Friday, March 29, 2024
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40 cool reads for a long hot summer

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If you’re like most people, you’ll be starting to think about which books to buy, borrow or hopefully receive for Christmas for the relaxing summer days ahead. But where do you start? The world is full of wonderful books so we’ve done the hard work for you and come up with a selection of enticing possibilities.

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Whether your chosen reading locale is the beach, park bench, on an aircraft or air-conditioned living room, make sure you’re curling up with the best for 2018.

Sit back, relax and get reading.

ADULTS

The Wives by Lauren Weisberger
The author of A Devil Wears Prada is back with a sequel about Emily Charlton, first assistant to Miranda Priestly, now an image consultant in Hollywood who’s just landed the client of a lifetime following a bout of bad work luck. When Life Gives You Lululemons forms an unlikely bond between three women, and reminds us yet again that life isn’t always as it seems.

 

 

Sea of Greed by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown
The world’s oil supply is vanishing, the stock market is plummeting, and the key to saving the future seems to be a baffling historical mystery. Can the NUMA crew crack it in time? Sea of Greed is the suspenseful new NUMA Files novel from the #1 New York Times-bestselling grand master of adventure.

 

 

 

The Perfect Friend by Barbara Copperthwaite
We all love a thriller on the sun lounge, don’t we? After Alex’s husband leaves her, her children won’t talk to her, and it feels like her life is falling apart in front of her very eyes. The only person she has is her friend Claire, who would never let her down. Right?

 

 

 

The Reckoning by John Grisham
John Grisham returns to Clanton, Mississippi, to tell the story of an unthinkable murder, the bizarre trial that follows it, and its profound and lasting effect on the people of Ford County.

 

 

 

 

Any Ordinary Day by Leigh Sales
As a journalist, Leigh Sales often encounters people experiencing the worst moments of their lives in the full glare of the media. But one particular string of bad news stories – and a terrifying brush with her own mortality – sent her looking for answers about how vulnerable each of us is to a life-changing event. What are our chances of actually experiencing one? What do we fear most and why? And when the worst does happen, what comes next?

 

The Three Secret Cities: A Jack West Jr Novel 5 by Matthew Reilly
Hell hath no fury like four kingdoms scorned. The hunt for Jack West Jr has begun.

 

 

 

 

Whiskey in a Teacup by Reese Witherspoon
The Big Little Lies star heads back to her Southern roots with a book that mixes memoir and how-to guides. She delves into everything from her family’s fried-chicken recipe to her hot-roller hair technique. $21

 

 

 

 

High Five to the Boys
Australia has some seriously ace men who have broken new ground, stood up for what they believed in, achieved incredible things and defied stereotypes. You’ll find some of those men inside the pages of this book – from astronaut Andy Thomas to YouTube maths teacher Eddie Woo, sportsman Johnathan Thurston and dancer David McAllister. High Five to the Boys is an uplifting and illuminating read for all ages. Royalties from sales of this book go to The Smith Family.

 

Becoming Michelle Obama
The history-making former First Lady of the United States recalls her time in the White House — as well as her childhood and pre-political life — in a deeply personal memoir about an extraordinary life.

 

 

 

 

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty
The author of Big Little Lies returns with a novel about a group of unconnected people who attend a health retreat — but is it everything it promises? Amazon has named this one of their best books of 2018.

 

 

 

 

Milkman by Anna Burns
The Booker-Prize winning novel is about the Northern Irish Troubles and has been widely hailed as a darkly comic masterpiece. Told from the perspective of a 18 year-old girl with no interest in the conflict, Milkman is viciously funny. Its jokes come out askew, as does its plot.

 

 

 

 

A Long Way From Home by Peter Carey
The double Booker prize-winning author returns to the remote country towns of his youth in a novel which touches upon his complicated relationship with race as a white Australian for the first time. Set in the 1950s, the novel follows Irene Bobs and her husband as they enter the Redex Trial, a brutal motor race around the Australian outback, “over roads no car will ever quite survive”.

 

 

 

Special Guest by Annabel Crabb and Wendy Sharpe
For when you want to say to your friends with their spouses and ten small children, ‘Why don’t you stay for lunch?’ without hating yourself afterwards. Learn the lesson of ‘one splendid thing done well’ without regard to the hundred other things, and call the day a success. Pick up some pointers for the modern conundrum that is cooking for people with seemingly incompatible dietary requirements.

 

 

YOUNG READERS

The Meltdown (Book 13, Diary of a Wimpy Kid) by Jeff Kinney
When snow shuts down Greg Heffley’s middle school, his neighbourhood transforms into a wintry battlefield. Rival groups fight over territory, build massive snow forts, and stage epic snowball fights. And in the crosshairs are Greg and his trusty best friend, Rowley Jefferson.

