The Bookshelf

Trent Dalton (Gravity Let Me Go, Boy Swallows Universe), Heather Rose (A Great Act of Love, Bruny) and Garry Disher (the Peninsula Crimes and Hirsch series) name some of their favourite books, and the titles may delight and surprise you. Hosted by Kate and Cassie as part of this year's Canberra Writers' Festival.TRENT DALTON'S PICKSGeraldine Brooks, Year of WondersSteve Toltz, A Fraction of the WholeJohn Steinbeck, Grapes of WrathHEATHER ROSE'S PICKSTom Robbins, Still Life with WoodpeckerVirginia Woolf, OrlandoPeter Carey, The Fat Man in History; IllywhackerHaruki Murakami, The Wind Up Bird ChronicleWilliam Faulkner, Light in AugustJohn Steinbeck, Of Mice and MenToni Morrison, BelovedDavid Mitchell, Cloud AtlasGeorge Eliot, MiddlemarchGARRY DISHER'S PICKSRussell Braddon, The Naked IslandNicolas Monsarrat, The Cruel SeaRaymond Carver, worksRichard Ford, worksEvan Connell, Mrs BridgeColm Toibin, BrooklynAlice Munro, worksRon Rash, worksCormac McCarthy, Child of GodHelen Garner, The Children's BachKingsley Amis, worksClaire Keegan, worksJohn Sandford, worksMichael Connelly, worksIan Rankin, worksOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDStephen King, The Life of ChuckHannah Kent, DevotionJames Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young ManDorothy Dunnett, Lymond ChroniclesRichard Stark, Parker seriesDonald E. Westlake, Dortmunder seriesLloyd Jones, Mr Pip

The best books of 2025 as selected by Cassie McCullagh, Kate Evans and a panel of bookish guests - Jason Steger, Jon Page and Robert Goodman. Keep scrolling for a full list...GUESTS Jason Steger, arts journalist. Former book editor of the Age & SMH, and panellist on ABC TV’s Book Club Jon Page, long time bookseller with Pages and Pages bookshop, former General Manager of Dymocks Sydney – and now, book-buyer for W.H. Smith Robert Goodman, reviewer and literary judge specialising in genre fiction; regularly reviews for the Newtown Review of Books. His website is pilebythebed.com Jason Steger's PicksOn-air:Flesh by David SzalayYou Must Remember This by Sean WilsonThe Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran DesaiLong Island by Colm TóibínMy Father Bryce by Adam CourtenayRunt and the Diabolical Dognapping by Craig SilveyExtras:My Sister and Other Lovers by Esther FreudJon Page's PicksOn-air:Buckeye by Patrick RyanUnbury the Dead by Fiona HardyFlashlight by Susan ChoiI Want Everything by Dominic AmarenaOne Day Everyone Will Have Been Against This by Omar El AkkadExtras:A Beautiful Family by Jennifer TrevelyanThe Body Next Door by Zane LovittThe Emperor of Gladness by Ocean VuongThe Rose Field [Book of Dust, Vol. 3] by Philip PullmanThe Names by Florence KnappRobert Goodman's PicksOn-air:Salvage by Jennifer MillsPicks and Shovels by Cory DoctorowWe Do Not Part by Han KangEden by Mark BrandiKing Sorrow by Joe HillShroud by Adrian TchaikovskyExtras:The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno GarciaEsperance by Adam OyebanjiWhere the Axe is Buried by Ray NaylerPerfection by Vincenzo LatronicoLion Hearts by Dan JonesRapture by Emily MaguireUnbury the Dead by Fiona HardyThe Impossible Thing by Belinda BauerThe Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd RobinsonHotel Ukraine by Martin Cruz SmithThe Hollow Girl by Lynn YeowartThe White Crow by Michael RobothamStillwater by Tanya ScottThe Reunion by Bronwyn RiversThe Peak by Sam GuthrieThe Seventh Floor by David McCloskyCasualties of Truth by Lauren Francis-SharmaCassie McCullagh's PicksOn-air:Dream State by Eric PuchnerTheft by Abdulrazak GurnahThe Transformations by Andrew PipposArborescence by Rhett DavisWhat We Can Know by Ian McEwanOn the Calculation of Volume 1 by Solvej BalleExtras:The Silver Book by Olivia LaingDancing in the Lift by Mandy SayerKate Evans' PicksOn-air:Mother Mary Come to Me by Arundhati RoyAlways Home, Always Homesick by Hannah KentMemorial Days by Geraldine BrooksThe Dream Hotel by Laila LalamiThe Remembered Soldier by Anjet DaanjeTwist by Colum McCannLandfall by James BradleyThe Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham JonesFierceland by Omar MusaChosen Family by Madeleine GrayExtras:On the Calculation of Volume 1 by Solvej BalleWe Do Not Part by Han KangThe Wax Child by Olga RavnTheft by Abdulrazak GurnahWhat We Can Know by Ian McEwanFlashlight by Susan ChoiI Want Everything by Dominic AmarenaCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Craig Tilmouth and Tegan NichollsArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Superstars of the literary and musical world this week: Margaret