News from The Arthur Holt Library

If, like us, one of the things that you miss most about life before lockdown is gathering book recommendations from everyone that you meet, then we have good news. As anyone currently working their way through our Library Bingo reading challenge knows, it can be hard to find out which books your colleagues, bosses, librarian and friends have recently enjoyed. In recognition of this, we have started a series of blog posts which will give the reading recommendations that you need to both complete your bingo card and break you out of a reading rut.

We’ve kicked it off with a list of books that our library staff have enjoyed, and it’s a more diverse collection than you might imagine.

https://arthurholtlibrary.com/librarian-reading-recommendations/

The Tolstoy Estate and The Silent Patient are joined on the list by the extremely prescient The End of Men, the self-help book Atomic Habits and Forensic Counsellor John Merrick’s memoir True Stories from the Morgue. Craig Silvey’s Honeybee also gets a mention, which ties in nicely with an impressive-looking reading-related event taking place this weekend.

ABC Radio National is hosting a Big Weekend of Books both online and over the airwaves, and it kicks off with an interview with Craig Silvey that will take place in Perth. It also includes interviews with Douglas Stuart (author of the Booker-Prize winning Shuggie Bain) and crime writers James Lee Burke and Michael Robotham.

Kids have also been asked to submit their questions to Andy Griffiths, and Tony Birch is running a series of masterclasses for any budding writers out there. Details are available on the ABC web site, but it looks like a weekend guaranteed to leave you with a to-read pile that should see you through to October.

https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/big-weekend-of-books/

“Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.”

– Fernando Pessoa