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Book Reviews
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Series
What’s good, what’s bad, and what’s in between in literature? Here we review the latest titles.
51 stories
Love, loss and found family among America’s lower working class
Ocean Vuong’s new novel lays bare the abjectness of conditions some face, but The Emperor of Gladness is not all grim.
- July 2, 2025
- by Cameron Woodhead
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Ten new books to add to your reading pile
Our reviewers cast their eyes over recent fiction and non-fiction releases.
- July 2, 2025
- by Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll
The gripping story of how smuggled books helped end the Cold War
In an account that reads more like a spy thriller than a political history, British author Charlie English recounts the story of how the CIA smuggled books behind the Iron Curtain
- July 2, 2025
- by JP O'Malley
Tech bros, incels, dating apps: is this the literary equivalent of doomscrolling?
Tony Tulathimutte’s short stories are imbued with an undercurrent of loneliness and a cast of chronically online characters wired by the same algorithms.
- July 2, 2025
- by Flynn Benson
The shocking tale of a filmmaker forced to work with the Nazis
Daniel Kehlmann’s new book is a work of fiction, but is inspired by the life of Austrian filmmaker G.W Pabst
- July 2, 2025
- by Peter Craven
13 new books to read this month
There are plenty of new books out if you’re planning to hunker down in this cool month.
- July 1, 2025
- by Jason Steger
Review
The TV star who would make the ideal Beijing cellmate
Cheng Lei’s resilience in the face of adversity is admirable, but the tragedy of her three years in detention is that she should never have endured them.
- June 26, 2025
- by Michael Ruffles
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Looking for something new to read? Here are 10 of the latest books
Our reviewers cast their eyes over new fiction and non-fiction books
- June 25, 2025
- by Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll
This hilarious, moving book confirms that women are the superior sex
Emma Pattee’s debut novel is a funny and heart-wrenching feminist survivalist tale.
- June 25, 2025
- by Jessie Tu
A deep dive into Bitcoin’s enduring riddle: The identity of its inventor
A former WIRED writer details his 15-year search for the true identity of “Mr Nakamoto”, the pseudonym behind the cryptocurrency.
- June 25, 2025
- by Kurt Johnson
A deep dive into romcoms, from 1930s screwball comedies to today
This guide to the genre is endearingly affectionate in its embrace of the romantic comedy in cinema.
- June 23, 2025
- by Tom Ryan
Ten new fiction and non-fiction books to add to your reading list
Our reviewers cast their eyes over new fiction and non-fiction releases.
- June 18, 2025
- by Cameron Woodhead and Fiona Capp
Billionaire Barry Diller - married to Diane von Fürstenberg - comes out in new memoir
The former CEO of Paramount Pictures reveals how he hid his sexuality, while also sharing his business acumen and revealing juicy Hollywood anecdotes.
- June 18, 2025
- by Nathan Smith
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A haunting tribute to the bonds between humans and animals
Poet Robbie Coburn’s verse novel explores the potential power of the relationship between horses and humans to transform a troubled life.
- June 18, 2025
- by Candida Baker
This new cli-fi novel envisages a more hopeful apocalypse
Jennifer Mills’ science-fiction novel portrays the before and after of an ecological apocalypse.
- June 18, 2025
- by Jack Cameron Stanton
Still keeping some secrets, Beyoncé’s mother opens up
Tina Knowles’ memoir is a moving meditation on black motherhood – but don’t expect any celebrity gossip.
- June 18, 2025
- by Nathan Smith
This moody Australian crime thriller is utterly absorbing
Award-winning author Gail Jones’ new novel is set in Sydney and Broken Hill, both of which are vividly alive in the text.
- June 18, 2025
- by Carmel Bird
Looking for a new book? Here are 10 recent releases
Our reviewers cast their eyes over new fiction and non-fiction releases.
- June 11, 2025
- by Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll
The discarded suitcase that unearthed a mystery – and an obsession
When musician Dean Manning found an old suitcase on a Sydney nature strip, it kick-started a years-long obsession about the owner’s true identity.
- June 13, 2025
- by Michael Dwyer
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A terrifying tour of Silicon Valley’s deluded plans for a techno-utopia
Science journalist Adam Becker investigates the visions of the tech billionaires and their vision of an AI dominated future ... in space.
- June 11, 2025
- by Pat Sheil
A dark satire of girlboss feminism and the cult of beauty
Chloe Elisabeth Wilson’s debut novel takes place inside a hipster cosmetics company in Melbourne.
- June 11, 2025
- by Jessie Tu
Erica Jong is a feminist icon, but to her daughter she’s ‘an alcoholic narcissist’
Molly Jong-Fast has written a moving, but searing portrait of growing up with a “fame hungry” celebrity mother.
- June 11, 2025
- by Nathan Smith
Here are 10 new books to add to your reading pile
Our reviewers cast their eyes over recent fiction and non-fiction releases.
- June 4, 2025
- by Cameron Woodhead and Fiona Capp
Looking for your next crime fix? Here are four novels by local authors
As different as these books are, be assured you are in experienced hands and perhaps inspired to discover what came before.
- June 4, 2025
- by Sue Turnbull
How Joe Biden’s inner circle lied about the president’s mental state
Journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson have written a damning account suffused with relentless agony, writes Bruce Wolpe.