Atwood’s new memoir; Hannah Kent’s critical readings; Stuart Coupe’s musical knowledge; Bob Dylan . . . OK, well he’s not exactly on the show, but he’s the subject of MUCH literary speculation in a buzzy new release by New Yorker Sam Sussman. Also – the voice of the wind howls, laughs and taunts its subjects, in an inventive piece of writing from Sarah Hall.BOOKS Sam Sussman, Boy from the North Country, Grove Press Sarah Hall, Helm, Faber Margaret Atwood, Books of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts, Chatto & Windus GUESTS Hannah Kent, novelist and memoirist whose books include Burial Rites, The Good People, Devotion and – most recently - Always Home, Always Homesick: A Love Letter to IcelandStuart Coupe, music writer and promoter whose books include Roadies: The Secret History of Australian Rock’n’ Roll; Shake Some Action: My Life In Music, (and Other Stuff); and – most recently – Saffron Incorporated: The First King Of King Of The Cross And Fifty Years Of Sex, Murder, Music And Mayhem OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDThe Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman, Niko StratisHarley Loco, Rayya EliasHappy Doll series, Jonathan AmesAll the Way to the River, Elizabeth GilbertThe History of Sound, Ben ShattuckLinea Maja Ernst, Waist Deep (translated by Sherilyn Hellberg)Deborah Levy, Hot MilkHeart the Lover, Lily KingBread of Angels, Patti SmithCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi Hubermann and Harvey O'SullivanArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Short story collections reveal the fragile beauty of human experience in Salman Rushdie’s The Eleventh Hour, Liadan Ní Chuinn’s Everyone Still Here, Morgan Talty’s Night of the Living Rez, and Tony Birch’s Pictures of You. Then we shift gears and crank up the suspense with a look at some new crime fiction, including the icy new instalment in the phenomenally successful The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo/Millennium series, the brainchild of late author Stieg Larsson, and now written by Karin Smirnoff; plus, a sharp round-up of some recent Australian releases.BOOKS Short story collections: Salman Rushdie, The Eleventh Hour, Jonathan Cape Liadan Ní Chuinn, Everyone Still Here, Granta Tony Birch, Pictures of You, UQP Morgan Talty, Night of the Living Rez, Scribe  Crime: Karin Smirnoff, The Girl with Ice in her Veins (translated from the Swedish by Sarah Death), Maclehose Press Michael Brissenden, Dust, Affirm Press Garry Disher, Mischance Creek, Text Chris Hammer, Legacy, Allen & Unwin Kerry Greenwood, Murder in the Cathedral, Allen & Unwin Jane Harper, Last One Out, Macmillan  Michael Connelly, The Proving Ground, Allen & Unwin Abir Mukherjee, The Burning Grounds, Harvill Secker GUESTSJohan Gabrielsson, Host of the Noir Hear This podcast. Documentary maker. His film Climate Changers is available on the streaming platfrom DocPlay, and has an upcoming screening in SydneyProfessor Sue Turnbull, Crime fiction reviewer, academic, and co-author of Migrants, Television and Australian Stories: A New HistoryOTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDMaj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, worksHenning Mankell, worksJohn Ajvide Lindquist, The Writing in the Water; The Room in the Ground Christian Kracht, Kracht x 3; The Dead  Ulf Kvensler, SarekSam Guthrie, The PeakCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Hamish Camilleri and Harvey O'SullivanArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

This week, Cassie McCullagh and Jonathan Green take a look at Thomas Pynchon’s Shadow Ticket - a cryptic plunge into paranoia and power, where nothing is quite what it seems. Plus, Olivia Laing’s The Silver Book, a shimmering meditation on the cinema scene in 1970s Italy, and Jeanette Winterson’s One Aladdin Two Lamps, which re-imagines duality and the stories we tell ourselves.BOOKSShadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon (Jonathan Cape) The Silver Book by Olivia Laing (Hamish Hamilton) One Aladdin Two Lamps by Jeanette Winterson (Penguin Random House)GUESTSHuw Griffiths — Associate Professor and Deputy Head of School in English and Writing at the University of SydneyClaire Mabey — Founder of New Zealand’s literary festival Verb Wellington, books editor at The Spinoff, and author of the award-winning middle-grade novel The Raven's Eye Runaways. Its sequel, The Raven’s Eye Rebellion, is due in April next year.OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDNaomi Arnold, NorthboundNadine Huder, Slowing the SunThomas Mann, Death in VeniceSeán Hewitt, Open HeavenPhilip Pullman, His Dark Materials trilogy - The Rose FieldRuby Tandoh, All Consuming: Why We Eat the Way We Eat NowCREDITSPresenter, Cassie McCullagh and Jonathan GreenProducer, Cassie McCullagh and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Beth StewartArts editor, Rhiannon Brown 

