Summer holidays are all about lazy days at the beach or by the pool, icypoles, eating dinner outdoors, getting hooked on TV shows and reading piles and piles of books. Whether you read lying on the sand at Cottesloe, on a plane traveling to a far away land, inside with the air con blasting, or at a friend’s holiday shack down south, we’ve compiled a selection of books you can delve right into.
Annabel Smith, The Ark
Annabel Smith is a Western Australian fiction writer whose work we really love. Her new publication, The Ark, is something new completely and we’re looking forward to delving into it. The Ark is an interactive novel and app about a group of scientists and their families that retreat into a bunker during a post-peak oil crisis. The story is told through the characters’ emails, text messages and memos. Annabel will be appearing at the Perth Writers Festival in February and you can purchase The Ark over here.
Angela Meyer, Captives
If you’ve got a short attention span then flash fiction is for you! These are stories that are incredibly short and Melbourne’s Angela Meyer has written a collection of them in Captives (Inkerman & Blunt, 2014). Angela works in publishing, and in a whisky bar, and will be in town for the PWF in February.
Emily Bitto, The Strays
Emily Bitto is a Melbourne based writer and her debut novel is about friendship and the Australian art scene of the 1930s. The Strays (2014, Affirm Press) promises to be a unique and intriguing read. She will also be at the PWF next year.
S.A. Jones, Isabelle of the Moon and Stars
For an easily digestible beach read that is intelligent and well written, go for Isabelle of the Moon and Stars (UWA Publishing, 2014).
Robert Drewe, Swimming to the Moon
Robert Drewe is an author who is completely dependable in terms of his exceptional writing style – whether it’s a novel or a column in the newspaper. I suspect even his text messages are eloquent and engaging. Swimming to the Moon (Fremantle Press, 2014) is a collection of non-fiction writing about Australian life.
Michael Robotham, Life or Death
Michael Robotham is a prolific author in the thriller genre, and before his appearance at Perth Writers Festival next year, it’s a great time to grab his latest novel Life or Death (2014, Hachette Australia) for a page turning read.
John Darnielle, Wolf in White Van
John Darnielle is the writer, composer, guitarist, and vocalist for American band the Mountain Goats and he’s recently released his first novel Wolf in White Van (2014, Scribe). A master lyricist and poet, you can expect a certain way with words from Darnielle, who will be discussing his book at the Perth Writers Festival.
Padma Viswanathan, The Ever After of Ashwin Rao
Canadian-Indian author Padma Viswanathan’s second novel is The Ever After of Ashwin Rao (2014, UWA Publishing). The book explores the long-term effects of grief after a plane crash in Viswanathan’s warm and humorous style.
Deb Fitzpatrick, The Break
In her very local novel, The Break (2014, Fremantle Press), Deb Fitzpatrick presents Margaret River as a place to escape to and a place to escape from. It’s about newcomers and those who have lived there their whole lives uniting in the face of change.