Father's Day Reading Guide 2020

265 KING ST NEWTOWN NSW 2042 | 02 9557 8700 | BOOKS@BETTERREAD.COM.AU

INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA

Homeland Calling | Edited

by Ellen Van Neerven | $24.99 | Hardie Grant

Talkin’ Up to the White Woman | Aileen MoretonRobinson | $24.99 | UQP

Desert Pea Media works with First Nations young people in regional and rural Australia and has compiled here a collection of insightful, expressive and utterly captivating lyrics from hip-hop workshops conducted on the road. As compelling in written verse as they are in song, the pieces in this anthology speak of Country, history, survival, wellbeing and community, introduced by Baker Boy. - Steph

Twenty years after its publication, no work on Australian feminism compares to Talkin’ Up to the White Woman. It’s difficult to think of a more impactful book, in terms of interrogating my own feminism and the embodied ways white race privilege is tied to colonialism and dispossession.

Aileen Moreton-Robinson is a Goenpul woman and academic whose work I’d urge everyone to read!

- Emma Co.

Guwayu - For All Times | Edited by Dr. Jeanine Lean | $29.99 | Thames and Hudson “The Australian literary landscape needs this bold, brave intervention to wake it up from the 232-year slumber and the dream of the settler mythscape. Guwayu breaks the silence—feel the beauty— hear our words.” Guwayu – For All Times is a collection of First Nations poems commissioned by Red Room Poetry over the past 16 years. It is a beautiful, generous, vital collection, edited by Wiradjuri poet, Dr. Jeanine Leane, and featuring 63 poems from 36 First Nations poets in 12 First Nations languages, including works by Ali Cobby Eckermann, Bruce Pascoe, Ellen Van Neerven, Lorna Munro, Paul Collis, Kirli Saunders, Lionel Fogarty, Evelyn Araluen, Claire G. Coleman, Samuel Wagan Watson and many more. To read these poems and sit with their strength and their truths is an experience I’m deeply grateful for. Immense and ground-breaking.

- Emma Co.

A Question of Colour | Patti Lees with Adam C. Lees | $22.99 | Magabala A Question of Colour provides a firsthand account of Pattie’s experiences as a part of the Stolen Generations during Australia’s assimilationist policy era. It recounts her survival following a decade of sexual, physical and emotional abuse as a Ward of the State from the age of 10. A Question of Colour is a deeply moving and powerful testimony to the resilience of a young girl, her identity and her journey to belong.

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Living on Stolen Land | Ambelin Kwaymullina | $22.99 | Magabala Directed at a broad audience, Living on Stolen Land is a loving, pressing, radiant work of art, instruction and truth. Living on Stolen Land is a poetic manifesto dismantling colonial thinking and challenging non-Indigenous people to come to terms with Australia’s colonial past and the current state of systemic racism. Ambelin Kwaymullina is an Aboriginal writer, illustrator and law academic. She comes from the Palyku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

- Emma Co.

Tell Me Why | Archie Roach | $32.99 | Simon and Schuster Archie Roach does not hold back in revealing the inner turmoil of his life, and the many struggles he has had to face as a member of the Stolen Generations.

From Archie’s brief moment as a tent boxer, to a short stint in Pentridge prison, to creating music with his friend Paul Kelly, Tell Me Why is accompanied by his latest album of the same name. 18 songs for 18 chapters. This book also has a wonderful photo collection of Archie, and has just been released in a new paperback format.

- Angelita

Tony Birch has written some incredible books – Common People, Blood and Ghost River – but The White Girl is my favourite and one of the best Australian books of last year. The book takes place in the 1960s, when the devastating policy of taking Indigenous children from their families was widespread. Odette is raising her granddaughter Sissy on the fringe of a small country town when a new sergeant arrives, resolved to “protect” and “uplift” Sissy and children like her. Truth-telling historical fiction like The White Girl is so vital to this country’s future. As always, Tony Birch is insightful and intelligent in his critiques of Australian society and history. It’s clear, however, that not just his politics and his knowledge, but his heart and his grief are all over these pages. This is a story of love, family, women, protection and terrible wrong-doing: it is brilliantly told and completely unforgettable.

- Emma Co.

INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA

The White Girl | Tony Birch | $24.99 | University of Queensland Press

Dear readers, We at Better Read Than Dead acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation as the traditional custodians of this place we now call Newtown. We pay our respects to the Elders, past, present and emerging, of the Gadigal people; and to the Elders, past, present and emerging, of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

We acknowledge Country as a starting point to initiating truthful conversations and turning our words into action. To reaffirm our commitment to acknowledging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the first storytellers of this land, we are pleased to reveal our new Indigenous Australia section!

Futhermore, to deepen our ongoing support for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF), from September 2020 on we will select a fabulous new release book each month and donate a portion of its sales revenue from that month to the ILF. The inaugural ILF Book of the Month is Tony Birch’s The White Girl in it’s brand new format.

The team at Better Read x

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AUSTRALIAN FICTION

New Australian Fiction 2020 | ed. Rebecca Starford | $24.95 | Kill Your Darlings These stories, compiled by Australian arts and culture magazine Kill Your Darlings and coming from writers all around Australia, explore how characters respond to some of the most intriguing and urgent issues of our time, including genetic experimentation, nuclear fallout, and ongoing and destructive white-settler colonialism. These are also stories about human connection, finding empathy with the natural environment and each other, and the enduring spirit of our society.

