HOLIDAY READING LIST / JANE TURNER
A good book is an essential summer reading companion. Our novels become filled with sand from oceanside page turning, or dog earred and coffee stained from mornings spent with a good story. Jane Turner, the friendly face behind Bondi's iconic bookshop and café, Gertrude & Alice shares her holiday reading list below.
TOM LAKE, bY ANNE PATCHETT
Ann Patchett is a favourite author of mine and I will hands down read absolutely everything she writes. Perhaps I feel the connection because she owns an independent bookstore in Nashville called Parnassus Books. This novel is set in the pandemic lockdown and finds the Nelson family are all at home on the cherry farm. With nothing but time on their hands, the 3 daughters have a lot of questions about their mothers' movie-star past and her first love Duke. This book is a "look back at your life” read. The style is at her usual quiet slower meditative pace, carefully setting the scene and reflecting on the past, creating her characters . This book feels like a breezy, seamless read but if you know Patchett's writing style you realise that every sentence has been expertly written, crafted and timed to perfection. Its a tender read about young love, married life and the choices we make.
Meryl Streep reads the audio version and that too is worth a listen.
LOLA IN THE MIRROR, bY TRENT DALTON
Lola In The Mirror is the latest novel from this much-loved Australian Author. Set In Brisbane, the young girl in the novel searches for her identity after a rough start in life. The mother and daughter are on the run and their life is on the streets. She doesn’t even know her real name because names are dangerous when you are on the lam. This book is big, moving, blackly funny, violent yet heartbreaking and beautiful. It's a novel of love, fate, life and death and all the things we see when we look in the mirror. It's the perfect beach read or page-turning holiday book.
THE HOUSE THAT JOY BUILT, bY MOLLY RINGLAND
An uplifting, powerful and inspiring book about breaking through fear and finding joy through creativity. This book is for anyone who feels the yearning to write and also for anyone who longs to create but cant find a way to reignite their imagination. It's for everyone really as we have all experienced these feelings at one time or another. It's a gentle call to action telling us to overcome our fears and just create. Holly gives you all the tips that she uses for self doubt, dealing with the inner and outer critic in her honest, raw, open and vulnerable writing.
THE RACHEL INCIDENT, BY CAROLINE O'DONOGHUE
The Rachel Incident is an all-consuming love story. But it's not the one you're expecting. It's unconventional and messy. It's young and foolish. It's about losing and finding yourself. But it is always about love. When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr Byrne, her best friend James helps her devise a plan to seduce him. But what begins as a harmless crush soon pushes their friendship to its limits. Over the course of a year they will find their lives ever more entwined with the Byrnes' and be faced with impossible choices and a lie that can't be taken back. A sharp, poignant and beautifully told story of losing yourself, finding yourself and the lengths we will go to for those we love. From the critically acclaimed author of Promising Young Women and Scenes of a Graphic Nature.
BITE BACK, BY HANNAH FERGUSON
Feminism, media, politics and our power to change it all. Founded in 2020, Cheek Media Co, quickly established itself as the go-to platform for dating feminist opinion on everything from right-wing politics to overcoming tables around sex and pleasure. In Bite Back, Hannah Ferguson turns her sharp, progressive persepctive on the issues that matter. Her bold ideas will provoke you to think, spark important conversations and inspire meaningful social change. Hannah is definitely someone to watch.
HOLIDAY READING LIST WITH JANE TURNER
A good book is an essential summer reading companion. Our novels become filled with sand from oceanside page turning, or dog earred and coffee stained from mornings spent with a good story. Jane Turner, the friendly face behind Bondi's iconic bookshop and café, Gertrude & Alice shares her holiday reading list below.
TOM LAKE, bY ANNE PATCHETT
Ann Patchett is a favourite author of mine and I will hands down read absolutely everything she writes. Perhaps I feel the connection because she owns an independent bookstore in Nashville called Parnassus Books. This novel is set in the pandemic lockdown and finds the Nelson family are all at home on the cherry farm. With nothing but time on their hands, the 3 daughters have a lot of questions about their mothers' movie-star past and her first love Duke. This book is a "look back at your life” read. The style is at her usual quiet slower meditative pace, carefully setting the scene and reflecting on the past, creating her characters . This book feels like a breezy, seamless read but if you know Patchett's writing style you realise that every sentence has been expertly written, crafted and timed to perfection. Its a tender read about young love, married life and the choices we make.
Meryl Streep reads the audio version and that too is worth a listen.
LOLA IN THE MIRROR, bY TRENT DALTON
Lola In The Mirror is the latest novel from this much-loved Australian Author. Set In Brisbane, the young girl in the novel searches for her identity after a rough start in life. The mother and daughter are on the run and their life is on the streets. She doesn’t even know her real name because names are dangerous when you are on the lam. This book is big, moving, blackly funny, violent yet heartbreaking and beautiful. It's a novel of love, fate, life and death and all the things we see when we look in the mirror. It's the perfect beach read or page-turning holiday book.
THE HOUSE THAT JOY BUILT, bY MOLLY RINGLAND
An uplifting, powerful and inspiring book about breaking through fear and finding joy through creativity. This book is for anyone who feels the yearning to write and also for anyone who longs to create but cant find a way to reignite their imagination. It's for everyone really as we have all experienced these feelings at one time or another. It's a gentle call to action telling us to overcome our fears and just create. Holly gives you all the tips that she uses for self doubt, dealing with the inner and outer critic in her honest, raw, open and vulnerable writing.
THE RACHEL INCIDENT, BY CAROLINE O'DONOGHUE
The Rachel Incident is an all-consuming love story. But it's not the one you're expecting. It's unconventional and messy. It's young and foolish. It's about losing and finding yourself. But it is always about love. When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr Byrne, her best friend James helps her devise a plan to seduce him. But what begins as a harmless crush soon pushes their friendship to its limits. Over the course of a year they will find their lives ever more entwined with the Byrnes' and be faced with impossible choices and a lie that can't be taken back. A sharp, poignant and beautifully told story of losing yourself, finding yourself and the lengths we will go to for those we love. From the critically acclaimed author of Promising Young Women and Scenes of a Graphic Nature.
BITE BACK, BY HANNAH FERGUSON
Feminism, media, politics and our power to change it all. Founded in 2020, Cheek Media Co, quickly established itself as the go-to platform for dating feminist opinion on everything from right-wing politics to overcoming tables around sex and pleasure. In Bite Back, Hannah Ferguson turns her sharp, progressive persepctive on the issues that matter. Her bold ideas will provoke you to think, spark important conversations and inspire meaningful social change. Hannah is definitely someone to watch.