Brunswick Bound Books

Brunswickians took the following ten books to heart last year.  They read them, raved about them and bought them for friends.  It really was wonderful and reaffirming to see how much love for stories and ideas there was in the 'hood in 2019.  Let's hope all that keeps us in good stead for the troubling days ahead. In contrast to 2018, we had a huge resurgence in sales for Fiction - and even more interesting, all but one of those ( Normal People by Sally Rooney) was written by an Australian author .  Love this!  So great to see local authors Angela Savage ( Mother of Pearl ) and Christos Tsiolkas ( Damascus ) there in the mix. It was no surprise that Dark Emu was our bestselling book of the year.  This book is starting conversations that are being continued by books such as Sand Talk , The Yield , Songspirals and Welcome to Country - all indigenous titles that appeared in our Top 25 for the year.  And we can't wait to see even more indigenous...

At the end of last year we wrapped many a book for Brunswickian Christmases.  We had great fun doing it and are so grateful to everyone who donated, by way of thanks, to Movimento Letras . Movimento Letras is an independent literary movement, founded in Dili, that promotes literacy and provides spaces for people to connect and share stories. Here is a note from them " Movimento Letras is an independent literary movement founded in 2017 by a small group of Timorese activists, whose aim is to create a vibrant literary culture in Dili, Timor-Leste.       We have a small library and weekly we occupy a public garden that is open to anyone who wishes to participate.  In the library there are many books and materials that are not available elsewhere through public and private institutions, all of which have been donated.  The space is also used for workshops including zine making, teen and adult reading clubs plus presentations and guest talks. ...

Another year over and it's time to have a look at what Brunswick was reading this year. Almost all non-fiction titles on the list this year with the exception of Sally Rooney's much lauded Normal People .  (I hear she might have something coming in 2019, so keep your eyes peeled for that...). Interestingly enough, only 4 books on the list were actually published this year. Dark Emu was by far our bestselling book this year, which is fantastic.  Originally published in 2014, the new edition of this very important book reignited the conversation about what we truly understand about Aboriginal culture and was followed up by Marcia Langton's Welcome to Country and Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia (which also features on our Top 10 list), which also made their way onto many of your bookshelves. Self-publishing was represented, with Grungewick sitting solidly in the middle of our list.  Editor Michael Winkler was also part of our First Chapters event series this year....

So we took a look at what sold last year and this is what we saw.  Our Top 10 bestsellers were... 1.    Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli & Francesca Cavallo 2.    The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k by Mark Manson 3.    Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur 4.    Tinkering by (the late and great) John Clarke 5.    The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur 6.    Grungewick by Michael Winkler 7.    The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundahti Roy 8.    Quarterly Essay: Moral Panic 101 by Benjamin Law 9.    How Not To Be A Boy by Robert Webb 10. Punk Girls by Liz Ham It was no surprise that Good Night Stories For Rebel Girls took the #1 spot.  It featured heavily on our bestsellers' lists throughout the year.  What was more interesting was that only one fiction title made the list and the heavy presence of non-fiction books wi...