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Win a selection of winter reads, handpicked by ABC Melbourne presenters

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During the cold winter months, it is a great time to snuggle up with a good read.

We asked some of the team which books (new or old) they are looking forward to reading this winter.

We've put together a list and now you can win every book on our Winter Reads collection, just by signing up to our e-newsletter (or being an existing subscriber).

Here are their selections:

Promising Young Women

By Caroline O' Donoghue

Libbi Gorr: Why? A great rollicking work of fiction from an up-and-coming Irish author. A modern cautionary tale for any ambitious young woman in the workplace seduced by the power and opportunity offered by an older colleague who shows a keen interest that strays underneath the work clothes and very intimately into the personal! 

FALL, or Dodge In Hell

By Neal Stephenson

Sami Shah: Why? Neal Stephenson is in my holy trinity of writers, alongside Stephen King and Neal Gaiman. This book, which is large enough to bludgeon someone with, should take several satisfying weeks to finish. It’s about the future of the internet, about social media, and about virtual reality. But it’s also about Dante’s Inferno, the quest for immortality, whether or not our reality issue video game simulation, and what’s going to happen to America (and thus the world) 50 years from. It’s heady, funny, and bound to leave me staring into the distance for hours, contemplating the world that is to come. Stephenson is a genius and predicts the world ahead better than Nostradamus ever could have. But he also tells a great story! 

Room for a Stranger

By Melanie Cheng

Richelle Hunt: Why? Melanie Cheng first novel is the story of Meg, an elderly Australian woman who decides to open her spare room to a young boarder, Andy, who is studying in Australia from Hong Kong. I have interviewed Melanie before and she is such delightful and insightful woman and lovely conversationalist. She finds the interesting in the ordinary and it has a tone and style that feels like an old friend. It’s a delight to read. A great excuse to jump into bed early and snuggle up and read.

Three Men in a Boat

By Jerome K Jerome

Brian Nankervis: Why? It was first published is 1889, but it could have been yesterday. Three men fooling around in their boat, going down the Thames, with their dog Montmorency.

Death Is Hard Work: A Novel

By Khaled Khalifa

Raf Epstein: Why? Some great fiction has come out of the horror of the Syrian civil war.

This book is about three siblings, on a road trip through war torn Syria, to return their fathers body to be buried in his home village.

After reading the following article - I was compelled to read this book .... Recently, at a literary festival in Italy, the Syrian author Khaled Khalifa spoke about life in Damascus. “Everyone has left, but a few stubborn souls like me remain. We cling to each other.” Then his face lit up, which happened every time he was about to tell one of his signature anecdotes that mingle defiance with absurdity.


Underland 

By Robert Macfarlane

David Astle: Why? Winter turns Melbourne into a cosy cave, priming my appetite for Robert Macfarlane’s new nature adventure Underland. A lyrical interpreter of landscape, Macfarlane is due to usher me into crypts, grottos, sewers and ice-caves, and I can’t wait. BYO torch.

Beat not the bones

By Charlotte Jay

Trevor Chappell: Why? It was the first Edgar award-winning book in 1952 and by an Australian woman who wasn’t published or recognised in Australia until the 1990’s. I’m looking forward to reading this award-winning mystery novel set in New Guinea this winter. Charlotte Jay was the pseudonym adopted by Australian mystery writer and novelist, Geraldine Halls. One of the best and most singular authors of the suspense era, she wrote only nine crime books, but their unorthodoxy secured her a high place in Mystery Hall of Fame.

For many more great reads and reviews, you can check out the 2019 Read with Raf collection.

Please note: This competition is now closed.


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