Contributors include; Maame Blue, Claire G. Coleman, Elizabeth Flux, Katerina Gibson, Jack Kirne, Daria Lebedyeva, Donna Mazza, Laura McPhee-Browne, Sophie Overett, KA Rees, Mirandi Riwoe, Mykaela Saunders, Laura Stortenbeker, Jessie Tu, Jack Vening and Madeleine Watts.

The Hunted | Gabriel Bergmoser | $29.99 | Harper Collins An electrifying thriller that grabs you by the seat of your pants and doesn’t let go until the very last page. It is very Australian in that scary good-onya mate kind of way.

Set in a small unknown town where the men like to hunt and city folks are ridiculed for being that- city folks.

The shocking game that is played when out-of-towners turn up is terrifying. Pacey, suspenseful and visually rich, I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes a movie. This is a book that really gets your blood pumping!

- Dean

The Labyrinth | Amanda Lohrey | $29.99 | Text A powerful multilayered novel of a woman exploring the building of a labyrinth in her backyard by the sea.

Following her son Daniel’s incarceration in prison near a coastal backwater, Erica upends her life moving to a small town near the prison to support him. Lohrey’s imagining of the prison, town and its inhabitants is raw, lucid and unerring.

An unsteadying read of strength, love and brutality that is provocatively inconclusive in its closing.

Poetic and enormous.

- Virginia

Kokomo | Victoria Hannan | $32.99 | Hachette Mina leaves a promising job and relationship in London to head back to Melbourne, when her agoraphobic mother finally leaves the house after seven years of seclusion. The story takes place mostly in Mina’s head and is handled with finesse, balancing her wants, desires, worries and fears with equal delicacy. But when the book unexpectedly shifts to her mother Elaine’s perspective, the gears ramp up and it becomes rich and rather interesting.

- Dean

Bluebird | Malcolm Knox | $32.99 | Allen and Unwin A house perched impossibly on a cliff overlooking the stunning, iconic Bluebird Beach. Prime real estate, yet somehow not real estate at all, The Lodge is, like those who live in it, falling apart. Gordon Grimes has become the accidental keeper of this last relic of an endangered world, alongside a fantastic cast of other family members. A stunning new novel about longing, regret, redemption and the terrible legacy of decades of secrets buried in an Australian beachside suburb.

The Burning Island | Jock Serong | $32.99 | Text Publishing Eliza Grayling, born in Sydney when the colony itself was still an infant, has lived there all her thirty-two years.

Too tall, too stern—too old, now—for marriage, she looks out for her reclusive father, Joshua, and wonders about his past. There is a shadow there: an old enmity. When Joshua Grayling is offered the chance for a reckoning with his nemesis, Eliza is horrified. It involves a sea voyage with an uncertain, probably violent, outcome. Insanity for an elderly blind man, let alone a drunkard. Unable to dissuade her father from his mad fixation, Eliza begins to understand she may be forced to go with him. Then she sees the vessel they will be sailing on. And in that instant, the voyage of the Moonbird becomes Eliza’s mission too.

Irresistible prose, unforgettable characters and magnificent, epic storytelling: The Burning Island delivers everything readers have come to expect from Jock Serong. It may be his most moving, compelling novel yet.

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The Mother Fault | Kate Mildenhall | $32.99 | Simon and Schuster

The Tolstoy Estate | Steven Conte | $32.99 | Harper Collins

Alex returns to NZ when his filmmaker parents die suddenly. Struggling with this reality, away from his hot-shot music industry job in Dubai, Alex and his twin sister Amy embark on a road trip along State Highway one. Along the way the twins who have very little in common, wrestle with grief while unpicking their past to try an understand their family a little better. Confident and cruisy, State Highway One is a strong debut.

- Dean

Exhilarating, non-stop movement through a dystopian Australian landscape that is near-distantly familiar and scary. Mim’s husband has gone missing and the department is doing nothing to find him.

With protecting her two children in mind, Mim will stop at nothing to discover the reality of her husband’s whereabout and hopefully not drag down too many people along the way. High-paced and thrilling this is a dystopian adventure that will get your heart racing.

- Dean

In the first year of the German invasion of Russia, a German military doctor is assigned to establish a field hospital There he encounters a hostile aristocratic Russian writer who has been left in charge of the estate. Over the course of six weeks, in the terrible winter of 1941, everything starts to unravel. An engrossing, intense and compelling exploration of the horror and brutality of conflict, coupled with a powerful and bittersweet love story.