- June 4, 2025
- by Bruce Wolpe
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I just read Jacinda Ardern’s memoir. No wonder she didn’t last
The former New Zealand prime minister’s memoir isn’t a dry political affair; it’s full of sympathy, love and empathy.
- June 3, 2025
- by Jenna Price
Estranged sisters and a curious gift: 14 new books to get stuck into this month
There are plenty of books heading our way as we head into winter. Here is a small sample.
- June 3, 2025
- by Jason Steger
Australia has a rich tradition of fakers and forgers – this story offers a worthy addition
Dominic Amerena’s novel follows an unnamed, opportunistic narrator looking to make his name in the literary world.
- May 28, 2025
- by Declan Fry
For 20 years this novel has reduced the most hardened critics to tears
Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, published 20 years ago, has sold millions of copies and been translated into 50 languages.
- May 28, 2025
- by Jane Sullivan
Searching for your next read? Here are 10 new books
Our reviewers cast their eyes over new fiction and non-fiction releases.
- May 27, 2025
- by Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll
A haunting memoir of a broken girl saved by rock ‘n’ roll
Singer-songwriter Neko Case reveals a childhood of poverty and emotional cruelty in her compelling new memoir.
- May 21, 2025
- by Michael Dwyer
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Prepare to be discombobulated by this bonkers crime caper
Australian actor and playwright Toby Schmitz has made an outlandish excursion into the crime genre.
- May 21, 2025
- by Sue Turnbull
The untold story of the Australians who helped fight Franco
The little-known story of a group of Australians whose principles and conviction led them to fight in the Spanish Civil War.
- May 21, 2025
- by Kurt Johnson
This truth-telling book unsettled me, both mentally and physically
Kate Grenville’s moving book follows her pilgrimage through the places her family stories happened, to put the stories and the First Peoples back into the narrative.
- May 21, 2025
- by Helen Elliott
In The Dream Hotel, even thinking about murder is enough to send you to jail
Laila Lalami imagines a world in which our dreams are monitored for clues to potential crimes.
- May 20, 2025
- by Madeleine Heffernan
Looking for something to read? Here are 10 new books
Our reviewers cast their eyes over 10 new fiction and non-fiction books.
- May 20, 2025
- by Cameron Woodhead and Fiona Capp
The Hollywood legend who spent her career passing as white
This biography of Merle Oberon traces her roots from a life of poverty in India to the glamour of 1930s Hollywood, where she went to great lengths to hide her true identity.
- May 15, 2025
- by Brian McFarlane
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An open marriage, wry humour and banned novels: 10 new books
Our reviewers cast their eyes over new fiction and non-fiction releases.
- May 14, 2025
- by Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll
These diaries of Joan Didion should never have been published
Notes to John is a crude, even aberrant, addition to Didion’s published writings.
- May 14, 2025
- by Nathan Smith
A piercing, poignant tale about love, loss and writing
Caro Llewellyn’s Love Unedited is a read for the tender of heart and the independent of spirit.
- May 14, 2025
- by Vanessa Francesca
Suspense, spells and a deeply moving diary: 10 new books
Our reviewers cast their eyes over new fiction and non-fiction titles.
- May 7, 2025
- by Cameron Woodhead and Fiona Capp
How a seminal American artwork divided Australians
When Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles was bought in 1973 for $1.4 million by the Whitlam government, it sparked a national controversy.
- May 7, 2025
- by Michael McGirr
Emily Henry’s new romcom proves again she is a formulaic genius
The bestselling author’s latest novel features all the tropes that her dedicated fans know and adore.
- May 7, 2025
- by Jessie Tu
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Isabel Allende’s new book is a bold, contradictory enchantment
The Chilean-American author’s latest work is moving, eloquent and breaks all the rules.
- May 7, 2025
- by Peter Craven
Online pile-ons and culture wars: How did we get here?
Philosopher A.C. Grayling dissects the evolution of cultural warfare and makes a sensible, if optimistic, case for an armistice of sorts.
- May 2, 2025
- by Pat Sheil
A Booker winner, a comedy and Hitler’s obsession with Einstein
Our reviewers cast their eyes over new fiction and non-fiction releases.
- April 30, 2025
- by Cameron Woodhead and Steven Carroll
‘Inconvenient women’, mortality and a controversial work by Joan Didion: 13 new books to delve into
From a book that its own author may not have approved of to a beautiful and confronting photography collection, there’s a bumper crop of releases this month.
- April 30, 2025
- by Jason Steger
This hotly anticipated novel explores the dark embers of the psyche
In the third instalment of her fictional triptych, Katie Kitamura wields her words with scalpel-like precision to explore the demands women are “expert at negotiating”.
- April 30, 2025
- by Jessie Tu
Tom Hanks’ daughter reveals a childhood marred by abuse at the hands of her mother
E.A. Hanks’ memoir recreates a road trip she once took with her late mother to seek answers to what was an “incomprehensible” childhood.
- April 30, 2025
- by Nathan Smith
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Does the US suffer from an abundance of good intentions?
A central focus for US progressives should be raising wellbeing by creating more for everyone, argue Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson in their new book.
- April 30, 2025
- by Andrew Leigh
