tim Entwisle | $39.99 | Thames and Hudson A wildly rich memoir showcasing the amalgam of nature, science and culture that has shaped both Tim Entwisle and every great botanic garden he created.

I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki | Baek Sehee | $29.99 | Bloomsbury This might be the JUICIEST book I’ve ever read. Recording your sessions with your therapist? Even when she tells you it’s weird and to stop? And going back and analysing them afterwards? I’m obsessed. While you could come at it as a sad book with room for self reflection, let me assure you- it’s also a wild ride. Think of it as a chooseyour-own-adventure.

- Lexie

Harold Holt | Ross Walker | $34.99 | Black Inc Books

Smart, Stupid and Sixty | Nigel Marsh | $34.99 | Penguin

Harold Holt was a pivotal prime minister in our history.

In this evocative, intimate and deeply researched biography, Ross Walker captures the worlds in which Holt moved and the people close to him.

In his memoir for his sixth decade on earth, Nigel ponders ageing well, sex, parenting adult children, his parents’ passing, and the secret to his living a happy life. It is by turns humorous, poignant and life-affirming,

The Summertime of Our Dreams | Michael Pascoe | $32.99 | Hachette

Bear Woman | Karolina Ramqvist | $32.99 | Allen and Unwin

A moving memoir about Pascoe’s relationship with Jim, his friend since boarding school in Queensland, as he faces up to terminal illness.

This is an unforgettable celebration of life.

For readers of Cusk and Taddeo, Bear Woman is a beautifully wrought memoir, in which she examines motherhood and the female experience, and the life of a 1500s woman; abandoned.

Don’t Look Away | Danielle Laidley | $34.99 | Harper Collins Laidley harboured a secret for nearly 50 years; knowing she was female but working in elite football.

An unflinching account of what it’s like to know you don’t fit into your body.

CATEGORY BIOGRAPHY

The Girl in the Green Dress | Jeni Hayes and Dr George Blair-West | $32.99 | Hachette An unforgettable memoir from a woman who refused to be silenced.

Haynes is an inspiration and her bravery shows how MPD or DID saved her life in the face of abuse.

The Crane Wife | CJ Hauser | $35.00 | Penguin In this intimate, frank and funny memoir in essays, CJ Hauser releases herself from her story of ‘how life was supposed to be’. She goes looking for more honest ways of living, for new definitions of love.

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AUSTRALIAN CATEGORY STUDIES

The Age of Seeds | Fiona McMillan-Webster | $34.99 | Thames and Hudson A history of seeds, of how they have fed, clothed, and cured us for millennia, and a story about the future of seeds. McMillan-Webster explores how monoculture and climate change have made seeds more fragile. Engaging and beautifully written!

- Darcy

We Come With This Place | Debra Dank | $29.99 | Allen and Unwin Debra Dank, a proud Gudanji/ Wakaja women has given us a profound tribute to her family and Gudanji Country. You will be confronted with racism, pain, the impact of the Stolen Generation and then healing through love, kindness, kinship and connection to country.

- Reem

Plagued | Simon Benson | $34.99 | Pantera Press This is the inside story of Australia’s two years of hell, when the country was besieged by crisis after crisis, and a rolling series of challenges and setbacks. Plagued goes behind the scenes to reveal how critical decisions were made.

Black Lives, White Law | Russell Marks | $34.99 | Black Inc. With vivid case studies and drawing on a deep sense of history, Black Lives, White Law explores Australia’s horrific record of locking up First Nations people.

Curlews on Vulture Street | Darryl Jones | $32.99 | NewSouth Despite the noise, heat, dust and fumes, the ceaseless movement, light and toxins, many birds successfully live their lives among us. Jones, an urban ecologist, reveals the lives of our most common birds.

Badness | Gary Jubelin | $34.99 | Harper Collins As a cop, Jubelin used to sit on one side of the interview room table, facing murderers, child abductors and rapists.

Now he explores what it’s like from the other side; on what drives people to badness.

The Lucky Laundry | Nathan Lynch | $34.99 | Harper Collins In The Lucky Laundry, financial crime expert Nathan Lynch delves deep inside this hidden world to explain how dark money has infected the lives of ordinary people - and tainted Australian democracy. He opens the curtain on the hidden world of financial intelligence, where crooks and spooks play a cat-and-mouse game inside the world’s black money markets.

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Life with Birds | Bronwyn Rennex | $29.99 | Upswell It is a privilege to be inside Rennex’s strange and wonderful mind. This experimental memoir or “suburban lyric” is composed of diary entries, letters, prose, army records, Google searches – all threaded together to explore the too often ignored domestic side of Australian military history. Despite dealing with heavy themes – her father’s death, her mother’s grief, the pain of memory – Rennex also weaves in hilarious notes of unhinged humour – like little balms of ecstatic weirdness along the way.

- Maddy

Humanity’s Moment | Joëlle Gergis | $34.99 | Black Inc. Joëlle takes us through the science in the IPCC report with unflinching honesty, explaining what it means for our future, while sharing her personal reflections on bearing witness to the heartbreak of the climate emergency unfolding in real time.