AUSTRALIAN FICTION / NOOK BOOKS

State Highway One | Sam Coley | $32.99 | Hachette | Winner of the Richell Prize

NEW IN THE NOOK Emergent Strategy | Adrienne Brown | $32.00 | AK Press How can we shape a future when our present shifts like sand beneath our feet? Adrienne Maree Brown, a social justice facilitator, healer, and Octavia Butler scholar, suggests that rather than resisting change, we must attune ourselves to the ever-mutating, ever-emergent patterns that shape and re-shape both ourselves and the world we live in. Overflowing with love and generosity and replete with hard-won wisdom, Brown’s field guide to social activism and transformative justice is both visionary and pragmatic. - Zachary

Braiding Sweetgrass | Robin Wall Kimmerer | $22.99 | Penguin I’m at a loss for words to describe this book. Immaculate, staggering, nourishing, perspective-altering – it is a masterpiece. Kimmerer braids her perspective as a botany professor with Potawatomi knowledge, cosmology and kinship with nature to form a series of wonderful, interconnected essays. - Emma Co. In an era of mounting ecological devastation, we need books that remind us, that insist upon, our relationship with the rest of the living world. With each exquisite essay, Kimmerer celebrates the relationships that sustain all planetary life, the gifts of the earth, and our extraordinary capacity to reciprocate those gifts in turn.

- Zachary

A History of My Brief Body | Billy-Ray Belcourt | $29.99 | Two Dollar Radio Billy-Ray Belcourt, a Driftpile Cree author and the youngest-ever recipient of the Griffin Prize, has returned with a stunning and inimitable collection of essays. Reminiscent of Ocean Vuong’s striking lyric prose and José Esteban Muñoz’s deft weaving of autobiography, theory, and history, the collection expertly wrestles with the complex intersections of queerness, intimacy, love, indigeneity, and colonialism. The pleasure of seeing Billy-Ray orient his work around a rich genealogy of queer theorists, while simultaneously realising that he is coming into his own as the inheritor and progenitor of that genealogy, is rare and deeply moving.

- Zachary

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INTERNATIONAL FICTION

Betty | Tiffany McDaniel | $32.99 | Hachette This most magnificent book feels like rubberneck reading. Its trauma after trauma but its written so beautifully you just can’t stop reading. This is the story of Betty Carpenter growing up in the hills of Breathed Ohio. Although I was constantly scarred by the content, the balance of exquisite Cherokee lore made this book fascinating and dreamy amongst the violence and I absolutely adored everything here. It made me cry, breathe deep, sigh and smile as it is just perfect.

Not for everyone, if A Little Life was not for you then don’t reach for Betty but if you like a strong family epic filled with equal parts beauty and trauma then you will adore Betty just as I have. One of my favourite reads of the year and one I’ll never forget.

Mayflies | Andrew O’Hagan | $29.99 | Allen and Unwin Written in two distinct parts: small town Scotland, high school graduates in 1986, and, thirty years later in middle class middle age 2017. O’Hagan has created the rebellious vitality of youthful passions, the apex of which is found in a Manchester music festival weekend, and the shifted experience of middle life, and growing awareness of mortality. Narrated by James, a bright bookish kid, the novel examines the loving bonds that can exist between male friends.

Masterful use of dialogue and evocative imagining of place.

- Virginia

The Midnight Library | Matt Haig | $29.99 | Allen and Unwin The novel tells the story of a woman who gains the opportunity to re-live her life almost like a chooseyour-own-adventure story.

Beset by regret, self-blame and a sense of failure, our heroine Nora winds up in a magical library that holds one episode of her life’s experience and possibility in each volume. Nora’s sojourn into the parts of her past does not turn out the way she expected. In fact, it seems as though some of the aspects of her life that she had perceived as failings were instead a way to a path that was perfectly suited to Nora. - Virginia

The Abstainer | Ian Mcguire | $32.99 | Simon and Schuster A rough, rollicking and gritty read through the backstreets of Manchester 1867. An underground war for Irish independence is steeped in dark violence with back stabbing traitors and turns of Irish cheek.

Dolye an Irish American arrives in Manchester joining a secret society- the Fenians intent of ending British rule in Ireland.

Constable O’Connor left a life of debauchery to start again in Manchester.

McGuire is a master storyteller, recounting this historical tale of revenge which is darkly entertaining.

- Dean

Homeland Elegies | Ayad Akhtar | $32.99 | Hachette This magnificent, vital, sonorous novel of a family rings with truth. Ayad Akhtar presents family in all its depths, complexities and humour. The changing experience of growing up a Muslim from Pakistan under the nascent shadow of Trump (who Ayad’s father adores), to the shifting fortunes each decade brings as that grim shadow covers the world. This is a conversation of politics, power, origins, tradition, belonging and becoming. A monumental work of fiction of America gorgeously told.

- Virginia

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- Dean

Anxious People | Fredrik Backman | $32.99 | Penguin In a small town in Sweden it appears to be an ordinary day. But look more closely, and you’ll see a mysterious masked figure approaching a bank...

Two hours later, chaos has descended. A bungled attempted robbery has developed into a hostage situation - and the offender is refusing to communicate their demands to the police. The author of A Man Called Ove is back with a riotous comedy about a hostage-situation at a Swedish apartment viewing

Meanwhile in Dopamine City | DBC Pierre | $29.99 | Allen and Unwin Pierre’s trademark fearlessness and inventiveness blasts away the cobwebs in this this big-tech satire.

Hapless single-parent Lonnie Cush has caved and bought his rebellious young daughter her first smartphone. A tsunami of social media pressure upends their lives. Lonnie’s story and newsfeed appear side-by-side on the page, beautifully rendering the battle between Real Life & Virtual Life vying for our frayed attention. dopamine bomb!

