Get deep into discussion at your next book group with these handpicked reads from our expert library staff. This list covers our favourite titles for book groups and since they are our top picks, we have many copies and formats available.
The white girl* by Tony Birch, The yield* by Tara June Winch and Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray* by Anita Heiss are showcase works from Australian Indigenous authors. We have uncovered some incredible debut novels, try The vanishing half* by Brit Bennett, The other black girl* by Zakiya Dalila Harris, also have several new titles from other favourite Australian authors such as A room made of leaves* by Kate Grenville, The living sea of waking dreams* by Richard Flanagan, Cilka's journey* by Heather Morris and The wife and the widow* by Christian White.
Love a true story? Educated by Tara Westover or The erratics by Vickie Laveau-Harvie should help start some conversations.
Visit our Book Groups page for more information on Book Group events and resources.
Recommended reads for book groups
Fiction
- Leave the world behind* by Rumaan Alam
- The sense of an ending* by Julian Barnes
- The vanishing half* by Brit Bennett
- The white girl* by Tony Birch
- Milkman* by Anna Burns
- Boy swallows universe* by Trent Dalton
- Cloud cuckoo land* by Anthony Doerr
- Girl, woman, other by Bernadine Evaristo
- The lying life of adults* by Elena Ferrante
- The woman in the window by A. J. Finn
- The narrow road to the deep north* by Richard Flanagan
- The living sea of waking dreams* by Richard Flanagan
- Crossroads* by Jonathan Franzen
- A room made of leaves* by Kate Grenville
- The midnight library* by Matt Haig
- Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
- Scrublands* by Chris Hammer
- The nightingale* by Kristin Hannah
- Force of nature* by Jane Harper
- The lost man* by Jane Harper
- The survivors* by Jane Harper
- The other black girl* by Zakiya Dalila Harris
- Golden boys by Sonya Hartnett
- Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray* by Anita Heiss
- The good sister* by Sally Hepworth
- Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine* by Gail Honeyman
- Klara and the sun* by Kazuo Ishiguro
- The dressmakers of Yarrandarrah Prison* by Meredith Jaffe
- The Dickens boy* by Tom Keneally
- Grown ups* by Marian Keyes
- The choke* by Sofie Laguna
- Infinite splendours* by Sofie Laguna
- The beekeeper of Aleppo* by Christy Lefteri
- The Labyrinth* by Amanda Lohrey
- The Nancys by R.W.R McDonald
- The children act* by Ian McEwan
- Nutshell by Ian McEwan
- Love objects* by Emily McGuire
- The animals in that country* by Laura Jean McKay
- The ruin* by Dervla McTiernan
- Autumn Laing by Alex Miller
- The carer* by Deborah Moggach
- Nine perfect strangers* by Liane Moriarty
- The tattooist of Auschwitz* by Heather Morris
- Cilka's journey* by Heather Morris
- First person singular* by Haruki Murakami
- Little fires everywhere by Celeste Ng
- Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
- Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
- Where the Crawdads sing* by Delia Owens
- The Dutch house* by Ann Patchett
- A spark of light by Jodi Picoult
- One hundred days* by Alice Pung
- Normal people* by Sally Rooney
- Beautiful world where are you?* by Sally Rooney
- Honeybee* by Craig Silvey
- The Paris library by Janet Skeslien Charles
- The last painting of Sara de Vos* by Dominic Smith
- The light between oceans* by M. L. Stedman
- Anything is possible* by Elizabeth Strout
- Olive again* by Elizabeth Strout
- Shuggie Bain* by Douglas Stuart
- Mothering Sunday* by Graham Swift
- A gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
- Damascus* by Christos Tsiolkas
- The wife and the widow* by Christian White
- The Nickel boys* by Colson Whitehead
- The dictionary of lost words* by Pip WIlliams
- The yield* by Tara June Winch
- Cloudstreet* by Tim Winton
- The bass rock by Evie Wyld
Non-fiction
- Phosphorescence by Julia Baird
- Power play* by Julia Banks
- Only: a singular memoir by Caroline Baum
- No friend but the mountains* by Behrouz Boochani
- The road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson
- Olive, Mabel and me* by Andrew Cotter
- The happiest refugee by Anh Do
- Flesh wounds by Richard Glover
- The land before avocado* by Richard Glover
- Talking to my country by Stan Grant
- One life by Kate Grenville
- With my little eye* by Sandra Hogan
- The happiest man on earth* by Eddie Jaku
- Emotional female* by Yumiko Kadota
- Empire of pain* by Patrick Radden Keefe
- The erratics by Vickie Laveau-Harvie
- Who gets to be smart* by Bri Lee
- Daring to fly* by Lisa Millar
- 100 years of dirt* by Rick Morton
- Becoming* by Michelle Obama
- Dark emu* by Bruce Pascoe
- Any ordinary day* by Leigh Sales
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Heart sick by Jessie Stephens
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Farmers or hunter-gatherers? The Dark emu debate* by Peter Sutton
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Too much and never enough* by Mary Trump
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The boys club by Michael Warner
- Too much and never enough by Mary Trump
- Educated by Tara Westover
- The boy behind the curtain by Tim Winton
Reserve a book on our list
To reserve a book, click the title and use your membership number and PIN to place a reservation.
Titles with an asterisk (*) are also available from our eBook collection.
More recommended reading
To view booklists on a variety of subjects, visit Booklists from our librarians.