We, the Oppressors | Dr Jack Davy | $34.99 | Hachette This is a razor-looks at how throughout history we have inflicted oppression on others for our own advantage. Societies are designed to support the status of those in power, which comes at the expense of those without it.

Davy’s analysis opens up levels of systematic oppressions. - Leona

Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws | Adrienne Mayor | $34.99 | NewSouth Mayor is renowned for exploring the borders of history, science, archaeology, anthropology, and popular knowledge to find historical realities and scientific insights embedded in myth, legends, and folklore. Flying Snakes and Griffin Claws is a treasury of fifty of her most amazing and amusing discoveries.

INTERNATIONAL NON-FICTION

Bad Gays | Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller | $29.99 | Bloomsbury Comedic moments and entertaining writing give way to a nuanced, scholarly deep dive into the overlooked ‘bad gays’ of history, from messy and complicated characters to the downright villainous. A complicated history we might just be ready for.

- Tahlia

What We Owe the Future | William Macaskill | $32.99 | Bloomsbury

The Scrap Iron Flotilla | Mike Carlton | $34.99 | Penguin When WWII broke out, the British asked Australia for help. With some misgivings, we sent five destroyers to beef up the British Royal Navy. That flotilla is now an immortal part of Australian naval legend, and this is its story.

Pharaohs of the Sun | Guy De La Bedoyere | $34.99 | Hachette A history of “The Climax of Egypt” that tears away the gold and glamour to show how some of the first great historical personalities ruled Egypt ruthlessly for 250 years between 1550 BC and 1295 BC. The book shows how the folly of power and hubris is a story for all times.

Big Snake Little Snake | DBC Pierre | $29.99 | Allen and Unwin Big Snake Little Snake is a cascade of true stories examining the nature of gambling, the love affair between gambler and game and the mindset of obsessive practitioners.

A meditation on the ever-constant allure of risk, fortune and fate, and on everyday odds and chance.

The fate of the world is in our hands. In What We Owe The Future, philosopher MacAskill argues for longtermism, that idea that positively influencing the distant future is a key moral priority of our time.

If we put humanity’s course to right, our grandchildren’s grandchildren will thrive, knowing we did everything we could to give them a world full of justice, hope and beauty.

Pretend You’re In Tokyo | Michelle Mackintosh | $19.99 | Harper Collins Michelle Mackintosh spent three months of the year travelling, drawing and writing in Japan. Tokyo is one of the most vibrant and fascinating cities in the world; a place where traditional gardens and temples are set against neon jungles and looming skyscrapers. One visit to this electric, eclectic metropolis is sure to leave a lasting impression. This is the ultimate inspirational guidebook for anyone wishing they were somewhere else.

- Jimmy

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COOKING / LIFESTYLE / ART

Persiana Everyday | Sabrina Ghayour | $39.99 | Hachette More than 100 crowd-pleasing recipes for everyday eating.

Designed to ensure maximum flavour with the greatest of ease, Persiana Everyday is full of generous, inviting and delicious recipes to cook again and again for family and friends.

Mezcla | Ixta Belfrage | $55.00 | Penguin Books Ottolenghi’s protégé returns!

From chilli roasted mushroom skewers to prawn lasagne with habanero oil, Mezcla is sure to get you salivating.

It’s also just a supremely aesthetic book – perfect for showing off on your coffee table.

- Maddy

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The Kitchen Garden | Lucy Mora | $45.00 | Thames and Hudson Focusing on fifty-five plants destined for the dinner plate, The Kitchen Garden is an illustrated guide to growing edible plants from sowing to harvesting. Learn when to sow, what to grow and how to make your delicious harvest into a meal.

COOK | Karen Martini | $100.00 | Hardie Grant In COOK: The Only Book You Need in the Kitchen, acclaimed chef Karen Martini shares a lifetime of cooking, eating and learning about food. This is an essential collection of more than 1000 recipes, from old favourites to brilliant new dishes.

More Fish, More Veg | Tom Walton | $39.99 | Murdoch Books As simple, delicious and practical as it sounds, More Fish, More Veg puts sustainable seafood and seasonal veg at the centre of your dinner plate. It takes a less-fuss, max-flavour, family-friendly approach to getting delicious meals on your table.

Around the Table | Julia Busuttil Nishimura | $44.99| Pan Macmillan Julia is the aesthetic Melbournemillennial-mother of my dreams.

Her recipes are influenced by her Maltese heritage, the comings and goings of Melbourne’s seasons, and the use of simple ingredients. A feast for the belly, and for the heart.

- Stella

Garden of Your Dreams | Charlie Albone | $39.99 | Murdoch Books Let Charlie walk you through the process of turning your outdoor space into your own personal oasis. An inspirational and practical guide to complete outdoor transformations - from the smallest urban courtyard to a rural paradise.