- John

INTERNATIONAL FICTION

Sisters | Daisy Johnson | $29.99 | Penguin Reminiscent of Shirley Jackson, Sisters is haunting, evocative and mysterious. I wanted to savour it yet I couldn’t stop reading. July and September are sisters. Complicated and reliant on each other. A mystery binds them. Their house holds them. I can’t say too much because the twists are so dynamic, I may just give it all away. A complex masterpiece. I can’t wait for everyone to read this and love it as much as I did.

- Dean

Utopia Avenue | David Mitchell | $32.99 | Hachette Mitchell in top form is a joy, and Utopia Avenue sees him in top top form. A pulsating, kaleidoscopic romp through the sex, drugs and psychedelic rock-‘n-roll of the late 1960s, with just a touch of the supernatural thrown in for good measure. Players of Mitchell-Uber-Novel-Bingo are richly rewarded, with a cavalcade of recognisable characters reappearing from previous (and no-doubt future) novels in this freewheeling trip of a novel. You don’t need master horologist Marinus to perform psychosurgery to restore your tired soul; all you need is Utopia Avenue! Fantastic, from the first note to the last.

- John A big blast of a novel; clever, well-formed and bent. No one crafts words like Mitchell though. He has a clever way of writing sentences which are original and breezy yet layered with multiple meanings and he throws in shout-outs to his owns books and takes you on a far-out ride.

- Dean

The Pull of the Stars | Emma Donoghue | $32.99 | Pan Macmillan What can the 1918 Flu Pandemic reveal to us about the interaction between women and illness? Set amidst the backdrop of a stifling maternity ward in Dublin at the height of the 1918 Influenza and the ravages of war, Donohue illuminates the reality of immense pressure placed on women in times of global crisis. We follow Nurse Julia Power as she tends continually to a hospital ward of women who are both pregnant and infected. The novel grapples with eerily familiar themes of healthcare, inequality and access and gender.

If like me, you find yourself seeking comfort and answers to the current unprecedent times within history, this novel is sure to provide with moments of beauty, but too a stark warning for our uncertain future that looms overhead.

- Katherine

The Lying Life of Adults | Elena Ferrante | $32.99 | Allen and Unwin Ferrante delivers a powerful work of fiction with its musings and reflections on relationships and toxicity, family dynamics and the power secrets.

Ferrante’s prose is as dynamic and compelling as ever as she navigates questions of love, beauty and familial ties through Giovanna. Set in Naples, Ferrante has once again created a novel that is not only to be read but also treasured.

- Lucy

Ms Ice Sandwich | Katherine Mieko Kawakami | $19.99 | Allen and Unwin Kawakami’s Breasts and Eggs has been a recent hit but in my heart this is so much more of a love. A boy is taken by and obsesses over a sandwich maker with ice blue eyeshadow. He visits and watches her working in the supermarket everyday questioning this adult world with his innocent questions.

Behind the quirk and humour is a loneliness that Kawakami expertly realises through her sparse prose.

An adorably deep novella. - Dean

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CRIME FICTION / SCI-FI FANTASY

The Girl in the Mirror | Rose Carlyle | $29.99 | Allen and Unwin

The Night Whistler | Greg Woodland | $32.99 | Text Publishing

A twisted psychological thriller with an unreliable narrator that will keep you guessing into the early hours. The race is on to produce an heir and inherit the family fortune.

The two eldest, twins Summer Rose and Iris set sail on their fathers’ yacht but one dies overnight and the other assumes their sister’s identity. Who is who and who will fall pregnant? Carlyle’s writing is addictiveandwillhaveyoureading compulsively.

- Dean

Hal and his little brother have just come to live in Moorabool. They’re exploring the creek when they find the body of a dog. Constable Mick Goodenough is also new in town—and one of his dogs has gone missing. Nostalgic yet cleareyed, simmering with small-town menace, Greg Woodland’s wildly impressive debut populates the rural Australia of the 1960s with memorable characters and almost unbearable tension.

The Night Swim | Megan Goldin | $32.99 | Penguin

The Space Between Worlds | Micaiah Johnson | $32.99 | Hachette

The Night Swim grips you and doesn’t let go! After Rachel Krall’s true crime podcast becomes wildly popular she becomes the face for many who seek to right personal injustices.

When her investigations begin to come back to haunt her and she realises someone is following her, she begins to unravel surprising connections between past cases and her present reality. A deeply unsettling read and an excellent new Australian psychological drama.

- Lucy

The Space Between Worlds melds intricate world building with beautifully realised characters, resulting in an epic reading experience. As multiverse travel is suddenly possible, Cara’s doppelgangers have a knack for dying, despite this Cara has been able to survive on earth until she is decided as a perfect candidate for multi-verse travel and whisked away from the wastelands. This is truly an exciting debut and an excellent read!

- Lucy

Little Eyes | Samanta Schweblin | $29.99 | Allen and Unwin Little Eyes takes us for a dip in a pool called Surrendered Privacy, through the new global craze for Kentukis; small, mechanical stuffed animals equipped with cameras for eyes and wheels for feet. Often darkly and absurdly funny and sometimes confrontingly sad, Samanta Schweblin’s new novel moulds humanity’s obsession with technology into a web of interconnected stories around the globe.

- James Argentinian author Schweblin writes with a sinister edge. This is the creepy near future. With vignettes from each corner of the globe, we see the tender parts of humanity that tear at the edges and the many ways operating on a social platform plays out into other people’s lives.A dystopian tale of technology and obsession to a sinister beat.

