LATEST BLOG POSTS
As of April 2025 all new posts will appear only on Substack.
Bestselling thriller is the ultimate escape
Dervla McTiernan's latest thriller was so unconventional and compelling I could not put it down until I emerged, blinking, two days later.
Why I’m breaking my own rules for Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time
Suddenly there seemed to be a book more important than my rules.
Reading Roundup: The 35 books read in 2024 + my top Christmas gift recommendations
A reading bonanza in 2024! Here are my top picks to inspire your next visit to the library or bookshop.
Winton’s new novel throws down gauntlet to WA’s biggest companies
West Australian author Tim Winton has used his new novel to throw a lit match into the gas-rich environment that is West Australian politics.
Beloved Perth high street to get a new vibe this Christmas
After Oxford Street Books closed, one of Perth’s premier high streets has lacked that certain something. But a new “heart of the high street” is on its way.
Beloved Perth business puts out distress call as cost of living bites
In only 6½ years it’s built a whopping following, making it one of Perth’s most successful shops of its kind. So why can’t that keep the wolf from the door?
I hit the epilogue and felt confused. Then I figured out what was going on
I kept expecting more. Right up until it said “Epilogue”. Then I realised what was going on.
Em’s 2023 Reading Roundup: The 32 books read + one-line reviews of my top reads
A definite reading recovery in 2023! Here are my top picks and some Christmas gift recommendations too.
Review: Stone Yard Devotional, Charlotte Wood
This latest novel from Stella Prize-winning Charlotte Wood keeps her work firmly in that most elusive of categories: literary page-turners.
Review: Storylines, Carrie Cox
A timely and vital novel from one of Australia’s best-kept secrets.
Review: Holly, Stephen King
I was so obsessed with the master of suspense’s latest release that I finished it within 24 hours.
Review: The Reacher Guy: The Authorised Biography of Lee Child, Heather Martin
An exhaustive authorised biography of the celebrated crime writer who in recent years retired and handed his record-smashing franchise to his younger brother.
Review: Stolen Focus, Johann Hari
This is one of the most important and most gripping books I have read this year. And you need to read it too.
Reviewing a brave and funny memoir | getting out on the town
A brave, honest and funny memoir for the modern man.
Em’s 2022 Reading Roundup: The 24 books read + one-line reviews of my top 5
My top five reads of 2022.
About books and memory and sadness
You might think this is oversharing or self-indulgent. Maybe it is. But also, maybe, it’s a heads-up.
Review: The Cast Aways of Harewood Hall, Karen Herbert
Karen Herbert is Perth’s new mystery-writing machine and her second novel is polished to a shine.
Review: The Brink, Holden Sheppard
The long awaited second novel is finally coming from the Perth YA sensation who wrote the award-winning Invisible Boys. No pressure…