Good Reading Podcast

For a guy who once thought that books were excruciatingly tedious, John Purcell has made quite the career from selling, reading, and writing them. He opened his own secondhand bookshop in his 20s, wrote a trilogy of bestselling erotica novels, and is now the Head of Books at Australian online bookshop, Booktopia. As part of that job, he's quizzed over a thousand of the world's brightest, bestselling writers. Here John tells Angus Dalton about his oddball bookshop customers, how Catch-22 and 50 Shades of Grey kicked off his career as a published writer, and his satirical, sexy new novel, The Girl on the Page. Books discussed: The Girl on the Page by John Purcell: http://bit.ly/2QrLvDH The Secret Lives of Emma by Natasha Walker: http://bit.ly/2zQqf5n Catch-22 by Joseph Heller: http://bit.ly/2Rp6bNZ 50 Shades of Grey by E L James: http://bit.ly/2Oy167w Normal People by Sally Rooney: http://bit.ly/2Oy1bbk Listen to John's podcast over at Booktopia here: https://www.booktopia.com.au/blog/podcasts/

Singer-songwriter Holly Throsby took Aussie fiction lovers by storm in 2016 with her debut novel, Goodwood. Her latest book, Cedar Valley, came to form because she couldn't quite leave the world of her first book. Here Holly talks to Emma Harvey about quintessential Australian 'dagginess', Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and why a book tour is a hell of a lot better (though slightly less rock and roll) than a music tour. Goodwood: http://bit.ly/2ReZyxL Cedar Valley: http://bit.ly/2zJCdxi

For this episode of the Good Reading Podcast, we hand over the mic to three Year 9 students of Brigidine College in Sydney. Together they quiz YA fantasy author Wanda Wiltshire on her 'Betrothed' series, and have a discussion about love triangles, the character traits of strength and independence, Sarah J Maas and other favourite books, and advice for aspiring writers. Find out more about the book series here: http://bit.ly/2wzMIBB

‘It all started when a kid died.’ Meg Gatland-Veness is the author of the new Young Adult novel ‘I Had Such Friends’, a bold and heartfelt debut that is earning comparisons to ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’ and ‘Thirteen Reasons Why.’ In this podcast, Meg chats to Good Reading about growing up on Jaclyn Moriarty and Melina Marchetta, being a high school drama teacher, and why she believes it’s important to be upfront and honest in YA fiction. Read more about 'I Had Such Friends': http://bit.ly/2BAaYZ4

Whether you're in need of a solid knock-knock joke, a cringeworthy pun, a hilarious yarn or a weird factoid you can whip out at a family barbecue, the Worland brothers are here to help. Triple M radio host Gus Worland and his brother, writer Steve Worland, have created 'The Bloke-a-saurus: Jokes for blokes, fair dinkum funnies and true blue Aussie wisdom'. Ranging from groan-inducing corkers, mortifying dad jokes and side-splitting yarns (like the time Gus blew over 15 grand of Hugh Jackman's credit card), The Bloke-a-saurus is here to serve as on-the-dunny entertainment or to do the rounds of the family dinner table. Royalties from the book with be going to the Gotcha 4 Life foundation, which trains male crisis counsellors. In this podcast, Gus and Steve chat with Angus Dalton about why suicide is the biggest killer for men under 45, and how they hope The Bloke-a-saurus can help bring families together and challenge toxic masculinity. Get the book here: http://bit.ly/2BddEMi Gotcha 4 Life: https://gotcha4life.org/ If you are need of support, please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, or visit their website: https://www.lifeline.org.au/

Please note: This podcast contains discussions of sexual abuse. Bri Lee is the author of ‘Eggshell Skull’, a bestselling memoir about Bri's time as a Judge's Associate in Queensland, witnessing institutional injustices faced by women, children and minorities in sexual assault trials. The book is also a devastating coming-of-age story, as Bri’s recounts her own journey through the legal system as a plaintiff in her own case. In this episode, Bri talks to Good Reading about the frustrations and triumphs of writing such a book, the ongoing fight for legislative change, and ‘f***ing chickpeas.’ Books mentioned: Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee: http://bit.ly/2vqmjVv Beautiful Revolutionary by Laura Elizabeth Woollett: http://bit.ly/2OvSHi2 Night Games by Anna Krien: http://bit.ly/2KgSKLd

In Australia, judges are legally obliged to take a person’s apparent remorse into account when formulating their sentence, and yet how remorse is measured remains unclear. Kate Rossmanith’s new hybrid memoir, 'Small Wrongs: How We Really Say Sorry in Life, Love and Law', investigates legal, cultural, religious understandings of remorse and how they play out both in courtrooms and our personal lives. In this podcast, Kate tells Emma Harvey - a former writing student of hers - about comportment and composure in the courtroom, interviewing Supreme Court judges, and why we expect apologies, and ask for redemption, in our everyday lives. Get the book here: http://bit.ly/2uX9FO8

'Scrublands' by Chris Hammer begins with a young priest, Byron Swift, shouldering a high-powered hunting rifle and opening fire on his congregation in the tiny, drought-stricken town of Riversend. Martin Scarsden, a Sydney Morning Herald journalist, is sent to profile the town a year on from the massacre and discovers that there's far more to the killings than was initially reported. Here Chris talks about his 30-year career as a journalist, his investigation into the families affected by the Millennium Drought, which influenced his choice of setting, and copping tough love from Australian crime writing legend Peter Temple, who lectured Chris at university. Books mentioned in this podcast: Scrublands by Chris Hammer: http://bit.ly/2uOwsvt The River by Chris Hammer: http://bit.ly/2mFKoDC The Broken Shore by Peter Temple: http://bit.ly/2v1JGEA Truth by Peter Temple: http://bit.ly/2NDa1QM Into the Night by Sarah Bailey: http://bit.ly/2JS0Ppv

Besides gambling destinations like Macau or Monaco, Australia has the highest amount of poker machines per capita in the world. New South Wales was the second jurisdiction - just behind Nevada in the US - to legalise pokies, and a Sydney manufacturer continues to be at the forefront of pokie machine design and production. Drew Rooke's 'One Last Spin: The power and peril of the pokies' is a shocking investigation into the gambling's industry's power over politicians. It lays out how governments line their pockets with the billions fed to poker machines while gambling addicts' lives fall apart, and how the industry uses NRA-style techniques to block legislation that would help addicts, yet stem their profits. In this podcast, Drew talks about the techniques poker machines use to beguile gamblers, the science of pokie addiction, and how his faith in the government to protect Australia's most vulnerable has been lost. Get the book here: https://bit.ly/2KR6a5Z Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/good-reading-podcast/id1402922430?mt=2

What happens when a burgeoning movie star is killed on the set of a blockbuster zombie flick? Melbourne crime writer Sarah Bailey is back with her unforgettable character, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock, who has left her small regional town in favour of the big smoke. Sarah talks to Angus Dalton about women in the police force, books for boys, and why she's drawn to crimes on display. Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/good-reading-podcast/id1402922430?mt=2