- Dean

A Cosmology of Monsters | Shaun Hamill | $19.99 | NewSouth Books If haunted horror is your bag then this one’s for you.

A dark, literary horror which is unique, a little odd and most definitely spooky. The dysfunctional Turner family are haunted, Noah sees monsters as does the rest of his family and the different ways they deal with the monsters who enrich and destroy their life, forms the base of this well-written scare. For Stranger Things fans with a dash of Lovecraft and King in the mix!

- Dean

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The Last Migration | Charlotte McConaghy | $32.99 | Penguin | August Pick A shatteringly beautiful and galvanising novel which keeps tugging at my heart, weeks after I’ve finished it. I’m not sure I can do justice to its wildest and tenderest parts. In McConaghy’s dystopia, animal populations have plummeted and birds are on the brink of extinction. Franny Stone is tracing what may be the last migration of the last flock of Arctic terns, using a tracking device onboard one of the few remaining commercial fishing boats. This is a really smart book, which will change its readers. It is a meditation on trauma, persistence and the power of small and mighty acts of resistance, the most powerful of which might be love.

- Emma Co.

OUR BOOKS OF THE MONTH

Death in Her Hands | Ottessa Moshfegh | $29.99 | Random House | July Pick Do not read this book if you fear growing old. Moshfegh is back again with a new twisted tale to cement her place as master of the unreliable narrator. We follow yet another of her cynically crafted characters in this story, as unlikable as she is captivating. When she comes across a body accompanied by a cryptic message, her slowly deteriorating mind struggles to comprehend her past, present, and future. This is a look into the darkness of a crumbling psyche and the deceptive nature of reality.

How many lies will we tell ourselves in our lifetime? And how many of them will come back to haunt us?

- Angelita

The Death of Vivek Oji | Akwaeke Emezi | $29.99 | Harper Collins | September Pick An impressive, deeply moving work of fiction. Precise yet vast I was entirely captivated.

Experiencing the intricacies of Nigerian culture through reading, I have learnt a lot particularly on the outlook towards LGBTQI+ folk from both the older and younger generations. Emezi’s writing is immaculate with stunning turns of phrase. No words are wasted, their tone is perfect, insight deep and I can see why they has been Shortlisted for numerous prizes in the past as this book is sure to do for them again. An important book for understanding and healing. I was torn apart by grief and put back to together by subtle beauty- this book is everything.

- Dean

The Littlest Yak | Lu Fraser & Kate Hindley | $24.99 | Simon and Schuster | September Kids Pick | Ages 3+ Gertie is the littlest yak in the herd and big just can’t come soon enough but no matter what she does, bigness eludes her. When the teeniest weeniest yak gets stuck at the end of a perilous ledge that no big yak can squeeeeeeze onto, it’s up to Gertie the grippiest little yak, to come to the rescue. This a really fun rhyming read-aloud with delightful illustrations.

Inspirational and celebratory – there is bigness in even the smallest! I LOVE it!

- Mandy

The Wolves of Greycoat Hall | Lucinda Gifford | $19.99 | Walker Books | September Kids Pick | Ages 8+ Boris Greycoat is a young wolf who likes meeting people and trying new foods. His family decides to return to their ancestral home to reconnect with their distinguished Scottish heritage. But is Scotland ready for holidaying wolves? This first book in a new series is a little off-beat; there are spooky dungeons, angry millionaires, lots of cake and wonderful illustrations throughout by this talented Australian author. Refreshing and funny! - Mandy

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AUSTRALIAN NON-FICTION

Intoxicating | Max Allen | $29.99 | Simon and Schuster With years of experience as a drinks writer under his belt, Max Allen has crafted a narrative of Australia’s drinking history, from the fermented sap of Tasmanian cider gums, enjoyed by indigenous peoples long before invasion, to VB, a beloved image of modern Australia.

Allen explores the craftsmanship and creativity behind the creation of many of our favourite beverages and provides an insight not only into our nations chequered past but into his own eventful life but his own eventful life. Brimming with soul and nostalgic charm, this is a perfect pick for any self-professed wine experts!

- Stella

The Carbon Club | Marian Wilkinson | $32.99 | Allen and Unwin Now, more so than ever, there is no doubt that the world is undergoing a climate crisis. And yet, when action is needed most there is increasing power given to sceptics of the current crisis. The Carbon Club reveals the hugely powerful network of politicians and business leaders who are pulling the strings on our climate inaction and exposes their inadequate responses to a crisis that has shaped our world. A must read.

- Lucy

The Golden Maze | Richard Fidler | $39.99 | Harper Collins ‘I’ve been meaning to write this book for thirty years.’

Having been first entranced

by Prague in his early twenties, the ever-charming and curious Fidler revisits the fabled city that has lived in his heart and mind for nearly three decades. Here he tells of a history that is strange, bloody and convoluted, elements of which seem to have been created with a blend of truth and myth, then sung into being by Prague’s beleaguered people over centuries. Fascinating stuff.

