‘Book lovers are not insomniacs, they just stay up late reading’

Read any good books lately? Not only are the members of The Book Club – a startst60.club reading good books, they are right on the pulse of what’s hot and what’s not on the fiction best seller lists.

According to the Books and Publishing list of bestsellers published just two days ago, Scrublands is the most popular work of fiction in Australia at present and, in fact, debuted in August in the top spot. Set in a drought-ridden regional town in Australia, Scrublands, by Chris Hammer, follows a journalist’s investigation into why a priest shot down five of his congregation a year earlier.

The top ten contains many of our favourite books, how many of these titles have you read?

1. Scrublands, Chris Hammer
2. The Nowhere Child, Christian White
3. The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris 
4. The Other Wife, Michael Robotham 
5. Boy Swallows Universe, Trent Dalton 
6. A Month of Sundays, Liz Byrski 
7. The Dry, Jane Harper 
8. Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty 
9. The Shepherd’s Hut, Tim Winton 
10. The Botanist’s Daughter, Kayte Nunn.

Co-incidentally as I was writing this blog, I received a copy of Liane Moriarty’s new novel, Nine Perfect Strangers due for release on 18 September. I am a huge fan of Liane Moriarty’s, I loved Truly Madly Guilty and consider Big Little Lies one of my top reads of the past few years. Needless to say, her latest offering quickly moved to the top of my TBR pile.

As much as I wanted to dive in straight away, that would mean abandoning Sisters and Brothers by Fiona Palmer which even made me miss my bus stop because my mind was so firmly fixated on my book. The Book Club is discussing this novel soon, lead by Fran Spears who wrote the review. I won’t give away any secrets; suffice to say I was not prepared for the impact of this story.

In a completely different vein, I’d like to recommend Your Second Life Begins When You Realise You Only Have One, by Raphaelle Giordano. Translated from French, the blurb says this book made 2 million readers happy – well make that 2,000,001 as I was thoroughly enchanted by this simple, inspiring little book. Hopefully, we are never too old to learn, and I found that although many of the concepts are not new, the way of expressing them made perfect sense… at least to me. 

One of these is a mnemonic “FEET: When you find yourself in a tense or hurtful situation, rather than reach for your “reproach machine gun” express your grievances clearly and calmly. To do that, remind the person you’re talking to of the F/Facts that upset you. Then express your E/Emotion – how this made you feel. E/Encourage the other person by suggesting a way out. Then propose a T/Truce, by pointing out how things could improve, creating a win-win situation for both sides.” As I said, nothing new, just a new way of expressing, and remembering.

Raphaelle says “My dream is that everyone should take full advantage of their talents and responsibility for their happiness. Because there is nothing more important than to live life to the limits f one’s childhood dreams … Have a good journey.”

Along with the multitude of Belinda Alexandra fans, I’m eagerly anticipating 1 November and the release of her latest title, The Invitation – “In Gilded Age New York, money buys everything. What is your price?” I’ve loved all her previous titles, particularly White Gardenia, Silver Wattle and Sapphire Skies. 

I’d love to know – what’s happening in your reading world, what’s keeping you up late?