Stories of love, friendship, and the ties that bind - with a dash of dirt and darkness in three new works of fiction...Madeleine Gray's Chosen Family, a sharp exploration of friendship, love, and what it means to grow up when life gets messy; Chris Kraus' The Four Spent The Day Together, an autofiction-ish journey through a fractured America; and Graeme Macrae Burnet's Benbecula, where secrets unravel on the windswept shores of the Outer Hebrides.BOOKS Graeme Macrae Burnet, Benbecula, Text Madeleine Gray, Chosen Family, Summit Books Chris Kraus, The Four Spent the Day Together, Scribe GUESTS Nicola Heath, ABC Arts journalist; editor of ABC Online monthly book review columnPatrick Carey, writer and content maker who works at Sydney Theatre Company OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDMary McCarthy, The GroupDylin Hardcastle, A Language of LimbsDavid Owen Kelly, Host CityCharlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark ShoreAndrew Pippos, The TransformationsHelen Whybrow, Salt Stones James Rebanks, The Shepherd's LifeMaggie Mackellar, worksAndrew Miller, A Land in Winter Lisa Tuttle, My Death A.S. Byatt, Possession  Edmund White, The Married ManMuriel Spark, A Far Cry from Kensington  CREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Tegan Nicholls, Antonia Gauci and Tim JenkinsArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Kate and Cassie are back in the studio, introducing a line-up of October releases that span continents, centuries, and genres, kicking off with an Australian story set in the world of print journalism in Andrew Pippos' The Transformations. Then, we head to India with Kiran Desai’s The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, a grand tale shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize. And finally, we travel back to 16th-century Denmark, where the spectre of witch trials looms large in Olga Ravn's The Wax Child.BOOKSAndrew Pippos, The Transformations — PicadorKiran Desai, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny — Hamish HamiltonOlga Ravn, The Wax Child — Viking Penguin (Translated from Danish by Martin Aitken)GUESTSScott Stephens — Editor of ABC’s Religion & Ethics online and co-host of The Minefield on Radio National (with Waleed Aly)Beejay Silcox — Critic and writerOTHER BOOKS AND WRITERS MENTIONEDGeorge Eliot, MiddlemarchEM Forster, Howard's EndCharles Dickens, worksErnest Hemingway, worksLeo Tolstoy, worksFyodor Dostoevsky, worksNathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet LetterJeanette Winterson, The Daylight GateGeraldine Brooks, Year of WondersJenni Fagan, HexCeridwen Dovey, Only the AstronautsChris Flynn, Here be LeviathansJosephine Rowe, Little WorldAngela O'Keefe, Night BlueHannah Kent, Burial RitesLydia Davis, Into the WeedsInger Sigrun Brodey, Jane Austen and the Price of HappinessJ.M. Coetzee and Mariana Dimopulos, Speaking in TonguesJ.M. Coetzee, The PoleToni Morrison, worksKarl Ove Knausgaard, worksLydia Davis, Into the WeedsJoy Williams, worksLily King, Heart the LoverMichael Winkler, Grimmish; Grief DogDevoney Looser, Wild For AustenSofie Laguna, The Underworld The Rose Field (The Book of Dust: Volume 3), Philip Pullman Margaret Atwood, Book of LivesPatti Smith, Bread of Angels Mick Herron, Clown TownClaire-Louise Bennett, Big Kiss Bye-ByeBrandon Taylor, Minor Black FiguresJohn Irving, Queen EstherCatherine Newman, WreckEleanor Elliott Thomas, Do We Deserve ThisThomas Pynchon, Shadow TicketOlivia Laing, The Silver BookJeanette Winterson, One Aladdin Two LampsMadeleine Gray, Chosen FamilyChris Krauss, The Four Spent the Day TogetherGraeme Macrae Burnet, BenbeculaCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Beth Stewart and Ann Marie DebettencorArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Join us for a lively Top 100 Books of the 21st Century after-party!Following last weekend’s extraordinary two-day countdown, this event recaps the results of over 288,000 votes cast by readers across Australia. Kate, Cassie, and special guests will unpack the trends, surprises, and insights that reveal what Australians are reading — and why. Plus, the countdown is not over. We're revealing the books that almost cracked the Top 