- Sylvia

Windfall | Ketan Joshi | $29.99 | NewSouth Books Renewable energy expert Ketan makes commentary on what has gone wrong in Australia with a decade of distraction and inaction on the urgent issue of climate change. He offers a future plan where Australia outgrows its reliance on fossil fuels and creates a path that is away from self-destruction and towards sustainability.

Concise, eloquent and from the heart, this is an exciting book that leads us towards a clean hope for Australia’s future.

- Dean

The Happiest Man on Earth | Eddie Jaku | $32.99 | Pan Macmillan Holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku OAM tells his tremendous story in The Happiest Man on Earth. When he was eighteen, in 1938 in Germany, Eddie was dragged from his bed, beaten and taken to a concentration camp, during Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. For the next seven years, Eddie faced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, then on a Nazi death march. Eddie lost family, friends, his country; he has seen the very worst of mankind. Yet he says: “What I have to share is not my pain. What I share is my hope.” At 100 years old, Eddie pays tribute to those who were lost by sharing his story and by living his best possible life. A few years ago, I had the privilege of watching Eddie speak at the Sydney Jewish Museum, where he has volunteered for 28 years — his words, his strength and his beautiful, contagious happiness is something I’ll never forget. Reading this book is a hopeful, heartwrenching reminder. - Emma Co.

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Reprehensible | Mikey Robins | $29.99 | Simon and Schuster Need a laugh? We may live in an era of outrage, but as Robins – one of Australia’s most loved comedians – shows, certain people have behaved reprehensibly for some time. The grubby habits, rituals, and behaviours of some of history’s most famous people will blow your mind.

Think you know Catherine the Great or Hans Christian Andersen? Think again! You don’t have to have a mind for history to enjoy this, but you may just find you have one after reading it. - John

Surviving Autocracy | Masha Gessen | $27.99 | Allen and Unwin

Fine wine lubricated the fraught meetings between Stalin and his historical opponents: among them, Hitler and Tsar Nicholas II. In international wine circles, Stalin’s cellar is the stuff of dreams. Jumping from Double Bay, Sydney to Tbilisi, Georgia, Baker discovers a new generation of Georgian and Russian oligarchs who are also hoping to get their hands on Stalin’s collection. ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ meets a refreshing, Saperavi blend!

- Emma

Surviving Autocracy is a full-length diagnosis of how autocratic and populist regimes have mushroomed across the world, and why we were “terribly underprepared” for their arrival.

Gessen, who was born in Soviet Russia, believes we must rally to defend our democratic systems.

The slow slide towards autocracy in the US, and Gessen’s own memories of growing up under KGB surveillance, is a sobering reminder of exactly what is at stake.

- Emma

Vesper Flights | Helen Macdonald | $34.99 | Random House

INTERNATIONAL NON-FICTION

Stalin’s Wine Cellar | John Baker and Nick Place | $34.99 | Penguin

A gorgeous pop in and pop out book from the author of H is for Hawk comes a collection of 41 short essays looking at human relationships with the natural world.

Her observation on topics ranging from headaches to hunting mushrooms and a range of contemporary natural topics are frank, personal and heartfelt. With her mix of science, memoir, naturalism and social commentary, I find MacDonald to be the most exciting natural history writer living today. This perfect book is full of oddities that are strange yet fill you with wonder.

- Dean

Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man | Mary L. Trump | $32.99 | Simon and Schuster “I opened the refrigerator, grabbed a split of TRUMP white wine, and poured it down my Trump throat so it could course through my Trump bloodstream and hit the pleasure centre of my Trump brain.”

In writing this book Mary L. Trump has reclaimed her name. Born into a patriarchal dynasty that constantly dismissed her, she has carved her own career and legacy as a clinical psychologist. With a grippingly grim atmosphere she gives an insider’s account into how the current US president was raised and the repercussions it has had.

- Angelita

Chasing the Light | Oliver Stone | $35.00 | Hachette Stone has produced a memoir as intoxicating and uncompromising as his greatest cinematic works. Chasing The Light covers the first forty years of Stone’s life, culminating in the career making success of Platoon.

Whether or not you’re a fan of Oliver Stone’s films (I am), this is a thrilling ride through the world of film making in all its sordid glory, through life-lens of one of its true and most provocative geniuses.

- James

Making Sense | Sam Harris | $34.99 | Random House Harris’ search for deeper understandingofhowwethinkhas led him to engage and exchange with some of our most brilliant and controversial contemporary minds in order to unpack and understand ideas of consciousness, free will, extremism, and ethical living.

Featuring twelve conversations from the hit podcast, these electric exchanges fuse wisdom with rigorous interrogation to shine a light on what it means to make sense of our world today.

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LIFESTYLE

How to Survive a Pandemic | Michael Greger | $34.99 | Pan Macmillan From tuberculosis to bird flu and HIV to coronavirus, these infectious diseases share a common origin story: human interaction with animals.

How did these diseases come about? And what--if anything-can we do to stop them and their fatal march into our countries, our homes, and our bodies? Dr. Greger delves into the origins of some of the deadliest pathogens the world has ever seen.

How I Built This | Guy Raz | $34.99 | Pan Macmillan Based on the podcast, How I Built This is a manual for success offering priceless insights and inspiration from the world’s top entrepreneurs on how to start, launch, and build a successful business.

Raz has interviewed more than 200 entrepreneurs from across the globe to uncover the amazing true stories behind their success and shares lessons for every entrepreneur’s journey from start to profit.

