15 October 2025
13 October 2025
24 September 2025
4 October 2025
26 September2025
19 September 2025
12 September 2025
8 September 2025
4 September 2025
6 September 2025
15 July 2025
22 August 2025
24 August 2025
19 August 2025
25 August 2025
14 August 2025
8 August 2025
1 August 2025
Circe is the daughter of Helios, the sun god, and Perse, a beautiful naiad. Yet from the moment of her birth, she is an outsider in her father's halls, where the laughter of gossiping gods resounds. Named after a hawk for her yellow eyes and strange voice, she is mocked by her siblings – until her beloved brother Aeëtes is born.
Yet after her sister Pasiphae marries King Midas of Crete, Aeëtes is whisked away to rule his own island. More isolated than ever, Circe, who has never been divine enough for her family, becomes increasingly drawn to mortals – and when she meets Glaucus, a handsome young fisherman, she is captivated. Yet gods mingle with humans, and meddle with fate, at their peril.
In the half a square mile of decay and demolition that was England’s Saxon capital, eternity is loitering between the firetrap housing projects. Embedded in the grubby amber of the district's narrative among its saints, kings, prostitutes, and derelicts a different kind of human time is happening, a soiled simultaneity that does not differentiate between the petrol-coloured puddles and the fractured dreams of those who navigate them. Fiends last mentioned in the second-century Book of Tobit wait in urine-scented stairwells, the delinquent spectres of unlucky children undermine a century with tunnels, and in upstairs parlours labourers with golden blood reduce fate to a snooker tournament.
The Discworld is in danger, heading towards a seemingly inevitable collision with a malevolent red star, its magic fading. It needs a hero, and fast.
What it doesn’t need is Rincewind, an inept and cowardly wizard who is still recovering from the trauma of falling off the edge of the world. Or Twoflower, the well-meaning tourist whose luggage has a mind (and legs) of its own.
Which is a shame, because that’s all there is . . .
With this project we have a long-term commitment to read and review all Booker Prize winners since 1969.
The Booker Prize winner for 2024 is Orbital by Samantha Harvey.
‘Samantha Harvey’s compact yet beautifully expansive novel invites us to observe Earth’s splendour from the drifting perspective of six astronauts aboard the International Space Station as they navigate bereavement, loneliness and mission fatigue. Moving from the claustrophobia of their cabins to the infinitude of space, from their wide-ranging memories to their careful attention to their tasks, from searching metaphysical inquiry to the spectacle of the natural world, Orbital offers us a love letter to our planet as well as a deeply moving acknowledgement of the individual and collective value of every human life.’
The 2024 Shortlist for the Booker Prize also included:
The Booker Project also involves a long-term commitment to read and review all International Booker Prize winners since 2016.
The International Booker Prize winner for 2025 is Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq.
‘In a dozen stories – written across three decades – Banu Mushtaq, a major voice within progressive Kannada literature – portrays the lives of those often on the periphery of society: girls and women in Muslim communities in southern India. These stories speak truth to power and slice through the fault lines of caste, class, and religion widespread in contemporary society, exposing the rot within: corruption, oppression, injustice, violence. Yet, at its heart, Heart Lamp returns us to the true, great pleasures of reading: solid storytelling, unforgettable characters, vivid dialogue, tensions simmering under the surface, and a surprise at each turn. Deceptively simple, these stories hold immense emotional, moral, and socio-political weight, urging us to dig deeper. ’
The 2025 Shortlist for the International Booker Prize also included:
This project is based around a reading of Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey as well as sources that help us reconstruct the lost poems of The Epic Cycle, books related to the myths of the Trojan War, now lost to us. These books told stories well-known to us but not included in Homer’s surviving poems: the Judgement of Paris; the Trojan Horse; the death of Achilles and other stories.
For each of these lost books we will provide our own summary and commentary using retellings, sources based on the lost poems and scholarship, as well as look at art inspired by the stories. For Homer’s poems we will provide summaries and provide analyse of aspects specific to each book in the epic poems. Each book has a dedicated page which includes art inspired by moments from these epic poems.
Long regarded as one of the pinnacles of Western literature, The Iliad tells the story of the Trojan War in its final days, as Achilles, the supreme Grecian warrior, withdraws from the conflict over a disagreement with Agamemnon.
The Odyssey is the story of Odysseus’ long trek home after the war ends.
