The Bookshelf

ABC

What are you reading, loving or being challenged by? We review the latest in fiction for dedicated readers and for those who wish they read more.

  1. 04/12/2025

    The Best Books of 2025

    The best books of 2025 as selected by Cassie McCullagh, Kate Evans and a panel of bookish guests - Jason Steger, Jon Page and Robert Goodman. Keep scrolling for a full list... GUESTS  Jason Steger, arts journalist. Former book editor of the Age & SMH, and panellist on ABC TV’s Book Club Jon Page, long time bookseller with Pages and Pages bookshop, former General Manager of Dymocks Sydney – and now, book-buyer for W.H. Smith Robert Goodman, reviewer and literary judge specialising in genre fiction; regularly reviews for the Newtown Review of Books. His website is pilebythebed.com Jason Steger's Picks On-air: Flesh by David SzalayYou Must Remember This by Sean WilsonThe Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran DesaiLong Island by Colm TóibínMy Father Bryce by Adam CourtenayRunt and the Diabolical Dognapping by Craig SilveyExtras: My Sister and Other Lovers by Esther FreudJon Page's Picks On-air: Buckeye by Patrick RyanUnbury the Dead by Fiona HardyFlashlight by Susan ChoiI Want Everything by Dominic AmarenaOne Day Everyone Will Have Been Against This by Omar El AkkadExtras: A Beautiful Family by Jennifer TrevelyanThe Body Next Door by Zane LovittThe Emperor of Gladness by Ocean VuongThe Rose Field [Book of Dust, Vol. 3] by Philip PullmanThe Names by Florence KnappRobert Goodman's Picks On-air: Salvage by Jennifer MillsPicks and Shovels by Cory DoctorowWe Do Not Part by Han KangEden by Mark BrandiKing Sorrow by Joe HillShroud by Adrian TchaikovskyExtras: The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno GarciaEsperance by Adam OyebanjiWhere the Axe is Buried by Ray NaylerPerfection by Vincenzo LatronicoLion Hearts by Dan JonesRapture by Emily MaguireUnbury the Dead by Fiona HardyThe Impossible Thing by Belinda BauerThe Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd RobinsonHotel Ukraine by Martin Cruz SmithThe Hollow Girl by Lynn YeowartThe White Crow by Michael RobothamStillwater by Tanya ScottThe Reunion by Bronwyn RiversThe Peak by Sam GuthrieThe Seventh Floor by David McCloskyCasualties of Truth by Lauren Francis-SharmaCassie McCullagh's Picks On-air: Dream State by Eric PuchnerTheft by Abdulrazak GurnahThe Transformations by Andrew PipposArborescence by Rhett DavisWhat We Can Know by Ian McEwanOn the Calculation of Volume 1 by Solvej BalleExtras: The Silver Book by Olivia LaingDancing in the Lift by Mandy SayerKate Evans' Picks On-air: Mother Mary Come to Me by Arundhati RoyAlways Home, Always Homesick by Hannah KentMemorial Days by Geraldine BrooksThe Dream Hotel by Laila LalamiThe Remembered Soldier by Anjet DaanjeTwist by Colum McCannLandfall by James BradleyThe Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham JonesFierceland by Omar MusaChosen Family by Madeleine GrayExtras: On the Calculation of Volume 1 by Solvej BalleWe Do Not Part by Han KangThe Wax Child by Olga RavnTheft by Abdulrazak GurnahWhat We Can Know by Ian McEwanFlashlight by Susan ChoiI Want Everything by Dominic AmarenaCREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Craig Tilmouth and Tegan NichollsArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

    54 min
  2. 27/11/2025

    Memoirs, Music, Mystery: new works from Sam Sussman, Sarah Hall, Margaret Atwood

    Superstars of the literary and musical world this week: Margaret Atwood’s new memoir; Hannah Kent’s critical readings; Stuart Coupe’s musical knowledge; Bob Dylan . . . OK, well he’s not exactly on the show, but he’s the subject of MUCH literary speculation in a buzzy new release by New Yorker Sam Sussman. Also – the voice of the wind howls, laughs and taunts its subjects, in an inventive piece of writing from Sarah Hall. BOOKS  Sam Sussman, Boy from the North Country, Grove Press Sarah Hall, Helm, Faber Margaret Atwood, Books of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts, Chatto & Windus GUESTS  Hannah Kent, novelist and memoirist whose books include Burial Rites, The Good People, Devotion and – most recently - Always Home, Always Homesick: A Love Letter to Iceland Stuart Coupe, music writer and promoter whose books include Roadies: The Secret History of Australian Rock’n’ Roll; Shake Some Action: My Life In Music, (and Other Stuff); and – most recently – Saffron Incorporated: The First King Of King Of The Cross And Fifty Years Of Sex, Murder, Music And Mayhem OTHER BOOKS MENTIONED The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman, Niko StratisHarley Loco, Rayya EliasHappy Doll series, Jonathan AmesAll the Way to the River, Elizabeth GilbertThe History of Sound, Ben ShattuckLinea Maja Ernst, Waist Deep (translated by Sherilyn Hellberg)Deborah Levy, Hot MilkHeart the Lover, Lily KingBread of Angels, Patti SmithCREDITS Presenter, Kate Evans and Cassie McCullaghProducer, Kate Evans and Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Roi Hubermann and Harvey O'SullivanArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

    54 min

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What are you reading, loving or being challenged by? We review the latest in fiction for dedicated readers and for those who wish they read more.

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