 

 

 

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald The Original Screenplay
At the end of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald was captured in New York with the help of Newt Scamander. But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escapes custody and sets about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings.

 

 

Wundersmith: The Calling of Morrigan Crow (Book 2, Nevermoor) by Jessica Townsend
Morrigan Crow may have defeated her deadly curse, passed the dangerous trials and joined the mystical Wundrous Society, but her journey into Nevermoor and all its secrets has only just begun. And she is fast learning that not all magic is used for good.

 

 

 

The Ice Monster by David Walliams and Tony Ross
David’s magical new masterpiece is the perfect tale, inviting his readers to journey back to Victorian London in his biggest adventure yet. When Elsie, a young orphan, hears of the arrival of a mysterious Ice Monster – a woolly mammoth discovered at the North Pole – she’s desperate to find out more.

 

 

 

The 104-Storey Treehouse by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
Andy and Terry’s amazing treehouse has 13 new storeys. You can throw some refrigerators, make some money with the money-making machine (or honey if you’d prefer-it makes that too), climb the never-ending staircase, have a bunfight, deposit some burps in the burp bank, get totally tangled up in the tangled-up level, or just take some time out and relax in the peaceful sunny meadow full of buttercups, butterflies and bluebirds.

 

Guinness World Records 2019
The world’s most popular record book is back with thousands of new categories and newly broken records, covering everything from outer space to sporting greats via Instagram, fidget spinners and all manner of human marvels. Inside you’ll find hundreds of never-before-seen photographs and countless facts, figures, stats and trivia waiting for you on every action-packed page.

 

 

The Amazingly Disorganised Help Dictionary by Georgia Productions
The Amazingly Disorganised Help Dictionary is a scrapbook of Georgia’s brain; how she uses her lack of concentration and hyperactivity to be creative, to come up with ideas and to NEVER GIVE UP. It contains random and relatable lists, hot tips, advice, activities, stories from my past, info about how she got started on YouTube, lots of LOLs and so much more!

 

 

A Map of Days (Book 4, Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children) by Ransom Riggs
Having defeated the monstrous threat that nearly destroyed the peculiar world, Jacob Portman is back where his story began, in Florida. Except now Miss Peregrine, Emma, and their peculiar friends are with him, and doing their best to blend in. But carefree days of beach visits and lessons are soon interrupted by a discovery-a subterranean bunker that belonged to Jacob’s grandfather, Abe.

 

 

Total Quack Up! by Sally Rippin and Adrian Beck
Authors Sally Rippin and Adrian Beck have gathered together an awesome line-up of writers – including Jacqueline Harvey, Paul Jennings, R.A. Spratt and Oliver Phommavanh – and their funniest stories. Not only will the stories make you laugh out loud and feel good, royalties from sales of the book go to Dymocks Children’s Charities!

 

 

 

Zeroes and Ones: The geeks, heroes and hackers who changed history by Cristy Burne
Fuelled by pizza, late nights and unparalleled geekery, this is the history of some of the world’s most important milestones in the development of technology – from the earliest computers made of light bulbs and an old tin to Wikileaks and smartphones. Packed with weird facts, astonishing tidbits and extraordinary anecdotes, travel around the world and meet the people who made the world we live in today.

 

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
The dazzlingly brilliant Chris Riddell brings his magical illustration talents to J.K. Rowling’s gloriously inventive The Tales of Beedle the Bard in a fully illustrated colour edition of this essential classic for Harry Potter fans. Translated from the runes by Hermione Granger, the volume includes ‘The Tale of the Three Brothers’, familiar to readers of Harry Potter from the crucial role it played in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

 

The Slightly Alarming Tale of the Whispering Wars by Jaclyn Moriarty
An enchanting and whimsical spell-filled fantasy novel from Jaclyn Moriarty, the highly-acclaimed author of The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone and the award-winning author of Feeling Sorry for Celia and A Corner of White, suitable for readers who loved A Most Magical Girl.

 

 

And for something a little more spiritual ……

ADULTS

God is Good for you by Greg Sheridan

God Is Good For You by Greg Sheridan.
Shows us why Christianity is so vital for our personal and social well-being, and how modern Christians have never worked so hard to make the world a better place at a time when their faith has never been less valued.

 

 

 

 

Lord of the World by Robert Hugh Benson

LORD OF THE WORLD HC BP by Robert Hugh Benson
Recommended by Pope Francis as a must-read book on several occasions, and described by Fulton Sheen as one of the three greatest depictions of the advent of the demonic in world literature, Lord of the World is science fiction with a difference. It foresees the West succumbing to a form of international socialism that crushes individuality. The forces of secular materialism, relativism and state control are everywhere triumphant.