Emily Kame Kngwarreye | $29.99 | Thames and Hudson Emily Kame Kngwarreye is the latest addition to the Thames Hudson’s fabulous Mini Monograph series, which celebrates Australian women artists by pairing their work with an introduction by someone outside their field. Celebrated Irish writer Colm Toibin, author of Brooklyn, does the honours here, speaking of Kngwarreye’s fearlessness, alchemy, cartography, and inspired ‘inscapes’, the freedom and discovery of her late years. Featuring some of Kngwarreye’s finest work, this is the perfect book for anyone who loves art or who wants to get to know one of Australia’s greatest ever artists.

- John

The Inner Self | Hugh Mackay | $34.99 | Pan Macmillan We are very adept at hiding the truth from ourselves. Recent crises have forced many, myself included, to question what’s most important, to ask who we really are. In this transformative read, MacKay, sets out all the hiding places, and discusses why love is our highest ideal, the richest source of meaning and purpose, the key to increasing our emotional IQ, confidence and sense of tranquillity. It’s time to stop hiding. Love is us at our best. We just need to foster it, now more than ever.

- John

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Turning Down the Noise | Christine Jackman | $32.99 | Murdoch Books We have all become Pavlov’s dog, constantly on the alert for the next ping on our phones. It’s time to seek a more healthy balance, to re-experience tranquillity. Jackman reveals her own quest to regain a sense of clarity.

Writing with equal parts fervour and quiet, she outlines what is happening to our brains, how that translates into issues with our lives and our communities. Best of all, she shows us how to reverse the damage through simple daily acts that strip away the stimuli. Reclaim your life!

- John

Drink What You Want | John deBary | $42.99 | Random House A nonjudgmental, back-to-basics approach to making cocktails that’s as fun as it is definitive–from a renowned NYC bartender who’s worked everywhere from PDT to Momofuku.

Here deBary breaks down the science of mixology and explains the rules of drink-making. Most important, you’ll learn how to tweak any drink, both classic and creative, to your preferences and moods. John turns the “cocktail book” concept on its ear by infusing a traditionally formal topic with his fresh, conversational voice.

COOKING

A Year of Simple Family Food | Julia Busuttil Nishimura | $39.99 | Pan Macmillan I loved Julia’s first book Ostro and I’ve been waiting for the release of this new one with bated breath! Julia’s approach to food is full of warmth and heart, and her recipes always feel easy and comforting. Here Julia follows the seasons and shares the food she loves to cook for her own young family. Many of the recipes have Italian, Japanese and Middle Eastern influences, and everything sounds delicious: Tomatopoachedfishwithsaffronandchickpeas, Apricot berry galette, Miso roast chicken... mmm, simply wonderful.

- Sylvia

Flavour | Yotam Ottolenghi | $55.00 | Random House There is always a huge amount of excitement when a new Ottolenghi book hits the shelves, and this one has us feeling pretty pumped! Mr. O again delves into the pleasure of vegetables and just how much deliciousness they can offer. Here, along with co-writer Ixta Belfrage, Yotam explains the best cooking methods, the best produce and the best flavour pairings required to make your veg sing. To wit: Miso Butter Onions, Spicy Mushroom Lasagna and Hasselback Beetroot with Lime Leaf Butter. Oh so good!

- Sylvia

Simply | Sabrina Ghayour | $39.99 | Hachette Ooh, another beauty from best-selling food writer Sabrina Ghayour! Recipes are again inspired by her Iranian heritage (as well as given twist or two) but have been simplified to make cooking a Persian feast any day of the week effortless!

There is so much deliciousness here to discover: Think Spiced carrot & tamarind soup, Firecracker prawns, Spiced pork wraps with green apple salsa, and Lime & black pepper frozen yoghurt... hey, that’s a perfect menu right there! How simple was that?!

- Sylvia

The Ethical Omnivore | Laura Dalrymple and Grant Hilliard | $39.99 | Murdoch Books While more and more people these days eschew eating animal-based products, for those of us who do eat meat, how can that be done in a more ethical and sustainable way? Laura Dalrymple and Grant Hilliard have been striving to answer that question for nearly 15 years with their Sydney butchery Feather and Bone. This deeply considered book encourages omnivores to eat less meat, understand how it is produced and to develop a greater respect for the animals we consume.

- Sylvia

Vegan Junk Food | Zacchary Bird | $39.99 | Simon and Schuster Most vegans know that vegan food comes in a wonderful, delicious array of shapes, sizes and health-quotients (hot chips, anyone?). But maybe others have the impression that it’s, well... mostly kale.

Melbourne-based Zac Bird, food editor for global online forum Plant-Based News, shows us that vegan food can get cheesy, messy and oh-so-guilty-pleasure-gooooood too. Think deep-fried Mozzarella Sticks, gloriously spicy Bhaji Burgers, umami and mayonnaiseenriched Okonomiyaki and sinfully rich Baklava fro-yo. Hello!

Pass the serviettes, please!