Dreaming the Land | Marie Geissler | $100.00 | Thames and Hudson Dreaming the Land is a vital reference that offers readers a valuable introduction to Aboriginal culture and a vividly illustrated, easy-to-read history of the Australian Aboriginal art movement from remote Australia.

AUSTRALIAN BETTER READFICTION KIDS

The Shop Train | Josie Wowolla Boyle and Paul Seden (illus.) | $44.99| Pan Macmillan | 3+ This is a lyrical and beautifully rendered story about the Tea and Sugar train, which provided essential supplies and services to people building the Trans-Atlantic Railway and living in remote communities from 1915.

Filled with beautiful muted drawings of the Australian landscape and historical families, this is a wholesome and stylish children’s book that will entertain while also providing some historical context for Australia’s past. Written by Josie Wowolla Boyle, a Wonghi storyteller, singer and artist, and illustrated by Paul Seden, a descendant from the Wuthathi and Muralag people of North Queensland.

Who’s Hiding? | Satoru Onishi | $17.99 | Walker Books | 1+ Who’s hiding? Who’s crying?

Who’s backwards? The answers to these questions are not so simple. In this cute board book, something small changes on every page. Young children will love spotting the changes as they get to know animal names, colours, emotions and counting.

My Strange Shrinking Parents | Zeno Sworder | $25.99 | T&H | 5+ One boy’s parents travel from far-off lands to improve their son’s life. But what happens next is unexpected. In this heart-warming story, Sworder reflects on migrant parents’ sacrifices to create a universal story about what it means to give to those you love.

How Do You Say I Love You? | Ashleigh Barton and Martina Heiduczek (illus.) | $22.99 | Harper Collins | 3+ How Do You Say I Love You? is an exuberant book that celebrates the many different ways we say ‘I love you’, in languages from around the world. A heartwarming look at how we tell our loved ones how much we care.

Five Bears | Catherine Rayner | $26.99 | Murdoch Books | 3+ Bear is walking through the forest, minding his own business when he comes across other bears; but they’re different. Soon the bears realize that perhaps they aren’t that different after all and could be friends. A gorgeously illustrated book about friendship and looking past differences.

Free Kid to Good Home | Hiroshi Ito | $17.99 | Walker Books | 6+ In this comical twist on sibling rivalry, a girl decides she needs a new family—so she writes Free Kid on a box and waits in the street for some better parents to choose her. Translated from Japanese, this accessible story is perfect for kids experiencing sibling rivalry.

World of Weird | Tom Adams | $29.99 | Murdoch Books | 9+ Dr. McCreebor was a collector of the strange and creepy. This is his notebook - filled with the dark and disturbing stories from his travels. From shrunken heads to witches’ charms, saints’ blood to graverobbers’ remains, this book is a peek into our grisly past.

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BETTER READ KIDS

The Wondrous Prune | Ellie Clements | $14.99 | Bloomsbury | 8+ Prune is trying to settle in a new town with her mum and brother, when her drawings start coming to life! Her new talent might just save her family when her brother is in danger.

The first in a series about remarkable children from the same neighbourhood, The Wondrous Prune is poignant and surprising!

Wylah: The Koorie Warrior | Jordan Gould and Richard Pritchard | $19.99 | A&U | 12+ Wylah is part of a loving tribe with her grandmother, parents, and a menagerie of pets.She teaches the youngest tribe members art, and how to mix ochre, while attempting to rescue them from falling down caves and throwing paint on each other. But things escalate when a dragon army comes, and she must unite other tribes and rescue her family. The first in an exciting new First Nations series!

- Lexie

While the Storm Rages | Phil Earle | $18.99 | Walker Books | 9+ As Noah’s dad goes off to fight in WWII, he asks his son to honour one vital promise: that he will keep their dog, Winn, safe. So begins the most thrilling of adventures, involving a stolen ark, a motley crew of animals and a crashed Spitfire, as Noah and friends fight to save more animals from being put to sleep.

The Brink | Holden Sheppard | $24.99 | Text Publishing | 14+ Sheppard’s novel is a captivating, true to life story of a group of teenagers on a schoolies trip; it’s a compelling commentary on Aussie masculinity and queer identity; it’s a murder mystery and Lord of the Flies. The Brink follows Leonard, who wants to be a man, abandon his anxiety and fit in with the popular kids; Kaiya, who just wants a week to blow off steam and lose control, and Mason, who definitely absolutely is not gay... This book will grip you! - Steph

Tiny Tales: An Anthology of Writing by Better Read Kids Aged 6-17 | $20.00 | Better Read Than Dead Tiny Tales is the 13th anthology written by our very own Better Read Kids; kids across Australia aged 6-17 who entered our annual writing competition. The theme this year had a twist - stories had to be 300 words or less; they had to be TINY! Compiled here are the 300 stories they wrote, each demonstrating excellent creativity and imagination. From fantastical tales set in outer space, featuring time travel and magic, to real life stories about change, growing up and moving places, these stories are captivating, diverse and a true testament to the future of Australian writing!

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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.

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The books featured in the Better Read Than Dead Spring 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.