100!GUESTSMichaela Kalowski, Curator and Top 100 ProducerGavin Williams, Owner - Matilda Bookshop in the Adelaide Hills; Chair - BookPeople Maryanne Vagg, Librarian, Warrnambool LibraryDownload a printable list of The Ones That Got AwayListen to the Top 100 Books countdown.CREDITSPresenter, Cassie McCullagh, Kate EvansProducer, Cassie McCullagh, Kate Evans, Michaela Kalowski, Shevonne Hunt, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Simon Branthwaite, Beth StewartArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Joining Kate and Cassie on stage at Brisbane Writers Festival, authors Eric Puchner, Toni Jordan, Patrick Holland, and Zeynab Gamieldien discuss their most recent novels and the books and writers who inspire them. With voting cast for our Top 100 Books of the Century, these writers make the case for their favourites.GUESTSEric Puchner, novelist, academic, and short story writer, whose books include the collections Last Day on Earth and Music Through the Floor, and the novels Model Home and (his latest) Dream StateToni Jordan, a writer whose novels include Nine Days, Our Tiny, Useless Hearts, Prettier If She Smiles More, Dinner with the Schnabels . . . and her latest, TenderfootPatrick Holland is a writer and academic, and author of eight books, including the novel The Mary Smokes Boys and – his latest – Oblivion. He lives between Hong Kong and Brisbane Zeynab Gamieldien is a writer whose first novel, The Scope of Permissibility, won the inaugural WestWords/Ultimo Prize (for emerging writers from Western Sydney); and her second novel, Learned Behaviours, has just been publishedBOOKS MENTIONED BY ERIC PUCHNERJames Salter, Light YearsJennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon SquadJoy Williams, worksWilla Cather, My ÁntoniaJhumpa Lahiri, A Temporary MatterMarilynne Robinson, HousekeepingEvan S. Connell, Mrs. BridgeCésar Aira, An Episode in the Life of a Landscape PainterBOOKS MENTIONED BY TONI JORDANCraig Silvey, Jasper JonesTrent Dalton, Boy Swallows UniverseHilary Mantel, Wolf HallZadie Smith, White TeethAlexis Wright, CarpentariaMaggie O'Farrell, HamnetRichard Ford, CanadaBOOKS MENTIONED BY PATRICK HOLLANDYasunari Kawabata, Snow CountryEmily Brontë, Wuthering HeightsErnest Hemingway, 88 PoemsLeah Swann, BearingsFelix Calvino, worksBrian Castro, worksFrançoise Sagan, Bonjour TristesseCormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian; All the Pretty HorsesMurasaki Shikibu, The Tale of GenjiBOOKS MENTIONED BY ZEYNAB GAMIELDIENJhumpa Lahiri, The NamesakeTara June Winch, The YieldHisham Matar, The Return; My FriendsAnne Enright, The GatheringColm Tóibín, Brooklyn; Long IslandClaire Keegan, Small Things Like TheseSally Rooney, IntermezzoOTHER BOOKS AND WRITERS MENTIONEDJ.G. Ballard, worksGraham Greene, The Quiet AmericanDavid Malouf, worksPatrick White, worksCurtis Sittenfeld, Show Don't TellDavid Mitchell, worksCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate EvansSound engineer, Steve FieldhouseArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

We look at some compelling new memoirs, including Mandy Sayer’s No Dancing in the Lift, a tribute to her jazz drummer father, capturing the grit of Kings Cross and the grace of caregiving. Elizabeth Gilbert’s All the Way to the River recounts her intense love story with Rayya Elias, confronting addiction and devotion. Arundhati Roy’s Mother Mary Comes to Me reflects on her formidable mother’s legacy - equal parts shelter and storm, and S. Shakthidharan’s Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath offers a tender, multi-generational journey from Sri Lanka to Western Sydney.BOOKSMandy Sayer, No Dancing in the Lift: A Memoir, Transit LoungeElizabeth Gilbert, All the Way to the River: Love, Loss and Liberation, BloomsburyArundhati Roy, Mother Mary Comes to Me, Hamish HamiltonSHAKTI Shakthidharan, Gather Up Your World in One Long Breath, Powerhouse Publishing  GUESTSMelanie Tait, Playwright. Her latest, How To Plot a Hit in Two Days, plays at the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney until 11 October.Roanna Gonsalves, novelist and academic; editor of the literary journal, Southerly  OTHER BOOKS MENTIONEDHannah Kent, Always Home, Always HomesickJeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Can Be NormalElizabeth Strout, worksJenny Hocking, Gough Whitlam: A Moment in History; His TimeSarah Malik, Desi Girl: On Feminism, Race, Faith and BelongingCREDITSPresenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Micky Grossman and Ann Marie DebettencorExecutive producer, Rhiannon Brown