- Sylvia

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BETTER READ KIDS

The Goody | Lauren Child | $24.99 | Hachette | Ages 3+ Two siblings pitted against each other – one good, one naughty! Chirton does EVERYTHING he’s told. He even does it before he’s asked. That’s because he’s a goody – the goodest kid out! Myrtle, on the other hand, never cleans out the rabbit hutch, doesn’t eat her broccoli, and STILL gets to stay up late watching TV, so what gives? After realising he’s not getting the recognition he deserves, Chirton starts wondering if being good is all that it’s cracked up to be. After all, “what is so good about being a goody?” At the heart of this book is a valuable lesson, both about kindness and the importance of being yourself. Small footnotes bring a level of interaction to the story, asking questions like ‘now, does that sound fair to you?’ and make perfect talking points for young readers.

- Keira

See the Cat | David LaRochelle | $16.99 | Walker Books | Ages 4+ Wait a minute. Are these stories about Max the dog or not?! A delightful, interactive trio of stories for early readers that breaks down the 4th wall. We’re introduced to the excitable pup Max, who is under the impression that these stories are about HIM, but he’s having a hard time convincing the narrator. This text is simply not to his liking – he’s going to have to discover his independence somehow, even if it means re-writing the story. Will Max get the ending he deserves? Laugh-out-loud funny, with quirky, intrusive characters that will appeal to kids who are developing their sense of humour.

- Keira

Brain Freeze | Oliver Phommavanh | $14.99 | Penguin | Ages 8+ Stepping up and being brave are some of the hardest things we have to do! These 12 laugh-out-loud short stories tackle this challenge with equal parts humour and heart, and prove that no one (and no dog) is too afraid to take a leap, stand up, chase their dreams, travel to Mars, or get a brain freeze... We absolutely adore Oliver Phommavanh’s primary fiction books here at Better Read Kids! Brain Freeze abounds in zany plotlines, colourful characters and meaningful moments, just like our other Phommavanh favourites Natural Born Loser, The Other Christy and Thai-riffic!

- Steph

The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stocker | Lauren James | $18.99 | Walker Books | Ages 13+ Harriet Stoker’s death opens up a whole new world of possibility, but what she’s really interested in is harnessing her powers and getting back to her grandma. However, Remi, Lucy, Felix and Kasper have been dead a little longer and know their way around this crumbling house and its secrets. Full of twists and turns at every corner The Reckless Afterlife of Harriet Stoker is a powerful story that weaves together magic, friendship, romance and death with a healthy dose of anti-heroine and creates one thriller of a novel.

- Ayesha

The Bushfire Book | Polly Marsden | $19.99 | Hachette “Australia is a big country with all sorts of weather. And sometimes extreme weather like bushfires. Bushfires can make a real mess of things. The air fills with smoke. The skies turn red. Ash falls. Precious things burn. But we don’t need to be scared, we just need to know all about bushfires and prepare for them.”

Aussie bushfires are unfortunately common, and for everyone in the community they can be stressful, scary and disorientating, and that’s why it’s so important for us to know what to do! Having the facts on bushfires and what we can do to help gives us some clarity as the season for them approaches.

Bushfires deals with this difficult topic with honesty, warmth and support, and is something that will help young Aussie readers everywhere.

- Ayesha

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Through these pieces, we wanted to encourage young writers to pick up their pens and pencils, or use their laptops, to take a break from learning at home and channel their creative energy into a story. Each entrant has looked up from their desk (or dining table, or island bench, or lounge room floor) and gazed out a window for a short while.

- Steph

Dear readers, After the wonderfully overwhelming response we received to our Mother’s Day cover design competition, we

COVER DESIGN COMPETITION CATEGORY

Windows | An Anthology of Writing by Better Read Kids | $25.00 | Better Read Publications The theme for our 10th Better Read Kids Writing Competition was Windows, which provided the scope for unparalleled creativity, imagination, and sophistication that we have not seen so far in the kids writing competitions. We also received a record number of entries and have loved reading each and every one! Each entrant between the ages of 6 and 12 submitted a truly unique short creative piece of approximately 1000 words.

decided to give the big kids a go; asking adults to have a crack at designing the cover this time. The brief was to combine two themes; father’s day and spring, and come up with a creative, colourful cover in any medium.

Congratulations to Mick Elliott for his winning entry (pictured left), and to our runners up Charlie Pope, Tracey Lloyd and Kayla Reay (pictured below). We love the colour, originality and unique interpretation of the theme seen in each of these designs and are grateful to everyone who took part! Each entrant will be emailed a voucher.

Mick Elliott

Stay tuned for the new Better Read cover design competition! In the meantime, be sure to check out the writing competitions we have on offer (on the back page of this catalogue).

The team at Better Read x

Tracey Lloyd

Kayla Reay

Charli Pope

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Jane Harper, Jock Serong, Jenna Guillaume and many more fantastic authors are coming to BRTD (virtually)!

To find out more about our upcoming Zoom events and to RSVP head to; www.betterrreadevents.com

Better Read Than Dead 265 King Street Newtown NSW 2042

FREE GIFT WRAPPING always available in store and online.

KIDS WRITING COMPETITION

E books@betterread.com.au P (+61 2) 9557 8700 W www.betterread.com.au Opening Hours Mon-Fri 10am-7pm Sat-Sun 9.30am-7pm @betterreadbookshop @betterreadthandead The books featured in the Better Read Than Dead Mother’s Day Reading Guide have all been hand-selected and most 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.

Cover illustration by Mick Elliott.