 

 

Crossing of the Tiber by Stephen K. Ray

Crossing the Tiber by Stephen Ray
An exhilarating conversion story of a devout Baptist who relates how he overcame his hostility to the Catholic Church by a combination of serious Bible study and vast research of the writings of the early Church Fathers. In addition to a moving account of their conversion that caused Ray and his wife to “cross the Tiber” to Rome, he offers an in-depth treatment of Baptism and the Eucharist in Scripture and the ancient Church.

 

 

The Catholic Church Saved my Marriage by Dr. David AndersThe Catholic Church Saved my Marriage by David Anders
David reports that by the early 2000s, his marriage was so painful he actually longed for death. It wasn’t simple incompatibility; he and his wife had just one thing in common: contempt for each other. Today, David and his wife are happy together – not because of marriage therapy, but because they came to know and fully embraced the Catholic Church’s teachings on marriage.

 

 

Finding True Happiness by Fulton Sheen

Finding True Happiness by Fulton Sheen
Are you perfectly happy, or are you still looking for perfect happiness? Most people are still actively searching for true and lasting happiness, but are looking in the wrong places. It’s easy to be misled into believing that happiness is found in money, rank, or renown. While these things are not inherently bad, and can in fact be used to do much good, they will, in the final analysis, not bring a happiness that endures.

 

TEEN

Tweeting with God by Fr Michel RemeryTweeting with God by Fr Michel Remery
For the curious, if you ask questions – even about difficult topics. Can Catholic teaching provide answers relevant to your life today? In this book you will find 200 daring questions from young people about God, faith, prayer and morality. Fr. Michel Remery thoughtfully answers them all in Tweets of 140 characters or less.

 

 

My Dear Young Friend by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP

My Dear Young Friend by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP
In these letters written to young people, Sydney’s Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP addresses the questions that young people have raised – covering topics including vocation, discipleship, faith and truth, suffering and joy, relationships and inner peace.

 

 

 

Pure Faith - Prayer Book for Teens by Jason Everet

Pure Faith – Prayer Book for Teens by Jason Everet
At Last…A Prayer Guide Just For Teens Who Want to Encounter Christ in a Deeper, More Personal Way If you know any teenagers who… Want to develop a deeper prayer life… Have difficulties with prayer… Just can’t find the time to pray… Don’t know how to pray… Or don’t see much value in prayer.

 

 

 

ABLAZE: STORIES OF DARING TEEN SAINTS by Colleen Swaim

ABLAZE: STORIES OF DARING TEEN SAINTS by Colleen Swaim
Following Christ isn’t always easy. You need faith, courage, patience, and love. In Ablaze: Stories of Daring Teen Saints, Colleen Swaim looks at eight young souls who were set afire with the spirit and set free to live lives of extraordinary virtue. All became saints for the against-the-current, selfless heroism of their teen years.

 

 

 

Prayer for Beginners by Peter Kreeft
In short, straight-forward, and unsentimental chapters, Kreeft covers all the key areas for understanding and developing that intimate form of communication with our Creator that we call prayer. He covers such areas as the necessity of prayer, various motives and methods, steps, patience, suffering, sin, faith, and grace.

 

 

 

CHILDREN

Saintly Rhymes for Modern Times by Meghan Bausch

Saintly Rhymes for Modern Times by Meghan Bausch
Filled with colourful illustrations and catchy rhymes, Saintly Rhymes for Modern Times teaches your child that everyone is called to be a saint. These kid-friendly rhymes allow children to see the beauty of Christian holiness through the lives of our more recent saints.

 

 

 

God Loves Us All by Fr LovasikGod Loves Us All by Fr Lovasik
Celebrates God’s love for us. Full-colour illustrations.

 

 

 

 

 

Jesus He Lived Among Us by R.F. Palavicini and Steve ClearyJesus He Lived Among Us by R.F. Palavicini and Steve Cleary
God sent His only Son, Jesus, to live as a man, walking among the people and teaching them about their Heavenly Father. For centuries, people have been drawn to the story of Jesus. What is there about this man that would make people leave their homes and families to follow Him? What could possibly inspire them to love Jesus so much they would be willing to die for Him?

 

 

The Miracles of Jesus by Reverend Lawrence G

The Miracles of Jesus by Reverend Lawrence G
A presentation of the miracles Jesus performed in the Bible. Full-colour illustrations.

 

 

 

 

 

Wise Words … Taken from the Book of ProverbsWise Words … Taken from the Book of Proverbs
This illustrated book will help children learn to apply many valuable lessons found in the Book of Proverbs. Beautifully designed examples encourage talk time and growth in character. Suggested for ages 7 and under.

 

 

 

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