The ancient Greeks regarded these poems as a representation of real history, and in the 19th century the Homer enthusiast and amateur archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann, excavated what is now believed to be the site of the ancient conflict.
Click here to visit the main page for this special reading project.
(Please Note: This is an ongoing project and most pages are incomplete)
The Golden Age of Crime Project is an ongoing commitment to read and review books from the Golden era of Crime Fiction.
The Golden Age of Detective Fiction was an era of classic murder mystery novels, predominantly from the 1920s and 1930s. Well known writers of the Golden Age include Agatha Christie, Dorothy L Sayers, Margery Allingham, Ronald Knox, Anthony Berkeley and G. K. Chesterton.
But these books have roots in earlier works of detective fiction, and there are still mysteries being written today that would fit in with the ‘feel’ of the Golden Age (Anthony Horowitz is an excellent example of a modern day writer of contemporary ‘Golden Age’ mysteries).
For this special reading project I am reading as widely as possible from this era, but especially books by authors suggested by Martin Edwards' study of the period, The Golden Age of Murder.
Martin Edward's The Golden Age of Murder is an account of the Detection Club, featuring some of the most famous crime writers of the first half of the 20th Century, as well as the background to famous and obscure crime fiction from this era. This book was the initial inspiration for this project. You can read our review of this book here.
Click here to visit the main page for this special reading project.
I read Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo as a long term reading project. The book is long, over 1000 pages of small print and 118 chapters. I decided as I read, since I would not always have time to read it consistently, that I would make a chapter by chapter summary.
The novel begins in the period just before Napoleon's escape from the island of Elba. Edmond Dantes is arrested and imprisoned after he is framed as a Napoleon conspirator. This is the story of his escape, how he finds his fortune and seeks revenge on those who betrayed him.
For those interested in reading the book, or simply curious to find out more, click on the cover of the book or click here. You will have access to the full summary I wrote, character notes on the major characters, a downloadable character map I produced, as well as a quick access to my review of the book and a link to the Gutenberg Project, where you can download the book for free.
The Federalist Papers were written in 1787 to 1788 to defend the new American Constitution against its critics. They explained the Constitution and have provided future generations guidance as to how the Founding Fathers intended the Constitution to be interpreted.
The Federalist Papers, written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and America's fourth president, James Madison, cover issues of America's independence, including the need to ensure against foreign influence, as well as how the new Federal Government would operate. The Federalist Papers also deal with the separation of the powers of each branch of government, as well as government oversight, which includes the power of Congress to impeach. For these reasons, The Federalist Papers are still important documents which have been referred to in debates about the presidency of Donald Trump.
You can now read summaries and commentaries of all 85 Federalist papers here on the Reading Project.
Michael Duffy profiles some great writers of the last few centuries in a series of interviews that never happened based on things the authors actually said!
The pictures below represent places we have travelled or enjoy. In each picture there is someone who is reading. The photos represent the portability of books and the idea that they might be enjoyed almost anywhere. Click on the Google Earth Symbol to view where each photograph was taken.
South Eveleigh precinct, RedfernThe Light Within art installation at the former Eveleigh Railway Workshops, now redeveloped into mixed-use residential, creative, and employment spaces
Cirque du soleil, SydneyThe entrance to Cirque du Soleil in Sydney 2024
Legislative Council Chamber, NSW The Legislative Council is one of two houses of NSW Parliament, the other being the Legislative Assembly
Mount Panorama, BathurstMount Panorama is the site of the annual Touring Car Race, the Bathurst 1000
Marina Bay Sands Hotel from Supertree GroveThe Supertree is part of a group in Marina Bay Sands Gardens, with the iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Singapore, as backdrop
Harry Hartog Bookstore, PenrithHarry Hartog Bookstore is the newest and largest bookstore in the Penrith region, west of Sydney
Singapore, Flower DomeThe Flower Dome is located in Singapore's Gardens by the Bay
Singapore Botanic Gardens BandstandThe Bandstand in Singapore Botanic Gardens was erected in 1930 and is now often used for wedding photos.
Swan Lake, Singapore Botanical GardensSwan Lake is a small part of Singapore's Botanical Gardens, established in 1859 and honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Old Government House, ParramattaResidence of ten early governors of New South Wales between 1800 and 1847
Copy the above button if you wish to link to this site
If followers have buttons we add them automatically. Otherwise contact us if you would like your own button displayed on this page
Drop us a message, make a request, ask a question or just say hi!
Follow us on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, or use our RSS Feed!
© readingproject.au
