Staff Picks (29)

Imagine you and your sister go on the holiday of the life time to Fiji. You have a fight, one of you ends up on a flight and the other wakes up with a hangover. The flight disappears. You get the perspective of both. The one in the crash and the other 2 years later still coming to terms with what happened. – Alison

Steam-punk Assassins Creed meets The Witcher in the victorian age, in Scandinavia, with vampires??? In a world in which the sun has suddenly become a distant ghostly smear on the horizon, vampires have come out from the shadows to dominate the suddenly harsh world. The empire's last hope lies with the Silversmiths - a genetically altered cohort of men, faithful to a divine religion that renders them inhumanly strong. Illegitimate, celibate, addicted and often suicidally brave/stupid, one silversmith will rise to doom humanity, with devastating consequences. This is his story (as told in a vampire dungeon - fun, huh?). – Willow

Fast paced, incredibly well explained and a must read for anyone whose seen the film – Monique

Including history, spells, and recipes from Ancient Greece, this book is great for any Hellenic history buffs who happen to be foodies! – Christina

Adele Parks always finds a way to balance a plot twist. Just my luck looks at how winning the lottery changed lives and not for the better. Read if you want some unbeatable family/friendship drama – Alison

**Trigger warning suicide theme** While this book is not for everyone. Mark Watson is my favourite comedian and writes about this sensitive topic with his own form of self deprecating humour – Alison

I would love to receive am invitation to the wedding of Nathan and Meddy… or maybe not. The portrayal of family in this book, and series, is what I love most from Jesse Sutanto. Her depiction of the challenges but also epic highs of Meddy’s relationship with her very close (sometimes too close) maternal South Asian family is an aspect of inter-generational families that is very rarely seen in contemporary romance fiction. And as advertised - is a cry-laugh kind of book. And I almost never cry-laugh. – Willow

A detective style novel based in a sci-fi future. Grounded in realistic characters dealing with emotions in bizarre realities – Ed

I enjoy all James Patterson novels. The Women's Murder Club series is fantastic – Duncan

If you loved Daisy Jones and the Six, you’ll love this book – Christina

Perhaps Maugham's greatest novel. Fabulous tale - Karl

An emotional and raw farewell to the author’s parents — Gabriel being a literary giant in his own right – Monique // A son’s sparse, haunting account of one of the most imaginative, brilliant minds of the last century in its last moments. Poignant. Beautiful. – Nadishka

Super accessible story about how the author changed his world, Chris Gardener is the man that the film ‘Happyness’ was about and he has some great insights into how to build a good life – Meaghan

The remarkable story of Stephen Fry's tumultuous early life, is by turns funny, shocking, tender, delicious, sad, lyrical, bruisingly frank and addictively readable. – Jen

Australian realism in its rawest and simplest form. Helen Garner is one of our greatest living authors and this collection is the perfect entry point – Jim

In this very readable autobiography Jaron Lanier relates his own story as well as the role he played during the early years of Virtual Reality. Highly recommended – Jen

Fascinating read on one of the most (in)famous families in history – Monique

I’ve been reading this for months now because I keep getting depressed and putting it down. It’s compelling and horrifying and I really should finish it – Tony

A detective style novel based in a sci-fi future. Grounded in realistic characters dealing with emotions in bizarre realities – Ed

One of the best writers, Orlando is extraordinarily unique and creative – Monique

Bryson is always funny and readable and I’ve enjoyed every book of his I’ve read. I’ve nearly finished this one and it’s terrific – Tony

Alex Kerr takes us through layers of this wonderful, ancient city that most would miss. A fantastic travel pick for when Japan re-opens... Jen

Wonderful and haunting memoir of childhood and loss. Jen

Fantastic history of the depressing conquest of South America - Karl

The second book in the Tales of Fenest series, an amazing genre crossover of Fantasy and Noir that explores the power of storytelling – Meaghan

One of the best writers, Orlando is extraordinarily unique and creative – Monique